Author Naomi Klein arrested in oilsands protest

[kpete]

WASHINGTON—More than 1,000 people have been busted at the gates of the White House the past two weeks, as the most ambitious of climate protests against Canadian oil comes to a head.

Toronto author and activist Naomi Klein was not planning to be among them. Support the cause? Sure. Speak to the anti-tarsands faithful? Absolutely. But to actually get arrested?

No, Klein and the other Canadian protesters in Washington agreed — that is a stand best left to their U.S. counterparts, who need not worry whether such close encounters with law enforcement will hamper their ability to cross borders in the future.

Yet there was Klein on Friday, being led away by police in the latest harvest of detainees after a last-second decision to put her liberty on the line in opposition to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1048837--author-naomi-klein-arrested-in-oilsands-protest

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. kick nom n/t

[Harmony Blue]

2. Wait to go Naomi!

Solidarity! :bounce:

[shanti]

3. k&r

for this most important issue! naomi klein, always right on target.

[adhd_what_huh]

4. I don't care...we have bigger problems.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. It's ok, we can think about more than one problem at a time, ya know.

[tblue]

7. Yeah, who needs a clean earth anyway?

This is not minor.

[arcane1]

8. You cared enough to make a comment on it.

Fortunately, there are plenty of people who care about this problem, who are also capable of caring about other problems as well.

[dgibby]

9. What's more important than the air you breathe and the water you drink? n/t

[The Traveler]

12. Actually, we don't.

High energy technology civilization was built under certain environmental conditions. Its operations are now changing those conditions in a way which is unprecedented in human history. We have absolutely no way of predicting all the implications of those changes. How could we? We have never done this before. We are on unmapped ground, without historical reference.

Right now ... not 10 years down the line ... RIGHT NOW we are witnessing one of the great extinction events in geological history. The scientific debate is: Do you have to go 60 million years to find an equivalent, or all the way back to permian extinction, 250 Million years ago. Think about that for a minute. If you still feel secure, you are not thinking clearly.

The notion that high energy technology civilization will survive these transformations is nothing more than presumption or wishful thinking, without factual basis.

Money is a human fiction ... money is an abstract concept designed to express value and debt. In concept at least we can resolve economic matters by adjusting the agreed upon human fiction. (Difficult in application, I know.)

The phenomena described by thermodynamics are real. They care not for your ideology. They are ignorant of your aspirations. And in the worst case scenarios these phenomena can knock us back to a 13th century technology base in few years.

So I am really having a problem imagining what larger issues we actually face today ... I dare you to name one wider in scope, or more significant in outcome.

Trav

[FirstLight]

15. + a billion!

damn skippy

If the pres allows this to go through and doesn't look at climate change realistically, he will be responsible for the hurricanes and other disasters he has to clean up in his next term, if he gets one.

Honestly, with the models all being off by decades or more, I believe the chances we will see the epic movie-style flooding of NY and more
It WILL happen, probably within the next 3-5 years. It is already going to happen, we are beyond reversal...now is the time for grand scale planning, but that will NOT happen. we will be left to drown like rats...

[Uncle Joe]

17. An excellent post, The Traveler, I couldn't agree more.

:thumbsup:

[RoccoR5955]

33. K & R... excellent post.

I could not have said it better!

[libmom74]

34. + 1 billion

you nailed it but there is no getting through to the apologists.

[OwnedByFerrets]

38. Wow, fantastic post.

[freedom fighter jh]

55. What The Traveler Said

And if we do get knocked back to a 13th C technology base, it will be 13th C technology in a world that is much more polluted and harder to live in than it was in the 13th C.

[stuntcat]

57. ty

There is no bigger problem, imo

[Bluebear]

14. Well, you sure do

[krabigirl]

20. Wow....

[Shining Jack]

26. Huh?

And you don't give a damn?

[Divernan]

32. That's your canned response to any criticism of Obama.

Lame!

[Duppers]

43. You've another planet to live on?

Eventually, this won't be hyperbole.
Mining tar sands will be an environmental nightmare.

[SpiralHawk]

48. Tell that to the drought striken farmers in Texas

Tell them there is no connection. If they have been softened up enuf by billionaire propaganda SuckerPuppets (R), they will probably believe the batshit you tell them about 'bigger problems" and stuff.

Sad but true.

[Old Time Pagan]

53. I hope it's okay to put a link in this post

I farm up in north central WA and keep track of little things like drought conditions. Here is a link to the official government drought monitor website. Click on the state of Texas and your heart can not help but go out to the farmers trying to maintain through this disaster.

According to a friend who has family in Texas they're turning away people trying to bring their animals to slaughter or auction, too many to handle. Farmers and ranchers are trying to truck water into their animals but many are dying from dehydration. Heat and water deprivation combined make a particularly nasty way to die.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

[xchrom]

6. recommend

[dgibby]

10. I hope this doesn't get her on the no fly list. n/t

[EFerrari]

11. K&R

[tama]

13. Go Bama

All of them out!!!

That's what they said in many South American countries, and then threw them all out.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Kicked and recommended for Naomi and the other protesters.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[Kaleko]

18. ditto.

[progressoid]

19. pffft. She just didn't get her pony.

:sarcasm:

[krabigirl]

21. Good for her!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

22. Serves her right. Durn Professional Leftis troublemaker. K&R

[MissDeeds]

23. Good for her

Wish I could be there...

[sce56]

24. Got this from her yesterday on my FB page

Naomi Klein
Just released from police custody at anti-#tarsands action in DC. Proud to have been arrested with so many great people. #nokxl 187 comments 1674 Like's · @NaomiAKlein on Twitter · Yesterday at 11:40am via Twitter

[Overseas]

25. K&R. Thank you Naomi!

[Shining Jack]

27. "More than 1,000 people have been busted at the gates of the White House"

It's up to 1000 people? Unfuckingbelievable. :(

[Enthusiast]

28. To achieve any change of significance

that 1000 will have to swell to tens of thousands. Not to say that I do not appreciate the sacrifices of the 1000.

[Shining Jack]

29. +1

[AdHocSolver]

30. The push to extract tar sands oil is NOT about reducing American dependence on foreign oil imports.

Wall Street is in a panic. With a stalled U.S. economy, and With the new electric vehicles reducing gasoline consumption there is every indication that there will be an oil "glut" in which case oil consumption and oil prices will drop so precipitously, that the profits and power of the oil companies will plunge with it.

Wall Street needs a new plan. Here it is. There are still a lot of energy resources in North America in the form of coal, tar sands oil, and natural gas. However, the North American markets are dwindling, just as the markets in a China, flush with money and a burgeoning new middle class, are growing exponentially.

However, the cheapest way to extract these resources are extremely polluting. Americans will never accept it, unless Wall Street can convince the public that allowing dirty extraction will increase supply (for them) and lower gas prices at the pump. The American public is in a panic, and gullible anyway, so they will go for it.

Once the oil from tar sands is extracted, it can be transported to China where a growing demand will raise the prices to new higher levels. The oil companies can "honestly" explain this action as necessary as a collapsed economy in the U.S. provides no market, while demand from the "global economy" requires "free trade".

Just as the use of corn to make ethanol has pushed up food prices, the demand for oil from China (they need gasoline to power their new Buicks) will raise prices world wide, including in the U.S. Increased oil prices will further collapse the U.S. economy.

There is more to worry about than just increased pollution.

[spooked911]

50. interesting, but do you have a reference for that?

Or is that your idea?

[AdHocSolver]

56. There is another thread about tar sands oil with links.

It wasn't "my idea". Watching what the corporations actually do in any given situation together with some basic knowledge of real economics would lead anyone to the same interpretation of the facts.

This is a link to the other DU thread which I discovered after I posted here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=433&topic_id=762565

The header for this thread is: The Tar Sands Pipeline is actually for overseas export markets. It's not for US energy security!

***************

http://priceofoil.org/2011/08/31/report-exporting-energy-security-keystone-xl-exposed/

The Keystone XL Pipeline: Oil for Export, Not for U.S. Energy Security

Industry Documents Reveal Scheme to Reach Lucrative Markets Abroad

Steve Kretzmann

A new report from Oil Change International lays out the case, based on data and documents from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Canadian National Energy Board, corporate disclosures to regulators and investors, and analysis of the rapidly shifting oil market.

The facts:

* Keystone XL is an export pipeline. The Port Arthur, Texas, refiners at the end of its route are focused on expanding exports to Europe, and Latin America. Much of the fuel refined from the pipeline’s heavy crude oil will never reach U.S. drivers’ tanks.

* Valero, the key customer for crude oil from Keystone XL, has explicitly detailed an export strategy to its investors. Because Valero’s Port Arthur refinery is in a Foreign Trade Zone, the company can carry out its strategy tax-free.

<snip>

“To issue a presidential permit for the Keystone XL, the Administration must find that the pipeline serves the national interest,” said Stephen Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International. “An honest assessment shows that rather than serving U.S. interests, Keystone XL serves only the interests of tar sands producers and shippers, and a few Gulf Coast refiners aiming to export the oil.”

***************

The whole purpose of the project is to get the oil from Canada to Texas and into tankers where it can be shipped overseas. There's no justification for this pipeline.

***************

[provis99]

31. if she had been convicted, she'd be deported and banned from America.

this has happened to Canadian and American protesters in the past.

She's lucky she was let go.

[man4allcats]

35. Congrats to Naomi. I love her.

I'd be there myself if I weren't flat broke and could get someone to take care of my cats while I was in the slammer. Best to you, Naomi. I'm single if you want to get married. Of course I'm old and broke, but people say I don't look my age (younger - not older). Well anyway, hope you get out soon. The Shock Doctrine was great! Many Thanks.

[valerief]

36. Bravo, Naomi and others! nt

[OwnedByFerrets]

37. She is an American Hero

[blkmusclmachine]

39. Naomi:

One of the good guys/girls.

[upi402]

40. kick, rec, ...

:patriot:

[cascadiance]

41. Can we get her hubby Avi Lewis do a Fault Lines episode on this protest?...

It would seem fitting.

[MrMickeysMom]

42. Recommended...

Seriously, I'm getting closer to doing this ...

[luv_mykatz]

44. Kicking!

:kick:

If I can find the link, there is a great interview on Native American radio about this whole Tar Sands mess/rip-off of treaty rights/huge pollution of land and water/corporate greed-to-the-max scenario.

http://www.nativeamericacalling.com/ram/2011/aug/083011.m3u

If the link doesn't work, the name of the web site is Native America Calling. For the interviews: click on Past NAC Programs. From there, click on the entry for August, under Programs for 2011. From there, click on the entry for Tuesday, August 30th, 2011, The Tar Sands Protest.

This is a very important, even crucial issue. Please, become informed, and take action!

And huge kudos to Naomi Klein!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :toast: :loveya: :yourock:

[Cleita]

45. Yet not a word in the MSM news about those protests

except on Thom Hartmann and other out of the way news' sources.

[midnight]

46. " As you know, the planet is steadily warming: 2010 was the warmest year on record"

Dear Friends,

This will be a slightly longer letter than common for the internet age—it's serious stuff.

The short version is we want you to consider doing something hard: coming to Washington in the hottest and stickiest weeks of the summer and engaging in civil disobedience that will quite possibly get you arrested.

The full version goes like this:

As you know, the planet is steadily warming: 2010 was the warmest year on record, and we've seen the resulting chaos in almost every corner of the earth.

And as you also know, our democracy is increasingly controlled by special interests interested only in their short-term profit.

These two trends collide this summer in Washington, where the State Department and the White House have to decide whether to grant a certificate of 'national interest' to some of the biggest fossil fuel players on earth. These corporations want to build the so-called 'Keystone XL Pipeline' from Canada’s tar sands to Texas refineries.http://www.naomiklein.org/articles

[Major Hogwash]

47. Were there protests in Canada over this tarsands pipeline?

Does anyone know?

[Historic NY]

49. Thats what I'm wondering since this pipeline is already in use....

I know this is a new section of pipe,coming from Alberta.

[spooked911]

51. there have been lots of protest over the tar sands in general, particularly by the native people

who land is getting trashed in Canada by the mining. I am not sure how much of a bigger deal the pipeline is to them, though.

[Pooka Fey]

52. K&R

[QC]

54. She just did this to embarrass PBO, whom she has never supported. n/t