There are lines we should not cross in civil discourse but nothing is off limits to a Republican.
Meet Maria Gunnoe. She’s an anti-coal activist from West Virginia whose water supply had been tainted by run-off from nearby coal mining. Or, according to the coal industry and their lackeys, the GOP, her water got polluted by magic and the coal industry can’t be blamed. Ever. Under any circumstances. That’s business as usual but the this part wasn’t.
This is a picture of a five year old bathing in water polluted by the coal industry:
Maria planned on showing this rather disturbing image as part of her presentation to the House Committee on Natural Resources in DC. This how the GOP reacted:
Yesterday, on the other hand, Maria was told that she would not be allowed to show that photo. It was not appropriate. She had the blessing of the child’s parents, but Republicans on the subcommittee alerted the capitol police (according to Spencer Pederson, a spokesman for GOP panel members), and after the hearing, the capitol police took Maria aside for questioning about “child pornography.”
Child pornography? I don’t know a single parent that doesn’t have a picture or video of the unrestrained joy children exhibit when taking a bath. That’s what makes this picture so disturbing and powerful; that something so normal and taken for granted by most Americans should be a source of disgust, even for the child taking the bath. Instead of outrage that children are being subjected to this, the House GOP was “outraged” at the fact the child was naked.
And now the GOP has resorted to labeling their opponents as pedophiles to silence them? Joe McCarthy would stand in awe of the moral vacuum the modern Republican Party exists in.
So pixilate the offensive parts and show the picture.
Why would this woman take nasty photos of her kid and then use the same photo to show to the House Committee on Natural Resources. Clearly, she did not do this to exploit her child because if that was the case she would not show it in such a public manner. She should sue the person who reported her to the cops for abuse of process because it’s clear what the purpose of the photo is based on the context. The politicians aren’t stupid. Every parent has pics of their kids in the bathtub, too! Everyone on that House Committee has a photo floating around somewhere of them when they were infants playing in the bath.
If this picture is more offensive because there’s a naked child, than because the water is so contaminated, please just delete yourself.
From the planet.
I…. I…. I just…. I have no words.
When are the reasonable and rational among us going to stand up and tell these people to go pound sand?
It’s time to “storm the Bastille”!
We DO and it still doesn’t help!
We are only allowed to storm the designated one block area 10 miles from the actual Bastille with a permit for 2 hours on every 6th Monday.
AHAHAHAHAH!
Sadly, I pretty much knew what the outcome would be the moment I saw the picture. Republicans are scum.
Way to divert attention from the real issue. “Why would anyone listen to a woman who takes pornographic photos of her child!?” It’s the typical Repugnantcan spin. By the way, EVERY parent has photos of their little naked babies/small children. If all you can think of when you see a naked child is ‘sex’, you’re the problem.
So these morally upstanding citizens see a child bathing in filthy water and immediately shout ‘pornography’. The same people who decided that children’s cartoons could be gay. And they think the rest of us are immoral sleazeballs destined for hell?
nice one, Justin.
American Wormwood. You have to call them out on it. Always. And stop letting trolls change the conversation.
This is ridiculous! That poor child will probably grow up to have pancreatic cancer or something just as terrible, and no one is going to be held responsible.
You are dealing with people who live in a fantasyland. We can never let them live there without being challenged.
These Republicans want to cover up what is being done by their masters in the coal industry. The child pornography thing is just a ploy. Put in other words, they really don’t like that the kid is naked, but they don’t mind killing kids.
Porn? By who’s definition? Porn is in the eye of the beholder, or put another way, the perverted mind of the beholder! We have to stop them!
If they honestly feel that THIS is pornographic, that is ENTIRELY on them. The image is not meant for arousal, but to stir feelings of anger toward the coal companies for their pollution. In there is a single member of the republican senate committee who finds this child’s sorrow and nudity arousing, then they need to be voted out and probably locked away from other children. I cannot believe this. I don’t want to be “that guy”, but I kind of can’t wait for all these INSANE republicans to grow old and pass on, because they are a danger to the country and the people thereof.
The GOP just can’t handle the truth. Truth is a dirty word to them. They disgust me.
There are simply no words, simply no low they will not stoop.
Posted to facebook hopefully to get more attention to the issue.
perhaps there is a reason the Republicans are uncomfortable with the image of a nude child….
maybe they are secretly pedophiles and fear how they will react to viewing such an image in public will reveal said feelings?
Tainted water? Coal industry?
What was the impurity in the water?
Without that information the photograph verges on pornography. The child does not need to be in the photograph.
The photograph was to be presented with that information. The photograph (which not pornographic in the slightest) without the child is just a bathtub of dirty water. The inclusion of the child is necessary for us to understand that there are actual living breathing people that are affected by the single minded pursuit of profit.
Larry – I suspect that you vote Republican. And that critical thinking isn’t high on your list of skills.
Larry, take a DEEP breathe and get some oxygen to your brain. THINK, man, THINK!
Larry-Under no circumstances watch any of TLC’s shows like “Baby’s First Day”. They frequently show newborns totally nude, being immoral enough not to through a drape over the baby as soon as the lower half comes out of the vagina.
I bet these are the same people that would say a woman breastfeeding in public is pornographic. Anything that doesn’t support their agenda today offends their delicate sensibilities. They use their so-called morality to shoot down any argument that opposes them without having to provide any rational counter argument.
Yes, it is obscene.
It’s obscene that a child should have to bath in dirty water because an industry isn’t being held accountable.
The fact that some members of the GOP were aroused sexually by the image of that child is very frightening. The people who lodged the complaint need to be investigated, God know what they’ve done to children already.
Well, I am probably goin straight to hell without passing go or collecting $200 bcause I have pictures of all 5 of my kids in thebath TOGETHER 2 boys and 3girls OMG!!!!!
I’d like to add just a little balance here… I am a Democrat, and feel the story above is most likely true… However… Looking at the water, I am reminded of the times when I swam in country water holes and one in particular was in North Florida, near Old Town. At a friends cabin, just off the back porch, was what they called a; “Boil” a fresh water spring that boiled up out of the ground creating a small but very deep pond. It would run off through the woods to the nearbye river… we would always swim in this boil and always after swiming, we would come out with orange swimsuits… We were told that it was the iron content in the water, and indeed, it looked and smelled like iron. Even the sinks, the toilet and the bathtub in the cabin had orange stains in them… What I am looking at here in this photo, looks a lot like the water at the cabin… and West Virginia, it’s not at all unusual to see this kind of water… I suggest they have it tested so they might have solid proof against the coal mines…
The picture is perfectly decent with regard to the child in it. Her genitals are not showing at all. What is obscene is the state of her bath water. When I first saw this I thought there was blood in the water. I guess I wasn’t too far off.
Yeah.. typical response from the blight on humanity that is the republican party.
Personally, I think those who say this is child pornography have just given probable cause to search for child pornography in their homes and on their computers.
Excellent article. Yes – pixilate if neecessary for their delicate senses. The photo is a priceless metaphor
Don’t be stupid. Both sides are corrupt and both sides except gobs of lobby money. And that is what it comes down to. Get the lobbyist out of Washington and we’ll be able to clean up the country. But neither side will do that, because they care only about ling their own pockets.
Well water looks the same way, and there are thousands of people drinking and taking baths in it, and have for years. So what’s your point? This is part of why Mr. Obama needs to start thinking about Our country and not the mexicans. Sure it wasn’t his fault, but it sure is that he doesn’t do anything about it. Help our own before you help others. You liberals are really whacked out. You all need to get a life.
So you don’t have a problem with the GOP labeling this picture “pornographic?” Interesting… Is there any line they can’t cross as far as you’re concerned? There doesn’t seem to be and that says far more about you than it does about Obama.
@Ralph do you even know what you just said. Your non sequitur makes little to no sense in this context. You are part of the problem become a solution.
my WV well water is clear, and clean.
it does not have arsenic nor mercury in it.
which, that water the child is in tested positive for arsenic, mercury and other toxic chemicals.
fortunately I do not live near coal.
thank you Jason for reporting on these ridiculous politicians
who do they think they are fooling, oh wait – tea bagger patriots
so a child being naked is obscene, but stealing food and health care from that same child is just good fiscal policy? it’s clear who is obscene in this picture…
so use the publicity this backlash creates to further promote the original issue, that’s the best reaction I beleive.
Take what was originally a national issue and make it a global one… I suppose this is how I found it in the first place.
Make people who use these political tactics regret ever using them.
I agree: pixillate any “offensive portions” but where is the proof this water was tinted brown by fracking. What area of the country was it taken in, where was the fracking going on (how many miles away)? The fact this isn’t in the story disturbs me as much as G.O.P. oversensitivity.
All of that information was presented to the committee. It is not necessary for me to go into that since it is irrelevant to the topic of the GOP’s depravity.
Yes, this image is extremely pornographic- in the same way the picture of the Vietnamese girl running down the road, her skin blistered off from napalm, is pornographic. The obscenity is that our “government” has sold our future, and our children’s future, to the highest bidder.
dirty – fuck dirty – this is pollution of chemicals coming from an everyday source of tap water – the dirty part here is the denial of the politicians who espouse nothing more than profit from sucking the life from the environment, and making sure there are no legitimate footprints left in the =communities that have to incur this blatant quest for money
Hating is wrong and solves no problem. Ever. But it is an act of sheer courage not to hate these soulless assholes.
The only people that would think that picture is pornographic would be closeted pedophiles. These Reputards that are trying to silence this story can’t see the clear cut forest for the trees.
I am sure the GOP will claim Obama’s health care bill will help the families out when they are ill. It is funny how the US can start a undeclared war in a minute, but to help our citizens it take years if ever. What a great country we live in
.
The Republican reaction is the reason I hate 50% of America. Their childish, religionist retardation and the way they view the world makes me want to puke. I cannot wait to emigrate and I will never look bacck.
If you look at that picture and the first thing that you notice is the fact that the child is naked, then you really do have a problem. Those “offended” by this pic should seek treatment right away…
It bothers me just as much that the Dems are just as capable of doing the exact same thing. The system is flawed so much that none of the oligarchy gives two hoots in hell that the water is polluted. What is important to them is get the bill passed so I can get the money to get elected again and continue this BS.
Capable of it? Sure. Everyone’s “capable.” But do they do it? No. They do not. And that’s why the GOP are lowlife scumbags.
Its called “we will do ANYTHING to hide the fact that our industries we support to the fullest are costing YOU your health and life” ANYTHING
Congressional Republicans have obviously lost touch with reality. According to the letter of the law, a photo of a naked child does not automatically constitute child pornography. You would think the people who make the laws would know that.
There Is No Low Republicans Will Not Stoop To.
The Republican Party is a Party of HATE TOWARDS ALL AMERICANS…. EXCEPT THE FILTHY RICH! DOWN WITH THE GREEDY GOP!
Who said it was a girl? All we know is that it’s a five year old child in disgusting water.
Too bad the GOP membership weren’t at the midnight showing of Dark Knight last Thursday in Colorado. It would have made a national tragedy easier to deal with.
So what party do the last couple of West Virginia Governors belong to?
Continue to blame the other party but not your own. Pretned there is a difference.
But did a Democrat do this? Yes or no? Your attempts at “spreading the blame” are duly noted. And ignored.
This image is not unusual. We do kids reptile birthday parties and recently was given a dragon lizard that had been covered in oil from a slick. WE spent a fortune on vet bills trying to clean the lizard up and it still died.
Now I don’t know who was to blame for the industrial accident, but I do know these things are not just killing people, but wildlife as well.
“an anti-coal activist from West Virginia whose water supply had been tainted by run-off from nearby coal mining…”
Now, the POINT of this pic is supposed to be WHAT? Some retard putting their 5 year-old in contaminated water, for the sake of getting the picture, using their own KID as the would-be “victim”? I get it.
Instead of coming to court with pictures of faucet output, and coal residue, and verification/affidavits signed by 62 people, they frigging exploited their own KID for the supposed “shock” value of a picture. I’m NOT a republican, and I don’t stand with the authoritarian “right”, but i AM a conservative, sue the bastards for the REAL crap, and stop embellishing with BULLSHIT.
So how should their child take a bath? Never take one at all? Is that acceptable to you? Please, enlighten us with how to keep a 5 year old clean without water.