| CTV News | - |
LONDON
-- Three months after she was shot in the head for daring to say girls
should be able to get an education, a 15-year-old Pakistani hugged her
nurses and smiled as she walked out of a Birmingham hospital.
1.04.2013
***** MAJOR STEP!!! 01.04.13 HARPER TO MEET W CHIEF THERESA SPENSE Hunger Strike
Toronto Star - OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper has offered to meet with a delegation of First Nations leaders to discuss treaty and aboriginal rights and economic development.
DESPITE WITHERING, NEGATIVE, RACIST, MAIN STREAM PRESS:
Also -
http://www.facebook.com/APTNNationalNews?ref=ts&fref=ts like this page, keeps u posted on current updates on chief n idle no more...
"News that not only informs, but inspires." Note: Comments on this page may be used on-air. Questions: jbarrera at aptn dot ca
01.04.13 CHIEF THERESA SPENSE Hunger Strike - MAJOR PRESS
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| Full Pundit: Stephen Harper and hunger strike politics National Post There were many good reasons for Stephen Harper not to accede to hunger-striking Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence's demands for a meeting, Postmedia's Michael Den Tandt concedes: It could be seen as a sign of weakness; it might encourage others to ... See all stories on this topic » | ||
| Spence hunger strike working to a crescendo Macleans.ca Theresa Spence's hunger strike is working to a crescendo. The Attawapiskat chief's refusal to eat solid food has attracted significant media attention almost from the beginning, but it's naturally taken on greater urgency as the days and weeks pass ... See all stories on this topic » | ||
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| hunger striker Spence wants action from Ottawa within 72 hours Global Edmonton Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence is helped back to her teepee after greeting and welcoming supporters as they visit her on Victoria Island in Ottawa on Monday, January 3, 2013. Spence is in her fourth week of a hunger strike calling on Harper to meet ... See all stories on this topic » | ||
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***** For Creation's Sake - READ THESE: "Gospel," Tolstoy; "Resurrecting," Loving
"The Gospel in Brief," Leo Tolstoy. THIS IS GANDHI'S DNA. YES. WITHOUT IT, NO GANDHI. HOW CAN YOU LEAVE THIS UNSTUDIED!?!?!?!
"Resurrecting your Unviolent Warrior - a Personal Trainer," Loving.
I USE THIS EVERY DAY, to build into MY DNA the Wisdom of Jesus, Gandhi, Teresa, Alice Paul, Diane Nash, MLK Jr...
"BE[COME] THE CHANGE THE WORLD NEEDS TO BE." Gandhi
Hurry.
I know of no substitute on earth for this Personal Trainer. If you do, tell me! If not, USE IT.
We're out of time.
And then this: "Global Warming's Death - Fast." Loving
Our children are out of time:
"Resurrecting your Unviolent Warrior - a Personal Trainer," Loving.
I USE THIS EVERY DAY, to build into MY DNA the Wisdom of Jesus, Gandhi, Teresa, Alice Paul, Diane Nash, MLK Jr...
"BE[COME] THE CHANGE THE WORLD NEEDS TO BE." Gandhi
Hurry.
I know of no substitute on earth for this Personal Trainer. If you do, tell me! If not, USE IT.
We're out of time.
And then this: "Global Warming's Death - Fast." Loving
Our children are out of time:
***** nd 'THANK GOD WE RE-ELECTED PR. OBAMA. NOW, IF WE'LL JUST DO OUR PART, each hour.' Loving
nd 'THANK GOD WE RE-ELECTED PR. OBAMA. NOW, IF WE'LL JUST DO OUR PART, each hour.' Loving
1.03.2013
'Insane worship of our Fleshly Spirit: Reuters - Entering the age of the $1 million medicine Reuters
| Reuters | - |
By
Ben Hirschler. LONDON | Thu Jan 3, 2013 9:14am EST. LONDON (Reuters) -
The Western world's first drug to fix faulty genes promises to transform
the lives of patients with an ultra-rare disease that clogs their blood
with fat.
***** nd 'Each $ you consume, hoard, beyond your bare need: Fairly precise measure of your Life's Meaninglessness; Joylessness.' Loving
***** nd 'Each $ you consume, hoard, beyond your bare need: Fairly precise measure of your Life's Meaninglessness; Joylessness.' Loving
nd 'Everything less than giving 100% to avert Ecocide, NOW, makes a STATEMENT: "IT'S NOT THAT BIG A DEAL! READ MY LIFE!" You can't escape that, nor can I.' Loving
nd 'Everything less than giving 100% to avert Ecocide, NOW, makes a STATEMENT: "IT'S NOT THAT BIG A DEAL! READ MY LIFE!" You can't escape that, nor can I.' Loving
nd 'What explains me, totally, is - about 13 years ago I decided to trade Comfort, for JOY. OMG. I highly recommend it!' Loving
nd 'What explains me, totally, is - about 13 years ago I decided to trade Comfort, for JOY. OMG. I highly recommend it!' Loving
***** nd 'It is time for each of us, you, me to BECOME A PRAYER for our children's future. Near-blind Faith. Nothing like Stopping Ecocide has ever been done before.' Loving
nd 'It is time for each of us, you, me to BECOME A PRAYER for our children's future. Near-blind Faith. Nothing like Stopping Ecocide has ever been done before.' Loving
nd 'Tho subconscious, we're near-perfect Hypocrisy (actors) detectors. Why only Alice Paule, Diane Nash, Teresa of Calcutta, Gandhi, MLK Jr, Jesus, Diane Wilson.... help others STAND.' Loving
nd 'Tho subconscious, we're near-perfect Hypocrisy (actors) detectors. Why only Alice Paule, Diane Nash, Teresa of Calcutta, Gandhi, MLK Jr, Jesus, Diane Wilson.... help others STAND.' Loving
***** nd 'In a quasi-Democracy like US it's Vastly more difficult to bring Evil to Light. It is sooo diffuse.' Loving
nd 'In a quasi-Democracy like US it's Vastly more difficult to bring Evil to Light. It is sooo diffused throughout, well, everything and everybody. Near-universal complicity.' Loving
1.02.2013
***** 01.03.13 Ecocide's Death Fast Day 1: Solidarity with Theresa Spence, Diane Wilson
[ZERO endorsement, approval, agreement, fore-knowledge, or acceptance by Chief Theresa Spence or Diane Wilson (and here, and here )of me or my action is implied here, nor in any way has it been secured. Quite possibly, the opposite. They are not to blame, nor to be held responsible for my actions. I act entirely on my own, as best I can hear our Creator (same as them, I'll wager).]
' 'Till enough are seen UNVIOLENTLY dying for it, giving 100% of their very being, global warming, Ecocide by GHG, and trampling of such few, remaining, meaningful lives as Earth's Indigenous peoples, won't stop. [You saw Avatar, right?] HOWEVER, WHEN enough are seen dying for it, giving 100% of all that they have and all that they are, UNVIOLENTLY, global warming, Global Ecocide, and trampling of what few meaningful lives that exist... WILL STOP. IT WILL STOP, THEN. AND NOTHING LESS, NOTHING ELSE, CAN DO IT, before what tiny hope that exists now, is lost, forever.' Loving ("Global Warming's Death, Fast.")
Yes, this is my 3rd Death Fast, 39 days, then 5 days, in 2012 (here, and here). These came on the heals of two, 50 day water only hunger strikes in front of the White House, to avert Global Ecocide by GHG, in 2011. A Death Fast is not some macabre, perverted commitment to die, anymore than a weapon of mass destruction is a commitment to mass destroy. Both are weapons of ultimate power - one to destroy, the other to Create; one a weapon of ultimate Violence, the other a weapon of ultimate Loving. Sometimes, they go unused. Sometimes tests, even if unplanned, as were my 1st two, unexpectedly. Sometimes launched, but aborted. Sometimes launched, and allowed to reach their target. Sometimes irresponsibly used, or hollowly threatened - neither of which have I ever, nor will I ever do.
204 billion kids ARE my life, 200 billion to be born, 4 billion alive already. They're dead, tortured, eviscerated... already, unless we change things now. Now. NOW. TODAY. 2013. Yes, 40 years ago, when the US Government's Lincoln-created advisory panel, the National Institute of Science warned the President that global warming was the greatest threat ever to face humanity... was our last great, clear, near 100% chance to save our kids. But we've done nothing since then, we the keepers of our children - we've done nothing but make our own lives, like vultures...
So here we are (watch it. Click lwr right of vid field for full screen. Plse, watch it.):
... uh, did I mention - HERE WE ARE???
7 months ago it was clear to me that if there was enough sanity left on earth to Wage All-out Unviolent War, Waging Love, with their own bodies, to stop Global Ecocide by GHG, it was among our Indigenous Nations - Canadian (Athabascan, esp), US, Island Nations, Alaskan, Amazonian, South American, Asian...; and they and their children are the earliest victims, as usual. This came clear to me during my 1st Death Fast in the spring of 2012. I ended the 2nd Death Fast last summer, because I saw that there was no Life, no Humanity left on 2012 earth, that it already was a Dead planet, even among our Indigenous... too completely Dead for my Death Fast to do any good, and NONE OF US are to throw our lives away. Including me. EVER. ("Resurrecting your Unviolent Warrior").
But now I see four things:
1. Life among the Indigenous, I think - Chief Theresa Spence, dle no more....
2. Life elsewhere, such as Diane Wilson.
3. Clearly now I see - 'Unless the seed dies, and falls to earth, it bears no fruit,' Jesus. The anti-apartheid movement was Dead in South Africa until Steve Biko (1977) and others Died, and fell to earth 16 YEARS before apartheid fell... and then there was Life. Blacks lynched, Died in the US 1930's, Seeds that bore fruit 20, 30 years later in the '50's and '60's. Tunisian alight before the Arab Spring. Buddhist Monks alight in the early-mid1960's to stop the Vietnam Genocide half a decade later.... I've seen this pattern for years. I've wondered if I was ever to be one of these Seeds. I've not been able to see myself as that till now. I think I do now. Pretty clearly. I Pray, that I may be Prayer, a Seed, in time.
4. There is no more time. Unless the Indigenous UNVIOLENT uprising, Waging Love with their OWN BODIES, is beginning, there's no more time. NONE. The physics is, about a 20% chance it is already too late to stop. Uh, did I mention, here we are? (watch all 30 min. Trust me.)
Will there be a Death Fast 4 form me? The one I began last night, is number 3 for me.
What is a Death Fast, anyway? Well, here's the book I wrote on it: here (see tabs above) . But it is a Hunger Strike where an end victory cannot be seen in time to save the Death Faster, and the Faster's Death is a perfectly acceptable, and the most likely outcome. It is a decision to be a Seed, if that is what in the end is the best way to serve. It is the ultimate statement of all perfect Unviolent warfare: 'I am here to collect what is rightfully mine ( in this case - legislation to charge NOW, the $250 / ton of GHG that currently is being 'billed' to our kids in the future - see vid), a future for my 204 billion kids. And if the price for that is my life, I'm perfectly happy to pay it! Right now.'
Death Fast NEVER is a decision to die! It is a decision to serve with one's last breath, in my case, the Mission of the virtually impossible averting of Global Ecocide by GHG, with ONE'S LAST BREATH, WITH 100% OF WHAT ONE IS, IN THE MOST PROMISING, POWERFUL (REGARDLESS OF HOW UNLIKELY) WAY POSSIBLE. ('If the idea is not absurd, it has no hope.' Einstein paraphrase). Death Fast is the ultimate weapon of the Unviolent Soldier, and it has the potential to Bear the Fruit of other Unviolent Warriors. In Steve Biko's case, 5, 10 years later. We don't have 5, 10 years. We don't have 5, 10 months:
But I can't change that. I can only change me. And so I shall continue to try, with every breath.
I wonder how this will turn out.
Until in 60 or so days from now when I expect that they cart me away, I expect to remain at the now 7 month old 22/7 vigil in front of the DC Canadian Embassy taking vitamin, Iron (for my cancer-driven anemia to reduce the torturous restless-leg syndrome that results otherwise), and zero calorie electrolytes when available. I may retreat physically for a few days or weeks, if friends in Philly will take me, cart me up and back) during the security of the Inauguration - I'm smack dab in the middle of Pr. Obama's route, LOL; but the Death Fast would continue uninterrupted.
The greatest, foundational Hope of MLK Jr, and Gandhi, our two greatest unvololent warriors of recent history, was in the Teachings of the man named Jesus, ( Tolstoy ). Mine too. I've been re-immersed in study of His teachings these recent months to be a Prayer of channeling His Teachings to my Life, and into this Lifeless, Hopeless age. I expect to continue doing so, and to attempt to study and channel as well the Lives and Teachings of Gandhi, MLK Jr, Teresa of Calcutta, the Freedom Riders, and some of the other Wise we've been given.
I see no other hope, and no other Path for me that is nearly as promising for my 204 billion kids.
God, PLEASE Save their Souls. By all indications, WE WILL NOT.
' 'Till enough are seen UNVIOLENTLY dying for it, giving 100% of their very being, global warming, Ecocide by GHG, and trampling of such few, remaining, meaningful lives as Earth's Indigenous peoples, won't stop. [You saw Avatar, right?] HOWEVER, WHEN enough are seen dying for it, giving 100% of all that they have and all that they are, UNVIOLENTLY, global warming, Global Ecocide, and trampling of what few meaningful lives that exist... WILL STOP. IT WILL STOP, THEN. AND NOTHING LESS, NOTHING ELSE, CAN DO IT, before what tiny hope that exists now, is lost, forever.' Loving ("Global Warming's Death, Fast.")
Yes, this is my 3rd Death Fast, 39 days, then 5 days, in 2012 (here, and here). These came on the heals of two, 50 day water only hunger strikes in front of the White House, to avert Global Ecocide by GHG, in 2011. A Death Fast is not some macabre, perverted commitment to die, anymore than a weapon of mass destruction is a commitment to mass destroy. Both are weapons of ultimate power - one to destroy, the other to Create; one a weapon of ultimate Violence, the other a weapon of ultimate Loving. Sometimes, they go unused. Sometimes tests, even if unplanned, as were my 1st two, unexpectedly. Sometimes launched, but aborted. Sometimes launched, and allowed to reach their target. Sometimes irresponsibly used, or hollowly threatened - neither of which have I ever, nor will I ever do.
204 billion kids ARE my life, 200 billion to be born, 4 billion alive already. They're dead, tortured, eviscerated... already, unless we change things now. Now. NOW. TODAY. 2013. Yes, 40 years ago, when the US Government's Lincoln-created advisory panel, the National Institute of Science warned the President that global warming was the greatest threat ever to face humanity... was our last great, clear, near 100% chance to save our kids. But we've done nothing since then, we the keepers of our children - we've done nothing but make our own lives, like vultures...
- auth-whoring,
- blogging (rhymes with flogging),
- studying (rhymes with bloodying),
- meeting (rhymes with bleating),
- reporting (rhymes with devouring),
- talking (rhymes with balking),
- activisting (rhymes with sado-masochisting),
- DENYING - our OWN PERSONAL responsibility AS PARENTS, AUNTS, GRANDPARENTS, BROTHERS... to STAND ('Denying' rhymes with forever-dying)...
So here we are (watch it. Click lwr right of vid field for full screen. Plse, watch it.):
... uh, did I mention - HERE WE ARE???
7 months ago it was clear to me that if there was enough sanity left on earth to Wage All-out Unviolent War, Waging Love, with their own bodies, to stop Global Ecocide by GHG, it was among our Indigenous Nations - Canadian (Athabascan, esp), US, Island Nations, Alaskan, Amazonian, South American, Asian...; and they and their children are the earliest victims, as usual. This came clear to me during my 1st Death Fast in the spring of 2012. I ended the 2nd Death Fast last summer, because I saw that there was no Life, no Humanity left on 2012 earth, that it already was a Dead planet, even among our Indigenous... too completely Dead for my Death Fast to do any good, and NONE OF US are to throw our lives away. Including me. EVER. ("Resurrecting your Unviolent Warrior").
But now I see four things:
1. Life among the Indigenous, I think - Chief Theresa Spence, dle no more....
2. Life elsewhere, such as Diane Wilson.
3. Clearly now I see - 'Unless the seed dies, and falls to earth, it bears no fruit,' Jesus. The anti-apartheid movement was Dead in South Africa until Steve Biko (1977) and others Died, and fell to earth 16 YEARS before apartheid fell... and then there was Life. Blacks lynched, Died in the US 1930's, Seeds that bore fruit 20, 30 years later in the '50's and '60's. Tunisian alight before the Arab Spring. Buddhist Monks alight in the early-mid1960's to stop the Vietnam Genocide half a decade later.... I've seen this pattern for years. I've wondered if I was ever to be one of these Seeds. I've not been able to see myself as that till now. I think I do now. Pretty clearly. I Pray, that I may be Prayer, a Seed, in time.
4. There is no more time. Unless the Indigenous UNVIOLENT uprising, Waging Love with their OWN BODIES, is beginning, there's no more time. NONE. The physics is, about a 20% chance it is already too late to stop. Uh, did I mention, here we are? (watch all 30 min. Trust me.)
Will there be a Death Fast 4 form me? The one I began last night, is number 3 for me.
What is a Death Fast, anyway? Well, here's the book I wrote on it: here (see tabs above) . But it is a Hunger Strike where an end victory cannot be seen in time to save the Death Faster, and the Faster's Death is a perfectly acceptable, and the most likely outcome. It is a decision to be a Seed, if that is what in the end is the best way to serve. It is the ultimate statement of all perfect Unviolent warfare: 'I am here to collect what is rightfully mine ( in this case - legislation to charge NOW, the $250 / ton of GHG that currently is being 'billed' to our kids in the future - see vid), a future for my 204 billion kids. And if the price for that is my life, I'm perfectly happy to pay it! Right now.'
Death Fast NEVER is a decision to die! It is a decision to serve with one's last breath, in my case, the Mission of the virtually impossible averting of Global Ecocide by GHG, with ONE'S LAST BREATH, WITH 100% OF WHAT ONE IS, IN THE MOST PROMISING, POWERFUL (REGARDLESS OF HOW UNLIKELY) WAY POSSIBLE. ('If the idea is not absurd, it has no hope.' Einstein paraphrase). Death Fast is the ultimate weapon of the Unviolent Soldier, and it has the potential to Bear the Fruit of other Unviolent Warriors. In Steve Biko's case, 5, 10 years later. We don't have 5, 10 years. We don't have 5, 10 months:
But I can't change that. I can only change me. And so I shall continue to try, with every breath.
I wonder how this will turn out.
Until in 60 or so days from now when I expect that they cart me away, I expect to remain at the now 7 month old 22/7 vigil in front of the DC Canadian Embassy taking vitamin, Iron (for my cancer-driven anemia to reduce the torturous restless-leg syndrome that results otherwise), and zero calorie electrolytes when available. I may retreat physically for a few days or weeks, if friends in Philly will take me, cart me up and back) during the security of the Inauguration - I'm smack dab in the middle of Pr. Obama's route, LOL; but the Death Fast would continue uninterrupted.
The greatest, foundational Hope of MLK Jr, and Gandhi, our two greatest unvololent warriors of recent history, was in the Teachings of the man named Jesus, ( Tolstoy ). Mine too. I've been re-immersed in study of His teachings these recent months to be a Prayer of channeling His Teachings to my Life, and into this Lifeless, Hopeless age. I expect to continue doing so, and to attempt to study and channel as well the Lives and Teachings of Gandhi, MLK Jr, Teresa of Calcutta, the Freedom Riders, and some of the other Wise we've been given.
I see no other hope, and no other Path for me that is nearly as promising for my 204 billion kids.
God, PLEASE Save their Souls. By all indications, WE WILL NOT.
01.02.12 I'm considering Hunger Strike / Death Fast - Idle No More Solidarity
01.02.12 I'm considering Hunger Strike / Death Fast - Idle No More Solidarity, and to Avert Ecocide - End Global Warming
For a year or more it has been my view that unless the Indigenous Nations of the world lead us back from Ecocide, with their Lives, Unviolently, dying, as many of us as is needed, THERE IS NO HOPE. They, as sick, broken... as many are, our Indigenous of the world are probably our last remaining repository of much Humanity, Sanity, and if they don't have enough to See what is at stake,
and enough Courage, Love, of Creation, to Joyfully Die if need be to save our children, that NO ONE DOES.
But they may. Google Idle No More.
Chief Spence is on day 20 or so of her Hunger Strike to protect her Indigenous Nation from having it's right to meaningful life revoked by the Canadian Harper government, as I understand it.
THE PURPOSE OF LIFE IS TO HELP OTHERS HAVE MEANINGFUL LIFE.
Tho her stand is not directly against Ecocide, as is mine, as the stand of all should be, I believe it IS a stand for MEANINGFUL LIFE, and this is virtually the same.
I've communicated to an intermediary to Chief Spence, to see what she thinks of me joining the Hunger Strike.. We are out of time to avert Ecocide. I don't know if Chief Spence's work is the beginning of the End, but if it is not it is too late anyway. And if it is, I have to give my last breath to make it INDEED, the End of the End, the End of ECOCIDE. The end of any future for Children, EVER.. Anywhere.
I'll remain in Prayer, seeking in my imagination, the Wisdom, Will, Guidance of the Creator.
You, should do the same. You do love our children. Right?
For a year or more it has been my view that unless the Indigenous Nations of the world lead us back from Ecocide, with their Lives, Unviolently, dying, as many of us as is needed, THERE IS NO HOPE. They, as sick, broken... as many are, our Indigenous of the world are probably our last remaining repository of much Humanity, Sanity, and if they don't have enough to See what is at stake,
and enough Courage, Love, of Creation, to Joyfully Die if need be to save our children, that NO ONE DOES.
But they may. Google Idle No More.
Chief Spence is on day 20 or so of her Hunger Strike to protect her Indigenous Nation from having it's right to meaningful life revoked by the Canadian Harper government, as I understand it.
THE PURPOSE OF LIFE IS TO HELP OTHERS HAVE MEANINGFUL LIFE.
Tho her stand is not directly against Ecocide, as is mine, as the stand of all should be, I believe it IS a stand for MEANINGFUL LIFE, and this is virtually the same.
I've communicated to an intermediary to Chief Spence, to see what she thinks of me joining the Hunger Strike.. We are out of time to avert Ecocide. I don't know if Chief Spence's work is the beginning of the End, but if it is not it is too late anyway. And if it is, I have to give my last breath to make it INDEED, the End of the End, the End of ECOCIDE. The end of any future for Children, EVER.. Anywhere.
I'll remain in Prayer, seeking in my imagination, the Wisdom, Will, Guidance of the Creator.
You, should do the same. You do love our children. Right?
video Loving and Blueskywoman - Idlenomore Solidarity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5OnrF_JAiw
www.youtube.com
December
31,2012..... Interview with StartLoving on his advocacy on tar sands
and support for our chief(Theresa Spence) with Blueskywoman
***** GET THIS STORY SEEN. DAY 35 HUNGER STRIKE. DIANE WILSON.
Why I'm On A Hunger Strike-Environmental and Injured Workers Activist And Advocate Diane Wilson
Background:
----------------
WILSONALAMOBAY AT AOL COM
----------------
Diane Wilson is a long time environmental activist, author and injured worker advocate on the Texas Gulf Coast.
She is presently on a hunger strike to stop Valero from investing in the Canada tar sands.
She is a cofounder of Texas Injured Workers www.texasinjuredworkers.org and a board member of the Injured Workers National Network www.iwnn.org
For more information on the hunger strike go to http://tarsandsblockade.org/13th-action/
Workers! Demand Valero divest from tar sands. The life you save may just be your own.
I’m
a fourth generation fisherwoman from the Texas Gulf Coast. For forty
years I have made a living on a shrimp boat plying the Gulf Coast
waters, but for the past twenty-five years, I have fought a long and
difficult battle with industry to preserve the health and wellbeing of
our Texas bays and marine life for our children and our children’s
children.
Today
I am involved in one of my most difficult challenges. I am on the 35th
day of a hunger strike that I began to convince Valero to divest from
Canada’s tar sands.
Many
stakeholders have been pulled into this fight that is so colossal and
mind boggling that it can almost be called biblical and not be an
exaggeration. The indigenous tribes of the First Nation in Canada, land
owners, cities’ water supplies, communities surrounding the refineries,
and the very planet that we call home are all being threatened by the
extraction of tar sands and the XL pipeline that is snaking its way from
Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast of Texas.
Workers
in the refinery don’t get mentioned much and that’s pretty surprising
given that workers are ground zero for exposure from the refining of tar
sands.
When
a refinery uses a bitumen blend from Canada’s tar sands, it is using a
raw material that contains large quantities of sulfur. This means U.S.
refineries using tar sands generally produce more intense sulfur dioxide
air pollution that is, today, not adequately regulated. The result is
heightened health risks not only to communities living near tar sands
refineries, but also to the workers inside.
In fact, workers are the most direct line for sulfur dioxide poisoning.
A
few statistics from publicly available sources indicate that, in
general, tar sands refineries spew more sulfur dioxide pollution per
barrel produced than refineries that do not use tar sands. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), short- term
exposure to elevated sulfur dioxide levels is associated with reduced
lung function, chest tightness, wheezing, shortness of breath,
respiratory illness, deterioration of the lung’s defense systems, and the aggravation of cardiovascular systems.
In
addition, a refinery’s processing of tar sands leaves a toxic cocktail
of 20 by-products (often at 1,000 times above the safe limit) that
include the cancer-causing chemicals benzene, toluene, and hydrogen
sulfide.
Now
I know what some workers are going to say when they read this. I know
because I’ve asked them and they say, “Smells like money to me!” or “Not
me! I’m healthy! ” Or “That’s why I have two life insurance policies.”
Then stuff happens.
The
experts say 870,000 workers get sick and 55,000-60,000 die each year in
the United States from an occupational disease. Then the experts add
the caveat that these numbers are undoubtedly underestimates. How much
of an underestimate? Well, as much as 69 percent of illnesses and
injuries never make it to the Bureau of Labor statistics. And the vast
majority of workers with an occupational illness never receive any
benefits from workers compensation.
Ask
any injured worker who’s developed an illness brought on by exposure to
a chemical and he can recite a litany of reasons why help never comes.
Work
related illnesses are difficult to identify, especially those with long
periods between exposure and illness. Part of the problem is simply an
absence of data on the health effects of hazardous exposures.
Absolutely nothing is known about potential toxicity for more than
85percent of chemicals in use in industry. In addition, routine
training on known hazards and their effects is lacking. The average
doctor receives 4 hours or less of training in occupational medicine in a
4 year medical school curriculum.
But
the major reason is Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s
(OSHA) reliance on employers self-reporting. Employers have strong
incentives for underreporting illnesses or not at all. Businesses with
few illnesses on the job are least likely to receive inspections from
OSHA, they have lower worker compensation insurance premiums, and they
have a better chance of winning government contracts.
There
are other reasons. Employers and Worker compensations Insurers have
major incentives to deny a connection between a workplace exposure and
disease. Every occupational disease that is not recognized saves them
money by socializing the cost on to someone else, mostly injured
workers, their families, and taxpayers.
Workers
themselves may not want to suggest their health problem is work
related, fearing they might lose their job or suffer retribution from an
employer angered by a Workers Compensation claim. Workers report
widespread harassment and intimidation when they report an injury or
illness. Reports, testimonies, and new accounts show that many
employers fire or discipline workers who report injuries or illnesses or
complain about a safety problem. Other employers add demerits to a
workers record for reportable illnesses or injuries or absenteeism that
resulted from an alleged safety violation.
This is all just to say: Workers! Demand Valero divest from tar sands. The life you save may just be your own.
1.01.2013
nd 'FEW PEOPLE CHOOSE WAR, THE NEWTOWN SLAUGHTER, FAMINE, ECOCIDE, POVERTY, INJUSTICE.... WE CHOOSE TO WORSHIP OUR FLESHLY SPIRIT. THESE ARE JUST THE CERTAIN CONSEQUENCES.' Loving
nd 'FEW PEOPLE CHOOSE WAR, THE NEWTOWN SLAUGHTER, FAMINE, ECOCIDE, POVERTY, INJUSTICE.... WE CHOOSE TO WORSHIP OUR FLESHLY SPIRIT. THESE ARE JUST THE CERTAIN CONSEQUENCES.' Loving
nd ' 'Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth.' This was not Jesus threatening punishment. This was Jesus warning us of the self-inflicted pains of worshiping our Fleshly Spirit.' Loving
nd ' 'Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth.' This was not Jesus threatening punishment. This was Jesus warning us of the self-inflicted pains of worshiping our Fleshly Spirit.' Loving
nd 'What did Jesus mean, 'You say 'Lord, Lord, but your Hearts are far from me? I don't know you.' You speak, live, act... from your dead Flesh, but not your Soul, your Heart, the Creator's Kingdom.' Loving
nd 'What did Jesus mean, 'You say 'Lord, Lord, but your Hearts are far from me? I don't know you.' You speak, live, act... from your dead Flesh, but not your Soul, your Heart, the Creator's Kingdom.' Loving
nd 'Our western society - the bloodiest, Deadliest of gauntlets for the Spirit of Loving. Kills our kids.' Loving
nd 'Our western society - the bloodiest, Deadliest of gauntlets for the Spirit of Loving. Kills our kids.' Loving
nd 'Most all western children die, in Soul, Heart, by 13 or so. Few ever to be re-born.' Loving
nd 'Most all western children die, in Soul, Heart, by 13 or so. Few ever to be re-born.' Loving
nd ' 'most all western marriages are 'still-born.' At most one partner with any capacity for Loving.' Loving
nd ' 'most all western marriages are 'still-born.' At most one partner with any capacity for Loving.' Loving
nd 'My Family - Daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, mother, father...: Those devoted to our globally Neediest Family.' Loving
nd 'My Family - Daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, mother, father...: Those devoted to our globally Neediest Family.' Loving
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