Canadian Oil Forced to Rail by Obama Keystone XL Boycott = Oilspill

As noted before, (Canada Shipping Oil to US By Rail To Get Around Obama's Keystone XL Blockade) crude oil from Canada is going to come to the US, whether the Keystone XL pipeline get built or not. The failure of the Obama Administration to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline has been a boon to the railroads who are shipping ever greater amounts of crude oil to the US. Unfortunately, rail transport is not as efficient or safe as rail when transporting liquids.

So, it comes as no surprise to me that one of these trains has derailed, spilling oil.

A mile-long train hauling oil from Canada derailed, spilling 30,000 gallons of crude in western Minnesota on Wednesday, as debate rages over the environmental risks of transporting tar sands across the border.

The major spill, the first since the start of a boom in North American crude-by-rail transport three years ago, came when 14 cars on a 94-car Canadian Pacific train left the tracks about 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis near the town of Parkers Prairie, the Otter Tail Sheriff's Department said. - Daily Mail, UK

It is going to happen again. Surely many other transportation professionals will agree. Such large quantities of crude oil should be moved by pipeline.

'It is good business for the rails and bad safety for the public,' said Jim Hall, a transportation consultant and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

'Railroads travel through population centers. The safest form of transport for this type of product is a pipeline. This accident could - and ought to - raise the issue for discussion.' - Daily Mail, UK

As I said before, Liberals, you want the pipeline...

Canada Shipping Oil to US By Rail To Get Around Obama's Keystone XL Blockade

So it is two months since my last post on the Keystone XL pipeline (Keystone XL Pipeline - You Don't Get a Much Better Example of How Anti-Business (and Petty) This Administration is) and our petty President has still not gotten out of the way of construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. 

His liberal followers are doing their best to silence criticism of the President in this matter. Take a look at a recent post on Business Insider, 'Why We'll Have To Keep Waiting For Obama's Decision On The Keystone XL Pipeline', where Liberals killed every comment by flagging them as offensive, including a comment by the author who eventually turned comments off for the post. They even flagged their own comments which is unfortunate as it is interesting to see their thinking, which included comments that since thie project will only product 5,000 jobs, that it was irreverent in terms of creating work. But as I have said before, the Democrats Hate Your Job, especially jobs like these.

But they cannot stop the flow of oil coming out of Canada. One recent story which validates my original post is the following noting the rising demand for tank cars for the transport of oil:

The number of tank cars ordered for shipping crude and expected to be delivered by the end of 2014 will be enough to move two million barrels of oil per day, almost three times what is currently extracted from the Bakken shale basin, Mr. Kolstad said.

That’s the size of two Keystone XLs and one Seaway pipeline.

As much as 40% of the orders are from Canadian entities desperate to get their crude out of Western Canada and into U.S. refineries in the East and on the Gulf Coast. - Financial Post (22 February 2013)

Read the rest of the story. So good job liberals. The oil you hoped to keep trapped in Canada is coming to the US, in a more expensive mode of transportation, which happens to also be less safe and less green.

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Tweet: " If getting employer benefits without paying union dues is BAD, why is getting government benefits without paying taxes GOOD? "

This is a great tweet:

If getting employer benefits without paying union dues is BAD, why is getting government benefits without paying taxes GOOD?  - Twitter

There is absolutely no audit or accountability on all of the money and services being handed out to a good portion of the population. Sure, there is the occasional story about Government employees buying all sorts of items for personal use on Government credit cards, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. How many people are working under the table and collecting Government benefits? How much fraud is out there? How many people simply are eligible to collect some kind of Government handout because instead of leaning forward and trying to find work, they lean back and grab the remote...

Liberals are claiming that to work in a union shop you need to pay union dues, otherwise you are not paying your fair share. Well what about the large portion of the population not paying taxes? Everyone is claiming that the rich, who are already paying large sums in taxes, are not paying their fair share. Well what about everyone else? If their fair share really 0%?

National Park Service - Job Killer

Ken Salazar is the United States Secretary of the Interior. In his position he is in charge of the U.S. Government Department responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, territorial affairs, and to insular areas of the United States. His Department includes the National Park Service.

Recently he made news for refusing to renew a lease for California's last remaining oyster farm:

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a popular oyster farm at Drakes Bay on Thursday to pack up and leave, effectively ending more than a century of shellfish harvesting on the picturesque inlet where Europeans first set foot in California.

Salazar's decision ends a long-running dispute between the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. and the National Park Service over the estuary at Point Reyes National Seashore where Sir Francis Drake landed more than 400 years ago.

The National Park Service intends to turn the 2,700-acre area into the first federally designated marine wilderness area on the West Coast, giving the estuary special protected status as an unaltered ecological region. To do that, Salazar rejected the oyster company's proposal to extend its 40-year lease to harvest shellfish on 1,100 acres of the property.

Salazar gave the farm 90 days to move out, issuing his decision a day before the lease was set to expire and one week after visiting the Point Reyes National Seashore for a tour. - SFGATE.com

The Obama Administration always talk about how they are 'Pro-Jobs' but they never do anything to show it, unless it happens to be a teacher or Government job. As I have said a number of times before, the Democrats HATE YOUR JOB. This is a perfect example. This decision kills off this business and all of the jobs associated with it.

Now Secretary Salazar is claiming that this decision is for the benefit of the collective people of the United States, but lets see if they let us enjoy this 'treasured landscape'. This is the same part of the Government that has been restricting access to beaches for a while now, including the infamous 'Leave No Footprints behind' signs.

Planning a vacation this summer to Miami’s Biscayne Bay for a little fishing?

Think again, because the National Park Service wants to set aside a large swath of the pristine area as a marine reserve zone, so you might have to leave the fishing poles at home. And the boat.

Perhaps horseback riding is more your speed and the family plans to ride through California’s Sequoia or Kings Canyon National Parks? Sorry, but all of the permits were pulled for those activities this summer.

Or maybe you just want to lounge on the soft sands of North Carolina’s Outer Banks and read a novel, fly a kite with the kids, toss a Frisbee to the dog, and watch dad catch some fish?

No, no, no and no.

Beachcombers along specific stretches of those legendary shores are seeing signs telling them to leave their kites and pets at home, and to watch where they step.

“Leave no footprints behind. Walk in water where footprints wash away,” read the signs posted in February by federal officials.

Beaches that once welcomed fisherman to drive up to the water’s edge are also off-limits to the vehicles, and so is fishing.

These vacation destinations are all national parks that once encouraged such recreational uses and enjoyment but their new “no trespassing” attitudes have angered the local communities, and some in Congress as well. - Human Events

Killing jobs at the beach is becoming a speciality of the Obama Administration.

In California, Republican Rep. Devin Nunes says that by eliminating horseback rides to the backcountry, the National Park Service has essentially blocked the only access that many Americans, including those with disabilities and the elderly, have to wilderness areas. The new restrictions are the result of a lawsuit brought by environmentalists who say the activity may be a threat to nature.

Losing the permits means that at least 15 companies that provided horseback rides are out of work this summer, along with an estimated 500 employees.

“This is just another example of the Obama administration actively killing jobs,” Nunes said. “They have the authority to seek permission from the courts to put these folks back to work, yet they have so far refused to entertain the option.” - Human Events

If the Democrats could get away with it, they would ban access to these areas entirely in the spirit of protecting the environment.

P.S.

Keep in mind that this is the same part of the US Government that lost a $3+ Billion court case related to mismanagement of revenue due to the American Indian trust funds.

2.3 Percent Tax on Medical Devices To Kill Thousands of US Jobs

Keep in mind that the US Government's definition of 'Medical Devices' that will be subject to a 2.3% tax on gross sales includes even such generic items such as rubber gloves. Even better, the tax applies to products that are are also used in veterinary medicine.

So vet visits are probably going to go up as well. And since this is a gross sales tax, regardless of profit or loss, it seems that some medical manufactures are thinking twice about having their manufacturing in the US:

According to the Treasury Department, the medical device companies actually stand to benefit from the law. Though the 2.3 percent tax hits the industry, the department argues that the millions of new health care customers insured as a result of the law will increase the demand in hospitals to order more equipment -- in turn boosting medical device companies' profits.

That’s not how the industry sees it. Stephen J. Ubl, president of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, said this week in response to the IRS rules that the tax could cost thousands of jobs – and is already causing companies to lay off workers and cut back on research and development.

“While Washington talks about a fiscal cliff, this tax could push us off an innovation cliff, costing as many as 43,000 jobs and hurting the ability of medical technology companies to find tomorrow’s treatments and cures. It should be repealed,” he said. - Fox News

Sure, you can say that it is only 2.3 percent, but this is out of a maximum of 100%, any more and the business involved is operating at a loss. Out of that 100% revenue total needs to come all of the expenses of the business from raw materials, salaries, manufacturing, research and so on. And lets not forget that if you manage to make a profit, you need to pay taxed before passing those profits to the shareholders, who then pay taxes on this same profit again.

As I have said before, President Obama and the Democrats hate your job. This is just one more example where they are doing nothing to protect these jobs or the industry as a whole, which I would dare say is probably a global powerhouse of development and innovation and at the end of the day a source of massive amounts of tax revenue both directly from the corporations as well as from those who back these companies and eventually profit from them.

Update: 11 Dec 12
 Surprise! Senate Democrats are calling for a delay in implementing this job-killing tax:

In a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid, 18 Democrat senators and senators-elect have asked for “a delay in the implementation” of the Obamacare medical device tax. Like most of the significant tax increases in Obamacare, the medical device tax is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2013, conveniently after the 2012 presidential election.

Each of the 18 Democrat signatories voted for or supported Obamacare in the first place. And now they want a sweetheart exemption from one of its most onerous provisions. Even in Washington DC, that shows a lot of gall. - ATR.Org (Click to read the list of Democrat Senators signing the letter)

There is one way to delay the tax, delay ObamaCare!

CNS News - "6,125 Proposed Regulations and Notifications Posted in Last 90 Days--Average 68 per Day"

Nothing says 'pro-business' like 6,125 Proposed Regulations and Notifications Posted in Last 90 Days with an average of 68 proposed new regulation per Day coming out of the Obama Administration.

(CNSNews.com) – It’s Friday morning, and so far today, the Obama administration has posted 165 new regulations and notifications on its reguations.gov website.

In the past 90 days, it has posted 6,125 regulations and notices – an average of 68 a day. - CNS News

That is about 2,000 a month. the only thing this level of rule-making is for is pro-bureaucrat. It certainly is not in favor of businesses. Remember, this Administration considers most businesses the enemy. At least any businesses that make a profit.