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1. A Growing Trend of Leaving America : Jay Tolson, US News

2. Can This Planet Be Saved? : Paul Krugman, NYT

3. Afghanistan: Shoals Ahead for President Obama : Immanuel Wallerstein, Agence Global

4. Wrong on Afghanistan : Patrick Seale, Agence Global

5. Beware: ‘Machine Zone’ Ahead : Natasha Dow Schüll, Washington Post

6. Ultimatum to the GOP : Robert D. Novak, Washington Post

7. Disaster Capitalism, State of Extortion : Naomi Klein, The Nation



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War on Hunga

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Note : Hunga is Texanese for Hunger.

By Anwaar Hussain

hunger.gifWhat is hunger?

When the glucose level of the liver falls below a threshold, a feeling is experienced that is called hunger, usually followed by a desire to eat. Although an average nourished human can survive for weeks without food intake, the sensation of hunger typically begins after a couple of hours without eating and is generally considered quite uncomfortable.

When hunger is allowed to persist untreated, it progresses into the next stage of hunger pangs in which contractions occur in the stomach. A single hunger contraction lasts about 30 seconds, and pangs continue for around 30-45 minutes, then hunger subsides for around 30-150 minutes. Hunger pangs usually do not begin until 12 to 24 hours after the last meal. However, if allowed to continue beyond 24 hours, these pangs progress to the next potentially debilitating stage of starvation.

Individuals experiencing starvation lose substantial fat and muscle mass as the body breaks down these tissues for energy in order to keep the vital systems, such as the nervous system and heart muscle, working. This process does not begin until there are no usable sources of energy coming into the body. Vitamin deficiency is also a common result of starvation, often resulting in anemia, beriberi, pellagra, and scurvy. These diseases collectively may cause diarrhea, skin rashes, and edema, ultimately leading to heart failure.

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‘Perfect storm’ food crisis grips globe

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By Marc Lacey in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

fork.jpgHUNGER smashed in the front gate of Haiti’s presidential palace. Hunger poured on to the streets, burning tyres and taking on soldiers and the police. Hunger sent the country’s prime minister packing.

Haiti’s hunger, that has become fiercer than ever in recent days as global food prices spiral out of reach, rising by as much as 45% since the end of 2006 and turning staples such as beans, corn and rice into closely guarded treasures.

Saint Louis Meriska’s children ate two spoonfuls of rice apiece as their only meal and then went without any food the following day. His eyes downcast, his own stomach empty, the unemployed father said: “They look at me and say ‘Papa, I’m hungry’, and I have to look away. It’s humiliating and it makes you angry.”

That anger is palpable across the globe. The food crisis is not only being felt among the poor but is also eroding the gains of the working and middle classes, sowing volatile levels of discontent and putting new pressures on fragile governments.

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End of the world as we know it

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You might feel fine, but high oil cost, scarcity mean American Empire is about to come crashing down.

Guy R. McPherson, University of Arizona professor

TS Admin : This is a must-read.

horseandplough.jpgPeak oil spells the end of civilization. And, if it’s not already too late, perhaps it will prevent the extinction of our species.

M. King Hubbert, a petroleum geologist employed by Shell Oil Co., described peak oil in 1956. Production of crude oil, like the production of many non-renewable resources, follows a bell-shaped curve. The top of the curve is termed “peak oil,” or “Hubbert’s peak,” and it represents the halfway point for production.

The bell-shaped curve applies at all levels, from field to country to planet. After discovery, production ramps up relatively quickly. But when the light, sweet crude on top of the field runs out, increased energy and expense are required to extract the underlying heavy, sour crude. At some point, the energy required to extract a barrel of oil exceeds the energy contained in barrel of oil, so the pumps shut down.

Most of the world’s oil pumps are about to shut down.

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Perhaps the Universe will Never Blink

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Perhaps nothing is what it seems

By Anwaar Hussain

space1.jpgBill Bryson’s ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ is a truly remarkable book. It is an ambitious attempt to decipher the mysteries of universe. Genuinely enthralling, it is a unique travelogue of science. Starting from the immensity of the universe, it beams us into the heart of sub-atomic particles and then some more. It is a captivating scientific journal and an extraordinary collection of information.

From the book, I came to know of the intricate assemblage and vacillating nature of the trillions of wandering atoms that form us human beings. And that these atoms are not really interested in doing that and, given a chance, are ready to drift off again to form up something entirely different. And that survival on our planet is a pretty tricky business any way, what with 99.99 % of the billions and billions of species that have existed since the dawn of time now being extinct. And that though our planet is very good at advancing life, it is even better at smothering it.

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Year of Global Cooling

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*David Deming - Washington Times - December 19, 2007

TS Admin : Another view on global warming

snow.jpgAl Gore says global warming is a planetary emergency. It is difficult to see how this can be so when record low temperatures are being set all over the world. In 2007, hundreds of people died, not from global warming, but from cold weather hazards.

Since the mid-19th century, the mean global temperature has increased by 0.7 degrees Celsius. This slight warming is not unusual, and lies well within the range of natural variation. Carbon dioxide continues to build in the atmosphere, but the mean planetary temperature hasn’t increased significantly for nearly nine years. Antarctica is getting colder. Neither the intensity nor the frequency of hurricanes has increased. The 2007 season was the third-quietest since 1966. In 2006 not a single hurricane made landfall in the U.S.

South America this year experienced one of its coldest winters in decades. In Buenos Aires, snow fell for the first time since the year 1918. Dozens of homeless people died from exposure. In Peru, 200 people died from the cold and thousands more became infected with respiratory diseases. Crops failed, livestock perished, and the Peruvian government declared a state of emergency.

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Anwaar’s articles appear simultaneously here at Truth Spring and at Soul Vibes in The Pakistan Tribune.


US loses its status as economic world power
DAVOS, Switzerland, 2008
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