Why Mega-Projects Cost More Than Estimates

People lie. The article is about Seattle's proposed tunnel, but could apply here as easily. The reasons cited all make sense too. The final question; would we want to know the truth, is worth asking. I sometimes wonder if people can really handle the truth. It usually requires that you look into the mirror.

Kilmer School News Conference

News conference regarding the Kilmer School closing.

The Truth About Tar Sands

Hat tip to Don Gordan who sent me this link regarding the Alberta tar sands and the impact of mining them. Please note, this stuff is coming to the BP Refinery in Whiting, In. Cleaner burning natural gas is being used to get the bitumen under the ground. That bitumen would work real well for the Sheridan Rd resurfacing, but instead the effort is being made to turn it into a liquid fuel.

When is a State Secret not a State Secret?

The Chicago Tribune is carrying an article about five ex-prisoners of the CIA suing a subcontractor of the agency. The subcontractor is accused of abuse for flying the former prisoners to CIA interrogation sites, primarily "black" sites.The decision to allow the suit to go forward came from the US 9th Circuit, which is known to be liberal in its interpretation of the law. It was a three judge

AIG - Possible Lawbreaking

Karl Denninger posted this link to a CBS Report stating that three of AIG's current/former executives are under federal investigation for securities fraud. Karl has more info and commentary about it here. He also points to a Bloomberg commentary about the decision not to reveal the massive Merrill Lynch losses while Bank of America was completing its acquisition. Not reporting was a violation

The Demise of the USA as a Global Superpower

A video of Dmitry Orlov proposing that the USA will collapse as a superpower. He's done quite a bit of analysis around the collapse of the USSR and how its former citizens struggled on.

If You Have To Ask...........

From Katherine Parker. WORD! What she said!!

Real Protest

I like this commentary about the TEA protests. I agree with Madigan, if people are serious they'll risk jail for their principles. Dr. King did, the Berrigans did, and the folks who chain themselves to various sites, climb up trees and so forth certainly do. That's real sacrifice because going to jail is no picnic for anyone, especially if you are part of a mass protest. I don't have to agree

Transition Rogers Park

I attended the Earth Day event over at Loyola U yesterday, more on that in another post. The one thing that made it all really worthwhile was my discovery of the Transition Rogers Park group. Transition Towns are intended to be a response to the threats arising from Peak Oil, Climate Change, and the financial mess we are now in. That last was not necessarily an initial driver, but now that it

Newsweek's Illusionist

From ASPO a commentary about a recent Newsweek article regarding oil. Forgive me for thinking that the author of the Newsweek article needs some educating.

To Prosecute or Not

Well, the President now says he is open to the possibility of prosecuting the attorneys who wrote the memos. The cry is heard that this will compromise our ability to fight terrorists. Lost in the noise; we signed treaties that may cover this issue.My view: we have signed treaties, and if what occurred on the Bush watch, or any President's watch, violates the terms of those treaties, then we

Changing Perspective

From, of all places (!), Elle comes this article about Transition Towns and changing the narrative on dealing with power down. So now how do we get this going in Chicago or Rogers Park?

Colin Campbell Interview

Colin Campbell is a founder of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO). In this interview he talks about Peak Oil (he thinks it occurred in 2008), the current financial situation, his belief that a second, more serious financial collapse lies ahead, and whether the right steps are being taken. He is not a doomer as such, but I don't come away feeling as though we'll be able to

Who's Destroying the Chesapeake Bay?

We are.Do we have the guts to stop?

Peak Food? Peak Water?

From the folks Down Under, who are currently dealing with drought and water issues, comes a commentary on the future of food production. The Peak Oilers know about this, there are those at The Oil Drum who have commented on the impact of fossil fuels on food production (NG for some fertilizers, oil for liquid transport fuel). The Aussies are having a tough go, especially in the Melbourne area.

Contemporary Living Room Furniture

Author: jamiehanson

A living room is actually considered to be the heart of your home. It is a meeting place for all your family members. It is a place in your home where you and your entire family spends quality time with each other, discuss certain things, speak about your day etc..

There are number of reasons to talk about and when you relax in your living room, you need to make it more comfortable and warm as compared to any other room in your house. Your living room reflects your lifestyle and attitude towards your family and society. Thus you need to decorate your living room with contemporary living room furniture that reveals your persona. Always remember your living room is the first to welcome your guests, thus the furniture should be pleasing and contemporary enough to greet your guests with great warmth and hospitality.

Well, your contemporary living room furniture typically includes recliners, bean bags, coffee table, loungers, entertainment centers and some stylish pieces that add elegance to your collection. Your living room also features wonderful art pieces and pictures and other decorative accessories like table lamps or ceiling lamps, area rugs, sparkly lighting etc. which adds warmth to your living rooms. Most of your contemporary living room furniture is made from finest quality leather blended with designer fabrics. Wood and metal work in your contemporary designs not only make your living room look modish but it also adds durability to your furniture.

Thus your favorite living room furniture lasts longer. You can opt for geometric designs and shapes with vibrant colors to make your contemporary living room look appealing and to the mark. Geometric shapes and designs have proved to be a hallmark in the contemporary range of furniture. Entertainment center is the most recent fashionable piece of decor used now-a-days. It has become the main center of attraction and is easily available in furniture market at affordable prices. Some of the contemporary furniture like couches, sofas, loungers or recliners has become the must-haves in the contemporary range.

The contemporary look to your living room is incomplete with such stylish collection. Corner tables or coffee tables just can't be ignored for your living room too! These not only give the desired sleek look to your living room but are also used for your comfort while having refreshments or coffee in your living room. Bean bags blend in well with your contemporary living room furniture and look awesomely smart with other fashionable. Instead of purchasing an entire set of living room furniture, you can select your favorite furniture from the range and arrange it in your living room making it look exceptionally smart and sleek.

This way you can also save a lot of money. Most of the contemporary living room furniture is displayed in local furniture stores, but if you want to select from the most recent collection of contemporary furniture, there are several online furniture stores that display a huge variety of contemporary designer living room furniture with complete range of colors and styles. So there is something in store for everyone. Just log on the Internet and choose the best furniture for your living room from any of the websites.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Contemporary living room furniture

Political Expediency

I wrote earlier about John Demjanjuk and the efforts to extradite him to face war crimes charges in Germany. Today, President Obama has declared that he won't prosecute those involved in torture. And it is torture we are talking about especially waterboarding. Four CIA memos have been released, all of which detail activity that this country has protested as torture. Well, maybe not the insect

2009 EIA Conference - 2010 Bloodbath?

Robert Rapier attended the 2009 EIA Conference and brought back these observations. He was a panelist and there were no slides, so the note taking was a bit sparse. The one thing out of all this that I cued up on came from Deutsche Bank's Paul Sankey:As always, Sankey made a lot of interesting comments. He said that while the banks might make a lot of money in a cap and trade system,

Rail Service

Breaking news today about Obama's interest in getting higher-speed rail in place. From the comments already there, it's obvious there is a huge concern over the potential for this to turn into a political gravy train. Given that energy constrained future lies ahead, and we are well behind the mitigation curve, I'll take as a positive any effort to jump start the process. I think there is a lot

The Tax Code

Sorry, I have to snicker. Obama has promised (like others before him) to revamp the Internal Revenue Tax Code. Good luck buddy. The last reforms occurred under Reagan, however they haven't all lasted. A big part of the problem is Congress' endless tinkering. Whatever progress Obama makes will eventually fall by the wayside, assuming Congress asserts the political will to even make

The Green Corps

I haven't been faithfully following other blogs, so this may be redundant, however - I just signed up for the Alderman's Green Corps site. For whatever reason the Administrator has to approve my request, which I think is silly as this is supposed to be an "open community."I think that fundamentally it's a good initiative that could evolve into something very worthwhile. What I saw in my brief

Justice or Vengeance?

I have no love for the people who ran the death camps and murdered millions of people, with Jews leading the count of the dead. However, the persistence of the German government's pursuit of aged and infirm prison guards reached a new nadir today. John Demjanjuk may very well have been an active participant in the horrors of the camps. He has spent the past 26 years proclaiming that he

Ethics Reform Town Hall

Posted at the Rogers Park Voter blog, Senator Steans invitation to an Ethics Town Hall.

Oink Oink

The 2009 Pig Book, published by Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), is now available for purchase. The highlights are at the link. Not everyone agrees that all pork is wasteful spending. On the other hand, there is no excuse for much of it, but you be your own judge. I think we might all agree that this one is the poster child for why earmarks must end:$6,430,414,000 for 142 anonymous

Free Speech At Risk - The Slippery Slope

From the Washington Post comes a commentary by Jonathon Turley on the repression of free speech by Western countries. Imagine this:In May 2008, Dutch prosecutors arrested cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot for insulting Christians and Muslims with a cartoon that caricatured a Christian fundamentalist and a Muslim fundamentalist as zombies who meet at an anti-gay rally and want to marry.I would have

Minimum Age

Don't Saudi men get it? Marrying off your 8 year old daughter to settle debts, and then having that marriage upheld not once, but twice by a judge confirms the suspicions most Western women have of Saudi Arabia. Despite all the technological and architectural wizadry they display, and the sophistication they claim, at their core the Saudi men prefer women to be chattel. They can pretty it up

The Chinese are kicking our b---s

The Oil Drum pointed me to this article at the Seeking Alpha blog. The original Barrons article he references might be found here at the bottom of the page. It was there today. If you are a Barrons subscriber you can probably get the article at their site.Point is this - the Chinese are making hay while the sun shines and locking up fossil fuel reserves all over the place. We, on the other

Also Real Secure

FedSmith.com pointed to an article at the Washington Post about bogus background investigations. This is not something you can lay at any particular President's feet, so focus on the facts OK? The bottom line is that some clearances didn't get approved, some did, and some number of investigators were not doing their job and finally wound up in court over it. Can we say with a certainty that we

DOJ Misconduct - What About Blago?

From Politico.com comes this article about prosecutorial misconduct by Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys. Judge Emmet Sullivan, the judge who threw out the conviction of former Alaska Senater Ted Stevens, sums it up this way;"In several cases recently, this court has seen troubling failures to produce exculpatory evidence," the judge said, referring to evidence that could help a defendant or

ZDNet Takes On AP

A followup to my earlier post about quoting articles. Sam Diaz at ZDNet comments on the AP's latest. He may be right on the mark.

Warning! Warning! Danger News Aggregators!!

For those of us who like to quote from existing news sources this piece of news is sobering. Read it carefully, because if you are not in compliance..guess what!

The New Pharaohs?

From NCR Online an article by Rabbi Lerner of Tikkun Magazine. He is using the season of Passover to illuminate the revulsion of many American Jews to what they see going on in Gaza and what it means to them as Jews.Millions of Jews have been watching Israel’s role in Gaza and the West Bank with particular horror this year. Most share anger at the ongoing terrorism that has made life in the

Are You Prepared?

You don't have to be a doomer to be prepared. Evidently a lot of folks are worried enough to start taking personal action. I don't think this is a Texas phenomenon although, based on Asia Times article, they may be more motivated than the rest of us.

Is This The Future for Cook County Hospital?

We have all read about The Toddler and his efforts to raise dollar after dollar for only-god-knows-what. From sales taxes to bonds to loans, his appetite for income and reluctance to deal with inefficiencies and cronyism would be unbelievable if this were a Hollywood movie. Over at CBS News there is a 60 Minutes report on severe changes at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. This is not

Real Secure

It's amazing what you turn up in the most unexpected places. Karl Denninger, who usually writes about the economy, alerts the public to a couple of Senate Bills that may prove the road to hell is paved with good intentions. They are S.773(very long name) and S.778 to establish the National Office of Cybersecurity Advisor (see Thomas for more). As of this writing the bill texts are not

Dispensing Information

FedSmith is reporting on the revised Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) guidelines. Actual text of AG Holder's memo is here.In view of the brouhaha over Blago's indictment, and the Tribune's proposals on letting the sunshine in, one could hope that the Feds set an example for Illinois. Probably hoping for too much, but I have to start somewhere.

To Drill or Not To Drill

Bloomberg is reporting that the Interior Department estimates there are 115 billion barrels of oil that is technically recoverable on the Outer Continental Shelf. The estimate is just that, an estimate. However, of even more importance is Interior's estimate as to what the pricing would be to make the oil economically recoverable. That's an eye-opener for sure, and should tame anyone's urge to

Flying Down to Rio

You need a job? Got skills the oil industry can use? Then you just might want to make sure your passport is current and take a trip to Brazil. Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company, is investing $174B in offshore oil development between now and 2013. Yes that is a B as in BILLION. It's a gutsy move, and apparently their usual M.O. - invest during downturns. They are not concerned about