Stop Arch Coal from Mining Blair Mountain

Last Summer saw labor, environmental, and community activists rallying together for a week-long march to protect Blair Mountain from being mined for Appalachian coal. The battleground site that rests within Blair Mountain is rich with the bloody history of the labor movements that gave today's generations the rights we often take for granted. The battleground site now faces the possibility of literally being blown up in order to power some lightbulbs, maybe a mall, and THIS COMPUTER I'M USING NOW (just wanted to bypass the usual idiotic arguments used to avoid critically thinking about our dependence on coal).

Before the March on Blair Mountain I had been involved with environmental activism for some time and was well aware of mountain-top removal mining and its impacts on the environment and community of Appalachia. Knowing about mountaintop removal is one thing and seeing it is an entirely different thing, an opportunity I was provided while on the march to the battlefield. When you aren't afforded the distance provided by a photograph or video it makes the experience very visceral, urgent, and personal. For the Appalachian residents that I marched alongside with, dealing with the effects of being tied to an economy based on the dirtiest fuel there is, everyday their fight is visceral, urgent, and personal.

Arch Coal (whose CEO sits on the Board of Trustees of Washington University) has generally avoided much of the local environmental activist attention which favors its downtown big brother, Peabody Energy. This isn't always the case though, and this particularly egregious effort on the part of Arch Coal we hope will win your eye and your attention today. Arch and Peabody and their corporate lines are a perfect representation of our culture of exploitation, whether that is human or non-human exploitation, that we are all a part of. We hope you will take the time today to confront your friendly Corporate Neighbor Arch Coal today and have a friendly chat with them.

We urge you to call Arch Coal's headquarters (314.994.2700) and express your thoughts on any plans they have for Blair Mountain.

... and for those that feel that making a call on a Friday simply isn't enough for you then please feel free to keep this Sunday morning at 11 am free and contact us at stlclimateaction@gmail.com for fun fun fun.

Thanks so much from Climate Action STL, Green Action, and the folks in Appalachia.

for more info check these out:
Is Arch Coal About to Mine Historic Blair Mountain?
Action Alert: Call Arch Coal Today

Who Could Have Predicted? Loesch Pushes Tinfoil Hat Conspiracy Theories on ABC's This Week

Dana Loesch was on ABC's "This Week" today as part of a roundtable, and Media Matters caught her pushing a silly tinfoil hat conspiracy theory/prank debunked a long time ago:


In fairness to ABC News, how could they have known that Loesch would be pushing completely dishonest nonsense about Planned Parenthood? It's not like she did it earlier in the week. Oh wait, she did do it earlier in the week?


In that case, I guess ABC really embarrassed themselves.

Dana Loesch Punks CNN

Since her disgraceful comments cheering marines who urinated on corpses, CNN has wisely kept Dana Loesch out of most of their political coverage including:

• The South Carolina CNN debate.
• South Carolina primary night.
• Post debate analysis of the NBC debate in Florida.
• The Florida CNN debate.
• Florida primary coverage.

So it seems pretty clear that they've been trying to keep her away from their most important coverage, in contrast to previous primaries. However, they did have her on one time since the scandal and, unsurprisingly, she used the opportunity to further damage CNN's credibility. From the transcript:

CNN contributor, Dana Loesch joining me now. So, Dana, Billy Tucker, the leader of Florida's largest Tea Party group has chosen not to endorse a candidate. Why and could an endorsement by Tucker impact all of those undecideds?

DANA LOESCH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It could, absolutely, Kyra. It could very much impact those undecided voters. This is sort of the bittersweet thing, the double-edged sword about the Tea Party movement.

Because it's such a large, all encompassing movement, there's a ton of different movements that are sovereign. Each group can decide what it wants to do. I know there have been a couple of Tea Party groups in Florida that have endorsed Newt Gingrich.

There were a couple of Tea Party groups in South Carolina that endorsed him, as well, and different parts of the country. But really from my perspective and the group I'm with in St. Louis, the Gateway Grass Roots Initiative.

One of the really founding things of the movement is that you don't endorse candidates, at least I've always thought that, especially in a primary, you don't get involved and endorse candidates because it seems a little bit too close to being used by candidates.

There are a couple of things going on here. First, despite breaking up with the St. Louis Tea Party, Loesch is appealing to the group she created, the "Gateway Grassroots Initiative," to establish her "expertise" on conservative activism. Second, she's shamelessly using CNN to promote her "group".

So what's the problem? The problem is that there's no evidence whatsoever that suggests the "Gateway Grassroots Initiative" is a real group at all, as opposed to a disorganized webpage with lazy brainstorming ideas. Unlike the St. Louis Tea Party, GGI hasn't organized large rallies, hasn't worked on elections, hasn't hosted any public events, and in fact hasn't really done anything at all! They have an "Individual Initiative" project that basically consists of people saying "wouldn't it be nice if we did X" with essentially zero follow-up. After existing for more than a month, they only have 340 followers on Twitter and 280 "likes" on facebook.


In comparison, after one month, Occupy St. Louis had over 6,000 "likes" on facebook and over 1,000 followers on Twitter.

In fact, there is no other evidence to suggest that they are having any impact in St. Louis or anywhere else, despite being initially promoted on Glenn Beck's and Stephen K. Bannon's radio shows and Breitbart's web sites.

Here's what one conservative Missouri activist had to say about the group:

It's been such a #fail. I'm not sure how she holds her head up on her 20th "project" that fails. It's embarrassing. You're exactly right, they have done nothing. Literally nothing.

(as always, though this quote is anonymous, I'm happy to provide more info to any journalists who inquire, though of course I'd have to clear it first with my source)

So basically Loesch is punking CNN in two ways. First, she's pretending to be an "expert" based on a group created after she left the tea party that has done absolutely nothing and appears to exist only online. Second, she's using CNN to promote her own personal endeavors, before those endeavors have done anything to show that they're viable. This is what happens when the mainstream media panders Breitbart editors, who represent a fundamentally dishonest approach to information far more than the represent any kind of true conservatism.

Mayor Slay's Education Team Turns a Blind Eye to Michelle Rhee's Scandals

Michelle Rhee, hailed as a prophet by people who want to privatize education and destroy teachers' unions despite her sketchy results and lack of an education background other than a year short stint teaching, is getting involved in Missouri politics, with her group "Students First" (bankrolled by undisclosed donors) pushing for new education laws in the state. Local right-wing zealot Mark Reardon naturally had Rhee on his radio show to discuss her history and the legislation. Here's what Mayor Slay's education adviser Robbyn Wahby, last seen attending a Koch brothers-funded American's for Prosperity propaganda panel on education with Dick Morris, Dana Loesch, and Gateway Pundit, had to say about it:


It's sad that the Mayor's staff would so uncritically praise Rhee's status despite the fact that numerous experts have claimed that the D.C. school district results that catapulted her to fame were fraudulent. A recent article explained it well:

Investigations questioned many of Rhee’s accomplishments in increasing test scores in D.C. schools. In 2008, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education discovered that 103 schools -– more than half of D.C. schools -- were flagged by third parties for suspiciously high wrong-to-right answer changes. These including eight of the 10 campuses where Rhee handed out TEAM awards “to recognize, reward and retain high-performing educators and support staff.”

During Rhee’s tenure, CTB/McGraw-Hill informed her office of abnormally high rates of answer changes at Noyes Elementary School. Answers were consistently changed from wrong to right. The gains in test scores made at Noyes earned the school recognition as a Blue Ribbon School. Rhee promoted the school as a model for her education reform movement.

Statisticians, including Professor Emeritus Thomas Haladyna, told USA Today “the odds are better for winning the Powerball grand prize than having that many erasures by chance.”

Haladyna suggested the answer sheets had been tampered with.

Furthermore:

The Washington Post reported Jan. 31 that for the most part there was little meaningful change in the D.C. schools’ testing performance over the past two full school years following Rhee’s exit.

Moreover, the graduation rate was also essentially unchanged -- moving from 72 percent in 2009 to 73 percent in 2010 (2011 rates will be released later this year).

According to Rhee’s own policy standards, her performance bonus program has not worked. And the same thing goes for her other signature policies, including D.C.’s new evaluation system and the annual dismissals based on the results of that system.

So Rhee is someone with almost no education background, who is being funded by undisclosed donors, and whose only success story was based on an absurdly high erased wrong-to-correct test answers. Yet she is being hailed uncritically by Mayor Slay's staff in order to push their agenda (and, no doubt, to keep that sweet, sweet Sinquefield money flowing to the campaign). If Slay's office really wants to claim that they're doing this "for the children," then they owe it to the children to make sure they are relying on credible information rather than propaganda.

Update: To be clear, Rhee doesn't, as far as I know, advocate for the privatization of schools; I just meant she's a hero to those who do. And I agree that we need changes in education, but let's do it carefully and not rely on the gospel of someone whose "success story" looks pretty questionable and is currently being investigated!

Ann Wagner Thinks Komen Should Have Chosen Politics Over Women's Lives

Ann Wagner, Andrew Breitbart's chosen candidate in Missouri's Second District, was upset that the Komen Foundation decided to reverse its decision to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood's breast screening services, services that have saved thousands of women's lives:

I understand if people have religious reasons for being against abortion. But if you think abortion should be illegal, there are better ways of going about it than cutting off funding for breast screenings. This was just a sad partisan attack on Planned Parenthood that demonstrated a willingness to punish thousands of women whose interactions with the organization had nothing to do with the thing Republicans find objectionable.

LGBT Community and Capitalism discussion

Hello everyone.

There is an event happening tonight at 7 pm at the LGBT Community Center on Manchester to discuss the relationship between the LGBT community and a Capitalist / consumerist economy. The community center is a really nice space just to check out if you've never been there before. Hope to see you there.

http://www.facebook.com/events/357901590889044/

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In much of the United States the LGBT community appears to be firmly set along one political path. Members of the Democratic party, while being more inclined to not view those who identify as LGBT as against God and Nature, have other interests that far outweigh and oftentimes conflict with LGBT rights. I’ll just acknowledge the existence of the Republican presidential candidates and leave it at that.

Why is marriage so important to anyone, let alone the LGBT community? How and why has the LGBT community been used and abused by our economic system? What other avenues are there to empower the community without reliance on a party that usually only helps out when it’s convenient to do so?

If you are interested in exploring the intersections between sexuality, gender, and the economic system we live under then hot dog. By examining these intersections other connections can be drawn between struggles such as environmental and labor rights issues. The implications this has on possible organizing is also worth exploring. Got to work together to smash the things that are keeping us down and possibly leading us and everything else towards extinction.

So we’re going to have a little chat to get this conversation / planning rolling

Wednesday, February 1st @ 7 PM
at the LGBT Center, 4337 Manchester Road

Okay bye!

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Here is some reading material you all might find interesting. It goes into the formation of a gay identity and how that plays into some of the contradictions of Capitalism.

http://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/readings/demilio_captialismgayid.pdf

What's Worse Than a Democrat Paid By Sinquefield Keeping Quiet About Rex's Crazy Ideas?

As I documented yesterday, there are a lot of St. Louis "Democrats" being paid by Rex Sinquefield who are mysteriously keeping quiet about his crazy ideas, even those ideas that cut funding for Missouri schools. But you know what's even worse? Democrats being directly paid to advocate for his crazy ideas!

John Temporiti, the former chief of staff for Charlie Dooley who is still listed as Dooley's campaign Treasurer and getting reimbursed by his campaign on the latest finance reports, received $7,500 for "campaign expenses" from the Sinquefield funded-group designed to get rid of the income tax and increase sales taxes (which would have the effect of both gutting state government and shifting the tax burden overwhelmingly to the poor and middle class and away from the rich).

You might remember Temporiti from the fact that his son Mike Temporiti was awarded a $70,000 patronage job during a hiring freeze in St. Louis County:

In January, with St. Louis County in the third year of a hiring and pay freeze, Mike Temporiti landed a $70,000 county job.

Temporiti, 27, is now the county's abatement compliance officer. It's a brand new job, created just for him in the Revenue Department. His salary is the ninth highest of the 237 employees in the department.

The job was never posted, and Temporiti did not have to interview for it.

He is a lawyer and the son of John Temporiti, who is County Executive Charlie A. Dooley's longtime campaign treasurer and manager and former chief of staff.

Also in the same Post-Dispatch article:

Several county employees, including some in the Revenue Department, have complained to the Post-Dispatch about the hiring of Mike Temporiti. They asked to remain anonymous because they fear retribution from their supervisors.

They dispute Earls' contention that the job is essential or that it needs to be full time.

"It's a task that could easily have been relegated to a current employee without adding too much strain to their current job," one employee said. "It would have only entailed several extra hours a week."

Oh, and there's also this:

Katy Temporiti, who is married to John Temporiti's eldest son, John Jr., is also a patronage employee, as a part-time administrative assistant in the Parks and Recreation Department. Since hiring her six years ago this month, the county has paid her a total of about $178,000....

At the time she was hired, John Temporiti was serving as Dooley's chief of staff..

Katy Temporiti's supervisor, Chief Parks Ranger John Nesbit, said Temporiti primarily worked from home.

Just read the whole article (which has a lot more detail and nuance) and reach your own conclusions.

St. Louis County Executive Dooley, of course, is also a frequent recipient of Sinquefield's donations.

Follow Michael Bersin at Show Me Progress for more details about various campaign finance reports.