Time to Ramp up Domestic Oil Production

By: Tom O’Brien

As we fill up our tanks, it is costing us more and more everyday. The nauseating feeling we get when we spend $50 or $60 dollars to fuel our vehicles when it used to cost $30 or $40 is only going to get worst as oil prices continue to soar. Since we rely heavily on foreign oil, we are at the mercy of OPEC, since they regulate the price and supply of oil. Our economy has experienced a modest recovery, but if there is anything that can derail the recovery and cause our nation to plunge back into a recession, it’s the rising price in oil. As the price of oil continues to soar, it’s a logical intuition as to how low our economy can go.
Since the 70’s, we have been led to believe that all the oil in the world is either in the Middle East, Venezuela, beneath the ocean floor, or in Alaska. While those areas do hold a considerable amount of the worlds known oil reserves, recent discoveries have yielded promising potential into the amount of oil right here in our back yard. A recent report by the United States Geological Survey found that an area in Eastern Montana, Western North Dakota, South Dakota, along with parts of Canada known as the Bakken formation has an estimated 3-4 BILLION barrels of oil in reserves that are thought to be recoverable.
The Bakken formation is nothing new; oil was first discovered in this region several decades ago. In fact, companies started extracting oil from this area over 50 years. The problem is, throughout the last several decades oil prices have generally been low. Though warning signs of the volatility of our oil supply have come up a few times, the problem is that complacency develops when the price of oil is low, so we stick to the same old routine of importing most of our oil from the Middle East. Had we invested greater into finding and extracting domestic sources of oil such as the Bakken formation and other areas back in the 70’s when we first got a glimpse of the volatility of our oil supply, there is no telling how much oil we could be producing for ourselves.
Along with the Bakken formation, there several other areas that has significant amounts of oil reserves that can be tapped into. If the price of oil continues to soar, our economy could collapse into a depression, dwarfing the recent recession we experienced. If we can start getting serious about supplying ourselves with oil, we can tell OPEC to go pound sand and stop letting them control us like puppets. We need to start investing greater toward research and development in these areas, and if that happens, the dream of the US becoming energy independent can one day become reality.

Can The Donald Trump His Way to the White House?

By: Tom O’Brien

Donald Trump. We know him as “The Donald”, Mr. Trump, and the dude on Celebrity Apprentice who likes to fire people. Is it possible that we may soon know him as Mr. President? When news broke that this eccentric, pompous billionaire was contemplating a run for the White House, few took him seriously. Most seemed to simply write it off as a farfetched dream that would never happen, or believed that he was doing this for publicity. Those notions were put to rest when a recent poll by Newsmax sent shock waves into the political world, immediately catapulting Trump’s candidacy from the realm of fantasy to reality.
Over 550,000 people participated in this poll, and the numbers were shocking. In a hypothetical matchup with President Obama, Mr. Trump beats him by a significant margin, 68% to 13%. The Donald also whooped up on the so-called “front runners” of the GOP, including Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee, taking 57% of the vote from that field. The only GOP candidate that came close to Donald Trump was Mitt Romney, who came within 9% of him. What does this mean? First, it’s important to remember you can’t take polls too seriously, especially this early in the game. Second, this wasn’t a scientific poll, so the validity of the results does come into question. While you can discount the legitimacy of this poll, the numbers are certainly eye-opening.
Let’s not forget that underneath the toupee is man who has successfully risen to the top of the business world. Although he comes off as boastful and arrogant, he is a very charismatic man who has the means to convey a message. Obama is living proof that the American people will go for someone who can articulate a solid message with a vision for the future. If Donald Trump can do that, he just may go from Mr. Trump to Mr. President. Don’t write him off just yet.

Count Me Out

By: Tom O’Brien

With November 2012 just around the corner, we are starting to see the hype and hoopla of the upcoming presidential election. President Obama has recently unleashed his reelection campaign as he tries to win another term in the White House. Just like we saw in ’08, he is attempting to woo the American public with the catchy clichés to attract supporters. His website encourages supporters to go “in” for him in 2012. One thing is for certain, you can count me out.
Obama will try to spin his record while blaming all our problems on Bush and the Republicans, a method that failed Democrats miserably in 2010. The fact of the matter is that Obama’s short tenure in the oval office has produced a myriad of failures. Obama cleverly sold himself to the American public as a strong leader who promised to end business as usual in American politics. Instead, he has been a lemming who in two short years has tirelessly pursued a radical agenda endorsed not by the American people but by his radical friends such as Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emmanuel.
President Obama has wasted a golden opportunity to promote a culture of unity in our political system that has fallen victim to the divisive atmosphere that has engulfed our nation. Instead of making true on his promise to reach across party lines and work with Republicans, Obama has simply exploited the super majority he enjoyed during his first two years in office. Obama and his party unilaterally used their power to jam through wasteful and ineffective policies such as Obama care and the stimulus package that have done nothing but drive us toward bankruptcy. His presidency has also been filled with hypocrisy as he has continued the policies he campaigned against such as extending the Bush tax cuts and continuing majority of his controversial anti terror programs.
As it turns out, Obama was able to deceive the American people with his charm and charisma that he effectively put on display throughout his previous campaign. He is not the great leader that he made himself out to be, and it’s time for Americans to wake up and send him back to Chicago with all of his pals. We cannot afford four more years of a man who is not fit to be a president. Amongst the uncertainties about the upcoming is a clear fact, you can count me OUT!

Time For an Intervention With Uncle Sam

By: Tom O’Brien

Uncle Sam you have a problem and it’s time for you to seek help. You are addicted to a very dangerous drug called spending, and it’s time for an intervention. I am here because I love and care about you and want to see you succeed. Hell, all of us want to see you succeed because the success of our future greatly depends on you. With that being said, you have a problem and its only getting worst.
You are currently borrowing more than 42 cents to each dollar you spend, and this year alone you will spend a total of 1.6 trillion dollars you don’t have (office of Management and Budget). Your good friends at the Congressional Budget Office estimate that in just ten short years, your debt could be over three quarters of our gross domestic product if you continue to spend the way you do. If your spending continues to get worst, it could cause a cataclysmic overdose that could potentially kill you.
Fortunately, it’s not too late to seek help, and I have a few ideas as to how you can kick your habit and become a responsible spender once again. First, you have to stop surrounding yourself by enablers. These enablers include China, Japan, Britain, Russia, and other nations who continue to finance your problem. Second, you need to take a look at your most significant expenditures such as entitlements, defense, and the current wars in the Middle East and find ways to significantly reduce the amount you spend on them because they are milking you dry. Finally, you need to introduce yourself to common sense and sanity. They will go a long way in helping you win your battle with out of control spending.
You’re problem has gotten so bad that you are teetering on the edge here. Its time to admit to your errenous ways and rectify your spending problem before its too late. The fate of our nation rests squarely on your shoulders. Your ability to rid yourself of this awful disease will go a long way toward determining the future of our society. If you let spending take you down, the American Dream and our amazing way of life will surely follow.

Obama’s Aimless Venture in Libya

By: Tom O’Brien

Amidst the civil war that has engulfed Libya in recent weeks, the US is blindly going along with a few of its NATO allies to enforce a no fly zone over Libya. The goals of the mission are vague due to Obama’s inept ability to clearly outline what end results we wish to accomplish. With our current operations in the Middle East stretching our military dangerously thin and with nothing to gain from this mess in Libya, it is in our best interest to stay out of it.
On prime time this past week, Obama fumbled away an opportunity to justify the US’s involvement in Libya. Instead of clearly explaining to the American people his ambitions, President Obama fed us a bunch of rhetoric attempting to justify our excursion in Libya rather than CLEARLY outlining our objectives. “To summarize, then: In just one month, the United States has worked with our international partners to mobilize a broad coalition, secure an international mandate to protect civilians, stop an advancing army, prevent a massacre, and establish a no-fly zone with our allies and partners” (www.whitehouse.gov).
Saying that you want to protect the Libyan people and hoping that Gaddafi leaves power may sound good, but what is our plan besides dropping a few bombs on some targets and shooting a few planes out of the sky? What is it exactly that we wish to accomplish after the dust settles and how do we plan on doing so?
Our aimless pursuit to establish a no fly zone has done little to justify the costs and risks that are involved with an operation of this magnitude. How are we going to remove Gaddafi from power, and if he stays in power, what do we do next? Obama has provided no answers to those momentous questions, and at this point it’s feasible to assume that he doesn’t have a clue.
As of last week, the pentagon estimates that our brief venture in Libya has already cost over $550 million dollars. In addition to the exuberant amounts of money we have spent and continue to spend in Iraq and Afghanistan, and with our nation in dire need of investment, we cannot afford to continue our haphazard mission in Libya. With no clear objectives in place and a price tag that continues to skyrocket, we must abort our mission in Libya.

It’s Time to End the Governments Spending Spree

By: Tom O’Brien

Throughout the last decade, our nation has fallen victim to the fiscally reckless policies of the previous two administrations. Starting with the Bush administration, the government exponentially increased its deficit spending to record highs. Those reckless spending habits have only escalated under the Obama administration and as a result, our national debt has risen to a dangerous level. Simply stated, America is broke, and time is running out to stop the looming debt crisis.
As we’ve seen recently in Greece and Portugal, governments who let spending get out of control can fall into economic crisis. These nations have accrued levels of debt that exceed their GDP and as a result, they are facing serious economic repercussions. Unemployment rates have soared, inflation is dragging down the value of their currency, and civil unrest is brewing amidst the economic meltdown these nations’ faces as a result of their massive amounts of debt.
Right now, we are at a point where our government can reign in their belligerent spending and save our nation from an economic meltdown. We must learn from the mistakes of nations like Greece and Portugal and reign in the government’s level of spending to decrease our national debt. Unfortunately, the government hasn’t gotten the memo and refuses to cut its excessive spending spree.
Our spending has gotten so out of control that the Federal Reserve is printing money to fund the excessive expenditures of our government. If the government continues to print dollars like monopoly money, the dollar could eventually collapse, triggering an economic meltdown of epic proportions. Inflation will sky rocket, and we would be faced with an economic crisis never before seen in this nation’s history.
If we don’t do something about spending soon, we will face severe economic repercussions that will dwarf the current recession we are in. If the US government continues to bloat the level of national debt, we could see the value of the dollar fall even further from the record low it’s been at the past few years. We still have time to right the fiscal ship of our nation, but in order to do that, we must end the gluttony of spending our government’s had a penchant for over the last decade.

Dear GOP, It’s Time to Step Up!

In 2008, when the Democrats crushed Republicans in virtually every political race in the country, there were serious questions as to whether or not the Grand Ole Party could survive. They lost the white house and were the minority in both chambers of congress. It seemed as if nothing could go right for GOP and nothing could go wrong for the democrats.
Insert Barrack Obama. It took him one week to slow what momentum the Democrats had down along with galvanizing a conservative base that had been dormant since 2004. The passage of that disgustingly wasteful stimulus bill was the beginning of a long road of blunders for the Obama administration. The numerous failures of this administration from healthcare to spending have allowed the GOP to take back the house this past fall along with making up a significant number of seats in the senate.
The golden ticket that has been bestowed upon the GOP can disappear just as quickly as it takes for Willy Wonka to blow that annoying little whistle of his. People are finally starting to open their eyes to Obamas radical agenda and are rejecting the direction he is taking our country in.
All the GOP has to do is come up with a half decent nominee and the white house will be theirs to lose. Do not hand the Democrats the 2012 election by nominating some half whit fame seeker like Sarah Palin or a political has been such as Newt Gingrich. Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani are not the answer either; they had their chance and blew it. It’s time for some new blood within the party to step up and lead the party back to the white house, which is as winnable as ever in 2012.
So far, no one has stepped up to take the reins for the GOP, and time is ticking with the presidential election roughly a year and a half. The aforementioned early favorites for the nod will do nothing but ensure defeat for the GOP in ‘12. Like Obama in ’08, the GOP needs someone who can communicate with the American people and convey a simple, solid message. What the GOP needs is a fresh face who has a solid message that majority of Americans can sympathize with.