The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and Obama

[CorpGovActivist]

Looking to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_democratic_primaries#March">March and beyond on the primary calendar, now would be a very good time for Obama to secure the support of the United Mine Workers of America, which had http://www.umwa.org/index.php?id=602&action=show_item&item_id=222">previously endorsed Edwards.

http://www.umwa.org/union/map.html">Region 2 of the UMWA is centered in Charleston, West Virginia (which falls on the Region 1/Region 2 faultline).

The upcoming primaries include heavy coal-producing states, where the UMWA's voice is still strong. My senior thesis in college was written about the UMWA's continuing influence in Upper Appalachia, the Border States, and the Upper South, and discussed/examined the UMWA's potential role in helping to recover lost Electoral College votes for the Dems, following the "Reagan Revolution's" realignment of the map.

The UMWA leadership will, no doubt, have looked carefully at the Teamsters' decision today.

Here is my imprecise key to how heavily the UMWA's endorsment would weigh in upcoming races.

Plain text = mild (little or no direct influence)
Italics = medium (either medium direct influence, or strong resonance with a sister union)
Bold = outsized (heavy concentration of UMWA members, who often heed the rec's of the union)

March 4:

* Ohio
* Rhode Island
* Texas
* Vermont

March 8:

* Mississippi
* Wyoming

April 22:

* Pennsylvania

May 3

* Guam

May 6

* Indiana
* North Carolina

May 13

* West Virginia

May 20

* Kentucky
* Oregon

June 3

* Montana
* South Dakota

June 7

* Puerto Rico


June 20

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_Day">West Virginia Day, when http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_West_Virginia">free-thinking freeholding Mountaineers said no to slavery ("Montani semper liberi"), and broke away from Virginia in the midst of the Civil Union. The http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22restored+government+of+virginia%22+alexandria+pierpont">Restored Government of Virginia was housed here in Alexandria under http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_H._Pierpont">Governor Pierpont, and the governor's mansion gives a fine tour. Just down the road a piece, you'll also find the house of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L_Lewis">John L. Lewis, the UMWA firebrand, which also gives a fine tour. The http://www.leefendallhouse.org/about_history.html">Lee-Fendall House was once in the family of Robert E. Lee, and sits across from the home he recalled so fondly from his boyhood.

Alexandria - at the site of the John L. Lewis home - would be a magnificent place for Obama to appear jointly with the UMWA leadership, followed by a tour of the Restored Government of Virginia's headquarters, followed by an immediate jet-off to Charleston, where JFK once stood (http://www.wvculture.org/goldenseal/kennedy.html">full story here), and RFK once followed.







- Dave

P.S. The words of my barely literate Paw Paw on why race relations in the coal fields of West Virginia were so surprisingly tolerant: "At the end of a day of hard work in the coal mines, David, every man's a black man. Don't make no difference."

He said that to me when I was 8. He was an ornery cuss, but his best friend - Mr. Butler - saved his life, and didn't care that my grandfather's skin was white. My grandmother treated Mr. Butler like visiting royalty whenever he stopped by.

[Kolesar]

1. I would like to put them on pensions and help them start businesses

...that have nothing to do with coal mining. I would imagine that most mine workers would rather run a business than to work in a mine.

[CorpGovActivist]

2. Well said, but watch the pronouns and the Ivory Tower handouts.

"I would like to put them on pensions and help them start businesses that have nothing to do with coal mining."

Your heart is, no doubt, in the right place.

Don't "put" proud, hardworking folk anywhere, until you've worked a week in their shoes. "They" earn a living by the sweat of their brow.

The moment you use the exclusionary "them" and "they," you have struck the well-attuned ear of a people who live and die by oral history. You put yourself outside their circle, and them outside yours. With the first sentence.

Oh, and don't tell faithful church-going coal mining families that all that natural abundance is meant to be left alone. Tell them you're here to "help them" start businesses that "have nothing to do with coal," and they'll feed you a good meal, and laugh at your "dumb ass" all the way to the border.

Tell them that there is a BETTER way to use the natural abundance, AND get better paying jobs, AND get jobs that don't involve daily risk to life and limb, AND which will keep their children local, AND which will reverse brain drain, AND which will be a superior form of stewardship of all that natural, Divinely-provided abundance.

Then, you might have the start of a conversation that lasts you beyond one polite meal.

Trust me, being invited back for supper means something.

- Dave

[Kolesar]

3. It worked for the longshoremen...eom

[CorpGovActivist]

4. Uh-huh. How many longshoremen were working in rural ports? The urban unions ...

... such as longshoremen, are a slightly different critter than rural-intensive ones, like miners.

- Dave

P.S. If, for no other reason, they can see an abundance of other types of jobs around them, every day, in the bustling cities where ports are usually located.

[CorpGovActivist]

5. Kimball, West Virginia: site of the first war memorial building to honor African-American WW I vets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimball%2C_West_Virginia">Kimball is where my grandparents took their mail, and where they were reported on the Census. They lived waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out at the end of a gravel road, at the end of holler. You could hear the cars coming (the tires crunching on the gravel), before you could see them. If my Paw Paw wasn't expecting company, he would sit in the lower room with his shotgun ready, perched with a commanding high-ground view of any - well, we weren't quite sure whether he was expecting Prohibition men, or what. But, he was ready. And it never failed to make us laugh.

More http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimball%2C_West_Virginia#Demographics">African-Americans than whites in Kimball. My summertime playmates and I couldn't have cared less about the color of each others' skin.

Kimball would be a FINE place for Obama to visit.

- Dave

[CorpGovActivist]

6. WSAZ, Television 3, Huntington, WV

http://www.wsaz.com/blogs/political/14473147.html">Even before Obama's 10-straight sweep, the Washington & Lee mock convention had Ohio pegged for Obama.

- Dave

[grantcart]

7. tks

[CorpGovActivist]

8. My pleasure. I'm in my innermost core element when I speak about these areas.

[grantcart]

10. I understand I have the same feeling when I speak about refugees.

[CorpGovActivist]

13. OK, now your avatar makes more sense. Do you work with ...

... the High Commissioner's office?

(Huge UN geek here.)

What is your affinity for refugees?

- Dave

[grantcart]

23. From 1978 to 1985 I was Chief of Operations in Bangkok

also served in Singapore Malaysia for what was then called Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration. You now see it from time to time as IOM International Orgaization for Migration. Most people have no real understanding about the UN and think that it is some monolithic structre. Actually its just a community of international bureacracies each with its own governing board and no ties to the Secretary General or the Security Council
UNHCR gave refugees protection. Embassies would interview refugees - usually using non-profit agencies and then once they were approved we would undertake all the steps of getting them medically cleared, preparing their travel documents, arranging their travel to their new home to countries all across the world. I moved about 450,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Afghans from the Soviet war. It was a gas - it was like MASH.

I have a thousand stories but you will love this one. The driving force was family reunification. Find a family member in any country then we would try and send the entire clan there. We had one family with 22 members that had a cousin on a distant island I had never heard of. We had to bring them to the US and transit them to Mexico City and the Buenos Aires all requiring special transit visas from countries that usually didn't know anything about refugees. So it finally happens. Its a 7 day trip with o/n and schedule gaps. This family survives 30 years of war - the French-Indochina war, American-Vietnam war, The Chinese-Vietnam war (little known war after our war with Vietnam). And they arrived on April 1, 1982 at their new home. Have you guessed where they were going?

[CorpGovActivist]

24. Oh, I really want to meet you!

Ever since I got the war-time edition of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_and_the_king_of_siam">Anna and the King of Siam, I have been fascinated with Thailand. Given the years you were there, I imagine much of your work involved Cambodia, Laos, and Burma.

"also served in Singapore Malaysia for what was then called Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration. You now see it from time to time as IOM International Orgaization for Migration. European Migration. You now see it from time to time as IOM International Orgaization for Migration. Most people have no real understanding about the UN and think that it is some monolithic structre."

Unfortunately, too few Americans know much about it besides the negative memes intended to undermine it. Model UN from 10th grade through college; what an eye-opening experience that is! As a delegate, you must learn to put yourself in the mindset of another country. As a college student sponsoring and running programs for high schoolers, it's a treat to watch their eyes open. And the "most important" work isn't necessarily in the Security Council, but in the lesser-known organs and bodies.

"Actually its just a community of international bureacracies each with its own governing board and no ties to the Secretary General or the Security Council"

LOL. Decentralized structures? You'd think conservatives would love it. Ah, but irrational fear takes hold.

"UNHCR gave refugees protection. Embassies would interview refugees - usually using non-profit agencies and then once they were approved we would undertake all the steps of getting them medically cleared, preparing their travel documents, arranging their travel to their new home to countries all across the world. I moved about 450,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Afghans from the Soviet war. It was a gas - it was like MASH."

I wrote the intro paragraph without reading. Figured you'd give some details and insights. The Afghan proxy war hadn't occurred to me, though it was among my earliest political memories. I had a TIME and Newsweek subscription by the time I was 8 (1980). M*A*S*H re-runs now resonate for me differently than they did way back then, but I still come to it second-hand, and late.

"I have a thousand stories but you will love this one."

The very best friends are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheherazade">Scheherazades with the in on the best local watering holes. Hail, fellow, and well met!

:toast:

"The driving force was family reunification. Find a family member in any country then we would try and send the entire clan there. We had one family with 22 members that had a cousin on a distant island I had never heard of. We had to bring them to the US and transit them to Mexico City and the Buenos Aires all requiring special transit visas from countries that usually didn't know anything about refugees. So it finally happens. Its a 7 day trip with o/n and schedule gaps. This family survives 30 years of war - the French-Indochina war, American-Vietnam war, The Chinese-Vietnam war (little known war after our war with Vietnam). And they arrived on April 1, 1982 at their new home. Have you guessed where they were going?"

Grenada? Falklands?

- Dave

[grantcart]

30. Falklands the war started the next day. They were obviously Chinese

and with the weight of superstition on their shoulders they must have thought they were from some Greek story carrying war around the world from country to country.

I am fluent in Thai. Lived there between 1978 and 1994 with a year in Singapore and another in Malaysia. Afterwards I opened a leather furniture factory in Thailand and was a major supplier to IKEA (450 employees) Returned to the US and was a management consultant and had to slow down so now I sell benefit plans to fed employees. Before I went to Thailand I attended Princeton Theological Seminary.

Thailand is great but once you understand it, it changes you. It is the only country in Asia that has never been colonialized or occupied so they retain an ancient thought process and are unusually non-threatened by outsiders. Anna was a shamless and serial plagerizer but I also got my first contact with Thailand thru her when a school buddy played the prince in the college production.

Well we will catch up from time to time I live in San Diego. Craig Grant

[CorpGovActivist]

33. Poor family!

"and with the weight of superstition on their shoulders they must have thought they were from some Greek story carrying war around the world from country to country."

Did you ever check back to see how they fared?

"I am fluent in Thai."

My partner and I would love to meet you. We are huge Thai food fanatics (spicier, and more delicate, the better).

"Lived there between 1978 and 1994"

Maybe you'd play tour guide?

"with a year in Singapore and another in Malaysia."

I will never forget the Michael Fay incident. :scared:

"Afterwards I opened a leather furniture factory in Thailand and was a major supplier to IKEA (450 employees)"

Oh, very cool. I bet you were a great boss.

"Returned to the US and was a management consultant and had to slow down so now I sell benefit plans to fed employees."

We should talk. Many of my clients (e.g., Federal contractors AND Federal employees) gripe about their plans.

"Before I went to Thailand I attended Princeton Theological Seminary."

The Div School at Harvard produces some of the most interesting characters. I think you just got a trifle more interesting, just when I thought that impossible!

:toast:

"Thailand is great but once you understand it, it changes you. It is the only country in Asia that has never been colonialized or occupied so they retain an ancient thought process and are unusually non-threatened by outsiders. Anna was a shamless and serial plagerizer but I also got my first contact with Thailand thru her when a school buddy played the prince in the college production."

Yup, I knew about its unique status in that regard (tho old Mongkut had plenty of Western interference). As for Anna: I have a pretty de-romanticized view of her role, but it was that book that gave me entree into an abiding interest in Thai culture, Buddhism, and related topics.

"Well we will catch up from time to time I live in San Diego. Craig Grant"

May be in your neck of the woods before long. If/when you're in DC area, please look us up. And I'm serious about my clients griping about their plans. Sometimes, a personal introduction goes a long, long way past cold calling.

; )

- Dave

[CorpGovActivist]

25. P.S. Some of my favorite clients? USAID, Asian Development Bank...

... IMF, World Bank, and other, lesser-known NGOs and guarantors that operate in third-world poverty projects.

Micro-loans are one of the coolest, most effective ideas to emerge in recent years, too!

:toast:

- Dave

[grantcart]

31. very interesting and we just added one more delegate

http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2008/02/kathy-castor-en.html
By the way it seems to me that any female Super Delegate that has ever received a dime from Emily's list is under tremendous pressure or blackmail not to endorse Obama. I think that if they do they are getting taken off from the list.

[CorpGovActivist]

32. Did you see Senator Claire McCaskill on Hardball Wednesday night...

... discussing this very phenom of being guilted into supporting Hillary as a woman pol?

Fauxminism has reared its ugly head this election cycle.

- Dave

[grantcart]

37. are you still here?

[CorpGovActivist]

9. My younger brother won the MLK Day essay contest in WV last year.

Just as WV disproved the pundits for JFK, so, too, I think, will it help disprove them on Obama.

The simple fact of my younger brother's being selected on merit, not on race, and the ceremony that accompanied the honor - harmonious and modern in its outlook - bodes well for Obama in Upper Appalachia, the Upper South, and the Border States.

Or, as some call it: the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upland_South">Upland South.

- Dave

[Cha]

11. Congratulations to

your younger brother on that creative honor, CGA!

[CorpGovActivist]

20. Thanks! He's quite a gifted writer...

... in http://www.google.com/search?q=corpgovactivist+%22little+brother%22&hl=en&filter=0">his own right.

He's pulling a 4.0, while holding down a full-time job working with troubled teens in a residential facility.

He'll be a magnificent English teacher, and I give him 3 years or less to have his first publishing deal.

Thank you.

- Dave

[bigbrother05]

12. If you have contacts, please try to sway them

Don't know any UMWA folks, but agree this would be huge.

[CorpGovActivist]

14. I won the UMWA/Lorin E. Kerr Scholarship

Yeah, http://www.google.com/search?q=corpgovactivist+lorin+kerr&hl=en&filter=0">I have contacts.

[Thrill]

15. Does this help in a place like WV?

I know it will help in PA

[CorpGovActivist]

16. Absolutely!!!

Where in PA? My partner and I both have lots of family there.

My http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=grandfather+steel+corpgovactivist">Paw Paw always said he liked folks in PA, too: "We mine the coal. Our good union brethren in Pennsylvania turn it into steel. They ship the steel to our good union brethern in Detroit. They turn the steel into cars. We buy American."

[Blondiegrrl]

28. West Virginia is a lost cause.

I've lived here all my life, and I can tell you right now that this state is far too racist, ignorant and anti-Christian (because, of course, "Obama is a Muslim" *insert eyeroll*) to ever vote for Obama.

Believe me, I would love to be wrong.

[CorpGovActivist]

29. Where do you live?

I grew up in Raleigh County.

- Dave

[TexasObserver]

17. You do good work. R&K.

Why R&K instead of K&R?

cuz that's how I like to roll

[CorpGovActivist]

18. You crazy, nonconforming Texan, you!

:rofl:

:toast:

A few of my extended family members made it down your way. West Virginians seem to take to Texas just fine.

; )

Thank you for the R&K!

- Dave

[TexasObserver]

19. Take me home, country road, to the place I belong.

West Virginia.

I've heard some people are proud to be a coal miner's daughter.

[CorpGovActivist]

21. I had to learn ...

... to love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC8nDdPM_Qk">that song. My college roommates saw to that.

:rofl:

"I've heard some people are proud to be a coal miner's daughter."

Abso-friggin-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9THvjcohqVg">LUTELY!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butcher_Holler">Butcher Holler?

In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_County%2C_Kentucky">Johnson County.

Adjacent to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_County%2C_Kentucky">Floyd County.

Adjacent to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_County%2C_Kentucky">Pike County.

My great-grandfather was Superintendent of Pike County Schools. Both my paternal grandparents grew up there, and my grandmother (Maw Maw) was delighted when I presented her with the Census sheets, bearing the actual handwriting, recently.

Her father (the Superintendent) was a moonshiner during Prohibition. His large family needed a little extra money, and if it was good enough for the Kennedys and the FitzGeralds, it was good enough for a Casey, too.

My grandmother got paid a nickel for every jar she retrieved from under the kitchen floorboards for one of his customers.

; )

Oh, yes. I'm proud to be a coal miner's son and grandson. And nephew. And cousin. And grand-nephew. And second cousin. And...

:toast: <------ a little white lightnin' never hurt anyone; well, not the good stuff, anyways

- Dave

[Lugnut]

26. I'm a coal miner's daughter.

You bet I'm proud. ;)

[CorpGovActivist]

27. I miss John and Elizabeth!

:cry:

They would've done well in those coal-mining states, ya know?

I wonder if JRE will be Veep or AG?

; )

- Dave

[CorpGovActivist]

34. But do you know this one?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=west+virginia+hills+lyrics">Every WV school child does.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=west+virginia+hills&hl=en&sitesearch=">Video of some of those beautiful West Virginia hills.

[CorpGovActivist]

22. JFK and RFK kept faith with my forefathers.

"When John F. Kennedy visited Appalachia during the 1960 presidential campaign, he was so shocked by what he saw -- 'the hungry children, … the old people who cannot pay their doctors bills, the families forced to give up their farms' -- he vowed to implement programs to improve the situation. As president, he set up the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), still in operation today, to examine the roots of the region's poverty and recommend solutions. After Kennedy's death, President Johnson made improving Appalachia the centerpiece of his 'War on Poverty.' His Appalachian Development Act, allocated $1 billion to 11 states in the Appalachian region for the development of highways and other projects." -- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/countryboys/readings/appalachia.html">PBS, Frontline, Country Boys

************************************************************

It is a revolutionary world we live in. Governments repress their people; and millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich; and wealth is lavished on armaments.

For the fortunate among us, there is the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who enjoy the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked for us.

The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American society.

-Robert F. Kennedy-

http://www.rfkineky.org/project/1968-tour.htm">The Robert F. Kennedy Performance Project

************************************************************

The stories my grandparents and great-grandmother told about "those nice Kennedy boys" are in my heart. Some, I will gladly share. My grandparents were quite active for "those nice Kennedy boys," and those old political networks are there for Obama to tap into. Still.

- Dave

[Scurrilous]

35. Kick

:kick:

[CorpGovActivist]

36. Thanks!

Is that avatar pic you?

:toast: