PressCoverage

... including my presence here. It's just time.

Some of you will be happy, and for that I am glad to have finally given you peace. ... Truth be told: My attendance among you fine gentlemen has been waning for many months anyway... FOr me right now, there are more pressing issues than losing countless hours pontificating on random forums. Time is precious this summer. Including, and especially, time grinding at the tables and coming up with quick scratch. I'll still visit and keep Fog and BF accountable , but I don't think I can be considered a "regular" any longer. Still, I am grateful for the catharsis this outlet has provided, and the excellent practice and research it has forced in refining my arguments for real time discussion.

Anyhow, I depart with this long, rambling post... Those who maintain that my belief system is bunk can skip it now, or read it and get one final chuckle... while, others who embrace it, well... I hope my post history on this topic of energy emergency has brought some semblance of awareness and knowledge to you, if nothing else.

So, here goes...

What i find striking is that Peak Oil media coverage is starting to burst into the mainstream like water spraying through small cracks in a huge river dam. Last year and further back, you didn't see any peak oil coverage, whatsoever, on regular cable network news, or daily municipal newspapers.... I mean besides Discovery Channel stuff and a few web sites. But nothing on CNN, Fox, ABC, USA Today, etc. Just vague stuff about oil prices and Saudi capacity. ... You had to work to find literature on the energy crisis at our doorstep.

That apathy and denial has started to change since last summer. Just in the past few weeks, I'm seeing global oil supply skepticism being acknowledged on segments like Jack Cafferty, Lou Dobbs, the Daily Show, CNBC market watch, goofy Glenn Beck, and on and on. It's still just a trickle, but it has begun.

Heck, even President Obama has openly acknowledged an energy catastrophe scenario. Him saying such publicly is a huge step, and hasn't really been admitted by a C-in-C in 30 years. I watched him say this on CNN one day last week and my jaw dropped. I'm glad I've found the transcript all these days later. He said this while fielding a question during his recent ME trip, seated with Abbas:

Obama Speeches

"And, you know, interestingly enough, you're seeing the Saudis make significant investments both in their own country and outside of their country in clean energy, as well, because I think they recognize that we've got finite -- we have a finite supply of oil. There are going to be a whole host of countries like China and India that have huge populations (that) need to develop rapidly.

If everybody is dependent solely on oil as opposed to energy sources like wind and solar, if we are not able to figure out ways to sequester carbon and that would allow us to use coal in a non-polluting way, if we don't diversify our energy sources, then all of us are going to be in trouble. And so I don't think that will be a difficult conversation to have."

Now, I have zero doubt in my mind that the last 2 presidents (and likely the last 4 presidents since Carter) have known that global oil production was going to begin decline, and they knew roughly when: in the mid-to latter-part of THIS decade. But you never heard them utter it publicly, nor anyone in their administrations. Well, besides Cheney's 1999 speech in London, and a few other "slip-ups." But he wasn't in office then anyway.

What's further interesting about this quote is that here is Obama finally admitting that we just might NOT be able to harness that "clean coal" initiative after all. Hmmm. He was so 'gung ho' about "clean coal" throughout the campaign, wasn't he? Suddenly he seems rather pensive. It would appear someone got through to the man regarding energy, and the desperate "fallback" project of ramping up coal production.

But again, a U.S. president is essentially acknowledging peak oil. Sobering.

We live in very scary times.

Because the road map is correct. This is all happening. The Matt Simmons, Richard Heinbergs, Gerald Celentes, Colin Campbells, and Howard Kunstlers of the world are not lying to us all.

We are broke, unprepared, late for class, and our battery is almost dead. About all the United States has anymore is its military. Its economy is soon about to go the way of the Weirmacht.

...

"A Presidential Energy Policy" was ultimately written for the president, and I increasingly have a feeling he might have actually read it. If for no other reason than because I've only recently seen Obama come off his 'clean coal' mantra, and start making hard pushes for renewables. It's just a shame there are too many idiots in Congress backing 'status quo' lobbyists, casting doubt and stalling his initiative.

Congress dilutes Obama clean energy goals - Environment- msnbc.com

WASHINGTON - Congress is all but abandoning President Barack Obama's goal of producing by 2025 fully one-quarter of U.S. electricity from renewable sources — wind, solar and the like — although a push for at least some increase is making headway.

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are considering legislation that would establish the first national requirement for electric utilities to generate a certain percentage of their power from renewable energy, from wind turbines and solar cells to biomass and geothermal sources.

Anyhow, the final chapter of Ruppert's new book issues 25 points advising the president of an initial response to the oil shock emergency, or, as Kunstler calls it "The Long Emergency." ... The book has been out for over a month, and I've been eager yet hesitant to list them. But at this point, it's more important that real awareness be spread than worry about perceived infringement. How many of these do you agree with? I'm at 22.

1. Create a second strategic petroleum reserve of 750 million barrels of refined products for state and local governments.

2. Establish a new and uniform crude oil reserve accounting system for the United States. Through international agreements with the International Energy Agency and the United Nations, move for uniform global transparent and reliable reserve estimation and depletion rates.

3. Enact the Oil Depletion Protocol. Use all available diplomatic and economic means to encourage global ratification. Done to avoid profiteering from shortage such that oil prices may remain in reasonable relationship with production cost, and ... to set the provision that the world and every nation shall aim to reduce oil consumption by at least the depletion rate.

4. Immediately declassify the May, 2001, National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPDG) records.

5. Impose an immediate moratorium on all highway and airport expansion, including NAFTA superhighways.

6. Completely rebuild and expand America's rail system.

7. Feed-in tarrifs. Implemented to mandate that electric utilities will pay back 3% above market rates for all surplus electricity generated from renewable sources, especially including homes and businesses.

8. End speculation and immediately halt all derivatives contracts on non-renewable energy sources.

9. Enact a national speed limit of 55 mph, and strictly enforce it.

10. Eliminate all federal subsidies for ethanol and biofuel production.

11. Create feed-in tarrifs for local food production point of origin labeling.

12. Stimulate and strengthen local food production through federal and local governments - make vacant urban land available for cultivation.

13. Soil assessment - the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior shall be directed with the utmost urgency to evaluate soil conditions around the country.

<continued>...

PressCoverage

14. Create a federal clearing house to track and report on all state and local initiatives/progress with respect to relocalization and energy use. In order to (1.) identify regions that are most vulnerable to energy shortages and any unique conditions that may exacerbate that vulnerability. ... 2)...

15. Draft and pass a new Public Utility Holding Company Act that will provide that all public utility companies must maintain sufficient energy reserves, infrastructure and resources.... Mandate and enforce infrastructure repair and maintainance standards for all public utilities.

16. Rebuild the grid and energy infrastructure including oil and natural gas pipelines.

17. Create a public energy oversight board to police and monitor advertising and public dissemination of information about energy.

18. Redraft the tax code of the United States. Thereby doing what is possible to make it more profitable to produce alternative or energy-saving regimes. Require all corporations to use accepted accounting practices.

19. A new nuclear intiative that relies heavily on the dismantling of a portion of U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal for uranium supply. Get a better grasp of global uranium supply shortages.

20. Draft new federal building codes for home and office construction.

21. Education. Direct the Secretary of Education to develop energy-curriculum standards in mathematics and basic sciences.

22. Efficiency - reduce federal government energy use by 15%.

23. Drastically reduce overseas military deployment.

24. Decriminalize the hemp plant and encourage widespread domestic production. Acknowledge its undeniable use for textiles and fabrics, fiber and pulp paper, paints and varnishes, lighting oil, medicines, food oil and protein and building materials.

25. Open a rational, open and ethical domestic and global dialogue on the population problem.

It will be interesting to see how many the administration adheres to. Even if by coincidence.

<continued>...

As for we John Q. Publics? ... We have our own problems, don't we? ... We had all better start thinking about hedging our bets and making minor preparations. ... And I don't mean stocking up on canned goods. I mean... just getting very local. Fostering a more close-knit community, even if we hate our neighborhood. Find out about our municipality, and what the city/regional protocol is, and will be, in the event of an emergency. Where would distribution centers be, etc.? Heck, just turn off our AC this summer. Reduce the pressure on the grid. Keep our thermostat at 60-62 this winter.

If you're willing to be even more proactive? Get quickly out of debt if you can. Call in your investments. Re-invest in metals or barterable goods if you have any money to throw around. Halt your 401K. Yup, I know... I just said that. Halt your 401K. ... Let's see... Take a survival class, ... couldn't hurt (even if we perfect cold fusion tomorrow, or something similarly heaven-sent). ... Find access to clean drinking water in the event of an emergency.

Gas is going to keep rising this time around. Past $4, I'm fairly confident. Businesses will continue to shut down, people laid off. The blue collar majority will continue to spending less and less, can't go out to eat, crime will rise, etc.

But, beyond that... Events are going to start tipping the scale, and it will probably come in the form of a natural disaster . An earthquake, Cat. 5 hurricane, lengthy heat wave, massive flood of a city, or something else that we're overdue for, but which happens without fail every 3-5 years. Perhaps it will be a northeast blackout like in 2003 -- only much longer this time, as our electricity grid is outdated and ill-equipped for a hot summer. It could be conflict between nuclear nations abroad, Israel strikes Iran, Pakistan pokes India too hard, North Korea strikes Japan, etc. ... We are due for tsunami of some sort, but the difference in 2009 is, well... now America is broke. And for the most part, so is everybody else.

PressCoverage

German Military Opposes Gazrpom's Baltic Pipe
Obstacles pile up for Russia's Nord Stream gas pipeline (from Rice Farmer)
Energy fuels new 'Great Game' in Europe (from Rice Farmer)
Is the West's Love for Oil Receding for Good?
The Crude Reality of Peak Production
Oil Drops After Record Plunge in European Industrial Production
US Oil Imports at Risk
Chrysler's Next Fear: High Gas Prices
The World in Energy Statistics
EU Lines Too Old to Deliver 2020 Renewables Target

Is Eastern Europe on the Brink of an Asia-Style Crisis?
Latvia Faces Economic Meltdown
California Fifty Days from Financial Meltdown
China's Foreign Trade Plunges Deeper in May
Bank Rescue Costs UE States $5.3 Trillion, More Than German GDP

Harry Boy

Yeah, but what about Sarah Palin's Daughter----------

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

Harry Boy

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

PatsFanInVa

Good luck, God bless, don't chase the river too often, and have a great summer!

wistahpatsfan

How true. Not a bad idea...

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scott c

Twenty posts of garbage from the same old tired turd....I think Ill join PC and take a break myself......

scout

At times, everyone needs to get away from this forum. The hope is that 90% come back, which includes your powering back up. Agree or disagree, these are usually worth reading or debating and not some garbage spewed out day after day, ok lets not talk about the other 10%.
Anyway, enjoy your time away and we all know we'll at least see you come training camp.

patsfan13

Good luck at the tables. Since I do Forex instead of poker, I don't have travel for a game.

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