Updates from White House sit-in to stop Tar Sands Keystone XL Pipeline

A bit of flavor (0.00 / 0)

The more you know ...

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by: Rob Kailey @ Mon Aug 22, 2011 at 23:49:30 PM UTC

Who's Jane Hamsher? An enviro leader? Tar sands/Keystone XL actitivist? (0.00 / 0)

Honestly, I've never, ever heard of her until this morning. But it does seem like her and the Angry Black Lady don't like each other very much. Fair enough I guess.

However, instead of focusing on the issue at hand here...ie the Tar Sands, the Keystone XL pipeline and what the Keystone XL pipeline will mean to rural farmers, ranchers, citizens and communities in Montana and the Great Plains...some people apparently would rather focus on what someone named Jane Hamsher said and how this really angered the Angry Black Lady.

Well, for the record, it wasn't even Jane Hamsher who made the claim about some supposed orders from the Obama Administration. As you can see here
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.c...

"According to Ted Glick over at Grist http://www.grist.org/climate-c... , the orders to hold them came from "higher up":

   In negotiations with the police prior to the action that began on Saturday, the police were very clear that what would happen after people were arrested was the vast majority would get what's called "post and forfeit," where you put up $100, get released from jail after several hours, and you don't have to come back again. It's basically like a traffic ticket.

   But this is not what they did. Instead, after arresting the first day's 70 people, they decided to hold most of them, all those not from within a 25-mile radius of Washington, D.C., in jail until a Monday afternoon arraignment. This works out to 48 or more hours in jail before being released.

   Why did they do this? One of the police officers told one of the action's lead organizers that the decision to do this was made "at a much higher level than mine." Four separate police officers told organizers that it was explicitly to discourage other people from taking part in actions going forward. Personally, I believe this had the hand of the Obama administration all over it. They want this action to fail so as to relieve the rapidly building pressure on them to do the right thing and deny the Keystone XL permit.

Hopefully someone doesn't chime in here to claim that this White House sit-in against the Tar Sand's Keystone XL pipeline through America's Great Plains has set back the environmental movement 30 years.  Because combined with the Earth First protest at the MT Capital last month (which so clearly is still front page news across the state...not!) the environmental movement would be set back to 1951 in just two short protests.  

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by: Matthew Koehler @ Tue Aug 23, 2011 at 13:41:06 PM UTC

Montana Women for an Oil Free Future (0.00 / 0)

(Note: in the photo at the link, Livingston, MT resident Margot Kidder is shown holding a Montana Women for an Oil Free Future banner.)

http://www.tarsandsaction.org/...

WASHINGTON, DC - The iconic Canadian actors Margot Kidder and a Tantoo Cardinal were arrested this morning at 11:30 AM in Washington, DC as part of an ongoing sit-in at the White House to pressure President Obama to deny the permit for a massive new tar sands oil pipeline.

"I can't think of a more important place to be," said Kidder, who is best known for her role as Lois Lane in four of the original Superman movies. "President Obama has the chance here to do the right thing and stop this pipeline. I'm here to help make sure he does it."

"It's an honor to be here with so many people from across the US," said Tantoo Cardinal, the iconic indigenous actor best known for her roles in Legends of the Fall, Dances with Wolves, and Smoke Signals. Cardinal was born in the capitol of the tar sands, Ft. McMurray, Alberta. "This is about protecting our land, our water, and our climate. The tar sands destruction has to stop."

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by: Matthew Koehler @ Tue Aug 23, 2011 at 20:57:06 PM UTC