Blood and Oil - The Movie

Michael T. Klare's Blood and Oil (Media Education Foundation) illustrates the real cost of our American lifestyle. Buy it, devour it, then speak the truth. Twitter it, even. IM it. Put it on Facebook, but get it out there, somehow.

Synopsis:

The notion that oil motivates America's military engagements in the Middle East has long been dismissed as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. Blood and Oil, a new documentary based on the critically-acclaimed work of Nation magazine defense correspondent Michael T. Klare, challenges this conventional wisdom to correct the historical record. The film unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines to show how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign policy for more than 60 years – rendering our contemporary energy and military policies virtually indistinguishable. In the end, Blood and Oil calls for a radical re-thinking of US energy policy, warning that unless we change direction, we stand to be drawn into one oil war after another as the global hunt for diminishing world petroleum supplies accelerates.

With $4/gal oil coming soon, and no end in sight to price increases, you can see how badly we've mismanaged the past 30+ years since the oil embargo. You had to be there, then you would know, if you haven't figured it out already. EVERYTHING about us depends on cheap and plentiful oil. There is no Plan B.

Since Reagan first took office, there never was any will to create a Plan B -- too uncomfortable, too difficult. Instead, it was "Morning in America", the misguided Gipper-speak that launched the appetites of tens of millions to create a nation of mindless, egocentric consumers, helpless in the glare of the TV Nation, created by the perfect marriage of Madison Avenue "feel good" slogans and Hollywood action figures, the perfect Animal Farm scenario. Long live infotainment.

Engaging in war for control of resources is nothing new. Think Japan in the 1930's. Think about how much oil that second world war consumed.

Then:

• Think about how much oil it takes to keep the world's most mechanized armed forces on the move today.
• Think about how much oil the war in Iraq has consumed.
• Think about how a proud serviceman must know, sadly, he and his buddies are fighting and dying over a barrel of oil.

Yes, let's think about oil. Texas billionaires be damned.

More on Michael Klare:

• Michael Klare, Oil Rules!
• A conversation with Michael Klare
• The New Geopolitics of Energy
• An oil-addicted ex-superpower