One is running for president and may well win and the other is not even being asked to speak at the Democratic Convention. The state of Illinois is in total disarray. Blagojevich may go to prison like his predecessor George Ryan. What might have happened if the tables had been turned. Would Obama done well running the state of Illinois? Maybe, maybe not.We'll never know. But, at least we would have know whether he could have run something.

Would Blagojeviceh have done as well as Obama as a U.S. Senator. Probably yes. 

But, we found out Rod Blagojevich can't run a state so we will never take a chance and let him run the country. Shouldn't we have done the same with Obama?

This is why people in this country are getting nervous about Barack. It's one thing  to be a competent campaigner and magnificent orator, but it's something else to run a state or run a country. Maybe we should let Obama be the governor here for a while. He could find out what it's like to have Mike Madigan, the real governor stab you in the back because he wants his daughter, Lisa Madigan  to be the governor. Or, to get a phone call from Rich Daly telling you what he'd like you to do that day. Or to have the United States Attorney poking around in your affairs since your friend Tony Rezko is talking about the deals he did with you. 

Would Obama have been up to all this? We don't know and that's the point. Is he up to be president of the U.S. ? No, he should at least run something. When I started my career with Amoco, Standard Oil of Indiana then, I had to run the training station. My folks and my fiance were all so impressed that I had graduated from college to wear a service station uniform. Later, when I was president of a subsidiary with 54 retail outlets and 300 employees, I fell back on that early experience. What's Obama going to fall back on? Maybe his ass if he's like Blagojevich and can't cope with the responsibility. Do we want that? Is it fair to him or the country to put a man who is not prepared in a job this important?

This is a $22 billion dollar dolt tax we will pay for the luxury of people like Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi. Next winter could tack on another $22 billion or so. Can the economy take it? No.

Pelosi spoke last night at the Democratic Convention. I didn't watch since I am boycotting both conventions. I, personally believe they should all be at work trying to fix the problems we are facing. Pelosi shut down the trade agreement with Columbia, a friend in a bad neighborhood where we are losing friends fast. Why did she do this? The AFl-CIO said don't do it or we will cut off your funds. Why did she shut down the vote on offshore drilling? Because the nut-ball environmentalists who control the Democratic Party said you better not do this. Every slime ball lobbyists is in Denver holding parties and flying the Democrats in on private aircraft. Obama says he didn't have time to shut this down. Sure Barack.

Russia is kicking up their heels. They are entertaining Syria while the Democrats partake in parties and puffery. Selling them a few arms just in case Israel should come calling between November and January.

These are really bad times. I just didn'tt have the stomach to listen to Michele tell us that she is proud of America for the second time. Not to hear Pelosi tell us she wants to make America into San Francisco. Not to hear Biden give us a speech he probably stole form google. Nor to watch Ted Kennedy say goodbye to the party.

I'm busy trying to find ways to get all of them out of office. I'm concerned about energy, about the mess congress has made of the mortgage business, the Russian threat, unemployment, freedom, and the future for my grandchildren. I just wish one lying ass politician was concerned about these problems and was responding to all of us who want something done. I've even decided to run for President of the United States. Go to http://www.thelopezfamilyonline.com/play.php?first=bill&last=robertson to see my opening campaign.

This is not the time for bloviating. (Bill O'Reilly), it's not the time to be responding to special interests, it's not the time for party politics, it's not the time for making promises you can't keep, it's not the time to grow government that doesn't work, it's the time for truth. 

Watch the conventions I won't watch, you won't see any of the things I want to see. So why bother.

I love my country. I love the great outdoors. But, I love my freedom too. Your new lovers want to take it from me, my children, and my grandchildren. But, you will take it from the workers, the union workers, and the poor and downtrodden first as this year has shown. Your love for the radical environmentalist has destroyed a lot of lives this year with high energy prices. You think near record unemployment is an accident? You think rampant inflation is not related to your position on energy?

Radical anything is bad. It leads to ideological beliefs. You Democrats have sold out to this idea. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are the poster children. So is Barack. Add Durbin and the rest of the lot, and you all follow the great prophet, Al Gore, idiot of the century. 

America is waking up to your closet behavior. You are going to try to scam us and pass a no-energy energy bill with the help of a few misguided Republicans in the gang of 10. 

Stop pitching the B.S. and just come clean. At your Green Convention, just come out and say it. We are the party of irrational environmentalists. We promise you $10 gasoline in five years, we promise utility bills that will sent you to Fanny and Freddie for a loan, we promise you a cap and trade tax that will put you in the unemployment line, we promise to bankrupt the airlines and auto manufacturers and their dealers. And, we are just beginning. We will chase the oil companies out of this country, just as we did the nuclear power plant manufacturers. We will promise renewable energy but will deliver little. We will send even more dollars to radical Islam. At the same time we will say we are still the party of the worker, the union worker, and the poor. Boy, will we put the screws to all of you. 

See, our real new supporters are the good people in San Francisco, Manhattan, and Hollywood, the worshipers of an ideological, ill logical world that takes us back to the garden of Eden, complete with the snake, brother Gore. And, of course, the hedge fund managers who gave you all those mortgage loans you can't repay. These are the folks who tell we Democrats what to do now, not you poor folks. But, there aren't enough of them yet to get us elected. In fact, we have lost a few as they got a taste of what this worship does to America. But, they have the dough and they have the clout and they are fun  to go to cocktail parties with, so we will do their bidding.

Every speaker you will see in the next week will refuse to tell you this truth. They will say they are the party of the poor. They will give new lip service to the energy idea since many are sinking in the polls for not saying it, including Barack. But, as you will see when congress reconvenes, they are lying through their teeth. 

Come on folks, it's time to tell the world you can't serve two masters. You are the party of the radical folks who want to take away the American Dream by shutting down all forms of progress in this country. Drain the Strategic Reserve while you are at it. What the hell, it's only our last line of defense if Russia or someone else comes calling. We will fight them with windmills like that other warrior Don Quixote. 

Chicago and the state of Illinois are good examples. We have Richard Daly, son of Dick Daly running the machine in Chicago. We have Lisa Madigan, daughter of Mike Madigan, the king of Springfield. She's going to be the next governor. Unless Richard Daly decides he wants his brother Bill to be governor. He's working for Obama right now. And, of course, the Cook Country Commissioner is John Daly.

The worst example is alive and well as the Cook Country Board President, Todd Stroger. He jumped in when his dad suffered a stroke. Tony Peraica, a reformer, ran against Todd. Barack Obama supported Todd Stroger, calling him a good progressive Democrat. Well, we've had Todd long enough to know what he is. He's a buffoon who raised taxes to the highest level of any county in the world. The Chicago Tribune runs a scoreboard showing the days the  new tax has been in place every day. They are pushing for a replacement for Stroger. This is what we get when we put family in office. This doesn't happen in most successful organizations. Why should it happen in U.S. politics?

Obama seems to have a real problem with judging people. He has the Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, and Todd Stroger as people he respected. Cook Country is stuck with the Todd Stroger problem. Is it any wonder that Barack picked Joe Biden as his V.P. ?

Will he surround himself with this kind of talent when he is President? From my experience in the business world people who always hung with lame horses never won any races. Barack will probably have a stable full. Remember Rumsfeld? Bush has a little problem with this too. Do we need more bad judgment? Come to Cook County and see how they like Obama's boy Todd Stroger.

We are collectively angry at everything from Washington these days. But, we will sit our little butts down and drink in all the theater of the pompous asses who will speak. They and their staffs have spent untold hours putting these shows together. What if no one watched? All the major networks will have spent millions of dollars. All the sponsors will have spent millions of dollars. It's our chance to tell our elected officials that we are tired of the perpetual campaign. We want our elected officials to do some real work. We don't want any more expensive boondoggles. We can tell the media they don't control our thoughts any more. We can use this as the first step in getting change. Not Obama change but real change. 

The do nothing congress will strut and lie about all the things they have done and plan to do for us. The speeches that have been so carefully crafted to be absolutely politically correct will say nothing. The speakers will read from teleprompters. I can even look good giving a speech with a teleprompter. You have one on your left and one on your right and you can look back and forth and read as it scrolls. Actually, a monkey can do it. Bush can't but a monkey could. 

Congress went on vacation and did nothing about all the problems we are facing. It was an insult. By tuning them out we can show them how we feel about that. Until we go on the offense and continue to lap up the crap like the hourly suspense about the V.P. candidates we are encouraging no progress. Until we say get off your rear and do some real work, we will get nothing done. This congress did less than any in the history of our nation the last two years and now they want to strut like roosters and have you watch. 

Watch if you will but I intend to watch not. I refuse to watch one minute of the P.T. Barnum shows. There's one born every minute. Be one if you choose, but not me. The snake oil isn't playing here anymore.

Senator Obama wants to give us more of this. Bigger government, more government employees, more absenteeism. He wants to take money from Big Oil and have more government employees to find solutions to renewable energy. According to Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Senator who did the homework on the government absenteeism,  this costs $7-10 billion a year in lost productivity. Or 316 workers having 30 year careers and never coming to work. Every year for the past 6 years, a new 316 are hired and not asked to come to work for the next 30 years. . 

As a country, we just don't get it. We keep trying to use the government to solve problems. Every day we see evidence that the government is an ineffective employer. Been to the post office lately? Been to the zoo lately? Both have those doors at the back of the wall. At the post office the employees may have 7 stations and 6 are empty. Just as you get to the front of the line, the employee goes into that door in the back. Just as you get to the zoo, the polar bear goes in that door at the back of the cage. Polar bears seem to know they are stopping progress in Alaska and are learning to behave like postal workers. Spend an hour in front and 12 hours sleeping in back. 

Why do we keep adding to the government employment rolls? They treat you like crap when you have to deal with them. They don't come to work. They don't do any work when they do come to work. And, when they do work, they buy $100 toilet seats. Tax revolt is the only way to bring this to a halt. 

Want an example of how much we can grow government? Seven years ago there was no Department of Homeland Security. For 2008 that budget is $46.4 billion dollars. Need a comparison?The FBI budget is $6.4 billion for 2008. The State of New York has increased spending 70% in the past ten years. Is there any wonder they are screaming in New York state?

As we become more of a nanny state we will get bigger and bigger government. We will get bigger and bigger taxes. We will get more regulation and less freedom. And, we will hire more deadbeats that don't bother to come to work. Someone should do a similar study on the state and local government worker absenteeism. Lump them together and we probably have the equivalent of a major corporation where no on works all year long. 

More than anything else we need leadership. Far too many of us are disenchanted with the two choices we have for president. A recent survey suggests the average voter is not happy with either choice. 

So many people I talk to want someone to tell the unvarnished truth. They don't expect that from 99% of the elected officials in office or running for office. We don't believe "we the people" have much to say anymore about how needs get fulfilled. We don't believe politicians stand for anything. We don't believe they have our interests at heart. We don't believe they tell the truth.

States like New York, New Jersey, and California are going broke. They have been on a spending frenzy for years.

Property values are going down and assessments will have to follow. We know the local government has not saved for a rainy day. We know they will be asking for tax make ups. 

Senator Obama has a half-brother in Africa who lives on a dollar a day. Is it just me, or do more of you think it's a disgrace that the rich half-brother isn't sharing his wealth with this poor half-brother? How can Obama ask the country to ask the people who have worked  hard and done well to give him money to share with the poor in this country when he lets his own half-brother live like a dog?

Where will the leadership void be filled from in this country? Where will the men and women come from who will put the country and truth before party dogma? Don't see any on the horizon, do you?

About 30 coal-fired power plants are under construction around the U.S. the most in a generation. But, 50 have been cancelled since both candidates for president favor cap and trade which will tax these plants and raise cost by 30%

So, we export coal to countries and watch electrical rates go up as natural gas prices go up and nuclear plants go out of service and mandated wind and solar come in at two to seven times the cost of nuclear. 

Can we really afford to export any form of energy in this country? Coal can be converted to liquid fuel. We will need this sooner rather than later.

Almost every wind and solar farm in this country under construction is being challenged by the environmentalists. They don't want the transmission lines and they object to the birds being killed  by the windmills. 

This country is truly certifiable. We should be collectively committed to a place where we each get a wheel like a gerbil and have to tread on it until we create the same amount of energy that one person outside the asylum uses. Let me correct that , I will exclude every American who understands we can't run this country on dreams. If you buy the idea that we need to get about using every form of energy we have at our disposal and do it in an environmentally sound way. Those who don't buy this get to work the wheel until they do understand that energy creation takes work and action on some one's part. 

It's crazy. We must keep our scarce resources at home. We can't continue to send China and India our coal. We are going to need it. 

There is a group that states this basin has over 400 billion barrels of oil and is not being tapped because Bush is in cahoots with Big Oil and they want to run the price up more before we go after this oil. Or, that we won't drill because it will bring the price down.  People who send these to me are the very reasons Snopes exists. It's like little Timmy getting pricked accidentally with the hypodermic needle and getting AIDS and will die but if you will send the e-mail to 500 of your closest friends you can save little Timmy. Of course, our friends will get 400 span notes a day and there is no little Timmy except in Lassie and he drowned when Lassie died. 

Like most things, there is a figment of truth in what this group says. There is probably 4 billion barrels of oil in this formation. But, it's a tight formation and has yielded only 111 million barrels so far. However, at today's prices and with new technology there is an opportunity to get more of this oil. Best estimates by knowledgeable geological experts put that number at another 400 million barrels. This explains why there is an investment group trying to build a new refinery in South Dakota. Pushing the envelope to an extreme it might yield 800 million to a billion barrels.

Statistics have been kept over time on the percentage of oil that is extracted vs. known oil deposits and that percentage is based on the type of formation that holds the oil. With this kind of formation and a known oil amount of 4 billion barrels, best case is probably the incremental 400 million barrels. Remember, we use 20 million barrels a day in the U.S. so every little bit helps. This would replace a month of imports. But, at $100 a barrel it's nothing to scoff as an investor. $40 billion in rough numbers. 

It's interesting to note the purveyors of the misinformation about the Bakken Formation say google it. Guess who is on to of the google list?  Pretty slick.

Foreign governments are romancing the U.S. chemical companies. They assure them oil feedstocks and fair prices and in turn get the tax dollars and the jobs.

Every day we get another piece of bad news on the energy front and nothing changes. It just keeps piling up and we keep debating whether we should do A or B or C or nothing. In truth we need to do A,B,C, D and all the rest. What we can't afford any longer is to do nothing.

Russia wants to put Europe in the same hammerlock we have put ourselves in. They don't want that alternative supply route through Georgia. They are willing to risk a lot to keep that from happening. If the only supply for oil and gas comes through Russia, as it does now, they can control the way the European countries behave.

Right now the Canadians, Mexicans, Saudis, and Venezueleans can control our behavior. Every day that passes and we do nothing, they have greater leverage. 

Wars are fought over oil. Wars are fought with oil. Countries lose wars because of a lack of oil. This country is so deep in denial we have no chance for any future if we don't wake up and get about the job of creating energy to keep us running. More jobs will be lost, more wealth will be shipped elsewhere, and our ability to keep our economy afloat and defend ourselves will be more and more difficult.

If you don't get this, I feel very, very sorry for you. I think logic is kicking in with more and more people every day. It's just common sense, and we don't seem to have much in government today.