Welcome! "The Evening Blues" is a casual community diary (published Monday - Friday, 8:00 PM Eastern) where we hang out, share and talk about news, music, photography and other things of interest to the community.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
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Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features songwriter, organist and bandleader Booker T. Jones probably best known for his work with Booker T. and the MG's and Stax records. Enjoy!
Booker T. Jones - Green Onions, Born Under A Bad Sign, Down In Memphis
“So much for Objective Journalism. Don't bother to look for it here--not under any byline of mine; or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.”
-- Hunter S. Thompson
“Give me 26 lead soldiers and I will conquer the world.”
-- Benjamin Franklin
News and Opinion
“Journalists” Follow Obama on Ukraine
Prominent journalists in the United States may as well be on the White House payroll. ... The rotten state of affairs becomes all too obvious whenever a president threatens action against another country. ...
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour was so eager to fly the American foreign policy flag that she pointedly took a colleague to task on air when he was guilty of nothing more than doing his job. Wolf Blitzer is a corporate media stalwart himself so he and everyone watching was surprised when Amanpour jumped down his throat when he quoted a Russian official:
"You heard Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the U.N. Security Council, saying earlier today that at fault for all of this are what he called fascists and anti-Semites in Ukraine right now ..."
"You know, you've got to be really careful by putting that across as a fact," Amanpour said.
"That's what Vitaly Churkin said," Blitzer replied.
"He may have done," Amanpour said. "Are you telling me, are you saying that the entire pro-European ..."
"Of course not," Blitzer defended, explaining that he was presenting what Churkin had said.
"Right, and we have to be very careful," Amanpour cautioned.
Blitzer tried to interject, offering to play Churkin's comments again.
"I heard it," Amanpour said. "We just as a network have to be really careful not to lump the entire pro-European Ukrainians into, which some may well be, nationalistic and extremist" groups.
"We're not, I'm not," Blitzer insisted.
Amanpour had lots of company at other networks. Gwen Ifill of PBS Newshour also stuck to the White House script with her guest, professor Stephen F. Cohen. Cohen informed viewers that American presidents going back to Bill Clinton have been playing a very dangerous game in their attempt to pry Ukraine from the Russian orbit. ...
Amanpour vilifies her colleague on air for cynical reasons and Ifill plays dumb if a guest dares to speak up with real analysis. All their behaviors are an effort to diminish any debates or arguments against the United States government. The only critics on the air are questioning whether Obama is tough enough and if American “prestige” is on the line if we don’t have as much violence in the world as they would like.
It is not too harsh to point out that the propaganda and lies spread by networks and newspapers are part of an enormous crime. America is the evil doer in Iraq and Haiti and Libya and Venezuela and Ukraine. Nations are invaded and economies are ruined because our government is determined to have its way in the world. The crimes are committed with impunity in part because presidents get a helping hand from their corporate media partners.
Ukraine’s Longtime Divisions & NATO’s Eastern Expansion to Russian Border Lay Ground for Crimea Vote
Ukraine crisis: US will not recognise Crimea referendum, says ambassador
America's ambassador in Kiev said the US would refuse to recognise next Sunday's "so-called referendum" in Crimea, and said Washington would take further steps against Russia if it used the poll to legitimise its occupation.
Geoffrey Pyatt said Barack Obama and the US secretary of state, John Kerry, had spent the weekend talking to European leaders. Obama also spoke to Russia's president, Vladimir Putin. The ambassador said the US and EU were in complete agreement that stronger sanctions could follow after next weekend's referendum, adding: "There is no daylight between us."
The ambassador said the White House was unbending in its view that Crimea was part of Ukraine. He said that in the runup to Sunday's referendum "gangs of pro-Russian thugs" were roaming the peninsula, beating up activists and creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Without mentioning Moscow by name, Pyatt said there was also an "active campaign right now" to stir up dissension and division across the country.
Ukraine's interim prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, is due to travel to Washington on Wednesday for talks with Obama. The trip would be an opportunity to reaffirm the US's strongest support for the "new democratic Ukraine'", its integrity and the Ukrainian people, Pyatt said. They would also discuss Russia's invasion of Crimea.
His comments came after David Cameron and Angela Merkel agreed that any Russian attempt to legitimise Sunday's referendum in Crimea would result in further consequences, implying stronger sanctions.
Crimea’s Case for Leaving Ukraine
If you were living in Crimea, would you prefer to remain part of Ukraine with its coup-installed government – with neo-Nazis running four ministries including the Ministry of Defense – or would you want to become part of Russia, which has had ties to Crimea going back to Catherine the Great in the 1700s?
Granted, it’s not the greatest choice in the world, but it’s the practical one facing you. For all its faults, Russia has a functioning economy while Ukraine really doesn’t. ... Not so in Ukraine where a moveable feast of some 10 “oligarchs” mostly runs the show in shifting alliances, buying up media outlets and politicians, while the vast majority of the population faces a bleak future, which now includes more European-demanded “austerity,” i.e. slashed pensions and further reductions in already sparse social services. ...
U.S. politicians and pundits now cite the Ukrainian constitution as some sacred document as they argue that Crimea has no right to hold a popular referendum on leaving Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation. President Barack Obama says a Crimean plebiscite would be illegitimate unless Crimea gets permission to secede from the national government in Kiev as stipulated in the constitution.
In other words, the Ukrainian constitution can be violated at will when that serves Official Washington’s interests, but it is inviolate when that’s convenient. ... This U.S. government/media hypocrisy on the Crimean vote is underscored, too, by Official Washington’s frequent role in advocating and even mid-wifing secession movements when they correspond with U.S. foreign policy interests.
Fifteen separate nations emerged from the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 as U.S. politicians celebrated. No one seemed to mind either when Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
That same decade, U.S. officials helped negotiate the dissection of Yugoslavia into various ethnic enclaves. Later in the 1990s, the U.S. government even bombed Serbia to help Kosovo gain its independence, despite centuries of deep historical ties between Serbia and Kosovo.
In 2011, the U.S. government supported the creation of South Sudan, carving this new oil-rich nation out of Sudan. The supposed motive for breaking South Sudan loose was to stop a civil war, although independent South Sudan has since slid into political violence.
The Obama administration disputes allegations of U.S. hypocrisy about secessions, calling these comparisons “apples and oranges.” But the truth is that all secession cases are unique, a balance of history, pragmatism and politics.
Escobar: Kiev coup is tequila sunrise revolution with neo-Nazi flavor
Rival rallies in Crimea chant for Russia and Ukraine
By the monument to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, they came with yellow-blue flags and chanted "Glory to Ukraine" and "Down with the Russian occupiers". Across town by the monument to Vladimir Lenin, the flags were red, white and blue, and the chanting was for union with Russia.
There were two very different visions of Crimea's future on display at the two rallies in its capital on Sunday, a week before the peninsula holds a referendum on joining Russia which the west has called illegitimate, but Russia's parliament has strongly suggested it will honour.
At a similar pro-Ukraine rally in the port city of Sevastopol, the demonstrators were attacked by a group of whip-wielding Cossacks, in a forewarning of the possible violence in the coming months. There are fears that after the referendum, there could be clashes between the large pro-Russian population and the minority Crimean Tatar and ethnic Ukrainian populations, who are aghast at the prospect of union with Moscow. ...
The region is now full of heavily armed pro-Russian militias, backing Russian military actions in the region. But even among the ethnic Russians, who make up more than half of Crimea's residents, there is not a consensus on joining with Russia. Many would prefer enhanced autonomy within Ukraine. ...
Other Russians, however, were certain that union with Russia was the only thing that could save the peninsula from being attacked by the new government in Kiev, which is widely described here as fascist.
"Our grandfathers fought the Nazis, and now they are in tears looking at these revolting fascists in Kiev," said Vladimir, a factory worker from the town of Bakhchisarai who plans to volunteer for a local self-defence unit. "We have had 23 years of Ukraine and the economy has gone to shit. Russia is a great country, Putin is a great president. Only with Russia can we experience the good life of the Soviet Union again."
Merkel raps Putin as Russian forces tighten grip on Crimea
Germany's Angela Merkel delivered a rebuke to President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, telling him that a planned Moscow-backed referendum on whether Crimea should join Russia was illegal and violated Ukraine's constitution.
Putin defended breakaway moves by pro-Russian leaders in Crimea, where Russian forces tightened their grip on the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula by seizing another border post and a military airfield. ...
On Thursday, Merkel said if a contact group was not formed in the coming days and no progress was made in negotiations with Russia, the European Union could hit Russia with sanctions such as travel restrictions and asset freezes.
Merkel, whose country is heavily dependent on Russia oil and gas, has so far been more cautious than some other nations, urging Western partners to give Putin more time before punishing Moscow with tough economic sanctions.
This stance reflects German fears of the geopolitical consequences of an isolated Russia as much as it does concern about its business interests and energy ties.
Russia, Ukraine feud over sniper carnage
One of the biggest mysteries hanging over the protest mayhem that drove Ukraine's president from power: Who was behind the snipers who sowed death and terror in Kiev?
That riddle has become the latest flashpoint of feuding over Ukraine — with the nation's fledgling government and the Kremlin giving starkly different interpretations of events that could either undermine or bolster the legitimacy of the new rulers.
Ukrainian authorities are investigating the Feb. 18-20 bloodbath, and they have shifted their focus from ousted President Viktor Yanukovych's government to Vladimir Putin's Russia — pursuing the theory that the Kremlin was intent on sowing mayhem as a pretext for military incursion. Russia suggests that the snipers were organized by opposition leaders trying to whip up local and international outrage against the government.
The government's new health minister — a doctor who helped oversee medical treatment for casualties during the protests — told The Associated Press that the similarity of bullet wounds suffered by opposition victims and police indicates the shooters were trying to stoke tensions on both sides and spark even greater violence, with the goal of toppling Yanukovych.
A Struggle Amongst Oligarchs in Ukraine
A bailout for Ukrainians, by Ukrainians
[T]he country Yanukovich left behind is broke and close to default after he, his family and his cronies looted it during the three years he was president. His son, a dentist, somehow increased his wealth to an estimated $510 million during his father's truncated term, according to Forbes Ukraine. ...
But the looting of Ukraine didn't start with Yanukovich. It goes back to the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the rush to privatize the newly independent Ukraine's economic infrastructure and resources. This was pushed hard by Western policymakers intent on driving a stake through the heart of communism - and less concerned about the concentration of great wealth in a few hands. ...
[W]ith a few notable exceptions, most of the oligarchs sat on the fence during the three-month uprising, occasionally issuing a statement deploring violence. Now, for the good of their country and for their own good, this may be the moment for them to step up as Ukraine's new leaders look for political support in the face of Putin's threat, and for loans to tide the country over for a few months.
[Or, perhaps when the dust settles, it might be a good time for Ukraine to consider renationalizing some of the Oligarchs ill-gotten gains. -js]
Chris Hedges: Welcome to Satan’s Ball
Bulgakov, Mann and Roth understood that here is no real political ideology among decayed ruling elites. They knew that political debate and ideological constructs for these elites is absurdist theater, a species of entertainment for the masses. They warned that once societies enter terminal decay, in the end it is the blunt forces of censorship, relentless propaganda, coercion, fear and finally terror that keep a subdued population in check. Those who hold power in such systems are thieves who run a vast kleptocracy.
The rise of criminal elites is global. Vladimir Putin is a megalomaniac and a thug who is filling his personal coffers while he is the leader of Russia, and Barack Obama, who has more polish and sophistication, will fill his own pockets, as did the Clintons, with tens of millions of dollars as soon as he leaves office. The banks and corporations for which Obama works are as criminal and corrupt as the Central Bank of Russia, which calculates that perhaps two-thirds of the $56 billion that left Russia in 2012 might have been from money laundering, drug trafficking, tax fraud or kickbacks. The circular system of patronage and crime that exists worldwide varies from region to region only by degrees and style.
The Western political and financial elites, Putin knows, will not touch him. He and they are in the same decadent oligarchic class. They hold the same values. Europe depends on Russia for 40 percent of its natural gas, most of which passes through Ukraine. European bankers and corporations have no intention of jeopardizing that flow, or any current or potential trade deals. Corporate profit is the driving engine of foreign policy. Our elites do not care about human rights or civil liberties, not to mention the illegality of pre-emptive war, any more than Putin. Ask the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia how much moral authority the United States has to denounce the violation of the territorial integrity of a sovereign state. Ask those in our black sites and offshore penal colonies how much moral authority we have to denounce arbitrary detention and torture. Ask the 1.3 million people who lost their extended unemployment benefits in December or those who saw food stamp cutbacks reduce their spending by $90 a month how much moral authority there is left in our corporate state.
Our elites have established the most efficient system of mass surveillance in history. They have abolished most of our civil liberties. They have trashed our economy for their own personal gain. They have looted state treasuries and thrown working men and women aside. Satan is again holding a great ball. You are not invited. I am not invited. Only the gangsters will be there. Putin will be an honored guest. So will Obama.
Senate Intelligence panel staffers took secret CIA papers years before agency discovered them missing
Democratic staffers of the Senate Intelligence Committee obtained classified documents at the center of a bitter struggle with the CIA some three years before the agency determined that the materials had been spirited out of a secret facility and demanded their return, according to U.S. officials.
The officials cited the timing of the discovery in contending that the CIA didn’t actively monitor computers used by the staffers to compile a report on the agency’s secret detention and interrogation program, but instead had to go back and scour security logs kept on all classified systems.
The alleged unauthorized removal of the documents, which is being investigated by the FBI, triggered the unprecedented battle over the authority of the committee, which was created in 1976 to oversee U.S. intelligence organizations in the wake of a series of domestic spying scandals. And what also remains unknown is what secrets about the controversial interrogation program might be contained in the documents now in dispute.
The CIA's refusal to provide the documents to the committee, several Democratic senators contend, is evidence that the agency has been trying to stymie the release of a potentially damning report.
Some people familiar with the matter have defended the committee staffers’ action as arguably within the legal and constitutional authority of the CIA’s congressional overseers, and they questioned the decision by the agency’s Office of General Counsel to seek a criminal investigation.
As CIA Fights w/ Senate Panel Over Torture, Public Left in Dark
An internal skirmish over intelligence does little to help the American people come to terms to the torture done in their names by their government
As the murkiest details of the torture program created and run by the Bush administration continues to be shielded from public review, the growing controversy over the clandestine and illegal use of techniques by the CIA has now taken center stage in a bureaucratic fight between the agency and the Senate Intelligence Committee charged with its oversight.
Given the secretive nature of the issue and parties involved, what has leaked out in reporting and public statements over the last several weeks gives only a vague sense of the fight between members of the committee, the Obama administration, and the CIA but most of it revolves around an investigative panel set up by the Senators on the committee to explore the torture program. ...
With the DOJ now investigating claims of misbehavior or breach of boundaries on both sides, the possible outcomes remain unclear.
One thing, however, worth noting that both the CIA and the Senate Intelligence Committee members agree on when it comes to how the U.S. government used torture and prolonged detention without charge as formal policy: the public has no right to know.
The CIA has brought darkness to America by fighting in the shadows
In a 2004 report military intelligence officers told the International Committee for the Red Cross they believed between 70% and 80% of the detainees in Iraq were innocent. The nods and winks became permanent tics – so reflexive they embedded themselves in the institutional subconscious. "The most serious thing is the abuse of power that that allows you to do," Lawrence Wilkerson, former secretary of state, Colin Powell's chief of staff, told Jeremy Scahill in his book, Dirty Wars. "You find out the intelligence was bad and you killed a bunch of innocent people and you have a bunch of innocent people on your hands, so you stuff 'em in Guantánamo. No one ever knows anything about that. You don't have to prove to anyone that you did right. You did it all in secret, so you just go to the next operation. You say, 'Chalk that one up to experience'… And believe me that happened." ...
Those openly called on to flout international law in the interests of a higher good do not then suddenly submit that goal to domestic law once they've gone through customs. Once the state has deliberately created space for power to be exercised without accountability those who occupy that space will protect it against enemies domestic and foreign. When your war is global and unending it inevitably comes home and keeps going. The monster the US has unleashed on the rest of the world is steadily devouring its own. ...
In recent months, it has emerged that the CIA has been spying on investigators from the Senate intelligence committee – the very committee charged with overseeing the CIA. The investigators, who were authorised to examine CIA documents relating to interrogation methods, found a withering internal review which concluded with the finding that torture techniques, like waterboarding, used in "black site" prisons had been ineffective. This was particularly troublesome because the CIA director had argued the opposite before the committee, contradicting the agency's own findings. When the CIA discovered that the investigators had the review, it started going through their computer logs to find out how they had got hold of it.
In short the CIA spirited people away and tortured them, concluded this was useless, suppressed those conclusions, lied about them to elected officials and then spied on the people who had a democratic mandate to discover the truth precisely because they discovered the truth.
Julian Assange tells SXSW audience: ‘NSA has grown to be a rogue agency’
The Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on Saturday told an audience in Texas that people power is the key to rolling back the power of the National Security Agency and other surveillance agencies.
“We have to do something about it. All of us have to do something about it,” he said, in an interview at the SXSW conference in Austin. “How can individuals do something about it? Well, we’ve got no choice.” ...
Interviewed by Benjamin Palmer of the marketing agency the Barbarian Group, Assange discussed issues including government surveillance, online democracy and the future of the internet. ...
Assange was asked about whether, thanks to the NSA revelations, the web was under threat. He pointed to comments made this week by a US military figure about a bill being put to Congress to try to “stop publication of material about the National Security Agency”, backed by new cyberterrorism legislation.
“There is a really serious attempt to try and stop these revelations and others, and introduce a new international regime of censorship,” he said, pointing to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement as a particular threat.
“Now that the internet has merged with human society … the laws that apply to the internet apply to human society. This penetration of the internet by the NSA and [British spy agency] GCHQ is the penetration of our human society. It means there has been a militarisation of our civilian space. A military occupation of our civilian space … is a very serious matter.”
John Kerry reveals lighter side of mass surveillance at Gridiron dinner
Politicians poked fun at adversaries and themselves on Saturday night in Washington, at the annual Gridiron dinner, a gathering of journalists and public figures. ...
[John] Kerry, a former senator and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, joked in his speech about revelations of government spying on people including journalists, saying it was “so nice to put faces to the metadata”.
Leftist Ex-Rebel Holds Narrow Lead in El Salvador After Entering Race as Heavy Favorite
Venezuela divisions deepen as protest over food shortages is halted, OAS votes support for Maduro peace process against US prompting
Hundreds of National Guardsmen in riot gear and armoured vehicles prevented an “empty pots march” from reaching Venezuela’s food ministry on Saturday to protest against chronic food shortages.
President Nicolás Maduro’s socialist government, meanwhile, celebrated an Organisation of American States (OAS) declaration supporting its efforts to bring a solution to the country’s worst political violence in years, calling it a diplomatic victory. The United States, Canada and Panama were the only nations to oppose the declaration.
“The meddling minority against Venezuela in the OAS, Panama, Canada and the US, is defeated in a historic decision that respects our sovereignty,” government spokeswoman Delcy Rodriguez tweeted. ...
Late on Friday in Washington, the OAS approved a declaration that rejected violence and called for justice for the 21 people the government says have died in street protests since 12 February. The declaration offered “full support” for a government peace initiative that the opposition has refused to join until dozens of jailed protesters and an opposition leader are freed.
Twenty-nine countries voted in favor of the declaration after 15 hours of debate spread over two days. After Panama sought discussion of the crisis in the body, Venezuela broke off relations and expelled its ambassador and three other diplomats.
The objections from Washington and Panama attached to the declaration were longer than the declaration itself.
Joe Biden provides the irony supplements:
Joe Biden describes situation in Venezuela as 'alarming'
Vice-President Joe Biden has given a stark assessment of the ongoing unrest in Venezuela, accusing President Nicolás Maduro of widespread human rights violations and saying the situation reminded him of Latin America’s troubled and violent past.
In a written interview with El Mercurio of Chile, where Biden arrived on Sunday at the start of his seventh official visit to the region, he called the unstable situation in Venezuela “alarming” and said the Caracas government lacked even basic respect for human rights.
“Confronting peaceful protesters with force and in some cases armed militias, limiting freedom of the press and assembly […] is not in line with the solid standards of democracy that we have in most of our hemisphere.
[Dear JB - here's a link to a study of homegrown American thuggery and "Confronting protesters with force and in some cases armed militias, limiting freedom of the press and assembly," and things, "not in line with the solid standards of democracy that we have in most of our hemisphere." - js]
Protests and talks widen rifts in Venezuela opposition
As violent protests in Venezuela alienate moderates in the opposition and show no signs of toppling President Nicolas Maduro, the socialist leader's call for talks is deepening divisions between his rivals.
The country's worst civil unrest in a decade has killed at least 20 people, including supporters of both sides and members of the security forces, since early last month.
Day after day, thousands of opposition supporters march peacefully in cities around the nation, demanding political change and an end to high inflation, shortages of basic foods in stores, and one of the highest murder rates in the world.
Then every night, hooded opposition militants emerge around a square in eastern Caracas brandishing rocks and Molotov cocktails, clashing with riot police and turning one of the capital's most affluent neighborhoods into a battlefield.
The violence is fueling tensions inside the opposition, with moderates scared it could spin further out of control and tarnish the cause of peaceful political change in the future.
Maduro appears to have weathered the worst of the demonstrations on the streets for now and is repeatedly offering talks, creating a new dilemma for opposition leaders. ...
[W]ith pleas for talks coming from as far afield as the White House, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Pope Francis, the [opposition] refusal to attend any discussions to date has drawn criticism, including from within the coalition's ranks.
The Evening Greens
Third pipe at Dan River plant leaking coal ash toxins, EPA says
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has confirmed that coal ash is leaking from a third pipe at Duke Energy’s Dan River Steam Station.
Levels of arsenic, lead, and other coal-ash toxins exceed EPA screening guidelines, says Kevin Eichinger, EPA’s on-site coordinator for the spill on the Dan River. He says EPA is waiting for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources to determine whether this leak is a new violation of state water regulations and what action should be taken.
It is the second new leak of coal ash toxins discovered at the plant since a broken 48-inch stormwater pipe under the main ash pond at the plant spewed up to 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River. The leak from this 12-inch pipe, which is carried to the river by a drainage ditch, is nothing near the scale of that spill, but it still may be illegal under state regulations for surface water.
Oh looky, some Democratic Senators are going to demonstrate their commitment to fighting climate change by staying up all night performing a futile gesture:
Democrat senators to stage all-night session of climate change speeches
More than two dozen Democratic senators will take to the Senate floor on Monday for an all-night session of speeches on climate change.
The marathon session will get underway after the last vote on Monday night and could last until 9am on Tuesday, Senate staff said.
The high visibility all-nighter was organised by a new initiative, the Climate Action Task Force, which is trying to galvanise support for Barack Obama's climate change agenda.
The Senators said they would be tweeting throughout the night, using the hashtag #Up4Climate.
"Climate change is real, it is caused by humans, and it is solvable," Brian Schatz, Democratic senator from Hawaii, said in a statement. "Congress must act. On Monday night we are going to show the growing number of senators who are committed to working together to confront climate change."
There is no prospect of getting climate change legislation through this Congress – and a majority of Republicans in the House and Senate deny the existence of a human role in climate change or oppose action on climate change.
New England on 'High Alert' After Canadian Pipeline Reversal Approved
Environmental groups raise alarm over potential transport of tar sands oil from western regions to New England coast
The tar sands oil industry scored a regulatory victory on Thursday when the Canadian National Energy Board approved a plan by energy giant Enbridge to reverse the flow of Canada's 'Line 9' oil pipeline eastward from Ontario to Montreal.
The decision has regional environmental groups sounding the alarm, warning the industry is now one step closer to being able to transport tar sands and other corrosive crude oil from the west, through Ontario and Quebec, over the border into Vermont, and then to the Maine coast for export.
The ruling, which comes four months after the government held public hearings on the proposal, will bring oil from western regions of Canada and the U.S., including tar sands from Alberta and heavy Bakken crude from North Dakota. ...
Fears that the New England pipeline would soon be reversed to transport Canadian tar sands to the Maine coast were sparked last year when oil companies poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into a campaign that ultimately defeated an anti-tar sands referendum in the coastal town of South Portland, Maine. The referendum would have barred a proposal to construct a tar sands pipeline terminal on the city's waterfront.
So now, as the Canadian National Energy Board has taken the next step towards bringing tar sands to the New England border, many are alarmed.
Largest anti-fracking protest hits UK
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin' Is On Hiatus
Are Progressives Ready for 'Political Revolution' with Bernie?
Ukraine's oligarchs: who are they – and which side are they on?
The NSA Has An Advice Columnist. Seriously.
Beautiful Music for Ugly Children: a young adult novel
A Little Night Music
Booker T. & The MG's - Time Is Tight
Booker T. & The MG's - Steve Cropper explains Green Onions
Booker T and the MGs - Groovin'
Booker T. & The MG's - Red Beans And Rice
Booker T & The MG's - Boot Leg
Booker T & the MG's - Hip Hug Her
Booker T & The MG's - Mercy Mercy
Judy Clay, Booker T & The MG's - Children Don't Get Weary
Booker T & The MGs - Chinese Checkers
Booker T. & The MG's - Wang dang doodle
Neil Young with Booker T & the MGs - All Along the Watchtower
Jeff Beck w/ Booker T. Jones - Brush with the Blues
Booker T. Jones - Get Behind the Mule
It's National Pie Day!
The election is over, it's a new year and it's time to work on real change in new ways... and it's National Pie Day. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to tell you a little more about our new site and to start getting people signed up.
Come on over and sign up so that we can send you announcements about the site, the launch, and information about participating in our public beta testing.
Why is National Pie Day the perfect opportunity to tell you more about us? Well you'll see why very soon. So what are you waiting for?! Head on over now and be one of the first!
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