Wednesday, December 24, 2008

A CHRISTMAS EVE MESSAGE -- MY FAVORITE SPIRITUAL PASSAGE

[This post is dedicated to our regular poster RanD... You knew I had this already. But you just say it so much better than I do sometimes.]

Throughout out man's history as one major epoch passed and a new one emerged, mankind's religions and interpretations of God have changed dramatically. But did God itself change? By definition that is impossible. This isn't the quote that's coming but another of my favorite spiritual writers, a guy by the name of Joel Goldsmith, once offered a definition of God as something that is self-created and self-sustaining... unto infinity. He told the tale of a nuclear
physicist who had just presented a theorem demonstrating the everything in the universe was a form of hydrogen -- one proton and one electron. Ipso facto: there was no place in the universe where God wasn't. Now compare that with John, Chapter1...

Religions follow business models just like businesses do. Christianity, since around 300 AD anyway, has had the most "successful" business model and has helped shape every aspect of our lives, especially, business, finance and commerce; infinite expansion, capitalism, slavery and relentless population growth.

I think it inevitable that all religions are facing great challenges at the moment; some much worse than others. I think Buddhism and Taoism are probably most immune from this because they incorporate every challenge we see today in one way or another. The Indian parable
of the four blind men and the elephant is apropos here. -- Four blind men come across an elephant. One grabs the trunk and argues, "An elephant is very like a snake!" One grabs the ear and says, "No! An elephant is very like a leaf!" The next one grabs a leg and proclaims, "You fools! An elephant is like a tree." The last grabs the tail and proclaims, "I must kill all you infidels, "An elephant is exactly like a rope!"... In the meantime the elephant just stands there waiting for
someone's consciousness to expand. For the record, I believe that Christ, Mohammed, Isaiah, Buddha and Lao Tze were all prophets -- among others -- who in their lifetimes achieved enlightenment in some form. I believe that all of mankind is being challenged to do the same thing. Every individual is being held accountable for its own level of spiritual awareness.

Think of it this way: The next phase of human spiritual growth will also appropriately be called relocalization.

We must anticipate, expect and encourage new spiritual thought as much as we MUST encourage new political, economic and social thought at this epochal shift in human existence.

So, with that being said, here is a quote from George Fowler's "Dance of a Fallen Monk" which is (today) my favorite.

"Now I understood for the first time that all these problems are caused by a race asleep and thrashing about in its panicked nightmares. There will be wars and holocausts and genocides as long as God is portrayed and thought of as a tight-minded Legislator, a feudal Lord, n offended King, a hypersensitive artisan -- even if church managers condescendingly tack onto that ridiculous list the not-very-convincing footnote that He is also loving. As long as people dream that they are insecure and needy, in some sort of eternal jeopardy, there will be atrocities. But as the human race grows up spiritually, and as individuals gain a personal experience of the God they have been worshipping in fear, they will recognize that much of their theology and philosophy is built on nightmares. That will be the day of the rethinking of presuppositions and of vested positions. That will be the day of peace. I suddenly found myself unwilling to sit it out in the mountains of Utah. I wanted to play an active role in the process of the world's awakening."

Happy holidays to all, with a special message of love and gratitude to our growing tribe.

Carl Jung might be pleased. And God, with no concept of time, just is.

MCR
*************************************************************************************

JO adds:

Meanwhile, back at the unspiritual, materialistic ranch...

US Warned India in Early October of Potential Terrorist Attack
The Fool's Gold of Carbon Trading


The mainstream media wake up to the nightmare:

Fed Refuses To Disclose Recipients of $2 Trillion
Trade secret. See, it's taxpayer money but the Fed isn't the government so transparency isn't required. Heads I win, tails you lose.

“It would really be a shame if we have to find this out 10 years from now after some really nasty class-action suit and our financial system has completely collapsed,” [Lucy Dalglish, executive director of Reporters Committe for Freedom of the Press] said.

Barney Frank, sounding downright defensive

"Let me start with that second despicable comment you just made I am surprised at you that you would do something like that."

"You wrote the bill," Stahl points out. "You’re, quote, 'the smartest man in Congress.' How did it happen that you wrote a bill that the secretary of treasury has the power not to fulfill in the way you wanted it fulfilled?"

"Because there’s a metaphor that works here: you cannot push on a string. There’s no Constitutional way to force them to do things," Frank says.

A Second Mortgage Crisis on the Horizon?
Peak Money

Since Dick Cheney called the "War on Terror" a war that would not end in our lifetime (because that is how long it will take to use up the second half of the oil), we could call the global financial crash triggered by reaching the limits to growth "the economic crisis that will not end in our lifetime."


Quote of the day (strictly speaking, the actual day of the quote was December 12):

[D]espite yesterday’s setback, we wouldn’t be surprised if this rally continued for several more months. No particular reason. It’s just the way Mr. Market works. Investors have gotten scared...they’re taking precautions. They’re closing their wallets...they’re asking questions and reading prospectuses carefully. Mr. Market will want to loosen them up a bit...get them to relax, let down their guard and come out into the open – so he can destroy them.

Robin Williams on Obama Election
Businessman's Version of The Night Before Christmas
See comment posted at 12:24 pm

26 comments:

koolkarma817 said...

Mike has said, do not hold your gold in paper. you must take possession of it.....well, maybe not in the US.
(Marc)Faber seems to think the government could confiscate your gold again very soon Sound like 1933 to you?

http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2008/11/marc-faber-i-advise-every-american-to-hold-his-gold-outside-of-the-united-states.html

Paul Davis said...

Thanks Mike & Jenna,

I truly think our spiritual evolution is essential to a smooth transition to the next paradigm.

I love this quote from the Seth books. Happy Christmas to all from the UK!

Seth's remarks about the Creator

"....you have an inner dimension of activity, a vast field of multidimensional creativity, a Creator that becomes a portion of each of its creations, and yet a Creator that is greater than the sum of its parts: a Creator that can know itself as a mouse in a field, or as the field, or as the continent upon which the field rests, or as the planet that holds the continent, or as the continent that holds the world - a force that is whole yet divisible, that is one and the inconceivably many, a force that is eternal and mortal at once, a force that plunges headlong into its own creativity, forming the seasons and experiencing them as well, glorifying in indivduation, and yet always aware of the great unity that is within and behind and through all experiences of individuality: a force from which each moment's pasts and futures flow out in every conceivable direction."

Jane Roberts/Seth: "Dreams, `Evolution' and Value Fulfillment" Vol I p. 172

v said...

Some hyperlinks/articles about oil and gas:

The Coming Oil Train Wreck


Will the UK Face a Natural Gas Crisis this Winter?


Global oil, gas spending expected to slide 12%


The Dollar/Oil/Inflation Revolving Door


V(incent)

sunrnr said...

Mike, Jenna and Paul Davis,

Amen!

namaste

rabbit hunter said...

Happy Holidays Mike & Jenna. Thank you for everything you do!

Chicken Little said...

Mike,Jenna and All

I found this site recently by happy accident. I was a FTW reader after personal involvement 9.01.

You all feed my mind and with today's musings, my spirit too.

Thank you for sharing, educating and occasionally amusing me.

Peace to all of you reading

May you have enough
People to share it with
And a warm place to enjoy it

SH2

Robert said...

Reply to Koolkarma817,
In 1933 the US dollar was under the gold standard and was theoretically backed by gold. This could be used as a justification to confiscate personally owned gold in the name of the best interests of the state.
No such claim could be made today as the gold standard is long gone and the only thing backing our currency today is some kind of fairy dust. Gold confiscation today would simply be outright robbery.
That said, I think it's likely that the government has empowered itself through FEMA type "emergency powers" doctrine to be able to confiscate property of any kind-vehicles, real estate, gold, whatever, in response to a crisis, real or manufactured.
Personally, I'm not going to lose any sleep over this kind of thing until the fateful day comes when it actually happens.
Then it's time for action. Whatever you've decided that will be.
With any luck, we'll not find out anytime soon.
Anyway, It's Christmas eve and I don't want to be excessively dour.
Thanks to everyone who contributes to this blog and especially JO and MCR for huge efforts! Happy holidays to ya'll however you care to observe them.

Stacy Brittain said...

Holiday Greetings and Best Wishes to all,

Most of the time when I read this blog (regularly) I am so new to the game (I finished Rubicon this summer) that I don't have much to add. I do enjoy the discourse so thanks to all that contribute.

As an avid organic gardener I DO have a couple of links to share, though, that are geared toward sustainability, homesteading, gardening, etc. They are:

www.acresusa.com (the editor of this publication has been at "blowing the whistle" on the US govt's wrongdoings in regards to US farmers for a very long time. I believe this is where Polyface farms got it's start).

www.GrowOrganic.com -- this is the website for Peaceful Valley Farm supply which is a great source for organic seeds and farming necessities;

http://www.seedsofchange.com -- another great source for certified organic seeds and such;

Safe travels and happy celebrations,

Stacy

Douglas said...

"What causes war – religious, political or economic? Obviously belief, either in nationalism, in an ideology, or in a particular dogma. If we had no belief but goodwill, love and consideration between us, then there would be no wars. But we are fed on beliefs, ideas and dogmas and therefore we breed discontent." - quote from J. Krishnamurti
http://www.katinkahesselink.net/kr/war.html
Humanity has created belief systems and ideas of spirituality that are merely projections of his conditioning in culture, religion, etc. and humanity cannot experience love, which is un-conditional, until we are free from our beliefs.

Unknown said...

My, haven't we tuned into a new frequency today! So where does good old Saint Nick fit into this picture?
I'm feeling spiritually enlightened tonight so a BIG Merry Xmass to all! and too all a good night.

ProGo said...

Merry Christmas, Mike.

Safe and Happy Holidays to all at FTW.

Peter J. Nickitas said...

Citigroup just loves to make the blog:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12042008/business/ponzi_scheme_at_citi_142511.htm

Gustav said...

Merry Christma to Mike and Jenna and entire Peak Oil community from Slovenia.

Although I feel like a lonely wolf here - nobody in my community has ever heard of the term "Peak Oil" - I take heart from reading this blog and try to prepare myself and my wife as much as I can for the comming year.

It is not easy, trying to even start the conversation among my friens, because they eventually give me the "funny look". They are tottaly convinced, that everything will go back to normal in 6 months or so.

But I will continue to try to open their eyes and your community here on this blog is giving me strength to carry on.

I thank you all from my heart and even though I am not a religious person, may god (wichever) bless you all.

Ziga Hauptman
Slovenija

RanD said...

December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas, you two beautiful ones,

I wrote the piece below yesterday morning, Dec 24, then parked it for the rest of the day and overnight until a fresh reading and tidying up the following morning for send off today.

Before shutting down the rest of yesterday's more or less typical 'retired' couple's rural MO Ozarkian daytime routine, and settling into an evening of popcorn and a disc or two of Netflix, I re-lit our Sony lap-top to check out a couple of spots -- which, as always, included looking into whether TPTB over there at FTW's Act 2 blog had perhaps freshened up their front page with some new words of our world's goings-on, and perhaps even a few words of Christmas Eve cheer.

Oh my goodness! How beautiful you guys are! How beautiful all of this is! Your A CHRISTMAS EVE MESSAGE and dedication left Ruthie & me stricken with something akin to giddiness for, I'd say...well...right up till we went to bed and fell asleep several hours later! Ha! Indeed, our human species is being enveloped by the mechanisms of Divine Synchronicity.

And now, it's your turn(s) to indulge the following Christmas Eve words I wrote yesterday and am sending to you guys today:



December 24, 2008

Hello there Michael & Jenna; this is Ruthie an' David (the 'writer') here --

Through the years R an' D have progressively been informed (and all the while also been unrelentingly reminded) that specific knowledge indispensible to humankind's maintaining its evolutionary continuum is not yet being sufficiently assimilated by humankind's collective consciousness. This realization has long told us (and particularly so David) that the ultimately crucial "specific knowledge" that we -- R & D -- possess must be brought into the minds of an ever increasingly more Significant Number of humankind's members in order to make it possible for humankind to fulfill its existential purpose(s) as a bona fide Earthen, physically embodied organismic species with the physiological capacity for developing cosmic consciousness.

At this time, neither R nor D yet knows how far the human condition will collapse into a state of technological primitivity if R & D's work as representatives of our species does not produce that eventually suitable "Significant Number" -- however, we DO know that the human condition necessarly WILL have to go as far down as necessary to make ALL OF US damn well wish we'd done what we should have when we were here, where we're at right now.

Thus, it is with utmost respect for such knowledge as this that motivates me to bring forth these words.

Moreover:

Our having gained access to and thereby been enabled to assimilate SPECIFIC knowledge that R & D had crucial need of concerning Peak Oil -- along with a virtual encyclopedia's worth of information concerning directly to indirectly correlated issues --all of which came and continues coming to us directly as a consequence of FTW's efforts -- consistently tells me that R & D need to bring at least Michael & Jenna up to par with what R & D know in order to begin fusing what knowledge the four of us have been independently gaining -- over the past umpteen years of blood-sweat-smiles-tears-&-play-time educational experiences -- into our ever-more self-strengthening -- ever-more optimal -- collective potential.

*******

We'll of course be tickled plumb titty-pink to get your take on all of this.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

R & D rdfamily@centurytel.net

koolkarma817 said...

Reply to ROBMAC
You could bet, if they want, they could restrict private ownership of gold and silver.Our currency is in big trouble. What they would do, only time will tell BUT here it is, from the 'horses mouth'
If, during a time of war, the president expressly chose to restrict the hoarding of gold or silver, he could do so.
The blog is long, but
Sean M. Thornton
Chief Counsel (Foreign Assets Control)
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Washington, D.C. 20220
is at the end.

http://www.gata.org/node/5606

Jackie said...

Yes, we have to go beyond the monotheistic religions, which were useful in their time for unified governance of centralized agricultural societies that had previously had many competing belief systems and loyalties. The expectation of endless forward progress in these religions is now actively harmful, but we shouldn't blame the people of the past for being morally backward, or congratulate ourselves for being morally superior for recognizing we have to get beyond them. Moral superiority is easy with a full belly and a secular government with a reasonably responsive police force. I think post-bicameral (see www.julianjaynes.com) people have always been the same, and always
will be, and cultures have to have mechanisms to restrain the bad and wayward ones, and any post-carbon ecotopia will need these mechanisms too.

That said, I feel that there is a considerable population in the US that are - not 'pagan', because that's a reactive word - but postmonotheist (we need a better word) and although we have been growing bolder, as a group we are not 'out of the closet' as a public force. If we come out, we risk being seen as opponents by monotheists; if we don't, we don't perceive how many of us there are.

So, happy solstice to all.

John said...

Former British Foreign Secretary: Al Qaeda is Not a Real Group, Just a U.S. Propaganda Campaign


Global Research, December 24, 2008
georgewashington2.blogspot.com


Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says:

The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the 'devil' only in order to drive the TV watcher to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US. Cook has previously written:

Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians. Cook is merely confirming what others have said. Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski told the Senate that the war on terror is "a mythical historical narrative".

And see this Los Angeles Times Article, reviewing a BBC documentary entitled "The Power of Nightmares", which shows that the threat from Al Qaeda has been vastly overblown (and see this article on the people within the U.S. who are behind the hype).

Not only has the U.S. government hyped Al Qaeda, but it has issued numerous fake terror alerts to scare people.

There is a word for intentionally creating fear in order to manipulate opinion for political ends: terrorism.

Robert Paulsen said...

Thank you for the enlightenment you bring not just during the holidays, but all year long. As a child of divorce, I usually find my time split during this season between my mother and the relatives on her side of the family in Ashland, Oregon and my father and the relatives on his side of the family where I currently reside in the San Fernando Valley. Before I became Peak Oil Aware, I would always split the difference and travel without giving the cost a second thought. Now I am more judicious in my use of energy and expenses.

But as I dial away sending my love up north, Awareness still percolates in my brain: what is this cellular phone in my hand? Oil. Is the fiberoptic network that transmits my calls dependent on fossil fuels? Yes. Can we rely on this network to still function for the 300 million plus and growing in this country in 10 years? 20 years?

Pondering the possibilities for the future leaves plenty of room to wallow in darkness. Thank you Mike, for posting spirituality that allows some light to filter in. I would also like to contribute some words of wisdom from someone who has always struck me as being very spiritual, George Harrison:

Watch out now, take care
Beware of falling swingers
Dropping all around you
The pain that often mingles
In your fingertips
Beware of darkness

Watch out now, take care
Beware of the thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night

Beware of sadness
It can hit you
It can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for

Watch out now, take care
Beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks
As each unconscious sufferer
Wanders aimlessly
Beware of maya

Watch out now, take care
Beware of greedy leaders
They take you where you should not go
While weeping atlas cedars
They just want to grow, grow and grow
Beware of darkness (beware of darkness)

Unknown said...

@ John:

I think he updated the article. At the bottom of the page he (George Washington) writes: "However, I did a little digging, and discovered that the quote was misattributed to Cook. It was actually made by former French intelligence and military officer Pierre-Henri Bunel."

He also provides a link to a speech but the archive.org link throws an erro (Forbidden-wbcgi).

RanD said...

Re what Jackie said on Dec 25, '08:

Julian Jaynes work exemplifies the work(s) typical of all predominantly institutionally indoctrinated minds produced of their predominantly institutionally indoctrinated mentors and teachers, and of theirs before them ad infinitum to the beginnings of such mental development. This human species-wide condition reflects this current Universe's progenitive archetype which is at the foundation of all such predominantly institutionalized human embodied mentalities -- whether religiously, nationalistically, scientifically or otherwise psycho-physio-ideo-conceptually oriented.

As an alternative, "monotheism" -- consciously implemented purely as such -- specifically in terms of being an existentially singular concept/implement/instrument of mental-spiritual focus by which to develop one's perception of reality -- is utterly indispensible to establishing in one's self fully cosmic consciousness, a capacity for which the human species of Earth organisms has specifically been both physiologically evolved and developed via Universal means for well over 100,000 years.

Sincerely,
RanD

Patrick said...

Just wanted to share this with MCR since I believe he was a Narcotics Officer in LA when his path crossed that of the FBI, etc.

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/505.html

RayLeeUS said...

I'm all for the idea of approaching the great prophets and religions with humility and openness. I think for clarity, and pragmatic intellectual discrimination, it's important to proceed with the understanding from the outset that there are some fundamental differences between certain material tenets of the world's main religions - they are at odds with each other and cannot be harmonized. With all respect to those of all faiths, these critical differences do have an impact on the inner and outer lives of the believers and should be reckoned with. Our job is to determine which is the more evolved understanding and determine how we can contribute to its further evolution, while still truly respecting those who for whatever reason (birth, culture, life experience) currently operate under a different set of assumptions - even those who have not taken the analytical journey but have accepted their own culture without question. Giving respect does not mean failing to engage in dialogue about differences.

A common approach to resolve the differences is to simply ignore the fact. Worse is the tendency to simply distort the incompatible tenets to our own liking in order to force them to harmonize. For example, there is a common popular assertion in some circles that true Christianity includes a belief in karma and reincarnation. Granted, one could reach such a conclusion after careful study and consideration, but again such a conclusion should be adopted and incorporated into oneself only because one feels it truly represents the most evolved understanding humanity has reached so far, not because it is an easy and convenient intellectual option.

Regarding war and beliefs, I find quotes like the Krishnamurti quote difficult to support - first on the basis of its circular logic (the supposition it proposes is itself a belief system that one must believe in, and thus it immediately becomes the very thing it denounces). No doubt, goodwill, love, etc., must drive our actions. But fear and greed being the primary forces that propel humans to aggression and thus war, a society of loving agnostics can still be influenced to fear an outside enemy and manipulated into the "aggression of self-preservation" that war thrives upon. Perhaps it could be argued that a world in which people clung to their beliefs more strongly - but free of greed and fear (as their religions teach), and with the open-minded respect mentioned above - would allow people to have the goodwill and love that would foster true peace. One of the greatest fears that prevents this for many people is the conscious or subconscious fear that their religion/belief system may turn out to be wrong - and a common way to avoid facing that fear head-on is to defend the belief with an irrational hostility that usually contradicts the very belief system itself. Then you have people who believe in nothing but power, privilege and wealth who cynically prey upon this human weakness for their own gain. Developing the ways and means to keep these least evolved people from positions of dominance will also be a key component of our progress towards a more peaceful world.

Jenna Orkin said...

-V D-O has left a new comment on your post "A CHRISTMAS EVE MESSAGE -- MY FAVORITE SPIRITUAL P...":

Dear Family,

Up until this point i have been a (and there are many of us) silent participant in this community. My father subscribed to FTW in 2002 and i have been raised on versions of this community's collective consciousness my whole life.

Synchronicity is the theme, with Occam's Razor the tool of choice, and I'm finally speaking up because i finally have the power to do so within. I want to thank all of you for truly giving yourselves too each other in this time of growing need. A more meaningful gift does not exist. Thanks always and i look forward to sharing more in the future!
-V

marinemammal said...

It has just come to my attention that the US military is training for martial law. In this article "The US Military Preparing for Domestic Disturbances" by Jim Meyers. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11483

This is not surprising and maybe if things get crazy enough some of us may be glad to see some soldiers. What am I saying? It doesn't seem like having 130,000 trained killers (200,000 counting contractors) in Iraq has helped stop the violence.

Jenna Orkin said...

here's the publication that the global research article is talking about:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22nathan+freier%22+%22known+unknowns%22&aq=f&oq=

Jenna Orkin said...

eyeballs wrote:

Hi Jenna!

Here's what I see. You can just share it with Mike, or post all or part. I feel this is an important discussion because it IS the announced main foreign policy initiative. Quieter, very important operations will be going on elsewhere, but this is kind of a centerpiece.







CFR, American Progress and Brookings announce official policies before they are (officially) promulgated. That doesn’t mean that the actual on-the-ground operations are going to follow the official gameplan. That’s obvious. Plan Columbia, for instance, is not aimed at stopping the flow of cocaine. The news, and the exoteric politics that generate it, amount to theater. We know that.



But when durms are beaten and policies are announced, we learn the direction that the official story will go. Some givens, at this point, are:

1) The new administration will have 50,000+ troops in Afghanistan, nearly doubling troop strength over last year.

2) Big money will be spent on Pakistan.

3) The nukes there are a huge concern to all factions.

4) Pakistan has been labeled a weak state, in a “failed state” foreign policy… meaning that US intervention is not only desirable for the poor “failing” country, but vital to the security of the US and the world, making it a moral imperative.

5) Military attacks across Pakistan’s borders are already going on, and the possibility of unilateral US invasion of the FATA has been announced by Biden, Clinton and Obama.

6) There is resentment of US border raids in Pakistan.

7) The Pakistan Army is not digging its role as policeman of “al qaeda”, with mass desertions a real problem.

8) Control of the Pakistan military is an announced intention of the US diplomatic apparatus.



F.Kamilov’s remarks were valuable, but I disagree with the statement that US intelligence has no idea of the realities on the ground. The CIA created a lot of those realities and has never left. Imagine what the real operatives would do with a multi-billion dollar budget (over and above the huge self-funding operations in Afghanistan), a measure of control over the dodgy military and intelligence forces in Pakistan and a large number of portable nukes that it is already helping to “guard”. Add to that a media campaign that mandates massive intervention – to bring democracy or fight the war on terror, or whatever – and the perfect cover has already been created for some huge operations. Since I have only the public news (and anecdotal evidence from sources like F.Kamilov, which I value) I’m forced to second guess the real intentions. But I think that’s worth doing.



As for the failing Pakistani state, the Zardari government is trying to appear competent by facing off with its rival, India, while struggling to provide enough energy to stave off another species of “loss of mandate” crisis. It needs cash, and is forced to negotiate with all it’s remaining strength, to obtain better terms. It just accepted a massive, humiliating IMF loan:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/paki-d16.shtml

that was needed to service existing debt. The conditions include abandoning development projects, ending energy subsidies and taxing food production. This, in a country that cannot keep the lights on. An excellent article on its energy crisis:



http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/29/business/renpak.php

A creaky and outdated electricity infrastructure loses over 30 percent of generated power in transit, more than seven times the losses of a well-run system, according to the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank; and a lack of spare high-voltage grid capacity limits the transfer of power from hydroelectric plants in the north to make up for shortfalls in the south.



To make matters worse, Pakistan's power sector is heavily reliant on hydro generation - and the country is going through a drought. It is also heavily reliant on furnace oil, exposing it to shocks like the rise this year in crude oil prices to near $150 a barrel; and on the country's natural gas reserves which are mainly located in the troubled tribal province of Baluchistan, and which are rapidly depleting.



Pakistan has a deficit of as much as 5,000 megawatts during peak hours, about one-fifth of power demand, the government estimates; and government projections, admittedly drawn up before the current global economic crisis, point to a continuing rise in demand of perhaps as much as 2,000 extra megawatts per year.



Among the factors holding back investment in the semiprivatized power industry, not the least is an accrual of debt resulting from past government failures to fully fund an energy subsidy to distribution companies, amounting to about a quarter of the total electricity bill for businesses and consumers. The backlog of unfunded subsidies, variously estimated at between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion, has crimped the ability of the distribution companies to fully pay the national power purchase authority for their supplies, leading to an overhang of debt all the way up the supply chain, through the generators to the fuel suppliers.

The debt problem not only contributes to power outages, caused by fuel shortages, but adds to the economic uncertainty facing investors in future generating and infrastructure projects.

AND also this:

http://www.dawn.com/2008/12/17/ebr5.htm

“The only way to reduce the gap between the demand and supply is to advise the domestic consumers to adopt energy saving methods and spare some fuel for the industry because “we don’t have any new, additional supplies coming in the system to meet the increased consumption,” the official said.

He said the only option left to the company was to divert gas from industrial consumers to domestic ones to meet their needs.

The industry, in the meanwhile, has urged the government to utilise all power generation capacities available in the country and suspend duties on furnace oil.”

Commenting on the gas shortage the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) chairman Tariq Mahmood said that the entire textile chain was in deep trouble due to six to eight hours of power blackouts. The situation had been complicated by the suspension of gas supplies to the textile industry in Punjab and the NWFP.



I think it’s safe to say that Pakistan is having its sovereignty and its vital functions deliberately disrupted. For what true aims? How will the feeding frenzy (which includes China) proceed? It’s hard to know, but pretty important to try.



Blessings!