Oops

Make sure everyone in your family knows if you're going away for the weekend!

A Melbourne doctor and his wife have arrived home from holiday to find homicide detectives about to hold a press conference into their suspected deaths.

I'm not sure why the police ripped the back deck up before speaking to the neighbours.

Intervention in Rwanda

When Hillary Clinton was asked whether this was true, she said "It is."

Really?

So: Clinton didn't mention that she advocated military intervention in Rwanda in her memoirs. Neither did Madeleine Albright. Neither, as far as I can tell, did anyone else. Military intervention was not considered as an option, "never even debated", which means that any advocacy she did engage in must have been pretty ineffective.

Norwich City's Greatest Moment?

I think so.




Just in case you think the first goal was a fluke...

Four More Years

This is what we're in for, after 8 years of of Bush's secrecy and distortion...

Federal archivists at the Clinton Presidential Library are blocking the release of hundreds of pages of White House papers on pardons that the former president approved, including clemency for fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich. The archivists' decision, based on guidance provided by Bill Clinton that restricts the disclosure of advice he received from aides, prevents public scrutiny.

if Hillary wins.

H/T Andrew Sullivan

Playing the Clinton Game

Andrew Sullivan explains how the Clintons are destroying the hopes of millions for their own dynastic purposes.

If the Clintons, after having already enjoyed presidential power for eight long years, destroy this movement in order to preserve their own grip on privilege and influence in Democratic circles, it will be more than old-fashioned politics. It will be a generational moment - as formative as 1968. Killing it will be remembered for a very, very long time. And everyone will remember who did it - and why.

It's time the Washington Insiders opened their eyes and saw the damage this is doing. It's not just the USA that is hanging on the result of this primary. The rest of the world is waiting with baited breath.

Peak Oil - When do we start worrying?

With news that OPEC has refused to increase production, I was reminded of this article that I read and bookmarked a while ago. Is OPEC refusing to raise production because it sees no need, as it says, or it can't because there isn't as much oil as it claims.

The problem is that projecting the capacity of Saudi oil production is a tough nut. Ever since the Saudis took control of their national oil company, Aramco, from Western oil companies in 1980, a shroud has dropped over every facet of the kingdom's oil industry. The Saudis release no official data on how their aging fields are holding up, or how well their exploration efforts are going, and their published production totals may not be credible, let alone how much they will be producing a decade from now. As with most OPEC members, Saudi claims of proven reserves have increased steadily since 1980, but most analysts agree that these numbers have been manipulated upward for political reasons related to OPEC production quotas and bear little relation to reality. For oil industry experts, Saudi Arabia is a gigantic black hole, a target of guesswork, not analysis.

And there's this...

The result of his [Matthew Simmons] analysis is Twilight in the Desert, whose title summarizes his conclusion: He thinks Saudi oil production--and therefore world oil production--is in a lot more trouble than anyone is letting on.

Once again, water is at the core of the critique. Of Saudi Arabia's 10 million bpd of oil, about 90 percent comes from a mere seven giant fields, all of them old. Ghawar, a uniquely gigantic field which all by itself accounts for more than half of Saudi Arabia's output, has been in production since 1951. A massive water injection program was begun in the early '60s, and today more than 7 million barrels of seawater are required daily to keep Ghawar going. Even at that, though, the best evidence indicates that Ghawar's production may have already begun declining.

I've no idea when peak Oil will occur, but having a large part of the information hidden from view doesn't make me feel comfortable.

Still, even the peak oil ideologues who make these arguments can't agree on how close the peak actually is. Princeton professor Kenneth Deffeyes jokingly pinpoints the peak on Thanksgiving 2005, Colin Campbell's latest prediction puts the date around 2007, and other peak oil supporters suggest dates anywhere between last year and 2015. As Simmons and others admit (or perhaps warn ominously), we won't know for sure that oil production has peaked until a year or two after it happens.

Flickr of the Day.

Cromer Pier
Originally uploaded by doddie79

Winter Sunset, Cromer Pier. Great place to live and it can be pretty special in winter (except when that North wind is blowing!)

Hillary Clinton (R)

What is Hillary Clinton doing? What is the logic behind preferring the Republican nominee over your Democratic opponent?

Is it that if she can't win it, she doesn't want Obama to get it either? Unbelievable.

There's a very entertaining and very long thread on Balloon Juice on this.

Highlights:

Andrew Says:

Olbermann, paraphrased: “Doesn’t this first lady business mean that Laura Bush has almost as much foreign policy experience as Hillary?”

Blue Neponset Says:

Hillary “Dubya” Clinton strikes again. As much as John McCain is wrong about everything he ain’t George Bush. I will give the man credit for that. Hillary, OTOH, is looking more like Chimpy McFlightsuit every damn day. She would send a class of second graders to Gitmo if it served her purposes.

Singularity Says:

Hillary is just doing the math. As Veep in the administration of a 72-year-old, she stands a much better chance of ascending to the presidency than she does as Veep in the administration of a 47-year-old. And you just know Mark Penn has told her that McCain-Clinton ‘08 will roll over Obama-Anybody. I imagine this has at least been a topic of discussion at Burson-Marsteller.

and so on...

The Norwich City Revival

I haven't said much about the recent fortunes of Norwich City but it's worth mentioning the impact that Glenn Roeder has had on the club.

6 points adrift at the bottom of the table in November, the transformation has been remarkable. But the highlight for me is the way he speaks. In his time at Norwich, I don't think I've heard a thing I disagree with or that I've thought should have been expressed differently.

This is an interesting article which highlights how deeply Glenn has become engrained in the Norwich way. And it gives you a bit of pride in your club. It's not surprising that season ticket sales are well up on last year. I think the Playoffs were always a step too far this season, but we can look forward to the next campaign with some confidence.

Obama vs Clinton

Now that the dust has settled down after the Texas and Ohio primaries, I'd like to add my thoughts to the huge volume that have already been aired.

1. There is a major difference between the Obama and Clinton campaigns that needs highlighting more prominently. Where is the money coming from and what will the donors expect from their investment? With over 1 million small donors Barack Obama's campaign is fueled by the desire of Americans to get away from the corporate ownership of government. Where is Hillary's money coming from? How many lobbyists are involved in fund-raising for her ? A Clinton administration will mean more of the same with policy decisions being driven by big-money interests.

2. Open government. After 8 years of the most secretive government in recent times and a massive extension of Executive power, how much is either candidate prepared to roll it back and restore the influence of Congress? Obama's website makes it clear that open government and high ethical standards will be a priority. What will Hillary Clinton do with all that power? I haven't read that she intends to restore the balance of powers. What about the secrecy surrounding her White House papers and tax returns.

3. First Lady or First 'Laddie'. This is another key difference which should be pushed. How will Hillary control Bill in the White House? How much influence will he hold in the partnership? After all, she is claiming that the eight years of his presidency counts as Executive experience for her. Will this turn out to be a third term for Bill? I must admit, I am really uncomfortable with the dynastic appearance of Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton, and who knows, another Bush in eight years time.

4. Iraq. I know that Obama has been hammering this but he shouldn't let Hillary get away with the 'one speech' comment. This was a momentous decision which was made, just before the Congressional elections in 2002 to try and make the Democrats look 'weak on terror' if they voted against it. Obama should highlight this as a real weakness in Hillary that she didn't have the courage of her convictions and could be bullied by the administration. To highlight how important this decision was, I see that the Bush Administration is now claiming that the resolution now gives them permission to sign a treaty with Iraq without Congressional approval.

5. Dignity. With all of the negative campaigning that has gone on in the past few weeks, Obama would still command the respect of Hillary's supporters in the presidential campaign. I'm not sure if the reverse would be true as Hillary follows the Rove playbook. I'm reading a lot of disillusioned Democratic supporters at the moment who could stay home if she somehow prevails.

6. America's standing in the world. After 8 years of the trashing of the USA's reputation, Obama holds the greatest hope in restoring it. I know we can't vote in the coming election but the result will have a major influence on us all. Obama represents a clean break from the past while Hillary, while reversing a lot of the damage, will mean a continuation of the partisanship or American politics.

We, in Australia, had our own change of course last November. Let's hope that America can do the same in this.