We are in this together.. if we, the people who are the most acutely aware of this problem, can't collaborate and show a united, and fact-based approach, then there is no hope for us to affect change anywhere in the "real".

I strongly suspect that nothing we do will have any material impact on public policy, which is why I have increasingly described the 2005/2010 debate as roughly akin to a couple of engineers debating how long it will take for the Titanic to sink.

IMO, it is much later than most of us think, and I think that most Americans have two choices: (1) Dramatically reduce your consumption now, while you can do it voluntarily, or (2) You will be forced to do it later, much like the forced conservation we have seen in Africa.

I do think that the New York Times article ("Oil Innovations Pump New Life Into Old Wells") is another example of the "Iron Triangle" striking back (see explanation at the end).

I suspect that the recent flood of attacks on the near term Peak Oil position and on Peak Oil in general have a lot to do with the release of the EIA data showing a continued decline for all of 2006, as predicted by the HL models, in world and Saudi crude oil production--while oil prices have consistently been about two-thirds higher than in the 20 months prior to 5/05.

Again, all I can advise people to do is to ELP, i.e., "Cut they spending and get thee to the non-discretionary side of the economy."

Iron Triangle:

I I think that we are seeing an "Iron Triangle" of sorts defending the status quo concept of ever expanding energy supplies: (1) most housing, auto, financing and related companies; (2) Most MSM companies that are selling advertising to Group #1 and (3) some major oil companies, major oil exporters and energy analysts that are working for the major oil companies and exporters.

The housing/auto/finance group wants to keep selling and financing large homes and SUV's.

The MSM wants to keep selling advertising to the housing/auto group.

In my opinion, some major oil companies are afraid of punitive taxation, and some exporters are afraid of military takeovers. This group of oil companies, exporters and their analysts provide the intellectual ammunition for the other two groups, i.e., promising trillions and trillions of barrels of conventional and nonconventional oil reserves.