In other news

The collective hysteria of the Perpetually Offended has been the biggest news for most of this week (as measured by its position on the Google News page), but I think the real big news was Bush's State of the Union Address, where he expressed desire to reduce the country's dependence on oil by promoting alternative energy sources. Of course he is a politician, and we don't know whether he really means it, but I think it's a very good sign that he even talked about it, because, well, oil will eventually run out and something needs to be done about it.

We are not likely to replace oil comletely in the near future, but hey, one can dream. Besides, it would be amusing to see some of the countries that currently have an oil-based economy falling back on their more traditional economy sectors of subsistence agriculture and armed robbery.

So far I haven't seen any strong reaction from the environmentalists to Bush's speech, but then I wasn't particularly looking for it.

Iran is about to be dragged to the UN Security Council, and is threatening that this will mean the end of diplomacy and that anyone who will try to prevent it from obtaining its entirely peaceful nuclear energy will get his ass kicked. Meanwhile, IAEA has found that Iran holds a document on building nuclear weapons.

I wonder why the environmental aspect of the whole thing is almost never discussed. I mean, Iran's only nuclear reactor is in Bushehr, and was built with help from Russians. A nuclear power plant in one of the most seismically unstable places in Iran, built by the same folks who brought you Chernobyl - wow, isn't that a winning combination? One good earthquake and Iran's peaceful nuclear energy will enter every home around the Persian Gulf.