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Additional Titles

THE HYPOCRISY OF REPUBLICANS OVER OIL PRICES

 

 

By: Devvy
March 2, 2012
NewsWithViews.com

Oil is going through the roof. Again.

The American people are angry about it. Again.

Republicans are blaming the Democrats. Again. The Democrats are blaming the Republicans. Again.

After all, it's an election year for all of the U.S. House of Miscreants and 1/3rd of the unlawful U.S. Senate.[1]

On February 29, 2012, I watched a sound bite discussion on FOX News between Megyn Kelly and braying ass, Sen. John Conryn [R-TX]. He huffed and he puffed about the need to drill for oil here in the U.S. and cut down on the need for foreign oil.

There have been many headlines about the Keystone XL Pipeline and how many jobs it will create. If you're not familiar with that project, big money wants to bring oil down from Canada to the gulf for refining; a couple of other states with refineries as well. Here is an accurate description of the pipline:

"The Keystone Pipeline System is a pipeline system to transport synthetic crude oil and diluted bitumen ("dilbit") from the Athabasca Oil Sands in northeastern Alberta, Canada to multiple destinations in the United States, which include refineries in Illinois, Cushing oil distribution hub in Oklahoma, and proposed connections to refineries along the Gulf Coast of Texas. It consists of the operational "Keystone Pipeline" (Phase 1) and "Keystone-Cushing Extension" (Phase 2), and two proposed Keystone XL pipeline expansion segments. After the Keystone XL pipeline segments are completed, American crude oil would enter the XL pipelines at Baker, Montana and Cushing, Oklahoma.

"The Keystone XL has faced lawsuits from oil refineries and criticism from environmentalists and some members of the United States Congress. The U.S. Department of State in 2010 extended the deadline for federal agencies to decide if the pipeline is in the national interest, and in November, 2011, President Obama postponed the decision until 2013. On November 30, Senate Republicans introduced legislation aimed at forcing the Obama administration to approve the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days, unless the president declares the project is not in the national interest."

How typical. The Republicans made a decision that will harm Americans instead of doing what they should have done more than a decade ago.

The big carrot is jobs. Americans are desperate for them and whether they realize it or not, a job on that pipeline will cause someone else to lose their land:

TransCanada Claims Texas Land

"Though the route of Keystone pipeline has not been approved, Canadian pipeline company TransCanada has claimed eminent domain rights to cross private land in Texas. Some landowners are fighting this. Dave Breemer, a property rights attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, tells host Bruce Gellerman that private companies can gain rights to private land if its for “public use.”

Transcript:

GELLERMAN: "Protesting against the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline was an unlikely coalition of environmental groups and Tea Party, libertarian types. The company TransCanada wants to build the pipeline to carry crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta -17 hundred miles to refineries on the Gulf Coast. President Obama put construction on indefinite hold pending an environmental review, but inside the Lamar courthouse, lawyers for Texas landowners were fighting to prevent TransCanada from taking their property for the pipeline by eminent domain...

MEDINA: "I think that's one of the things that's been most eye-opening for the landowners, if you will, I think many of them suspected that once the Presidential permit was denied that the eminent domain takings would cease. So we've got a recent Supreme Court case from August of last year - the Denbury Green Pipeline case - where the Supreme Court found for the landowner, saying that the pipeline company that had exercised eminent domain was in fact a private business not serving the public interest, and therefore should not have had the ability to use eminent domain to take property.

"We're anxious to see that similar question raised in the TransCanada Keystone XL case, unfortunately, you've got a multi-billion dollar pipeline company that has a very sophisticated legal team, and it’s very difficult for landowners to amass the resources to get themselves into court to fight that fight.

"We haven't heard that. Most of the objections that we're hearing are involving the terms of the contract, rather than the price. The landowners are being told, for example, that they can't move heavy equipment over the top of the easement - once the pipeline is buried, they can't drive a tractor, they can't drive anything heavier than a four-wheeler over the top of that buried pipeline.

"One particularly property says: ‘I’m a timber company, I cut and harvest timber off of this property, and we've had a drought in Texas, we've had forest fires here. If there's a fire, I need to be able to move bulldozers and fire trucks and I can't be prohibited from doing that - it wouldn't be safe.’ The company said, ‘Well, we won't allow that.’ And the gentleman said, ‘Well, then, you're going to have to go around my property.’ And they said: ‘No, we won't - we'll condemn it.’ And they have. They've condemned his property - they're going through his property, and they'd like the terms to be that he can't drive anything over the top of that pipeline.

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GELLERMAN: "Are there other environmental concerns that you might have there Debra?

MEDINA: "I think from landowners, we're hearing a number of those sorts of concerns- one gentleman has 66, one hundred-year-old trees that are going to be removed from his property in order to clear a path. And safety concerns. People want to know about possible water contamination - the company has had some leaks on the Keystone 1 and they're concerned about that. So landowners come to the table of these negotiations with varied concerns, and unfortunately, many of those landowners have met with an abstinence from this company and an unwillingness to address these concerns. And so you have 89 - at least 89 - eminent domain cases here in TX that we've been able to document here today."

It's not just Texans who will lose their land. The same thing is being fought north to south.

The Republicans could have done two things for the eight years they had control of Congress and a Republican president, Bush, Jr. One: Abolish the totally worthless, stumbling, bumbling Federal Department of Energy. It drains billions of dollars for nothing every year for the past 35 years since Jimmy Carter made it a cabinet (1977). Almost $29 billion BORROWED dollars for 2011. There can be a small agency to deal with nuclear energy and let a free, open and competitive market take care of the rest. Second, they could have opened ANWR for drilling, but for eight years and through today, the excuse is the greenies or the Democrats.

Hogwash. Please take the time to read the three columns below. They will explain so I don't need to rehash here that the blame for no drilling domestically can be laid at the door of the Republicans, not just Democrats. Those who have been reading my columns on line since 1998, know I belong to no political party, so I have no ax to grind. The president of Tree Huggers of America does not sit in Congress. The president of the Sierra Club or Greenpeace or Save our Forests or Stop Drilling Now do not sit in Congress. Those groups and organizations buy the favors of the Outlaw Congress - both parties.

No Drilling in ANWR - Blame the Republicans

The Unconstitutional EPA Must Be Abolished (Directly tied to the problem)

Dependence on foreign oil would be cut drastically if the states found some courage and defied the unconstitutional ban against industrial hemp. The only reason is was criminalized was so DuPont's plastic patents back in the 30s could make him a billionaire and that is a fact. Industrial hemp not only would cut down on oil, but it would create thousands and thousands of jobs in every state:

Industrial Hemp Production The Revolution America Needs to Prosper

The continuing problem of oil (and all the blood shed for it over in the Middle East) is not a Democrat, Republican or any other political party issue. It's a problem that affects us all. In 2010, the American people were so angry and PO'd at the U.S. Congress they reelected 86% of the same incumbents and expected a different outcome. There's still no drilling in ANWR and both parties are still pointing the finger at each other.

Besides the refusal to open up areas like ANWR, the loss of purchasing power of the dollar and why is something every adult American should know and understand, but they don't. The don't equate it to the gas pump. People understand the amount owed at the gas pump and that the cost of food is skyrocketing at the store, but most don't really understand why. They know they only have X amount of "dollars" in their wallet, but they don't understand anything about that "dollar" and why they just can't seem to stretch it as far anymore.

The unconstitutional "Federal" Reserve will be 100 years old on December 23, 2013. Almost one hundred years of being under the thumb of the banking cartel taking us to ruin right along with the destructive policies from one corrupt Congress after another. Dr. Edwin Vieira has written a million words over the decades on the disabilities of our monetary system, fiat currency and the ultimate end of such folly. In his superb piece, Restoring the Dollar, he says:

"The major problem of monetary reform can be summed up in one word: ignorance. There are a lot of other words you can add to it: apathy ..., fear...; but ignorance is the main one.

"At some stage in the course of registering at a hotel, the person behind the counter gives me that little form and says, "How do you intend to pay for this?" In fact, it happened at this hotel when I came here; and I said, "Well, do you take Federal Reserve Notes?" About 95 percent of the time the answer I get is, "No. We take American Express, Visa, MasterCard." The other five percent (or 4.999 percent of the time -- there is one wise guy every now and then who knows the right answer) they say, "Well, I'm not sure. Let me go check with the manager." When they come back they say, "No, we take only American Express, Visa or MasterCard." Then I take out a Federal Reserve note and show them where it is written at the top, "Federal Reserve Note;" and they smile a kind of embarrassed smile, and I smile, and it is all very funny; except it really isn't, is it? It's quite the opposite of being funny.

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"People don't even know the name of what they use as money, let alone what its source is, what its characteristics are, or what its problems are."

While his speech is lengthy, it is well worth the read. If you are pressed for time today, bookmark it and read over the weekend. While we're all busy and on overload, one has to "sacrifice" their time to get the truth. It is how I learned about the "Fed" and fiat currency two decades ago. If people don't know how the problem started and why, how can they ever expect to solve it?