Hello! Hello! Anybody Home?

        Hello! Hello! Anybody Home?

There’s a scene in Back to the Future where the foil, Biff Tannen (played by Thomas F. Wilson), raps his knuckles on the head of George McFly (Crispin Glover) and says, "Hello. Hello. Anybody home?" mocking the stupidity of Marty McFly’s (Michael J. Fox) dad. 

I think about this scene every time I hear Senator Richard Durbin and Nancy Pelosi say, "The high price of gasoline has nothing to do with supply." Hello. Hello. Senator Durbin. Congresswoman Pelosi. Anybody home?

Perhaps the good Senator and Congresswoman are right. 

Perhaps the moon is made of blue cheese. Perhaps the earth is flat. Perhaps the sun will rise in the west tomorrow.

When I lived in New Mexico, they grew onions as a cash crop. But one year the supply of onions was so great they became nearly worthless. In fact, I saw truckloads of onions dumped along the highway.

The current price of oil has everything to do with oil supply. If you doubled the supply of gasoline, tomorrow the price of oil would fall through the floor.

How Senator Obama has discovered that allowing oil to flow from offshore drilling would only decrease the price by "three cents per gallon" is beyond me. If he knows that much about supply and demand, he should head to Wall Street, not the White House.

In reality, we have an artificial shortage of oil caused directly by Congress blocking drilling offshore and in an itsy bitsy tiny ten square mile section of Alaska. The marketplace would have provided sufficient oil at a reasonable price, but the interference of Congress in the supply and demand process has caused a shortage and driven the price of gasoline through the roof.

Government cannot create or add to anything. All it can do is regulate and create shortages by meddling in the marketplace. As Ronald Reagan said, "Government is not the solution, it is the problem."

The Democrats are right when they say that if we decide to drill today the oil won’t flow for six to eight years. But then again, if we wait six years, we will have another six years to wait. What a stupid argument.

Newt Gingrich is really right, "Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less." If Congress would vote to open up offshore drilling and drilling in Alaska today the price of oil would collapse because the speculators would panic and sell out.

There’s only one solution, throw Durbin and Pelosi and every other thick-headed liberal out of Congress! We may not have much of a choice for President, but we can elect a Congress that will open up the oil tap.

The tide is beginning to flow in our direction. Nearly 70% of the American people are now in favor of drilling offshore and in Alaska. If the price of gas edges up another dollar, drilling for oil will become the "third rail" of politics that candidates will oppose only at their political peril. If you haven’t already signed Newt’s petition at www.americansolutions.com do it today.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the man who took over Congress on the basis of his Contract with America has once again hit upon the way to turn the Democrats out of office.

Ronald Reagan & the Orphan Drug Act

Ronald Reagan & the Orphan Drug Act

Ronald Reagan was amazing for many reasons. Reaganomics ushered in the longest economic boom in history. The Reagan Doctrine defeated the Soviet Union without firing a shot. And Ronald Reagan was a great model of humility, charity, and leadership for the young people of our nation.

Just recently I learned about something else Ronald Reagan did for our nation. It really touched me because it directly helped my dear wife, Kathi, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis (MS). 

When my wife was diagnosed with MS about ten years ago, one drug, Betaseron, had recently come on the market. After that, other drugs quickly became available including Avonex and Copaxone, then Rebif and Tysabri. I always wondered why it took so long for the first drug to come on the market and then why others followed so quickly.

Without these drugs, thousands of those diagnosed with MS would be severely disabled, mentally, physically or both. In fact, until these drugs were introduced, 50% of all patients diagnosed with relapsing and remitting MS eventually had secondary progressive MS, the kind that severely disables those who have this disease.

In reading the Wall Street Journal of Monday, June 23, 2008, I came across an article that explained why these critical drugs finally came on the market. An opinion column by Ed Rensi, former CEO of McDonald’s, revealed the reason:
"The Orphan Drug Act, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, made it possible for companies to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the development of potential treatments for rare diseases. A rare, or orphan, disease is defined as one that affects fewer than 200,000 Americans. By offering tax incentives for clinical trials of these treatments and granting seven years of patent exclusivity once the drug is approved—compared to an average of five years with most new drugs—the Orphan Drug Act gave hope to collective millions of Americans living with these horrible diseases."

This is the 25th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan signing the Orphan Drug Act and all I have to say is, "Thank you Ronald Reagan." Without this act my wife might be in a wheelchair or otherwise seriously disabled.

What a contrast to Hillary Clinton who demagogues against drug companies and has even complained that a pill only costs $.25 to produce. Of course, she forgets that it takes billions of dollars in research to create such miracle drugs.

Didn’t she or Obama ever notice that socialist countries build cars like Trabants and live in misery, while capitalist nations live in prosperity? Didn’t they ever notice that not one new drug is ever brought to the market from nations where drug companies are not free to research, create, and make a profit?

Once again, let’s hear a big round of applause for one of the greatest presidents in the history of our Republic—Ronald Reagan!

America is Energy Independent!

 America is Energy Independent!

There is good news. Not only is the United States Energy Independent, the politicians are finally getting the message, thanks in large part to Newt Gingrich’s "Drill Here. Drill Now. Spend Less." petition drive.

A little background is in order. In May of this year, the Interior Department estimated that the U.S. territory contains about 139 billion barrels of undiscovered oil reserves. Of this amount, 85.9 billion barrels lie off our coasts on the Outer Continental Shelf.

According to the June 13, 2008 edition of USA Today, this is enough oil to cover all US consumption for 13 years. That’s right, 13 years. And this doesn’t even take into consideration the oil shale in Colorado and Utah or the new find in South Dakota.

Keeping in mind that even Hurricane Katrina did not cause one offshore rig to spill oil and that there has never been an oil spill from an offshore platform, our offshore oil is an excellent place to begin exploration and production, along with Alaska, of course.

Remember, the United States is the only country in the world whose politicians refuse to exploit their oil resources. But, now they are beginning to feel the heat. They dropped their opposition to the private ownership of firearms when the NRA membership topped 5 million, and right now the "Drill Here. Drill Now. Spend less." petition drive has already topped 1.2 million. At the current pace, American Solutions (Newt Gingrich’s group) should have close to 5 million signatures by Election Day and 7 million before the next President is sworn in.

Gingrich’s "Contract with America" was the key to electing a Republican Congress and now he has the key to unlocking America’s oil reserves. Even recalcitrant Senators and Congressmen who want you to live with less won’t be able to stand up to a sea-to-sea chorus calling for oil exploration now. John McCain has finally gotten the message (although he still opposes drilling in ANWR) and even a President Obama will be forced to listen to reason if you and I demand oil drilling, refining, and greater supply now.

More supply means lower prices. It’s as simple as that. You and I need to get behind this petition drive and make energy exploration and production in the United States (including offshore and Alaska) the third rail of politics—one so hot the politicians will be afraid to oppose it.

You can help do that today by going to www.americansolutions.com and signing the "Drill Here. Drill Now. Spend Less." petition. Do it today and also urge all your friends and neighbors to sign the petition. 

Remember, the more oil we drill and refine, the lower the prices will be. The problem is supply and we have the solution. Drill here. Drill now. Spend less.