Last time I checked, there was still a fair amount of bloviating about how our "dependence on foreign oil" was a key factor in why we find ourselves fighting nouveau riche Bedouins, et al., trying to impose (and in some cases, like Spain, re-impose) a 7th-century Caliphate on the rest of us.
Some of the proposed responses seem to me to be a tad silly...like ethanol, which takes more energy to produce than it generates. Of course, empirical data has fallen out of favor lately on a whole host of issues—the suppression of any debate among the cognoscenti on global warming being a good example.
Nevertheless, with the right incentive, Western infidels never cease to amaze.
Take the space program. Nugging out solutions to seemingly intractable problems has given us:
Three-dimensional semiconductor packages, air quality monitoring systems, virtual reality, advanced keyboards, Customer Service software, Database Management Systems, Laser surveying, aircraft controls, the Lightweight Compact Disc, microcomputers, design graphics, enriched baby foods, municipal-size water treatment systems, scratch-resistant lenses, pool purification systems that kill bacteria without chemicals, swimsuits that increase your speed in the water, golf balls that fly farther and straighter, athletic shoes, the Dustbuster, shock-absorbing helmets, home security systems, smoke detectors, flat panel televisions, high-density batteries, trash compactors, food packaging and freeze-dried technology, cool sportswear, sports bras, hair styling appliances, fogless ski goggles, self-adjusting sunglasses, composite golf clubs, hang gliders, art preservation, and quartz crystal timing equipment...among other things. LOTS of other things.
None of this was apparent to Sayyid Qtub when he wrote the book that inspired today's Islamofacists. He can be forgiven, somewhat, given the fact that we didn't have a space program of any consequence back then, but there WAS World War II, and the rather spectacular end to it in the Far East. Alas, none of his disciples seemed to have taken a hard look at their opponents in that regard...and they've had a lot more chances to see what we're capable of.
So, I actually pity the cockroaches. Check that…I don’t pity them. I just have this feeling that when the collision comes it’ll be awful but I’ll be ashamed to admit I won’t be able to avert my gaze—like watching the six gazillion skateboarding faceplants on YouTube.
Anyway.
They've only nicked us so far—just ask Hollywood; 9/11 wasn't THAT big a deal—but when they land a big punch, the response is not only going to be a pounding that will leave only a puddle, it'll also accelerate a nascent but very real commitment to a "take your oil and stick it up your [insert appropriate orifice here]" effort that will not only leave them hammered, but worse—marginalized.
