My thoughts:

First off, he tells a good story to sell a book he's written, The Energy Non-Crisis. He was entertaining, and most of what he said sounds plausible. I really don’t have any reason to believe or disbelieve it, but it sounds like a twisted tale.

Overall, he seems very surprised that these corporations (oil companies) are drilling for profit, and that the government and/or a private company would be funny about securing information about its intellectual property or natural resources. He also seems taken aback that our government would do something nasty like set up Iraq for an oil war. Now I’m not that old, but I’ve been around long enough to know that politics are nasty and dirty and corrupt. That’s why they’re politicians; they lie and cheat. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Bush, a Clinton, an Obama, etc. I've got to believe that if the first Bush deal was so twisted, nasty, and dangerous, the first Clinton would have foiled that (but obviously not). Politicians want only one thing: power over you. That’s why they’re there. You and I can’t do anything different about the situation.

I agree with him when he said that, quote “you have to depend on the automobile in California,” (at the 52:00 mark), but I really wish he’d have at least acknowledged the fact that you don’t have to…you don’t have to depend on the automobile, and you don’t have to fill it with gasoline. He’s managing by fear – making his audience afraid of what he’s saying (he keeps using the word “startling”). He dwells on his points and does nothing positive for the audience but generating revenue for his book sale. All he’s doing is pointing fingers. One of his largest claims is that the IMF and World Bank are getting rich on our oil sales. Sounds plausible. I’m sure somebody’s getting rich on it; I know I’m not.

In all, it was an interesting video. But to be honest, it brings me back to what I said before. I hate to keep writing the same thing, but if you don’t like the price of oil, QUIT BUYING IT. Oil companies are getting rich. The IMF/World Bank is getting rich. George Bush is getting rich. Saddam is dead because of Bush. Etcetera, etcetera.

But the most beautiful, the most WONDERFUL part of it, and probably the most ironic, is that it all depends on YOU and on ME. As Mr. Williams points out, oil is one of the few universal human controllers. We know that already. So quit using it. They can’t control you if you run 100% biodiesel in your CTD Ram. They can’t control you if you convert your Dakota and blend your own ethanol. They can’t control you if YOU are deciding where your fuel comes from.

Of course, the petroleum industry touches all. It directly affects the price we pay for almost everything. We can’t control any of that. A political vote certainly won’t do it. So what do you have influence over? Perhaps the largest petroleum-related expense you have is the fuel for your vehicle. Change that, and you change the entire equation. You move the power from them to you.

I love how everyone talks about supply and demand, and politicians with their hands in oil companies pockets. How easily we forget the past and shift the blame where it doesn't belong. Sherman, please set the way-back machine to the 1990's and let's take a trip down memory lane.

Anyone remember something called the EV1? It was a car designed, built, and put into production by General Motors. An ELECTRIC car! Oil companies were afraid BACK THEN that they would loose their trillian-dollar monopoly on transportation fuel sources and there were even threats that Gas prices would skyrocket if they knew the end of the oil monopoly was comming. Oil companies even went far enouth to buy patients to prevent NiMH batteries from being used in electric cars. As a responce to that, and other political pressures, General Motors scrapped the project and DESTROIED every EV1 they made (except a few they disabled for auto museums). General Motors said the car wasn't feasable, even though they had people lining up with money in hand to buy (not lease!) them.

Let's fast forward now to Hurricane Katrina. The US Oil industry took a HUGE blow and needed a quick recovery. Do you think the money to repair their facilities came out of their own pockets? Why not jack up the price of gas to cover the unexpected expense! Whatever insurance didn't cover, higher gas prices did, and they still turned a profit. But due to the higher prices, demand once again grew for alternative fueled cars. I seem to remember them (oil companies) saying that the raise in price was only short-term. I seem to remember the government saying that very same thing about the War too. Hmmmmm....

Fast forward to today, we've got hybrid cars rolling off the assembly lines. The OIL companies KNOW that their automotive future is limited, even though Oil is used in almost everything these days, and they use the excuse of not only low supply (which we in Canada all know for a FACT is bull), but of hurricane katrina (STILL!) in order to validate their high prices.

You might ask why we Canadian's know the shortage story is bull? The Canadian oil fields produce a vast majority of the US Oil supply, and hurricane Katrina was nowhere near Canada. With continued discovery of new oil fields in Canada, it's hard to believe that America has a shortage, since almost all of our oil goes to you guys. I mean, Canada only has ONE actual refinery, so it's not like we're using all the oil we produce. We're selling it to the US Tax free, they convert it into Gasoline (and other stuff) and sell it back to us with inflated prices and high taxes. Awfully nice of em.

As an added note, they just found a large Oil field in Eastern Canada as well. More oil available = higher prices? How's that work? Personally I think it all goes back to their threats in the 90's to jack prices through the roof if the auto industry ever began to produce hybrid or gas-free vehicles. Let's face it, when they advertise that they've made a profit of over 10 BILLION DOLLARS and they still raise their prices, it's IMPOSSIBLE to buy any hard-luck stories they come up with.

Our countries need to come up with laws against OIL price hikes. You can get around Gas-Gouging laws if the Oil prices are what is driving the Gas prices. Gas-Gouging laws are meaningless to big oil companies. They're like kingpin drug dealers! Like they care if the little guy selling half a quarter of a percent of their product gets nailed. Big woop! Start making Oil-Gouging laws and we might actually get some relief at the pumps.

Oh, and if you REALLY want to see a REAL PUBLISHED DOCUMENTARY on the issue I would suguest "Who Killed the Electric Car". You can find a Wiki page on it here;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Kil...lectric_Car%3F

I found it interesting to find that Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and Andrew Card, are all former executives and board members of oil and auto companies

Thanks for watching, as for what you said.. most of it i agree with. Did you understand what he was talking about when he said we cant run oil from alaska to The U.S due to the U.S Dollor becoming worthless due to some jackass that made the 3rd worlds sign a contract.. ya i think thats all bull.. and ya i know he was trying to promote the book, but he had alot of good info, and thats mainly what i wanteded everyone to hear. Some of that stuff was new to me... some of it i already knew.

There was a lot of information in that video that I had never heard before. He did a lot of saying, "I was there, so that's how I know," but at the same time, it'd be nice if he'd provide some footnotes to actual sources that could back up his information. I know, he'll say he can't do that because it's all a conspiracy and nobody else knows. Well, maybe. But like I said above, I haven't been around long, but I have been around long enough to know that politicians are very self-centered folks, and a conspiracy necessarily requires everyone to be working for ONE common end-point. There are way too many motives in congress (ie: politicians) for me to buy off on the notion that there's one HUGE conspiracy against the American people, and indeed the world, and nobody knows about it but this one guy, Mr. Williams.

Idon't know for a fact that anything he said was false; and I don't know for a fact that any of it was true. So I personally take it with a grain of salt. Even if I knew that every word he said was accurate down to the letter, I'd still feel the same way I do now, and it's the same way I feel in general about politics in this country. And that is, all that stuff happens at echelons way above that which I can control, so I'm not going to agitate over it. Republicans have their motives and pet projects, and democrats have theirs. A change in administration might remove the "oil" motive, but it won't remove the motive...it'll simply be something else. We're going to pay for it in the end, regardless of what it is. Because, after all, politicians aren't in power for us, they're in power for them.

A good book to read, on a related note, is The Bottomless Well, by Peter Huber. It's a great book, and demonstrates how we really have no idea how much oil is still left in the ground, and how our move to make everything we do more efficient has caused us to use more energy, not less of it. But, he says that's fine because we'll never run out of energy, and the way he presents it, I totally agree with it. Good book, check it out. http://www.amazon.com/Bottomless-Wel.../dp/0465031161