August 2015

 The sound of its own failure has not yet drowned out the Plutocrats' Happy Noise: KAH-CHING! -- blj
 
 
The latest Gallop Poll on voter preference, from the second week of July, 2015, is 29% Republican, 42% Independent, and 28% Democrat.  - http://www.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx
 

 “This research doesn’t respond directly to concerns about water consumption, but it does show that almond production in California has a light carbon footprint,” saidReid Lifset, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Industrial Ecology,“Almond orchards can be a source of renewable energy and, as perennial crops, they store carbon during their life cycle — significantly offsetting carbon emissions in other stages of almond production.” -- Kevin Dennehy, Yale News, Aug. 4. 2015
 

 Transnational corporate management believes its own propaganda: that it rules the world. Since the quarterly bottom line is its only moral guide, and the pay for top management positions is soooooooooooooo good, Burger King executives can be excused for forgetting that there were life forms before Burger King and claims to glory somewhat different if not superior to the American fast food hamburger.

Three perennial sources of American anxiety, The People's Republic of China, communism and money, have recently coalesced into an imaginary 10-foot, rabid fox menacing our flock.
Pepe Escobar offers soothing reason to dissolve the specter. He actually lives in Hong Kong and has been covering the politics and economy of the PRC for a number of years.-- blj
 

 The press is beginning to toss around figures of the billions lost by California agribusiness due to the drought. The current figure is $1.84 billion to agriculture alone, total costs around $2.74 billion.