Is the battle over Keystone XL about creating jobs and spurring on the economy or is it about protecting pristine forests and further preventing carbon pollution? It’s neither, say most experts. Keystone XL will have little effect on climate change, production of the Canadian oil sands, gasoline prices, or the overall job market (a few dozen permanent jobs and several thousand temporary ones) in the U.S. What is important to understand is that the oil in the Canadian tar sands, notwithstanding the political drama, will get to the market—if not through Keystone XL, then through another pipeline or by rail.

So what is all the hullabaloo? Jerry Taylor, founder and president of the newly formed Niskanen Center (a Washington-based Libertarian think tank) and former director of natural resources studies at the Cato Institute, explains how the fight serves an intentional purpose: voters believe that their concerns are being heard and championed by their elected reps. Most politicians on either side of the issues “appear to address public concerns (global warning and high unemployment), but neither is doing anything tangible about either.”

As Jerry Taylor notes, politicians do not ignore public opinion; they appease it. Read more here how this “theater of the absurd” allows our governing elites to go about their business with minimal interference from voters.

The Grateful Dead band of the sixties, up to Pigpen’s passing in 1973, was a most unpleasant musical experience. Joe Queenan, succinctly and with some great humor, locks in on the Dead’s early years. In my companion post I chronicle the Dead from start to what I view as the terminal Dead date, August 9,1995—the date Jerry Garcia “moved on.”

I paid zero attention to the Dead during their early years. After listening to the band’s dreadful first album with astonishment, I couldn’t believe the group had a musically oriented fan in the world. As I explain in my post, the Dead could not play, sing, even stay on key or keep a beat. In the early years, they were more of a garbage band than a garage band. Joe hits the nail on the head that this rag tag contingent was plainly and simply a drawing card for stoners.

Well, as I have chronicled, things changed rapidly for the Grateful Dead with the passing of Pigpen. While the band would never in their history become even a decent studio group, for many obvious reasons, their live performances and albums were another matter. Jerry, thin of voice and compromised until his sad demise, became a quiet force with both his guitar and singing. Phil just got better and better. The B3 chair turned into the electric chair. But the string of “passing” keyboardists were all solid contributors. Bobby, who I never liked, indeed developed a rhythm guitar style of his own style and a voice that worked. And the twin drumming of Mickey and Billy propelled the band with a unique style.

It is easy to really hate the Dead if you focus on the early years. There were so many awesome bands in the sixties and early seventies that the Grateful Dead may as well have been dead back then. Few listeners with any musical acuity would have shed a tear. The Dead of the latter seventies until the passing of Jerry Garcia in 1995 were another matter altogether. Over this timeframe, the Grateful Dead were as strong a musical aggregation as any group on the road.

If you’re a skier then you may be able to relate to Mikaela Shiffrin—she barely raced as a kid (she’s basically still a kid at 19)—instead she chose to practice near her home in Burke, VT. She’s the best US Woman skier not dating Tiger Woods and this week she will battle at the Alpine World Ski Championships at Vail/Beaver Creek in Colorado.

This from the WSJ:

Shiffrin barely raced as a junior skier, choosing to spend full days practicing on her home mountain rather than countless hours driving to other slopes, where she might get two or three runs all day. U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association chief executive Tiger Shaw now preaches the value of practice over chasing racing ribbons. The national skiing body has been trying to convey the effectiveness of Shiffrin’s upbringing to ski coaches and parents across the country, he said.

Is there a taxpayer in America who does not think that a large share of America’s taxes go to wasteful, extravagant, or unnecessary programs, asks David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute. “Federal spending has doubled in the Bush-Obama years. From entitlements to corporate welfare to radically higher military spending to unused NASA towers, surely ever members of both parties should hold firm on the budget caps agreed to in 2011….”

As David explains, Americans have become used to these incomprehensible levels of deficits and debts. It was once rare to acknowledge or be warned of trillions of dollars of debt. Read more from David Boaz here on why, as America’s slow recovery slugs along, “the economy doesn’t need another $75 billion of deficit spending.”

Should the U.S. get militarily involved in conflict with Russia over two provinces in southeastern Ukraine? The administration should look to the wisdom of the original Weinberger Powell Doctrine for guidance. The essential elements boil down to five elements. There is not a single element that would get a yes response when applied to today’s crisis in the Ukraine.

Related video:

The Daily Caller’s editor and chief was the featured speaker at the Cato Institute’s annual Naples, Florida policy conclave. A packed house of 450 Libertarians listened with great interest as Tucker Carlson explained how the demographics in America had radically shifted since the financial crisis. The striking shift, he believes, will have a significant bearing on the 2016 presidential election. The Democratic Party today comprises two tiers—the poor and the elite rich leaving the rest of the country’s voters up for grabs. Democrats can no longer lay claim to be the voice of the middle class. Tucker also believes that this shift in voter alignment in 2016 will lead to a surprise presidential race that under certain circumstances could see Elizabeth Warren facing off against Chris Christie.

I come from a long history of salesmen in my family. My grandfather owned a successful retail clothing business in New Bedford, MA managing upwards of 50 salesmen at a time. My father was in sales beginning in his teens knocking on doors for Fuller Brush, then Electrolux and later owned a real estate brokerage. This article in the WSJ talks about how the current generation graduating from college isn’t interested in sales. They don’t want to be known as wheeler-dealers. Can you blame them? Who in the world wants to be that? But the key to sales has always been about solving someone’s problem. That’s why the best salesmen never sell a thing. WSJ reader Chris Derry sums it up best:

At Western Kentucky University, we offer a major and minor in Sales. We have quadrupled the number of students in those majors and minors over the last six years, and sales recruiters are in our classrooms regularly.

The negative stereotype firmly attached to Sales is something I confront with students on day one. I ask them if they have ever had a negative experience with a salesperson and all the hands go up. But when I ask them to relate a POSITIVE experience they have had with a salesperson, the hands disappear. Why? Because when you get what you need from a salesperson, you don’t think you have been sold. You just get what you wanted!