Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Newt gives Harper a nod in victory speech

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- This southern state and the Republican nomination race may be far removed from Canada, but that didn't stop Palmetto State primary winner Newt Gingrich from giving a shout out to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his victory speech.

While blasting President Barack Obama for rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline and the thousands of jobs it has been estimated it would create, Gingrich warned Canada will send its oil to China instead.

And he praised Harper, too.

"What Prime Minister Harper -- who, by the way, is conservative and pro-American -- what he has said is he's gonna cut a deal with the Chinese and they'll build a pipeline straight across the Rockies to Vancouver," Gingrich said Saturday night. "We'll get none of the jobs, none of the energy, none of the opportunity.

"Now, an American president who can create a Chinese-Canadian partnership is truly a danger to this country."

The Northern Gateway Pipeline would actually run from the Alberta oilsands to Kitimat, B.C., which is several hundred kilometres north of Vancouver. And, even if the regulatory process went as well as its proponent Enbridge hopes, it would be at least 2017 before any oil would flow to the west coast and Asian markets.

Earlier this week, the Obama administration rejected TransCanada's bid to build the $7 billion Keystone pipeline, citing the 60-day deadline by which he had to decide on the application imposed by Congressional Republicans didn't allow enough time to review the proposal.
At the time, Gingrich called the president's move "stunningly stupid."

On Saturday, he continued his attacks on Obama, calling him "out of touch with reality.

"The president says, 'no,' we don't want you to build a pipeline from central Canada straight down with no mountains intervening to the largest petrochemical centre in the world, Houston, so that we'd make money on the pipeline, we'd make money on managing the pipeline, we'd make money on refining the oil, and we'd make money on the ports of Houston and Galveston shipping the oil," Gingrich said. "Oh no, we don't want to do that because Barack Obama and his extremist left-wing friends in San Francisco, they think that'll really stop the oil from heading out."

Supporters of the Keystone pipeline, which would ship 700,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Alberta to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico, have estimated the project would create 20,000 jobs and add hundreds of billions to the American economy.

Critics have opposed the project because the original route took the pipeline through an environmentally sensitive area in Nebraska. Even though TransCanada and the Nebraska legislature have since agreed to a new route around the Ogallala Aquifer, some environmentalists still oppose the pipeline because they say crude from Alberta's oilsands is "dirty" and more carbon intensive to produce.

Gingrich won the South Carolina primary Saturday with 40% support ahead of Mitt Romney who finished second with 28%. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul received 17% and 13% respectively.

Original Article
Source: cNews 
Author: Bryn Weese 

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