BloggeRhythms

Although he campaigned hard against W. Bush’s expanded use of intelligence within the nation, the incumbent now apparently sees how much things have changed since 9/11/2001 and the value of gathering vital information about potential enemies and their activities within our borders.

 

Perhaps that's why yesterday, he babbled on in a speech, trying to calm folks down, but as usual really not saying much either.

 

However, as I’ve previously mentioned, maintaining this kind of surveillance is critical, far overriding concerns of privacy violations. Because to have this kind of electronic capability in today’s world and not use it is ridiculous. And it’s probable that if the Founding Fathers could even imagine the need for this kind of national protection they likely would have allowed for it in the Fourth Amendment, despite what Rand Paul thinks.

 

But what’s most amazing is that even in a case where he’s probably right for once, the incumbent’s staff is still trying to make the case that incumbent didn’t know much, if anything, about the issue anyway.

 

David Plouffe, Obama’s advisor, said, “Things seem to have grown at the NSA. I think it was disturbing to most people, and I think he found it disturbing.”

 

So, I guess you can add this one to all the other things going on here and around the world that the incumbent’s ignorant of. But, at least he’s consistent, because whether the situation's a bad or good one, it’s a safe bet, he knows nothing about it now and never did.

 

And then, on another important issue, Fox News on-line yesterday reported about Secretary of State, John Kerry’s, views regarding the stalled Keystone XL pipeline, as follows:

 

“Kerry, who has rarely spoken about the pipeline since taking office a year ago, said "a lot of questions" were raised about the project in a lengthy public comment period the State Department conducted. "Those comments have necessitated appropriate answers," he said.

 

"I can promise our friends in Canada that all the appropriate effort is being put into trying to get this done effectively and rapidly," Kerry added.”

 

However, it’s highly doubtful that Kerry or anyone else in this administration is going to budge an inch on the pipeline because the delays likely haven't a thing to do with anything other than protecting friends like Warren Buffett.  

 

As reported by Bloomberg’s  Jim Efstathiou Jr., back on Jan 23, 2012: “Warren Buffett’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC is among U.S. and Canadian railroads that stand to benefit from the Obama administration’s decision to reject TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL oil pipeline permit. 

 

With modest expansion, railroads can handle all new oil produced in western Canada through 2030, according to an analysis of the Keystone proposal by the U.S. State Department. 

 

“Whatever people bring to us, we’re ready to haul,” Krista York-Wooley, a spokeswoman for Burlington Northern, a unit of Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said in an interview. If Keystone XL “doesn’t happen, we’re here to haul.”

 

And then today, there’s this report: “According to the AAR, the amount of crude oil moved by rail has skyrocketed, from around 9,500 carloads in 2008 to nearly 300,000 carloads during the first three quarters of 2013 alone (One tank car can reportedly hold anywhere from 600 to 750 barrels of crude.) Most of those oil cars are owned by the railroads' customers or leasing companies, with the railroads themselves owning less than 1 percent.”

 

So, Secretary Kerry can hold all the news conferences he pleases to try to convince the public that an honest effort ‘s being made to open the pipeline. But, it’s simply impossible to believe that the growth in railroad usage began in 2008, as did the incumbent's term in office, and that Warren Buffet’s profits rose by coincidence. Chicago politics simply don’t work that way now and never did.

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios