Well, we're two weeks into the New Year and already the world of geopolitics, sports and a whole lot more are heating up. 

Let's start with football.  Indy lost!  I never would've figured and my faithful readers may remember just a few weeks ago I predicted Indy for the Super Salad Bowl.  I'm sorry folks, but Super Bowl sounds so ridiculous.  Anyway, Indy got tossed like a salad even though the officiating was, shall we say, more than inadequate!!  The Broncos surprised me the most as I never figured they would play such an inspired game as they did against the champs.  Still , they have a tough row to hoe to beat the Steelers.  The Steelers were absolutely on fire.  They totally outmuscled the Colts and truly busted them right in the mouth.  Da Bears couldn't muster enough and del Homme passed all around them to Smith.  Impressive.  Then there's my west coast dark horse, the Seahawks sticking it to Washington, the only real pretender in the playoffs in my humble opinion.  I picked the Seahawks from the NFC and I'm stickin' with em'.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Panteras took 'em however.  No hedging, just reality.  I'd love a Broncos - Seahawks match in the big game.  Go AFC west!! Old school.

As for more serious matters, you may recall I said to keep an eye on Iran in the coming New Year and the first two weeks have proven we just can't leave well enough alone.  The Neo Nazis who are masquerading as Constitution supporting, virtuous, God fearing Republikanz are making more noise about Iran's nuclear program.  What they won't ever mention is that Iran exports about 60% of its oil.  It's a country that wants badly to modernize like India , that infidel nation of animists, has done just a thousand klicks or so to the east.  If Iran is going to do that, they need to generate income which they will do with exporting their one, true natural resource, petroleum. Their petroleum production has already peaked and so they are looking at slow declines in production which, of course, means less income to modernize. Their nuclear program is intended for production of electricity for domestic use.  I find it highly interesting that the International Atomic Energy Agency has inspected testing facilities all over the country and not found ANY evidence of anything approaching the development of nuclear weapons. I know, it's run by those damn foreigners so they can't be trusted.  Well folks, I'd say we did an incredibly shitty job of tracking Iraq's weapons of Mass Destruction so do you really think our own "intelligence" is that reliable?
This is not to say that there aren't more than a few numbnuts in that country who wouldn't love to use nukes to dominate their Sunni neighbors and possibly destroy Israel.  What I find incredible is that to really attempt to do so would invite total destruction of the Persian people and their culture.  So it's not like they are such brilliant tacticians that they couldn't totally screw up.  But tell me, who is bullying whom, here?

I've said it before and I will hereby restate it: This bellicose posturing by my beloved country is about control of petroleum.  The nuclear weapon stuff is a red herring thrown out by the Neo Numbnuts in Washington.  Listen to the talking heads, the administration lackeys, and certain congressmen/senators talk about sanctions but listen for their words about what happens if they don't work. What do you think "further action" would entail?  If Bush, big dick and Wolfie miscalculate it'll make Iraq look like a tail gate party at your favorite stadium.  A bit messy.  Iran will be a different story.  Our fine young men and women serving their country have been stretched about as thin as they can be. Bush has no problem stretching our military further if it props up his cronies.

Dudes, oil production is peaking , if not this year then in the next couple.  That means that there will be insufficient production to meet demand. It DOES NOT mean there suddenly won't be any oil at all.  That's nonsense. The net result of oil peaking will be stiff increases  in oil ( see gasoline and deisel) prices and pressures on our economy, not to mention every other industrialized country on Earth as countries like ours, China, India, Japan and the whole European Union have to compete for decreasing supply of oil to keep their economies going .  This posturing we are now witnessing is the latest indication that King George and Prince Dickweed know this, and are totally unwilling to address anything having to do with renewables in any meaningful way.  The military solution is the only way they can come up with to assure that the Americans can continue to drive dozens of miles daily from suburbia to work, American kids can cruise Main Street, and we  can continue to use the most destructive techniques imaginable to mine our soils to feed ourselves. We have, as a nation, wasted hundreds of billions of dollars pursuing the imposition of democracy in Iraq instead of doing the more difficult, but necessary thing of developing a variety of renewable energy sources.  The majority of tax breaks and incentives in the most recent Energy Bill went NOT to renewable developments but to oil companies.  Folks, the earth is running out of places to look for this incredible substance, petroleum,  but we are in no way acting like we believe it will ever run out.
A final note: there has been some very intelligent discussion at a website   theoildrum.com about this and a host of other issues that revolve around the earth's oil production peaking.  I suggest you check out this site and read what many who contribute to this site have to say. It's always thought provoking even if I don't get some of the intense engineering stuff or the doctoral math presentations.  Our national leaders are totally ignoring the topic of peak oil and are clearly willing to bully other countries in order to assure oil supplies for ourselves.  This is not the USA I grew up to believe in. I think the Iranian leadership sucks shit through a tube. However, our behavior is nothing more than a smokescreen for an entirely different motive and is as UNAMERICAN and UNconstitutional as can be.  Keep you eyes and ears open folks.  There are tons of different angles to this charade that Washington is perpetrating.  It ain't about nukes, it's about oil.
Peace to all. 

Buzzy, I agree with you 100%. We're in for a rude awakening if we wait to get out of bed when the alarm is going off. We should be getting out of bed NOW and stretching, preparing for the alarm to go off. Cuz when it does, we'll have a depression the likes of which could cause as much social unrest like the days of the French civil wars, etc. Do what we can. Invest our own money into renewable power to provide for our own families. That's at least a first step.

You have not ranted for over a month...let's get a move on it!!!