Wednesday, December 09, 2009

7 more reasons why you wouldn't want coal in your stocking

Posted by Mickey Z on 12/09 at 10:30 AM
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  1. Hi all…
    I voted.  My childhood was spent in coal country. Coal mining is/was one of the most dangerous occupations.  Those who were not killed in the mines often died early from black lung.  Now that area is being assaulted by large corporations who want the natural gas. To ‘mine’ natural gas is also very damaging to the environment - especially the water systems.

    About Physicians for Social Responsibility… One of my current projects is setting up a community forum for Elliott Adams, past president of VFP. The forum will be in a couple of days. Elliott is a good guy who is dedicating his whole life - 360 days per year to activism.  He has just returned from Gaza where he was part of a delegation of Physicians for Social Responsibility. A week ago I hand delivered to the local newspaper an announcement of the community forum. So far they have decided to censor out the article. This newspaper is our only means of mass communication.  It looks like they will continue to sabotage any attempt to spread the anti war message.

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  12/09  at  11:48 AM

  2. HI RMJ. Good luck with the project.

    We got a deluge of rain this morning. Does that mean you got snow in Vermont?

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/09  at  12:43 PM

  3. Yep...I am on my way outside to shovel now.

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  12/09  at  01:22 PM

  4. I hear you RMJ. My grandfather on my mother’s side was a coal miner and he died of lung cancer. Of my mum’s two brothers, one went down the mine and the other joined the army.

    Then the mine closed, by order of Thatcher, and unsurprisingly, nothing was put back to the community by the gov. It was almost like punishing them for the strikes before that.

    Closing a pit is one thing and getting away from coal is what we’re looking at now. But then, you have to put back into that community and support the transition. But it was largely abandoned.

    Posted by Andy from shanghai  on  12/09  at  03:14 PM

  5. whenever I think of coal mines I think of Johnny Cash singing this Merle Travis song Dark as a Dungeon:

    Come and listen you fellows, so young and so fine,
    And seek not your fortune in the dark, dreary mines.
    It will form as a habit and seep in your soul,
    ‘Till the stream of your blood is as black as the coal.

    CHORUS:
    It’s dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew,
    Where danger is double and pleasures are few,
    Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines
    It’s dark as a dungeon way down in the mine.

    It’s a-many a man I have seen in my day,
    Who lived just to labor his whole life away.
    Like a fiend with his dope and a drunkard his wine,
    A man will have lust for the lure of the mines.

    I hope when I’m gone and the ages shall roll,
    My body will blacken and turn into coal.
    Then I’ll look from the door of my heavenly home,
    And pity the miner a-diggin’ my bones.

    Posted by JOS from Chicago  on  12/09  at  03:46 PM

  6. Mickey...up here the weather forecasters put snow storms in categories. Today’s is being called “The heart attack” because it is a wet heavy snow. Tomorrow they will tell about all who died while shoveling.

    Andy and JOS...Both of my grandfathers came to the US from Poland to work in the anthracite mines.  My maternal grandfather saved enough money so that he could get out of the mine. He used the money to open a tavern.

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  12/09  at  04:16 PM

  7. Weren’t we supposed get snow today? 

    Looks like a good time was had at Central Park yesterday.  Wish I had known about it.  I wasn’t even thinking.

    Posted by Charles from Jersey City  on  12/09  at  06:05 PM

  8. I did a whole post about here the other day, Charles. I half-expected you to appear out of nowhere like a ninja.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/09  at  06:21 PM

  9. Hooray...it’s Nobel Peace Prize day.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/10  at  03:47 PM

  10. Yes, and the acceptance speech was all about how it’s not a contradiction to get it while hammering Afghanistan.

    Orwell anyone?

    Posted by Andy from shanghai  on  12/10  at  04:49 PM

  11. So he just made the speech today?  Jeez, talk about anticlimactic.  What if they did that in baseball?  Yankees just won the World Series but they’re not allowed to have the postgame show or parade until the start of next season.

    Posted by Charles from Jersey City  on  12/10  at  04:54 PM

  12. Next year, they should give Jeter the Nobel.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/10  at  04:59 PM

  13. Fucking Obama. I watched parts of his stomach-churning, fork-tongued Nobel Peace prize acceptance speech on Democracy Now this morning. I don’t know what made me want to throw up more: the utter trash he was trying to sell or the smug, sanctimonious nods of approval from all the rich folks in attendance.

    But I would eat my hat and give Obama the prize myself if he’d acquiesce to all the demands of the Global South at Copenhagen, sign the land-mine ban, arrange to pay war reparations to Afghanistan and Iraq, and quit his job. Then I’d believe he was a man of peace.

    Posted by Keir from here and there  on  12/10  at  05:00 PM

  14. Keir, don’t you know that all you gotta do is be the change you want to see in the world?  Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I need to go sign some online petitions.

    Posted by Charles from Jersey City  on  12/10  at  05:20 PM

  15. Speaking of making gestures, I have a new post up. I’m still finding my way with a new editor at Planet Green so you’ll see this post may be geared more towards a mainstream readership. Anyway, I’m sure you’ll let me know what you think.

    See you there…

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  12/10  at  07:10 PM

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