Blogs

 SHOULD THE U.S. TREASURY PROVIDE BAIL-OUT MONEY OR BAIL MONEY?

New Yorkers were shocked at the headlines of a New York attorney charged with a 380 million dollar swindle. (1) That swindle is one of a long list of financial swindles plaguing the financial market. Now, the U.S. Taxpayers have been and will continue to be swindled by the funding of massive financial failures of some of the nations financial institutions: 

• Billions are loaned to “healthy” bank so they can buy-out, for cheap, “unhealthy” banks, thus consolidating more power among the rich right.

• Money is flowing out of the Federal purse without having conducted deep due diligence to prevent the use of the plunder to cover-up Ponzzi schemes.

 Hi all,

For the heathens, anarchists and amphibians around our household, solstice time is one of joy, knowing that the rebirth of the sun is coming up, the days will lengthen, and the flies will return to the pond.  But for the last couple of thousand years or so, we’ve also known that rebirths don’t come from dancing around a tree in your birthday suit – they come from the actions we take.  The winter solstice of civilization isn’t something we can take for granted, and this week’s goodies are offered in that spirit.
 
Our mini-interview of the week is the third and final installment of Mat Stein, and it’s also a 3 parter, wherein Mat runs through his 12 Steps for creating a sustainable future.  These 12 Steps are included in his book “When Technology Fails”, which is in our Essential Book section.  But also keep an eye out for Mat’s upcoming book “Making Shift Happen”.  A real solstice thinker!  Check out the 3-part interviews at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#video!
 
Next up is our Essential Book o’ the Week, the classic “Fast Food Nation”.  (Thanks to Friend o’ the Frog Herb Barbolet for reminding us about this one!)  If you haven’t read it, it’s funny, informative, and shocking enough to get you to rethink those nuggets.  See the used-book links at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#books!
 

 Car Companies, Who's to Blame?By Jack Schultz

Imagine that you had a company that sold the same products all over the world with the same management, labor and dealer network. What if your international operations were making $1.5 billion/year but your USA operations were losing over twice that at $3.3 billion? And, your international competitors were growing sales, making money and continuing to build new plants in the USA, even as you were shuttering plants and firing employees? You wouldn't be able to blame the government for fuel or safety standards since those same competitors have to abide by the same rules that you do. Nor could you look to market share, as your domestic business has a very healthy 22% share compared to only 7% to 17% in your major international markets. Wouldn't you want to try to find the one major factor that differentiates you from your very successful competitors? Wouldn't you want to change it, if you did find it?

Please vote against all Federal funding of “Clean Coal” and support funding of syngas and biochar from biomass. See: http://algaloildiesel.wetpaint.com/page/SYNGAS+AND+BIOCHAR . The exchange of email below demonstrates the that NETL is the captive research agency of the coal industry. The burden of proof of “clean coal” is on the coal industry, not the U.S. Taxpayers. Let the coal industry pay for R & D on clean coal. Please note that the NETL argument about “abundance” of coal is a fraud. By growing biomass; selective harvest of forest slash, dead trees and non-commercial trees; recycled municipal waste, agricultural waste, and growing algae, we will have a tremendous “abundance” of biomass. Extracting coal involves horrendous environmental damage while sourcing biomass does not.

FULL ARTICLE IS AT: http://leaguedemorepub.wetpaint.com/page/WHITEWASH+OF+BLACK+COAL  

Survivalism: for Peak Oilers and Ecotopians Too?

Written by Jerry Erwin, Portland Peak Oil   

As a peak oiler myself since 2002, I have often wondered why most of the prominent peak oil authors and activists dismiss the survivalist movement.

It seems that many of the peak oil heavyweights, including Richard Heinberg and Dmitry Orlov, in particular, despite their own ingenious contributions to analyzing our current predicament, seem to blithely dismiss survivalism. They apparently do not understand the basic technical constructs of survivalism, such as the military skill sets, weapons, and organization that go into survivalism. They also do not seem to understand the technical aspects of long-term food storage (i.e. oxygen absorbers, desiccants, dry ice, etc.), or the emphasis that survivalism also places on organic gardening and food preservation.