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Protesters Block Effort To Restart Work On Controversial Hawaii Telescope
sciencehabit writes: An attempt to restart construction on what would be one of the world's largest telescopes was blocked yesterday, after state authorities escorting construction vehicles clashed with protesters blockading the road to the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano. Officers from Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), and construction workers for the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT), turned back from the summit shortly after noon Wednesday, citing concerns for public safety after finding the road blocked by boulders. The withdrawal followed several hours of clashes with Native Hawaiian protesters blockading the road, culminating in the arrests of 11 men and women, including several protest organizers. The protesters have said the $1.4 billion TMT would desecrate sacred land.
They block the very thing that would likely keep the area underdeveloped. I think it likely they actually want more development and more money.
The governor of Hawaii tried a compromise where they would decomission 4 old telescopes, to be able to build this new one.
It was rejected.
My suggestion is, ante up on the compromise. Promise to build the new one on the site of one of the old ones. In other words, don't create any more development on undeveloped land, which seems to be a big part of the what the protestors object to.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Why not just smoke a peace pipe with them? Those bulldozers cause a lot of damage. Scientists need to mellow out, get high more, look at the heavens from a more spiritual point of view. Fuck the observatory. Just go camping, get back in balance with nature.
What law gives the government the right to destroy sacred land?
From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
On top of that, the native Hawaiians, and even those of mixed ancestry, constitute a small minority of the state population (5.9% according to the 2010 census). Interestingly, the largest ethnic block is Asian at about a third of the population, and Euro/White at around a quarter, and multiracial at a quarter. Do they deserve considerations because their ancestors got screwed over? Yes, absolutely. But that doesn't mean absolute veto over everything. At some point they need to compromise with the rest of the population.
Shut up.
This is what the telescopes look like:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/w...
You can't even see them unless you squint and they blend in with the snow mostly. So I don't know what you're talking about.
They only become obvious when you're getting close to them. And there's no reason to do that in Hawaii. The islands are f'ing paradise. Why would anyone want to climb the frozen lava rock that is so high the oxygen gets low? What exactly is the point?
I can understand the astronomers going up there. I do not understand why anyone else is going up there. Possibly some crazy people that want to ski? I don't know. That's about it. Its ugly up there... because its just bare lava rock and snow. That's it.
Seriously... why do you think the telescopes are bad. I mean... actually? Did an astronomer fuck your sister? Because it can't possibly be what you said.
Look at that picture I posted. That is what the telescopes look like from off the mountain. You can't even see them really. And they don't look bad even when you do. Your comment makes zero sense.
Unless you give me a more concrete reason... I am assuming there was a dramatic love affair between one of your relatives and an astronomer and you have some misplaced aggression on the issue. That's all I've got unless you want to tell me why you ACTUALLY don't like the telescopes.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.