Neil Young banned from Canadian radio station over Hiroshima remark (Rock 97.9)

[The Straight Story]

Veteran rocker NEIL YOUNG has been banned from the airwaves of a local Canadian radio station after he compared the region to the Japanese city of Hiroshima in the aftermath of the 1945 atomic bomb blast.

Fort McMurray radio station Rock 97.9 will no longer play Young's music after he made the controversial comment about the Alberta area while talking about the controversial Keystone X-L Pipeline project during a news conference in Washington, D.C. this week (beg09Sep13).

Young is fiercely opposed to plans to transport oil from Fort McMurray all the way down to Texas, and he claims the area has been wrecked by pollution, saying, "The fact is, Fort McMurray looks like Hiroshima. There's fumes everywhere. You can smell it when you get to town."

Rock 97.9 host Chris Byrne claims the station has been swamped with complaints about Young's comments, which prompted bosses to removed the rocker from their playlists.

He says, "Rock listeners are pretty apathetic people. It takes a lot to get their ire up. But based on the number of emails and voice mails that I've gotten, I don't think... a topic... has caused more people to call in or write in than this... To (put) Fort McMurray on the same level as a nuclear bomb, dropped to end a world war - when you get to that extreme, you kind of have to get into specifics."

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/entertainment/celebrity/Neil-Young-banned-from-Canadian-radio-station-over-Hiroshima-remark_38389702

[G_j]

1. Every Plant And Tree Died’: Huge Alberta Pipeline Spill

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023041078

Every Plant And Tree Died’: Huge Alberta Pipeline Spill Raises Safety Questions

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/06/18/2167151/every-plant-and-tree-died-huge-alberta-pipeline-spill-raises-safety-questions-as-keystone-decision-looms/?mobile=wp


‘Every Plant And Tree Died’: Huge Alberta Pipeline Spill Raises Safety Questions As Keystone Decision Looms

By Kiley Kroh on Jun 18, 2013 at 10:58 am

As the Obama administration’s decision regarding whether to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline draws nearer, the latest disaster is raising serious concerns about the safety of Canada’s rapidly expanding pipeline network.

A massive toxic waste spill from an oil and gas operation in northern Alberta is being called one of the largest recent environmental disasters in North America. First reported on June 1, the Texas-based Apache Corp. didn’t reveal the size of the spill until June 12, which is said to cover more than 1,000 acres.

Members of the Dene Tha First Nation tribe are outraged that it took several days before they were informed that 9.5 million liters of salt and heavy-metal-laced wastewater had leaked onto wetlands they use for hunting and trapping.
“Every plant and tree died” in the area touched by the spill, said James Ahnassay, chief of the Dene Tha.

As the Globe and Mail reports, the Apache disaster is not an anomaly:

The leak follows a pair of other major spills in the region, including 800,000 litres of an oil-water mixture from Pace Oil and Gas Ltd., and nearly 3.5 million litres of oil from a pipeline run by Plains Midstream Canada.

..more..

[arcane1]

2. "when you get to that extreme, you kind of have to get into specifics."

As I recall, he actually DID get into specifics.

[leveymg]

3. Company town. Like insulting coal in Charleston, W Virginia.

[onethatcares]

4. Clearchannel of Canada, what did you expect?

Neil has enough money to place pictures on the teevee, he should do so and let the citizens decide who's lying.

I don't believe it would be Neil Young.

[rdharma]

5. Fug Chris Byrne and the sponsors of Rock 97.9

Fort McMurray better have a bunch of qualified oncologists...... they're going to need them!

[LuvNewcastle]

15. Jesus, what a blight on the planet.

If those people want to take pride in the hellhole they've created, it's their choice, but Neil Young is right for speaking out about it. The world needs to see how poisonous that product is.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

6. That will teach him!

I doubt Neil gives a shit whether "Rock 97.9" plays his music.

How can you call yourself a rock station and not play Neil Young?

[progressoid]

10. No shit.

And a Canadian rock station at that.

Ultimately, they are just calling more attention to this which is a good thing.

[Jackpine Radical]

7. So if we all acted outraged about Springsteen & a bunch of other rock stars

who dared to speak or sing about liberal topics and social justice, we could leave them with about 3 old Merle Haggard songs (e.g. Okie from Muskogee) that they could play. They'd survive about a week on the air.

[rdharma]

8. Tennessee Ernie Ford's "16 Tons" would be a good theme song......

...... for Fort McMurray, Alberta!

[Jackpine Radical]

9. …another day older and deeper in debt.

Edited for typo

[Enthusiast]

11. Neil Young is right on!

And the righties don't want to let you hear the truth. It's called censorship.

[Berlum]

12. "Shoot the messengers." - Corporatists (R - Great White North Style)

"Thou shalt not speak truth." - Corporatists (R - Great White North Style)

[B Calm]

13. Truth Hurts. . .

[sendero]

14. By all means..

... if someone says something you disagree with, BAN THEM. Makes perfect sense to me.

Canada used to be a much saner place than the US, I've been getting the sense lately that that is in the past.