Who really has the oil addiction?

It wasn't too long ago that President Bush was telling us all that we have a hideous addiction to oil. But now that the barrel price has freefalled almost 50% in the last 3 months we're not the ones standing up declaring ourselves addicts anymore.

While the United States was being squeezed by the world's oil-producing dictatorships, her people were slowly turning the tables. Now with smaller cars, more efficient hybrid and alternative fuel technologies, and altered driving habits, Americans have lowered demand fast enough to send shock waves around the world. The recession is helping too, but I'm waving my patriotism right now so don't get me down with that.

The New York Times reports that three countries completely dependent on oil have found themselves on a slippery slope of spending. As the price of oil shot up, so did Russian and Venezuelan military spending. Most telling of the pomp and circumstance of the oil-rich was Caesar Chavez's always-classy rhetoric "Go ahead and squeal Yanquis, Russia's naval fleet is welcome here."

I say we drill our own oil, power our cities with the sun,wind, and the atom and when watch Chavez sequel when his oil lifeline runs dry.

Reading this blog from the Institute for Energy Research, I've come to the conclusion that our 26-year ban on oil and gas exploration was actually a good thing since it left us with a vast reserve to tap into for times like this. If only we exercised our capitalist nature and put aside partisan politics to throw a wrench in the socialist gears when the time was right. We could have been drilling our own oil ahead of time and had it ready to go during the Summer's peak prices. Could you imagine what kind of position we'd be in if suddenly we flooded the market with domestic crude while Iran, Russia, and Venezuela were just starting to rattle their sabers? It would have been great!

Well, there's no time like the present!