Between The Lines - Larry Gibson: Keeper of the Mountains (Week Ending June 3, 2011)

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United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) Conference, Stamford, CT March 25, 2012 Selected audio from plenary sessions and panel discussions

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BTL Blog

"Updates on NDAA and Other Civil Liberty Erosions: Judge Orders Preliminary Injunction to Block NDAA Detention Provision," by Anna Manzo, May 17, 2012

"Angry and Fighting Back," by Reginald Johnson, May 17, 2012

"Lessons on Corporate Media's Role in Promoting U.S. War: Next Target Iran," by Scott Harris, April 30, 2012

"One Blue Sky Above Us": 40,000 Norwegians Respond to Breivik's Hate with Love for Children of the Rainbow," by Anna Manzo, April 27, 2012

UPDATED: "Part III: What the Trayvon Martin Case Reveals about Stand Your Ground and Concealed Weapons Laws," by Anna Manzo, April 13, 2012

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MP3: Nathan Schneider (www.wagingnonviolence.org) has been reporting on the OWS movement from its first days in August, 2011. In this April 3, 2012 interview, Richard Hill asks him to assess the on-going debate in the movement between those espousing a strict adherence to non-violence principles and practices and those advocating a 'diversity of tactics', Interview conducted by Richard Hill, WPKN

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U.S. Politics

"Congressmen Seek To Lift Propaganda Ban," by Michael Hastings, BuzzFeed, May 18, 2012
"Obama Can’t Knock the Hustle," by Robert Scheer, TruthDig, May 17, 2012
"Austerian Pride," by digby, Hullabaloo, May 17, 2012
"G.O.P. ‘Super PAC’ Weighs Hard-Line Attack on Obama," The New York Times, May 17, 2012
"Uncovering the Other ALECs," by Sarah Blaskey & Steve Horn, Truthout, May 16, 2012
"Needy States Use Housing Aid Cash to Plug Budgets," The New York Times, May 16, 2012
"DNC Shamed Into Helping Wisconsin Recall, Still Not Committing Funds," by David Dayen, Firedoglake, May 16, 2012
"RNC Goes All In to Defend Wisconsin's Walker, but Where's the DNC?," by John Nichols, The Nation, May 16, 2012
"So Much for Schneiderman Being Tough on Wall Street," by Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, May 16, 2012
"The Dog That Didn’t Bark: Obama on JPMorgan," by Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog, May 16, 2012
"Bill Clinton, Boehner, and Some Other Rich White Guys Had a "Summit" and Agreed: It's Your Fault," by Richard (RJ) Eskow, Campaign for America's Future, May 15, 2012
"The National Security State Wins (Again): Why the Real Victor in Campaign 2012 Won’t Be Obama or Romney," by Tom Engelhardt & William J. Astore, TomDispatch, May 15, 2012
"How being 'the party of no' is working for the GOP," by Gary Younge, Guardian/UK, May 14, 2012
"John Roberts’ Gilded Age SCOTUS," by Joan Walsh, Salon, May 14, 2012
"JPMorgan Sought Loophole on Risky Trading," The New York Times, May 12, 2012
"Coal, Foreclosures and Bank of America’s ‘Extraordinary Event’," by Amy Goodman, TruthDig, May 10, 2012
"Hope and Hesitation in Obama’s Sudden Conversion," by Robert Scheer, TruthDig, May 10, 2012
"Mitt Romney, Bully," by Amy Davidson, The New Yorker, May 10, 2012
"Wall Street’s immunity," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, May 10, 2012
"Romney Apologizes After Reports of Bullying Emerge," The New York Times, May 10, 2012
"How Wall Street Killed Financial Reform," by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, May 10, 2012
"Activists Want DNC Convention to Move out of North Carolina After Amendment One Passage," by David Dayen, Firedoglake, May 9, 2012
"President Obama endorses gay marriage, cites Sasha and Malia," McClatchy Newspapers, May 9, 2012
"Angry opponents of N.C. amendment call for moving Democratic convention from Charlotte," McClatchy Newspapers, May 9, 2012
"DC Democrats Upset That Feingold Called Out Pelosi’s Game of Footsie with Bowles-Simpson," by David Dayen, Firedoglake, May 9, 2012
"Lugar Loses Primary Challenge in Indiana," The New York Times, May 8, 2012
"Plutonomy and the Precariat: On the History of the U.S. Economy in Decline," by Tom Engelhardt & Noam Chomsky, TomDispatch, May 8, 2012
"The American Character," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, May 7, 2012
"Liberals Steer Outside Money to Grass-Roots Organizing," The New York Times, May 7, 2012
"Progressive Election Strategy and the Norman Solomon Campaign," by Jeff Cohen, New Politics, May 4, 2012
"Occupy Doesn’t Need to Get With the Vote," by Kevin Gosztola, Firedoglake, May 3, 2012
"Plutocracy, Paralysis, Perplexity," by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, May 3, 2012
"The Peace Prize War President," by David Bromwich, Huffington Post, May 3, 2012
"The People Behind the Lawmakers Out to Destroy Public Education: A Primer," by Diane Ravitch, Education Week, May 2, 2012
"The Constitutional Crimes of Barack Obama," by Dave Lindorff, Counterpunch, May 2, 2012
"Bread, Circuses, and the Edwards Prosecution," by Scott Horton, Harper's, May 1, 2012
"Romney spokesman quits after right-wingers freak out about his being gay," by Alex Pareene, Salon, May 1, 2012
"As His Austerity Agenda Melts Down, Scott Walker Blames Protests for Record Job Losses," by John Nichols, The Nation, April 30, 2012
"Celebrating our “Warrior President”," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, April 29, 2012
"A Resurgent American Left?," by Eli Zaretsky, Dissent, April 27, 2012
"Obama Justice and medical marijuana," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, April 26, 2012
"Revive Socialism!," by Michael Kazin, Dissent, April 25, 2012
"Two Blue Dogs Defeated in Pennsylvania Primaries," by John Nichols, The Nation, April 25, 2012
"Justices Seem Sympathetic to Central Part of Arizona Law," by Adam Liptak, The New York Times, April 25, 2012
"Iran War Politics: Elizabeth Warren Contradicts Defense Secretary In Hawkish Talk, Bob Kerrey Calls Attack 'Disaster'," by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post, April 24, 2012
"Reports show hard-to-track donors dominate outside giving," USA Today, April 22, 2012
"Shift on Executive Power Lets Obama Bypass Rivals," by Charlie Savage, The New York Times, April 22, 2012
"The Citizens United Gang," by Jim Hightower, Creators.com, April 18, 2012
"ALEC Retreats, Sort Of," Yes! Magazine, April 17, 2012
"ALEC Disbands Task Force Responsible for Voter ID, 'Stand Your Ground' Laws," by John Nichols, The Nation, April 17, 2012
"Raising Kids Is Work? Tell That to Women on Welfare," by Laura Flanders, The Nation, April 16, 2012
"In Senate, Republicans Block Debate on ‘Buffett Rule’," The New York Times, April 16, 2012
"The War on Public-Sector Workers," by Dean Baker, Truthout, April 16, 2012
"Obama and Romney Are Politicians, Not Visionaries," by Dean Baker, Common Dreams, April 10, 2012
"Santorum Quits Race, Clearing Path for Romney," The New York Times, April 10, 2012
"The "Suicidal State" and the War on Youth," by Henry S. Giroux, Truthout, April 10, 2012
"The Buffett Rule’s low bar," by Robert Reich, Salon, April 10, 2012
"It's Romney, the GOP Candidate Opposed by 59 Percent of Republicans," by John Nichols, The Nation, April 10, 2012
"How Rick Santorum Moved the GOP Primary to the Right," by Ben Adler, The Nation, April 10, 2012
"Deepening the progressive bench," by Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, April 10, 2012

Economy

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Quiet Drama in Philadelphia," by Ellen Brown, Common Dreams, May 20, 2012
"A Little Help for the Long-Term Unemployed?," by Greg Kaufmann, The Nation, May 18, 2012
"We Told You So," by James K. Galbraith, The Baffler, May 18, 2012
"Why a Strong Middle-Class Is Necessary For Growth," by Mike Konczal, Next New Deal, May 18, 2012
"Preying on the Poor: How Government and Corporations Use the Poor as Piggy Banks," by Andy Kroll & Barbara Ehrenreich, TomDispatch, May 17, 2012
"Apocalypse Fairly Soon," by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, May 17, 2012
"Why Markets Won’t Fix JPMorgan," by James Kwak, Baseline Scenario, May 17, 2012
"JPMorgan’s Trading Loss Is Said to Rise at Least 50%," The New York Times, May 16, 2012
"Jamie Dimon’s Hubris Unshakable as JPMorgan Reelects Him to Top Two Posts," by Nomi Prins, Daily Beast, May 16, 2012
"California, the ninth largest economy in the world, resorts to austerity," Independent/UK, May 16, 2012
"Accidentally Released - and Incredibly Embarrassing - Documents Show How Goldman et al Engaged in 'Naked Short Selling'," by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, May 15, 2012
"Wells Fargo Has Blood on Its Hands: Desperate Man Commits Suicide After Shocking Foreclosure Mistreatment," by Dave Johnson, AlterNet, May 15, 2012
"Lessons in Disloyalty: Eduardo Saverin and the Facebook IPO," by Ilyse Hogue, The Nation, May 14, 2012
"Jamie Dimon's JPMorgan Chase: Why It's the Scandal of Our Time," by Richard (RJ) Eskow, Campaign for America's Future, May 14, 2012
"Colonized by Corporations," by Chris Hedges, TruthDig, May 14, 2012
"Colleges as Merchants of Debt," by Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, May 13, 2012
"Why We Regulate," by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, May 13, 2012
"A Generation Hobbled by the Soaring Cost of College," The New York Times, May 12, 2012
"More Than 200,000 Americans Will Lose Their Unemployment Benefits This Weekend," by Pat Garofalo, Think Progress, May 11, 2012
"CHARTS: Economic Mobility Is Stronger In Union States," by Travis Waldron, Think Progress, May 10, 2012
"Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte: How Bank of America Silenced a Whole Town," by Richard Eskow, Campaign for America's Future, May 10, 2012
"Waiting for Copernicus: On the Slow-Death of Neoliberalism," by John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus, May 8, 2012
"New York Times Reporters Need to Read Krugman’s Columns," by Bill Black, Naked Capitalism, May 8, 2012
"Health care increasingly out of reach for millions of Americans," McClatchy Newspapers, May 7, 2012
"How to End This Depression," by Paul Krugman, New York Review of Books, May 7, 2012
"Why America's Rich People Are Better Than Everyone Else's," by Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams, May 7, 2012
"A Down Week, Worsened by a Weak Jobs Report," The New York Times, May 4, 2012
"Discrepancies on Medical Bills Can Leave a Credit Stain," The New York Times, May 4, 2012
"The Crushing Burden of Student Debt," by David Graeber, Mike Konczal, Brian Kalkbrenner and Sarah Jaffe, Truthout, May 4, 2012
"Social security is not going broke," by David Cay Johnston, Reuters, May 4, 2012
"Argentina and the magic soybean: the commodity export boom that wasn't," by Mark Weisbrot, Guardian/UK, May 4, 2012
"The Stall Has Arrived," by Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog, May 4, 2012
"Welcome to the 2012 Hunger Games: Sending Debt Peonage, Poverty, and Freaky Weather Into the Arena," by Tom Engelhardt & Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch, May 1, 2012
"The Tinder-Box Society," by Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog, May 1, 2012
"Five Tax Fallacies Invented by the 1%," by Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams, April 30, 2012
"How to Destroy Education While Making a Trillion Dollars," by Robert Freeman, Common Dreams, April 29, 2012
"Depression Symptoms: What’s Behind Europe’s Spike in Suicides," by Michelle Chen, In These Times, April 26, 2012
"American Austerity," by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, April 25, 2012
"Europe’s austerity recession," by Robert Reich, Salon, April 25, 2012
"Bank CEOs gain as millions lose dreams, retirement to foreclosure," by Scott Klinger & John Cavanagh, Newark Star-Ledger, April 25, 2012
"Wells Fargo, Terrified to Face Victims of Its Foreclosure Fraud and Predatory Lending, Locks Shareholders Out of Annual Meeting," by Joshua Holland, AlterNet, April 24, 2012
"Wall Street-Inflated Student Debt Bubble Hits $1 Trillion; Debtors Rally for Relief," by Sarah Jaffe, AlterNet, April 24, 2012
"The Middle Class Hasn't Disappeared. It's Just Sliding Toward the Bottom," by Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams, April 23, 2012
"Shareholders Say No to Citigroup CEO Pay: A Model for Fighting Crony Capitalism," by Dean Baker, Truthout, April 23, 2012
"The Housing Market Doldrums," by Mike Whitney, Counterpunch, April 23, 2012
"Call for Growth Rises to Counter German Push for Austerity," The New York Times, April 23, 2012
"Schneiderman Propagandist Confirms Report of Lack of Staffing for Mortgage Fraud Task Force," by Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, April 19, 2012
"Rising Fears That Recovery May Once More Be Faltering," The New York Times, April 19, 2012
"Locking Down an American Workforce: Prison Labor as the Past -- and Future -- of American “Free-Market” Capitalism," by Tom Engelhardt, Steve Fraser & Joshua B. Freeman, TomDispatch, April 19, 2012
"Spain’s contagious collapse," by Paul Ames, Global Post, April 19, 2012
"How the Goldman Vampire Squid Just Captured Europe," by Ellen Brown, Truthout, April 18, 2012
"Five Reasons Why The Very Rich Have NOT Earned Their Money," by Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams, April 16, 2012
"Six Rigged Rules Corporations Use to Dodge Taxes," by Sarah Anderson & Scott Klinger, The Nation, April 16, 2012
"For Two Economists, the Buffett Rule Is Just a Start," The New York Times, April 16, 2012
"Europe’s Economic Suicide," by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, April 15, 2012
"Vampire Squid Update: SEC Fines Goldman For Huddles," by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch, April 13, 2012
"The Federal Reserve Turns Left," by William Greider, The Nation, April 11, 2012
"An Economic Quagmire," by Mike Whitney, Counterpunch, April 10, 2012

Bush Accountability

"War Tribunal Finds Bush, Cheney Guilty of War Crimes," Common Dreams, May 13, 2012
"Yoo, Latif, and the Rise of Secret Justice," by Scott Horton, Harper's, May 9, 2012
"Torture: The Bush Administration on Trial," by Andy Worthington, Future of Freedom Foundation, May 7, 2012
"No Accountability for Torture," by David Cole, New York Review of Books, May 7, 2012
"More federal judge abdication," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, May 4, 2012
"UC Berkeley's John Yoo torture suit tossed out," San Francisco Chronicle, May 3, 2012
"'Torture memos' author can't be sued for harsh interrogations, court rules," Christian Science Monitor, May 2, 2012
"Jose Rodriguez, Poster Boy," by Scott Horton, Harper's, May 1, 2012
"U.S. Torturers are Still Awaiting Arrest," by William A. Collins, Other Words, April 30, 2012
"Bush aide blasts torture," by Jordan Michael Smith, Salon, April 10, 2012

West Virginia Protest March Will Link Campaign to Stop Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining and Labor Solidarity

RealAudio MP3

Posted May 25, 2011

Interview with Larry Gibson, "Keeper of the Mountains" in West Virginia , conducted by Melinda Tuhus

From June 4 through 11, hundreds of people will march from the town of Marmet, W. Va. to Blair Mountain, 50 miles away in Logan County to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain. The battle was the largest insurgency in U.S. history after the Civil War, and pitted some 10,000 West Virginia coal miners against the coal bosses, their private army -- and eventually, the U.S. military -- as they fought for the right to join a union.

During their march, activists will be demanding protection for Blair Mountain as a national historic monument, which would also safeguard the area from mountaintop removal coal mining that is already encroaching on the historic battlefield. Other demands include the abolition of all mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia, national labor solidarity in the face of some of the worst attacks on the rights of working people in 75 years -- and sustainable jobs in Appalachia.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Larry Gibson, known as the “Keeper of the Mountains” for his fierce opposition to mountaintop removal coal mining. Gibson opposes all coal mining, maintaining it destroys the lives and health of people in Appalachia and across the country. He talks about the union heritage of those living in coal country and the need for working people to come together.

LARRY GIBSON: I am wholeheartedly in support of this march, encouraging the working stiffs of America to come in and support this march simply because of the most well-known mountain in West Virginia, for the battle it held for the working man to have the right to organize for decent pay for a decent day's work, and health and safety. The term 'union' was the glue that held my family together, but that's not the only symbol we have. All our working stiffs in America didn't belong to a union, but they had to struggle the same way and work very hard for a day's pay. So I guess that's why I'm encouraging people across America -- no matter what creed they are, what the ethnic groups they are, it doesn't matter -- just the working stiffs of America to come together in one common cause -- to save a mountain that gave so much and supported so many people when they come together to fight the battle of life, and freedom and for choices that have now been taken away from them.

The working man's pay has been cut; they started giving concessions back in the '70s, and they've done gave too much. No more concessions should be given to the corporations, whether coal or anybody. The working man has already gave their life so the wealthy people can own more stock, and all the working man's getting is a paycheck, and that paycheck is not enough to allow a decent living for these people. Now, in order for the working stiff to provide a living for the family, they have to get the whole family a job, like at Walmart.

BETWEEN THE LINES: What do you think about the fact that the United Mine Workers Union is not supporting the march? President Cecil Roberts says the union supports protecting Blair Mountain as a national historic site, but is not supporting all the other demands of the march.

LARRY GIBSON: The people in place now, including Cecil Roberts, has his comfortable, cushy job because of what happened that day on Aug. 21, 1921. Because of all these men who paid the ultimate price, Cecil had a comfortable job, but yet the United Mineworkers, for so few jobs that they represent, will not come out and support a march in order to stop mountaintop removal. And as you know, the United Mineworkers have endorsed mountaintop removal, so they won't come out and try to protect and save the most well-known piece of land in West Virginia because of what they are enjoying today.

BETWEEN THE LINES: A spokesman for the mineworkers union actually told me that the union thinks the march is divisive, because of its demand to end mountaintop removal mining.

LARRY GIBSON: I have been fighting well over 25 years for the abolishment of mountaintop removal. Everybody knows my stand on coal -- it needs to be abolished, okay? But during this march, during this week, I will speak nothing about coal or the abolishment of it. What I'll be doing is concentrating on saving Blair Mountain and stopping mountaintop removal. Now, if I'm asked my opinion on the march, I'll give it, but at this point in time it's not about union or non-union. It's about the working man. I'm more on the march beside a union man on my right and beside another man on my left who don't have a union card, simply because we're marching for a common goal, to save the most well-known mountain in the state's history, and that's Blair Mountain. It's about trying to save the symbol, a symbol of the working class, of working men around this country and anywhere else where they got to sweat and not knowing what they're getting into, and not knowing if they're coming home -- the working people, who have to work and give everything they got just to feed their families, that's all. And this mountain has not asked for anything else. It gave us a reason to fight before, so now we should at least give it back life instead of death. In other words, this mountain should be saved from destruction.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Larry Gibson, one of the other demands of the march is sustainable jobs for the people of Appalachia. I thought that meant jobs on wind farms instead of digging coal, but you have a different definition.

LARRY GIBSON: The meaning of sustainable is that it's life giving. You can make a living without destroying your own back yard. The jobs they have today, when you have to destroy your own back yard, that's not life-giving; that's not sustainable. In other words, you still got to struggle to live in the mess that you're creating yourself in working for the man that's paying you. These people, if given a choice, they wouldn't be destroying their backyard. Sustainable jobs? Sure. Jobs that have quality and sustainability, where you can live with it and not end up dying because you're doing it.

Larry Gibson is an anti-mountaintop removal coal mining activist in West Virginia and a supporter of the March on Blair Mountain scheduled for June 4 through 11. For more information on the march, www.appalachiarising.org/.