Category Archives: big oil

Putting an “X” on XL and Enbridge Pipelines

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Idle No More has put up  links to several folks speaking out against XL and Enbridge Pipelines:

Honor the Earth:

Rise Up Mother Earth:

Note how they characterize Mother Earth as crying–Earth isn’t a big ball of dirt, but a living, breathing organism.

Here’s a list of nationwide vigils.

The Black Snake will face mounting opposition.

What did Big Oil know and when did they know it.  Jack Gerard, head of the American Petroleum Institute, thought the pipeline was dangerous to the environment…bwahahahahaha *snort*   /just a little joke there, folks

Finally, Democracy Now! featured the XL in a debate with an industry insider and Friends of the Earth:

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/3/debate_state_dept_moves_keystone_xl

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/3/environmental_groups_shocked_by_reports_of

And this on Enbridge’s infamous 2010 Kalamazoo spill, with cleanup still not done.

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/3/michigan_activists_face_up_to_2

Bob Braun: Newark school closings may be illegal

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I have to hand it to Bob Braun–the hits just keep coming.  He has yet another great report up on how the Christie/Anderson plan of trashing public education via closing public schools and pushing children into charters may be illegal, according to New Jersey law.

I am so happy that at least someone is fighting for them.  I wish we had them here….Indiana’s public schools will close before Hoosiers wake up to what is really happening…

**note that the 5 principals that were fired…er, put on indefinite layoff…were reinstated.  Woot.

 

ALEC hard at work in Indiana; HB1321

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Diane Ravitch has this up on the destructive policies designed to push for charter schools that will ultimately mean the demise of public schools through siphoning funding away.

By the way, HB1320, has passed.  By the legiscan link, it’s hard to tell whether it passed in the legislature or just the committee.  Either way, it doesn’t look good.

 

Tennessee Teachers: You don’t speak for us

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Diane Ravitch has this up on Tennessee teacher Laura Hopson speaking out on what teachers really want–funny thing is they don’t want what the self-appointed education gurus say they want…

Supporting Walmart and McDonalds…

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…but not the working poor.

$7 BILLION dollars to the biggest welfare queens…McDonalds and Walmart.

Peter is an unethical toad. He never mentions the $$ executive pay that could easily be cut to allow for a decent livable wage.  And preying on the mentally challenged?  I have no words.

This  LA Times article talks about income inequality and executive pay:

Unlike most SEC regulations, the CEO rule isn’t really designed to provide information for investors. Rather, it’s designed to provide information for the larger community — for society, if you will. Its aim is to provide ammunition for the argument that the share of corporate profits going to top management, and by extension corporate shareholders, has gotten out of control.

That’s a sound argument, shared by many management experts and economists who argue that the diversion of corporate resources from workers to executives and shareholders is a major contributor to rising income inequality in the U.S., as well as to other social and economic ills.
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This information would be very helpful to folks who wish to invest but want to do so with a conscience.  Even if I had the money, I would think twice before investing again–I would not want to invest in a company that paid the execs 350% more than workers, nor one like Johnson, who was sooo overcompensated for….failure.  That’s poor management, in my opinion.
This piece states that companies were supposed to notify shareholders of environmental impacts…it’s been awhile since I had invested in stocks, but I don’t recall ever receiving notice of what a company did environmentally.  And would those reports be worth anything?  If a company is polluting, and does not wish to alert shareholders, they could skew the statistics towards a favorable view.  They could also use jabberwocky language to confuse people.
A better option would be independent inspectors sending stockholders reports of all the above to hopefully get an unbiased opinion.

Mi’kmaq Warrior Suzanne Patles speaks

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She addresses the situation in Canada and how the indigenous’ rights outlined in the law have not been honorably enforced.  She speaks with heartfelt passion towards the land.  She sees this as a fight for her children.

We are all borrowing this land while we are here–no one owns the land, truly.  One cannot own what one did not create…and one cannot take without giving equally in return…

More bullying by public officials

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Fred Klonsky has this up on Barbara Byrd-Bennett’s threatening letter to parents who wish to opt-out of the testing, testing, testing of their children.

Again, it seeks to usurp parents’ ultimate responsibility towards the welfare of their children.

I would put it back in her lap– show us that these tests are provable measures of one’s intelligence.  They can’t.  Because they’re not.  There is no test that can measure potential.  And the kinds of questions being asked–whether a first grader knows the Code of Hammurabi shows a complete lack of understanding of child development.

#RacistOil

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(Side note~ I updated the “Eat Cake” blog–)

Warrior Publications has this up on the racist rant of *cough* Ethical Oil, a pro-oil group.

Al Gore said in this article “there’s no such thing as ethical oil”….

 

 

Neil Young sings Mother Earth

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What a stirring, beautiful song.  (Now THIS is what I’m talking about when I talk about music stirring the soul!) (hat tip to Global News Canada)

Thank you to Neil Young for making this available.  The video is just stunning…how beautiful the untouched Earth is when left alone…and how quickly it is destroyed by thoughtlessness and lack of vision of the future…

Young isn’t asking for any contributions, but I’m sure this song will be available for download.  If you’re able, please support him and this effort.  We are all connected.

Newark parents fighting back

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This just makes my morning!  Bob Braun’s article here.

The explosion of personal anger occurred at 8:30 pm, two hours after the meeting at First Avenue School got off to a delayed and troubled start.  Scores of residents who wanted to attend the meeting were kept outside in single-digit temperatures. Then some were allowed to enter an unheated cafeteria. Police officers, citing fire regulations, said the auditorium in the school was too crowded.

The venue clearly was chosen to keep the size of the crowd down.

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See…you can control the negative speech against you by making it harder for the mounting opposition to even get a space to stand.

Remember what I said in the previous blog about education and how it seemed like they were trying to separate kids from their parents by reducing the amount of time at home?

Well, this statement kind of supports that:

a letter to families that suggested if Newark children were home from school they would get into trouble, make the city “less safe” and cause crime to go up

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Where do I start?  The insinuation is that parents don’t know how to raise their kids.  That kids are little criminals just waiting for the opportunity to commit a criminal act.

Perhaps art and music instruction would be helpful here in creating and encouraging imaginations so that kids could entertain themselves while out of school, eh?

They could be painting, drawing, learning a new game, playing/practicing an instrument,  playing tag outside, making snow sharks 🙂  , or doing something to give back, like shoveling an elderly/disabled person’s sidewalks, or running errands…the list is endless….