Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Pat Robertson is Devil Spawn

Apparently Pat Robertson's version of the 10 commandments don't include "Thou shalt not kill." On Monday's 700 Club he called for the assasination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson told viewers on his "The 700 Club" show Monday. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said. "We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

He also said that Chavez was turning his oil-rich South American country into "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent."

Chavez is ""a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us badly." Hmmm... there's the real reason....OIL. Plus, the fact that he won't play along with Bush or US policies.

Robertson accused Chavez, a left-wing populist with close ties to Cuban President Fidel Castro, of trying to make Venezuela "a launching pad for Communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent."

Nevermind that Chavez was DEMOCRATICALLY elected in Venezuela a country that is 98% Christian.

See the full article from CNN

Sunday, August 07, 2005

In Memory of Peter Jennings

Why I love Peter Jennings and will miss him on the news:

1) He was the consummate professional
2) He was nafraid to call public figures on what they were saying
3) He would say if what he was reporting was a theory or unconfirmed (good example is his reporting on 9/11).
4) He worked long shifts for big news stories and he did it with his sleeves rolled up.
5) He traveled and did interesting stories around the World and the US.

  • Peter Jenning's Obituary from CNN
  • Wednesday, August 03, 2005

    The end of Suburbia as we know it - the era of Peak Oil

    Last week I watched a documentary about Peak Oil, entitled "The End of Suburbia." I encourage everyone to watch it. Before, I didn't know much about Peak Oil. But it's something I feel that we should prepare for.

    Peak oil is not a partisan issue. It will affect not just how we get to work (even those of us who take mass transit will be affected) but also how our food gets to us, how we grow our food (petroleum is a major ingredient in agriculture pesticides, ewwwww!), how we heat our houses and so on.

    We are reaching an era where the demand for oil is outstripping the supply. There are currently 600 million total vehicles worldwide that run on oil; 200 million of these alone are in the US. With car use in China and other developing countries growing, there will be more demand for oil than supply soon. Already, the world consumes around 4 times as much oil as we discover (source: www.peakoil.com).

    Peak oil theory, a.k.a. Hubbert's Peak, says that oil (or any other finite resource) will have a beginning, middle, and an end of production, and at some point it will reach a level of maximum output. Oil production typically follows a bell shaped curve when charted on a graph, with the peak of production occurring when approximately half of the oil has been extracted. For a good introduction to peak oil, visit
  • www.peakoil.com


  • US oil production peaked in the 1970 and has declined since. There is proof that other countries have or are now reaching their peak. According to
  • Chevron
  • , oil production is now in decline in 33 of 48 of the largest oil producing countries.

    Oil companies and executives from around the world admit that oil is declining and that we will need new forms of energy, including
  • Chevron
  • and Energy consultant and neoconservative Matthew Simmons, a member of Cheney's 2001 energy council.

    Once we reach peak oil, oil will become less available and more expensive. Oil production may reach a peak in the near future, or it may already have peaked. Use your imagination....this will be the end of suburbia and U.S. culture as we know it. This isn't some far away occurance either. It's expected to happen in our lifetime. Some say 20 years from now but it could be sooner.

    The U.S. government has know about this for 30 years and done nothing. We may not be able to stop this, but through community we have the power to adapt.

    What's the worst thing that can happen? It happens and we're not prepared. Or we can start preparing now and learn how to be self-sufficient so we can feed our families and communities. Community is the answer.

    I've joined a local peak group that has weekly meetings with seminars on co-housing, farming, gardening, and other topics. Find a group in your area, region, state, whereever. If you can't find one, start your own.

    Want more info? Here are some starting sources.

    Documentary:
  • "The End of Suburbia"


  • Books:
    The Party's Over by Richard Heinberg
    Powerdown by Richard Heinberg
    Overshoot by William Catton
    Blood and Oil by Michael Klare
    Resources Wars by Michael Klare
    High Noon For Natural Gas by Julian Darley
    Hubbert's Peakby Kenneth Deffeyes
    Twilight in the Desert by Matthew Simmons
    A Century of War by F. William Engdahl
    The End of Oil by Paul Roberts
    The Oil Age is Over by Matt Savinar
    The Long Emergency by James Howard Kuntsler

    Websites:
  • Post Carbon Institute

  • Die Off - A Population crash resource page

  • Museletter

  • Peak Oil News and Message boards

  • The Community Solution

  • Global Public Media

  • Life After the Oil Crash

  • Culture Change

  • Energy Bulletin

  • Association for Study of Peak Oil and Gas

  • Hubbert Peak of Oil Production