CLEARING MY MIND 

A cool, overcast morning, and suddenly I'm ready to pull out the weeds I've been looking at in the back yard for weeks.  I began attacking the old, brown, sodden stalks in my tiny papyrus "grove."  Perhaps my zeal was fueled by the thoughts I couldn't express yesterday.

ART 

Yesterday, Robert and I drove over to Ocean Beach in San Francisco.  I wanted to see the 100 wooden Indians by Thom Ross, placed in the sand in front of the ocean. He painted the figures based on a black and white photo of a Wild West show performed in 1902 by Buffalo Bill Cody.  It was neat, but I had forgotten to bring my camera!!

We took a walk on the beach, soaking up the cool fresh air.  Next we drove over to the Asian Art Museum to take in the new Ming Dynasty show and admire all the wonderful objects in the galleries.  My favorite piece was a scroll painting of court ladies.  They were depicted in lovely groups--some playing ball, golf (!), serving refreshments, just like at any backyard party!  Their lovely black hair was decorated with blue ornaments, and the pattern of their heads created the most beautiful flow in the scroll.

THE NEW GREAT GAME: BLOOD AND OIL IN CENTRAL ASIA,
Lutz Kleveman

PEAK OIL PRODUCTION AND ITS GLOBAL CONSEQUENCES. A Very Unpleasant Truth
Co-authors, W.D. Lyle Jr. Ph.D. and  L. Scott Allen, Ph.d 

While we drove, Robert played a program he had recorded from the Internet from an interview from a site he often reads: http://www.Financialsense.com.  The guest was journalist and photographer, Lutz Kleveman.  He has written a new book:  The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia.  What he had to say was tremendously eye-opening about geo-politics.

We have to really dig to get this kind of IMPORTANT information that is shaping our present and future.  I found Kleveman (a native German) to be extremely articulate and compelling about the oil situation, and the major players in who gets the pipelines in Central Asia.  Following that, we listened to another program of two engineer/scientists/physicists who understand the fragile state of our oil dependency--rightly, referred to as our addiction to oil. 

For the first time, I really got a clear understanding of what the stakes are with our lack of an energy policy.  The Saudis are not going to increase the flow on the their "spigot."  They really don't have unlimited resources there, and are already planning to conserve for the future. The oil fields in Central Asia are going to be the next battleground for power, and this of course, becomes the core issue in our future national security.  These land-locked areas require a thousand miles of steel, and, as Kleveman pointed out, pipelines are basically indefensible structures.

Most of our current fields were discovered thirty, forty years ago, and no new big reserves have been found, and those in development won't even be ready for perhaps ten years.  Mexico's oil field is rapidly diminishing, and will perhaps be running out in two to three years. The size of deposits and the feasibility of getting oil from off-shore areas--if undertaken--is by no means fully known at this point, and could prove extremely difficult.

Bio-fuel simply can't provide the amount of oil we have come to depend on.  Other sources aren't really ready yet or even easily distributed.  Common-sense points to conservation and public transportation, but no major programs are being proposed at this point. 

How long can we keep turning a blind eye to our most serious national problem, hoping that some miracle will "fix" it, so we can continue our present consumption.

Sorry if I sound like I'm on a bandwagon, but I'm tired of the political platitudes about this great world the candidates are promising.  Do they listen to programs like these to educate themselves?