America - Out of Gas......

Nineteen years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall effectively eliminated the Soviet Union as the world's other superpower. Yes, the USSR as a political entity stumbled on for another two years, but it was clearly an ex-superpower from the moment it lost control over its satellites in Eastern Europe.

Less than a few months ago, the United States similarly lost its claim to superpower status when a barrel crude oil roared past $110 on the international market, gasoline prices crossed the $3.50 threshold at American pumps, and diesel fuel topped $4.00.

I believe the time has come to put aside the normal crude oil running vehicles and switch over to other forms of energy. Now think of United States for a day without gas. I cannot imagine....Almost everything is dependent on fossil fuels.

Now the question why is America in such a disasterous condition? Why is the American currency going down against other currencies? Why is america into the credit crunch situation? Why has the traffic decreased on the american freeways during the long weekends? Why are americans finding an alternative for fossil fuels? Why didnt they think about this condition long back? All these questions have a single answer. And to get the answer we have to go back 50 years in the post World War II phase when America was considered the super power.

The fact is, America's wealth and power has long rested on the abundance of cheap petroleum. The United States was, for a long time, the world's leading producer of oil, supplying its own needs while generating a healthy surplus for export.

Abundant, exceedingly affordable petroleum was also responsible for the emergence of the American automotive and trucking industries, the flourishing of the domestic airline industry, the development of the petrochemical and plastics industries, the suburbanization of America, and the mechanization of its agriculture. Without cheap and abundant oil, the United States would never have experienced the historic economic expansion of the post-World War II era.

No less important was the role of abundant petroleum in fueling the global reach of U.S. military power. For all the talk of America's growing reliance on computers, advanced sensors, and stealth technology to prevail in warfare, it has been oil above all that gave the U.S. military its capacity to "project power" onto distant battlefields like Iraq and Afghanistan. Every Humvee, tank, helicopter, and jet fighter requires its daily ration of petroleum, without which America's technology-driven military would be forced to abandon the battlefield. No surprise, then, that the U.S. Department of Defense is the world's single biggest consumer of petroleum, using more of it every day than the entire nation of Sweden.

If this crisis were foreseen then we would have comeup with a backup plan like what is done by countries like brazil.

Brazil is one of the leading sugarcane producers of the world. Ethanol produced from sugarcane is an alternative source of energy. We have cars called FLEXFUEL that allows the car to run on E85 Ethanol. Now the so called superpower "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" thinks they are in trouble because the gas prices rose to $125 from around $20 a few years ago.

Now didn't we see this coming....? This is not a kind of hurricane which we could not see. We were expecting this....may be not this early. But it is never too late......We need to do something...

One more thing is the amount of money United States is spending on Iraq and Afghanistan. I agree we need to protect our country. But now the time has come to bring back the troops which are spending a hell lot of fossil fuels. One of the reasons the economy is getting worse is this. This is my personal opinion.

Movie Review " An American Crime"

Again I am here with a bunch of movie reviews which were a part of activity last weekend....

AN AMERICAN CRIME

This movie falls in my favorite genre - True story.

*ing Ellen Page(awsm acting), Catherine Keener

This is a true story of a suburban single mother Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement in her Indiana home during the 1960s.

The opening courtroom scenes and disclaimer that "actual transcripts" were used make that clear. There's something about a "true crime" drama that triggers a desire to sit through whatever terrifying images lie ahead. And the images conjured up here are bone-chilling.

The movie is so-so but the story needs to be known to everybody. I cannot imagine a mother of 6 kids to do something like this. But this needs to reach each and every house of the world.

Sylvia and Jennie, daughters of traveling carnival workers are left for an extended stay at the Indianapolis home of single mother Gertrude Baniszewski and her 7 kids. I do not know that this movie depicts what actually happened but I still believe that the truth is more shocking that the movie itself.

So try to watch this movie if you can but beware this can be horrifying for a few.