Men: An Endangered Species

For many years, natural gas was mined, refined and sold to us to heat our homes nd cook our food. It took some doing — pipelines, compressor stations and the like — but it lay in large pools, often in coal beds, and not difficult to bring to market. The deeper, hard-to-get gas was not worth the trouble or expense to mine.

In the 1990s the CEO of Halliburton, Rich Cheney, foresaw the future … in his own image. He planned to: nominate himself for the Vice Presidency, move into the White House via the back door of the Supreme Court, invade Iraq, give Halliburton no-bid contracts, cut taxes for the ulttas, run the federal budget into steep deficit, and destroy the value of the dollar as measured against other major currencies. George would merely do as he was told. [Remember George reading in a classroom with school kids on the morning of 9-11?)

Back in the 90s, the Manchenean candidate figured that the price of natural gas could be quietly raised along with the price of oil, and it would be worth a little extra expense to get at the deeper, more difficult gas reserves. He tasked the Halliburton engineers & chemists to develop technology to get at the less accessible gas known to exist in north TX, WY, NM, and CO. In the area around Fort Worth TX, the Barnett Shale contained lots of methane, ethane, propane, butane and other natural gases in small nooks & crannies a mile or two under the surface of the Earth.

It took some doing to open up the bedrock so the gas could collect in large spaces from which it could be brought to the surface in commercial quantities. The method devised was called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking for short. The on-site drillers (the home team) pumped in one or two million gallons of water taken from a nearby stream or river along with a few ordinary chemicals such as propylene glycol (ordinary antifreeze), methanol (ordinary wood alcohol), 2-butoxyethanol (ordinary paint solvent, a few methylnapthalenes (ordinary polycyclic hydrocarbons used in the manufacture of everything from PVC pipe to toilet deodorant cakes). 40% to 70 % of the toxic slurry came back up as waste water in the operation with added arsenic, mercury, and sometimes radium and uranium.

Aha, now we’re getting somewhere. The April 2008 edition of Environmental Health Perspectives reports a study that associates chronic arsenic exposure from contaminated drinking water with lowered testosterone levels and ED (erectile dysfunction). Another study in the December 2007 edition reports that exposure of pregnant women to radiation results in fewer boy babies. How will we keep our macho image in the face of these revolting developments? Maybe we’ll just have to pass on gas drilling. Some things are just priceless.

Laura, the Unlikely First Lady

It always seemed incongruous that Laura Welch, a librarian, ever married George W Bush, a confirmed bibliophobe. Let’s look at Laura & George early in the relationship. George was a party animal in college and a hale fellow–well met for years afterward. They first met at a backyard barbecue in '77 and three months later were married. Four years afterward their twin girls were born. But all was not joy and roses at the Bush household. George’s family values — drugs and alcohol — brewed a few storms. George couldn’t even calm the surface waters with success in business. Consecutive failures with Arbusto, Bush Exploration, and Spectrum did not mix well with gin. Laura finally said she was leaving with the twins, Vice President’s son notwithstanding.

George, after a few broken promises, finally found help and became a born again Christian. [Within the Methodist Church?] We all know the general outlines of the political story of George and Karl and Alberto that followed.

Now Laura lives in the White House in all its intrigue. She knows about the Situation Room and suspects that somewhere within the black hole in the West Wing there is an Office of the Vice President where Dick Cheney practices snarling before a mirror. Laura doesn’t buy into the neocon doctrines of her husband’s administration. The evidence comes from a slew of nuances in her official affairs of state.

In February ’03 she announced a White House event, “Poetry and the American Voice,” to celebrate the work of three anti-establishment literary figures: Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, and Emily Dickinson. Then the Oval Office cabal learned that one of the invited guests, Sam Hamill, intended to read some anti-war poems. The First Lady’s press office was instructed to call off the celebration. Reading 19th century Walt Whitman is one thing, but opposing an imminent war in the 21st is aiding the terrorists. Laura, we should note, did not announce the cancellation herself.

In March ’05 she was sent to Afghanistan to justify the first Bush-Cheney war. We were there to free Afghan women from the misogynist Taliban. A photo-op was arranged for her to give bookmarks to smiling Afghan girls. While there, though, she met with the Marines and thanked them for protecting the rights of Afghan women. The Marines protecting the rights of women? That was Laura the satirist.

More recently she was offered up to the media for a series of interviews. George Stephanopoulos, Norah O’Donnell, and Chris Wallace handed her some powder puff questions mixed in with a few about the president’s low approval ratings and the war in Iraq. Laura’s replies were in keeping with the talking points she had been given. But if you watched her non-verbal language, she was saying something else. First, she wore no flag pin. Then, she nodded her head up and down when the interviewer questioned some dubious action of the administration. When she replied with the company line, she shook her head from side to side. Laura was trying her best.

Right now the First Lady is looking to buy a house in Dallas. She clearly doesn’t want to stay on the ranch with “Mr. Excitement,” as she has called him, after they leave Washington. What courageous publisher will give her a book contract to tell all she knows? She may even want to run for the Presidency, come 2116. A librarian might be an idea whose time has come by then.

An Iran Attack? Warmed Over Reasons

Gadfly
by Mort Malkin
 
An Iran Attack? Warmed Over Reasons
 
In the beginning of the 21st century, George W Bush interpreted the terrible events of 9-11-01 as “My Pearl Harbor.”  Did his choice of words flow from his language skills? 
 
Near the close of the 20th century the NeoCon cabal published their infamous position paper, “Project For A New American Century.” In it they proposed total US (military) dominance around the globe and control of energy resources wherever. Funny, the document didn’t mention the sun or wind or tides. But, it was imaginative enough to plan for control of outer space and cyberspace. Paying for the enormous enterprise would require, of course, dissembling of costly New Deal protections for seniors, the poor, and the disabled. Well, how else would these good folks learn the benefits of personal responsibility? In the paper, the signatories despaired of realizing their goals, given the political climate of the time, unless there were “some catastrophic catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.”
 
Immediately after 9-11, the president, vice president and the cabinet met in the Situation Room in the basement of the White House. Secretary of Treasury Paul O’Neill was charged with reopening the Stock Exchanges post haste – a priority.  That the NYSE was only a couple of blocks away from Ground Zero and enveloped in a toxic atmosphere was only a minor inconvenience.
 
Not long thereafter, Rich Cheney dispatched himself to the near East to ask backing for an attack on Iraq. Jordan, Egypt, and Yemen, among others informed him that Iraq wasn’t a problem and that he’d best tend to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The Vice was undeterred and went to his own CIA. The spooks told him that Al Qaeda was in Afghanistan. Cheney shook his head – Iraq was where the oil was.
 
Fast forward to springtime 2003. After a PR campaign featuring the imminent threat of Saddam Hussein’s dreams of WMDs, Iraq was bombed and invaded.  American military forces quickly conquered Baghdad and secured the Oil Ministry. The Iraqis were shocked but not awed. The arrogance of Viceroy Bremer was quickly followed by native resistance in the form of car bombs and other improvised explosive diplomacy. The American troops were trained for winning wars, not for occupying a nation of people whose customs and languages we did not understand. The occupation turned into a multifaceted war and is still with us, and with them.

The Vice, a man in a hurry, soon discovered Iran, another oil-rich state, conveniently next door to Iraq.  A strategically timed September ‘08 attack on Iran would give the Commander In Chief a guise to declare martial law and cancel the presidential elections. But what to do about a Supreme Court that could see its own role in the Republic at risk? The Justices might call the administration coup d’etat to Constitutional account. Too risky. An attack could, however, focus the public’s attention on the war on terrorism to help John McCain in the November election. If elected, Honest John might appoint Cheney to the Machiavelli Chair of the Very Privy Council – another four years in power.
 
An attack on Iran’s civilian nuclear works would require the support of the American public, and Americans might not believe another mushroom cloud prediction. Worse, the National Intelligence Estimate said Iran gave up its nuclear weapons ambitions five years ago and, in any case, is five years away from becoming a nuclear threat to anyone, near or far. Can’t the CIA and NSA keep anything secret?
 
Time for Plan B. Major General Kevin Bergner assembled a display of insurgent weapons captured in Basra and Karbala as proof of Iranian duplicity in the internal affairs of Iraq and worthy of at least a cruise missile attack. The Vice prepared to switch to “Iranian weapons are killing American troops.”  When the Army’s weapons experts were called in, though, they found the mortar shells and rockets were of Russian and Chinese manufacture and available on the open arms market. The carefullly prepared press conference had to be cancelled. Poor Richard Cheney couldn’t get a break. A related strategy was to claim the Revolutionary Guards were training Iraqi militias – smoking gun proof of Iran’s nefarious intentions.  The requisite Iranians were located in Baghdad and seized at luncheon in their hotel. One of them had an assault rifle. When an interpreter was brought in, the American captors learned the Iranians were engineers invited over by Iraqi officials to repair the water works of Baghdad.  The gunman was just a bodyguard. General Petraeus ordered the Iranians released and quickly apologized before Teheran could take the matter to the UN.
 
An Iran-attack strategy in search of a rationale is destined to run into the political realities of Near East intrigue. The Iranians, with their 6,000 year history going back to early Susiana, have political skills that are the envy of the West.  When the British sailors were seized off the coast of Iran and the UK claimed they were in international waters, the Iranians displayed photos of the boats within swimming distance of the shore.  At any rate, the sailors were treated well and, after ten days, were released. Iran received favorable press coverage featuring the Brits playing ping pong and lounging around in comfortable surroundings. Iran is equally skillful in dealing with its Arab neighbors and with the varied ethnic populations of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Nouri al-Maliki just traveled to Teheran in return for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s previous visit to Baghdad. It should be noted that they conferred, not in the Green Zone, but in Baghdad proper under the protection of the Peshmerga militia, no Coalition troops needed. Iran also invited Moqtada al-Sadr, who spent a couple of weeks with the Ayatollahs.

So, it’s back to warming up Plan A. Iran’s civilian nuclear program may indeed turn military. All they need is 50,000 high speed centrifuges working 24/7 to enrich the refined uranium from 5% to 90%. Then there are other small details such as fuses capable of producing a chain reaction and ICBMs to deliver their message to the White House. Possible, but not imminent. Yet George and Dick have started a new PR campaign: “A military strike may be the only way to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions.” “A military strike may be unavoidable.”  The administration is also weighing a covert provocation. If Iran returns the compliment, then it’s war. Iran could unleash a variety of terrorists from Hezbollah to Iranian international rug dealers. The US must beware the Goddess of Unpredictable Consequences.

Energy Genesis

Salud, Salut, Gesund—As Long As You’re Healthy
by Mort Malkin

Energy Genesis

The US of A can boast a wide and varied natural environment — physical resources aplenty and landscapes to take your breath away. The list of riches is extensive: mountain ranges, the Great Plains, shorelines along two oceans, a chain of Great Lakes, several world-class rivers, and unique settlements such as Hollywood (CA), Brooklyn (NY), and Milanville (PA). Go ahead and laugh. Milanville is listed in Hammond's World Atlas with a population of 120. In the next edition it may also be noted as the home of the Milanville Poets, Unlimited.

Americans have been blessed with many energy resources. Of course they were meant for us to use so we could “be fruitful and replenish the earth,” and of course in the comfort of homes kept at 73° F, regardless of the outside temperature. We need not look far for the power that keeps our lives so pleasant. The sun shines every cloudless day. San Diego claims eight days of sun every week. The waves of the sea rise and fall day and night, and the tides flow and ebb 24/7. The earth turns and prevailing winds blow, even in between hurricane seasons. During every political campaign, candidates for elected office are a dependable source of warmed over air. The above wellsprings of energy are renewable and clean (nasty campaign tactics excepted).

We have also been blessed with accessible fossil fuels — coal, oil, and natural gas — but they are a little trickier as they come laced with malevolent chemicals. Burning them in one way or another releases nitrogen & sulfur oxides and carbon dioxide, prime movers in the global heating process. Then, there are volatile polycyclic hydrocarbons, toxic in their own right but also leading to increased concentrations of ground-level ozone and consequent respiratory pathology. A few simpler chemicals, right from the periodic table of elements, add a little diversity to the toxic stew: arsenic, mercury, radium and uranium for starters. On the other hand, oil has also been a boon for specialized plastics with wondrous properties — just juggle a few C, H, and O atoms. We should be saving such a valuable resource and using it only for such advanced materials, not for heat, electricity production, and gasoline combustion. Natural gas, too, may have value far beyond heating homes. One educated guess for future hi-tech natural gas use comes from one of the Milanville Poets: as a carrier for nano-film surface application for corrosion resistance, electrical conductivity, or waterproofing.

Then we come to where Osiris stores all the fossil fuels. The oil & gas deposits closer to the surface were easier and cheaper to mine and were taken first. Once they became scarce and prices went up, the CONG gang (coal, oil, nuclear, gas) went after the deeper and less accessible stores. It was damn the environment, safety standards, and quaint & outmoded ideas of morality — full speed ahead. Around the world, oil drilling went off shore into the storm-tossed North Sea and the hurricane-plagued Gulf of Mexico. Gas exploration found mile-deep small pockets and crevices of natural gas at many places in the US, from Texas to the Colorado Rockies to the North Platte Valley in Wyoming to the watershed of the High Delaware River. Halliburton, ever inventive for nefarious purposes, devised a high pressure hydraulic system for fracturing the rock strata so the gas could be collected from a wider area around the drill site. It takes some doing — a million gallons of water laced with various lubricants, corrosion inhibitors, biocides and other fun chemicals. The direction and extent of the fractures is, at best, educated guesswork, but not far away is the rock that holds the water table. These risk-ridden ventures attracted arrogant, risk-taking energy men who were not much bothered by accidents or aquifer contamination.

A few truly conservative theologians became environmental advocates. They called upon their followers to “weave the mission of care for God’s creation.” Some have opined that these less accessible energy deposits were meant to be kept in reserve, to be called on only in the event of dire planetary emergency. The Milanville Poets caucused and agreed that $4 per gallon gasoline does not meet the standard of “dire emergency.”

The last genesis question concerns sacred sites. Some places on earth are too beautiful, too ecologically fragile, too historically significant to despoil forever for the sake of a few months worth of BTUs. We should not be drilling next to Old Faithful in Yellowstone, not the Everglades of Florida, not under the water tables of the High (Upper) Delaware River, not even in the Rose Garden of the White House (no matter who lives there at the moment). If drill they must, there’s a nice 1500 acre ranch in Crawford TX.

Global What?

We’ve achieved a vague awareness that the Earth and oceans and air really are increasing in temperature. We’ve even replaced a few old light bulbs with compact fluorescents and turned down our thermostats a couple of degrees during the winter months.

Now that we’ve walked the walk (if only in baby steps), it’s time to talk the talk:

It’s not global warming, but global heating.

It’s not climate change, but climate chaos, collapse, crash, calamity …

We’re fast approaching not the tipping point but the point of no return or the runaway greenhouse effect.

The eight or nine climate mechanisms which are driving the global temperature rise are called feed back loops, but the more accurate term would be chain reactions.

So, it’s global heating, climate chaos, the point of no return, and chain reactions. Talk the talk. There’s not much time left to reverse the great process — perhaps only 10 to 12 years. Walking the walk may be too slow. Talking the talk may give us some energy for an all out sprint.

Whose Mission Accomplished

Back in the spring of 2003, the Air Force softened up Iraq — but missed with a few surgical strikes that targeted Saddam Hussein — and so the Army invaded. In a few quick weeks our forces occupied that nation: Baghdad, Saddam’s palaces and the Oil Ministry.

President George slipped into a flight suit and, in a Navy jet fighter, landed on the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln to announce the end of major combat operations. No, he didn’t fly the plane; he never earned his wings when he was an erstwhile member of the Texas Air National Guard. A great banner proclaiming Mission Accomplished stretched above the Commander In Chief as he addressed the sailors has since become an embarrassment to the
B-C administration when the war ground on year after year.

Recognizing that the photo-op went sour, the White House spinmeisters have changed the storyline. It was, they now insist, Mission Accomplished for those sailors on that ship for their mission. Their mission, truth be told, was to manoever the carrier off the coast of California — not in the Persian Gulf — and position it so photos of the President’s plane landing on the deck of the carrier would show open seas, not nearby San Diego. Will the White House convince any but the gullible? Or will the new PR effort just confirm the President’s incredibility?

Rating The 41st President

President George W Bush, our 43rd, has reached record low approval ratings. Even the media, of late, have found it acceptable to report the public’s unhappiness with our peerless leader. Stephen Colbert has been a media leader with his faux news satire. He often questions his guests when the talk turns political: “Is George Bush a great president or the greatest president?”

The Gadfly Revelry & Research team will be ready if any of us gets invited to the show. Our reply will be: “George W Bush is an incredible president.”

Quote Of Note

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."

--Joseph Stalin