McCain Asserts He Could Beat Obama
Looking beyond the drama of the "surprise" upsets in Iowa, the rise of John McCain is the trend to watch. The day after the Iowa caucus, the top picture on the front page of the New York Times was not of the winner from either party but of McCain whose foreign policy experience will be touted as chaos spreads in Pakistan and beyond. The CIA torture chaos also seems to cry out for someone whose c.v. will cast America in a more humane light. J.O.
Atrocity-Linked Advisors to Democratic Frontrunners
Obama as Fraud
Important Links on Pakistan
Superbugs
Shock Doctrine
Interesting insights into the origins and psychology of "shock and awe" among other phenomena. The wizard behind this particular curtain turns out to be Milton Friedman.
What Will We Eat as the Oil Runs Out?
The Bush Regime: A Prognosis
"....... In order to provide marginally more fuel to the over-consuming industrialized nations, untold millions will starve in the third world, in addition to those untold millions that are already starving. The marginal energy gain is so small by comparison, that we must accept that the biofuels agenda is primarily about genocide. However when we begin reading about new famines breaking out, perhaps in Brazil where biofuels are now going into massive production, the headlines will blame it on droughts, or crop failures, or some other excuse, as they always do. We will meanwhile feel a ‘green glow’ every time we fill up our Prius with biofuels, unaware of what damage we are doing. And perhaps we’ll donate to Oxfam, or adopt some third world child and send them letters."
Arctic Warming Faster Above Ground Level
Clearcutting the Climate Conference
Military Planning for the End of the Grid
Money as Debt (video)
Iran to Open Oil Bourse During 10-Day Dawn Ceremony
With the arrival of Peak Oil, the curtain has closed on Act 1 of the drama Petroleum Man. What will happen in Act 2? Chekhov said, "If there's a gun on the wall at the beginning of the play, by the end it must go off." In the world's nuclear arsenal are many guns on the wall. If life copies art, will there be an Act 3 in which the players, having learned their lesson the hard way, live sustainably? To explore these and other questions... FTW's Act 2 Blog. Read, comment, take heart! Orkin
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32 comments:
What happened to Michael Kane's article? Was the FTW site hacked?
Merrill: Recession is already here
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/01/merrill-recessi.html
Pentagon Releases Video of Iranian Boats Confronting US Warships
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=26424
The incident, which President Bush denounced Tuesday as a "provocative act," was videotaped by a crew member on the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper, one of the three ships that faced down five Iranian boats in a flare-up early Sunday, the AP reports.
Matthew Simmons: Another Nail in the Coffin of the Case Against Peak Oil (PDF)
http://www.simmonsco-intl.com/files/Another%20Nail%20in%20the%20Coffin.pdf
Great read.
US EIA raises 2008 OPEC output to 32.58 mln bpd
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKWAT00865420080108?rpc=401&
It will be up to OPEC producers to keep pace with rising oil demand in 2008, with non-OPEC supply projected to come in lower than expected, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday.
In 2008, OPEC-12 producers are expected to pump 32.58 million barrels per day, the EIA said in its monthly oil market report. That's up from the 31.74 mln bpd in the EIA's December 2007 forecast.
"World oil demand will continue to grow faster than oil supply outside of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 2008, leaving OPEC and inventories to offset the upward pressure on prices," the EIA said.
Canadian oil production edges up; exports soar
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=223549
Canadian oil production increased slightly in October compared with the year before and exports rose considerably, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
The government agency said Canadian firms produced 13.8 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent hydrocarbons in October 2007, up 0.6% from October 2006. Exports, meanwhile, were up 5.7%, accounting for 65.3% of total production.
Nigerian militants prepare big oil attack - sources
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN845339.html
Armed groups in Nigeria's oil producing south are building up weapons and supplies for a major attack on an oil facility in the world's eight largest exporter, militant and security sources said on Tuesday.
Personal bankruptcy jumps 96% in Orlando The mortgage crisis is affecting borrowers at all income levels.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-bankrupt0908jan09,0,1390119.story
Nearly 7,060 debtors declared insolvency in Orlando's federal bankruptcy court in 2007, up 96 percent from 2006, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida reported.
Fueled by the mortgage crisis, personal bankruptcy is reaching all levels of the income spectrum -- from affluent professionals to lower-income subprime borrowers, bankruptcy lawyers said.
"I have doctors, Realtors, mortgage brokers and all kinds of people who had rental properties who are in trouble now," said Andrew Baron, a consumer-bankruptcy lawyer in Orlando. "These are people who never dreamed they'd be facing this kind of situation. And they'll resist until the bitter end before they file bankruptcy."
Mexico's Pemex stopping US West Coast oil exports
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN0963568320080110
Mexican state oil monopoly Pemex will stop shipping crude oil to the U.S. West Coast from February due in part to a shortage of infrastructure at Salina Cruz port, the company said on Wednesday.
Pemex was only shipping a tiny 20,000 barrels per day of oil to the U.S. Pacific coast out of its total daily exports of around 1.7 million barrels, but will now focus on exports to the U.S. Gulf coast and smaller shipments to Europe and Asia.
Pemex said the decision was made because of limited storage space at Salina Cruz, on the Pacific coast, and bottlenecks with transporting crude oil there from Dos Bocas on the Gulf of Mexico coast where much the country's oil is produced.
North Sea Brent Oil Daily Shipments Will Fall 8% in February
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aENGcI4sPhm0&refer=energy
Daily shipments of North Sea Brent crude, part of the price benchmark for almost two-thirds of the world's oil, will fall by about 8 percent in February.
Tankers are set to load 184,552 barrels a day of Brent crude in February, down from 200,645 barrels a day scheduled for January, according to the loading program of field operator Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's largest oil company.
A total of 5.35 million barrels will be shipped next month, compared with 6.22 million barrels in January.
from "roberto in sonora"
All these posts are potentially Great News! Permaculture will have more opportunities to improve food production and sequester CO2. Gloom and Doom depends on static people, robots to toil in the factories owned by the man.
Not all People are not robots, they are dynamic.
This simple truth will make ALL the difference.
http://network76.com/ click to listen
Permaculture.com/
ush2.com/
robertoL
i forwarded your other message but i was unable to contact you on the site you gave
Today the Japanese media announced that the Ministry of Agriculture will submit a bill to promote the growing of fuel crops on unused farmland. Of course growing crops for biofuels is dumb, but after the initial laugh I had a second thought: It's known that the Ministry of Agriculture is concerned about Japan's high dependence on food imports and the decline of Japanese agriculture. Last year they fed the media a story about how much each Japanese would get to eat per day if food imports stopped (answer: precious little). So I suspect that they see this as a way to get idle and weed-overgrown farmland back into production now, meaning it will be ready to produce food when the crunch comes. We shall see.
In a related story, today the Petroleum Association of Japan announced the results of a study they had commissioned to Nomura Research on whether biofuels are effective in mitigating greenhouse emissions. The short answer is "no."
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1702559,00.html?cnn=yes
finally talking about the Real ID act that is only a little on 128 days away...
Gold Hits Record $900 an Ounce
I believe Sibel.
She has finally spoken out publicly, and it's a doozy. During her time translating after 9-11, she was privy to nuclear proliferation activities involving #3 at the State Department, Marc Grossman, and #2 at the Department of Defense, Gordon England.
Reportage on her original Interview with the London Times.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t...ast/article3137695.ece
Commentary by Justin Raimondo at Antiwar.com
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12166
http://www.latimes.com/news/na...ry?coll=la-home-nation
/\ one part of the government sniffs for signs of nuclear
weapons,
\/ while another works to do the Devil knows What.
more commentary on Sibel's London Times interview at Alternet
http://www.alternet.org/story/72851/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...ds-speaks_b_80077.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff01072008.html
"The Sunday Times reports that Edmonds, whose whistleblowing efforts have been studiously ignored by what passes for the news media in American news media, approached the Rupert Murdoch-owned British paper a month ago after reading a report there that an Al-Qaeda leader had been training some of the 9-11 hijackers at a base in Turkey, a US NATO alley, under the noses of the Turkish military."
Mike gets some love from OpEd News:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/opedne_bill_dou_080110_what_do_a_renowned_9.htm
TSA searches, detains 5 year old because his name was on no-fly list
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/09/tsa-searches-detains.html
Citi looks to secure further $14bn in new capital
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c6eb81e0-c083-11dc-b0b7-0000779fd2ac.html
Citigroup is putting the final touches on its second major capital-raising effort in as many months, seeking up to $14bn (€9.5bn) from Chinese, Kuwaiti and public market investors, people familiar with the negotiations say.
Under the proposal being discussed, the bulk of the money – roughly $9bn – would come from China.
Your comment hit me right between the eyes, it's SO true, and it's what gives me faith as well (and thank you for saying it):-
"Not all People are not robots, they are dynamic. This simple truth will make ALL the difference."
And co-incidentally, in that spirit, I emailed Tim Bennet recently (director of "Life at the End of Empire"), as I was deeply touched by this recent article of his on Carolyn Baker's site:-
http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/258/
. . . and I shared my thoughts with him about the power of truth and language (which seems "Magical," but which I'm sure has deep roots in a physical reality we're only just beginning to grasp). And I don't think Tim would mind me sharing part of his reply (I thought it was brilliant):-
"When I stay in the rational I find no answers, no guidance, no satisfaction, no possibility. When I add the non-rational, the spiritual, the magical, the rest of the real, I find that doors open and energy flows and clarity rises and meaning and purpose fill my heart. Not bad for a little two-step around scientific materialism, eh?"
And as a footnote to the above, I can't help but mention the writings of Fritjof
Capra ("The Tao of Physics" & "The Turning Point"), who has been one major influence on my thinking (amongst other great writers and thinkers, like Mike Ruppert for instance):-
http://www.fritjofcapra.net/
About that article, "The Bush Regime: A Prognosis," all I can say is if that's the case, the-powers-that-be are dumb (or maybe just desperate) - because they obviously haven't read their Richard Heinberg (though apparently Clinton has). Bio-fuels just won't fly (pun intended), for the same reason there will always be some oil left in the ground - e.g. getting energy takes energy, and when you use more than you gain in the process there's no point. Quite apart from the horrific consequences of turning crops into fuel (which I'm doesn't faze the psychopaths running the circus), their plan, if this is the case, is just plain impractical and unworkable. I'm reminded of addicts desperate for the next shot, any form of clear thinking goes right out the window. Though if their plans of "War for Oil," and their globally toted nuclear energy renaissance are anything to go by, ultimate practicality, sustainability and just plain common sense are NOT on their agenda ("Thermodynamics, a dwindling reource, EROEI - what's that?"). Just because these people have a large amount of power at their fingertips, we shouldn't confuse that with them actually having any brains - it just means they can fuck up on a bigger and more immediate scale. And further still, these genuises should remember that they're hopelessly embedded in, and completely personally dependent on, a highly complex global society that takes trucks loads of very intelligent people to put together. It includes everything from their open heart surgery to their shoelaces. Maybe in their delusion and grandiosity, they've forgotten that? If they're that intent in on ripping apart the fabric on such a grand scale, they're complete dumb-asses if they think they'll be spared.
Whoops, my first draft of the below contained some typos - can you use this one (obviously, without this preamble), if you decide to publish it:-
About that article, "The Bush Regime: A Prognosis," all I can say is if that's the case, the-powers-that-be are dumb (or maybe just desperate) - because they obviously haven't read their Richard Heinberg (though apparently Clinton has). Bio-fuels just won't fly (pun intended), for the same reason there will always be some oil left in the ground - e.g. getting energy takes energy, and when you use more than you gain in the process there's no point. Quite apart from the horrific consequences of turning crops into fuel (which I'm sure doesn't faze the psychopaths running the circus), their plan, if this is the case, is just plain impractical and unworkable. I'm reminded of addicts desperate for the next shot, any form of clear thinking goes right out the window. Though if their plans of "War for Oil," and their globally toted nuclear energy renaissance are anything to go by, ultimate practicality, sustainability and just plain common sense are NOT on their agenda ("Thermodynamics, a dwindling reource, EROEI - what's that?"). Just because these people have a large amount of power at their fingertips, we shouldn't confuse that with them actually having any brains - it just means they can fuck up on a bigger and more immediate scale. And further still, these genuises should remember that they're hopelessly embedded in, and completely personally dependent on, a highly complex global society that takes trucks loads of very intelligent people to put together. It includes everything from their open heart surgery to their shoelaces. Maybe in their delusion and grandiosity, they've forgotten that? If they're that intent on ripping apart the fabric on such a grand scale, they're complete dumb-asses if they think they'll be spared.
EROI? Corn has a conservative return of between 30 and 70 more energy than is put into it. The people pushing the old "Corn is negative EROI" myth were on the payroll of Mobil or are hacks working for the American Petroleum Institute. The API is hardly a place where competition is encouraged.
Corn is one of the worst possible crops to make Ethanol, that is why The API hacks used it. There are varieties of Fodder beets that can make 3 to 4 times more Ethanol per acre than Corn, and still return residue to feed livestock as well.
How many know that Prohibition was shoved through a hard drinking CONgress with a huge bribe paid to the Woman's Christian Temperance League by none other than that b*st*rd price fixer John D. Rockefeller who wanted to make a waste product called Gasoline that he could not sell for much into something that he could make a swell profit on if only he could destroy the demon rum, and every still on every farm in the country?
Henry Ford sold dual fuel vehicles for good reason: There were more stills than gas stations, until Prohibition and the first bumper crop of Criminal elements could also Bless America.
Remember: If there are no alternatives to petroleum, we must sacrifice some our children on the Altar of The Military Industrial Educational Medical Complex via War in the places where Oil must be acquired (stolen)
If we buy that Lie, then Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld should be Leaders for Life, and lets get on with debating how wonderful the Seahawks played last year.
Otherwise: let's open our eyes for the first time in a long time and read "Alcohol can be a Gas" by David Blume available at http://ush2.com/ or listen to David on my audio server at http://network76.com/ (Winamp or VLC media player advised.)
There is one plan David mentions that could replace all our transport fuel needs without taking any prime Farmland used for vegetables, corn, soy etc.
All one needs is 1.5% of the worst land around. Even empty gravel pits, certain mine tailing piles, flood plains too close to the river to build homes on, etc. aprox. 6300 acres in each US county devoted to feeding primary treated sewage to Cattails. Cattails are very high in Carbohydrates, which can be made today into Ethanol without any increase in technology. 2500 gallons per acre, and 3x that in methane from lowly cattails and the primary treated sewage we currently dump into the river.
The yield could be higher than 50 billion gallons of Ethanol fuel and 100 million gallons of CNG equivalent (methane) almost exactly what US domestic and commercial transportation needs are.
All this would cost far less than 2 years of the war on some terrorists and we would have true Energy Independence.
We would also absorb the nitrates and phosphates in sewage and clean up a lot of rivers and delta areas where rivers empty into dead zone areas of ocean due to that nitrate pollution.
But that is not all: Each ton of residue from distillation has animal feed value for livestock or fishery use. -So much for the myth that some people will starve if we make fuel off the land.
The question is what kind of land, and what crop grows best for fuel?
We have been lead to ask the wrong questions!
Don't have enough land?
Even Japan could be energy indy by farming kelp and fermenting and distilling Ethanol from that kelp.
I feel the WRONG question, leading to the WRONG assumption has been left on our doorstep. The problem with agriculture is monoculture.
You can have more food production and sequester CO2 in the soil using Permaculture, ending up with more food and more people involved in agriculture in a healthy way. The inputs needed to grow great food, and have by products like Ethanol are not an either-or proposition.
Check out http://permaculture.com/
I had been resisting the urge to put up a blog for some time. Finally realized I was hiding my Light under a basket. Why? Still have not figured that out...
http://roberto-de-sonora.blogspot.com/
Roberto, you may want to read Richard Heinberg on the matter of bio-fuels and EROEI - as well as Mike Ruppert, or are they both included in your attack on anyone who doesn't share your optimism on this matter? Here's a quote from Mike (with which I heartily agree):-
"Painstakingly and for about three years now, FTW has explained, documented, researched and proven that any notion of replacing oil with biodiesel substitutes is a waste of topsoil, food, water and energy. It all comes back to the one single factor (more than any other) that investors, corporations and politicians seem to have a hard time understanding: Energy Return On Energy Invested. In the meantime, Archer Daniels Midland laughs all the way to the bank. With a price to earnings (P/E) ratio of 17:1, every dollar of net profit thrown into their coffers by politicians or investment advisors selling the snake oil of alternative fuels generates $17 in stock value which ADM will happily sell off before all markets succumb to Peak Oil. That $17 came out of your pocket whether you invested or not.
Food is not a fuel.
The weak hearted, those in denial, will plaintively whine that surely biodiesel has a place. Yes, it will have a place as a last ditch life-saving fuel substitute on a small scale when net energy doesn't matter as compared to saving a life or powering a generator to keep people from freezing. It will have a place on local farms where there is a real surplus of waste that is not needed to be returned to the topsoil for mulching and regeneration; but then, only as long as government subsidies for crops make it profitable for farmers to burn crops as the world goes hungry. It will have a place only so long as the plant matter doesn't have to be transported (by truck and/or rail) using the real stuff.
In short, biodiesel, from an economic or energy efficiency standpoint, will never be anything more than a last-ditch, stopgap, emergency measure to help small local communities. It is not sustainable. The sooner we burn out the lame excuses that justify societal and cultural denial and inaction, the sooner we come to grips with the imminent peril of Peak Oil and start to do the only things that can be really be done: reducing consumption, halting growth, and powering down. – MCR]"
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/011606_world_stories.shtml
Referring again to "The Bush Regime: A Prognosis":-
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7693
I was horrified to read an article that backs up the basic premise of that article, as I was hoping the f**k wits would at least have the brains to understand EROEI. Or maybe they do, and this is just another scam to hoodwink investors, as we switch from an increasing oil supply to a decreasing one (14th Jan 2008):-
"In a stunning announcement at the opening of the Detroit Motor Show yesterday, GM's chairman and chief executive officer, Rick Wagoner, said ethanol was an important interim solution to the demand for oil, until battery technology gave electric cars the range of petrol-powered cars."
http://www.energybulletin.net/39096.html
http://www.adrugwarcarol.com/
Arrogance?
http://serioussoundbytes.blogspot.com/2007/12/assassination-politics-part-23.html
http://www.freedomscribe.com/?q=node/25
http://www.energybulletin.net/39096.html
The above link contains lies, or errors: 100% Ethanol engines can be made 45% thermal efficient, while pump gas engine is never better than 20% efficient.
People misunderstand or are being deceived that because gasoline has more BTU per gallon than Ethanol that that equates to better MPG.
It isn't true. Ethanol does better in practice.
The reason Ethanol does better is O2 is contained in the fuel. Light Piston powered Aircraft operating above 10,000 feet and higher get better mileage than av gas in the same aircraft. This was proved by retired astronaut Gordon Cooper decades ago.
The frequent winner in the Shell Eco marathon is usually an Ethanol powered vehicle.
http://www.shell.com/static/eco-marathon-en/downloads/sem_results/Nogaro_May_2006/results_combustion_engine_2006.pdf
They placed 1st. and 4th in 2006. We will see if Shell allows Ethanol vehicles to compete in the future.
Here is more info worth reading.
http://journeytoforever.org/ethanol_energy.html
BTW, I have a friend in Tucson who owns a 2007 gm SUV Tahoe and it gets equal mpg running on E-85 or pump gas.
You will see Ethanol power Indy cars this year. Watch and see if they travel a bit farther than they used to on Methanol.
Environmentally, Ethanol is the safest fuel to use, far safer than Methanol or Pump Gas, in respect to water table, air, etc.
A buck a gallon, no yeast Ma!
http://www.wired.com/cars/energy/news/2008/01/ethanol23
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/1/23/125443/537
More info on understanding Polyculture or Permaculture
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