Bernie Sanders DROPS A TRUTH BOMB On The Senate: Constructing The Keystone Pipeline Is INSANE

[Segami]

"...Instead of pursuing job creation or any of a wide variety of issues that have broad popular support, the Senate is wasting a day on Keystone. It is an insane vote being carried out by a Congress that is being run by out of control special interests. Insanity is too mild of a term to describe what is happening today. A better term would be shameful..."

Now WHY didn't Landrieu speak the truth to her constituents as Bernie did?.......



On the Senate floor, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) hit the Senate with the blunt truth. The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline is an insane idea. As the Senate debated a bill that would approve the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, Sen. Sanders said, “The scientific community is telling us that we have a narrow window of opportunity to address the crisis of climate change and to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy. This legislation would move us in exactly the wrong direction toward not only more dependence on fossil fuels but on some of the dirtiest fossil fuel imaginable. That is insane.”



Sanders also hammered the Republican claim that the pipeline is a jobs program, “To talk about 50 permanent jobs as a ‘jobs program’ is nothing more than a cruel and misleading hoax to workers in this country who want and need decent-paying jobs…If we are serious about a jobs program, let us rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our roads, bridges, water systems, rail, airports and older schools. Let us create jobs by transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency, weatherization and sustainable energy. That is a program that will create millions of decent jobs.”



Bernie Sanders is correct. The push to pass Keystone is the kind of crazy that is fueled by special interest money in politics. Those who support the pipeline have gone to extreme lengths to cover up the true purpose of the project. The United States is nothing more than travel route for Canadian tar sands oil to be exported Asia and other countries. The pipeline isn’t a game changer for U.S. energy independence. In fact, it is the exact opposite. It encourages the reliance on fossil fuels. Political cynicism is the reason the Senate is even voting on this piece of legislation. The vote is nothing more than an attempt to save Sen. Mary Landrieu’s seat in Louisiana. Both the political stunt and the pipeline won’t do live up to the claims of their supporters.





http://www.politicususa.com/2014/11/18/bernie-sanders-drops-truth-bomb-senate-constructing-keystone-pipeline-insane.html

[monmouth4]

1. This is great exposure for him...Go Bernie!!!n/t

[TBF]

2. You tell'em Bernie! nt

[polichick]

3. This is what leadership looks like - go Bernie!

[yeoman6987]

4. I don't know. Yes he is a great leader,

But if he were a Senator from let's say Ohio would he be as outspoken? I am not positive about that. It is easy to speak out when from Vermont and Massachusetts.

[polichick]

5. imo real leaders speak the truth in front of anyone - that's part of the job...

Money has turned most of them into liars.

[woo me with science]

6. How refreshing is principled truth-telling

in a sea of lying manipulation and sellout!

Bernie 2016!

[Beowulf42]

7. Sanity

Yes. Let's repair our infra-stucture. And with the potential that exists in Detroit we must refit those factories so they make wind turbines, and solar panels. And if private industry won't do it, then the government should.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

20. Welcome to DU...

Sorry to say this but the infrastructure that USED to be in and around my beautiful hometown of Detroit is gone.

One of the best, the Wixom Ford Plant, where I currently reside, was torn down to make room for a big box hardware store, Menards.

This factory was slated in one iteration to be the home of a solar energy "university" where workers could be taught and some manufacturing could be accomplished. Another was a movie set. We used to have a great base for some TV and movie making "Hollywood North". Now it's just an outlet for corporate greed.

Thank you, our esteemed leader of Michigans Recovery, Rick Synder.(R)

The working class has left, the unions busted. We are left with snow, cold and a hope.

We are a a hard working, resilient people here. If tagged for a new American renewal, we be on the forefront, but don't count on existing infrastructure.

Count on the people!

No I don't reside at the ford plant, but in Wixom.

[maddiemom]

24. But that just makes too much sense to be seriously considered. The gridlock that prevades

our congress is just truly representative of the national gridlock that has taken over. We can't get ANYTHING done anymore. Many normal citizens, journalists, and yes, even a few politicians have come up with some great ideas to get us moving again over the last couple of decades. None have been followed through, or if began, quickly died out.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

8. A true leader. nt

[bigwillq]

9. K and R

[obxhead]

10. Calm down Bernie

You have an election to control, lets save that energy for where it matters.

KXL will pass and be vetoed, then maybe forced. We know where you stand, save that ammo for when it counts.

[ollie4]

11. way to go, Bernie!

I am glad he is running for President, assuming he doesn't go the Nader/Third Party route.

He adds a voice, and an eloquent one at that, that needs to be heard.

Can he be elected? Probably not, but at this point that is irrelevant. The biggest question is can he make a positive contribution to the dialogue of the campaign? The answer to that is a resounding yes.

Would it hurt the presumptive (again) nominee Hillary Clinton? I doubt it. She can finesse her way good enough. Will it pull her to the left? I hope so! The Reps will paint her a radical liberal anyway....so being pulled to the left can't hurt.

Bernie is saying what needs to be said, and if he doesn't run it will go without saying....

We need to make a strong case. Just watching focus groups and polls won't cut it. We need to give people some reasons to vote democratic!

And as for Landrieu.....does anyone really think voting for the insane pipeline would have saved her from certain defeat? Really?

[maced666]

12. The AFL/CIO disagrees - citing jobs and the economy

“There’s no environmental reason that [the pipeline] can’t be done safely while at the same time creating jobs,”

http://inthesetimes.com/article/16221/angering_environmentalists_afl_cio_pushes_fossil_fuel_investme

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/02/06/afl_cio_and_keystone_why_labor_likes_pipelines.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2014/1117/What-the-Keystone-XL-pipeline-means-for-Obama-s-legacy-video

[jtuck004]

16. 50 jobs vs. kill the planet a little deader. What an ignorant brain-dead stupid fucking choice.

Figures it would come from the AFL. They started as racist traitors, conspiring with business and the government to kill (sometimes literally) the IWW and some of it's members. Nothing new. There have always been people who never met a worker they wouldn't sell out to a business if they thought they could make a few bucks. Samuel Gompers was nothing but a back-stabber.

Mother Jones has some good info about them, and Matles, a UE union organizer, wrote a good book called "Them and Us" in which he details some of the ways they hurt other unions to help the steel industry, among others.


"At the time, the working class had very little organization, and the unions that did exist only organized the white, male, skilled workers along craft and trade lines. Haywood saw the American Federation of Labor (AFL), the main national union federation, as too narrow and exclusive.

He also criticized the AFL for accepting capitalist exploitation and the bosses’ rules. Haywood believed that new unions had to be built around revolutionary principles."

Here.

Revolutionary = the workers make the decisions, own the capital. Today we call it democracy.

[druidity33]

18. Interesting, thank you! nt.

[Dont call me Shirley]

34. We need worker owned democratic companies.

[jtuck004]

35. Virtually no one outside the 1% is trained for this. It's not overly complex, but we train people to

be employees, fodder for the most part. Individualists. We teach them that they should follow heroes, not that their own welfare is highly dependent on the success of the person next to them, and it really is.

Mondragon started with a guy teaching people some technical skills, but along with that the Rochdale Principles for cooperatives. That was what made them unsatisfied with being employees after they left the school, so the founders started their own little one.

Gotta have it in your head first, and we studiously avoid training and teaching cooperation. Maybe because it starts with a c, like communism. Or cupcake. I don't know.

We would be stronger, but so far we seem to be avoiding obvious solutions.

[Dont call me Shirley]

36. We must become so disenchanted with the current system, that we begin to work together.

http://rdwolff.com/content/worker-coops-and-new-strategy-labor

[jtuck004]

39. Thank you for the link. Exactly. n/t

[JaneyVee]

21. Oh the irony....Koch's will make billions used to crush unions.

[CentralMass]

40. Oil money can buy a lot.

[Enthusiast]

41. The AFL/CIO happens to be wrong. We know from history that they are not infallible.

Ex AFL/CIO member here.

[Historic NY]

13. Fix our Bridges!!!!!! Now!!!!!

[hopemountain]

14. telling the truth and

being realistic - what a concept!

mary landrieu, i sincerely hope her self serving narcissistic days in the senate are numbered. how many times has she voted with the dems and on the other voted with the tea party crazies? hmmmm? i am going to go look it up. how dare she put her precious ass & pockebook above the well being of just about every living thing on our planet? how can one ignore the reality of further breakdown of the eco system via toxic oil molecules contaminating & destroying the water table and the food chain? for what? so the oil can be purchased on the internation market? might as well blow us all up, now. foolish, insane thinking.

thank you, bernie!

perhaps someone can come up with an app for each party that gives the candidates a voting grade and link to voting bill data - just as the nra uses to threaten candidates.

[moondust]

15. Maybe Texas oil companies

don't want competition from Canada driving down prices and assume that won't happen if they can get partial control of the tar sands oil. And profits, of course.

[Phlem]

17. "Now WHY didn't Landrieu speak the truth to her constituents as Bernie did?......."

hmmm......

Blue Dog's, The Third Way, DINO's, just to name a few.

[woo me with science]

19. What a refreshing contrast to Third way manipulations:

Hillary Clinton refuses to say where she stands on Keystone pipeline
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025834984

[Central Scruitinizer]

22. How about a radical suggestion?

Hire Keystone to build a Dakota pipeline to American refineries so Americans can actually pump American oil into their gas tanks.

The Dakota crude is so light and sweet it explodes railcars.

Methinks the Koch Brothers don't have a spoon in that pot compared to the Keystone XL. Someone ELSE will be making those profits!

Tar Sands bitumen is not even liquid, it needs to mix with corrosive chemicals that destroy pipe walls and spill sinking directly to the water table and potentially valuable aquifers. At least oil floats on water where it can be removed.

[think]

26. Your response is logical. Welcome to DU

[Maineman]

23. Truth, wisdom, common sense. The opposite of greet and self serving BS. What a concept.

[noiretextatique]

25. 50 measly jobs

Sanders is so right. This is a clear example of congress acting in the interests of the oil industry, and their own stock portfolios. It is shameful and sickening.

[LondonReign2]

27. TRUTH!

Some Democrats should try speaking the truth more often like Bernie

[TheNutcracker]

28. BERNIE SANDERS FOR PRESIDENT

[fadedrose]

31. He'll do, no question about that nt

[TheNutcracker]

29. Sen. Sanders threads on DU appear to get a lot more support than Hillary.

Even when such a thread as an announcement coming after the holiday from Hillary!

Nothing happens here. That is a clear sign. I hope she gets it. New blood is needed to get the public engaged.

[BelgianMadCow]

30. Word.

Logged in to rec

[SoCalMusicLover]

32. I Hope He's In California Primary

Here is an intelligent man who speaks the truth. Someone who genuinely gives a Shit, and isn't willing to sugar coat things to get campaign $$$$$$ from the "power brokers."

Unfortunately, this is why those same brokers, and the powers that be, will never let him get so far as to have the chance at winning the Presidency.

If he were willing to come over a bit to the dark side, perhaps he would be welcomed like Barack & Hillary, but Bernie is not the type who would do that, so he will be largely ignored and knocked down a peg or two in the situation where he starts to show signs of life in the White House 2016 race.

But he is the closest thing to Russ Feingold out there, so I hope I have the chance to vote for him, and that somehow, by a miracle, it actually matters.

[Dont call me Shirley]

33. Shame shame shame on all those who voted for and support the "Wick To Extinction"

[blkmusclmachine]

37. Uh oh. Third Way is gonna be pissed.

[redruddyred]

38. pretty much, yeah.

I'm ambivalent towards the entire project. I just don't give a flip. yes we need to divest from fossil fuels. but we have such bigger problems.

[Johnny Rash]

42. Dr. Phill on Steroid!

Go Bernie, Go!

Don't forget to mention that this insanity also represents a "Serious National Threat".

It is to me, an insane idea cooked up by some of the major Eco-terrorists of our time, namely the Petroleum Industry.

Here are some examples:



http://cgf3m-2albertaoilsands.wikispaces.com/Oil+Sands+Effect+on+Wildlife

http://tarsandssolutions.org/in-the-media/federal-government-questioned-over-leaking-tailings-ponds-in-alberta



Here are some more bad news, the Harper Government does not want you to know:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Alberta+tar+sand+pond+leaking&client=ubuntu&hs=XQI&channel=fs&tbm=isch&imgil=d8CI4lSSfeXXVM%253A%253BgLc3cL2-Fz8cRM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fpriceofoil.org%25252F2014%25252F02%25252F24%25252Ftar-sands-tailing-ponds-leaking%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=d8CI4lSSfeXXVM%253A%252CgLc3cL2-Fz8cRM%252C_&usg=__a820uqdqP0WYODi62EjyYJOKlF8%3D&biw=1366&bih=650&ved=0CEgQyjc&ei=loE1VI24GvW1sQTr-ICADw#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=d8CI4lSSfeXXVM%253A%3BgLc3cL2-Fz8cRM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fpriceofoil.org%252Fcontent%252Fuploads%252F2014%252F02%252Ftar_sands_tailings_pond_pipes.png%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fpriceofoil.org%252F2014%252F02%252F24%252Ftar-sands-tailing-ponds-leaking%252F%3B428%3B286

Again! Go Bernie, go!

[Initech]

43. The Keystone Pipeline is nothing more than a giant "fuck you" to environmentalists.

And anyone who is for the development of clean energy and alternative fuels.