Keystone around his neck

It only makes sense if you are actively trying to kill an American economic resurgence or you plan on approving it after the 2012 election should you win. I refer to President Obama's insane decision to stop the proposed pipeline from Canada to America's oil refineries in the south.

I am not using the word insane in a vacuum. Robert Samuelson of the Washington Post - no bastion of opposition conservative thought - blasts the President in his Jan 19th editorial.

FTA
President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn’t often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and — beyond the symbolism — won’t even advance the goals of the groups that demanded it. All it tells us is that Obama is so obsessed with his reelection that, through some sort of political calculus, he believes that placating his environmental supporters will improve his chances. Aside from the political and public relations victory, environmentalists won’t get much. Stopping the pipeline won’t halt the development of tar sands, to which the Canadian government is committed; therefore, there will be little effect on global-warming emissions. Indeed, Obama’s decision might add to them. If Canada builds a pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific for export to Asia, moving all that oil across the ocean by tanker will create extra emissions. There will also be the risk of added spills. Now consider how Obama’s decision hurts the United States. For starters, it insults and antagonizes a strong ally; getting future Canadian cooperation on other issues will be harder. Next, it threatens a large source of relatively secure oil that, combined with new discoveries in the United States, could reduce (though not eliminate) our dependence on insecure foreign oil.

Finally, Obama’s decision forgoes all the project’s jobs.

Canada throughout the 2000's has acted soberly and with reasoned self interest for it's economic future. The Canadians will build a pipeline to move their abundant oil to market. The question is will it be North American markets or Asian? I think we all know what Obama has decided.

Obama is so stuck on some green utopian vision of the world he is wantonly ignoring reason and facts. At this time in humanity's technological/economic development the pipe dream of sustainable and adequate energy from "green" sources is not ready yet. Almost no one denies that renewable clean energy is ideal, but we didn't replace the horse and buggy until automobiles were economically and reliably sufficient.

FTA
By law, Obama’s decision was supposed to reflect “the national interest.” His standard was his political interest. The State Department had spent three years evaluating Keystone and appeared ready to approve the project by year-end 2011. Then the administration, citing opposition to the pipeline’s route in Nebraska, reversed course and postponed a decision to 2013 — after the election.

Now, reacting to a congressional deadline to decide, Obama rejected the proposal. But he also suggested that a new application with a modified Nebraska route — already being negotiated — might be approved, after the election. So the sop tossed to the environmentalists could be temporary. The cynicism is breathtaking.

With this decision Obama is also dissing his union friends who have expressed complete dismay. One has to believe that this will be approved if he is reelected - that is unless the commenter on Lucianne.com is correct: The Left wants a crippled, weak, post-prosperity America, it's as simple as that. Everything Obama has done, is doing, will do is modus operandi to that end. No mystery about any of it, really. 

 It could go either way in my mind. President Obama is either a cynical opportunist playing one side of his constituency against the other or he is a destroyer of nations.  


CW

The Arab/Muslim world just isn't appealing to me...

When I think of other cultures on this great big planet as I sit snug in my middle class American life I can think of none that appeal to me less than Arab/Muslim cultures. Put another way when I think of all the places in the world that interest me or fascinate me only one Middle East country even makes the list and that would be Israel. Maybe I'm being short sighted, but I doubt I'm the only American that feels this way. Frankly I wish America would just get out of that part of the world all together so I could go on and blissfully ignore it.

The truth is America and the West have created this reality and the Arab/Muslim world is just in reactionary mode. With this so-called "Arab Spring" happening across the Middle East and Northern Africa we are seeing the inevitable backlash against decades of the West propping up brutal dictatorships in the name of stability. In many of these tribal cultures there has been little chance that democracy or free societies would ever temper centuries of inter-mural conflict and violence. Such instability is totally unacceptable to the West because it interrupts the spice flow. The spice of course is the oil that is absolutely vital to all civilization on Earth. Due to the luck of geography the Middle East sat atop a gold mine it could have never hoped to exploit without the West and for that they have been under the thumb of one dictator or another for a the better part of a century.

All that, it seems, is about to change.

One has to wonder if the powers that be - the ones above and beyond Presidents and Prime Ministers - love this chess game that much? Or perhaps they need endless conflict as a cover. It asks the question: are we all then merely puppets? These men in the shadows have all the money they need, it can't be about money. Money then is just the way they keep score. However, this clash between the Arab/Muslims and the West has the potential to remake the world. Are the shadow men playing the ultimate game of "chicken" this time? Many are convinced the West cannot win. The West has the weapons, the technology and enough money to win, but it lacks the one key element necessary to prevail. The will to win.

The Muslim world has two weapons the West is unwilling to develop or utilize that will make all the difference in the world. Oil and the womb. Western economies and therefore Western war machines are dependent on oil. The West is unwilling to stand up to the self-loathing aspects of our own societies and make a commitment to end the dependency on Middle East oil. Secondly, we have convinced our own women to forgo motherhood and thereby have embarked on a path of self extinction.

Europe is particularly fragile. Having made a deal decades ago with Arab oil kingpins to allow mass immigration from the Middle East and Northern Africa in exchange for no interruptions in the oil flow. Simultaneously they've been replacing their own religious underpinnings with political correctness resulting in a dearth of native born children. They have all but submitted to eradication. Demographically Europe may already beyond the point of no return. Underneath Europe is slowly transforming into a Muslim culture, and their own self-loathers stand in the way of any meaningful effort to turn the tide.

I think it's a ways off for America to be transformed into a Muslim culture. While Political Correctness has polluted everything here as well there is still enough resistance and backbone to defend America - at least for a while.

World history is replete with cultural expansion and domination. Cultures rise and cultures fall and there's no reason to suspect the fall won't happen to America itself. There's is just something wrong when cultures literally give up as it seems many European countries have. I'm not alone in believing that the great things about American culture are worth fighting for. The people on the ground are willing, but we lack any leadership at all. Our fearless leaders won't buck the prevailing religion. The ultimate battle is not going to be Islam vs Christianity, rather Islam vs Political Correctness. As a religion Political Correctness is doomed to failure the question is are we stupid enough to follow it down?


CW

Oil is a Miracle not a Curse

It is so hard to listen to otherwise smart people get in a tither over "America's addiction to oil". It is a foolish and uniformed argument that needs to be squashed.

Years before Global Warming was a glint in Al Gore's eye the estimable Sci Fi superstar Arther C. Clarke was scolding us in his futuristic novel "The Deep Range"...

Chapter 23; The Bureau of Mines was also responsible for the hundreds of oil wells that now dotted the sea beds, pumping up the precious fluid that was the basic material for half the chemical plants on Earth- and which early generations, with criminal shortsightedness, had actually burned for fuel.

If an equivalent alternative for powering our cars, ships, airplanes, trains and trucks was sitting on the shelf and being ignored, then and only then would Mr. Clarke's little tirade not be an insult.

Hearing President Obama and then movie star Robert Redford days later scolding Americans for putting gas in their cars to get around left the impression that the alternative was there for the taking and mysterious forces were keeping it just out of reach. The implication was clear, somehow we - the people - are all complicit!!!

The truth is oil is a miracle, it's God's gift to the modern world without which the modern world would never have come about. If cut off from oil now we would driven back into the feudal age. Billions would suffer, and millions would die. Right now - in this day and age - there is no alternative.

If there's anything I agree with these people about is that as a society we should leave no stone unturned looking for an equivalent alternative to oil as a basic transportation fuel. The trouble is if we let these fools have their way they would hamstring us by enacting draconian rules against using the most effective energy source we have at this point in time. Lowering our standards of living and essentially promoting poverty is the worst possible way to achieve the next level. Yes, the end of the oil age has to come for a whole host of good reasons, but shooting ourselves in the head is far worse than slowly "poisoning" ourselves. Yes, we can be assured that the Earth will heal from the disaster in the Gulf Of Mexico. It is beyond terrible, wholly regrettable and probably even criminal, but it's not the end of the world.

In the wake of the Gulf Of Mexico oil leak there have been countless talking heads spouting off about the evils of oil and oil companies (and even about the pre-Obama government). Little has been explained about what a miracle oil is and how much of our modern world is dependent on it - how much we all are completely dependent on it.

Here I compiled a small list of products that require the use of oil - this, as they say, is just the tip of the iceberg:
Ammonia
Anesthetics
Antifreeze
Antihistamines
Antiseptics
Artificial limbs
Artificial Turf
Aspirin
Awnings
Balloons
Ballpoint Pens
Bandages
Basketballs
Bearing Grease
Bicycle Tires
Boats
Cameras
Candles
Car Battery Cases
Car Enamel
Cassettes
Caulking
CD Player
CD's & DVD's
Clothes
Clothesline
Cold cream
Combs
Cortisone
Crayons
Curtains
Dashboards
Denture Adhesive
Dentures
Deodorant
Detergents
Dice
Diesel fuel
Dishes
Dishwasher parts
Dresses
Drinking Cups
Dyes
Electric Blankets
Electrician's Tape
Enamel
Epoxy
Eyeglasses
Fan Belts
Faucet Washers
Fertilizers
Fishing Boots
Fishing lures
Fishing Rods
Floor Wax
Folding Doors
Food Preservatives
Football Cleats
Football Helmets
Footballs
Gasoline
Glycerin
Golf Bags
Golf Balls
Guitar Strings
Hair Coloring
Hair Curlers
Hand Lotion
Heart Valves
House Paint
Ice Chests
Ice Cube Trays
Ink
Insect Repellent
Insecticides
Life Jackets
Linings
Linoleum
Lipstick
Luggage
Model Cars
Mops
Motor Oil
Motorcycle Helmet
Movie film
Nail Polish
Nylon Rope
Oil Filters
Paint
Paint Brushes
Paint Rollers
Panty Hose
Parachutes
Percolators
Perfumes
Petroleum Jelly
Pillows
Plastic Wood
Purses
Putty
Refrigerant
Refrigerators
Roller Skates
Roofing
Rubber Cement
Rubbing Alcohol
Safety Glasses
Shag Rugs
Shampoo
Shaving Cream
Shoe Polish
Shoes
Shower Curtains
Skis
Slacks
Soap
Soft Contact lenses
Solvents
Speakers
Sports Car Bodies
Sun Glasses
Surf Boards
Sweaters
Synthetic Rubber
Telephones
Tennis Rackets
Tents
Tires
Toilet Seats
Tool Boxes
Tool Racks
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Transparent Tape
Trash Bags
TV Cabinets
Umbrellas
Upholstery
Vaporizers
Vitamin Capsules
Water Pipes
Wheels
Yarn




CW