About that pipeline protest.

Just got back from a short trip out of town and I had a bunch of comments and a few e-mails about subjects that I didn't hit on.  Well to be honest not much of it has really grabbed me by the short hairs.  But I'll give my take on a few of the subjects that I was accused of ignoring.  First up is obviously the pipeline protest.

Long story short?  I don't see the victim here.  I don't know if I see any good guys either.  I'm not much of an environmentalist even though I bet I spend more time in the woods than 99 percent of the tree huggers saying that they want to save the planet.

Specifically about this protest, I saw standard protest tactics, I've seen security contractors and deputies act in ways that I find questionable (Fire hoses used against protesters in the US????  I thought that went away after the idiocy and abuse during the 60's against civil rights activists...noteworthy is the fact that fire depts weren't involved in their use like they were back then), the news that a young girl might lose her arm because a grenade was used improperly is also disturbing.

To be fair you also had officers injured in fights at the scene and its just a mess.

The thing that hangs over this whole affair is the stark difference in tactics used against the Bundy Ranch/Wildlife Refuge participants and this thing.  If I didn't know better I would think that showing up armed at a protest guarantees proper (passive?) behavior from authorities.  Many of you won't like that assessment but the incidents share many similarities with the difference being that one group was armed and the other wasn't.