Unveiling the Light

In Hollywood a man can shoot a web and swing down New York avenues or leap from tall buildings without getting scratched. In Hollywood bullets can curve in mid flight to go around objects. In Hollywood young geniuses save the world and good intentions always save the day. Watch a movie today and you know that the oil companies are evil; the government is corrupt but the young maverick coming up from nowhere has the answers and will save the day. Well, take heart America because Hollywood has taken over Washington D.C. and our problems are over.

Barak Obama recently chided McCain for a policy that proclaims, “We can drill our way out of the current problem.” He also criticized him for backing nuclear power without a complete solution having been achieved for nuclear waste and for proposing a tax cut on fuel as a help to consumers as too little to matter. Did you hear the thunderous silence that followed these statements? It is the silence of the alternatives he put forth. He had absolutely none!

If we can’t drill for oil or build nuclear plants, are we to start building solar panels on every square inch of American soil? Will that be faster or more practical? Perhaps we should all put windmills on the top of our houses? Then, at least on windy days, we could turn on our lights! Is that to much to ask of the people in charge? Give us some solutions people! If we can’t drill for oil because it will take too long and we can’t build nuclear because it’s not yet perfect, so what can we do? Do we go back to horses and buggies? What about the waste they produce? Do we begin producing methane gas from huge piles of horse manure in the center of New York City?

We can’t drill up to 12 miles off our shores but somehow it’s okay for other countries to do so 13 miles out or where their territory crosses ours such as off Cuba? It’s dangerous for U.S. countries to drill for oil there but okay for China, Cuba and Mexico to do so? Oh, a platform off our shores might cause an oil spill, so instead, let’s import oil in giant super oil tankers from enemies overseas and have them sale our pristine waters, right next to the garbage barges from liberal eastern cities! They won’t spill any oil and they are much safer, right? Sure they are … yeah, right.

Actually, it’s all okay because we are going to invent a new source of energy called allfornothinggogood. McCain said so because he would create thousands of Manhattan projects creating just such a miracle by offering the winner $300,000,000. I am sure you want your neighbor playing with these chemicals in his garage hoping to be the next J. Paul Getty. Oops, there goes the southern half of Magalia. Guess that new super battery just didn’t work out. I hate to break it to these Hollywood Moguls but the Manhattan project didn’t come out of nothing and was hardly a backyard project. Apple Computer may have started in a garage but it was based on finding new applications and uses from the work of NASA, IBM, and other giants. They thought outside the box, they did not invent something totally new.

We are not living in the movies. Good intentions won’t do it. We can’t swing across town on webs or leap tall buildings in a single bound and we can’t wish our way out of $4.50 a gallon gas. But there are solutions to the energy crisis. Its hard work and realistic goals set by grounded government officials depending on the private sector! Yes, we need to find alternatives and it will take billions of dollars of research and decades of work, much of which has already begun. It may be hydrogen cells; it may be an alternative fuel. It may include tidal action and it most definitely will not be corn ethanol which is the boondoggle Congress has set on the American people in two centuries.

It will probably be the following: Oil, which will remain a large portion of our energy supply for decades and which also, provides the basis for most products we use as plastic is an oil derivative. We need to drill, period! The fact is we hold more oil than Saudi Arabia. That we refuse to access it is pure insanity and national suicide. Coal will also be a part of the solution. Nobody has more coal than we do. Liquefied coal can be burned quite cleanly. It is more expensive than the raw product but quite competitive to oil. Nuclear is an absolute must. We invented nuclear and have allowed ourselves to fall far behind. Not only can nuclear power be used to provide power with zero emissions but it can be used to provide a cheap source of fresh water to coastal states. Power plants can generate electricity by day and process fresh water by night when electrical demand is low.

Solar and wind power are part of the mix but; the, oh so non Hollywood reality is that they will never be more than a minor part. The fact is that both are inefficient and unreliable. Windless or cloudy days mean unreliable power and modern society cannot be so dependent on nature for its needs. We are a scientific and machine driven society and we should realize that we need cheap sources of energy or our modern way of living and progress as a society is a thing of the past. Those that fly in private jets and are driven in private limos don’t tell you the truth that they want you to park your car and take up your bicycle but they have no intention of doing so themselves. Their houses remain at 68 degrees while they expect you to swelter in the heat, freeze in the cold, and reduce your standard of living so they can feel good about their life style.

We have been fed the biggest con of the century. We have been convinced to not seek the energy sources available and then told that the high prices for energy are to be expected in a world of scarce resources. We are told that it takes too long to go find the energy now but are given no alternatives other than higher prices and to do with less. The fact is that the elite are happy with higher prices because it puts “the masses” in our place and puts them in control where they feel they belong. They can now dictate to us how to live our lives and we are financially vulnerable because we allowed them to put us here.

The key questions in this election should be, will the candidate drill for oil? Will the candidate build refineries? Will the candidate build nuclear plants? Will the candidate provided incentives to industry to find alternative fuels? Only if they answer these four questions yes do they deserve our vote. If they don’t follow through they should be immediately impeached. If the judicial stands in the way, they should be immediately impeached. There is probably no more important decision in our lives. The fact is that democracy is dead without economic freedom and without energy there is no economy to speak about. It is not about being green and it is not about conservation. It is about having an economy that allows democracy to work. Energy is not an option. It is mother’s milk to our society.

What does this have to do with God? This is about justice and what is happening now is very unjust to a great many people, especially the poorest among us. Also, without our economy we will lose our freedom and without our freedom we will surely lose our ability to freely worship as we wish. I want to serve God, not some government elite.