CHAPTER 20

A Scandal Greater Than Watergate?

What kind of scandal would be greater than Watergate? Today it has appeared on the scene, and its ultimate objective is to get Americans to agree to—in fact, to request-socialization. Why have oil prices gone so high? I have never heard anyone reveal the true reasons before. I wondered if they would allow me to tell them ... but it's high time someone did, so I am going to! Remember Shylock and his pound of flesh? Well, this is close! Can you imagine what the interest would be on $12 billion?—even at the best prime rates? Let's even deduct the $2 billion the pipeline was supposed to cost once it got going. Let's just call it a nice round $10 billion in cost overruns. One company, in order to pay their proportionate share, had to borrow an amount equal to the entire net worth of the company ... to literally mortgage the whole company, as it were. Can you just imagine the interest on all that? Such staggering sums are mind boggling—and generally we tend to associate them with nothing smaller than the "National Debt."

Perhaps you have read statements by the oil companies telling us that their "declared" profits don't really give the true picture. Even such articles as those in Reader's Digest don't reveal the whole story. Oil companies are not allowed to include those exorbitant interest charges as deductions from profits, which for you and me would be the usual procedure. Remember the atrocious prime interest rates that we face today? Well, work it out! What would be the interest on $10 billion? Now, mentally deduct those staggering figures from the highly-publicized "declared" profits ... then you tell me who is really the villain! Certainly not the oil companies!

Then there is the matter of that tax on "Windfall Profits" that the oil companies make. That is yet another ploy to weaken them. We hear a lot about windfall profits, but how much publicity has been given to their huge interest charges?—virtually none, if any at all.

By this time you are probably way ahead of me ... in fact, I'll bet you've already guessed who is going to pay that high interest? Apart from the oil companies themselves, there is only one person who can pay for it today—you, me, the consumer, John Doe! The red blooded American is going to pick up the tab for that exorbitant interest—every time he drives up to the gas pump. The one who believes in free enterprise is the one who will pay for that interest—John Doe, who stands for the principles on which our forefathers founded this country, one of which is incentive, not socialism. (Or, if you prefer, you could nationalize the oil companies and pay instead for the government bureaucracy—but then we've already seen how well that works!)

Throughout this writing so far, I have attempted to give only actual observations, and I have deliberately withheld my personal opinions as much as possible. However, I am sure you will recognize that in Watergate it was necessary to read between the lines. Likewise, in the scandal that is greater than Watergate, you must again read between the lines. This scandal not only touches the government, but it touches every minute area of every American's life—for that's the name of the game with something as crucial as energy.

Let's do a little imaginative "supposing" now. If I were a government that seemed to have socialistic trends, and apparently wanted to control the lives of every single individual living in this nation, I would first need to control energy. An excellent way to gain this control would be to cause the American people to think that prices were going so high simply because the oil companies were making exorbitant profits (or perhaps better yet, make it look like there is a shortage because they are inefficient, etc.). Of course, you would fail to mention that not all the expenses are deducted before the "profits" are "declared" (as is customary in other business reporting), because if they (the consumers) become adequately disturbed about the "rip-off," they will probably even demand that these vital services be nationalized for everyone's best interests. Since it is
now too late to stop the flow of oil, the scheme has switched to getting the American people to believe that the oil companies are amassing great fortunes from the North Slope oil, therefore, they shouldn't need to raise the prices.

Reading between the lines? After all, the government has never told us what the interest would be on $10 billion, not to mention the "small matter" of the repayment of the $10 billion principal itself,
just to pay off the cost overruns forced on the oil companies by the Federal and State governments. I would hate to pay the bill—but I am paying it ... and so are you! The prices at the gas pumps are going up, and up, and up (in spite of regional temporary declines). We will eventually become so disgruntled with the oil companies that we will actually request the Federal government to take them over and nationalize them?

So now the push is no longer to stop the flow of the oil—it's a little late for that, for the oil is already flowing from one of the greatest oil fields in the world. So... today the move is price increases—regulations—cut backs—energy control" Conserve. The world is running out." Why is fuel approximately $1.50 a gallon (as this manuscript is being written)? I'll tell you why. It is because you have to pay the interest on $10 billion, in addition to paying back the principal. And don't forget those who have placed themselves—in charge of "over"-protecting our environment, along with the many added costs they bring ... much of which is totally unnecessary!

Today, as long as inflation continues its upward spiral, the Federal government makes more and more money from every John Doe American, because as your wages go up, so does the government's share. By the same token, the tax structure makes Uncle Sam even richer, because they are not revising the tax structure accordingly as fast as the inflation is escalating. As inflation continues to spiral (and your salary does not go up as fast as that spiral), America gets deeper and deeper into debt and ever more dependent on the rest of the world. (One of the solutions, of course, is greater [American] production at lesser cost.) At the same time, the very ones who are the champions of free enterprise (industry) are stymied because they are not allowed to produce. Industry is struggling to survive because the thumb of "big daddy" government is crushing it every day it continues to exist.

In the year 1973, we experienced the first real so-called energy crisis per se. By the way, have you ever noticed that each of these energy crises have affected only one portion of the country at a time? In 1973 it was only the East Coast (the northern part, in particular). There was no crisis in the West. There was no crisis in the Midwest. There was no crisis in the South. Why the Northeast? Because, you see, that was the first testing ground to find out how far the government could take gullible Americans. Then about the time folks were ready to revolt, suddenly there was no longer a crisis in the Northeast. All of a sudden, out of a clear blue sky, for no known reason, it ceased to exist ... all the gas you wanted!

Next, if you remember, it was California. The lines had disappeared in the Northeast. Then they thought, "We'll try the farming section of the country." However, that one did not get too much publicity, so that "crisis" didn't last too long.

It seemed strange to me that I was told by oil company officials a number of months in advance where the next "crisis" would occur.

One section after another of America has been tried, to see just how far they could be pushed before they rebel. Then, at the point of rebellion, the government backs off. All of a sudden there is no energy crisis in that area anymore.

How about the natural gas crisis? Do you remember everyone was screaming about it in 1974, and all across the country people were going cold in their homes because of the so-called shortage of natural gas? Then once more—somehow—out of a clear blue sky, there's plenty of natural gas Why? Because there never was a shortage—the shortage simply never existed. It was "created" for the express purpose of finding out just how far you and I could be pushed before we rebel.

Then, quite recently (only a few weeks ago as I write), something else quite startling happened. I was talking with a certain gentleman in the Midwest who lives near Estes Park in the center of Colorado (that is one of the largest parks in the Midwest). This man said to me, "I live near Estes Park. My home is only a short distance away from that area, and I have noticed that up in the forest area of Estes Park there are some odd looking structures that are somehow being hauled in by huge helicopters, and they have been drilling in the national forest." He continued, "I wondered about that—after all this was supposed to be a closed area, but they were drilling and then they would move. There are a number of big drills and that rig in there—they were somewhat camouflaged so that nobody would recognize them, but since I live right near Estes Park, I could not help but realize that something was going on. I kept noticing the big helicopters moving this big equipment in. As well as that, some of the workmen lived right around me, and day after day they were driving in and out, and there was drilling for oil going on, right there in the park itself."

The man's story was becoming interesting. He went on, "You see, I am also a fire fighter, and it is my job, when a fire develops in the Estes National Park area, to go in and help them stop that fire. We have been extensively trained for working in our area, and we know every part of those mountains-and exactly how
to fight a fire in them. Last Summer, sure enough (as often happens in the summer time) a fire developed in the Estes Park forest area. The fire fighters were called out by the local officials, and everybody gathered together ready to fight the fire." Then he said to me, "Chaplain Lindsey, we will never understand why, but the BLM [Bureau of Land Management] came in and said, 'cancel the fire fight. We at the BLM will take care of it. We'll handle this one ourselves.' Our local officials said, 'But you're not trained for it. You do not have the manpower. We have men trained and they're supposed to do it." However, the BLM said very emphatically, 'No one will go into that forest area.' "

The man went on to say, "Chaplain Lindsey, they did not go in. And they let it burn. They attempted to contain parts of it, but parts of it they could not. It burned a vast area, but we were not allowed to go in and fight it. Afterwards, it turned out that many of the rigs had been burned, but they started all over again. They're all very secretive about that—why would they not let us know what was going on in that area?"

This is why: The man told me that he had probed very thoroughly into it and had learned that they had made a very sizable oil find. The government itself had authorized most of the drilling, but after they found it, they capped it. They said, "It will not be produced."

This same thing can be multiplied in Wyoming and in other oil-productive areas all over the country. The companies have been ordered not to produce. The finds are there. They know the oil wells are there.

Recently, I talked to a certain group on this subject. Afterward, a gentleman came to me. He said, "Chaplain, it is my job to go around to the different areas of Wyoming. I check the level of the big oil tanks and the oil that is being pumped out of the ground. I've been working at this job for a number of years." He then related the following story. He named things that had happened a number of years ago, but I have withheld details and particulars that could lead to the identification of this man or his area. He said, "Some years ago we were producing X number of gallons, but in 1974 they cut back the number of actual pumping actions that our pumps make every 24 hours. That is to say, that a pump that was making X number of pumps 5 years ago, today is making only a portion of that number of pumps. They had slowed the pumps down."

I said, "Why sir? We're supposed to be in an energy crisis?"

He answered, "I've asked myself that many times. The same field used to produce X number of gallons, and it still has the same number of pumps and everything is working like it used to, but now they've cut back on the pumping action of those pumps. Today it takes many more days to pump the same number of gallons from the identical field—it is the same field they've been pumping for years."

So there appears to be an intentional cutback in the production of the oil fields of this part of Wyoming.

Why?

I could go on and on and on. As I travel across America lecturing, I meet people all the time. I have many speaking engagements in churches, business and civic organizations, and that story can be multiplied and multiplied. It certainly does appear that there was a greater scandal than Watergate. Why?

I am convinced that there is a definite reason, and at this point I move from observations to personal opinion. There is only one thing on earth by which every human being can be controlled, if that product itself is controlled. That product is energy. The world today has become dependent on energy—for its homes, its lights, its fuel, its automobiles, its airplanes, its trucking industry, its railroads, its delivery of goods, etc. Electricity is produced by the energy of today. Every facet and aspect of our lives can be controlled when energy is controlled. There is no other product on the face of the earth that can so control the American people—and all the people of the world. Whoever controls the energy ... controls us!

The fact is, if energy can be controlled, you can be controlled. It could not be done by money, for methods of bartering could be developed by the people. If your energy is controlled, however, then "Big Brother" can control how you live in your home; when you go and where you go; the products you buy; the style of life that you will live; even the level of life at which you will live. They can control your state of life and your every movement.

In the days of the horse and buggy, this would not have been so, but today we are dependent entirely on energy. Therefore, because of our complete dependence, we have become ready targets. Now, if they can brainwash the people into believing that there is a true energy crisis, when there actually is not, then they can slow down our society, they can destroy our free enterprise way of life, and they can control every area of our being. It certainly points ultimately to one-world control ... and to an evil dictatorship. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Where does it all begin? It all begins with those in high places who are willing to control you and me. Money is not the question in the energy crisis today (even though it may be hard to believe while we shell out so much for energy). The price of gas at the fuel pump and the price of fuel oil that goes into your home for heating (or gas or electricity)—those are not the real factors. Price is not what they're after, even though they would like you to believe that it is. The motivating force today is control, power, manipulation, the ability to regulate every area of life in such a way that you can be brought completely under the domination of the
system and, in turn, those who manipulate that system.

At one time I, too, believed the oil companies were the "bad guys," until I saw the oil companies struggling for their very existence. One time I, too, thought that the government was "of the people,' by the people, for the people."

There are a few in government who still live by that creed, and I hope that one result of writing this book will be that others will return to that point of view. (If they don't we need to let them know that after the next election they will be out job hunting!)

However, it is undoubtedly true that the great motivating concepts today are power and control (which are almost synonymous)—and surely by now you must see that this is not only in relation to energy, but it applies in other areas of life, as well.

So what is the conclusion? It is rather startling, isn't it? It is the conclusion I came to after a number of years of examining the facts and putting pieces together. We are being sold down the river and we'd better put a stop to it before it's too late. As Mr. X said to me at Prudhoe Bay some years ago, "There is no energy crisis. There has never been an energy crisis. There will never be an energy crisis, but rather it is the purpose of the 'powers that be' to produce an energy crisis. Because, you see, Chaplain, there is as much crude oil on the North Slope of Alaska as in all of Saudi Arabia. [Not to mention all the rest of the places they have discovered oil and just capped it off!] If free enterprise were allowed to produce that oil, America could be independent for energy within five years time."

"Not only that," Mr. X related, "The United States could be financially free of the rest of the world within five years, if only private enterprise were allowed to develop natural resources—the energy ... crude oil and natural gas—that are found on the North Slope of Alaska today."

Do they really want us to be free of the rest of the world, or is it total control they are aiming for? The answer has become increasingly obvious and the pace has accelerated. Soon our current inflation rate of 18% will seem trivial. Your money will be worthless. You will, in fact, be controlled by a computer, which, in turn, is controlled by a dictator who will manipulate those under his control like robots. (The truth is that because of the convenience of all those sophisticated new systems, we are even now being lulled into complacency about retaining control over our own activities, in the area of banking and other financial transactions in particular, i.e., automatic deposit of your paycheck, automatic disbursements from your account, automatic grocery checkouts [by little lines on the packages], "telephone" bill-paying, automated 24-hour "teller" [a nice word for a machine], et al. We are being very subtly programmed to do business with machines [computers] instead of people.) The dictator will bring men and women into willing subjection by his favors, e.g., homes, finances, jobs, etc. All the time they themselves are—like flies—being drawn into his worldwide web of intrigue.

Stop it! Stand up and be counted! Soon it will be too late. John Doe Citizen, himself, must take action—NOW!