Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
I Love Mountains
Dear Joe,
"Mountaintop removal coal mining is the worst environmental tragedy in American history. When will the Obama administration finally stop this Appalachian apocalypse?"
So began an op-ed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Friday's edition of The Washington Post. As Mr. Kennedy noted:
"Mining syndicates are detonating 2,500 tons of explosives each day -- the equivalent of a Hiroshima bomb weekly -- to blow up Appalachia's mountains and extract sub-surface coal seams....
"On this continent, only Appalachia's rich woodlands survived the Pleistocene ice ages that turned the rest of North America into a treeless tundra. King Coal is now accomplishing what the glaciers could not -- obliterating the hemisphere's oldest, most biologically dense and diverse forests."
So when will the Obama administration and Congress take action to stop mountaintop removal coal mining?
The answer may be this: only when enough people demand it.
That's why we're asking you to visit your members of Congress this August -- and to tell them that now is the time to stop mountaintop removal coal mining.
Learn more about visiting your representative.
Every August, Congress goes into recess, with many members returning home to hear from their constituents.
With your help, we can make sure your members of Congress learn about the destruction of mountaintop removal coal mining - and hear from constituents like you that itís time to end "this Appalachian apocalypse."
Dedicating just an hour or two of your time this August will make a tremendous difference in ending mountaintop removal coal mining.
Click here to sign up for an in-district visit with your representative.
Thank you for taking action.
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org
Monday, July 06, 2009
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Karl Malden--Dies at 97...A Class Act in a Class all His own!
By Beth Harris
Associated Press
Published: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 7:15 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 7:15 p.m.
LOS ANGELES | Karl Malden, the Academy Award-winning actor whose intelligent characterizations on stage and screen made him a star despite his plain looks, died Wednesday, his family said. He was 97.
Malden died of natural causes surrounded by his family at his Brentwood home, they told the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. He served as the academy’s president from 1989-92.
“Karl lived a rich, full life,” Academy president Sid Ganis said. “He has the greatest and most loving family; a career that has spanned the spectrum of the arts from theater to film and television, to some very famous commercial work.”
While he tackled a variety of characters over the years, he was often seen in working-class garb or military uniform. His authenticity in grittier roles came naturally: He was the son of a Czech mother and a Serbian father, and worked for a time in the steel mills of Gary, Ind., after dropping out of college.
Malden said he got his celebrated bulbous nose when he broke it a couple of times playing basketball or football, joking that he was “the only actor in Hollywood whose nose qualifies him for handicapped parking.” He liked to say he had “an open-hearth face.”
Malden won a supporting actor Oscar in 1951 for his role as Blanche DuBois’ naive suitor Mitch in “A Streetcar Named Desire” – a role he also played on Broadway.
He was nominated again as best supporting actor in 1954 for his performance as Father Corrigan, a fearless, friend-of-the-workingman priest in “On the Waterfront.” In both movies, he costarred with Marlon Brando.
“When you worked with him, he was the character,” said Eva Marie Saint, who garnered a supporting actress Oscar for her role in “Waterfront.” “He was the consummate actor and he loved acting. He was dear and smart. Whatever he did he enjoyed life.”
Among Malden’s more than 50 film credits were: “Patton,” in which he played Gen. Omar Bradley, “Pollyanna,” “Fear Strikes Out,” “The Sting II,” “Bombers B-52,” “Cheyenne Autumn,” and “All Fall Down.”
One of his most controversial films was “Baby Doll” in 1956, in which he played a dullard husband whose child bride is exploited by a businessman. It was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency for what was termed its “carnal suggestiveness.” The story was by “Streetcar” author Tennessee Williams.
Malden gained perhaps his greatest fame as Lt. Mike Stone in the 1970s television show “The Streets of San Francisco,” in which Michael Douglas played the veteran detective’s junior partner.
“Karl ‘The Mentor’ Malden was a great actor, father and husband. I admired and loved him deeply,” Douglas, who was in Europe, said through his publicist.
Douglas saluted Malden last month when he received the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
“It was Karl who, more than anyone, got me to understand that an actor is just one part of a whole team that makes a TV series or movie work,” Douglas said in the upcoming July 19 airing of the event on TV Land.
In the ’70s, Malden gained a lucrative 21-year sideline and a place in pop culture with his “Don’t leave home without them” ads for American Express.
“The Streets of San Francisco” earned him five Emmy nominations. He won one for his role as a murder victim’s father out to bring his former son-in-law to justice in the 1985 miniseries “Fatal Vision.” He and Saint played husband and wife.
Malden played Barbra Streisand’s stepfather in the 1987 film “Nuts;” Adm. Elmo Zumwalt Jr. in the 1988 TV film “My Father, My Son;” and Leon Klinghoffer, the cruise ship passenger murdered by terrorists in 1985, in the 1989 TV film “The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro.”
He acted sparingly in recent years, appearing in 2000 in a small role on TV’s “The West Wing.”
In 2004, Malden received the Screen Actors Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award, telling the group in his acceptance speech that “this is the peak for me.”
Malden first gained prominence on Broadway in the late 1930s, making his debut in “Golden Boy” by Clifford Odets. It was during this time that he met Elia Kazan, who later was to direct him in “Streetcar” and “Waterfront.”
He steadily gained more prominent roles, with time out for service in the Army in World War II (and a role in an Army show, “Winged Victory.”)
“A Streetcar Named Desire” opened on Broadway in 1947 and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle awards. Brando’s breakthrough performance might have gotten most of the attention, but Malden did not want for praise. Once critic called him “one of the ablest young actors extant.”
Among his other stage appearances were “Key Largo,” “Winged Victory,” Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons,” “The Desperate Hours,” and “The Egghead.”
Malden was known for his meticulous preparation, studying a script carefully long before he stepped into his role.
“I not only figure out my own interpretation of the role, but try to guess other approaches that the director might like. I prepare them, too,” he said in a 1962 Associated Press interview. “That way, I can switch in the middle of a scene with no sweat.”
“There’s no such thing as an easy job, not if you do it right,” he added.
He was born Mladen Sekulovich in Chicago on March 22, 1912. Malden regretted that in order to become an actor he had to change his name. He insisted that Fred Gwynne’s character in “On the Waterfront” be named Sekulovich to honor his heritage.
The family moved to Gary, Ind., when he was small. He quit his steel job 1934 to study acting at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre “because I wasn’t getting anywhere in the mills,” he recalled.
“When I told my father, he said, ‘Are you crazy? You want to give up a good job in the middle of the Depression?’ Thank god for my mother. She said to give it a try.”
In 2005, the U.S. Postal Service honored Malden by naming the post office in Brentwood to honor his achievement in film and his contributions to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, which meets to discuss ideas for stamp designs.
Malden helped create the “Legends of Hollywood” stamp series that has featured Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Gary Cooper, and another celebrating Hollywood’s behind-the-scenes workers.
“As a kid, all the letters that would come from the old country, he would see the stamps and they always intrigued him,” said David Failor, executive director of stamp services for the Postal Service. “He was such a regular guy.”
Malden and his wife, Mona, a fellow acting student at the Goodman, had one of Hollywood’s longest marriages, having celebrated their 70th anniversary in December.
“That was sort of the last goodbye,” said Saint, who attended a party in the couple’s honor. “His wish was, ‘After I die, I don’t want you to do anything but have a party.’ So another party is coming up.”
Besides his wife, Malden is survived by daughters Mila and Cara, his sons-in-law, three granddaughters, and four great grandchildren.
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Friday, July 03, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
I Love Mountains
Dear Joe,
Last week, the Senate held its first hearing on mountaintop removal coal mining and the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696) -- and an overflow crowd of activists and coalfield residents turned out to show their support for Senate action to end the destructive practice of mountaintop removal.
Among those testifying at the hearing was West Virginia native Maria Gunnoe, winner of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize.
The Appalachian Restoration Act (S 696) is the Senate version of the Clean Water Protection Act, which would outlaw the dumping of mining waste into streams and undo the Bush administration's 2002 gutting of the Clean Water Act.
As you can see in the video, turnout for the hearing was incredible.
Nearly 200 people lined up for the hearing -- so many that an overflow room in a nearby building was set up for those who couldn't get inside the Senate chamber. We're proud to say that supporters of the bill strongly outnumbered opponents.
Now, more than ever, it's absolutely critical that the Senate knows that the public -- including you -- supports ending mountaintop removal coal mining.
That's why I'm joining Maria and asking you to take action today.
Let your Senators know that you support the Appalachian Restoration Act. Please take a moment out of your day right now to call your Senators and urge them to support an end to mountaintop removal coal mining.
Use our toll-free online call-in tool to call your Senators now. Suggested talking points are provided.
Last week's hearing was a critical first step on the road to getting meaningful Senate action to end mountaintop removal coal mining.
Please, take a moment to let your Senators know that you support an end to the worst abuses of the coal mining industry.
Call your Senators now - http://www.ilovemountains.org/call-your-senators/
If you want to make an even bigger impact in the effort to pass the Clean Water Protection Act and the Appalachian Restoration Act, consider visiting your members of Congress in their local office when they return from DC during the August recess. We can guide you through the process to make your visit as easy and successful as possible.
For more information on visiting your members of Congress in August, click here.
Thank you for taking action.
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
I Love Mountains
Dear Joe,
The pressure on the Obama administration to stop mountaintop removal coal mining is building across the country.
Last week, we asked you to call the White House and tell the administration that it was time to reverse the devastating 2002 Bush Administration "fill rule," which allows coal companies to dump their toxic mining waste into our nation's streams.
And next week, on June 23rd, climate scientist Dr. James Hansen will join community members and activists from around the country in Coal River Valley, West Virginia to launch a year of activism to end mountaintop removal coal mining.
Hansen and others will gather at Marsh Fork Elementary -- the elementary school that is next to a mountaintop removal mine operated by Massey Energy and just 400 yards downslope from a 2.8 billion gallon coal sludge impoundment that threatens the school.
The activists will then march a short distance to Massey Energy's office of operations and risk arrest in a line crossing civil disobedience, in order to raise awareness of the devastation that mountaintop removal coal mining is causing to the mountains and communities of Appalachia.
Can you take a moment to stand with them, and help put pressure on the Obama administration to take immediate action to end mountaintop removal coal mining today?
We're asking every member of iLoveMountains.org to take just three minutes to email the White House to ask President Obama to immediately begin the process of overturning the Bush-era "fill rule," which allows coal companies to dump their toxic mining waste into our nation's streams.
The Obama administration needs to hear that simply enforcing Bush-era rules and laws is not enough. The administration must overturn the Bush-era rules to begin the process of building a sustainable future for Appalachia.
That's why the activists gathering at Coal River Valley next week are risking arrest -- to send the message that impact on the mountains, communities and waterways of central Appalachia have been ignored for too long.
Thank you for taking action.
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org
Friday, June 19, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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