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Title: Republicans Accuse Anti-Coal Activist of "Child Pornography" for Showing Kid Bathing in Polluted Water
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URL Source: http://www.alternet.org/newsandview ... _in_polluted_water/#paragraph3
Published: Jun 9, 2012
Author: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/art
Post Date: 2012-06-09 13:29:29 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 152
Comments: 5
Republicans Accuse Anti-Coal Activist of "Child Pornography" for Showing Kid Bathing in Polluted Water Sigh. See if you can see this one coming: On Friday, [anti-coal activist Maria Gunnoe] testified before the House Committee on Natural Resources in a hearing on the Obama administration's contentious relationship with the coal mining industry. She had prepared a slideshow presentation that included a photograph by the photojournalist Katie Falkenberg depicting a nude young girl sitting in a bathtub filled with murky brown water. The photo was meant as a salient statement to legislators on the impact of coal mining on society's most vulnerable. "We are forced to bathe our children in polluted water," she said. "Or not bathe them." Ah, but the picture of a little kid sitting in a bathtub full of tea-colored water touched a bigger nerve than that whole "your mountaintop removal is really screwing with our kids' water" thing. Because staffers for Colorado Republican Doug Lamborn said it was probably child pornography, and reported her to the capitol police for such, which got her detained for about an hour by said capitol police to explain that no, the picture of a five year old in a tub was meant to be offensive because the water was brown and gross and possibly health-damaging, not because there was a five year old in a tub and that made Republican committee staffers instinctively think of sex. Lamborn, for his part, says: "I'm not going to issue an apology, and I don't think the staff members involved are going to issue an apology," said Lamborn, a Colorado Springs Republican. [...] He said he decided to pull the photo, though he never saw it and still hasn't seen it. He says he has no desire to view the photograph, shot by a California-based photojournalist. I don't recall any other time an anti-coal activist has been met with accusations of child pornography after testifying before Congress, so this odd event may count as a new peek into the annals of how GOP-led committees treat the other side's witnesses (note that Lamborn is an avid supporter of the coal industry). On the other hand, House Republicans have had a difficult history with the whole "minors" business, so I guess I can see them being extra cautious when it comes to things like this.
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#1. To: tom007 (#0)
The photo was removed from the original website but here is a copy of it: fette.tumblr.com/post/244...atie-falkenberg-from-the- series ... I think hardly porn.
Another copy of the same photo (in the June 5th entry, presently on page2): No, I don't think it fits the category of kiddie porn. From this angle you cannot be sure that the child is a girl nor be sure that she's completely naked. This photo is less revealing than that old Coppertone suntan oil ad of the puppy pulling down the little girl's bikini bottom. The effing Republicans must be desperate to try to avoid explaining why this whole family, including the baby, have to bath in muck.
Diversity means clean drinking water? "I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it." - William S Burroughs
UNBELIEVABLE - MY CONGRESSMAN IS SUCH A MIC STOOGE AND IN THE POCKET OF THE COAL INDUSTRY. Thanks S, I was wondering what the photo was really. Only a sicko could possibly see this photo of a kid having to bath in coal polluted water filth. Only some who wanted to divert the issue with a truly stupid accusation. Notice that Doug maintains he never saw the pix, but claimed porn. Guess his "advisers" helped him on that call. Lockheed Martin you got your pol. Are ya proud? However you, or anyone, may feel about the propriety of the photo, the fact remains that this is the sort of water that comes out of the taps in this house and presumably all the houses in this neighborhood. It isn't fit to drink and, look at the water - you wouldn't launder your clothes or bedding in it, and I am sure you wouldn't wash your hands, much less bathe, in it. This is America. It's supposed to be OTHER COUNTRIES, y'know the "backward countries", where it's not safe to drink the water.
#2. To: All (#1)
#3. To: Shoonra (#2)
(Edited)
The effing Republicans must be desperate to try to avoid explaining why this whole family, including the baby, have to bath in muck.
#4. To: Shoonra (#1)
"Satan / Cheney in "08" 
#5. To: tom007 (#4)
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