"This is not a problem of tomorrow but a problem for today," said Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., noting that nearly 10 percent of protein in the human diet is from the oceans. "It just scares the heck out of me."
And well it should scare the heck out of him. It should also scare the heck out of anyone who thinks he or she should become President of the United States. And it should scare the heck out of all the rest of us as well. Because, when this one hits the fan, no one will be left untouched -- not even the wealthy. This happens maybe once every thousand years or so, when all of mankind finds itself in the same sinking boat. If it goes down, we all go down together.
Still, by listening to the candidates, you'd never know mankind teeters on the edge of such biblical-quality disaster.
"Maybe the candidates just don't want to panic us," you say.
Maybe. But I doubt that's it. Instead I suspect they really don't get how serious it really is.
Which is why I say, bring on the panic.. please. And soon.
There are times when a cool head and calm talk are just what the doctor ordered. For example, when financial turmoil strikes financial markets the last thing those trying to fix things need is to panic the public and cause a run on banks. But this is different. This time panic is exactly what's needed to break through all the denial, wishful thinking, inertia, special interest spin and political cowardliness, Public panic is precisely what it's going to take to shake things loose and get those who need to get off the dime to do just that -- and fast -- and furiously -- and and with white knuckles on the controls -- as if their lives -- and yours -- depended on it.
Forget oil, the new global crisis is food
Donald Coxe warns credit crunch and soaring oil prices will pale in comparison to looming catastrophe...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..."It's not a matter of if, but when," he warned investors. "It's going to hit this year hard." (Financial Post)
But there's still no sense of panic. Instead candidates spar over unimportant nonsense, such as which of their religion peddlers is crazier, or how long they should be allowed to keep campaigning. They offer counter-productive summer gas tax breaks so SUV and RV drivers can burn more gallons for less.
And, of course, the candidates are also sparing over the war, whether it's smart to withdraw the troops from Iraq in 16 months or 16 years. Both miss the point at hand. Here's the sane position: End it now! Just end it -- immediately. Not because "we're winning" or because "we're losing," or because it's immoral, illegal or both. End it because it's no longer matters. It's no longer important enough to waste precious time and limited resources upon.
Because it's all hands on deck time. Everyone and everything is needed to fight a common enemy that has the ability to kill, not thousands, or tens of thousands, or millions of us, but billions of us. (A 33% die off, of the kind that hit Europe in the 1340s, would kill upwards of 2 billion. And if you think those deaths will be restricted to the usual suspect regions, think again. Think SARS, think Bird Flu, think social decay and disorder.)
Which is why wars, including this one, can wait until both we and our enemies are no longer each threatened with mass extinction. It comes down to just that... the core, fundamental priority of our lifetime -- if we and our progeny are to continue having one.
Oh sure, McCain and Obama talk about how we have to begin "addressing global warming." The only trouble with that approach is that the days when we could simply "address global warming" are long gone. Those days were way back in the 1980's and that train left the station, and it left the station empty.
If everyone fully understood just how serious the threats bearing down on us are, they would panic and demand that every candidate for any public office in the land have an attack plan in hand and pledge that implementing that plan will Job 1 on day 1. That they convince voters that understand that this is our generations Normandy -- but on a global scale.
I will leave all this hand wringing there. If you think I've gone all Chicken Little on you -- here's some reading for you.
WHITE HOUSE ISSUES CLIMATER REPORT 4 YEARS LATE
OIL AT $300 MEANS TOTAL ECONOMIC SHUTDOWN
"If we see oil at $300 per barrel, we will be looking out over the smoldering ruins of the world's economy."
And well it should scare the heck out of him. It should also scare the heck out of anyone who thinks he or she should become President of the United States. And it should scare the heck out of all the rest of us as well. Because, when this one hits the fan, no one will be left untouched -- not even the wealthy. This happens maybe once every thousand years or so, when all of mankind finds itself in the same sinking boat. If it goes down, we all go down together.
Still, by listening to the candidates, you'd never know mankind teeters on the edge of such biblical-quality disaster.
"Maybe the candidates just don't want to panic us," you say.
Which is why I say, bring on the panic.. please. And soon.
There are times when a cool head and calm talk are just what the doctor ordered. For example, when financial turmoil strikes financial markets the last thing those trying to fix things need is to panic the public and cause a run on banks. But this is different. This time panic is exactly what's needed to break through all the denial, wishful thinking, inertia, special interest spin and political cowardliness, Public panic is precisely what it's going to take to shake things loose and get those who need to get off the dime to do just that -- and fast -- and furiously -- and and with white knuckles on the controls -- as if their lives -- and yours -- depended on it.
Forget oil, the new global crisis is food
Donald Coxe warns credit crunch and soaring oil prices will pale in comparison to looming catastrophe...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..."It's not a matter of if, but when," he warned investors. "It's going to hit this year hard." (Financial Post)
But there's still no sense of panic. Instead candidates spar over unimportant nonsense, such as which of their religion peddlers is crazier, or how long they should be allowed to keep campaigning. They offer counter-productive summer gas tax breaks so SUV and RV drivers can burn more gallons for less.
And, of course, the candidates are also sparing over the war, whether it's smart to withdraw the troops from Iraq in 16 months or 16 years. Both miss the point at hand. Here's the sane position: End it now! Just end it -- immediately. Not because "we're winning" or because "we're losing," or because it's immoral, illegal or both. End it because it's no longer matters. It's no longer important enough to waste precious time and limited resources upon.
Because it's all hands on deck time. Everyone and everything is needed to fight a common enemy that has the ability to kill, not thousands, or tens of thousands, or millions of us, but billions of us. (A 33% die off, of the kind that hit Europe in the 1340s, would kill upwards of 2 billion. And if you think those deaths will be restricted to the usual suspect regions, think again. Think SARS, think Bird Flu, think social decay and disorder.)
Which is why wars, including this one, can wait until both we and our enemies are no longer each threatened with mass extinction. It comes down to just that... the core, fundamental priority of our lifetime -- if we and our progeny are to continue having one.
Oh sure, McCain and Obama talk about how we have to begin "addressing global warming." The only trouble with that approach is that the days when we could simply "address global warming" are long gone. Those days were way back in the 1980's and that train left the station, and it left the station empty.
If everyone fully understood just how serious the threats bearing down on us are, they would panic and demand that every candidate for any public office in the land have an attack plan in hand and pledge that implementing that plan will Job 1 on day 1. That they convince voters that understand that this is our generations Normandy -- but on a global scale.
I will leave all this hand wringing there. If you think I've gone all Chicken Little on you -- here's some reading for you.
WHITE HOUSE ISSUES CLIMATER REPORT 4 YEARS LATE
OIL AT $300 MEANS TOTAL ECONOMIC SHUTDOWN
"If we see oil at $300 per barrel, we will be looking out over the smoldering ruins of the world's economy."
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