I love this statue of a coal miner at the state capitol... there's something about the face that resembles my father. I guess all West Virginians kinda look alike?
Ever since it was announced that O-Biden is coming to West Virginia to participate in the memorial service for our fallen miners, I have experienced a constant dread. It's like waiting for the other shoe to drop. Will The Won show his contempt for the coal industry? It doesn't bode well that he had no qualms about criticizing the Supreme Court justices in his State of the Union speech, and even George W. Bush in his inaugural address. The fact of their physical presence didn't deter him in the least. I would not want to be the CEO of Massey on Sunday.
Too bad our "community organizers" don't have the good sense to ban television cameras (or even just teleprompters) from the event. We would then see exactly how sincere the O-Biden team really is. I'd bet my house they would suddenly remember they had a previous engagement.
In all this I could find only one cheer-me-up this morning -- a comment posted at WVaRed:
So it has come to this for Democrats…
A black president coming to the home town of the longest serving KKK member in the U.S. Senate to save a terrorist in the U.S. Congress.
Aren't we lucky?
Rep. Nick Joe Rahall sets it up for Candidate Obama at Schultzie's Billiards in South Charleston WV, May 2008 (Obama's only campaign stop in the state).
Of related interest: Illinois ready to boost its coal output
.... Illinois will feel none of the restrictions the Obama administration is bringing against mountaintop removal mining, which is almost exclusively an Appalachian coalfield practice.
In fact, because Illinois is set to receive $1 billion for a first-of-its-kind, low-emission coal-fired power plant in Mattoon, the head of the Illinois Coal Association doesn't have much bad to say about Obama.
"We've got that on the plus side, and there really hasn't been anything on the negative side that would harm the Illinois coal industry," said Phillip Gonet, the association's president.
Also, I noted in my wanderings that although the oil industry recently experienced one of its worst disasters in decades, we aren't hearing the President blame it on the "failure" of "management." As for the Upper Big Branch mine, no one's even gone in it yet to investigate. I'm sorry, this is probably boring for readers but the whole thing sticks in my craw.
Plus, I don't much want to blog about George Mitchell this morning.
Nor 9/11.
Nor Earth Day.
On a day when many Americans will be reflecting upon how they can reduce their impact on the environment, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will board separate jets in Washington on Earth Day morning to fly 250 miles up the east coast to New York, where they will land at separate airports to attend separate events within a few miles of each other.
The parallel visits of Air Force One (a 747/VC-25 aircraft) and Air Force Two (a 757/C-32A aircraft) will delay dozens, if not hundreds of commercial flights at Kennedy and LaGuardia and other nearby airports as no-fly zones are implemented. Jets will be forced to circle and burn more fuel as they wait for the VIPs to come and go. Their security contingents consisting of dozens of cars, SUVs and helicopters will burn even more. Throw in thousands of commuters’ cars and delivery trucks sitting idle in traffic as law enforcement closes large swaths of the city and you have yourself a very Earth-unfriendly day.
See what I mean? Ew.
Posted by: Mannie Sherberg | Friday, 23 April 2010 at 03:02 PM