hmmh

Maybe it's pure coincidence, but imagine a President who has made a living from fossil fuel extraction whose VP came up with a fossil-fuel centered energy policy. Imagine that the same President may already know before any of us do that we've reached either a geologic peak or a geopolitical peak in world-wide production of a particular fossil fuel. That's not too hard to imagine since the CIA is certainly very keen on finding out well in advance whether Hubbert's peak is or is not happening and informing the President on any such possibility as early as possible. Now imagine the very same President advocating the teaching of "intelligent design" during a press conference. Sure seems like it'd keep folks in the "heartland" happily blissfully unaware of science while buying more gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups because prices are bound to drop soon and we've got plenty of crude oil out there. Am I being too cynical?

A quote from the Kunstler article:

"I'm not optimistic about the Southeast, either, for different reasons. I think it will be subject to substantial levels of violence as the grievances of the formerly middle class boil over and collide with the delusions of Pentecostal Christian extremism. The latent encoded behavior of Southern culture includes an outsized notion of individualism and the belief that firearms ought to be used in the defense of it. This is a poor recipe for civic cohesion."

...and article about teaching intelligent design from the New Yorker, May 23 2005