The Smirking Chimp – What a great name for a blog

 I have no idea who Joe Bageant is….oh wait I’ll be right back…OK … “he has been happy to live the life of a low-profile magazine and newspaper editor, although as a senior editor with Primedia Magazine Corp., publishers of over 300 American magazines,”

http://www.energygrid.com/society/ap-bageant.html

And though I do not think he runs the blog, he writes a lot on it. And man do I agree with him. I did not post the whole thing because well its long and loud. Great reading.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/12647 

smirking-chimp.jpg

Are we there yet Pa? Nine Billion Little Feet on the Highway of the Damned

Environmental Policy

by Joe Bageant | February 6, 2008 – 6:45am

John Raymond Castillo, age 81. Sunrise, January 14, 1917. Sunset, February 1, 2008. He leaves 21 children, 140 grandchildren and 302 great-grandchildren…
–Obituary announcement on Belize’s LOVE Radio station

”The population of Belize? Officially it’s about 300,000. But if you include all the kids, it’s probably three million.”
–Greg, longtime expatriate American in Belize

HOPKINS VILLAGE, BELIZE: The din of squealing, laughing children is the background white noise of the Third World. In Belize, as in most of the Third World, 45% of all people are under the age of 16. About a dozen of that 45% swarm around me as I cut my toenails under the mango tree. A few are picking on the mangy, quarreling dogs but the majority are drawn in close, giving advise about how to cut gnarly, old man type toenails: “Saw dem off wid a file” seems to be the consensus.

What I see are children I help with homework and feed, and admonish about grades … unanxious and reasonably happy little members of the human race. They do not look much like a global migration or crushing planetary population pressure. Yet they are among the most incredible wave of both ever in human history.
Most families here have five or six kids and their kids will have a similar number. I’ve yet to meet a native of the village who does not think half a dozen is not a nice round number of offspring. My adopted family has six kids and four adults living on a 100 x 300-foot lot. This does not include the Guatemalan family of five living in a rented cabana at one corner of the lot. Assuming all the children reach adulthood and procreate, the tally in ten years will be about 50 people of all ages trying to exist on this square of sewerage soaked sand.

But oh, were it that bright a future. As adults with families, these kids won’t even have this spot on which to live at all, much less live as well as they live now. The resorts and condo rackets out of Canada, South Africa and the U.S. are buying up these small plots. Unschooled in western financial concepts and janked by the developers’ offers of more money than they have ever seen in their lives, locals sell. Usually they are broke within a year. In any case their semi-literate children will join the next generation’s issuance of dispossessed poverty stricken young adults headed for elsewhere. Just what the world does not need, not here in Central America, not in the Middle East, not in Latin America or the U.S. But that’s what we’ve got and that’s what we are going to get a lot more of.

Population growth is the rhino in the playpen, the root cause of our approaching eco-disaster that that no one honestly talks about. On the left we get an onslaught of information about what we must and must not do to prevent climate change. Good Democrats get Al Gore’s advice, which somehow never mentions the corporations doing the damage. And all of America gets feel-good electric car ads — buy your way out of the problem, or at least your guilt if you happen to have any. But nowhere do we get an honest discussion about population growth. If you care to, argue that climate change may or may not destroy us. But uncontrolled population growth is guaranteed to do the job. As an old Idaho rancher told me, “You can’t run a hundred head of cattle on half an acre.”

Most of the developed world remains clueless as to how all this will affect their own lives. But Americans in particular cannot get their head around the impact these billions will have on the lifestyles they are driven like rats in hell to sustain. About half of Americans…

THE SCREAMING MAN INSIDE MY HEAD: LOOKY HERE BAGEANT, YOU PICKLED OLD GAS BAG. HALF OF AMERICANS LIVE UNDER THE GOOFBALL HALLUCINATION THEY CAN SEAL THE BORDERS WITH SILLY PUTTY, DRONE AIRCRAFT AND MACHINE GUNS. THE OTHER HALF, LIBERALS OVERDOSED ON PROZAC AND WHITE WINE, IS LINED UP LIKE DOCKSIDE WHORES WAVING AT THE INCOMING FLEET. “LET’S WELCOME THEM ALL! AMERICA IS THE LAND OF IMMIGRANTS SO HELL FUCKING YES, LET’EM ALL IN!” YEA, RIGHT. LET EVERYBODY LIVE LIKE A FUCKING HATIAN WHARF RAT IN THE NEW THIRD WORLD AMERICA. HELL, IT’S ALREADY STARTED. THEY’RE CROAKING 49 MILION AMERICANS BECAUSE THEY CAN’T COME UP WITH THE BLACKMAIL DOUGH FOR HEALTHCARE. THEY’RE KICKIN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OUT OF THEIR PLYWOOD NESTING BOXES BECAUSE THEY CAN’T MAKE THE MONTHLY NUT. AMERICA IS ALREADY A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY WITH DRIVE THROUGH FEEDING BOXES.

Meanwhile, both camps of a nation with no sense of history beyond its own state sponsored founding fathers mythology hasn’t the slightest notion of how population migrations from areas of scarcity to areas of plenty have shaped human history perhaps more than any other force, including war (war is just more dramatic when it happens and more entertaining to read about when it’s over.) The Vikings were a population shift from the limited arable land resources of the north around the British coast to Normandy (and then back to England by way of William the Conqueror, a Viking descendant.) The Huns, the Goths, the Vandals, the Irish in America, Chinese into Tibet …

SCREAMING MAN: WELL BUBBA, LET ME SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU IN CRAYONS. IT’S GETTING RIGHT BROWN OUT THERE IN HEARTLAND AMERICA. ALL THOSE SAWED-OFF LITTLE DARK HAIRED FUCKERS HAVEN’T COME UP HERE TO BE LAWN ORNAMENTS. AND SINCE THEY EAT AND SHIT ABOUT THE SAME AMOUNT AS YOU DO, THERE’S GONNA BE SOME REDISTRIBUTION OF THE GOODIES. YOU’RE GONNA SEE A LOT OF AMERICAN BLUBBER PARKED IN LINE ALONGSIDE SALVADORANS WITH THEIR WHEELBARROWS FULL OF WORTHLESS GREENBACKS WAITING TO BUY BLACK BEANS AND MASA HARINA IN BULK – THEN HITCHING A RIDE HOME ON A FLATBED TRUCK LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD SOUTH OF LOREDO DOES. OR MAYBE TAKING THE CHICKEN COOP FIREWOOD EXPRESS SURPLUS SCHOOL BUS BACK TO THE SAVAGE ARMED SUBURBS. A LITTLE TIP FROM THE OLE SCREAMING MAN: IF THERE IS A BILLY GOAT IN THE BACK OF THE BUS, RIDE UP FRONT. IF THE DAMNED GOAT IS UP FRONT, RIDE ON THE ROOF. THERE IS USUALLY SOMEBODY OR SOMETHING UP THERE TO HANG ONTO.

Actually on further inspection it appears that Smirking Monkey is a collection of blogs under the pavillion of Chimpnation

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/author/joe_bageant

Weird Bird Friday

Thats right its the day that Susan Kay and I find the best bird images we can and plaster them all over the web for you to share…and ardant civil rights advocate John Martin comes along for the ride. Actually this post is one John “should” read cause its all about effectively shooting (bang bang watch out!) in the wild. You can see John’s blog about all things native american and Denverish at our links section.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/bp/hflight

puga_flt_bh.jpg

Whoa does it make the landing or not?

By the way, this photograph was taken by the guy who claims to have sighted the Ivory Bill Woodpecker so now you know the rest of the story:

www.ibwfound.org

The Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center

Folks that are trying to move the US into the future..And they are only 200 miles from the home of CES

 http://www.ateec.org/aboutus/eec.htm

windmill21.jpg

 Advanced Technology Environmental AND ENERGY Center

Environmental Education Center

The Environmental Education Center is located on the campus of Scott Community College (Bettendorf, Iowa) and is part of the Eastern Iowa Community College District (EICCD). The Environmental Education Center is home to several initiatives, including:

  • Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center (ATEEC), a center funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF);
  • Environmental Safety and Health division of HMTRI, which includes HAZWOPER, Industrial Chemical Spill Response, and many other health, safety, and environmental compliance offerings; and
  • EICCD’s Health, Safety, and Environmental Technology distance learning program, which includes online and correspondence courses.

ateec_bldg.jpg

Environmental Resource Center

ATEEC was established in 1994 as an NSF Advanced Technology Education (ATE) Center of Excellence to advance environmental technology education through curriculum development, professional development, and program improvement in the nation’s community colleges and secondary schools. The activities of the Center were driven by the following goals. 

Strengthen science, math, and technical curriculum and instructional materials supporting environmental technology education;

  • Strengthen the nation’s environmental technician programs by providing professional development opportunities for faculty of community colleges and high schools;
  • Strengthen advanced technology environmental education by providing support services for program improvement.

The Center’s vision is to create a national network of community colleges supported through public and private partnerships that prepares an environmental technology workforce to address industry’s needs and to promote the transfer of secondary students to higher education. Since its inception, ATEEC has formed partnerships with numerous organizations, including:

  • National Science Foundation
  • Environmental Protection Agency
  • Partnership for Environmental Technology Education
  • Department of Labor
  • University of Northern Iowa
  • University of Wisconsin
  • Department of Education
  • Institute for Museum and Library Services
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • National Renewable Energy Laboratory
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Private sector companies
  • Local public libraries and museums

Throughout its history, ATEEC has sought to become a comprehensive national resource providing a range of enabling activities to high schools and community colleges.

The Energy Market has Always Been About Fraud, Ripoffs and Scams

From the very first shallow pit coal mines to the monumental fraud that is nuclear generated electricity, the history of the energy markets is the same. It’s filled with, fraud, schemes, lies and a 1000 year history of wasted money and burst bubbles.

See for instance, There Will Be Blood

www.paramountvantage.com/blood

or any history of the energy biz:

http://austin.about.com/cs/bushbiographies/a/bush_background.htm

www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0012650

But when energy prices skyrocket like they are now the cheap hucksters ooze out of the woodwork. I am not even going to put this frauds web page up here for the curious. This was the first page up in a google search of Useful Energy Practices…Shame on google.

FOR THE RECORD YOU CAN NOT USE WATER IN A GASOLINE POWERED INTERNAL COMBUSTION  ENGINE! 

This page may not function properly in Internet Explorer

 – please switch to Firefox
 

Do You Want To Know

RIGHT NOW How You

Can Drive Around Using

WATER as FUEL and

Laugh At Rising Gas

Costs, While Reducing

Emissions and Preventing

Global Warming?

100% water cars are still on the drawing board – but I’m excited to show you

how you can start RIGHT NOW to…

 
 
 

  Convert Your Car to

BURN WATER as well

as Gasoline – to Double

Your Mileage!

Did you know that you can convert your car to a water-burning car (Water Hybrid)?

 This is a Do-It-Yourself, affordable and SIMPLE technology.

 Water is supplemental to gasoline – I have doubled fuel economy in my Toyota Corolla 99 shown below (61 MPG).
 

SIMPLE to install/remove: the solution you’ve been looking for!

 Boost performance while preventing smog.

 You’ll discover how to generate free energy in your car.

 Here you will find testimonials of happy customers.

 You will find out how it works and get your questions answered:

  • Won’t it damage my car/my warranty?

>

>

>

 Not only that but according to MythBusters you can not do it by Electrolisis either. There is no such thing as free energy.

 http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/mythbusters.html

When you type in Hydrogen From Water, the first 4 pages are these type scams…SHAME on google again!

Local News Continued – One and Done

I have been remiss in posting both the State Journal Register and the Associated Press’ web sites were I steal…oh I mean “fair usage” all of these articles.

http://www.sj-r.com/

http://www.ap.org/

And the latest, while America fiddles the world burns.

U.N. Chief: Adaptation to warmer world could cost $20 trillion


 

By JOHN HEILPRIN

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS__________

UNITED NATIONS — Global warming could cost the world up to $20 trillion over

 two decades for cleaner energy sources and do the most harm to people who can

 least afford to adapt, U.N. Secre­tary-General Ban Ki-moon warns in a new report.

Ban’s report provides an overview of U.N. climate efforts to help the 192-nation

 General As­sembly prepare for a key two-day climate debate in mid-February.

That debate is intended to shape overall U.N. policy on climate change, i

ncluding how nations can adapt to a warmer world and ways of supporting the

U.N.-led negotiations toward a new climate treaty by 2009, U.N. officials said

Wednesday. The treaty, replacing the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012,

could shape the course of climate change for decades to come. The Kyoto pact

requires 37 industrial nations to reduce greenhouse gases by a relatively modest

5 per­cent on average.Much of the focus has been on the United States, the only

major industrial nation to reject the treaty, and on fast-developing na­tions such as

China and India.
 

Many are looking to. next year, when a new U.S. president takes the White House.

 The leading contenders in both political par­ties favor doing more than the vol­untary

 approaches and call for new technologies that President Bush espouses.

In his 52-page report, Ban says that global investments of $15 tril­lion to $20 trillion

 over the next 20 to 25 years may be required “to place the world on a markedly

dif­ferent and sustainable energy tra­jectory.” Today, the global energy indus­try

spends about $300 billion a year in new plants, transmission networks and other new

 invest­ment, according to U.N. figures. Srgjan Kerim, a Macedonian diplomat and

economics professor who is president of the U.N. Gen­eral Assembly, told

The Associat­ed Press that cutting greenhouse gases alone will not be enough

to pull island nations, sub-Saharan Africa and other particularly vul­nerable parts

 of the world back from the brink of irreversible harm.

Annie Petsonk, a lawyer for the advocacy group Environmental Defense,

said global warming will mostly affect poor people and mi­norities, because

the wealthy can spend more to adapt.

But then again it’s money well spent!

As The Tropics Move North



In Illinois we have a new phenomonon – Lightening and Snow Storms…Pretty creepy.

Study: Winters in Northeast are warming



By MICHAEL HILL

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS___________

ALBANY, N.Y.               Earlier

blooms. Less snow to shovel. Un­seasonable warm spells.

Signs that winters in the North­east are losing their bite have been abundant in recent years and now researchers have nailed down numbers to show just how big the changes have been.

A study of weather station data from across the Northeast from 1965 through 2005 found Decem­ber to March temperatures in­creased by 2.5 degrees. Snowfall totals dropped by an average of 8.8 inches across the region over the same period, and the number of days with at least 1 inch of snow on the ground decreased by nine days on average.

‘Winter is warming greater than any other season,” said Elizabeth Burakowski, who analyzed data from dozens of stations for her master’s thesis in collaboration with Cameron Wake, a professor at the University of New Hampshire’s Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space.

Burakowski,   who   graduated


from UNH in December, found that the biggest snowfall decreases were in December and February. Stations in New England showed the strongest decreases in winter snowfall, about 3 inches a decade.

There were wide disparities in snowfall over the eight-state re­gion, with average totals ranging from 13.5 inches at Cape May, N.J., to 137.6 inches at Oswego, N.Y. Some stations on the Great Lakes, where lake-effect storms are com­mon, showed an increase.

The reduction in days with at least an inch of snow on the ground was the most pronounced at sta­tions between 42 and 44 degrees latitude — a band that includes most of Massachusetts, a thick slice of upstate’New York and southern sections of Vermont and New Hampshire.

Burakowski cites two likely caus­es for the reduction in so-called snow-covered days: higher maxi­mum temperatures and “snow-albedo feedback,” in which less snow cover to begin with allows more sunshine warmth to be ab­sorbed by the darker ground, mak­ing it less conducive to snow cover.

The research has yet to appear in


a peer-reviewed journal, though meteorologists who have studied long-term climate trends said the observations appear to be in line with other research.

Richard Heim of the National Climatic Data Center looked at trends in snowfall totals nationwide from 1948 to 2006 and found that patterns varied regionally and sea­sonally. For the Northeast in win­ter, he found totals mostly decreas­ing along coastal areas, with an in­creasing trend along the Great Lakes. Art DeGaetano, of the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University, said regions around New York state have recorded negative trends in snow­fall since 1970.

DeGaetano cautioned that snow­fall totals can vary a lot from year to year. Last month, for example, snow totals were well above aver­age for December across much of the Northeast.


Ski center operators also have noticed an incremental increase in temperatures over the decades, said Parker Riehle, president of the trade association Ski Vermont, but he echoed DeGaetano’s point that snow totals have gone up and down.

‘We’ve seen some erratic winters in recent years,” Riehle said. “The mood swings of Mother Nature, perhaps, are deeper than they used to be.”

But while ski slopes can fire up snow-making guns to compensate for lack of flurries, snowmobilers and cross-country skiers have com­plained about later starts and fewer trails covered with snow.

Cross-country skiers never even get in the right frame of mind dur­ing some winters, said Mark Boos-ka of the Hudson Valley Ski Club.

“They look out their window and they’re not thinking skiing,” he said.

More Local News That I was Too Busy To Cover

If every house in the US was designed like this we would not have a problem. Man was destined to live in very modern and comfortable caves…Like Hobbits. And they are SAFE.

Underground house is cozy abode for family in DeKalb


 

By KATE WEBER

THE (DEKALB) DAILY CHRONICLE

DeKALB — It took a lot of convincing before Diane and Don Harvey’s daugh­ter would bring friends to their rural DeKalb home.

“She was embarrassed be­cause we lived in a basement,” Diane Harvey said. “All her friends liked to come here when it stormed, though, because they figured it was the safest place in town.”

Since moving into the single-floor underground building in 1989, Diane and Don Harvey have converted the Old Mayfield Grange Hall on Five Points Road into a comfortable, normal-look­ing house. What now holds childhood memories for the Har-veys’ kids once was a simple gathering space for an entire farming community.

“Basically, this was the only place in the area other than church basements and their own lawns to hold receptions in,” said Wilma Womack, Diane’s mother. “Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts had their meetings

here, wedding receptions and anniversary parties — it was a meeting hall for everybody out here.”

When the building first went on the market, it was a hot prop­erty for those looking for a blank canvas.

“There were a lot of people who were very upset that we managed to scoop it up quickly,” Diane Harvey said. “There was one real estate investor who wanted to turn it into apart­ments, but we got the bid be­cause we didn’t want to change the structure of the building.”

When the Harveys moved into the building, the only amenities were the four outside walls and a wall down the center of the structure, which was immediate­ly torn down.

“We didn’t even have hot water,” Diane Harvey said. “We boiled water on the stove to take showers. It felt like we were pio­neers.”

The children hung curtains from the ceiling and placed fur­niture along the outside of each makeshift room to create their own walls.

“We had to make do,” Diane Harvey said. “With three kids in high school, where is all our money going to go? It wasn’t going to put walls up, that’s for sure.”

After nearly two decades, the underground building still con­tains possibilities for the Harvey family, including a potential sec­ond floor. Two staircases leading to the ceiling of the home are used as storage space, but serve as reminders of what was once destined for the building.

“They were originally going to build a second floor, and we wanted to build on top as well,” Don Harvey said. “The ceilings have 24-inch footers, so it was meant to be built on top.”

Despite no plans for expan­sion, the Harveys are glad to have purchased the four cement walls they have made into a home. The low nature of the un­derground home provides pro­tection from sound as well as weather.

“A tornado wouldn’t move the place,” Don Harvey said. “It might take the roof off, but we aren’t going anywhere.”

Weird Bird Friday On Monday

Everyone hates bloggers that make excuses BUT through my own ineptitude I thought I had posted this Friday. Instead all I had done was save it. So when I fired up the blog I found I had a saved page and instead of checking to see why, I deleted it. You know I had already posted it. Well then I went to “View Site” and there was nothing there for Friday!

Susan had been out arting me and since I posted a gross weird bird last Friday I thought I would make up for that. These are beautiful and weird birds as well by an Indian poet who has art displayed on 6 continents. I think he lives in New Zealand now.

http://www.srichinmoypoetry.com/sri_chinmoy/art_of_sri_chinmoy

 

red-yellow.jpg

And these are many weird birds.

 soul_birds.jpg

As John Martin says, better late than never.

If The University Of Illinois Can Do This For Itself Why Not The Rest Of Champaign

‘Green’ residence

 hall to be first for U of I

.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS____________

CHAMPAIGN — A $23 million residence hall under construction in Champaign will be the first at the University of Illinois to be certifi-ably “green.”

The eco-friendly features of the 262-bed Presby Hall include a geot-hermal system to heat rooms and water, water-saving plumbing, as well as environmentally friendly lighting and paint.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the building, expected to be the first U of I residence hall to receive certification from the U.S. Green


On the Net

Presby Hall: www.presbyhall.com

Building Council, is planned for this summer.

The Champaign-based McKinley Presbyterian Church and Founda­tion, which owns the property, took the initiative in pushing for a green hall, the private foundation’s direc­tor said.

“We wanted to be responsible. We wanted (the building) to be sustainable, and we wanted to give back to the world,” Heidi Weatherford told The (Cham-


paign) News-Gazette.

There are construction chal­lenges.

One is the installation of the pricey, $650,000 heating system, which will use ground-source pumps to keep the building warm.

To install pumps and many miles of tubing, some old trees along a nearby street must come down, though new trees will be planted to replace them.

Weatherford said while the geot-hermal system is expensive, the costs will be recouped by the $40,000 in annual energy savings.

“The upfront costs are signifi-


cant,” she told The Associated Press on Saturday. “But the finan­cial payback is almost immediate.” Factoring in the energy savings, Weatherford said, the heating sys­tem could pay for itself in about 10 years.

The Illinois Clean Energy Foun­dation recently awarded the foun­dation $100,000 to help pay for Presby Hall’s green features.

The university itself has said it plans a major renovation of a clus­ter of residence halls called Six Pack, saying it hopes that project also will get the green certifica­tion.

Chicago Well On The Way To Being The Greenest City In America

Chicago

• Museum to build

‘green’ home

CHICAGO — A three-story, fully functioning “green” home is going to be built on the cam­pus of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.

Museum officials say the house will showcase the latest innovations in renewable re­sources and smart energy con­sumption.

For instance, guests will be able to see how wastewater from the shower and bath can then be used for toilets.

The 2,500-square-foot home is expected to be open to the public for nine months begin­ning May 8. It will be the basis for an exhibit called “Smart Home: Green Plus Wired.”

The modular home is being built on an assembly line in De-catur, Ind.

It’s expected to arrive at the museum in late February for final interior work, furnishing and landscaping.