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STEPPING UP TO BETTER GOVERNANCE

TOPICS

A - BRIEF BACKGROUND OF A FEW AMERICAN ISSUES

B - DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

C - CORRELATING KPL ISSUES WITH SEVERAL PROPOSED

AMENDMENTS

D - BRIEF RATIONALE ON AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION;

I.E. “THE BILL OF RIGHTS REDUX”

E - CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

BRIEF BACKGROUND- - A FEW AMERICAN ISSUES

STEPPING UP TO BETTER GOVERNANCE

STEPPING UP TO BETTER GOVERNANCE

BRIEF BACKGROUND- - A FEW AMERICAN ISSUES

OVEVIEW - - TOWARD BETTER GOVERNANCEBRIEF BACKGROUND- - A FEW AMERICAN ISSUES

TOPICS

A - BRIEF BACKGROUND OF A FEW AMERICAN ISSUES

B - DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

C - CORRELATING KPL ISSUES WITH SEVERAL PROPOSED

AMENDMENTS

D - BRIEF RATIONALE ON AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION;

I.E. “THE BILL OF RIGHTS REDUX”

E - CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

Our Canadian neighbors have been looking to develop some of their Western natural resources for a number of years. They believe the effort will fund other needs as well as add jobs to their Nation. They are fortunate to possess a mother lode of heavy crude beneath the forests of northern Alberta. They were hoping to send it to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast via a pipeline called Keystone (KPL). America could make productive use of that oil and the refining effort would employ many Americans here at home, where refining effort has not been up to full capability. As is well known, American politics have been a huge sticking point.

In recent months, Canada has grown weary of America’s indecision and has found significant national interest in a different pipeline ( referred to as “Energy East”) that would convey the crude oil to Canada's own East Coast, New Brunswick ports followed by shipping to America’s Gulf Coast refineries and/or to Europe and India. It’s an effort that Canadian business interests have been working on. Such a system is thought to be capable of initial operation by 2018 or so. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said to his people: the U.S. “is unlikely to be a fast-growing economy for many years to come” and after a hundred years of trying to maximize exports south, it’s time for “a real shift in the mindset of Canadian business culture.” In other words, America’s long time ally to the North feels the United States has not been a dependable friend to them.

DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

So, what’s has been the root cause of

America’s stalling over the Keystone

Pipeline? Our nation is blessed with vast

energy and other resources, waiting to be

tapped. But many of these are locked up in

favor of, currently, largely non-competitive

alternatives, that are dearly beloved by

utopian environmentalists – and by

politicians hungry for campaign

contributions from businesses in

exchange for $ billions of taxpayer dollars.

Our hydrocarbon wealth, especially, offers

amazing benefits: improved human safety,

health, welfare and living standards, in a

more stable world, with new sources of

jobs, wealth and income equality. Not

tapping these resources is contrary to our

national interest and it is an immoral act

upon many of our Citizens.

The Keystone XL pipeline (KXL) is pretty much “shovel ready”,

awaiting merely a Presidential or Congressional action to slash

bureaucratic red tape. President Obama's own State Department

has now twice concluded that the pipeline would cause no net

harm to the environment. Indeed, it seems fairly clear that on the

merits, the pipeline should have proceeded years ago. But there

are at least 100 million reasons why the president has held up the

decision. Those reasons live in the bank account of hedge fund

manager Tom Steyer who has pledged to spend $100 million

helping Democrats in the 2014 midterm election. (Tsk! Tsk!)

Steyer's No. 1 issue? Stopping the Keystone Pipeline.

DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

SUMMARIZING A FEW RELEVANT POINTS:• JOBS. The KPL would create an estimated 20,000 construction jobs; another 10,000 in factories that make the steel,

pipelines, valves, cement and equipment needed to build the pipeline; thousands more in hotel, restaurant and other support industries; and still more jobs in the Canadian, North Dakota and other oil fields whose output would be transported by the pipeline to refineries and petrochemical plants where still more workers would be employed.

• REVENUE. States along the pipeline route would receive $5 billion in new property tax revenues, and still more in workers’ income tax payments. Federal coffers would also realize hefty gains.

• SAFETY. Right now most of the oil from Canada’s oil sands and North Dakota’s Bakken shale deposits moves by railroad and truck fuel tanks, often through populated areas. Truck and rail accidents have forced towns to evacuate and even killed 50 people in Quebec. Despite occasional accidents, pipelines have a much better safety record. KPL would be built with state-of-the-art design, manufacturing, construction and inspection specifications.

• RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND ENERGY NEEDS. Building Keystone will help ensure that vast petroleum resources can be efficiently utilized to meet consumer needs. In conjunction with other pipelines, it will greatly reduce the need to flare (burn and waste) natural gas that is often a byproduct of oil production. The pipelines will also help get propane and natural gas to places that need these fuels.

• US-CANADIAN RELATIONS. The endless dithering over KPL has frayed relations between Canada and the United States. Further delays will not reduce oil sands development – only the oil’s destination.

• CLIMATE CHANGE. Environmentalists claim that “climate change is a fact.” Well, it’s been a fact since Earth was formed. The only pertinent issues are: (1) are humans causing climate change (2) can we control Earth’s climate, by drastically curtailing hydrocarbon use, slashing living standards and switching to renewables? No evidence supports either proposition. Moreover, oil sands production would add a minuscule 0.06% to US greenhouse gas emissions, and an undetectable 0.00002 deg F (0.00001 C) per year to useless computer-model scenarios for global warming.

data source: Paul Dreissen ; See: http://www.cfact.org/2014/02/03/build-the-keystone-pipeline-already/

Some economic and environmental data are shown on the next 2 charts

DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

American oil from Canada

could certainly add a more

competitive mix to current

sources.

J. Burkhard,

http://press.ihs.com/press-

release/energy-

power/congressional-

testimony-significance-

canadas-oil-sands

DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

Environmentalists often stress that

the added KPL emissions from the

pipeline itself is a major issue. But

other data suggest that is not so.

In any event, far more CO2 is

emitted when the final gasoline is

combusted in the vehicle than in the

extraction and production of the

synthetic crude liquid itself. When

one asks how much carbon dioxide

is emitted on driving a vehicle for

one kilometer whose original

energy source was oil sands rather

than conventional crude oil, the

differences (shown here for the 3

stages of use: oil well to refinery -

yellow; refinery to auto gas tank -

red; and, from gas tank to the tires

to propel the auto - purple) are

relatively modest.

Source:

http://econbrowser.com/archives/20

11/12/costs_and_benef

DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

JUDGES & THE COURTS: Of course, there is great National divison over the whether Global Warming poses a serious threat to the next century of humankind, and whether man-made causes are even truly associated with weather trends that have multiple oscillations of decade-long or even multi-century-long characteristcs. This division has often been fought out in Court disputes - - which themselves raise issues of concern to those who believe in the Constitution as a source of both moral and just law. A short glimpse of this aspect:

Since the founding of the modern environmental movement in the 1960s, environmentaladvocates have looked to the courts for the advancement of their agendas. But increasingly the courts have become all too willing to craft policy rather than merely interpret law. A fundamental premise of American Constitutionalism is that an independent Judiciary stands guard against abuses of power by the other two branches of government. But independence leaves Judges with immense power. Although the vast majority of judges at both the Federal and State levels have genuine respect for the Rule of Law as a constraint on their power.

Putting aside political ambition and other personal conflicts of interest that are countered only by strength of character, all American judges have beentrained in the centuries-old tradition of the common law. That tradition, it is often said, is one of "judge-made law" and there are many examples of policy-driven judicial modifications of common law rules, Moreover, courts are regularly portrayed as agents of change and law students are often encouraged to pursue policy objectives through imaginative interpretations of prior Judicial rulings and existing laws and regulations. As noted previously, in regard to the KPL, as in most other issues, Citizens will be best served if all Judicial decisions are made in strict conformace to duly-authorized laws and the U.S. Constitution.

DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

STILL WELL ALIGNED ?

To resolve the specific issues of the Keystone Pipeline will take time to play out and is not the purpose of this article. Rather, the point here is to assess the KPL issue - - which has certainly absorbed many years of Government-Citizen-Business dialog, legal confrontation; costs; and more - - as an example with regard to improving American governance for all Citizens. A few summary thoughts then are these:

• The voices of special interest (Business, environmental Lobbyists and Government) have far out-shouted the voice of the Citizenry. The latter voice needs governance reform to re-set it more properly on the National agenda.

• The Executive Branch has stalled any decision on KPL for a half dozen years or more. Yet this issue has the potential for significant government cost, environmental impact, citizen safety and even International relations. Based on our Constitution, much of the responsibility for steering our Ship of State in these matters rests with the Congress - - NOT the Executive Branch - - which is limited to implementing the laws passed by the Congress (persons comprised of duly-elected Citizen choices). Why then does the carefully-balanced powers between Government Branches and the Citizens seem so totally skewed?

• The American Nation, as most others, needs energy as a fundamental element to provide Citizens with our accustomed increasing quality of life. But the Constitution calls for Job #1 of the Executive to protect Citizens from harm through the instruments of force (Military, Police, Sheriffs, etc.) which have been delegated to the Government by the Citizens. Moreover, the Citizens have chosen also to balance Federal and State powers so neither can achieve autocratic status and thus allow the flourishing of a competitive, private enterprise environment to serve the Citizens with choice as they pursue their lives. Clearly, something is out of balance.

• Congress and the Judicial branch do not escape criticism here either. Both are sworn to support, protect and defend the Constitution of the people. Yet neither have seen fit to rein in the continual encroachment of power by the Executive. Apparently, the roles of Government, Business and Citizens have become muddled in recent decades. The Citizens must demand that the protective provisions of the Constitution must be clarified and restored to their original intent - - before our once-vaunted Freedoms slide into Autocracy.

DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

TOPICS

A - BRIEF BACKGROUND OF A FEW AMERICAN ISSUES

B - DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

C - CORRELATING KPL ISSUES WITH SEVERAL PROPOSED

AMENDMENTS

D - BRIEF RATIONALE ON AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION;

I.E. “THE BILL OF RIGHTS REDUX”

E - CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

CORRELATING THE KPL ISSUES WITH PROPOSED AMENDMENTS

Holmes - Watson: The Amendment Solutions

CORRELATING THE KPL ISSUES WITH PROPOSED AMENDMENTS

TOPICS

A - BRIEF BACKGROUND OF A FEW AMERICAN ISSUES

B - DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

C - CORRELATING KPL ISSUES WITH SEVERAL PROPOSED

AMENDMENTS

D - BRIEF RATIONALE ON AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION;

I.E. “THE BILL OF RIGHTS REDUX”

E - CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

RATIONALE ON AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION

"THE RIGHTS AMENDMENTS - REDUX" : #1

"THE RIGHTS AMENDMENTS - REDUX" : #2

"THE RIGHTS AMENDMENTS - REDUX" : #3

"THE RIGHTS AMENDMENTS - REDUX" : #4

"THE RIGHTS AMENDMENTS - REDUX" : #5

"THE RIGHTS AMENDMENTS - REDUX" : #6

"THE RIGHTS AMENDMENTS - REDUX" : #7

"THE RIGHTS AMENDMENTS - REDUX" : #8

"THE RIGHTS AMENDMENTS - REDUX" : #9

FIX: bullets 10a,

line C typo

"THE RIGHTS AMENDMENTS - REDUX" : #10

TOPICS

A - BRIEF BACKGROUND OF A FEW AMERICAN ISSUES

B - DISCUSSION OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE (KPL)

C - CORRELATING KPL ISSUES WITH SEVERAL PROPOSED

AMENDMENTS

D - BRIEF RATIONALE ON AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION;

I.E. “THE BILL OF RIGHTS REDUX”

E - CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Holmes - Watson: CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Holmes - Watson: CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

HELPING THE GOP AFTER THE NOV 4th

WAVE VICTORY

Again, Many of the thoughts provided earlier to increase Citizen-Government interaction can also be applied to improving the Citizen-GOP interaction. Here the thought of compromise is also an important one to help prevent vote-killing, Party rifts. I know many folks who are put off by the term: compromise, because they believe it always refers to core Principles. But this is not necessarily true. It is often 2nd level provisions that are at stake, Moreover, most of these same folks have, as I do, tremendous admiration for Ronald Reagan and the successes of his elections and Presidency. So I don't hesitate to call on R.R. for two pertinent summary quotes from him. Pls see below. Following President Reagan's rationale seems a powerful, "high road" approach to winning wide support. Government is by, for and about the Citizens. So is our Constitution. Used together, many supporters will join the quest for better Governance.

“I became convinced that some of our fundamental freedoms were in jeopardy because of the emergence of a permanent government never envisioned by the framers of the Constitution: a federal bureaucracy that was becoming so powerful it was able to set policy and thwart the desires not only of ordinary citizens, but their elected representatives in Congress.…. We’re for limited government because we understand, as the Founding Fathers did, that it is the best way of ensuring personal liberty and empowering the individual so that every American of every race and region shares fully in the flowering of American prosperity and freedom.”

"My

eighty-

percent

friend is

not my

twenty-

percent

enemy."

REFERENCES

Keystone Be Darned: Canada Finds a Surprise Route Around Obama

Wednesday, 08 Oct 2014 08:12 AM, Newsmax.com http://www.Moneynews.com/Markets/Keystone-

Pipeline-Canada-Obama/2014/10/08/id/599329

Keystone Courts, James Huffman, March 12, 2014, Defining Ideas, Hoover Institution

Build the Keystone pipeline, already!, Paul Driessen, February 3, 2014,

http://www.cfact.org/2014/02/03/build-the-keystone-pipeline-already/

OUR IVORY-TOWER, BUT EVER-EXPANDING FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, Mark Sussman, Nov 17,

2013http://www.slideshare.net/MarkS181/specl-mbs-ppt-supporting-blog-issues-of-spring-amndmt

http://econbrowser.com/archives/2011/12/costs_and_benef

J. Burkhard,

http://press.ihs.com/press-release/energy-power/congressional-testimony-significance-canadas-

oil-sands

I'm very happy to cite the following references which helped provide much of

the information developed in this article.

THE END

ACTUALLY, IT’S NOT THE END - - YOUR VOICE IS

IMPORTANT TO OUR NATION. CITIZEN INTEREST,

DIALOG AND DATA ARE CRITICAL TO GOOD CIVIC

OUTCOMES. AND THAT INCLUDES OUTCOMES WHICH

SIMPLY ASSURE PROPER CONDITIONS FOR THE FREE

MARKET TO WORK.