It's worth reading the comments on Howard's article, which assumes the US to be a white knight protagonist on a battle field full of evilness. Howard can't seem to accept that the US is also out to fulfill it's own interest rather than just using oil to manipulate the interests of other nations - he builds an equation full of complex variables without noting the existence of the most important of them. No doubt Eric will disagree. Simon ----- Original Message ----- From: Julie Krueger To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2008 4:17 AM Subject: [lit-ideas] WSJ -- Ode to Oil -- thoughts? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122791647562165587.html?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1&; Julie Krueger