Wednesday, July 30, 2008

European Delegates Preparing for Sustainable Cities
Comment on Above from Oilempire.us
More Realistic Efforts on State/Local Level
Peak Oil Challenges for Local Governments
A How-To Book on Everything from Fly Traps to Water Filters
Khurais Oil Field Journal Brings Doubts on Saudi Reserves to Surface
"...It was impossible to know if the site had been prepared for the journalists’ tour.
...microscopic robots swimming through rock pores deep underground..."
What will that do to the EROEI?
Lieberman: US May Be Attacked on 2009
Military Exercise in Pacific Targets China
Russia Presses New York Bank Over Money Laundering
No Ice at the North Pole
The National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility: Issues for Congress
Using Cops, Paramedics and Civilians to Gather Intelligence
It moves the police officer away from his core function, to enforce the law, into being an intelligence officer gathering information about people," said Mike German, a 16-year FBI agent now advising the American Civil Liberties Union.
Mike's Letter in Salon

J.O.

16 comments:

businessman said...

Thanks again, Mike, for writing another letter. I just love it when your keyboard trigger fingers get itchy...;)

USA Today finally wrote a front page article on how suburbs and residential development are going to change as a result of rising energy prices. This is obviously just the start, but at least they're acknowledging the beginning of the shift that's going to happen:

href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-29-nosale_N.htm?POE=click-refer&imw=Y" www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-29-nosale_N.htm?POE=click-refer&imw=Y

In addition, CBS News reported that in a survey of over 900 Coldwell Banker agents, 78% of the agents said their clients in the suburbs are now considering moving closer in to the city.

businessman said...

My link to that USA Today article didn't show up right the first time. Here it is again:

www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-29-nosale_N.htm?POE=click-refer&imw=Y

Rice Farmer said...

Big cities are unsustainable no matter what they do, and will shrink considerably. Once trucked delivery of food is reduced, there will be mass starvation in the big cities and also a mass exodus. It's sickening just to think about how many innocent people are going to starve because our shortsighted leaders built an unsustainable system.

Cops, paramedics, civilians gather intelligence -- Here we can see the development of the informant society, built on the model provided by countries such as North Korea. The idea is not merely to gather information, but to keep people in line with psychology. Since people don't know who's spying on them, they have to suspect virtually everyone. This deters people from talking with others to plan any kind of activity which might be considered "anti-government."

Rice Farmer said...

New article on Oil Drum Europe: "Mainstream Dutch analysts foresee oil supply constrained world"

The report sees a maximum supply of 100-105 mbd, and a floor price of $110/bbl.

Tyler Havlin said...

More Peak Oil Evidence: Exxon Production (XOM) Falls 7.8%, Most In Decade

http://www.clusterstock.com/2008/7/more-peak-oil-evidence-exxon-production-xom-falls-7-8-most-in-decade

Exxon Mobil reported Q2 earnings this morning, posting $11.7 billion in net income ($2.22 per share) on $138.1 billion in revenue (up 40% year-over-year). Though profits were up 14% year-over-year, they missed Street estimates by 26 cents.

More worrisome: production fell 7.8%, the biggest decline in at least a decade.

Bloomberg: Production tumbled 7.8 percent after assets were seized in Venezuela, Nigerian workers went on strike and record prices triggered contract clauses that give oil-rich governments a bigger share of output.

CEO Rex Tillerson said that Exxon is spending $52 million a day looking for new fields. Crude prices may have fallen off their peak earlier this month, but if companies like Exxon continue to fail to increase production, it's likely that we'll be heading back to that peak (and beyond) very soon. Unless the global economy collapses.

Rice Farmer said...

Russia takes control of Turkmen (world?) gas

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JG30Ag01.html

A peon said...

Anthrax scientist commits suicide as FBI closes in

businessman said...

That anthrax story made it into the mainstream media today. To me the strange thing is if he was the guy who did it, why did he only choose to send anthrax to the politicians who were against the Patriot Act? Was he that much in favor of the Act himself? Or was he being ordered to do it by someone else?

A peon said...

Here is an update on the anthrax story.

Dead Army vaccine scientist eyed in anthrax probe

Anonymous said...

Alex Constantine dissects the anthrax cover-up now in progress...

Project Anthrax and the Cover-Up (part 1)

Exxon Mobile admits spending millions funding climate skeptics and deniers to obfuscate the reality of global climate change: Sydney Morning Harold.

Gee, really?

Rice Farmer said...

I haven't found anything about this in English-language sources yet, but today's paper has a front-page story about a serious shortage of bunker fuel for Japan's fishing fleet. A national fishing cooperative whose membership is tuna fishers -- who just happen to be staying in port now to "allow tuna stocks to recover" -- sells fuel to its members, but according to this report, internal documents reveal that the supply of bunker fuel from refiners has been down since January. In June the shortage of fuel available to the coop was so acute that it could cover only 32% of demand. Many fishers have depended on the spot market for cheap fuel, but that market has dried up, forcing them to seek fuel from fishing cooperatives. Japan's largest national fishing cooperative, the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations, finds itself in the same situation.

Meanwhile, refiners claim they are supplying the same amount of bunker fuel as last year.

Several years ago, when FTW was still publishing, I sent news reports about the first bankruptcies among Japanese deep-sea tuna operations due to fuel costs. The situation continues to deteriorate.

Narender Netha said...

When North pole is devoid of ice, many companies will go to find deposits over there. That may defer peak oil for the moment. But it comes at the cost of lives because now who owns the North pole without any obligation to other countries?

businessman said...

It's interesting how the media is now all over this anthrax story. But where have they been these past 7 years? If someone sending anthrax to members of Congress isn't a story that should be followed-up on constantly until the people responsible are finally convicted, then what does constitute such a story? This is another example of our national media just being a joke whose purpose is to keep our attention on what serves the people who really control us.

Even though the media has also told us that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for 9/11, they don't feel it's important enough to put any pressure on anyone to find him.

A peon said...

This pisses me off:

Dolphin lagoon deaths a mystery for feds

"Feds study 35 cases since May"

Rice Farmer said...

The price of gas in China

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-price-of-gas-in-china

businessman said...

Here's an article indicating that the National Rifle Association may be planting spies in organizations that advocate gun control:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/06/national/main4324066.shtml