Photo by Kelley Kossan, ©2012 All Rights Reserved

On Monday, ,January 6, 2014, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper assured the Vancouver Board of Trade that the Keystone XL pipeline would be approved, according to a report in the The Guardian. “I am confident that in due course – I can’t put a timeline on it – the project will one way or another proceed,” he said. This follows his comments to a New York audience last September when he stated “”you don’t take no for an answer.”

How does he speak with such confidence? Consider the following people who have investments directly or indirectly that would greatly benefit from them once Enbridge’s Keystone XL pipeline is approved: Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Advisor Dr. Susan Rice, Speaker of the House John Boehner, nearly every member of both the House and the Senate, and last, but most definitely not least, President Barack Obama.

As the debate about approval continues to distract us like ceiling fabric and lights at a party, what we aren’t supposed to see is the carefully orchestrated dance of money and politicians. By “debating” and “studying” the issues, these elected members of our government collect money from lobbyists to buy their vote, invest in the companies begging for their favors, and then approve laws and regulations to allow the profits to be reaped from the investment side as well.

And the band will play on…