Tag Archives: ecology

Tom Lehrer: Poisoning Pigeons In The Park

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I just discovered the delightful pianist and satirist, Tom Lehrer, via Roderick Long’s blog. A mathematician (BA magna cum laude from Harvard, a phi beta kappa, and teaching stints at MIT, Harvard, and Wellesley, although he never finished his doctorate), Lehrer was employed at Los Alamos and the National Security Agency and then lectured widely in political science and musical theater. There are dozens of great pieces of his posted on youtube, on everything from Werner von Braun to World War III. To my ears, Lehrer sounds a bit like Danny Kaye (another of  my favorites) –  for the politically savvy.

The lyrics of this song, “Poisoning Pigeons In the Park,” perfectly capture the macabre sangfroid toward cruelty and wanton destruction that the corporate-state tries to inculcate in the population.

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Powell Suggests Military Take Over Of Gulf Oil Disaster

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We were waiting breathlessly for this:

The Guardian:

“Former US secretary of state Colin Powell joined calls for the military to take command of the operation from BP. Powell said the problem was beyond the capacity of BP to solve and the government should bring in “decisive force”. He said: “The military brings organisation, it brings control, it brings assets.”

War has become nation-building and peacetime operations have become warlike…

Everything is a crisis, everything is a war. Everything is about ceding more power to the state, while allowing the “private” sector to dump its costs on the government.

Read the rest of the article here.

Gulf Economy Takes Multibillion Dollar Hit From Oil Spill

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CNN reports on how the oil spill will damage the Gulf economy:

“As efforts to plug the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico continue to fall short, the stakes for the region’s economy grow ever higher. The numbers being batted around when it comes to how much the oil spill will ultimately cost BP and the local Gulf of Mexico economies are huge. $3 billion. $14 billion. One politician put it at over $100 billion. Continue reading →

BP Oil Spill: Ten Horrifying Facts

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Gulf Oil Spill: 10 Horrifying Facts You Never Wanted To Know

1. New estimates show the undersea well has spilled between 17 and 39 million gallons. These estimates dwarf those of BP, who claimed the spill had only released 11 million gallons to date, and mean that the Gulf leak is far bigger than Exxon Valdez, making it the worst spill in American history.

2. The National Wildlife Federation reports that already more than 150 threatened or endangered sea turtles are dead. And 316 sea birds, mostly brown pelicans and northern gannets, have been found dead along the Gulf Coast as a result of the spreading oil.

3. The Minerals Management Service, directly under the supervision of the Interior Department failed to impose a full review of potential environmental impacts of the BP drilling operation because preliminary reviews of the area concluded that a massive oil spill was “unlikely.”

Read the rest here