Hope For A Good Way to Honor MLK

First, in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday, I would like to recall his 1997 speech at Riverside Church , taking a stand against our nation's war in Vietnam.

Forty years ago at Riverside Church, people of conscience declared that "a time comes when silence is betrayal." This was said Saturday by Colbert I. King in an editorial honoring MLK and is ringingly true in many ways.

We are viewing an increasingly vocal opposition to the escalation of war in Iraq that the cretin in chief is proposing. Even the administration's staunch supporters over the past six years, in light of their increasingly irrational belligerence, are beginning to round on the irresponsible wasting of this nation's resources.

In the field of energy this White House has begun to show the effect of rational voices' condemnation of its refusal of accumulating evidence of global warming, and rejection of all rational elements.

The world at large is turning its attention to preservation of the earth, and dependence on the fossil fuels that have been at the core of much of the international thievery by the major powers.

CEBU, Philippines -- Asian and Pacific leaders signed an agreement Monday to help reduce their dependence on conventional sources of energy and promote the use of biofuels.

The Cebu Declaration on East Asian Energy Security was signed by leaders from Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, China and South Korea after a three-hour summit in the central Philippine city of Cebu.

ASEAN Leaders and their six Dialogue Partners prepare to sign documents during ceremony for the Cebu Declaration on Energy Security at the 2nd East Asia Summit in the ongoing 12th ASEAN Summit of Leaders with their six counterparts Monday, Jan. 15, 2007 in Cebu, central Philippines. The leaders are from left, President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Prime Ministers John Howard of Australia, Manmohan Singh of India, Helen Clark of New Zealand, and Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore (AP Photo/Pat Roque) (Pat Roque - AP)

The agreement lists a set of goals for "reliable, adequate and affordable" energy supplies essential for sustaining economic growth and competitiveness.
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ASEAN's members are the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

In South America, we have countries devoting their energy development to those biofuels, and in Brazil, increasingly in neighboring countries, ethanol is a major industry and hope for future resource development. Farmers raise the fuels, not international cartels.

There are signs that even the developmentally incapacitated administration here is beginning to realize that necessity is upon us. We have to establish a rational plan for energy sustenance, and we can do that by taking seriously a burgeoning new industry that supports our own people.

On Saturday I put the case for a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system to James Connaughton, the head of the Council on Environmental Quality at the White House. Far from denouncing these policies as eco-socialist nonsense, Connaughton sounded open to them. "In concept I can agree with you," he said. Something must be done to stem demand for climate-warming energy, and although there are several ways of getting there, a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system would be the most "elegant."

Whoa! This may be spin, but it's certainly new spin. Only a few months ago, Al Hubbard, director of Bush's National Economic Council, brushed aside the idea of a carbon tax: "The American people are not interested in paying more for gasoline," he told me, sounding like a frog in the path of a herd of elephants who says he's not interested in jumping.

Next week we'll see whether Connaughton's reasonable-sounding views are reflected in Bush's State of the Union speech. The key thing to watch is whether Bush talks only about energy security or whether he emphasizes climate. Energy security is mostly a dumb objective, but climate policy is crucial.

It's true that the United States imports 60 percent of its petroleum, about double the share of two decades ago. But cutting U.S. oil imports won't insulate the nation from instability in petro-states. There is a global price for oil, and Americans will feel the hit from a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia or a rebellion in Nigeria whether they fill their trucks with gas that's foreign or domestic. Equally, cutting U.S. oil imports won't really punish the bad guys in Iran or Venezuela. The United States has shut out Iranian oil imports since 1979, but Iran gets the global price for its crude, no matter whom it sells to.

A mistaken focus on energy security can undermine good policy on climate.

This is a hopeful development, although of course the source being this White House, there is bound to be the usual corruption and misapplication of our resources. At least, though, it is more promising than repeating past mistakes while expecting different results.