George Takei on Arizona’s Anti-Gay Bill, Life in a Japanese Internment Camp & Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu
A huge triumph for civil rights activists after Arizona’s Republican Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a bill that would have allowed businesses to refuse service to LGBT people in the name of religion. Companies such as, Delta, PetSmart, American Airlines Group, Marriot and Apple all pushed Brewer towards blocking the bill. Brewer even faced pressure within her own party to veto the bill. This bill was passed by both houses of the Arizona Legislature in early February. It created an uproar from not only human rights activists but also major corporations and even Republican lawmakers who voted for it. In addition, a well known gay rights activist, legendary actor, and author known as George Takei promised to boycott Arizona if Brewer would have allowed the anti-gay bill to pass into law. He wrote a contemptuous essay called “Razing Arizona” promising to boycott Arizona if this bill was passed. Luckily for him it did not pass because he stated that, “we have a vested interest, know many people, have friends here, and also have family here as well.” Takei also stated that the veto was not a surprise and that he expected it to happen. Besides this victory in Arizona, federal judge in Texas declared that the state’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional on the same day making it a successful day for the LGBT community. Takei’s take on this subject is that it is consistent with all that has been happening in the United States. However, he believes that the vast majority of public reaction and the fair- minded people’s reactions will eventually put a stop to the recent efforts of gay rights because it is unashamedly unconstitutional.
Big Oil and Bad Air: Report Exposes Link Between Fracking and Toxic Air Emissions in Texas
Residents who live near the areas of oil and natural gas fracking have been complaining for a while not that the industry has poisoned their water with toxic chemicals. Recently, a new study is now also worried about air quality. This new report called Fracking the Eagle Ford Shale: Big Oil and Bad Air on the Texas Prairie is the result of an eight month investigation by InsideClimate News, the Center for Public Integrity and The Weather Channel. Lisa Song, of Boston, was amongst the researchers who conducted this investigation and said that they decided to focus on air quality and air pollution issues from a natural gas development rather than a water one because the issues with water have been looked at before. In the Eagle Ford study that took place in South Texas, Lisa stated that by looking through air permits and the regulatory regime, they found that there are all of the facilities that the well and compressor stations as well as all the infrastructure that comes with the boom that are emitting industrial sized air pollutants into the air. Lisa also said that the pollutants include things such as hydrogen sulfide, volatile organic compounds like benzene which can cause cancer in the long term. As well as Lisa who was amongst the researchers, David Hasemyer was one of the researchers as well. David focused more on the politics and how regulatory systems know very little about the air quality in the area because they only have five permanent air monitors in the entire Eagle Ford area and none of these monitors are in places with a lot of drilling. David’s focus was more on the people of the area. These people were longtime residents of the area who wanted a quiet rural area to live but instead wound up surrounded by dozens of well and processing plants. These residents have tried to fight the government and big businesses but have fell short. These people feel like they have nobody on their side and are disenfranchised.
Hi Professor Kubal,
I am just emailing you my weekly discussion on Democracy Now.
Thank you,
Alyssa Abayari
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