Posted on 05/23/2008 7:51:50 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
An engineer and energy authority says the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) led by Saudi Arabia wants to drive the world into an economic depression with the eventual goal of establishing a worldwide Islamic caliphate
Dr. Robert Zubrin has a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering and is president of Pioneer Astronautics, an aerospace engineering firm. He recently published Energy Victory: Win the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil. He believes the OPEC cartel has consciously decided to restrict the production of oil in the face of growing world demand, and that this year the U.S. is going to spend $1 trillion on oil, most of which is going into the pockets of the cartel.
"They'll use part of it to fund terrorism internationally," he says, "and they're putting the rest into a giant takeover fund called sovereign wealth funds, which they will use to take over the companies that they wreck as they push us into recession. They'll take over these companies at a fraction of their value; 10 cents on the dollar," Zubrin contends.
The author argues that the power of the OPEC cartel must be destroyed internationally -- and that the U.S. Congress can help. He urges Congress to make "flex-fuel" the international standard and force gasoline to compete at the pumps.
"The United States Congress can effectively destroy OPEC with the stroke of a pen, simply by passing a law requiring that every new car sold in the United States gives the consumer fuel choice. That is, [to] be a fully flex-fueled car able to run not just on gasoline but on methanol and ethanol," Zubrin explains.
According to Zubrin, a Senate bill cosponsored by Senators Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) and Kansas Republican Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) would do just that and crash the price of oil to $50 a barrel.
Flexible-fuel vehicles, or FFVs, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, are designed to run on gasoline or a blend of up to 85% ethanol (E85), and have been produced since the 1980s. The DOE says while FFVs experience no loss in performance when operating on E85, they typically get fewer miles per gallon because an equal amount of gasoline contains more energy.
PING!
It ain’t gonna happen. FF my ass.
I respect the fact that the Dr. got his PhD, but I don’t think he’s right. Simply because I don’t think the OPEC nations have the brains to actually pull off such a plan.
I worry more about the Global Warming nuts. They actually have the brains and ability to throw the world into chaos.......... as we already see is happening- food riots etc.
OK, Dr. Zubrin here’s an easy one......... who shot President Kennedy?
Propane/CNG/LPG are, go ask T. Boone Pickens even though he has a horse in that race.
The solution is a "Chevy Volt" that runs exclusively on Gaseous Fuels that are filled at home via this device:
Just think of it, a Series Hybrid that is off the "Refinery" backlog. Lots of Nuke-Plants would help as well.
Now, if we can only get the fartknockers in the Sierra Club, the House, and Senate to let us drill for the 100+ years supply we have here in the U.S....
Ain't gonna happen. Like alternative energy, like removing El-Baradei's plants in the US Patent Office,
like Anwar drilling, the traitorous US Congress will make certain it never occurs.
So the questions, inquiring minds want answered is: Why? and why is there no accountability?
Gee, a Kansas senator pushing corn, how unique. No way can flex fuel drop oil down to $50 a barrel. Not if we had every square inch of America under cultivation. And the cost of everything else would make $10 at the pump seem like a bargain. All these clowns are doing is pandering for the November election.
A cute, fluffy kitten!
Here's his accomplice, being arrested at the Texas Theater.
Precisely what is "wrong" with flex-fuel vehicles. Being able to handle different fuels sounds like a good idea to me.
Is there some reason that a car/truck designed to be "flex-fuel" won't run on "propane/CNG/LPG" as well as a "standard gasoline engine"?
I happen to live in a farm state and when you start turning all those food crops into ethonal you have a big problem, and it has already started.
Flex fuel vehicles, hydrogen cars etc. are fine, but why not just drill for the oil in our own country rather than buy it from the sheiks? What OPEC should fear is that inventors and entrepreneurs in the US will come up with a cheap substitute for oil in making gasoline. There are already processes for turning sewage and slaughter house wastes into oil and using microbes to break down wastes into oil. In the short run we need oil until alternative technologies are developed so why not just drill for it in the US?
Well, I used to live in a "farm state", on a farm, and one that raised both corn and soybeans, and I can tell you that your so-called "big problem" doesn't exist.
The use of corn to make ethanol has NOTHING to do with the rise in food prices--the statistics on the increase in the amount of corn grown vs. the amount of corn used to make ethanol prove that pretty conclusively.
Enough extra corn has been grown to replace ALL that used in ethanol, plus a gigantic amount over that, and yet the price of corn-containing food has increased--which can ONLY be due to some other factor(s) than ethanol production.
The increase in price of OTHER grain products may indeed be due to substituting corn for the acreage normally devoted to those crops---I haven't seen any reasonable statistics one way or another.
Further, if you are going to alter the American liquid fuels economy, encouragement in the form of tax breaks should be done first before the use of mandates. You must also address the issue of distribution which a pure flex-fuel mandate does not do.
I live on a farm. We rent the ground as I was raised on a farm and lived on one until I went into the service. That was long enough for me to learn I did not want anything to do with farming.
You would need a separate fuel system from tanks to injectors much as if you did a gaseous conversion. It is costly. If you had both storage/fuel systems you could run on all three, but the price would be higher.
Go here: http://www.flexdi.com
On the air assisted side of their injector, they could run the gaseous fuel through it for only one injector per engine. These guys have got one trick solution.
Talk about being outgunned...
Maybe we should have stayed out of Kuwait and let Saddam take Saudi Arabia.
OK folks, don’t confuse 2 issues here.
Issue 1: the “Muzzie Conspriracy to Rule the World.” I don’t buy it. They have too much competition in that endeavor from the Elders of Zion, Mormons, Knights Templars, Oil Companies, Dr. Evil and my psycho neighbor. I don’t think the Saudis are deliberately starving the world of oil, I think they are smart enough to realize that the ONLY asset they have is their oil. Vast as it is right now, it is a finite supply and they are in no hurry to pump it all out of the ground for a lower price. This is just good business sense on their part to take advantage of current favorable market conditions. Plus, there are limits to just how much they CAN deliver. Everyone thinks the oil in the ground can instantly appear in their gas tanks. No, it’s a matter of pumping capacity. And that capacity has limits.
Issue 2: Breaking the petroleum addiction. This is the key to maintaining our standard of living. The problem is our broken government, going after it in tiny unconnected bits to appease special interest groups. This flex fuel bill is a classic example. What is really needed is a comprehensive long term policy.
I’ve ranted on my ideas for a long time, but it is so obvious as to be self-evident.
1. Biofuels are a dead end, forget it.
2. Global warming is a hoax, ignore it.
3. Drill everywhere now, but recognize it for what it is; a very short term reduction in economic cost while long term conversion takes place in the energy industry.
4. Build nukes and transfer electric generation to nuclear power.
5. Build coal liquification refineries and transfer coal mining from electrical generation to gasoline production.
Pi$$ing and moaning about these little trivial “fixes” and deluding ourselves that “we’ve got plenty of oil” is a waste of time. Get with the real plan!
People did not take Hitler serious until it was too late. To think the members of the OPEC are somehow not intelligent enough to plan our economic destruction my be a little naive.
You should remember OPEC has the American Liberal's full support.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.