Once again from Down Under...Clarke and Dawe explain the Mainstream Media.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The Venezuelan Oil Pipeline Rupture: Plenty Of Tar, Now All They Need Are The Feathers And A Rail To Ride Chavez Out On
From The Economist, which tells the tale.
ON FEBRUARY 4th Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, held festivities to celebrate the anniversary of a failed coup attempt he led in 1992. He had busloads of public workers brought into Caracas for the occasion. Among them were high-ranking employees of PDVSA, the state oil company.
That same day, a pipeline carrying pressurised oil fractured in the state of Monagas. The crude soared 25 metres (82 feet) into the air and flowed for a full day. Anywhere from 40,000-120,000 barrels poured into a river that supplies drinking and irrigation water. Some 550,000 people now lack water at home. Although city-dwellers can fetch it from drums that PDVSA is leaving in streets, people in remote areas are going without. It may take months to clean the supply.
Venezuela has a presidential election scheduled for October...
ON FEBRUARY 4th Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, held festivities to celebrate the anniversary of a failed coup attempt he led in 1992. He had busloads of public workers brought into Caracas for the occasion. Among them were high-ranking employees of PDVSA, the state oil company.
That same day, a pipeline carrying pressurised oil fractured in the state of Monagas. The crude soared 25 metres (82 feet) into the air and flowed for a full day. Anywhere from 40,000-120,000 barrels poured into a river that supplies drinking and irrigation water. Some 550,000 people now lack water at home. Although city-dwellers can fetch it from drums that PDVSA is leaving in streets, people in remote areas are going without. It may take months to clean the supply.
Venezuela has a presidential election scheduled for October...
Monday, February 20, 2012
Eurozone? We Don't Need No Effin' EuroZone! Iceland Stands Tall, And Is Recovering
As Robert Peston so succinctly phrased it a few years back, the bankers and government of Iceland had essentially transformed the country into a large hedge fund, backed by the taxpayers (without telling them about it).
As these things always do, it all blew up, and instead of paying to bail out the bankers, and the politicians, and the Eurocrats, the Icelanders reverted back to their traditional life of freedom, told them all to stuff it, and got on with their business.
It worked. Which is why you hear so little news of it in general.
Iceland’s approach to dealing with the meltdown has put the needs of its population ahead of the markets at every turn.
Once it became clear back in October 2008 that the island’s banks were beyond saving, the government stepped in, ring-fenced the domestic accounts, and left international creditors in the lurch. The central bank imposed capital controls to halt the ensuing sell-off of the krona and new state-controlled banks were created from the remnants of the lenders that failed.
Activists say the banks should go even further in their debt relief. Andrea J. Olafsdottir, chairman of the Icelandic Homes Coalition, said she doubts the numbers provided by the banks are reliable.
“There are indications that some of the financial institutions in question haven’t lost a penny with the measures that they’ve undertaken,” she said.
It was painful, and to some extent still is. But no one from Brussels has arrived to install their own government in a defacto coup, as has happened in Greece and Italy. Or, it may be argued, here.
Just sayin'...
As these things always do, it all blew up, and instead of paying to bail out the bankers, and the politicians, and the Eurocrats, the Icelanders reverted back to their traditional life of freedom, told them all to stuff it, and got on with their business.
It worked. Which is why you hear so little news of it in general.
Iceland’s approach to dealing with the meltdown has put the needs of its population ahead of the markets at every turn.
Once it became clear back in October 2008 that the island’s banks were beyond saving, the government stepped in, ring-fenced the domestic accounts, and left international creditors in the lurch. The central bank imposed capital controls to halt the ensuing sell-off of the krona and new state-controlled banks were created from the remnants of the lenders that failed.
Activists say the banks should go even further in their debt relief. Andrea J. Olafsdottir, chairman of the Icelandic Homes Coalition, said she doubts the numbers provided by the banks are reliable.
“There are indications that some of the financial institutions in question haven’t lost a penny with the measures that they’ve undertaken,” she said.
It was painful, and to some extent still is. But no one from Brussels has arrived to install their own government in a defacto coup, as has happened in Greece and Italy. Or, it may be argued, here.
Just sayin'...
Yet Another Alarming, Completely Misleading Headline: Iran To Stop Selling Oil To The UK And France
Well, for openers, most of Western Europe has been shopping for oil elsewhere for quite a while now.
That's in the body of the story, which actually tells us that Iran is being squeezed from all sides. They can't refine their own oil, because they've been so intent building nuclear reactors and processors they've never gotten around to building something rather more simple. Like oil refineries.
These clowns export crude, and import every drop of gasoline they burn. Sheer genius, is it not?
What's not mentioned in the article is this simple fact: The oil is pumped out of the ground, and pumped onto tankers, who then carry it to the purchaser at any number of destination ports. In the meantime, there is a worldwide, daily, liquid, fluid market in crude oil. That tanker of oil may change hands a dozen times between the port in Iran and the destination port. Sometimes, if there's a glut, the tanker sits anchored at sea until such time as someone decides to buy the contents. In short, once it's on the boat, the Iranians have no say in where it ends up. They ship oil at a contracted price, and get paid for it by the initial purchaser, who then sells it on to the next party, who then sells it on...
Meanwhile, we have a substantial part of the most lethal naval fleet in the history of mankind posted up in the Straits of Hormuz, keeping guard over this craziness. We haven't built a refinery in the US in over three decades, because the same Federal government that sends aircraft carrier groups to the Straits of Hormuz to 'safeguard the oil supply' won't allow anyone to build a refinery on US soil, and routinely discourages anyone from tapping into the sea of oil, gas, and coal that lies underneath the surface of this country.
Someone, somewhere, please listen up: This is madness--it's going to impoverish most of us, and get a lot of people killed to boot.
OS has a friend whose son has just graduated from US Army Airborne training. It's a proud moment for that family. OS holds his breath, wondering what sorts of perils the boy will face because the leadership of this country is so completely incompetent.
That's in the body of the story, which actually tells us that Iran is being squeezed from all sides. They can't refine their own oil, because they've been so intent building nuclear reactors and processors they've never gotten around to building something rather more simple. Like oil refineries.
These clowns export crude, and import every drop of gasoline they burn. Sheer genius, is it not?
What's not mentioned in the article is this simple fact: The oil is pumped out of the ground, and pumped onto tankers, who then carry it to the purchaser at any number of destination ports. In the meantime, there is a worldwide, daily, liquid, fluid market in crude oil. That tanker of oil may change hands a dozen times between the port in Iran and the destination port. Sometimes, if there's a glut, the tanker sits anchored at sea until such time as someone decides to buy the contents. In short, once it's on the boat, the Iranians have no say in where it ends up. They ship oil at a contracted price, and get paid for it by the initial purchaser, who then sells it on to the next party, who then sells it on...
Meanwhile, we have a substantial part of the most lethal naval fleet in the history of mankind posted up in the Straits of Hormuz, keeping guard over this craziness. We haven't built a refinery in the US in over three decades, because the same Federal government that sends aircraft carrier groups to the Straits of Hormuz to 'safeguard the oil supply' won't allow anyone to build a refinery on US soil, and routinely discourages anyone from tapping into the sea of oil, gas, and coal that lies underneath the surface of this country.
Someone, somewhere, please listen up: This is madness--it's going to impoverish most of us, and get a lot of people killed to boot.
OS has a friend whose son has just graduated from US Army Airborne training. It's a proud moment for that family. OS holds his breath, wondering what sorts of perils the boy will face because the leadership of this country is so completely incompetent.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Lambing Season At Greenhill Farm: Beauty Breaks Through
OS's favorite young photographer lives in Northern Ireland, where she attends school, and helps run the family farm.
She also tries to supervise and document the lives of a pack of the most charming border collies and sprollies on the planet. The Goofy Factor is off the meter.
The third shot down is off-the-meter lovely.
Beauty breaks through, and reminds us of Grace, and points us Heavenward.
Enjoy Sunday.
She also tries to supervise and document the lives of a pack of the most charming border collies and sprollies on the planet. The Goofy Factor is off the meter.
The third shot down is off-the-meter lovely.
Beauty breaks through, and reminds us of Grace, and points us Heavenward.
Enjoy Sunday.
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