MyDD :: Marked Money

Marked Money

by Jerome Armstrong, Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 04:04:12 PM EST

Steve Soto on The Left Coaster has the details of the GOP winning the ANWR (this was a lost cause ever since an acronym became the frame) vote to begin oil drilling. In the link through, it gives explanation to the background on the transactional vote by the Hawaii Democratic Senators with Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska:

The Akaka Bill for Native Hawaiian sovereignty could reach the Senate floor this year - at the cost of oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge., by Jack Kelly

...The Hawai'i Connection

As members of the Senate's Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska and Daniel Inouye of Hawai'i have long partnered to bring millions of dollars of military expansion funds and other federal moneys to their states... Senator Akaka's push to implement the "Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill," now known as the Akaka/Stevens Bill, has similarly called on the Hawai'i delegation's close ties to Alaska.

The Akaka/Stevens bill would begin the process for Native Hawaiians to be recognized by the U.S. government as an indigenous people. It would establish the beginnings of a framework for Native Hawaiian governance. That government would then be empowered to negotiate with the United States and the State of Hawai'i over the disposition of Native Hawaiian assets.

As the ironic twists, Native Hawaiian's will arrive with self-governance at the cost of signing off pristine Alaska wilderness to industry.

Tags: Misc (all tags)

Permalink :: 18 Comments :: Post a Comment

can't help to think that was pre-planned (none / 0)

how can we lock in HI votes, add an amendment that they won't risk having stripped.

If you vote to strip the ANWR language, we take out the HI sovereignty language.

Seems very very calculated

by gasperc on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 04:13:54 PM EST

it's just (3.00 / 1)

sad...

Invest in nature

by NCDem on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 04:15:56 PM EST

Re: it's just (3.00 / 1)

indeed. exactly what i was thinking. this just makes me very, very sad.

Visit us at TexasKAOS, where we're taking Texas back!

by annatopia on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 04:24:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Are they crazy or something? (3.00 / 1)

Or has news not reached Hawaii of how honest and upright Reeps are when it comes to dealing with tribal entities?

Anybody who negotiates in good faith with Reeps is due for a surprise when it comes to collecting on their promises.

Yeah, I'm cynical.

by catastrophile on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 04:37:02 PM EST

Screw HI (3.00 / 1)

Who the hell do they think they are, anyway? If I were a spiteful person, and I'm fast becoming one, I'd concoct a nasty peice of legislation that deliberately hurts them in retribution for this vote.

How dare they push this to the other side!! Fight against the "Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill." Take away their damn military bases and all the money they provide. Screw Hawaii!!

by bellarose on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 08:49:08 PM EST

Re: Screw HI (3.00 / 1)

Then get the hell off my native soil.

Hawaii is an occupied land, its rightful sovereign arrested and its culture denigrated and denied.

Don't blame Hawaiians for the mess in Alaska. That's like blaming the Kurds for the insurgency of Sunnis in Iraq. Frankly, Inuits should be demanding a return to sovereignty, too, so they can kick corporate interests off their lands.

If you want to do something constructive, stop being a racist nationalist and start pointing the finger in the appropriate direction.

Are you consuming oil, either as gasoline or plastics or any other bi-product? You're part of the problem. You could be buying up oil company stocks and filing stockholder protests as a cure; you could be doing everything possible to reduce personal consumption. You could be doing more to support the indigenous peoples whose homelands have been devastated by corporate interests; you could be organizing and marching in the street with other environmentalists.

Otherwise, get off my homeland. We were here first; we respect the land which truly belongs to no one but the gods.

by RayneToday on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 05:08:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Screw HI (none / 0)

Apparently, your Legislators do not.

by bellarose on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 07:36:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Screw HI (none / 0)

They're NOT my legislators, any more than Dubyanochio is my president.

by RayneToday on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 09:09:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Screw HI (none / 0)

Uh huh. . .

So what did you do to oppose their vote? You pose very accusatory questions towards me and yet both of your Senators voted to despoil one of our last, great wild life reserves.

If it wasn't for their vote, this bill would not have gone through. They are responsible and they shouldn't reap any awards for it.

by bellarose on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 09:19:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

they will get screwed (3.00 / 1)

Does anyone really believe that the GOP will keep up its end of the bargain? Once they've got ANWR in the bag, they will reneg on this promise to Akaka, and Stevens will pretend that there was nothing he could do about it.

Dems are so stupid sometimes.

My only hope is that the oil companies will realize there's not enough money in it for them to spend years investing in more ANWR oil extraction.

Join the Iowa progressive community at Bleeding Heartland.

by desmoinesdem on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 11:50:05 PM EST

Re: they will get screwed (none / 0)

My only hope is that the oil companies will realize there's not enough money in it for them to spend years investing in more ANWR oil extraction.

Unfortunately, not much hope of that with sweet crude likely to be well over $100/barrel in ten years.

Local governments have already sacrificed a huge portion of our rural farmland to home developers lining their pockets while leap-frogging each other further out from cities to make a killing in the burbs. We've just followed up by giving away one of our greatest national treasures to oil companies because the idiots living in these homes are ignorant enough to believe that drilling in ANWR will continue the fantasy they're currently living by lowering the price of gas at the pump for their commute to work in their SUVs.

Maybe moving to Canada and getting a heads-up on the fight over the next pipeline is the answer? It's sure looking pretty hopeless across the board down here lately.

by Seldom Seen Smith on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 06:14:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: they will get screwed (none / 0)

Too bad Canada is North and so cold. Otherwise, I would be looking for job opportunities ASAP.

by yitbos96bb on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 11:02:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Oppose Hawaiian Federal Recognition (none / 0)

As someone who has been closely involved in Hawaiian issues for years, and who is also a regular reader of MyDD and other progressive blogs, I believe it is important for folks here to know that many Native Hawaiians and progressives in Hawaii do NOT support the Akaka/Stevens bill for federal recognition of Native Hawaiians.

For more background the connections to arctic refuge drilling, see:

http://hawaiiislandjournal.com/stories/8a03a.html

http://cnhaexposed.org

For an introduction to the bill, and an overview of why it is opposed, see this diary I posted recently on dKos:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/7/121659/8499

I have been tracking the bill here at my blog:

http://www.hawaiiankingdom.info/C608676235/index.html

We in Hawaii would very much appreciate the support of the progressive community in preventing this bill from passing.

by scottmaui on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 06:20:20 AM EST

Re: Oppose Hawaiian Federal Recognition (none / 0)

Mahalo â nui; aloha kâua!

by RayneToday on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 05:16:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Oppose Hawaiian Federal Recognition (none / 0)

I linked the wrong Hawaii Island Journal article in my comment. The one I linked is good for background on the opposition to the Akaka bill, but the one that details the connections with Alaska is here:

Natives, Senators and Oil

The connection between drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Akaka Bill.

by Anne Keala Kelly

http://hawaiiislandjournal.com/stories/10b03a.html

by scottmaui on Sat Mar 19, 2005 at 12:10:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Just the Beginning? (none / 0)

Jack Kelly suggests that opening up ANWR is not the end game, it's just the beginning: cracking ANWR paves the way for opening up sensitive areas in the lower 48 to energy exploration. Here's more from his story (sorry I can't box it, no HTML skills)
.....................

On Tuesday, September 23, 2003, during a closed-door session of the House GOP leadership, House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas) said that the battle in Congress to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration is a fight over whether energy exploration will be allowed in similarly sensitive areas in the future...

"'It's about the precedent,' Delay told the assembled Republican leaders while making several references to the 'symbolism of ANWR,'" reported Bresnahan, citing GOP sources.

by JohnS on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 07:02:57 AM EST

I was wondering (none / 0)

I couldn't figure out why the Hawaiians voted for this bill. Landrieu made sense, but the others were baffling. So they sold out ANWR for the Native bill. Sickening. This wouldn't hurt so much if the Bill passed by more than 2...but THEY were the deciding vote...We even had GOPers on our side (although a small amount.) What happened to the Senators who didn't sell out their party's values? Where have they all gone?

by yitbos96bb on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 11:10:56 AM EST

Re: I was wondering (none / 0)

You might want to clarify that use of the label "Hawaiians".

Did you mean "residents of Hawaii" or "the indigenous people of Hawaii"?

I seriously doubt the indigenous people voted for this.

by RayneToday on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 09:11:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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