The Environment Nuts Would Rather have Blood Oil

Why does every Tom, Dick, and Robert (as in Redford) pick on Alberta's oil sands?  Robert Redford is the latest celebrity to jump on the "bash the oil sands" bandwagon.  Is it because it is an easy target, being Canada?

The Keystone XL, a proposed pipeline to be built by TransCanada Corp., would carry oil from the Alberta oil sands to a Texas refinery in a reasonably safe manner.  However, President Obama has chickened out on giving the go-ahead for the pipeline.  Every indication pointed to it being approved and then suddenly the decision was put on hold until after the election in 2012, to appease the environmentalists.  It would be interesting to hear what big labour unions are saying about the delay/cancellation of this project because of the much needed jobs it would provide.

TransCanada then agreed to reroute the pipeline around Nebraska's Sandhills area and Ogallala aquifer, which, of course, makes sense because this area supplies water to Nebraska and seven other states.  In today's political climate, I don't understand why they wouldn't have done that in the first place.  Having said that though, if it wasn't this issue, it would certainly be something else.  This movement simply does not want this pipeline built.

I'm curious though, the people who are protesting this pipeline, do they ever ask themselves the question "What then?" "What if the piepline is never built?"  The U.S. still relies heavily on oil and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.  With the proposed pipeline they could greatly lessen their reliance on oil from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, etc. and having to have it shipped by sea in tankers, which can and certainly have leaked.  With a pipeline, if there is an accident, the flow can be stopped by turning off a valve to stop the flow, just like they do with the approximately 55,000 miles of oil pipelines already crisscrossing the country.  But it seems they would rather have "blood oil" from countries that treat their women like slaves, killing them if they disobey, and beheading anyone who is discovered to be gay.  It certainly doesn't make one lick of sense.

In addition, the U.S. burns coal for their electricity.  They have coal-fired power plants across the country which produce enormous amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.  The mining of coal is another huge environmental hazard that destroys the land around it.  So why this constant picking on the oil sands?

Mr. Redford, you are much more likable in the movies.

We've Seen our Day of Poor

My husband and I were at a conference a couple of weeks ago and there was a young man at our table with whom we were conversing.  (Do you every hear anyone talk like that?  Conversing?).   Anyway, we introduced ourselves and told him that we have a small business in town.  The "occupy protestors" topic came up and he indicated he was sympathetic to their cause while my husband and I indicated we were not.  At one point he said "You guys have probably never seen a day of poor in your lives".  We were both stunned for a second and then we pounced on him to set him straight.  Luckily for him, the speaker for the conference started, otherwise he would have gotten an earful.
My husband is part of a large family (nine children) that grew up in a tiny community in Saskatchewan in an old house with no central heating.  Upstairs where they slept, during the night in the middle of winter, the inside of the house was just about as cold as the outside.  His mother hung the laundry outside to dry summer and winter.  I'm surprised she still has all her fingers.  I have known her for approximately 35 years and I have never heard her complain about any of it.
I grew up in Saskatoon with my three sisters and we did have central heating, however, not much else.  After my dad left (which turned out to be a good thing) my mother was on social assistance--which back then was nothing like it is today.  She struggled, but she managed to feed and clothe us.  Then when we were all in school, she got a job and worked hard to keep things going.  I never heard her complain either.
I am not complaining here either, just stating how it was.  My husband and I started with nothing, we got married young and had two children right away.  We worked hard to get ahead and made the necessary sacrifices to do so.  We certainly didn't expect any help from the government (other than a student loan) or from any else (well, maybe a little babysitting from my mom and sister wile I went back to school).  The point is, we did it on our own and it never occurred to us to complain about our lot in life.
I think the occupy crowd is under the impression that society owes them a living--not just any living though, they want it all and they want it right now.  And who is this society that owes them?  It's you and me and all the other working stiffs who do what we can to get by or, if we work hard enough, do more that just get by.
We've seen our day of poor.  The question is, have they?