Protest songs are dangerous (and threatening to coal companies)

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Peabody Energy Corp. wants a judge to strike lyrics of a strip-mining protest song from a federal lawsuit filed by environmental activists who claim they were jailed for demonstrating at a company shareholders meeting. . . .

Peabody has asked a federal judge not only to dismiss the case but to strike lyrics of the 1971 John Prine song, "Paradise," which criticized Peabody's mining practices in Kentucky, from their complaint. Peabody says the lyrics tarnish its name.

Here the song:

It's about Bob Murray -- why wasn't this in the Intelligencer?

From the Huffington Post:

Robert "Bob" Murray is the owner of Murray Energy Corp., the third-largest U.S. coal producer. He is one of the most powerful men in Appalachia and a major player in U.S. politics. In short, he's not the sort of guy you tell to kiss your ass, especially if he signs your paychecks.

But that's exactly what one of Murray's own miners did earlier this year -- in all-caps, no less, and on the back of a bonus check he voided on principle. After being fired, the miner, Richard Harrison, appealed to federal regulators to win back his job. Last week, Harrison cleared his first legal hurdle, winning temporary reinstatement.

The "principle" involved mine safety. Here's the rest of the story.

Satirizing the coal industry's search for a future -- "Inside the Coal Bunker"

One of the more recent public relations campaigns used by the coal companies has been to argue that coal can help solve world poverty. The campaign was the brainchild of Peabody Energy, which claimed that it is "the 21st century fuel." Recently it has been picked up by others, including Bob Murray, who appeared on Fox News to argue that the pope had it all wrong - coal is the solution to world poverty!

The people at "Coal Land" recently put out a video that satirizes this notion. "Inside the Coal Association Bunker" also deals with "clean coal" and it even mentions the pope's recent encyclical on climate. Once you understand the video's premise, I think you'll enjoy it.

This is not a spoiler but Tony Abbott is the Prime Minister of Australia who has said, among other things, that coal is good for humanity.