Lean, mean, green

I have mentioned before that a major hazard at this time of year for people living near gardens is an attack of summer squash, an aggressively imperialist species.

The above picture is living proof if more was needed of the dangers of these pernicious plants. Not content to lie there like most vegetables, these green miscreants are about to slither out of the basket and rampage over an unsuspecting world.

DEAL WITH IT. Here's Krugman on the Affordable Care Act and the right wing's state of denial.

THE LATEST JIHAD. It looks like it's true love between WV's anti-gay uterus-police and its attorney general. I figured the latter would be busy recusing himself from cases started by his predecessor which challenge abuses of sleazy corporations.

WOULD THIS BE IRONY OR HYPOCRISY? Although the same WV AG mentioned above seems to be deeply concerned with the personal decisions of women, he pretends to believe that some parts of the Affordable Care Act threaten  privacy. Judges? Personally, I'm leaning towards hypocrisy.

ONE MORE WV AG RANT. As I've pointed out before, this was the same "pro-life" person who expressed regret at Governor Tomblin's decision to expand Medicaid, despite the fact that around 223 West Virginians die prematurely every year because they don't have health coverage. I think that would be another one for the hypocrisy column.

PATRIOT. Union miners overwhelmingly approved an agreement with Patriot Coal. I think it's a pretty big win for the UMWA and would like to congratulate union members and allies who made a bad situation better.

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Must see TV

I have to give props again to Stephen Colbert for this hilarious "report" on an Appalachian small town in eastern Kentucky which is, so far, the smallest to adopt a Fairness ordinance banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Vicco has a population of around 334...and an openly gay mayor.

Props to the people of Vicco, too!

WHERE YOU LIVE may affect how long you live. And WV doesn't come off too good from this look.

PATRIOT COAL. Union miners are voting today on a proposed agreement with Patriot Coal (search Patriot Coal in upper left corner for more information). I'm not sure how the vote will go but if I was a gambling man I'd say it will pass. The big news is that the UMWA leadership got a better deal for its members than a federal bankruptcy judge after the judge's ruling.

MEDICAID, PRISONS, DRUG ABUSE. An audit from Oregon suggests that the former will help reduce problems with the other two. And save millions.

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A little good news

Congratulations to the United Mine Workers of America for reaching a settlement with Patriot Coal that preserves some of the benefits promised to retired miners. Details of the settlement aren't available yet. The company was formed from holdings from the Arch and Peabody coal companies. Many observers contend, with the union, that Patriot was set up to fail as a way of getting rid of promised benefits to retired union miners.

Despite an unfavorable ruling by a federal judge in May, the union kept up the pressure and protests, even as its leaders continued to try to reach a negotiated agreement.

Lots of us who sympathized with the miners were also concerned about the precedence this bankruptcy deal would set. The obvious question was, "Who's next?"

I'm glad they held the line.

MANDATORY MINIMUMS. Here's Politico on US Attorney General Eric Holder's proposal for sentencing reform.

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES. Here are the latest hijinks from the WV Attorney General's office.

FESS UP. OK, who smuggled this snapping turtle into Germany? It has to be a Goat Rope reader. I even tremble to think that the turtle in question might be this Goat Rope contributor.

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Who's next?

Union retired coal miners and their families hoped for justice from a federal judge in the Patriot Coal bankruptcy case--and found none. Corporate promises these days aren't worth the paper they are written on. I think it's time once again to quote Leonard Cohen:

Everybody knows the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes.
And everybody knows.

MIGHT AS WELL eat bugs.

I had to ask

Today I attended a rally for union coal miners and retirees in danger of losing promised benefits from Patriot Coal. I'm proud that the American Friends Service Committee was one of many groups that signed on in support of those in danger of losing health benefits due to a corporate bankruptcy from a company that was set up to fail.

It so happened that I saw some old friends from my first big fight, the Pittston Coal strike. It turns out that one of the best union hell raisers I've ever known is now a preacher. For some reason this strikes me as a little weird, but it probably shouldn't. One former UMWA official told me a long time ago "Half our members are preachers."

 When I caught up with him he was busy preparing a sermon.

"What's it about?" I asked.

"Love," he said.

"For it or against it?" I responded.

"For it," he replied.

Just checking. You can't be too sure these days.

COVERAGE OF THE RALLY here.

POLITICAL? Meanwhile, former Massey CEO Don Blankenship claims that if he goes to jail for his role in the deaths of 29 miners at Upper Big Branch, it will be "political." I would have used a different word. Like maybe overdue.

TOLKIEN GEEKS, this link is just for you.

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Duly noted

Whilst driving to the glorious capitol city of El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virginia, I came upon a bumpersticker with a ribbon of indeterminate color and a picture of a set of brains. The caption read: "Support zombies."

FRIENDS OF WHOM? There is a good op-ed in today's Charleston Gazette by UMWA official and state Delegate Mike Caputo.  It asks a very basic question: where are the so-called Friends of Coal when it comes to supporting real coal miners who are at risk of losing promised benefits from Patriot Coal.

To state the extremely obvious, it's one thing to kiss up to coal companies and quite another to stand with coal miners and communities.

DEFICIT HYSTERIA gets whacked here.

URGENT FISH EATING FLYING DINOSAUR UPDATE here.

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Do your work

During this busy season, I've been blogging off and on about the life and work of 19th century American literary giant Ralph Waldo Emerson. Right now I'm on his most Emersonian and American essay, Self Reliance.

Contrary to the associations such a title might bring to mind today, Emerson was not an intellectual predecessor of the vile Ayn Rand. Rather than exalting greed in the economic sphere, he was exhorting us to spiritual, personal and intellectual independence. 

The passage I'm highlighting today reminds me of the Hindu classic the Bhagavad Gita, a favorite of Emerson's. In that scripture, the god Krishna admonishes Arjuna to follow his own dharma or path of duty in the world, saying "It is better to fail in your own dharma than succeed in someone else's." In other words, do your own work and become yourself.

Here's a dose for the day:

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

The objection to conforming to usages that have become dead to you is, that it scatters your force. It loses your time and blurs the impression of your character. If you maintain a dead church, contribute to a dead Bible-society, vote with a great party either for the government or against it, spread your table like base housekeepers, — under all these screens I have difficulty to detect the precise man you are. And, of course, so much force is withdrawn from your proper life. But do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself. 

JUST ONE LINK. I couldn't join this massive rally by members of the United Mine Workers union in Charleston yesterday, but I was there in spirit. I hope they win justice from Patriot coal for union retirees.

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A day of surprises

I have been a terribly inconsistent blogger this week mostly due to the fact that A. I forgot to take my computer on an extended road trip; and B. while I brought the Precious (aka the iPhone), I have not mastered the art of composing on thumbs.

I had all kinds of things to write about but instead was as shocked as many people in WV were to find that the state board of education voted 5-2 to fire state school superintendent Jorea Marple, who is is widely respected as an extremely dedicated and competent educator. Most people see this as a power grab by the Manchin faction (as if it needed more). All of those who voted to fire Dr. Marple were appointed by former governor and now senator Joe Manchin and one of the five is his wife. It looks like this may be the opening shot in a brewing battle over the future of education in West Virginia. Marple's husband Darrell McGraw, longtime progressive state attorney general, was defeated in the recent election by an outsider who rode to office on a tidal wave out outsider money.

Far be it from El Cabrero to wish any ill on anybody, but this was vile and I hope that those who did this gain absolutely nothing from it. For what it's worth, I'd also like to express my support for Dr. Marple and best wishes for her future. I know that many, many people here feel the same way.

ANOTHER WV BOMBSHELL went off today as well in the announcement that Patriot Coal intends to phase out mountaintop removal operations. Here are some of the reactions by way of Coal Tattoo. I'd say keep checking that blog for ongoing developments. It's not clear what this means for the future of that kind of mining. Patriot, while a major actor in this area, has been more in the news lately for its bankruptcy and this agreement isn't binding on other companies.

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Pitfalls of pronunciation

There are certain hallmarks of a true Appalachian accent, at least in El Cabrero's neck of the woods. One of these is the fact that we pronounce certain words alike, even though they are spelled differently. Examples are words like pen and pin and ten and tin, both of which are pronounced like the latter by any self respecting hillbilly.

I thought about that this weekend when I ran around to several stores in search of a winch to tighten a cable. It turns out that the same pronunciation thing applies to the words winch and wench. The possibilities astounded me. I must admit that I was tempted to run into crowded retail establishments and holler out, "For the love of God, where can a man find a decent we/winch in this state?"

I was only restrained by my uncommonly overdeveloped sense of propriety and deportment. Oh yeah, and of my unflagging respect of Appalachian womanhood.

UP AND RUNNING. Here's more on WV's newly established Office of Minority Affairs.

LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS. There was a good old-fashioned union rally in Charleston on behalf of coal miners who may lose retiree health care and pension benefits as a result of Patriot Coal's bankruptcy. I'd say there were 2000 or so people there, maybe more. I took pictures and would write more about it but I'm too tired at the moment. I'll think about that tomorrow. As Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is another day."

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