Reviews

Coal-Baron Manchin Mugs Mother Nature

7/18/2022

Another flash flood, this one in Buchanan County, Va.

It’s too hot to go out in Southwest France, report my cousin Jen and her husband Sam.
Bulletin: Wildfires in Nouvelle Aquitaine and Gironde,
Meanwhile, London was bracing for 104-degrees Fahrenheit – which would set a record.

Back in the southwest corner of Virginia, they are still digging out after the aptly-named Dismal River suffered a flash flood last week.

I know that portion of Virginia, from my days on the coal beat. Decades of strip-mining – lopping off the tops of mountains to get at the coal – have destroyed the watersheds of Appalachia.
(I wrote a book called “One Sunset a Week,” about a miner’s family in adjacent Russell County. Every time the heavens erupted, the rains washed down detritus from strip-mining, known as “red dog.” That was 1974.)

If only the governors and senators of Appalachia knew about this. Perhaps they might do something.

The prototypical politician from Appalachia is Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
He must know the ultimate flood is coming because he’s fitted himself out with a yacht, anchored outside Washington. When the Potomac rises, Commodore Manchin is going to float safely downstream – but to where?

The Commodore has been busy. Last week, he slipped up behind the helpless ancient figure of Mother Nature and whacked her with a coal shovel and stole her pocketbook.
He did it by voting against the tax bill that would have at least recognized the danger of rising temperatures, and the role of fossil fuel, not only all around the world but in his home state of West Virginia.

His Inner Republican said he was being a guard dog for fiscal sanity, blah-blah-blah, but we know better. We know that decisions that affect the future of world ecology are made by the (white) (old) men who are either rich or wannabes.

The Commodore is not only a scientific authority but also a coal baron, via his family business. It’s in trust, the Commodore tells us. He knows nothing – just like it was a shock to him that his daughter, Heather Bresch, presided over a drug company, Mylan, when the price of EpiPens – used to treat allergic reactions -- soared to $600 a shot. This was a shock to the Commodore. These kids today never tell their parents anything.

Maybe the flood on the Dismal River in neighboring Southwest Virginia was a shock to the Commodore.
Maybe the flood in Yellowstone National Park was a shock to the Commodore.
Maybe the heat wave in far-off Europe would be a shock to the Commodore, if he heard of it.
But the Commodore doesn’t have time to monitor events in such distant places. He just wants to balance the books, like a good Republican, although he is nominally a Democrat, and make sure energy moguls continue to make an honest buck, so they can all afford yachts to escape the cataclysm, so they can float off to some safe place, like maybe the Marshall Islands.
Oh, wait. The Marshall Islands are going under, day by day.

But don’t tell Commodore Manchin. He is heroically standing up for his constituency – energy barons, coal-mine operators. He’s a man of the people. A few of them.
* * *
I seem to be writing a lot about Commodore Manchin these days::

https://www.georgevecsey.com/home/write-about-west-virginia-she-said

https://www.georgevecsey.com/home/watching-manchin-thinking-about-the-the-sopranos

Borrowed from that great asset, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news

John McDermott

7/18/2022 11:59:22 am

At some point-maybe his antecedents thought "ethnic" names wouldn't go down so well in rural America-the Mancini family became the Manchin family. I've always had a certain ingrained distrust of people who change their names to mask their identity, even if I know that sometime they had good reason to do so, mostly having to do with prejudice, bigotry, anti-Semitism and racism, but sometimes because a name was just very difficult for Anglo-Saxons to pronounce. They needed to blend in and be more "American" and less "foreign" if they wanted to be accepted and successful. Understandable, I guess.

George

7/18/2022 12:40:19 pm

John: good point. I flinch when I hear people pronouncing their names in a more Anglicized way. Then I shut up when I remember that my family name is pronounced VAY-chay in Hungarian. The change was way before me. I got bawled out by the tour guide, Mrs. Horvath, on our overnight bus ride from Vienna to Budapest. Then she sent the rest of the busload on a walk around Vecsey Square while she gave me and Marianne a personal talk and walk. Still, we say VES-see. But I have one other comment: DRUMPF.

Marty Appel

7/18/2022 12:55:06 pm

The Human Resources department that staffed Ellis Island did a terrific hiring job, didn't they? ..... not a single employee who could spell or pronounce a foreign name.

Marty Appel

7/18/2022 11:59:26 am

It is right to come down on Commodore Manchin.....but we should not forget the 50 Republican senators where voting no on climate saving measures is just another day at the office. They seek herd immunity, but everyone of them bears shame.

George

7/18/2022 12:44:24 pm

Marty: well said. I see flickers of humanity in Murkowski. I think she knows the tradeoffs she makes. Collins, hopeless. And maybe because I got to know Romney when he ran the SLC Olympic committee, I thought he was a better person, but his inner weasel almost always comes out. They voted against the human race for profits for energy interests. GV

Edwin W. Martin Jr

7/18/2022 12:55:56 pm

I wrore the NYT a letter yesterday, we shall see.

Last week I read that Maine citizens in recent polls strongly favor climate change remedy proposals, more than3/4 as I recall on some questions, favorable on all.

I can imagine LBJ sitting down with Sen.Collins, R, ME and Repub Senators in states where similar support is high, and crafting a specific bill, not, perhaps, the broad spending measure desired, but a focused response to climate change with visible impact in their states with there names featured.

I think we could have achieved that in a minute in the mid 60s, but not sure how browbeaten Collins and the others are, today, fear for the worst. However, her constituents want this-strongly favor new measures, so the risk to her internally is next to zero.

Randolph

7/18/2022 02:54:35 pm

George,
Thanks for keeping us on point.
Your writing today made me think of a West Virginia songwriter and singer named Hazel Dickens. She was someone who cared deeply about people and was a strong defender of women and working people.
She wrote an antiwar song years ago, that also applies to the greed and evil of Joe Manchin. Her lyrics ask:

Will Jesus wash the bloodstains from your hands?
Will he welcome you in to that peaceful land?
Will he forgive the killings, the wars you have planned?
Will Jesus wash the bloodstains from your hands?

Joe (his daughter too) have bloody hands.
R

Alan Rubin link

7/18/2022 03:07:57 pm

Rep. Jamie Raskin recently was the annual speaker for our organization. He optimizes what a public servant should be. His take on the majority of Republicans was that the privately know what should be done, but are afraid to break from the herd mentality.

This is happening while most sensible Republicans are begging to distance themselves from Donald Trump and his craziness.

So much will depend upon the economy and how voters will view pocketbook issues.

Let’s hope that there is a significant Liz Chaney effect.

Andy Tansey

7/18/2022 03:48:29 pm

Thanks, George. I first became attuned to the Manchin problem here on your site several months ago. It gets more depressing, but a some observations and devil's advocacy.

Partisan party politics is a huge problem in the USA. However, it seems worse when the needed breakaway votes are for issues one favors. Recently, it seems that most of the passion-inspiring good causes have been led by Democrats who could use the help of a few conscientious Republicans. We would like to see these few cross the aisle.

I hazard to say that most in this forum favor things like science and environmental conservation (as do I). Party loyalty interferes with the potential for responsible Republicans to take the "right" stance on this issue. In this case, however, a key vote has crossed the aisle and we are up in arms. The tables are turned here.

Alan Rubin link

7/18/2022 05:17:59 pm

Andy, I never used to be this way. There have always been liberals, conservative sand moderates in both parties, but they often joined forces on important issues.

A book of interest is "The Last Great Senate: Courage and Statesmanship in Times of Crisis" by Ira Shapiro.

Back then much more people, but that does not diminish the courage of Rep. Liz Chaney

The Last Great Senate tells the story of the final four years of the progressive Senate of the 1960s and 1970s which compiled a record of accomplishment unmatched in our country’s history. It is a narrative history of the statesman who, working with an outsider president, Jimmy Carter, helped steer America through the crisis years of the late 1970s, transcending partisanship and overcoming procedural roadblocks that have all but crippled the Senate over the past quarter- century. The Last Great Senate recalls a critical juncture in American politics, offering a new view of the kind of leadership that will be required to restore the nation’s upper house to greatness. The book brings to life the renowned senators of the time---Ted Kennedy, Howard Baker, Henry “Scoop” Jackson, Ed Muskie, Jacob Javits, Robert Byrd and others---while capturing the Senate as an ensemble cast in a way that no previous book has. Mr. Shapiro recounts a series of legislative battles, including the historic fight over the Panama Canal treaty and the rescues of New York City and Chrysler, that are remarkable case studies of the legislative process in action. His preface to this second edition provides a compelling summary of the Senate’s struggles since 1980, including the first six months of the Trump presidency. The author’s love of the Senate and his deep belief in its special role in our political system make the book an antidote to cynicism, leaving readers with some hope that the Senate can reverse its long decline to become again what Walter F. Mondale called “the nation’s mediator.”

Andy Tansey

7/19/2022 01:21:02 am

Amen, Alan, and thank you. If I have time, I'd do well for myself by reading it, and I'd like to think it would be preaching to the choir. Government often needs to transcend the voice of its constituents and, rather, to lead.

However, it is not the choir that needs the preaching in this case. Even assuming the strident party-loyalists have the capacity to read anything but biased fourth-grade-level "news," they'd never hear this gospel. From another series - and somewhat in response to Angela McKenzie, who used the word "stupid" below - essentially half of the population is more ignorant than the average American, and they vote.

My point was to the irony of Manchin crossing party lines, in the wrong direction.

Angela R McKenzie

7/18/2022 05:14:39 pm

How can we, the people, be stupid enough to continue voting for power-hungry politicians who care not one iota for America, or for us, yet expect to remain safe from the harm their inaction is causing?

The voters are to blame, as much as the politicians, for this rapidly increasing disaster that is destroying us and our planet. I do believe the people have the power, and the responsibility, to stop this madness. However, it looks like stupidity and pettiness will be our downfall, and a very painful one at that.

George

7/18/2022 07:57:34 pm

Hi, Angela, great to hear from you. I totally agree...."the people" are willfully ignorant, partially because of the Murdoch empire, partially because they no longer believe in "we the people," in all its glorious ramifications. Hope all is well with you. G

Gene Palumbo

7/22/2022 12:24:39 am

Go to the place where George writes "I wrote a book called “One Sunset a Week" ..." Click on the book title, and up comes a terrific review of the book by A.H. Raskin. Don't miss it.

Alan Rubin link

7/24/2022 03:15:38 pm

Gene is correct. It is a interesting book with a strong message. Definitely a must read.

Dave Your Son

7/26/2022 01:50:44 pm

I just finished reading "Thunder in the Mountains," by Lon Savage, about the murder of Sid Hatfield and the Mingo War of 1921. There was a line in there about how the miners had stood by as coal operators stripped them of their pride, just as their fathers had stood by as purchasers had stripped them of their land, just as THEIR fathers had stood by as speculators stripped them of their digging rights. ... Astounding how the hard-working people down there are still passively being abused by their politicians, particularly this Mazerati-driving, houseboat-living, filibuster-proof fraud Joe Manchin.

Randolph

7/29/2022 03:52:43 pm

Dave,
Thank you for your comments about the book, “Thunder In the Mountain.” I did not know about the book, but will now buy a copy.

But I think I should tell you A family story.
My mother, father and both sets of grandparents lived in Mingo County A.K.A. Bloody Mingo, West Virginia during the coal wars of the 1920s.
Anyway, the United mine workers had gone on strike. This was sometime in 1921. My grandfather was walking home from work, when he was surrounded by a Group of men, armed with both handguns and rifles. These were men that had been hired By the mine owners to intimidate, terrorize and violently stop the union from gaining a foothold in the county. Needless to say, it was a dangerous situation.
They threatened my grandfather’s life. But someone spoke up and said that he knew my grandfather worked for the railroad and was not a union minor. They released my grandfather.
A short time later, shots were fired and a union miner was murdered.
The gang roped The dead miner to the tailgate of an automobile and drug him through the streets of Williamson, West Virginia.

Thanks again for telling me about the book.
All the best to you and your dad.
R

Dave

8/2/2022 03:57:48 pm

Randolph, the book is filled with stories like yours, the author clearly earned a lot of trust and got people to share experiences either they had personally or had been told about by family. It's not the greatest 'read' in the world, but it does convey the shared experience that episode had on the region.

Alan Rubin link

7/27/2022 01:12:19 pm

George—I grew up listening to the radio from about age four or five. I was in bed with scarlet fever, which was very dangerous at that time. No medicine for a cure and only complete bed rest. My father and sister moved out of the house for about three months.

I had to lie still, but my weird-shaped green Emerson radio was my savior. I put it under my pillow and listened to Henry Morgan. He was a humorist who was one of the first to knock sponsors

He was fired by Adler Shoes when listeners were told to say that “old man Adler” sent me when they went into the stores. Henry was quickly rehired when customers did just that—"old man Adler sent me".

He also did a controversial Gillette razor commercial showing how their new super speed hand safety razor saved time. A man was two minutes ahead of his normal schedule and was killed by a car crossing the street to get his bus. “If that man did not save the two minutes shaving, he would be alive today”.

Some other radio greats that I loved were “Bob and Ray” “Klavan and Finch”; both shows combined music and comedy.

Gene Sheppard was another innovative radio personality. When NYC was debating whether they could afford chest protector vests for the police, he suggested they put the Sunday NYT under there uniform. “Everyone knows that it takes all day to get through the Sunday Times”.

These were humorists in the tradition of Mark Twain and Will Rodgers.

George’s blog is one of the joys of the internet, but he cannot be watched while one is while driving.

A great show on Netflix for soccer fans is “Sunderland ‘Til I Die.

moprganMy drive time today is split between two local NPR stations and Audible books.

I’m convinced that crime in NYC increased after the fifteen-minute radio serials that were popular in my youth (about 1943-1948) went off the air. They started at 4:45 and went to 6:15 pm.

I loved listening to Suzyn Waldman and Criss Russo. It was refreshing to hear a female expert on sports.hear

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Coal-Baron Manchin Mugs Mother Nature

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