November 3, 2008 3:17 PM
Obama's position on coal harms US, families
My dear friend Kari just wrote:
Barbara,
I know you're tired and ready to move on from the election. But PLEASE tell your readers about the tapes of Barak's plan for the coal industry. It is terribly frightening for thousands of families across this nation who depend upon coal for their livelihood.
This is a must-read for people those who don't understand how a cavalier political position can affect hundreds of thousands of people:
Coal Miner's GranddaughterWhen my daddy was a toddler, my granddaddy would come home black from top to toe. The only thing that wasn't black was the whites of his eyes. He'd be exhausted from his day in the mine and all my daddy would do is cry. Loud and long. Not until grandpa had scrubbed the soot off would my daddy have anything to do with his daddy. Imagine what a man covered in a day's worth of coal dust must have looked like to such a little boy!
In the early twentieth century, mining companies like Berwind-White, where my grandpa worked, advertised across Europe for men to come work for them in towns like Winder, Pennsylvania. Many of the millions of immigrants to the United States during those years came to work in just such mines. Men like my mama's grandfather who sailed from Norway responded to such ads. Western Pennsylvania is rich with the heritage of millions of people leaving their homelands to make a better life for their family here.
Those miners worked harder, physically anyway, than probably any person I know today. It was dirty. And it was dangerous. Mama remembers well hearing the whistle go off in the middle of the day and knowing there had been an accident. Though her daddy didn't work in the mine, plenty of her friends' dads did. Imagine the look on her friends' faces sitting in a classroom hearing the whistle blow. The wondering and the worrying they must have done. They were scary moments.
In many small towns throughout the United States, men are still mining coal. It not only provides much needed energy for our nation, it is the source of income for many, many families. Coal is their livelihood.
Coal is dirty, I know. Grandpa was one of so very many men who developed Black Lung Disease. But people are researching ways to make coal even cleaner than it is now.
Yes, we could eventually exhaust our supply of coal. But not for quite a long time. And during that time a slow evolution can take place. One that would not suddenly strip families - entire towns - of their source for shelter and food.
Barak Obama has other ideas.
Read Kari's entire post here.
An informed electorate is an empowered electorate!
Read all my campaign commentary here.
Posted in Campaign 2008 | Permalink
