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...
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
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.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Just As A Reminder, This Is How Utopian Regimes End
It was dazzling, was it not, the rebirth of a shattered Germany from the ashes of The Great War and The Great Depression? That young, charismatic leader who seemed to appear from nowhere, who had this magic touch about him; the ability to mesmerize, surrounded by equally brilliant men who carried out his vision of a Greater Europe.
Here is a gallery from Life Magazine, recently released photos of Berlin and The Bunker taken within a very few days of The Fuhrer's demise...the utter chaos and devastation juxtaposed with the banal details--the painting looted from an Italian museum, a molding SS officer's cap, the blood-stained couch where the final suicides took place, the shallow trench in the garden used to cremate the bodies.
It isn't as if we have not been warned. In one manner or another, either via the force of arms, or the inexorable force of mathematics, all utopian regimes--claiming the right and ability to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth at the point of a sword--all of them fail. Jefferson, Adams, Madison and company knew this, and labored to forge a Constitution and a path forward that would discourage Utopians.
OS hopes we pay heed, while we yet have time and grace on our side.
Here is a gallery from Life Magazine, recently released photos of Berlin and The Bunker taken within a very few days of The Fuhrer's demise...the utter chaos and devastation juxtaposed with the banal details--the painting looted from an Italian museum, a molding SS officer's cap, the blood-stained couch where the final suicides took place, the shallow trench in the garden used to cremate the bodies.
It isn't as if we have not been warned. In one manner or another, either via the force of arms, or the inexorable force of mathematics, all utopian regimes--claiming the right and ability to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth at the point of a sword--all of them fail. Jefferson, Adams, Madison and company knew this, and labored to forge a Constitution and a path forward that would discourage Utopians.
OS hopes we pay heed, while we yet have time and grace on our side.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
This Is What An Impasse Looks Like: Jeff Sessions Asks A Simple Question, And Never Gets An Answer
The question being: Does this budget spend more or less than we agreed to last August?
And the spin begins.
After all that blood spilled, all that sturm-und-drang, Obama'z gunna do whut he sees fit to do.
Congress? Shmongress!
Constitution? Whuzzat?
Mathematics? Huh?
And the spin begins.
After all that blood spilled, all that sturm-und-drang, Obama'z gunna do whut he sees fit to do.
Congress? Shmongress!
Constitution? Whuzzat?
Mathematics? Huh?
Monday, February 13, 2012
NEA Crocodile Tears: School Closings
On today's list of National Edumacation Association (aka 'Gimme Moh' Munney Hunney), a plaintive story about proposed elementary school closures in Orlando, Florida.
OS ain't buying it...'cuz whenever the courts would order school closures for the sake of forced busing for 'racial balance' the NEA cheered, or at the very least stood by silently.
If you live in Louisville, Nashville, Chicago, Indy, Cincy, Cleveland, any of the once-vibrant cities with lovely neighborhoods that revolved around the local elementary school, go revisit those parts of town--if you dare.
The Left operates from a simple formula: Create chaos, and then seize power to be 'the solution' to the chaos. Tax and vilify all who disagree.
Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.
OS ain't buying it...'cuz whenever the courts would order school closures for the sake of forced busing for 'racial balance' the NEA cheered, or at the very least stood by silently.
If you live in Louisville, Nashville, Chicago, Indy, Cincy, Cleveland, any of the once-vibrant cities with lovely neighborhoods that revolved around the local elementary school, go revisit those parts of town--if you dare.
The Left operates from a simple formula: Create chaos, and then seize power to be 'the solution' to the chaos. Tax and vilify all who disagree.
Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.
Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Pop Stars
As OS writes, the Grammys are grinding on. As a former member of NARAS, OS can assure you of two certainties: They aren't worth watching, and OS isn't. He's watching a re-run from the 2011 Westminster Dog Show, where the competition was real, and votes weren't sold and traded.
Whitney Houston will this evening be idolized, feted, memorialized, lionized. The publishers who hold copyright to the songs she recorded will be especially tearfully grateful to her, as their receipts will receive a healthy boost from the repeated plays, sales and downloads. Rather like the 'Elvis Effect' in which the labels and publishers celebrated a wonderful 1977 and 1978 in the wake of The King's premature exit from This Vale Of Tears. The past few years have been tough, and earnings are, after all, earnings.
Like Elvis and Michael Jackson, Miss Houston was a compelling performer, profoundly gifted. And like Elvis and Jacko, she supervised her million-dollar talent with a ten-dollar brain.
Like Elvis and Michael she should not be so much remembered as a tragic hero/heroine as much as An Object Lesson, to borrow a phrase from an earlier age.
What's not generally understood is the raw banality of the music business. Hunter Thompson expressed it best:
As both participant and observer in DuhBiz, OS has almost lost count of the lives put through the sausage grinder: performers, composers, side musicians, engineers, on and on it goes. For Miss Houston, Elvis and Jacko, the truth of Thompson's analysis dawned much too late (or never at all). Or, they thought they were exempt, that the bad stuff would never catch up with them. That the money would always be there, that the money would solve all problems that might be encountered.
Million-dollar talents. Ten-dollar brains.
And it isn't like Miss Houston didn't have some wiser heads in her world attempting to help her out. All for nought, she knew better than they. Her death is a tragedy, but she is not a tragic figure. She is an Object Lesson.
And, tonight, the stars arrived on the red carpet, including the recipient of the next Whitney Houston Object Lesson Prize, Nicki Minaj. You must click the link to view the photo. Words fail, they simply fail... One would think that some sense of perspective may have descended upon Miss Minaj, given events of the past few days. But, then again, we're dealing with ten-dollar brains.
Back to the Dog Show. The contestants there are smarter.
Whitney Houston will this evening be idolized, feted, memorialized, lionized. The publishers who hold copyright to the songs she recorded will be especially tearfully grateful to her, as their receipts will receive a healthy boost from the repeated plays, sales and downloads. Rather like the 'Elvis Effect' in which the labels and publishers celebrated a wonderful 1977 and 1978 in the wake of The King's premature exit from This Vale Of Tears. The past few years have been tough, and earnings are, after all, earnings.
Like Elvis and Michael Jackson, Miss Houston was a compelling performer, profoundly gifted. And like Elvis and Jacko, she supervised her million-dollar talent with a ten-dollar brain.
Like Elvis and Michael she should not be so much remembered as a tragic hero/heroine as much as An Object Lesson, to borrow a phrase from an earlier age.
What's not generally understood is the raw banality of the music business. Hunter Thompson expressed it best:
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”
As both participant and observer in DuhBiz, OS has almost lost count of the lives put through the sausage grinder: performers, composers, side musicians, engineers, on and on it goes. For Miss Houston, Elvis and Jacko, the truth of Thompson's analysis dawned much too late (or never at all). Or, they thought they were exempt, that the bad stuff would never catch up with them. That the money would always be there, that the money would solve all problems that might be encountered.
Million-dollar talents. Ten-dollar brains.
And it isn't like Miss Houston didn't have some wiser heads in her world attempting to help her out. All for nought, she knew better than they. Her death is a tragedy, but she is not a tragic figure. She is an Object Lesson.
And, tonight, the stars arrived on the red carpet, including the recipient of the next Whitney Houston Object Lesson Prize, Nicki Minaj. You must click the link to view the photo. Words fail, they simply fail... One would think that some sense of perspective may have descended upon Miss Minaj, given events of the past few days. But, then again, we're dealing with ten-dollar brains.
Back to the Dog Show. The contestants there are smarter.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Nahh! Illegal Immigration Is Really A Benign Phenomenon! What's That? Someone Stole The School's TUBA?
Really...it's happening in Southern California.
In the last few months, dozens of brass sousaphones — smaller tubas used in marching bands — were taken from schools in Southern California.
Though the police have not made any arrests, music teachers say the thefts are motivated by the growing popularity of banda, a traditional Mexican music form in which tubas play a dominant role.
Teachers point to the targeted pattern of the burglaries: the expensive brass tubas and sousaphones, which cost $2,000 to $7,000, are pilfered, while electronics, cheaper fiberglass tubas and other brass instruments are usually left behind.
“Frankly, I don’t think somebody would go through all that trouble just to take some brass to go to the salvage lot,” said Ligia Chaves-Rasas, the music teacher at Bell High School. “Banda is very popular in this area of Southern California, and people will pay top dollar for a banda with a sousaphone player. Now, I have kids coming up to me saying they want to learn the tuba so they can be in a banda.”
Culture shaping economy...
Are we ready to make some different choices yet?
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