Over 160 Arrested in Front of White House Since Saturday in Ongoing Civil Disobedience

[proverbialwisdom]

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/23/over_160_arrested_in_ongoing_civil

Over 160 Arrested in Ongoing Civil Disobedience Against Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Fifty-two environmental activists were arrested Monday in front of the White House as part of an ongoing protest calling on the Obama administration to reject a permit for the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline project, which would deliver Canada tar sands oil to refineries in Texas, and rather focus on developing clean energy. An estimated 2,000 people have signed up to hold sit-ins and commit other acts of civil disobedience outside the White House everyday for the next two weeks — 162 have already been arrested since Saturday. Also joining the protest are indigenous First Nations communities in Canada and landowners along the Keystone XL pipeline’s planned route. An editorial in Sunday’s New York Times joined in calling on the State Department to reject the pipeline, noting that the extraction of petroleum from the tar sands creates far more greenhouse emissions than conventional production. Meanwhile, oil-industry backers of the project emphasize what they say are the economic benefits of the $7 billion proposal. As the Obama administration remains undecided whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, we speak with Bill McKibben who joins us from Washington, D.C., where he was released Monday after spending two nights in jail. He is part of Tar Sands Action, a group of environmentalists, indigenous communities, labor unions and scientific experts, calling for action to stop the project. “This is the first real civil disobedience of this scale for the environmental movement in ages,” McKibben says.

[SpiralHawk]

1. Every American and Canadian should become informed about this

and take action.

It is huge and stanky.

A hawk-wing wig-wag salute to the protestors for their service to America.

[gratuitous]

2. Wow, this is front page news, right?

Oh wait; there's a blonde woman missing in Aruba. And one of the Kardashian spawn got married over the weekend. Ooh, and preseason football! Just not enough time in the 24-7 news stream to cover a bunch of dirty fucking hippies getting arrested, especially over something so trivial as oil. We can trust the oil companies not to make a big mess, can't we?

[SpiralHawk]

3. Yes - the corporate media (R) has buried this story from the git go

...and they are doing pathetically little now to let Americans know...

[CelticThunder]

4. How sad that we must protest against a DEMOCRATIC administration raping the environment.

[gratuitous]

7. It's not a protest so much as a sit-in

Apparently, the Obama administration hasn't quite made up its mind whether to support or oppose the proposal. Democrats used to be in favor of protecting the environment and not poisoning the citizenry, but it's a new century and perhaps there are other priorities now. We'll have to see how it plays out, and the totally unsensible hippies getting arrested are just a bunch of malcontents, I'm pretty sure. Naturally, once a decision has been made, it will be too late to register an opinion. But the Goldilocks Moment, when it will be just the right time for input, hasn't arrived yet, I surmise.

[EFerrari]

5. Kick

[a simple pattern]

6. Kick

When the people destroy corporate property, it's terrorism.
When the corporation destroys public property and people, it's business as usual.

And the Koch Nazis are behind it, of course.