What may not be completely clear (one minute in) from this clip is that Blankenship actually pushes the reporter about a hundred feet while the reported says “Please let go of me” about 12 times. All the while Blankenship has this creepy grimacey smile on his face. Oh, and he threatens to shoot the reporter.
In other news of coal thuggery, “Friends of Coal” recently busted up a prayer vigil for the mountains in Ansted, WV. They brought about 30 folks, including small children, to heckle, make rude comments and physically threaten the pastors, priests, grannies and other citizens that had come out to pray and sing Amazing Grace together on the mountain side. Despite the determination of the Fiends of Coal who brought their small children to participate in a fun morning of verbally abusing people trying to pray, it actually turned into a useful dialog when the Pro-Mountain folks explained to them that they want to see a clean, just West Virginia with more jobs for coal miners. Indeed, Mountain Top Removal has lost WV about 110,000 jobs since the 70’s and an immediate ban on Mountaintop Removal would create up to 2,000 deep mining jobs.
Big Coal is stepping up the intimidation. At the Clean Water Protection Act Lobby this past week, Representative Rahall (D WV) (email him) yelled at and verbally harassed the citizens who had driven the 7 hours to DC to meet with him and tell him the stories of how Mountaintop Removal had affected their families. “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.” Gandhi. So, we’ll take the all this intimidation as a sign that we’re about to win.
Subscribe by Email!
Subscribe by RSS!
Share on Facebook
From the video presentation I can understand that this ought to be changed in the US justice system. There are many good people comming together making this change possible. It is nice to know that americans want a fair system of justice. I know of many countries around the world who envy the american justice system and knowing that many people want to fix the system leaves me with comfort that this will happen. When enough people want a change to become real it will become real in the end - this is how God created our great world.
What was definitely not clear in the video was that Mr. Blankeship had already refused to be interviewed several times. He made an appearance on the local news that evening and explained that he did not even know who the man was when he made the comment about him getting shot; he was only warning him that if he shows up unannounced and starts taking pictures of people security may mistake him for someone with bad intentions and the security officer may end up shooting. Furthermore, you probably don’t live in WV. You more than likely have no ties with WV. If you were born here you probably left because you could not find a job. So, if the majority of us have no issue with mountain top removal then who the hell are you to say what we do here is wrong - IT DOES NOT CONCERN YOU!
In WV (especially rural) mining is not just a way life - it is life. It is the only means most of us have of supporting our families.
Mountains do not feed people. They do not employ people. They are simply big mounds of dirts that make it impossible to build something that will be a resource for the people who live around it.
Also, with the rising cost of oil and gasoline prices I personally hope that coal companies do whatever it takes to keep coal prices as low as possible.