Canadian tar sands project — Obama appears to be preparing to okay Keystone Pipeline

It’s been quite a few weeks for news here in the United States.

First, Edward Snowden revealed that the US has been collecting data on all e mail and telephone transmissions in the country. Then he fled from Hong Kong to Moscow, with the US authorities hot on his heels. Meanwhile, an official from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation responded to residents of that state who had been complaining about tap water that was making their children sick by threatening that if such complaints are found to be false, they ” can be considered under Homeland Security an act of terrorism.”

If you complain about this, you may be a terrorist

And if you think this is just talk, consider that prominent actor Mark Ruffalo has been placed on the terror advisory list for helping screen the film “Gasland II”.

Middle Ground on Environment Disappearing

Obama first came into office hoping to govern from the middle ground. However, the room for that middle ground, especially when it comes to environmental issues, has all but disappeared. This was shown in his recent (June 25) speech on this issue. In it, he pledged to take strong action on global warming. What does that action consist of? It includes:

• Increased fracking
• Increased building of nuclear power plants
• Preparing the grounds for an “okay” for the Keystone XL pipeline
• A call to “stabilize” – not vastly reduce – carbon emissions

This is a recipe for disaster, and millions of people across the United States are going to find what residents in that Tennessee region are finding – that among other things their drinking water is making them sick. They will also be finding what residents in Boulder County, CO, found – that the only way to protect themselves and their families is, among other things, to prepare to carry out mass, open civil disobedience.

Preparing to Defend Themselves

So Corporate America, as represented by the Obama administration and state and local governments across the country, is getting ready. They have already legally defined “terrorism” in such a way as to include mass civil disobedience. They have shown that they are willing to carry out long-term psychological torture, as in the case of Bradley Manning and also at Guantanamo. They have been gathering information on every resident in the United States, preparing to figure out who poses a threat to their plans to further pollute the planet – even going so far as to develop technology to determine where you travel in your car anywhere you go.

Then there is the case of reporter Michael Hastings. Hastings was the one who broke the story about top general Stanley McChrystal which led to his forced resignation. He recently said he was working on another top story, and in addition said he was being “investigated” by the FBI. A week ago, Hastings was killed in a mysterious auto accident when his car crashed into a tree. This was after he’d sent a note to friends saying he was working on a big story and needed to go “off radar” for awhile.

Meanwhile, the in-house, kept liberals of the Big Green NGO’s play their role of greasing the wheels. Commenting on Obama’s speech, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra club said, “this is the change we have been waiting for on climate.”