Barack Obama is stonewalling the badly needed Keystone XL pipeline strictly for political reasons. Both chambers of Congress have already signed on and yet to appease the Greens, Obama is blocking the creation of tens of thousands of jobs while idiotically forcing oil supplies from Canada to move by rail.

There is a quick and simple remedy. The Senate can attach the Keystone XL pipeline bill to a separate lead bill that Obama must sign. Writing at National Review, John Fund explains in detail the job-killing Obama Keystone XL efforts.

Nowhere has President Obama’s legendary indecision been on more vivid display than in his bizarre dithering over the Keystone XL pipeline, which would move crude oil from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to Gulf Coast refineries some 1,700 miles to the south. The southern leg of the pipeline, from Oklahoma to the Gulf, began operating last week. But the northern end has been in limbo for five years. Last March Obama assured Senate Republicans that a decision on Keystone would be made before the end of 2013. We are still waiting. One more broken promise.

Of course, the president claims that his indecision has nothing to do with politics. He has his excuses. His own State Department’s exhaustive environmental review didn’t raise any red flags, but the White House has requested another review. State concluded that “the proposed pipeline would serve the national interest,” but Obama says that he needs to learn more. The pipeline would directly create 42,000 jobs over its two-year construction period in addition to tens of thousands of support jobs, but President Obama counters that it would result in only 50 “permanent” jobs for maintenance people once completed. That’s like opposing the construction of the new World Trade Center after 9/11 because the only permanent jobs created would be building-maintenance ones. Sean McGarvey, president of the Building and Construction Trades Department at the AFL-CIO respond to Keystone’s critics this way: “The interstate Highway System was a temporary job; Mount Rushmore was a temporary job. If they knew anything about the construction industry, they’d understand that we work ourselves out of jobs and we go from job to job to job.”

It’s increasingly obvious that Obama’s main reason for delaying the pipeline decision is politics, pure and simple. His environmental-activist supporters, for whom reducing carbon emissions is paramount, have turned the battle into a high-profile cause célèbre. The green camp would view any decision from Obama as an act of betrayal. “It’s not going to be pleasant if it is approved,” Robert J. Brulle, a Drexel University professor who studies the environmental movement, toldNational Journal. “One thing we can be pretty sure of is that the marriage between the greens and the Democratic party will be brought under pretty severe review.”

Related video:

3 Reasons to Build the Keystone XL Pipeline

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The American people are being overrun by congressman and senators who are more interested in keeping their seats than in doing what is right for America. Cato Institute’s Chris Preble, in brilliant and concise detail, shows us what is wrong with today’s backward-looking military and how to look forward with a realignment that reflects the reality of today’s world. Mr. Preble succinctly explains why America should not continue playing the part of the world’s policeman. Chris shows that America is in fact less safe, not more safe, as we continue with a failed strategy of nation building. I would add that the Founders called for America “to raise and support Armies” and “to provide and maintain a navy.” In other words, the Constitution did not call for a standing Army. Here Todd Harrison and Mark Gunzinger explain how the Pentagon must be allowed to reduce waste in its budget without the influence of Congressional pork barrel spenders.

One important task remains. Congress needs to give the Pentagon greater flexibility to make smart reductions informed by strategy. This requires more than passing an annual appropriations bill and avoiding sequestration. It means Congress must set aside parochial political interests and allow the Pentagon to make tough decisions that are likely to be unpopular with some constituencies.

For example, the Defense Department has repeatedly asked Congress for another Base Realignment and Closure Commission so it can shed excess bases and facilities, which the military estimates is about 20% of its existing infrastructure. Yet current law prohibits the Pentagon from closing these unneeded bases and facilities, forcing it to waste billions of dollars every year. While no private company would tolerate such waste, key members of Congress have blocked efforts to close bases because this wasteful spending supports jobs in their districts.

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You can bet investors will be phoning their brokers in a week or two when they get their January statements. The phone never rings when the market’s up. And it never ceases to amaze me how quickly investors forget—2008 wasn’t that long ago.

It’s never a good idea to expect the markets to do something for you. Go back to 1965 and the top Billboard single was “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading at 969.

Fast forward sixteen years, a good chunk of a retirement for many, to 1981 and “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes was at the top of the charts. And the Dow was at 875.

Those “boring” investors who invested in dividend paying stocks, with a normalized yield at the time of 4%, lived to fight another day. Those who didn’t were singing the #4 Billboard single (Just Like) Starting Over, by John Lennon.

(Just Like) Starting Over

Investing in dividend paying stocks that consistently kick-off 4% yields isn’t easy. But Young Research’s Retirement Compounders program is doing it.

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Blackwater, under government contact, handled 100,000 security missions in Iraq and Afghanistan never losing a single official under its protection. Eric Prince also (as David Feith writes) “using his own personal wealth and expertise recruited and deployed a world-wide network of spies tracking al Qaeda operatives in ‘hard target’ locations where even the CIA couldn’t reliably operate.” In the end, Eric Prince was, I believe, used as a scapegoat by the government. According to Mr. Prince, Blackwater “was completely thrown under the bus by a fickle customer—the U.S. government.”

Today Eric is chairman of Frontier Services Group providing logistics and security services in Africa. Prince’s second-largest shareholder is Citic Group, China’s second-largest state-owned conglomerate. China is already Africa’s largest trading partner. Prince explains here that “the United States government is too big in all areas and that it is time to make the whole thing a lot smaller.” Eric Prince’s excellent memoir Civilian Warriors is now available.

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The FDA knows this and is doing little about the nationwide danger. The FDA studied 30 antibiotics put into animal feed and found that 18 of the studied antibiotics opened humans to high risk. I have long been writing on just this subject and advising you to avoid big box supermarkets and confinement-raised beef. Words like Angus, prime and natural are marketing monikers and do not equate to quality.

Instead look for 100% grass-fed-to-finish beef. Such beef is increasingly available at farmers markets and specialty food stores and butchers, or on line at purveyors like U.S. Wellness Meats (link from our home page list). On our small island here in Key West, we have no problem, thanks to Jimmy Weekly’s Faustos Food Palace. The grass-fed-to-finish beef we buy here is among the best we’ve had anywhere. Moreover local restaurants like 915 and Salute on the Beach have also gotten the message and serve great grass-fed burgers. Here at Al Jazeera America you get the breaking news on the disgrace of antibiotic-packed animal feed.

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I did not post yesterday on that delusional Obama state of the union address, as I did not watch the spectacle. I certainly had no intention of ruining what had been a wonderful Key West day, which ended with fresh pan-seared local Rose fish and Adelsheim Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. OK then, when was this fellow crowned? His proclamations were, at the very least, disturbing.

So, he is going to bypass Congress with executive orders and take things into his own hands? Truly striking when a majority of Americans already distrust President Barack Obama. All that executive order hubris is in reality little more than executive cape waving. Sure Obama will be able to poke into some dark corners with his pointed stick and muddle around the periphery of the economy, making mini gestures. But any real meat-and-potatoes action requires funding from the House (hostile towards His Royal Majesty or HRM) per the Constitution (Article. I. Section.7.). The Constitution is clear: all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.

If Obama had any hope of getting significant funding from the House before, the window of opportunity has now slammed shut. Article. II. Section 2. of the Constitution makes it clear that the office of the chief executive was to be largely one of shaking hands and kissing babies. The Constitution devotes but 400 words (approx) to the duties of the president. There is crystal-clear wording on being Removed from Office on impeachment, but no wording to support egregious domestic initiatives, never mind a job-killing, economic-growth-retarding monster like O’Care.

In sum, our Founders intended the presidency to be a weak, largely ceremonial office. In advance of proclamation Tuesday, I read over the original Articles of Confederation several more times. The Articles present a concise picture of the mindset of our Founders. Among this historic document’s signers were John Hancock, Samuel Adams and John Dickinson. Dickinson was known as ‘Penman of the Revolution.” He wrote the Declaration of Rights in 1765 and the Articles of Confederation in 1776.

Here is what the signers of the Articles of Confederation intended for a president:

The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority to appoint a committee, to sit in the recess of Congress… for managing the general affairs of the United States under their direction-to appoint one of their members to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years.

And there you have it—a single mention, and as a short-term presider at that. I think it is fair to say Hancock, Adams and Dickinson would have taken more than a little umbrage were they around today to listen to President Barack Obama’s proclamation message. A majority of Americans must to be astonished and greatly offended by what they heard at the State of the Union. One missing fact that Americans did not hear from HRM Obama is that American employment—in terms of duration of unemployment and goods-producing industries employment—is at a six-decade low!

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Beretta has announced plans to build a factory in Tennessee and not in Maryland where it has been for 35 years. The new facility will create 300 jobs. Maryland’s Governor Martin O’Malley (D) and his anti-Second Amendment Firearm Safety Act of 2013 are to blame for the departure. Our Liberty and Freedom map shows you why Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia were site finalists.

Fox News Reports:

Italian gun maker Beretta said Wednesday that Tennessee’s support for gun rights was a major factor in its decision to build a manufacturing and research facility in the Nashville suburb of Gallatin.

The $45 million plant is projected to be complete this year and create 300 new jobs.

Gun rights were “the first criteria for deciding to even consider a state,” said Jeff Reh, a member of Beretta USA Corp.’s board of directors.

Reh spoke to reporters after a press conference that included Gov. Bill Haslam and Franco Gussalli Beretta, the company’s executive vice president and director, as well as lawmakers and city officials.

Reh, who led the site search, said there were some states considered that “respect Second Amendment rights,” but they “didn’t have the type of support that we saw in Tennessee.”

Several states began wooing Beretta from Maryland after the company raised objections to a wide-ranging gun control measure enacted there last year. Company officials said Wednesday that they have reached capacity in Maryland, requiring the expansion elsewhere.

“We look forward to building operations here and being part of your community for many years to come,” Beretta said.

The other site finalists were Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Last year, lawmakers in Tennessee passed and the governor signed a measure that allows people with handgun carry permits to store firearms in their vehicles no matter where they are parked, including company parking lots.

When asked by a reporter if Beretta will allow its employees to keep guns in their cars at work, Reh responded, “if that’s allowed by state law, yes.”

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In today’s WSJ, Peggy Noonan laments the emotional and tangible distance between Washington and the rest of America, between the federal government and the people. Washington has become an alien and hostile power. The IRS is going to be investigated, not by the FBI, but by a department lawyer who is a campaign contributor to the president and his party. If the Little Sisters don’t bow down to HRM, they’ll be broken. And in Bobby Jindal’s Louisiana, Obama’s major supporters—the teachers unions—don’t like school vouchers because their existence reflects the real failure of public schools. So Obama’s Justice Department is filing suit, claiming racial imbalance in the public schools, even though the scholarship students are predominately black. Read Peggy here and weep.

In the country, the president’s popularity is underwater. In the District of Columbia itself, as Gallup notes, it’s at 81%. The Washington area is now the wealthiest in the nation. No matter how bad the hinterlands do, it’s good for government and those who live off it. The country is well aware. It is no accident that in the national imagination Washington is the shallow and corrupt capital in “The Hunger Games,” the celebrity-clogged White House Correspondents’ Dinner, “Scandal” and the green room at MSNBC. It is the chattering capital of a nation it less represents than dominates.

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