The fighting in Georgia seems to be calming down as the world watches Russia beat up a small country it doesn't like. Most experts believe Putin will stop short of destroying the Georgian government, but anything could happen because there is little the world is willing to do to blunt Russian power. That's because of oil.
Once again, an oil-rich country, Russia, blackmails the world. Europe can't resist Russia because many countries on the continent are totally dependent on Russian oil and natural gas. The Europeans probably wouldn't fight anyway, but Putin knows he has the continent over a barrel. Indeed.
If the world does not drastically reduce its oil use, World War III is pretty much a lock. Iran continues to cause trouble in the Gulf region, as does Chavez in Venezuela.
Here in the USA, we still do not have a cohesive plan to get away from foreign oil and both parties — both parties — are at fault.
What do we do? Ethanol, fuel cells, wind? Nobody knows. After 30 years of sending trillions of dollars to OPEC, nobody knows. That is a scandal.
The next president must lead us into a sane energy situation, period.
But what do we have? The Democrats don't want drilling, don't want nukes, don't want coal but have no specific alternative plan. Some Republicans love the oil companies and say we can drill our way to energy independence. Ridiculous.
Obviously America needs all the oil it can find, but more importantly, it needs homegrown alternative fuel. If we don't get that, we will fight World War III. Our children will die because of foreign oil.
Right now, the mullahs in Iran and Vladimir Putin are thumbing their noses at the world. These are bad people. I'm getting tired of watching this sad scenario, and I bet you are, too.
So once again, the next president has to come up with an alternative energy plan, has to find as much oil as possible, and has to stop the chaotic nonsense. Buying foreign oil has greatly weakened America. So let's finally deal with it.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Eighteen-year-old country music sensation Taylor Swift is doing a good thing. She's donating $100,000 to help the Midwest flood victims. Miss Swift announced that on stage in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. So for that, she's a patriot.
On the pinhead front, I like Randy Newman's songs. They're clever. But Newman stepped out of line when discussing John McCain's favorite songs.
The senator listed a couple of hits from Abba, one from the Beach Boys, and Newman told a magazine, "McCain has a really likeable list. Then again, Hitler liked some good music, you know."
Dumb, Randy. Not funny, not clever. Just dumb. And that is what pinheads do. Dumb stuff.
— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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