Fracking Update, And Why Liberals Hate it …

It destroys their carefully built narrative and peak oil crapola from the Jimmy Carter era..

America the Independent: Oil Production Ready to Overtake Imports.

 This is excellent news for the US. Greater domestic production is a boon to the economy, and fewer imports gives us more flexibility when dealing with the world’s petrostates. (But as Gal Luft and Anne Korin wrote for The American Interest last July, to speak of true “energy independence” is folly.)

Even if North America becomes completely oil self-sufficient—a possibility if you count Canada’s oil supplies in the equation as well—the continent will still be vulnerable to international oil price spikes.

…

Having said all that, this is still news to celebrate. It gives the US more flexibility in its Middle East policies and brings the country a new wave of wealth and jobs. That’s yet another reason to be optimistic about America’s future in this still-young century.

Indeed.

We don’t have to pay for terrorists oil anymore … Hah!

 

Canadian Minister: Put Up Or Shut Up On Keystone XL

Energy:

As the EPA snipes at the State Department’s approval, Canada’s natural resource minister says failure to approve the pipeline would seriously jeopardize our energy relationship and do nothing to save the earth.

Joe Oliver, not amused by the continued delays in perhaps the most shovel-ready project since the pyramids, said Wednesday that rejection by the U.S. of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline “would represent a serious reversal in our long-standing energy relationship.”

This critical energy infrastructure project is also perhaps the most studied and approved. After a reroute at the behest of environmentalists allegedly concerned about the sensitive Ogallala Aquifer, it received approval from the state of Nebraska.

The U.S. State Department, which must approve or deny the project because it crosses an international boundary, recently released its second Keystone XL supplemental environmental impact statement, which represents the project’s fourth environmental review.

It found the pipeline would not accelerate global greenhouse gas emissions or significantly harm natural habitat along its route.

Almost immediately, the Environmental Protection Agency, the sock puppet of the environmental movement, objected to the State Department’s draft review, saying it included “insufficient information on environmental issues.” The EPA said State used an outdated “energy-economic modeling effort” in its analysis that concluded tar sands oil would find its way to market without Keystone.

Of course, considering the economic impact of mindless environmentalism is completely foreign to the EPA. But it is not a concept foreign to Joe Oliver.

Read more at news.investors.com …

 

Poll: Majority Of American Say Keystone Pipeline More Important Than Climate Change By More Than 2 To 1…

And yet Obama is still defying the American people by refusing to green light the project.

Via Yahoo! News:

A new poll released this week by Nik Nanos, a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, revealed that the majority of Americans and Canadians feel that the energy security that could be provided by the Keystone XL pipeline is more important than concerns over climate change.

* According to the poll, 63 percent of Americans think that having North America free from importing oil from outside the continent is more important than reducing greenhouse gases. Thirty percent of respondents felt that reducing greenhouse gases was the priority of the two issues.

* In Canada, 55 percent selected freeing North America for imported oil as more important, while 38 percent chose addressing greenhouse gases.

* Seventy percent of Americans and 60 percent of Canadians are favorable to the idea of the Keystone pipeline, Nanos’ poll revealed, with 74 and 68 percent respectively stating that they support or somewhat support proceeding with the project.

* Seventy-six percent of Americans and 66 percent of Canadians feel that a continental energy strategy should be pursued, and most of those polled from each country felt that there should be common environmental standards.

* When asked about the importance of reducing greenhouse gases separately from the issue of the Keystone XL pipeline, a majority of both Americans and Canadians felt that the issue was important.

* Eighty-eight percent of Americans feel that ensuring a stable energy supply is important, but that number drops to 60 percent in Canada.

* Eleven percent of Americans and 14 percent of Canadians expressed that reducing greenhouse gases is unimportant.

Suspects in Canada’s Thwarted Terror Plot to Appear in Court

Canada is on the ball, Our preezy is playing the ball.

Two men accused of planning to carry out an al Qaeda-supported attack against a passenger train traveling between Canada and the United States will make their first court appearance on Tuesday, police said.

The hearing in Toronto’s Old City Hall Court comes a day after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced they had arrested 30-year-old Chiheb Esseghaier of Montreal and 35-year-old Raed Jaser of Toronto.

The two men face charges of “receiving support from al Qaeda elements in Iran” to carry out an attack and conspiring to murder people on a VIA railway train in the greater Toronto area, Assistant Police Commissioner James Malizia said.

Canada Foils “Terror Plot” Involving Attack On New York To Toronto Railroad; Al-Qaeda Linked

Another day, another terrorist attack, this time in Canada, where the mounted police announced they have made arrests relating a “terror plot” planning to attack a New York to Toronto passenger train. And just to keep it really real, the name Al-Qaeda was released a few times. Supposedly this is not the same Al-Qaeda that is linked to the Syrian opposition, which these days is one of America’s best friends in the region against Hassad’s “evil” regime and so on.

• CANADA FOILS TERROR ATTACK ON PASSENGER TRAIN — POLICE
• CANADA POLICE MAKE TWO ARRESTS IN PLOT
• CANADA POLICE SAY ACCUSED PLANNED TO ATTACK VIA PASSENGER TRAIN
• CANADA POLICE RELEASE STATEMENT AT TORONTO PRESS CONFERENCE
• CANADA’S RCMP SAYS AL-QAEDA LINKED TO POSSIBLE RAIL ATTACK

Authorities have reportedly prevented an al-Qaeda-supported terrorist attack that aimed to disrupt a major North American transportation route.

Canadian law enforcement confirmed Monday afternoon that authorities thwarted an alleged terror plot in Canada that targeted a Via Rail passenger train that operates between Toronto, Ontario and New York City in the United States.

During Monday’s press conference, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed that they apprehended and charged two men earlier in the day that they believe unsuccessfully hatched what is being called a homegrown terror plot. The suspects now in custody have been named as Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, residents of Montreal, Quebec and Toronto, Ontario, respectively. Law enforcement describes them as being ages 35 and 30.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation adds that the suspects were under investigation for over a year before brought into custody, and assistance was provided by entities on both sides of the border including the United States’ FBI and Department of Homeland Security Department, although the plot itself involved attacking a train on Canadian soil.

 

Pension Rate of Return

WSJs ANDY KESSLER:

The Pension Rate-of-Return Fantasy: Counting on 7.5% when Treasury bonds are paying 1.74%? That’s going to cost taxpayers billions. “The right number is probably 3%. Fixed income has negative real rates right now and will be a drag on returns. The math is not this easy, but in general, the expected return for equities is the inflation rate plus productivity improvements plus the expansion of the price/earnings multiple. For the past 30 years, an 8.5% expected return was reasonable, given +3%-4% inflation, +2% productivity, and +3% multiple expansion as interest rates plummeted. But in our new environment, inflation is +2%, productivity is +2% and given that interest rates are zero, multiple expansion should be, and I’m being generous, -1%.”

The way the Obama wants it. The government inflation rate is a big lie.

The Secret FDIC Proposal That Puts Your Savings At Risk

I think in the USA it’s called theft…. When the government doesn’t obey it’s own laws?

What happened in Cyprus isn’t a “one off” event.

The financial media and elite have been trying to convince the world that Cyprus was a unique situation… a “one time” deal… and that our money is safe in the banks.

This is untrue.

Spain, Canada, and New Zealand have already proposed similar measures through which individuals’ SAVINGS accounts would be used to prop up the banks during times of Crisis.

It’s called a “bail-in,” but really it’s “THEFT” plain and simple. The banks made the terrible mistakes that rendered them insolvent. They (the banks) should simply fail. But instead of failing, the regulators want to keep the banks in business… using YOUR money.

Why is this?

Read more at zerohedge.com …

What the Auditor Didn’t Say

No Frakking Consensus:

Is British Columbia’s carbon offset scheme really just a green slush fund – one in which the well-connected receive money that should have been spent on sick people?

News in the negative sense, is still news.

The Confiscation of Savings in Canada? Cyprus-Style “Bail-Ins” Proposed by Ottawa Government

The wealth heist …

The politicians of the western world are coming after your bank accounts. In fact, Cyprus-style “bail-ins” are actually proposed in the new Canadian government budget. When I first heard about this I was quite skeptical, so I went and looked it up for myself. And guess what? It is right there in black and white on pages 144 and 145 of “Economic Action Plan 2013″ which the Harper government has already submitted to the House of Commons.

This new budget actually proposes “to implement a ‘bail-in’ regime for systemically important banks” in Canada. “Economic Action Plan 2013″ was submitted on March 21st, which means that this “bail-in regime” was likely being planned long before the crisis in Cyprus ever erupted. So exactly what in the world is going on here? In addition, as you will see below, it is being reported that the European Parliament will soon be voting on a law which would require that large banks be “bailed in” when they fail. In other words, that new law would make Cyprus-style bank account confiscation the law of the land for the entire EU.

I can’t even begin to describe how serious all of this is. From now on, when major banks fail they are going to bail them out by grabbing the money that is in your bank accounts. This is going to absolutely shatter faith in the banking system and it is actually going to make it far more likely that we will see major bank failures all over the western world.

Obama: Meh, the Keystone Pipeline Won’t Really Create Jobs, You Know

Well yeah sure … I assume he was planing who would build it, he didn’t say.

House Republicans’ big meeting with President Obama on the Hill yesterday didn’t yield any sudden changes of heart on reaching some kind of big deficit bargain (shocking, considering howpure and straightforward I’m sure the president’s motives were, ahem hem), but the president also kept his cards close to the vest on energy and how his administration is going to play the Keystone pipeline when Republicans pushed him on it. The White House insists that he didn’t provide any clues as to which way internal deliberations are leaning, but he did take a moment to rag on the economic benefits the pipeline’s construction could provide.

The AP reports:

Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said Obama appeared “conflicted” on the pipeline, saying that many of the promised jobs would be temporary and that much of the oil produced likely would be exported.

But Terry said Obama also indicated that dire environmental consequences predicted by pipeline opponents were exaggerated.

“He said there were no permanent jobs, and that the oil will be put on ships and exported and that the only ones who are going to get wealthy are the Canadians,” Terry said. …

Obama said the pipeline “is not going to create as many jobs as you (Republicans) hope,” Scalise said. …

On at least one aspect of the pipeline, Obama is “flat-out-wrong,” Terry said. While some oil is likely to be exported, the total is far less than a majority, Terry said. “That was disturbing to me,” he said.

Okay, President Obama — let’s accept for a moment the premise that the Keystone pipeline will not create all of the direct jobs its proponents have claimed. That’s still not a reason not to build it, especially considering your own State Department has finally conceded its impact will be environmentally neutral. We’re talking about allowing free trade and the free market to function as it should, with both Canada and private companies investing in a fixture in the United States that would move oil to markets and grow the economy — and simply allowing that economic freedom, instead of shutting it down, does create jobs, and a heck of a lot more efficiently than all of the failed stimulus and government spending your administration has enacted to keep us stuck in the Longest. Recovery. Ever. Time to try something different, maybe?