Consequences and Conscience

Image by Fr Antunes via Flickr

Warning over global oil 'decline'

There is a "significant risk" that global production of conventional oil could "peak" and decline by 2020, a report has warned.

The UK Energy Research Council study says there is a general consensus that the era of cheap oil is at an end.

But it warns that most governments, including the UK's, exhibit little concern about oil depletion.

The report's authors also state that the 10 largest oil producing fields in the world are all in decline. 

Italy's Constitutional Court has overturned a law granting Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution while in office.

The move opens the possibility that Mr Berlusconi, 73, could stand trial in at least three court cases, including one in which he is accused of corruption.
The judges said immunity violated the principle that all citizens were equal.

( How would that fly in the USA, UK and Canada ? )


Web mail scam propagates itself
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8294714.stm
The industry-wide phishing scam that has affected popular web mail services such as Hotmail and GMail, is spreading, according to experts.

Security firm Websense says it has noticed a sharp rise in spam emails from Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail accounts.

40 Years in the Desert

The Problem is the ISI
Taleban exploded another car bomb in Kabul...at the Indian embassy.

"NATO Says Afghan Battle Proved Costly for Militant Attackers."
Doesn't this sound like Vietnam body counts?
 Yeah, Tet really sucked for the VC too.


Be Afraid, be Very Very Afraid
Something that it tossed off rather blithely in this article is the fact that under a tax and trade system^*, will generate a market of more than $2 trillion, "within five years of trading (starting)".
 When you look at what trading has done to the price of oil, i.e. created increased transaction costs and increased price volatility, and you realize that the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is just $13 trillion a year, this looks like another Wall Street "Masters of the Universe" engineered disaster in the making.
 I'm waiting for the CDS (Carbon Default Swap) market to blow up the markets, and I wonder how I hedge myself to profit from it when it happens.
^*That is what it really is, after all. It's taxes which are bought and sold to allow Goldman Sachs to generate fees for trading these permits. Cap and trade is used in order to make it sound like it isn't a tax, but it's a tax, only a lot of the proceeds go to Ivy League classmates of Ivy League politicians as sales commissions.


Charlie Wilson comes out against Charlie Wilson's War, the Sequel

You remember Tom Hanks played him, and he allegedly the one who made the Soviet Union's Afghan war so disastrous.
Well, now, 2 years off a heart transplant, he has something to say about our role in Afghanistan, get out now:

"We (screwed) up the end game," Mr. Wilson said. "It would have been very easy and done for a minuscule amount of money. We should have done the basic things for a backward country that's trying to come out of (a war) and have a reasonable hope of economic success."

As President Obama considers whether to send tens of thousands of more troops to Afghanistan, Mr. Wilson worries that the war could become "another Vietnam."

"It's probably best to make a calculated withdrawl," he said. "If I were the president, I'm not sure what I'd do. I'd probably shut it down, rather than lose a lot of soldiers and treasure."

He says this as someone who knows as well as anyone just how fierce and tenacious the Afghan fighters are.

"I'd rather take on a chain saw," Mr. Wilson said. "They're the world's best foot soldiers, best warriors. And they're fearless.

"They're fearless, and they've got nothing to lose. And they have a pretty serious hatred for those who try to occupy their country."

In a nutshell he explains why Vietnam and Afghanistan are alike. If you are there, and you are an occupier, they will hate you.
Barack Obama should listen, but I think that instead he will listen to general officers who never learned the lesson of Vietnam.
As I have said many times, the US military believes that we lost because the American public turned against the war, when the reality is that the Vietnamese beat us (without winning a single battle, BTW), because nationalism creates unity and self sacrifice against the occupier.


( It must be embarrassing to note that McNamara himself opined that 'Domino Theory' had been nonsense covering intervention in a civil war. This time 'al Qaida, Taliban [ how'd they get stuck with the 'bad boy' label again ? ] are the conflicted 'reasons' for pursuing the Great Game of control of petroleum away from China and Russia - a militarily strategic supply - and destroying pesky native interference with resource theft. And then there is the matter of Saudis funding them and Turkey's mafia assigning targets on behalf of CIA druglords [ Air Amerika ] and NATO. Even I'm not sure if I've got that convoluted mess straight. But hey : the activities of mercenaries deployed in greater numbers than conventional forces are systematically overlooked : unless they happen to rape the wrong staffer. 
As John McCain says : "Bombs Away!" )


firedoglake

Memo to the White House: You Can’t Win an Unpopular War (And Stop Quoting George W. Bush)

Sic Semper Tyrannis 
(A Committee of Correspondence)
A Plague of Crooks and Fools - FB Ali


For the sins of its rulers Egypt was chastised with ten different plagues, but the United States is afflicted with just the one: an ongoing plague of Crooks and Fools. The Crooks run the country for their own benefit and that of their paymasters, both domestic and foreign (in simpler times this latter used to be called treason, but everyone is so sophisticated now). To help them in their work the Crooks need Fools, and there is no shortage of these, both high and low, big and small.

The Crooks of Wall Street recently robbed the country blind with the help of the Fool they had installed, the Delphic oracle Greenspan (he is probably stupid enough to still believe he is a financial wizard). The Crooks who own the mass media, and the hacks who serve them, have reduced the general population into a collective of mindless Fools, so that they don’t have a clue what is being done to them or their country. But the biggest Crooks are the ones in Washington. To succeed fully in their schemes they need a Fool in the White House. An old Russian proverb tells of the Summer Fool and the Winter Fool; Bush was obviously a Summer one, but it is looking increasingly likely that Obama is going to turn out to be a Winter Fool.

One of the aims of the Crooks is to keep the US embroiled in perpetual war. This enables the wealth of the country to be drained into the pockets of the military-industrial complex (and its hangers-on and allies), and also allows suitable enemies to be set up and demolished by the US for the benefit of others. After spending about a trillion dollars on the war in Iraq, and having thousands of its young men and women killed and maimed, what has the US gained there? The outcome is a Shia-ruled country that is the natural ally of Iran, and which shows no particular inclination to favour US political, military or commercial interests. With that war winding down, the Crooks are all set to ensure that the one in Afghanistan heats up and continues for a long, long time.

( What a wonderful rant...there's more...based on a supposition that people who are cunning enough to rob the public blind are stupid. Other words may well apply better - thieves and murderers for instance - but stupidity lacks credibility. )

change.org

Are U.S. Government Contractors Still Supporting Slavery ?

A few months ago, The Slave Next Door exposed the truth that, as late as 2005, U.S. government contractors were using slave labor in construction projects paid for by American taxpayers. Employees at the notorious firm DynCorp were accused of having sex with girls as young as 12 in Bosnia in the late 1990s. Now, American taxpayers may be supporting more trafficking through government contractor ArmorGroup. They are accused of frequenting brothels in Afghanistan known to enslave young girls, an act which is in direct violation of U.S. law and Department of State policy. But do you really need a law to tell you sex with underage enslaved girls is wrong?

Former ArmorGroup Director of Operations-turned-whistle-blower James Gordon filed a suit this past month. alleging that not only did ArmorGroup employees break the law by visiting brothels known for holding trafficked women and girls, they withheld documents and blocked efforts to investigate or end the illegal outings. And this little scandal went all the way to the top -- the manager in charge in Kabul is accused as being part of these activities, even though he knew they were illegal. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act prohibits government contractors or employees from visiting brothels overseas.

Gordon says he was concerned because the brothel ArmorGroup employees frequented was known to sell very young Chinese girls and women against their will, and because he was worried that all that sex was distracting the employees from their job -- guarding the U.S. embassy in Kabul.

Buying a Slave's Freedom: What Not to Do
Human Trafficking Charity Sued for Misuse of Funds
Red Light Special: Phally Purse for Phreedom
Action: Tell the House to Fund Crucial Services for Human Trafficking Survivors Today 
UN to Russia: Prevent Exploitation, Protect Migrants
Department of Labor releases list of slave-made goods
London considers axing human trafficking police unit
The Met Human Trafficking Unit has been lauded as an international example of a highly efficient and effective law enforcement effort. They have brought hundreds of cases against traffickers and freed even more victims. 

( Noted on  the News Board on Care 2 )

Stop Dish Network from trafficking underage girls on TV before 10:PM

Poverty + Food Insecurity = Obesity

in Poverty in America
Nearly two years ago, researchers at Johns Hopkins University predicted that by 2015, nearly 75 percent of the population in the United States will be overweight or obese. And as contradictory as it seems, obesity disproportionately impacts the poor. When hunger is lurking and money is tight, many people tend to purchase the foods that offer the greatest caloric content for the price.  Unfortunately, these products usually aren't fruits and vegetables.

Slow Food USA
Our Mission: Slow Food USA seeks to create dramatic and lasting change in the food system.  We reconnect Americans with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that produce our food.  We inspire a transformation in food policy, production practices and market forces so that they ensure equity, sustainability and pleasure in the food we eat.
62% of Disabled Unemployed
National unemployment is over 9%, but for some groups, the rates are much higher.  Worse, competition even for the lowest-wage jobs has gotten more intense. According to the census, 62% of disabled Americans are out of work - and now some social service agents are saying their job prospects have never been "this bad."
The recession - far from over for millions of us - has exerted intense downward pressure on many, as people take whatever job they can find. Hit hardest by this trend are those with disabilities who might otherwise be placed in entry-level positions such as bagging groceries or light office work.
This is not just a loss for the disabled. Though the disabled generally are eligible for long-term government assistance (SSI), many would choose to work and earn if they could. SSI rates now will rise - assuming they haven't been sharply slashed by state governments - because we can't find jobs for the disabled, and employers lose out on employees who meet or exceed the performance levels of non-disabled workers, research shows.
Millions of disabled but capable and amibitious workers have effectively been pushed out of the workforce despite concerted efforts to learn skills and find work. This is a problem even in boom times, and one with no end in sight as our jobless recovery picks up.