Thursday, June 25, 2009

SAR #9176

Forget CO2, the real cause of global warming is greed.

Memorial Service: A US drone joined a funeral gathering in South Waziristan, Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 60 mourners who had gathered to bury a Taliban fighter and were therefore obviously the enemy. As are all their relatives, now.

Fed Up: Our boy Ben has been accused of a cover-up to conceal details of the BofA/Merrill Lynch merger from other federal agencies, including threats to fire the BofA management if they didn't accept the deal. Emails and other documents purport to substantiate the charges.

New House Sales: No Bottom, No Bottom, Down 32% y/y, No Bottom, No Bottom, A 75% decline from the peak, No Bottom, No Bottom.

Who's Your Daddy? Republicans lined up with the banking industry to oppose the very idea that the government should regulate Wall Street. Some things never change.

Guilty Conscience: Spanish courts are expected to proceed with the indictment of six former Bush administration lawyers for their roles in authorizing the US torture program as crimes against humanity. Apparently they haven't forgotten the Spanish Inquisition.

Property Rights: If it comes to making serious changes in the social/economic structure of the US, revolution will be the only recourse, for the Roberts' Supreme Court will side with property over people, corporations over people, government crushing civil rights over people, the state over the wrongly convicted, the executive branch over the Constitution. It no longer is for, by, or of the people.

Grasping Greedily at Straws: In New York, the MTA will sell naming rights to subway stations. I'm waiting until I can name school buses.

Another Casandra: The International Energy Agency says that if the global crunch ends and global GDP growth returns to the 5% range, oil demand by 20-14 will outstrip supply and another economic downturn will result. If things get better, they'll get worse.

Scary Movie: Saudi Arabia is ending its search for oil and is now looking for natural gas deposits. They say that's because they've got all the oil anyone could ever want. Cross your fingers.

Enlightened Self Interest: Mexico's Cantarell is now producing less than 700 kbd, and Mexico's oil exports continue to fall while domestic demand is flat or rising. Should Mexico stop exporting petroleum and keep what they have for their own internal use? Would the US let them?

Yes,But : Uber-investor Warren Buffet - whose Berkley Hathaway lost some 40% in value last year - says that the economy is in a shambles, there are no signs of a recovery yet and that equities are a good investment for the long haul. Apparently the very, very, very long haul.

Money meets Mouth: NASA climate scientist Jim Hansen is spending his vacation in jail in West Virginia, as a result of actively protesting continued coal mining via mountaintop removal. Actually, Hansen isn't so much against mountaintop removal as he is against burning coal and killing grandchildren. He was joined by 94 year-old former WV Congressman Ken Hechler. Sorry you couldn't make it.

Clip and Save: The competition for oil and gas in Central Asia and the Caucasus is intense and growing; China has the money, Russia has the relationships, Europe has the need and the US has the military. The Great Game continues.

Ice Nine: Two high school students, independently, have discovered microogranisms that devour plastics. Starting with a common yeast solution, feeding the yeast bits of plastic and selecting for those that munched a little, over time a strain was developed that degrades 40% of the plastic in only 6 weeks. More study must be done to see if the process can scale up or if the byproducts themselves are harmful, but for now it is simply a bit of good news - even if it is a bit of evolution at work.

Job Counseling: The propaganda for the new jobs to be had in the alternative energy field is ubiquitous. What isn't are the jobs. There are lots of jobs financed by Big Coal for PR people who want to talk about the jobs to come, just no actual jobs.

Porn O'Graph: And then there were none.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Graping Greedily at Straws: In New York, the MTA will sell naming rights to subway stations. I'm waiting until I can name school buses


Oh you dreamer, you. What makes you think there will even be school buses around to name in a few years, much less schools?

jfwells

Anonymous said...

Memorial Service: A US drone joined a funeral gathering in South Waziristan, Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 60 mourners who had gathered to bury a Taliban fighter and were therefore obviously the enemy. As are all their relatives, now.

A great sign of progress in Afghanistan. With Obumma ramping up US War Racket efforts in Afghanistan, the US now has enough electronics in the air to diversify its civilian attacks from not only Weddings but now also Funerals! Hopefully, all other civilian Ceremonies will come under attack by the US. Thanks, Obumma.

tulsatime said...

Let us enhance the frivolity of this day with a good read over at Dead Cats Bouncing ( dot cooom ). Some loverly statistical points about the urban/rural population mix and subsequent water demand, and the amount of arable land per capita, or hectare, or some such. Oh, and some guy over at the oil drum has numbers on oil price movements as they relate to killing off the economy.

The plastic eating microbes thing is kinda creepy as I remember a sci-fi novel from way back set in a future time where bugs had been created that screwed up what little hydrocarbons were left.

fajensen said...

Memorial Service:

The real fun starts when drones are commoditized letting Everyone @ Dog have a go at whomever they do not like.

Maybe our Dear Leader is protected ... but ... then instead you could take out potential leaders, scientists, oil refineries, engineers or just blow up some shit because you have the money to spend, it's good fun and besides a solid precedent have been set by the "international community"that it is ok that ones favorite ideology, presently, "democracy", is best spread by violence.

Soon the boot will be on everyones foot.

Unknown said...

Yes,But : Uber-investor Warren Buffet - whose Berkley Hathaway lost some 40% in value last year - says that the economy is in a shambles, there are no signs of a recovery yet and that equities are a good investment for the long haul. Apparently the very, very, very long haul.

Now, now, with only 40% loss of value and two out of three correct answers this guy is by far a better investor than most!

Granted, it's not that high bar to hurdle, but there seem to be a rather daunting lack of people with similar jumping skills. Perhaps they are all out watering the green shoots?