SAR # 8198

Peak oil: The end of 'more'.
Wendell Barry

Neighborhood Guards: That's what Genral Pretraeus calls the thugs we are arming throughout Iraq. According to the troops, "We are basically paying these guys off with money and weapons to not kill us."

Better Things... Thru Chemistry: Gardeners in the UK have watched as their crops wither. The government has warned them not to eat their produce. The culprit, a new herbicide. But the gardeners didn't use the stuff - it was sprayed on crops that cattle ate and was transferred to the gardens with the animals' manure. Dow, maker of the poison, has "full sympathy for everyone involved." Especially Dow and their shareholders.

Faster And Faster: Again the IPCC's climate predictions turn out to be conservative. The world's oceans have warmed 50% faster than predicted. This will lead to changes in sea level, sea life, and climate patterns. None of this is good.

The Fire Next Time: Now that the sub-prime mortgage write-offs are tapering off, the next batch of disagreeable announcements will come from Option ARMs. Business Week is estimating that the default rate on Option ARMs over then next 12 to 18 months will be in excess of 50%.

Plagiarism? There appears to be strong evidence that the life of Jesus as depicted in the New Testament follows a script in circulation many years before he was born.

Drain: An ever growing part of economic growth - in the US and UK - has been based on debt. As credit extension slows, so will the economy. Idle productive capacity will increase and idle workers will follow. This is bad news for stockholders.