When someone puts their money where their mouth is, I might disagree with their actions, but at least those actions sometimes follow some basic logic of personal belief.
To put me in fighting mode, show me some influential clown who puts his or her mouth where their money is.
Our good friend (read fiend) ostensibly representing the people of Oklahoma (and the people of the U.S.) in the U.S. Senate, James Inhofe is one of the latter. Inhofe, famous for his anti-science, anti-human (anti-his-own grandchildren's present-and-future) denial of global warming, has converted dirty money into a series of lies and sick jokes more worthy of late night college dormitory conversations. Whether gleefully making snowballs in Washington, DC (heavier snows in winter are often products of higher-than-normal-temperatures), or writing a simple-minded book meant for simple-minded readers, to highlight what he calls the global warming "hoax," Inhofe is a conspicuous figure, hoping to be seen as sharp-witted representative of real Americans. Others see him has having adopted the part of a knee-jerk imbecile, with the imagination of a four year old (That reminds me of a comment made by Groucho Marx's character to Chico Marx's character in Horsefeathers: "Baravelli, you've got the brain of a four-year-old boy, and I'll bet he was glad to get rid of it." Apparently, Inhofe has found no takers for his dubious gray matter).
In a career built on what a friend calls "legalized bribes," a term with which I agree, and which has itself benefitted from the Citizens United decision, Inhofe's "legalized bribes" since 1989, according to OpenSecrets.org Center for Responsive Politics, include a combined $1,837,427 from the oil and gas industries, $586,317 from the electric utilities industry, and $327,325 from the mining sector (no breakdown shown).
Inhofe is far from the only twit vomiting these poisoned views. In West Virginia, where the cycle of coal from cradle to grave (putting miners and other residents in their own graves at an alarming rate; check out research by Michael Hendryx) has destroyed air, water and land resources, along with the lives of thousands, including friends of mine), look no further than Shelley Moore Capito, Joe Manchin, any recent governor of the state, and many state-level elected and appointed officials.
Capito is a special case in point. The daughter of former Mountain State governor Arch Moore, who served time in prison for stealing from miners' pension funds, Capito, who did not fall far from the tree, is a darling of the worst of the worst industries in the U.S., possibly one possibly equaled only by big (is there any small?) tobacco.
Capito, both a benefactor and beneficiary of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining (which has leveled over 500 of the oldest mountains on Earth, plugged over 2,500 miles of once-pristine headwater streams with hundreds of vertical feet of demolished and poisoned mountaintops, decimated close to one million acres of the most diverse forest on Earth (along with wild game and fish populations, edible and medicinal plants, and forestry jobs), and put residents in grave danger from poisoned air and water from the toxic blasts) has prompted an environmental activist acquaintance of mine to use the term Shelley Moore Decapitate—because Capito favors decapitating mountains).
Our list of dangerous traitors includes, but is certainly not limited to, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul (those two wonderful public servants from Kentucky), Hal Rodgers (a long-time Kentucky Congressman whose claim to shame is putting the coal industry ahead of the physical, spiritual and financial health of those he swore to protect; and a smattering of elected, yet morally-challenged so-called humans from Pennsylvania and most, if not all, coal-producing or burning states.
In recent years, some 25,000 Americans died annually and prematurely from living too close to coal-fired power plants. If Dick Cheney and the above list of criminals had their way, those totals would be higher yet. As is is, that facet of coal alone has killed eight times as many people annually (in this country) as did the one-day terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Only the shutting down and otherwise non-building of some 150-200 similar facilities did anything to restore some faith in humanity.
One might ask, "Who is a terrorist?" The above list is a good start.
Let's say for yucks that our man Inhofe is correct, and that global warming by humans is somehow (yeah, somehow) a hoax. Regardless of impacts on our climate (just why have we, in the foothills of western North Carolina, endured over one month of constant high humidity-- along with the allergies and asthma that such a conditions worsen and above-normal temperatures, similar to so much of the East), extraction, treating/refining, transporting and burning fossil fuels, plus the irresponsible disposal of waste, kills and sickens real human beings. These cycles of fossil (and nuclear) energy) kill and disable millions of human beings. As an environmental documentary photographer, I've seen the squalor that follows the coal, oil and gas industries; I've met and photographed many individuals and families whose land and lives have been ruined by the coal and gas industries, because their elected and appointed officials have abandoned their basic responsibility to protect them from these corporate killers. Food-rich seas and oceans, as well as every square foot of the Earth are poisoned by mercury (mostly) from coal-fired power plants.
In other words, we are subsidizing billionaire CEOs and their deadly operations, while they kill us off. But, don't worry, we don't face global warming. Just listen to James Inhofe and his cohorts put their collective mouths where their money is.
I say get Mr. Inhofe's (limited) attention by sending him your electric bills from any recent spring, summer or early fall months. We cannot extract our pound of flesh from these criminals, but we can at least serve notice that we understand where they pretend to stand.
Two of my West Virginia photographs are attached. The black and white image shows the late and great Larry Gibson, probably the greatest anti-coal activist in the U.S., and his dog (named Dog) looking over the continuing mountaintop removal mining catastrophe on what had been Kayford Mountain. Everywhere one can see was formerly densely-wooded mountainside with clear and cold tributary streams. At this time (2006), some 7,500 acres of this former paradise had been converted to a poisoned, lifeless landscape. Larry was born and raised on Kayford Mountain, putting into a land trust the remaining fifty acres of woodland not ruined by the coal industry. Most of what is visible in the foreground is part of the 450 acres that the coal industry stolen from Larry's great-grandfather in 1901. From 1986 through his death in 2012, Larry fought fearlessly to protect the land and the people of central Appalachia, and beyond, from the coal, oil and gas industries, and from traitors such as James Inhofe.
Shown in the color photograph is the Brushy Fork Sludge Impoundment, held back by a 900-foot-tall earthen dam that can fail at any time, and unleash a tsunami of nine billion gallons of carcinogenic sludge that can wipe out homes, families and villages. Such sludge impoundments are, by law, to be temporary. This photo was made a decade after construction began. Nearly a decade later, this toxic sludge will certainly kill many people, wither slowly by seeping into groundwater, or in a blink, from flooding. Note the dam in the background, made partially of coal slag.
Send those electric bills and any records of increased medical expenses for asthma, from keeling over while performing normal activities on hot, humid days. Send those, plus medical bills from illnesses and other conditions resulting from working or living near various parts of the coal oil and gas cycles:
James Inhofe, 205 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510-3603. Darn, it's hot out there. Remember to hydrate well after licking your envelopes and stamps. He might claim otherwise, but he can afford it.
You might remember that Inhofe recently put down his own granddaughter's quizzing on his policies and statements.
Show me someone who takes dirty money, while knowingly and deliberately setting his or her own grandchildren adrift in a dangerous, poisoned world, and I'll show you a psychopath.
