Thursday, January 19, 2012

1778- TO DIG [PIPE] OR NOT- THAT IS THE QUESTION

Okay- hate to carry over the last post- but I figured we gave Schettino a day to gather his thoughts- maybe realize the error of his way and man up.

So as I watched the news coverage- the Japanese animated videos that depict the Captain in a life boat- yelling back to the ship ‘stay on board’ and then the animation of him walking the plank- I realized things are not playing well for my Italian friend.

Then the last straw- word came out that Schettino told the authorities that he was not abandoning ship- but as the boat rocked he slipped and fell into the lifeboat.

Oh my poor Schettino- please stop- for the love of our homeland- please!

Okay I saw the ‘big’ news of the day- Obama decided not to go ahead with the Canadian oil sands pipeline.

This pipeline was a deal that was in the works for a few years. Canada has lots of this type of oil and they wanted to pipe it down to the gulf states [I think here in Tx.?] so we could refine the stuff.

This last year it became a hot button issue for both Repubs and the Pres.

The Repubs said it would be a jobs maker- and also help with our oil supply.

Some Dems [environmentalists] said it would be a bad thing. Though you did have some union guys who wanted it.

As a news watcher/reader- what most of the insiders thought was that the deal was going to pass- and the Obama administration did ‘signal’ to Canada that the deal would be on- just wait a little while [politics].

Of course if you have a major deal like this- the company does need to know ahead of time so they can make the preparations and all.

So when Obama said no yesterday- it was a surprise. Canada put out a statement and said they would re submit the application- and they ‘expected’ that it would be approved quickly.

They sounded mad- like they did indeed get the assurance that it would go thru- and then it didn’t.

Why did the Pres say no?

Well he says the 2 months ‘limit’ on his decision [imposed by congress] was not enough time to study whether or not it was an environmentally safe deal.

It should be noted that the EPA- who this last year has been known to make ‘over’ protective decisions- did approve this plan.

The Presidents job council recently recommended that it should pass.

And some pro Obama supporters did want it.

Then why?

The Pres. has made the decision [this has been reported] to go hard this campaign year against congress- kind of stir up his base and show himself as someone not to be pushed around- so it is possible that’s what he did here.

Real big deal? Not really- but political.

While this deal wasn’t as great as those on the right made it sound- it also wasn’t a bad thing.

Right now we are very close to a shooting war with Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. Why?

1-5th of the world’s oil is shipped thru this waterway [from the Persian Gulf].

So the U.S. has a Naval port off Bahrain- and we have treated this waterway as a national defense issue- that if Iran [or any other nation] ever threatened to close the waterway- that we would go to war if necessary to defend it.

Okay- just as a policy- say if I told you that there was gas for your car down the street- that the field down your block had a lot of gas- but we need to dig it up and it might be a mess- maybe it might pollute the air down the block- but that’s the cost for the stuff.

Then you say ‘wait- what about that field across the lake- if we dig there it won’t look as bad as the field down the block’.

Okay- but the owner of that field actually hates you- they will use some of the money you will pay to promote terrorists who will someday kill your kids- Oh- and the lake is filled with dangerous stuff- so we will also have to patrol the lake for ever- just to make sure no one stops the oil ships crossing back over.

So as an overall policy- we have chosen to limit the environmental danger- and the price way pay for this is very high.

So we as a nation have to decide what’s more vital- the lives of our kids on these ships- or the risk of a possible oil spill from a pipe.

These issues usually get lost on the right or the left- but if the country can’t have a serious discussion- then in the end we all will lose.

We will be just like Schettino- looking for that life boat.

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John

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