Last month, in a speech to the National Press Club, actress Ashley Judd took a break from taking on Sarah Palin and set her sights on business practices in her home state.
Judd referred to the mountain top removal of coal in Kentucky as “environmental genocide,” called the process “the state-sanctioned, federal government supported, coal industry operated, rape of Appalachia,” and said the miners should be retrained to take “better jobs” (unfortunately the “vacuous actor” career field is full up at the moment).
On Wednesday, the coal industry sponsored a golf tournament at StoneCrest Golf Course in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, and launched a return salvo by way of a poster displayed at the tourney:
Here's the poster being referenced:
And while equating showing your boobs on film with the ecologically dangerous practice of quite literally blowing the tops off of mountains isn't anywhere near a realistic comparison, it showcases exactly how conservatives refuse to take an honest look the issue at hand. To put it another way, it's easy for conservative men to make a sexist joke because they know they'll not be chastised for it.
There are three types of mines in Kentucky: Strip, Underground, and Mountaintop Removal. While the first is the less dangerous practice - though almost on an equal playing field in regards to environmental damage, the later has a rich and storied past of destroying ecosystems and poisoning the waters of the region.
If conservatives were as passionate about how the ecological rape of our lands - not just here in Kentucky, mind you - as they were about deficits and taxation, then perhaps Powers would exercise a little intellectual honesty and find out exactly why Ashley Judd is describing mountaintop removal as she does.
1 comment:
The whole thing is, it's easier to distract men with boobs than anything else. Show a man a set of boobs and you can bet, MOST of them will forget anything about the previous 15 minutes. So instead of focusing on the destruction of ecosystems and blatant disregard for the health and safety of EVERYONE in that area (not just the miners), throw a set of boobs up there and all logic is thrown out the window.
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