From the Wilderness' Peak Oil Blog

Thursday, November 12, 2009

New White Trash Posts Three Songs Co-Written and Performed by Mike Ruppert in the band New White Trash

The New White Trash (NWT) has just posted three new, original songs co-written and performed by me. "Girl's Got", "Train to Paris", and "Take These" were all written and recorded in June and July. Co-writers include multi-Grammy winner Andy Kravitz and veteren writer, producer, performer Doug Lewis. Which voice am I? -- Baby I'm on my way! We have more than 30 songs now and will be posting maybe one a week from here on out. What do we want? We want to sing for all the people who have lost everything in the last two years. We're the exact opposite of the old white trash, and you certainly don't have to be white to be a member. But you needed to have had aspirations to it in your lifestyle (house, two cars, lots of toys, rampant consumption). No one in the arts seems to see the New White Trash yet, but we do; like Woodie Guthrie saw all those forgotten in the Great Depression. We're also looking for someone with a little loose change to help produce our first CD and maybe a couple of videos.

Special thanks to veteran bassist and composer Arthur Barrow (Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention) for a killer bass track in "Take These".

And what makes me happy beyond belief is that I don't have to argue or debate about these songs. They either sound good or they don't. Your ears will tell you and all we ask is that you listen.

See you at the Laemmle 5 on Sunset this weekend! Laughter and music are going to be indispensible as we face the challenges ahead. And I'll never be able to express my gratitude to Andy Kravitz and Doug Lewis who founded the band, and who believe I bring something strong to the mix... Judge for yourself.

MCR

http://www.newwhitetrash.com

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The Canary in the Coal Mine Just Died

I almost puked when I read this. This is so on the map we made. You see, Cuba started preparing for Peak, like every nation should have, in 1991. They got a taste of it when the Soviet Union collapsed. They decided they were not going back there again. The short version of what the linked story means is that the canary in the coal mine just died. We're a lot further down the road than I thought we were.

The Collapse screenings in LA this weekend are taking on a new significance.

MCR

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N11371755.htm
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From Jenna Orkin:

CoLLapse (Movie)
LA Times Review
Honor in the breach. Although the reviewer tries to be negative, the effort it takes is the greatest of backhanded compliments. - JO

Energy
Key Oil Figures Were Distorted by US Pressure, Says Whistle-Blower (from everyone and his uncle)
IEA "Downplaying" Oil Crisis
"U.S. Fossil Fuel Resources: Terminology, Reporting, and Summary,"
"U.S. proved reserves of oil total 21.3 billion barrels and reserves of natural gas are 237.7 trillioncubic feet... Whether the vast deposits of oil shale that are lower on the pyramid will be produced depends on the price of oil, the cost of production (including environmental cost), and the availability oftechnology to produce it. Although this example is for oil, similar relationships exist for naturalgas and coal..."

(Bakken)
"...estimates of 271 to 503 billion barrels of oil attracted the attention of the oil industry.However, those estimates, while huge, represented “in place” oil. Subsequently, the USGS has conducted a more detailed and thorough estimate of the technicallyrecoverable resources using modern directional drilling techniques and estimate that the Bakken Formation contains 3.65 billion barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable oil..."

(Shale)
"...production of shale oil is not yet commercially viable."

Coal
"...in Wyoming, 47% of the in-place coal is technically recoverable, but the available, economically recoverable coal is only about 6% of the in-place coal."
'Oil and Gas Is Our Drug'
Interview with Medvedev.
Gazprom’s First Half Profit Falls 48%
Fast-track nuclear plan (from Rice Farmer)
Nuclear strategy threatens Kalahari
US 'wants to guard Pakistan's nuclear arsenal' (from Rice Farmer)
"Unconventional Gas Shales: Development, Technology, and Policy Issues,"
The Halliburton Loophole
Guess who's behind the 'trade secrets' of hydraulic fracking.
On Nord Stream Pipeline, 'Germany Must Take a Selfish Stand
Interview with Matt Simmons

Economy
The Dollar Meltdown: Book Review
Dollar Will be "Utterly Destroyed": Strategist (from Rice Farmer)
As investors race to stocks, dollar weakens
The dollar is a funding currency
Fannie Mae May Write Down $5.2 Billion in Tax Credits as U.S. Rejects Deal
Record Bonuses Return to Wall Street as Big Three May Award $29.7 Billion
Heckuva job, guys.
Emerging stocks may rally 25%, Morgan Stanley says
Note the key word, "emerging." That's not us. - JO
Recovery looks like “L” without jobs growth
Living Wages, Sheep, and Grocery Store Strikes
Financial Transaction Taxes Would Cause Stock Market Crash
Jobs Contract 22nd Straight Month; Unemployment Rate Hits 10.2%
A Canadian Says "Short Canada" (from Rice Farmer)
"Wells Fargo Madness" a Reader Reply to Fear and Shame Tactics
BofA Board in ‘Civil War’ Over Chief, Gasparino Says: CNBC Link
Conservative Property Index Predicts We Are Less Than Half Way Through Fall (from Rice Farmer)
N.J. Governor-Elect May Declare Financial Emergency
Inside the global gold frenzy
SEC Internal Whistleblowers Could Get $50,000 Rewards Under Dodd Proposal
Call to cap the euro
European industry blasts China over weak Yen as euro surges.

Quote of the day:
China will add more people in 15 years than the entire population of the United States. "There will be up to 50,000 new skyscrapers," the company notes, "the equivalent of building 10 New Yorks. There could be up to 170 new mass transit systems. There are only about 70 in Europe today."

Americas
Chavez tells troops t o ready for war with Colombia (from Rice Farmer)
Texas Army Killer Linked to September 11 Terrorists
Brazil crime wars: Spiderman's story of drugs and Jesus in Rio's slums (from Vantage Point)
Bloodless President Barack Obama makes Americans wistful for George W Bush
Reality check for anyone who thought Americans were wising up. - JO
Scientific American's Path to Sustainability: Let's Think about the Details (from Rice Farmer)
Bloggers' Right to Free Speech and Use Anonymous Sources Questioned in New Hampshire Supreme Court

MIddle East/Africa/Asia
'Why Africa Welcomes the New Colonialism
There is a widespread perception that saintly Britain had adopted this poor little girl called Africa and was busy saving her from hunger, war, disease and poverty. Suddenly big, greedy China, flashing huge deals and cheap goods, has seduced the girl and is leading her astray, even raping her. And to make it worse for Britain, ungrateful Africa sometimes feels that although Chinese intentions may not be entirely honourable, China at least treats her like a grown up.

African leaders do not necessarily love China, but its ambassadors do not lecture them about elections, corruption, transparency and human rights.
UAE, Saudi among US's top arms buyers in 2009 (from Rice Farmer)
UN chief to pass Goldstone report to Security Council (from Vantage Point)
Mass Arrests Reported Around Pakistani Capital (from Rice Farmer)
Matthew Hoh Letter of Resignation, DOS in Afghanistan (from Vantage Point)
What You Didn't Know About The War (from Vantage Point)

Big Brother
Every phone call, email and internet click stored by 'state spying' databases
'Big Brother' database cancelled
Military Personnel Banned From Viewing H1N1 Vaccine Websites (from Rice Farmer)

Who Said This Blog Was a Downer?
Engineered Rabbit Penises Raise Human Hopes

FTW Files Petition For Judicial Review of BOLI Decision

Yesterday I filed the Petition For Judicial Review of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries administrative order against FTW, Inc. This officially starts FTW’s (and by implication, Mike’s) appeal against the biased, wrong-headed and faulty BOLI decision that attempted to tarnish Mike Ruppert.

I’m only at the beginning of my research and preparation of this appeal, but I am already comfortable in saying that we will have a challenging time condensing all of the appellate issues. Make no mistake, however. This will be an uphill battle. And if we win, we can immediately expect a further appeal from BOLI to the State Supreme Court. Your donations have helped us make it this far, and I ask that you continue to help us see this through by donating to the FTW Legal Defense Fund.

All Mike Ruppert has ever asked for was a fair day in court; whether it be in the court of public opinion, or a court of law. We hope this appeal will get him that after three and a half years and more than $40,000.

Wesley T. Miller
Attorney for FTW, Inc.

Monday, November 09, 2009

Mike Ruppert to Take Collapse Questions at LA Screenings Nov 13TH and 14TH

Nov. 9, 2009 -- Mike will be making his first public appearance since June 2006 to do Q&A with the audience at the first evening screening of CoLLapse this Friday and Saturday. Director Chris Smith will not be in attendance. Show times for the screenings at Laemmle's Sunset 5 theaters have not been announced but should be up today or tomorrow at the Collapse web site.

He will also take Q&As for the two evening screenings in San Francisco on December 4th.

JO

Sunday, November 08, 2009

We Only Have Months, Not Years, to Save Civilization from Climate Change

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Mike Ruppert Interview in the Wall Street Journal

I firmly believe that the Peak Oil/Sustainability Movement, and actual events, have backed Wall Street into a corner where it has no option but to let it out now. We did this; all of us together. I'm just the front man for a minute until I hand it off where it belongs. Truly, I never imagined that I would live to see this moment... several times.

Thank you all so much. This is what you kept me alive for. Now please go and see the movie. My job is almost done and I can get back to making music with the New White Trash. We'll have many songs up soon. Keep watching the site.

MCR

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703932904574511942676683258.html

Mike

Russia 'Simulates' Nuclear Attack on Poland

From Jenna Orkin:

Collapse
Russia 'simulates' nuclear attack on Poland
Dollar Will go to a Value of Exactly Zero Eventually (from Vantage Point)
Roubini: Mother of all carry trades faces inevitable bust
Washington Beats U.S. Housing Slump as Obama's Budget Hits $3.5 Trillion
British Nuclear Scientist's 17th Floor UN Death Plunge "Not Suicide" (from Vantage Point)
It has been suggested that Mr Hampton may have been involved in talks discussing nuclear testing in Iran. The UN has strongly denied the claims...

Under a year ago, an American died at the IAEA in strikingly similar circumstances, his body being found at the bottom of a stairwell.
Debt Slave Bait and Audit the Fed Bill Gutted: What You Can Do
Ron Paul on Forbes: Be Prepared For The Worst; On Larry King Discussing Michael Moore
Government and Lender Policies of Fear and Shame Help Keep Homeowners Debt Slaves
It is Japan we should be worrying about, not America
There will be a fiscal shutdown, a pension haircut, and bank failures that will rock the world. It is criminally negligent that rating agencies are not blowing the whistle on this." The true message of the article: QE was too little, too late, and this is the lesson for the West. We must cut borrowing drastically over the next decade, and offset this with ultra-easy monetary policy. Does Downing Street understand this? Does the White House? Does the European Central Bank? Clearly not.
Painful death of the American dream
The End Of Electricity (from Rice Farmer)
Bank Of America CEO Poll - Incredible Result
Estimate: Half of U.S. kids will get food stamps (from Rice Farmer)

Quote of the day:

To understand why the GDP numbers could be so good when the economy all around looks so bad, it is necessary to understand a few pertinent details of the GDP calculation. It is necessary to see just what meat and meat by-products go into this economic sausage. For one thing, GDP includes government spending...but does not SUBTRACT any of the borrowing the government does to fund its spending. And obviously, government spending is in no way a reflection of private sector economic activity. http://www.dailyreckoning.com/

Stimulus fueled much of the expansion
Is Debt-Deflation Just Beginning?
Before Walking Away Consult An Attorney
Obama creates 640,329 jobs at a cost of $323,739.83 per job
400,000 Names on FBI Terror Watch List (from Rice Farmer)
"The Washington Post reported that during a 12-month period ending in March of this year, 1,600 people were nominated daily by the U.S. intelligence community to be put on the list due to 'reasonable suspicion.'
Nine banks go bust in one day (from Rice Farmer)
How Bloomberg Fabricates U.S. Housing Numbers (from Rice Farmer)
How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash (from Rice Farmer)
Mystery: Why did Goldman stop scrutinizing loans it bought?
How Moody's sold its ratings - and sold out investors
One couple stands up to Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs' secret bets
State-by-state data on troubled mortgages (from Rice Farmer)
Buffett's Big Rail Buy: What It Means

Europe
Eurozone Unemployment At Record Highs; Private Sector Lending Drops First Time Ever
RBS, Lloyds Banking Get $51 Billion From U.K. Taxpayers in Second Bailout
The great British bank sell-off begins
£4,350 per family needed to bail out Britain's banks
Tory economic tightening plans could be a disaster, warns survey
Brown to tackle chaotic families
"A lot of the residents find it prison-like to begin with," Wood admits. "I imagine initially they find it quite intrusive."

Comment: Like the rounding up of older men with child brides in the US a few years ago, this program sounds virtuous and positive. But what does it usher in? - JO
Darling prepares to unveil bank shake-up
UK needs ‘£350bn tax rises and spending cuts’
Roger Bootle, of Deloitte, will say that Britain’s public finances are in the ‘worst shape for at least half a century’
Worry about lack of growth, not more QE
There's too much spare capacity in the economy for QE to pose any near-term inflationary danger.

Middle East/Australasia
Margrit Kennedy Inspires New Zealand Groups To Establish Regional Money Systems
A Different Dubai (from F. Kamilov)

Energy/Climate Change/Science
Winter crisis could see UK 'run out of gas in hours' (from Rice Farmer)
Governments fail to acknowledge imminent oil supply crunch, says UK’s Global Witness (from NYC Peak Oil Meetup)
Climate change could kill 250,000 children in 2010
Review: James Lovelock, The Vanishing Face of Gaia; A Final Warning
Kissing Was Developed to Spread Germs
What lies beneath the rainforest
You want the Amazon to survive? Then pay us not to pump the oil, says Ecuador.
The unwanted equation: poverty vs climate change
One in five mammal species on extinction 'red list'
Many reptiles and amphibians also critically endangered, while up to 70% of plants could be wiped out, say conservationists

Monday, November 02, 2009

DON’T PAINT ME WITH THE 9-11 TRUTH BRUSH

Official Statement on 9-11

by

Michael C. Ruppert

November 2, 2009 – We have all seen the amazing progress of CoLLapse. The film has exceeded all of my expectations thanks to Chris Smith and Kate Noble of Bluemark Films. It is making people hungry for answers to all the right questions. And starting this Thursday CoLLapse opens for one-week runs in 12 cities in the US and Canada.

There is something important that needs to be addressed now and I am the only one to do it.

More than five years ago I completely and unequivocally divorced myself from the 9-11 Truth Movement. I did that because it had been co-opted and hijacked by people offering arguments and theories about 9-11 that were deeply flawed and absolutely inadmissible in a court of law. I addressed those flaws specifically in a 2003 essay about why physical evidence claims would go nowhere and would be used to discredit anyone who challenged the official Bush Administration version of events.

In many radio interviews and lectures throughout 2004-2006 I also said unequivocally that I was no longer affiliated with the 9-11 Truth movement because I saw that it would be publicly discredited as it has deservedly been. The current 9-11 Truth movement is indeed a circus. “Crossing the Rubicon” IS admissible in court and it has nothing to do with flawed, self-destructing and unnecessary arguments that are the tent poles of the 9-11 “movement”. I left that tent a long time ago.

I also divorced myself from the 9-11 as an issue because the window to achieve political and legal change had closed. The collapse of industrial civilization trumps 9-11. 9-11 is a dead issue. -- I cannot say it more clearly than this. Our limited energy must be focused on the future. One of my trademark lines has always been, “Nothing matters to me except for change in the political landscape.” – We can achieve that with CoLLapse.

FOR THE RECORD, Although I have discussed it I have never endorsed or used the building demolition theory as an argument. I have put this in writing too many times. There was/is no physical evidence (however compelling) that would be admissible in a court of law; and what reported evidence exists is useless because a legal chain of custody is not provable. Chain of custody is one of the first tests of admissibility. Some of the work done on building collapse – especially as it pertains to WTC7 -- is both compelling and well-founded. Some is not. But what is credible would never pass the admissibility test; and that’s on the assumption that a court with jurisdiction would ever try the case.

FOR THE RECORD Although at first I was very skeptical based on the energy around certain books that became popular in 2002-2003, I later found out that there were hundreds of independent eyewitnesses on I-395 who saw an airliner hit the Pentagon. In a court of law their testimony could never be overcome by videotapes or interpretations that have no proof of authenticity. That testimony could never be negated by speculation or expert opinion. And I have been convinced for a long time now that an airliner did, in fact, strike the building.

“Crossing the Rubicon” and its unanswered questions about 9-11 has never been remotely examined or discussed by mainstream media or the United States government. While the United States government has spent a lot of time and money easily debunking the claims of the so-called 9-11 Truth movement; and while the History Channel and Popular Mechanics went to great effort to debunk the 9-11 Truth movement; all that the press and the government have done with “Crossing the Rubicon” is to ignore it.

I stepped away from the Babel of 9-11 Truth more than five years ago. If the mainstream press wants to take me on over a book I wrote and which remains unchallenged after five years then I am and always have been prepared (and eager) for that. That book has sold around 100,000 copies and is in the Harvard Business School library. It has 1,000 footnotes; none of which have ever been challenged..

NOTE TO THE NY TIMES AND ALL MAINSTREAM PRESS: In a recent review of CoLLapse by the Times, the reviewer made reference to a negative article written about me by David Corn for “The Nation” magazine in 2003. In that article Corn maliciously libeled me by writing that I had been fired by LAPD as a mental case. That was untrue. At the time of my resignation in late 1978 I was both certified for promotion to Detective and earning the highest rating reports possible. I had no disciplinary actions (pending or prior) of any kind. That was only one of the lies that David Corn wrote and The Nation published.

The next question the press will ask is “Why didn’t you sue?” The record shows that from 2004 until the present day I have been constantly involved in legal battles on top of the work of book-writing and running From The Wilderness until its demise in 2006. I have never lost. The Oregon appeal is far from over. Does anyone ever consider the toll such legal battles take? The money, the time, the energy? I can only fight so many fights at a time and the reason why small and unethical people like David Corn get away with things like this is because they know that. But the great brutality of mainstream media is that it will dredge up inaccurate stories without checking and refer to them as truth in order to discredit anyone who opposes corporate-controlled press in this country.

Any journalist is required to do fact-checking before going to press. I left a record of between two and three million words. It is indexed, catalogued and out there for anyone to read. Sooner or later someone is going to have to read it.

And for all who cannot tell the difference between me and Alex Jones I heartily encourage you to stay with him and not associate yourself with me or my work in any way. That is where you belong.

Michael C. Ruppert

All Openings of CoLLapse Are For One Week Runs

Sunday, November 01, 2009

PAT TILLMAN RETURNING TO MAJOR STORY

This is the scandal that FTW broke. This came from the 2006 seven-part Tillman series written by the great Stan Goff (Special Forces, ret.). I put everything on the line to edit and publish this story. This was when our computers were smashed and people started making allegations about sexual harassment. Congressman Henry Waxman who chaired the Tillman hearings will confirm that FTW broke the story. Mary Tillman will tell you the same thing. Every handout given to congress was from the FTW series. Stan Goff walked with the Tillman family throughout the whole fight... while I hid in Venezuela to stay alive so that the series couldn't be stopped. -- And yet no one in the mainstream ever mentions FTW's name. They could cut and paste our story under bylines like the AP and Washington Post though.

These dots are so close together and yet the mainstream still refuses to connect them. -- But CoLLapse does! This is Meet The Press from today. GO TO 44:50. General McCrystal's chickens are coming home to roost in spades. He fell on his sword to save Rumsfeld... and that didn't work either, did it? And how well is the war in Afghanistan going?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/#33573604

MCR

[I just put this up on Facebook CoLLapse. I've made a couple of other nice comments and links there today. Many things are converging and I don't believe that to be entirely coincidental.]