Year 2, Month 12, Day 20: That’s A Libel On The Good Name of Weasels

The Arkansas Times-Record runs a story about purported jobs purportedly at stake from not doing the Keystone XL:

Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., pointed to the fate of 60 employees of Welspun Tubular as reason to support construction of the Keystone pipeline.

“They say miles of pipeline are on the property and that has caused five dozen employees to lose their jobs,” Terry said. “The pipes would be part of the Keystone oil pipeline which is a project running from Canada to Texas.”

“The president has said he would veto the bill,” Terry said. “Mr. President, this is about creating jobs. Please join us.”

Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., brought up the same issue Wednesday on the Senate floor.

“Welspun Tubular Company, which makes pipes for the oil industry, has been producing pipe for the Keystone project. Unfortunately, due to the administration’s delay on Keystone, the company has already begun to lay workers off in Little Rock. They have 500 miles of pipe that was produced for the project, ready to go, that is just sitting at the facility,” Boozman said.

Boozman blamed politics for the delay, noting that the State Department has said a permit decision could not be delivered until after November 2012.

“President Obama needs to quit pandering to the radical environmentalists. He needs to do what is best for the country, not what he perceives is best for his re-election,” Boozman said.

Boozman, has also co-sponsored legislation that would require a construction permit to be issued within 60 days of passage.

Sociopaths. Hypocrites. Weasels. Sent Dec. 16:

In accusing President Obama of “pandering to radical environmentalists,” Senator Boozman’s remarks on the Keystone XL controversy inadvertently describe his own party’s pro-oil strategy. For decades, Republicans have branded many genuinely concerned and patriotic Americans with such grossly misleading descriptions — but the real pandering is taking place on their side of the aisle.

As for the “radical” tag, there are indeed those who espouse extreme action on environmental issues; their positions should be repudiated by any responsible citizen. Perhaps the most drastic thing these malefactors are advocating is the actual physical alteration of the air we breathe; these extremists propose to increase atmospheric CO2 levels to levels last found when dinosaurs walked the Earth. Surely that’s far more radical than the statements of anti-pipeline activists, who are simply pointing out that the long-term health and prosperity of our species should take precedence over the return-on-investment demands of multinational corporations.

Warren Senders