A
grim composite, this week, I'm afraid, of nine articles with a single
theme: rich, powerful corporations and idealogues pursuing actions in
their personal interest that are disastrous for the rest of us.
The Dark Side of Corporatism and Globalization:
 Environmental Disasters You Won't Hear About in the MSM:
Two new environmental disasters revealed this week, neither reported
much in the mainstream media -- imagine if either of these had happened
in the US! Both were caused by criminally negligent human activity by
energy industry corporations and both involved sludge. The first has
caused 8 deaths and tens of thousands of skin, nerve damage and other
illnesses (like the blisters to the baby at left) in the Ivory Coast,
when 250 tons of toxic waste from an ocean tanker hold, the result of undisclosed energy and mining activity, was dumped in suburban Abidjan after being turned away at a Dutch port.
 The
second occurred in Indonesia, where reckless seismic testing for
natural gas has destabilized underground faults and produced dozens of mud-spewing geysers that have completely submerged eight villages
(one pictured at right), emitting 170,000 cubic metres of possibly
toxic mud per day and forcing 13,000 people so far from their homes.
The billionaire owner sold the drilling company that caused the problem
for $2 to an offshore company and then forced it into bankruptcy,
ensuring that he will face neither criminal prosecution nor financial
consequences for his negligence.
The mainstream media are also mostly still not
talking about the environmental disaster offshore in Lebanon, the
result of negligence during the Israel-Hezbollah war, when Israel
deliberately blew up a power plant, spilling 110,000 barrels of oil into the Mediterranean, ruining beaches and the fishing industry, threatening water supplies and the public health, and devastating the local ecology.
Wal-Mart Capping Workers Wages & Shifting to 40% Part-Time Workers: It's doing this to placate shareholders unhappy with the company's financial performance. The strategy is to force out higher-paid longer-serving employees so younger, cheaper part-timers can be hired.
Experienced Investors Take Huge Short Position on the Dow:
Blogger Cryptogon has been tracking the holdings of professional versus
amateur (day-trader) investors in investments in the funds that buy
proportionately the entire Dow Jones Industrial Index 30. The pros are betting heavily on a plunge over the next two weeks
(short positions) while the amateurs are still buying long positions
hoping for more record highs. The index is at 11,850 now (red line on
chart above). My bet's on the pros. I'll report back on Oct. 20 on
whether I was right or wrong. There are a number of forces at work
here: Big US Oil is doing all the arm-twisting it can on behalf of Bush
to get oil prices down until the elections are over, without
sacrificing too much in profits, and that suppression of oil prices has
naive investors thinking that it will last long enough to push up
corporate earnings. With the markets having nowhere to go but down or
sideways, brokers and traders who want to make money on stocks need to
orchestrate huge whipsaws in prices and then outguess the hapless
day-traders and amateur investors by buying from them at the bottom and
selling to them at the top. And with the housing market in the first
stages of collapse, savvy investors are bailing out of real estate and
looking to find somewhere else to park their money, and energy stocks
that have tumbled with the orchestrated oil price drop look like a good
short-term bet. Caveat: I'm not an expert or professional on the
markets, and I'm not making any investment recommendations. Thanks to Dale Asberry for the link.
The US Runs Out of Options in the Mideast: A great analysis of the no-win political situation throughout the Mideast
by Jim Kunstler. The conclusion would send shudders to any neocon: "The
bottom line is that the only meaningful project for the US now is
to turn its attention and remaining resources to the job of preparing
for civilized life without oil. This is the topic that is absent from
our political discourse on all sides and at all levels. The anti-war
community is itself either lost in raptures of Bush-hatred or
preoccupied with fantasies for running the interstate highways on used
french-fry oil. We have to talk about things beyond just running our
cars by other means. We are a profoundly unserious nation, for all our
pretensions." Thanks to Avi Solomon for the link.
Ancient Rome's "War on Terror" Sounds Very Familiar: Peter Ireland at Karavans reviews the NYT op-ed drawing a terrifying parallel between ancient Rome's futile "war on terror" and the Bush imperialist presidency's. Rome's final great war portended an abrupt and brutal end to a once prosperous and powerful imperial society.
The Only Way to Avert a Second Great Depression: Nobel-winning economist Joe Stiglitz makes it simple, and stark: "There is one way out of this seeming impasse: expenditure cuts combined
with an increase in taxes on upper-income Americans and a reduction in
taxes on lower-income Americans."
Stiglitz knows that it will never happen as long as corporatists
control both US political parties, and predicts that, failing this, US
deficits will plunge the country and the world into economic crisis.
US Recruiting Standards Lowered to Admit Criminals and Mentally Ill: An amazing analysis by Nick Turse explains how, to keep Bush's Iraq (and future Iran) war machine stoked, recruiters are being urged and rewarded for taking anyone they can get. Thanks to Hugo Urrestarazu for the link.
Thought for the week: Something lighter after the news above: George Carlin's 10 rules for Staying Young:
- Throw
out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the
doctors worry about them. That is why you pay "them".
- Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
- Keep
learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever.
Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop". And
the devil's name is Alzheimer.
- Enjoy the simple things.
- Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
- The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life is ourself. Be alive while you are alive.
- Surround
yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes,
music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
- Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
- Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but not to where the guilt is.
- Tell show the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
And
always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away. Thanks to Gary
Heynesbergen for the link. |
4:36:28 PM 
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MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
