"a very emotional situation"

1. The Independent, today:

CBI chief warns of looming energy crisis

2. Energy Bulletin, yesterday:

Bodman: Oil Producers Unable To Respond To Demand

"[US Energy Secretary] Bodman, speaking in an interview with CNBC, said the producers of oil "are unable to appropriately respond to the demands that the marketplace is putting on them."

Bodman, who is in Baghdad and was being interviewed via a television link, also said oil demand will exceed supply for the next year or two [sic].

"At least at the present time and for the foreseeable future, I would guess for the next year or two [sic], we're going to see demand exceeding supply," Bodman said. "And we're going to be dealing with a very emotional situation in that environment."

Bodman said there is a crisis for American families that haven't budgeted for higher gasoline prices, but he said the U.S. economy is
absorbing the shock.

"I believe that we see that the American economy is quite resilient," Bodman said. "It is surprisingly quite able to handle high oil and gasoline prices. But, you know, heaven knows...how long that will last."

Hence the War on Terror.

The US Energy Secretary sounds almost as if he is in a state of shock. "Heaven knows" is not your average Statesmanspeak. But can anyone say what Secretary Bodman means when he predicts "a very emotional situation" in the US in the very near future?

Maybe he means starving rioters.

Hence the Homeland Security Act.

As the New York Times reported on Feb. 4, 2006 :

"Kellogg, Brown and Root would build the centers for the Homeland Security Department for an unexpected influx of immigrants, to house people in the event of a natural disaster or for new programs that require additional detention space."