Despite great support for the Keystone XL pipeline, some Oklahoma
residents go to drastic lengths to try to stop its construction. This is certainly the case for Nancy Zorn of Oklahoma City, and Elisabeth Leja of Norman. These two environmental elderly ladies decided to halt construction of the Keystone XL pipelines by physically blocking the massive construction vehicles that are used to build the pipeline. Zorn used a bike lock around her neck to attach herself to a piece of construction equipment while Lejas used a cable lock.
Construction for the Keystone XL pipeline began in 2008. The pipeline will transport "oil sands" or "tar sands" from Canada down the Texas and oil refineries in the Gulf Coast. The pipeline is somewhat controversial considering the crude nature of oil sands and their potentially damaging effects on the environment if they are spilled.
Despite the controversy over the Keystone XL pipeline, according to the Pew Research Center a total of 66% of the total people surveyed support the construction of the Keystone Pipeline, which would end in the middle of the year if it is passed by President Obama.
Although support for the pipeline is overwhelming, there are others, besides Zorn and Leja who think that the pipeline is a bad idea. Groups such as "Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance" are fighting to block the proposal to finish the Keystone XL pipeline. Zorn, Leja and the anti-Keystone pipeline activists believe that the oil sands are bad for the environment and hope to keep them out of Oklahoma, despite being built elsewhere.
Not all anti-Keystone pipeline activists have implored as colorful and drastic was of preventing the construction of the pipeline as Zorn and Leja, locking themselves to the body of a piece of machinery that can easily crush them. There efforts are interesting and prove their compassion. However despite the opposition, it looks like the pipeline is here to stay.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Life after "Operation Babylift": many adoptees yearn to learn about past
The Vietnam War negatively impacted many lives; however, for the children of “Operation Babylift,” it gave some hope at a new life.
In 1975, just before the fall of Saigon, United States forces in South Vietnam prepared for the worst – the infamous war was coming to an end, as North Vietnamese Army soldiers closed in on Saigon. Operation Babylift, as it would come to be called, was one of the more unusual and surprising end-of-war preparations made by the United States. The plan was to evacuate infants from South Vietnamese orphanages to United States, and allied countries, to prevent them from being killed by the North Vietnamese. As it turned out, Operation Babylift would begin with tragedy after the first flight, carrying at least 300 people – including infants, crashed in a rice paddy field shortly after take-off. 138 people, including 78 children, were killed.
Years after Operation Babylift, adoptees are experiencing mixed emotions about their lives in their new home countries.
According to a 1983 Australian survey, 90% of New South Wales families who adopted Vietnamese war babies felt that their adoption was “successful for themselves, the family and the child.” However, despite how successful Vietnamese war babies integrated into Australian society, or anywhere else, there is still something missing in many of their lives. A 2000 survey by The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Agency reports that many adoptees of Operation Babylift were confused about their ethnical background while growing up in their new homes.
“I did not feel like I belonged to the Vietnamese culture nor completely in the Caucasian culture,” a random responder wrote.
Racial stereotyping and discrimination also plagued many of the Vietnamese adoptees childhoods in their predominantly white societies.
“Throughout my school years, there were various times peers were mean to me because I was different,” another random responder wrote.
The same survey also details the respondent’s desires to search for their birth families. Out of the 88 responses, only 25 percent responded that they had no desire to search for their birth families.
Most Operation Babylift adoptees in America feel as though they are American by birth, despite being born in a country all the way across the world. However, curiosity about their pre-Babylift background persists. Throughout the U.S., Canada, Britain, and Australia, the main countries adoptees were sent upon arriving in the United States, there are organizations dedicated to helping Vietnamese war babies reunite with other adoptees, or even their blood relatives. Although considered orphans by the war, many children were simply abandoned by their mothers in South Vietnamese orphanages.
Many adoptees of Operation Babylift were very young at the time they were shipped over to the United States, so most have no recollection of their blood families or life before the end of the war. Organizations such as Operation Reunite help support Vietnamese adoptees through their journeys to discover their origins, a journey that can be hard to make.
As far as the survivors of the Operation Babylift crash, some were awarded settlement following a lawsuit made against the United States Government and Lockheed Aircraft Corp. For others, simply surviving the ordeal was reward enough.
Adam Vance lives in Tampa Bay, Florida, and works for WTSP News 10 as a photojournalist. He is now 39 years old, but a day does not go by where he does not think about the plane crash that could have killed him.
“Everything I do goes back to that crash. It is a part of who I am,” Vance said.
Vance feels that his life could have been different in a matter of an instant. Although he does not remember what that horrible day was like, he lives his life knowing that he could have easily been among the unlucky ones.
“I was 13-months-old at the time that happened, so I remember very little. But for me it’s a constant reminder of where I could be…” Vance said, “I feel as though I have a purpose in life, I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ll figure it out.”
Since Operation Babylift, there has been debate about whether or not these children should have been brought over from Vietnam in the first place. Many felt as though the United States had no business taking children from their native countries. Others were concerned about the murky legal issues that were sure to, and did, follow the adoptees arrival in the United States.
Giving aid to children of war-torn countries has become more common since Operation Babylift. Often times it is the work of charity organizations, rather than the United States government. Whether or not Operation Babylift itself is considered successful, without it many children may not have had the precious chance at life they were given. Despite the problems of Operation Babylift, it can be considered a humanitarian victory.
In 1975, just before the fall of Saigon, United States forces in South Vietnam prepared for the worst – the infamous war was coming to an end, as North Vietnamese Army soldiers closed in on Saigon. Operation Babylift, as it would come to be called, was one of the more unusual and surprising end-of-war preparations made by the United States. The plan was to evacuate infants from South Vietnamese orphanages to United States, and allied countries, to prevent them from being killed by the North Vietnamese. As it turned out, Operation Babylift would begin with tragedy after the first flight, carrying at least 300 people – including infants, crashed in a rice paddy field shortly after take-off. 138 people, including 78 children, were killed.
Years after Operation Babylift, adoptees are experiencing mixed emotions about their lives in their new home countries.
According to a 1983 Australian survey, 90% of New South Wales families who adopted Vietnamese war babies felt that their adoption was “successful for themselves, the family and the child.” However, despite how successful Vietnamese war babies integrated into Australian society, or anywhere else, there is still something missing in many of their lives. A 2000 survey by The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Agency reports that many adoptees of Operation Babylift were confused about their ethnical background while growing up in their new homes.
“I did not feel like I belonged to the Vietnamese culture nor completely in the Caucasian culture,” a random responder wrote.
Racial stereotyping and discrimination also plagued many of the Vietnamese adoptees childhoods in their predominantly white societies.
“Throughout my school years, there were various times peers were mean to me because I was different,” another random responder wrote.
The same survey also details the respondent’s desires to search for their birth families. Out of the 88 responses, only 25 percent responded that they had no desire to search for their birth families.
Most Operation Babylift adoptees in America feel as though they are American by birth, despite being born in a country all the way across the world. However, curiosity about their pre-Babylift background persists. Throughout the U.S., Canada, Britain, and Australia, the main countries adoptees were sent upon arriving in the United States, there are organizations dedicated to helping Vietnamese war babies reunite with other adoptees, or even their blood relatives. Although considered orphans by the war, many children were simply abandoned by their mothers in South Vietnamese orphanages.
Many adoptees of Operation Babylift were very young at the time they were shipped over to the United States, so most have no recollection of their blood families or life before the end of the war. Organizations such as Operation Reunite help support Vietnamese adoptees through their journeys to discover their origins, a journey that can be hard to make.
As far as the survivors of the Operation Babylift crash, some were awarded settlement following a lawsuit made against the United States Government and Lockheed Aircraft Corp. For others, simply surviving the ordeal was reward enough.
Adam Vance lives in Tampa Bay, Florida, and works for WTSP News 10 as a photojournalist. He is now 39 years old, but a day does not go by where he does not think about the plane crash that could have killed him.
“Everything I do goes back to that crash. It is a part of who I am,” Vance said.
Vance feels that his life could have been different in a matter of an instant. Although he does not remember what that horrible day was like, he lives his life knowing that he could have easily been among the unlucky ones.
“I was 13-months-old at the time that happened, so I remember very little. But for me it’s a constant reminder of where I could be…” Vance said, “I feel as though I have a purpose in life, I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ll figure it out.”
Since Operation Babylift, there has been debate about whether or not these children should have been brought over from Vietnam in the first place. Many felt as though the United States had no business taking children from their native countries. Others were concerned about the murky legal issues that were sure to, and did, follow the adoptees arrival in the United States.
Giving aid to children of war-torn countries has become more common since Operation Babylift. Often times it is the work of charity organizations, rather than the United States government. Whether or not Operation Babylift itself is considered successful, without it many children may not have had the precious chance at life they were given. Despite the problems of Operation Babylift, it can be considered a humanitarian victory.
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