Helping pipeline companies meet regulatory compliance – Calgary Herald – By Mario Toneguzzi… Is regulatory compliance a rising business opportunity for resource industry support companies?  This story says, "Yes, it is."  -dh

A Web of Progressive (Socialist) Initiatives Transfers Jobs, Wealth and Power From Free Enterprise to Government

The energy industry stands squarely in the crosshairs of the effort to "fundamentally transform the United States of America", and Canada is under attack as well.

by

Dave Harbour

​We alert our energy readers that a movement to 'fundamentally transform the United States of America' into a socialist society has the energy industry and energy producing states squarely in its gun sites. 

We observe that Argentina and Venezuela (i.e. and others) have acquired control over wealth producers as an economic foundation supporting authoritarianism.

We have documented over the last five years the Administration's links with environmental activists (12, 3, 4) seeking to delay/block/control wealth creation by the oil, gas and mining industries.  That coordination has produced a continuing barrage of lawsuits, petitions and public relations techniques designed to create obstacles to reasonable development and enrich litigants at the expense of companies and taxpayers.  The obstacles include overly broad interpretation of laws and creation of onerous regulations with the force of law; improper use of the Endangered Species Act; improper use of the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts; frivolous lawsuits creating a 'Sue and Settle' atmosphere; violations of due process and erosion of the rule of law and more.

The result of this strategy is the flow of jobs, power and money away from those engaged in free enterprise, wealth creation activities to a bureaucracy that grows to curtail and/or control the freedom of wealth producers–and it hurts every constituency everywhere; combined with a policy of unbridled overspending it especially harms the younger, non voting generation of opportunity.  This 'transformation' of energy activities is also a “wealth/power transfer” methodology and has the ultimate effect of making new cadres of citizens more dependent on government for their livelihood and building political constituencies for those who control government. 

Outside of energy, one sees the same pattern at play as the Administration by fiat moves private lending institution functions to government with administrative changes to a college loan program, transfers automotive bondholder wealth to supportive labor constituencies, increases regulatory control over banking, and transfers family wealth to non-producers via a medical Trojan Horse known as the “Affordable Care Act” (ACA).  Even business groups like the Anchorage and Alaska State Chambers of Commerce are being romanced into the transfer of wealth scheme as their boards of directors voted recently to support expansion of state Medicaid coverage with (my interpretation of their…) short range rationale that, “The Feds will pay most of the cost…for a few years”.

Federal alternative energy programs have convinced thousands of small and large businesses to voluntarily be dependent on individual, regular corporate and fossil fuel taxpayer largess.  They do this by conspiring with Congress and the Administration to siphon productive money from producers to non-productive schemes of “smart-metering, smart distribution, smart transmission, solar, wind, geothermal and electric vehicle” activists – who call themselves “entrepreneurs”.

New EPA efforts to regulate carbon – and other things – artificially produces one kind of bureaucratic job winner at the expense of private losers.  Having the IRS prevent tax exemption of conservative groups is a clever and illegal — albeit unpunished– way of neutralizing honest, political opposition.  Giving ‘wavers’ by fiat to classes of citizens otherwise required by law to conform to edicts of the ACA is an unconstitutional (i.e. unequal treatment), and also unpunished, way of buying friends or seducing the silence of potential adversaries.  Giving sole source contracts to ACA web page contractors, ad agencies or department PR consultants are sly and immoral ways of moving taxpayer wealth to political supporters.  Other examples – like flowing government funds into advertising programs that benefit campaign contributors and mollify radio and television station managers, are pervasive and we shall explore them in later observations.

The combined actions of anti free enterprise groups are hard to identify as a movement, (i.e. "people working together to advance their shared political, social, or artistic ideas"), but there are links that become more identifiable as one observes the ancient maxim: "Follow the money".  

Consider the "Progressive Movement".

Just as a branch cannot long live without being attached to a nurturing tree trunk, so is much of the effort to socialize America delivered by branch groups dependent "progressive" foundations and groups like Center for American Progress.

George Soros is a master strategist and contributor to the progressive movement.  For example, he is a major force behind Center for American Progress (CAP). 

CAP says it is, “dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action.  (We find the terms “progressive” and “socialistic” to be generally interchangeable and are always happy to defend that view.” -dh)  Building on the achievements of progressive pioneers such as Teddy Roosevelt and Martin Luther King, our work addresses 21st century challenges such as energy, national security, economic growth and opportunity, immigration, education, and health carehttp://smartcoup-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png. We develop new policy ideas, critique the policy that stems from conservative values, challenge the media to cover the issues that truly matter, and shape the national debate. Founded in 2003 by John Podesta to provide long-term leadership and support to the progressive movement, CAP is headed by Neera Tanden and based in Washington, D.C. “

When CAP says one of its major challenges is “energy”, translate that to mean support for all of the anti-fossil fuel and pro-Solyndra positons taken by this Administration.  Also, note that energy (i.e. or, rather, anti-fossil energy advocacy) is only one part of the network of “challenges” noted in CAP’s mission statement above.

That is good reason why all private leaders should band together to oppose all of CAP’s initiatives whether they directly affect one’s own interest of that of another.

Further, please note that one of the”challenges” above is “Health Care”.  Then, upon pulling back a layer of onion just a little one will recall that Zeke Emanuel, brother of Obama’s former Chief of Staff and now Mayor of Chicago, has been interviewed recently as an architect of the Affordable Care Act.  He is listed here as a “Contributor” to CAP.

Zeke is also a “Fellow” with Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF), which calls itself, “…an independent, nonpartisan, education and advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through….”  The CAPAF Executive Committee includes controlling interests by CAP members, including Neera Tanden, Tom Perriello, John Podesta, Lori Lodes and other loyalists.

The webpage of the “Independent”, “nonpartisan” CAPAF looks like CAP’s webpage.  Email addresses of staff contacts of the two groups are both, “@americanprogress.org”.

Then, there’s “Campus Progress” (CP), whose web page looks similar to the other two, but its email contacts are anonymous (i.e. editor@genprogress.org).  Perhaps its funders think it would not be to their advantage were the prying, curious eyes of students to associate its “Healthcare for under $50” initiative with the "strategery" of old guys like Soros, Emanuel or Podesta.  These three and their conspiring colleagues truly must regard young campus idealists as “useful idiots” – and would dearly love to get their wrinkly hands on the private addresses, phone numbers and social security identifiers of America’s youth.

A sister effort, Climate Progress (i.e. www.thinkprogress.org), interestingly enough, is one of the Nation’s power houses behind Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender revolutions occurring in statehouses around the country.  A surrogate for “Obamacare”, it champions gun control, treating illegal aliens like citizens, supporting union organizers, and judicial activism.  It is a major distributor of news and editorial links associating fossil fuels with environmental calamity and alternate energy with angelic ambitions.  The webpage contains little to no reference to owners or funders of this effort.

Add to these CAP links, sponsorship of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and a video site (Documents link to Presidents Obama and Clinton) and other networking apparatus linking CAP with environmental, union, immigration, health care, gun control and social activists and we can see what a pervasive, influential, people intensive, expensive and well funded effort this is to assist Obama in “fundamentally transforming America”…from within.  Ironically, while many Americans receive tax deductions for contributions to churches, chambers of commerce and art non profit organizations, Soros is protecting millions from taxation through his gifts to these "independent, nonpartisan" efforts to transform America.

Energy producers in America should redouble efforts to defend the country against "fundamental transformation" in any and all of the areas mentioned, lest they not be defended by others when their time for social, regulatory or political expropriation comes.

Energy producers in Canada and elsewhere should learn from and be alert to America's mistakes and not give in to the determined, "progressive" effort to amass control over individual and corporate freedom.

The pity is that this effort to dislodge America from its constitutional foundation is not taken more seriously by those we trust to defend the constitution.

As we have noted, Members of Congress, the Military, Federal employees, the President and Judiciary all pledge themselves in various ways to defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies both foreign and domestic.

Without their defense, we are defenseless…

…unless more citizens become informed, aware, concerned, dedicated, determined and active.

(See 12-2-13 Update Here)