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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (20226)	6/11/2003 12:00:01 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

IMO, this is A MUST READ... writ.corporate.findlaw.com <<...Worse than Watergate? A Potential Huge Scandal If WMDs Are Still Missing Krugman is right to suggest a possible comparison to Watergate. In the three decades since Watergate, this is the first potential scandal I have seen that could make Watergate pale by comparison. If the Bush Administration intentionally manipulated or misrepresented intelligence to get Congress to authorize, and the public to support, military action to take control of Iraq, then that would be a monstrous misdeed. As I remarked in an earlier column, this Administration may be due for a scandal. While Bush narrowly escaped being dragged into Enron, it was not, in any event, his doing. But the war in Iraq is all Bush's doing, and it is appropriate that he be held accountable. To put it bluntly, if Bush has taken Congress and the nation into war based on bogus information, he is cooked. Manipulation or deliberate misuse of national security intelligence data, if proven, could be "a high crime" under the Constitution's impeachment clause. It would also be a violation of federal criminal law, including the broad federal anti-conspiracy statute, which renders it a felony "to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose." It's important to recall that when Richard Nixon resigned, he was about to be impeached by the House of Representatives for misusing the CIA and FBI. After Watergate, all presidents are on notice that manipulating or misusing any agency of the executive branch improperly is a serious abuse of presidential power. Nixon claimed that his misuses of the federal agencies for his political purposes were in the interest of national security. The same kind of thinking might lead a President to manipulate and misuse national security agencies or their intelligence to create a phony reason to lead the nation into a politically desirable war. Let us hope that is not the case...>> *John Dean understands presidential scandals and coverups better than almost anyone out there. regards, -s2

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (20226)	6/11/2003 12:10:17 PM
From: abuelita	Respond to of 89467

Canadian gas production can't keep up with U.S. demand By BARRIE McKENNA From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Washington — The United States shouldn't look northward to ease its worsening natural gas supply crunch because Canadian production won't be able to keep up with soaring demand south of the border, a U.S. congressional committee has heard. Canada has filled half of all new U.S. gas demand for a decade now, but the well is running dry, Harold Kvisle, president and chief executive officer of TransCanada Corp. of Calgary, warned the energy and commerce committee yesterday. "Our industry is now running flat out," Mr. Kvisle explained. "There's not much more production increase available for export." Expansion of the oil sands projects at Fort McMurray, Alta., will suck up a large chunk of the natural gas production coming on stream in Western Canada, he noted, because the process of producing oil from the sands consumes large quantities of the fuel. "We see production growth flat-lining and there is a very significant increase in demand — in no small part because of the oil sands development," Mr. Kvisle said. Canada supplies about one-sixth of U.S. natural gas consumption, currently running at 21.6 trillion cubic feet a year and growing. "We can't blame Canada, like the kids from South Park did," quipped committee chairman Billy Tauzin. "Canada is trying to get gas to us to the extent they can." The hearing comes amid growing concern about the United States' dependence on rising and volatile natural gas prices. In the past year, North American prices for natural gas have doubled and inventories have dwindled to the lowest level in nearly 30 years. U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has directed the National Petroleum Council to devise a strategy to deal with the natural gas supply crunch — a game plan that could include strict conservation measures. A long delayed energy bill now before Congress lavishes hefty subsidies on natural gas producers to help them build a $15-billion (U.S.) pipeline across Alaska and the Yukon. But the pipeline wouldn't start delivering gas to the U.S. market until 2020. Both Senate and House versions of the bill provide loan guarantees for the pipeline's construction, but require a trans-Alaska route. Mr. Kvisle and other witnesses at the hearing played down the near-term impact that tapping vast gas reserves in Alaska or Canada's Mackenzie Valley would have on easing the current supply crunch. The only way to work out the growing imbalance in the United States between tight supplies and soaring demand is to curb consumption — or destroy demand, as Mr. Kvisle put it. "There is virtually nothing that can be done to increase the supply of natural gas," he told the committee. "This is a multiyear process, and big projects — whether it's LNG [liquefied natural gas] importation or natural gas from the north — take a long time. The mid-term market balancing mechanism will in fact be demand destruction." Testifying at the same hearing, U.S. Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan warned that rising and volatile natural gas prices have put domestic gas-consuming industries "in a weakened competitive position." Among the largest users of natural gas are fertilizer makers and electric utilities. Mr. Greenspan noted that some gas users are already turning to alternative sources because of the problem. He spoke at length about the enormous potential LNG offers. Mr. Greenspan said North America will forever be condemned to a volatile and inefficient natural gas market unless it can secure "unlimited access to the vast world reserves" just as it has with oil. theglobeandmail.com