Fire, flood, drought, unemployment... no time for that now, must bomb Syria...... Huh?

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Yosemite

Why? The U.S. has no choice. Like a tractor-trailer with no trailer brakes being pushed by its load, the U.S. government has no choice but to get more militarily involved in Syria. Oh, there will be protests, yes, but as long as the U.S. economy is dominated by car-dependency, control of energy resources is not negotiable. If Russia and China get enough power in the middle east to control world gas and oil prices, they will have the U.S. at their mercy.

What can we do? If you are driving your car to a peace march, pull over and think. Then, go back to your town and fight for free public transit. Or, move to the city if you can, sell your car. Join your local transit riders union, write a blog post (we will post it) exposing sprawl subsidy in your region. If you are a multi-car family, you might get rid of one car and use car-sharing occasionally. There is plenty to do.

Either we end the demand for #autosprawl and its consequent energy waste, or we will go down in blazes of constant war.

Having gotten away with 9/11, false flags becoming a way of life for US

Deleted Daily Mail Online Article: “US Backed Plan for Chemical Weapon Attack in Syria to Be Blamed on Assad” | Global Research: "In January 29, 2013, Britain’s most popular Daily Newspaper, in its online version Dailymail.co.uk published an article titled:

U.S. ‘backed plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria and blame it on Assad’s regime’

A few days later they pulled the article."

Dave Olsen in the Tyee, 17 reasons to stop charging people to ride the bus

Why Fare-Free Transit? The Tyee – 17 Reasons 5-July-2007:

Perhaps the skeptic in you is saying: without fares, public transit would run out of money and break down. Or you worry that a free ride would attract riff-raff threatening other passengers' safety and comfort. Or you doubt that sober, number crunching officials would ever take the idea seriously.

By the time you are done reading this series, I will have shared real life examples and expert findings to counter all those concerns.

Fare-free transit brings many benefits, some of which include:

1. a barrier-free transportation option to every member of the community (no more worries about exact change, expiring transfers, or embarrassment about how to pay)
2. eliminating a "toll" from a mode of transportation that we as a society want to be used (transit is often the only way of getting around that charges a toll)
3. reducing the inequity between the subsidies given to private motorized vehicle users and public transport users
4. reducing, and in some cases eliminating, the need for private motorized vehicle parking
5. reducing greenhouse gas emissions, other air pollutants, noise pollution (especially with electric trolleys), and run-off of toxic chemicals into fresh water supplies and ocean environments
6. reducing overall consumption of oil and gasoline
7. eliminating the perceived need to spend billions on roads and highways (now up to $7 billion for the proposed Gateway Project in Vancouver)
8. eliminating the perceived need to spend billions on bigger car-carrying ferries ($2.5 billion for BC Ferries' new super-sized boats and ramps)
9. contributing significantly to the local economy by keeping our money in our communities
10. reducing litter (in Vancouver, the newer transfers/receipts have overtaken fast food packaging for most common garbage found on our streets)
11. saving trees by eliminating the need to print transfers and tickets
12. allowing all bus doors to be used to load passengers, making service faster and more efficient
13. allowing operators (drivers) to focus on driving safely
14. giving operators more time to answer questions
15. providing operators a safer work environment since fare disputes are eliminated
16. eliminating fare evasion and the criminalization of transit-using citizens
17. fostering more public pride in shared, community resources

US/UK looking to escalate war in Syria. Energy wars will continue until we dramatically decrease demand.

BBC News - Syria: Cameron and Obama threaten 'serious response': "The UK and the US have threatened a "serious response" if it emerges Syria used chemical weapons last week.

Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama spoke on the phone for 40 minutes on Saturday, Mr Cameron's office said.

Both were "gravely concerned" by "increasing signs that this was a significant chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian regime".

The Syrian regime and opposition have accused each other over the attacks."

Demand is not falling from voluntary effort, it is being destroyed. An important distinction.

The peaking of cheap oil has meant that societies that are heavily dependent on oil are unable to afford to grow as before. High oil prices affect transport, which affects all areas of developed economies. The U.S. and Europe are now at the end of growth and oil demand is falling.

It would be nice if it were falling because we had seen the light and decided to implement free public transit and such to stop the waste. But unfortunately the demand is being destroyed in a most painful way--through unemployment and the stranding of people who can't afford to drive to work or move closer.

A few oil trolls have jumped on this falling demand to declare that peak oil has been obviated by peak demand. Not so. The fall in demand is exactly the pain of peak oil that has been predicted: price rationing. Those who have money, get oil.

Did you know that three buildings collapsed at the WTC on 9/11?

Building 7 fell at free-fall rates for several seconds. That means there was no resistance to the fall. That is only possible through planned demolition. For more of the physics of it: Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth

Oil industry propaganda war is a desperate fight for its own existence

How could something as big and powerful as the oil industry be in trouble, you may wonder. Well here is how.

The oil industry is part of a complex system characterized by hard, fixed assets that cannot be easily moved, modified, or ignored. The oil flows through this system of wells, pipelines, ships, trains, refineries, gas stations, etc. More volume means lower unit costs, higher profit. But what if the volume falls below what is profitable? The answer is money-losing assets which are only usable for oil and have no buyers.

Consequently, even though oil is more expensive to extract every day, they have to keep seeking more and more. This will continue until collapse.

At the same time, the oil industry is besieged on other fronts. People are demanding action on climate. Legislation restricting the burning of fossil-fuel could convert much of the oil currently being counted as reserves (assets) as only resources (non-assets). Actually most governments have already agreed to such a goal. see http://www.carbontracker.org/carbonbubble

In addition, in Europe and North America, more people are using public transit and demanding better service. Many can no longer afford the car culture.

Investors are getting nervous. The amount of new fixed capital to get a little more oil is daunting. See this linked article by Kurt Cobb for more on this:

Resource Insights: The hype cycle: How the oil and gas industry manipulates investors and the public: "Prepare yourself for another hype cycle in the U.S. oil and gas industry. "

Why #freetransit?

Our complex society is made up of systems. Many of these systems, autosprawl, for one example, consist of fixed, hard, assets that cannot quickly be changed: oil fields, refineries, tankers, highways, cul-de-sacs, automobile manufacturing plants, and much more.

In order for a system to return economy-of-scale, there must be a significant use of that system -- critical mass.

This system is based on waste -- the auto is intuitively a wasteful way to move people -- and the system generates waste -- each single home in the cul-de-sac must have its own lawn-mower, ping-pong table, leaf blower, etc.

So how does a wasteful system maintain critical mass? By subsidy, no other way. The costs the the system are ignored, deferred, passed to the taxpayer, the biosphere, or the future.

Cheap oil has peaked, climate change is here, and the bill for such waste is due.

Why do we advocate free public transit? Because it does two things. It reduces demand for oil more quickly than it can be replaced. This will take money and hence political power away from the oil industry. Second, it directly addresses the critical mass of the autosprawl system. When public transit is free, people will move to urban areas, sell their cars, and demand that cities be clean and safe. The auto will become a niche item. No one will want to spend millions on superhighways for a handful of cars.

While alternative fuels are important, we should keep in mind that putting solar panels on sprawl may extend its life and allow autosprawl to retain critical mass longer than what is safe for the biosphere.

Why We Drive: The Past, Present, and Future of Automobiles in America - Andy Singer

Amazon.com: Taking the position that America’s love affair with cars and highways is not a cultural phenomenon but a problem of entrenched economic and political forces, this manifesto chronicles the rise of the U.S. highway system from its orchestrated genesis to our current alarming reliance on automobiles. With a format that incorporates a blend of cartoons, historic photographs and minimal text, this handbook reveals the players, the money and the politics that have led to our petroleum dependence and endless miles of asphalt. It begins by analyzing the environmental impact of driving and ends by offering a blueprint for rebuilding a more sustainable transportation system that could save American cities and the planet.

International conference on free public transport, Tallinn, Estonia, 22-24 August 2013

Fare-Free New Zealand: "The 150 participants registered in the summer school taking place in Tallinn University include regional, state and European level planners of politics, members of non-governmental associations, experts and representatives of interest groups who are fascinated by the closely intertwined issues of transportation, environment, social cohesion, economy, budget and spatial planning.

Foreign journalists from China, Russia, New Zealand, South Korea and various countries of the European Union shall also take part."