Stolen from Crooks and Liars.com--

crooks_andliars:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/29/a-crude-awakening/

C&L July Film of the Month: A CRUDE AWAKENING The Oil Crash

Documentary by Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack

“Oil is our God. I don’t care if someone says they worship Jesus, Buddha, Allah, whoever – they actually worship petroleum.”
Mathew David Savinar, Lawyer and Founder of Lifeaftertheoilcrash.net

If An Inconvenient Truth could be considered The Wizard of Oz of environmental documentaries, then A Crude Awakening would have be considered the Rosemary’s Baby of that same genre.

Global warming. So what? Melting polar icecaps? Call me later. A Crude Awakening paints a picture so much grimmer than anything Americans have seen in their lifetimes. Or in the movies this summer, for that matter. It is dark. It is primordial. It is terrifying. It is - The end of oil, as we know it.

While technically speaking, oil is running out, for it to go bone dry will take a few lifetimes. But do not dare exhale a sigh of relief. That fact is not relevant to this splendid documentary. It seems there is a bigger problem. One that is arriving faster than Netflix. That problem is global peak oil. Say it over and over, folks. Say it until your tongue gets used to saying it. Write it down. Tell your children. Open the windows of your Ford Explorer and scream it out into the dark abyss. You will be seeing and hearing about it for the rest of your lives – possibly beginning today.

Written, produced and co-directed by Basil Gelpke, from Switzerland and Ray McCormack, from Ireland, A Crude Awakening will scare the living Bush out of you and at the same time leave you dumbfounded. If you’re like me, you’ll be grasping at straws for a logical way out of this oncoming runaway train that some experts have already dubbed the “post-industrial stone age.”

Now that, my friends, is an inconvenient truth. It is a truth so scary, so inconvenient, that few will even utter its name. Once again, for the record, its name is Peak Oil. And no one seems to have the slightest idea what to do about it.

You might not know about it but THEY do. The heads of the ‘Seven Sisters’ oil companies. The Saudis. OPEC. Dick Cheney’s secret Energy Task Force. Bill and Hillary – they ALL know about Peak Oil. Everybody but YOU! Maybe its time YOU found out? Huh? Curious? End of the World? Saving for your toddler’s college education? Uh, sorry, that won’t be necessary.

The world as we know it is coming to an end soon.

That doesn’t come from a religious cult like the Moonies or conspiracy lunatics with tin foil hats in Idaho. Rather it is the uncontested scientific conclusion of the world’s most widely respected geologists, physicists, oil executives, bankers and politicians.

Gelpke, with a background in anthropology and economics, worked as a war correspondent before becoming a scientific filmmaker. His partner, McCormack who has a history in corporate filmmaking also holds an Honors Degree in Environmental Policy and Management. These guys know their stuff, are extremely serious and bring on-camera expertise to back them up. A parade of renowned academics, scientific experts and corporate advisors from across the political and economic spectrum enter and re-enter this shocking film. Each time they reappear they bring with them overwhelming amounts of irrefutable evidence that the world as we know it is about to go through some very savage changes.

And they mean NOW.

I don’t want to alarm anybody but you should be afraid. VERY AFRAID. Not of bin Laden. Not of AIDS. Not of global warming. Not of George Bush. But of global Peak Oil and what that represents.
For the uninitiated, in order to understand this movie one has to understand peak oil. It is not very difficult.

Peak Oil, also known as Hubbert’s Peak was named for the Shell Oil geologist, Dr. Marion King Hubbert. In 1956, M.K. Hubbert accurately predicted that America’s domestic oil production would peak in 1970.
His peers laughed at Hubbert at the time.

He had successfully examined the amount of new discoveries of oil in the United States from the 1930s onward. Those rose and fell like a bell curve. After a huge spike, they were simply running out of places in the U.S. that held oil fields. He figured that if the discovery of oil supplies formed a bell curve, then the production of the oil would form a matching bell curve soon afterwards.

He was dead right.

By 1970, U.S. oil production had peaked and the decline was in rapid freefall. Using the same extrapolations for the entire world, Hubbert predicted that world oil production would be peaking by 1995. It would have been spot on accurate, had the politically motivated oil embargoes of 1973 and 1979 not been enacted, setting back world oil peak by just 10-15 years.
In other words…NOW.
“The United States had been the largest oil producer on earth for nearly 100 years and nobody thought it would ever end,” explains Mathew Simmons an energy investment banker and advisor to president George W. Bush.
The last new frontiers in oil discovery were in the Alaskan North Slope, Siberia and the North Sea. That was in 1967, 1968 and 1969 respectively. All have peaked since then. The North Sea oil finds were indeed massive and quite unknown at the time. A huge discovery. It peaked in 40 years. Next year Britain will actually have to import oil for the first time since the discovery.

The world has been so thoroughly explored with massive new technological devises that most experts feel there is no new oil out there. In fact, advanced engineering technology has created in effect, “super straws” to suck all known oil out of the ground faster than ever before believed possible.

The desperation of the oil companies have led them to oil shale fields in Canada and steaming old well sites for the very last drops of “the devil’s excrement.”

Two thirds of the known oil fields today are in the Persian Gulf. In 1978, Iran was producing 6 million barrels a day. Today? 3-3 ½ million barrels a day. This is indicative of the downward slope of oil production following a peak. The Saudis have found only one new oil field since 1967. They pump 12 million barrels a day yet each year they claim their reserves are exactly the same. How is this possible? It’s not. In the late 80’s all the OPEC countries simply increased their “known” oil reserves by 50% for political reasons and quota busting.

With the massive industrialization of India and China already underway, it is becoming quite obvious that oil production will not be able to keep up with demand. In fact, we already see this happening with the doubling of our own gas prices in just the past few years. Experts believe that those same prices will rise steadily and quickly to $15 per gallon.
And that’s when things will really and finally get hairy. Once oil peaks, the downward crash is fast and furious as the entire world scrapples for the remaining apples.

Our entire civilization has been built on cheap oil. Not only are we reaching the end of the artificial American dream, peak oil experts also feel we are on the precipice of a massive worldwide Age of Depression. We have become the victims of our own success. Huge population booms have occurred due to the mid-century “green revolution” in farming that produced enough cheap food to feed the entire world. Our cities and society grew at staggering rates because of the use of the cheapest fuel source ever discovered.

Oil.
“One barrel of oil for $100, will produce as much energy as you would get from 12 people working all year,” says Roscoe Bartlett a scientist and U.S. Republican Congressman from Maryland.

But the times they are a changin’.

Ten or fifteen years ago, the per capita income of the average Saudi was $28K. Today its down to $6K. There has been a huge drop in the standard of living for the average Saudi. Strap yourselves in folks. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride. We’re next.

There seems to be two solutions:

1) Multinational resource wars. Militarize our population to allow them to continue to drive SUVs. Tell them what the stakes and go for it. Invade till the last drop.
2) Begin to prepare for the end of cheap oil and adjust to available alternatives as soon as possible. As bleak as they may seem.

Just so you understand what we’re up against.

If we hybridized every stinking car on the road today, we would still be consuming the same amount of gasoline as we are now in just 5-7 years. With each year demand grows enormously. With no end in sight.
The alternative fuels everyone has been jabbering about lately don’t cut it. If you added all the alternative fuel sources up, that is if they were even ready and functioning at massive levels, it wouldn’t even make a dent in the loss of oil.

Oil is that cheap.

“We pay more for a bottle of drinking water than we do for a gallon of gasoline,” explains David L. Goodstein, professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology.

If you went nuclear alone, we would need 10,000 new nuclear plants immediately and then the damn uranium would run out in 10 years anyway. Unless you’re France. Their entire country is powered by nuclear power. Just watch were you put the trash, Jacques.

The most fascinating chapter of the film is entitled, Life After The Peak. This shows us the other side of the Hubbert Peak. The downward slope. Ouch. We got a snippet of it in 1973, when OPEC turned off the U.S. oil spigot because of the Israeli War. Cars lined up for miles to get the last drop of gas. Everyone freaked, but quickly forgot about it when the man hooked them up again with the Persian Black.

In the near, near future, driving cars and flying by plane will be a luxury reserved only for the Super Rich. The financial markets will shrink due to the elimination of petro dollars. The stock markets will collapse worldwide. Populations will shrink immensely as hunger and starvation sweep the globe.

An apple will cost $7.

Hydrocarbon Man’s days are severely numbered.

Oh, and if you think hydrogen is gonna save you, think about this: It currently takes 3 – 6 gallons of gasoline to make enough hydrogen to drive a car the equivalent distance that one gallon of gasoline would drive it.

Coal? Too dirty. We’ll choke to death. Wind power? Keep blowing. Hydroelectric? Every river is already dammed. Biomass? Too much energy to create it.

In fact, the only science that seems to have any chance in hell is solar. How ironic. But there is a catch. A huge catch. It would take a field of solar panels half the size of California to power the country. The sun. Of course. How could we miss it?

When Jonas Salk found the cure for polio, he was asked if he had filed a patent on his new vaccine. Salk looked quizzically at the reporter and famously said, “No. After all, could you patent the Sun?”

Hey, New Mexico. Let’s go. Everybody out! That means you.

See A Crude Awakening before there are no more petrochemicals left to even make DVDs.

A screenwriter/producer/journalist based in Hollywood, California, Mark Groubert is the Senior Film and Book Reviewer for CrooksandLiars.com. As a filmmaker he has produced numerous documentaries for HBO. Groubert is also the former editor of National Lampoon Magazine, MTV Magazine and The Weekly World News. In addition, he has written for the L.A. Weekly, L.A. City Beat, Penthouse, High Times and other publications. He is currently at work on his memoirs…or so he says.

Important enough to quote word for word.

rojo

After reading Digby's post about the Gay Old Party and their homoerotic fascination with all things big and bold, I have to wonder about why GW's figurine has a bigger penis than Ken.

rojo

It's Good To Be The King!

Just yesterday in the Denver Post there was an interesting article about how foreclosures were running at a record high in Adams and Weld Counties. These are all low to low-middle income houses. There are also record rates in Douglas County, also known as rich, white Christian county (remember when Castle Rock voted down affordable housing--good to have Hispanic gardeners and housekeepers, just don't want to live by them). People bought on ARMs and as the rates raise, they lose their homes. Simple. Pay rates for low and middle class have not raised with the Cost of Living. They have remained stagnant, while worker productivity has increased.

Today's headlines in the same paper? A Sales Surge for Digs Over $1,000,000. Hmmm. There is no shortage of people who can afford over $1,000,000 and those people, some of whom may be rich enough to be Monkeyboy's base-"What an impressive crowd: the haves, and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite, I call you my base.", can't find adequate housing. There is dearth of $1,000,000 plus homes.

Let's see. Worker productivity up. Worker salaries stagnant for 5 years. CEO and executive pay rising at incredible rates compared to worker salaries. Hmmm. Trickle down economics at its finest.

rojo

Fun to Visit - Just Don't Drink the Water

Indiana regulators exempted BP from state environmental laws to clear the way for a $3.8 billion expansion that will allow the company to refine heavier Canadian crude oil. They justified the move in part by noting the project will create 80 new jobs.

Under BP's new state water permit, the refinery—already one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes—can release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan each day. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish, while sludge is full of concentrated heavy metals.

This is not a comforting admission:

[Paul Higginbotham, chief of the water permits section at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management] said regulators still are unsure about the ecological effects of the relatively new refining process BP plans to use.

here is the complete story for the Trib.

Si if we place BIG mixers in the lake we can dilute the pollution? Maybe we can make toxic sludge pudding. Can't wait to eat carp. Yum.

rojo

Iraq is going so well, we can’t have our Congressmen stay there over night.

“The delegation's visit was harrowing at times. While visiting with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker at the U.S. Embassy inside Baghdad's walled, high-security Green Zone on Friday, mortar blasts landed inside the American-controlled territory.

"This recorded message played four times while we were there, asking us to move away from any windows, to get on the ground and move to the center of the building," Bachmann said. "(Crocker) stayed in his seat and kept talking with us the whole time. He never moved."....

Security conditions in Iraq prevented Bachmann from meeting any Iraqis, leaving the Green Zone or staying in Iraq overnight. She and other congressional members were required to wear full body armor, including Kevlar helmets, during the entire trip, she said.”

From the St. Cloud Times via www.Americablog.com

And yesterday there were mortar and rocket attacks in the Green Zone. Right in the middle of the Green Zone. Our safe zone. By our Embassy. In the middle of surge-secured area.

“On Tuesday, guerrillas launched some 20 katyusha rockets and mortar shells into the Green Zone in downtown Baghdad, killing 3 persons, including a US soldier, and wounding 25 persons.

The Green Zone was originally supposed to be the safe place in Iraq, with the area outside it (everything else) called the "Red Zone." The US Embassy in Baghdad appears to have forgotten what the phrase "Green Zone" means, since a spokesman there told the LAT, "There's fire into the Green Zone virtually every day, so I can't draw any conclusions about the security situation based on that . . .’ ”

And the Iraqi security Chief for the Green Zone was KIDNAPPED!

"Tuesday's attack came the same day gunmen kidnapped Iraqi Police Col. Mahmoud Muhyi Hussein, who directs security inside the Green Zone . . .

Hmmm!!! Let me see if I got this straight. We get attacked in our own safe zone. Anyone we don’t want to get hurt can’t stay there and the Iraqi Security dude gets kidnapped there.

We know the war is lost. I am not trying t incite feelings, etc., but it is a failed policy and now the question becomes how do we keep the casualties to a minimum. How do we retreat with our equipment and 160,000 personnel plus contractors? Does anyone remember the last days of Vietnam? It was a zoo. People were hanging on helicopters trying to leave.

We are arming Sunnis to fight Shiites right now. Where do you think their arms will point as we leave the country? Do we walk out of the country backwards? Do we run like hell? Hope we don’t leave too much behind. Think anyone will shoot at us as we leave. After all, we are the liberators. And how much will be left of our new airbases and army bases? Will we leave a force there enough troops there to man them. Or will they be allowed to die on the vine as they wait for supplies in the middle of the desert?

rojo

Hooray for NPR!

I have lived with my wife in many locations. In fact, we are soon to be moving to Northern California to follow my job. Can you say ASAP?? More on that later. Egad!!!!!!

That said, I went to work this morning and heard 3 FM radio stations playing the Doors out of the 7 possible choices. Oh, yes, 2 were playing ZZ Top. And one had Breakfast with the Beatles. Why, God, why??? Much music has been made since 1970.

But when my wife and I lived in Iowa, we only had AM radio. Yes, I am an old fuck and FM was not popular and cars had no FM radios (remember fm converters? anyone?) and the best Cedar Rapids had was oldies and there was KUNI and one FM station out of Muscatine that was pretty good. The AM stations had hog reports and futures and high school football. Then you could drive across the state and hear NPR on AM and it had quirky songs you did not get on other stations. An aside, we drove from Colorado to Ohio this past autumn and heard OAR in Omaha and Natalie Zuckerman in Iowa.

In '93, I worked in Grand Junction and had to drive from Ft. Collins to Grand Junction weekly and you had better have a tape deck or listen to NPR. It kept you sane. The university station at Mesa was good but had a range of 10 miles and there was as a good station outside of Carbondale. The rest was "Classic Rock." I mean, how many times can you get a woody listening to Smoke on the Water? Oh yes, Rush would have been the liberal talk show host in Grand Junction at that time and the local Classic Rock station had its 3rd anniversary. Having been to GJ two years ago, it has entered the 21st century and has nice bistros, etc. downtown. Very Cool.

Fast forward to today--crappy choices on the radio and I hit KGNU and Radio 1190 and KRFC. All have live listening links and are worth a listen. The day started better as I heard Gogol Bordello as the first cut!!!! Yay! Something New. and if no NPR, there would be no joy.

Anyone know of good minor stations in between Sacramento and SF?

For your listening pleasure.

A good band out of Denver. happy day.

rojo

Saturday Rock and Roll

Hot and sexy!

Enjoy.

rojo

There may be an actual reason we feel people are getting stupider and stupider and we have many more ADHD problems. Check it out.

I am not a fear monger, but how many chemicals are developed and used without testing annually?

rojo

Notes from the Tubes--

Just a few thoughts before the weekend--

1) Cheney is above the executive branch. In my opinion, a specious argument. But if that is the case, I want to see the damned energy policy formation meeting notes!!!!!! These were denied to the public based upon executive privilege. Can't have it both ways Big Dickman.

2) I was listening to Randi Rhodes yesterday and she was speaking of caging votes and how a minimum of 1,000,000 votes were not counted because of vote caging (you can guess these votes were not the votes of prep school graduates). McNulty admitted he heard of the practice but did not research it in House testimony yesterday. Voter suppression is a felony offense. As second in charge of DOJ, he did not research this???? Either blind, incompetent, both or maybe in collusion. And Tim Griffin (where do the Republicans find so many lookalikes for the Pillsbury dough boy?? Are they cloning Rove?) was rewarded by being given a US Attorney post for suppressing minority votes and giving the election to Bush. (Which he has since quit because public service is not worth it. Ah, less money than the private sector and there is scrutiny. unlike Enron.)

Illegal, yes. But who gets to press charges. If there were that many votes not counted, does anyone know who they were? I am naive to this process, but if someone has names, could not the person whose vote was not counted contact these people and have them press felony charges of abridging constitutional rights? I don't know. Abu Torquemada will not press charges. Can Congress press charges for vote caging? I really don't know.

rojo

If this does not raise your blood pressure, little will. So we could have saved lives, but we didn't, but we have protection for contractors because they can afford it. Why? Because they charge it back to us at a 30% minimum profit margin. Soldiers are collateral damage.

What the hell is this?

Contractors protect their "intellectual assets" - a wonderful buzz term meaning your ass is mine until you die and we will slough you off like a healed scab when you quit making us money - better then we protect our youth.

Another day I will rant about the use of contractors. Today I want to focus on how mismanaged this war and our military is. No one would ever expect the armed services to be safe. But if you have a volunteer army willing to go and serve, this cannot be the best you can do.

I truly believe that Saddam was picked because it was like attacking the local puppy butcher. An amoral oppressor who attacked his own people (Kurds). And they had no anti-aircraft capabities to stop shock and awe. Quick win, Mission Accomplished, look good in a codpiece, be studly. But, oops, we forgot the aftermath and what Condi calls civil order problem:

"But you know, I just -- I know that there are all these reports now -- well, but you know that this might happen or that might happen. I can remember sitting in our meetings before the invasion and saying, and particularly Don Rumsfeld -- you know, people worrying about revenge, that after all those years of the suppression of Shia and Kurds, particularly Shia, there might be revenge taken out. And then we were really rather surprised not to see it. And even in the first few months after the Samarra mosque, we were sort of surprised that people didn't.

Well, it has emerged. But it's emerged by extremists and bad guys doing it. It's not as if -- and sometimes when people say civil war it drives me a little bit crazy because, you know, it's not like Iraqi Shia and Sunnis are running down the streets killing each other because they're Sunnis and Shias. These are organized gangs and death squads, and that's a civil order problem. And we're helping them deal with a civil order problem.

I think part of the problem for the American people is that's kind of uncomfortable. And as Dave Petraeus has said, it's very dangerous -- helping them deal with a civil order problem. But if we can give them the space by helping them deal with the civil order problem to get this de jure reconciliation in place, then I think you can see the transition to the kind of posture that a lot of people talk about as acceptable for American policy. But we can't just get over where we are and go there now."

Does anyone not remember Yugoslavia??? Oil, control, bid swinging dicks and little "what happens next" vision. This administration is single-minded and incompetent. And not willing to sacrifice. Or ask others to. Just shop and be happy.

Why aren't people more furious? Oh yeah, they are working two manufacturing jobs (read Mickey Dees) to pay for things like food and rent that one job could pay for before free trade became popular.

rojo

Irony!

Never having been to the new creation Museum, where the Earth's 6,000 year history is detailed and Adam and Eve frolic with velociraptors, I can't imagine that they hired an actor to play Adam who, shall we say, has indefinite leanings.

"For the Creation Museum, I did what I did as an actor. It doesn't necessarily mean I believe in evolution or a believe in creation," Linden said. "I'm hired to get a point across. On the flip side, if I was hired to play a murderer, that doesn't mean I'd go out and kill somebody. It's make-believe."

Ah, commitment. But, he is an actor. You would think that before hiring someone to play Adam that the Museum may have checked his past, given the controversial nature of the views of the museum, and maybe found out the man also went by the name Bedroom Acrobat. D'oh.

By the way, Bedroomacrobat.com is now being reconstructed and disavows any relationship with Eric Linden. Eric has a press release on his site disavowing relationship with that site.

And, who cares, except the owners of the museum. I guess it is hard to find hard-bodies who are creationists.

rojo

Culture Wars

Lately, I have seen many emails forwarded to me by concerned citizens on how Muslims can’t really be Americans because they placed their God above the God of all. I deleted many, but finally responded to one person (oh heck, maybe reply to all means a lot of people read it, but I doubt it) and stated that maybe if you believed in your Christian God and pledged your allegiance to him, you couldn’t be an American either.

And now I see this on the Intertubes—

The Ten Commandments and Theocracy

Category:
Posted on: June 6, 2007 9:19 AM, by Ed Brayton

Via EbonMuse's site, I found a link to the Society for the Practical Establishment and Perpetuation of the Ten Commandments, a boldly theocratic organization that calls for voiding the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the establishment of a society governed by Biblical law. The site is run by Robert T. Lee, who says:

Only the Creator of the heavens and the earth to whom all mankind are responsible can properly govern them; and He has graciously given them His most wise, noble, righteous and perfect moral Laws by which all people are responsible to perfectly conform in thought word and deed - in every detail of their lives. His righteous Laws are the only ones which have ever and will ever exist that can definitely work for the total good of every society. Any people who reject His most perfect and holy Laws, that is, the TEN COMMANDMENTS, do so to both their corporeal destruction and eternal damnation.

And they're just getting warmed up:

It is conformity to the established laws of evil and the lack of moral laws, moral penalties and rewards that's the cause of all that's awry in any society. Therefore the performance of true righteousness is the one and only answer to both preventing and ridding a society of every single thing that's amiss therein. If America will ever cease to wallow in its constitutional depravity, its government and people will have to come to the point where they are willing to accept their constitution as being the thoroughly depraved document that it is, officially and perpetually annul it along with its Bill of Rights, and officially embrace the moral laws of God as the foundation and supreme law of the land and legislate against all that's contrary to true morality. America must come to understand that its constitution is not really the Bible. It is a document that manifests America's self-righteousness, foolishness, and blindness.

But the stench of America's depravity is getting worse. In no way could this be happening if the nation is being truthfully governed by true moral principles. The principles upon which America was founded and is being governed are those that are perfectly antithetical to true morality. As long as it continues to be governed by such, it will continue to be governed by nothing more than the established laws of evil which deceptively appear as righteousness.

Do government officials and those who hold public trust truly know what they take an oath of office to do when they take the oath to uphold and defend the manmade constitution of the United States? And do blind patriots know what it truly means to faithfully abide by the spirit of such a manmade constitution? To uphold and defend the constitution and its Bill of Rights is to defend principles that are the governing principles of the kingdom of Satan. Any law that is antithetical to the TEN COMMANDMENTS is always satanic.

And if it needs to be more explicit what they want to see done, they spell it out quite bluntly:

Instead of a people seeking to govern themselves, the most noble and civic thing they can do in establishing their nation or society, or in laying down laws by which the structure of their governments and their inhabitants must conform is to wholeheartedly embrace the moral laws of God as their constitutions, without ever seeking to amend such morality; and all proposed bills, laws, statutes, ordinances, judgments and customs be based on the moral laws of God while vigorously enforcing such morality.

Source http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2007/06/the_ten_commandments_and_theoc.php

That backs up my theory, but why don’t Christians use the Sermon on the Mount instead of Leviticus and the TEN COMMANDMENTS. If you go to the website where these quotes were taken you can find a great site where justice is meted out. Might as well say “Stone the Bastard.” I know I was brought up Catholic and learned more Catechism than the Bible, but I never remember Christ saying “Stone Them!!!!!” There was something about guilt and throwing first.

What the hell is wrong with these Christians?

rojo

I see the EPA is up to its old tricks again. What is a navigable water and what is considered a wetland have been downgraded again.

This will decrease the amount of protection marginal flows, seasonal flows and particularly wetlands receive under the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act protects all navigable waters. How many marginal wetland are really navigable? What this will do is place an unfunded mandate (where is Jeff Gannon when we need him? Oh wait, he was funded. He was a prostitute. I wonder who he visited all those times in the White House? It would be fun to know what Christian lawmaker he was making his bitch. but I digress) -- yes, an unfunded mandate on State and county environmental protection departments as they will have to protect these areas as the Feds won't.

Now, let's say you were a developer in an area where there may be few environmental activists. And you want to fill in a swamp (er, wetland) to place a development near a freeway. You could go the county and say in your environmental impact statement we will rid you of pesky mosquitoes and lower the chance of West Nile virus and lower your expenses by eliminating your need to monitor for that and mosquito control. Oh yes, don't mind the red wing blackbirds, herons, etc. we will be displacing. They will just move elsewhere. And this is if the county actually requires environmental impact statements. Just stating that the possibility of abuse exists, maybe. And maybe county officials are cheaper to bribe than federal officials. maybe. Or maybe county and city officials want economic development and they may be more biased than federal officials. maybe.

But what really bothers me here in Colorado is that if the definition of navigable waters gets further downgraded, how many waters in Colorado, where you sometimes jump across rivers (they start here in the mountains and don't gain breadth until you get out to the plains) would truly be navigable, kayaks not withstanding? And many streams are seasonal depending upon snow melt. In a state where irrigation canals and senior water rights prevail (yes, Ralston Creek and Clear Creek were dried up four years ago by irrigation diversions--keeping grass green is much more important than fish life) how much can a stream be diverted before it is considered non-navigable and therefore not worthy of protection?

and even in Denver, the Burlington Canal (I think) along the bike path can take so much of the flow of the Platte River that the river will be dry until the effluent outfall of the Denver Metro Wastewater Plant actually starts a flow again. Yes, this does happen. This allows lawyers to lobby the State Environmental Agency to lower pollution standards (not navigable, no water) and the State is short-handed (republican congress cut budget, watch for Tabor amendments in your States--they suck. Tax payers Bill of Rights they are not. They are just an excuse to cut government funding.) Who has more money and time? developers or overworked and underpaid State employees who work for civil service?

Just think of these implications for a minute and let me know if gutting the Clean Water Act seems like such a good idea.

One other small rant. I mentioned Denver Metro WWTP. It gets the flow from almost the whole Denver area. Big plants are easier and MUCH CHEAPER to regulate and keep in compliance rather than many small ones. Except remember lobbyists cost money and bigger plants can afford lawyers more readily than small ones. But I mentioned that many area creeks run dry in the summer because of irrigation. Ralston Creek and Clear Creek had many small wastewater plants on their banks in the past--Arvada, Wheat Ridge, Northwest Lakewood, some small mobile home parks off of Federal Ave. All these at one time contributed flow to the creeks. Now their flow is diverted to the east side of Denver, depriving the stream of flow. I am sure that no one adjusted the irrigation rights to accommodate the change in flows. This really needs to be a consideration for semi-arid areas.

Oh, and if a river like the Platte receives much of its flow from a wastewater plant after irrigation diversions, how many male fish are there in the river? One study shows an 80% ratio of female to male.

Or intersexed fish?

rojo

"Attorneys for Cheney and the other officials said any conversations they had about Plame with each other and reporters were part of their normal job duties because they were discussing foreign policy and engaging in an appropriate "policy dispute." Cheney's attorney went farther, arguing that Cheney is legally akin to the president because of his unique government role, and has absolute immunity from any lawsuit.

"So you're arguing there is nothing -- absolutely nothing - these officials could have said to reporters that would have been beyond the scope of their employment [whether it was] true or false?," U.S. District Judge John D. Bates asked.

"That's true, your honor."

--from http://dailykos.com/

Whoa, back up there a minute bucko! Cheney's lawyer states he should be immune from all prosecution for anything he says. I had no idea he was the head of a church! or was a king!

As an administrator, he has every right to brainstorm in private meetings with other members of the administration any damn thing they want. But stating these things in public? No way. There is a huge difference between thinking things up, discussing them in private and then consulting with the proper legal and other levels of authority before mentioning anything in public. I would expect the war department to have thought about 40 scenarios (at least) to invade anyone, and also ways to defend ourselves. That does not bother me. Just like I hope members of the judicial branch worry about ways to protect civil rights. Or health and human services worry about ways to protect us from the West Nile virus or stockpile anthrax vaccine or flu vaccine. Just like my job as a wastewater treatment operator is discharge clean water within a budget, plan for future, more stringent regulations and then work with political and budgetary entities to make sure the money and the infrastructure are there so we meet any problems before they arise. and have emergency response plans ready in case we have a blocked sewer line or whatever. You take into consideration the proximity of any surface water impoundments and streams and rivers.

But, what we plan about and what we discuss to the public are very, very different. There is a level of security that people should not know. In a egalitarian society that may not be popular, but it is true. I would not want anyone to know security details of a large metropolitan water system and its weak points, but they need to be discussed. And if you give out too much information or act vindictively or unprofessional, "you're fired!" This is not hard to understand. There is no divine right of kings or kings in the U.S. You want to be the CEO administration, then act accordingly. Unprofessional, incompetent, lose job. Duh.

As an aside, this does bring up the myth of a CEO as a "rock star." I read business pages and see what the size of a golden parachute is for running a company into the ground. Rather amazing. Hire me to run a company into the ground. Why not? But how many of us get proxy voting shares with our 401ks? and how many of us actually know who does what with our investments? Our lack of knowledge and activism allow business to run amok. and I am not blaming--I do it too. It probably is not common knowledge who serves on the Boards of the companies we invest in or that many, many people are on the Boards of many companies. And these companies deal with each other. A very closed good old boys club. An exploration for another day.

But to say anyone, POTUS, Veep or anyone can say what they want PUBLICALLY (to reporters, not in private with peers) and are immune from prosecution shows how privileged and disconnected from reality and responsibility Cheney really is. And he needs to be ripped for it.

rojo

WTF, Thursday edition @ 04:19 am

I am a relative youngster, compared to some I know, AARP card excluded. But I sit here this morning looking at the news that Detroit has now asked for impeachment. The State of Vermont has asked for impeachment. Oberlin, Berkeley, San Diego and others have this on their upcoming ballots. For Chrissakes, when will Mainstream Media get a clue the populace is unhappy and we could care less about insider arguments and stories and the same old talking heads. Do we really need to see John McCain again on a Sunday morning? PEOPLE ARE PISSED! The same old, same old is getting people disinterested in that status quo. Record profits for multi-national corporations while the middle class disappears is not helping the demeanor of everyone.

I don't know if I have ever seen the country so polarized since the Vietnam era. If there is not significant change now, I feel that there will be major change in the next election, but this unrest foments splinter groups and wackadoos to take matters into their own hands. What strikes me is that the progressives will probably work within the system of the country they hold dear. I am more worried about backlash right wing or libertarian extremists taking matters into their own hands when they lose voice in the upcoming elections and are still listening to the vehemence and hate being sold by Rush or Glen Beck or Michael Savage.

and all this precludes people in power not trying to foment Armagedon to fulfill Biblical prophecy (in their opinion) so they can speed up the coming rapture.

Happy Thursday! but do something nice and compassionate today for someone.

rojo

Every time I say I am done with politics and do not want to read anymore something draws me back. I started reading blogs a few years ago by daily reading www.juancole.com and his blog entitlled Informed Comment. It is by far and away the best commentary on Iraq going and I started reading because of the shallow coverage of what I know now as MSM. He had more insights about that geographical area and politics than anyone I heard on TV as I knew we were being sold a war we did not need. So today from Juan Cole:

"In case you missed it, I posted some passages showing what the Jordanian newspapers really thought of Cheney's visit here.

For a trip down memory lane, see my posting on Cheney's similar Middle East trip of April, 2002.

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt warned Cheney against an Iraq War and said that it would produce a hundred Bin Ladens! Abdullah II spoke of the "apocalyptic" consequences and worried that the region would go up in flames. So were these leaders of the region right in 2002, or was smarty pants CIA-operative-betrayer Cheney? He'll be hunting quail in Texas in a year and a half, and Abdullah II will have to deal with a million extra residents in his country-- displaced Iraqis. Jordan only has 5.2 million citizens. And, Cheney won't be helping Jordan deal with the burden on services or with feeding the Iraqi refugees he helped create. It will just be Abdullah II and a volatile situation that could explode, just as did the Palestinian refugee problem created by Israeli expulsions and land expropriation in 1948 and 1967."

So far Mulbarek seems correct but what is troubling is that there may be millions of Iraqi-expatriates that I never thought of. and mostly in the Middle East, overcrowding marginal infrastructure.

So let's keep adding fuel to the flame instead of finding aid and diplomatic solutions. And then blame the cultural milieu for causing the problems. "Damned Arabs anyhow. Why can't they be like our Jewish friends?" Why in America is creating a situation and then blaming those involved considered acceptable leadership. Please keep that in mind with upcoming elections. Where do want our vision to go?

I am often surprised that more people have not accepted the Kucinich stance of a cabinet Peace Minister. We spend BILLIONS on war machines and much less on diplomacy and training young adults to be diplomats and visonaries.

Thought for a day.

rojo

Hi Ho, Hi Ho,
I fear and in lockstep we go.

from www.rawstory.com

"Dobson went on to enumerate a series of meetings convened by Christian right leaders in Washington to discuss the supposedly existential threat to the United States from a nuclear Iran.

“I heard about this danger [from Iran] not only at the White House but from other pro-family leaders that I met during that week in Washington," he said. “Many people in a position to know are talking about the possibility of losing a city to nuclear or biological or chemical attack. And if we can lose one we can lose ten.

"If we can lose ten we can lose a hundred," he added, “especially if North Korea and Russia and China pile on.” "

Hold on a minute there, bucko. I feel like I am listening to the bastardized lyrics of Junko Partner.

Am I to believe a group of crazed fear-mongers in a room together talking about the implicit dangers of Iran nuking the crap out of us. and then being piled on by Russia, China and North Korea. How afraid are these people in their lives? They believe in their God and his Son has already saved them.


1) There are loose nukes out there.
2) One will go off in the U.S. because people hate us. The reasons,and many are false, are too numerous to mention. We are targets!
3) I refuse to live my life afraid of this, and believe covert intelligence and enforcement are better than trying to be the biggest swinging dick in town via military force. I believe Britain tried that here once.
4) Maybe Fishbone is right.

I hope that if this is true that more than the Christian Right is informed. After all, they will end up ascending in the rapture and we get their Volvos.

Or is this another delusion that the world is ending and all is going on according to the Divine Plan of Revelation? These folks are seriously twisted. Sadly, they run our government and really believe that they are doing God's will bringing the end times.

rojo

In case you missed this little tidbit...

rojo

On Tuesday, without note in the U.S. media, more than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal, according to Nassar Al-Rubaie, a spokesman for the Al Sadr movement, the nationalist Shia group that sponsored the petition.

It's a hugely significant development. Lawmakers demanding an end to the occupation now have the upper hand in the Iraqi legislature for the first time; previous attempts at a similar resolution fell just short of the 138 votes needed to pass (there are 275 members of the Iraqi parliament, but many have fled the country's civil conflict, and at times it's been difficult to arrive at a quorum)....

What is clear is that while the U.S. Congress dickers over timelines and benchmarks, Baghdad faces a major political showdown of its own. The major schism in Iraqi politics is not between Sunni and Shia or supporters of the Iraqi government and "anti-government forces," nor is it a clash of "moderates" against "radicals"; the defining battle for Iraq at the political level today is between nationalists trying to hold the Iraqi state together and separatists backed, so far, by the United States and Britain.

from Think Progress

Okay, Iraq wants us to leave. The majority of Americans want out. How bull-headed is this administration.

rojo

Take the time to read this and see that there is much on the table this week and until the end of May in Iraq. Yes, we are in the middle of a civil war we helped start. What happens if the Kurds secede over oil revenues? What role would Turkey play? The Sunni countries? the Shiites?
Just thinking aloud and I really don't know any answers.

rojo