Peakah's Provocations...

Real "Conservatives" understand The Petro Paradox.
That true conservation is the preservation of those things that keep our ability to exist on this planet as a human race possible.

I think it's time for a new Manhattan Project.

Oil is a finite resource...
...yes I think that we should be drilling more domestically, the Caribou will live, at least for now.
The new found capitalism in China and India will create exponential increases in world consumption of oil.
Oil is a finite resource...
Not to mention the potential of countries all around the world to join the wild bandwagon of liberation... all through the middle east, africa, asia, south america...
The engine to all these economies to come to join in the free markets will have to run on Oil... and have I made it clear that oil is a finite resource?

I think it's time for a New Manhattan Project.

Get the worlds best and the brightest.
Give them all the necessary resources, all the most updated studies and give them a time limit and secrecy.
5 years to come up with a revolutionary, practical solution to find infinite resources to construct the energy of our society on.
I know what your thinking... "Oh, create a new federal department and beaurocracy that's completely redundant to dozens of other federal and state departments!"
Well, yeah... but they can only exist for 5 years, and at the end of that five years we will have to have a soluable and practical solution that can be pulled off over the course of the next century or we jail them for life for derelict of duty. If they happen to actually pull it off (which I personally think it's possible) all those wastes of governemental beaurocracies can actually be given some long term goals to all work towards.

*shrug*

All I know something eventually needs to be done.
I don't think that not doing so will bring about the immediate collapse of our civilization as the author of the above article suggests in his first paragraph, but wouldn't having a long term solution to international oil dependence be a nice thing to have in the bank for our kids? I know, I'm not full of solutions myself. I can raise the question and throw it out to you tho so there!

Our generation can solve this, I think it's one of our great generation's missions.
The proven possibilities are there, they're easily available. Our infrastructure, attitudes and perspective has to change. That happens when a well thought out and practical plan emerges and we take it on as an United States. *grin* Pipe dream? Perhaps... money talks, BS walks.

Am I just BS'ing or is this something that should be discussed? If it's being discussed on a long term scale somewhere in our government or perhaps in some think tank will someone refer me to some references???

It's still a paradox to me.

UPDATE: (12/11/04)
SEE "Anything into Oil"
Thanks Alan!