It is Thursday As we continue to discuss Obama's embarrassing "beer summit" with the good cop and the nutty professor - which is a his special little way of avoiding responsibility for f-ing up big time - How about some mid week sobriety? What the hell...we do, in fact, have major problems that continue their full court press on all of us. Foremost among them: oil.
A link to Forbes and a doco from the BBC about oil and food. Both need pondering.
A farm for the future: the most alarming element in the clips below is the simple examination of how much fossil fuel goes into making one ham sandwich. We tend to process energy through the lens of various transportation needs. Transportation is the secondary concern. How our food is grown and moved is the essential issue...
The end is here. The well of souls is empty. I am linking to the Daily Kos. God forgive me. I probably know not what I do.
Onward!
I suspect a lot. In fact, I spend far too much time "suspecting". Mostly that the whole story is not being told. This allows me to speculate here - a past time I enjoy immensely.
One of the whole stories not being told is about food. I dive into the world of "peak oil" every so often. I find it fascinating. The Peak Oilers are, in large part, the secular version of religious endtimers. Doom is everywhere and we just happen to live in the most important time in human history. Which is self serving and has the added benefit of being rather exciting.
Here's the rub: unlike the Apocalypse Now Christians, the peak oilers are sometimes correct. Dig back a few years (or more) and much of what they intoned about then has occurred or is occurring now. I've noticed on big events they tend to be one year off. I first learned about the inevitability of the Iraq war, the housing collapse, the financial/credit debacle, the Russian/Chinese moves in South America and a few other things of note when peak oilers screamed about them YEARS ago. They can be and are wrong sometimes. And I find it helpful to cut all their predictions of coming dire consequences by half. Still even with a 50% handicap this game looks grim.
The author goes on to detail those causes and conditions. As a non-farmer the minutia is obscure to me. However, one of the dire predictions of peak oils has always been the collapse of the "just in time" food delivery system. It may be that the credit crisis, the weather, and the fuel crisis (yes, there is one.) are coming together to create a trifecta from hell.
"...we're out of propane!...Everybody is out, all three grain elevators, we can't get fuel for the bins, and we're coming in real wet this year." Are we in for a hell of a surprise at the supermarkets next year? I do not know. But someone does. And, while being hammered at to Christmas shop, are not getting the whole story.
Aside: I really recommend looking at the Life After the Oil Crash breaking news page. A funny thing has happened over the past 2 years. All the "doom" news once gleaned from outlier blogs is now coming from mainstream sources.
I am sick of Obamatons using "the war" as their FINAL ANSWER for supporting him - usually when "hope" "change" and "insults" have run their course. Obama will not be able to extract us from Iraq. Period. We are in Iraq to keep the Chinese out. We are there to makes sure the oil is ours when it is extracted. Everyone knows this except the American public. Unless WE change our basic assumptions and expectations - the war won't end. Obama can't end it. Clinton can't end it. McCain can't end it. All of them know it. They can manage it better. That is all. All three have lied about the war. Obama has lied the most.
Iraq is NOT Vietnam in one basic way. Iraq is an economic war in an almost pure sense. There is no ideology involved. Some has been grafted on for public consumption - however our men and women are indeed fighting for "our way of life":
excessive air travel complete reliance on cars a massive, diverse, food supply (often unhealthy - but profitable) that uses enormous amounts of oil over sized, ego driven, often tacky homes 40-100 miles from ones workplace, etc etc -
If you REALLY want to end the war here are few suggestions that have nothing to do with protesting or who you vote for - but if enough people got on board - the war will end:
A. Cut your energy consumption by 50% RIGHT NOW. Or at least see if you can. B. Eat as little food as possible that was produced more than 100 miles from where you live - unless you have no choice. C. Stop shopping at all BIG BOX Stores. The sooner the "10,000 mile supply line" is put to rest the better. (it will be put to rest soon enough. As will 10,000 mile tossed salad. )
This is a start. Crazy? No. We are in an oil war in Iraq. It is a very normal outcome given our recent power as a nation - and should have been expected. Nations go to war over resources all the time. We are no different. Oil is essential. So essential in fact - we simply would no longer function as a society without it. So no offense 'Arugula Bumper Sticker Crowd' but for now -War IS the Answer - until enough of us change our way of life and our thinking. Ah, the irony of a car BUMPER STICKER that says "War is Not the Answer". Not as ironic as the Warhol Obama - but close.
Nice speeches by state senators don't change facts on the ground. When I say "A President Obama will certainly disappoint and fail" I am mostly referring to this issue. Of the three candidates left he understands it the least.
On a previous post a comment was made asking what are we afraid of if Obama gets the nomination?
I'm afraid in the next few years the shit is going to hit the fan and we need someone who is present and doesn't just vote "present."
We are running out of oil. John is Mr. Peak Oil guy and can tell you that our whole economy is based on cheap oil. Cheap oil is gone. Hello $200 per barrel. We're going to need someone in the Oval Office who can offer solutions and not platitudes.
I live in Florida and was hit by three hurricanes in 2004. Charlie was BAD. Global warming will increase the severity of hurricanes. I don't trust someone who caved on nuclear regulations for his home state to fight for a carbon tax.
There is a global food shortage. Can someone who is concerned about the price of arugula deal with the price of rice? Or the lack of rice? Or corn?
We are losing our standing in the world. A man who sat in a pew for twenty years and never saw a problem with a pastor who had the audacity to dry hump on the pulpit to mock a former Democratic President is not someone who I want representing me. A man who says he transcends race but race baited and only disowned his racist pastor after the pastor accused him of acting like a politician has no moral compass or morality.
I am afraid of Michelle Obama. She complains because she got in to Princeton despite her low test scores. Wow, that's such a drag. She complains about paying back student loans. Man, I feel so sorry for her. She went to two expensive schools and they actually expect her to pay for it?
I'm afraid of never getting universal health care. Senator Obama's plan stinks and he used Republican talking points to put down Senator Clinton's. I just can't see him pushing it through.
I'm afraid of re-living Jimmy Carter's presidency.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to vote for McCain. Because you can scream about the Supreme Court or a Bush third term but we need a grown up in the White House and if that grown up isn't Senator Clinton I'll take my chances with McCain.
