I think this is the beginnings of an economy based on perpetual growth and fossil fuel energy running headlong into geological energy constraints. Basically I see an undulatory downward path for the rest of my life. From here out, I think any rallies in our economic condition are going to be met with spiking commodity prices that knock us right back down.
Joined: Apr 09, 2007 Posts: 6276 Location: Alaska (its much bigger than Texas).
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:06 pm Post subject: Re: Hillary....the stealth Arab oil candidate
Maya Angelou just wrote a poem for Hillary:
Quote:
State Package for Hillary Clinton
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
This is not the first time you have seen Hillary Clinton seemingly at her wits' end, but she has always risen, always risen, don't forget she has always risen, much to the dismay of her adversaries and the delight of her friends.
Hillary Clinton will not give up on you and all she asks of you is that you do not give up on her.
There is a world of difference between being a woman and being an old female. If you're born a girl, grow up, and live long enough, you can become an old female. But to become a woman is a serious matter. A woman takes responsibility for the time she takes up and the space she occupies. Hillary Clinton is a woman. She has been there and done that and has still risen. She is in this race for the long haul. She intends to make a difference in our country. Hillary Clinton intends to help our country to be what it can become.
She declares she wants to see more smiles in the family, more courtesies between men and women, more honesty in the marketplace. She is the prayer of every woman and man who longs for fair play, healthy families, good schools, and a balanced economy.
She means to rise.
Don't give up on Hillary. In fact, if you help her to rise, you will rise with her and help her make this country the wonderful, wonderful place where every man and every woman can live freely without sanctimonious piety and without crippling fear.
Rise, Hillary.
Rise.
--Maya Angelou
Excuse me while I barf. Bleeeehchchchch Bluuuugarchhheee
Blaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhheeeeeeeevvvvvvoooooooeeeeechccchchch
Joined: Sep 13, 2006 Posts: 291 Location: Vancouver Island
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:15 pm Post subject: Re: Hillary....the stealth Arab oil candidate
That poem makes her sound like bread:
Rise Hillary, like the giant loaf you are.
IF she was bread, I bet she'd be that crappy stuff that is like 40
days old, hard as brick almost everywhere, and anyplace that is still soft is covered in mold.
Might be cool having the first woman president ever. Kind of wish they'd pick one with more desirable nurturing traits.
This planet could use some. _________________ Can solar power save us from fossil fuel depletion? Too late? Time to start a Garden!
Joined: May 06, 2006 Posts: 873 Location: Tustin, CA
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:09 pm Post subject: Re: Hillary....the stealth Arab oil candidate
So Maya Angelou is writing love letters about Hillary.
Maybe she should spend a little time learning something about her. The musical tribute link below is much more accurate and has a catchy tune.
and oh yes, I highly recommend the explicit version!: Hillary Link _________________ Skeptical scrutiny in both Science and Religion is the means by which deep thoughts are winnowed from deep nonsense-Carl Sagan
At the AAN convention, Clinton delivered a detailed scientific explanation of some of the problems with the Ghawar oil reservoir. Clinton echoed Simmons’s claim that massive amounts of water have been injected into Ghawar to maintain oil pressure. “It implies less oil than we previously thought,” Clinton said.
Clinton also recommended that everyone at the convention read The Empty Tank: Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Coming Global Financial Catastrophe (Random House, 2005), by Jeremy Leggett, a petroleum geologist and international campaigner for Greenpeace. Clinton also emphasized the importance of developing the alternative-energy industry and weaning his country off its dependence on imported oil.
If he knows about peak oil, you have to figure she does, too. _________________ "The problems of today will not be solved by the same thinking that produced the problems in the first place." - Albert Einstein
Joined: Sep 29, 2004 Posts: 2330 Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:47 pm Post subject: Re: Hillary....the stealth Arab oil candidate
So maybe the elite are planning on Hillary this time around? I'm not sure the neocons like Mc Cain; he's an island man. _________________ "That's the problem with mercy, kid... It just ain't professional" - Fast Eddie, The Color of Money
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 7:31 pm Post subject: Re: Hillary....the stealth Arab oil candidate
Kingcoal wrote:
So maybe the elite are planning on Hillary this time around?
The elite hedge their bets.
Frontline had an interesting documentary about it a few years ago. It was about the 1992 election, with Bush (the elder), Clinton, and third party candidate Ross Perot.
Basically, the documentary laid out how all three candidates got where they were thanks to money from the elite.
It ended with a rich guy sitting on the beach in Florida. He pointed to the building nearby, which was a luxury condo. He rattled off the names of his neighbors, who were rich and famous Republicans, Democrats...and media personalities.
Then he said, "It doesn't matter. Bush, Clinton, Perot...whoever wins, he's one of us." _________________ "The problems of today will not be solved by the same thinking that produced the problems in the first place." - Albert Einstein
Joined: Sep 17, 2006 Posts: 697 Location: No man's land
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:56 am Post subject: Jerusalem Post makes crucial distinction betwn Obama/Clinton
Quote:
Obama's mixed record on Iran
I agree with Alon Pinkas that the rumor campaign against Barack Obama is unfair. He is not a Muslim, nor is there anything in his voting record or statements to suggest that he is anti-Israel. He is, from what I can tell, well within the "pro-Israel" mainstream of the Democratic party today.
The problem is more with the narrowness of the definition of "pro-Israel," as that label is normally used. The truth is that a candidate's voting record and position paper on Israel (here's Obama's) tells the voter little about what the presidency of that candidate would mean for Israel, or for the US, for that matter.
There are two reasons for this. First, thank goodness, the position papers of candidates and Members of Congress are now so uniformly pro-Israel, regardless of party (with some exceptions) that it is almost impossible to distinguish between them.
Second and more importantly, what matters most for Israel right now is not a candidate's stance on foreign assistance or the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, or even more controversial issues such as settlements and targeted killings of terrorists. Much more significant is the candidate's position on the wider threat of radical Islamism and its potential nuclear epicenter, Iran.
Here Obama's record is mixed. On the one hand, he has co-sponsored a bill to impose further sanctions on Iran, and has spoken out on the seriousness of the Iranian threat. On the other, while he supported the sanctions that the Administration eventually imposed on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, he opposed the amendment that Hillary Clinton voted for because, "it tied our presence in Iraq to an effort to counter the Iranian threat, which he felt could 1) give a green light to premature military action against Iran, and 2) provide a rationale to keep our troops in Iraq, when of course, he believes we need to end our presence there," as his staff explained to me in an email.
In other words, Obama placed the risk of a US military response to Iran and the risk of lengthening the US stay in Iraq as higher and more important than the risk that international sanctions will be too weak to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power. Such logic is warped and mistaken.
It also reveals Obama's talk about sanctions and the need to stop Iran as lip service, rather than a serious, thought-through policy designed to succeed. It is all well and good to be for sanctions, but if this position melts away in the face of extremely tenuous excuses based on extraneous issues, than the "tough" position on Iran is meaningless.
It is not possible to be "pro-Israel" without a serious policy for preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power, because a nuclear Iran -besides threatening Israel directly - would substantially ramp up its support for all the forces that are arrayed against Israel and the US:Hamas, Hizbullah, and al-Qaida.
Iran is the primary foreign policy challenge not just for Israel, but for the United States. The presidential candidates need to be measured first and foremost by the seriousness and coherence of their prescriptions on this issue. By this measure, all the major Democrats are currently fairing worse than all the major Republicans, but this could change as the campaign moves toward the general election.
Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 819 Location: Eastern NC
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:45 am Post subject: Re: The Jerusalem Post gives Obama the snub
Its called freedom of speech, those that agree with that paper are certainly free to read and vote as they see fit. Others may read and vote differently.
I'm sure there's a conspiracy here waiting to be revealed, spring forth thou insanity.
Joined: Dec 02, 2005 Posts: 6662 Location: Oil-addicted Southern Californucopia
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:06 pm Post subject: Re: The Jerusalem Post gives Obama the snub
I wonder why Israelis are so paranoid? Strange, isn't it? I wonder what makes them that way?
Gosh, you'd think there were a bunch of people out to get them. They act like they're surrounded on all sides by mortal enemies sworn to their extinction or something. They behave as if all sorts of horrible things have happened to them in the past. I can't imagine why. What's their story?
Go figure... _________________ "Thank you for attending the oil age. We're going to scrape what we can out of these tar pits in Alberta and then shut down the machines and turn out the lights. Goodnight." - seldom_seen
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:20 pm Post subject: Re: The Jerusalem Post gives Obama the snub
Never underestimate the power of people who have had enough of the same old stereotypes and whispers about what it means to be
a race, or a religion, or an ethnicity. It is far too easy and it has been far too common to smear and lump people into hate defined
categories. It has always been a waste of time and people's talents and so it is now. We theorize, and scheme, and fan the smoke of conspiracy to see if it might flicker to an open flame, and all of this is in search of who is oppressing us. But in my experience, in many of the times when we find ourselves oppressed, it has been done by our own lesser nature working against our own life. I know it is hard to let go of a good scapegoat, but let's give it a try and wash the scapegoat scent off of our hands. Jewish Journal
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:40 pm Post subject: Re: The Jerusalem Post gives Obama the snub
"I wonder why Israelis are so paranoid? Strange, isn't it? I wonder what makes them that way?"
Maybe it has something to do with treating non-jewish-israelis like garbage.
Or maybe something to do with settling an area that already had people on it, brutally kicking them out, and then proclaiming that the land is yours because one of your people, 3,000 years ago, said it should be.
Or maybe something to do with running a racist state.
Or maybe something to do with members of your defined race living by religious laws that encourage the screwing over of non-members.
But maybe you're right - maybe it's just bad luck that can't be explained.
Joined: Sep 17, 2006 Posts: 697 Location: No man's land
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 3:13 pm Post subject: Re: The Jerusalem Post gives Obama the snub
Touchy! Touchy!
Efarmer...i am providing information to help people make more informed decisions about who they choose to elect. Is there anything wrong with that?
I'm not sure how anybody could make the argument that the actions of our national government don't affect us all on a personal level...but instead write off all efforts to highlight the consequences of our choices as mere scapegoating.
Zardoz...I don't know why they should be so paranoid...they possess on the order of 500 atomic bombs. How about sharing some of that water with the Palestinians?
As for me, this kind of information is the most valuable information in determining who I would choose to vote for in the primaries or national election.
As stated in the article, Obama is considered to be in the "pro-Israel" camp, but according the author he is just not hawkish enough because he doesn't believe in tieing the presence in Iraq to an effort to counter the Iran threat (he won't give the green light on a preemptive strike on Iran).
What a pathetic commentary on the mainstream views of many Jews in our country! They won't support Obama because he won't agree to preemptively strike Iran...phssst.....
I'm not voting for Obama...I felt compelled to post this because for me it sums up what this election is all about and I'm sickened by it. _________________ "It is no measure of health to be deemed sane in an insane society" J. Krishnamurti
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 3:23 pm Post subject: Re: The Jerusalem Post gives Obama the snub
PopeGideon wrote:
"I wonder why Israelis are so paranoid? Strange, isn't it? I wonder what makes them that way?"
Maybe it has something to do with treating non-jewish-israelis like garbage.
Or maybe something to do with settling an area that already had people on it, brutally kicking them out, and then proclaiming that the land is yours because one of your people, 3,000 years ago, said it should be.
Or maybe something to do with running a racist state.
Or maybe something to do with members of your defined race living by religious laws that encourage the screwing over of non-members.
But maybe you're right - maybe it's just bad luck that can't be explained.
When Israel was being created the King of Saudi Arabia at the time asked why if the Germans had tried to gas all the Jews and had lost the war, why did they not give part of German territory for a Jewish homeland?
Instead we have the disaster both moral and physical suffering as it has unfolded over the last half century.
I think the easiest way not to rock the boat and the image the MSM portrays is this:
1. Israel good / saint.
2. Arabs bad / devil.
Life is so much easier when you can simplify things and there is no confusion. _________________ "Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box."
-Italian Proverb
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:22 pm Post subject: Re: The Jerusalem Post gives Obama the snub
billg, I am not in favor of ignoring the consequences of our actions by labeling it scapegoating. Our actions in the Middle East have been simply baffling and ridiculous and they do not match with our founding principles at all. A large part of this is that our government has been for sale to lobbyists and oil industry, religious, and weapons manufacturers have all gotten their dream legislation done by the elected officials of the American people and it has made a baffling pattern in the Middle East and around the world. To put a cherry on top of this stunning mishap we froth at the mouth to sell both sides weapons.
When we do not control ourselves under the precepts of our own Constitution and Bill of Rights, the long list of outsiders with influence but who should not have it, is a recital of symptoms and not of great importance because we are already aware of our disease. We need to cure and heal ourself as step #1.
You are a thoughtful man and I wish you would vote for whoever you find merit in, simply because you can. Also, I long for justice and a homeland for the Palestinian people free of oppression.
Joined: Dec 02, 2005 Posts: 6662 Location: Oil-addicted Southern Californucopia
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:08 pm Post subject: Re: The Jerusalem Post gives Obama the snub
PopeGideon wrote:
Or maybe something to do with settling an area that already had people on it, brutally kicking them out, and then proclaiming that the land is yours because one of your people, 3,000 years ago, said it should be.
The name Judea is a Greek and Roman adaptation of the name "Judah" and originally implied the whole territories of the previous Jewish Kingdoms, but by the time of the New Testament it had been limited in scope to the south of the region. In Hebrew Yehudah refers to a large southern section of Israel and the West Bank, or in the combined term Judea and Samaria to refer specifically to the West Bank area south of Jerusalem.
The area was the site of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, the Hasmonean Kingdom, and the later Kingdom of Judea, a client kingdom of the Roman Empire.
The first interference of Rome in the region dates from 63 BCE, following the end of the Third Mithridatic war.
After the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus, general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) stayed behind to make the area secure for Rome. Queen Alexandra Salome had recently died, and a civil war broke out between her sons, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II.
In 63 BCE, Aristobulus II was surrounded in Jerusalem by his brother's armies, and the situation was bad. He sent a messenger to Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, Pompey's representative in the area. Aristobulus offered a large bribe to be rescued, that Pompey quickly accepted, but later, he tried to accuse Scaurus of extortion. This caused his downfall, because Scaurus was Pompey's brother in law and was protected by him. The general did not like what Aristobulus II had done, and put the prince and high priest Hyrcanus in charge of the kingdom. Judea and Galilee became tributary kingdoms of Rome, which meant that they had to pay tribute to the Roman Republic to buy their protection.
Eventually as Roman policies became intolerant and oppressive a massive uprising took place which proved unsuccessful. Jerusalem was destroyed and much of the population was killed or enslaved. The Jews rebelled again 70 years later under the leadership of Simon Bar-Kochba and established the last Kingdom of Israel, which lasted three years, before the Romans managed to conquer the province for good at a terrible cost in terms of manpower and expense.
After the defeat of Bar Kokhba (132-135 CE) the Roman Emperor Hadrian determined to wipe out the identity of Israel-Judah-Judea, and began using the name "Palastina" to describe all the land of Israel, which until that time the area was called "province of Judea" by the Romans. At the same time, he changed the name of the city of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina. The Romans killed many Jews and sold many more in slavery; many Jews departed into the Jewish diaspora, but there was never a complete abandonment of the Land. There was never a time when there were not Jews and Jewish communities, though the size and conditions of those communities fluctuated greatly.
_________________ "Thank you for attending the oil age. We're going to scrape what we can out of these tar pits in Alberta and then shut down the machines and turn out the lights. Goodnight." - seldom_seen
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