Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Recently Added to the GuvWurld News Archive
Periodically I like to call attention to stories recently added to the GuvWurld News Archive, a document repository containing over 3,000 articles from the past few years.
John Conyers, Jr. (BuzzFlash) - GOP Heading Over Political Cliff - 4-8-05
SFChron - Conservative Stalwarts Re-Thinking Death Penalty Support - 4-10-05
The Nation - Judith Miller Continues Skewing The Truth At NYTimes - 3-31-05
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LETTER TO CHARLES WINKLER AT EUREKA TIMES STANDARD
Response to editorial "Outrageous Gas Prices," 4/9/05
Submitted 4/9/05, marked not for publication
Charles,
Surely Jill Geist is not the only one finding current gas prices "absolutely outrageous" ("Outrageous Gas Prices," 4/9/05) However, with all due respect, the nagging question is not "When will it stop?" The answer to that question is that it most certainly will not stop. The world is running out of oil and not only will prices continue to rise, the supply will eventually stop flowing and this will affect every aspect of how we live, including how we eat, travel and do business.
I sincerely hope that by now you have at least heard of the Peak Oil phenomenon that explains what I'm talking about. One excellent reference is a movie called "THE END OF SUBURBIA: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream" and you can get more info here: http://www.endofsuburbia.com/.
Rolling Stone also just published an excellent article you can read here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7203633. This is adapted from a book by James Howard Kunstler called The Long Emergency.
The mass media has certainly not gone into overdrive on this topic but here are a few more references from sources I expect you would accept as credible:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3777413.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/10/02/global.warming/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1097622,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/04/weekinreview/04yerg.html
And even a Bush administration insider is on the record acknowledging both the scientific and economic realities:
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/061203_simmons.html
While my next remark does not apply entirely or exclusively to the Times-Standard, I hope you will recognize the general truth about the performance of the media in general. The failure to fully investigate and report on the shenanigans from the 2000 election; followed by not just the unanswered but more importantly the UNASKED questions about 9/11; the enabling of the lies that led to war in Iraq; and most recently the meek efforts to expose the fraud of election 2004 all have allowed the U.S. to sleepwalk into a very dark era seen more clearly by citizens around the world who are watching us wondering how we haven't seen things coming. In this way, if in no other, comparisons to 1930's Germany are apt - it can happen here because we are allowing it. To paraphrase a famous quote: all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
It is a disservice to your readers and to our community to oversimplify the gas price increases to a shrill quote from a Supervisor followed by a red-herring rhetorical question. Of greater value would be a call by the Times-Standard upon the Board of Supervisors to create a Peak Oil transformation task force so that we can begin to study the anticipated local effects and prepare for the massive adjustments that will be required of us all.
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- GuvWurld correspondent and depleted uranium expert Dennis Kyne made the Tuesday edition of the New York Times. The GuvWurld blog carried news of Dennis's arrest and subsequent legal setbacks, and then trumpeted Dennis's calls for help before ultimately rejoicing when the charges were dropped. Dennis was one of 1,806 people arrested at the Republican Convention last September. The Times says: "Of the 1,670 cases that have run their full course, 91 percent ended with the charges dismissed or with a verdict of not guilty after trial."
- Rolling Stone has an excellent Peak Oil article from a few weeks ago that I finally read. It is adapted from James Howard Kunstler's book The Long Emergency. After reading this I saw an editorial in the Eureka Times-Standard that quoted Humboldt County Supervisor Jill Geist saying the gas prices have gotten outrageous. The paper comments: "And the nagging question is, "When will it stop?"" This inspired me to immediately write the letter below which concludes with a serious new idea we ought to pursue: "a Peak Oil transformation task force so that we can begin to study the anticipated local effects and prepare for the massive adjustments that will be required of us all."
- There are two related stories about Connecticut and Utah taking a stand against the No Child Left Behind act. This is good news. We need local government to engage in civil disobedience toward the federal government. Start by saying we have no basis for confidence in U.S. federal elections. Then start doing what's right by the community in which you live rather than allowing Uncle Sam to compel decisions working against the community. This definitely includes the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which I challenged last week with a compelling analogy.
John Conyers, Jr. (BuzzFlash) - GOP Heading Over Political Cliff - 4-8-05
SFChron - Conservative Stalwarts Re-Thinking Death Penalty Support - 4-10-05
The Nation - Judith Miller Continues Skewing The Truth At NYTimes - 3-31-05
LETTER TO CHARLES WINKLER AT EUREKA TIMES STANDARD
Response to editorial "Outrageous Gas Prices," 4/9/05
Submitted 4/9/05, marked not for publication
Charles,
Surely Jill Geist is not the only one finding current gas prices "absolutely outrageous" ("Outrageous Gas Prices," 4/9/05) However, with all due respect, the nagging question is not "When will it stop?" The answer to that question is that it most certainly will not stop. The world is running out of oil and not only will prices continue to rise, the supply will eventually stop flowing and this will affect every aspect of how we live, including how we eat, travel and do business.
I sincerely hope that by now you have at least heard of the Peak Oil phenomenon that explains what I'm talking about. One excellent reference is a movie called "THE END OF SUBURBIA: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream" and you can get more info here: http://www.endofsuburbia.com/.
Rolling Stone also just published an excellent article you can read here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7203633. This is adapted from a book by James Howard Kunstler called The Long Emergency.
The mass media has certainly not gone into overdrive on this topic but here are a few more references from sources I expect you would accept as credible:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3777413.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/10/02/global.warming/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1097622,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/04/weekinreview/04yerg.html
And even a Bush administration insider is on the record acknowledging both the scientific and economic realities:
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/061203_simmons.html
While my next remark does not apply entirely or exclusively to the Times-Standard, I hope you will recognize the general truth about the performance of the media in general. The failure to fully investigate and report on the shenanigans from the 2000 election; followed by not just the unanswered but more importantly the UNASKED questions about 9/11; the enabling of the lies that led to war in Iraq; and most recently the meek efforts to expose the fraud of election 2004 all have allowed the U.S. to sleepwalk into a very dark era seen more clearly by citizens around the world who are watching us wondering how we haven't seen things coming. In this way, if in no other, comparisons to 1930's Germany are apt - it can happen here because we are allowing it. To paraphrase a famous quote: all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
It is a disservice to your readers and to our community to oversimplify the gas price increases to a shrill quote from a Supervisor followed by a red-herring rhetorical question. Of greater value would be a call by the Times-Standard upon the Board of Supervisors to create a Peak Oil transformation task force so that we can begin to study the anticipated local effects and prepare for the massive adjustments that will be required of us all.
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