This is Ariana Huffington's Brain On Drugs

OpinionEditorials.com ^ | January 10th, 2003 | Frank Salvato

[The Rant]

This Is Your Brain On Drugs. This is Ariana Huffington's Brain On Drugs. Ariana Huffington, the name should say it all, is on a crusade against SUV's. The campaign is called The Detroit Project and it is airing television commercials not unlike the government-sponsored commercials that pose the idea that if you buy drugs you are funding terrorism. Instead of drugs Ms. Huffington is asserting that people who drive gas-guzzling SUV's are funding terrorism each time they spend money on gas for their vehicles. If there were any logic to this thinking and any equity in her thinking at all then all drivers support terrorism each time they purchase gas that send money overseas.

The problem is not the cars that we drive, although the low gas mileage of the larger SUV's and vehicles in general is disturbing due to the fact that we all know the automakers can make an engine that performs better - a lot better but the fact that we need to start being less dependent on oil from the Middle East.

There are many other sources of oil in the world that the United States could shift its consumer focus on other than the OPEC nations. Alternative oil producing nations include Russia, Venezuela, Mexico, South Africa and an assortment of other countries around the world. If one actually thinks about it there are some situations that could greatly improve if the back of OPEC were to be broken and other oil producing nations were banned together in an alternative to their dominating roll in the oil producing community.

If the United States were to come to an agreement with Russia or perhaps a consortium of countries led by Russia so that they sold us their crude oil at a reduced rate for a period of time in return for a long term commitment to buy their oil and a commitment to use our oil industries technology to build up their oil industry so that it could thrive in a world market the two countries couldn't help but come out on top of the situation.

Instead of borrowing money hand over fist from the World Bank, Russia could build a financial infrastructure based on a natural resource that is abundant in their country. This would only help to strengthen their economy and lend a great amount of stability to their government as well as their currency. Their debt could be paid off over a shorter amount of time and they would once again become a superpower on the world stage with regard to economic stability only this time it wouldn't be under the repressive eye of tyranny.

The commitment of the Russian government to our oil industry would only guarantee contracts for our oil producing companies. It would create jobs, tax revenue and help to strengthen our economy in this time of fiscal upheaval. Every company that has contracts with big oil companies would benefit from the addition work available that result from this contractual partnership. Further, it would ease the fear of the possibility oil prices would skyrocket each and every time some third-world leader from the Middle East who went to Falafel-Mart and bought fatigues decided to rattle his 18th Century saber. It would also help to stabilize prices set by OPEC because they would have to address the fact that the United State was no longer uniquely dependent on them for oil.

It would bind the United States and Russia together in a corporate and economical partnership that would most likely reduce the amount of tensions that may arise when there is a problem on the world stage. In theory it would extend to our two countries the opportunity to have a relationship that could and most likely would transcend the politics of the world theater to some extent.

It would also allow the United States to stop catering politically to the backward practices and demands of the Middle Eastern nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar who discriminate against the women of the U.S. military who are stationed over there. Currently it is acceptable for our women to fight and die for their security when one of their self-appointed dictators gets some sand in an irritating place and decided to invade a part of their country but it is quite unacceptable for the same women to have a beer with the subordinate male counterparts in a local bazaar when on leave. If we weren't so concerned about the security of their nation because of their oil supply then perhaps they would understand that they would have to meet us on an even playing field if they want to remain protected by out superior armed forced.

And maybe one of the most important aspects of this idea, it would probably take a lot of revenue out of the bank accounts of those who would use it to fund terror. With the decreased revenue coming in to OPEC it would almost certainly end the era of free spending in the Middle East as it is known today and create an air of tightfistedness in the region. It would choke off the seemingly endless supply of revenue that terrorists have been spoiled with in today.

All of this could happen not only in Russia but also in each country that would be in this proposed consortium.

So, instead of jumping on the bandwagon that Ms. Huffington has championed, most likely to serve her ego and narcissism by allowing her to see her face all over television a bit more than it already is extending her misguided feeling of self-importance, I propose that we do something about the current fuel producing situation that could affectively make a few more countries friendlier toward capitalism and the United States. Pursuing this idea would not only shore up democracy in some countries around the world where the freedom to practice capitalism is hanging on by a thread but it would help to make some of these countries a better place to live for their people because of the elevated level of their economy.

It's either that or we will all have to listen to those stupid commercials that she came up with. I don't think I can stomach that for very long.

[freekitty]

This is a very stupid woman.

[lonestar]

When Michael was running for the senate, I recall Arrianna was a member of some weird religious cult. Wonder if she's been cloned? Yikes!

[AFPhys]

The time is long gone that I considered her conservative. I believe it only took about six of her articles to convince me the woman was seriously strange and not worth getting worked up about, and I discontinued looking at her articles.. The antics she is propagating now are simply confirmation, not shock.

[arielb]

Fortunately, Arianna isn't saying "don't drive SUV's because we must bow down to Kyoto and worship mother Gaia". The fact is that Iraq and Saudi Arabia control the oil market-not Russia, Mexico or soon to be communist Venezuela. They can set the prices not only because they are market makers but also because mid east oil is of a higher quality than anywhere else.