Sunday, December 4, 2016

The Army Corps of Engineers Has Halted the Dakota Pipeline Project

The Army Corps of Engineers refused to allow the easement which was being used to take the land and the pipeline will be rerouted.  (U.S. Army:  Army will not grant easement for Dakota Access Pipeline crossing)

"Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it's clear that there's more work to do," Darcy said.  "The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing."

- U.S. Army
 
Susan Sarandon called this 'democracy in action' but it really wasn't when our choice to stop the fracking wasn't an option with either candidate.  The only way to stop the pipeline was by physical resistance so the Sioux, the vets who stood with them, and many others put their lives in front of the goons with their rubber bullets and their water cannon.

Susan Sarandon has been a forthright voice against the pipeline and Ruth Hopkins is another.  These women have established formidable presences on Twitter and have been highly-successful in getting out the word on the abuses being perpetrated by the state up there.


The lack of leadership from Obama on this is one of many reasons the Democratic Party has disintegrated to the same extent as the GOP.  Obama could have stopped it instantly with an Executive Order but he didn't do it.


The pipelines have to be built as long as a failing system rams cars onto us as the only effective means to travel.  However, there is no justice in routing the pipelines through the course of least resistance simply because the Indian Nation has little physical or legal strength to fight back.  The Sioux sure surprised the state this time and I was damn proud to see the vets show up to be part of it.


I sent a note to Ruth Hopkins to thank her and tell her health prevents, etc.  The regulars know it's true but may not know my first protest was at sixteen when there was a civil rights sit-in at Walnut Hills High School.  I don't think I got suspended for that one but they wouldn't have been the first school to throw me out.  I got drunk on a field trip at a previous school and they were really pissed over that stunt.  High schools, I found, were not typically all that enthusiastic about their antics but, wtf, they shouldn't have been so boring.

Note:  they did throw me out not quite a year later (larfs).

7 comments:

Cadillac Man said...

The year 1968 included a presidential election in which a candidate, Robert Kennedy, was assassinated. This led to the election of Richard Nixon and the extension of the Vietnam War. The assassination of Martin Luther King caused national race riots and civil unrest . As a senior at Walnut Hills the school was shut down constantly for these events along with teacher, worker and student strikes. As a sophomore in college in 1970 students were fired upon by the Ohio National Guard. Four students were killed and schools and businesses were shut down. Ironically, the war became so unpopular that a mandatory draft was instituted forcing many of those students literally or symbolically fired upon to join the military. The greed that spawned these events continued. Nixon who promised to end the war with honor became the only U.S. President to resign the office in disgrace. The Vietnam War ended with no honor and only disgrace. We the people were presented with the check that above all included the lives lost and ruined for no reason. The country went into a recession and a federal income surtax was assessed to pay down the debt from the war. Inflation followed causing gas, mortgage and other essentials to double. Mortgage interest rates rose to exceed 12%. This meant for many families two incomes were essential to survive. There should have been a lesson from this. That didn't happen. We are currently involved in wars and conflicts in the Middle East that have spanned most of this decade. Our involvement is not yet over. The final check has not yet arrived. The immediate cost has already been painful. We will survive but will we learn? The truth is simple. As the protest song of the Vietnam era said "War, What is it good for. Absolutely, nothing. Say it again."

Anonymous said...

Somehow WHHS would not be one of those schools that you could list as a boring school. It is probably one of the best public schools in the country. Filled with most of the best and brightest that Cinti had to offer .
If someone fails at that school it is by thier choice not the failure of the school.

Unknown said...

I never really started there. It was like a prison after the campus-style schools of California and I hated it. So that made it simple ... skip school (larfs).

Unknown said...

The first part of this needs its own article. Excellent summary.

Unknown said...

We were coming at it from different perspectives. I had never seen anything but campus-style schools and WHHS was vastly different. I hated it almost instantly.

That Race to 100 was an ignominious part of my history but that wasn't the why, that was just a destination. When I was skipping school, it was hardly ever with her.

Laughing Gecko said...

WHHS definitely planted the seeds of anarchistic philosophy which I pretty much live by to this day. Some of the best people I ever met were from Walnut Hills.

Unknown said...

I remember you all calling yourselves Walnut Hillians and you were rightfully proud of it but that place just wasn't for me. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it too if I had started there but I came in as a junior and, say, you're not from around here, are yewwww (larfs).