President Bombs American Civilians

[CorpGovActivist]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22battle+of+blair+mountain%22

The President? Ohio Republican Warren G. Harding.

The location? West Virginia.

The issues? Working wages, worker safety, right to unionize.

The outcome? The 8-hour work day, the 5-day work week, and many of the other basic workplace protections American workers take for granted today.

Didn't know about this dark chapter in American history? Get a copy of United We Stand: The United Mine Workers of America, 1890-1990. Mine is signed by Rich Trumka, former President of the UMWA and current Secretary-Tresurer of the AFL-CIO. Thanks in part to the UMWA/Lorin E. Kerr Scholarship, I was the first in my coal mining family to go to college.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22united+we+stand%22+umwa+1890-1990

What is it about those Ohio Republicans? Diebold, Blackwell, DeWine...

- David A. Smith, Editor, BushBunglesBrigade.org and HALwhistleblowers.org

[liberal N proud]

1. They used to teach this stuff in school

But it is not in the history books used in schools today

[CorpGovActivist]

2. Revisionist Textbooks

Thank goodness for the Internet, huh?

For more information on the tough - very tough - "mine wars" to organize the UMWA, I also recommend "Matewan," the indie film from John Sayles.

My mom worked on the set, and helped with James Earl Jones' hair and make-up.

The Matewan incident was a watershed event: public sentiment turned on the thugocracy (corporate America + GOP Administration out of control).

My grandmother (my Maw Maw) knew the family of sheriff Sid Hatfield: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan

She grew up just across the Tug Fork River (Hatfield and McCoy country), and has told me many stories about the dirty tactics of the Baldwin-Felts "detectives" (read, hired thugs).

Pre-texting by HP and other companies pales in comparison to some of the tactics that Harding's Administration turned a blind eye to...

Best,

- Dave

[Howardx]

5. when was that?

i sure never heard about it in the 70's

[CorpGovActivist]

8. Mother Jones and the Mine Wars

The history of the UMWA is - in so many ways - the history of modern-day working conditions.

The Battle of Blair Mountain: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=battle+of+blair+mountain

John L. Lewis: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22john+l.+lewis%22+umwa

Mother Jones: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22mother+jones%22+umwa

Thankfully, the school systems in some out-of-the-way "backwaters" still teach this history, which is all the more meaningful when you have ancestors who helped organize the movement.

; )

- Dave

[Ian David]

3. We've also nuked our own citizens...

Downwinders is a research and educational foundation started by former downwind resident of southwest Utah, and formally established in 1978 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Downwinders takes its name from the residents living in the prevailing wind pattern surrounding the Nevada Test Site, and who have been constantly exposed to radioactive fallout from America's nuclear testing activities conducted there. Downwinders was founded with two primary goals:

* To expose the plight of downwind residents whose fallout exposures have caused cancers, leukemia, and other illnesses, and to obtain justice for their injuries.

* To fight for an immediate end to all nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site and elsewhere.

Since its founding Downwinders has expanded its efforts to other nuclear, military, and environmental projects and issues where the health and safety of residents surrounding them have been placed at risk. Over the years these have included such problems as chemical and biological weapons research and testing at the Dugway Proving Ground. Other issues of concern are high and low-level nuclear waste, uranium mining, milling and tailings disposal, phosphate mining and wastes, groundwater issues, land and air space grabs by the military, and military toxics. Downwinders has also expanded its scope of operations from regional work confined to the Great Basin of Utah and Nevada to one of global outreach.


http://www.downwinders.org/

[CorpGovActivist]

6. Jackass Flats in Nevada?

My mom has family there.

- Dave

[butterfly77]

4. This may be the October surprise...

they are desperate. Now they want to investigate dems for the pedophile.

[CorpGovActivist]

7. Spying on Citizens/UMWA Was Part of Harding's Tactics

As Yogi Bera said, it's like deja vu all over again.

George W. Bush is the modern Warren G. Harding. In order to bust up the "troublemakers" and their groups, you first have to infiltrate and spy on them.

Seriously, the UMWA book is an eerie reminder that there's very little new under the sun.

I am eternally grateful to my grandparents, who made sure we knew the history, so we could be vigilant against similar encroachments in our own lifetimes.

- Dave