They just don't want anyone else to know. Matthew Simmons is a petroleum exploration investment banker closely associated with President Bush who has written a book on Peak Oil, Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy (2005). President Bush has also consulted with Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, conservative Republican from Maryland, the most knowledgeable and persistent voice on Peak Oil in Congress. Top neo-cons definitely know what's coming down, hence the occupation of Iraq, originally intended to prolong America's petroleum based economy a few more years.

Politically, "Morning in America" has worked so well as a propaganda slogan, lulling Americans into the comfort of trusting somnolence, that they are loath to give it up, even in the face of a rapidly approaching catastrophe for which they will be held accountable by future historians.

Kick out all the neo-cons. I mean it. Tell Bush, Rove, Cheney, Wolfowitz, et al., that they are no longer welcome in the Republican Party or at Republican events. They've screwed the American people, who are starting to wake up to the fact despite the propaganda coming from the neo-con controlled media, and they have fouled the Republican Party with policies contrary to true conservative principles. The country really does need small government, fiscally responsible politicians committed to protecting the rights of citizens, not these bone-headed, arrogant promoters of waste and corruption masquerading as conservatives. The question is, are Republicans smart enough to give the neo-cons the boot?

9/11 Truthers question everything connected with the September 11 attack. They regard every "official" position with a jaundiced and critical eye. They look for the paradoxes and gaps in the official narrative and try to construct alternate versions that are better aligned with verifiable records.

Fundamentalists accept uncritically the accounts of past events, try to gloss over inconsistencies, and justify by appeals to magic and the supernatural any records that cannot be reconciled by reason. Even figurative accounts are accepted at face value.

The "official" account of the events of September 11, 2001, is fraught with many inconsistencies and irregularities. Acceptance of these without further investigation is in keeping with the fundamentalist, rather the inquisitive, mindset. One must continually wonder why this one event in the history of our nation must be regarded as off-limits for critical examination under penalty of being labeled as some kind of lunatic, especially considering that the Bush Administration, which is the main source of the orthodox and official version, has been notoriously free of restraint in promulgating propagandistic fantasies and bald lies.

I've been on record with my friends and associates for about 5 years now predicting the demise of commercial aviation by 2020, due to the increasing scarcity and costs of petroleum.

In light of the events of the past few months, I will revise that prediction to 2015 and would not be surprised to see a major collapse of the aviation business starting as soon as 2012. Keep watching!

"We're Not All Sheep"

I Saw it on the "405" in Los Angeles while visiting the scintillating southland this past week. I want one badly.

Also, excellent posting, Chris Sinnnard!

As someone who sees an increasing share of his income coming from investments, I would still be delighted to be relieved of the burden of figuring out which part of my investment income is subject to a lower tax rate. In all fairness, no matter how you make a buck, by investing or through your labor, the buying power is the same and it should be taxed at the same rate (or not at all, but that's a different subject). The complexity of the tax code is just another means that those in power have of harassing and intimidating average citizens, to the point where a large number subject themselves to a super-tax, the costly hiring of paid tax calculators. The income tax is a psychological weapon the government wields against its own citizens, as much for placing them in a subservient role and for collecting data about their private and personal circumstances as it is for collecting revenue.

May the new President and Congress move swiftly toward the simplification of, reduction in, and eventual elimination of the personal income tax.

The Republicans have made an humongous botch job of their years in political power because they turned their party over to a bunch of exploitive criminals, the neocons, rather than sticking by their traditional principles. The fact that they have chosen John McCain as their presumptive nominee shows that they have learned nothing about the causes of this failure. The neocons have pushed Republicans into executing the worst components of what used to be regarded as the "liberal" program: uncontrolled deficit spending, using government as a tool for social engineering, and actively interfering with the internal affairs of other nations to "promote democracy". The kind of central planning we have seen the Bush Administration promoting in fields like education is straight out of Communist Russia.

This "top down" approach is the antithesis of the branch of conservatism that seeks to preserve our heritage of Constitutional government, protecting citizens' rights and practicing the principles of federalism. The neocon version of conservatism is not derived from American traditions, but from the dictatorships and absolute monarchies of Europe.

The Republican party would be well served by frog-marching Bush, Cheney, Rove, and their neocon ilk to the exits and spending the next four years reflecting on the ways in which they betrayed the party and the American people. Maybe next time around the Republicans will be able to present to the voters a candidate that truly promotes respect for Constitutional processes, citizens' rights, fiscal responsibility, and use of diplomacy instead of violence in international relations.