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207 Comments
- alapoet, on 12/28/2008, -6/+192I guess all the people who get poisoned from the spill won't *really* be poisoned, if nobody's allowed to document the fact that it was squarely the fault of the TVA.
- fuckingusername, on 12/28/2008, -2/+175I'm still amazed at little to none airtime this story got.
- rcook18, on 12/28/2008, -4/+105Were those real police or corporate rent-a-cops?
- Kornstalx, on 12/28/2008, -4/+100My girlfriend is currently in eastern Tennessee after she went home for the holidays.
When I spoke to her yesterday, she had absolutely no clue about the accident.
It has received so little media coverage it's despicable.
She could be drinking from the very water supply, and yet knows nothing of the event.
I guess I'll know if she comes home with three arms, and two vags or something... - doublefelix, on 12/28/2008, -0/+94Hard for them to stop the news helicopters though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGmVCABMRRQ - naturalpapa, on 12/28/2008, -2/+61Like they say here - "Pics or it didn't happen..." I guess out of sight out of mind is America's mantra...
- maroon1872, on 12/28/2008, -5/+59i had a girlfriend with two vaginas. she kept calling one of them her "*****" though.
- mechnoch, on 12/28/2008, -5/+56Now that's Clean Coal™
- unusualbob, on 12/28/2008, -2/+49Although its pretty retarded that they got arrested I'm pretty ***** sure when tons people get their water tested and it comes up as containing pollutants that weren't there before the spill, no judge is going to say:
"well ***** theres no actual photographic evidence that the huge toxic spill a month ago had anything to do with this so you are all screwed."
Theres plenty of other evidence, plus news footage from choppers. The company at fault is *****. - metapop, on 12/28/2008, -2/+47the only thing more disgusting than polluting the water of the state that i live in and not alerting its citizens is preventing activists from documenting the damage. this is absolutely horrible, someone needs to go to jail.
- angrynorwegian, on 12/28/2008, -5/+39Pay them enough and cops will do just about anything
- inactive, on 12/28/2008, -5/+37get the fed cops in there to arrest the TVA cops for kidnapping,,, go to jail for 10 years !
- Dauntless1, on 12/28/2008, -4/+36Didn't you know? There's no such thing as pollution, global warming, climate change, nuclear waste, or any industrial poison. Just like oil will last forever, OPEC, Big Oil and the car industry REALLY have America's best interest at heart, and politicians would NEVER lie about what they did with the bailout money. At least, that's the way it is if that's what it takes to keep some worthless piece of human trash with an overblown sense of entitlement happy about how he's getting 3 miles to the gallon in an SUV that cost 8 grand to build, but cost him 75 grand on the note.
- Jeepinator, on 12/28/2008, -6/+36***** the police.
- pintomp3, on 12/28/2008, -1/+31it would be awkward next to the "clean coal" advertisements on tv. this is why for-profit news is often a conflict of interest.
- metapop, on 12/28/2008, -1/+30me too. i live in TN and very few people knew anything about it. this is absolutely shocking, an outrage.
- 2Six119, on 09/10/2009, -1/+28Hate to nay say but it has been on ABC World News for two nights now and Google news. That said, It does not seem to be getting the proper coverage it deserves. This spill is as big if not bigger than the Valdez Oil spill (as far as environmental impact goes) and It is absurd to only allow the faulty company to clean it up.
- icabodane, on 12/28/2008, -0/+25"About 5.4 million cubic yards — more than a billion gallons — of coal fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal, broke out of a retention pond Monday at the Kingston Fossil Plant, flooding nearby houses, the Tennessee Valley Authority said. The spill damaged 12 homes and covered 300 acres with sludge in Harriman, about 35 miles west of Knoxville."
The NY Times says 400 acres. I guess they're still figuring out the extent of the damage, or it has spread since this story was published.
Being from Tennessee and having grown up about 10 miles from a TVA plant, I can tell you that it is really sad to see what the coal does to some of the most beautiful natural areas in the country. I grew up near the Cumberland city plant by the Cumberland river, but the area where the ash was spilled is closer to the mountains in the east where the land was so unspoiled. I don't know if I sound like some whiny hippie or something, but it really does make me sad. Just watch Fern Gully if you don't get where I'm coming from. - Dauntless1, on 12/28/2008, -1/+26You're only right if they get punished. What we've seen over the last twenty years is that the company will spend $2,000 on cleanup, 2 million on a vacation for corporate shareholders, then claim they spent 2,002,000 dollars on cleanup, write the whole sum off on their taxes, get paid 5 million dollars by the government for doing such an outstanding job cleaning up a horrid accident that should never have happened in the first place, and would not have happened if the company had been doing it's job.
- draculthemad, on 12/28/2008, -3/+27"TVA's corporate rent-a-cops are actually real cops"
No, they arent. If they dont have a badge from the state or federal government they are still just a guy in a schmuck in livery. - dancantone, on 12/28/2008, -4/+26My mom works in a high corporate position for TVA and they ARE environmental terrorists.
They've done so much irreparable damage to the water, air, and land by now it can never be undone! - rynsa, on 12/28/2008, -3/+25Not surprising. Corporate damage control thugs always takes out the first wave of activists. It's the second and third wavers that have the greatest possibility of effecting change. Right now, our country is at a certain time in history where it is socially acceptable for law enforcement agents (legit or not) to kick ass and then figure out the legal ramifications. They'd rather have the hassle of cleaning up their messes much later, after all the media lights have dimmed.
Look at what happened to dozens of American citizens in Minneapolis during the Republican National Convention. Those journalists, most of them highly credentialed and documented, where just swept up and subdued without apparent justification... even before the convention had begun! Of course, much later, all charges were dropped.
This is just where we're at these days... and it's precisely why we need to support the first wave, direction action folks. So digg this up!!! Shout it out!!! - Jeepinator, on 12/28/2008, -1/+22It was grazed over even on the local news. It is ridiculous.
- bluesman3535, on 12/28/2008, -5/+25False arrest suits, I hope.
- deathyepl, on 12/28/2008, -2/+21That doesn't give their actions force of law.
- rynsa, on 12/28/2008, -2/+18Some of the major networks covered it, but not in any depth. I hoping that this reflects the inaccessibility of the landscape, etc., but more likely it's just the same old inept, corporate 'infotainment.'
Maybe if we could spin this as a reality show... like 'Survivor: Appalachia' or something. Then it'd get more attention. - inactive, on 12/28/2008, -5/+21I wrote this to tvainfo@tva.gov
"...
Genius
So some cops serving the cause of <strike>Chinese party officials</strike> US corporate interests arrested two activists to silence the spread of an idea.
http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/12/27/activistsdet ...
And now your splattered all over DIGG and tens of millions read the article and backgrounds and shake their heads at just how stupid “tennesee valley” cops are. Smart, real smart.
D.
..."
Why doesnt DIGG write them too? - Dauntless1, on 12/28/2008, -0/+16@deathyepl
That doesn't imply that the local courts of the area are anything except in the corporations pocket. And the ***** part is that a good number of people in the area will turn out on the company's side because they don't want the company to lay anyone off to compensate for having to pay reparations. - inactive, on 12/28/2008, -10/+26Ya'll take them fancy thingamajigs and picture making devices back up to the north.
- rynsa, on 12/28/2008, -2/+17I tend to agree with you. However, the kind of pictures are as import as the pictures themselves. If they just keep showing aerial photos then people will turn off because it quite literally creates a distance between the viewer and the subject.
Notice, all the early imagery from New Orleans was dependent on helicopters. Subsequently, no one actually cried out for action until folks got on the ground and took stills/video of elderly women in canoes, terrified children hanging from attic windows, and (tragically) bloated bodies in ditches.
What I want to see is pictures of family pets caked in sludge, high-water stains on the front doors of houses, and crying men, working men. It's brutal, but it seems to be the only way to move a largely disaffected US population.
Also, I'm from the South, and I can tell you that Appalachia, much like my beloved Ozarks, is not really in the public eye. Honestly, people don't care about that part of the country. If this ***** happened in just about any media-saturated urban center it would take top billing for days, maybe weeks. People forget, the largest ghetto in the US (in terms of raw poverty) is right there in Appalachia. - Dauntless1, on 12/28/2008, -5/+19@everyone above me in this thread.
Buried for complaining about how people smarter than you know more about the planet. - TheZach, on 12/28/2008, -8/+22Could these people of been trespassing on private property?
The story does not show any balance - its only one sided. - dirtpoorchris, on 12/28/2008, -3/+17Thank new lax laws on the preservation of the enviroment? Grand scheme to make USA legally be considered a 3rd world country when the depression hits? Now they can file for bankrupcy. Get billions in bailouts. Steal underpants. PROFIT!
- bjornski, on 12/28/2008, -1/+14You mean the "self-regulation" division?
Yeah, real trustworthy. - casspa, on 12/28/2008, -7/+19Only cops I trust are internal affairs.
- Dauntless1, on 12/28/2008, -0/+12That's sadly true about almost everyone nowadays.
- bluesman3535, on 12/28/2008, -0/+12Serpico disagrees.
- Tarkaan, on 12/28/2008, -9/+21If they were trespassing tree-huggers, then they needed to be detained and asked to leave.
If they weren't doing anything illegal, then they should have never been detained for as long as they were.
But as it is, we'll never know, will we? Police officers have the power to detain anyone, anytime, anywhere, for anything, and you can be brought up on charges for resisting unless you can prove that the arrest was unlawful - guilty until proven so? There are no checks and balances when it comes to police activity. Police need the freedom to respond to imminent threats, but after a reasonable check of the situation shows no threat exists and nobody's rights have been violated (no trespassing), then the police need to leave. If their presence, as the article states, was truly not required, then they were in violation of the law and are guilty of (not unlawful arrest as someone said above) unlawful detention.
And the police should be punished.
But this will never happen, as oversight of the day-to-day activities of police officers simply does not exist, and the only thing we Americans can do is count our blessings and move along when these things happen, thankful that they didn't pistol whip us or butt rape us with their batons (not an exaggeration). - inactive, on 12/28/2008, -3/+14Were the activist trespassing on private property? Becasue regardless of the nobility of their cause, if they were trespassing then they were breaking the law.
- Dauntless1, on 12/28/2008, -0/+11"Nope. Something even more rare and mysterious. An honest politician!!"
- kc8yds, on 12/28/2008, -0/+10Maybe you should just read the article and look at the picture?
http://planetsave.com/files/2008/12/coal-plant.jpg
"coal-plant.jpg" != "nuclear power" - FrothyA, on 12/28/2008, -0/+10You don't know diddly squat about other human made disasters that have polluted the local environment around the world or how they are covered up by law enforcement or officials do you? Ever heard of the Bhopal disaster? Pemex explosion in Guadalajara? Dropping charges and to be released without to the least being severely interrogated if not tortured is nothing compared to what happens elsewhere in the world. STFU
- Dauntless1, on 12/28/2008, -2/+12@bjornski
Don't get me wrong, it's not like I hate money, the economy, businesses, or any of that. It's just that you can take anything too damn far, and as a nation we're taking our love of money to unhealthy extremes. We basically are a country that worships at the Church of Money, and only fools don't see something wrong with that. - Dauntless1, on 12/28/2008, -3/+13I swear, these companies ought to just hang a sign outside the factory that says "We as a company do not care about you, your families, your environment, your safety, your health, or anything that does not make us money. We realize that you should be smart enough to figure this out on your own and vote to have better regulations put on us, but we are thankful the general populous is so incredibly short-sighted and stupid. Thank You, from corporate management."
- Dauntless1, on 12/28/2008, -3/+13For profit anything is a biased joke. If money is any part of your goal or charter, you suck the ***** of the guy with the most money. Which will never be the podunk town that gets cancer for christmas and will always be the company that gave it to them.
- redlance68, on 12/28/2008, -5/+14So much for first amendment. Where is america land of the free? its no longer here folks. Bush and Co. have erased that mistake. so watch your government filtered news and relax. The government knows whats best for you. Unless of course you still have that silly notion about rights. then i guess your a terrorist and we should lock you up. Welcome to America 2.0
- icabodane, on 12/28/2008, -1/+10I agree, and not to sound harsh, but Valdez killed some birds and fish... This is going to be in the drinking water of millions of people (along with killing a lot of birds and fish).
I know people who work in TVA plants, and they all say that there are a bunch of really colorful chemicals that are sprayed all over the coal before it is fed into the furnace to make it burn hotter. I don't know what's the chemicals, but I hope they are potable.... - darkfish, on 12/28/2008, -3/+11Looks like the TVA took a page right out of China's playbook.
- sigg14, on 12/28/2008, -0/+8"You'd disagree if you had ever been investigated by them. They're not above making false accusations and trying to trip you up by asking the same question 5 different ways, hoping to get a different answer."
exactly what cops do when investigating people - bjornski, on 12/28/2008, -2/+10But she's "only doing her job", right?
She's part of the problem. -
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