The Pentagon needs two things to survive: war and oil. And it can't make the first if it doesn't have the second. In fact, the Pentagon's methods of mass destruction -- fighters, bombers, tanks, Humvees, and other vehicles -- burn 75 percent of the fuel used by the DoD. While the Pentagon reportedly burns through an astounding 365,000 barrels of oil every day (the equivalent of the entire nation of Sweden's daily consumption), Sohbet Karbuz, an expert on global oil markets, estimates that the number is really closer to 500,000 barrels. With such unconstrained consumption, recent U.S. wars have been a boon for big oil and have seen the Pentagon rise from the rank of hopeless addict to superjunkie.

As a result, the DoD had some of the planet's biggest petroleum dealers, and masters of the corporate universe, on its payroll. In March 2007, the Pentagon went on a two-day bender of epic proportions. On March 22 and 23, the DoD announced that it had struck "fixed price with economic price adjustment" deals, to be fulfilled by April 30, 2008, with ExxonMobil, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Valero, Refinery Associates of Texas, and ten other petrogiants to the tune of $4 billion. Another petro-binge occurred around the 2007 Labor Day holiday. Over the course of three days, the DoD acknowledged fuel contracts with BP, Chevron, Tesoro, and four others worth more than $1.4 billion.

Couple this with the fact that, on Rumsfeld's watch, the Environmental Protection Agency granted the DoD a "national security exemption" on trucks that failed to meet current emissions standards; that the army canceled plans to introduce "hybrid-diesel humvees" (the current military model gets just four miles per gallon in city driving and an equally dismal eight miles per gallon on the highway); and that it similarly dropped plans to retrofit the fuel-guzzling Abrams tank with a more efficient diesel engine (the current model, in service in Iraq, gets less than a mile per gallon), while the air force deep-sixed plans for the possible replacement of aging "surveillance, cargo and tanker aircraft engines" -- and you're looking at a Pentagon patently incapable of altering its addiction-addled ways in any near future

Far from fading away as the world struggles to come to grips with the reality of climate change, deniers in the U.S. are making their last stand. The Washington Post reported last month that a new group, backed by the coal industry and its utility allies, are waging a $35 million campaign to fuel opposition to U.S. legislation to slow climate change.

"Manmade global warming is a total hoax. It has no basis in fact," shouted Rush Limbaugh on his Feb. 27 show, which draws as many as 13 million listeners. Limbaugh went on to claim that NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies latest data shows that "global temperatures have dropped precipitously" in the last year, when in fact NASA reported that 2007 was the second warmest year on record.

Refuting this seemingly endless flow of erroneous information, not to mention outright lies, has become a no-win proposition. Most scientists no longer waste their time, feeling that giving any attention to these self-titled "global warming skeptics" simply encourages them and their sponsors -- corporate interests in the fossil fuel industry, among others

Stop 'Demonizing' Dalai Lama, Europe Leader Tells China

"We cannot allow a situation where the Dalai Lama is mentioned in the same breath as terrorists"

China, U.S. Clash Over Tibet at UN Council

But even Human Rights Council won't hold special session on Tibet

Tibet Crisis Could be Endgame for the Dalai Lama

Protesters gathered before the Chinese Mission in New York City on Mar. 15, 2008. PHOTO: William Farrington/IPS

The facade of Tibetan unity has unraveled and along with it, the Dalai Lama's power base

China Under Pressure to Rethink Tibet Policy

West behind the Dalai Lama

UN Won't Intercede in Tibet Crisis

Security Council won't criticize permanent member China

China's Tibet Crackdown Recalls Tiananmen

Spotlights Beijing's continuous use of intimidation and force against any dissent