The House GOP caucus definitely wants to try to force the issue on the Keystone XL pipeline with another vote. What’s not yet clear is where they want to place the rider. If they choose to attach it to payroll tax cut/UI legislation, that’s an indicator that they really want it to pass. If not, it’s an indicator that they just want to talk about it some more.

Writing an opinion piece for the Lincoln (NE) Journal-Star, civil engineer Mike Klink calls TransCanada’s predecessor Keystone XL pipeline, for which he was a construction quality inspector, a “lemon” and a “proven loser.” Klink was fired from his job and is seeking Department of Labor whistleblower protection.

A unique pressure campaign has been playing out in Iowa, where the group Occupy Des Moines and other progressive groups briefly took over both the Obama for America and the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters, just as the media spotlight descends on the city two weeks before the caucuses.

A senior North Pole official, operating under a grant of anonymity, provided a copy of a letter sent from the Congressional GOP leadership to Santa.

It starts like this: “We in the GOP Congressional leadership are concerned about the growing dependence in our nation on handouts, and the increasing expectation that you can get something for nothing. . . .”

Enbridge, a competitor to TransCanada, announced plans to purchase a controlling interest in an existing pipeline that runs from the Gulf of Mexico to Cushing, Oklahoma, and to reverse it, in an effort to transport tar sands oil to Gulf Coast refineries.

Good news: It looks like the year-and-a-half-plus delay mandated by President Obama last week might have killed the Keystone XL. Bad news: It’s not the only potential fuse to trigger the giant carbon bomb known as the Alberta Tar Sands. There is another pipeline proposal that also would allow for cost-effective large-scale supertanker exports of the stuff to overseas markets.

Connecting fracking and sand pits and Keystone XL, explaining why Keystone XL oil is intended to go overseas and to make us actually pay more at the pump, and finishing up with a light flourish.

I was at the White House once again yesterday protesting the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline along with many of the folks I was arrested with on September 9 including Dan Choi, Jessica, Ari, Scarecrow and Bill McKibben. It was really gratifying to see that our relatively small crew of 65 who were handcuffed, [...]

Today I was down by the White House to witness the massive protest against the new Keystone XL pipeline that would bring tar sands oil from Canada down to American refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. Thousands showed up to cover the multiple city blocks it takes to fully circle the White House. The protesters all came out to send a single clear message to President Obama: use your power, do not approve the pipeline.

It was one of the most impressive protests I’ve ever experienced personally. The event was well run, had a massive turnout and was full of great energy.

So begins a November 3rd story from Reuters assessing the potential political fallout from an administration decision to green-light the Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada Corp’s plan to move crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta to refineries in Texas. Reading the whole piece, one can’t help but feel that Obama is still of a mind to go ahead and OK this dangerous and much-derided plan, it is just the Obama 2012 campaign that’s agonizing over how to spin it.