Oil Will Drive the U.S. to More Wars Unless America Changes

by Magnifico

The United States of America is the world's biggest military spender and allocates more on its war machine than any other nation in the world. The U.S. paid $661 billion to the armaments industry in 2009, a recession year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). "This represented 43 percent of the total global spend, and was $47 billion higher than the 2008 U.S. expenditure, according to SIPRI." America has increased military spending by 63 precent since 2000, according to SIPRI. This increase has partially been driven by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes estimate the "budgetary and economic costs" of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will now be "between $4 trillion and $6 trillion". An upwards revision of 25 percent in just two years. The U.S. has already spent $1 trillion in Iraq and "spending in Iraq and Afghanistan now comes to more than $3 billion weekly, making the wars a major reason for record-level budget deficits."

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Fossil Fools? Carbon Currencies & War Rooms

by boatsie

India’s Minister of State for Environment and Forests Shri Jairam Ramesh chaired a impassioned Saturday panel on "Equitable access to Carbon Space: A Paradigm for Agreement," promoting a 'shared vision' for negotiations based upon equitable 'carbon space' for developing countries

An enthusiastic crowd spilled out into the corridors to continue discussion after the expert panelists indicated keen interest in a few of the inspired ideas floated during the Q&A, all seemingly 'pie-in-the-sky' suggestions -- like advancing a shift from gold to a global carbon standard or replacing traditional finances with effort based systems as bargaining chips.

Later that evening, expectations ran high at the World Climate Summit, hosted by Carbon War Room co-founder and eco-gladiator Sir Richard Branson, who presented the first ever Gigaton Consumer Discretion Award to one of the  Global 1000 climate conscious companies.

Raising a buzz poolside today that if big news does breaks from Cancun, it just might come from a highly unexpected source.

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Eco Activists "Greatest Threat" to Society and Church

by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse

A right-wing religious organization says that environmentalists are "one of the greatest threats to society and the church today." Not surprisingly, this right-wing group, the Cornwall Alliance, is a disinformation front group funded by Big Oil.  Cornwall Alliance calls environmentalists the "Green Dragon" on claims that activists are "using the message of climate change to take over the world" to place it "under its destructive control."

The scary part is not just that a GOP lawmaker who might become chair of an environmental committee may be an adherent of this group's extreme views, but the GOP selected the founder of Cornwall Alliance as a witness for Congressional hearing on climate policies.  

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A Song When Hope Dims: Pete Seeger and The Napalm Ladies

by WarrenS

I think I was twelve when my parents gave me a new Pete Seeger lp.  They knew I loved his music; I’d listened over and over to "We Shall Overcome: The Carnegie Hall Concert" and knew most of the songs, or at least their lyrics, by heart.  I’d memorized most of the songs on the "Children’s Concert at Town Hall," and forty years later I can get a good laugh from any kid by singing "Where have you been all the day long, Henry my boy?" with its gross, lugubrious "greeeeeeeeen and yeller" chorus.

But this was a new disc, and I’m quite sure my folks just went into the store and grabbed something off the shelf.  After all, Pete had a lot of albums, and they were all pretty much the same, right?

Well, actually, no.

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CONFESSIONS OF A REPENTANT CLICKTAVIST: WHY WE BADLY NEED FARMERS & GRANDMAS

by todbrilliant

I love Bill McKibben. And I love his team of whip smart writers and thinkers at 350.org. Right now, Bill is in Cancun at COP16 to observe and report. Recently, he had this to say -

"...after fifteen years of empty promises, it's pretty clear that Washington is playing the world for suckers . . .if we actually want to stop global warming, then we have to build a movement big enough to force change. Otherwise we're suckers too."

Right on, Bill. You see, Bill and 350 are building that movement, one big enough to combat the fossil fuel industry and, hopefully, all the crooked motherfuckers in Washington D.C. (sorry, but this includes our President, if only by willing association, if not slavish devotion) who see to it that the U.S. bullies the developing world into climate compliance. For Bill’s efforts in movement building, I commend him. Yet, as a fellow observer of the Climate Wars, I’m forced to wonder aloud whether any of us have really begun to build anything yet.

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Gulf Watchers Sunday - WikiLeaks to Target BP - BP Catastrophe AUV #436

by Yasuragi

You are in the current Gulf Watchers BP Catastrophe - AUV #436. ROV #435 is here.

Bookmark this link to find the latest Gulf Watchers diaries.

Please RECOMMEND THIS DIARY, the motherships have been discontinued.

Gulf Watchers Diary Schedule
Monday - evening drive time
Wednesday - morning
Friday - morning
Friday Block Party - evening
Sunday - morning

Part one of the digest of diaries is here and part two is here.

Please be kind to kossacks with bandwidth issues. Please do not post images or videos. Again, many thanks for this.

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