Our President Rejected the Keystone XL Pipeline!

Today, January 18^th, amidst the blackout of many information pages, our president announced the rejection by his Administration of the Keystone XL pipeline project. Those of us that protested, signed petitions and mobilized to stop this environment assault to our country are justifiably rejoicing, at least momentarily, from this good news.

The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, announced in not uncertain ways, the rejection of this project and clearly stated the reason for his decision:

“I have determined, based upon your recommendation,” [the Secretary of State] “including the State Department’s view that 60 days is an insufficient period to obtain and assess the necessary information, that the Keystone XL pipeline project, as presented and analyzed at this time, would not serve the national interest.”

I am so proud of our President for listening to us in this so very important cause! This project, regardless of what Republicans and the oil industry have to say, represents a clear and imminent danger to our wildlife, water supply, our land and our environment.

In the official Statement from The White House also released today, the President said, “I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision, but it does not change my Administration’s commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil” – so far so good. Bravo Mr. President!

My enthusiasm took a turn downwards when in that same statement, Obama makes clear that he is for other similar and equally dangerous ventures, when he said: “ – including the potential development of an oil pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico”; even though the aforementioned pipeline will cause less damage than the Keystone XL pipeline, it will still represent a danger to our environment.

As it was expected, the Republicans are raising hell over this rejection by the President. The rhetoric that this pipeline will create much needed jobs, which up to a point and not in the numbers they claim it could be true, the claim that it will reduce in any way our dependence in foreign oil is ludicrous. To begin with, this dirty oil is not ours it belongs to Canada and once it’s refined in Texas, it will leave our shores to be sold somewhere else, the taxes of this sale will be abroad so this nation will not receive a penny from it, as usual, and the citizens of this country will not save a penny at the pump – the financial benefits will only be seen by TransCanada and their allies, the oil magnates that have never looked out for our benefits or that of our nature. One needs only to see what their greed had done in the past to our shores to recognize that all that moves these companies is the profit they can obtain with complete disregard to the environment.

According to Steve Hargreaves from CNN Money, the President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Thomas Donohue, said in reference to the President’s decision of rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline project that “The president’s decision sends a strong message to the business community and to investors: keep your money on the sidelines, America is not open for business.” I find this statement offensive. Our nation has been ripped, raped, abused, neglected and usurped by corporations for decades. Foreign companies have been allowed to merciless annihilate our manufacturing industries by allowing them to import their cheap junk to our land, by exporting jobs (that’s the only thing they export), by avoiding fiscal responsibility which has rendered this nation almost bankrupt and as of lately, the greatest insult for the citizens of this country, the Supreme Court even have granted these companies the status of ‘personhood’, something never done anywhere else in this world… but rejecting ONE project is sending a message that “America is not open for business”? Really? Maybe that could be the best thing that will happen to this country, that these ‘people’ leave and we can return to being an industrialized nation instead of a consuming nation which only purpose is to line with our blood and sweat the pockets of these greedy corporations, sorry, “people.”

To read the complete CNN article, click here

To read the complete Memorandum for the Secretary of State, click here

To read the complete Statement by the President on the Keystone XL Pipeline, click here

The Left Must Unite or We Will Lose our Country

I keep hearing that Obama must start working for "WE the people" and how he hasn't done all he has promised, believe me, I have been one of those too... until I stopped and analyzed the situation he finds himself in. First, and this is important, he is the President of the United States of America, he is not the President of the United Democrats of America or the President of the Liberals of America, or whatever party you may choose to insert in substitution for a political ideology. Yes, it was us who put him there but, he said it clearly during his campaign and we must admit it, we loved it when he said it: "Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America - there's the United States of America." - I remember wanting to cry when I heard him say this. Now, 3 years later, we criticize him for listening to all sides.

Then, there has to be a super majority of votes to pass anything through Congress and the Republican's, whose #1 objective, openly admitted, is for Obama to be a one term president and in order to achieve their goals, they vote NAY on everything that might be beneficial to this country and therefore, for Obama. And we blame Obama. We blame Obama because we want him to break the rules to do what we want - and need too, don't get me wrong - but according to the rules of Congress, he can't. And now, how are we reacting? By splitting the liberals and democrats, as if we will gain something by it. If we keep doing this, we will have no one to blame but ourselves when a Newt, Romney, Paul or any other nut in the GOP walks into the Oval office and take charge of this country, taking it back to before the '60s. I know a lot of you will blame Obama, it is always easier to blame someone else for our own demise. I hear people saying that they will either not vote or vote for a 'green' candidate or anyone else, even if that candidate has no chance in winning; the results? We're split, but not the far right. Way to go!! We might as well place the White House on a silver platter and hand it to the next son of a bitch from the GOP that will make our lives a living hell. You think we have it bad now? Allow this to happen and you will really learn what hell is all about!

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