So let me get this straight...

[WilliamPitt]

A West Virginia coal processing plant dumped poison into a river, and now 300,000 people have to avoid tapwater if they want to keep from vomiting relentlessly. Target let everyone know that they lost the financial information for 70 million people over Thanksgiving, which is a little bit less than a quarter of the entire population.

Quite a banner day for the Barons of Big Business. Clearly, the push to privatize everything while slashing regulation everywhere will lead us to paradise on Earth.

Please excuse me while I drink poison and watch my bank account get looted.

[The Blue Flower]

1. Reality bites

And it has a liberal bias.

[Aldo Leopold]

21. +1

[BelgianMadCow]

23. best clip to illustrate the liberal bias of reality

[Voice for Peace]

44. wow, I have never watched that entire thing.

Amazing what Colbert did there, how brave of him!

[BelgianMadCow]

48. I find it has an almost eerie quality

I never seem to tire of it. This is truly pointing at the emperor (or the empire, if you will) and posting a youtube of his nakedness. Brave indeed. The (non)-reaction of the assorted press is also quite eerie.

[Voice for Peace]

53. eerie is a good word. you almost expect the Stasi to appear and escort him off.

Bush goes from being jocular to being very uncomfortable.
Half the audience is disapproving or not daring to laugh.
Half the audience is in on the joke and really enjoying it.
Hardly any applause or laughter.. spooky. Colbert looks
a few times as if he isn't sure about being hauled away
any second. The amount of time given to Helen Thomas
was stunning. This was a tour de force indeed.

[BelgianMadCow]

54. True

something to definitely file in the "don't say you didn't know" category.

[sabrina 1]

69. I remember that night. Colbert wasn't as well known as he is today and there WAS

fear of retaliation against him to the point that a petition was started immediately to demand that he not lose his job and to explain to anyone who were not sure what was going on, who he was.

There was a lot of anger against him and if the public had not rallied around him, he might have been 'hauled off'. Or if there had been no internet at the time.

I remember someone interviewed him at a restaurant shortly after the event and asked him about it and airc, Bush's reaction. I thought he might try to explain that he was a comedian at that point, but instead he said 'The president kills'. Lol, rather than back down, he continued his theme with a double entendre. He received huge support and I think the petition was posted everywhere and rose to tens of thousands of signatures over about 24 hours.

[IntravenousDemilo]

71. I think the response would have seemed less tepid if the audience had been better mic-ed.

[mountain grammy]

56. Thanks, enjoyed that again. It says something about America that

this happened and Colbert is more popular than ever.

[Voice for Peace]

70. good point.

and my grown children consider him and JStewart
their sources of news. I am very very thankful
for that.

[In_The_Wind]

2. It was a beautiful river.

[LiberalEsto]

11. Which river is it?

I hope it's not the Potomac or Shenandoah, because our drinking water in Maryland and DC comes from those.

[In_The_Wind]

16. The Elk River, which flows into the Kanawha River at Charleston.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/11/us/west-virginia-chemical-spill.html?_r=0

[IntravenousDemilo]

72. Even the giant albino pythons are trying to escape!

[jeff47]

17. Elk River.

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2014/01/freedom

The water from it eventually flows to the Mississippi.

[WilliamPitt]

27. Odd and utterly irrelevant, but...

...I re-watched Silence of the Lambs last night. The Elk River is where the body that got Clarice Starling involved in the case was dumped.

I have contributed nothing of value to this thread.

[adirondacker]

29. Quite the contrary. It needs to be famous to be on anyone's radar. nt

[jsr]

3. Fifteen Miners Died on the Job in the Past Three Months—but Washington Is Cutting Inspections

http://www.thenation.com/blog/177806/15-miners-died-job-last-3-months-washington-cutting-inspections#

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. that needs its own OP.

[TheKentuckian]

32. Yep

[countryjake]

46. It had one...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4297343

[Tuesday Afternoon]

47. Thanks.

[Warpy]

4. Retirement is great

when the world gets utterly surreal, I go back to bed and hope it sorts itself out.

[Nay]

36. Yeah, I love retirement, too. At least I can separate myself physically and

mentally from this shit when I need to. I couldn't do that when I went to work every day.

[The Blue Flower]

5. MSNBC says the company responsible is Freedom Industries

Seems fitting because they have the freedom to do whatever the hell they want without any pesky regulation. Drink up, West Virginia.

[arthritisR_US]

8. Oxymoronic…now the people will be Freedom From Health..

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. Yep. Probably means freedom to be woefully under insured and lay the risk on the evil federal gov.

[Aerows]

14. Except now they get to enjoy all the things they feared about "socialism"

Lining up to get a daily necessity from the evil government, being told they can't go to restaurants and bars, etc.

[arthritisR_US]

6. An apt summary...

The monied respect nothing but money, all else are simply externalities

[underpants]

7. Indeed. If the chemical spill is where I think it is..

It is in the area just east of Charleston. A massive area if chemical plants along the river. It is about 150 feet below I64- driven/rode past it all my life on trips to see the relatives in West Va.

I always thought it a strangely large concentration of such potential catastrophe. On 9/11 the first place my mom thought the "missing planes" might be headed was there.

[hedgehog]

9. But, CLEAN COAL!

[Aerows]

12. Well, those regulators are nothing but communists.

I'm sure the residents are pleased they don't have to put up with that communism and socialism. That would lead to people having to line up to have the government see to their needs and ration ... Oh wait.

[Flatulo]

35. The Soviets and the current Chinese communists were/are among the worst polluters in the history

of the world.

These posts seem to be implying that far-left governments don't pollute. I don't get it.

[Mopar151]

40. Sarcasam and Irony

in the case of this post.

[FlyByNight]

13. Yet another victory for Libertarianism

Last edited Sun Jan 12, 2014, 08:39 AM - Edit history (1)

I'm sure either Milton Friedman or Ayn Rand would be proud. This is what deregulation, ultimately, leads to: people get hurt, needlessly.

Can we please see actual criminal prosecutions (not just fines) this time, should evidence be presented?

[Mopar151]

41. Where a necktie has been

A noose will never be. If I could change 1 thing about this country - that would be it. The fact that Don Blankenship breathes the same air as good Americans offends me to the depths of my soul.

[aquart]

55. A truly free market regulates solely by death.

The point of gov't is to regulate before death.

[ChiciB1]

15. Hey... Been Hearing How We ALL Can Get Rich...

IF we want to take a few risks. Was told BitCoin, LifeCoin, WorldCoin and all the rest is the rage!

Just popping off here, don't totally understand the concept, but when hearing I could do this if I wanted to take some risk kind of made me think, maybe not so much!

Ain't got enough of nuttin' to risk. THAT much I know.

[angrychair]

50. alert results

Alerted but did not realize advertising in threads was legitimate....sorry


AUTOMATED MESSAGE: Results of your alert

On Fri Jan 10, 2014, 03:29 PM you sent an alert on the following post:

Hey... Been Hearing How We ALL Can Get Rich...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4310567

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

YOUR COMMENTS

Spam about bit coin investing

JURY RESULTS

A randomly-selected Jury of DU members completed their review of this alert at Fri Jan 10, 2014, 03:36 PM, and voted .

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: The alerter needs a timeout.
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Dunno about Spam. Do know, from reading this post, there's nothing outside TOS.
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: How/why does somebody with 13,240 posts suddenly post bitcoin spam?

Thank you

[Warren Stupidity]

57. Your alert was fine, the post was spam, the jury got it wrong.

It happens. No big deal.

[ChiciB1]

65. OMG... Really Sorry About This!

I meant this to be a JOKE or sarcasm at best. I was in no way pumping this stuff up! Truth be told I don't even understand how it's supposed to work. Just something I heard some woman talking about on The Cycle a couple of days ago.

Wow, didn't know this kind of thing would be taken seriously and especially NOT something that would come under any kind of scrutiny. Don't post as much as I used to so I guess there are some "new rules" I need to check on.

Again, sorry to offend. Glad I came back tonight to check what was going on. I've NEVER even been put on an ignore list since I became a member back in 2004.

[nadinbrzezinski]

61. DERP, that was not a commercial

but well done sarcasm.

[Curmudgeoness]

62. Huh?

Where is the spam for investing? That post is making fun of "taking a little risk".

[JaneyVee]

18. Don't forget the UPS & FedEx debacle. USPS wins again!

[MynameisBlarney]

20. What? You some kinda cawmunism or sumthin?

Regalashuns is fer cawmies and quars!


Y U hait 'Merka?

[Aldo Leopold]

22. LOL!

[mountain grammy]

24. But we still have our freedom to own weapons so it's all good.

[Packerowner740]

25. I just got notice that my bank is sending me a new CC because of target

Let's see if their inability to keep our banking info safe puts them out of business.

[Blanks]

26. It's the government making those statements...

About the water. Don't trust them.

I'm sure the waters just fine. Go ahead and drink it - it'll make you tougher. You'll be better able to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

[WilliamPitt]

28. More like you'll boot on your bootstraps.

*sigh*

[Blue Owl]

30. No. Shit.

K&R

[Zorra]

31. Follow the dots to the solution --->....

....Step One

[baldguy]

33. And the GOP will want to give them tax cuts as a "solution"...

[AAO]

34. Got to give it to you. No argument from me. Don't drink the poison!! Sleep on it, call me in the AM.

[florida08]

37. that's about the size of it

Can't wait for the TPP to kick in.

[glinda]

38. Hey but the "bottled water industry" will make a killing!

[RobertEarl]

39. I have a great idea

Let's move the drinking water intakes away from places that can be polluted. Better yet, keep pollution sources far, far away from drinking water intakes.

Wait, dang, someone beat me too it!! The EPA, decades ago, passed some laws that would keep the drinking water and pollution sources well apart.

Guess here the reason we don't do all this is because: We can't afford clean water?

[Botany]

42. It is NOT a coal processing plant!

Last edited Fri Jan 10, 2014, 04:58 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.freedom-industries.com/about.html

It makes chemicals that are used in processing coal.

As of 1:30 today the leak has not been stopped. The chemical that was released
is really f***ing nasty.

http://wvmetronews.com/2014/01/10/freedom-industries-unaware-of-leak-size/

Freedom Industries says it is still trying to figure out how much of a chemical spilled in the Elk River, contaminating the water supply to much of a nine-county region.

“Freedom Industries is still working to determine the amount of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol, or Crude MCHM, a chemical used in processing coal, that has been released,” said company president Gary Southern in a prepared statement released Friday afternoon.

snip

Southern’s statement suggests the leak is not yet contained. “Our team has been working around the clock since the discovery to contain the leak to prevent further contamination,” he said.

******

That area of West Virginia and the Kanawha River drainage basin has long been troubled
by various types of chemical and other forms of water pollution because of all the manufacturing,
mining, and petrochemical operations in the region.



*****
good article on the chemical

[dgibby]

59. This includes

the county where I live in Va: Alleghany Co, Va. below state line and to the far right.

[Botany]

63. don't worry the leak is miles and miles downstream from you

I just googled the Kanawha River drainage area .... the leak is in Charlestown W.V.

[dgibby]

66. I know.

We're a railroad town, and get all the coal and chemical cars coming through here. Tracks are right in the downtown area and next to the Jackson River, which feeds into the James River about 4 miles south of town. WestVaCo Pulp and Paper is about 12 miles west of us toward the Va/WV line. I'm not worried about the spill in WV, but do worry about the stuff that gets transported through here.

We're also in the middle of the George Washington National Forrest, and it would be an ecological disaster if we had a spill here.

[Scalded Nun]

43. Make no mistake

This is how they (GOP, Business, Banks, BigOil, BigPharma, BigAgri) pretty much want the whole country. They want to be able to do what they want, to fuck things up any way they want, as long as it makes them a buck.

The 'little' folks can then scramble to survive.

Plundered riches, plundered resources, plundered future.

Hell, let's all vote Repub!

[Enthusiast]

45. Just wait until the TPP goes into effect if you think it sucks now. nt

[snooper2]

49. I thought we discussed you removing "Derp" from your vocabulary

Guess that's one New Years resolution you won't keep

[WilliamPitt]

51. Never.

[rdharma]

52. "unfortunate externalities"

I'm sure the Coal Barons feel vey sorry about this "unfortunate mishap"!

[malaise]

58. But don't forget that

big government regulations are the problem

[quaker bill]

60. I bought my wife a lovely and affordable christmas present

She is very happy with it.

Unfortunately I bought it at Target.

That said my Credit Union sought out the list of compromised members and has already ordered the replacement cards....

If I had only ordered on-line, I might have avoided all this.

[neverforget]

64. You know what would have prevented this according to Republican logic?

Deregulation and a tax cut.

[blkmusclmachine]

67. Upside Down Day

[Progressive dog]

68. Target's at 110 million and counting nt

[Zorra]

73. Don Henley: Goodbye to a River ~ "The dirty water washes down, Poisoning the common ground

Taking sins of farm and town
And bearing them away
The captains of industry
And their tools on the hill
They're killing everything divine
What will I tell this child of mine"

(2000)