Hi, Christy :D How’s the Hardin-Smith family doing? (peanut!)

Are you going door-knockin?

Hey, Christie! Things are looking better in the political world, courtesy of everything else going to hell.

I really hope he does come through your neck of the woods. Your right, can’t take anything for granted.

Things are good here — we just got back from taking The Peanut out for ice cream as she got a bunch of stars on her homework this week and earned herself a sundae. Not certain how the local Dem folks want to put me to use — but I’m guessing likely GOTV calls if it’s like 2004. *G*

You know, the weird thing is, I’ve been having the feeling that the economy was going to be the huge issue well before the crap hit the fan in the last week or so. When I’ve done our grocery shopping, I’ve seen people taking calculators along with them to tot up to the penny as they put stuff in — and out — of the carts. I’ve seen folks have to put stuff back at the cash register a lot more the last few months. Lots more staples, not so much on the extras, ya know?

At the gas pump, everyone looks at the numbers go up, up, up…and no one is cheery and says hello there these days, which is very different from the “howdy” we all used to do. (We’re a pretty friendly state for the most part.)

Same thing for the pharmacy, where a lot of the older folks in town are paying a few pills at a time, to try to parcel expenses out through the month and see if they can afford their medicine or their groceries. And on and on…it’s been tightening here in WV for a little over a year, and the winter heating bills aren’t even here yet. Can’t remember the last time I saw folks this worried.

We’re also a fairly cheap media market, but we’re adjacent to OH, PA, VA, and MD — so you get a lot of cross-over media from all those states as well where Obama is also competing for votes.

it’s a hard thing in the current electoral environment. so many states can’t be taken for granted - or written off. but there isn’t enough money to put into all of them. what’s a candidate to do? i dunno. poll, prioritize and try like hell to raise $$.

was hillary’s primary organization good? enough to help BO/JB? but whatever else you can say, this is good news. i (and most people) had written off WVa. back in june/july I wondered about it, but it never seemed to move in our direction. guess it’s could be in play. this election is damn interesting. alot of possibilities. then , it might just come down to 2004 all over.

Hi Christy,

Maybe the Obama camp kind of wrote off WV after his tepid showing in the primaries but with things tightening up, hopefully he’ll allocate more resources (and time) for it.

OT: I was just looking at a map of the electoral college. I’d never paid much attention to the shape of West Virginia. Looks a little like a roast chicken with the front end pointed toward Pennsylvania. :)

That pretty well sums up what it’s like in my area of Ohio.
I notice that frozen pizzas are flying off the shelves, and keep going up. The real cheap kind one week are $3 each, the next $4, and so on. Vegetables are like flower arrangements–untouched.

Christy- I agree with your assessment. A couple of visits and a well timed set of TV ads could work wonders. And this needs to be done tied in with an “early voting” push. Then those that have voted can then go out and convince their neighbors. People need to be made aware that the economic problems are not the result of some short-term “bad event” but the results of longterm Republican policies. And West Virginians need to weigh their vote carefully, and not be hit with some whammy commercials just before the election.

CNN mentions our little town in a piece about tent cities

From Seattle to Athens, Georgia, homeless advocacy groups and city agencies are reporting the most visible rise in homeless encampments in a generation.

The pols at the top of both parties have no idea how real folks live. Of course, the Rs are much worse than the Ds.

breaks my heart because it is always the healthy food that never gets discounted but that which is high in fat and sodium and low in nutrients is discounted to death.

Her primary organization was fantastic — and from everything I’ve seen and heard here locally, it was at Obama’s disposal if and when he chose to put it into play. Things have ramped up here in recent days/weeks, so here’s hoping it will be in full swing by the 15th of October. If I were the Obama folks, I’d seriously think about having Bill and Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden swing through here any time they were also nearby in OH or PA. For starters.

Are people TALKING about the election? Here in MI, it seems everyone is talking about the election (remarkably civilly, for the most part). But it’s so easy here for people to tie the election to economic bottom lines.

You saw that Biden did a Mineworkers event in southern VA? Closer to KY than WV, I think, but I was wondering if it was a regional event.

There have been a few video pieces on the tent cities springing up that I’ve seen, but they’ve been BBC and not American media. If CNN is hitting it, that’s new…and very interesting. Do you have a link or was it on the teevee?

Woo-hoo’s and high-five’s all around for the Peanut! (she must be taking after her mommy!)

If you are making calls in WV, wish I lived there!

I think Obama could even work in something about the folks holding “Obama supports KKK” signs up in Florida into a speech in West Virginia.

“You all know that’s not what I’m about. And I know that’s not what you are about.”

Yes, they are talking about it. A lot. I was in a buzzing line at the grocery store the other day when all the Sarah Palin covers on the tabloids came out — just happened to be shopping the day after they got stocked. And no one was defending her in my line or the next one over. The running theme was “as bad as things are, the last thing we need is to send a circus to the White House.”

… no state can be taken for granted.

With one exception. Obama will take California’s 55 electoral votes. Guaranteed

Field Poll: Obama-Biden leads McCain-Palin 52% to 36% in California

I think that was the annual UMWA fish fry, wasn’t it? They rotate it through the region every year, and VA got it this year.

We are a very blue state. i’d rather he hit West Virginia than come here to cali to be honest.

I saw the first Target Ad on television that reflected this - instead of CDs, the latest fashions, they were pushing electric hair-trimmers, and other “make a dollah stretch” items.

A little chilling to see it. you know it’s coming but there it was, on my tee vee screen in living “red&white”.

Actually, I take that back–he’s doing a mineworkers event on Saturday, and it’s not far from WV.

Yeah, it’s on Saturday in Castlewood VA.

I know. That is something we have to guard against, malnutrition. It’s easy to get if you don’t eat right. It happened during the Depression.

I saw a Super Walmart ad the other day that did the same thing — “One stop shopping, so you use less gas.” Meant to do a post about that — thanks for the reminder!

That is something that doesn’t get talked about enough, that everything that puts an additional squeeze on the fixed incomes of seniors causes more of them to go off their meds. Medicare Part D has an I.C.L. (initial coverage limit) of roughly $2500. Once the I.C.L. (or donut hole) is reached, an individual has to pay around $3500 out of pocket before Medicare starts to kick in again. I acted as a caregiver for my mother. She would hit the donut hole around May, I am certain there are lots of people with expensive Meds who reach the coverage limit in January or February.

exactly. Why not discount frozen veggies? they are much more nutricious than their canned counterparts and cheaper than fresh. Just a vicious cycle

speaking about republicans comming to the party of their best interests check this out

up with his party:

Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, a maverick Republican from Maryland, endorsed Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president in an interview Wednesday with WYPR, Baltimore’s National Public Radio station.

Gilchrest, who lost a primary campaign and is retiring from Congress, has already endorsed the Democrat running for his seat, Frank Kratovil. Justifying his endorsement of Obama, Gilchrest said that “we can’t use four more years of the same kind of policy that’s somewhat haphazard, which leads to recklessness.”

Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), “have the breadth of experience. I think they’re prudent. They’re knowledgable.”

Not West Virginia but California’s unemployment rate has ‘climbed’ to 7.7 per cent.

bet the media won’t cover that but the Hillary supporter that referred to working class as ‘red necks’ sure did garner some attention

That donut hole is so painful — I did some posts on that a while back, after I spent 20 minutes at the pharmacy chatting with a lovely older lady who was waiting for her prescription same time I was waiting for mine. It broke my heart to see her trying to navigate her insurance nastiness, and costs, and trying to figure out where she was in it. The pharmacy folks were so kind, but it was really rough to watch because she was frantic about desperately needing the meds, but then not being able to eat…I sneaked a $20 into the outside pocket of her pocketbook when she wasn’t looking, I couldn’t help myself.

We are cheering Peanut’s homework stars here at our house!

Thanks for the on-the-ground report, Christy. Do you think Joe Biden will spend any time in your state, and do you think he might sell the ticket well? He seems to make the PA and OH crowds happy, from what little I’ve seen on the teevee.

your awesome *g* We have to take care of one another as we hav seen that the govt under this administration has failed to do so

When the kids are that age, the rewards are relatively inexpensive…but always a lot of fun.

And in case West Virginians get ‘uppity’:
On Thursday, the conservative Carl Worden suggested that the government’s fears and contingency plans are well founded:

A CONSTITUTION IN TATTERS:

“There is no question that the Government of the United States is operating in panic mode right now due to the ever-escalating bad news in our financial markets, and they are doing whatever they believe is necessary to soften the economic fall taking place no matter what the Constitution allows. That alone should tell you how desperate things really are right now.

“Public officials of all stripes are facing a public backlash when the inevitable crash occurs, and I’m not talking about people showing up in town meetings and venting their frustrations. No, I’m talking about the consequences public officials face when all forms of Social Security, Medicare, food stamps and general welfare dry up. When that happens, and I am quite certain it will, there will be a level of violence that erupts all over this nation, from attacks on all forms of government to ransacked commercial firms by armed gangs to in-home invasions by desperate people who cannot feed their children.”

It is very likely that this fear is linked to this breaking news story from Army Times:

GOVERNMENT SHIPS TROOPS HOME TO BE READY FOR UNREST

3rd Infantry’s 1st Brigade Combat Team trains for a new dwell-time mission……Helping ‘people at home’ may become a permanent part of the active Army

The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission - with a twist - at home.

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command [created by Rumsfeld, Cheney, Tenet et al. after 9/11], as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

HERE IS THE KEY PARAGRAPH

…..They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.—Danny Schechter, News Dissector

just got this from raw story, pretty nice from obama

Obama also heaped criticism and sarcasm on Republican rival John McCain and mocked his promise to fire the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission if elected president.

“I think that’s all fine and good but here’s what I think,” Obama said. “In the next 47 days you can fire the whole trickle-down, on-your-own, look-the-other way crowd in Washington who has led us down this disastrous path

I think Biden would do really, really well here. People here like him, always have — and he works a blue collar crowd as well as just about anyone other than Bill Clinton. Truly. He comes across as just a regular guy — because he grew up that way — and that plays really, really well here and OH and PA and other places like this.

Marcy - where was it? Wise, VA? I’ve been there a couple of times and if there was anyplace that was the front door to hell, that was it - every stream polluted, strip mining, meth and other drugs, all the hillsides eroded. And Dominion resources wants to put a coal fired electricity generating plant there. If the Democrats get out there and do some work - they can have that area for sure.

I saw a clip of that speech — it was well delivered, I have to say. *G*

FYI, the Medicare website has an applet that allows a user to enter the prescriptions they use, then quickly compares the available insurance plans to see which ones offer the best coverage with the lowest out of pocket expense. It is a snap for people who are web-savvy, perhaps some can assist seniors who are less comfortable with computers. Most seniors who are already enrolled in a drug plan have a window of opportunity to change providers from (I think) the beginning of November until the end of the year.

thanks for that tid bit of info. I just emailed that to a freind of mine that works at a Senior center in Long Beach, ca.

oky pups

se you all later. i have to go pull up dinner fom outside in the garden and run a few errands before the baby shower tomorrow.

take care of each other

Tent cities from AP via MSNBC.com

Tent Cities

Castlewood, VA is, if you can put it that way, on the way from Abingdon, VA to Wise, VA. Same part of the state -

quick and the dead

In my mom’s case, it actually steered us to a plan which saved her about $1800 annually compared to other providers.

There used to be ad by states that said come to—–
for great living conditions, etc. Now see none at all. I guess no state wants more people right now with the added expense. We are truly in a mess. With Obama could get to every state.

I’ve seen a few clips, and I have to say he’s clear, strong, hits hard, and works a crowd well. I’m a lot more impressed than I expected to be.

Unfortunately, it’s the same article from the AP via both CNN and MSNBC. Which I guess is good as well.
Good: the problem is being noticed
Bad: It’s only via the AP and not other new orgs.

Stunning to see the tent city in Reno.

One of my early posts at my homeblog included a pic from Library of Congress of tent city homeless living back in the ’30s from the photography of Dorothea Lange. Her photo, Migrant Mother, is an iconic image that still haunts today.

I talked to an old friend from grad school last night. She lives in northern Georgia, near Chatanooga TN. The local economy is terrible — milk is $5.40/gallon; grocery store only has 7 oranges for sale; gas over $4.00 for regular, but there is none. Only premium and then rationed to 5 gallons per purchase. Sure didn’t make the news here!!

that would be “wish”

Oh wow — I hadn’t heard anything about that at all.

afternoon drive by - hey firedogs!

Christy -
Blue Grass King Ralph Stanley endorsed Obama 2 weeks back and made noises about campaigning for him all over Appalachia - he definitely mentioned WV - as you may know, he never left his VA home and carries a great deal of influence in the region :D

The coal state workers versus management the workers want to keep their jobs. Can Obama with his use American energy appeal to them/
Coal ia a very big deal in the energy America uses 50%.
Will unions help Obama in W “by God” Virginia? Can he take the urban populations. (the raolroad runs by gravity most of the way from W VA to Norfolk)

Oh wow, that would be awesome. Especially if I got to see him play. *g*

Now, *that’s* populist appeal.

Mr. Schechter predicted this over three years ago. Made a movie called “In Debt We Trust”. The idiots in DC did not listen because they were eyeball deep in the money flow. Now we as taxpayers get to pay.

Thanks Danny, at least you tried.

It may well be a cynical ploy from a company that has been accused of fascist tendencies in the past, but around here the Publix supermarket chain has lowered the price significantly on milk and a few other staples. We’re forced to shop there anyway by geography and I have noticed about at 10 to 15% drop in our weekly purchases there. They also just sent out a mailer that came in today’s mail (not personalized, so must be mass mailed) with a coupon for $5 off on a $30 purchase.

Considering how long Obama has been campaigning I don’t think it would have taken much to find a Dem in most, if not all, states to sponsor a Tom Harken-like townhall for him. While not everyone in the state could attend I’m sure the local PBS affiliates would broadcast it. It’s a little late in the day for a 50-state effort but maybe something like this in a few key states … it couldn’t hurt. I’ve often wondered why more senators haven’t followed Harken’s lead on this - do it in Dem states for the primaries (with all candidate individually as Harken offers) and red states for exposure in the general.

Just got in from errands,
I have been canvassing here in Jefferson County CO. This is one of the major swing counties in the state. Either people are not being straight with me or things are looking real good. Not only have I been getting a lot of very positive feedback but also some volunteers to work on the campaign

Okay, I’m going to disagree with you here. I think that Obama would be nuts to campaign in West Virginia, for the simple reason that, as we saw from the Democratic primary, West Virginia has a small but significant number of people who are quite overtly racist and have no qualms about going on national TV and saying all kinds of fairly nasty things. If Obama were to campaign in WV, this small number of people would end up dominating the story, which would look bad for both WV and for Obama.

I look for that.

Here is a link to a story about it. Thanks, cbl2!

“He’ll make it easier for parents to send their kids to college and make sure they have more money left in their pockets at the end of the month.”

Sure, because the media didn’t go out of their way to ferret out the most odious, foul-speaking morons for camera time here or anything in order to gin up their “creepy rednecks news at 11″ ratings factor. Yeppers, we’re all just uneducated, racist louts…but only on teevee.

For heaven’s sakes, have we taught you all nothing if not to be skeptical about what the media spoon feeds you without checking the whole facts of it first?

emailer to Jack Cafferty file on CNN: McCain’s campaign slogan should be “What Obama said.”

Sure, because the media didn’t go out of their way to ferret out the most odious, foul-speaking morons for camera time here or anything in order to gin up their “creepy rednecks news at 11″ ratings factor. Yeppers, we’re all just uneducated, racist louts…but only on teevee.

For heaven’s sakes, have we taught you all nothing if not to be skeptical about what the media spoon feeds you without checking the whole facts of it first?

That’s exactly my point. We already know that the media will go out of their way to find these people. Hell, they probably still have the names and addresses of the most outrageous folks they talked to last time, so they won’t even have to find a new bunch. The media is pre-programmed to regurgitate this story. It does no good to Obama or to the people of West Virginia to let them do so.

Best kept secret in America;
“Ten year plan to end homelessness” by HUD is now in 350 cities and counties in America. They know there will be a depression for a growing segment of the population. I am holding in my hand a 250 page draft plan for our county. It has 4 priorities”
1. Access to afordable housing
2. Preventing homelessness
3. Ending homelessness with supportive systems
4. Implementation Plan

We all know that site control is the basis of building housing (Ask Palin and her hockey rink). My county Plannning Director and the CDBG department have no sites in mind. 80 some community organizations are supporting this plan, So far their is no sites or funding. We have been on the issue over 12 years and nothing of a scale to impact the chronic homeless or the ones who wil be falling into it.
Transition housing followed by low cost permanent housing is the roadmap to sucess. Nation wide will take a lot of capital and political commitment.
Puhing these people away from services food. water, toilets is creating growing public health risk and crime. We now have a growing third world in America while are assests are spent to keep wealthy investors secure.

Christy,
Just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed your writing since wandering over to FDL when Tbogg set up shop.

You mother was a teacher of mine way back (I still have the best cursive writing!). I left the corporate world, returned to school, and received my teaching certification (marketing and history double major from Marshall)…this is my first year as a substitute teacher. I count your mother as one of the great teachers in my life.

I mentioned reading you posts to a friend of mine, but he was already a reader! We are both proud of you, keep up the good work!

Have you thought about sending a media pack to Talkline (Hoppy’s show)? I listen sometimes, but I easily tire of the same old guests on air

Mom will be thrilled to hear an old student is posting here. I probably should send something in to Hoppy — we could use some more progressive voices on WV radio, truly. And the same old folks do get a little tiresome.

Unfortunately, my cursive writing went downhill once I started practicing law (nothing like insanely fast note-taking in court to ruin that for you), but I can still do lovely smiley faces with the best of ‘em. *g*

Oh, and while I’m thinking about it, gang — I’ll be on Rachel Maddow’s Air America show next week, it looks like. Will post details when I firm them up…