The phony union split on the Keystone pipeline.

Quick background: the Obama administration has rejected plans for an additional pipeline to transport ethical oil from Canada to the United States, despite the fact that support for this project is bipartisan, and in fact favored by traditional Democratic allies in organized labor (who were reasonably expecting that they’d be able to get some jobs out of it).  Anyway: while reading this darkly entertaining article on how proper, blue-collar labor unions are smarting over the way that Barack Obama prefers to cater to liberal environmentalists over letting a working man, well, work, I came across this passage: “Unions and environmental groups that praised Obama issued a joint statement lauding his decision to go slow – and blaming the House GOP…” – well, no need for Democratic party agitprop, is there? Particularly when it’s as clumsy as the default Green-derived pap that we typically get these days.

Still, let’s look at the unions that support the Obama administration on Keystone, shall we? List via here: Continue reading The phony union split on the Keystone pipeline.

#rsrh Obama, Democrats cave on Keystone ethical oil pipeline?

That’s the buzz over at Hot Air; and certainly the Greenies are screaming that special scream that accompanies a victim being fed to OBAMABUS.  The word is that the White House gave up Keystone in exchange for a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits, and doc fix.

Because, hey, elections have consequences.

Moe Lane

PS: I would like to take this time to remind the environmental movement that it’s coming up towards the end of 2011, and that the Democrats want to thank you in advance for your continuing generosity.  If you have any problems, questions, or concerns, the Democrats are of course deeply committed to providing you with the very best in proactive conflict resolution analysis; they will be more than happy to fully document your action item or items, and do their best to provide you with a comprehensive and timely response to them.  It’s just all part of the commitment to awareness that the Democratic party offers to its loyal base supporters.

Obama, Reid facing revolt over Keystone ethical oil pipeline?

(Via @davidhauptmann) Background: the House of Representatives, understandably upset that the Obama administration would rather please foreign conflict oil despots and radical progressives than provide manufacturing and construction jobs to good Americans – to say nothing of cheaper energy – has passed a bill that would expedite the construction of the Keystone ethical oil pipeline.  More specifically, the House passed a bill that would extend the payroll tax cut for a time; given the estimated costs of such a cut, the Keystone language was added in order to get enough Republicans to sign off on the whole thing.  In other words: no energy jobs, no overall bill.

The Senate version has yet to be voted on, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in a bind.  There are at least four Democratic Senators who publicly have come out in favor of the pipeline (Baucus & Tester of Montana, Conrad of North Dakota, and Landrieu of Lousiana); this means that Reid would lose a regular vote 51/49.  Worse, the GOP is claiming at least nine more Democratic Senators support it (Begich, Casey, Hagen, Manchin, McCaskill, Ben Nelson, Pryor, Stabenow, and Warner).  If true, that puts the total up to 60, which is not coincidentally the number that you need to win a cloture vote.  Which means that if Harry Reid puts the bill up for consideration, it’s probably going to pass; and the President has already (and in my opinion, foolishly) threatened a veto, despite the fact that his own private sector union allies support both the cut and the pipeline.

Continue reading Obama, Reid facing revolt over Keystone ethical oil pipeline?

Keystone showdown looms: is Harry Reid a Senator, or Barack Obama’s Lap Dog?

Here’s the background: the current hot topic of conversation in domestic politics right now is whether or not to extend a temporary payroll tax cut.  It’s currently an object of some controversy on the GOP side, largely because it would involve effectively another 180 billion in spending; Democrats were in fact kind of gleeful about that, given that it promised to give Republicans a bit of a problem between specifically choosing between less spending and lower taxes (two things that have been long-term fiscal conservative goals).  Unfortunately for the Democrats, they aren’t the only ones that can give their opponents uncomfortable choices: Speaker John Boehner made a deal where the tax cuts would be bundled up with provisions towards hastening the development of the ethical oil Keystone Pipeline.  This reportedly will ensure that the tax cuts will pass the House.

The problem here is that the White House has decided that it would rather pander to homophobic, racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, and anti-democratic conflict oil regimes abroad – and those regimes’ radical progressive allies at home – than to produce jobs for working class Americans (even the ones that work for private sector unions).  The White House has thus announced that it will veto the bill (via @davidhauptmann) if it passes the Keystone jobs program language.  Speaker Boehner has already made it clear that he’s aware of the threat, and is not allowing it to affect House business. Continue reading Keystone showdown looms: is Harry Reid a Senator, or Barack Obama’s Lap Dog?

#rsrh Barack Obama hates unions…

…at least, the ones that actually produce things.  My colleague has already written up the President’s threat to veto a payroll tax cut extension if the Republicans dare… attach a go-ahead on the critically important Keystone ethical oil pipeline; but I have a question for the rank-and-file construction/petroleum union workers who might like to, you know, get some work.

Not to be obnoxious or anything about this – I myself am the son of a proud union man and Truman Democrat – but have you guys considered that maybe your union leadership is using your dues money to promote candidates and causes that aren’t actually in your class interest?  I mean, the Republicans want you folks to work.  We’re trying to get you guys to work.  In an ideal world, you’d all be working right now on this pipeline.  It’s the Democrats who are giving some of you miserable Christmases.  Not us.

Just… think about it, OK?

#rsrh Big Labor: odd special interest group out on Keystone pipeline.

(H/T: @davidhauptmann) There’s a saying: If you’re playing poker and you haven’t figured out within the first half-hour who the sucker is, you’re the sucker.  Private sector union leadership is not quite yet at the point of realizing this: their comments and complaints about the White House’s decision to ‘delay’ the Keystone ethical oil pipeline give off the unmistakable aroma of what is really a quite shocking naivete.  Not to mention a darkly humorous naivete, as well: these poor people think that they matter.

But let me rip off the bandage.  Union leadership is going to stay solidly Democratic this election cycle, which means money is going to continue to flow to the Democrats.  That’s all that matters.  Luddite Greenies are significantly more shaky in their support this go-round: that makes them more important to this administration.  That is likewise the end of the story.  And since we already know that Obama’s planning to write off working class white voters, the question now becomes: why is anybody really surprised that this is happening? Continue reading #rsrh Big Labor: odd special interest group out on Keystone pipeline.

Scene from the Conflict Oil Wars: Austan Goolsbee v. the Naive Greens

Quick background: there’s a lot of oil in Canada. Quite a bit of it is tied up in the form of oil sands, which radical Greenies hate with the same passion that normal people reserve for ax murderers or child rapists. Despite this hatred, the Canadians have noticed that the price of oil makes oil sand development highly cost effective, which is why they were planning to build the Keystone Pipeline to ship the stuff from Canada to American refineries and distribution centers. This promised to make both America and Canada quite a bit of cash and make our energy costs significantly cheaper, which is why the Greenies successfully pressured President Obama to ‘temporarily’ delay the project.

Anyway: strictly speaking, it is not quite accurate to say that former White House Council of Economic Advisors Chair (and Obama mouthpiece) Austan Goolsbee called opponents of the proposed Keystone Pipeline “naive.” It’s more accurate to say that he called the idea of opposing it ‘naive’ – in fact, that’s pretty much explicitly what Goolsbee said: “It’s a bit naïve to think the tar sands would not be developed if they don’t build that pipeline.” And it is a bit naive, of course.

But then, opposing the pipeline is also homophobic.

And misogynistic.

And anti-Semitic.

Not to mention straight-up racist.

Commie-loving, too.

Continue reading Scene from the Conflict Oil Wars: Austan Goolsbee v. the Naive Greens

Ethical oil’s excellent enemies: Saudi Arabia & Think Progress.

Perfect together!

One of the nicest things about being a mainstream supporter of the Global War on Terror is that you are blessed, for a given value of ‘blessed,’ with a collection of the vilest, most despicable, most appalling domestic enemies in recent political history.  Nazis, Communists, Stalinists, Maoists, blackshirt anarchists, Jew-haters of various flavors, anti-human deep ecologists, anti-Israel conspiracy theorists… honestly, by the time that the antiwar movement was done they had managed to taint most of the groups out there that I casually despise, and virtually all of the progressive ones.  I’d like to pretend that this marvelous example of contagious karma isn’t really that big a deal, but honesty forces me to admit that the nasty, somewhat cognitively challenged nature of the Other Side was a powerful factor in keeping the antiwar folks firmly under the rocks that are in fact their native environment.

I mention this because it’s exciting to see this dynamic play out over in the ‘ethical oil’ arena as well. Continue reading Ethical oil’s excellent enemies: Saudi Arabia & Think Progress.

Only Homophobes Hate Oil Sands.

God save us all from Crusading fanatical Greenies.

Why can’t we have more blunt talking like this in the States?  Canadian Alykhan Velshi of Ethical Oil, a relaunched site dedicated to promoting Canada’s oil reserves (particularly its oil sands reserves) is cheerfully trying to do well by doing good.

“When petroleum reserves were deposited around the world, it is unfortunate that they were all given to the world’s bastards,” he said. “With the exception of Canada, most of them are with the world’s bastards. You need to recognize that when you are buying oil.”

And, just to make sure that people get the point:

Continue reading Only Homophobes Hate Oil Sands.