Thursday, March 13, 2008
KISSING OFF CANADA
What country has the world's largest oil reserves? Saudi Arabia? Iran? Nigeria? Venezuela? Wrong on all counts. The answer is Canada. And our neighbor to the north is worried we don't want it, says Investor's Business Daily (IBD).
* Canada has an estimated 1.6 trillion barrels of oil on its territory, much of it locked in tough-to-excavate tar sands in the province of Alberta.
* By comparison, oil-rich Saudi Arabia has an estimated 270 billion barrels left.
Yet, according to the Financial Times of London, Canada's government recently sent U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates a letter of warning that it might not be able to sell the United States any of its oil, which the Pentagon desperately needs for national defense. For that,
you can thank the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, passed by our 'new' Congress:
* Under Section 526 of that law, tar sands are considered to be an alternative fuel.
* But the law requires oil sold to the U.S. government and produced from alternative sources to emit fewer greenhouse gases than oil produced from conventional crude sources.
"Classifying the oil sands as a nonconventional fuel," said Tristan Landry, a spokesman for Canada's Embassy in Washington, "would unnecessarily complicate the integrated Canada-U.S. energy relationship."[Translation: they pooched it. Brilliant]
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Forget oil, the new global crisis is food
A new crisis is emerging, a global food catastrophe that will reach further and be more crippling than anything the world has ever seen. The credit crunch and the reverberations of soaring oil prices around the world will pale in comparison to what is about to transpire, Donald Coxe, global portfolio strategist at BMO Financial Group said at the Empire Club's 14th annual investment outlook in Toronto on Thursday.
"The greatest challenge to the world is not US$100 oil; it's getting enough food so that the new middle class can eat the way our middle class does, and that means we've got to expand food output dramatically,"At the centre of the imminent food catastrophe is corn - the main staple of the ethanol industry. The price of corn has risen about 44% over the past 15 months, closing at US$4.66 a bushel on the CBOT yesterday. This not only impacts the price of food products made using grains, but also the price of meat, with feed prices for livestock also increasing.
"You're going to have real problems in countries that are food short, because we're already getting embargoes on food exports from countries, who were trying desperately to sell their stuff before, but now they're embargoing exports," he said, citing Russia and India as examples.
Mr. Coxe warned U.S. corn exports were in danger of seizing up in about three years if the country continues to subsidize ethanol production. Biofuels are expected to eat up about a third of America's grain harvest in 2007.
[bad science leading to bad policy leads to bad consequences - who'd of thunk]
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SOME GOOD NEWS
By most measures, now seems to be a very good time to be alive, says Pete Geddes, executive Vice President of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment. [that's some title] Consider:
- The world's per capita inflation-adjusted income rose from $5,400 in 1980 to $8,500 in 2005.
- The World Bank reports that between 1980 and 2000, the share of the world's population living on less than $1 a day fell from 34.8 percent to 19 percent.
- It forecasts that the number of people living on less than $1 a day will continue to fall sharply despite population growth, and account for only 10 percent of the world's population by 2015.
- Environmental improvement in the United States has been substantial and dramatic almost across the board
- The chief drivers of this improvement are economic growth, constantly increasing resource efficiency and innovation in technology.
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NO AMNESTY IN ARIZONA
Arizona is seeing signs of a flight by illegal immigrants out of the state and back across the border. Local reformers credit the state's recent crackdown on employers - Consider:
- The new state law punishes employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants by suspending their business license for 10 days on the first violation and revoking it for a second offense.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection has given arrest authority to many deputies; so in the course of a traffic stop, illegal aliens without driver's licenses for the first time now stand a real chance of being deported.
- The consulate is reporting an "unusual" 400 percent increase in parents applying for Mexican birth certificates for their anchor babies and other documents they need to return to Mexico.
- Overall, some 30,000 illegal immigrants plan to leave Arizona as the state's tough new immigration laws kick in, according to a survey conducted earlier this month by Chicanos Por La Causa.
[as has repeatedly been shown to be the case - the same better-deal thinking that brought them here will lead to their 'immigration' - south]
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Teens losing touch with historical references
Big Brother. McCarthyism. The patience of Job. Don't count on your typical teenager to nod knowingly the next time you drop a reference to any of these. A study out today finds that about half of 17-year-olds can't identify the books or historical events associated with them. (Snip) Among 1,200 students surveyed: •43% knew the Civil War was fought between 1850 and 1900. •52% could identify the theme of 1984. •51% knew that the controversy surrounding Sen. Joseph McCarthy focused on communism.
[that's half the problem - then there's what they are taught. We need universal school vouchers]
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College Students Could Benefit From Right History Books
An earlier survey of college seniors at 50 top colleges conducted by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni found that more than half didn't know that George Washington was the commanding general of the Continental Army during the American Revolution who accepted
Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown. Some 36 percent thought it wasUlysses S. Grant, and 6 percent said it was Douglas MacArthur.
And another just-released survey found that a significant proportion of U.S. teenagers live in "stunning ignorance" of history and literature. That survey was conducted by a new research organization called Common Core. Students were asked 60 questions to test their knowledge of U.S. history and government. In general, the better a college ranked on the widely publicized U.S. News & World Report list, the lower it ranked on civic learning...
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Journalists Issue Guidelines That Downplay Islam in Terrorism
The Society of Professional Journalists has issued “diversity guidelines,” which are now posted online. No longer confined to the quaint idea of impartially reporting the news, the media are advised to change opinions, engage in public relations and "demystify" Islam and even ask "targeted communities" to "review" coverage and "make suggestions."
— Cover the victims of harassment, murder and other hate crimes as thoroughly as you cover the victims of overt terrorist attacks.
— When writing about terrorism, remember to include white supremacist, radical anti-abortionists and other groups with a history of such activity.
— Avoid using word combinations such as "Islamic terrorist" or "Muslim extremist". Alternate choices, depending on context, include "Al Qaeda terrorists" or "political Islamists." [?]
— Avoid using terms such as "jihad". The basic meaning of "jihad" is to exert oneself for the good of Islam and to better oneself.
— Ask men and women from within targeted [?] communities to review your coverage and make suggestions.
Asking "targeted communities" to "make suggestions" about terrorism coverage is extremely worrisome and will affect media impartiality and independence. Don't journalism schools teach independent evaluation of stories? Some of what the SPJ advocates is sensible. All Muslims are not terrorists. However, it ridiculous to claim that it is unimportant that a man recited passages from the Koran before breaking into an airplane cockpit.
This pattern of downplaying inconvenient story lines is one reason why almost 70% of Americans believe the traditional media are out of touch. The media are too busy trying to help America “understand” The New Truth to realize their audience no longer thinks they are reliable.
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California's sweeping budget cuts draw fire
California
[as anticipated, the 'firehouse ploy' in action...]
Mr Schwarzenegger has caused a public outcry with a series of measures aimed at curbing spending. The radical [?] proposals include cutting the state's education budget, closing some of its most popular parks and releasing some prison inmates early.
Some reports have suggested that the highly emotive cuts proposed by the governor are part of a calculated plan to ready the ground for tax increases.
However, an increase in taxes would only make matters worse. "The governor has wisely avoided piling new taxes on Californians at a time when a record number of people are losing their homes," says Teresa Casazza, acting president of the California Taxpayers' Association.
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Intruder slain by resident, police say
A man was shot and killed by a homeowner Thursday night after police said he and two others broke into a South Side home. The home invasion occurred in the 5800 block of Sanderling Drive in Littletown around 9 p.m when the three men forced their way into a residence where a 29-year-old man and his daughter, 2, were inside (Snip) The homeowner was shot once in the arm by one of the intruders, and he returned fire, killing one...
[and had he not been armed?]
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John Stossel, Award-Winning News Correspondent and Co-Anchor of ABC News '20/20', On Calls for Gun Control:
"The usual suspects keep calling for more gun control laws. But this idea that gun control is crime control is just a myth. The National Academy of Sciences reviewed dozens of studies and could not find a single gun regulation that clearly led to reduced violent crime or murder. When Washington, D.C., passed its tough handgun ban years ago, gun violence rose.Source
"The press ignores the fact that often guns save lives."
Why Is President Bush Attempting to Fund The Dangerous Law of the Sea Treaty?
In his fiscal year 2009 budget proposal, President Bush solicits some $5 million of American taxpayers' hard-earned dollars on behalf of the infamous United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, more commonly known as the "Law of the Sea Treaty," or "LOST." Indeed, few words could better characterize this pernicious accord better than "lost
For those unfamiliar, LOST is the proposed international agreement, rejected by President Reagan, that seeks to create an international legal tribunal governing the oceans and their resources. Just what America needs - another unaccountable multinational court to undermine its interests and further erode its sovereignty. Like the United Nations itself, such a tribunal would constitute a forum in which anti-American tyrants and kleptocrats could sue the United States and place the world's unclaimed oceanic resources under its authority. This body would take unto itself the authority to 'allocate' nations' ability to navigate the seas.
The Bush Administration's effort to endow this atrocious treaty with American dollars is perplexing and alarming. Because the United States is not a member of this agreement, it is under no obligation whatsoever to fund it or submit to its destructive terms. By choosing to finance it, however, President Bush sends a signal that America should somehow accept its obligations and ratify it formally.
In response, the Senate should rightfully resist the Bush Administration's not-so-clever attempt to circumvent its Constitutional advice and consent responsibilities, and refuse to provide the requested funds.
[worst of all: it would finally give the UN the (major) power to tax nations, thereby removing that pesky business of being beholden to its members for funding. This thing is an overt assault on the sovereignty of the US and its navy - it needs be defeated...]
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President Bush: 202-456-1111 , Comments@whitehouse.gov + president@whitehouse.govBarbara Boxer = 415-403-0100 (SF),202-224-3553 9DC) + http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfmDianne Feinstein = 415-393-0707(SF) + 202-224-3841(DC) + http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMeAny other Senator's contact information = http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
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