Wow. What a great post. I am Canadian. I don't hate America. I don't even hate Bush. I don't hate republicans. I don't hate democrats. Infact, I don't hate anybody. To me, it's all one big pile of human sh!t that we just happen to be at the bottom of. Nothing to particularly dislike about it, nor to particularly like about it.
Do I think America was responsible for 911? Absolutely. Do I "fault" them for it? Absolutely not.
They did it because they felt it was necessary to preserve their way of life, and to hopefully secure the future for generations to come. Everything is calculated. It's just the natural course of evolution. The strong weeding out the weak if you will. But because of our natural "compassion" for others, we blind ourselves to the fact that everything we have is based on all we believe to be "wrong" with the world.
This should help you to understand.
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
Because petrochemicals are key components to much more than just the gas in your car. As geologist Dale Allen Pfeiffer points out in his article entitled, "Eating Fossil Fuels," approximately 10 calories of fossil fuels are required to produce every 1 calorie of food eaten in the US.
The size of this ratio stems from the fact that every step of modern food production is fossil fuel and petrochemical powered:
1. Pesticides are made from oil;
2. Commercial fertilizers are made from ammonia, which is made from natural gas, which will peak about 10 years after oil peaks;
3. Farming implements such as tractors and trailers are constructed and powered using oil;
4. Food storage systems such as refrigerators are manufactured in oil-powered plants, distributed across oil-powered transportation networks and usually run on electricity, which most often comes from natural gas or coal;
5. In the US, the average piece of food is transported almost 1,500 miles before it gets to your plate. In Canada, the average piece of food is transported 5,000 miles from where it is produced to where it is consumed.
In short, people gobble oil like two-legged SUVs. It's not just transportation and agriculture that are entirely dependent on abundant, cheap oil. Modern medicine, water distribution, and national defense are each entirely powered by oil and petroleum derived chemicals.
In addition to transportation, food, water, and modern medicine, mass quantities of oil are required for all plastics, all computers and all high-tech devices.