Keystone SX submitted an application to the U.S. State Depaartment on 9/19/2008. Keystone is to many a symbol of Obama’s failed energy policies. Keystone represents an opportunity to help create a more secure energy future. Everyone involved knew there would be environmental concerns. The State Dept has to approve the portion that crosses the border between Canada and the U.S. Meanwhile the Keystone project for Texas-Oklahoma is now about 75% complete. Environmentalists are still fighting against it and the Sierra Club recently filed a lawsuit in an attempt to draw out the process.

It should be pointed out that this project will cost the U.S. taxpayer ZERO DOLLARS, unlike the many futile GREEN projects (Solyndra etc) which have been a waste of our taxpayer dollars.

Keystone has the ability to move up to 830,000 BARRELS OF OIL A DAY (about half of what the U.S. now imports from the M.E.

T***s Canada will spend $7 Billion dollars in the U.S. and create 20,000 jobs in the process.

Residual Tax revenues for affected states would be in the BILLIONS.

Many labor unions have endorsed the project.

I know these recent scandals are distracting but this project is a giant step forward for this country in terms of energy independence and in terms of boosting the economy and creating jobs. It is over 4 years later and Obama still can’t pull the trigger. I cannot believe any President in his second term would allow environmentalists to over ride what is in the best interests of this nation. This is a no brainer (which by the way describes this POTUS and his administration). What do you think.

All these scandals are distracting us from many of our priorities. Keystone for instance and opening up federal lands for exploration and drilling. We need to get back to basics, get the economy "stimulated" the right way, and create jobs. Our goal for the next 20 years is to become as energy independent as we can and to have more control of energy prices. That creates a stable backbone for the economy as a whole.

Chevron CEO Says Key to Energy Independence Is Non-Traditional F****l F**ls
Cites need to approve Keystone XL pipeline, amongst other infrastructure projects

AP
BY: Bill McMorris
June 11, 2013 12:35 pm
Chevron CEO John Watson said the key to American energy independence lies in the Dakotas, Pennsylvania, and other states ripe with non-traditional f****l f**ls during a Tuesday speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Rapid technological innovation over the past two decades has allowed energy companies to expand beyond traditional f****l f**l to oil shale and natural gas. The United States has one of the largest supplies of shale and natural gas in the world; such reserves available for development are 35 percent greater this year than in 2011.

Watson, who has spent 33 years in the energy field, said the United States could ramp up domestic affordable energy production if companies are free to tap into those reserves. Chevron is developing many shale extraction operations outside the Middle East in locations as diverse as Texas, Canada, Central Europe, and Argentina.

He said such expansion must be sustained through infrastructure development in projects such as the Keystone Pipeline, which has been blocked by the Obama administration and congressional Democrats.

“Pipeline is the safest way to move carbon-based fuels … much safer than moving oil by rail or truck,” he said. “Industry has to do a better job of communicating that.”

Pipeline development and the expansion of shale development would help workers as well as consumers, according to Watson.

“There is continuous drilling operations with a long horizon—10, 20, 30 years,” he said. “It’s a jobs intensive business done over a long period of time.”

Environmental groups and other Democratic special interests are attempting to stifle the extraction of shale and natural gas from the bedrock of the United States, alleging that fracking causes earthquakes and water pollution. Watson said there is “no scientific” proof of such allegations, but that has not stopped regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency from hindering exploration, drilling, and fracking.

“Eighty-five percent of continental shelf is off limits, the increases [in production] are driven by private land, not so much public land,” he said. “The [EPA's] cost benefit analysis has to be realistic … or the unintended consequences will hurt consumers.”

He pointed to Germany, where heavily subsidized g***n e****y has led to skyrocketing prices.

“German renewables have led to costs that are three times as high. … Germany is finding out that it is tough on industry and tough on consumers,” Watson said. “It’s not that renewables are bad, but they have to be affordable.”

Watson said environmental concerns are taken under consideration, but he looks at it “through the lens of affordability.” Governments, however, tend to focus on worst-case scenarios and tax collection, rather than efficiency.

“Some risks have been overstated, so you have to engage the community,” he said. “You have low ecological risk, but high political risk.”

Watson said the tax code has to be reformed if the U.S. wants to recapture revenue stored offshore by companies like Apple and increase efficiency within the energy industry, which faces a 43 percent effective tax rate.

“The tax code incentivizes companies to conduct operations offshore,” he said. “It’s not illegal; it’s a logical response to incentives.”

Watson also said if the United States is able to become an exporter of energy rather than the world’s largest importer, it can avoid pressure from foreign producers.

“The vehicle for advancing American influence—t***sparency, rule of law, environmental practices—is the American company,” he said. “[Other countries] bring us in for our technology, but we also bring those [values].”

CSIS president and CEO John Hamre said the United States lacks a comprehensive strategy for energy development, though the government has created a scattered set of policies that facilitate g***n e****y at the expense of innovations in non-traditional f****l f**ls.

“We have tax policy that powers windmills, but we don’t have energy strategy,” he said. “We have to listen to the private sector for insight.”

Watson called the subsidies “wasteful” and emphasized that greenhouse gas growth comes from developing nations “aspiring to (America’s) standard of living.” He said U.S. policy should focus on affordability and energy conservation if it really wants to cutback emissions.

“[Developing nations'] priority is going to be feeding their people, giving them warmth and energy,” he said. “The wealthy western nations should make it our priority to produce affordable energy that is less carbon intensive.”

Remember the Professor Gates incident:


However, Obama continued, "I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that [Gates case]. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact."

My comment: So Obama pulled the race card and accused the local police of acting stupidly. They could say the same thing about him and his administration right about now.

But why would a POTUS comment on something like that. You would think he had more important things to deal with. Gates was important and B******i was not. Right.

Somethings never change.

True that. It has a lot to do with him being the apologist that he is. He is ashamed of this country and we are ashamed of him. He is the least prepared President we have ever had but that has not stopped him from going full steam ahead. The scandals were inevitable. I am 67 years old and for the first time in my life I am worried about the future of my country. Since Obama took office it has been all about politics.

Bottom line is that everything you and your family has done has been for all the right reasons. At least you can sleep at night knowing you have walked the walk.

Obamacare costs soaring in recent rate checksBy M.D. Kittle / June 10, 2013 / 4 Comments


By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter

Ask Ohio how affordable the Affordable Care Act will be.

Buckeye State insurers expect to see the cost of essential health care benefits for individual coverage in Ohio’s exchange to soar on average 88 percent next year, according to a new analysis from the Ohio Department of Insurance.

The department analyzed individual market plan proposals from insurers against a Society of Actuaries report earlier this year that found Ohio and Wisconsin hold the dubious honor of ranking No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on the list of states expected to be hardest hit by claims cost increases under Obamacare.

Badger State insurance rates are predicted to climb as high as 80 percent by 2017, while Ohio could see an 80.9 percent hike in insurance costs, according to the Actuaries.

A total of 14 insurance companies filed proposed rates for 214 different plans with the department, according to the Ohio Depaertment of Insurance. Projected costs from the companies for providing coverage for the required essential health benefits ranged from $282.51 to $577.40 for individual health insurance plans.

“We have warned of these increases since a state-specific study in 2011 indicated Ohio would be significantly impacted by the ACA,” Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor said in a statement.

SINKING FEELING: Ohio projects the cost of health care coverage will rise 88 percent under the Obamacare exchange, according to the Ohio Department of Insurance.
Ohio’s current average cost to cover medical expenses for an individual health insurance plan is $223, according to the Society of Actuaries study. Based on the proposals submitted to the Department of Insurance, the average to cover those costs in 2014 would be $420 — representing an increase of 88 percent when compared to the Society of Actuaries study, according to the department.

The proposed rates still are subject to the department’s review process.

“During this process, rates may change before becoming effective,” the regulator said in its news release.

Wisconsin, like many states, still is taking filings for insurance rate proposals under what will be a federally run health care exchange in the Badger State. The Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance won’t release details on the rate cases until they have been updated.

J.P Wieske, public information officer and legislative liaison for the office, told Wisconsin Reporter the commissioner hopes to have an analysis of the costs by late July.

Wieske said Wisconsin is starting to get more answers from the federal government, but, “We’re not so sure they are all the answers we would have expected.”

“The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” he said. “The question is going to be administratively, how is this going to work? We still think there are going to be a lot of complications going forward. This is large, fundamental change for a lot of people.”

America’s Health Insurance Plans, the national trade association representing the health insurance industry, points to a report by actuarial services giant Milliman Inc., which examines the multitude of changes that will affect health insurance consumers. As the report notes, Obamacare’s scope of covering pre-existing conditions, requiring broader benefit packages and covering uninsured Americans who have gone without medical care will benefit millions of people, but it also will increase the cost of health care coverage. Obamacare’s health insurance tax and other fees also will increase premiums, Milliman notes.

Other provisions of the law, however, will ease costs, including premium and cost-sharing subsidies, according to the study, although taxpayers will pick up the tab for federal insurance assistance.

Cost impacts of individuals are expected to vary, in some cases significantly, depending on the individual’s age, g****r, location, health status, income level and the kind of coverage the consumer has today.

“(Y)oung, healthy males could see substantial increases due to the combination of the overall rate change and the age/g****r rating requirements,” while “older, less healthy individuals could see rate reductions,” according to the Milliman study.

In most states, there is a a 5-to-1 age ratio built in to health insurance, meaning the older and less healthy in the insurance pool typically pay five times more for coverage than younger, healthier consumers. That age scale under Obamacare moves to 3-to-1, meaning older health care consumers save, while rates go up for many younger insurance holders.

ACA advocates say studies like the one from the Society of Actuaries omit or ignore key expectations that will help drive down costs, such as improved health care delivery, tax credits and increased competition among insurers.

“The health care law will bring down costs and save money for your people and families. It’s misleading to look at only some of the provisions of the law because, taken together, the law will reduce costs,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Fabien Levy has repeatedly told Wisconsin Reporter.

California last month issued a news release trumpeting the cost savings coming from Covered California — the name of the Golden State’s version of Obamacare’s health insurance exchange.

“These rates are way below the worst-case gloom-and-doom scenarios we have heard,” Peter Lee, executive director of the nation’s largest exchange, proudly declared in a statement.

The problem is, Covered California’s triumphant release compared the individual market to small business health insurance.

In a piece contesting the sunny California outlook, Forbes contributor Avik Roy does some comparison shopping and finds Covered California’s assumptions of significant rate savings in the individual market don’t add up.

“… (T)he ‘bronze’ comprehensive plan (the second cheapest plan in Obamacare), costs $205 a month. But in 2013, on eHealthInsurance.com …, the median cost of the five cheapest plans was only $92,” Roy writes.

“In other words, for the typical 25-year-old male non-smoking Californian, Obamacare will drive premiums up by between 100 and 123 percent.”

The price rises for older health care consumers.

“In California, the median price of a bronze plan for a 40-year-old male non-smoker will be $261. But on eHealthInsurance, the median cost of the five cheapest plans was $121. That is, Obamacare will increase individual-market premiums by an average of 116 percent,” Roy notes.

Same goes apparently for Ohio, where the lieutenant governor predicts trouble ahead for businesses and individuals under the Obamacare exchange.

“The Department’s initial analysis of the proposed rates show consumers will have fewer choices and pay much higher premiums for their health insurance starting in 2014,” Taylor said.

Contact M.D. Kittle at mkittle@wisconsinreporter.com

I heard Bloomberg was so made he threw his 44 oz coke into the air. Yes the writing was on the wall 4 months after Obama took office. This showed complete indifference to the people of NYC and the trauma they had suffered. And of course a low level official took the hit. Same old same old.

Monday, April 27th, 2009 -- a perfect storm of idiocy led to a frightening 9/11 flashback for thousands of New Yorkers Monday when a jumbo jet and two F-16 fighter jets buzzed lower Manhattan without warning. (video -- flyby) (video -- panic) (video -- Ground Zero)






A "furious" Mayor Bloomberg denounced the dunces who dreamed up the stunt.

Bloomberg said, "Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo-op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies imagination. Poor judgment would be a nice ways to phrase it, but they did. I also think that once they had told us, we should have done a better job. Had I known about it, I would have called them right away and asked them not to. It is the federal government and they can do in the end what they please, but I would have tried to stop it. I don’t know there’s a lot else to say other than they shouldn’t have done it."

An Obama administration official said the mission was classified "Top Secret." "The mission was to send [the aircraft] up to get a picture of it flying around the Statue of Liberty."

By day's end, an obscure City Hall deputy named Marc Mugnos, took the hit in New York City and Louis Caldera, the director of the White House Military Office, was identified as the White House's scapegoats for the stunt.

The planes appeared on the horizon around 10 a.m. and sent a chill through the city. Flying in as low as 500 feet above New York City, they circled the Statue of Liberty before flying over Manhattan, Staten Island and New Jersey. Before they vanished, hundreds of frightened people had jammed emergency phone lines, and thousands of terrified people evacuated from buildings in the city and across the river in New Jersey.

At certain points, the blue-and-white Boeing, with the United States of America emblazoned on its side, flew as low as 500ft.

"People came pouring out of the buildings, the American Express Building, all the buildings in the financial district by the water," said Edward Acker, a photographer who was at the building, 3 World Financial Center. "And even the construction guys over by 100 North End Avenue area, they all got out of their buildings. Nobody knew about it. Finally some guy showed up with a little megaphone to tell everyone it was a test, but the people were not happy. The people who were here 9/11 were not happy."

Mr. Acker added: "New York City police were standing right there and they had no knowledge of it. The evacuations were spontaneous. Guys from the floor came out, and one guy I talked to was just shaking."

"I was crying and praying to God to forgive me my sins because I thought I was going to get k**led," said Kathleen Filandro, who fled from One New York Plaza when she spotted the planes.

"It's like someone coming up to you, sticking a gun to your head for 15 seconds, walking away and hearing 20 minutes later it was an undercover cop posing for a photo," said Wall Street worker Bill Privett. "I am still shaking," he said.

A "Top Secret" photo opportunity using Air Force One and an F-16. This is a laugh r**t. Obama has no hesitation unclassifying and releasing the nation's "Top Secret" documents, to the benefit of our enemies during wartime, but keeps secret a photo op for the purpose of making souvenir tie-clasps. Obama proves he is a genius with this stunt -- a first-class commander-in-chief.

One observer suggested that Obama might want to do a photo op with a Ryder rental truck in Oklahoma City next.

And who takes the hit? Some guy nobody has ever heard of. If you believe approval for this idiocy was made by a low-level bureaucrat, I have a bridge to sell you. I'll bet it takes twenty-six pounds of documents to get clearance for Air Force One -- just think about it -- the White House, the Pentagon, the Air Force, Andrews Air Force Base, the flight crew, the ground crew, the tactical fighter support, the Secret Service, the FAA, etc, etc, etc. -- when asked about the stunt, Obama's Press Secretary lied and said, "I did not see that before I came out here." -- The AP's Jennifer Loven shot back, "Well, it's been in all the stories all day."

I wonder what the auto CEOs who got their asses chewed out by Obama for using their private jets to fly to Washington think of this stunt -- and then, there's the cost in dollars and cost to the environment. For souvenirs, the cost was enormous. It costs $60,000 per hour to operate Air Force One, plus the operating costs for an F-16 escort -- we're looking at a quarter-of-a-million dollars, and up -- for a photo! -- Bloomberg reports that the total cost to the taxpayer was $328,835.

Wouldn't PhotoShop have been cheaper? It's not like Obama isn't familiar with the popular graphics editing program.

(from the obamafile.com)

Definition -- "Obamunism" -- Obama and the people around him are are Obamunists -- Obama is the prototypical Obamunist -- a blend of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Che, Capone, Billy Sunday, Boss Tweed, Muhammad, and Tupac -- they are hybrids -- they use all the tools -- wh**ever will get them power and keep them in power.

An Obamunist believes the orders come from them, the enlightened ones, through the bureaucracy, to the People. They wrap their stuff up in fancy slogans, but their goal is power -- and they believe they are entitled to it.

(from theobamafile.com)

Duh, you are assuming that the Bush adminisration was motivated the same as the Obama administration, targeting, etc. Have you stopped to consider that Hillary and Bill could have gone after Obama right from the start. There were different rules back then, everything has changed since Obama took over, all gloves are off.

So you are saying that Obama not releasing any of his relevent records and letting everyone know how his higher education was paid for is A OK. If you can't reference the records then you can't get to the bottom of anything. The t***h on Obama will come out but only after he is out of office. There will be more books written about him, his past, and his tenure in office than any one person could ever read.

Simply put you cannot "scour" what is being hidden by some of those rich and powerful who did not want Obama vetted. Again, this could have only happened with the cooperation of the lame stream media. What you refer to as mud will eventually widen into an open pit and Obama will be exposed in the end.

"The t***h can never be where the dogma abides." Really. There is no absolute t***h then. How about power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is dogmatic and has proven true since the beginnng of time. How abiding is that.

Spouting stuff like he spouts is like steam coming out of the tea pot. Smells like tea, but you can't drink it, just basically a lot of hot air. I think kool aid works better in this instance.

AuntieE I disagree he needed to post it twice because his dogma was not abiding the first time. lol

When using the term "your wrong" keep in mind you lose the proper effect because it really is "you're wrong." So in effect you were wrong from the get go. Say what you mean and mean what you say but you don't have to be mean to say it. I would differ on you about the night and day thing. Lib's do not like the light of day....cramps their style, ie. the current scandals. And based on what you say you must be a slingshot touter. Good luck with that. lol

Where to start. lol So you are saying that the 1% are all Republicans. laughable
Tea Baggers are about a balanced budget, there are even b****s among their rolls.
I did not see you bragging about Solyndra and the other Bundler run spoofs.
Selling out, that would be the dems and libs and by the way how is that g****l w*****g working out for you.
"not being human", really, spoken like a true sheep. BAAA.
Maybe you should get "outdoors" once in a while. Is that door too heavy to open up.

This excerpt is from Michelle Malkin - this shows how closely knit the unions are with government, state and federal:

Roughly 3,500 people in Illinois receive state funding to assist someone, usually a family member, at home with a developmental disability. In June, Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn signed an executive order approving collective bargaining by “individual providers of home-based support services” — effectively busting open the doors of private homes for the Purple Shirts of the SEIU and other union competitors hungry for new dues-paying members.

The home-based workers weren’t seeking a collective bargaining agent.

But unions were targeting them…

Over the last month, home-based providers started have been receiving unexpected visits from out-of-state union lackeys trying to recruit them with the promise of health care benefits and more money. Last week, providers began receiving b****ts to elect the SEIU or the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to represent them. Yes, Illinois provided both the SEIU and AFSCME with the names and home addresses of all 3,500 in-home care providers for the purposes of increasing their membership rolls and political clout.
You read that right: The state of Illinois released the names and private addresses of those providers to union goons. Yep, sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Keep in mind that I am a conservative, not a registered republican. I revere our Constitution but I revere the effort that our forefathers put forth in order to provide the opportunity to enact a Constitution and to put it into action. Look where they came from. Look at the pain and suffering that they endured, the price they paid for freedom. Freedom is what is was all about. It was then and it still is now. Yet today socialists like Obama want to abandon the Constitution and label it as a necessary tool that is no longer necessary. Really. But it is still about freedom and recent activities on their part show no respect for individual freedoms. Gun control, NSA reports, targeting by the IRS, DOJ targeting AP, EPA targeting, you can go on and on. That is about control not freedom.

Freedom is what this country was founded on. They all fought for our right to be a free nation. Sure this country has deteriorated politically over the years but we are still a very young country compared to most others. Have we grown, have we learned from our mistakes. Well we have grown in terms of food stamps and disability claims and we are making mistakes on a daily basis as far as this administration is concerned. This administration has an agenda and freedom does not fit it in the least.

They want big government and the freedom to dig into our personal lives, to regulate our health care, and if they had their way to confiscate our guns. Probably the biggest mistake we ever made was opening the door to lobbying. We regulate that too and how is that working out. Corruption abounds in this day and age.

Do I see a need to erase the Constitution and start over? No sir. Do I see a need to reel in big government, reel in over spending, doing away with lobbying as it exists. Yes sir. The constitution has been amended from time to time in an effort to keep up with the times so it is evolving at it’s own pace. But what Obama and his supporters want to do is accelerate the process and Hillary is waiting to take the baton. I cannot in any way relate to what the democratic party is doing at this time. That is the bottom line.

And of course then you become a branded Obama h**er. Really, like he has nothing to do with what is going on. I h**e what is going on, I h**e what is happening in the country, and I h**e to see us becoming a world wide laughing stock at this administrations expense. And what do we have, leading from behind. It is like putting the horse behind the cart. It makes no sense.

It is all about freedom, and if that makes me a h**er then like Popeye I yam what I yam. If you could run a country on spinach Obama would choose grass. Gotta keep those sheep fed.