[05#31] 1.31=1=12.22=#52:Roof done? 1.Iraq War. 2.Food off Oil. 3.Oil Age. 4.EU,China,India - US.

Nice weather again. Up 7:30, NHKtv on south Iraq children's white blood cell disease later, drove mom to banks to replenish 2 Frmt Bk accounts, etc. for property taxes, to 99 after lunch. Left o.h. late to Bk of Am & US Bk, to house seeing some roof pieces and covers down, swept and getting dark. To home, later mom tel. Jung is cold again, then Ju not willing to go to o.h.? Emails to topics of Iraq, food, oil, to EU replacing US. Now all bed already, 1:38am!! and diary bk still mostly empty. 1) Iraq War: " Transferring cost of war to Latin America is morally, politically wrong", BY GEOFF THALEwww.wola.org, Posted on Sat, Jan. 29, 2005, The Miami Herald: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/10763907.htm ""Geoff Thale is senior associate for Central America and Cuba at the Washington Office on Latin America, a nongovernmental organization that promotes human rights, democracy and sustainable economic development in Latin America."" "" If U.S. officials learned one lesson from the Vietnam War it is that opposition at home to U.S. military intervention abroad grew as American casualties mounted. Now officials have found a way around this problem: In Iraq, U.S. contractors are recruiting people from poor Latin American countries to carry out security tasks. "" 2) Food away from the Oil Civilization: (1) "The Future of Food", a film by Deborah Koons Garcia, © Lily Films 2004: lhttp://www.thefutureoffood.com/ "" The Future of Food was shown over a dozen times as a work in progress in Mendocino County, California before the March 2004 election and was the primary element in passing Measure H which bans the planting of genetically engineered crops in the county. It is the first time U.S. citizens have voted on this very important issue. The California Secretary of Food and Agriculture requested a copy of The Future of Food while he was considering whether to allow the planting of rice genetically engineered with a human gene that creates breast milk and tears. He subsequently vetoed the planting of the GMO rice. All the people who worked on The Future of Food are proud that our efforts have had a real impact in the real world. "" (2) "Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture", by Andrew Kimbrell http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1559639407/qid=1107233886/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-6503277-2431006?v=glance&s=books "" As it exposes the ecological and social impacts of industrial agriculture's fatal harvest, the book also details a new ecological and humane vision for agriculture. It shows how millions of people are engaged in the new politics of food as they work to develop a better alternative to the current chemically fed and biotechnology-driven system. "" (3) "The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics Guide", by John Seymour, Will Sutherland http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0789493322/qid=1107242639/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-6503277-2431006?v=glance&s=books "The Self-Sufficient Gardener", by JOHN SEYMOUR http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/038514671X/qid=1107243153/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_7/103-6503277-2431006?v=glance&s=books "Guide to Self-Sufficiency", by John Seymour http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0910990743/qid=1107243889/sr=1-18/ref=sr_1_18/103-6503277-2431006?v=glance&s=books 3) Oil Age of the American Civilization: (1) "The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of the Oil Age, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century", by James Howard Kunstler http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0871138883/qid=1107246357/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-6503277-2431006?v=glance&s=books "" With his classics of social commentary The Geography of Nowhere and Home from Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler has established himself as one of the great commentators on American space and place. Now, with The Long Emergency, he offers a shocking vision of a post-oil future. As a result of artificially cheap fossil-fuel energy, we have developed global models of industry, commerce, food production, and finance over the last 200 years. But the oil age, which peaked in 1970, is at an end. The depletion of nonrenewable fossil fuels is about to radically change life as we know it, and much sooner than we think. The Long Emergency tells us just what to expect after the honeymoon of affordable energy is over, preparing us for economic, political, and social changes of an unimaginable scale. Riveting and authoritative, The Long Emergency is a devastating indictment that brings new urgency and accessibility to the critical issues that will shape our future, and that we can no longer afford to ignore. It is bound to become a classic of social science. "" (2) "Remarks in Hudson, NY, January 8, 2005", James Howard Kunstler: http://www.kunstler.com/spch_hudson.htm "" My last three books were concerned with the physical arrangement of life in our nation, in particular suburban sprawl, the most destructive development pattern the world has ever seen, and perhaps the greatest misallocation of resources the world has ever known.The world - and of course the US - now faces an epochal predicament: the global oil production peak and the arc of depletion that follows. We are unprepared for this crisis of industrial civilization. We are sleepwalking into the future. "" 4) EU then China, India replacing US? (1) "The United States Of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy", by T. R. Reid http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594200335/qid=1107248244/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/103-6503277-2431006 "" "has more people, more wealth, and more trade than the United States of America," plus more leverage gained through membership in international organizations and generous foreign aid policies that reap political clout "" "" larger (in population) and richer (in GDP) than the United States-not to mention that the EU has more trade than the United States and more votes on the UN Security Council and all other international organizations "" "Analysis: EU world's next superpower?" By Gareth Harding, Chief European Correspondent, The Washington Times: http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050118-115904-5196r.htm "" Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Could the European Union become a superpower to rival the global might of the United States? The question is not just being asked in Brussels and other European capitals, but is increasingly being chewed over by policy wonks inside the Beltway. A controversial book by Washington Post writer T.R. Reid titled "The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy," has become an unlikely best-seller, while a recent article in Foreign Policy by Brookings Institution analyst Parag Khanna likened the "stylish" EU to a "Metrosexual Superpower" strutting past the "bumbling" United States on the catwalk of global diplomacy. The latest, and perhaps most nuanced, contribution to the debate comes from the National Intelligence Council, a Washington-based think-tank with close links to the CIA. In a report titled "Mapping the Global Future," it concludes the EU has the potential to become a major world player, but only if it undertakes radical reforms to boost economic growth and stem population losses. "" "" Europeans are still fabulously wealthy and cosseted compared with most other peoples in the world, but there is an almost unanimous agreement on both sides of the Atlantic that this cannot last. The NIC report estimates that the GDP of China will overtake that of Britain this year, Germany before the end of the decade and Japan by 2015. The only compensation for Euro-enthusiasts obsessed with one-upping the United States is that Chinese wealth is set to outstrip America's by 2040. "" "Walker's World: The end of American hegemony", By Martin WalkerUPI Editor, Published January 19, 2005: http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050119-110637-7478r (2) "CIA warns of Asian technological domination: Go east, young man", Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 17 Jan 2005: http://www.itweek.co.uk/news/1160558 "Experts predicted India's power before CIA report", N VIDYASAGARTIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2005 11:51:13 PM ]: http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/991998.cms