I suppose the words of our president's speechwriters fall upon the ears of the indifferent. In your commentary on fuel [Fuel Duel, Dorothy Wickenden 05/22/06 The New Yorker Magazine], the facts of history have been repeated once again. Catch phrases like, "Energy Crisis," and, "Dependence on Foreign Oil," have been repeated over and over during the past thirty-five years. Thirty-five years.... My... how little has changed and how much time has gone by. I would have thought by now we would all be riding around in hydrogen fuel cell cars and nuclear, wind and solar sources would produce our electricity. Or at least by majority LNG sources. But, alas... there is no real intention to do anything about this issue. This type of issue is simply cocktail chatter. So much fluff. Sure, it is a real problem, but since there is still money to be made; an actual solution would be... um... "Un-American."

So, we treat this like an infomercial. Something we know is real but.... Say! Have you seen LOST this week? How about America's Top Model?

We talk about "Energy Crisis'" now, but next month it will be something else. Perhaps a terrorist-in-the-box for our America's Most Wanted viewers or maybe a dramatic Iraqi "Insurgent" race across the dessert for our NASCAR folks. The proposal to change the name of our country to The United States of Esso will be overlooked on page 26, along with Senate appropriations for Iraq topping 300 billion dollars. This solution would change our status from citizen to employee, and in this way we can do more for our "national security" rather than just subsidizing oil companies with tax breaks, while they manipulate markets and politicians, rake in record profits and laugh all the way to the bank.

Sometimes I wish they would just be honest about their intentions. They should just say, "Hey, we have all the money so we are more important for our country's national security, than it's own citizens." "We don't ever want you to not be dependent on us, so we will manipulate your energy future by providing all of your solutions." So from our Heroin-addicted present energy state, we can look forward to a future of Methadone-alternative sources with the blessings from our Oilygarky administration, congress and senate