oil war

so the situation with Iran gets a little tense and the price of oil goes up again. A few weeks ago I heard on the radio a speech by Scott Ritter, former US military officer and UN weapons inspector, in which he detailed his investigation into the administration's plans to invade Iran. It was eerie, because mere days after I heard the speech, I started hearing the stuff he talked about: UN sanctions, UN security council action, Russia and especially China's reason's to oppose UN sanctions, and another unilateral US attack due to supposed "UN inefficacy" to paraphrase. And the preparation of "usable nuclear weapons"

If the American people can't see that we are "spending" blood for oil, then I don't know what to say. The Bush White House is acting like a paranoid drug addict who happens to have the biggest guns on the block. And yet people still support him. In other words, we're spending blood for oil and that's great. We need our oil so bad that it doesn't matter if a few thousand sons and daughters die. It certainly doesn't matter if a few hundred thousand arabs die. Is that really how it is?

Yes, oil drives our economy. Everyone is well aware of that fact. But do we really love it so much that we're not willing to cut back a little bit? Even if it helps to promote world peace? American's are good people, they all pray for world peace, even as they drive around in their SUV's or whatever to amuse themselves for a couple hours and escape from the boredom that is American life. What the hell is going on here?

Don't get me wrong, I'm as guilty as the next guy. I drive. But I bought a hybrid and I try to maximize fuel efficiency, because I'm willing to cut back a little bit. I'm willing to head in that direction. Am I still part of the problem? I don't know. But I do know that societies change and sometimes civilizations collapse. Paul and Anne Erlich's predictions seem as real as ever before, even as we cling to the illusion, the illusion of "sustainable growth". Sustainability is not about growth. Ultimately it is about long term stability. That means at the least cessation of growth and rejuvenation of ecological life support systems, aka ecosystems. Are we doing that? I don't think so. There are bright spots and inspiring examples, but it seems these are in a field of darkness.

I hope that it turns out that "its always darkest before dawn" is the case and humanity will experience a sea change in consciousness and continue on to find our greater purpose. I still hope and step on.