America is headed for a crisis,
partly of our own making.  The
recent spike in oil prices has
many causes.  I've dealt with
the main issues in previous
articles.

But it should be obvious to all
by now that our economic sta-
bility and energy security are
very much linked together.  If
this country does not adopt a
more aggressive and varied
approached, our very exist-
ence is in peril.

When comments from some
foreign minister can jack the
price of oil up 10% in a sin-
gle day, then steps need to
be taken to remedy that. It's
all about stability and risk
management.  People are
suffering now, here, with
gasoline at more than $4
a gallon.  It will be even
worse if, or when, as it
seems inevitable, the price
tops $6 or $7 a gallon. And
plenty of 'experts' think that
will happen soon.

I wrote a week or so ago
that the tide is beginning to
turn against those who
adhere to the Global Warm-
ing hypothesis like some
religious cult.  The absolute
foolishness involved in them
thinking that we humans
are causing a global climate
change is a major factor in
our current dilema.  All of
the data points to the Earth
cooling.  The most likely
reason being our relation-
ship with that big yellow
thing in the sky known as
the Sun.

Whether it's sunspot activ-
ity, orbital dynamics or the
tilt of the Earth, those can
and have impacted our
planet's climate.  There is
no doubt about that!  What
is not happening is an in-
crease in global tempera-
tures due to our using
fossil fuels!

Sure, on a local scale, our
pollution is a bad thing.
Most people live in river val-
leys, and the topography
permits smog to linger
and become a nusance.
Urban areas are "Heat
Islands", so any data on
temperature will reflect
such.  But the dire harp-
ing about global climate
change is completely un-
founded.  CNN recently
reported that the ice pack
of the North Pole and
Arctic Ocean may be com-
pletely gone soon.  In real-
ity, it has grown in the past
year from approximately
7.5 million square kilometers
to 10.5 million sq.km.

While John McCain is soften-
ing his stand against drilling
on restricted areas, and advo-
cating nuclear power, Barack
Obama has not budged.  He
is still saying N-O to any
policy changes that would
help our energy security and
stabilize our economy.  "NO
WE CAN'T" is nis new slogan.

There is much we can do in
to remedy the situation.  New
drilling would not take 10 years
to have an impact on current
prices.  Just the threat of new
regulations against commodity
speculation caused a brief drop
in the price of oil.  News of an
impending attack by Israel
against Iranian nuclear facili-
ties caused the price the spike
again to new heights.

So by following through on a
rational change in commodity
futures trading would help a
great deal.  But the short
term fix would only have a
short term benefit.  What is
also needed is to open up
new domestic areas to be
drilled.  New refineries need
to be built.  New nuclear
power plants need to be
built.

I have no problem with folks
building wind farms and de-
veloping other new techno-
logies.  We're going to need
more energy as time goes on.
By 2012, it is estimated that
the Earth's population will hit
the 7 billion mark.

Abundant and cheap energy
is essential to a healthy,
growing economy.  I remem-
ber the bad-old-days of the
'70s and the oil embargo.
Our national policy needs to
be to do everything possible
to increase our domestic
energy production across the
board.  Whoever promotes
such a policy will get my
vote in November, and I'll
bet get elected in a landslide

Last week, Illinois legislator
and Speaker of the House,
Michael Madigan, floated a
memo to his fellow law ma-
kers.  The 14 page memo
laid out the reasons why
the state legislature must
begin impeachment hear-
ings to oust Governor Rod
Blagojevich.  Both men are
Democrats, so this is not
a partisan issue, but a mat-
ter of ethics.

Madigan was prompted to
circulate his memo as the
result of the conviction of
Antoin "Tony" Rezko on
16 of 24 Federal counts he
was charged and tried for.
Rezko was a close confi-
dant of the governor, as well
as Barack Obama.  Rezko
raised campaign funds for
both men and also helped
them in various real estate
deals.

While no indictments have
yet to be filed against Rod
Blagojevich, it was obvious
to Madigan (and myself)
that Federal charges will be
made against the governor
at some time soon. During
Rezko's trial, the judge who
heard the case, Amy St.
Eve, publicly identified the
governor as "Public Official
A" in open court.  Rezko,
along with six others who
are associated with Gov.
Blagojevich, have thus far
pleaded or been found
guilty during the still on-
going Federal investiga-
tion known as Operation
Board Games.  To quote
from Madigan's memo as
to why impeachment
hearings are needed:
"Criminal activity in the
Blagojevich adiministra-
tion is no longer theori-
tical - it is proven."

Madigan gives three basic
reasons for undertaking
impeachment hearings.
The first is the result of
the Rezko trial.  He also
adds that Blagojevich's
use of a "special session"
of the Illinois General
Assembly was an abuse
of his powers.  The third
reason is related to the
first, with impending
indictments likely, the
governor will be greatly
distracted during his
legal fights and already
is absent from his duties
as Blagojevich "hunkered
down at home".

Madigan goes on to point
to the current political
and budget disorder now
facing Illinois.  "We cannot
afford to wait until 2010.
That will be too late and he
will have had two-and-a-
half years to do even more
damage to the state."

The Illinois state Senate
has already taken a recall
election off the table, thus
leaving impeachment as
the only remaining course
of action.  Madigan is only
proposing an investigation
to begin for now.  He states
that he does not want to
interfere with the on-going
Federal investigation. He
also admits that he does
not know yet if Blagojevich
is actually guilty of any
crimes, but observes that
"...a heck of a lot of people
around him are guilty of
crimes."

Whatever happens next to
Blagojevich will undoubted-
ly take at least two or three
years to play out.  The is-
sues in this category of
corruption cases is very
complex.  If you have read
my previous articles on
'The Combine', or the series
of articles by Evelyn Pringle
at opednews.com, this be-
comes very clear.

While presidential candidate
Barack Obama was not
implicated in any criminal
wrong-doing, as of yet, he,
like Blagojevich, knew and
associated with all of those
who have already been con-
victed or plead guilty.  The
Democratic Party and the
news media has done a
horrible job of vetting the
presumptive nominee.  As
America faces serious eco-
nomic issues and a world-
wide war on terrorism, can
we afford years of investi-
gations and scandal?

The tide may be turning on
the big divide between
environmentalists and
consumers.  With oil prices
hovering at over $130 a
barrel and gasoline more
than $4.00 a gallon in the
U.S., it seems that con-
sumers may have the last
say, FINALLY, in our
national policies.  A new
series of national polls
show that Americans want
more drilling for oil, even in
the Arctic and off-shore.

More than 67% now favor
more drilling for domestic
oil.  Even 48% of those
who call themselves
liberals now want more
domestic oil, only about
37% of liberals still op-
pose that course of ac-
tion.  Even America's
Number One liberal
Republican, John McCain,
now favors drilling offshore.
He still opposes drilling
in the Alaskan ANWR
range.

Economics is the motor
of society, and that en-
gine needs petroleum.
According to "Investors
Business Daily", just
our offshore assets
alone will add to our
usable reserves of oil
and natural gas by some
400% to 500%.  Throw
in ANWR and the newly
discovered fields in
North Dakota and Mon-
tana and we have an
easy 100 year supply
at the ready.  This does
not include coal and
other potential sources
both unknown and yet
to be discovered.

Our Federal government
has had a ban on new
offshore drilling since
1981.  HELLOOOO!!!
Is it any wonder why
the futures market has
gone so high?  What
reason do they have to
be optimistic that the
demand for oil will not
outstrip the supply
with a national policy
like that?

General Motors announced
last week that they will be
converting nearly all of their
auto production to hybrids.
This is a good thing.  The
technology has proven it-
self and should be applied.
T.Boone Pickens is devel-
oping a huge wind farm in
Texas to produce electricity.
There is no real reason why
low-pressure water-cooled
fission reactors, the kind
the U.S. Navy has been
using successfully for many
years, cannot be built.  In
fact, we have plenty of sur-
plus reactors left over from
ships mothballed after the
fall of the Soviet Union that
could be employed in a few
short years.

That is the key to growing
our economy and driving
the price of oil back down.
It doesn't matter if it takes
years for new drilling sites
or reactors to be built.
Just the knowledge that we
will build them will have an
immediate effect on the
futures market.  To argue
that we shouldn't do so
simply because it will
take "ten years" till we
get any benefits is a
stupid argument.  One may
as well argue the same
for teaching children to
do mathematics.  They
won't really need to know
how to multiply or use
percentages till their
adults.  Why teach them
when they're young?

Barack Obama doesn't
believe drilling will help.
That shows how stupid he
really is. The kind of change
he will bring if elected will
fling us into a full-scale
depression.  So much for
his 'vision of the future'.
He would be happy with
us paying $4, $5 or more
for a gallon of gas forever.

So Drill Here, Drill Now
and Drill Often!  There
will be OIL!!!

Saturday marked the day
when  two years ago, I
tripped and fell while
ascending my raised, back-
porch.  My right leg caught
the steel blade of a snow
shovel.  The resulting wound
was massive, gouging out
about a four inch by six inch
fold of flesh nearly to the
bone.

I was fortunate enough to
first call my good friend,
Marc, who lived only a few
blocks away.  He arrived
much faster than the EMS
ambulance, which took
about fifteen minutes.  I
had lost some four pints of
blood by then.  In addition
to the initial injury, while
I made a vain attempt to
enter my house to find
something to use as a
tourniquet, I had passed
out and went crashing
through the porch rail-
ing, hitting the cement
some five feet below.

That was just the begin-
ning!  After some initial
surgery, I awoke to find
myself restrained and
on a ventilator.  Some
complecations set in
requiring the doctors to
probe my right lung,
which they then pro-
ceeded to puncture and
deflate by accident.

All in all, I spent 27 days
in the hospital, nineteen
of which were on a ven-
tilator.  I had three oper-
ations performed on my
right leg and the doctors
did a fine job in saving it.
I have a new appreciation
for life, needless to say.
I also have an improved
appreciation for God.

You may ask how can I
claim to be an Objecti-
vist and still believe in
God?  It's very simple,
My soul subscribes to
Jesus and my mind to
Ayn Rand.  He guides
my faith, she guides my
thinking.

Rand had considered
herself as a conserva-
tive when she opposed
the New Deal of FDR.
But when Willaim F.
Buckley Jr. began forg-
ing a new conservative
movement, he and his
legion found Ayn Rand
to be too uncompromis-
ing.  They also did not
appreciate her atheism.

Shunning her caused
Rand to view these new
conservatives as much
as an enemy to indivi-
dual liberty as the libe-
rals.  Conservatives
did, quietly, agree with
her views on capitalism,
but they tempered her
position on individual
liberty with the need of
some structure of a
state-controlled society.

Both Buckley and Rand
supported Goldwater in
his 1964 presidential run.
But Rand did have a warn-
ing for Goldwater and the
conservative movement.
"If he advocates the right
political principles for the
wrong metaphysical rea-
sons, the contradiction is
his problem, not ours."

We see this now, more
than ever, as John McCain
attempts to sway conser-
vatives, and likewise, for
them to accept McCain.
Since the departure of
Newt Gringrich, the GOP
and the conservative
movement have begun
to deviate, the result being
that both have lost their
"bearings".  

My moral compass and
my political compass are
independent of one another.
Freedom, to me, is derived
first from God by way of
Him blessing us with Free
Will.  While He may inter-
vene, from time to time,
through what we call mira-
cles, He gives us the
liberty to make our own
choices and mistakes.
He also gave us the all
important tool to exercise
free will, the human mind.

Religion, to me, is the oper-
ating system for the soul.
Philosophy is the operating
system of the mind.  Our
virtues and actions are
guided by both.  But I do
recall Jesus saying, "Give
unto Caesar ...", which
leads me to accept that
politics does not fall into
the realm of Faith.

God gives us the power
to live free, but we must
use our reason to make
freedom a reality.  This
falls within the realm of
Men.  In that realm, only
Capitalism provides the
essential building block
of freedom - private pro-
perty!  The most impor-
tant piece of property we
own is ourselves.  If we
don't own ourselves, then
we are slaves.

The Republican Party has
veered off course from
this philosophical princi-
ple.  So, too, has the
Conservatives.  Even the
Libertarian Party has been
hijacked by disgruntled
Conservatives.  So the
question is, where do we
go from here?

Reagan built his famous
coalition of the 'three-
legged stool', combining
the fiscal, security and
religious factions of the
Conservative movement.
The lack of the political
consistency of what's
left of that coalition
comes from the lack of
a philosophical base.
The answer is to use
the minds we were en-
dowed with by our
Creator to exercise the
free will He also blessed
us with.

Our Politics must be as
pure and as passionate as
is our Faith.  Rand posed
the question when speaking
at West Point, "Philosophy,
who needs it?"  The answer
is that we do, still, now more
than ever.  At some point,
Conservatives must embrace
Ayn Rand.  They need to
keep in mind that while she
may have been an atheist,
she was NOT anti-religious.
Even she thought it was
nice to say, "God bless you".
She was no angel, but
she was no devil, either.
Rand was a human being,
who was an eternal optimist
that Man was Good.

And Objectivists, too, must
follow her lead, and not be
so harsh on those who
embrace Faith.  Our
common cause is liberty.
A cause which I celebrate
on my special day.  It
was God who blessed me
with good family and
friends to help me in my
hour of need.  It was the
optimism I learned from
Ayn Rand that helped me
struggle to breath and
stay alive.  I believe that
both Faith and philosophy
will keep the flame of
liberty alive, too.

Now that Senator Barack
Obama has become the no-
minee, the question to be
asked is who will he offend
next?  Who's left that he
hasn't already offended?

He has offended "hard-wor-
king average Americans.
Plus those who are reli-
gious and those who own
firearms.  I suppose one
could stretch things and
say he offended women.
Between the treatment of
Senator Hillary Clinton by
Obama and his supporters,
they've dug themselves a
pretty deep hole.  The
"sweetie" remark just adds
to the fire.

His latest comment, though,
may get him into even more
trouble.  His position that
Jerusalem should be on the
table for negotiating with
the Palestinians will not go
over very well.  This came
just mere days after trying
to curry favor at the AIPAC
meeting.

Oh, I almost forgot!  His
comments to McCain about
losing his bearings is a
slam against the elderly!
So Obama has no use for
white men, white women,
probably women in general,
gun owners, Jews, and
the senior citizens.  I sus-
pect he'll say something
negative about Hispanics
next.  Oh, I forget again,
former slaves, too.  He's
not supporting descen-
dents of former slaves of
the Cherokee Nation.

Could Paul Begula be
right and the Democrats
believe they can win the
White House with just
the African-American
and Egghead vote?  It
sure seems that way.

Barack Obama is now the pre-
sumed candidate for the Demo-
crats this November.  On Satur-
day, Hillary Clinton will officially
shut down her campaign, or at
least suspend it, and pledge
to support Obama.  It will be
interesting to see what happens
next with the 18 million who
voted for her in the primaries.

If Harriet Christian is any indi-
cator, Obama is going to have
a rough time winning her sup-
porters.  If you haven't yet seen
her angry outburst last week-
end at the DNC rules commit-
tee meeting, go search You-
Tube!  She's mad as hell as
Obama, the DNC and the MSM
for mistreating Hillary and her
supporters.

In the last few primaries, from
Pennsylvania on, the exit polls
showed a very disturbing trend
for the DNC.  Nearly a third or
more of Hillary's voters vow to
either sit out the November
election, or vote for McCain.
While many pundits believe
that the majority will rejoin the
flock and vote Democrat, I am
not so certain.

A dozen or more years ago,
I would agree with them.  The
disgruntled would have no
place to go and vent, and even-
tually calm down.  But that is
no longer the case.  Already
an assortment of blogs and
websites have sprung up to
keep the anger alive and well.

Who can blame them?  Just
go to sites like DailyKos or
Huffington Post and you'll
find that most of the Obamites
are still rather venomous to
Hillary and her followers.
With friends like them, who
needs enemies?  

The basic problem facing
Obama is a significant one
for the general election. He
is too unknown.  Any ration-
al, objective observer can
see that had the MSM run
stories about Obama's past
associations before Iowa,
he would never have won
there and would probably
been out of the race after
New Hampshire.  Once the
Reverend Wright story broke
into the MSM, Obama has
had great difficulty winning
anywhere without a large
African-American voting block.

In the primaries, he mainly
had to contend with people
who are more liberal and
anti-Bush.  Now that the
real campaigning is under-
way, he will have to prove
that his brand of CHANGE
is better than EXPERIENCE.
When one looks at his ex-
perience, it is very lacking.

Obama has no practical
knowledge of economics,
nor of foreign affairs.  His
work as a community
organizer is more that of
a social agitator.  Nearly
every long-tern acquain-
tance of his is a radical of
one stripe or another.

His legislative record, both
in Illinois and the U.S. Sen-
ate is meager.  He has no
executive experience at all.
Just running a campaign is
not enough, since he's not
the one managing it.

There is very little to offer
those who became angry
over the way Hillary was
skewered by the Media and
by Obama's supporters in
the blogosphere.  As more
of the angry ban together
on their own new blogs,
the temperature will only
increase.  McCain is setting
about this coming week to
begin a campaign to win
them over.  While he has his
own issues with conserva-
tives, McCain does have wide
appeal with independents.
Extending this to the angry
Democrats should be easy
for him.  McCain is tailor
made for the task.

On Wednesday, 6/4/2008, the jury delivered their ver-
dict for Antoin "Tony"
Rezko.  Facing 24 Federal
counts, the jury found Rezko
guilty on only 16 of the
charges.  These range from
wire fraud, to bribery and
money laundering.  

The Chicago business and
confidante of Illinois Gover-
nor Rod Blagojevich, now
in his second term, and one
time friend of Senator
Barack Obama, was taken
immediately into custody
after the trial.  His $8 mil-
lion dollar bail was revoked.

Rezko is only the latest in
a series of arrests and trials
beginning in 2004.  An inves-
tigation into corruption in the
Illinois state political scene,
called "Operation Board
Games", has already netted
several other players.  They
were part of a group, known
as The Combine.

According to reports from
the series of trials, a large
number of both Democratic
and Republican officials,
both elected and appointed
plus a cabal of business-
men, for foreign and domes-
tic, engaged in wide spread
fraud, bribery and other cri-
minal acts.  Their primary
purpose has been to access
public funds, such as the
Illinois Teachers Pension
Fund, worth some $40 bil-
lion dollars.  Even Federal
money for Iraqi reconstruc-
tion projects were targeted.

While Obama's name only
came up a few times during
the Rezko trial, there is no
immediate indication that he
may be questioned further.
There are rumors, though
that more may come soon.

Evelynn Pringle of the web-
site:  opednews.com, has
done a remarkable job of
piecing together the long
and twisting trail of The
Combine's activities and
players.  I strongly urge
reading her series of arti-
cles.  My personal conclu-
sion from them is:

In 2006, Gov. Blagojevich
was preparing to run for
the presidency for the sole
purpose of shutting down
Operation Board Games.
As more operatives of The
Combine were arrested,
bringing investigators clo-
ser to him, Blagojevich
knew if he ran he would
draw too much scrutiny.

Barack Obama was tailor-
made for picking up the
baton.  He was a rising
star since his speech at
the 2004 DNC convention,
and a newly elected U.S.
Senator.  There is little
doubt in my mind, after
reading Pringle's articles,
that Obama was a mem-
ber of The Combine.  In
fact, it was one of his acts
that led to the Federal in-
vestigation.

In 2002, Blagojevich got
Obama appointed as the
chairman of the Illinois
Health and Human Ser-
vices Committee.  One of
Obama's first acts was
to help push through a
new restructuring of the
state's Planning Board
which oversaw healthcare
facilities.  Obama also
saw to it that Combine-
friendly people were ap-
pointed to the Planning
Board.

It was one of the first
projects of the new Plan-
ning Board that led a
CEO of a hospital to seek
out help from the FBI when
she was being pressured
by Board members to use
a particular company for
an expansion project.  This
led to the beginning of Oper-
ation Board Games and their
first arrest in 2004.  

While the news media refers
to this week's verdict as the
"Rezko Trial", one must
keep in mind that it is just
the latest of a series.  A
year from now, future indict-
ments could easily change
the name of this caper.  Do
I see a possible Blagojevich
Trial followed by an Obama
Trial down the road?  We
shall see if history repeats
itself.  Remember, while
folks skate along and get
by the initial criminal acts,
they usually get busted
during the cover-up!