Roomin' House Blues

Here is another song added to my blog in memory of the Big Branch Mine victims.  This is sung by the Dubliners, Celtic folk singers, but they sang a lot of great American songs as well. The Springhill Mine Disaster is one of the more famous mine cave ins. 

This is another song on behalf of the Big Branch Mine disaster victims, this time for the women and children who waited for their men.  Jean Ritchie wrote and sung this, an Appalachian native singer who has both traditonal folk singer education and an extensive musicology education. 

My squirrel  friend that I have been writing about--the one I feed every day, is getting a paunch. The Dream Act has passed the house, only to be temporarily shot down today in the Senate. The Republicans were planning to filibuster the house version in the Senate and with the clock ticking on the current session, Harry Reid forced a vote to table, winning 59 to 40.  That allows him to call back the same bill before the end of the session.  Senate Republicans have been firmly against the bill, ruling from the minority on the matter.  Another way to get the Dream Act passed might be to make it a rider on the Agricultural Bill, forcing some of the Senate Republicans to vote for it.   For those of you who want to read up on immigration there is the classic "The Uprooted" by Oscar Handlin copyright 1973, showing how we are a nation of immigrants. The Uprooted won a Pulitzer Prize.  And on immigrants as agricultural workers, "Work...