I forced myself to watch the State of the Union speech last night, which annual affair is not required by the Constitution. The Constitution says that the President shall occasionally inform people of the state of the nation. The annual clapping and standing, is silly. I watched it, just to see what Obama could possibly say to mitigate the sorry state our nation is in, after five years of his socialism. He is a marvelous reader of the teleprompters though, I will grant him that. His speech consisted of virtually nothing, other than a rehash of former nonsense, other than his promise to use the executive order to get his way. For years, I have been writing about executive orders, reminding everyone that they are not in the Constitution. The Constitution tells government what it can do, and the Bill of Rights tells it what it cannot do, is the way I have always looked at it. Obama has brought this home in a big way. The President is not allowed by the Constitution to legislate. For that matter, neither is the Supreme Court, which seems to have a habit of doing, unfortunately. The whole speech and gathering, was a show of what America ought not to be. The glorifying of the deformed soldier, which got an endless standing ovation, was silly, as there are thousands of them, not just one, and there should be none, if we stayed at home, were neutral, and minded out own business. My wife wondered why I would watch it, and after I did, I wonder myself.
Obama and his gang, have stopped the Keystone pipeline, which is supposed to transport Canadian oil, extracted from sand, and transport it to Gulf refineries. Sounds great, correct? I abhor a President acting as Obama has acted, flaunting the Constitution at every opportunity, and attempting to run America by executive order. Why haven’t the Supremes stopped this? Why haven’t Tea Party Senators sued him, and taken it to the Supremes? I have no idea, but I am going to point out a few things about the Keystone pipeline, and the oil it is supposed to carry…if it ever gets going.
According to the environmental impact statement, the pipeline would carry 730,000 barrels a day to the Gulf refineries. But that’s not exactly true. The oil being extracted from Northern Alberta’s tar sands, is so heavy, that it cannot be extracted by conventional drilling. The stuff is not really ’oil’, but ’bitumen.’ Either the sand must be mined, and the bitumen oil extracted from the sand by heating it, or it must be heated underground hot enough, to be pumped out of the ground. Bitumen oil, will not flow through a pipeline, as it’s far too heavy. Pipeline shippers must buy condensate, and mix it with the bitumen, to make it thin enough to run through a pipeline. 72% bitumen, and 28% worthless, garbage condensate. When it gets to the refinery, the condensate has to be removed, and it’s not cheap. Most experts say it would be far cheaper to ship the bitumen oil by train in heated insulated tank cars, with steam tubes running through them, and with no condensate mixed with it. When the trainload gets to a refinery, steam can be run through the tubes to make the stuff thin enough to unload. Tank cars of this type are currently being developed. Some refineries are geared for this, but would much rather refine North Dakota oil, which is thin, and easily refined. That’s what they are doing, and the North Dakota oil arrives by train.
Canada says it is selling its oil to China, since the pipeline isn’t being built. I have no idea how much it would cost to heat a shipload of bitumen oil, so it could be unloaded in China, but it would require a lot of expensive energy. I am not against the pipeline, and anything a business wants to do, or a corporation, which can make them a buck, and not harm anyone, is fine with me, and I deeply resent Obama stopping their venture. I just wanted to point out a few details of the Canadian bitumen oil. The Gulf refineries are being flooded with North Dakota, easy to refine oil, and aren’t particularly interested in heavy, thick, Canadian at this time anyway.
P.S. I have found a wonderful book which will open your eyes as to just how dire our situation is, in these perilous times. It is titled “Government Of Deceit” by Patrick McConnell. I got it at Amazon for about $10, and well worth it.. Get it and read it, if you want a real look at America’s economic situation.