Here's an image—some of Uday Hussein's cars found buried in dirt. Live by oil (tyranny), die by oil (tyranny).

Environmentalists would rightfully freak, but imagine a Boston Tea Party update, as Americans revolt en masse, tipping all the oil overboard. Texas oil titan T. Boone Pickens is all for acting up--he wants consumers to demand action on alternative energy sources from the next administration.

Watching Mr. Pickens on Good Morning America, I saw real sincerity behind his message. Yes, this is the same corporate raider who made illions from black gold, and he is not building a massive new wind farm in Texas for his health, but I see genuine concern for our energy future.

We are currently "fools without a plan," he asserts, referring to foreign oil dependence that has grown from around 24 percent during the Nixon era to around 75 percent today. Mr. Pickens sees America as the "Saudi Arabia" of wind power, while urging a wholesale switchover to natural gas to fuel our power plant infrastructure.

To be sure, news of vast natural gas reservoirs, such as the Barnett-Shale in Texas, has been dominant of late. And with much of the West riding an arc of the so-called Ring of Fire, maybe we could be the Saudi Arabia of geothermal power, too.

Pickens launched a supporting Web site today, PickensPlan.com, saying, "This is one emergency we can't drill our way out of."

I'm with Pickens--and those who want to raise margin requirements to contain rampant speculation (although Seeking Alpha argues against that). Still, there's some dicking around happening somewhere, and it has to stop--or be stopped.

As a counterpoint to that Who Killed the Economy game over at Portfolio.com, I'd like to run my own bracketed contest--Who Saved the Economy. Mr. Pickens is my first pick--who do you like?

Jeff Heilman

7/9/08