The Nation Of Change has the article Keystone XL Is Back On the Table–For Now.

Obama said at a press conference this month that “Any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll tax cut, I will reject.” That clearly was an empty threat, since he plans to sign this bill on Monday when the House will presumably approve it.

Nevertheless the Republicans forced the following section into the bill that is about to be passed.

Within 60 days, the President, acting through the Secretary of State, is required to grant a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline project application unless he determines the pipeline would not serve the national interest. Any permit issued shall require the reconsideration of routing the pipeline within the State of Nebraska. Any permit granted is deemed to satisfy all the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and any modification required by the Secretary to the construction mitigation and reclamation plan shall not require supplementation of the final environmental impact statement.

Why the mention of the state of Nebraska with respect to this environmentally sound project that will create thousands of jobs?  The Republican Governor of Nebraska “doesn’t want no stinkin’ pipeline running through his state” if he were to use words like those of the bandits in the  movie “Blazing Saddles”.

The Politico story Keystone XL Pipeline vote getting pre-spun, quotes Representatives Waxman and Markey.

Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told POLITICO that even if President Barack Obama signed a law requiring him to make a decision on permitting the 1,700-mile pipeline within 60 days, they think he’d still end up rejecting it.

We expect the president to still reject the commencement of the construction of the pipeline until there is a full completion of an environmental review,” added Markey, the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee. “The 60-day deadline should not lead to the White House approving the actual construction to begin.”

Markey also argued that the GOP couldn’t claim a win if Keystone made it in. “What are they getting?” he asked.

Both Democrats also said they were not in the thick of the negotiations, though Waxman, holding his BlackBerry up, joked at one point, “The White House has just sent me an email saying, ‘Don’t worry.’”

The faux naivete displayed by Waxman and Markey does a disservice to them. They may be the only people in the world who pretend to believe that Obama will carry through on his promise.  Even if he does not deliver on his promise to reject the bill, they still hold out hope that the President will deliver sometime down the road.

When you compromise with bribe takers and legislators with conflicts of interest (see Myth That Keystone XL Creates Jobs), you cannot come away with your principles intact.

The Los Angeles Times has the interesting article Autism hidden in plain sight.  I’ll quote one of the cases described in the article.

Karl Wittig, a retired engineer from New York, had always questioned why so few social skills came naturally to him.

A diary his mother kept in the 1950s suggests he was not an ordinary child.

“This last few weeks, he doesn’t pile the blocks anymore,” she wrote when he was 2. “He likes to put one next to the other, making a big row of 48.”

Two years later, he talked nonstop about wires, switches, light bulbs and Thomas Edison.

Wittig went on to earn undergraduate and master’s degrees from Cornell University and New York University in physics, electrical engineering and computer science. In the research laboratories where he worked, he felt he fit in.

“I went into a field full of eccentric people,” Witting recalled. “I was just another eccentric person.”

Wittig said he eventually figured out how to behave in social situations — to refrain from correcting other people’s mistakes, flaunting his math abilities or rambling on about his own interests. He married a former nun 18 years his senior. She died of cancer after two decades together. Wittig described the marriage as happy.

Still, he wanted to understand what made him different. So at age 44, he brought his mother’s diary to a psychiatrist, who evaluated him and concluded he had Asperger’s disorder, a mild form of autism.

“I had been waiting for an explanation for these issues my entire life,” recalled Wittig, now 55, who lives alone in the apartment he once shared with his wife. “Finally, here it was.”

Recognize anybody you know?

The Nation Of Change has the story Myth That Keystone XL Creates Jobs Perpetuated by Oil Lobby, Parroted by Congress’s Oil Recipients.

An oil contractor hired by the State Department reported it would create between 5,000 and 6,000 temporary jobs, while an independent study by Cornell University found it would create only 500 to 1,400 temporary jobs. Once the costs of the increased pollution and risk of oil spills is factored in, Cornell found, the jobs impact is likely to be negative.
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Pipeline supporters Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), Judy Biggert (R-IL), and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) even own TransCanada stock.

I am shocked to find out that Republican leaders in Congress who stand to directly benefit from the pipeline are lying to me. Shocked, I tell you!

We should require members of Congress to reveal their financial interests in all legislation they are either proposing, blocking, or voting on.  Misleading the public on their self-interest should be punishable by jail time.

Beth Angel forwarded this email that explains why “Ryan-Wyden Medicare Plan Like A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing”

What was Ron Wyden thinking when he signed onto this? Is he setting himself up for a career in the insurance industry after he leaves the Senate?

Now a little something for your musical enjoyment.

Thanks to MaureenD and GusS for bringing this to my attention.

The article Obama: No options off table on Iran shows the view from Iran.

US President Barack Obama has once again said that Washington would take “no options off the table” in its effort to stop Iran’s nuclear program while reiterating US commitment to Israel’s security.
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The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never pointed to any evidence indicating that Tehran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.

There is one option that President Obama seems to have taken off the table.  That is telling the truth about the nonexistence of evidence against Iran.

There also doesn’t seem to be any skid marks as evidence of Obama even dragging his feet in his being pulled ever rightward in all his actions.

Thanks to Hassan Moradi in my Google+ political circle for pointing me to this article.

The Economist published the article Small wonder: A new model of microfinance for the very poor is spreading.

CARE International, a charity, began a novel scheme in Niger in 1991 to help the poor save—a basic form of banking called a village savings and loans association. This is based on savings rather than debt and managed by members of the community rather than professionals.

Maybe capitalism on a small scale is the way to avoid the problems of large scale capitalism.  Some would call it socialism, but we aren’t allowed to use The ‘S’ Word.

The Nation of Change has the brief article Fragile and Unbalanced in 2012 by Nouriel Roubini.

The outlook for the global economy in 2012 is clear, but it isn’t pretty: recession in Europe, anemic growth at best in the United States, and a sharp slowdown in China and in most emerging-market economies.

Since Nouriel Roubini has already earned the sobriquet “Dr. Doom”, he has no need to sugar-coat what he says.  He is free to point out weaknesses in all economies from The United State, Great Britain, other Eurozone countries, to even China.

What are the chances that the politicians have the technical expertise to understand what has to be done?  Of the number who have a chance of understanding, how many have the courage to do it?  Of the remaining few who meet both criteria, how many have the public support in their countries for the steps that are necessary?  Divide that number by 6 billion people on the earth and you have some idea of the probability of everything turning out fine.

Despite all of that, I am still fully invested in stocks of high quality companies.  Am I a fool or some sort of  cock-eyed optimist?

It seems like I might have to dedicate a good portion of this blog to this topic until they come and take me away.

Truth Out has this scary article Is the Use of the Military Designed for the Occupy Movement?

…Ray McGovern, a retired 27 year veteran of the CIA, who provided the morning intelligence briefing to multiple presidents and security advisers, said that he thought the provisions allowing domestic use of the military and military detention were being added because of fear of civil unrest at home.

I have been thinking of trying to line up a group of dedicated protesters who would spring into action if the government suddenly disappeared me because the 1% were terrified by this blog.