Why Farmers Need Keystone XL  

Katie Kieffer / Townhall Columnist

 

 

It’s harvest time! But oil shipments out of the Bakken are causing dangerous and costly rail delays for farmers.

 

The oil boom in the Northern Plains is a boon to the U.S. economy, creating thousands of jobs and increasing our supply of American energy. With nearly 3 million Americans out of work, the Bakken is like a pool of cool water in an arid desert.

However, our railroads do not have the capacity to transport unprecedented levels of crude oil as well as the fall harvest. Farmers are understandably frustrated with the railroad companies, yet the railroad companies say they are already doing everything possible to increase speeds.

Farmers are scrambling to store their harvest while they wait for rail service. Some growers are forced to store their grain on the ground because they do not have enough temporary bin capacity—rendering the grain susceptible to spoilage or insects.

Overall, the rail delays are increasing costs for farmers and will likely end up raising the cost of food for consumers down the line. In Minnesota alone, transportation delays cost wheat farmers $8.5 million, soybean farmers almost $19 million, and corn farmers $72 million between the months of March and May.

Realistically, oil will continue to flow out of the Bakken and there will be another harvest of corn, soybeans and grain in the autumn of 2015. So, the long-term solution is not to accelerate trains and increase the risk of fiery derailments. The long-term solution is to build more pipelines, starting with Keystone XL.

Rail is the most dangerous mode of transportation for crude oil and it is only a matter of time before Americans die in a tragic derailment. Last summer, a train loaded with crude from the Bakken derailed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec and killed 47 people. And, a few months ago here in the United States, a train derailed in Lynchberg, VA just outside of a children’s museum—barely sparing the children inside.

The State Department has thrice (yes, that’s three times) declared the Keystone XL pipeline to be environmentally safe. And, as I prove in “Let Me Be Clear,” transporting crude via rail is far more damaging to the environment than via pipeline. Yet President Obama and his sidekick Vice President Joe Biden are prioritizing huffing and puffing about raising the minimum wage rather than approving Keystone XL—a project guaranteed to make Americans safer and more economically secure.

The United States is on the fast track to looking like the America that Ayn Rand describes in her novel “Atlas Shrugged” if Obama doesn’t take his boot off the throat of Keystone XL. Our president is continually harping about creating a better future for America’s children, and yet he is the lone man standing in the way of building the technology that will keep our children safe. Obama also perpetually reminds us how the Republicans will not negotiate with him (which he defines as letting him take a metaphorical blowtorch to the U.S. Constitution). Yet isn’t it interesting that Mr. Compromise is the only person in the entire United States who is unwilling to reach across the northern border and shake hands with our friend and ally Canada?

Are we willing to wait until another derailment causes a fire that takes the lives of innocent children before we build Keystone XL? Are we willing to stall until the price of bread breaks a middle class family’s budget before we increase rail service for farmers and let the Bakken’s shippers use a pipeline? I think not. It’s time to build Keystone XL.

There Is A Conservative Wave Coming In November

Kurt Schlichter / Townhall Columnist

 

When Barack Obama starts acting like a real American president and promises to destroy our country’s enemies instead of apologizing to them, you know he's worried about the upcoming midterms. He should be. Conservatives are going to win them going away, and it's going to be gloriously devastating to the progressive cause.

Get ready to savor the delicious taste of victory. All the signs are there except for one – so far Dick Morris hasn’t predicted a Democrat triumph. That would seal it.

It's not so much the polling, which remains tight as long as the people measured are those with a pulse as opposed to those committed to going out and voting. The numbers look slightly GOP-favorable now but the final vote tallies will be much higher for Republicans. Don’t buy into the spin that some Obama-hugging incumbent polling at 43% is going to draw 51 percent on election day.

The zeitgeist favors the GOP. As predicted in my book Conservative Insurgency, huge numbers of Americans are sick of defeat, decline and deception. The rest just don’t care. Even in the best of times, Democrat-voting losers dedicated to a vision of government as a feeding trough for those embroiled in social pathologies need plenty of incentive to get their ample behinds off the couch and into a voting booth.

Plus, right now Barack Obama is about as popular as Bob Crane at a Southern Baptist convention.

If you want to know how your battle plan is doing, watch the other side. After fessing up to having no strategy for dealing with the junior varsity team that’s serially humiliated him, Barack Obama hung up his golf clubs for a moment and started talking like John Wayne . . . or at least like what liberals think of as John Wayne. The Duke never had to beg people to let him be clear.

Regardless, when you get some academic lounge lefty like Barack Obama taking America’s side in a fight, you know he's worried about the next election.

Barack Obama also delayed his fascisty plans to unilaterally impose amnesty upon a disgusted America, something you know he’s aching to do. By going back on his promise to the left – hey guys, welcome to our world! – Obama betrayed his rabid pro-illegal supporters. But doing so won him nothing. He looks like what he is – a political hack thinking he’s clever for deciding to wait until he can’t be held politically accountable. But he isn’t fooling anyone – the GOP candidates running against the flailing liberals in the battleground states are going to beat their opponents around the head and shoulders with amnesty for the next two months.

Oh, and you never hear Obama or any of the other Democrats forthrightly talking about Obamacare. Ever. And just wait until the next round of premium increases kicks in.

Part of the GOP's current success has been its candidate selection. It has enlisted true warriors like Joni Ernst and Tom Cotton. It found up-and-comers like Corey Gardner. And, best of all, it managed not to nominate any lunatics. No one is running under the banner of fighting the Trilateral Commission, banning fluoride or investigating anyone’s birth certificate.

The GOP candidates are winning largely by not being aggressively stupid. This cycle, Republicans have somehow managed not to share any bizarre theories about female biology nor provide any idiosyncratic insights into the subject of rape. That’s a refreshing change.

This is really bad for the Democrats because this means that the bar for Republicans is so low all one has to do is not be a complete idiot. Most of them are, in fact, pretty bright, but the mainstream media is never going to let that cat out of the bag. You won’t hear how Tom Cotton went to Harvard in the New York Times. The best a Republican candidate can hope for is not to be painted as the kind of guy who stands on a street corner shouting that Obama was born in Mombasa.

As a Democrat, it must be a drag to realize that you're going to lose to anybody who manages to walk upright.

So, what can the Democrats do? The first thing they’ll do is run away from President Feckless. This guy is political poison. The only thing less appealing than getting a campaign visit from the President is going to the mailbox and finding a thick manila envelope from the local STD clinic.

“President Who? Obama? Never heard of him.”

Then they’ll pretend to be conservatives. Illegal aliens? “Against ‘em!” War in Iraq? “I’m for it again!” Common core? “Uh, look over there! Behind the squirrel!”

Oh, and we’ll also see the pinko kabuki theater in full effect. It started last week with the Senate’s consideration of a constitutional amendment to rein in that wacky First Amendment. Yeah, too much free speech is a huge problem. Next there will be a minimum wage increase debate designed to mobilize those achievers who think they have some sort of cosmic moral entitlement to $15 an hour for assembling Big Macs.

But these schemes aren’t going to work. We conservatives are going to romp to victory in November.

And once we win, we need to make sure that our victory means something. What it must mean, to the extent Obama hasn't destroyed it himself, is the utter neutralization of the Obama administration. And who needs more incentive than that to get out and work for conservative victory?

Islamic State releases map of 5-year plan to spread from Spain to China

Robert Spencer / Jihad Watch

 

The Islamic State will not succeed in advancing this far, of course. But they will murder many people as they try.

“The Structure of the Islamic State (ISIS),” by Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, September 8, 2014 (thanks to Victor):

Much has been written and said about the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (the Levant) — ISIS. Most of the commentators have looked at ISIS as another terrorist organization, an al-Qaeda off-shoot, waging a guerrilla war with cohorts of unorganized thugs. The Afghani-style gear, the pickup trucks, the all black or army fatigue uniforms which most ISIS fighters wear, the unshaven beards, the turbans, hoods and head “bandanas” with Arabic inscriptions have added to the confusion.

In fact, ISIS is much more than a terrorist organization; it is a terrorist state with almost all governing elements. Over the last three years, since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, the Islamic State developed from an extremist fringe and marginal faction participating in the civil war to become the strongest, most ferocious, best funded and best armed militia in the religious and ethnic war that is waged today in Syria and Iraq.

But first, what is the name of this entity and what are the borders of the Islamic State?

From the first days of its appearance in Syria in 2011, the organization was known as ISIS. However, since the declaration in Summer 2014 of the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate headed by Ibrahim ‘Awad Ibrahim Al Badri al Samarra’i, alias Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — now the self-declared “Caliph Ibrahim” — ISIS has been transformed into the “Islamic State” (Al Dawla Al Islamiya ) in order to stress the fact that the Caliphate is not to be limited to Iraq, Syria, Israel (Palestine), Jordan and the Levant, but its ambitions lie well beyond those limited borders.

According to the maps published by the Islamic State, the Islamic State will include Andalus in the West (Spain) and stretch from North Africa — the Maghreb — (and the whole of West Africa including Nigeria) through Libya and Egypt (considered one geographical unit – Ard Al-Kinana), include what is called in Islamic state terminology, Ard el Habasha (from Cameroon in the west, Central Africa, the Victoria lake states, Ethiopia and Somalia), the Hijaz (Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States), Yemen until Khurasan in the east – defined as the Central Asian Muslim Republics beginning with Azerbaijan and including Pakistan and the South west part of China, land of the Muslims of Turkish origin, the Uyghurs. The Islamic State includes also Iran and Turkey (named Anadol) in their entirety and parts of Europe (mainly the Balkans, more or less conforming to the borders of the defunct Ottoman Empire with the Austro-Hungarian territories)….

WH Chief of Staff Denis McDonough: 'We Are at War With ISIL'

Sandy Fitzgerald / NEWSMAX

Success against the growing threat of the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) will mean curbing the insurgents so they no longer pose danger, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said Sunday, and unlike President Barack Obama, he referred to the fight as "war," not a counter-terrorism exercise.

"Success looks like an ISIL that no longer threatens our friends, can't accumulate followers and threaten Muslims in Syria, Iraq, or otherwise," McDonough told NBC "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd. "And that's exactly what success looks like."

To achieve that, the United States will wage a counter-terrorism fight like those in Yemen and Somalia, "where we will take the fight to our enemies without putting our ground troops into the effort," McDonough said, echoing President Barack Obama's prime-time speech last week.

He admitted, like many military experts, that ground troops are needed, but pointed out to Todd that Obama's plan calls for training opposition troops in Iraq and Syria to handle the ground battles.

"That's why we want to make sure that this coalition brings Sunnis to the fight," said McDonough, who appeared not only on the NBC program, but also on ABC, FOX, and CNN's Sunday news shows to discuss the ongoing ISIS situation.

There has been some disagreement on whether to term the fight against ISIS as a war or as a counterterrorism exercise, as President Barack Obama termed the matter in his prime-time address last Wednesday.

"This isn't [about] talking points, but [it's] very serious business," McDonough told ABC "This Week" host Martha Raddatz. "We believe just as we have been at war with al Qaida since the day we got here, here we are at war with ISIL."

Conventional Wisdom Is A Mass Illusion

by Bob Livingston / Personal Liberty Digest

THINKSTOCK

A recent poll by Rasmussen found that more than one-third of Americans had no clue which parties control the House and Senate. What a sad commentary that such a basic bit of information — taken for granted by this audience — is lost on an American populace so distracted by bread and circuses.

This, of course, is not true of the typical Personal Liberty Digest™ reader. You are a special lot and much appreciated. Most of you are making a valiant attempt to rid yourself of a lifetime of brainwashing and propaganda. It is a difficult task; I know. And it has nothing to do with one’s intelligence.

I have watched as otherwise intelligent and thoughtful people have had their minds manipulated so that they acted against their own best interests as a result of propaganda. It seems that organized and sophisticated propaganda is able to operate above the threshold of intelligence. In other words, without some imperative to trigger inquiry, very intelligent people buy into lies and myths the same as the general population. The lies and myths then become conventional wisdom. The human mind rarely accepts a challenge to conventional wisdom.

Instead, it dismisses it under the auspices of “conspiracy theory,” a catchall category for information outside the main.

But you, Personal Liberty reader, keep your focus on reality, paying no attention to the political noise, the controlled media, the economic establishment or, indeed, the medical cartel in America. You recognize it for what it is: all noise that interferes with a calm and sober psyche.

Here are things as I perceive them: The U.S. is deteriorating at a very fast rate — one that is becoming perceptible to even the millions of people who had not previously observed it. Even mainstream economists are starting to sound the alarm, though they continue to miss or ignore the cause. It does not matter “who” is doing it to us. The main thing is “it” is being done.

Op-ed: 
Acts of Pure Evil vs. NO Strategy at All
By: Diane Sori

Sura 47:4...“When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks..."

We're now six days out from a speech of NOTHING but placating words...words that have NOT yet been backed-up by actions. Six days out and NO sense of urgency in attacking ISIS in Syria...NO sense of urgency in attacking ISIS in Iraq. Six days out and Barack HUSSEIN Obama still will NOT call ISIS what they are...an islamist...YES islamist...terrorist group of murderous savages out to kill us all. Six days out and the word 'war' has NOT yet crossed the lips of the man who fears a vote of war in America's halls of Congress...fears that word as November looms large.

And now a third westerner has been beheaded by ISIS...this time British humanitarian aid worker David Haines...another death that can be laid at the feet of the man who for all intents and purposes has done NOTHING of substance beyond spewing 'political promises'...promises made to try and save his miserable legacy. Placating words of a 'NO strategy' strategy cobbled out to try and stop numbers in free-fall...numbers that show that Americans have NO confidence in him or his policies...numbers that show the rest of the world is laughing at him...is laughing at our beloved America... as they now see Vladimir Putin as the world's top dog.

And the bottom line is if this most traitorous of presidents had NOT announced for the world and our enemies to hear our date of withdrawal...if he had heeded George W. Bush's 2007 warning that pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq too soon... pulling them out against the advice of our commanders on the ground...would have devastating consequences...consequences including that said withdrawal would allow terrorists to establish a 'safe haven' in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan...ISIS would NOT be the threat it is today for ISIS' emergence as a prime player on the world stage corresponds directly with Obama's pullout of our troops from Iraq.

And now to add insult to the injury of his 'NO strategy' strategy, Obama wants to arm the Free Syrian Army even knowing that several factions within said 'army'... factions including Ahl Al Athar, Ibin al-Qa’im, and Aisha...have 'pledged' to support ISIS...have pledged NOT to fight against ISIS so that they can continue to focus on taking down the government of Syrian President Bashir al-Assad. And there's something very unnerving in this 'pledge'...and it's something Obama knows damn well...and it's the fact that this ceasefire of sorts between the Free Syrian Army and ISIS was mediated by the al-Nusra Front, which is al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.

And these are the people...people tied to an al-Qaeda affiliate...al-Qaeda who brought the World Trade Center down...these are the people that Barack HUSSEIN Obama wants to have America now arm.

So do you really think Obama wants to take out ISIS knowing that al-Qaeda has NOT really broken their ties to ISIS by their working through the Free Syrian Army...I for one think NOT. And how can Obama believe that the Free Syrian Army itself won't actually merge with ISIS if that's the best way for them to topple al-Assad...won't merge with ISIS while carrying and using U.S. made weapons and arms. And how can Obama NOT see that the true goal of the Free Syrian Army is NOT just regime change as they so claim, but is to join the caliphate as they fight against the secular government of al-Assad with one hand and carry the black flag of islam with the other. And when will Obama realize that there are NO moderates in Syria when the very group he keeps calling 'moderates' are the ones who last March slaughtered 88 Christians in Kassab (beheading thirteen of them), and are the very ones who massacred 220 unarmed civilians in Ballouta, in August of 2013.

And when will Obama realize that his belief that ISIS can only be destroyed with a long-term strategy founded upon building a coalition of local and regional allies will NOT work...and when will he realize that 'limited' air strikes alone do NOT a sustainable counter-terrorism strategy make...that only 'boots on the ground'...as in upward of 120,000+ will...and that those 'boots' need to include many Arab 'boots' as well. And when will Obama realize that ISIS is indeed vulnerable...very vulnerable in fact to undermining strategies when the beheading videos they put out are NOT just done to strike fear into we infidels, but are primarily done in hopes of recruiting Americans and Europeans into their ranks...and this leaves the door wide open for infiltration by U.S. and allied intelligence...that is if one's goal is to truly take the enemy called ISIS out.

To take the enemy out...I'm NOT even sure that Iraq itself wants to take ISIS out for Iraq's new Prime Minister al-Abadi has recently said that he will NOT allow Iraqi warplanes to bomb civilian areas...even areas ISIS controls...areas like in the major cities of Mosul, Takrit, and Fallujah...in an effort, he says, to ease the growing tensions between his Shi'ite government and the Sunni minority. And so just like Obama's putting politics before doing what's needed to end the scourge of ISIS once and for all, al-Abadi hopes...NO prays...that ending the bombings of civilian areas will slow or halt the support the Sunnis have shown towards ISIS as payback for what they believe to be abuses done by Shi'ite led security forces...by the Shi'ite dominated government forces.

But you just know we're in trouble when first, the U(seless) N(ations) agrees with a leader who is supposed to be on our side...a leader of a country that saw thousands of American lives lost and billions of dollars in treasure spent...second, when this new policy of al-Abadi could affect how much, how often, and where the U.S. itself could bomb...and lastly, you know we're in trouble when the sad reality is that even if we manage to defeat the islamic terrorist group known as ISIS, the discontented and delusional who survive will simply morph into yet another group out to kill us all.

And we know this because the problem is NOT with ISIS alone but is with the entirety of islam...and it's time the world knows this truth as well...they just need to take their blinders off and see the carnage that has been done in the name of islam...in the name of allah.

So let's be honest here...these beheading videos do serve another calculatingly clever purpose for ISIS is sitting back smiling knowing that American 'boots on the ground' would actually raise money for them to use against what more than just Iran consider to be the 'Evil Satan.' And ISIS also knows that if American 'boots' do go in Obama will pull those 'boots' out NO matter how high their numbers grow...and will do so well before the ultimate goal of destroying them is reached and done. And sadist of all is the fact that the most powerful nation in the world has been allowed by Obama to be brought to its knees by a group of islamist terrorists wielding knives as their banner wherever they go.

And ISIS knows all this because Obama continues to ignore all the obvious things that need to be done...and they know this because Barack HUSSEIN Obama is indeed a muslim and as such is now and forever part of the collective consciousness of those out to kill us all.