Di oxygen can also kill you. And it's in every breath we breath. It's a oldie, but still good.

Maybe you didn't bother to watch the videos, no wait, you must not have, forget the maybe. It was acknowledged that there are some spots where enviornmental upkeep hasn't been given the attention it should regarding industrial involvement but OVERALL...OVERALL regarding WATER...it IS BETTER.

Sorry your specific AREA has problems and you CHOSE to purchase land that you spent 50 years FIGHTING good sense that would have recognized the conditions YOU CHOSE to deal with and found more user friendly acreage. But that has NOTHING to do with GLOBAL WARMING and the condition of water world wide.

Next Please! If you claim to be a conservative, please don't disgrace yourself and conservatism by thinking and arguing like a liberal.

I'm sorry, who was it that made you buy that land (at an extreme discount I am sure you never complained about)? I guess the heat that the coal provided to keep people alive in the cold winter should never have been provided so that you could chose to live on the side of a mountain with coal in it. I also fail to see how that affects the quality of the water you drink. Would coal improve the quality of your water? Never heard someone make that arguement.

"But it took nearly 50 years and a lot of hard work on my part -- thousands of spruce saplings hand dug."

You planted trees. I didn't buy strip mined land and I had to do that too. You can also hire landscapers, they can also do it for you. Were we talking about coal or planting trees? How was there a connection again? Did the trees put the coal back? I thought everything died in August anyway. Did you do that every year for 50 years. You know they say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

"But beneath the surface, 2 to 6 inches, is a rocky mess that is incapable of holding water in the hot summer months."

So adding coal back in (another rock) would help that? Sorry but you lost me there.

"The bigger point revolves around Mr. Penn's contention that the water is "NOT WORSE OFF TODAY" --  The veracity of that statement depends on just where you live."

No, not really. Water goes into the ground and leads to tributaries and eventually end up in the ocean. The Ohio River where I live is dark brown. Has nothing to do with coal. Its mud. Water from all over drain into the river bringing mud and everything else in the ground with it. The same is true for your water. Mining doesn't add red to water. The "red" clay/mud was there before and after the mining. Ever been to yellowstone national park. The water smells sulfery too, guess why? There's sulfer it in. Maybe your water smells like sulfer because....there's sulfer in it. The mining didn't add sulfer to your ground. What creates clean water is what we humans do to filter it. If you do nothing plan on getting sick. Talk to the pioneers in the 1700's in western PA (before mining).

We have a park called red river gorge nearby. Wonder why its called that? There is red clay all over and it drains into the water making it red. The only difference is there was no coal mining here. You report that your water is red seems less than alarming and having little to do with coal.

End of the day. When you bought you "dream home" did you know the land was strip mined? Yes! (Funny my dreams never included living on strip mined land) Did you buy it anyway at a discount? Yes!

I find it interesting that you would plant Spruce saplings while stating that because of mining some 50 years ago that beneath the surface, 2 to 6 inches, it is a rocky mess. 

Spruce grow to be 50 - 75' high and therefore, require about 5'- 8' of root system below the surface and at least an equal amount from the epicenter of the tree.  This seems hardly the type of tree or little if anything for that matter that would survive if it really is such a mess just several inches below the surface. 

So, which is it?  The Spruce trees are thriving making your statement about what is below the surface untrue or they are not.

Regardless of your answer, this has little to do with the videos referenced.  In fact, the jest of the videos is that we have to stop this ridiculous hysteria that is so-called "global warming" and other such nonsense and have a rational discussion of where we are and what to do about it.

From what I have studied and from just living on the planet for a while, there is little if any evidence that global warming is occuring at all.  Let alone that it is man-made. 

Jer,

Judging by their B***S*** series, I think it's fair to say that Penn and Teller are, or at least consider themselves to be, Libertarian.  They're against the death penalty, in favor of legalized prostitution, they did a good expose on PETA and on landfills.  The show is really entertaining...a lot of times their studio cut-aways contain the best parts.  My wife and I were in Vegas in February of 2007, and I remember seeing Penn Jilette being interviewed there one Sunday morning by Wolf Blitzer.  Blitzer asked him if he was excited by any of the Democratic candidates for President, Jilette said no.  Blitzer followed up with the inane "not even Barack Obama?"...let me remind you this was February 2007, not February 2008...and Jilette shot him this look as if to say "what part of no don't you understand".  I saw Wolf Blitzer on the Strip later that afternoon...and I said something to him that I'm not particularly proud of (not that he would remember or was in any way concerned at the time).  I don't agree with all of their positions, but I do find myself on their side more often than not.  And they're damn funny doing their show. 

-fitz

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -Ronald Reagan

fitzfong.blogspot.com

Dear acadia 1755,

    Got grammar?  

Clear, check out this site:

alternativestocowfarts.com

But yeah, I've been saying it forever. Liberals project, and the fact is, everything they've been peddling and spewing -- between the politicians and the MSM -- has been OVER THE TOP F-E-A-R:

- Recession is coming! Recession is coming!! Is it here? Is it here??

- We're in a "climate crisis"!.... climate crisis!!! 

- Corporations are evil! Down with corporations!!

- More economic woes forecasted!

- Food is unsafe! Where is our government when we need them!!

Meanwhile, terrorists increasingly killed us and people around the world by the thousands for decades, with radical islam spreading like wildfired, and yet the ones who want to truly fight it -- Conservatives -- are fearmongers. Mind-numbing.

* * * SOCKS THE CAT '08 * * *
For REAL Change