# Activist questioned over coal mining child porn. What the frack?! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 6, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287 "2012-06-06T16:40:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/1 "2012-06-06T16:40:50Z")
The ‘Tar Baby’ Colorado Republican is at it again. From the [Denver Post](http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_20791925/rep-lamborn-panel-blocks-bath-photo-over-child): > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON — An award-winning coal-mining activist was questioned for 45 minutes by police on suspicion of child pornography after U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn’s energy and mineral resources subcommittee decided a photo she submitted of a child in foul bathwater was inappropriate. Gah, I don’t know how many friends on FB post pics of their kids in a bathtub. In case you were wondering, [here](http://www.katiefalkenberg.com/#/the-human-toll--mountaintop-removal-mining/004) is the picture in question. > [@](#): > > “I accept the judgment of professional staff,” Lamborn said Tuesday. “If it’s inappropriate, **I don’t think I should be viewing it**. The fewer people who viewed it, the better.” > > Lamborn on Tuesday said he still hadn’t seen the photo and didn’t intend to. :dubious: > [@](#): > > As committee rules dictate, Gunnoe e-mailed the photo to the GOP committee staffers about 8 a.m., two hours before the hearing started. When she arrived on Capitol Hill, she was told by the same staffers that the photo was inappropriate and she could not display it during her testimony. > > “I asked them why, and they just kept saying it was inappropriate. There were no more answers than that,” Gunnoe said. “I just let it go because the hearing was about to start.” I’m not very good at Pittings, so I hope it’s in the right forum. What’s obscene is the water, not the child. Has our government always been such a fucking joke? According to the photographer, here’s the background to the story: > [@](#): > > Erica and Rully Urias must bathe their daughter, Makayla, age 5, in contaminated water that is the color of tea. \*\*Their water has been tested and contains high levels of arsenic. \*\*The family attributes this water problem primarily to the blasting which they believe has disrupted the water table and cracked the casing in their well, allowing seepage of heavy metals into their water, and also to the runoff from the mountaintop removal sites surrounding their home. The coal company that mines the land around their home has never admitted to causing this problem, but they do supply the family with bottled water for drinking and cooking. Contaminated and colored water in has occurred in other coalfield communities as well where mountaintop mining is practiced. The photographer who snapped the photo of the ‘[napalm girl](http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/02/girl-vietnam-napalm-photo-peace?newsfeed=true)’ certainly wasn’t questioned about child pornography. In fact, deprived children do well when getting a point across. See [here](http://erinaceously.wordpress.com/category/education-2/page/3/), [here](http://www.flickr.com/photos/rllayman/339691516/), [here](http://www.rit.edu/news/story.php?id=46401), and [here](http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200504/06/eng20050406_179764.html). Truth hurts, doesn’t it, Lamborn? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/2 "2012-06-06T16:59:16Z")
Eh. Lamborn didn’t call the cops, so I don’t think he can be blamed for that part. Was the decision to exclude the photo stupid? Sure. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/3 "2012-06-06T18:17:42Z")
Why are using the word "frack’ in the title? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/4 "2012-06-06T18:21:56Z")
Uh, the link to your photo leads to something completely different. Really threw me off for a moment. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/5 "2012-06-06T18:29:18Z")
Direct [link](http://www.katiefalkenberg.com/contents/The%20Human%20Toll%3A%20Mountaintop%20Removal%20Mining/image-004/) to picture. Frack is an environmentally hot topic, referring to an extraction technique with debatable environmental impacts. Frack is also a non-related, television-friendly explicative used in Battlestar Galactica. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/6 "2012-06-06T18:32:58Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Direct [link](http://www.katiefalkenberg.com/contents/The%20Human%20Toll%3A%20Mountaintop%20Removal%20Mining/image-004/) to picture. > Frack is an environmentally hot topic, referring to an extraction technique with debatable environmental impacts. Frack is also a non-related, television-friendly explicative used in Battlestar Galactica. Well I know what fracking is, but I thought the actual story referred to would have something to do with fracking, which it does not appear to. Hence, my question. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/7 "2012-06-06T18:34:54Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Direct [link](http://www.katiefalkenberg.com/contents/The%20Human%20Toll%3A%20Mountaintop%20Removal%20Mining/image-004/) to picture. > Frack is an environmentally hot topic, referring to an extraction technique with debatable environmental impacts. Frack is also a non-related, television-friendly explicative used in Battlestar Galactica. Ok, it’s almost amusing, but now I’ve clicked on that picture twice and both times it was a different picture, that has nothing to do with your post. What is with that site??? ETA: Every time you click on it new pictures come up! ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/8 "2012-06-06T18:36:57Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Ok, it’s almost amusing, but now I’ve clicked on that picture twice and both times it was a different picture, that has nothing to do with your post. What is with that site??? > > ETA: Every time you click on it new pictures come up! Ah, probably a java or other scripted thing. With AdBlock and NoScript, it comes ups and does not change. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/9 "2012-06-06T18:44:38Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Ah, probably a java or other scripted thing. With AdBlock and NoScript, it comes ups and does not change. Ok, I have that stuff at home but none of it here. I’ll check at home. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/10 "2012-06-06T18:49:25Z")
> [@Farmer\_Jane](#): > > The photographer who snapped the photo of the ‘[napalm girl](http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/02/girl-vietnam-napalm-photo-peace?newsfeed=true)’ certainly wasn’t questioned about child pornography. In fact, deprived children do well when getting a point across. See [here](http://erinaceously.wordpress.com/category/education-2/page/3/), [here](http://www.flickr.com/photos/rllayman/339691516/), [here](http://www.rit.edu/news/story.php?id=46401), and [here](http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200504/06/eng20050406_179764.html). “Napalm girl,” was taken during a time period that didn’t have the [del]hysteria[/del] extra concern we have today over child nudity. My parents took pictures of me and my brother bathing together when I was 4 and he was 1. No one thought anything of them. Today, those pictures are questionable and apparently required the manager of the local Rite-Aid to give his OK before they could be reprinted from negatives. I don’t take any position on the coal business – I am just pointing out that an effort to compare today’s reaction to “Napalm girl” is not useful. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/11 "2012-06-06T19:08:39Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Frack is an environmentally hot topic, referring to an extraction technique with debatable environmental impacts. Frack is also a non-related, television-friendly explicative used in Battlestar Galactica. That’s _frak_not _frack._ Incidentally, the word significantly predates [BSG](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frak!). ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/12 "2012-06-06T19:25:37Z")
Two things: - Kid is nude, but nothing is showing. So how could it possibly be child porn? It’s the equivalent of a kid in a bathing suit. - Haven’t the courts ruled that in order for it to be child porn there needs to be a sexual component? Otherwise I know a couple of evil child pornographers. Mainly my mom and my Grandma who have pictures of tiny baby Kinthalis reaching for the toilet paper with his little bum showing. Hot stuff. EDIT: Also, what about nudist/naturalists? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/13 "2012-06-06T19:40:50Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Two things: > > - Kid is nude, but nothing is showing. So how could it possibly be child porn? It’s the equivalent of a kid in a bathing suit. Perhaps you missed the bare chest, where presumably one day she will grow boobs? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/14 "2012-06-06T19:47:15Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Two things: > > - Kid is nude, but nothing is showing. So how could it possibly be child porn? It’s the equivalent of a kid in a bathing suit. > > - Haven’t the courts ruled that in order for it to be child porn there needs to be a sexual component? > > Otherwise I know a couple of evil child pornographers. Mainly my mom and my Grandma who have pictures of tiny baby Kinthalis reaching for the toilet paper with his little bum showing. > > Hot stuff. > > EDIT: Also, what about nudist/naturalists? What about [naturalists](http://www.davidattenborough.co.uk/)? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/15 "2012-06-06T19:56:11Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > “Napalm girl,” was taken during a time period that didn’t have the [del]hysteria[/del] extra concern we have today over child nudity. From the article in the link: > [@](#): > > Back at the office in what was then US-backed Saigon, [Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong “Nick” Ut] developed his film. > > When the image of the naked little girl emerged, everyone feared it would be rejected because of the news agency’s strict policy against nudity. > > But veteran Vietnam photo editor Horst Faas took one look and knew it was a shot made to break the rules. He argued the photo’s news value far outweighed any other concerns, and he won. I’d agree that there may be more concern now, but the sentiment at the time was not exactly, “Oh, she’s a kid, ain’t no thing.” That said, they made the right call then, and that photo was far more “revealing” than this one. I can’t understand how anyone could object to this. And the thing is, not only did Lamborn defer to the judgment of his staff without even looking at the photo himself… he was the one who _invited_ this woman to speak, and this was the _second_ time he’d done so! [QUOTE=The Denver Post] Maria Gunnoe of West Virginia had been invited by Lamborn — a Colorado Springs Republican and the subcommittee’s chairman — to testify at his hearing Friday on the Spruce Coal Mine in her state. It was the fourth time Gunnoe had been in front of the committee and the second time she had been there at the behest of Lamborn. [/QUOTE] You’d think he’d at least extend his invited guest the courtesy of looking at the materials she brought, and considering whether, at bare minimum, an apology for the actions of his staff might be in order. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/16 "2012-06-07T01:40:00Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > What about [naturalists](http://www.davidattenborough.co.uk/)? 😕 I think he means [naturists](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturism) (NSFW). ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/17 "2012-06-07T12:15:10Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I think he means [naturists](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturism) (NSFW). You do? Well, bless my soul. _fans self_ ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/18 "2012-06-07T12:22:53Z")
> [@](#): > > After the hearing, a U.S. Capitol Police officer asked Gunnoe to step into a side room alone to answer questions. For 45 minutes, he asked Gunnoe who she was, where she was from, where the photos came from, what she did for a living. Gunnoe said it was a “reasonable line of questioning since his job is to investigate these claims.” That’s gracious of her to say, and there probably is a “he was just doing his job” component to this, but whether the decision was his or someone else’s or was forced by a policy somewhere, the questioning of Grunnoe was in itself a serious mistake. There is nothing about the photo which should even cause _suspicion_ of child pornography. No questioning should have taken place. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/19 "2012-06-07T13:01:08Z")
This topic was interesting, but not anywhere near as interesting as the title “coal mining child porn” suggests. Tease! ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287/20 "2012-06-07T14:17:13Z")
To the people who have been PM’ing me the last couple of days. No, I will not send you a copy of baby me in the buff. Stop asking! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activist-questioned-over-coal-mining-child-porn-what-the-frack/624287.md?page=2)