SAR #8190

The world's economic inequality is more immediately
dangerous than global warming.

Leadership: it is looking more and more like the UK will pull ahead of the US and become the first major economy to crash.

Precision Targeting: For the second time in three days, US fighter planes have launched missiles into a group of civilians in Afghanistan, this time killing 27 Afghans at a wedding. The US military said its missiles struck only insurgents. A revised statement acknowledging the unfortunate error will be issued later.

A Children's Story: Banking, sub-prime mortgage scams, the collapse of the credit-based economy, and the Fed - all explained.

Old Enough To Tell The Truth: Dr. van der Veer, CEO of Shell, is nearing retirement. This gives him the freedom to speak unpleasant truths: The era of easy gas and oil is over. "We have only seen the beginning" of CO2 emission problems. There is no way that CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere can be stabilized at 450ppm - much less the essential 350- level. This guarantees catastrophic climate change. We wish Dr. van der Veer a pleasant retirement, but it doesn't seem likely.

Futility and Deception: The rant of the day award goes to Ilargi for his comments on self-deception.

Book of James: Dr. James Hansen will tell the assembled leadership of the G8 nations that atmospheric CO2 levels are already 35 ppm over the maximum safe level and serious steps to lower atmospheric CO2 must start immediately, which means no more coal-fired electric generation, a drastic reduction in all fossil fuel use. They, of course, will not listen.

Guessing Game: Today's contest: Pick the day and hour this week that IndyMac goes under. Usual prize, usual disclaimers.

Another suicide bombing in Iraq. It should make you angry. It should make you sad. It damned well should move you to insist the Defense Department take better care of our soldiers when they come home.

Surge, Defined: Reports in the UK suggest that petrol prices there will jump 20 pence within weeks. That's 20 pence a liter. Let me save you the trouble: it is the equivalent to the local Stop and Go in the US adding $1.53 to a gallon. Overnight. These price hikes are coming to the US soon; oil is priced in a global market.

The End: Globalization's turn is over. The price of oil has doomed the transportation based chimera. China and the greater part of Asia are about to discover that cheap wages and slavery are not enough to compensate for the increasing cost of shipping consumer goods to markets that have no consumers. What will the unemployed millions do now?

Porn O'Graph: Going Nowhere.