They aren't mutually exclusive, ya know.

Why not both? Coming up with some new technology is always a fun process that can lead to other achievements, but kicking Middle East tail is awesome too! Best of both solutions!

While the lucid portion of my tortured soul leans toward the understanding that oil is a finite resource and that the development of new energy technology should be done based upon that alone..

The warmongering, hippie punching, portion has determined that Islam is a threat to our species as a whole and they just so happen to sit on something we need right now. Needless to say Im inclined to bust thier monkey asses, and take thier shite

So Im of two minds about this... but if I had to pick a priority based on immediacy, efficiency, and over all effectiveness... I gotta go with

BEAT up the Mid East

come up with new tech. The fact is, that our country could do it, and then suddenly disseminate that to every country except those that use oil money for terrorism. Watch them dry up, get crazy, and kill themselves

How about drilling for our own damn oil right here in our own damn country? And build some damn refineries and damn nucular power plants too? The barren tundra of ANWR is practically floating on centuries of oil reserves, plus last time I looked at a map, we still have access to the Pacific and Gulf coasts.

However, I'm not opposed to taking the oil from the House of Saud. When our we going to see the benefits of this "war for oil" that we hear so much about?

Neither. What we need to do to reconcile ourselves with this planet (where we are merely guests), is to get together, hold hands during a candlelight vigil, and ask Gaia for forgiveness and guidance in these troubled times;

Come on People, Now,
Smile on Your Brother-
Everybody Get Toge...

WHOAH! I just had the weirdest coffee withdrawal symptoms ever! See, that's the problem with the left; this is what happens when the java gets neglected by those hippies.

Anyway... Screw the Mid-East! We take their oil they've been holding for us and their monetary resources to fund alternative fuel research. Also, there's a Texas based firm that can extract hydrocarbons & other fuels from just about anything, from discarded turkey parts & old tires to Arabs & landfill waste.

I say we choose the funner of the two option.

It's not an either or, it's two items on a To-Do list.

1. Develop uber technology making us virtual gods on Earth.
2. Turn the Mideast into a parking lot from which we draw oil to make plastic for our i-Pod headphones.

Only two choices? I talk to liberals who say there should be hundreds of options, none of which involve violence. I like to give them a superior look and say "Bah!" to this idiocy. Especially when they can't list any of those options.

Wall off the Middle East and let the Arabs slaughter each other. That should only take a decade. If we keep dropping food and ammo in. In random places. Usually on a crowd. Sometimes in super hard to reach areas.

Drop them some good Koranic medical aids too. Like camel urine and fly's wings. yummy!

But develop the "green" tech to piss of the liberals who want it, but refuse to help develop it. Then ship the Leftist woosies into the Wall of Arabia.

Well, I always liked nuclear power, but the hippies had to go and ruin that for us (in many places, at least. China Syndrome, etc.). So I say we send the hippies to the middle east, beat up everyone who happens to be there at the time, and take all the oil until it's used up. Then we can happily make the switch to whatever the hell we want (as there would be no hippies to force us to do otherwise).

Are you kidding? With our military...kicking someone's ass is ALWAYS the first, second, third and last choice! Why leave it up to "Elroy" technoweenie when our boys have a chance to go have some fun?

ussjc, probably because the Greatest Generation gave birth to so many Elroy Technoweenie's.

I say why go half-way around the world to take a giant sandbox, when we can get all the oil we need by beating up Mexico and Venezuela instead? after all, better beaches, better resorts, more attractive women, and women can wear bikini's without being beheaded.

Many of the great advances in metallurgy, manufacturing, and physics came about as new military technologies were developed. Therefore our priority should be stomping the Middle East, as technological breakthroughs would be the natural consequence - both problems solved.

We're America. We can do both!

But Raving, haven't you noticed how beautiful Iranian women are (minus their veils, of course) ?

Once my lard to oil (based on blood to oil technology) is completed, we can survive for centuries on Michael Moore's gut alone.

Why do you think the Brits were there?