We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos. Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain. We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.
One of the richest, and perhaps most under-appreciated, areas of thought come in the form of comments attached to these diaries. Here at Top Comments we strive to recognize and promote the talent of this community by highlighting outstanding comments found throughout the day by the diarist, and through nominations sent to TopComments at gmail dot com by your fellow Kossacks.
These nominations are subjective, and certainly not complete (as no one can read the complete site on a daily basis!). But hopefully they will serve to shine a light where deserved, and to give the reader a good starting point in finding conversation on the site. Please come in and make yourself at home!
UPDATE - NEWS JUST IN!
July 8, 2009
'Coal Country' movie canceled
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The South Charleston Museum board of directors has canceled the world premiere of the documentary "Coal Country" this Saturday at the LaBelle Theater because of "a potential security problem," according to an e-mail sent to executive producer Mari-Lynn Evans.
The e-mail from Rhuel Craddock, chairman of the South Charleston Museum Board of Directors, says only that the museum board voted unanimously to cancel the presentation "responding to a potential security problem" and that "we send our regrets," without further elaboration.
Craddock could not immediately be reached for comment and it was not clear
whether there were specific threats or concerns.
...
Evans, whose Evening Star Productions produced the film with a budget of $1 million through the Adam J. Lewis Foundation, Sarah DuPont and the Park
Foundation, said she is negotiating for another theater and will announce
details as soon as they are available.
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With the new documentary Coal Country set to premiere in three days, Big Coal ain't happy.
As a groundbreaking clean energy counterpart to this summer's extraordinary Food, Inc. documentary on the agribusiness, the long-awaited "Coal Country" film on the cradle-to-grave process of generating our coal-fired electricity will be hitting the theatres next week with the big bang of an ammonium nitrate/fuel oil explosive.
Here's the filmmakers' synopsis:
COAL COUNTRY takes us inside modern coal mining. We get to know working miners along with activists who are battling coal companies in Appalachia. We visit the homes of people most directly affected by mountaintop removal mining (MTR) and hear about health problems, dirty water in their wells and streams, and dust and grime on their floors. We hear from miners and coal company officials who are concerned about jobs and the economy and believe they are acting responsibly in bringing power to the American people.
Both sides in this conflict claim that history is on their side. Families have lived in the region for generations and most have ancestors who worked in the mines. Everyone shares a deep love for the land, but MTR is tearing them apart.
Are the people fighting against mountaintop removal really protecting the earth, or do they stand in the way of affordable energy for all Americans? What is behind promises of "cheap energy" and "clean coal." Are they achievable, and at what cost? And what are the alternatives for our energy future?
Check out the film's trailer:
After a year-long campaign of threats and intimidation, the Big Coal lobby plans to have its Friends of Coal sycophants out in force to picket the premiere of the film on July 11, 7pm, at La Belle Theater in the South Charleston Museum in Charleston, West Virginia. (Info on the West Virginia premiere is here. See my second posted comment below for what might happen.)
Jeff Biggers, one of my heroes, delves deep into the film's content and potential impact:
Why is Big Coal so afeared of this documentary film by native Appalachian daughters Mari-Lynn Evans and Phylis Geller, producer and director of three-part award-winning landmark PBS series, "The Appalachians"?
If anything, Coal Country goes out of its way to include the views and voices of the Big Coal lobby and its executives, engineers and miners. This, in fact, might be why Coal Country is so compelling; far from any hackneyed agenda, Coal Country simply allows the coal industry and those affected by its mountaintop removal operations and coal-fired plants to tell their personal stories. The end result is devastating. In a methodical and deliberate fashion, Coal Country brilliantly takes viewers on a rare journey through our nation's coal-fired electricity, from the extraction, processing, transport, and burning of coal.
Once you see the breathtaking footage by cameraman Jordan Freeman, and the unaffected and heart-rending portraits of coal mining families, you will never flick on your light switch again without thinking about Coal Country.
Jeff's conclusion:
Big Coal doesn't want you to see this stunning expose because they have been allowed to let the truth slip out of their mouths."
Such as these noteworthy snippets:
A French engineer cheerfully proclaims, "Coal is a wonderful resource. It's too bad it's dirty."
As one coal company executive coldly states, the millions of pounds of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil explosives that rip through the Appalachian mountains and poison the watersheds and air of local communities daily, "might make some people uncomfortable."
One reclamation engineer even breaks into tears, lamenting that his dedication and work are misunderstood. He waves his hand at denuded hills, stripped of the hundreds of species of flora and fauna in one of the most diverse deciduous forests on the American continent, and lauds his planting of a small stand of sycamores. After 30 years of reclamation laws and over 1.5 million acres of clear cut and destroyed hardwood forest, he champions the novelty of his tree-planting efforts: "We're trying them out on some mountaintop removal sites and seeing how they do."
With spectacular photography in the background during a flyover across mountaintop removal sites, Kathy Mattea, the West Virginia country music star and granddaughter of coal miners, nails the issue of mountaintop removal: "It's not against the law but what if a law is unjust?"
Coal Country should be required viewing for our nation's elected officials, and the administrators at the Council on Environmental Quality, the EPA and the Department of Interior. In fact, Biggers argues, and I agree, that Coal Country needs to be screened at the White House theatre.
~~~
ON TO TOP COMMENTS - send your nominations to TopComments AT gmail.com by 9:30 pm Eastern for inclusion in that evening's diary. And don't forget to include your UserID and tell us why you think it's TopComment-worthy!
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From Progressive Witness:
From jgkojak's diary about a certain Philadelphia swim club comes a "Marxist" suggestion from Its the Supreme Court Stupid about the kind of compromise the President might be able to expect from the owners of said club....
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From Jill Richardson:
oh.my.god
Some "Change..." by golconda2.
(Ed. note - FYI, this one didn't sit so well with some other readers / commenters.)
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From lineatus:
"droogie and termite" - I really don't need to say any more, do I?
The thread starts here: Sorry to have to do this, but....
(the only problem is that I'm at work, and laughing like that was a clue that I wasn't working.)
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From Seneca Doane:
We have some really impressive people here, people doing things you wouldn't imagine. Out of WineRev's valedictory diary in his "Recounting Minnesota" series comes this comment, to which I say "wow. I feel a little prouder to be part of such a community where something like this appears." I can't remember reading comments by stevenwag before now, but I feel glad knowing that he's out there -- and in here.
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From dopper0189:
In response to the diary on Orrin Hatch's investigation of the BCS (College football bowl system) in this diary, I loved this comment: Perhaps Hatch should instead ... by Calvino Partigiani.
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From PerfectStormer:
In Spudnic's diary "Tweety Moose," beagledad is not amused by Sarah Palin's tweets. Such an inspiring message.
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A few I found:
Best combined Tip Jar / Vote Solicitation: It's that old Liberal Media... by KingOneEye
On the 'public option' discussions behind-the-curtains at Congress: That's my reading too by deaniac83
Creationism 101: @eve - How'd you like them apples? by darthstar
Thanks to the Goddess that we have this guy on OUR side: Congratulations on surviving health insurance by Dallasdoc
From the diary 'Eggs are people, too': do read "Just Say No" by Cali Scribe and take the action recommended here: Anti-choice wingnuts hate women. by Elise.
What if there were no Daily Kos? Cripes, By Now I'd Have Invented a Rubber by Gooserock
Do this mean there was some rationale behind Palin's BS??? There is in fact a Department of Law in Alaska by phenry
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TOP MOJO - courtesy of BeninSC, my Wednesday super-hero - I'm loving those tights!
Top Mojo, excluding the tip jars and usual high mojo comments:
- No, no by Downtowner - 266
- The DoJ hasn't cleared out Rove's Agents by FishOutofWater - 177
- I say we all go there and pee in the pool. by Nick Zouroudis - 146
- thanks for sharing what it's like by jamess - 143
- So much for this by Edgewater - 135
- WTF is going on with the DoJ? by MinistryOfTruth - 132
- Congratulations on surviving health insurance by Dallasdoc - 131
- I'm of Swedish descent, married a man by Julie Gulden - 130
- I think you deserve to go to the doctor by middleagedhousewife - 127
- Your writing is effective, very effective by skywriter - 120
- The free fall may be over by eugene - 119
- Downtowner, I'm going to washington today . . . by nyceve - 117
- It seems this by Dreaming of Better Days - 109
- A few solid dumps sure would by AmbroseBurnside - 106
- The same way we can have education by kitebro - 102
- Other species? by DawnG - 93
- Word Choice...FAIL by Answer Guy - 93
- as a 75% Swede, 25% Dane by Stroszek - 87
- Yes - I know by Edgewater - 86
- referring to non-whites as "other species" by Stroszek - 85
- Professional Journalist is now an oxymoron. by Nick Zouroudis - 82
- This really ought to be published more broadly by Seneca Doane - 79
- Obama's no lobbyist thing by Jill Richardson - 79
- heh - it's doctors like mine by Downtowner - 78
- Rush ate O'Reilly's fallafel by FishOutofWater - 77
- Thanks, that's very sweet by Downtowner - 74
- What a great article by ProgressiveTokyo - 73
- Those poor kids, by Reepicheep - 73
- Hero by Cable Car - 71
- "A kid from Norfolk had the power to decide if by Lepanto - 70
- Yes, and... by KingOneEye - 70
Top Mojo, everything included!
- Tip Jar by Downtowner - 961
- Tip Jar by jgkojak - 424
- tip jar (plus bonus vanity pics of me) by D Wreck - 388
- Tip Jar by Stroszek - 376
- Tip Jar by RogerShuler - 370
- Tip Jar by WineRev - 358
- Tip Jar by bonddad - 308
- I KNOW, right? Heck even... by buhdydharma - 304
- Tip Jar by Jill Richardson - 300
- Tip Jar by Brandon Friedman - 270
- No, no by Downtowner - 266
- Tip Jar by soysauce - 260
- mojo jarjo by FleetAdmiralJ - 250
- It's that old Liberal Media... by KingOneEye - 218
- Tip Jar by ablington - 183
- The DoJ hasn't cleared out Rove's Agents by FishOutofWater - 177
- Tip Jar by slinkerwink - 151
- I say we all go there and pee in the pool. by Nick Zouroudis - 146
- thanks for sharing what it's like by jamess - 143
- Tip Jar by jazmen8 - 137
- So much for this by Edgewater - 135
- WTF is going on with the DoJ? by MinistryOfTruth - 132
- Congratulations on surviving health insurance by Dallasdoc - 131
- I'm of Swedish descent, married a man by Julie Gulden - 130
- I think you deserve to go to the doctor by middleagedhousewife - 127
- Your writing is effective, very effective by skywriter - 120
- The free fall may be over by eugene - 119
- Downtowner, I'm going to washington today . . . by nyceve - 117
- It seems this by Dreaming of Better Days - 109
- A few solid dumps sure would by AmbroseBurnside - 106
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Don't forget to visit tonight's IGTNT diary: The Broken Branches.
Always the mountains,
va dare