'Advanced' Civilization: The Long Party is Over

by Edger

Sat Feb 05, 2011 at 04:28:32 AM PST

"Our current way of life is unsustainable. We are the first species that will have to self-consciously impose limits on ourselves if we are to survive." -- Robert Jensen

In 2010 we watched, aghast, as British Petroleum' s Macondo Well in the Gulf of Mexico blew it's top and leaked umpteen millions of gallons of raw crude oil into the Gulf, poisoning and killing much of the sealife, ruining gulf coast ecosystems, and destroying a way of life for millions of south coast people.

We watched, as business and political leaders and mainstream media went into paroxysms of delusional denial to cover up the sheer unabashed criminality of the event, and tried to create a reality built of smoke and mirrors in which something approaching "normalcy" would once again reign and we could all just jump into our cars and drive off into the sunset as if nothing important or even noteworthy had happened, while those business and political "leaders" operate in the delusion that military might, invasions and occupations, and wholesale oppression and killing of millions of people in "other" parts of the world - as if there is more than "one" world - all done using a military that paradoxically is the single largest consumer of energy in the world - will somehow secure a never ending supply of the energy required to keep our "advanced civilization" operating forever.

The Egyptian Tinderbox: How Banks and Investors Are Starving the Third World

Ellen Hodgson Brown J.D. | Thursday 03 February 2011

"What for a poor man is a crust, for a rich man is a securitized asset class." -Futures trader Ann Berg, quoted in The Guardian UK.

Underlying the sudden, volatile uprising in Egypt and Tunisia is a growing global crisis sparked by soaring food prices and unemployment. The Associated Press reports that roughly 40 percent of Egyptians struggle along at the World Bank-set poverty level of under $2 per day. Analysts estimate that food price inflation in Egypt is currently at an unsustainable 17 percent yearly. In poorer countries, as much as 60 to 80 percent of people's incomes go for food, compared to just 10 to 20 percent in industrial countries. An increase of a dollar or so in the cost of a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread for Americans can mean starvation for people in Egypt and other poor countries.

How to get to 100 percent renewables globally by 2050

There are many reasons to move to a sustainable energy system: fossil fuel supplies getting tighter, easy oil increasingly having to be replaced by uneasy oil, accelerating climate change. And most indications are that we'll have to go there as soon as possible.

But is it possible? And when? At Ecofys, we've been working for 25 years on our mission: "a sustainable energy supply for everyone." Two years ago, we figured it was about time to bring all our experts together to find out whether that really makes sense. Excited by our first findings, we found WWF willing to commission an in-depth study. And since today, the word is out! Or actually, 250 pages of it, in what's now called "The Energy Report." And the good news is: it's possible indeed, by 2050.

Chernobyl birds are small brained

By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News

Birds living around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident have 5% smaller brains, an effect directly linked to lingering background radiation.

The finding comes from a study of 550 birds belonging to 48 different species living in the region, published in the journal PLoS One.

Brain size was significantly smaller in yearlings compared to older birds.

Back to Full Employment

Robert Pollin

This is the lead article in a forum on the possibilities for full employment in today’s economy.

Employment conditions in the United States today, in the aftermath of the 2008–09 Wall Street collapse and worldwide Great Recession, remain disastrous—worse than at any time since the Depression of the 1930s.

Since Barack Obama entered office in January 2009, the official unemployment rate has averaged more than 9.5 percent, representing some fifteen million people in a labor force of about 154 million. By a broader definition, including people employed for fewer hours than they would like and those discouraged from looking for work, the unemployment rate has been far higher—16.5 percent, on average. Still worse, if we count people who have dropped out of the labor force, unemployment would rise to nearly 20 percent, or 30 million people, roughly twice the combined populations of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

The Conservative Class War, Continued

It was a terrible tabloid tale. While New York City was buried under a blizzard, widows and orphans freezing and starving in their apartments, union fat cats swigged brewskis and chuckled to themselves as sanitation workers conspired to stage a slowdown to gain leverage in their contract negotiations. “The selfish Sanitation bosses who sabotaged the blizzard cleanup to fire a salvo at City Hall targeted politically connected and well-heeled neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn to get their twisted message across loud and clear,” screamed Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post. From there, the story ricocheted across the media, to Investor’s Business Daily to Fox News (naturally), and even to Saturday Night Live. The Washington Times ran an op-ed that began, “Cross us and people will die.”

Alas, it never happened.

Paul Krugman: US Conservatives Raise a Stink Over Meddlesome Government

Conservatives are convinced that the Environmental Protection Agency is messing with Texas.

The state has been battling the federal agency for years over pollution regulations, and now it is suing, insisting that the agency is abusing its power. Also, officials say that forcing the state to adopt stricter emissions rules will cost jobs and lead to hardship. In fact, late last year, the E.P.A. announced it would issue greenhouse-gas permits in Texas because the state refuses to do so.

'Tall order' sunlight-to-hydrogen system works, neutron analysis confirms

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Feb. 3, 2011 — Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a biohybrid photoconversion system -- based on the interaction of photosynthetic plant proteins with synthetic polymers -- that can convert visible light into hydrogen fuel.

Photosynthesis, the natural process carried out by plants, algae and some bacterial species, converts sunlight energy into chemical energy and sustains much of the life on earth. Researchers have long sought inspiration from photosynthesis to develop new materials to harness the sun's energy for electricity and fuel production.

The Ruinous Fiscal Impact Of Big Banks

By Simon Johnson

The newly standard line from big global banks has two components – as seen clearly, for example, in the statements of Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan Chase) and Bob Diamond (Barclays in the UK) at Davos last weekend. First, if you regulate us, we’ll move to other countries. And second, the public policy priority should not be banks, but rather the spending cuts needed to get budget deficits under control in the US, UK, and other industrialized countries.

This rhetoric is misleading at best. At worst it represents a blatant attempt to effectively shakedown the public purse.

Pew Immigration Study Undermines 'Anchor Baby' Argument

Eric Lach | February 2, 2011, 1:56PM

New estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center find that the "number of children born to at least one unauthorized-immigrant parent in 2009 was 350,000, essentially the same as it was a year earlier." These children accounted for 8% of newborns in the U.S. from March 2009 to March 2010. But interestingly, only a fraction of the babies were born to parents who have recently arrived in the country -- running counter to an argument made by conservatives who want to do away with birthright citizenship.

Helping feed the world without polluting its waters

Feb. 2, 2011

McGill researchers develop first-ever detailed global map of critical phosphorus use and misuse

A growing global population has lead to increasing demands for food. Farmers around the world rely, at least in part on phosphorus-based fertilizers in order to sustain and improve crop yields. But the overuse of phosphorus can lead to freshwater pollution and the development of a host of problems, such as the spread of blue-green algae in lakes and the growth of coastal ‘dead zones’.

A further issue is that phosphorus comes from phosphate rock, a non-renewable resource of which there are limited supplies in such geopolitically charged areas as Western Sahara and China.

The Riddle of Jimmy Carter

He seemed like the most open and honest man ever elected president. So why does his true nature remain so elusive, even to those who know him best?

By Nicholas Dawidoff

February 1, 2011 7:00 PM ET

Still, Carter believes that had the hostages been released before Election Day, he would have won a second term. Nobody then doubted that Carter was a good man. The country could see how he suffered; they had voted for him and, as is the American way with incumbents, they wanted him to succeed. Instead, the hostages remained captive until minutes after Reagan had been sworn into office. In a conversation at the Juba consulate after the Guinea-worm meeting ends, Carter tells me that when he learned the hostages would be released that morning, he telephoned Reagan with the news, but was informed the president-elect was still asleep and could not be disturbed.

The FBI Has Been Violating Your Liberties in Ways That May Shock You

By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, AlterNet
Posted on February 3, 2011, Printed on February 3, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/149768/

Last week, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-VT, introduced legislation to extend the Patriot Act past its February 28 expiration date to December 2013. Though the extension once again saves some of the most nefarious, First-Amendment trampling provisions of the act -- roving wiretaps, secret access to third-party records, the hunting of targets unafilliated with foreign powers -- Leahy released a statement assuring us that the new extension will increase citizen protections.

“It will promote transparency and expand privacy and civil liberties safeguards in current law,” he said in a statement. “It increases judicial oversight of government surveillance powers that capture information on Americans. This is a package of reforms that all Americans should support.” The expanded bill would require the Department of Justice to issue public reports and generally expand oversight.

The Last Zealots: Hack History on the Right

Sunday 30 January 2011

by: John Grant | This Can't Be Happening | Op-Ed

It was a dark and stormy night and Scat Horbath was glad to be out of the weather in the Washington DC metro, where he was to meet the sinister Ali Ben al-Masseur in the last car of the Blue Train.

Al-Masseur ran the Brothers Of Islam Charity Center in Arlington, and he held the clue to a two-thousand-year-old secret that had been scratched in code into the bottom of John Hancock’s pewter chamber pot. The fate of the free world hung in the balance.

Back to Full Employment

Robert Pollin | Tuesday 01 February 2011

Employment conditions in the United States today, in the aftermath of the 2008–09 Wall Street collapse and worldwide Great Recession, remain disastrous—worse than at any time since the Depression of the 1930s.

Since Barack Obama entered office in January 2009, the official unemployment rate has averaged more than 9.5 percent, representing some fifteen million people in a labor force of about 154 million. By a broader definition, including people employed for fewer hours than they would like and those discouraged from looking for work, the unemployment rate has been far higher—16.5 percent, on average. Still worse, if we count people who have dropped out of the labor force, unemployment would rise to nearly 20 percent, or 30 million people, roughly twice the combined populations of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

The Great British Austerity Experiment

With deficit hawks poised in the US, we watch with great interest UK economic policy. It's not looking an enviable example so far

by Dean Baker

Three months ago, I noted that the United States might benefit [1] from the pain being suffered by the citizens of the United Kingdom. The reason was the new coalition government's commitment to prosperity through austerity. As predicted, this looks very much like a path to pain and stagnation [2], not healthy growth.

That's bad news for the citizens of the United Kingdom. They will be forced to suffer through years of unnecessarily high unemployment. They will also have to endure cutbacks in support for important public services like healthcare and education.

Obama Hate Machine Exploits Egyptian Crisis

It's been thrilling to watch millions of people rise up and call for free expression and democracy in Egypt. The collective courage of the demonstrators has been inspiring; the apparent spontaneity encouraging. And we could view it live on our computer screens and smartphones. At this point, there's no telling what the as-of-yet nonviolent protests will yield. Political reforms that lead to a diverse democracy? An opening that is exploited by Islamic fundamentalists? Chaos?

Rebellions can produce horrible outcomes. But the Egyptian uprising holds plenty of promise -- and is boosting the desire for democracy elsewhere in the region and the world. (China's leaders have tried to block news of the Egyptian unrest for Chinese Internet users.) But on Planet Beck and in other conservative quarters, the Egyptian revolution, sadly, has become just another vehicle for Obama-bashing.

Tax Refunds: More for Taxpayers, Less for Bankers

David Cay Johnston | Jan. 31, 2011 09:23 AM EST

January 13 was an unusual day for tax policy in America, one of the few times that the poor, the desperate, and the innumerate won a victory over the increasingly powerful forces of corporate socialism in Washington. Only time -- and politics -- will tell whether this unusual victory is real or illusory.

For those not familiar with the term, corporate socialism is the de facto system by which big business uses campaign donations to buy rules that privatize gains and socialize risks, as seen most expensively with the 2008 bailout of Wall Street. It is not a new phenomenon. The Barbary Coast war was arguably a case of taxpayers bailing out maritime insurers by sending in troops with collars to protect their jugulars from cutlasses, which is how Marines became known as leathernecks.

Go green, give a boost to employee morale

In a global recession, most people are thankful to have a job, but a new study published in Interdisciplinary Environmental Review suggests that employees are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs if they are working for a company that is perceived to be "green", whereas the financial performance of companies fails to correlate with employee happiness.

Cassandra Walsh and Adam Sulkowski, both of the Charlton College of Business at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, wanted to know whether employee morale is typically affected when a company is perceived as taking steps to be more environmentally benign, or whether the company's financial performance has a greater effect on employee happiness.

The Myth of the Center

Everyone is obsessed about Obama moving to the center. Too bad it doesn't mean anything anymore.

Paul Waldman | February 1, 2011

Even before President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address last week, the press narrative was clear: Obama would be "moving to the center," a voyage that would anger his Democratic supporters, be dismissed as inadequate by his Republican opponents, but would probably help him with independent voters.

"Obama Woos Center to Embrace His Vision of the Future," read The Wall Street Journal. "Obama Speech Signals Move to Political Center," said Reuters. "Obama's State of the Union Speech Is Another Move to the Center," said USA Today.

Paul Krugman: Perpetual Pessimism at Central Bank

Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, is sounding hawkish about inflation again, indicating in interviews that the bank will raise interest rates if officials see the need, even as countries struggle to recover from debt crises.

My former professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Charles Kindleberger, once wrote that from the existence of multiple financial measurements arose one great virtue: observers, by picking and choosing, could always be optimistic or pessimistic, depending on their temperament.

'Pay China First' -- Republicans' Wild Plan To Avoid U.S. Debt Default

Brian Beutler | January 31, 2011, 9:30AM

New Republican legislation in the House and Senate would force the U.S. government to reroute huge amounts of money to China and other creditors in the event that Congress fails to raise its debt ceiling.

"I intend to introduce legislation that would require the Treasury to make interest payments on our debt its first priority in the event that the debt ceiling is not raised," Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) wrote in a Friday Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Paul Krugman: A Cross of Rubber

Last Saturday, reported The Financial Times, some of the world’s most powerful financial executives were going to hold a private meeting with finance ministers in Davos, the site of the World Economic Forum. The principal demand of the executives, the newspaper suggested, would be that governments “stop banker-bashing.” Apparently bailing bankers out after they precipitated the worst slump since the Great Depression isn’t enough — politicians have to stop hurting their feelings, too.

Frank Rich: The Tea Party Wags the Dog

Any lingering doubts about Barack Obama’s determination to appropriate Ronald Reagan’s political spirit evaporated just before the State of the Union. No American brand is more associated with Reagan than General Electric, and it was that corporation’s chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, who popped up as the president’s new wingman when the White House rolled out its latest jobs initiative on Jan. 21. Obama’s speech on Tuesday, with its celebration of the nation’s can-do capitalist ingenuity, moved him still closer to Reagan’s sweet spot as a national cheerleader. The president even offered a remix of the old Reagan-era G.E. jingle “We bring good things to life” — now traded up to the grander “We do big things.”