Absolute must-read:

What is not being discussed rationally by the mainstream media is Katrina’s impact on energy production. They don’t dare. By my calculations and those of oil energy expert Jan Lundberg, the United States has just lost between 20% and 25% of its energy supply. My projection is that it’s not coming back - at least not most of it.

As a result of Katrina, Saudi Arabia has finally admitted that it cannot increase production. Many of us knew they’ve been lying for at least two years. The Energy Information Administration has just admitted that global demand has been outstripping supply for several months before Katrina. Nice time to start telling the truth. Nature is finally calling everybody’s bluff.

This next bit is as blunt as a hammer upside the head:

As many as twenty offshore rigs have now been confirmed as adrift, capsized, listing or sunk. Each rig may have as many as eight wells. Where’s the money coming from to replace them? How long will that take?

Bottom line: my assessment is that New Orleans is never going to be rebuilt and that US domestic oil production will never again reach pre-Katrina levels. The infrastructure is gone, the people are gone, and the US economy will be on life support very, very quickly. If people are griping at $5.00 gasoline what will they do when it’s $8.00? $10.00? Start shooting (the wrong people)? How difficult is it to rebuild in that kind of social climate?

Read the whole thing: “You Bet Your Life” by Mike Ruppert

On Wednesday I’ll blog about my action-packed summer as one of the core members of the Portland Peak Oil (PPO) group. Please, people, climb aboard peak oil awareness NOW if you haven’t already. You can find resources at the PPO web site.

This sentiment has been repeated elsewhere, but I felt I had to weigh in too. The overwhelming majority of those who are suffering the worst in the Katrina disaster are those too poor to have packed things up and evacuated in cars, bought bus tickets, or paid long-distance taxi fares. What’s going on in New Orleans is a situation of unequal impact based on class.

Poor Americans will be disproportionately hit in the wake of peak oil unless there is a focused effort to reach out and offer folks information, community and resources. I know others who disagree with me, who will say every person for him/herself, but I’ll admit - it’s simply not ok with me to let poor people disproportionately suffer and what we’re seeing in the Southeast right now is deeply saddening.

Poor people can’t as easily just “pick up and move” because the area they live in is in the path of trouble. The people who got out of New Orleans in time weren’t necessarily smarter or more reasonable - they simply had more access to resources. Here’s an excerpt from a particularly cogent article that articulates what I’m trying to say:

Look at the reporters who are “incensed” by the rampant looting. Look at the smugness from those distant from the situation who chastise the dumb southerners for not evacuating when they had the chance. It blows their minds how many idiots stayed to wait it out. It makes them shake their heads and make “tsk-tsk” noises into their shiny microphones.

Well, fuck the lot of them.

New Orleans and Biloxi are not rich cities. They are poor southern cities disproportionately filled with poor southern people — people who may not have reliable transportation, people who live hand-to-mouth, people who have nowhere else to go, even if they had the means to get there.

And the evacuation was little more than a vague order to get the hell out — under your own power and at your own expense. If you have, at your immediate disposal, reliable transportation, money for gas, and either distant family OR money for shelter, then this isn’t a big deal. Of course you leave. You pack up everything you can and you head for higher ground. But it is somewhat less easy to do if you are lacking any one of these things, AND you have been informed that what little earthly lot you may claim is about to be destroyed. Do you hang on and try to save what you can? Do you let it go and return to less than nothing?

What the hell do you do?
- Source

There’s a remarkable lesson in this for all of us because a whole lot of shit is going to hit the fan in the next few years. I think in the wake of peak oil and inveitable future suffering, it would behoove those of us “in the know” to reach out and offer support and resources rather than assuming they just weren’t taking “obvious” reasonable steps. Nature always bats last, but it is humans who have created an unfair playing field of who gets to live and die based on class.

I’m so pained by what’s going down in the southeast U.S. First, the natural occurrence of the hurricane, then the human-made disaster of incompetent response to its effects. I recommend the following reading… after you make a donation to assist those who are suffering**:

Why New Orleans is in Deep Water by Molly Ivins
Flushing out the Ugly Truth by Salon.com’s Joan Walsh
Why everyone didn’t leave (in response to those who would vilify the people who stayed behind)
Waiting for a Leader is a potent NY Times editorial
When the going gets tough, Condi goes shoe shopping - ’nuff said
I recommend Feministe’s and BAGnewsNotes’s frequently-updated links and commentary
This is a particularly cogent image
And finally, over at The Oil Drum, they’re doing a terrific job covering the economic and energy impacts we can expect post-Katrina

** I must add that if you are strapped for cash, please don’t feel guilty for not contributing. It’s the government’s job to aid disaster victims, not those who are struggling financially. The poor should not have to bail out the poor!

Someone Tell the President the War is Over:

…In an interview with Tim Russert early last year, Mr. Bush said, “The thing about the Vietnam War that troubles me, as I look back, was it was a political war,” adding that the “essential” lesson he learned from Vietnam was to not have “politicians making military decisions.” But by then Mr. Bush had disastrously ignored that very lesson…

I am thrilled with the attention and support Cindy Sheehan is receiving as a result of her camp-out outside Bush’s ranch. A tipping point seems to have occurred in the past few weeks.

As I see it, there are two reasons the U.S. is in Iraq: 1) occupation and stability (ha!) of a region that holds a chunk of the world’s dwindling oil supplies, and 2) a playground for the implementation of a Western neoliberal economic agenda, arrogantly referred to as “reconstruction” and “democratization” (see my post from over a year ago). This Iraq occupation is a travesty - a racist, imperalist, greedy travesty.

Been really busy lately, to be expected. School’s over, I only work two days a week, but somehow I manage to have so much on my plate.

There’s no doubt I’m a core member of the Portland Peak Oil group.
What I really like about the group so far is how action-oriented it is. There are a handful of us that do all the organizing work and I’m doing that (getting the word out, scheduling meetings, posting fliers, etc.) plus I’m the main web designer. By this Wednesday, I hope to have www.portlandpeakoil.org up and running in full form. I’m pretty pleased with my design so far and it’s tableless CSS just like this site.

Besides PPO activities, I’ve had my hands full with Jeremy being out of town for two weeks. He’s off at an Oracle training in Bushkill, PA (heh). See, we have a really split-down-the-middle chores arrangement and with him gone, I have to do all of his chores - things I cannot stand. We don’t have a dishwasher, well, Jeremy’s the dishwasher. I loathe doing dishes; it’s the most Sisyphean task, isn’t it? Wash one sink full and two days later they’ve piled up again. It’s never-ending. I also have to spend about 30 minutes each night watering the fruit trees and berry bushes in the front and back yards. And feed and water the dogs. I just realized I much prefer organizing chores to caretaking chores.

Anyway, tonight, I’m fleshing out my Tribe.net profile and listening to great Saturday night music (”Charlotte Sometimes” by the Cure, “Reverie” by cranes, “Clockface” by Siouxsie). I’ve seriously been into Tribe.net lately. I signed up over two years ago and it had little going for it then. Now it’s blossomed into this incredible community and networking site and using it, I feel so much more tapped into both fellow spiritual seekers and the Portland music scene alike. Heh. I mean, jeez, I’ve joined about 125 tribes already. Check my profile and befriend me.

There are always moments when one feels empty and estranged. Such moments are most desirable, for it means the soul has cast its moorings and is sailing for distant places. This is detachment– when the old is over and the new has not yet come. If you are afraid the state may be distressing, but there is really nothing to be afraid of. Remember the instruction:
What ever you come across–go beyond.

- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

I’ve been super busy lately, but I took some time this afternoon to post a new Strangechord Setlist. This one’s theme is “Summer Breezes” and is comprised of 20 easygoing rock songs for hot summer days and nights. Great stuff. Have a listen!