Where's my Elenin Doomsday?

SUBHEAD: Remnants of comet Elenin (aka Planet X or Niribu) pass by Earth without incident. By Susan Atkinson on 17 October 2011 for University Today - (http://www.universetoday.com/89973/wheres-my-doomsday-remnants-of-comet-elenin-pass-by-earth-without-incident/)

Image above: Where Comet Elenin should have been in the sky on October 16, 2011 shows nothing left of the the disintegrated comet, and all that is visible are star trails. From original article.

If you were waiting for Comet Elenin to wreak havoc on Earth so that you didn’t have to pay off your credit card debt or go into work today, I’m sorry to inform you that doomsday didn’t happen. All that remained of Comet Elenin, — which wasn’t much — made its closest pass by Earth yesterday (Oct. 16, 2011) without causing any earthquakes, tsunamis, or high tides and it didn’t collide with Earth, either. Moreover, there was no brown dwarf or Mothership hidden in the comet’s coma. And in case you didn’t notice, this comet did not cause three days of darkness around September 26, 2011.

“I don’t know why fearmongers chose my comet,” the comet’s discoverer Leonid Elenin told Universe Today. “I received many letters from scared people. But if they believe in conspiracy theories I can’t help them.”

For some reason, conspiracy and doomsday theorists chose this small little comet — one that was to come no closer than 34 million km (21 million miles) during its closest approach on October 16th – to be the harbinger of doom.

But here we are, just fine.

Well, except for wars, terrorism, global warming and other things that the human race inflicts on itself. There are enough bad things going on here on planet Earth that conspiracy theorists shouldn’t fabricate doomsday predictions just to needlessly scare people for fun and profit.

So why didn’t Comet Elenin cause doomsday? 1. It couldn’t have hit Earth, or affected Earth’s orbit. The comet was predicted to come 34 million km (21 million miles) away at its closest approach. Just in case you can’t figure that out, one object can’t hit another at that distance. Plus, the gravity exerted by a small object won’t affect Earth either. To put this in perspective, this distance is only a little closer than the closest approach of Venus to Earth, and roughly 100 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Nothing happens to Earth when Venus is at closest approach, and Venus is 12,000 kilometers in diameter, while Elenin was 3-5 kilometers across. When the comet was intact it had less than a billionth of the tidal force of the Moon.

2. Comet Elenin fell apart. Sometimes, long period comets that originate from the outer parts of our solar system begin to dissipate as they get closer to the Sun. But Elenin was hit by solar flares from the Sun on August 19 and began disintegrating. When it reached its closest point to the Sun on September 10, it basically was toast. Just recently the location of where the comet should be has become visible in the night sky, out of the Sun’s glare. Several images from different amateur astronomers show absolutely nothing. The comet has completely disintegrated and fallen apart.

Earlier today, astronomer Nick Howes and his colleagues using the 2 meter Faulkes telescope took 30 minutes worth of exposures and saw nothing of Comet Elenin in the sky (top image). “We observed objects at magnitude 20.5, but saw no trace at all of Comet Elenin,” Howes told Universe Today. “If it had stayed together, it should have been almost visible with the naked eye now.”

3. What is left of the comet won’t cause problems, either. The average density of a comet’s coma is about the same as the density of the atmosphere on the Moon, and any rocks or debris that might be left over from the comet are small enough that they would burn up in Earth’s atmosphere if Earth does go through the wake of the coma or debris from the comet. And remember, several times a year Earth goes through the debris from comets and all that happens is we get beautiful meteor showers to enjoy.

And after this, don’t worry about Comet Elenin or its leftovers. Earth won’t pass through it again for another 12,000 years.

So move along, folks, nothing here. Comet Elenin is just another doomsday that didn’t happen, just like NASA, Leonid Elenin, and many other people said.

And if you proudly claim you aren’t a sheeple and are now just waiting and searching for the next doomsday theory to hang your every hope upon, why don’t you try expending your energy on this: Enjoy every day on this beautiful planet and live your life in its fullest. And perhaps you could be a person who could help come up with solutions to some of the real problems on planet Earth.

(And by the way, don’t worry about Dec. 21, 2012 either.)

See also: Ea O Ka Aina: NASA spots comet Elenin 8/11/11 Ea O Ka Aina: Time for a Sanity Check 7/12/11 Ea O Ka Aina: Comet Elenin is Coming 5/19/11

.

Fate of Hanapepe 1911 Bridge

SUBHEAD: County Council meeting Wednesday 11/19 to decide fate of historic bridge. Westsiders need to weigh in on this subject. Image above: The west approach to the Hanapepe 1911 Bridge showing it closure after storm is February 2008. Note stair leading up to walkway is at right. All photos by Juan Wilson. By Juan Wilson on 17 October 2011 for Island Breath - (http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2011/10/fate-of-hanapepe-1911-bridge.html) WHAT: County Council Meeting to discuss plan for repairing Hanapepe 1911 Bridge. WHERE: County Council Chambers Historic County Building 4396 Rice Street, Suite 201 Lihue, Kauai, Hawai'i 96766 WHEN: Wednesday, 19th October 2011 at approximately 1:30pm Image above: Photo 10/17/11 of West end of bridge after repainting for 100th birthday. I've lived in Hanapepe Valley for a decade and use the 1911 Bridge over the Hanapepe River daily. I am an architect and planner and in my opinion the county has a bad plan to renovate the bridge. If implemented it will diminish the bridge's usefulness to the Westside community. In 2007 an inspection of the 1911 Bridge revealed that the structural had several problems due to metal corrosion and concrete spalding. This included cracks in concrete and erosion of steel knee-braces that supported the raised pedestrian walkway on top of the south wall of the bridge. Shortly afterwards the County put up barriers of wooden pallets and locked gates to restrict access to the walkway. They placed soft plastic bollards in a line to mark a walkway. This clumsy attempt to make the bridge less of a danger was certainly a result of some bean counters risk manager's calculations with help from the county attorney. These two steps have actually made the bridge more dangerous to the drivers and fishermen who use the bridge. But a least the County won't be sued successfully. The County made proposals for fixing the bridge. They will make structural repairs, replace roadway and then provide a walkway. They presented three alternative plans for the walkway.

1. Narrow the roadway to one lane and place a five-foot wide sidewalk along its south side.
2. Built a new walkway at the roadway level outside the south wall of the bridge.
3. Repair the existing walkway on top of the south wall of the bridge.

Image above: Photo 10/17/11 of walkway used by fishermen and crabbers. Now the County has reduced its options to just Scheme #1 and wants to move ahead. Scheme #1: Narrow Road, Relocate Walkway The first scheme is the worst and cheapest. This solution proposes to provide ADA compliance for pedestrians on a five foot wide raised sidewalk. This is bit disingenuous. The approaches to the ADA compliant side walk are not ADA compliant. This effort would truly narrow the road to one lane. The sidewalk would need reinforced bollards to protect pedestrians. This will reduce the car traffic lane to 13 feet. The bridge is often called "The One Lane Bridge", but the truth of the matter is the bridge has always accommodated two cars passing slowly. This has been a crucial when a driver gets onto the bridge roadway and an approaching driver does not heed the YIELD sign and enters the bridge. With its original width cars can pass one another carefully. That will not be true if the roadway is narrowed to 13 feet. Four years ago soft plastic bollards were placed to provide a temporary walkway. Those that use the bridge frequently now that even this temporary narrowing of the road has made it more dangerous for drivers and fishermen. Scheme #2: New Walkway next to Bridge The second scheme would require extensive ramps on the east end to achieve its goal of allowing ADA approved handicapped access. This scheme would be hard to justify in the historic context of the bridge. It also is the most expensive scheme. Scheme #3: Restore Existing Walkway The last proposal is the only reasonable one. Before the 2007 inspection the walkway was used by crabbers and fishermen daily. They still do but have to stand in the narrow roadway, walk on the narrow to of the north bridge wall or climb up unto the barricaded walkway to fish and crab. Image above: Photo 10/17/11 of Kali family from Hanapepe Valley camping at 1911 Bridge. Local people still bring cooler and folding chairs to the west end of the bridge and will spend a whole day relaxing and fishing with the family. Only restoring the existing walkway will maintain the cultural and historic use of the bridge as a recreational feature to the town. Important to Westside There is not doubt that the 100 year old concrete span across the Hanapepe River needs a major restoration. The County knows this and will spend quite a bit of money to restore the integrity of the bridge's structure and roadway. That's fine with everybody concerned. Exactly how that is done is important not only to the residents of the town, but to surrounding community as well - especially people living on the west side of Hanapepe Valley and those living in Hanapepe Heights. It is also important to communities beyond on either side of the bridge who use Old Hanapepe Town and the recreational facilities at Salt Pond Beach Park. All together the bridge is used frequently by thousands of people. Most people that don't live in these immediate communities stick to the main Kaumualii Highway 1938 bridge a quarter mile to the south. However, several times a year, for one reason or another, the main highway bridge will be shutdown and the 1911 Bridge is used by all highway traffic as the only alternative detour across the Hanapepe River. Looking at the effort on the to accommodate recreational pedestrian traffic over the Wailua River and other points along the Eastside Bike Path, it would seem a reasonable thing to restore the existing walkway on 1911 Bridge for use of Westsiders. We're only talking about a four in concrete slab with railings and supported on steel knee-braces. Image above: Photo 10/17/11 of three local guys using bridge for recreational fun. . .

APEC Protests in Honolulu

SUBHEAD: Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Meetings & Protests start Monday, October 17th.  

By Henry Curtis on 16 October 2011 for Disappeared News - (http://www.disappearednews.com/2011/10/apec-hawaii-2011-meetings-protests.html)


Image above: East West Center at University of Hawaii's Manoa campus in Honolulu- the location of APEC functions. From (http://www.prweb.com/releases/East-West_Center/Asia_Pacific_region/prweb2873394.htm).
 

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Asia Development Bank (ADB) will hold conferences at the East West Center at the University of Hawaii, Manoa this fall.

The East West Center will host the APEC Climate Symposium (October 17-20, 2011) and the ADB Conference (December 14-15, 2011)
 

Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz will deliver the opening speech at the APEC Climate Symposium.

Peaceful protesters will gather from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday, October 17, 2011 in front of the John F. Kennedy Theatre across the campus road from the East West Center. The organizers have discussed their plans with both UH and the police, and have received assurances that the protest can occur at that site.
 

The protests are being organized by the Hawai`i Independence Action Alliance (HIAA) which supports globalizing human rights rather than globalizing the power of corporations. They believe that the emphasis must be on the right of communities to determine their own future.

“We believe in a globalized consciousness, respect, and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. These rights have been well developed in the United Nations expressions in two international covenants, the first on Civil & Political Rights, and the second on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We support, in addition, the rights of Indigenous Peoples as expressed by the United Nations General Assembly and the International Labor Organization. The principles expressed in these documents are global in nature, yet must be respected and enforced at the local level. It is in actions at the local level that government’s true commitment is seen.”

HIAA asserts that independent communities must be able to promote their own values: fair trade not free trade, respect for the environment, local food production, and the right to have non-genetically modified foods. Global policies should not impeded local wellness. Cultural and and spiritual values and beliefs must be respected.

“We support the community’s desire to seek compatibility between globalization and localization, as it is important to include all concerned voices in any process of decision-making regarding impact on community resources.”

During the November APEC meetings there will be three rings of security, the outer two controlled by the Honolulu Police Department and the inner one controlled by the Secret Service. The Police have been meeting with opposition organizers to finds ways that the two groups can work together. Both support the Aloha spirit. To date, there have been no meetings between opposition organizers and the secret service. The State Department is screening all people who have applied for a press pass, including myself.

The ADB Conference (December 14-15, 2011) will focus on Key topics are: growth, environment, inequality/poverty, urbanization, the role of government in urbanization including financing for infrastructure, pollution, congestion, slums, employment, housing and land market issues.

Among those attending the APEC Climate Symposium will be University of Hawai`i professors Bin Wang and Thomas Giambelluca.
 

Dr. Bin Wang is Chair of the Department of Meteorology, International Pacific Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. He has a B.S. in Physical Oceanography and an M.S. in Meteorology from Universities in China and a Ph.D. in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics from Florida State University.

Dr. Thomas Giambelluca is an Associate Professor in Geography. He served as an Expert Reviewer for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment
 Report: Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.
 

Dr. Thomas Giambelluca gave a Climate Overview on Rainfall and Drought at the 2009 Kauai Community College symposium on "Global Climate Impacts on Kauai" sponsored by the Surfrider Foundation and the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program and Kauai Community College.

Island Breath: Dr. Giambelluca demonstrated that most rain arriving on Kauai is created by moisture carried by the Trade Winds as the air rises on the mountain sides within a strata below a phenomena called the Trade Wind Inversion (TWI), and above a strata with high relative humidity called the Lifting Condensation Level (LCL). ... Dr. Giambelluca indicated that the macro changes in global climate will raise the temperature of the Pacific Ocean in the area of Hawaii, but that temperatures over land will rise faster than over the ocean, thus reducing relative humidity over the island of Kauai and raising the elevation of the LCL. If conditions exist for a persistent low TWI and a high LCL, then Kauai will get less regular rain.

Kahea: Dr. Giambelluca spoke at a 2011 University of Hawai`i roundtable on current trends affecting fresh water in Hawai‘i and practical approaches to adapt to a changing climate. The roundtable was sponsored by the Kamakaküokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, and the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program’s Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy. Dr. Thomas Giambelluca: “Looking at daytime temperatures, in all seasons and annual we see downward trends. So in other words, the data say it’s cooling during the day. But it’s warming at night, at a rate that’s about twice as fast as the daytime cooling. My guess is that the warming is just part of what’s happening here in Hawaii as a result of global warming.”

.

End of Growth is a Women's Issue

SUBHEAD: Our society that regards legal protections for women and children as optional in hard times . By Sharon Astyk on 10 October 2011 for The Chatelaine's Keys - (http://sharonastyk.com/2011/10/10/the-end-of-growth-is-a-womens-issue) Image above: Photo by Mary Ellen Mark, "The Damm Family in their Car", Los Angles, California, 1987 - Gelatin Silver Print From (http://www.thepaine.org/artist-in-res/SuzanneRose/Nov-Dec.htm). Perhaps the first widely read piece I wrote was entitled “Peak Oil is a Women’s Issue” and focused on the ways that an energy decline might affect women. At the time it was written (the earliest version appeared in 2004) the peak oil movement was largely a group of men, mostly geologists, oil men, a few economists and journalists interested in a growing issue.

My argument (more refined variations of which I’ve continued making for years) was that women need to organize around energy and environmental issues, because they stand to lose a great deal in a society that has fewer resources to go around.

At least one critic accused me of writing a “handmaid’s tale” and raising an alarm about nothing, which I find sort of funny, because we all *know* that in hard times women and children tend to suffer the most. Assuming that won’t be true requires an argument for why this time will be different.

The UN has already described the ways that the first and most profound victims of climate change will be women. Energy depletion, and the end economic growth will be no different, unless we act to make them different. We need a new women’s movement that has a profound understanding of the ways that energy has shaped women’s expectations and experience, and that can respond to a radically changing society.

Image above: Photo by Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) "Migrant Mother", Nipomo, California, 1936. From (http://www.thepaine.org/artist-in-res/SuzanneRose/Nov-Dec.htm).

Thanks to reader Vickey, we can see that thus far, events aren’t different – women are paying the price again.. Consider what’s happening in Topeka as a more extreme version of decisions being made all over the country:

In Topeka, Kansas city officials are considering a controversial move to decriminalize domestic violence in the city after the Shawnee County government offloaded domestic violence enforcement on to city governments. Cities facing budget cuts and lost revenue are turning to many different cost-cutting measures, but this is perhaps the most extreme. Already, the county government has turned away at least 30 domestic violence cases.

We know that most domestic violence isn’t reported, that most battering victims are so ashamed and afraid that they won ‘t call the police, so the 30 + cases that were turned away are just the tip of the iceberg – we know that women will die unless batterers can be stopped.

Legal protections for women and children should be fundamental, but we live in a society that regards them as optional luxuries to be abandoned in hard times. Without a shift in the way we regard women’s issues, we are likely to see more of this horror.

.

Occupy This!

SOURCE: Shannon Rudolph (shannonkona@gmail.com) SUBHEAD: A rant by the Old Fart on the Occupy Wall Street movement. They got it right and the Tea Party got it wrong. By The Old Fart on 11 October 2011 for Old Fart Rants - (http://www.youtube.com/user/oldfartrants) Image above: Still of the Old Fart from video below. If you're a Teabagger, put on your powdered wig and tri-cornered hat for a little history lesson. The original Boston Tea Party, the one from the history books, was sparked by a corporate tax cut for a British corporation. It was civil disobedience against a private corporation. The original Boston Tea Party feared that corporate greed would destroy America. The original Boston Tea Party believed government was necessary to protect us against corporate excess. How many teabaggers did you see getting arrested at their protests? None. We all saw their signs that are THIS CLOSE to being threats against the president of the United States, but did you see anyone getting beat up, maced, or arrested? No! When we saw teabaggers bringing loaded guns to town halls and speeches by Obama, did you see any of them getting hauled off in handcuffs? No! You know how to tell who the good guys are? The sane people? The people who represent the truth? They're the ones the police are beating up, macing and arresting. That's exactly how it was in the 60's when me and my hippy friends were protesting the Viet Nam war. If you haven't heard of Kent State, go look it up. Four dead in Ohio! And do you know who came out on the right side of history. We did. We were right back then when everybody said we were wrong -- and everybody knows it now. The Wall Street protestors are the real deal - they're on the right side of history. They know who the real enemy is, and if you live long enough, you'll see I'm right. Video above: Be forewarned. There is a pop-up ad. It can be clicked off. From (http://youtu.be/LVNFGao42Ak). .

Kauai Occupied

SUBHEAD: The Occupy Wall Street movement is seeking an alternative to crushing debt and taking it out on nature. By Juan Wilson on 16 October 2011 for Island Breath - (http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2011/10/kauai-occupied.html) Image above: Hundreds of people demonstrated along the Highway in Waipouli in front of Safeway. Photo by Juan Wilson. Kauai had a joyous, colorful and musical demonstration along the Kuhio Highway mid Saturday along the Kuhio Highway in Waipouli near Kapaa. There were signs, drumming, singing and chanting in the air that was punctuated by car horns in agreement with the sentiments of the day. People came in supporting many individual causes; but shared the feeling of a need deal with our problems fairly and sustainably. Less violence - less profiteering - less inequality - less destruction of nature. Yesterday their were over 950 demonstrations around the world directed at the injustice and inequity created by the wealthiest among us. The primary target being the banksters who dragged down the financial system and, rather than declaring bankruptcy. Especially the ones who declared they were too big to fail. They said if they sank we would all go down with them. They took trillions in handouts (and cost free loans) while they watched the rest of us went down the drain. They bet against us and won. The people that came together on Kauai, like thousands of people across the developed world, have declared that a miniscule number of elitists cannot rig the system in their favor any more. Many now are connecting the dots and seeing that the population crisis; the energy crisis; the water crisis; the climate crisis are all of the same cloth.People are onto them, declaring that the jig is up. Image above: Lind Pascatore holds sign reading Invest in People Not Corporations - Sustainability Not Growth" . Photo by Juan Wilson. I separate myself from those who believe that there is a way to continue forward with an equitable economic system of expanding wealth if we just made the system fairer. I'm afraid there are simply too many humans and too few resources left on the planet for expanding wealth for everyone. We are all going to have some impoverishment to swallow. Unfortunately, down at the center of the system is the nasty necessity for ever continuing economic growth. "Growth" being the taking ever more land and resources out of the natural world for human consumption. Without it the system fails. Capitalism creates money out of thin air with a printing press (fiat currency). It is used to lend and invest so there can be infrastructure, production and jobs. This "thin air" money is "fattened up" to become new real money by the taking of ever more natural resources to feed those endeavors. This is the mechanism that allows us to pay back debts. We take it out of nature. No one has figured out how to do investment or lending without requiring economic growth. That is why the boyz in Washington and Wall Street are so desperate "jump start" the economy. Throw paper money and oil on and put a match to it. Just get that growth fire going again. It seems then that there is little chance of operating capitalism without growth. It would follow that as we pass Peak Everything (Oil, Water, Phosphorus, Food, Consumption, etc.) that capitalism will not be the system that we use to run our economy. The people participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement is seeking an alternative to crushing debt and taking it out on nature. .

Monsanto GMO Corn for Humans

SUBHEAD: This is the first GMO crop for direct human consumption and it is untested. By Sarah Alexander on 14 October 2011 for Food & Water Watch - (salexander@fwwatch.org) Image above: Sweet corn close-up. From (http://mixedgreensblog.com/2011/09/04/local-living/farmers-markets/big-corn-little-corn/). Genetically engineered Monsanto sweet corn is approved and could be on your plate next year. Genetically engineered sweet corn, the first Monsanto crop designed to be consumed by people, is genetically engineered to produce pesticides and resist herbicides. Sign the petition to make sure your grocery store doesn't sell you genetically engineered sweet corn. Why should you be concerned about Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) Sweet Corn?

1) This is the first GE Crop Monsanto that is marketing for direct human consumption. 2) It will not be labeled. 3) It hasn't been tested for human safety.

Monsanto's sweet corn variety flew through the approval process, because it combines two genetically engineered traits that were approved in 2005 and 2008. The USDA does no independent testing of GE crops, and the "stacked" combination of these traits for herbicide resistance, and pesticide production has never been through a safety evaluation of any kind. These traits have never been engineered into a food that will be consumed directly by people. Most of the GE corn that is currently grown is eaten by animals or processed into corn syrup, corn oil and other corn ingredients that show up in processed food. Monsanto's aiming to have their new GE Sweet Corn grown on 250,000 acres next year (roughly 40% of the sweet corn market). Take action now to make sure this corn isn't sold at your local grocery store. As you already know, genetically engineered crops are not required to be labeled. We have no way of knowing if a food has been genetically engineered or contains GE ingredients. We believe labeling should be required so that people can choose whether or not they want to eat GE foods. Unfortunately GE sweet corn, will not be labeled, and doesn't look any different from regular sweet corn. Help make sure GE Sweet Corn is not sold by signing our petition to grocery stores. We'll be delivering this petition to the top ten grocery store chains in the country in an attempt to stop GE Sweet Corn from reaching your plate. Sign the petition to grocery stores today: (http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8405) . .

Fukushima Debris nears Midway

SOURCE: Brad Parsons (mauibrad@hotmail.com) SUBHEAD: Russian ship finds Fukushima tsunami debris where scientists predicted by IPRC simulation.  

By Gisela E. Speidel on 13 October 2011 for IPRC - (www.physorg.com/news/2011-10-russian-ship-tsunami-debris-scientists.html)
  Image above: Still from animated .GIF animation below of debris nearing Midway Island. Ever since the great Japan tsunami on March 11 washed millions of tons of debris into the Pacific, scientists at the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, have been trying to track the trajectory of this debris that can threaten small ships and coastlines. For nearly half a year, Senior Researcher Nikolai Maximenko and Computer Programmer Jan Hafner had only their state-of-the-art – but still untested – computer model of currents to speculate where the debris might end up. Now valuable sightings of the debris are reported from places where the model predicted. Warned by maps of the scientists’ model, the Russian sail training ship, the STS Pallada, found an array of unmistakable tsunami debris on its homeward voyage from Honolulu to Vladivostok. Soon after passing Midway Islands (see map), Pallada spotted surprising number of floating items. “Yesterday, i.e. on September 22, in position 31042,21 N and 174045,21 E, we picked up on board the Japanese fishing boat. Radioactivity level – normal, we’ve measured it with the Geiger counter,” writes Natalia Borodina, Information and Education Mate of the Pallada. “At the approaches to the mentioned position (maybe 10 – 15 minutes before) we also sighted a TV set, fridge and a couple of other home appliances.” Later, on September 27: “We keep sighting every day things like wooden boards, plastic bottles, buoys from fishing nets (small and big ones), an object resembling wash basin, drums, boots, other wastes. All these objects are floating by the ship.”  
 Image above: Animated .GIF simulation over time of Fukushima tsunami debris field. Click to enlarge. From (http://iprc.soest.hawaii.edu/users/nikolai/2011/Pacific_Islands/Simulation_of_Debris_from_March_11_2011_Japan_tsunami.gif).

 The map shows the stretch of Pallada's route where debris was sighted between September 21 and 28, 2011. The red rhombus marks the location where the Japanese boat was found and the red circle denotes maximum debris density experienced. Purple color shows the distribution of the tsunami debris in the SCUD model on September 25. On October 8, the Pallada entered the port of Vladivostok, and Borodina was able to send pictures. The most remarkable one is of a small fishing vessel about 20 feet long, which they were able to hoist up onto the Pallada.
The markings on the wheel house of the boat show its home port to be in the Fukushima Prefecture, the area hardest hit by the tsunami (see photo). With the exact locations of some of the by now widely scattered debris, the scientists can make more accurate projections about when the debris might arrive at the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. The first landfall on Midway Islands is anticipated this winter. What misses Midway will continue towards the main Hawaiian Islands and the North American West Coast. This is a joint press release by the IPRC and the STS Pallada.  

Researcher Contacts: Nikolai Maximenko phone (808) 956-2584 email: maximenk@hawaii.edu Jan Hafner: phone (808) 956-2530 email jhafner@hawaii.edu STS Pallada Contacts: Natalia V. Borodina email natalya_borodina@yahoo.com or sts_pallada@email.ru IPRC Media Contact: Gisela E. Speidel: phone (808) 536-8582 email: gspeidel@hawaii.edu

 • The International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) at the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, is a climate research center founded to gain greater understanding of the climate system and the nature and causes of climate variation in the Asia-Pacific region and how global climate changes may affect the region. Established under the "U.S.-Japan Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspective" in October 1997, the IPRC is a collaborative effort between agencies in Japan and the United States. .

Occupy Wall Street holds Freedom Park

SUBHEAD: Action, resistance and solidarity at dawn discourage New York from evicting OWS as planned. [Editor's note: Many factors played a part. The quick response of over a quarter of a million who joined the MoveOn.org petition helped. The quick response of the OWS to clean Zucotti Park was a big factor. The solidarity of organized labor in the hours before dawn was crucial. It all came together and the Banksters were pushed back.] By Justin Ruben on 14 October 2011 for MoveOn.org - (http://front.moveon.org/breaking-occupy-wins-bloomberg-backs-down) Image above: Reaction of OWS crowd to news that NYPD would not be clearing Zucotti Park and arresting demonstrators. Still from video below. Huge news! This morning at 6 o'clock, MoveOn members, union members, community organizers and thousands of others gathered in Zuccotti Park to stand in solidarity with the people who are occupying Wall Street and to defend them from eviction by Mayor Bloomberg. They were supported by hundreds of thousands of people from around the country like you who signed petitions and flooded the city with calls. And they won! We've got video of the scene as the announcement was read and, well, you've got to watch it. Video above: Announcement of postponement of clearing Freedom Park of Occupy Wall Street. From (http://youtu.be/c9D33hr4CW0). P.S. You can also sign up to get SMS text alerts on Occupy Wall Street (http://civic.moveon.org/mobile/ows.html?id=31994-3312037-fL9uxBx&t=3). .

NYPD to evict Occupy Wall Street

iSUBHEAD: Mayor Michael Bloomberg, after praising OWS, has plan for eviction at 7:00am Friday 10/14. By Angie on 13 October 2011 for MoveOn.org - (http://front.moveon.org/breaking-mayor-bloomberg-attempting-to-evict-occupywallstreet-protesters/) Image above: Image of new rules for Liberty (Zuccotti) Park. From MoveOn.org posting. Just found out that the Occupy Wall Street protesters are being evicted from Zuccotti Park at 7am tomorrow morning. Mayor Bloomberg is sending in the police to clear the park so it can be "cleaned" and is imposing new rules that won't allow protesters to continue to occupy the park. These protesters have been standing up for all of us against corporate greed on Wall Street and the corporate takeover of our democracy. It's time we stand with them. Please join me in urgently signing a petition to Mayor Bloomberg to keep him from evicting the protesters. Just use the link below. Claiming a need to clean the park, the Mayor sounds eerily like Governor Scott Walker before the occupation of Wisconsin’s Capitol building was forced out. See the new “rules” below and then sign the petition to defend #OWS’ right to protest! .

End of the Eurozone

SUBHEAD: We're just getting started in round two of the great unwind. Europe as it is organized today has had its last hurrah. By Ilargi on 12 October 2011 for Automatic Earth - (http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2011/10/october-12-2011-end-of-eurozone.html) Image above: Entrance to Bizarro World roller coaster at Six Flags Amusement in Jackson, NJ. From (http://amusementparkauthority.com/park_index/american_parks/sfgadv/sfgadv.html). It’s been a while since we last visited Bizarro world, but boy, it's starting to feel like we never left. First, Merkel and Sarkozy over the weekend promise to present a plan that they unabashedly declare will "resolve" the entire eurocrisis. Only, they won't let us know what's in it until the end of the month. Which can only possibly mean that they don't know either. The announcement on Sunday used quite peculiar language, if you ask me. They said something along the lines of the plan being "sustainable and comprehensive", the sort of terms mostly used by politicians exclusively to make things look much better than they really are. They could have just said that they are working on a plan to make things better. Instead, they claimed they have the power to resolve the entire crisis, and sustainably too, whatever that means in this context. They have no such power, and if they don't know that, they should be removed from what power they do have. Alternatively, both should be held accountable by their voters on November 1, when it will be crystal clear that the crisis has not been resolved. I must admit, I still can't fully fathom why they made that claim when there didn't seem to be any reason to. Second, a committee representing the ECB/EU/IMF troika on Tuesday said that as far as they're concerned, Greece can get its next tranche of aid, some €8 billion. That too has some bizarro aspects to it. The aid is provided under a deal that was updated in July when the second Greek bailout was negotiated. That deal also included a provision that stipulated that private investors would take a 21% haircut on their Greek debt, provided some 90% would agree to participate (a condition to prevent a hard default). Now, while the troika team was evaluating Greek compliance with other parts of the deal, such as budget cuts and austerity measures, they were at all times acutely aware that there were and are discussions ongoing about a much bigger haircut for investors, as in more like 60%. And that will make the July deal invalid. Which puts the approved €8 billion tranche in a somewhat strange light. To put it mildly. Moreover, it is already obvious that Greece will not be able to meet its deficit targets, something that also risks invalidating the deal. The same is true for Spain, by the way, but that's another story for another day. That is, if the troika team finds time to fly to Madrid anytime soon. Those Europeans whose money is used in this segment of the Greek bailout might want to ask their politicians for an explanation: why should we pay up when the conditions that were put on paying only 3 months ago are missed out on by a mile and a half? That could be a fun discussion. And if you ask questions in a sufficiently persistent manner, you may notice that they have no clue what they're doing, and they're very near the end of their very wits. If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on the option that what is going on here are the preparations for dropping Greece. The idea being that if you kick out Athens, you can spend lots of money on ringfencing the banks in the remainder of the Eurozone. Such, undoubtedly, are at least some of the calculations. Sarkozy sees both his banks AND his sovereign credit rating under immense pressure. If he can convince Merkel to use EFSF funds to catch the -Greek- fall of Société Générale and BNP, and he can simultaneously convince Moody’s that this means France lets Europe (co-) pay for catching that fall, so France can retain its AAA rating, he will have no qualms about pushing the Acropolis into the ocean. It is, however, nowhere near that simple and easy. And Sarkozy knows it. But he seems increasingly willing to make the bet, to close his eyes and jump into the unknown, simply because the known looks ever more likely to catch up with him and his presidency. Seen from that perspective, maybe his claim that the crisis will be resolved by the end of the month isn't so peculiar anymore. It's then purely an act of desperation. To begin with, a Greek hard default would trigger a credit event. That means credit default swaps on Greece will have to be "made whole". And there's no one party in the world that has a 20/20 360 overview of the total CDS out there. Wholesale chaos could ensue. Then, banks with large Greek sovereign, let alone CDS, exposure, would face downgrades of their credit ratings, and trouble in lending markets, both interbank and bonds. Just in the past few days, we've seen Belgium nationalize Dexia, Greece nationalize its Proton bank, and Denmark (not even a Eurozone member) nationalize Max Bank. It looks like they are just the vanguard; there could be a whole lot of banks being either saved, or not: both options are expensive. I’m not the first one to call this a Pandora's box, and I won't be the last. But I did say quite a while back that I thought Europe's leaders were losing control. And today that is more tangible than ever in the past 3 years. There is nobody, and that includes Sarkozy and Merkel and their ilk, who can predict what happens if Greece defaults. And as if that's not enough of a headache for them, there isn't anyone who can predict what happens if Greece doesn NOT default, either. Therein lie the crux and the conundrum. It's a guessing game and a virtually blind gamble all the way forward from here. If Athens is allowed to continue to fester on the European body politic, contagion is the key. The rot will spread to the rest of the periphery, and from there to the core. Very much like a disease will do. The (bond) markets are predatory. They will pick the weakest bits off one by one. If Greece, however, is cut off, those same markets are free to go after any and all of the other contestants for most feeble euro member. Greece is not the problem, it's just the first sign that there is a much wider and deeper problem. Which inexorably leads to the conclusion that the Eurozone of 17 members will not exist much longer. And getting rid of Greece will not make it much more stable. There's still be Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain for the predators to go after. And somewhere during that process France will lose its AAA rating. Also somewhere during that same process US banks will need additional bailouts. We're just getting started in round two of the great unwind. Europe's last hurrah is but the kick-off. And when I say Europe's last hurrah, I mean Europe as it is organized today. Europe will still be here tomorrow. But it will not look the same. Nor will it have the same leaders. .

Americans want EPA protection

SUBHEAD: Sixty-Two percent of Republicans want their leaders to leave the EPA alone to do its job. By Brian Merchant on 12 October 2011 for TreeHuggger - (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/10/republicans-leave-epa-alone-poll.php) Image above: Water color painting of Ohio pollution. Artist unknown. From (http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/news/2011/07/23/database-worst-ohio-industrial-polluter.html?s=image_gallery).

I've used just about all of the blog-powers vested in me to make this point: Americans want the government to protect them from pollution. They just do. Last year, a poll found that 77% of Americans wanted Congress to let the Environmental Protection Administration do its job -- and that was after a bevy of politicians started calling the agency a 'job-killer', saying it 'strangled the economy', etc. Well, even after a full year of being bombarded with those talking points, the American public's not buying it. To this day, the vast majority -- even Republicans -- still overwhelmingly supports the EPA, a new poll finds.

Hell, even 62% of registered Republican voters are still greatly in favor of allowing the EPA to go ahead with new rules that would clamp down on toxic emissions and air pollution. Too bad the politicians that represent them don't recognize that view.

The Ceres poll, conducted by Hart Research Associates and the GS Strategy Group, focuses on public attitudes toward the EPA in general, and then on two proposed rules that would would prevent different kinds of pollution. Those are the Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule (MACT). The former would protect people from power plant pollution that is liable to drift across state lines, and the later clamps down on toxic pollutants and mercury emissions. As such, it's not much of a surprise that everyone's pretty on board with both.

Check it:

• 88% of Democrats, 85% of Independents, and 58% of Republicans oppose Congress stopping the EPA from enacting new limits on air pollution from electric power plants.
• 67% of voters support the CSAPR and 77% of voters support the Toxics rule.
• 65% of voters surveyed are confident that the health and environmental benefits of air pollution standards outweigh the costs of complying with them.
• 79% of voters agree that the rules are important to enact for health reasons.
• 75% of voters believe a compelling reason to implement these rules is the boost to local economies and thousands of new jobs that will be created from investments in new technology

Them's some interesting figures. The poll reveals that a majority of Republicans actively oppose exactly what their leaders are trying to do in Congress right now -- shutting down pollution rules that protect public health. And 4 out of 5 people recognize that these rules will go a long way towards improving public health. Most interestingly, perhaps, is that a majority (correctly) believes that the economic benefits of reducing pollution outweigh the costs of doing so -- and that building, upgrading, and installing the new, cleaner equipment will create, not destroy, jobs.

And then, of course, there's this (via Ceres): "This poll found that support for the EPA air pollution rules extends across the political spectrum. By three to one (75%) the public believes that the EPA, not Congress, should determine whether stricter limits are needed on air pollution from electric power plants. This is a view supported by members of all parties, with 85% of Democrats, 62% of Republicans, and 79% of Independents in agreement."

You don't say. Americans still want the EPA to clamp down on polluting corporations, even after Fox News, beltway politicians, and conservative pundits have tried to maneuver the agency into a role as public enemy #1. Looks like people are a little smarter than they thought. Unfortunately, new info like this is unlikely to change the political chess game in Washington -- pols aren't really concerned with meeting the demands of a majority consensus of voters anymore, just the majority of campaign contributors.

This gaping disconnect between voter desires and DC action is exactly why we're seeing protests like the Occupy Wall Street movement spring up -- politicians are increasingly catering their decision-making to please a wealthy elite (and that wealthy elite happens to own the power plants and factories that would have to clean up their acts), and the voice of the average citizen is rendered impotent.

.

An Evening in Freedom Park

SOURCE: Shannon Rudolph (shannonkona@gmail.com) SUBHEAD: Occupy Wall Street demonstrators have a vibrant night life most people have not seen. By Fidel Amos on 10 October 2011 for YouTube - (http://www.youtube.com/user/fidelamos#p/u/0/pdVYKhhHHV8) Image above: Still from video below. Fidel's Wandering Eye takes a walk amongst the protestors at Wall Street's Freedom (Zuccotti) Park on Monday night, October 10th 2011. One commnet on this video read:

"the world should look like this more often.. seeing people come together instead the whole "wake up, go to work, come home, eat, sleep, rinse, repeat" idea. this is REALLY living. we aren't in our little homes in front of the propaganda box (TV). we must keep this peaceful no matter what. our actions will determine the outcome. not one person deserves to lose their life over this. no matter how crazy things get, keep calm and take care of each other. the people united will never be defeated."

Video above: An after dark walk and the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators. From (http://www.youtube.com/user/fidelamos#p/u/0/pdVYKhhHHV8). .

Texas lies about Global Warming

SUBHEAD: The state of Texas censors scientists' work revealing impacts of climate change. By Brian Merchant on 12 October 2011 for TreeHugger - (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/10/texas-censors-scientists-work-revealing-climate-change-impacts-galveston-bay.php) Image above: Fires in Texas destroyed over a million acres in April 2011. From (http://www.independentsentinel.com/2011/04/firefighter-dies-in-texas). John Anderson, a oceanographer from Texas, worked with a group of researchers on an in-depth study on Galveston Bay for 10 years. He then authored the report on the study, which he submitted to Texas's environmental agency. But when he was shown the version that was readied for official publication, he noticed it was missing some key information -- namely, anything having to do with the fact that climate change was impacting the bay.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Anderson now believes that the state is attempting to censor any findings that might suggest that humans are causing global warming.

From the Chronicle (via Grist):

A long-awaited report on Galveston Bay is being delayed by accusations that Texas' environmental agency deleted references from a scientific article to climate change, people's impact on the environment and sea-level rise. John Anderson ... accused the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality of basing its decision to delete certain references on politics rather than science.

"I don't think there is any question but that their motive is to tone this thing down as it relates to global [climate] change," Anderson said. "It's not about the science. It's all politics."

The article has several references to climate change but does not say it is caused by humans. However, other references to the impact people have had on the environment were deleted by TCEQ.

A conservative government body seeking to censor scientific findings that suggest human activity is causing the climate to change? Sorta reminds you of the good ol' days of the Bush administration and that infamous "unopened" email, doesn't it? And Bush ignoring his own EPA scientists and the mounting evidence that climate change was real and should be acted upon ...

This deja vu-strewn incident is admittedly more minor, but it does shed some light on the tension between conservative politics and, well, scientific reality that persists to this day. Again, the Chronicle:

Anderson wrote to TCEQ Commissioner Buddy Garcia Aug. 30 complaining about the censorship, including as an example the deletion of a section saying the ocean level in Galveston Bay is rising by 3 millimeters a year, compared with the long-term average of 0.5 millimeters.

"The sea level rates presented in this chapter are scientific fact, not speculation," he wrote to Garcia. "Preventing me from publishing this chapter in its current form is a clear case of censorship, which we academicians take very seriously. I would hope that you will intervene at this point and assure that publication of The State of the Bay is no longer delayed."

Anderson said he has not heard from Garcia ...

See also: Ea O Ka Aina: Rick Perry denies Texas is toast 10/2/11 .

Why Abercrombie threw staff under bus

SUBHEAD: Could it be because Governor Abercrombie is preparing for a push for legalized gambling?  

By Larry Geller on 12 October 2011 for Disappeared News - 
  (http://www.disappearednews.com/2011/10/would-abercrombie-throw-his-staff-under.html)

 
Image above: A slot machine called Tiki Wonders may be have the theme elements of a gambling casino here. From (http://www.24hr-slots.co.uk/Net_Entertainment/Tiki_Wonders.html).
 
David Shapiro’s column in today’s Star-Advertiser deserves to be widely read. He gets awfully close to a theory of why Governor Abercrombie’s younger, more in-tune key staff members have been sent home to their families and replaced with establishment types—who are linked to the push for organized gambling in Hawaii.

It’s been hard to explain why the sudden sweep of “New Day” youth out of the 5th floor office makes sense. Could it be because Abercrombie is preparing for a push for legalized gambling? The vice has been popular with some state legislators but never advanced because former Governor Linda Lingle, who opposed gambling, would have vetoed any bill that got to her desk.

Hawaii has a strong coalition against legalized gambling which includes people of all ages, religious organizations, and many social service and advocacy groups. Abercrombie’s young staff would know and understand this. So perhaps they needed to go.

Unfortunately, the Star-Advertiser has removed itself from Internet search engines, and Shapiro’s column is locked behind a paywall. So the best I can do is snip a bit, which doesn’t give the flavor of his insight and thoughtful development.
He begins:

If Gov. Neil Abercrombie ever comes through on his promised New Day in Hawaii, you'll probably have to experience it from a blackjack table.

[Star-Advertiser, Gamble on Abercrombie has failed to pay off so far, 10/12/2011]

I can only snip a bit, so here goes:

The replacements so far -- chief of staff Bruce Coppa and communications director James Boersema -- are bedrocks of the status quo, with deep ties to the powerful business, labor and political interests that are used to the state government working for them. … Lobbyist John Radcliffe, one of the governor's closest political friends, has long represented gambling interests. State Sen. Malama Solomon of Hawaii island, Abercrombie's appointee to a vacant seat, has devoted herself to passing a gambling bill.
Abercrombie himself has been fanning interest in the idea lately, and now he's appointed Boersema, a retired public relations executive who was most recently prominent for promoting a Waikiki casino.

I don’t know if David would go as far as I have in theorizing that Abercrombie wanted to create a more gambling-friendly inner circle as he prepares for the upcoming legislative session.
The theory will be tested as we watch to see if the Governor actually tries to balance the state’s 2012 budget by proposing to sacrifice the state’s values.

.

Occupy * is Priority #1

SUBHEAD: Occupy Wall Street is the most important thing in the world right now. By Naiomi Klein on 11 October 2011 for Truthout - (http://www.truth-out.org/occupy-wall-street-most-important-thing-world-now/1318340232) Image above: Photo by David Shankbone of Naiomi Klein with Occupy Wall Street at Freedom Square in NYC. From (http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/6219258052).

Author's note: I was honored to be invited to speak at Occupy Wall Street on Thursday night. Since amplification is (disgracefully) banned, and everything I say will have to be repeated by hundreds of people so others can hear (a k a “the human microphone”), what I actually say at Liberty Plaza will have to be very short. With that in mind, here is the longer, uncut version of the speech.

I love you.

And I didn’t just say that so that hundreds of you would shout “I love you” back, though that is obviously a bonus feature of the human microphone. Say unto others what you would have them say unto you, only way louder.

Yesterday, one of the speakers at the labor rally said: “We found each other.” That sentiment captures the beauty of what is being created here. A wide-open space (as well as an idea so big it can’t be contained by any space) for all the people who want a better world to find each other. We are so grateful.

If there is one thing I know, it is that the 1 percent loves a crisis. When people are panicked and desperate and no one seems to know what to do, that is the ideal time to push through their wish list of pro-corporate policies: privatizing education and social security, slashing public services, getting rid of the last constraints on corporate power. Amidst the economic crisis, this is happening the world over.

And there is only one thing that can block this tactic, and fortunately, it’s a very big thing: the 99 percent. And that 99 percent is taking to the streets from Madison to Madrid to say “No. We will not pay for your crisis.”

That slogan began in Italy in 2008. It ricocheted to Greece and France and Ireland and finally it has made its way to the square mile where the crisis began.

“Why are they protesting?” ask the baffled pundits on TV. Meanwhile, the rest of the world asks: “What took you so long?” “We’ve been wondering when you were going to show up.” And most of all: “Welcome.”

Many people have drawn parallels between Occupy Wall Street and the so-called anti-globalization protests that came to world attention in Seattle in 1999. That was the last time a global, youth-led, decentralized movement took direct aim at corporate power. And I am proud to have been part of what we called “the movement of movements.”

But there are important differences too. For instance, we chose summits as our targets: the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the G8. Summits are transient by their nature, they only last a week. That made us transient too. We’d appear, grab world headlines, then disappear. And in the frenzy of hyper patriotism and militarism that followed the 9/11 attacks, it was easy to sweep us away completely, at least in North America.

Occupy Wall Street, on the other hand, has chosen a fixed target. And you have put no end date on your presence here. This is wise. Only when you stay put can you grow roots. This is crucial. It is a fact of the information age that too many movements spring up like beautiful flowers but quickly die off. It’s because they don’t have roots. And they don’t have long term plans for how they are going to sustain themselves. So when storms come, they get washed away.

Being horizontal and deeply democratic is wonderful. But these principles are compatible with the hard work of building structures and institutions that are sturdy enough to weather the storms ahead. I have great faith that this will happen.

Something else this movement is doing right: You have committed yourselves to non-violence. You have refused to give the media the images of broken windows and street fights it craves so desperately. And that tremendous discipline has meant that, again and again, the story has been the disgraceful and unprovoked police brutality. Which we saw more of just last night. Meanwhile, support for this movement grows and grows. More wisdom.

But the biggest difference a decade makes is that in 1999, we were taking on capitalism at the peak of a frenzied economic boom. Unemployment was low, stock portfolios were bulging. The media was drunk on easy money. Back then it was all about start-ups, not shutdowns.

We pointed out that the deregulation behind the frenzy came at a price. It was damaging to labor standards. It was damaging to environmental standards. Corporations were becoming more powerful than governments and that was damaging to our democracies. But to be honest with you, while the good times rolled, taking on an economic system based on greed was a tough sell, at least in rich countries.

Ten years later, it seems as if there aren’t any more rich countries. Just a whole lot of rich people. People who got rich looting the public wealth and exhausting natural resources around the world.

The point is, today everyone can see that the system is deeply unjust and careening out of control. Unfettered greed has trashed the global economy. And it is trashing the natural world as well. We are overfishing our oceans, polluting our water with fracking and deepwater drilling, turning to the dirtiest forms of energy on the planet, like the Alberta tar sands. And the atmosphere cannot absorb the amount of carbon we are putting into it, creating dangerous warming. The new normal is serial disasters: economic and ecological.

These are the facts on the ground. They are so blatant, so obvious, that it is a lot easier to connect with the public than it was in 1999, and to build the movement quickly.

We all know, or at least sense, that the world is upside down: we act as if there is no end to what is actually finite—fossil fuels and the atmospheric space to absorb their emissions. And we act as if there are strict and immovable limits to what is actually bountiful—the financial resources to build the kind of society we need.

The task of our time is to turn this around: to challenge this false scarcity. To insist that we can afford to build a decent, inclusive society—while at the same time, respect the real limits to what the earth can take.

What climate change means is that we have to do this on a deadline. This time our movement cannot get distracted, divided, burned out or swept away by events. This time we have to succeed. And I’m not talking about regulating the banks and increasing taxes on the rich, though that’s important.

I am talking about changing the underlying values that govern our society. That is hard to fit into a single media-friendly demand, and it’s also hard to figure out how to do it. But it is no less urgent for being difficult.

That is what I see happening in this square. In the way you are feeding each other, keeping each other warm, sharing information freely and proving health care, meditation classes and empowerment training. My favorite sign here says, “I care about you.” In a culture that trains people to avoid each other’s gaze, to say, “Let them die,” that is a deeply radical statement.

A few final thoughts. In this great struggle, here are some things that don’t matter.

• What we wear.

• Whether we shake our fists or make peace signs.

• Whether we can fit our dreams for a better world into a media soundbite.

And here are a few things that do matter.

• Our courage.
• Our moral compass.
• How we treat each other.

We have picked a fight with the most powerful economic and political forces on the planet. That’s frightening. And as this movement grows from strength to strength, it will get more frightening. Always be aware that there will be a temptation to shift to smaller targets—like, say, the person sitting next to you at this meeting. After all, that is a battle that’s easier to win.

Don’t give in to the temptation. I’m not saying don’t call each other on shit. But this time, let’s treat each other as if we plan to work side by side in struggle for many, many years to come. Because the task before will demand nothing less.

Let’s treat this beautiful movement as if it is most important thing in the world. Because it is. It really is.

• Naomi’s speech also appeared in Saturday’s edition of the Occupied Wall Street Journal.

.

Wall Street Angry and Anxious

SUBHEAD: Bankers fret as Wall Street players see ‘No Exit’ from current financial woes. By Max Abelston on 11 October 2011 for Bloomberg News - (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-12/wall-street-sees-no-exit-from-financial-woes-as-bankers-fret.html) Image above: Financial sector workers look on during Occupy Wall Street demonstration 9/26/11. From original article. Wall Street executives, facing demonstrators camped for a fourth week in New York’s financial district, say they’re anxious and angry for other reasons. An era of decline and disappointment for bankers may not end for years, according to interviews with more than two dozen executives and investors. Blaming government interference and persecution, they say there isn’t enough global stability, leverage or risk appetite to triumph in the current slump. “I don’t think it’s a time to make money -- this is a time to rig for survival,” said Charles Stevenson, 64, president of hedge fund Navigator Group Inc. and head of the co-op board at 740 Park Ave. The building, home to Blackstone Group LP Chairman Stephen Schwarzman and CIT Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer John Thain, was among those picketed by protesters yesterday. “The future is not going to be like a past we knew,” he said. “There’s no exit from this morass.” An anemic global economy, the European sovereign debt crisis, U.S. unemployment stuck above 9 percent and swooning stock markets have sapped the euphoria that swept Wall Street in 2009 as it rebounded to record profits after the credit crisis. The benefits of a $700 billion taxpayer bailout and $1.2 trillion in emergency funding from the Federal Reserve have faded. Next week Goldman Sachs Group Inc. may report its second quarterly loss per share since going public in 1999, according to the average estimate of 26 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. ‘Financial Bubble’ “They’re not going to make the kind of money they wanted,” said William Hambrecht, chairman of San Francisco- based WR Hambrecht & Co., who designed the Dutch auction of Google Inc.’s 2004 initial public offering. “I’m not sure people really have come to terms with the fact that what we had was a financial bubble.” New rules from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision will more than double capital requirements for banks. Fixed- income revenue could fall 25 percent under a draft of the Volcker rule, which may outlaw so-called flow trading, according to an Oct. 10 note from Brad Hintz, a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst. Leverage has been cut by more than half at banks including Goldman Sachs and UBS AG, and an Oliver Wyman and Morgan Stanley report estimates that regulation may reduce returns on equity by 4 to 6 percentage points. The new rules are the result of “societal objectives of a populist administration in Washington,” private-equity investor Wilbur Ross said in an e-mail. John Phelan, co-founder of MSD Capital LP, a New York-based fund that manages assets for billionaire Michael Dell, said “the whole capitalist system is being called into question.” Ways to Profiteer Not everyone is worried about the banks. “I wouldn’t shed too many tears for Wall Street,” Neil Barofsky, 41, the former special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program who is now teaching a class on the financial crisis at New York University School of Law, wrote in an e-mail. “The systemic advantage that the too-big-to-fail banks enjoyed in the lead-up to the financial crisis may be diminished in the near term, but the structure is still essentially the same and will almost certainly help catapult them to record profits and bonuses once the good times return.” Ross, 73, the billionaire chairman of New York-based WL Ross & Co., said Wall Street’s “inherent ingenuity” shouldn’t be discounted and that “the history of the investment community shows that it will find ways to profiteer.” Others identified potential financial bright spots, including so-called black-swan and tail-risk funds designed to protect against market shocks. One black-swan fund, Universa Investments LP, whose Santa Monica, California, office features a Japanese print of a wave about to break over fishermen, produced returns of 20 percent to 25 percent this year, through August, according to a person familiar with the matter. More Secular Still, almost all corners of Wall Street are suffering. James Staley, head of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s investment bank, estimated last month that third-quarter trading revenue may drop by 30 percent and investment-banking fees by 50 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index had its worst decline in the quarter since 2008, and Brent crude-oil futures saw their longest slump. The average yields demanded on U.S. commercial-mortgage bonds in excess of Treasuries climbed the most in three years. “Unlike some other slowdowns, this feels more secular,” said Wilson Ervin, a Credit Suisse Group AG senior adviser who stepped down as chief risk officer in 2009. Recalibrated Compensation While there had been “an understandable path” out of the turmoil of 2008, there’s a more encompassing uncertainty now, said Frederick Lane, vice chairman of investment banking at St. Petersburg, Florida-based Raymond James Financial Inc. “There’s going to be some disillusionment, similar to physicians,” said Lane, 62. “The notion that somehow going to medical school would deliver you substantial wealth and prestige is no longer true.” Ilana Weinstein, CEO of search firm IDW Group LLC, said in an interview that she had nothing good to offer a trading executive in his early 40s who complained last month about morale at his bank, one of the six largest in the U.S. “This is the first time that people don’t necessarily believe it will get better,” said Weinstein, whose Third Avenue office has two exits “like a high-end plastic surgeon” to assure discretion. “Compensation has been recalibrated.” Michael Karp, 42, CEO of New York-based recruitment firm Options Group Inc., said Wall Street pay will fall 30 percent this year, and more for executives. It will be flat or down even in businesses doing relatively well, such as emerging markets and commodities, he said. Job Cuts Those are the survivors. The biggest global banks already had been cutting jobs at the fastest rate since 2008 when Bank of America Corp. said last month that it will eliminate 30,000 positions. London-based HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s largest lender, aims to shed the same amount. UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, is shrinking after a $2.3 billion trading loss. “Sharply” falling profits will lead to almost 10,000 financial-services job cuts in New York City by the end of 2012, according to a report released yesterday by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The prospects for Wall Street “have cooled considerably,” he said in a statement. “The stress levels are getting very high,” said MSD Capital’s Phelan. The 46-year-old hedge-fund manager said the current aversion to risk across Wall Street could jeopardize profits. “It’s one of the things I struggle with: Everybody’s risk- off, so should I be risk-on?” he said. “There are so many things I have to worry about.” Two former Goldman Sachs managing directors who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized by their current firms to speak, one a former management committee member and the other a trading head, also said they were worried that investment bankers have lost their appetite for risk. Torrisi Italian Specialties Uncertainty didn’t stop some on Wall Street from profiting during the U.S. housing collapse, when Deutsche Bank AG trader Greg Lippmann helped create and profited from a multibillion-dollar market in subprime-based derivatives. He said Wall Street will have fewer exotic products to sell and trade, drawing an analogy to the popular no-reservations restaurant Torrisi Italian Specialties. “No choosing, great food, low price, no pizzazz,” said Lippmann, co-founder of New York hedge fund LibreMax Capital LLC. “A couple of years ago, the hottest place to go would be someplace that they just spent $5 million decorating and they’ve got three or four models answering the phones. People want stripped-down now.” Everybody Hates Me That isn’t diminishing lobbying efforts to soften rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, which would reduce risk, curtail proprietary trading and force more transparency in the $601 trillion derivatives market. Large financial institutions have been “exceedingly aggressive at trying to roll back reform” and have largely succeeded, said Greenlight Capital Inc. President David Einhorn, 42, who bet against Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in the months before that firm’s collapse. Leon Cooperman, the first Goldman Sachs Asset Management CEO and head of hedge fund Omega Advisors Inc. in New York, said Wall Street has been “excessively” blamed and President Barack Obama has “continued to project himself as anti-wealth, anti- business and socialist in his leanings.” Phelan said he’s worried about “social unrest.” “My taxes are going up,” he said. “Everybody hates me. I have two friends who bought land in New Zealand. They’re trying to convince me to go.” He isn’t planning to visit. “I’m not one of those extreme people,” he said. Occupy Wall Street A version of that social unrest is taking place in lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park, where Occupy Wall Street protests against bank bailouts and income inequality have gained support from Nobel Prize-winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman. On October 1, police halted a march over the Brooklyn Bridge, arresting about 700, and have used pepper spray. “We have too many regulations stopping democracy and not enough regulations stopping Wall Street from misbehaving,” Stiglitz, an economics professor at Columbia University, told protesters the next day. “We are bearing the cost of their misdeeds. There’s a system where we’ve socialized losses and privatized gains. That’s not capitalism.” Bankers aren’t optimistic about those gains. Options Group’s Karp said he met last month over tea at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York with a trader who made $500,000 last year at one of the six largest U.S. banks. The trader, a 27-year-old Ivy League graduate, complained that he has worked harder this year and will be paid less. The headhunter told him to stay put and collect his bonus. “This is very demoralizing to people,” Karp said. “Especially young guys who have gone to college and wanted to come onto the Street, having dreams of becoming millionaires.” .

Occupy Home Street

SUBHEAD: There will be major hangovers when the Arab spring, the Tea Party summer, and the Occupy Fall gives way to Economic Winter.  

By George Mobus 0n 9 October 2011 for Question Everything - (www.questioneverything.typepad.com/question_everything/2011/10/occupy-home-street.html)

 
Image above: Illustration from 1911 Industrial Worker publication advocating industrial unionism based on a critique of capitalism. The proletariat "work for all" and "feed all". From (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletariat).
 
First we saw a populist uprising roughly centered on the traditional Republican/conservative view of too much government and too much tax. “The Tea Party”, not the original, which as John Stuart pointed out was a felony act(!), but the modern expression of anger about government intervention fueled, it turns out, by some very wealthy people (e.g. the Koch brothers), is composed of a seemingly disparate aggregation of right-wing malcontents. They now run the Congress, or at least so strongly influence it that it is a moribund institution.

Now the left rises to protest the wealth disparity that has been building for several decades and has culminated in Wall Street and banking in general stealing trillions of dollars from the middle and lower classes (the 99%). So, finally, we are seeing demonstrations. As with the Tea Party before them, they are the, essentially, disenfranchised whose votes seem to not count for anything anymore in our corporate owned political process.

Both groups share a similar problem with the conception of their protests, however. They both are expecting someone to do something, somewhere, to get the American economy “back on track”. They are protesting here and there because they believe somebody else is responsible for the mess and they want both justice and fixing the problems caused. They are both wrong on this count. There is no one to blame and there will be no fix.

Ultimately the decline of net energy per capita is at the root of all of our economic problems. Economists, business leaders, politicians, investors, and bankers have really just been responding to the cost-benefit structural contortions that have resulted in order to keep the profit engines working. They have had to take extraordinary measures to keep the sales going. Rising cost pressures, especially from high-energy consuming workers (and their families) in the US, and declining purchasing powers of those same workers was seemingly solved by moving manufacturing and some services off shore to lower wage populations. But, of course, since now more workers here in the US have even lower wage jobs, they also have become poor consumers.

Most of those people listed above deeply believe that it is corporate profits that trickle down (through jobs) to benefit all others. From the right, the thinkers believe the rewards lavished on the overlords are completely justified (don't tax the “job creators”). They believe this because, historically, it tended to be somewhat true. The capitalists received rewards in proportion to the risks they took and top managers earned high pay because they made things happen. The workers were lucky to have jobs.

From the left there is a deep belief that progress will always bring increasing rewards to society, which should be shared in some fair fashion. They are mad because they think it is this social contract that is being violated. And while they are right in one sense — the greedy really are taking more than their fair share — they are mistaken in the premise. With decreasing energy to do useful (economic) work there will not be material progress in the future. We are in decline (globally, in spite of the temporary burst of growth we see in China and India) and will be until the true bottom is reached.

Adaptation

I thought about this as I was working on the next blog in the series on future living — providing a map for the journey. What is taking place right now is completely antithetical to the sapient approach. Protesting with the expectation that we are going to “get our country back” is a distraction and a dangerous one at that. Understand that I completely get why people are climbing on the bandwagons. I certainly sympathize with their anger. But by holding onto the belief that somehow by taking this kind of action they are going to force the financial system and the political system to get us back to where everyone felt (somewhat) comfortable, say the apparent economic system of twenty years ago, they are wasting time yelling, camping out, and holding up signs. Would that they could realize the deeper and disturbing truth, they should be busy adapting their lives to the new reality — negative growth of material wealth.

I will be dealing with the issue of how those who really do understand what the future is about will be adapting their lives and expected standard of living so that they can continue to “make a living” in spite of a contracting economy. Material wealth, as it is currently conceived, is not the pathway. Learning to live by forming sapient communities and developing low tech skills, especially providing food security, is where the energy we have remaining should be spent. Protesting isn't getting the ground ready for spring planting.

Strangely juxtaposed with the Occupy Wall Street protests has been the death of Steve Jobs. I say strange because Mr. Jobs, while a great innovator and social force, was an anachronism. Just as the OWS protesters are missing the real problem, Mr. Jobs kept pushing the growth model, especially in terms of high rate churn of products, many of which were really geared to entertainment rather than real wealth production productivity. The almost continuous introduction of the newest, greatest incarnation of the iPhoneTM as an example, promoted and incited consumption of novelty just for its own sake. Did each incarnation really add anything to the real wealth of the world? Was the supposed increased functionality really that important? The model pushed by Mr. Jobs, and now emulated by so many other high-tech companies speaks to a world that is in rapid growth and high competition. And neither of these aspects are appropriate for the age we actually live in now. Like Congress, this model is moribund. The only reason it isn't yet following the rest of the economy in decline is that, being a relatively small portion of a typical consumer's expenditures, and motivated by the momentum of Wow-based buying, it just hasn't quite caught up with the dysfunctional aspects of a consumer economy. Moreover, the products actually are geared to helping consumers forget their other woes. As long as one can sport the newest model of iPhone, one can feel, for a little longer, like the world is still normal. But the angst of realizing otherwise will catch up, even with Apple.

Fortunately there are a (growing) number of groups who have realized the truth and are in the process of adapting (see, for example, Transition Towns). It starts with gathering enough information to recognize the problems. One has to adapt their thinking first. Then comes the need to adapt one's lifestyle. I think there is some time remaining for doing this with a minimum of pain. But that window of opportunity is closing rapidly. In fact if the OWSers and the Tea Partiers continue to disrupt or distract thinking by the rest of us, the window could actually close even sooner. Look at what Tea Party politics has done to our government (not that it was in great shape prior to their inclinations to shut everything down unless they got their way).

Still the Dream Lives On

As you might expect, Tom Friedman has a different slant on the juxtaposition of Jobs' death and the right and left protests (see: Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio?, Sunday, 10/09 New York Times - may be behind a pay wall). In his naive but very solid belief in technology and innovation he laments that our government doesn't do more to support the people, like Jobs, who will invent the technology that will solve all of our problems, including (in spite of the Second Law of Thermodynamics) our energy source problems, which he has tried to liken to the revolution in information technology (IT) as energy technology (ET) in spite of the two kinds of technologies being extremely different in terms of the governing laws of nature.

And that is the dream the protesters, and nearly everyone else can believe in. We've always invented our way out of stagnant or negative growth before. And as the non-sequiter logic dictates, therefore we always will. What is alarming to the Friedmans and even the proles who buy this story is that this time around there seems to be a slight hitch in getting these inventions done and out to the market (I doubt that the über wealthy are even paying attention). Blame government regulations. Blame corporate greed. Blame socialist agendas. Blame conservative blockages and stalemates in Congress. Blame too much tax. Blame too little spending. Blame too much debt. Blame too much timidity.

Blame anything but the real cause. The real truth is that we “consumers” had a binge beyond belief. And during that binge we used up the cheap energy sources. All that is left is the expensive energy. And after a while even that will be gone, in the sense that what is left of fossil fuels will simply be uneconomic to recover at any price.

I hope the OWS (and everywhere else) protesters are having a good time. I hope they enjoy the party while it lasts. I hope their high-on-group-action is a real buzz. I hope the Tea Party members of Congress are enjoying their current power. I hope the folk in the Middle East are getting high on freedom. Because, in the morning they will all have major hangovers when the Arab spring, the Tea Party summer, and the Occupy * fall will give way to the economic winter, and a very long one at that.

See also:
Ea O Ka Aina: Top Down and Bottom Up 10/11/11
 .