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Mariana Jiminez, a 71-year-old grandmother from the Ecuadorean Amazon, dips her hand into the oil-black water in the precious marshlands off Louisiana’s Gulf coast and holds a dying, oil-drenched crab in her hand. She warns of the petroleum-laced water, “This is very very dangerous. This is a poison that kills. Not instantly, but it will kill slowly.” This week, four Indigenous and community leaders from Ecuador (Mariana, Emergildo, Humberto and Luis), as well as advocates from Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch, are deep in Louisiana’s sweltering Bayou witnessing the depth of BP’s oil disaster. The Ecuadorean delegation has come to share the hard-won lessons from Chevron’s Amazon oil disaster with the United Houma Nation and Atakapa-Ishak tribes, American Indian communities dependent on a healthy Bayou for their very survival. Every Indigenous person we meet expresses fear and anxiety about losing their ability to feed themselves and their families, and to continue their way of life on the water…all because of BP’s greed-driven failures. These fears are by no means misplaced, as this is exactly what happened to the Indigenous peoples of Ecuador’s rainforest, at the hands of Chevron Corporation. They too used to fish, but had to start farming to sustain themselves. They spoke of the family members they’ve lost from oil-related birth defects and illnesses, and warned the Houma of the long-term health problems they will be facing long after BP and the TV cameras have left their shores. As we walked along the deserted, oil-stained beach in Grand Isle, Brenda Dardar Robichaux, former Principal Chief of the United Houma Nation, explained how struck she was by the similarity of her story to the story of Indigenous peoples of the Ecuadorean Amazon. From Louisiana’s Bayou to Ecuador’s rainforest, you see the same oil-sheened waterways and dying animals. You smell the same toxic stench in the air. Families nurse their loved ones through oil-related illnesses, respiratory diseases, and cancers while being told the same lie by oil companies and politicians alike- “the oil won’t hurt you.” In the heart of Houma territory, these communities have come together to find ways to hold reckless, criminal oil companies like BP and Chevron accountable. Check out news footage of their first days touring the Gulf, as well as the incredible photos on Flickr. Thanks so much to all of you who donated to make this very special journey possible. You can follow the rest of the tour through the Gulf on We Can Change Chevron’s Facebook page and @ChangeChevron on Twitter.
P.S.Donate now to support Rainforest Action Network’s critical work to hold oil companies accountable and to support frontline communities from the Amazon to the Gulf. |
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Tag Archives: black people
thinkprogress.org
ENVIRONMENT — CONSERVATIVES CLAIM THAT ‘JONES ACT’ IS HINDERING OIL SPILL CLEANUP IS ‘URBAN MYTH:’ In an effort to paint the Obama administration as failing in its response to the BP oil spill, Republicans continue to push the claim that the government is not accepting aid from foreign countries. The latest talking point alleges that the Jones Act — a longstanding law that “requires all trade delivered between U.S. ports to be carried in U.S. flagged vessels constructed in the United States and owned by American citizens” — is impeding the Gulf clean up effort by blocking foreign aid. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey said, “It’s a little shocking to me that a president that has such a multinational orientation as this president didn’t immediately see the benefits of waiving the Jones Act and allowing all of these resources to come in.” Some GOP lawmakers have seized on the point and introduced legislation to repeal the law to, according to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), “cut through the red tape and get all available assets on scene as quickly as possible.” However, McClatchy reported this week that the Republicans’ claim is completely baseless: “Maritime law experts, government officials and independent researchers say that the claim is false. The Jones Act isn’t an impediment at all, they say, and it hasn’t blocked anything. ‘Totally not true,’ said Mark Ruge, counsel to the Maritime Cabotage Task Force, a coalition of U.S. shipbuilders, operators and labor unions. ‘It is simply an urban myth that the Jones Act is the problem.'” In fact, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is running the cleanup effort, said he’d received “no requests for Jones Act waivers” from foreign vessels or countries, and according to the State Department, there are “24 foreign vessels operating in the region and nine countries [have] provided boom, skimmers and other assistance.” And more help is on the way — the U.S. has just accepted offers of assistance from 12 countries. FactCheck.org sums it up, writing, “the Jones Act has yet to be an issue in the response efforts. … Reports claiming that the federal government has refused help are not only incorrect — foreign assistance has been utilized — but are also misleading.”
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Congress is on Break …stay tuned
The Senate will convene at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, July 12.
Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. Senators should expect a roll call vote at approximately 5:30 p.m. on confirmation of a judge.
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The next meeting is scheduled for 2:00pmET Tuesday July 13, 2010
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Mormon Church and Prop 8: The shocking truth
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A shocking new film. A call to action.
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Once in a while, you walk out of a movie theater knowing you’ll never be the same.
You’ve probably heard about the Mormon Church’s involvement in California’s 2008 marriage ban. But I think you’ll still be shocked watching the new documentary
8: The Mormon Proposition.
The film uses former church members and leaked documents to make a case for exactly how the Mormon Church evaded the law and orchestrated Prop. 8. It’s a movie you absolutely must see.
And this week ONLY – to bring more resources to the fight for equality – the film’s distributors are offering a DVD of the film as a thank-you gift for any donation to HRC of $75 or more.
No matter how much you give today, you’ll receive a membership to HRC, including one year of our magazine Equality, and 100 percent of your gift will go to supporting HRC’s work to promote equal rights across the country. Any amount will help, but I hope you don’t miss this chance to see the film.
The film notes that while just two percent of Californians are Mormon, 71 percent of the money behind Prop. 8 came from Mormons. What happened? This clip shows how church leaders told members how much to donate, based on their income records – and threatened them if they didn’t give:
In the film, secret documents from a Mormon whistleblower show how the Mormon Church helped create a front group before Prop. 8 (the National Organization for Marriage) and stayed out of the spotlight in California. They show how the Church concealed its involvement in Prop. 8 so egregiously that last month it was still drawing fines for campaign finance violations. Get your copy now »
Those documents also detail an anti-marriage campaign in Hawaii a decade earlier – a blueprint for Prop. 8. There, Church leaders funneled money to a coalition that masked their activities. They hid their faces, opened their wallets, and honed their strategy.
Every single day the Human Rights Campaign is out there with people like you, going up against NOM, the Mormon Church, and other groups with vast resources and hateful agendas. But we’re also building up – making millions of people’s lives better, from hospitals to workplaces, from schools to houses of worship. It’s what we do.
And it’s on behalf of those millions of people, and their simple desire to be treated equally, that we have a message for the Mormon Church: your lies, your half-truths and your bigotry will be exposed.
Thanks for supporting this fight.
Sincerely,
Joe Solmonese
President
P.S. Bruce Bastian, an HRC board member who was raised Mormon and helped work on this film, had this to say: “Although the Mormon Church may be small in numbers where you live, their influence is being felt in very big ways all over this country. I believe every LGBT American should see this film to better understand the war we are in and at least one of our main enemies.” Get your copy now »
This link is specific to you, so please make your own gift before you forward to your friends. Having trouble clicking on the links above? Simply copy and paste this URL into your browser’s address bar to reach the donation form:
https://secure3.convio.net/hrc/site/Donation2?df_id=5282&5282.donation=form1
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On to the Senate
Last night, just before 7 p.m. Eastern Time, the House passed Wall Street reform by a vote of 237 to 192. This is a huge victory for our movement — and all American consumers.
Now, there’s just one hurdle left before this historic bill can be signed into law. It must be passed by the Senate — a vote likely to come right after the July 4th congressional recess.
Protecting consumers and holding the big banks accountable is a key piece of the change that all of us fought for in 2008. It’s up to us to bring it across the finish line — making sure every champion in the Senate knows that we’re standing with them, and that those in opposition know that Americans are demanding reform.
Can you take a moment now to write to your senators?
http://my.barackobama.com/WSRSenateVote
Thanks for making it possible,
Mitch
Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America
P.S. — A lot of OFA supporters have been passing around this clip from Rachel Maddow’s show about the incredible changes made during the Obama administration. Take a look:
http://my.barackobama.com/MaddowClip
Be a Seed for Change 
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