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Viridian Note 00437: Energy Security
Links:
Ukrainian journalist has head removed;
Ukrainian security chief blows own head off.
It's all about Internet journalism and
fossil fuel scandals, when you dig down deep enough. Rest in peace, Georgiy. Ambitious Austinite plug-in hybrid scheme. James Baker, Bush Consigliere, wants alternative fuels;
urges industry to listen to Shell and BP. The Viridian Visionary contest has ended,
and we have a winner.
"Decision Brief "Set America Free "(Washington, D.C.): Saudi Arabia's oil minister, Ali al-Nuaimi, recently announced that he expected the price of oil to remain at unconscionably high levels of between $40 and $50 per barrel through 2005. Ironically, every American should be grateful. (((I know I am!))) "Friends Like These "Such gratitude is not, of course, due the Saudis == who, we are endlessly told, are among our most reliable 'friends' in the Middle East == because they are working to drive down the price of oil set by the OPEC racketeers' cartel. To the contrary, the Saudis appear content to keep prices exorbitantly high, even though they are well aware of the adverse impact such artificially inflated costs have on the financial well-being of their principal protector, the United States. "Rather, we should be appreciative for what should be the proverbial camel's back-breaking straw: A final wake-up call, one that establishes unmistakably that it is neither in the United States' strategic national security nor economic interests for this country and other industrialized nations to continue relying upon imported oil from those who wish to do us harm. (((Okay, wait, it's about to get better.))) "Fortunately, as columnist Fareed Zakaria noted in the March 7 edition of Newsweek, we can respond immediately to this call: 'Tomorrow, President Bush could make the following speech:'...It is now possible to build cars that are powered by a combination of electricity and alcohol-based fuels, with petroleum as only one element among many. My administration is going to put in place a series of policies that will ensure that in four years, the average new American car will get 300 miles per gallon of petroleum. And I fully expect in this period to see cars in the United States that get 500 miles per gallon.'" (((500MPG?!? Yeah, that would be par for the Bush course all right == faith-based internal combustion engines.))) "A World Transformed" (((We're bound to get that no matter what; the question is how many of us survive to see that world and how much of it is on fire.))) "Needless to say, the widespread availability of such cars == and the alternative fuels they would utilize == would literally change the world. (((Yeah, this calls for visionary daring... maybe they're powered by flying pigs strapped into treadmills!))) "Our enemies would be denied the geo-strategic leverage they currently enjoy, as indigenously produced energy sources derived from coal, (((oh boy))) biomass (((woah)))) and garbage (((yahoo!))) knock the pegs out from under the cartel's control of the commodity upon which our transportation sector heavily depends. (((And that commodity is bayonets! Oh wait, that would be the unilateral military cartel.))) "In particular, we would no longer have to export tens of billions in petrodollars (((yay!))) that are used, in part, to promote the Islamofascist ideology (((well, yes))) that animates many of those determined to kill us. (((You know what? Venezuelans have oil and they don't like us either!))) (The Saudi government’Äôs hand in proselytizing along precisely those lines was clearly demonstrated in a study, released last month by Freedom House, (((cranks)))) of hate-mongering materials officially produced and distributed in this country by the Kingdom.) (((This is what really bugs the Center for Security Policy == the idea that Wahhabis dare to enter the game of distributing wacky pamphlets to the American populace.))) "We can also greatly reduce our vulnerability to disruptions of critical energy infrastructures, at home and abroad. Our foes have learned how easy it is for them to cost us dearly by blowing up a pipeline or sinking a tanker." (((Boy, I'll say.))) "Creating diverse alternative fuel sources here at home is, simply put, a national security imperative." (((Not that that would help much against domestic
terrorists who might want to try attacks on critical
American energy infrastructure.))) "Not least, this is true since we are likely to
find increasing competition from China for limited
oil will become a flash point for future conflict,
(((Okay, so who's the heavy here == the Saudis
hoarding cartel oil, or the Chinese buying it?)))
"if not an actual casus belli. Already, the PRC
is frantically making strategic alliances with
oil-exporting terrorist-sponsoring states like Iran,
Sudan and Venezuela. (((The Venezuelan Moslem
menace finally rears its head... how 'bout
Nigeria?))) It is also moving to buy up Canadian,
Brazilian and Indonesian energy sources, ((((more
enemies of the state, especially those sinister
Canadians)))) transparently with a view to
denying them to us as well as meeting "Setting America Free "As Zakaria reports, there is now a blueprint for energy security (www.SetAmericaFree.org) that can translate available technologies into widely available fuel and automotive products and catalyze the sorts of outcomes described above. (((You gotta see this: look at this weird crowd of
Iran-Contra vets, spooks, and rightwing
thinktankologists. It's like a version of
WINNING THE OIL END GAME through Alice's
looking glass.))) "Specifically, this blueprint envisions a new
Manhattan Project on energy independence
(((wait a minute, we already had one of those
and it blew up two Japanese cities))) "This blueprint envisions allocating such expenditures in the following, practical ways: "$2 billion for automotive manufacturers to cover one-half the costs of building flexible fuel vehicle-capability [that is, autos that can use ethanol or methanol based fuels] into their new production cars (i.e., roughly 40 million cars at $50 per unit); (((are you listening, Amory "Hypercar" Lovins?))) "$1 billion to pay for at least one out of every four existing gas stations to add at least one pump to supply alcohol fuels (an estimated incentive of $20,000 per pump, new pumps costing approximately $60,000 per unit); (((that's practical thinking, all right; just buy all the gas-pumps in America))) "$2 billion in consumer tax incentives to procure hybrid cars; (((hallelujah))) "$2 billion for automotive manufacturers to
commercialize plug-in hybrid electric "$3 billion to construct commercial-scale demonstration plants to produce non-petroleum based liquid fuels (utilizing public-private cost-sharing partnerships to build roughly 25 plants in order to demonstrate the feasibility of various approaches to perform efficiently at full-scale production); ((('cause we need to bribe roughly 25 porkbarreling Congressmen))) and "$2 billion to continue work on commercializing fuel cell technology." (((Admit it! It's infinitely better than the Bush energy plan!))) "The Bottom Line "In the course of the 2000 presidential campaign, then-candidate George W. Bush declared: 'Detroit is ready now to make cars that would run on any combination of gasoline and alcohol == either ethanol, made from corn or methanol, made from natural gas or coal or even wood. Let us turn away from our dependence on imported oil to domestic products == corn, natural gas, and coal == and look for energy not just from the Middle East but from the Middle West.' (((Oh yeah, man! A coalburner in every garage!))) "This was a sensible strategy before 9/11. Today, it is absolutely mandatory. Like Nixon going to China, (((just before dodging his inevitable impeachment))) a President from Texas oil country is just the man to launch the Manhattan Project that Sets America Free." (((Whaaah? What happened to Chevron, Exxon-Mobil and Halliburton? Wait == are they all in the round file with Enron? I am so with that! Tell me more!)))
Secret SXSW Interactive Party Info: The host: Bruce Sterling, ACCD Visionary in Residence The official sponsors: SXSW Interactive, WIRED magazine and the Art Center College of Design The Time: Tuesday, March 15 The Place: The American Legion Hall The Gimmick: The upside: free beer, magazines, O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O
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