Saturday, May 22, 2010

Bono rushed to hospital + Suzannah B. Troy beats out NYT mag Stieg Larsson


When I made this YouTube about Bloomberg's goat may sing and Stieg Larsson's trilogy plus 1
I had no idea The New York Times magazine was working on the story about Larsson.  See the Sunday New York Times magazine section.

I have written about the 4th book and the battle before and it is public knowledge posted on Stieg Larsson's website but I was ahead of the game and one reason why is Larsson's book focus on corruption, democracy, cowardly sicko bullies of the worst kind although they are all awful and it speaks to me and what is happening right now in NYC.

Now on to the news that U2 lovers all over the world I am sure are far more concerned with and that is Bono was rushed to the hospital in Germany.  He hurt his back during a rehearsal and had to taken in immediately for emergency surgery.

Clearly his loved ones and everyone involved in the tour wanted him healed and back on his feet asap.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Yahoo!'s CEO Carol Bartz at Tech Crunch Disrupt, New York City

Yahoo!'s CEO Carol Bartz will join TechCrunch Founder and Editor Michael Arrington for what is called a "Fire Side Chat" at Tech Crunch Disrupt in New York City at 12:10 PM EDT on Monday, May 23rd. Zennie62's trip is sponsored by Christine Smith Associates, Inc., the Premier Female Contractor in NYC.

Carol Bartz took over for Yahoo Founder Jerry Yang as CEO on January 13, 2009. Bartz took on the challenge of reviving one of the Internet's pioneer brands, which had suffered from the disease of over-bureaucrasy.

Bartz' most recent and most exciting move was to acquire Associated Content, a news website of over 380,000 contributors, making it several times larger than Examiner.com.

Yahoo!'s purchase of Associated Content should cause the mainstream media to shudder, but the simple fact that's not the case shows just how little the mainstream media understands what's happening.

If Yahoo! structures its website relationship with Associated Content properly it could cause a massive cannibalization of online news traffic. If New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. had nightmares trying to deal and then partner with Google, and The Wall Street Journal's minders think The Huffington Post is annoying, they've not seen anything yet.

But that's only if Yahoo! knows exactly what it's doing with Associated Content, and that remains to be seen. Carol Bartz will pack the room for what will be an exciting chat.   Personally, I hope Michael asks if any part of the twitter account Fake Carol Bartz (@fakecarolbartz) is true - especially the F-bombs.

How's that for buildup?

Google celebrates Pac Man 30th anniversary with icon game



Google celebrates Pac Man 30th anniversary with icon game. 30 years ago, Pac Man was created and became perhaps one of the most addictive games ever developed. Installed in a large video game box, Pac Man became the favorite after-school and at times during school time-waster, and in online form it still is.

Google proved that today with its' installation of a "logo-based" Pac Man game placed where the standard Google logo is located on its page. This blogger tried the game several times and did not do well simply because the cursor that you would assume was to control the Pac Man failed to do so. The result was that I was absorbed every time.

I thought it was the fault of the Apple Safari Browser's memory leak problem, which does make sense given the fact that the cursor was working some of the time, but not all of the time. And in Pac Man, time is really important.

Of course, posting a YouTube video of my failure gained comments of advice. Apparently I was supposed to work the 'page up, page down' keys, which I did do and gained more success than what's on the video screen.

Rats!

Well, you can see how much fun Pac Man can be to play. No wonder it's lasted 30 years!

Back to playing it!

Bloomberg's goat sing? Stieg Larsson 4th? -- Suzannah B. Troy

What does Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” and my new YouTube, “Bloomberg’s goat may sing like a bird + Stieg Larsson’s 4th book trilogy + 1” have in common beside the Swedish author? Watch my YouTube and see how I explain why in America his books are selling like wild fire.  The 3 books have been filmed in Sweden and the first has been released here in the U.S.A.
Larsoon died of a heart attack at ago 50 and he did not have a will.  He never married his live in love so his father and brother inherited everything.  His live in love, an architect has the fourth book on her computer and she is not allowing it to be published unless the inheritance is properly negotiated.  She points out on his website they were not involved in his life what so ever....
Why are the books such a sensation?  Because Larsson values democracy and the books address muck raking, fighting corruption, the role of reporters to expose corruption and ask tough questions which happens less and less all weaved in to a violent saga including hitting on the financial sector.  The books are about corruption!
The Swedish star who plays Lisbeth Salander looks like a female Johnny Depp.  Her name is Noomi Rapace.  Michael Nyqvist plays Mikael Blomkvist who is muck raker supreme and the co-owner of a magazine devoted to -- you guessed it -- muck raking.
So non-New Yorkers, guess what?  Mike Bloomberg decided mayor wasn’t good enough and he was going to be king of New York.  He denied us a referendum and put the vote in front of a city council riddled with corruption.   Yikes.  His money manger and good friend Steve Rattner had to step down from his job at the White House as Car Czar, he said to spend more time with his family but looks like Andrew Cuomo just busted him here in NY for shady dealings and his company Quadrangle disavowed him.  


It is pretty impressive that Mike Bloomberg spent almost 110 million to steal, oops just barely win an election...the most humiliating and expensive in NYC history and the only unaccounted money is $750,000.00.   Haggerty says he is being set-up and if they scape goated him, he is going to sing, spill his guts to avoid jail.  
My first YouTube was “Mayor Bloomberg King of New York” and my newest calls him “Teflon Mike”.  I look at him as a smart version of Peter Sellers in “Being There”.

Rand Paul: Ron Paul's son is a wacky guy on civil rights - pt.1



Rand Paul is a wacky guy
Just after Rand Paul won the Republican Nomination for the Kentucky U.S. Senate Race on Tuesday, this blogger video-blogged that his win was no surprise in this corner because he was the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who ran for President and failed but gained a cult following in the process.

I also said Rand Paul was nothing to worry about because he had wacky ideas like trying to get rid of The Americans with Disabilities Act. Rand Paul's expected to make a wild blast or two, but so soon? Dr. Paul came through with flying colors when he said that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should not have included private business, when one of the major reasons for the passage of the Act were the famous sit-ins at restaurants, private businesses, that discriminated against blacks.

Rand Paul is a wacky guy. Dr. Paul's wacky because only such a person would not even consider the moral issue of how his black friends might be treated in such a situation. But then, it's fair to speculate that Dr. Paul has no real black friends. I don't mean the people he sees at work, but people who are regularly over to his house for a visit. People he's known a long time and keeps in touch with who are black. Someone with black friends would not stop to even consider allowing a society where his friends would be treated that way.

Rand Paul is a wacky guy.

Rand Paul's wacky because after appearing on The Rachel Maddow Show, and trying to two-step his way out of Maddow's intellectual trap (he failed), Paul then went on Laura Ingram's show and called Maddow part of the "Looney Left." What's funny is that it was before the same "Looney Left" that Rand Paul announced that he was running for The Senate a year ago. Check it out:

Video One:



Video Two:



Rachel Maddow made Rand Paul look, well, wacky. For example, Dr. Paul avoided a direct answer to Rachel's question if he would oppose Bob Jones University if they tried to bring back a ban on interracial dating at that private institution. Besides, why would a reasoned person even bother to touch sensitive racial issues unless he had a race issue? Paul says he abhors racism, but if so, really, why go there?

Allowing private companies to exclude on the basis of race, to be racist, is to support institutional racism. Thus, Rand Paul is actually helping to foster the very problem he claims to "abhor." Rand Paul's confused: "institutional racism" involves more than government. Institutions are private businesses too.

Rand Paul's a wacky guy. He's just another Southerner who's for some reason obsessed with race and in an unhealthy way.

There always seems to be the person in the South, generally older white and male from my experience, who wants to talk about race and what happened in the past. When one gets into such talks, they discover its that person who is trying to deal with their own racism that's festered over time. Rand Paul needs to let go of the past and help build the America of the future, one office medical patient at a time. In other words, not in the U.S. Senate.

Rand Paul now says he does not want the repeal of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But that was never the question. The question was does Paul support it, and the answer is still yes, but no.

Rand Paul calls that a "yes" according to his website:

"Let me be clear: I support the Civil Rights Act because I overwhelmingly agree with the intent of the legislation, which was to stop discrimination in the public sphere and halt the abhorrent practice of segregation and Jim Crow laws."


Note that Rand Paul still leaves out the "private" sphere. He's clear, alright, clear as mud.
Rand Paul is a wacky guy.

Stay tuned.

Bret Michaels back in hospital after stroke: Celebrity Apprentice?



Bret Michaels
Country rocker Bret Michaels, who's one of two celebrities competing to be the Celebrity Apprentice for 2010, is back in the hospital after having what has been called a "warning stroke."

Before this news, Bret Michaels was riding high. The lead singer of the group Poison was touring and his appearance on Donald Trump's latest installment of The Apprentice series gave him exposure outside his area of music stardom.

Then a massive brain hemorrhage sent him to the hospital. Now, just as it seemed Michaels recovered and he was set to go on tour again, he not only has a stroke, but a reported hole in his heart or "Patent Forum Ovale" according to MTV.com.

What's up in the air as of this writing is if Bret Michaels will be able to attend the final Celebrity Apprentice. Michaels is up against Holly Robinson Peete for the prize of Celebrity Apprentice 2010 and in my poll, 80 percent of voters and of well over 6,000 votes, have picked Bret to win.

Stay tuned.

Lindsay Lohan will NOT be arrested:CNN, Larry King, Nancy Grace wrong



While CNN's programs Larry King Live, Nancy Grace, and Showbiz Tonight were having a field day with the idea that Lindsay Lohan would be arrested because LA County Judge Marsha Revel issued a bench warrant for her, they forgot one thing: Lohan's lawyers could just post bail and get the bench warrant removed.

That's what happened, and it was announced by TMZ.com at 4:22 PDT, which is 7:22 EDT and apparently too late for the East Coast Media to react and make a correction.

Lindsay's legal rep paid $10,000, or 10 percent of the $100,000 bail the judge set to have the bench warrant recalled.

Judge Marsha Revel will see Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley Monday at 8:30 AM and then they will set a date for a probation violation hearing. Lohan is in France for the Cannes Film Festival, and was said to have been at a party on a yacht.

Lohan's lawyer didn't go any favors when she said "that's what she does at her age" and then said if it were her, she would not have done that. What she should have said was "My client is conducting business in France and such events as a party are a way to network and press the flesh to discuss the movie projects she's involved in."

While Lindsay's lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley worked hard to get her client off the arrest warrant spotlight, she did her no favors before the television cameras. Shawn Chapman Holley must learn to make a more professional presentation representing her client.

Stay tuned.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The True Cost of Chevron: Chevron's response to the 2010 report

There's a better way to work with Chevron
Not sooner did this blogger complete his first post on the Global Exchange Report called The True Cost of Chevron, did an email pop up from Chevron containing its response to the report.

 To recap, the True Cost of Chevron is Global Exchange's comprehensive report that really presents one side of the complex oil business that Chevron's involved in and no balanced country information to give the reader a complete picture of what any American oil company faces.

This space holds that Global Exchange could have produced a more effective report if it were based on a comprehensive System Dynamics Global Model of Chevron, which in turn calls for a comprehensive understanding of its business. Such an approach would have been more able to address Chevron's future in a way that's harder to argue with than Global Exchange's current approach. An approach Chevron takes issue with; this is what the email read:



As has been the case in the past, the report is riddled with false assumptions and conclusions. The only report that accurately represents the true value of Chevron is our Corporate Responsibility Report.

In 2009, Chevron invested $144 million in communities around the world to promote basic human needs, provide education and training, and stimulate local business development. Over the last five years, Chevron has invested $500 million in communities around the world. Through Chevron Humankind, the company’s U.S. employee community involvement program, employees volunteered more than 40,000 hours in their communities and participant contributions and company matches resulted in more than $25 million to support the work of nonprofits.

Chevron is a significant supporter of small and minority-owned businesses. Chevron purchased approximately $40 billion in goods and services from suppliers and contractors, including $2.7 billion with small and medium-size businesses in the United States in 2009. Chevron also spent an additional $319 million with minority-owned business and $433 million with women-owned businesses in the United States.

Last year, Chevron adopted a human rights policy to further the company’s commitment to respecting human rights in the countries and communities where it operates. The policy addresses four human rights areas relevant to the company’s business: employees, security providers, community engagement and suppliers.

In 2009, Chevron reduced its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by approximately 2.2 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent. From 2008 to 2009, Chevron reduced GHG emissions from flaring by eight percent and advanced significant projects that will continue to reduce GHG emissions from flaring in Angola, Kazakhstan and Nigeria.

The Richmond Refinery invested over $3.4 million in community programs in 2009 ($5.65 million over the last 3 years), in: public safety - focusing on at-risk youth; improving the quality of K-12 education; and economic development with a focus on job creation.

Flaring at the Richmond Refinery was reduced by 97% between 2007 and 2008.

For the eighth consecutive year, Chevron has improved its safety performance. In 2009, the company posted its safest year on record.


The Global Exchange Report would have been more valuable with a business-related approach rather than the set of anecdotal stories it contains. Not to devalue the accounts at all as they're important to read and discuss and act on. But as is obvious by Chevron's response, the Global Exchange report has holes in it that needs to be addressed.

Suge Knight arrested in LA post by Suzannah B. Troy

TMZ reports Suge Knight was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and bail is set at $65,000.00.

Why would this report catch my attention?  I have never listened to rap music so how would I even know the name Suge Knight?

One night I was flipping the channels and came across this film Notorious  as in Notorious B.I.G and I was riveted by this powerful film directed by George Tillman, Jr. with a terrific cast including new comer Jamal Woolard and "young Biggie" is played by Christopher Jordan Wallace, Biggie's real life son with singer, wife Faith Evans.

 

You learn how Biggie connected with Lil Kim and influenced her career as well as made a staggering fortune with his street poetry telling it like it is although his Mom admits he was a big time embellisher at times but his words hit a chord with the people.

I knew nothing of the rap world and once I watched this film, I started to watch documentaries including the one on Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls by famous documentarian Nick Broomfield who has made films on Heidi Fleiss, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer and many other provocative films.

 After watching his film on Tupac and Biggie it seemed one major theory as to why and how these rappers were murdered was Suge Knight was responsible.  The theory is Suge Knight knew that Tupac was going to leave his record label and by killing Tupac he would be able to hold on to the massive fortune Tupac was generating for him.  Tupac and Suge used to watch The Godfather over and over and there is a scene where Tupac recites lines from the film.  The movie suggests Suge lived and continues to live his life like the film.  A girlfriend was set to testify against Suge in a separate case and she simply disappeared.

How does all this tie in to the murder of B.I.G?  The theory is that Suge Knight masterminded blowing him away and creating this East Coast West Coast rivalry which really did not exist until it was created with a nefarious motive to take them both out and for B.I.G to be wrongly accused of having Tupac killed.  Knight has his supporters that deny this.

This time it appears there is enough evidence to send Suge Knight back to jail where you see him in Broomfield's documentary.  Nick Broomfield is so tenacious and ballsy he won't take no for an answer and convinces the warden and Knight to allow him to interview Knight.  Broomfield shows us Knight's website at the end of the film which seems like a very  thinly veiled death threat against Snoop Dogg.

To date the police have never caught the murderers of Tupac and B.I.G but if you watch Nick Broomfield's documentary than you might conclude the man that called the shots was arrested today and needs to pay $65,000 bail to get out of jail for packing heat and being threatening....


The Rise and Fall of JaMarcus Russell


JaMarcus at the 2007 NFL Draft Media Lunch-By Dr. Bill Chachkes

   The Rise and Fall of JaMarcus Russell-By J.P. Fox forFootball Reporters Online

    When people used to bring up the phrase “Draft Bust,” it used to signal the talk of Ryan Leaf. Nowadays, Leaf is basically an afterthought. There’s a new man holding down that crown of being the biggest draft bust in NFL History, and that man is JaMarcus Russell. Russell was just recently released by the Oakland Raiders, after playing only three seasons for the team. He was even shunned by “THE” Al Davis, the man who gave the go-ahead to draft him with the 1st pick in the 2007 draft. Davis is notorious for drafting players that have great speed, or had a great combine, or have many accolades. With this article, I’ll talk a little about what made Russell the 1st pick in the draft, and only three seasons later, being jobless.

    JaMarcus Russell went through his junior season at Louisiana State as a wonderkind. He was putting up unbelievable stats while leading the Tigers to a 10-2 record and a spot in the All-State Sugar Bowl game against Notre Dame. During the regular season, Russell threw for 3,129 yards 28 Touchdowns and 8 interceptions. In the bowl-game against Notre Dame, Russell accumulated 350 yards of total offense and had 3 touchdowns while being named the game’s MVP in  a 41-14 win. At LSU’s pro-day, Russell measured and weighed in at 6’5 ½ 265 pounds, and was throwing 60 yard bombs from his knees. When people heard of this, most of them were saying, “he did what?” Guys with that kind of arm-strength are basically not human. Can Chad Pennington throw the ball even 50 yards with a running start and full wind-up? I doubt it.

    But Russell was basically the topic of pre-draft chatter after what he did at the LSU pro-day. What puzzles me is that nobody was really talking too much about his weight. A quarterback coming in weighing 265 pounds….wouldn’t there be some concern over weight issues? In my mind, yes, there should have been. But the Raiders went ahead and drafted Russell with the 1st pick in the 2007 draft, over the likes of Calvin Johnson, who head coach Lane Kiffin wanted, Adrian Peterson, who is a perennial NFL rushing leader year in and year out, and even Patrick Willis, who just signed a 5 year extension with $29 million guaranteed with the 49ers because of how much of a beast he is. Passing on franchise WR’s, future hall-of-fame RB’s, and Brian Urlacher-type LB’s could set your franchise back years. In fact, in what is definitely a weird coincidence, in the next three drafts for the Raiders after Russell, they drafted a RB, WR, and LB. (Darren McFadden in ‘08, Darrius Heyward-Bey in ‘09, and Rolando McClain in ‘10, just for kicks)

    So back to JaMarcus Russell. He held out his rookie training camp before signing a huge contract in the range of 6 years for $68 million with $31.5 million guaranteed. Russell didn’t even take a snap from center until December 2, 2007 when he did so against the Denver Broncos. Russell went 4 of 7 for 56 yards. He didn’t play again until December 23 when he played against the Jacksonville Jaguars. In a disastrous statistical game, Russell completed only 7 of 23 passes for 83 yards to go along with 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions, and 1 lost fumble. OUCH. After that performance, and the Raiders only sporting a 4-11 record, Lane Kiffin decided to start Russell in the last game of the season against the San Diego Chargers.  On Russell’s first pass as a starting quarterback, he threw an interception. Russell couldn’t finish the game after leaving early in the third quarter after an apparent injury. He did, however, finish the game completing 23 of 31 passes for 224 yards and a TD. I failed to mention he had three turnovers which led to 17 Charger points in a 30-17 loss. Without those 17 points, the Raiders would have won that game 17-13.

    In the 2008 season, Russell was named the starting QB in training camp and ended up starting  15 games. In what was his best statistical season in the NFL thus far in a very short NFL career,  Russell threw for 2,423 yards, 13 TD and only 8 INT’s. That was not a bad year for a guy who is only starting his first full season in the league. The Raiders thought they had something now. They thought wrong. Coming into the 2009 season, Russell was again named the starting QB in training camp, which didn’t surprise anybody after the season he had in ‘08. Which would end up being the beginning of the downfall of JaMarcus Russell, he finished a horrible season completing 48.8 percent of his passes with an abysmal 3 TD’s and 11 INT’s in 9 starts. During the season, he was also benched for the likes of Bruce Gradkowski and journeyman Charlie Frye. Russell really soured in the Raiders’ front office with his mediocre play and nonchalant attitude. He was often seen on the sidelines looking not interested and non-caring. By the end of the ‘09 season, Russell was now the #3 QB on the Raiders depth chart.
   
    In the off season, Russell was criticized for his lack of conditioning and the talk was beginning that the Raiders front-office personnel was trying to convince Al Davis that they had to move on from Russell. Davis eventually agreed and on May 6, 2010, less than 3 years after drafting him #1 overall, JaMarcus Russell was released by the Oakland Raiders. With $36 million already collected in paychecks and guaranteed money, and another $3 million coming his way in the form of a guaranteed paycheck, Russell collected $39 million from the Raiders for completing 52% of his passes, a little over 4,000 yards passing with only 18 TD’s and 23 INT’s. Now, Russell is jobless. What a shame for a guy to have so much talent, make so much money, to just not care about his job and then subsequently be released so soon into his career.

    There was talk that the Cincinnati Bengals were interested in bringing him in as a backup, and there was also speculation some teams were interested in bringing him in and playing another position. Russell is not budging.  The New Orleans Saints have already said they are not interested in bringing Russell back to his home town to backup Drew Brees. Russell has said that he is not at all interested in signing with the Arena Football League or the Canadian Football League. I believe he should leave all doors open. Even if he tried to boost his stock in the newly developed United Football League, I think that’d be great for him. Daunte Culpepper has just signed with a team out in Sacramento. Having two big-name guys in the league would be good for exposure and be good for Russell. He shouldn’t say, “I’m only going to play in the NFL, or nothing.” I truly believe a team in the UFL should definitely try to woo him into playing a year or two with them. He is only 24 years old and doesn’t turn 25 until August. Playing a year in another league where he could work on his conditioning, keeping his weight under control, and even his skills, he could benefit in all aspects. But with that said, having $39 million in the bank is unreal, maybe he’ll just retire. Who knows? Only JaMarcus does.

Giuseppi Logan radio tomorrow, Birthday May 22 -- Suzannah B. Troy

For Giuseppi Logan fans -- He will be on the radio tomorrow WFMU 11am jersey city NJ tomorrow and his birthday is May 22! Below is & 1st installment of video documentary with text by Dan Orth Guiseppi And Jay Logan Reunited After 40 Years. Suzannah Troy is a New York City multi-media artist and journalist.She has played a very big part in breaking the news to the local, national,and international media about the discovery of jazz legend Guiseppi Logan being alive and well.Suzannah was walking throughTompkins Square Park in East Greenwich Village in New York City one day in 2007. She encountered an older black gentleman playing a saxophone. His playing was very passionate,breath-taking,and captivating. Suzannah was mesmerized and swept off her feet by the heavenly sounds coming out of his saxophone. When he stopped playing, Suzannah engaged him in conversation.This was the beginning of a wonderful friendship,and a big chapter in the Guiseppi Logan Story. Two famous musicians,an 80 year-old father and his 47 year-old son, were reunited in New York City,New York on April 13, 2010 after having not seen one another for 40 years.Guiseppi is a multi-instrumentalist who is a genuine living legend of the jazz world.During the 1960's Guiseppi performed with jazz heavy-weights Thelonious Monk,John Coltrane,Charlie Mingus,Pharoah Saunders,Dizzy Gillepsie,Miles Davis,Sun Ra,Milford Graves,etc.He also recorded with some of them.Guiseppi was missing-in-action for close to 30 years.Many people thought he was dead.The American and International jazz world was electrified by the news that Guiseppi Logan was discovered playing alto-saxophone in Tompkins Square Park in Greenwich Village,New York City,New York in 2007! Signals To Noise,Spring Issue 2009, a music magazine, did a lengthy photo filled story on Guiseppi's very distinguished career as a jazz musician. Jay Logan has been a working musician since he was a teenager when he played and toured in his first bands.He has supported himself and his family his entire life as a professional musician.Jay's favorite musical genre is main- stream-pop,but he can very easily diversify into jazz. Jay has had an outstanding career as a performing and studio musician,songwriter,arranger,producer,recording artist,musical director,etc.He is very much sought-after by other musicians,producers,and people in the music business. Jay was born and raised in New York City.He and his mother Dorothy moved to Oakland,California in 1970 when she and Guiseppi seperated.Guiseppi was adamant about his son becoming a musician.Guiseppi was a very strict musician father.Guiseppi gave Jay his first music lessons from ages 1-7.Jay played the piano,some other instruments,and learned musical scales.Those very early childhood lessons and all that practicing sure did pay off for Jay! Stay tuned. Written By Dan Orth Video by Bobby Paulino


p.s. Folks here is my playlist YouTube documentary series that started it all and became a YouTube miracle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTssjT9rAmQ&feature=PlayList&p=D1175469A77B9F2C&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1

Global Exchange' Chevron report lacks System Dynamics view

Stocks and Flows - System Dynamics basics
A number of people have contacted me about the Global Exchange report on Chevron's Oil Operations around the World called The True Cost of Chevron. There are two sides here: Chevron haters who want to make sure I see the report and then will salivate over what I blog, and Chevron itself who wants my view on the report because it's balanced.

It is so because when I was in Grad School at UC Berkeley in City and Regional Planning, what consistently angered me was how some third world countries failed to provide for the needs of their poorest citizens. Now, Chevron-haters fail to note the problems in those same countries that I paid attention to at Berkeley (and beyond to a degree.)

What's captured my interest on this for a while now is the pavlovian negative reaction of San Francisco Bay Area activists who work for non-profits or some alternative media types who know them to Chevron. It makes me wonder what trial lawyers, and I know a ton of them, are behind their work. It's so much of a one-sided view that one is compelled to look, and in this blogger's role as disrupter to just about any sacred cow, this issue is too juicy for this space to ignore. Especially considering the lack of a rigorous, System Dynamics perspective, which I will explain below.

First, I have to admit I love the comprehensive approach of the report. Done well, it could be used as a business plan for Chevron's future. But the problem is The True Cost of Chevron leaves out facts to make a negative point about Chevron, thus losing its value as a guide to corporate improvement. Let's take the case of Richmond.

Very recently, just last week, the City of Richmond and Chevron settled a long battle over tax payments and Gayle The Mayor of Richmond really came out looking good on that score. Here's what was decided:

- Chevron will pay an additional $114 million to The City of Richmond over the next 14 years.
- The City of Richmond will stop its ballot measure to change the Utility Tax and Chevron will remove its proposal.
- The City of Richmond will drop its appeal of the Measure T Ballot measure, which was ruled unconstitutional.
- Chevron would wave $1.2 million it sought from the City related to Measure T.
- Chevron will make community contributions totaling $8 million.

Again, I have been critical of Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin on this in the past, but frankly I like her as a person so I was waiting, looking, and hoping for this kind of news. It's with us. So we think that battle's over, right? On to the Richmond Refinery issue? Right?

Well, if you look at the Global Exchange report, and you should do so, it doesn't at all mention the agreement. In an Internet age, one would think an update, one paragraph or two, would be easy to add. Not there.

That's the rub with the Global Exchange report. It is a list of anecdotal stories and tales to paint one view of a firm.

What I would have done if I were Global Exchange is this:

1) Build a comprehensive System Dynamics model of Chevron and its operations around the World.

My expertise is in the area of System Dynamics and I've built almost 200 models over my time. The best example is my Oakland Baseball Simworld sim which I built using the Forio Business Simulations FML Programming Language, and where one can run the business of the Oakland Athletics over a 15 year period and make decisions that are realistic. The sims has over 2,000 variables grouped in 956 equation sets. You can run thousands of scenario permutations, and the sim is based on real legal systems, like Redevelopment, and fiscal methods like franchise valuation.

Another System Dynamics (or "SD") model I constructed was in 1994 and for The East Bay Express and of The University of California at Berkeley's impact on The City of Berkeley.  The East Bay Express' editor John Raeside contacted me about building an "SD" model because he was convinced the University's decision to drop salary payments by five percent was going to harm the City of Berkeley.

For that, I created a 900 variable SD model, ran it several times, and concluded that the real economic issue wasn't the salary decrease, because the vast majority of UC Berkeley employees lived outside of Berkeley.  The real problem was rising Cal-Berkeley tuition costs, which choked-off student spending in Berkeley (remember about 60 percent of students lived in Berkeley at the time) and harmed Berkeley's sales tax revenue.

(You'd think Raeside would have been happy? No.  He wanted his view in SD form; I said I go with what the model runs showed and no changes for emotionalism.  Period.  End of story.  We parted ways. The model was an honest representation of the socio-economic dynamics of Cal in Berkeley.  I even predicted student demographic growth changes!  Given what's happened with rising tuition today, that study is more relevant than ever. )

In Chevron's case, I want to know how the business is ran in terms of the process of A to Z: from planning and development to oil extraction and distribution and consumption. One of the reasons I became interested in System Dynamics was Royal Dutch Shell's work using "Scenario Planning," and that was how I came to know the Emeryville - based Global Business Network. Peter Schwartz, who is one of the founders of GBN, used Scenario PLanning when he worked with Royal Dutch Shell in the 70s. (On a side note, one of the original members of GBN was Bob Klein, the owner of the now-famous Olivetto's Restaurant in Oakland.)

I'm not a fan of Scenario Planning without System Dynamics, because the outcome of any story is some kind of numerical picture. I tried to explain that to Schwartz a while back, but it didn't take with him. Not to be mean, just honest. It's important to understand the dynamics of a system and to do that, one must build a System Dynamics model. It's in the rigor of thinking about a system and then trying to build a representation of it that we understand it.

My Chevron System Dynamics Model would also include representations of government structure and country industry and demographics as they impact oil operations. Finally we would have to add concerns such as weather and earthquakes, and plant and investment rates over time, and local political, socio-economic, and criminal issues (like terrorism).

The end result would be a System Dynamics model that then allows one to test different corporate approaches. From that we can see their impact on firm's revenues and expenses and value. The uneducated will immediately jump to the idea that "it's all about money" but really having built so many of these models, I can explain that political issues always impact the bottom line.

From that I would write my report.

2 - Write An "Alternative Business Plan" For Chevron

The Chevron business plan would come from the conclusions after running the model. What's exciting about this approach is it allows us to actually see how the issues raised in the Global Exchange report impact Chevron and how different approaches and also improvements in the political problems of some of the countries where Chevron does business, impact the firm.

What's most valuable is the Chevron business plan can capture the attention of Chevron execs, shareholders, and activists. Online versions of the model would be open for anyone to run. It would change the nature of the debate about Chevron from its current, combative, at times idiotic, and really very anti-intellectual approach, to one that's reasoned, intelligent, and well-considered.

Global Exchange could very well be the organization that takes the steps I'm advocating. It would result in the most path-breaking effort since the Club of Rome's program that led to the World Models developed by Dennis Meadows and his team at MIT in 1971, and based on the paradigm of System Dynamics, created by Jay Forrester at MIT.  (And which was updated in the book Beyond The Limits which was based on a new model called World 3.)

Stay tuned because this cries for more on System Dynamics and Scenario Planning.