While America was enjoying the wealth of the industrial revolution, these people were mining the coal that fueled it. They mined the coal that fueled us through two world wars. They mine the coal that lights our lights, and drives this weird and wonderful internet thing, that several recent posters are now using to denigrate them.

That is appalling.

Now, in modern times, having lost their livelihood to machinery, their relatives to disease, and their sense of place in the modern world, some would dismiss them.

I doubt many here have mined for coal. I know I haven't. I doubt many of you have lived in this area.

A story: I took a bicycle trip with a friend on summer in college (Sidebar: these people can afford neither) from Chicago, though Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland, and on to D.C.

WV is some tough terrain, and I don't mean just for biking. It is no wonder that it remains, even today, geographically and socially isolated. My friend and I were long haired weirdos with fancy bikes and funny shorts. It was my experience that all it took was a genial (But not overly gregarious) approach and a simple "Hi" to have a conversation. We would sit in the most rural of diners and people would approach us.

Now, we were white boys, but my sense was that it just takes an open mind. We outsiders are the ones who need to take that initiative.

I'm a city boy, born and bred, but I now live in a rural state rife with the kinds of predjudices some see in WV. From personal experience, I can tell you that it is possible to have conversations about race, and gays, and abortion...and change minds.

Is Carney's original election 2 years ago the result of Deans 50 state stratagy? There are quite a few instances of blue-dogs getting in on the Democratic ticket because of Dean, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. Getting people in once-red districts used to voting for Democrats is 90% of the battle, I think.

This is an area where the DNC should have followed up.

It appears he is not facing a primary challenge, which is unfortunate. The Republicans will surely target this seat.

I think Robot was talking about Israel.

Before there were jews

And before there were arabs

There were human beings.

So does getting our good soldiers killed for a bunch of f*king lies.

I'd rather that he play golf.

Did you go to math school for that?

I'd say you're 100% full of it

Does anybody come?

Mine hasn't posted yet.

Didn't see that coming...

to the Can We Ask site:

http://net.gop.com/canweask/default.aspx

I just asked "Why do republicans hate America?"

We should flood this one out.

Is that that whole "Rapture" thing, where in the end, god comes down and kills everyone who doesn't convert, and the rest go to heaven, or something like that?

I seem to remember reading that this was somehow tied in into the religious tight's affection and support for Israel.

So, on the radical end, the christians kill the jews, the jews kill the muslims and the muslins kill the christians. Maybe then we can populate the earth with those who are called human beings.

Robot is not a Christian - Based on another thread yesterday, I'd say he is a Super Jew. There is a big difference between Conservative Christians and Super Jews.

Conservative Christians are hypocritical, intolerant bigots and racists. Super Jews are...Umm...

Nevermind.

Perhaps I could have been clearer.

Did you think I was a Jew or an Arab?

I wouldn't bother with Robot - You might just as well bang your head against a wall. I knew someone like him once, he almost became a relative. Full of "facts" and figures that add up to nothing. All trees, no forest.

Sugarman can get positively unhinged on this subject.

You took me the wrong way entirely, Pancho.

Truthfully, I always assumed the DNA would be indistiguishable between the two.

My interest lies in the idea that Judiasm is a religion, not a race. I have jewish relatives that are always pushing the idea that we come from some noble race, when the reality, I would suspect, is that jews were just one of many tribes wandering around in the fertile cresent, and while there may be some genetic markers that identify people from a particular area (I don't know enough about it to even know what this might mean), it would seem to me that Jews and Palastinians have been boinking around enough to make them hard, if not impossible, to tell apart.

Mostly I was thinking about the whole ambiguous concept of race, and how it seems confused with "Nationality". Are the Irish a "Race"? Are the Catholics a "Race"? The Jews seems to claim both.

Thanks for the link - I'll check it out.

You say that "Jews and Palastinians are very close genetically. In fact you could say they are cousins"

If you had some blood from a jew, and some blood from a palistinian, do you think you could actually tell them apart? I mean, do jews have little Stars of Davids floating around in their DNA, or something?

You allude to some research on this - Do you have a link? I am really curious

But in the mix, not so much.

I think that, as pointed out in the post, many of those are people would not be voting Democratic anyway.

Plus, it's possible (And totally unsupported by any polls that I know of) that historically low-turnout minorities would be more inclined to vote.

A net plus for the left, I'd say.