Congress is playing the snuff videographer role-- in the most horrific reality show imaginable.
There was a local network video cameraman, a number of years ago. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but it goes something like this: There was a scene where violence was occurring. The cameraman kept the camera rolling as a person was dying, instead of putting down the camera and calling for or offering help. He had to be thinking that this footage would win him an award or promotion. Afterwards, some, not all, questioned his priorities and judgment.
Today, we have a congress-- 540 legislators-- doing something very similar-- doing what they think they need to do to hold onto their jobs, while they watch a victim suffering from horrible injuries and do nothing. Only the victim is America-- the millions hit by the crashing economy, the subprime mortgage crisis, the 47 million without health insurance, the hundreds of thousand of troops coming home with head injuries or PTSD... and the members of congress watch, playing it safe, shamelessly failing to act, to take principled stands, instead, protecting their asses, saving their jobs.
Americans are awakening to the real threats to America and terrorism and the Iraq occupation are not at the top of the list.
The big questions are; What will happen to my retirement IRA or 401K? How will I pay my exploding mortgage payment? Do I have to stockpile food and water. Should I start a vegetable garden so I can survive this?
Jeanne, a local fellow activist friend, forwarded this to me:
Quoted from Atrios today: ROTFL To paraphrase a commenter over at Firedoglake:
How's that plan for putting social security into the hands of Citibank, Merrill Lynch and the other financial 'wizards' as President Bush had so strongly urged looking now?
The threat America faces is not from Muslim terrorists. That is and has always been a distraction from the real threat-- a predatory, right wing supported administration working to destroy government and the laws and regulations which require that corporations hew to laws and decency, justice and fairness in the treatment of people and society. For seven years, that destruction has been eating away at the protections former administration put in place. The Democratic candidates know they will have a massive job of healing, repair and rebuilding, when they take office next year. But this year, we face a perfect storm of new and worse threats, as the deregulation, the sabotage at the federal agency level bears rotten fruit for the transnational corporations that now hold no loyalty to the USA.
Yesterday, we missed a major economic bullet. Or should I say that Bernanke used an economic weapon of enormous power-- the most powerful rate cut in 24 years-- to reduce the damage. And Bernanke deserves credit. His strategy worked.
The question is, if Bernacke used such a powerful tool/weapon yesterday, what does he have left, because this economic mess is far from over. According to a U.S.News and World Report article, In Private, Bernanke Tells Horror Stories,
"...in private he has expressed growing pessimism about the economy. Whispers has learned that has told people in recent weeks that the economic situation some see falling into recession will be much worse than he has admitted to publicly.
We're told by those who've heard him that he says the first six months of this year will be "bad," an adjective that some interpret this as signaling there is better than a 50-50 chance for a recession. Even worse, the former Princeton prof believes the ensuing recovery will be "weak" because of persistent problems in the housing market that will result in subdued consumer spending."
But today, we must give him credit. Electronic futures trading had foreshadowed a 500 point drop, and when the stock exchange opened, the DOW dropped 400 points. The announcement of the 75 basis point drop in the bank borrowing rate stemmed an ugly tide... effectively, cutting the drop to just a tad over 25% of what had been feared and making the US stock market's reaction to the previous day's international crash much milder.
Unfortunately, the question arises, how many times can massive rate cuts be applied, before there are diminishing returns?
A few days ago, I wrote that all Bernanke has is an up-down switch for moving the prime rate. I was wrong. He had another trick up his sleeve, and it worked.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the manipulation of the prime rate is becoming less and less effective in influencing the economy, because there are so many additional global factors which also influence the economy. It would be nice if the nation's leadership-- congress or the Whitehouse-- could flip a switch and correct the problems we face. But that doesn't happen in reality USA. Doesn't happen with Petraeus in Iraq, doesn't happen with the housing crisis, the subprime mortgage crisis, the impending credit-tightening crisis, health care and so many more.
Yesterday, Bush and off the table Pelosi and do nothing Reid got together to discuss the size of the bandaids to be used on the massively hemorrhaging economy.
The solution to these kinds of problems is simple-- inspired, visionary, courageous leadership that supports strong government and enforcement of regulations already in place to police abusive corporate behaviors.
Easy to say, not so easy to find. This kind of solution does not fend well with 15 second sound bytes or smarmy, know it all TV political commentators. Serious, earnest, visionary leaders are laughed at and mocked by the mainstream media, maybe because the solutions these leaders offer threaten the uber corporate owners of the corpstream media.
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
To learn more about me and OpEdNews.com, check out this article.
and there are Rob's quotes, here.
To Watch me on youtube, having a lively conversation with John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click here Now, wouldn't you like to see me on the political news shows, representing progressives. If so, tell your favorite shows to bring me on and refer them to this youtube video
My radio show, The Rob Kall Show, runs 9-10 PM EST Wednesday evenings, on AM 1360, WNJC and is archived on www.whiterosesociety.org Or listen to it streaming, live at either www.wnjc1360.com or here.
A few declarations.
-While I'm registered as a Democrat, I consider myself to be a dynamic critic of the Democratic party, just as, well, not quite as much, but almost as much as I am a critic of republicans.
-My articles express my personal opinion, not the opinion of this website.
One pulls a knife out of a stabbing victim advisedly, as sometimes the knife is all that stands between continued viability and a quick bleed out.
We are in the unfortunate position of having a first responder team of dubious ability, and if past performance is any indicator, they are not to be trusted. We also find ourselves with a long wait until November '08 when we may be able to get a competent second opinion.
I suspect that in the interim, the victim will be largely left to its own devices for survival.
by
John Sanchez Jr. (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1172 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 11:19:23 AM
Thank you so much for your comments in this article. I'm so damn sick of hearing George Bush this and Dick Cheny that, that I could puke.
One must have total ignorance of our system of government to give the 540 members of Congress a pass. Or to insist that they were taken in by the intellect and cunning of the dumbest man in the world.
Either place the blame equally or appoint a dictator, ya can't have it both ways. Clinton, McCain and Obama weren't taking a potty break when this stuff came down. And they have the gall to say they could organize and lead.
by
Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 11:52:30 AM
What would you do to save your family and yourself from annihilation if you were in a position of power and had information only privy to yourself to do it?
Now you have the answer as to why our so-called leaders continue to pass policies that seemingly look inane and insane. Fact is they know something most people don't know, or refuse to admit. We're running out of the resources to sustain life as we've known it and there is very little we can do about it.
Soon this planet will run out of oil. Might be as little as 4 years as many as 40, but no more than that. Cold hard fact. Most elites know this and are placing themselves in a position where they'll be among the approximately 10% of people in the world that will survive this calamity. The rest of us will die from continued oil wars, starvation and a pandemic in which there will be only enough vaccine for the lucky elites.
If you recognize this then the supposed legislators who continue to ignore the plight of the people makes sense. Their insanity becomes sane when it comes to their survival.
And unfortunately everything we do is just whistling past the graveyard until this inevitability comes to pass. Currently we're experiencing the beginning of the end. The economy will not get better, not next week, not six months from now, not ever. More wars will break out in which more of our children will be sent to die instead of them coming home.
And even if bush and cheney were to be hanged they'd be replaced by someone else that would do exactly what they have started. No one person or group is going to come along that will be able to change this.
As I've said, not many can admit this, but if you do the research and add it to the policies driven by the ones in power, it fits.
by
Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1428 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 12:01:10 PM
This idea will solve our energy issues, and think of it on a broader scale, in using it as a resource to heat our homes, use for cooking, and a real possible means to running your own electric generator.
We can become independent from the Washington Circus. When you have power and control over your own energy, you don't need the clowns in politics.
When we have energy and control of it independently really who cares about the stock market.
Banking regulation just might prevent a few particularly bad financial system abuses, but it boils down to further legitimatizing the money-Mafia. Not as good an idea as completely re-thinking and re-designing the monetary/banking system.
Water contaminated fuel is just plain bad. Don't get sucked into it. It's a scam.
by
Paul Rye (7 articles, 2 quicklinks, 15 diaries, 289 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 9:19:30 PM
I thought the article said "water in the fuel". Now, I see it means electrolysis and injecting hydrogen into air inlet.
Not so bad as water in the fuel, but you must understand that when you electrolysize water to make hydrogen, you only get back part of the energy it took to make the hydrogen when you burn the hydrogen in the engine. So, there is no net gain to be had, just a little loss due to the not-perfect efficiency of the electrolysis process.
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Paul Rye (7 articles, 2 quicklinks, 15 diaries, 289 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 9:29:59 PM
I get so tired of the impossible people out there. Have you any idea how much energy it takes to convert Oil into gas? It takes just as much in comparison to changing water into HHO. I don't believe people who constantly make that ridculous argument.
How about comparing the cost to shipping the oil, building the idiotic pipelines, and off shore rigs? And how about the cost to the air? Have you any idea what kind of nonsense you are spouting?
Water is 75% of the planet. You mean we can't use solar energy to electrolyze water for HHO? Hell I could hook up a bicycle electric generator that I can peddle once a week to make my HHO fuel for my car for the week.
Don't give me your bear crap.
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Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 10:23:52 PM
The matter has nothing to do whatsoever with processing oil into gas, which by the way takes about 5% of the energy in the crude oil to accomplish.
If you burn a gallon of gas in your car, about 20% of the energy released by the gas drives your car forward.The remaining 80% is dumped as heat into the environment due to thermal losses required to cool the engine, and thermal losses out the exhaust pipe due to the inherent thermodynamic efficiency limits of the Otto-cycle 2T gasoline engine.
If you burn gasoline using an auto engine to drive a generator and change water into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis, you will get similar efficiencies: 20% of the energy in the gas will go into the process of electrolysis, and 80% will be dumped as heat.Then, when the hydrogen is burned in the car engine, about 20% of the energy released by the hydrogen fuel will drive your car forward, and 80% will be dumped as heat.So, 20% of the energy in the gasoline will be diverted to electrolysis, and 20% of the energy in the hydrogen fuel will be available to drive the car, or (0.2)(0.2) = 0.04 or 4% energy efficiency instead of 20%.That’s much worse than just burning the gas.
Using solar energy to electrolysize water is a much better idea, but that is not what you suggested to begin with, and that is not what the website you referenced suggested.
And no, you absolutely cannot peddle a bike once a week to drive a generator and make hydrogen to drive your car for the week.Unless you are an Olympic athlete, you would hard-pressed to light up a 100W bulb for an hour on a bicycle driven generator.
I don’t mean to rain on your parade, but people deserve to receive valid information on an important topic, energy.The real reason you do not see hydrogen fuel in widespread use today is that it is not an original source of energy such as: oil, natural gas, coal, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, nuclear, etc.It is a derivative fuel that takes an original source of energy to produce it.
by
Paul Rye (7 articles, 2 quicklinks, 15 diaries, 289 comments)
on Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 1:26:12 AM
Hey Thanks Paul, the more rain on my parade the better, that means I can go farther and make more. You have no understanding of engineering or knowledge that water cools the engine, and in fact doesn't give you those inefficiencies. And making me feel like nonsense when in fact you will eat your own words is quite satisfactory. I can peddle a bike and make my own hydrogen HHO to use in my car if I want. You have no idea how big my generator is, or the other technological qualities to the system. So who are you to assume the impossible? Go ahead Paul believe there is no alternative, make up all the excuses of why something can't be done. I don't care. I made a post for people who would like to know that this exists, and does work. Whether you care to believe it is irrelevant to reality.
by
Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments)
on Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 6:49:43 PM
Tell me how you prove IT slave driver? What?.. post photo's and claims on a website. That sure doesn't work nobody believes them either. People don't believe we landed on the moon, or don't believe 911 even happened. What ???..I have to reach through the weblines stick my finger through the screen where you are sitting and tweak your nose in order for you to believe?
Hell I can't even talk to our government. Send all these letters and nothing is responded? Who are you man? What are you trying to prove? That nothing can be proved?
by
Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments)
on Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 6:59:24 PM
Corporate control and the campaign against Hydrogen
I wanted to add this information concerning Hydrogen as a fuel. These ideas are workable and have been around and used for quite some time. This oil problem was avoidable and will be overcome as soon as we fight off the blood sucking vampires that have maintained this dependence.
May I suggest you check these sites out and think about where we could have been had these ideas been taken more seriously. The reason they were not is because the empire driven corporate sponsors have paid big money to stop this progress.
The issue of control of our government would be changed greatly with public financing of elections and the institution of some solid Corporate regulation.
A large number of our problems and deceptions arise because of the concentration of power allowed by corporations being able to own large portions of other corporations and spend their money influencing our elections.
Some of these changes are a result of lies and others resulted from bribery sometimes legal and sometimes not, but it all is a deviation from the original intent of our founders.
by
Sleeper (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 276 comments)
on Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 11:33:34 AM
Please, it takes extreme ignorance of basic economics to argue we will run out of oil. As oil reservers shrink, the price will go up accordingly, and substitutes will become economically viable. We will NEVER run out of oil. It will simply become more expensive, and used for fewer applications. It won't be the end of the world.
There are alternatives, many of which aren't in play because the price of oil is artificially low. If the price of gas included both the cost of defending the resource (military in the mid-east), and the external costs of pollution, the price of gas would be between $7.00 and $15.00 per gallon, and we'd all be driving electric cars, alternative fuel cars, or some sort of hybrid.
Don't worry about running out of oil. It's not going to happen, and the sooner we start using a lot less of it the better.
by
Robert Sargent (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 26 diaries, 303 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 11:54:21 PM
Saying we will never run out of oil when it's finite goes against logic. Everything finite runs out. There is only so much to go around and we're using it faster than we can refine it or find it. And it's not like developing countries are using alternative fuel sources. And even with alternative sources of energy they can supply only a fraction of the energy now supplied by oil. And it's not just energy, but oil is used in nearly everything we use, from fertilizer to cosmetics, there are literally thousands of products that oil is used for in which there is no substitute. Not saying there aren't solutions, but they should have been implemented generations ago to have any effect now.
India just introduced a $2,500 gas car. What do you think the effect will be on consumption and the environment will be with their population? China, hardly has even started to develop and already they're facing shortages and pollution problems dwarfing anything we experience.
Even if we were to easily transfer to alternative energy sources the effect on our environment comes too late. World-wide climate change inofitself is enough to rip our civilizations apart. Lose of habitable land, massive food reduction, we're already experiencing water-wars, over-fishing, add in ever increasing population explosion and we have a formula, even without oil depletion, for disaster. At current growth rates world-wide population would double in about 50 years. That's less than two generations. We can't effectively support population levels now, we can only provide a sustainable standard of living for about 2 billion, there are 6 billion on the planet, how in the hell are we going to cope with the increase?
Again, I hope to God I'm wrong. But as a student of humane nature and history as my judge I don't see mankind pulling out of this free-fall. It's not like we're the only civilization or species that has gone the way of extinction. We've only been around for a very small fraction of time as compared to other species and I see no reason why our arrogance is going to keep us around forever. Forever is a very long time.
by
Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1428 comments)
on Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 11:34:35 AM
so I watch what online sites allow. I click on MarketWatch faithfully, not just to see my assets land in the dumps but to look at those of a computerless friend. I don't panic for our accounts, because been-there-done-that sets in after another Iraq War fiasco. My equity mutual fund is where it was in 1993. But I'm not. I need income worse and fortunately I only have a few shares of what was once my mainstay for old age. It's nauseating to hear Republicans talk about the economic cycle. Boom and bust is in their DNA and extends to stocks and oil in equal mix. Despite what the Fed does to make money cheaper, in time bonds will produce a dependable income. Not sexy, just livable with.
When the old mainstay mutual fund was raided a couple of years ago by a hedgefund, I knew the stock market is not for folks. John Bogle said as much on Moyers program. It's a place for wildcatters just as surely as the next offshore petrol lode is. So I save money on cable and watch bond interest diminish and play the never-ending game of whether I or my money will run out first. Don't worry about me. I'm doing the worrying for folks who are about to exit the job market, through deserved retirement. Do they know where there 401K and IRA funds are? Until the dollar flopped and Third Worlds raised to Second World status, I thought maybe the Boomer could slide through. So I watch out for my computerless friend. She took a position in sure things like citi because financial instruments are important for worldwide growth. And the same can be said for CAT. There's going to be a lot of international highways in the making, she said. Bless her heart! Last time we talked, all she wanted to concentrate on was the family and early voting. I think she's getting ready to plant lettuce seed and she expects to set out a few tomato plants, since produce is so high.
by
Margaret Bassett (25 articles, 1669 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 1008 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 12:33:58 PM
Social security barely pays the rent and utilities for most of us seniors. I'm watching the little bit I have go right down the drain and wishing I had some land to grow food on. I'm still in my 60's and I am sure the money will run out before I do. I was brought up to respect my elders but these days many of the young see us as easy prey and targets for abuse. More and more seniors are on the street and more will be with these greedy elites hogging everything.
by
memary (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 70 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 8:58:57 PM
Well done. The truth stings huh? I'm doing the third of a three hour talk radio segment this week to try and drive home the point that growth is the problem, not the answer.
We live in finite world and exponential growth was never possible. I know what you and the politicians know, but it's a tough job conveying that logic to a public who doesn't want to hear it.
Thanks for the good comment.
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Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 1:03:36 PM
More than anything else I wish to be proven wrong. I would love to see even a glimmer of hope. But judging from mankind's history there is perish little to grab on to.
I've never been religious per-say, but certainly all prophecies concerning an "end times" seem to be right on target. But one doesn't have to do any more than use basic math to figure things out. There is only so much you can take out before you have to put something back. And we've taken far more than our share and put nothing back to replace it. The void will demand refilling.
I don't know if it's been a blessing or a curse that most of my life I had time to read, question and contemplate our existence more than your average Joe. Now that the inevitable is staring us in the face I'm not so sure I wouldn't have been happier being a happy idiot. And I'm not so sure making other people aware of what is about to unfold is such a good thing. Most people shun me because I find it impossible to keep my mouth shut and the last thing they want to hear is that their lives really have no meaning. That their children are looking at a ruthless and shorten future. It's not easy being Mr. Doom & Gloom.
by
Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1428 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 1:35:05 PM
Let me help you calm down... the world is not ending. I read all about Peak Oil a few years ago, and at first glance it scared the crap out of me. Things in the news starting all making sense. But rest assured, it is not to be.
First of all, our current economic problems are not caused by oil. Did you know that a bar of gold today buys the same amount of oil as a bar of gold did 50 years ago? Oil is steady, the dollar is dropping. We are likely peaking as many predicted, but for now things are still stable.
Second, and much more importantly, even if oil production peaks it does not mean that energy production is peaking. The amount of energy available to us from the sun (recall that all energy ultimately comes from the sun) is nearly infinite in the human scale. As oil prices truly start to rise, you will see many, many, many new technologies emerge on the market. Some technologies are decades old and idly wait for oil prices to rise to be economically viable.
It is true that we are heavily dependent on oil, but in the next few decades we will be almost entirely off oil and will have barely noticed the transition.
by
Patrick Henry (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 48 comments)
on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 7:44:58 PM
