Thoughts on today and tomorrow

Macdonald J E Stainsby 10:57pm Jan 18
Not a statement, but a thought on the denial of the Keystone XL permit. This was not Obama “getting it right”– this was Obama afraid of people power. As a result of the long term struggles of many groups– in particular the first nations being killed off in actual fact by tar sands developments and all of the infrastructure from gas lines that feed to pipelines that supply and refineries that develop in Ontario, the US and elsewhere– but also the real fear of an administration that has seen people in city after city and across the US *in the streets*, taking back their power in numbers not seen in decades, the real heroes are all of you who have participated in building resistance to KXL, climate change, tar sands and corporate plunder and even capitalism itself. You– not Obama– are to be congratulated today, for it is only a reflection of power wielded at the grassroots level in this moment in history– the great awakening of peoples struggles across North America/Turtle Island– that made this possible.

Do not be so humble you forsake yourself and instead lavish praise on a President who is mostly worried about re-election, who has destroyed American civil liberties and waged wars on the poor at home, for oil abroad and on the climate everywhere since day one. It was the people who got there.

But even more important is that today we celebrate and tomorrow we struggle. We fight because now the even more pro oil administration of Canada will now try to destroy first nations land and oceans across British Columbia, sell the tar sands oil to China and California (people forget that this bitumen could be shipped there via tanker and get into Texas refineries anyhow) and this puts more economic pressure on making that disaster a set of dirty tricks to come. A system built on colonialism and sustained on an oil-fueled profit motive is the final target, the only target that we can win against and breathe easy for more than a day. This battle wins a little precious time, but makes our struggles elsewhere harder and more important than ever.

So celebrate tonight, fight harder tomorrow. It is all you can do– if we are serious and want to win, not little battles but the entire battles for the planet.

We can do it. We just must believe it. They said we could not win this one. They were wrong. They say we can’t shut down the tar sands. They are wrong.

Macdonald Stainsby,
co-ordinator, oilsandstruth.org.

And this is from Claude Johnson, an online guitar teacher, from his newsletter:

Hi Maren,

Wikipedia and other mega websites are doing a 24 hour blackout to protest SOPA. I’m gonna give you my thoughts on that in a second… But it ain’t gonna be pretty! If you really don’t care about my personal political opinions, then that’s great…

I don’t mind… Instead, check out this lesson from Derryl – its a sweet way to get started with shifting patterns:

VIDEO LESSON: SHIFTS

Enjoy the video lesson!

—–START OF SOPA RANT———-

SOPA… Where do I even begin…

Let me start by telling you that I do not think like most normal people, at least when it comes to politics. I was aware 20 years ago of the corrupt nature of government bureaucrats and trap of the 2 party system in America. I never voted for a republican OR democrat presidential candidate in my life. I’ve always voted Libertarian!

SOPA isn’t even really the issue. It’s just another in a long line of heavy-handed government solutions that do more harm than good. It threatens freedom of press and expression.

But, if you want to see real harm — look up the NDAA… It basically destroys our bill of rights as Americans. You can be dragged off in secret by the government, with no charges, and no trial… legally. This would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. “Not here in America” people would say.

Yet, through incremental chipping away at our freedoms, it happened. Obama signed it into law, quietly on New Years Eve.

This is outrageous!! Listen, I really, really DON’T like get political with my guitar newsletter. It’s not good for business.

But enough is enough… I’ve got to take a stand. If all sit in silence and fear… we fail.

All it takes for evil men to succeed is that good men do nothing.

At the risk of alienating you, I want to share a website that has opened my eyes to a lot of things… It’s one of the most controversial websites in the world. I’m not saying that I agree 100% with everything they publish. But, check it out, because I feel that they decode a lot of the mysteries of why the world is the way it is…

The site is: www.infowars.com

I think that by sharing this, its the most powerful thing I can do to take a stand for liberty. It’s about left vs. right, or dem vs repub.. It’s about us as a human race coming together for liberty. It’s about winning the information war to spread awareness of the truth to benefit all beings.