he is working to stop mountaintop dynamiting for coal in appalachia. his efforts are featured in a new film the last mountain. it examines the conflict between big coal corporations and locals seeing their mountains ruined and their health threatened. in the "new york times" review of the film, janet writes, quote, the residents of the coal river valley in west virginia endure ear splitting explosions, raining boulders, toxic sludge and poisoned wells. the environmental horror story is filled with impearled school children, dust and cancer and autism clusters that defy statistical logic. take a look. >>> i have three sons who have asthma. we know asthma attack are caused by bad air, by ozone particulates and the principal source in our atmosphere are hundreds of coal burning power plants that are burning coal illegally it's been illegal for 18 years under the clean air act they were supposed to remove those materials from their emissions 18 years ago. but in a state where corpgs can easily come in the state political landscapes they were not required t

the people you know the people of appalachia the hillbillies have been beaten down for so long and been you know. been held under the boot heel of the coal industry for so long where mounting for both sides its everything its resources its coal its history and its symbol its part of appalachian it's a battle that neither side is willing to surrender for r.t. blair west virginia. the second battle of blair mountain deals with protesters panem against corporate interests and what activists call her if it were king conditions and the mountaintop removal mining techniques in the area that have allegedly polluted the water and cause health problems and even death now this case affects local residents but here to put these issues in context in the united states is labor journalist michael has covered a number of these stories also has deep roots in the labor struggle movement i would say that you think that's fair my question to you in that case you have miners pitted against corporate interests and of course the issue of corporations putting profits before people of profits before safety thi

miners versus environmentalist and even miners against each other so who will come out victorious in appalachia and what does it show about the struggle between labor and corporations in this country. and those corporations well they're obama's fix for america's job problem yes the same companies that ship u.s. jobs overseas so where does the answer really lie to uninvite. was. an early release for the cop seen here shooting and killing oscar grant back in two thousand and nine so after serving less than a year of the sentence are police getting away with murder we hear from oscar grant's uncle. good evening it's monday june thirteenth i'm lauren lyster coming to you from here in washington d.c. and you are watching our team now ninety years ago coal miners rose up in the largest insurrection since the civil war it became known as the battle of blair mountain some credit with launching the labor movement and creating the middle class america that exists today but the battle is not over some of those coal miners descendants along with activists and environmentalists march this last weekend in wh

if you went out here to the hudson and filled 100 feet, we would put you in jail, but in appalachia, they've blown up five of the biggest mountains in west virginia and they've filled 2,500 miles of rivers and streams. it's all illegal but they get away with it. they break their business plan -- the business plan of these companies like massey coal, which is a criminal enterprise, is to break the law and subvert democracy to get away with it. >> stephen: that's easy to say. hasn't the free market determine coal is america's future? we are the saudi arabia of coal, are we not? are we not, sir in we've got all the coal that we need for 250 years, and whatever it takes to maintain energy independence. even if it means bending the rules or filling in a few valleys. don't we need the look after america's future? >> if we had a true free market in thing joy sector, coal could not survive for a minute. it's the most catastrophically expensive way to boil a pot of water that's ever been devised. we can make energy a lot cheaper with wind, with solar, with geothermal, with all kinds of renewa

the people you know the people of appalachia the hillbillies have been beaten down for so long and been you know. been held under the boot heel of the coal industry for so long where mounting for both sides everything its resources its call its history and its symbolism are about the battle that neither side is willing to surrender in florida artsy blair west virginia. move over tea party here comes that's akila party that's right there is yet another new political movement named after a great. in this country and this one if you haven't figured out is reaching out to the hispanic community and it's not about supporting one party or the other it's about getting the growing hispanic population to actually go out and vote and let me give you a few numbers so you understand just how many people we're talking about the latino population grew from thirty five point three million in two thousand to fifty point five million in two thousand and ten the number of latinos eligible to vote went from thirteen million in two thousand to twenty one million in two thousand and ten and yet in last nove

if we're going -- appalachia. if we're going to strengthen competitiveness, we need to equip businesses with the tools they need to survive. communities will need to create higher-skilled jobs. that is what e.d.a. is designed to do. it's the front door for communities facing sudden and severe economic distress. when economic disaster hits, communities turn to the government in so many cases, and it's e.d.a. that does the job. e.d.a. has helped develop, redevelop the former g.e. plant in morain, several thousand plants once in that plant, g.e. jobs, fridaire jobs. now because of e.d.a. and local partnerships and outside private investment, we expect to see hundreds and hundreds, maybe a few thousand jobs in manufacturing in that morain plan. we've seen e.d.a. develop a plant in ashtabula. in the bill that senate republicans just blocked from us even voting on, from even voting on, would have strengthened and improved a job-creating program. how many times do we hear about businesses worried about uncertainty create

it's very hard -- you can't go into the hollows of appalachia or nebraska or other places and organize poor people to vote because their sense is why? what does it get me? where does it get me? decade after decade. a little bit is there on the part of the american people a little sense of a disdain towards people on medicaid? that somehow medicaid -- a glorious program -- is an inglorious word when applied to individuals because it implies that they don't want to better themselves. now i'm not going to go through my vista experience in west virginia for the 58th time on this floor, but all i can tell you is i saw so many examples of people who are beaten down not with a cudgel, but they were beaten down because all economic opportunity vanished from their life, all the coal mines shut down. there weren't any other jobs around. they didn't get to go to school. why didn't they get to go to school? because no school bus would come pick them up because they were too far beyond the end of a hard road and county law said you don't have to pick them up. the deck stacked against you? yes, it i