Assange or Corzine?

This is a very good, short little article that highlights where our justice system stands these days.  There are two people whose ongoing cases have been widely publicized, and in which the outcomes carry high stakes. One of them is a former politician and head of Goldman Sachs, whose brokerage firm "lost" $1 billion of its customers' money.  The other is a man who runs a website that exposes what some would say is "sensitive" information and intelligence that is held by our nation's governments, and in which others would say that this is information that we have a right to know, as taxpayers and as citizens.

In the one case, there is a diplomatic standoff, and things are escalating to the point where one country may very well invade the embassy of another sovereign state where one of these men are staying.  The other case, after nearly a year of investigation, is about to end with no criminal prosecutions expected.  Care to guess which one is which?  As I hope you guessed, the man who stole up to $200 million of his own clients' money is the one who will not be prosecuted.  He is Jon Corzine, former governor of New Jersey and former head of Goldman Sachs.  The other, of course, is Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks.  He is staying at the Ecuadoran embassy in London, and Britain is threatening to raid the embassy to apprehend Assange.  He will then be extradited to Sweden, where he stands trial for a rape charge that sounds at least somewhat suspect.  He will then almost certainly be turned over to the United States, and tried (or held indefinitely without trial) on esponiage charges.

To close, I want to relay something that I remember reading in a book by Jesse Ventura, one of my heroes.  In the book, he wrote that any citizen in the United States who pays taxes should be able to ask his or her government any question, and that citizen should have a right to an answer.  Assange is the keeper of the flame for those of us who look to our respective governments and think, "how dare you tell us that we don't have the right to know this or that piece of information?"

Dayz

I read about this computer game today, and while I probably won't have time to check it out, I will certainly try to.  It is called "Dayz", and it is being called by some, the "first survival simulator".  You start out in a random place on a designed world map, with little else but "bandages", and your goal is to survive as long as possible in a post-apocalpytic world.  To do this, you must explore the world, and try to scavenge as much resources as you can.  Oh, and did I mention the zombies?

But I am less impressed with the zombies (which is becoming an overused sub-genre these days, although I've been a long-time fan) than the social aspect of the game.  In this review (and I've also read this elsewhere), the writer points out that other players tend to shoot first rather than engage with the human players.  That says a lot about our nature as humans, and what we would do if an event like this became reality.

What also made it interesting for me is that Dayz is a mod of another game, "Arma 2", which did not exactly climb up the charts initially.  But once Dayz was released, "Arma 2" took a huge leap in sales, and I read that it was the top selling game on Steam for seven weeks.  Dayz will be getting a separate release, with added features.

I am not sure if Dayz will run well on my machine, or at all.  While I do enjoy the occasional computer game, I do the bulk of my gaming on consoles these days, as well as handhelds.  It's just so simpler to game, and you always have to upgrade your PC if you want to stay ahead of the curve on games, and that can be very expensive.

Cows Being Slaughtered As Result of Drought

This article consists of an interview with a farmer in Missouri, which currently has the worst farmland in the country as a result of record drought.  Dead grass means no food source for cattle, which means the farmer either has to buy hay or feed stock to keep the animals alive and well-fed, or they must be slaughtered prematurely.  It's too bad that us in the Northeast can't somehow take the persistent rain we've been getting here (raining as I speak, and quite hard too) and give it to the Midwest.

What really pissed me off after reading this was the fact that buying livestock feed for animals is so damn expensive.  Wanna know why it's so expensive?  The main ingredient in livestock feed is corn.  Since the drought, the market price of corn has gone up by 63 percent.  As more corn is used for ethanol, that means less corn being used to go into livestock feed, which means that the cattle will go hungry and be slaughtered earlier.

The Sky is Pink

"Gasland" is a really terrific documentary by filmmaker Josh Fox, that focuses on a technique used to extract gas from the ground, known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking".  In his interviews and travels, he meets people who have come down with illnesses and aliments as a result of the "fracking" that goes on in their communities.  In the most infamous scene in the film, a man is shown lighting a lighter below his water tap, which sets the water on fire.

Anyway, he has just released a follow-up short film called "The Sky is Pink".  It serves as an update to "Gasland", and also addresses the plans for drilling and fracking in New York State.  A full sequel to "Gasland" is in production, hopefully to be released this year.

I really liked the title and how it meshes in with the short film itself.  In an interview with a politician, the politician explains how journalism has veered from "investigative", to basically, "he said, she said".  It has gotten to where what is considered a universal fact, such as "the sky is blue", can be contradicted by an industrial claim that "the sky is pink".  The media will take a universal fact, that everyone knows is true, and position it as one that is "under debate".  This is used very much in environmental issues, particularly climate change.

Flims like this are very important, not merely for the environmental stakes of fracking, but as a reminder of how desperate and hard-up we are for utilizing new sources of energy.  This ties in very well with the issue of peak energy.  As we run up against resource limitations, more questionable and risky tactics will be carried out to ensure that our energy supply remains affordable and uninterrupted.  Fracking is one example, drilling wells underwater (Deepwater Horizon) is another.  And more disasters, both great and small, will result.

(As I was posting this video, I realized something disturbing.  The video itself, linked from Youtube, has only 2,633 views.  I would have expected a lot more, considering the pedigree of the film, which I have known a lot of people have seen.  Then I typed "the sky is pink" into the search engine.  The short came in at number 8 on the results list, behind 7 different videos of a song by a guy named Nathan Fake called "The Sky Was Pink".  It just goes to show that money talks.) 

Jordan MP Pulls Gun During Live Broadcast

I have to admit that I find this video kinda cool.  In a debate on live television, a member of Jordan's Parliament pulled a gun on a critic (whether this man was a journalist or another MP, I don't know) over heated discussion about Jordan's policy towards Syria.  Before that, he threw a shoe at the critic, and the moderator had to break them up; I have to give props to the moderator for breaking them up, even after the MP pulled out his gun.

I think a lot of people may look at a video like this, and conclude that these people are "animals" for resorting to pulling out guns or throwing punches over issues.  From videos I've seen over the years, this is much more common than you would think.  But not in the United States.  In our country, political conflict and debate has never gotten past the verbal stage.  Yes, some of the words used by some are toxic in nature, but no one's ever pulled a gun.  The worst you might see is someone yelling at the President, "YOU LIE", or something to that effect.  So, we might come off as a civilized nation.  But I think that the debate in this country comes off as sterile.  Outside of perhaps social issues (abortion, gay marriage), no politician in this country would ever feel compelled to do anywhere close to what this man in Jordan did.  That is because when you are owned by someone else, or by a collection of interests, and are basically told what to say (or more to the point, how to vote), you lack all conviction.  I believe that a lot of people sense this, albeit unconsciously, and that's one of the reasons why political participation is relatively low in this country.

When I first saw this, the first thing I thought about was the assault on the Senate floor in 1856, when Preston Brooks attacked Charles Sumner with his cane, hitting him with it until it broke.

Fireworks Industry in Biggest Downturn Since Vietnam...Oh Yeah, and Happy 4th of July

To mark the commemoration of our day of independence, here is an article about how the fireworks industry is in their biggest slump since the Vietnam War.  Back then, it was due to the uncertainty of many as to what our country was and what it stood for, as Vietnam was very polarizing.  Now, their woes are more linked to the ongoing economic crisis, as well as the effects of climate change.

I was never much of a fireworks guy; if I ever were in the mood to see any, I can turn on Channel 11 and watch the Macy's Fireworks show; barring that, I can go on Youtube or fire up a screen saver app or something.  But local government's budgets are on a shoestring these days, and for many, fireworks shows are amongst the first things to go; I'm sure there's plenty of money for pork-like projects, though.

What must make it especially tough for those in that industry, is that fireworks sales are mostly limited to professional groups for these kinds of shows, either public or private (and 70 percent of those shows, according to the article, are private corporate affairs).  In many states, including New York, the public is expressly barred from buying fireworks, although some people get around it.

Speaking of which, it is 8:33 PM and I am starting to show them outside my door.  Happy 4th, all.

Iran's Oil Exports Down 20-30 %; Export Land Model, Maybe?

Iran has publicly acknowledged that its oil exports are down between 20 and 30 percent.  The article notes that it is due to the upcoming sanctions being placed upon it by the European Union.  But I immediately thought of the Export-Land Model, which is a model that shows a marked decrease in oil exports when a nation that exports oil experiences both a peak in its oil production and an increase in its domestic oil production.  In other words, a country will use more and more of its oil for domestic consumption rather than exporting it.  An official for the Iranian oil company even admits it in the article; "It was 20 to 30 percent we reduce regarding to our export; some of the reduction is shifting for the refinery internally."   


This New York Times graph from 2007 is of several countries, including Iran, whose oil consumption had shot up due to a booming economy.  Of course, this means a lesser supply of oil for importers, including Europeans and us.