“Klaatu Varada Nicto” at the American Thermopylae

July 29, 2008

“Am I the only one who thinks that if we continue to allow our industry, our services, our goods, our charitable funds, our goodwill and our American tax collected funds to be sent out of this country without first, rebuilding this country, we will sooner or later no longer exist?” Poster (unnamed) on the Pickens Plan site.

The Pickens Plan has begun to explain how to execute an energy windfall ‘4-point conversion’: Wind plus natural gas plus solar plus biomass fuels. We want off the foreign-oil addiction and the sucking-dry feeling of bleeding out our national vitality. Those of us out in front want to believe that we’re not point man on one-man patrols, and that the monied interests recognize that our country’s risk is more than ‘some’ risk; we speak up as watchmen. Those who are joining are 1) the crack troops, with technological and business expertise that puts them in the categories of Spartans of old; 2) entire cadres of plain folks with a few acres and a mule; or even 3) those from places like Bellefountaine, Ohio, whose residents want to know, understand and profit from this opportunity in the upcoming wind farm in Champaign County. There are others joining, too, joining because they know what’s at stake beyond the lucre: duty, honor, country.

While many of us think of windmills from memories of The Wizard of Oz or Unforgiven, we don’t want snake oil, and we don’t want yet another ménage a populous mandate from DC. We joined up to prevent one monopoly from replacing another, and to ‘engage’ (thanks Jean Luc).

Many, like, Joseph and Ron, are willing to help and advise. Yes, some of us buy Boardwalk when others buy Connecticut Avenue or, Utilities and Railroads--although it used to be the odd play to look at what’s offered by Chance and at the Community Chest. Those here know our sovereignty’s on the board, so playing to a stalemate’s not going to win, and win we must, as the Immortals are in sight, looking to buy up and dissect America at our current, economic fire sale.

We do want real answers, project plans, statements of work and hard facts. We want to know the details of what this is, as we see it our duty to keep watch and stand this post. I’m a militiaman, serving with this musket-keyboard, here at what I call my American Thermopylae. I know my mission, and I am learning the lay of the land from recon and places like IREC. I even know the password, thanks to Sir Michael Renne: "Klaatu Verada Nicto." I tell you this password because you may need to know it, too.

What do we want? Simple: Duty. Honor. Country.

Duty

Having grown up in a time of diving under my desk and going to the basement of my (now closed) elementary school for nuclear war drills, I know the fear of the deep water world I’m in. My duty’s to point you to information, such as on Net Metering and Feed In Tarriff legislation, on this or that letter to write or write in about. The issues, to be blunt, aren’t simply clear; they’re shatteringly oxymoronic.

From a poster, John, on the Pickens Plan, this vignette says much: “I recently had an experience that made me very concerned. I was on a sailboat trip on the east coast, from NC to Martha's Vineyard, and on to NYC. I was utterly amazed at how many oil tankers we saw on the way, probably around 20, mostly near Norfolk. Seeing 10 anchored, waiting for their turn to be unloaded, was mindboggling, knowing that each one carried maybe 5 million gallons or more, and at $3/gallon for the crude, this 10 represented nearly $200 million more: money we were going to send out of the country.”

Honor

I tell you this password because we’re not so much younger then than now, and know Old Glory’s slip is showing. We must understand, develop and replicate the wind turbines, generators, distribution mechanisms, photovoltaic arrays and paint, and hydrogen fuel cells, and soon. The question doesn’t have to include how we “do this delicately,” but Monopoly Man said it best: “Start slowly and prudently. Build up your portfolio. Cut your ties with the workplace and become independent of any one source of income. Become your own boss and invest in the world around you. In the end, people will pay you for doing nothing.” (Source: Monopoly Man's Life Lessons). T. Boone Pickens upcoming book, and personal web site are an inspiration to all in following these precepts.

It is in the choosing of the energies to develop that the political plan takes form and has to address the messiness of land rights and rights of way, distribution systems and trade. To illustrate the minutiae of these choices, I have been asked several times here from members for concrete answers for statements of work, requirements and other justificatory documents, CONOPS, etc.; the members are not seeing them, but have valid concerns for what happens, when it occurs, what will it cost, and what's in it for them as people and communities.

Country

This. Is. America. But are we ready to kick the foreign emissary down the well or are we standing on the precipice ourselves? From the LA Times comes this reported quote: 'Mr. Pickens is a very intelligent man,' said Don Martin, vice president of Enmark Energy, a Texas oil and natural gas company. 'People in the oil and natural gas business are rich for a reason.’ OK. So they know. We’re not Thermites, nor are we chopped liver; witness DSIRE. Those of us who are on one side of this issue wonder whether there’s enough that it’s worth a look see for what’s in it for us. Still others want to do what’s best for the good of the country, maybe looking seriously at a multi-year lease for the wind rights on our land. No one I have spoken with wants this effort to march ever closer toward feudalism in a cause that makes the Emerald City just plain too rich for most and justice only for all who give to the Party.

Yes, Morpheus, “Here they come.” I speak here on behalf of others who are writing me about their concerns. For example, poster Denise asked the pragmatic questions: “(W)here does the money come from for the research, development and implementation? There are not many natural gas stations near my house. How will a New Yorker get the wind electricity if it comes from Texas? Who will own the windmills and power plants? How much are taxes going to rise? What governmental agencies are responsible for the change?” I am looking for the answers to these questions as I write this dispatch to you, since I am the Watchman on duty.

The naysayers, critics and skeptics have shown up. From one Pickens Plan poster: “S. 3240 has been placed on the Senate calendar and as of 7/10/08 was referred to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and it appears its stagnating there; it is not on the calendar listed as being up for a debate or a Senate vote yet. Check out Sen. Bingaman's speech to MIT about Alternative Energy where he states that extending the Production Tax Credit is crucial for US companies to discover, build and implement new technology.”

My post's responsibilities are not without fortitude. As a child, I ran like the dickins when I got caught one time in front of a fire station when the warning siren went off in a test, and probably haven’t run that fast again. I even remember our “picnics in the basement” when that nuclear war possibility was real—but I didn’t know that at the time, as it was billed by my sainted mother as ‘fun.’ I can’t run now, or amuse myself to death, Mr. Postman, since I’m here at Thermopylae, but I’ve decided that this blessed and mostly peaceful society still requires courage. If I look at the metaphorical wasteland of our energy battles, I hear the cries of dying horses, as though I were on the Western Front of World War I. I feel the shake of Alinsky politics in action in the machinations of adversarial activism. I see the antagonists on TV using every weapon at their well-funded command, manipulating everyone around them in order to have control. I believe those who wish the US ill can speak American and have read our books very well indeed.

WiIl we be ready? I hope so. I signed up here to say we have to be there and so I step up to express support. However, the longer we hem and haw about this plan, the shorter our leashes regarding dependency become, which is, of course, obvious. Let Congress go home without a fight to take their millionaire's vacations and speak at fancy engagements for all that political capital. They'll grant the occasional audience to us here in the hinterland and ask, “Is you is o’ is you ain’t my constuency,” as quoted in O, Brother, Where Art Thou? the movie. My question to all Americans is, O, Brother and Sister, where are you?

In the words of G. Washington, during Shay's rebellion, writing to Benjamin Lincoln, "Are your people getting mad, Sir? Are we to have the goodly fabric we were nine years rising pulled over on our heads? What is the cause of all this? When and where is it to end?"

This! Is! America! Call me Gort. Understand--when the centurion shows up, it is already too late. Understand, too, that Klaatu Varada Nicto was last night’s password. Tonight, I have another one.