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To: GST who wrote (145203)	8/11/2002 3:42:25 PM
From: Bill Harmond	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 164684

Sounds pretty cynical, GST. I think this country does a good job of balancing our ideals and interests. Hasn't always been that way, of course, but in the modern era we have the confidence and experience to believe that our system works best and we can easily afford our highest ideals. The more we paractice them, the more prosperous and stable we seem to get. It may come as a surprise, but the US spends one of the world's smallest percentages of GDP on its military. We're that rich and that good. Since WWII there have been periods when we spent twice the percentage we do now. The other matter is oil. Oil isn't the big issue many think, though stability of Saudi Arabia as a swing producer is still critical. However the oil producing countries arent prosperous enough any longer to use oil as a weapon. They need steady revenue to keep their social programs (read governments) going. Oil itself is plentiful worldwide, and the Middle East is declining in importance.

To: GST who wrote (145203)	8/11/2002 6:49:43 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

" This Oil's Domestic, but It's Deep and It's Risky By NEELA BANERJEE BOARD THE MARLIN PLATFORM, IN THE GULF OF MEXICO -- About 100 miles southeast of the tattered Louisiana coastline, Marlin rises like a fortress from the flat sea, a gas flare at the tip of a boom fluttering like its banner. Marlin is BP's most profitable deep-water platform in the region, producing enough natural gas and oil to power a city of one million people. But as solid and steady as it looks, Marlin is not rooted to the ocean floor. Instead, the whole platform — the width of two football fields — floats in 3,400 feet of water on four thick columns linked by pontoons and tethered to the ocean floor with steel cables." nytimes.com