Maybe our eyes have been turned toward the wrong venue for the long anticipated Apocalypse. Maybe the final war will not be fought for what lies under the sand, but for what lies under the ice.
Last month the United States and Canada signed a little publicized “Civil Assistance Plan”. The U.S. and Canada have a long history of working in concert with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) being the most familiar to the public. So why not celebrate this new Civil Assistance Plan?
David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen’s defence reporter, is asking why all the secrecy surrounding this new signed agreement. The agreement was signed without the U.S. Congress or the Canadian Parliament.
Indeed why all the secrecy? The agreement merely allows the military from one nation to support the military forces of the other during a civil emergency. It sounds like a good idea on the face of it. Maybe the agreement has nothing to do with flu pandemics, earthquakes or domestic emergencies.
Peter McKay, Canadian Defence Minister may think I have my tinfoil hat pulled down too tightly over my head but I’m thinking my idea may be as good as the next guys. I’m wondering if this agreement isn’t more about the Arctic Meltdown than anything else.
Scott G. Borgerson, international affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard has written a nearly 6 page small font single spaced article for FOREIGN AFFAIRS, published by the Council on Foreign Relations. The Article’s Title; Arctic Meltdown. The Economic and Security Implications of Global Warming.
In his paper Borgerson points out Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled oil company has approximately 113 Trillion cubic feet of gas already under development in the Barents Sea and the calculated oil in the territory claimed by Moscow could be as much as 586 billion barrels of oil. With literally billions more barrels of oil and trillions more of gas in the region it isn’t any wonder that the former Lieutenant Commander thinks the Arctic could descend into armed conflict.
There are 5 Arctic powers already trying to carve up, lay claim and otherwise declare the vast, heretofore, uncovered resources as their own.
The trillions upon trillions of dollars of resources are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. As Borgerson also brings forward, millions upon millions of dollars will be saved by the shipping industry as the shortcuts of the Northern Sea Route and the Northwest Passage open up due to global warming. Toss in the incredible financial boon to the mega container ships, now too large to navigate the Panama and Suez Canals, and anyone could imagine where this tale will end.
The ‘Civil Assistance Plan was signed by U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuat commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command and by Lt. General Marc Dumais, commander Canada command. The signing was announced on the Northcom website
Before you park your car, and give up one of your most treasured freedoms take a look at this video. Ask yourself why we have been fed the notion there are only two real options when it comes to energy.
We used to hear the Captain say,”You are now free to move about the cabin”. Since 9/11 we don’t hear that anymore. Moving about the cabin on a flight could jeopardize our ’security and safety’.
We didn’t need to hear from our Government that we were free to move about the country. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, (WHTI)which is travel document requirements placed on all citizens of the U.S. Canada, Mexico and Bermuda is the first step towards laying the foundation for restricting our freedom of movement will be playing at a check point near you in a few short months.
Ah, the freedom of the open road, mans love affair with the wind to his back and the road rising before him is undeniable. With the invention of the automobile we started to experience a freedom of movement not seen by humanity before. With that came pollution, and vast amounts of accumulated wealth for some.
Amid dozens of ways our personal freedom of movement could have turned, sadly it turned on Oil…Black Gold…Texas Tea. Let’s not forget about rubber either, that too is a very important part of the story.
Now, thanks to the Robber Barons, the common mans ability to move freely about the country is being quashed. Our freedoms, in every sense of the word, are being extinguished; quietly, summarily and completely snuffed out.
We don’t need to labour under any false assumptions that we have only 2 options when it comes to fueling our freedoms. Oil or Nukes. Now that we have been sufficiently feed a steady drip of fear over Global Warming where oil is concerned versus Global Crisping regarding Nuclear Power, what options will the civic minded good people choose?
I believe we will presented with the prospect of limited use of fuel, and power.
We could believe we are fat, polluting, energy hogs and need to limit ourselves anyway. But, this really may not be the case at all. The reality of the jam we find ourselves in may just be; we have been subjugated by those Robber Barons, past and present.
We could have turned to ingenuity and created whole new eco-friendly industries. We could be feeding our economy, and our quality of life; creating compatible ways we could, not just co-exist with nature but, thrive. Thrive through nature, but instead we let ourselves be fed a diet high in oil, and packed with the fiber of fear.
Hydro-power, Wind-power, Solar-power, the Power of the Buckey Ball, Tesla power. There are alternatives, most of which actually come like manna, clean and abundant.
Overseas Shipholding Group Inc., Donates $9.2 Million to Marine Environmental Projects!
Okay, no they didn’t. Donate is the wrong word. Overseas Shipholding was fined $37million for criminal activities; $9.2 million was ordered community service payments to fund community marine environmental projects. Wilmington; Boston; Portland Maine; Los Angeles; San Francisco and Beaumont Texas all of which were harmed by the illegal dumping of waste oil by Overseas Shipholding Group Inc.
The US Coast Guard says Overseas Shipholding Group was deliberately polluting by dumping waste oils in the above ports. The Department of Justice agreed.
Let’s cut to the chase here and make a long story short. OSG’s management failed to stop this dumping after allegations were brought to them several times. They in fact failed to stop this activity even after the government started its investigation.
Acting on a tip from Canadian Officials an investigation was launched and it was discovered that Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. had offloaded more than 150,000 gallons of oil-contaminated waste in the waters between only Maine and Massachusetts. Adding insult to injury they falsified log records to cover-up their dirty deeds.
OSG company officials admitted in court that its “motive for the crimes was financial” “OSG was saving the cost of offloading waste oil in port and the time it would take to comply with the law,”
There is no way to read anything other than it was cheaper to pay any fines than it would be to comply with environmental regulations.
This tells me, the fines being brought are vastly too low. If this penalty is supposed to serve as a deterrent for other companies attempting to circumvent the law, it’s not going to work.
Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. is one of the largest publicly traded tanker firms in the world and according to William Mercer, Acting Associated Attorney General, Overseas Shipholding Group “has engaged in repeated and deliberate pollution of our oceans,”
In April 2007, the Company completed the acquisition of Heidmar lightering business from Heidmar, Inc. which is a subsidiary of ‘Morgan Stanley Capital Group, Inc. OSG (Overseas Shipholding Group) completed the acquisition of Maritrans Inc., a US Flag crude oil and petroleum product shipping company.
On August 6, 2006 OSG announced a strategic partnership with TransCanada CNG Technologies Ltd.
Are you investing in publicly traded corperations that are commiting evil acts? If while you are planning your future and your childrens future, your investments are assuring your future demise, wittingly or not, you are contributing to global warming, and distrution of ocean habitat.
Please take a hard look at your investments and see where you stand.
It’s interesting to note; OSG’s address is listed as 666 Third Ave. New York, NY.
Kick save and a beauty, you can’t make this stuff up!
Video shot from helicopter as Kirki burned. Be sure to stay for the entire clip.
Millions of gallons of oil have been spilled into our oceans in accidents just like these. Tankers simply falling apart at the seams, rusting away in their bowels, and running each other over in collisions.
Many oil spills are never owned-up to like this mystery spill in the Firth of Forth Estuary in Scotland. Scotland has had a tough week overall.
Monday’s entry was going to be more on the Poison products pouring out of China, but something else has caught my attention. How eco-friendly is your 401K or other retirement investments? Is your stock portfolio packed with companies that are polluting our oceans? Isn’t it time you took an honest look?
