Marx cafe tonight

In case you thought I may have forgotton. Holl@!!

Global Warming

Wow, I don't know how this isn't bigger news right now. I didn't know global warming was getting worse so fast. I'm going to be sure and go see that new movie that Al Gore put together, he's totally ceral about it!

Greenhouse gas-temperature feedback mechanism may raise warming beyond previous estimates
22 May 2006
Unit: Wageningen UR
Number: P040wue

Joint Release of the American Geophysical Union, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Dorset and Wageningen University.

A team of European scientists reports that climate change estimates for the next century may have substantially underestimated the potential magnitude of global warming. They say that actual warming due to human fossil fuel emissions may be 15-to-78 percent higher than warming estimates that do not take into account the feedback mechanism involving carbon dioxide and Earth's temperature.

In a paper to be published on 26 May in Geophysical Research Letters, Marten Scheffer of Wageningen University in the Netherlands and colleagues at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in the United Kingdom use newly acquired ancient climate data to quantify the two-way phenomenon by which greenhouse gases not only contribute to higher temperatures, but are themselves increased by the higher temperatures. This higher concentration leads to still higher temperatures, in what scientists call a positive feedback loop.

The researchers achieved their breakthrough by interpreting the high-resolution data from polar ice cores and temperature reconstructions based on geological proxy data in a new way. Although the effect of greenhouse gases on temperature is well known, the reverse effect is usually ignored. The latter has now been estimated through a correction of the past climate data, using a model of the greenhouse effect.

One complicating factor was that some of the processes that play a role in the feedback loop are quite fast, taking place over a period of years, while others take centuries or even millennia. This implies that the strength of the feedback effect depends on the time scale being analyzed. Another factor was that the modern world looks quite different than it did tens of thousands of year ago, when the ice in the cores was formed.

Therefore, the authors focused especially on relatively recent climatic anomaly known as the "Little Ice Age." During this period (about 1550-1850), immortalized in many paintings of frozen landscapes in Northern Europe, Earth was substantially colder than it is now. This, scientists have concluded, was due largely to reduced solar activity, and just as during true ice ages, the atmospheric carbon level dropped during the Little Ice Age. The authors used this information to estimate how sensitive the carbon dioxide concentration is to temperature, which allowed them to calculate how much the climate-carbon dioxide feedbacks will affect future global warming.

As Marten Scheffer explains, "Although there are still significant uncertainties, our simple data-based approach is consistent with the latest climate-carbon cycle models, which suggest that global warming will be accelerated by the effects of climate change on the rate of carbon dioxide increase. In view of our findings, estimates of future warming that ignore these effects may have to be raised by about 50 percent. We have, in fact, been conservative on several points. For instance, we do not account for the greenhouse effect of methane, which is also known to increase in warm periods."

The research was funded by Wageningen University and the United Kingdom Natural Environment Research Council.



Note
Journalists (only) may obtain a pdf copy of this paper upon request to Jonathan Lifland: jlifland@agu.org. Please provide your name, name of publication, phone, and email address. The paper and this press release are not under embargo.Title:"Positive feedback between global warming and atmospheric CO2 concentration inferred from past climate change"Authors:Marten Scheffer: Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands;Victor Brovkin: Climate Systems Research Department, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany;Peter Cox: Hadley Centre, Met Office, Bracknell, United Kingdom; now Science Director, Climate Change, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Dorset, United Kingdom. Citation:Scheffer, M., V. Brovkin, and P. Cox (2006), Positive feedback between global warming and atmospheric CO2 concentration inferred from past climate change, Geophys. Res. Lett, 33, L10702, doi:10.1029/2005GL025044.Contact information for authors:Marten Scheffer: +31 (0)317 48 40 39 or marten.scheffer@wur.nlVictor Brovkin: +49 331 288 2592 or victor@pik-potsdam.dePeter Cox: +44 (0)7768 507141 (22-24 May) or +44 (0)1395 576600 or pcox@ceh.ac.uk

double standards in our courts

These witnesses that are willfully ignoring court supeonas should be thrown in jail for contempt. It dosen't matter if these people don't want to be there, or in the words of one of these scoflaws,..

"They were trying to get me to help that dude," Metzger said after he finished testifying. Later he said, "I don't even want to be here."

These supeonas carry the force of law, they don't have the option of not respecting them. Witnesses should want to testify in the name of truth and justice, regardless of the outcome. The disrespect these people are willing to show for our judicial process and basic rule of law is sickening. ITS YOUR CIVIC DUTY!

http://www.washingtonpos...

Don't laugh

Marx Cafe tonight!!

Yes, it's that time of the week again. New music tuesday!! YAARRGH!!




3203 Mount Pleasant St NW

VA data theft!

HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! This VA employee conspired to steal the data and then auctioned it off to the highest bidder prior to the theft! no doubt about it, he/she had his/her acomplices fake a home intrusion in exchange for a reasonable cut of the take. How much does this govt puke pull down in a given year, $30K .... $50k tops!>! The data in question here is certinly worth much more than that. The scary thought; what if this data has been sold to a forgein government!? holy fucking shit I'm ROTFLMFAO!!!!

http://www.washingtonpos............

Update: I think that I may have found Captain Dofus! Here's the guy responsible for compromising the identies of 26.5 million Americans. Drum roll please..... David J. West. I'm certain of it.



http://www1.va.gov/washington/co..

Well if it's not this guy, perhaps it's one of these people listed here. I should call all these people one by one and get em' to talk, makes it easy cause there are phone numbers all over that page, proably something that should be on an internal webpage? lol. Somebody knows something! I'm sure this guy would like to get on some talk shows, maybe write a book? Perhaps consult w/ ABC to put together a made for tv movie? "THE DAY I LOST MY LAPTOP" starring the dad from that sevinties show.

unngg.. here we go. maybe it was somebody on this guy's staff. Ken Rubin. US Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Information Architecture Office sounds like the kind of outfit that would have those types of records just laying around.

I'm sure that whomever is responsible for this feels really bad about the whole incident. Perhaps a public apology is in order?

Japone wrap-up.

Last nite was pretty crazy, after my nerves calmed down a little (hands shaking like crazy, not good) I put down an *ok* set. Made some pretty obvious blunders w/ the mixer and records, trainwrecked my way through several transitions. I guess it was allright overall, not great though. Could have been a lot worse I reckon.

Mattb at Japone, Sunday nite!

I'm DJing at cafe Japone in Doupont Circle this Sunday, May 21! I am hella excited beyond words at this moment and extremely nervous. I go on at 9pm. I'm bringing Jeff, Julie, Mark, Michelle, Pete and possibly Paul and some of his UM peeps. Check out the washpost review of Japone, it's well worth it!!

2032 P St. NW, Washington, DC 20036

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-... - Washpost article about how cool Japone's Sango Sho lounge is!

http://www.buzzlife.com/forums... - buzzlife thread, leave a note there and let me know your coming!

Email journalists about EVs!!

I emailed this reply in response to an article I read at the oldest political news website on the internet, capitolhillblue.com. That got me to thinking, I should co-opt this email to act as a form letter to send to journalists wrighting about energy issues. Hopefully this will serve as a vechile for education about this promising technology with the potential to liberate us from the gas pump. Feel free to do the same!

Good Morning,

I just read your piece on the looming energy crisis at capitolhillblue.com. How can you neglect to mention electric cars and PHEVs (plug-in hybrids) in an otherwise concise and level headed account of the energy situation? Please consider revising your article after reviewing the material I've linked to below. 70% of our oil consumption here in America is dedicated to transportation costs, were we to reduce this usage by 10% or even 30% through the proliferation of these maturing technologies we will have done much to restore our energy independence for the benefit of future generations of Americans.

http://www.calcars.org/bettah/ - Simple flash presentation outlining the clear advantages of PHEVs.


This electric car (described in the CNN article below) available soon for sale at a price of $100k can easily out perform all but one of the world's most expensive sport cars. It has a range of 100 miles and can be recharged in 4.5 hours. There's no reason that this same technology can't be adapted to propel a luxury sedan, monster SUV or even a jumbo jet. One of the clear advantages is the lack of complicated moving parts involved in an electric car, which means an amazing increase in reliability over vehicles using the horribly inefficient and soon to be rendered obsolete internal combustion engine. No oil changes, no spark plugs to replace, no oil or air filters, etc.. This further reduces the cost to the consumer and will raise the standard of living for all those involved.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/... - condensed version w/ pics.
http://money.cnn.com/magazi... - longer version.


James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, is a big champion of this technology. His argument is that it makes perfect sense for us to utilize existing infrastructure (our nation's electric transmission network) when looking for a sensible replacement for our waning oil supply. Other options under consideration such as ethanol, bio-mass and hydrogen would require the creation of the necessary service station fittings to deliver, store and vend these exotic fuels. Mr. Woolsey's recent testimony before the US Senate Committee on Energy is very enlightening.

http://www.alternativefuelstoday.net/r__james_wo... - he's a smart guy!


If you get a chance try and catch the upcoming film entitled, Who killed the Electric Car? It has been reviewed to much critical acclaim at both the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals. It's a revealing look into the insensible lengths the oil companies and major auto manufactures are willing to go to protect their hilariously antiquated businesses.

http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilled... - Trailer.


Thank you for you time. Please join me in helping to spread the word! Together we can achieve true energy independence in America!

Best,

Matthew Benjamin

Here's the orginal article that inspired this.

The energy crisis is here
By ANN McFEATTERS
May 19, 2006, 01:30

The uh-oh letter came in a plain white envelope, no indication of the bolt of lightning inside.

It was from the electric company, announcing that the "average" residential customer's bill will increase 41 percent, meaning about $800 more a year. I am not average. My bill will go up about $1,500 a year _ if I use no air conditioning at all this summer.

The letter explained that the "prices for the fuels used to generate electricity (coal, oil and natural gas) have all increased substantially in the past few years." Another increase is likely a year from now.

The company (motto: "We're connected to you by more than power lines") advises that the best thing to do is conserve energy in such ways as not wasting hot water, keeping the thermostat low in the winter and high in the summer, and turning off lights when leaving a room.

A new poll by The Washington Post and ABC News has found that Americans are less pessimistic this month about gas prices than in April, when 70 percent said fueling their cars was causing financial hardship. Now, 57 percent say that is the case, even though paying $3 for a gallon of gas has become routine for many Americans. Possibly, knowing that Europeans pay $5 a gallon makes us feel a little guilty about complaining.

The lesson for me is that we are never in our lifetime going to see cheap energy again, and, painful though it will be, we will get used to it. We have no choice because our country has no energy policy because its politicians don't realize we're in a full-fledged energy crisis.

In a brand-new development, we now compete with millions of people in China for finite fuels, and the tradeoffs in our foreign policy we are going to make will be galling. (Note: Libya, which blew Pan Am 103 out of the skies _ the deadliest terrorist attack on Americans until 9/11, is now our friend. Prediction: Oil-rich countries with anti-democratic dictators will be increasingly tolerated.)

It's well and good for President Bush to tell us to end our "addiction to oil," as he did in January, but that is not going to be easy. The electric company's 85 common ways to save electric energy involve much less comfort, spending money on new equipment, hiring contractors or such simple changes that many energy-conscious homeowners have already done them. Tell a soccer mom who carpools kids around half the day that she should get rid of her gas-guzzling SUV, and she'll shrug her shoulders helplessly.

Global demand for energy is expected to increase 50 percent in 25 years. America's oil and natural-gas industry, represented by the American Petroleum Institute, says that in the last 13 years its companies have invested $1 trillion in exploration and new production. That's how it justifies the huge revenues from consumers the industry is accumulating. But how else will it get $6 trillion to invest in producing more oil and gas by 2030?

The administration's approach to serious energy problems is to throw environmental caution to the winds, relax regulations and let the companies do just about what they please. Congress so far has blocked efforts to end the ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, but sooner or later the ban will end. The stupid idea of giving consumers $100 gas rebate checks in an age of huge deficits is dead, but it won't be the last silly idea politicians come up with to try to assuage angry voters.

This country needs to develop an environmentally sensitive energy policy, go on an energy-conservation binge by mandating tougher energy-efficiency standards, decrease our dependence on foreign oil instead of increasing it, raise gasoline taxes to promote more research on renewable sources of alternative energy, stop waging war with oil-rich countries, stop giving oil-rich dictators our petrodollars and make hybrid cars more economically viable.

This will not happen in the next two and a half years _ Bush has not the time, interest or political capital to push such steps. Basically, the former Texas oilman wants to kick the can down the road, letting oil and gas companies contaminate environmentally sensitive areas by trying to find a little more gas and oil, which will not solve our long-term problem at all.

This is like an out-of-work father just about out of money spending his few remaining dollars on lottery tickets instead of investing in training for a new job.

Meanwhile, as we stagger toward the realization that we are in a full-fledged energy crisis, I am hoping for a cooler-than-normal summer.

(Scripps Howard News Service columnist Ann McFeatters has covered the White House and national politics since 1986. E-mail amcfeatters(at)nationalpress.com.)

© Copyright 2006 by Capitol Hill Blue

Marx Cafe tonight!

Hey, you know what day of the week it is? Time to party, that's what. And why pray tell? Cause I gotta!

I think a friend of mine from college will be joining us tonight, possibly. Bolt, if your reading this you had better not flake this time bucko. Capiche?

3203 Mt. Pleasant St. NW

Cowardly Cops in Anne Arundel

These cops are fucking cowards, or just lazy, or perhaps they use their job as an opportunity to satisfy their out of control bloodlust. Whatever the reasoning behind this senseless killing, there's no reason that 5 police officers shouldn't be able to safely subdue an 18-year old male brandishing a pair OF FUCKING SCISSORS! Why did they have to kill this guy? No tazers on hand? No pepper spray or mace? What gives?! A professional law enforcement official should have the courage and agility to casually disarm with only his night stick and sharp wits some one wielding a knife in a threatening manner. Oh, that assumes these cops are competent professionals and not a pack of out of control cowboys. Nope, these cops are cowards, plain and simple, no guts, no steel nerve, no special capabilities worthy of respect at all and a waste of the tax payers money. Public servants my ass! pfftt.. What's being taught in our nations police academies these days that would produce such reckless and lazy administration of ones duties to the community at large? Cops in England have these skills as they aren't permitted to carry a sidearm while on foot patrol, for these talented professionals it's an easy matter to disarm a knife wielding perp, much less someone who is suicidal and wielding a FUCKING PAIR OF SCISSORS!?!? These lazy police officers should be required to take a hand to hand combat course after this disgusting display of sub-par police work. Another sickening note, this story quotes an eye-witness who claims he didn't see any knife or scissors at all, so it's likely that the cops would rather shoot a man dead than deal with a complex situation. At the very least the cops involved should be charged with negligent homicide. Fucking cowards, all of them.

Arundel Officers Shoot, Kill Man, 18
'Suicide by Cop' A Police Theory

By Jo Becker and Ray Rivera
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, May 15, 2006; Page B01

Four Anne Arundel County police officers shot and killed an 18-year-old man early yesterday morning after he allegedly charged them with a pair of scissors and repeatedly urged the officers to fire, authorities said.

Justin J. Fisher of Glen Burnie was shot several times in the upper body after a tense, 35-minute standoff during which officers attempted to persuade the distraught teenager to drop the nine-inch sewing shears while Fisher threatened to stab himself and yelled, "Shoot me, shoot me," Lt. David Waltemeyer said.

It was the third shooting this month and the fourth over the past year involving the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

Neighbors near the intersection of Park and Roland roads in the quiet, middle-class Pasadena neighborhood where the shooting took place shortly after 5 a.m. reported hearing a loud argument followed by between five and eight rapid-fire shots.

Charles Cronise, a 78-year-old retiree, said he saw a line of about a dozen officers clad in dark clothing advancing on Fisher, who was holding something in his hand and kept backing away. Then Cronise heard gunfire.

"I heard this rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat -- there were quite a few shots," he said in a telephone interview. "It sounded like a machine gun."

Authorities said the confrontation began when Fisher's mother phoned the police at 4:24 a.m. to report that her son had stabbed himself and possibly his girlfriend at a home in the 8400 block of Arbutus Road. The girlfriend, whom police have not identified, was not injured.

An officer responding to the scene about 4:30 a.m. found Fisher nearby, driving a silver Honda Accord. Fisher got out of the car wielding the scissors, police said.

Officers said they set up a moving perimeter as Fisher walked about a block and half to the corner of Park and Roland, while a police sergeant pleaded with Fisher for more than a half-hour to drop the scissors. "He had the scissors up to his neck; he was yelling and threatening to stab himself," Waltemeyer said. "He was very aggressive."

At 5:06 a.m., Fisher turned away from the sergeant, pointed the scissors at four uniformed officers about 20 feet away and charged at them, authorities said. The four officers ordered him to drop the weapon, and when Fisher refused, all four fired their handguns, according to police reports.

"About eight shots rang out, and then everyone started running and ducking," said Ken Padgett, a neighbor.

Jim Moon, a 48-year-old telephone service technician who lives at the corner where Fisher was shot, heard what he thought were firecrackers, rushed outside and saw an ambulance and about 15 police officers in front of his house. Fisher lay bare-chested on his back, his bloody shirt ripped open by paramedics and his shoes removed, Moon said.

"I could tell he was seriously injured," Moon said, adding that he did not see scissors or a weapon.

Fisher was taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie, where he was pronounced dead.

The four officers involved in the shooting, whose names were not released, have between 1 1/2 and five years' experience with the department and were placed on routine administrative leave while the incident is investigated, Waltemeyer said.

He said that initial indications are that the officers followed procedure and that the shooting was a "justifiable use of deadly force."

Any "edged weapon," including scissors, is considered deadly, Waltemeyer said, and officers are trained to shoot at the upper body to stop a threat. Fisher, he added, might be a victim of "suicide by cop," a phenomenon in which someone deliberately threatens a law enforcement officer in order to provoke a lethal response.

Fisher's shaken family members declined to comment and referred calls to their attorney, Daniel Held. Held did not return calls seeking comment.

Two other shootings this month by department officers are also subjects of ongoing investigations.

On May 2, a patrol officer responding to a report of a possibly suicidal person shot a Herald Harbor man in the stomach after he allegedly threatened officers with a rifle, according to authorities. He was critically wounded.

On May 4, a detective seriously wounded a Pasadena man by shooting him in the head when the man rammed another officer's car in an attempt to resist arrest.

Last May, officers shot and killed an unarmed and disoriented naked man who had allegedly fired a handgun inside a home a few blocks away. Officers were cleared of wrongdoing in that shooting.

Staff researcher Don Pohlman contributed to this report.

Come on down to the courthouse!

Hey, if you can please head down to the Federal Courthouse in Alexandria today morning this Friday. A man who was roughfly treated for no apparent good reason should get our support as he sues the goverment that mistreated him.

FRIDAY MAY 12
10 AM
401 Courthouse Square
Alexandria, VA 22314

For backstory go here.

Electric Cars

It's now clear to me that Texaco-Chevron and possibly many automobile manufactures have activley conspired to prohibit the sale of electric cars in North America and abroad. Through the underhanded control of key patent technology this cabal has managed to effectivley constrain the availbility of NiMH type batteries large enough to power an automobile. here, read about it, it's all laid out here..

http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/goodtoyota-badtoyota.html

Marx Cafe tonight!!

YO!!!1 Marx Cafe tonight. I have some new tunes, some brazilian rainforest music and a couple of house records that I haven't ever played before.

3203 Mt. Pleasant St. NW

So just how backwards is Iran?

Apparently very backwards. When I first scanned this headline I assumed they were talking about allowing women to play sports on the same team as men. no, this is actually about allowing women to attend sporting events.

Iran women sports ruling vetoed

The supreme leader of Iran has vetoed a ruling by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that would have allowed women to attend major sporting events. Several ayatollahs and MPs had said last month's ruling violated Islamic law and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has now said it should be reconsidered. Mr Ahmadinejad had said lifting the ban would "promote chastity".

Separately, Iranian police are launching a new drive against owners of illegal satellite television equipment.

Long-time ban

Ayatollah Khamenei has the final say on all matters of state.

Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said President Ahmadinejad would act according to the supreme leader's wishes.

Six grand ayatollahs and several MPs had protested against Mr Ahmadinejad's move, saying it violated Islamic law for a woman to look at the body of a male stranger. One MP had said if the reformists had tried the move there would have been suicide bombers protesting on the streets of Tehran.

The ban has been in place since the Islamic revolution in 1979. President Ahmadinejad, who is regarded as an ultra conservative, had said women must be given a chance to watch all sporting events.

"The best stands should be allocated to women and families in the stadiums in which national and important matches are being held," he said. The move had been welcomed by women's rights campaigners, who have long protested against their banishment from stadiums.

Meanwhile, police are launching a new campaign against the owners of illegal satellite television equipment.

Iran's official Isna news agency quoted the chief of police, Esmail Ahmadi-Mogadam, as saying that if such equipment was visible in homes, it would be seized. Satellite television, deemed decadent and officially banned, is thought to be picked up by four million dishes in the country. Satellite dish owners can watch hundreds of international television channels, including some that are sponsored by the Iranian opposition in exile.

Alfa Romeo to return to the US

Alfa Romeo has decided to return to the North American market! I had an Alfa in High School, it was a great car right up until that moment where it caught on fire and stopped working. I have been waiting for this moment for like 7 years now, every now and then this story would surraface and turn out to be just speculation. But this is for real, i think, so bring it!

gas prices close the schools!?!?!

Well, now I have seen it all. I know of the snow day and the teachers work day; but the cost of gas day? When I was in high school the price of gas was 87 cents and we never had any days off of school due to the price of petrol. oh how the times have changed.

Latest Gas Price Victims: School Buses

POSTED: 5:26 pm EDT May 1, 2006
UPDATED: 5:51 pm EDT May 1, 2006

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The high price of diesel fuel for school buses meant children in one Tennessee school system got a holiday Monday - their second in a row.

Some 3,800 youngsters got Friday and Monday off because of the action taken by Dallas Smith, superintendent of Rhea County schools in east Tennessee, to ease transportation spending.

"That kind of situation is probably the most extreme I have heard," said Mike Martin, executive director of the National Association for Pupil Transportation, based in Albany, N.Y., and a spokesman for the Washington-based School Bus Information Council.

Martin described the price of diesel, which has risen above $2.80 in the East and to more than $3 a gallon on the West Coast, as a "huge problem for not only public sector but private sector operators as well."

No other Tennessee systems have canceled classes in response to fuel costs.

The Rhea County closings were not authorized by the state, said Department of Education spokeswoman Rachel Woods.

Smith, however, said state education officials had announced previously that extra snow days could be used if fuel prices rose.

School Board Chairman Harold McCawley said the two-day closing was justified.

"Rhea County is a long county, 34 miles from end to end," McCawley said. "It's just a huge savings of fuel."

Rhea County Finance Director Brad Harris said county schools spent $14,000 on fuel in March, compared to $7,800 in March 2005. He said fiscal year to-date-spending was up from $68,000 to $102,500.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue asked his state's public schools to close for two days in September to conserve fuel when Hurricane Rita threatened to shut down refineries. Perdue has "no regrets," spokeswoman Heather Hedrick said Friday.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Who Killed the Electric Car

ha ha I knew it. Cheap electric cars should be the norm by now, were it not for the brave actions of some nameless detriot auto executivies. I really want to see this film, it's set to be released June 28th.

http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tix...

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Discovery[WHOKI]
2005 91 min
Directed By: Chris Paine
New York Premiere

With rising oil prices and expanding greenhouse gases, who wouldn't want an eco-friendly, non-polluting car? Apparently just about everybody who has the power to put such a vehicle on the market and keep it there. In the early 1990's, the state of California forced car manufacturers to develop nonpolluting vehicles, setting off a decade of electric-car mania among a certain niche of consumers…and electric-car abhorrence among the automobile and oil companies. Who Killed the Electric Car? takes a lively look at all those involved with these now defunct vehicles. The film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival but has since been reedited, follows the six-year journey of a prototype electric vehicle. Our filmmakers are sleuths in an Agatha Christie mystery, shaking down all the usual suspects in order to determine exactly what went wrong along the way. Was it the car itself? The automobile company in question cited a lack of consumer interest, thereby forcing the California state government to abandon its stringent emissions rules. But when the car was pulled off the assembly line and out of showrooms in the early part of this decade, was it really the consumers who were to blame? Who Killed the Electric Car? is a potent examination of what happens in the corridors of power and what those who hold the purse strings will do in the interest of maintaining the status quo. All we can hope for at this point is that someday the electric car will make a comeback. With rising oil prices and expanding greenhouse gases, who wouldn't want an eco-friendly, non-polluting car? Apparently just about everybody who has the power to put such a vehicle on the market and keep it there.

- Nancy Schafer

How much is gas in Saudi Arabia?

Wow, that's a real kick in the head. 60 cents a gallon?!?! oh good lord..

Saudi Arabia King Cuts Gasoline Prices 25 Percent

Want Cheap Gas? Head To Saudi Arabia

(May 2, 2006)--With gasoline prices at historic highs in the United States and some other Western countries, Saudi King Abdullah is slashing gasoline prices in his country by about
25 percent.

The drop in prices means Saudis will pay the rough equivalent of 65 cents a gallon for gas and a Saudi government statement says the decrease will reach 30 percent by year's end.

The big reduction in gasoline prices in the world's largest oil-producing nation was announced as prices in oil importing nations reached record levels and oil company profits soared to all-time highs.

The price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States now tops $3. in some areas.

Saudi Arabia has the world's largest known reserves of crude oil and is the current largest oil producer.



Monday, May 01, 2006

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — With gasoline prices at historic highs in the United States and some other Western countries, Saudi King Abdullah issued a decree Sunday lowering domestic gasoline prices by about 25 percent immediately. According to a government statement, the decrease was to reach 30 percent by year's end.

The drop in prices means Saudis now will be paying 60 halalahs per liter of regular gasoline, or about 60 U.S. cents a gallon. The price of super drops to about 76 U.S. cents a gallon. There are 100 halalahs in the Saudi riyal, which is worth about 26 U.S. cents.

The statement said the king issued the decree to ease the "cost of living burden on Saudi citizens." The big reduction in gasoline prices in the world's largest oil producing nation was announced as prices in oil importing nations reached record levels and oil company profits soared to all-time highs.

The price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States now is above U.S. $3 in some regions.