In Kentucky, David Hawpe "POKES" Dan Mongiardo "In The Eye" Over His Support Of Mountain Top Coal Removal -- And I Join David In The Eye Poke.
Let's get real, on TV and in the campaign
Well, it looks as if Jack Conway's not-so-bon mot at Fancy Farm will add even more spice to the always-pungent stew of Kentucky politics.
What's ironic is that Conway should have been the least likely speaker to use an oath as part of his spiel at the annual event sponsored by St. Jerome's Catholic Church. I've talked to him many times over the years. As a conversationalist I found him occasionally dull, but never foul-mouthed.
He's also brilliant, dedicated, hard-working — a serious-minded Catholic boy who spent a minimum of time as high school student in JUG — short for Justice Under God, the St. X version of student detention.
The real obscenity is the slavish devotion of his opponent, Daniel Mongiardo, to the coal industry. Mongiardo defends the indefensible — mountaintop removal strip mining — as a way to create the kind of flat land that poverty-stricken Eastern Kentucky needs. Never mind that widespread scalping of hills will leave thousands of acres flat and empty land, miles and miles from hookups to basic utility services and existing centers of population and commerce. What Mongiardo considers a viable development strategy will create, instead, an archipelago of environmental ruin in the coalfields.
What then?
When no use can be found for these islands of desolation, will then-Sen. Mongiardo propose the creation of our first national ATV park and name it for Bill Sturgill, who pioneered the joys and benefits of strip mining in Eastern Kentucky?
Talk about profane.
I am constantly amazed at American culture.
A spotlessly honest candidate for the U.S. Senate, who already has a record of real service as gubernatorial counsel and attorney general, is attacked because he did what? Cussed in public. Once. And because he worked hard, won admission to Duke University, one of America's best schools, did well as an undergraduate and at George Washington Law School, then came back to Kentucky, which is precisely what we want our high-talent, high-achieving young folks to do.
What next?
Secretary of State Trey Grayson's opponents in the Republican primary demonize him because he got into Harvard, or because “Trey” is short for a tutty-sounding full name that has III after it?
I admit to being something of a chip-on-the-shoulder, blue collar, reverse snob myself, but this is ridiculous.
I'm also something of a TV addict, and this summer I've been reveling in the contrast between those tiresome upper class teenage snots on “NYC Prep” and the struggling young working class kids on “16 and Pregnant.”
Give me the proles from the double-wides and starter houses any day.
For those who haven't seen “NYC Prep,” it's a reality show in which Big Apple prep school types sneer, smirk and simper their way around Manhattan on Daddy's and Mommy's money. Excerpts from this show would make a great recruiting tape for the Middle Eastern fundamentalists who preach that western values suck.
The kids on “16 and Pregnant” come from a world where kitchen counters are plastic, not granite or polished concrete. But at least there's something real about the predicament they're in. They did it. It did them. Now they're doing something about it.
Give me a minimum wage teen couple with a new baby who learn to cook Hamburger Helper. You take the spawn of the upper class, who order fish with foam for lunch at Le Snot in the East 70s, and complain that they only get $200 for pocket money while their friends get $1,000.
On TV and in politics, let's focus on what's real.
You watch the juiced-up political commercials that focus on phony issues, and the reality shows that focus on phonies.
I'd rather spend my time reading Sally Barto's Mountain Eagle story about the goat that was trapped on a highwall at Roxana Mining for almost a month. The poor thing was 45 feet from the ground and 25 feet from the top. They finally got her down by hoisting a cage and luring her into it with food and water. Since the rescue, Nellie has been in a 12-by-12 dog lot at the home of Jeff Mullins, whose wife has been feeding her on dried dog food. She prefers it to carrots, cabbage, potatoes and tomatoes.
When asked about Daniel Mongiardo and his friends in the coal industry Nellie said, “Baaaa.”
David Hawpe's columns appear Sundays and Wednesdays on the editorial page. E-mail him at dhawpe@courier-journal.com.
Editor's comment: OK, in case you did not throw up with all that unconcealed "lovey dovey" stuff for Jack Conway, just ignore it.
Nonetheless David Hawpe is right on target with the "eye poke" over Dan Mongiardo's love of mountaintop removal of coal, and I join David in the deserved "eye poke".
Well, it looks as if Jack Conway's not-so-bon mot at Fancy Farm will add even more spice to the always-pungent stew of Kentucky politics.
What's ironic is that Conway should have been the least likely speaker to use an oath as part of his spiel at the annual event sponsored by St. Jerome's Catholic Church. I've talked to him many times over the years. As a conversationalist I found him occasionally dull, but never foul-mouthed.
He's also brilliant, dedicated, hard-working — a serious-minded Catholic boy who spent a minimum of time as high school student in JUG — short for Justice Under God, the St. X version of student detention.
The real obscenity is the slavish devotion of his opponent, Daniel Mongiardo, to the coal industry. Mongiardo defends the indefensible — mountaintop removal strip mining — as a way to create the kind of flat land that poverty-stricken Eastern Kentucky needs. Never mind that widespread scalping of hills will leave thousands of acres flat and empty land, miles and miles from hookups to basic utility services and existing centers of population and commerce. What Mongiardo considers a viable development strategy will create, instead, an archipelago of environmental ruin in the coalfields.
What then?
When no use can be found for these islands of desolation, will then-Sen. Mongiardo propose the creation of our first national ATV park and name it for Bill Sturgill, who pioneered the joys and benefits of strip mining in Eastern Kentucky?
Talk about profane.
I am constantly amazed at American culture.
A spotlessly honest candidate for the U.S. Senate, who already has a record of real service as gubernatorial counsel and attorney general, is attacked because he did what? Cussed in public. Once. And because he worked hard, won admission to Duke University, one of America's best schools, did well as an undergraduate and at George Washington Law School, then came back to Kentucky, which is precisely what we want our high-talent, high-achieving young folks to do.
What next?
Secretary of State Trey Grayson's opponents in the Republican primary demonize him because he got into Harvard, or because “Trey” is short for a tutty-sounding full name that has III after it?
I admit to being something of a chip-on-the-shoulder, blue collar, reverse snob myself, but this is ridiculous.
I'm also something of a TV addict, and this summer I've been reveling in the contrast between those tiresome upper class teenage snots on “NYC Prep” and the struggling young working class kids on “16 and Pregnant.”
Give me the proles from the double-wides and starter houses any day.
For those who haven't seen “NYC Prep,” it's a reality show in which Big Apple prep school types sneer, smirk and simper their way around Manhattan on Daddy's and Mommy's money. Excerpts from this show would make a great recruiting tape for the Middle Eastern fundamentalists who preach that western values suck.
The kids on “16 and Pregnant” come from a world where kitchen counters are plastic, not granite or polished concrete. But at least there's something real about the predicament they're in. They did it. It did them. Now they're doing something about it.
Give me a minimum wage teen couple with a new baby who learn to cook Hamburger Helper. You take the spawn of the upper class, who order fish with foam for lunch at Le Snot in the East 70s, and complain that they only get $200 for pocket money while their friends get $1,000.
On TV and in politics, let's focus on what's real.
You watch the juiced-up political commercials that focus on phony issues, and the reality shows that focus on phonies.
I'd rather spend my time reading Sally Barto's Mountain Eagle story about the goat that was trapped on a highwall at Roxana Mining for almost a month. The poor thing was 45 feet from the ground and 25 feet from the top. They finally got her down by hoisting a cage and luring her into it with food and water. Since the rescue, Nellie has been in a 12-by-12 dog lot at the home of Jeff Mullins, whose wife has been feeding her on dried dog food. She prefers it to carrots, cabbage, potatoes and tomatoes.
When asked about Daniel Mongiardo and his friends in the coal industry Nellie said, “Baaaa.”
David Hawpe's columns appear Sundays and Wednesdays on the editorial page. E-mail him at dhawpe@courier-journal.com.
Editor's comment: OK, in case you did not throw up with all that unconcealed "lovey dovey" stuff for Jack Conway, just ignore it.
Nonetheless David Hawpe is right on target with the "eye poke" over Dan Mongiardo's love of mountaintop removal of coal, and I join David in the deserved "eye poke".
Labels: Democratism, Kentucky politics, The Environment
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 9:09 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home