BeenThere
- 2016-12-05
Though the Army’s decision calls for an environmental study of alternative routes, the Trump administration could ultimately decide to allow the original, contested route.Mr. Trump owns stock in the company building the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, but he has said that his support has nothing to do with his investment.
My comments are best summarized by the front page of the Huffington Post of Nov 9 2016 below.
heretosay
- 2016-12-05
Wow! Just followed the link. Thank you so much. I had just finished responding to the piglet's latest rant and then had my spirits greatly lifted. What awesome news! I copied the following:
"I appreciate very much President Obama listening to the Native American people and millions of others who believe this pipeline should not be built," Sanders, a 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, said in a statement. "In the year 2016, we should not continue to trample on Native American sovereignty. We should not endanger the water supply of millions of people. We should not become more dependent on fossil fuel and accelerate the planetary crisis of climate change. Our job now is to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels, not to produce more greenhouse gas emissions."
Also, my compliments for taking the time to educate yourself regarding the history of the area. What so many people have been trying to get across is how vital the health of the river is to millions of people - not just the Sioux Nation.
We should savor this victory, as such outcomes may well be more difficult in the near future. Nevertheless, I'm buoyed by the fact that the people were heard and that all involved in the opposition to the pipeline did so non-violently even in the face of excessive force and gestapo tactics used by the police.
A good read, if you haven't come across it, is "It Can't Happen Here," by Sinclair Lewis.
Curious
- 2016-12-04
Loved to read on CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/04/politics/dakota-access-pipeline/index.html) "US Army Corp of Engineers: Dakota Pipeline to be re-routed" - It takes a different flavor after one reads a bit of history about that territory (Wikipedia) - 12,000 years.... More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed...The first Europeans encountered the river in the late seventeenth century, and the region passed through Spanish and French hands before finally becoming part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase.
All stolen!!!!
For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation. More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed, most leading a nomadic lifestyle and dependent on enormous buffalo herds that once roamed through the Great Plains. The first Europeans encountered the river in the late seventeenth century, and the region passed through Spanish and French hands before finally becoming part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase. The Missouri was long believed to be part of the Northwest Passage – a water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific – but when Lewis and Clark became the first to travel the river's entire length, they confirmed the mythical pathway to be no more than a legend.
The Missouri River was one of the main routes for the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century. The growth of the fur trade in the early 1800s laid much of the groundwork as trappers explored the region and blazed trails. Pioneers headed west en masse beginning in the 1830s, first by covered wagon, then by the growing numbers of steamboats entering service on the river. Former Native American lands in the watershed were taken over by settlers, leading to some of the most longstanding and violent wars against indigenous peoples in American history.
Foxy
- 2016-12-04
In my personal rather unimportant opinion, U.S. national influence and power will diminish
over the next decade which, in sum, is a benefit to world peace and progress.
Let's hope so! The USA has been allowed to have its own way for far too long. Fictitious WMD in Iraq; the excuse to cause mayhem in the Middle East, (in the name of 'War on Terror'), as a follow-up to their own orchestrated disaster known as 9/11. The list goes on and on, but I really can't be bothered to cite it all. Even their refusal to show the world the dead body of Osama Bin Laden, after he was allegedly killed, stinks!
The American government is the most corrupt in the world and yet everything is 'hidden in plain sight'. There is no doubt in my mind that this whole pathetic charade would continue with Killary in the 'big chair', yet there is a tiny, miniscule, glimmer of hope that Trump will at least TRY to ensure that it doesn't continue.
More and more people need to wake up!
Curious
- 2016-12-04
The veterans will “muster” at noon on Sunday at a high school gymnasium on the Standing Rock reservation, then “quickly form into platoons and companies” for anticipated confrontations on the front lines with several hundred state police, county sheriff deputies the North Dakota National Guard, and military vehicles originally designed for use in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last week North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple urged pipeline opponents to leave the encampment, citing his concern for their welfare in the extreme cold. The protesters rejected his plea, saying that North Dakota authorities did not appear concerned about hypothermia when drenching protesters with water hoses in subfreezing temperatures during a confrontation in late November.
:o)
Curious
- 2016-11-29
Truly beautiful post, Juan.
I was moved when I read it (it rarely happens to me when reading posts on this site).
Mostly that I was not aware of the details of the 3 episodes that you mentioned.
I am going to have a Kahlua toast today in honor of all those who lost land.
Cheers
Curious
juanisaac
- 2016-11-29
It is time to move on from that. All those things happened before many of us were alive. I am Mexican and the USA has taken lands from us three times: Texas 1836, the whole Southwest in 1848, and the southern New Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase. One was a revolution by southern Whites who were not from Texas and were in their majority illegal aliens, another through a blatant war based on lies, and the last a we want to build a railroad to the Pacific and you need to sell us land or we will have another war with you.
If one is to believe in divine justice the USA already paid for its sins in its Civil War. Let's not live in the past anymore. Today every country has the right to enforce its borders. My only beef with the USA now is trying to build a southern Wall and making us pay for it and the other is calling people like myself rapists and criminals.
Foxy
- 2016-11-29
My only recommendation to the good people protesting in the Dakotas is that civil
disobedience is only effective when it includes the significant destruction of property
and results in unmanageable mass incarceration.
Therein lies the problem....civil 'obedience'. We're all conditioned from an early age to 'obey the rules', and up to a point, that's OK. However, obeying the rules only leads to further and further control by governments who manipulate the media, own pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies etc, and force us into a life that we come to know as being 'the norm'.
Look back a few decades BEFORE the advent of cancer, brain diseases, such as Alzheimers and Senile Dementia, and lo-and-behold, you find a 'revelation'. Food ! More importantly, genetically modified crops, pesticides, and a whole host of other 'crap' that we are being force-fed just so that the pharmaceutical companies can 'fix' the symptoms - rather than address the underlying causes because it's not in their INTERESTS to do so!
For governments, it gets easier and easier with each new generation. The Human Race, as a whole, whilst believing we are becoming more 'advanced' due to new technology etc, is, in fact, becoming more stupid by allowing ourselves to succumb to what governments around the world WANT us to succumb to.
The ONLY thing they care about is MONEY. How much money do you think was made when America attacked Iraq due to their alledged 'WMD'?
Without doubt, the BEST thing the USA can do right now is to instigate WWIII. It will wipe the proverbial 'slate' clean, reduce the population to a more manageable level, and set them firmly on the path to world domination. The problem they have is Mr Putin. He's no idiot!
Fortunately, and I sincerely hope it's not too late, there are currently human studies being done that could really 'f*ck-up' the pharmaceutical companies.
Take our good friend 'Bloddy' for example. He's no 'spring-chicken', but he has a beautiful young daughter and we're all certain he'd like to be around for her wedding. The problem is....we age.
When we are 21 we never consider our mortality, but at 51 it's different. Grandad died at 59, Dad died at 61 and I'm already 55.....shit!
This groundbreaking research is to do with a certain naturally-produced hormone that is known as the 'growth hormone'. When we're kids, we need it to grow, but when we are over 50, the only use it has is to replace dead cells in our body.
If we can somehow manage to reduce the amount of growth-hormone our bodies produce, it essentially FORCES our body to repair damaged cells instead of making new ones. Makes sense in principle - right?
Up till now, and it's still in the early stages of research, people have literally cured themselves of brain disease, some types of cancer, and a whole host of other 'terminal illnesses', much to the disgust of the 'big pharms'.
amused
- 2016-11-29
I have read some information about the protests but I am not as familiar with it as you.
In general, I admit to being less concerned about environmental issues because it is the one concern that elites share. Rich kids also breathe the air; waterfront property seldom includes tenements. In areas that elites generate support in their own self-interest, government action will occur.
My compatriots living on the streets during Occupy Wall Street were unable to mobilize the U.S. population about corporate elitist activity. I have no doubt that civil disobedience in the Dakotas will eventually be stifled by corporate media and energy interests.
In my personal rather unimportant opinion, U.S. national influence and power will diminish over the next decade which, in sum, is a benefit to world peace and progress. As this occurs the U.S. population will continue to diversify into a non-white plurality. Elites will continue to control the government. While the economy stagnates, wealth distribution will continue to follow the course of capital consolidation.
Walk the streets of any large city in the Dakotas and you will see honest hardworking religious but medicated and overweight U.S. citizens who lament the condition of their country. These well meaning individuals are pharmaceutical and corporate food industry consumer breeding stock.
The U.S. elites benefiting from corporate wealth create trust funds to fight malaria, privatize education, and bequeath art to museums all the while expatriating profit, escaping taxes and creating multi-generational trusts.
My only recommendation to the good people protesting in the Dakotas is that civil disobedience is only effective when it includes the significant destruction of property and results in unmanageable mass incarceration.
heretosay
- 2016-11-29
Incredible post, amused. You've said a lot with very few words and have echoed many of my own sentiments.
If you are teaching in China, or elsewhere, I imagine that your students consider themselves quite lucky to have you as their teacher, in that you bring them the perspective of not just an individual but of one who has their eyes quite open.
I taught in China for nearly seven years. One of the most common questions I would get from my students, other than why I'm not fat like most Americans...lol, was, well, why aren't I like other Americans they had met. The answer was simple in my mind. And so it seems in yours, as well.
On a completely different note, I would love to get your perspective on what's happening in North Dakota right now. Dependent on where you are, you may or may not be getting the full story. Basically, though, the situation is spiraling out of control. The latest is that many military veterans are heading there and the ND State Patrol is preparing to block access to any citizens who choose to involve themselves in what so far has been a peaceful protest by the Sioux and those who have joined them. Not so peaceful on the other side.
If the state police actually close off access routes to US Veterans, things are going to get crazy. There are hundreds of veterans on the way right now. All have vowed to go there unarmed, but this doesn't mean there won't be some seriously pissed of vets.
Moreover, many people throughout the country, including on the island where I live, are organizing collection locations where material aid can be donated for the protesters. Others are organizing caravans so that those who believe in our rights of free speech and civil disobedience will have the opportunity to help those who are peacefully demonstrating, yet being treated like criminal trespassers by the "law" enforcers. They have been using tear gas, concussion grenades and water cannons (in freezing weather), as an attempt to disperse the crowds. They even tried to designate a "free speech zone" to move them to. That sort of backfired on them, as people who were neutral or apathetic to the issue beforehand have now begun to discuss the issue openly and of course are offended by the notion that apparently free speech doesn't exist on every piece of land in this country.
It will be interesting, and it's all because of OIL and FRACKING, the transportation of the first, which causes all sorts of unreported damage, and the hazards of the latter - also pretty much unreported.
Sadly, Obama is staying out of it. Hillary seemingly can't be bothered. Bernie has spoken out of course because he's been against fracking since it began. At any rate, it well may become such an issue that those politicians who have so far chosen to fly beneath the radar on this issue will have to show where they stand.
People are getting angry. That's a good thing; apathy is getting quite old.
amused
- 2016-11-27
maybe the Native Indians could also get their land back?
Reparations, both financial and property, are certainly justified for Native American and Slave descendants in the U.S.
This could be done by taxing the wealthiest and deeding national parks and public lands.
Of course, it will not happen.
BeenThere
- 2016-11-27
Don't know about you, Curious, but many of us are still REELING FROM EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL election results. Give us and all poor things a break, would you?
Fifi
- 2016-11-27
What Curious asked in her (do I get the sex right here?) second post is: How would you feel if your house was build on a ground that was stolen from the Native Indians, before your lifetime, but not so long ago.
I have a friend, born in the US, whose parents had to flee the Czech Republic before/during/just after the Soviet invasion; the Soviets stole their numerous properties (my friend's parents were wealthy) but my friend's parents, in their old age, were finally able to get their properties back one decade ago, after decades of trying and trying. My friend now gets an income from the properties and spends Christmas there.... So, maybe the Native Indians could also get their land back?
data boy
- 2016-11-27
If my old house was in Dresden or Chernobyl or Hiroshima or Nanjing or just about any place in the world, I would perhaps be more aware of that history and perhaps lament the past more strongly. I am fully horrified by much of U.S. history. But I believe your question may be if I feel some personal culpability for U.S. Native American Genocide and Slavery and U.S. imperialism and Washington Consensus Capitalism.
No, I do not. I have never owned stocks. I never worked for a corporation. I did not serve in the military. I paid taxes to fund social services and infrastructure.
Events that occurred during my lifetime that I felt were wrong, I protested and did not participate in and expressed my outrage in other actions.
Globally. As an individual.
Curious
- 2016-11-27
Amused, with all respect, and although I agree with your post (I share many of your demographics including the "many years ago" :o) I don't find the answer to the question in your post. I will be a touch blunt, sorry. The question is: Your house in America rests on a ground that was stolen from Native Americans only some 150-400 years ago (depending in which state you live - in California, for example, it's only 150 years ago). How do you feel about that? If you don't have a house in America, maybe you could tentatively answer for the 170-200 million or so who have.
amused
- 2016-11-27
I would be interested in the opinion of the evolved poster on this board (Amused, Heretosays,
Caring, etc) mostly those of you who are American: How do you deal,
Race, gender, sexual preference, age and religion are characteristics of individuals. For the most part, educated individuals struggle to avoid applying value judgements to individuals merely because they belong to one or more of these groups.
Citizenship is another label attached to individuals at birth. Geographic location at birth seems to me to be of even less substance than the five other labels we use as classifiers, but it is no less pernicious when used prejudiciously.
I was born Caucasian, Catholic, female, heterosexual in the United States, many years ago.
I do not consider myself genetically connected to White supremacists, pedophile priests, covens of witches, patriarchy, the Native American genocide, or Woodstock.
I judge myself on the basis of my personal behavior and its impact on other individuals. I try not to judge others, but when I do interact with another individual, I strive to disregard race, gender, sexual preference, age, religion and nationality.
I would be interested in the opinion of the evolved poster on this board (Amused, Heretosays, Caring, etc) mostly those of you who are American: How do you deal, in your own mind, with the fact that America, which has taken millions of needy immigrants (nobody is trying to trivialize "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me") but used black slaves to prosper, after having stolen the land of the Native Indians and systematically killed almost all of them.
The Los Angeles City Council is considering joining a movement to replace Columbus Day with an official holiday called Indigenous Peoples Day, to recognize the contributions, as well as the suffering, of the nation’s original inhabitants.
Of course, giving city workers a day off would not begin to make amends for centuries of discrimination, enslavement and government-sanctioned genocide of Native Americans. Nor would wiping Columbus Day off the calendar reverse the destruction of indigenous peoples’ sacred spaces or the attacks on their cultural heritage.
Without question, Los Angeles, along with California and the nation as a whole, must do a far better job recognizing the violent history of oppression that decimated the country’s indigenous people. California’s political leaders in the 1850s made no secret of their desire to exterminate the area’s native inhabitants. State legislators funded anti-Indian militias. Native people were massacred. Villages were destroyed and tribes forcibly relocated. Yet few Californians know the details of this terrible history.
[Proponents say] The government also has to remove Columbus Day from the official calendar because, in these observers’ view, it honors a cruel slave trader whose arrival in the “New World” set into motion the mass killing of native peoples.
The debate over Columbus and his legacy reflects ongoing confusion in the United States about how the country’s history of racism and oppression fits into a proud national identity. The U.S. is a nation that has taken in millions of needy immigrants — but also grew through a colonization process that devastated native people. It’s a country that was founded by individuals fleeing oppression — but who then prospered on the labor of slaves.
Sorry LA Times if I quoted a little too much of this most excellent article, but I would like more people to be aware of it.