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[Friday
July 4th, 2008
01:39 am] |
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P.S. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY
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[Friday
July 4th, 2008
01:22 am] |
A series of events:
Wednesday
Kyle comes to South Bend to visit me.
Friday
I mention that it would be really cool for Kyle to come to Virginia sometime, possibly over Christmas break.
Monday 10 am
Kyle leaves South Bend for Minnesota.
Monday 8 pm
Kyle calls to discuss Christmas break visit.
Thursday
Kyle sends me an email with his flight reservation for January 30.
It took less than a week...that's proof enough that he misses me! =)
AAAAHHH BOYFRIEND EXCITEMENT!!!
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| A thought for this fourth. |
[Friday
July 4th, 2008
12:54 am] |
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mood |
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 pensive |
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Today is a national holiday, a day for sleeping in late, polluting the sky with pretty colored smoke, and watching Law and Order marathons until your eyes bleed. It's a day when people across the US will be reveling in unbridled patriotism. Year after dreadful year, this decade has brought us mindless flag waving in the name of patriotism. But on this anniversary that people like to think of as our nation's birth (although it's not quite), we really ought to take a step back to remind ourselves what it is that this holiday commemorates.
* * * * * In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. ( Read the rest ) * * * * *
This patriotic holiday is not about blind loyalty to the government. It's commemorating our declaration of independence. No, we will not sit idly by while a too-powerful leader does whatever he wants to our detriment. THAT is the principle upon which our country was founded. (Vive la revolución!)
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| Oil Drum Europe stuff. |
[Thursday
July 3rd, 2008
11:10 pm] |
McCain’s Energy Plan: Correct Diagnosis, Killer Prescription
The first thing to note is that his description of the current situation is largely correct. While he probably overemphasizes the role of speculation in recent price rises, he does point out that this is correct only as far as it represents a fundamental shift between growing demand from places like China and India and supply which has had trouble keeping up lately. He also rightly points out that US dependency on imported oil has been growing, and that the amounts of money paid out to often hostile oil-exporting countries are reaching record levels. He also pointedly reminds us that the policies of the past 40 years have done little to change this trend.
And his first policy recommendation is most appropriate: “energy conservation is no longer just a moral luxury or a personal virtue. Conservation serves a critical national goal.” This is, of course, an obvious dig to the current occupants of the White House, and in particular to Dick Cheney who famously said that “conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.” Putting conservation and energy efficiency, i.e., action towards demand reduction, at the forefront of his policy proposals is a good thing and would be a real change from earlier policies.
...
But when one moves to his recommendations, the gap is suddenly yawning with this diagnosis. His concrete proposals include more drilling in the USA, more nuclear energy, and, in an apparent nod to standard Republican economic fare, less regulation (for refineries) and lower taxes (on gas). “Apparent” because the targets seem wrongheaded: if no refinery has been built in the US over the past 31 years, as McCain asserts, that does not mean that “refining capacity” and runs has not increased in the past 15 years via investments on existing sites, and it does not mean that there are any refining shortages.
In fact, refining margins are significantly lower than last year, making the increase in gas prices much less than the increase in oil price would have warranted.
Will Wartime Mobilisation Address Peak Oil?
I frequently hear it suggested that we need a wartime mobilisation to address the challenges we face. The most recent being in the synopsis for Lester R. Brown’s new book, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization:The world faces many environmental trends of disruption and decline. The scale and complexity of issues facing our fast-forward world have no precedent. With "Plan A", business as usual, we have neglected these issues overly long. In "Plan B 3.0", Lester R. Brown warns that the only effective response now is a Second World War-type mobilisation like that in the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor. What is a wartime mobilisation, what triggers one and what relevance does such thinking have to today’s challenges?
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