Yes, they are doing it again, here at the Knott county sportsplex, walking distance from my house.
Stella Parton, Dolly's Sister, will be there performing. That doesn't surprise me, when the whole attacks on Ashley Judd was going on, Stella jumped in for a moment of fame then too, now she's back to do it again. You can read more about that in my previous Diary from June.
But check out the facebook page title...
"Coal Miner Appreciation Day: Rally Against Lisa Jackson & the EPA"?
More below...
Here is a short story about it from CNNi, he threw some Obama attacking in there too. Here is the reporting from our local Hazard Herald...
Several thousand people, mostly from eastern Kentucky, drove to the Knott County Sportsplex on August 1, 2009, hoping to rally for the coal industry. It was a successful event, organizers said, and one they hope to replicate later this month.
Calling it a "Coal Miners Appreciation Day," Perry County Clerk Haven King said this year’s event will serve a dual purpose to both support coal miners, but also rally against what he says are attacks on the coal industry by the federal government.
King noted the difficulty coal companies have had in obtaining operational permits for mines, and said that trouble comes from new regulations imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency.
"It’s real important that we get some people in there for this (rally), because we’re disappointed in what the EPA is doing," said King, who also directs the pro-coal group Coal Mining Our Future, a sponsor of this year’s rally.
A recent guideline issued by the EPA in April imposes water quality standards that King said very few companies – both surface and underground – will be able to meet. Under this new standard, coal companies must keep water conductivity (a measure of dissolved solids) downstream from mine sites to a certain level – between 300 or 500 microsiemens. That’s a level King said is unreasonable, and pointed to his own tap water as evidence, which he said measures at about 700 microsiemens, but is safe to drink...(MORE IN LINK)
OK, I just want to clear a few things up about this. It is not the EPA taking mining jobs, it is the Mountain top removal killing your jobs. This stockholm syndrome bullshit is getting on my last damn nerve.
Source: The Decline of Central Appalachian Coal & The Need For Economic Diversification (PDF)
And you really want to sit there and claim it's because someone isn't going to let you pollute enough? Really? We know miner safety doesn't mean shit to them, Massey for example just got struck with another lawsuit over firing an employee over concerns for safety by the MSHA. Safety, rather environmental or for their workers, is NOT something they care about. Want to appreciate a miner, keep them safe! Keep their families safe. Instead of just jumping when this corrupt agency tells you to.
For some insight, enjoy a clip of these same people at last years Rally...
And FYI to our county Judge Executive Randy Thompson who speaks first in that clip. Only around 4% of the MTR lands in Kentucky and West Virginia had any post-mining economic activity done on them at last glance. So STFU already...
Drives me nuts. Real Pretty there isn't it..