Toxic Avenger VI

Maybe you remember the awful (in a good way) '80s movie series The Toxic Avenger?  If you don't, it's okay.  You should watch, at least, the first one.  It's good for a laugh and several "O_o" moments.  Plus, I swear the toxic spill in RoboCop is recycled from the first Toxic Avenger movie.  Speaking of RoboCop....what is this atrocity?!

Anyway.  I could rant on Hollywood's craptacular remakes of classic movies and television series, but this particular article is way more important than that.  Just a note, Hollywood, just because you have CGI doesn't mean you should use CGI.  Star Wars was perfectly fine before you came along and "remastered" it...and then made the sucky pre-quals (though, I hold Lucas more responsible for the suckitude there).

THIS RANT actually has to do with this article published on November 15, 2012 (I know, I'm a few days late... be happy.  Be grateful I've taken time out of my Masters courses to write, nay, to entertain you).  I'll let you read it.

Oh, wait, we've tried that before.  You want me to just tell you what's in the article.  Fine.  Here's a recap:

White Man steals Red Man's lands.  White Man allows Red Man to establish "sovereign nation" within the newly formed, stolen, country.  White Man proceeds to treat Red Man like a second-class citizen for the next few hundred years, culminating with ensuring safe water supply.

Well, actually, that's not entirely true.  You see, there was a war in there...there was the Trail of Tears, too (is this the U.S.'s version of the Holocaust because we seem to forget about it very conveniently).  Then there was the establishment of the sovereign nation on the "reservations."  If you're not sure what the sovereign nation thing means, it means that the reservation is not subject to the laws Federal government--they are in charge of themselves--they govern themselves.  The government gives them money (almost as an apology for stealing and destroying their land) and, apparently, gets to decide things like....how outsiders get to use the reservation's land.

That's right.  The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency...lemme say that again, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY) has granted permits to oil companies to drill on the reservation and then dump the wastewater at the surface.  A loophole was written into that law back in the '70s that allowed for the wastewater to be disposed of, surfacly, as long as the companies could prove the water was being used by the farmers.

The Natives (in this case, the Shoshone) don't even want the drilling, let alone the crappy water that's polluting the natural streams and creeks.  Thanks, EPA, for making the environment a safer place to exist!  Read the article.  It'll make you mad if you have any kind of sense, logic, and human decency.  The States get to set their own laws regarding oil companies drilling on their land--and usually, their laws are stricter than the EPAs (are we really surprised here, kids?).  But, in the case of drilling on the reservations, you know, the land of the sovereign nation, the EPA gets to decide what's acceptable.

Well, folks, THIS is NOT acceptable!  This is horrendous, appalling, and a whole bunch of other big words meaning full of crap.  We've screwed the Native Americans enough, haven't we?  Or, is this our way of being the "supreme race" and driving other races to extinction by genocide, forced inter-racial marriages, banning of ceremonial/religious practices, etc?  It's all there in your history books, kiddies.  Take a look.  We enslaved black people and they revolted, overcame, and have integrated well into the U.S. culture;  we owe them nothing (sorry, if you're reading and feel entitled, tough luck...you get none from me).  We stole  the land from the Natives; we practically slaughtered them and nearly killed them off with our diseases; we hustled them into "their own" lands reserved for them, then forbid them from practicing their own religion....and now, we slowly try to poison them because, clearly, we could care less about their well being--they don't pay taxes, anyway (duh, sovereign frickin' nation)!