The Oil Drum

Exactly the opposite. The greater winds occur in colder conditions.

It's NOT PEAK ENERGY! It's PEAK OIL.

I think you misunderstand their situation -- they're ignorant of the ramifications not in denial.

Step Back,

As a former member of the mainstream media, I can tell you that is EXACTLY what is going on. When I proposed an expose on Canadian stock fraud boiler room operations, my editors at CBS told me that they were not interested in stifling business or in negative news.

The evolving state of journalism from the eighties to the present has been a change from investigative journalism, such as we saw during the Watergate era, to one of complicity and so-called "fairness." This rather brilliant ploy by the PTB, calling for "fair and balanced" reporting, played upon American's core need to be fair. This idea is an offshoot of the notion that everyone should get a chance. Before the advent of Republican hegemony, the FCC required that political presentations on TV and radio must air opposing viewpoints through the use of the Fairness in Media Act passed in 1949 and eliminated in 1987. The principal reason for this forced fairness was the simple fact that he who owns the printing press has freedom of speech, all others must beg for air-time. Once that rule was eliminated, the right wing seized upon this basic idea of "fairness" and turned it into a highly effective weapon. Because they were no longer required to supply a credible opposing viewpoint, they would either pit wildly mismatched opponents such Hannity and Colmes, or uses fringe opponents who would appear incredible no matter what they say. By using this execrable technique, the right wing could claim "fair and balanced" coverage while putting on what can only be called a parade of "news" propaganda.

Then the right wing radio shows which made no pretense to fairness, accuracy, or even sanity, simply dumped the opposing voice and launched its loud abrasive voice at the uneducated American and through the big brother technique of shouting a lie often enough and loud enough it permeated the simplistic American's mind as truth. For a great list of outrageous right-wing lies, canards, slurs, and libels, check out: http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/45983/.

Yes, the masses are not only being diverted by media, they are actively being brainwashed, witness global warming and the legion of Exxon funded "experts" who stepped in to pooh-pooh these alarmists who claim such outrageous science. Look at the hundreds of "think tanks" ( I call them zombie tanks) funded by the right wing to put forth "experts" whose sole job is to dilute the argument. Their job is not actually to win a scientific, economic or social argument, but to inject as much doubt into the argument as possible. They call it muddying the waters. This simple act of diversion enables their coporate sponsors to evade moral responsibility and to continue to profit from the death of the planet.

The reporters I've dealt with in the past ten years are on the whole an earnest group and, despite being cloaked in a mantle of "unbiased objectivity," they are dumb as a sack of hammers. They pride themselves on their unwillingness to research a topic. To be fair to them, the sheer workload heaped upon them often precludes research, but I have not heard a single reporter bemoan this fact. Now, lower level employees are no longer protected by the basic tenets of journalism. They toe the line because journalism jobs are far and few between. And this type of control means very little information dangerous to the PTB manages to percolate to the surface. Combine that with the gnat-sized attention span of the consumer and the media, and you have a wonderfully effective propaganda machine.

I think that the state of American/Soviet media should be obvious to anyone with eyes to see.

It appears to me that Mr. Icke is absolutely correct.

Demand management has been touted a lot and I am also a cautios optimist, but there is one problem with it - it has not been even demonstrated yet. We are going to need smart meters that follow the changing tarrifs and every user is going to have to install a equipment to manage the devices that can be managed - a tough idea to sell but not impossible of course.

In addition I can not estimate what portion of demand can be actively managed - I think refrigerators and A/C (to some extent) fall into this category but lighting and most industrial processes do not... I'd rather leave the question open until I see some expert evaluations on this. Until then it is simply a good idea, but there are many good, but likely impractical ideas on the line too - my personal best is an electrical car with swappable battery pack. Think of hundreds of battery packs recharged at the gas stations and balancing renewable power at the same time... sounds quite good IMO.