Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Engineer Lied About Leaking Nuke
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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
10 Questions for Barack
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Today every event is scripted in advance right down to the roll call, and the planned nomination of Barack Obama by acclamation after Hillary Clinton formally and finally concedes on the convention floor. Barack will fill Mile High as only the Broncos have done before. My hope is that he will use the opportunity to tell 75,000 fellow citizens how he intends to govern if they elect him. There will be no question period after. These supporters are only providing a backdrop for the television cameras. But the marathon campaign still has about 70 days to run. Time enough for thoughtful citizens to ask questions, if they meet the candidate on the road. Here are ten I would like to ask, and feel free to use any of them or even your own:
1. Will you close the Guantanamo gulag upon taking office?
2. We seem to be sleep walking toward a military confrontation in the Caucuses. How will you restore friendly relations with Russia?
3. Economists say only a single third-party insurer can effectively and completely control health costs. Why do you not a support universal single payer health care plan?
4. The Taliban is enjoying renewed success in Afghanistan. What's wrong with our strategy there?
5. Do you advocate capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden even if it means conducting covert operations in Pakistan without approval?
6. The Pentagon budget grows ever larger. Can you identify any weapons systems or programs that should be cut so that these savings can be used for civilian purposes?
7. Should the Social Security payroll tax be extended to all citizens, regardless of income level?
8. Do you think expanding wild land preserves has any role in reducing the effect of climate change?
9. Oil companies are making record profits, yet we give them immense tax subsidies such as the depletion allowance. Should these tax subsidies be eliminated?
10. What is your favorite soul food dish?
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
For Want of a Bee
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Update: Bayer, the chemical giant, is under investigation in Germany because one of its best selling pesticides, clothianidin, has been implicated in the mass deaths of honeybees. A complaint was filed on August 13 by German apiarists and consumer advocates. The coalition wants use of the pesticide prohibited while Bayer maintains that if used properly the pesticide does not harm bees. Clothianidin and related pesticides generate about $1 billion in revenue for Bayer CropScience. The German coalition suspects Bayer of falsifying studies to minimize the effects of pesticide's residue on bees pollinating treated plants. In the U.S. the NRDC is seeking research information on clothianidin. The pesticide was approved for use here in 2003 on condition that Bayer submit more information on the effects of clothianidin. Sold under the brand name "Poncho 600", it is used to coat corn, sugar beet and sorghum seeds to protect them from pests. Despite its innocuous brand name, clothianidin is a nerve toxin that has the potential to be toxic for bees, and it remains in all parts of the plant that grows from coated seeds. French regulators banned a related precursor in 1999. French researchers found that bees were much more sensitive to the toxin than Bayer admitted in its studies. German officials suspended sales of clothianidin and related pesticides three months ago after it was blamed for destroying 11,000 bee colonies.
The UK's honeybees have suffered disastrous losses this year reports the Guardian paper. Their numbers are down by a third found a survey conducted by the British Bee Keeping Association. A wet winter kept the pollinators in their hives, making them more subject to disease and starvation. The minister of farming told Parliament last November that if nothing were done to help the honeybees, then the UK population would be wiped out in 10 years. Britain's' problem reflects a worldwide trend in the drastic decline of honeybee populations. In the US, honey yields have been decimated by honeybee loses of 36%. Apiarists here have given the phenomenon a name, "sudden colony collapse disorder" but the name explains nothing. Why honeybees are dying in catastrophic numbers is not known for certain. A complex of factors seem to be contributing to their destruction: the blood-sucking varroa mite, lethal viruses, malnutrition, pesticides, pollution and a lack of genetic diversity. Some less credible observers have even blamed cellular telephone signals interfering with healthy hive activity. CCD has spread to Canada, France, Germany and Italy. As the genius recognized, honeybees make a critical contribution to man's survival by pollinating his food crops. They increase fruit and vegetable yields by about a third, and there is no efficient or inexpensive substitute for their service.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Viral Reporting
US Person makes no pretensions about his biases. If you read this blog you know where he stands. But national news organizations hold themselves out to be unbiased and objective. Some journalists doubt that can actually be achieved on a operational level. Objectivity is an aspiration since the news is written by humans who have all sorts of biases, conscious and otherwise. The wire service AP has been in existence for 160 years, and it has enormous influence over what you read or hear because its wire service is used by thousands of newspapers, radio and television broadcasters all over the world. So if a bias is detected in an AP story, that is like finding e coli in your hamburger. MoveOn.org, the progressive political action group, thinks it has found a source of biased reporting about Senator Obama at the Washington bureau of AP. Ron Fournier has recently been appointed their bureau chief. In a series of articles about the Democratic campaigns, Fournier has used syntax that is less than objective. For example[1], he characterized Obama's choice of Joe Biden, "the ultimate insider", for his running mate as "shoring up his weakness--inexperience in office and on foreign policy". He accused Hillary of "doing a passable impression of the ever-parsing former president", and questioned whether she had become "slick Hillary". In another article he accused Obama of "bordering arrogance" saying he had crossed "a line smart politicians don't cross—somewhere between 'I'm qualified to be president' and 'I'm born to be president.'" His complaints about candidate Howard Dean were even stronger: "his lack of foreign policy experience, testy temperament, policy flip-flops, campaign miscues and edgy anti-war, anti-establishment message". Fournier has not subjected Republicans to similar negative commentary. He only trashed Mitt Romney for beating McBush in the Michigan primary, calling his victory a "defeat for authenticity in politics". Perhaps because of Fournier's bias, AP has consistently turned a blind eye to McBush's flips on issues. Mild stuff compared to the blatantly partisan yellow journalism that comes out of 'Fox Spews'. However, AP's position in the journalism food chain is much higher up than Murdoch's mouth, and a different quality level is expected.
It is not Fournier's attempts at punchy prose that disturbs me, but his undisclosed overtures to right wing partisans. Karl Rove, former bunker propaganda minister, exchanged e mails with Fournier about the football/warrior hero, Pat Tillman who was shot down by his own comrades in Afganistan. Minister Rove asked, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this?" Fournier responded: "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight."[1] This expression of partisanship (sucking up?) during an election year is considered outside the bounds of maintaining journalistic neutrality. Even though Fournier initiated the email exchange, he attempted to blow it off as just a reporter doing his job. A closer look by watchdog Media Matter's Eric Boehlert revealed that Fournier did not write any artcles on the Tillman saga. He apparently used the story as cover for contacting Rove directly. Before Fournier returned to work for AP in 2007 after a failed attempt to launch a political blog, he was contacted by McBush's people about a campaign job. Fournier spoke about the job possibility with members of McCain’s inner circle, including political aides Mark Salter, John Weaver and Rick Davis [2]. His McBush love goes back to 2004 when he idolized the senator in print for his military service and declared without any support that McBush was the presidential choice of independents and Democrats. In a political system driven by mass media, slanted characterizations and unfair inaccuracies can be deadly. A case in point is the long lived and erroneous factoid that Al Gore "invented" the internet. Former Republican majority leader Dick Armey issued a press release making the false claim[3], and the press corps promptly copied it ad nauseum. Dispite considerable debunking, the lie proved debilitating to Gore's election chances. Fournier calls his biased reporting, "analysis", but is in reality a disservice. AP should be responsible for feeding the facts of a story to other news outlets as fast as humanly possible. US Person and others can do the analysis, and give AP credit for the facts.
[1] www.mediamatters.org/columns/200807220006
[2] www.politico.com, July 30, 2008
[3]Gore interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "Late Edition": "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our education system."
It is not Fournier's attempts at punchy prose that disturbs me, but his undisclosed overtures to right wing partisans. Karl Rove, former bunker propaganda minister, exchanged e mails with Fournier about the football/warrior hero, Pat Tillman who was shot down by his own comrades in Afganistan. Minister Rove asked, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this?" Fournier responded: "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight."[1] This expression of partisanship (sucking up?) during an election year is considered outside the bounds of maintaining journalistic neutrality. Even though Fournier initiated the email exchange, he attempted to blow it off as just a reporter doing his job. A closer look by watchdog Media Matter's Eric Boehlert revealed that Fournier did not write any artcles on the Tillman saga. He apparently used the story as cover for contacting Rove directly. Before Fournier returned to work for AP in 2007 after a failed attempt to launch a political blog, he was contacted by McBush's people about a campaign job. Fournier spoke about the job possibility with members of McCain’s inner circle, including political aides Mark Salter, John Weaver and Rick Davis [2]. His McBush love goes back to 2004 when he idolized the senator in print for his military service and declared without any support that McBush was the presidential choice of independents and Democrats. In a political system driven by mass media, slanted characterizations and unfair inaccuracies can be deadly. A case in point is the long lived and erroneous factoid that Al Gore "invented" the internet. Former Republican majority leader Dick Armey issued a press release making the false claim[3], and the press corps promptly copied it ad nauseum. Dispite considerable debunking, the lie proved debilitating to Gore's election chances. Fournier calls his biased reporting, "analysis", but is in reality a disservice. AP should be responsible for feeding the facts of a story to other news outlets as fast as humanly possible. US Person and others can do the analysis, and give AP credit for the facts.
[1] www.mediamatters.org/columns/200807220006
[2] www.politico.com, July 30, 2008
[3]Gore interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "Late Edition": "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our education system."
Sunday, August 24, 2008
'Big' Nancy Pelosi Gets the Drilling Bug
Update: 'Big' Nancy says she puts her money where her politics are because she has invested in independent oil man T. Boon Pickens' Clean Energy Fuels Corp. Based on required disclosure filings, the investment is less than $100,000 which for Nancy is chump change. It i equivalent to giving 4 minutes at the podium of the Democratic Convention to an unknown Stump Town venture capitalist who allegedly "specializes" in clean energy development. Because the free market cannot achieve social goals that we are in this dire strait. Somebody should tell the Speaker that natural gas (mostly methane, CH4) is a fossil fuel that when burned creates CO2. Wackydoodle sez: Nancy can light my fire, anytime!
Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced last week while on recess that she would allow some offshore drilling if action were also taken on alternative energy development. The compromise, also endorsed by Senator Obama, seems reasonable enough so it was immediately rejected by oil's man in the House, Minority Leader Boehner. The Speaker should know better, but politics is a game played while divorced from reality. The Energy Department's own studies show domestic offshore oil would have little or no impact on a price that is set in someplace like Djbouti. Ending speculation in oil commodities would have more effect on the price of oil than polluting our coasts. The spike in dollar value is primarily responsible for the recent oil price decline since it is a commodity priced internationally in dollars [chart]. What is driving the concession on oil drilling is political horse trading. One of the areas slated for exploration is off the the Virginia coast, and the bankrupt idea of more drilling is popular in the state. Democratic politicians are trying hard to turn Virginia blue. So away with a bipartisan moratorium that has been in place for twenty years to protect our coastlines from what Santa Barbara experienced in the sixties. Wackydoodle sez: Ole Virginy will not only be blue, but black and blue!
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Friday, August 22, 2008
'Toontime: Lesser Demons
Wackydoodle got it wrong, but then it is hard to see how the choice of Senator Joe Biden as the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate helps Obama win crucial swing states like Indiana or Virginia. Delaware is hardly in play, and the choice is a confession that Obama needs someone at his side with more foreign policy and national security experience than he has. Biden has been in the Senate for 36 years and chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On the negative side, Biden has a tendency to plant his own verbal minefields. He voted for the war in Iraq, claiming the United States had no choice but to eliminate Saddam Hussein. Then he expressed regret for his war vote while campaigning in the primaries. Biden has a major corporate supporter in MBNA, a Delaware based credit card company recently purchased by Bank of America (the company hired his son after law school). He voted with Republicans to pass a bankruptcy reform bill that favored credit card lenders by making it more difficult for debtors to qualify for relief. Biden has accepted over $5 million in donations from lobbyists while Obama has made a campaign issue of not accepting donations from registered federal lobbyists. Its not a perfect world, but Obama's pick sends a clear message: we got the beef!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Le Shorter: The Black Kettle
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The Obama Fade
Update: The Reuters/Zogby poll shows McBush taking a five-point lead (46-41) over his Democratic rival. That lead, perhaps most surprisingly, was due in large part to voters polled who gave the Arizona Republican the edge in handling the economy (Whaa?).
Wackydoodle sings: (to the tune of "Gary, Indiana") He's an Indianan, he's an Indianan, he's an Indianan, bye and bye....
Obama's eight-point lead in June has all but evaporated, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center, which said that 46 percent of voters now favored the Illinois senator over 43 percent for McCain. The swing states--CO, FL, IN, MI, MO, NC, NH, NM, NV, OH, VA--are even closer. A less than 2% change in these states will give McCain the 278 electorial votes needed for Bush's third term.
['toon credit: Sage Stossel]
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Obama's eight-point lead in June has all but evaporated, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center, which said that 46 percent of voters now favored the Illinois senator over 43 percent for McCain. The swing states--CO, FL, IN, MI, MO, NC, NH, NM, NV, OH, VA--are even closer. A less than 2% change in these states will give McCain the 278 electorial votes needed for Bush's third term.
['toon credit: Sage Stossel]
Dead Zones Multiply Worldwide
The journal Science published a report from Professor Robert Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science showing that the number of "dead zones" in coastal waters worldwide has increased by a third between 1995 and 2007. When scientists first described these areas of low oxygen or hypoxic waters in 1910 there were only four. Now there are 405 covering an area of 95,000 square miles. Perhaps the most well known is the one in the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi. It is the size of New Jersey. The largest is the Baltic Sea which entirely hypoxic year round. The main channel of Chesapeake Bay hypoxic in summertime. Only bacteria feeding on decomposing algae blooms in turn created by excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous can live in the zones. The nutrients causing the condition are primarily run-off from agricultural lands impregnated with chemical fertilizers. Dead zones kill and stress fish and other food species. Stripped bass in the Chesapeake suffer from bacterial infections due to the seasonal hypoxia which forces them to live in warmer surface waters away from the dead zone in the cooler bottom waters they prefer. Scientists estimate that the Bay looses about 5% of its food energy every year to hypoxic conditions.
Monday, August 18, 2008
The Foreigner, Obama
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[photo credit: ruins of Emperor Hadrian's wall built by the Romans to keep the northern barbarians at bay, BBC]
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Le Shorter: Living Together
October Surprise in August
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[1] President George Bush I recognized as legitimate the boarders of Russia before the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop accord of 1933 at the time of the Soviet Union's dissolution, thus making all questions of independence and soverignty of the Trans-Caucasus region matters of internal Russian affairs.
Friday, August 15, 2008
'Toontime: Listening to Georges
Wackydoodle sez: Bear huntin' with a borrowed switch! Just like his old man.*
* "There is another way for the bloodshed to stop: And that is, for the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people to take matters into their own hands and force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside and then comply with the United Nations' resolutions and rejoin the family of peace-loving nations." George H.W. Bush, Voice of America broadcast, 2/15/91
Thursday, August 14, 2008
For the Record with Joshua Green
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[photo: Hill knocks one back with the boys in Indiana, AP]
(Read the toxic dysfunction--"this circular firing squad"-- in her staffers' internal communications: www.theatlantic.com/doc/200808u/clinton-memos.)
Zimbabwe Fights Back
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Navy Compromises on Sonar Use
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[photo: SURTASS LFA array, U. of R.I.]
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The Russian Backyard
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Tuesday, August 12, 2008
A Victory for Earth
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[photo credit: Greenpeace]
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Convicted of Driving OBL
US Person thought he would be able to ignore the star chamber being held in Guantanamo, but the American Military Commission is such a blot on America's record of constitutional government and respect for individual rights that Salim Ahmed Hamdan's predictable conviction cannot be passed without comment. What is was surprising is that the verdict against Hamdan for aiding terrorism rendered by US military officers was split. Military men subject to the weighty influence of command and the extreme need for a vindicating result were not able to agree on the more serious charges facing Hamdan of conspiring to kill US soldiers . The sentence handed down, five and half years, when the prosecution asked for thirty years, reflects the serious problems with the case despite secret evidence, coercion, and self incriminating statements made by a defendant without benefit of the usual warnings. It really does not make common sense that simply driving a terrorist, even if that terrorist is the big cheese, should constitute a war crime. The Congressional Research Service in a report issued last year found no historical precedent for making the material support of terrorism a war crime. Apparently the officers sitting in judgment had similar problems with the concept. Hamdan has already been detained for five years and will get credit for that time toward his sentence. But in the bizarre world of the "Global War Against Terror" he may not go free in six months because he has been designated an "enemy combatant". Only if a Pentagon status review board determines he is no longer a danger can he go free. In the meantime his conviction will no doubt be appealed to the US Court of Appeals as allowed by the Supreme Court in Hamden v. Rumsfeld (2006). This Catch 22 situation exemplifies perfectly how ill conceived and poorly executed the tribunal system is. As Senator John Kerry has noted, the US justice system is perfectly capable of trying these individuals and doing so in a manner that protects our system of government and respects the rule of law. Allowing a military commission to try suspected terrorists focuses international attention on the ambiguous legal position of the detainees[1] and elevates their brand of violent jihad to an undeserved status of a legitimate military force too dangerous to be brought to justice using traditional standards of due process. The US military can accomplish many missions, but is the last institution that should be asked to mete out justice to an international criminal conspiracy.
[1] In Hamdan the Supreme Court ruled, contrary to the position of the governement, that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to members of Al-Qaeda. It stated that detainees were entitled to a minimum of legal protections, and should be afforded "all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples". A defendant being free of torture, coercion, and self incrimination is recognized as fundamental in any criminal law process.
[1] In Hamdan the Supreme Court ruled, contrary to the position of the governement, that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to members of Al-Qaeda. It stated that detainees were entitled to a minimum of legal protections, and should be afforded "all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples". A defendant being free of torture, coercion, and self incrimination is recognized as fundamental in any criminal law process.
Friday, August 08, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Boehner Makes a Boner
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Not every oil sponsored politician is doing his fair share of talking to the walls. “Republicans will not rest until we have an honest, up-or-down vote on the American Energy Act,” John Boehner (R-OH) wrote in a memo to his colleagues. “To that end, we request that you contact the Whip’s Office and indicate any time you may have available to come to Capitol in the coming weeks." Mr. Boehner, House Minority Leader, was around for a fake House session last Friday, but hasn't been seen on Capitol Hill since. Newt Gingrich had to fill in for him. What is the patriotic Mr. Boehner up to you ask? Eighteen holes of golf, of course. That's him showing off his form at Wetherington Golf & Country Club in West Chester, Ohio where he shot an 85. He also showed up at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio for a tournament. The Muirfield course was designed by the 'Golden Bear' Jack Nicklaus, don't you know. I wonder if his golf cart is gasoline powered?
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
The Smoking Gun?
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[photo: a king vulture mugs for the camera (AP)]
This Maverick Will Not Go Quietly
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May I direct your attention to the case at bar. Senator Chambers is a graduate of Creighton University School of Law but does not practice the profession. Nevertheless, he has no qualms about suing the largest authority in the universe, God. That is not a saint's halo around the Senator's head but an electric fan. He should perhaps wish it were. Chambers is an atheist in a very pious place. He routinely absents himself from the prayer that begins each session of the state's unicameral. The 1966 Academy Award winning documentary, A Time for Burning, shows the young barber telling Rev. Luther Youngdahl that his "Jesus is contaminated". In September last year, Senator Chambers filed a case in Douglas County for an injunction against God for various perceived malfeasances practiced on the human race. The district court judge assigned is prone to dismiss the suit for lack of service of process on the respondent. Never one at a loss for a legal argument, Mr. Chambers has asked the judge to take judicial notice of the defendant's divine powers of omniscience and omnipresence even in Douglas County, Nebraska. Of course by filing the case, Mr. Chambers is making a point with wit and humor, as is his usual style. Exhibiting the typical reticence of prairie folk, the judge has taken the issue of God's right to due process under advisement. Whatever the ruling politics in Nebraska will never be the same without Senator Ernie Chambers, the "angriest black man in Nebraska".
[photo credit: AP]
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
The Obama Shimmy
Update: Standing in the dark chamber and lauding their own perceived cleverness is how House Republicans ended this House session before the five week summer recess--a comic absurdity only appropriate to Washington, DC. These conservative legislators who do stupid human tricks for their big oil sponsors[1] could give a rolling donut about gas prices. Their only goal is to keep the oil profit bonanza going. They blocked legislation to require oil companies to diligently explore and develop the offshore leases already in their hands. Exploration is expensive and takes time, so a majority of the existing offshore leases have not been developed. If the conservatives were really interested in finding more supplies of oil, they would support legislation that gives companies an incentive to explore. The minority has blocked eight different energy bills intended to create alternative energy sources and improve energy efficiency. The only drilling that might be productive is in the heads of these demigogues to release some of their natural gas.
[1] House Minority Whip Roy Blount (R-Mo) has received nearly $100,000 in oil company contributions with $20,000 from Chevron alone.
Oil is about $125.oo a barrel, down over $20 a barrel from it's recent all time high. But Americans do not see a significant decline in gas prices at the pump. The sad truth that John McBush does not want you to know is that the international oil companies literally have us over their barrel. As long as we are totally dependent on their product to run our economy, they can play all the price games they want and nobody can stop them. Blaming Barack Obama for gas price blackmail is a cheap political trick. The American people should just say "no" to the oil oligopoly, and declare their energy independence by demanding that the next administration engage in an all out effort to develop alternative energy sources that are clean and can fuel our transportation needs. Barack Obama offers such a plan, but the opposition from the Republicans is so intense that he shifted his previous unqualified support for the offshore drilling moratorium while campaigning in Florida. AP says Obama told a Palm Beach newspaper, "If, in order to get that [a comprehensive energy policy] passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage — I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done." The only thing more drilling on the Outer Continental shelf is guaranteed to do is increase oil company profits[1] and oil
spills. Industry experts admit that any oil or gas from the OCS is 10 years or more[2] away from entering the nation's fuel supply. By that time our increasing demand will have out stripped the dwindling supply of oil including the OCS. We use 25% of the world's oil, but we only have 2.6% of reserves. Do the math. We cannot drill our way out. Wackydoodle sez: "What we need heah, is a working majority."
[1]since BushCo entered office in 2001, gas prices have doubled and oil companies have made more than half a trillion dollars in profit. Exxon-Mobil announced its second quarter profits will be up 14% to $11.68 billion, the largest profit ever made by an American flag corporation.
[2] An OCS access case was prepared by MMS to examine the potential impacts of the lifting of Federal restrictions on access to the OCS in the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. Leasing would begin no sooner than 2012, and production would not be expected to start before 2017. Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/otheranalysis/ongr.html
photo: Mississippi river barge sinks in collision with ship, and spills half a million gallons of fuel oil closing the river to traffic (AP)
[1] House Minority Whip Roy Blount (R-Mo) has received nearly $100,000 in oil company contributions with $20,000 from Chevron alone.
Oil is about $125.oo a barrel, down over $20 a barrel from it's recent all time high. But Americans do not see a significant decline in gas prices at the pump. The sad truth that John McBush does not want you to know is that the international oil companies literally have us over their barrel. As long as we are totally dependent on their product to run our economy, they can play all the price games they want and nobody can stop them. Blaming Barack Obama for gas price blackmail is a cheap political trick. The American people should just say "no" to the oil oligopoly, and declare their energy independence by demanding that the next administration engage in an all out effort to develop alternative energy sources that are clean and can fuel our transportation needs. Barack Obama offers such a plan, but the opposition from the Republicans is so intense that he shifted his previous unqualified support for the offshore drilling moratorium while campaigning in Florida. AP says Obama told a Palm Beach newspaper, "If, in order to get that [a comprehensive energy policy] passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage — I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done." The only thing more drilling on the Outer Continental shelf is guaranteed to do is increase oil company profits[1] and oil
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[1]since BushCo entered office in 2001, gas prices have doubled and oil companies have made more than half a trillion dollars in profit. Exxon-Mobil announced its second quarter profits will be up 14% to $11.68 billion, the largest profit ever made by an American flag corporation.
[2] An OCS access case was prepared by MMS to examine the potential impacts of the lifting of Federal restrictions on access to the OCS in the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. Leasing would begin no sooner than 2012, and production would not be expected to start before 2017. Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/otheranalysis/ongr.html
photo: Mississippi river barge sinks in collision with ship, and spills half a million gallons of fuel oil closing the river to traffic (AP)
The Kahzak "Miracle"
One of the worst wounds inflicted on Earth by man was the draining of the Aral Sea. The Soviet Union literally drained the sea by damming two major rivers that feed it for irrigation of cotton and rice crops in the 1960s. The volume of the sea decreased by three-quarters, devastating the regional ecology and local economies dependant on fishing. Kazakhstan, which borders the sea with Uzbekistan, announced that it's effort to restore the sea's northern portion is starting to show results. The program was launched in 2001 by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and is supported by the World Bank. The $260 million rescue program has increased the North Aral Sea's surface by about 30 percent since the last assessment was conducted in 2003, according to a statement last Wednesday by the Kazakh Foreign Ministry and reported by ENS. Its depth has increased too, from
an average 30 meters to 42 meters. To increase the amount of water flowing into the inland sea, Kazakhstan built a dam separating the northern portion of the sea from the larger, saltier and polluted southern portion. Because of improved conditions, fish are naturally returning and being reintroduced. Recently there was only one species of fish remaining in the depleted sea. Now there are fifteen. With more fish, fishermen are also returning, and there are plans to revive the sturgeon fishery. Even the local climate is improving, with fewer sandstorms and moderating temperatures. Officials can now begin diverting water to the Sea's still blighted southern reaches. The Aral Sea recovery project is entering its second phase focused on the revitalization of the dry former seabed with the cultivation of the native shrub saxaul. Saxaul is a shrub indigenous to the arid salt deserts of Central Asia. Reaching heights of three to 10 meters, its thick bark acts as a water storage organ and provides protection from wind erosion. The Kazakh program proves that if given a chance, nature will revive despite man's ruthless exploitation.
[photo credit: World Bank]
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[photo credit: World Bank]
Monday, August 04, 2008
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