I voted for Obama today!
(OK--This turned out to be longer than I expected. Sorry for length!) In junior high school, I remember a history teacher telling us that Hitler won an election by a single vote. Honestly, I'm not...
View Article"We're votin' for the n***er!"
"We're votin' for the n***er" appears to be an increasingly common cri de coeur in West Virginia and elsewhere in Appalachia these days.
View ArticleA Southern (AL, WV) Man's Rendezvous w/History
The cousin of "Nell" Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, was named the Pendleton County (West Virginia) 2008 Democrat of the Year. He was one of the few Democrats of influence in rural eastern...
View ArticleMcCain up by 9 in WV: Spend $5 Mil There?
Should the Obama campaign dump an end-game $5 million into a state where, in late Sept. (poll by Orion Strategies), 49 percent of the population believe Barack to be a Muslim or a member of some other,...
View ArticleI heard Ralph Stanley tonight in West Virginia
Tonight I'm in Williamson, WV, on the Kentucky border. Ralph Stanley performed at the local Tug Valley Arts Council program this evening. This is coal country. Ralph Stanley sang a great song about...
View ArticleWhy is McCain Leading in WV
Why is McCain leading in WV by nine points (see link below)? http://www.nydailynews.com/... We are not a state in which Capital resides. We mostly work for other people who live out of...
View ArticleVideo The Vote to be referred to DOJ over WV video
Yesterdays diary Caught! Video proof of machine vote switch featured the Video the Vote edited clip showing Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright explaining the vote flipping and showing an uncalibrated...
View ArticleAnd Some Say "N***er" w/great affection. Really.
This is an unflinching report from the Appalachian heartland. It's where I live and work, both as an Obama activist and a journalist. Last Friday, I accompanied a production team from NHK, Japan's...
View ArticleParadigm Shift: Obama, WV & Southern Appalachia
John Judis nailed it in his New Republic analysis: It is indeed a political relaignment, the first since 1980, which was the first since 1932. Judis also makes a cogent case for an emerging progressive...
View ArticleWorking Women: Surging Gun Sales & The New Liberal Majority
John Judis's deservedly much-discussed post-election analysis in The New Republic is the blueprint for understanding the demographic core of the emerging liberal majority in America, and the case he...
View ArticleDem WV Governor Sets Obama Straight on Coal Policy
This morning's story in the Charleston Gazette by the indispensable award-winning environmental reporter Ken Ward Jr. says: Gov. Joe Manchin said Tuesday that he opposes President-elect Barack Obama's...
View ArticleAlert: WV Senate APPROVES ENDA.
UPDATE: The West Virginia Senate has adopted SB 238 with 23 affirmative votes. In it's second year effort, ironically bipartisan action to outlaw sexual orientation or age discrimination in matters of...
View ArticleAlert: Homophobic robocalls attack WV today
I regret that I don't have enough information to make this diary entry as long as some would prefer, but I wanted to get the information out as quickly as I could. It seems that starting today, an as...
View ArticleAction - Hate in The Mountain State (HR 2262 NOW)
Hate in The Mountain State? Perish the thought! Since many of you didn't read my diary from yesterday, I thought it would be wise to bring some more light into the picture. Two GLBT-related stories out...
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81 yr Old organizing march against MTR Coal mining
As a youth climate activist, I put in a lot of work to bring the various parts of the climate change fight to the forefront, to demand justice and democratic change. I'm almost always working with...
View ArticleCongressional races 2010: UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Previous diaries Summary: UT has 3 reps, 1 D, 2 R VT has 1 rep, a D VA has 11, 5 R and 6 D WA has 9, 6 D, 3 R WV has 3, all R WI has 8, 6 D, 2 R WY has 1, an R Possibly vulnerable: VA-01 (R)...
View ArticleComparing Climate Activists to Suicide Bombers
A group of 20 senior citizens, aged 50 to 88, concluded a 25 mile march to protest mountain top removal coal mining today. Read Coal Tattoo for the full story of this heroic journey. What's outrageous...
View ArticleBail Money Needed: MTR Fight heating up
I spent last weekend in West Virginia, because I'd been hearing about the coal-fields so much and really just needed to go myself. 150 of us camped for the weekend at the tiny bit of land in Rock...
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Blasting Halted on Coal River Mtn.
Coal River Mountain is the largest mountain in this part of southern WV. Its also the only one still intact, which tells you something about the destructive tendencies of the WV coal fanatics like...
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Climate Activists Arrested at Home for 2 month old minor trespass charges
In October, 2 young climate activists hung a banner on a CAT distributor calling out the company's hypocrisy. CAT actively touts coal as an answer to West Virginia's problems, when in reality coal is...
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