My thanks to Tinnerman and DeRonin for the lengthy coverage to McLanahan's and the KC Star's orientation. All this stuff has been off my radar screen. One more thing to be aware of.

I remain sceptical of Picken's plan, nevertheless, and for two reasons:

1 - It is all too common to propose solutions that look good on paper, but when subjected to the real world, fail abysmally. I suspect that is what would happen to the PP.

2 - In all such proposals, it seems that no one anywhere (including Pickens) ever factors in the incredible, mind-boggling US financial condition that ultimately will determine, in my view, the outcome of our response to the energy crisis. It is why I keep harping on the financial end of things, and why I put up Jim Rogers' ideas this morning. It appears now to me that things will just continue to grind downward in a slow spiral until we wake up one day realizing we are flat-ass broke.