Thousands of concerned Americans took to the streets of Washington, DC this weekend to protest the development of the Keystone XL Pipeline, the controversial TransCanada plan to transport "tar sands" material from Canada across the United States to their operation in Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico. Raw Story reports that "The Sierra Club, a major environmental organization in the U.S., made news recently when its executive director Michael Brune was arrested at a Keystone XL protest a few days -- the first time that a high-level Sierra Club employee has been arrested since it was established 120 years ago."
President Obama postponed a decision on the pipeline last year, but is now facing pressure from Republicans who claim the job creation from the construction outweighs the environmental risks. Reminiscent of the argument in favor of dangerous drilling practices (with no oversight) that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
CBS News has this update:
"Obama is under pressure to support the pipeline from Republicans and business and labor leaders who argue it would create jobs; the State Department estimates it could result in up to 6,000 new jobs."'The multi-billion dollar Keystone XL pipeline project will reduce the United States' dependence on foreign oil and support job growth by putting thousands of Americans to work,' said Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer. 'Keystone XL will transport U.S. crude oil from the very large Bakken supply basin in Montana and North Dakota, along with Canadian oil, to U.S. refineries.'
"The pipeline's opponents, including Democrats and environmental groups, say it would transport 'dirty oil' from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, that would require huge amounts of energy to extract. They also worry about a possible spill. The pipeline would travel through Montana, South Dakota, Kansas and Oklahoma, in addition to Nebraska."
A different kind of protest is being planned in cities around the US next Saturday by a different group of activists. These folks don't seek environmental protection as much as the right to carry military assault rifles on the streets of their home towns and "stand their ground" with lethal force if they feel the slightest threatened.
Compare and contrast these socially conscious and environmentally-responsible demonstrators with the NRA Rifles-n-Rapture loonies who want to carry Big Loaded Weapons into churches, kindergartens, sports bars, credit unions, hospitals, and any other place that might benefit from a good shoot-out.
This is from the "Day of Resistance" website:
"On January 16, 2013, President Barack Obama issued 23 executive actions against your 2nd amendment Constitutional right to bear arms. He did this without the consent of Congress which in itself, violates the foundation of the Constitution and the co-equal branches of government. In response to these unconstitutional actions by the President, on .223, February 23, 2013 the American people will stand together in defiance to protect the right that protects ALL of our rights, the 2nd Amendment!"
Sorry to say the main Teabagger website is reporting that there is just not enough money for their little national bang-bang show. Perhaps fundraising was hampered by the scores of gun-related injuries at the last pro-gun rally? Maybe the protesters are starting to realize their pet cause might just kill them, y'think?
According to Daily Kos...
"TheTeaParty.net, a well-known conservative group, reached out to supporters to say that it is 'deeply embarrassed' to have failed to raise enough money in the last several weeks to fund a nationwide series of pro-gun rallies scheduled for Feb. 23. Last week we announced that we needed to raise $100,000 to market the Day of Resistance to make sure that there are HUGE crowds at all of these rallies,' read the Wednesday email from outreach director Dustin Stockman. 'Unfortunately we remain well short of our goal. As of writing we have only raised $26,125.72 towards the $100,000 goal.'"
Did you ever notice that Progressive activists seek to protect things, like human lives and the environment, while their Neocon counterparts just want to cut a wide swath of death and destruction?
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