If there is truth in the old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, it may be fast approaching the time that progressives in the United States need to file a… Read More ›
Energy
Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right: Progressive Third Party Politics in West Virginia
It was all Nader’s fault. Never mind the butterfly ballots and the hanging chads. Forget about Palm Beach County’s sudden and accidental infatuation with Pat Buchanan(1) and Katherine Harris’s purging of thousands of legitimate black Floridians from the voter rolls… Read More ›
Fractured Communities: How Fracking Is Widening The Gap Between The Haves & Have-Nots in Rural Ohio
Now’s the time we smile. Well, not just smile. We have to nod too. Smile and nod. Wrinkle our brows and scribble down notes all sharp and hasty so he feels important; so he thinks we’re hanging on his every… Read More ›
Coal, Corporate Personhood & The Twilight of Labor Unions in America
In light of the Supreme Court’s recent rulings in Harris v. Quinn and Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services v. Hobby Lobby Stores, which have dealt another body shot to organized labor and further entrenched the idea of “corporate personhood” in our… Read More ›
We Are Our Mountain’s Keeper: The Fight for the Soil & Soul of Appalachia
West Virginia is no country for young men. Nor is it a country for old men, brown men, poor men or women. West Virginia is a country for rich men; men with no names and no faces who live far… Read More ›
We Promise This Will Never Happen Again: Freedom Industries Spills More Waste In West Virginia’s Rivers
Sometimes, when I come across a story about a chemical spill or environmental disaster in West Virginia, my thoughts lead me to story of the Greek Titan Prometheus. In Greek Mythology, Prometheus was humanity’s architect and benefactor. He was the… Read More ›
Rage, Rage With West Virginia Against the Dying of Their Right to Clean Water
In May of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave the commencement address at the University of Michigan and first laid out the framework of what would become his vision for America’s “Great Society.” In the speech, LBJ reflected on the… Read More ›
The Family Afterward: West Virginia Four Months After The Freedom Industries Chemical Spill
“Put a marshmallow on it.” he told her. “I’m telling you, fish love the marshmallows. Helps ’em to see the bait underwater. Normally it’s hard for fish to see bait moving around, but the marshmallow gives ’em something they can fix their… Read More ›
“Because The Money’s Too Damn Good to Leave” : A Look Inside North Dakota’s Oil Boom
There is no acceptable English word to describe how hot it was on the day I ran into Toby. When I started talking to him on the corner of South Main and Charleston in Las Vegas’s arts district it was… Read More ›
Tell “The Progressive”: West Virginia’s Story Will Be Heard
My latest article on the water crisis in West Virginia, “Trust is Not a Word We Use Around Here,” (has been seen by thousands of people on my blog, Virally Suppressed and on DailyKos as part of the Community Spotlight… Read More ›
Virally Suppressed - Muckraking For The Modern World 