Saturday, September 03, 2005

ö Dire Straits - New Orleans and Peak Oil  YOU BET YOUR LIFE by Michael Ruppert ... Several things are now becoming clear. It is unlikely that New Orleans will ever be significantly rebuilt. When we talk about collapse as a result of Peak Oil, New Orleans is an exemplary - if horrifying - glimpse of what it will look like for all of us. In the case of New Orleans, however, it's happening about two or three times as fast as we will see it when Peak Oil becomes an unavoidable, ugly, global reality. How long? Months. If we're lucky, a year. [...] We have heard precious little about the damage to Louisiana's Port Fourchon which is the largest point at which energy passes from sea to land in the region. more punishment  Civilization? permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?

ö Shock and Awe at the pump, GREED in the boardrooms Gas Buddy has the lowdown on most towns' low and high gas prices. But they also have historical graphs. Here's the 36 month graph for unleaded regular in my area, Springfield, MA. Soooo... ummm, since February 8, 2003 to September 2, 2005, the average price has gone from about $1.50 to about $3.19, more than double since the start of our war for oil. Like most Americans, I am in Shock and Awe. I guess the oil companies just need to charge these rates to stay in business:  Why Are Oil Stocks Up 5% This Week? As prices for gasoline reach record highs all around the country because, we are told, of the devastation to our oil infrastructure and refining capacity, the stock market is exposing the oil industries' despicable secret: the winds of Katrina will be a windfall for big oil. The Yahoo Major Oil & Gas Index shows stocks up 5% since Monday. ExxonMobil is up 5%. Halliburton is up about 8%. Why would companies sustaining massive damage to their property be doing so well? Why would investors bet that this is good for the oil industry? What the market tells us is that the industry will not show restraint, but will, instead, cash in on the disruption and destruction. Of course, catastrophe profiteering is vile. Sure, the companies, whose record profits of one quarter are exceeded by the next quarter's, should be voluntarily cutting margins and freezing prices in this time of national need. But they aren't and they won't. So the stocks rise and the coffers swell. more  permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?

ö FOX's Rivera and Smith freak out in New Orleans If you are a returning visitor to this cellar, I doubt you watch, or want to watch, FAUX News Sean Hannity, Shepard Smith or Geraldo Rivera. I know I don't. But here on Hannity's show Rivera and Smith are reporting on the scene in downtown New Orleans, and they are FREAKED OUT. Could it be that DECENCY will be the red pill for FAUX? Nahhh, these two will probably get fired soon enough. Thanks to Crooks and Liars we can watch the video. Digby reports:  Fox News reporters have played this story pretty straight (for them) and it's making the stars extremely uncomfortable. Somebody's going to have to have a talk with the supporting cast. They are going off script. Update: Sean's up now and he's equally uncomfortable with Shep's story about the thousands still stuck on freeways and bridges with no food and water --- who have been ignored for days now. He's been covering one single bridge for days and nobody knows why they haven't been helped yet. He's almost shrill. Now Geraldo comes on and he freaks out, begging the authorities to let people still stuck at the convention center walk out of town. Shep comes back and he says they have checkpoints set up turning people back to the city if they try. (wtf?) They are both on the verge of tears. Sean says they need to get some perspective and Shep screams at him "this is the perspective!" This was some amazing TV. Kudos to Shep Smith and Geraldo for not letting O'Reilly and Hannity spin their GOP "resolve" apologia bullshit. I'm fairly shocked. more  permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?