The Senate approved a two month extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits. We’ll see this fight again in February. That clears the way for a rare vote today on an omnibus spending bill.

I’m wondering if Obama didn’t get the best of the Republicans again. They tied approval of the Keystone XL  Pipeline to the bill in both the House and the Senate. The bills need to be reconciled before hitting the President’s desk, and he is no longer saying he will veto the final bill. But the State Department says that the bills will kill the pipeline. Why? Because to approve it in 60 days would violate environmental laws.

I haven’t read everything there is about the Pipeline, but if my imperfect memory serves, the developers of the Pipeline decided to accommodate the Governor of Nebraska and reroute the pipeline so that it does not go right through the Ogallala Aquifer. But that means that a whole new Environmental Impact Study is required, and Environmental Impact Studies don’t happen overnight.  Is it possible that Barack and Hillary dreamed up this end result in a closed-door, back room session? Just asking.

Homework

Obama Backs Bill Including Pipeline Deal

State Department's Webpage about the Keystone Pipeline

Washington Post Story About State Department Warning

Tis the season to be jolly! I’m jolly-well irritated at the gamesmanship in Washington, D.C. There is another government shutdown looming and it is all because of political gamesmanship.

Late yesterday the House approved a bill that would extend unemployment benefits, extend the payroll tax holiday for another year, and force approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline. What does the pipeline have to do with extending tax cuts for the middle class, one might ask? Republicans will tell you that it is because the pipeline is going to create jobs.

Millions of people are out of work, 160-million workers could use the extension of the payroll tax cut, and all of that is being held hostage to about 5,000 temporary jobs? This isn’t a jobs bill; it is a Screw Obama bill. What Republicans haven’t seemed to figure out is that screwing Obama is also screwing America, and they just might back themselves into a corner that will cost them elections in 2012. (For the record, some Democrats voted for this bill.)

The State Department has said that the pipeline conditions in the bill could kill the pipeline all together, because it is not possible for them to do all the environmental studies in the required 60 days. Reid has promised to kill the bill in the Senate. Obama has promised to veto it if it ever hits his desk.

Imagine if you are running a business and your employees dilly-dally around all year, then when the books are about to be closed at year-end, they figure out that they can’t get the job done because they haven’t figured out how to work together. Wouldn’t you fire the whole lot of them? If you didn’t, you’d go bankrupt.

I’m ready to fire all of the politicians. They will never get along, so what is the solution? One party rule? Get rid of parties all together? Invest in strong alternative parties? Democracy is blooming all over the Middle East and failing right here in America because of a bunch of bone-headed ideologues who can’t figure out the art of compromise.

Bah Humbug.

Homework

CBS News Story About Potential Shut Down

No Labels

First let me say, Happy Veteran’s Day! Today also happens to be the birthday of my favorite living veteran, my ex-husband. Happy Birthday, Bob! (He’s a veteran of the Vietnam War.) We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming…

Yesterday the White House announced that they would not be making any decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline until after the election. Instead of making a decision, they decided to study alternative routes. Environmentalists applauded the decision because it gives them more time to convince both the government and citizens that this pipeline is a bad idea.

In listening to NPR yesterday, I learned that the Republican governor of Nebraska was against the pipeline. If built, it would go through some of the richest farming country in the US, and through the water supply for the breadbasket of America. Nebraskans have been protesting the threats to the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides water to the farmers and supplies a habitat to migrating birds.

Originally the Canadian Company who wants to build the pipeline indicated that if the decision was delayed they would not build the pipeline. Yesterday they sounded like they will just wait for a more opportune time. I always thought the threat of pulling the plug was a bargaining tactic, not a serious threat.

So what is really at stake here? Alberta, Canada is being raped by oil companies who are strip mining oil sands. The projects in Canada are so large that they can be seen from space with the naked eye. The product coming out of the oil sands is a particularly nasty chemical that needs to be refined. But there are no refineries anywhere near the projects. There are also no sea ports in the vicinity, so no way to get the product to the world market. When you think “world market” you need to think about the huge appetite that China has for oil.

There are both sea ports and refineries in Houston, TX. So, Canada wants to transport its oil through the US to Houston, so that they can access world markets. Building the pipeline would create jobs, but industry may have exaggerated the number of jobs that would be created. Regardless, labor unions want the work, so they have been supporting the project.

There is a pretty good summary of where we are right now at a website for Texas Cattlemen. Cowboys are watching the developments because the pipeline would go right through Texas cow country!

Homework

Cattlemen Talk About Keystone XL Pipeline