July 8, 2010 archive

Plain on the Outside, Fancy Underneath

On Tuesday afternoon, while returning from an errand, I stopped briefly at Union Station here in DC to get some lunch.  Union Station has long been a busy depot by which rail and bus traffic arrives and departs, and it also  serves as a rail and bus stop for area public transportation.  With the passage of time, part of the inside of the terminal has been  transformed into a shopping mall of sorts, which frequently satiates the boredom of tourists and passengers.  Predictably, it also houses a Victoria’s Secret.

Open Scorcery

Photobucket

News at Noon

From Reuters

U.S. drilling moratorium to take bigger output bite

By Tom Doggett and Timothy Gardner

July 8, 2010

Reuters) – The Obama administration’s contested moratorium on deepwater drilling will take a larger portion out of U.S. oil production next year than previously thought, the government’s energy forecasting agency said on Wednesday.

Oil production next year is expected to be cut by 82,000 barrels per day, or almost 30 million barrels total, due to delayed or canceled drilling caused by the moratorium, the Energy Information Administration said. That is 17 percent more from the 70,000 bpd in lost output the agency predicted just last month.

Monthly production losses could reach nearly 100,000 bpd by December 2011, the EIA said.

Related Stories

Factbox: Developments in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

The Two Things You Never, Ever Want To Hear About A Protest

In thinking about the recent United States Social Forum (about which I am quite positive, incidentally, as this piece I wrote on it reflects), I was reminded that I have intended to write this point up for a good long time. That’s because left groups have been making and publicizing bullshit smiley-face summations of their demonstrations, forums, conferences, campaigns, etc. for a good long time.

So here’s a quick translation of the two lines I most dread seeing in any sum-up.

  1. “It was small but spirited.” Translation: It was small.

  2. “It was good that we did it.” Translation: Boy, that sure burned a lot of resources for not much return.

Don’t even get me started on inflated crowd counts.

Yes, sometimes things are small and have good spirit. Yes, sometimes it’s worth having put a lot of energy into something with little evident payoff. But it is never good to lie to ourselves and to the people we work with.

I will close with a quote from Amilcar Cabral, the great Guinean revolutionary and agronomist, but not before urging you, dear reader, to chip in your thoughts and pet peeves in this department.



Tell No Lies…Claim No Easy Victories.

UPDATE (from the comment thread on the original post at Fire on the Mountain):

You also never want to hear a weather report in the context of a demonstration or meeting:

“Despite the threat of rain, a small but spirited crowd…”

“Even though it was a beautiful day outside, the room was nearly packed to hear….”

Trust is hard to come by in Afghanistan

Rachel Maddow does her show live from Afghanistan, she traveled there last week and the first show was aired on 6 July 2010.

Docudharma Times Thursday July 8




Thursday’s Headlines:

Owner of Exploded Rig Exploits Offshore Status

Six years in jail, no charge: war on terror’s forgotten victim speaks

USA

Federal Reserve weighs steps to offset slowdown in economic recovery

West Virgina governor holds off on successor for Byrd

Europe

Italian government to tackle Chinese mafia

French court sentences Manuel Noriega to 7 years in prison

Middle East

Change is in the wind

CNN Fires Middle East Affairs Editor

Asia

Richard Nixon planned nuclear strike on North Korea

Every day is laundry day for Mumbai’s dhobis

Latin America

Cleric battling to save rain forest from loggers fights expulsion

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

He who experiences the unity of life

sees his own Self in all beings

and all beings in his own Self

and looks on everything with an impartial eye.

–Bhagavad Gita

Phenomena XI: uniting


Flow Lines

Primary Element

What could

even should

have been a time

to listen to one another

became instead a time

of antipathy

a time of distrust

of attack

of justification

of baser instincts

of pushing apart

rather than

pulling together

The strength of water

lies in it’s unity.

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 8. 2008

Late Night Karaoke

OPEN THREAD

Saving Our Economy

It’s an argument that might just catch on one day.

Saving our own Economy is more vital to our own National Security than robbing someone else’s (overseas) of theirs.

It is important that we all redefine the words “National Security“.  For, in truth, it has no relationship to transfering our Tax dollars overseas in order to spread a Worldwide Military Empire, or funneling our hard earned money to the IMF to hand over to Foreign Banks and Foreign Governments, or funding corrupt “puppet” Governments, etc. — and it has everything to do with Economic survival within our borders, the protection of the Environment, and maintaining the basic Liberties that our Country was founded on here at home.

Can we support the important efforts of these guys?



Cutting Military Spending Part 1



Cutting Military Spending Part 2

My fellow High Net Worth Individuals, we are back in black!

Glad tidings, my fellow emotive and passionate brotherly investors!  The new World Wealth Report has been published by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management (pdf, free registration), and it is very, very good news indeed, so let’s cut to the chase:  My compassionate transnational brethren of High Net Worth Individuals, we are as rich as ever, and getting richer!

The world’s population of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) grew 17.1% to 10.0 million in 2009, returning to levels last seen in 2007 despite the contraction in world gross domestic product (GDP).  Global HNWI wealth similarly recovered, rising 18.9% to US$39.0 trillion, with HNWI wealth in Asia-Pacific and Latin America actually surpassing levels last seen at the end of 2007.

We have swelled the ranks of HNWI and our wealth surged in 2009.  Oh, the Blows of Chance, the Shocks of Time, we were hit particularly hard in 2008.  We have recouped our losses, while everyone else sucked on contaminated bilge water!  Time and time again, I don’t know how we do it, but we do.

My fellow High Net Worth Individuals, we are back in black!

Glad tidings, my fellow emotive and passionate brotherly investors!  The new World Wealth Report has been published by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management (pdf, free registration), and it is very, very good news indeed, so let’s cut to the chase:  My compassionate transnational brethren of High Net Worth Individuals, we are as rich as ever, and getting richer!

The world’s population of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) grew 17.1% to 10.0 million in 2009, returning to levels last seen in 2007 despite the contraction in world gross domestic product (GDP).  Global HNWI wealth similarly recovered, rising 18.9% to US$39.0 trillion, with HNWI wealth in Asia-Pacific and Latin America actually surpassing levels last seen at the end of 2007.

We have swelled the ranks of HNWI and our wealth surged in 2009.  Oh, the Blows of Chance, the Shocks of Time, we were hit particularly hard in 2008.  We have recouped our losses, while everyone else sucked on contaminated bilge water!  Time and time again, I don’t know how we do it, but we do.

Obama’s Disgusting Prosecution of Bradley Manning

From Glenn Greenwald…

The U.S. today charged Bradley Manning with a variety of crimes relating to his alleged leaks of classified material to WikiLeaks, most prominently including the Apache attack video that spawned worldwide debate over the American occupation.

The only “weapon” visible in this video is a camera carried by Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, who was 22 years old when he was murdered by the American occupation of Iraq.