Rick Santorum still affecting us all

Re: Rick Santorum touches us Tainos where we live

Taakji My Relatives
This is the first time that I am going to post a message concerning the disaster
that has been unleashed this Spring and early Summer on the waters of our
homeland by the world's MABOIA agents of greed.

In 2006 we here in Pennsylvania were busy attempting to vote out the state
representative Rick Santorum, a man who had used his considerable power in
Congress to further the interests of the kinds of beasts responsible for this
year's Gulf Environmental catastrophe. back then I attempted to bring into focus
the threat posed to our ancestral homeland waters via the off-shore drilling
policies espoused by legislators such as Santorum, and supported by the Bush
administration then in power. The two posts to which I have alluded here in this
response message are the ones I first posted back then in 2006. They were sent
out to our subscribers under the title "Rick Santorum touches us Tainos where we
live".

My information and documentation was based on facts provided to the Caney Circle
by Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, an organization based out of Washington DC
which dedicates itself to monitoring the activities of legislators who are a
threat to the environment and wildlife.

The fact is that we here in Pennsylvania did vote Santorum and many of his ilk
out of office that year but in a way we were already too late to avoid this
year's disaster. Their nefarious work had already been accomplished, and they
had laid the groundwork of lax oversight policies and generous freedom of action
which the big oil companies needed to run roughshod over the ecology of our
sacred waters.

I was a bit disappointed at the lack of response that I received back in 2006
from my fellow Tainos, especially those living in Pennsylvania to my posted
messages concerning the threat posed to our homeland waters by the actions of
legislators such as Santorum.

Later on I was even more disappointed at the resistance from some quarters in
the Taino community to our support of presidential candidate Barak Obama who I
feel represented our best hope at a realistic response to the ecological threats
which Big Oil poses to the Gulf and the Caribbean. This is an interesting topic
to approach because there are some now who seem intent on laying the present
Gulf ecological fiasco at the doorstep of the present sitting president.

I was just as dismayed as anyone else when I heard Mr. Obama's pronouncements
late in his campaign in which he suddenly supported some limited offshore
drilling in the gulf off the cost of Florida after having opposed it
persistently for a long time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr9o1sTuhg8. I was
even more disappointed later on after he was elected president and lifted the
ban on expanding off-shore drilling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA7RAfHN-wo
It is true that this kind of flip-flopping is unacceptable and he must be held
accountable for it. And it is also true that the sitting president should take
responsibility for an environmental disaster such as the one that is unfolding
in the Gulf right now simply because the "buck" needs to stop someplace. However
in judging his connection or the connection of his administration to this
calamitous event of April 26 it must be admitted that he is ultimately one of
those who has for a very long time advocated for the very restrictions and
regulations which could have reined in the Big Oil greed-mongers that the
Republicans and conservatives love so much, and was long the target of
right-wing and Republican attacks for his environmental stance. It is simply NOT
FAIR to now say that Obama is at fault for the BP fiasco in the Gulf.

My relatives, whether you are Tano or not, this is a crucial issue in all of our
lives and it is important to approach it with our eyes wide open and not clouded
by a lot of conspiracy theory nonsense. We must recognize who are the real good
guys and who are the real bad guys in this issue. As Indigenous people or people
who support Indigenous issues, we must all become fully educated on the facts
surrounding this disaster, especially the tangled web of regulation-avoidance
tactics which BP used and which was supported by the conservative minions who
think like former senator Rick Santorum.

The Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle officially supports all efforts by
environmental groups to force the Obama administration to take appropriate steps
not only to force BP and its partners to assume full responsibility for the
efforts to correct the damage done to the Gulf but also to realistically
approach the important issue of free-wheeling energy companies that feel they
can do whatever they want to our Earth Mother. These companies have enjoyed too
many freedoms for too long under previous administration and this present one is
by all reasonable interpretation the one that provides us the best chance at
righting those past wrongs.

Taino Ti
Miguel Sobaoko Koromo Sague

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted in 2006
--- In sobaokokoromo2@yahoogroups.com, sobaokokoromo1@... wrote:
>
> Tau again my relatives
> It is important for us who are concerned with the welfare of the
Caribbean homeland to be aware that this Pennsylvania Republican representative
voted against the interest of the Caribbean environment this past June. Rick
Santorum took part in a vote of the Senate that was considering an ammendment
for the inventorying of offshore oil reserves on the Florida coast. The
ammendment was introduced by Republican Florida senator Mel Martinez among
others. This ammendment would have protected this infinitely fragile and already
endangered tropical ecosystem from harmful exploratory seismic oil and gas
surveys. Santorum's vote against the ammendment helped defeat it and as a result
of that years of former legislation in favor of protecting this region was
seriously erroded.
> Please review the graphic that I have attached here outlining the Senate
vote.
> Taino Ti
> Sobaoko Koromo
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Miguel A Sague Jr
> To: sobaokokoromo2@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 14:16:32 -0600 (CST)
> Subject: [sobaokokoromo2] Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is an enemy of
Ata Bey
>
>
> Tau my relatives
> As part of the environmental concern to which I referred in my last post I
wish to ask you (especially those of you who are Pennsylvania residents) to
become acquainted with the dismal environmental record of Pennsylvania's most
FAR-RIGHT congressional representative, Rick Santorum. If you are a Pennsylvania
resident I urge you to click the link in this letter that allows you to send
your comment to Mr. Santorum.
> Taino Ti
> Sobaoko Koromo

------------------------------------------------------------
Correspondence frm DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE ACTION FUND
> Dear Wildlife Supporter,
> Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) is an Enemy of Wildlife
> Find out how poorly Sen. Santorum voted on key conservation issues. Then,
tell him that you're disappointed in his voting record on the conservation
issues we all care about.
>
> Forward this message to your family, friends, and neighbors...
> U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) earned one of the lowest possible scores in
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund?s 2005 Conservation Report Card for not
casting a single vote to protect wildlife or wild lands.
> Send a message to Sen. Santorum now and let him know you are very disappointed
in his dismal conservation voting record. He needs to know that his constituents
care deeply about wildlife issues and will be watching how he votes in the
future.
> Sen. Santorum?s zero-percent score is simply unacceptable for Pennsylvania's
conservation-conscious voters. His anti-wildlife votes are reversing decades of
progress, shortchanging future generations and ruining Pennsylvania's rich
natural heritage.
> This past year, Sen. Santorum voted to allow oil and gas drilling in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, place oil refineries in wildlife refuges, and
cut conservation programs. These votes represent industry lobbyists, not with
the wildlife-loving citizens of Pennsylvania.
> To see how Sen. Santorum and other members of Congress voted, check out
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund's Conservation Report Card.
> Thanks again for all you do to help protect our precious wildlife and the
natural heritage that we'll pass on to our children and grandchildren. We're
working to give wildlife a voice in Washington, but we couldn't do it without
you.
> Sincerely,
> Rodger Schlickeisen, President
> Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund
>
> P.S. To learn more about the Action Fund, visit our website. The Defenders
Action Fund depends on the generosity of wildlife supporters like you, so please
consider making a donation.
>
>
> Paid for by Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund at
http://www.defendersactionfund.org/
and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
>
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> Copyright 2006 Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund
>.
> The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund can be contacted at:
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>