Sunday, July 11, 2010

A Truly Great Thriller...

07/11/2010

Sometimes great stories come from everyday occurrences and are transformed into best selling novels, like “The Hunt for Red October.” The tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico is exactly that, a tragedy, but it offers someone a huge opportunity to promote a conspiracy-theory novel like those of Tom Clancy with his protagonist Jack Ryan coming to the rescue.  Allow me to lay out my idea for one to you?

A “future” administration wants to get legislation passed to encourage (force) the development “clean” energy, of course this story is purely fiction.  The desired result of this new law is be accomplished by charging co-called atmospheric polluters, as described by the government, with huge fees based on the amount of carbons their manufacturing operations and processes release into the air.  This program, as proposed, will probably cause the loss of thousands of jobs, not to mention large increases in the cost of energy to American families and businesses.  The president, due to the overall costs and wariness of the program, doesn’t have the votes in congress to get this legislation passed, so one of his aides comes up with a covert plan to cause an accidental oil spill at an off-shore drilling rig, one big enough to cause the public to cry out for regulating the oil industry, but not large enough to cause any real environmental damage.  The administration believes this incident, along with the vilification of the coal industry, will sway public opinion to support passage of its program.  Unfortunately the execution of the plan goes awry when the oil rig explosion causes a huge loss of life and results in the rig sinking to the Gulf’s floor.  The planned oil spill turns into an environmental disaster with oil gushing into the Gulf at an unprecedented rate nearly a mile below the water’s surface causing billions of dollars worth of damages to the local economy and environment.  The novel would be a story about how the government manipulates the real truth and constructs a cover up, with a “Jack Ryan” discovering it and exposing the truth. 

Sound a little far out?  Perhaps, but the government has done this kind of thing before.  Are you old enough to remember Viet Nam and the Gulf of Tonkin incident?  It was distorted by the government and Lyndon Johnson used it as a basis to garner support to attack North Viet Nam.  While this story would be a work of complete fiction, one has to wonder exactly to what degree that might be.

I can visualize this being made into a film.  We could use some “conspiracy theorists” as cast members: Danny Glover will play the President, with Sean Penn as the VP.  Janeane Garofalo, because she is such a people person, could be the first lady, and Rosie O’Donnell, with all her infinite wisdom, could be the Secretary of State.  We might also cast George Bush as the oil company’s inept CEO, along with Katie Couric as the irate governor of gulf-coast state affected by the oil spill.  The film would have to be directed by Mel Gibson, but only when he is not having one of his dramatic break downs.  We might even find a part as a religious fanatic for Sarah Palin.  Oh, I forgot one character…the part of the “Jack Ryanesque” hero extraordinaire could only be played by Alec Baldwin, since he played this part before. 

I am thinking Oscar, for sure!  Perhaps, a Pulitzer, too?

And that is all I have to say about that…