Why the car you drive is a moral issue.

Global warming is not just a future concept. The gasoline you burn is causing people in Africa and Asia to die right now, as precipitation moves from the equator toward the poles and drought sets in in equatorial areas. We are the biggest creators of greenhouse gas; they are the biggest victims of it. Knowing that, how can it not be immoral to drive an SUV if you don't absolutely need to for business purposes?

Poor Left in Lurch If World Overheats

The article, originally in the New York Times and linked here to the Sydney Morning Herald, is based on the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:

Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis

Some quotes from the study:

More intense and longer droughts have been observed over wider areas since the 1970s, particularly in the tropics and subtropics. Increased drying linked with higher temperatures and decreased precipitation have contributed to changes in drought. Changes in sea surface temperatures (SST), wind patterns, and decreased snowpack and snow cover have also been linked to droughts.

...

Since the TAR (Third Assessment Report) there is an improving understanding of projected patterns of precipitation. Increases in the amount of precipitation are very likely in high-latitudes, while decreases are likely in most subtropical land regions (by as much as about 20% in the A1B scenario in 2100, see Figure SPM-7), continuing observed patterns in recent trends.

FIGURE SPM-7. Relative changes in precipitation (in percent) for the period 2090–2099, relative to 1980–1999. Values are multi-model averages based on the SRES A1B scenario for December to February (left) and June to August (right). White areas are where less than 66% of the models agree in the sign of the change and stippled areas are where more than 90% of the models agree in the sign of the change.

So what are you waiting for? Ditch the SUV and feel good about yourself again.

Bad Friday?

Do the Russians know something that our press has ignored? According to the Russian weekly magazine Argoumenty nedeli, Russian military experts believe that the U.S. will attack Iran on April 6, Good Friday, in an operation that will last 12 hours.

I'm sorry the link to the Russian News and Information Agency is in French. I haven't located an English version (why is that?). But the gist of it is that the attack will come in the form of bombers and cruise missiles from the island of Diego Garcia. The article speculates that Good Friday might have been chosen because it is a religious holiday in Iran and because the press is less likely to be engaged on Good Friday.

The article describes the likely targets in Iran and notes that the U.S. will be able to postpone establishing missile defense in Europe and that oil companies will benefit from runaway oil prices following the invasion.

You can copy and paste the text into Babelfish and read a rough-and-ready translation.

UPDATE: http://fr.rian.ru/world/20070321/62387717.html

Here's an English version.

For more, search on "Operation Bite."

Somebody please tell me this story is a hoax or something!

Global Network - Conversion for Survival - 3/07

Global Network - Conversion for Survival - 3/07

In the words of the great economist and engineer Seymour Melman, we live in a “permanent war economy.” Since the end of World War II, the federal government has spent more than half its tax dollars on past, current and future military operations. It is the largest single sustaining activity of the government.

The article, by Mary Beth Sullivan, enumerates the ways in which the war economy has impoverished America, stealing its jobs and innovative spirit. It's a must-read and a call to action.

It is possible to create industries, here on our own soil, that build something other than weapons. Other countries can figure out how to make consumer goods that serve the greater community, keep their workforce productive, and work to prevent global warming. The U.S. can surely do the same.

It is time for us in the peace and justice communities, in our religious and spiritual communities, in our workplaces, on the streets of our neighborhoods, and walking through the halls of Congress to demand to put an end to the permanent war corporate welfare state. It is time that we build an industrial base in our country that rebuilds our physical infrastructure (roads, bridges, public transportation, schools), pays a living wage, and provides for the health and welfare of our citizens. Time is long overdue to convert from a war economy to a peace economy. Read Seymour Melman. His research will help show the way.

More garden space

Here's my back yard with the green manure crop I planted last fall.


And here it is after I mowed it so it wouldn't go completely berserk after tomorrow's expected rain.

I left as many of the fava beans as was feasible. They were supposed to be all in one clump, but somehow got scattered in different parts of the garden. Now I have to prevail on a friend to dig his rototiller out of the barn so I can borrow it, or rent one myself.

I've fenced out the deer, and I haven't seen any gophers back there lately, so I'm crossing my fingers that I can augment my driveway garden with a big space to grow squash and other space-hogging plants.

Oh, and here's a bouquet of pea blossoms I picked before weed-wacking the crop.

Stupid Blogger

Whatever you do, don't "upgrade" your template to make it "easier" to "customize." You'll be stuck with limited color choices, list structures you don't like, and an html template you can't edit. And there's no going back to the previous settings.

Sitting down to write, and other chores

What to write? I can't write anymore it seems. Words have been falling out of the holes in my brain so that I can't find even approximate terms to describe the simplest feeling, the clearest memory. To lose the skill that is your stock in trade is less cruel I suppose when you also lose the will to employ it, as seems to be my case. The word count of my annual journals peaked in the mid-90s and has been dropping like a punctured balloon ever since.

Of course there was no World Wide Web then, no blogs, no Bloglines, no online newspapers, no sudoku, no email lists to keep up with, no YouTube, no podcasts, no online radio, no CSPAN, no computer meltdowns that require hours to repair. Now there is that anxious feeling that comes with knowing you haven't read the latest Frank Rich, Kevin Drum, Paul Krugman, Bob Herbert, Sy Hersh--and that tomorrow the situation will only get worse. That your downloads box is full of must-reads that you will never get around to, that you are so far behind in filing the papers, cleaning the cobwebs, fixing the broken walls and windows, organizing meetings, planting the garden, turning the compost, getting the daily 30 minutes exercise, that you really can't justify sitting down merely to write.

But what you can do is relieve your overtaxed brain with meaningless downtime. So you sit and watch mysteries on TV, play sudoku instead of cleaning the ceilings, eat when you're not hungry and stay up too late because going to bed requires overcoming the inertia of just sitting here on the couch with the cat purring in your lap and your knitting wrapped around your knees.

Here are the "high tech" components of those EFPs from Iran

(Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images, for The New York Times)

These hunks of copper found in a workshop in Iraq are the "high-tech" components of deadly "explosively formed penetrators" (EFPs) that administration flacks say come from Iran.

Because, clearly, Iraqis are too stupid to make these copper disks on their own.

Never mind that these explosives have been used by many groups, including the Irish Republican Army. Never mind that the U.S. has their own brand of EFP.

Here's what the official Iranian version of this weapon actually looks like:

Here's another image comparing the so-called "professionally made" Iranian EFP found in Iraq and the U.S. version (yes, we make these deadly bombs too):



Does something seem fishy? Check here and here and here.

Then there's the interesting fact that these weapons are being used by Sunnis, who are doing most of the attacks against U.S. troops, and who are enemies of Iran.