I met Newt Gingrich last night.

There was a $250.00 per plate fund raiser for Newt last night in Shreveport. I received an invitation as a "guest" and didn't have to pay a dime. It was a very small gathering of invitation only supporters and it was held at the private home of a Shreveport couple. No film crews or media attended. It was strictly private and by invitation only.

I believe the list of folks attending came from his supporter base of which I am a part and have been since he made his speech regarding the plans he had for the first 2 hours of his Presidency, should he be elected. That's the part where he vowed to fire all the Czars before Obama's plane made it back to Chicago.

Shortly after I arrived, I noticed a couple of State Police cars driving up the drive way with a few cars between the first and last trooper. The place went "electric" to say the least. Since this was held at a private home, there wasn't a huge crowd. I guess there were probably fifty to sixty supporters in attendance and most of them stood up to see if they could get a glimpse of him as he came into the house.

I saw him walk through the kitchen as I was on the back patio with a clear view of all the traffic coming in and out of the kitchen. As he walked out of the kitchen door onto the patio, he could see that there were roughly six or seven rows of metal chairs set up and he went to the last row first and introduced himself to every person there.

I was the last guy as I had a front row seat so when he approached me, I stood up and extended my hand to greet him. I said: "Tim Butler, Disabled American Veteran, former Chief Warrant Officer helicopter pilot in Vietnam and Cambodia, 1970-71".

As he shook my hand and heard who I was, he took his left hand and covered the back of my right hand with a double hand shake. He smiled at me and said: "Thank you so much for coming and thank you for your service".

I'd heard that a million times before but I never "felt it" the way I did when it came from Newt. I didn't get to discuss anything with him at that time as his speech was next. Despite that, I was very pleased that he took the time to listen to my introduction and then extend the double hand shake. As the great historian that everyone credits him with being, he gave me the time and it was very nice to be treated that way by a man who might one day be in the White House.

As is typical, there was no mud slinging in his speech and he immediately began to talk about the oil and gas business in Louisiana and Texas. He spoke about the second World War and the contributions that the Texas and Louisiana Oil producers made during the war. I remembered studying the history of that time and the oil industry in general. If you google "Spindle Top" you will learn about the beginning of it's development. If you support the other side, don't waste your time as it is filled with "Learn" and "Be Informed" things which of course, is not part of your informational requirements to vote.

Having said that, he began to talk about the current situation with dependence on the Middle East Oil producers. Finishing that, he began to list the oil and gas reserves of Louisiana and the effect it has had on the State of Louisiana and Texas. My involvement in building the many drill sites for the Haynesville Shale, made that part of his speech, extremely interesting.

Since the last job I did before I was mandated to retire in December of 2010, was building roads and drill pads for the huge drilling rigs to stand on, I was particularly interested in his grasp and knowledge of the technology and the production numbers. From an economic standpoint of the oil industry, he has certainly done his homework and was even able to deliver what the natural gas production meant in terms that citizens with no oil field experience, could understand.

He converted the millions of cubic feet of natural gas to "gallons of gasoline". I made good money when I was doing that and can only imagine what kind of employment numbers would come with another boom of it's kind elsewhere in the United States.

He then began to speak of the new oil and gas reserve numbers coming out of North Dakota. Almost 20 years ago, I didn't see any new technology horizontal drilling in South Louisiana. It may have existed but it did not exist on any of the wells I was involved with. They were drilling as deep as 16,ooo feet and that was it. In today's day and time, with the ability to turn the bit and continue drilling in a horizontal fashion, the production numbers rose exponentially.

I was amazed at the amount of oil and gas we have as proven reserves and further amazed at the efforts to depress those fields and continue with our dependence on anybody from the Middle East. You will be proud to know that I didn't use the terms "donkey fooker" or "rag head" one single time.

As he continued with the economic effect and then the increase in National Security we would have by telling the Middle East Oil Producers "We don't need any more of your oil", I was both thrilled and reminded of the Tree Huggers that almost killed the Forest Product Industry in the Northwest.

At the time of the Forest Product hassles in the Pacific Northwest, I was selling process equipment to the paper mills and sawmills in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi. I had friends in the Pacific Northwest who were suffering from the Spotted Owl fears that the tree huggers had and they developed a saying about that. It was directed at the liberals and focused on taking "toilet paper" out of their bathrooms and using something else.

There is a huge difference between asking the Muslims to produce more oil and Newt telling them we don't need it anymore. For me, even with the limited experiences I've had on the drilling rigs themselves, it's easy for me to see the differences that can exist if we go back to the America we were before the punks took over.

When Newt's speech was concluded, he asked if it would be okay to take questions from the audience. I raised my hand first and being on the front row, I was the first that was called upon to speak to him. I really wanted to ask about the open door policy of Immigration where we see a flood gate of America's enemies simply walking across the border, getting with their friends and planning more suicide bombings. I held my tongue on that one.

I simply told him that "You are the last hope we have. Please don't pay any attention to the negative campaign advertisements from the other side, just consider the source and know that all of us here are behind you". That was it and when I'd said it, I took my seat and others began with their questions. That was the second of three times I had a one on one exchange with him that evening.

Shortly thereafter, when the Q&A period ended, we were invited to go inside to have pictures taken with Newt, one on one. I immediately got in line but being on the front row during the speech, I would effectively be on the last row for pictures. I signed in with the professional photographer, gave them my phone number and address, and made my way to the fireplace where the pictures were being taken.

When I walked up to Newt, he smiled at me and said" You were the gentlemen who made the first comment, weren't you"? We shook hands, I smiled at him and said: "Yes sir, you are the only hope we have left". He smiled again and we looked at the camera and the picture was taken. The party broke up, I thanked the host and hostess for the wonderful hospitality and the pleasure of being in their beautiful home, and then I left to go home.

I once again concluded, that since he has a track record of working both sides of the isle and actually balancing the budget and creating lots of jobs, I knew that there were still lots of people out there who really didn't care about that kind of thing and only wanted to see what they can get off the government till.

I think I need to go see an "in law" and have a baseball cap or a tee shirt made. It won't be a vote Newt tee shirt. It should be: "If you voted the worst President in History into office, would you please move to Kenya or join a Mosque somewhere in the Middle East".

In any event, that's it. If this offends you, please do a little study and inform yourself as much as possible about today's situation. Emotions belong with a different discipline. Please, please use the net and get all the information you can. The end result is amazing and it will give you a degree of confidence that is far ahead of those who wish to argue with you about their mistakes.

Thanks