the blog quebecois

AP:

. . . by nature, they will like the strong horse.”

Well, Obama's in the stable, raping that pony to death.

The State Department is considering a plan that would reroute the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada away from environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska, an action that could delay a final decision on the project until after the 2012 election.

A U.S. official said told The Associated Press on Wednesday that rerouting the pipeline was a key issue that came up during public meetings and this fall in the six states through which the pipeline would run. The official asked not to be identified because no decision has been made.

Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. is seeking to build the $7 billion pipeline to carry oil derived from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. A portion of the 1,700-mile pipeline would pass through Nebraska's Sandhills region and the massive Ogallala aquifer, which supplies water to eight states.

A State Department decision to reroute the pipeline would require an environmental review of the new section, a process that would likely push a final decision on the pipeline past the 2012 election.

Screw it. Let's start building the pipeline. West, not South. We can name it the Going-For-Barack China Express.

Ever noticed the similarity between "Ezra" and a "ninja?" One is a master of secrecy and disguise; the other is, well, Ezra.

Though he does do a dazzling Mary Walsh, so I guess that counts for something.

Big Peace:

Canada overtook Saudi Arabia as America’s biggest oil supplier in the Nineties, and many U.S. politicians and business leaders have been pressing for approval of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would ship an additional million barrels of Canadian oil from the oil sands to U.S. markets every day. Though the State Department had ruled the pipeline to be environmentally safe and in America’s national interest, President Barack Obama refused last week to approve the pipeline, maintaining that it required more study and delaying the decision till after the 2012 election. Critics say the president had buckled to the anti-oil environmentalists in his left-wing base.

The Ethical Oil ad points out that by importing Saudi oil, “we bankrolled a state that doesn’t allow women to drive, doesn’t allow them to leave their homes or work without their make guardian’s permission, and a state where a woman’s testimony only counts for a half of a man’s.” It concludes by asking, “Why are we paying their bills and funding their oppression?” when there is a “better way: ethical oil from Canada’s oil sands.”

Sun News:

EDMONTON - A decision to drop provincial support for the proposed $7 billion Alberta First Nations Energy Centre had taxpayer interests in mind, a spokesman for Alberta Energy said Friday.

"There was just too high a degree of uncertainty around it. It was too great a risk for government to take on behalf of taxpayers," said Bart Johnson.

In a meeting Feb. 8 with the Grand Treaty Chiefs, Alberta Energy Minister Ted Morton said the province couldn't commit to the Teedrum Inc., project not knowing what the ultimate costs and benefits would be, nor if the project was viable.

"It's a huge investment, and if government is going to get involved, then we need the assurance that it's viable," Johnson said.

I'd be interested in seeing that "business plan." I'll bet it looks something like:

1) Give us seven billion dollars. No, wait. Make it $10 billion. Stuff happens.

2) ?????????

3) Profit!