Thursday, October 13, 2011

Environmentalists: Where's the 'Guy We Thought We Were Electing President?’

At a Washington, D.C, rally protesting the Keystone XL pipeline project on Friday, environmentalists expressed disappointment and disillusionment with President Barack Obama. “We need—somehow—to find that guy we thought we were electing president. And we have to figure out, where they are holding him, and release him,” said environmental activist Bill McKibben. At that point, the crowd broke into cries of “Free Obama.” McKibben, an author and scholar who founded an international grassroots campaign against climate change, has emerged as the leader of the ongoing pipeline protests. In his speech at the Washington rally, he quoted Obama’s campaign promise to “end the tyranny of oil” and to “have the most transparent government the world has ever seen.” McKibben told CNSNews that the Keystone pipeline – which, when finished, would bring crude oil from Alberta, Canada to Texas oil refineries – “is the biggest decision the president faces this fall and it’s entirely on him. Congress isn’t in the way. And we will find out whether he meant it when he said we need to fight global warming and have a transparent government.”...more

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Opinions are likeXXXXX everyone has one. Most people on both sides of an issue, make a statement without any real knowledge of the issue. On the pipe line issue= anyone can have an opinion as to " if it would be unsightly while building- etc " but I doubt anyone could really know if it would hurt the environment or not.
If you ask 10 knowledgeable scientist
what damage (other than uprooting a few trees) it would do--- I think you might get 4 or more "knowledgeable" answers. I have an opinion-- but I don't know

Tick said...

I'm no scientist, just a fairly observant country boy. I've hunted my brother-in-laws 1200 or so acres for the past 40 years in northeast Texas. About 30 years ago a pipeline came through a pristine section of wetland and it's never returned to its once beautiful state. It's now a muddy, slushy mess. No more ducks, woodcock or beaver. Gone are the squirrels, deer and others in that wide, mile long stretch.

I'm not a tree hugging, fanatical environmentalist. Most of this 1200 acres is renewable logging (deer love clear cut) and pasture, great for deer and other wildlife. But I do miss that beautiful, serene stretch of bottomland. Now it's just ugly.

As far as where's the guy 'they' thought they elected, well, he took a wrong turn and wound up with his head in (up) a tunnel normally meant for one way traffic only.