By Constitution Staff

As a lifelong Oklahoma resident, I feel the need to write concerning the approval process of the Keystone XL Pipeline Project. As you may be aware, this project is awaiting a Presidential Permit for the pipeline to cross the U.S./Canada border.

I am a 35 year pipeline construction worker and Oklahoma taxpayer. I am tired of sending our wealth to countries that use the money to attack our way of life. With the supplies now available in Canada, it makes perfect sense to purchase as much oil as we can from our friendly neighbors to the North. I have personally witnessed the precautions and safety measures that Trans-Canada upholds to construct and operate their pipeline systems and I can honestly say from a safety standpoint, they are one of the best pipeline operators in our country today. With over 13,000 construction jobs and 118,000 spin off job hanging in the balance, and an estimated $600 million dollars in new tax revenues for the communities, it makes perfect sense to construct the Keystone Pipeline now.

The pipeline comes at a time when we need jobs, friendly oil supplies, and private sector investments into our country. Trans-Canada has pledged to transport up to 15% of this pipeline"s capacity with U.S. oil production to be picked up along its proposed route. This means that Montana and North Dakota oil producers will be able to send their products to market at a more favorable price than they now have.

I understand that as a country we need to look at as many environmentally friendly approaches as possible. I am for reducing our carbon footprint by choosing natural gas powered vehicles, wind power, solar power, and nuclear energy, but we cannot get there overnight. From where we sit today, we are committed in the near future to oil. At the present time it makes perfect sense, even "COMMON SENSE" to approve the Keystone Pipeline and purchase oil from our friendly neighbors tot he North and put America back to work!

David L. Barnett

Broken Arrow, OK

Panic Politics

Several decades ago Congress passed a bill that became law called "Truth in Advertising" that was aimed at businesses that resorted to distortions or outright lies in their normal advertising. Unfortunately, and probably deliberately, political advertising was specifically exempted from the law being applied to or complied with. As a result, we have seen a continual and increasing departure from the truth in not only campaign political advertising and rhetoric, but also in public statements and "news reports" appearing in the major media having sympathies with the Communist/Socialist agenda side.

Thankfully, the advent of the Internet for receiving news has served to blunt some of the effects of this falsifying of the truth, unfortunately, not everyone or even a majority of the population is willing to take the time or effort to search out the truth and simply goes along believing what they hear on the radio or see in print or on TV. In my mind it is too bad that those who are so mentally or physically lazy that they cannot take the effort to become fully informed on both sides of the story are permitted to vote.

At the founding of this wonderful nation our Constitution did not provide for a universal "right to vote," but left that to the respective States. In practice, only those who owned property paid taxes, and were educated and were permitted the privilege of voting. Mistakenly, women were excluded of that privilege until the twentieth century, even though they might have property, incomes, or businesses of their own, and thus be productive members of the society. Now we have many in the "ruling class" that in their insatiable thirst for more and continual power are willing to violate the laws and allow non-citizens to vote. Thus our Oklahoma Election Board prints instructions on absentee ballots in both English and Spanish. It was my impression that only citizens were permitted to vote, and to become a citizen one had to be able to read, write, speak, and understand the English language.

Back to the primary subject of "Panic Politics." As a scientist myself (engineer and geologist) it is my opinion, based on observation, that global climate can, and does, change over the decades. My memory includes the "dust bowl" of the 1930s and the expressed fears of "entering a new mini-ice age" that surfaced in the 1970s. However, in my opinion it is extremely egotistical for mankind to believe that our small efforts and machinery can radically change the world climate. It further is my opinion, based upon the geologic history, that a warmer global climate would be much milder and certainly beneficial to all. A warmer climate would be more humid, thus causing the world deserts to shrink and the land thus turned loose would grow more crops. This has happened in the past, both since and before the birth of Christ, Jesus.

The claims of Al Gore and his "Global Warming" terrorists are just that and intended to scare us into accepting massive controls on our way of life that would vastly lower our standard of living. The claim that Carbon Dioxide is a "greenhouse gas" is likewise totally false. The removal of this gas from the air would result in the reduction of plant life, and thus the reduction of the Oxygen that all animal life, including humans, must have to exist. There is ample proof that many, if not most, of the wild claims made in his movie are totally false and the "examples" he used were carefully and falsely crafted to attain the maximum scare value.

In short, we all would be well served by taking the time and effort to obtain and evaluate all sources of information available and remember the Reagan caution: "Trust but verify."

Robert W. McDowell, Jr.

Broken Arrow OK