How can we take it back?

[ImaginaryBloke]

10 States Report Crop Damage From Illegal Herbicide Use on Monsanto's GMO Seeds
Missouri has suffered the most, with damage to more than 40,000 acres of crops.
By Lorraine Chow / EcoWatch
September 7, 2016

To the horror of farmers across America's farm belt, hundreds of thousands of crop acres have been adversely impacted by the apparent misuse of the drift-prone herbicide dicamba on Monsanto's Roundup Ready Xtend soybean and cotton plants.

According to a recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) compliance advisory, the EPA and state agencies have received an "unusually high" number of reports of crop damage that appear related to the illegal spraying of dicamba.

The EPA has collected similar reports of crop damage from 10 states: Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

[...]

http://www.alternet.org/food/10-states-report-crop-damage-illegal-herbicide-use-monsantos-gmo-seeds


It does not get much better, does it? I think that we need a new category for climate classification maps that shows polluted areas. They are will start looking increasingly Martian in the future. And if you were make IQ maps, areas inhabiting CEOs would be in the lower end of the scale. Pea size-brained folks.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Wall St. Mega-Banks Funding Vicious Attacks on Protestors Over the Dakota Access Pipeline
Jay Syrmopoulos September 8, 2016

[...]

Powerful oil and gas companies are taking drastic steps to override the tribe’s objections, using their immense financial resources to line the pockets of politicians in a push to build this pipeline, which will serve to further pad the industry’s bottom line. However, behind the companies building the pipeline are a set of even more powerful Wall Street interests that reveal a who’s who of the 2008 financial crisis.



Seventeen financial institutions have loaned Dakota Access LLC $2.5 billion to construct the pipeline. A plethora of major banking institutions have also committed significant resources to the Energy Transfer Family of companies in an effort to create greater oil and gas infrastructure:

• Energy Transfer Partners has a revolving credit line of $3.75 billion toward expanding its oil and gas infrastructure holdings, with commitments from 26 banks.
• Sunoco Logistics has a credit line with $2.5 billion in commitments from 24 banks.
• Energy Transfer Equity has a credit line with another $1.5 billion in commitments from most of the same big international banks.

That equates to $10.25 billion in loans and credit from 38 banks directly supporting the companies building the pipeline.

These mega-banks have an expectation of being paid back over the coming decades as a return on their investment. The problem with this scenario is that by locking in widespread drilling and fracking in the name of U.S. energy independence/security, banks are increasing the dependence on fossil fuels. With so many new clean technologies coming online, the idea of being beholden to the dinosaurs of energy — coal and oil — seems antithetical to modernization and efficiency.

[...]

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/wall-st-banks-funding-dakota-pipeline/
http://www.theeventchronicle.com/ne...us-attacks-protestors-dakota-access-pipeline/


There you have a list of the lenders who are behind the pipeline project in the Indian Reserve.

 

[Skarekrow]

Two damn funny Trump burns.

 

[Skarekrow]

 

[Skarekrow]

 

[Skarekrow]

This is why the media won't show the protest on the pipeline #StayAware

I do not in any way take credit for taking or having this picture.
It belongs to Getty Images. — at Pipeline! North Dakota.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Wall St. Mega-Banks Funding Vicious Attacks on Protestors Over the Dakota Access Pipeline
Jay Syrmopoulos September 8, 2016

[...]

Powerful oil and gas companies are taking drastic steps to override the tribe’s objections, using their immense financial resources to line the pockets of politicians in a push to build this pipeline, which will serve to further pad the industry’s bottom line. However, behind the companies building the pipeline are a set of even more powerful Wall Street interests that reveal a who’s who of the 2008 financial crisis.



Seventeen financial institutions have loaned Dakota Access LLC $2.5 billion to construct the pipeline. A plethora of major banking institutions have also committed significant resources to the Energy Transfer Family of companies in an effort to create greater oil and gas infrastructure:

• Energy Transfer Partners has a revolving credit line of $3.75 billion toward expanding its oil and gas infrastructure holdings, with commitments from 26 banks.
• Sunoco Logistics has a credit line with $2.5 billion in commitments from 24 banks.
• Energy Transfer Equity has a credit line with another $1.5 billion in commitments from most of the same big international banks.

That equates to $10.25 billion in loans and credit from 38 banks directly supporting the companies building the pipeline.

These mega-banks have an expectation of being paid back over the coming decades as a return on their investment. The problem with this scenario is that by locking in widespread drilling and fracking in the name of U.S. energy independence/security, banks are increasing the dependence on fossil fuels. With so many new clean technologies coming online, the idea of being beholden to the dinosaurs of energy — coal and oil — seems antithetical to modernization and efficiency.

[...]

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/wall-st-banks-funding-dakota-pipeline/
http://www.theeventchronicle.com/ne...us-attacks-protestors-dakota-access-pipeline/


There you have a list of the lenders who are behind the pipeline project in the Indian Reserve.

It turns out that Bayern LB (Bavarian State Bank) is a public bank owned by the State of Bavaria, Germany. What if there were to be a public debate in Germany about this loan to the Dakota pipeline in conjunction with news coverage about the protests? The German public is environmentally-minded.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

New Study Says 1 Out of Every 5 Corporate Bosses Is a Psychopath
CEO psychopaths are a lot more common than we thought.
By Michael Arria / AlterNet
September 17, 2016

Photo Credit: sarahdahmer, Flickr

According to a new study, one out of every five corporate bosses is a psychopath.

The study surveyed 261 corporate professionals and determined that their "clinically elevated levels of psychopathy" were on par with the prison population. Nathan Brooks, a forensic psychologist at Bond University and researcher on this study, told ABC, "Their personality usually leads them to exploit every avenue open to them, whether it's in a criminal setting, or within organizations."

Psychopathy is often defined as a clinical disorder, characterized by a lack of empathy and narcissistic traits. One out of every 100 people is believed to be a psychopath, but this investigation shows that the numbers for CEOs are much larger.

According to Brooks, a certain "successful psychopath" has been allowed to rise in the corporate world, despite the fact that they're more likely to break the law or engage in unethical activity. "We hope to implement our screening tool in businesses so that there's an adequate assessment to hopefully identify this problem—to stop people sneaking through into positions in the business that can become very costly," said Brooks.

The study was conducted by Brooks along with colleagues Katarina Fritzon (also of Bond University) and Simon Croom of the University of San Diego. They presented their findings at the Australian Psychological Society Congress.

Many have cited the corporate penchant for illegality while pointing to the financial crisis of 2007-'08. Just this week, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to the Department of Justice calling for an investigation into President Obama's failure to jail anyone from Wall Street after the collapse. She expressed her concerns on Twitter:

8 years ago today, Lehman Bros filed for bankruptcy. The big banks recklessly gambled with our economy & millions of people suffered for it.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) September 15, 2016

www.alternet.org/labor/new-study-says-1-out-every-5-bosses-psychopath


How do you like that photo of mine, Skarekrow. Nice smile huh?

So, out of 100 CEOs, 20 are psychopaths, 79 are assholes and 1 is just bland; none is an angel.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Scott Walker Leaks Could Force Supreme Court to Confront Dark Money
Leaked documents from the investigation into the Wisconsin governor’s alleged campaign-finance violations show how dark money really works in modern politics.
By Justin Miller / The American Prospect
September 16, 2016

Caricature of Scott Walker.
Photo Credit: Donkey Hotey via Flickr

arely do members of the public get to see behind the closed doors of political nonprofits, which may receive unlimited amounts of money from mega-donors without disclosing anything about their operations. But a trove of leaked documents from an investigation into Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s 2012 recall election campaign has offered an unprecedented look at how politicians operate in a post-Citizens United world that features record levels of undisclosed political money.

The documents, leaked to The Guardian newspaper, detail the allegedly illegal coordination between Walker’s campaign and an outside group.

Walker, in a scramble to win a bitterly contested election, asked a slew of right-wing billionaires in 2011 and 2012 to pour money into the Wisconsin Club for Growth, a dark money group working closely with a top aide to the governor. After Walker won, a special prosecutor opened an investigation into the campaign’s alleged coordination with the group. The leaked documents come from that controversial investigation, which Walker and his allies had dismissed as a partisan witch-hunt.

In 2015, the Wisconsin Supreme Court even shut down the investigation, ruling that the Walker campaign did not violate the law because coordination between candidates and outside groups is only prohibited for so-called express advocacy—direct calls to vote for or against a specific candidate. The Walker campaign only coordinated with Wisconsin Club for Growth on issue advocacy ads, which don’t expressly tell voters how to vote, the court ruled, and the activity was therefore legal. The decision infuriated government watchdogs, especially since two conservative justices refused to recuse themselves despite having received outside support from the Wisconsin Club for Growth during their own previous judicial elections.

Not only has the Walker scandal roared back into the spotlight, it may be headed for the Supreme Court. In April, the special prosecutor in the case called on the high court to overturn the state Supreme Court’s decision to end the investigation, arguing that coordination on issue advocacy is, in fact, illegal, and that the plaintiffs didn’t receive a fair trial because the two justices failed to recuse themselves. The Supreme Court is expected to announce later this month whether it will hear the case.

[...]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-po...could-force-supreme-court-confront-dark-money

This will be interesting to follow up. What is this goes all the way to SCOTUS? Now, supreme court justice John Roberts has the chance to reverse his ruling that equates money with people. I would rather have it that the great apes are people than corporate psychopaths. Even parrots are have a certain charm to them.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

The documents, leaked to The Guardian newspaper, detail the allegedly illegal coordination between Walker’s campaign and an outside group.

The Guardian US interactive team is Aliza Aufrichtig, Kenan Davis, Jan Diehm, Rich Harris and Nadja Popovich.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...scott-walker-corporate-cash-american-politics


That was interesting. Michael Newton said in his books on the afterlife that you choose your name before you incarnate to Earth. 'aufrichtig' is German and means fair, honest, sincere, genuine, etc. Clever woman.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Saturday, September 17, 2016
Common Dreams
Hundreds of Thousands March in Germany Against TTIP, CETA
These agreements, says critics, 'threaten environmental and consumer protection for millions of people in Europe and North America'
Jon Queally, staff writer

Consumer rights activists take part in a march to protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in Frankfurt, Germany, September 17, 2016. (Photo: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach)

Hundreds of thousands took to city streets across Germany on Saturday as they marched against a pair of corporate-backed trade deals they say will undermine democracy, attack workers and local economies, and accelerate the threats posed by corporate hegemony and global warming.

"These agreements will weaken food safety laws, environmental legislation, banking regulations and undermine the sovereign powers of nations." —Jennifer Morgan, Greenpeace International

Taking aim at both the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), European Union deals with the United States and Canada respectively, opponents say the agreements are not really concerned with expanding trade but rather increasing corporate power.

"CETA and TTIP threaten environmental and consumer protection for millions of people in Europe and North America," said Jennifer Morgan, co-executive director of Greenpeace International. "These agreements will weaken food safety laws, environmental legislation, banking regulations and undermine the sovereign powers of nations."

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/09/17/hundreds-thousands-march-germany-against-ttip-ceta


Where are your demonstrations, America?

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Sunday, September 18, 2016
Common Dreams
Calling for Prosecution of Its Own Source, Washington Post Slammed for 'Towering Cowardice'
Prominent newspaper received Pulitzer for reporting on NSA programs leaked by Edward Snowden — Now they want him locked him away for it
Jon Queally, staff writer

(Image: ACLU/with overlay)

Shocked by the "towering cowardice" of the Washington Post's Sunday editorial calling for Edward Snowden to be prosecuted, journalist Glenn Greenwald led the charge against the prominent newspaper for achieving what he described as an "ignoble feat" in American history: being "the first-ever paper to explicitly editorialize for the criminal prosecution of its own paper’s source – one on whose back the paper won and eagerly accepted a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service."

Published just two days after Oliver Stone's biopic on the NSA whistleblower, 'Snowden,' premiered in U.S. theaters and following the launch of a national campaign by human rights groups and privacy advocates calling for him to be pardoned, the timing of the WaPo editorial—simply titled "No pardon for Edward Snowden"—emerged as an unexpected (and unwelcome) salvo from a paper whose news editors and journalists played a central and early role in reporting on the information provided.

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/0...ce-washington-post-slammed-towering-cowardice


Very good, WAPO. Now, you have painted yourself into a corner. This is the paper that initiated the Watergate Scandal in the 1970's. Your readers are expecting more from you.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Monday, September 19, 2016
Common Dreams
As CETA Advances, Reports Warn Deal Will Ruin Economies, Cement Corporate Power
Germany's minority Social Democratic Party backs trade agreement despite 300,000-strong protest on Saturday
Lauren McCauley, staff writer

An estimated 300,000 people marched in cities across Germany on Saturday to voice opposition to the pending CETA and TTIP trade agreements. (Photo via Campact/Twitter)

As the pro-corporate Canada-Europe trade deal notched another victory on Monday, a pair of new studies underscored how the health, rights, and livelihoods of people on both sides of the Atlantic will suffer under the pending deal.

Germany's minority Social Democratic Party (SPD) voted in favor of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), making it increasingly likely the trade deal will be approved by the country's Parliament. The backing came despite the fact that on Saturday over 300,000 people across Germany marched in opposition to the deal and its "toxic" sister agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

As Deutsche Welle noted, CETA "is scheduled to be signed by Ottawa and Brussels next month. However, each [European Union] member state would then need to fully ratify the agreement for it to come into force."

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/0...al-will-ruin-economies-cement-corporate-power


Hmmmm, that will be tough. Expect more demonstrations to follow in individual countries concerned.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Monday, September 19, 2016
Environmental Health News
Mining Leaves a Wisconsin Tribe's Hallowed Sites at Risk
Modern boundaries complicate —and stymie—the Menominee Tribe's effort to protect burial grounds.
Brian Bienkowski

The Menominee River. (Photo: Environmental Health News)

[...]

But four months later, on an archeological trip in 2010 with other researchers from the College of Menominee Nation, Reiter saw the dam: It was indeed on the White Rapids, a former settlement site for the Menominee people.

Downstream from the rapids is the fight that has consumed Reiter's life since: A proposed open-pit copper, gold and zinc mine along the river on the Michigan side of the border. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality this month announced their mining permit approval. There are still hurdles before shovels hit dirt—including a pending wetland permit and public comment period—but time is running out for the tribe.

The river and mine are both off the reservation. But the river and land around it remain central to Menominee culture.

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/09/19/mining-leaves-wisconsin-tribes-hallowed-sites-risk

Anohter Indian tribe whose ancient burial grounds are being threatened.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Victory In Mexico: Indigenous Activists Win Major Court Rulings Against Monsanto
By True Activist
Posted on August 23, 2016

By: Alex Pietrowski / (The Waking Times) Monsanto must now consult with indigenous communities throughout the Yucatán peninsula before they will be granted any future permits for GMO soy farming, as of a court decision in early November 2015. Monsanto planned to farm genetically modified soybean in over 250,000 hectares of the Yucatán region, yet a Mexican court has suspended the Biotech giant’s permit. The judgement was based on constitutional law that requires the consideration of indigenous communities affected by development projects.

The key organizations involved in the effort to stop GMO soy farming in Mexico were the Maya beekeepers, made up of about 15,000 Maya families who produce and collect honey and who filed the injunction, with the support of Greenpeace, Indignación and Litiga OLE. The Mayans primary concern is that “growing the plant requires the use of glyphosate, a herbicide classified as probably carcinogenic,” putting their communities, environment and economic activities at risk.

Not surprisingly, Monsanto continues to argue that GM soybean has no effect on bees or honey production. Monsanto has already been accused of contributing to the deforestation in the state of Campeche, Mexico, where it has been expanding its agrochemical interests.

Since 2013, transnational agrochemical companies have been aggressively seeking permission from the federal government to lift the provisional ban on the sales of transgenic maize seeds in the country. Even though the ban was overturned in August 2015, a new court decision also in early November, made by federal judge Benjamin Soto Sánchez, head of the second Unitarian Court in Civil and Administrative Matters of the First Circuit, “upheld a provisional suspension prohibiting federal agencies from processing and granting the privilege of sowing or releasing into the environment of transgenic maize in the country.”

This latter victory against Monsanto is a result of activist organization Colectividad en Defensa del Maíz (CDM), which was also supported by Greenpeace México. René Sánchez, the attorney for CDM, applauded the court’s decision and stated that sowing of transgenic seeds

“threatens the biological diversity, agricultural activities and culture of Mexico.”

About 30% of maize farmed across Mexico and 30% of soy in the Yucatán are currently grown from GMO seeds. Mexico also imports GMO yellow corn from the United States, where it accounts for about 90% of the market. Mexico is part of a larger Latin American movement to stop Monsanto from expanding into the territory.

Read More: http://www.trueactivist.com/victory...sts-win-major-court-rulings-against-monsanto/


Wow!!! Wonderful. We will see more of this in the future.

I recall reading a comment somewhere claiming that Monsteranto does not have GMO foods in its staff cafeterias. If true, this is food for thought, and this should be interpreted literally, since GMO makes your health deteriorate.

Yummy!!

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Sperm Whales Found Dead In Germany, Stomachs FULL Of Plastic And Car Parts

By Amanda Froelich
Posted on April 21, 2016

The whales’ deaths are symbolic of humanity’s shocking disregard for marine life.

Credit: Facebook

In January, 29 sperm whales were found stranded on shores around the North Sea, an area that is too shallow for the marine wildlife. Only recently were details of the animals’ necropsy released. However, scientists were deeply disturbed by what they found in the animals’ stomachs.

According to a press release from Wadden Sea National Park in Schleswig-Holstein, many of the whales had stomachs FULL of plastic debris, including a 13-meter-long fishing net, a 70 cm piece of plastic from a car and other pieces of plastic litter.

[...]

Read More: http://www.trueactivist.com/sperm-w...rmany-stomachs-full-of-plastic-and-car-parts/


Shocking.

Have you seen Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home? Aliens were trying to contact whales because they could no longer be sensed. We need that now.

 

[Skarekrow]

Sunday, September 18, 2016
Common Dreams
Calling for Prosecution of Its Own Source, Washington Post Slammed for 'Towering Cowardice'
Prominent newspaper received Pulitzer for reporting on NSA programs leaked by Edward Snowden — Now they want him locked him away for it
Jon Queally, staff writer

(Image: ACLU/with overlay)

Shocked by the "towering cowardice" of the Washington Post's Sunday editorial calling for Edward Snowden to be prosecuted, journalist Glenn Greenwald led the charge against the prominent newspaper for achieving what he described as an "ignoble feat" in American history: being "the first-ever paper to explicitly editorialize for the criminal prosecution of its own paper’s source – one on whose back the paper won and eagerly accepted a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service."

Published just two days after Oliver Stone's biopic on the NSA whistleblower, 'Snowden,' premiered in U.S. theaters and following the launch of a national campaign by human rights groups and privacy advocates calling for him to be pardoned, the timing of the WaPo editorial—simply titled "No pardon for Edward Snowden"—emerged as an unexpected (and unwelcome) salvo from a paper whose news editors and journalists played a central and early role in reporting on the information provided.

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/0...ce-washington-post-slammed-towering-cowardice


Very good, WAPO. Now, you have painted yourself into a corner. This is the paper that initiated the Watergate Scandal in the 1970's. Your readers are expecting more from you.

It is an editorial, which is really saying “it’s some reporter’s opinion”.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Common Dreams
TTIP 2.0? New Leak Exposes Threats of Lesser-Known TISA Trade Deal
'The deal, a spiritual and practical sibling of the much-maligned TTIP and TPP free trade agreements, is designed to drive deregulation across the vast global services sector'
Nika Knight, staff writer

"We now know that TISA will undermine COP21, further deregulate the financial sector, stop failed privatizations being brought back into public hands, and undermine data privacy laws. What else are our governments keeping secret from us?" (Photo: GGAADD/flickr/cc)

Greenpeace Netherlands exposed the threats to democracy and climate action contained within the little-known Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) on Tuesday with new leaks divulging several chapters of the clandestine global trade agreement.

"It's a sad day for democracy when ordinary people are dependent on leaks to learn about the far-reaching consequences of toxic trade deals that are being cooked up behind closed doors," said Nick Dearden, head of the U.K.-based Global Justice Now.

And TISA is perhaps the least well-known and most highly protected of the imminent agreements: "Somehow TISA is also even more secret than the notoriously covert CETA, TTIP and TPP deals, with parties unable to release details of negotiations until five years after it has taken effect," Greenpeace observes.

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/0...-exposes-threats-lesser-known-tisa-trade-deal
http://commondreams.org/news/2016/0...-exposes-threats-lesser-known-tisa-trade-deal

I was reading in a German paper recently that the former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder expressed concern about TTIP and CETA. Not a word about TISA from him. TISA covers more countries and is the big brother of the other siblings. I have got a feeling that TTIP and CETA are smoke screens to hide the larger culprit.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Published on
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Over 700,000 People Urge DOJ to Reject Biotech Mega-Mergers
'The shocking consolidation in the biotech seed and agrochemical industry turns our food system over to a cabal of chemical companies, undermining family farmers and consumers'

by
Nika Knight, staff writer


1 Comments

Monsanto accepted Bayer's $66 billion takeover bid last week—the latest in a series of mega-mergers in the agrochemical industry. (Photo: AP)

Hundreds of thousands have signed petitions calling on the U.S. Department of Justice and elected officials to block three proposed mega-mergers of chemical and biotech behemoths: Bayer-Monsanto, Dow-Dupont, and ChemChina-Syngenta.

"Additional consolidation will increase prices and further limit choices for farmers, while allowing Monsanto and friends to continue pushing a model of agriculture that has given us superweeds, superbugs, and health-harming pesticides."
—Marcia Ishii-Eiteman,
Pesticide Action Network

"The continuing consolidation of seed and pesticide companies essentially creates a monopoly of toxicity in control of the world's seed market and food supply. These agrichemical giants threaten the availability and genetic diversity of seeds that are critical to a sustainable food system and to our ability to respond to the impacts of climate change," Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of Center for Food Safety, said Tuesday.

The petitions signed by over 700,000 people were delivered by nine consumer advocacy and environmental groups—including Food & Water Watch, Sierra Club, Pesticide Action Network, Friends of the Earth, and Center for Food Safety, among others—as the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee met Tuesday to examine the wave of consolidation in the biotech and agrochemical industry.

[...]

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/09/20/over-700000-people-urge-doj-reject-biotech-mega-mergers
http://commondreams.org/news/2016/09/20/over-700000-people-urge-doj-reject-biotech-mega-mergers

700,000 people!!! That is large in the big US of A. You never seem to have nationwide demonstrations, campaigns or petitions, except maybe the NRA. European countries have nationwide protests sometimes. The recent trade deals are a good example.

Nice to see the Little Man having the courage to say no to the Big Bullies.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Common Dreams
The Solidarity Grows: Over 1,200 Historians, Archaeologists, Museum Directors Denounce DAPL
"The significance of the cultural artifacts along the pipeline's proposed route is simply too great to sacrifice for a fossil fuel pipeline that would threaten not only these artifacts, but also land, water, tribal sovereignty, and the climate."
Andrea Germanos, staff writer

"What the Standing Rock Sioux are going through is just one example of a systemic and historical truth around how extractive and polluting infrastructure is forced upon Native communities," said James Powell, former president and director of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum and former president of the Franklin Museum of Science. (Photo: John Duffy/flickr/cc)

Standing with the Standing Rock Sioux, over 1,200 museum directors, archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians—people "familiar with the long history of desecration of Indigenous People's artifacts and remains worldwide"—have written to the Obama administration to denounce "further irreparable losses" that would accompany completion of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.

Spearheaded by The Natural History Museum, the letter, sent this week to President Barack Obama, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior, and the Army Corps of Engineers, notes the destruction caused earlier this month by the company behind the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, when it razed recently discovered burial sites, prayer sites, and other artifacts.

[...]


http://commondreams.org/node/103997
http://commondreams.org/node/103997

The SD pipeline protest campaign is gaining momentum and attention. [old, green smiley face]