Three weeks ago, the New York Times told us in a front-page story that there is more oil in Iraq than we ever dreamed of. Now comes another front-page story telling us that reserve estimates for the United States—and everywhere else—have been dramatically upwards revised, due to new advances in extraction technology. Exxon and Chevron are already using the technology to pump thousands of barrels a day out of fields that had pretty much been considered spent a few years ago from Texas to Indonesia. This is a clear blow aimed at the "peak oil" theorists. Oil prices have been falling modestly in recent days (almost down to $60/barrel at the moment, Bloomberg says), and the Times might want to help that trend along. But the development of the new technology was itself spurred by high prices (so much for "objective" science), which were in part driven by "peak oil" fears. Which deepens our suspicions that the "peak oil" hysteria was instrumented by the oil industry all along.... Here are the relevant excerpts from the story, "Oil Innovations Pump New Life Into Old Wells" by Jad Mouawad, New York Times, March 5 (links added):

Now they are openly calling some of these increasingly specious terror conspiracies "fictitious," which they certainly are. Two guys are getting sent up the river for a plot hatched by an FBI informant, which had no independent basis in reality. Can anyone explain to us why this does not constitute entrapment? Does anyone else out there grasp how far down the slippery slope we have slid towards the Orwellian concept of "thought crime"? From the New York Times, March 8:

From the Iraq Freedom Congress, March 6:

Iraq Freedom Congress supports the Teachers Strike in Althawra (Sadr City)
A strike by education staff of more than 21 high schools that began last week continues into its second week. School staff, concerned about safety, wages and inflation, have raised their demands to the Ministry of Education.

From the Iraq Freedom Congress, March 6:

The Safety Force Save Tens of Innocent Lives in Baghdad
The IFC Safety Force discovered that a car parked in Babalsharqi region in the middle of Baghdad was rigged for detonation and was to be blown up in the morning when people arrived for work and shopping.

From Military Families Speak Out, March 8:

Military Families Oppose House Democratic Leadership Plan for Iraq
MFSO Says Pelosi Plan Condemns at Least 1,500 Troops to Death
Washington D.C. — Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), an organization of over 3,200 military families who are opposed to the war in Iraq, expressed dismay and outrage at the plan unveiled by House Democrats today that would delay the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops until the fall of 2008.

From AP, March 8:

A marriage off to a rocky start: He's jailed after hitting her with car
SALT LAKE CITY - It wasn't the most romantic of honeymoons. The groom was in jail yesterday, accused of trying to run over his new wife after a weekend wedding in Las Vegas.

As if the jihadis aren't ticked off enough already. The opponents quoted in this story seem entirely legitimate, but this obviously serves as more grist for Osama's propaganda mill. Talk about "jihad versus McWorld." What can you say but a plague on both their houses? From the New York Times and International Herald Tribune, March 8 (links, emphasis added):

From Reuters, March 8:

More than a million Muslim pilgrims packed Senegal's remote northeastern city of Touba on Thursday as members of the powerful Mouride brotherhood flocked to "Africa's Mecca" from across the world.