Mountain Blog

column

2007-11-30T11:31:00.000-05:00

My son's take on "We are Marshall"

2007-01-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

I am a bit ashamed.

At 7:37 p.m. on Saturday, November 14, 1970 as the Marshall University football team was returning from a narrow defeat at Eastern Carolina, a chartered jet carrying 75 members of the football team, coaches and several fans crashed 30 seconds short of Tri State Airport, instantly killing everyone aboard.

I was in-utero then. My father, a reporter at the time for The Herald Dispatch in Huntington, WV went to the crash site, 2 miles West of the airport to cover the tragedy. The lightly wooded field where the plane came down was littered with bodies and metal hunks from the plane. This would be one of a series of West Virginia tragedies my father would have to report on over the years.

Growing up in Huntington, it was an ever-present cloud that hung over the community, but since I was so young the tragedy didn't touch my generation like it did the previous generation... or so I thought.

I cannot even remember when I was first told about the largest sports tragedy in the history of the United States of America. It seemed like a far-off land to me. I didn't understand the full impact that this tragedy had on my little hometown. Perhaps I still don't, but with the mostly-accurate historic mass-market movie "We are Marshall" I now understand a little more about what shaped my hometown and why Marshall University is so completely tied to the town.

I am proud to be from Huntington West Virginia. I'm proud of Marshall University. I'm proud of the people of West Virginia... yes... even those dirty Morgantowners...

The movie gave me a far greater understanding of one of the enormities that shaped my home. I am ashamed that it took something as trivial as a Hollywood movie to enlighten me as to the occurrances surrounding the Marshall plane crash and subsequent years.

I will always be fiercely proud of where I am from. I will, as usual, suffer the barbs of the nescient masses out there who consider West Virginia to be a land of slack-jawed yokals whose only interests culminate in such lofty pastimes as drinking beer and riding ATVs while hunting deer and relax in the evenings to the latest NASCAR event.

I have lived many places: The Greater Detroit Metro Area of Michigan (including Ann Arbor), Washington D.C., New York City and Cleveland, OH. I was born in West Virginia, and if God is kind to me, I will die there as well. It will always be my home.

"We are Marshall"

Can We Order 50,000 of these for West Virginia Highways?

2007-01-05T18:17:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas wishes from a preacher

2006-12-30T22:53:00.000-05:00

This Christmas wish was posted on the HuntingtonNews.net Bulletin Board:

Let me be the first to wish everyone a blessed and Merry Christmas. In the spirit of the Season, let me say that, if I have offended any Demagogicrats: perversion facilitators or pro-abortionists, then let me say that I have meant every word I said; and, since I offended you, I am especially merry this year. HO! HO! HO!

The message was written by a poster who calls himself Kilohana. But longstanding readers of the Bulletin Board know he is Terry K. Hagedorn. He is a preacher at Calvary Baptist Church in Reedsville, WV.

He is one of the primary reasons I stay away from all churches. Imagine being sucked into a church where a guy like this is a preacher, then being mesmerized by him. It can happen. I've seen it happen.

I have never seen such a mean streak in so many people. Bloggers are mean. Radio talk show hosts are mean. Politicians in Congress are mean. People in the President's office are mean.

Preachers are mean.

I used to post occasionally to HuntingtonNews.net but I have stopped. I posted what I thought was a rather innocuous message there a couple of months ago. I was attacked by someone who was so vitriolic, I sensed he was dangerous. So I stopped. I have responsibilities and I don't have time to be killed right now.

Can't we all just get along?

Apparently not.

So be it.

Just leave me out of the loop when it comes to hateful speech.

All I can say is - Wow!!!

2006-12-24T11:45:00.000-05:00

If you live within 50 miles of Huntington and its bedroom community of Proctorville Ohio, you need to get there before New Year's Day to see Art Suiter's light spectacular at his house.

The more than 20,000 lights pulsate in time to the rhythms of music played on your car radio.

It you want to know the show times and get a preview of the light spectacular see Suiters Web page at http://www.christmaslights2006.com/

You gotta see it.

My Grandpa's Fiddle

2006-12-22T20:40:00.000-05:00

This is one of the best Christmases ever for me. I have my Grandpa John Duncan's fiddle. You can read more about it in the Christmas Day Charleston Daily Mail. Meanwhile, you can see pictures of it by clicking on the picture below.

Thanks to my cousin, Patsy Black, for giving it to me and to Joe Dobbs of the Fred 'N Fiddle in St. Albans for refurbishing it

John Duncan's Fiddle

Ahhh, to be in Barrow, now that winter's here

2006-12-22T11:11:00.000-05:00

If you had Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), be glad you don't live in Barrow, Alaska.
Here's the sunrise-sunset report for Barrow for today.

Civil Twilight 11:58 AM AKST 2:50 PM AKST
Nautical Twilight 9:45 AM AKST 5:03 PM AKST
Astronomical Twilight 8:18 AM AKST 6:31 PM AKST
Moon No Moon Rise No Moon Set
Length Of Visible Light: 2h 52m
Length of Day 0h 00m
Tomorrow will be 0m 0s shorter.

Unbelieveable

2006-12-20T18:19:00.000-05:00

"Parents always talk about their kids! In fact, people like me that don't have kids, you get sick of hearing about it. I don't want to see the pictures anymore! I don't want to hear about the honor roll! I don't want to hear about the latest poem. I don't want to hear about it! They never stop talking about their kids."

In case you don't know, it comes from none other than Rush Limbaugh. In fact, he's so proud of the quote, it's part of his "quotable quotes" on his Web site.

Is there an alternate universe where Rush Limbaugh and his hateful right wing friends don't exist. If so, can I get a ticket to go there?

By the way, I'll quit talking about my kid when Limbaugh stops talking about Obama's big ears.

But I don't think we have much longer to put up with him. The recidivism among drug addicts is more than 80 percent.

The Best "We Are Marshall" Movie Search Site

2006-12-19T19:20:00.000-05:00

My friend, Charlie Bowen, is a dynamite Web designer. He has recently acquired the job as developer of the City of Huntington Web site.

Charlie is more than Web designer. He's a writer as well. And he knows the Web. I mean he really knows it.

Charlie has recently added a search site for all the stuff about the movie "We Are Marshall" that you can find on the Web. He's done it on the City of Huntington site and you'll find it here.

Take a look, especially if you want to know what folks everywhere are saying about the movie.

And believe me when I say that, if the City of Huntington were run the way Charlie manages the City of Huntington Web site, Huntington would be sittin' on top of the world instead of where it is.

Here's Why I Love West Virginia

2006-12-18T21:13:00.001-05:00

...and why I'll never leave


A pictorial view of the seasons of West Virginia

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

2006-12-18T12:03:00.000-05:00

This from the Marijuana Policy Project:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 18, 2006

Marijuana U.S.'s Top Cash Crop, New Study Finds
U.S. Marijuana Crop Worth More Than Corn, Wheat Combined

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications, 202-215-4205 or 415-668-6403

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Marijuana is now the most valuable cash crop in the U.S., exceeding the value of corn and wheat combined, according to a new study released today. This is so despite decades of marijuana "eradication" campaigns in which over 100 million marijuana plants have been destroyed.

"The fact that marijuana is America's number one cash crop after more than three decades of governmental eradication efforts is the clearest illustration that our present marijuana laws are a complete failure," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "America's marijuana crop is worth more than our nation's annual production of corn and wheat combined. And our nation's laws guarantee that 100 percent of the proceeds from marijuana sales go to unregulated criminals rather than to legitimate businesses that pay taxes to support schools, police and roads."

The report -- prepared by researcher Jon B. Gettman, who has a doctorate in public policy and specializes in economic development -- can be downloaded at at http://www.drugscience.org/bcr/index.html. Key findings include:

**Using conservative price estimates, marijuana is America's top cash crop, with a value of $35.8 billion this year -- exceeding the combined value of corn ($23.3 billion) and wheat ($7.45 billion) combined.

**The top marijuana producing states are California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii, and Washington. Marijuana is the top cash crop in 12 states and among the top three cash crops in 30 states.

**Despite intensive marijuana eradication campaigns that seized over 103 million cultivated marijuana plants and wiped out an average of nearly 36,000 cultivation sites per year, U.S. marijuana production increased tenfold from 1981 to 2006, from 1,000 metric tons (2.2 million pounds) to 10,000 metric tons (22 million pounds), according to U.S. government estimates.

**This enormous growth in marijuana cultivation, despite massive eradication efforts, indicates that "marijuana has become a pervasive and ineradicable part of our national economy" that should be put under a system of legal regulation.

With more than 21,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.

####

So marijuana growers will have a merry Christmas in more ways than one.

When is this country going to come to its senses and both regulate and tax marijuana?

Sorry, No Match

2006-12-18T08:30:00.000-05:00

Those who continue to tell us that our post-war nation building stay in Iraq is short compared to our post-war nation building in Germany after World War II need to (a) take a break and (b) stop trying to re-write history.

Slate Magazine offered a comparison of these two experiences three years ago at a time when Condi Rice was trying to tell us that American soldiers faced death and other dangers in Germany after we conquered the Hitler machine. You can read the article here. .

Here's the nut graph:

According to America's Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq, a new study by former Ambassador James Dobbins, who had a lead role in the Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo reconstruction efforts, and a team of RAND Corporation researchers, the total number of post-conflict American combat casualties in Germany—and Japan, Haiti, and the two Balkan cases—was zero.

Get that? No deaths of American soldiers. In fact, it appears that the biggest problem in Germany after the war apparently was soldier fraternization with the former enemy.

Now, can we move on to something else besides re-writing history?

Newt Is A Piece of Work

2006-12-17T21:34:00.000-05:00

I watched Newt Gingrich on Meet the Press this morning, and I also read the story about his appearance before some Republicans in New Hampshire.

He says that the imams who were praying in the airport in Minneapolis should have been arrested because they were acting like terrorists. And, he says, if you act like a terrorist in America, you should be guilty of being a terrorist until you prove yourself innocent.

Huh?

Then he goes on to say that we're going to have to abridge free speech in America in order to save ourselves from terrorism.

The scary part of this is there are thousands who probably agree with him.

Well, I have news for Newt. It's too late to abridge free speech. Pardon me for sounding like some sort of radical, but I believe free speech is no longer a function of the First Amendment. It's a function of the Internet. Sure, the authorities can try to put the fires of free speech out. But they will fail. Here, in America, free speech is more genetic than constitutional, there's no way to stop it.

And, I think, Newt knows that.

The Marshall Plane Crash: Beyond the movie and the hype

2006-12-17T21:25:00.000-05:00

You might not expect to find this on the popular Web site "How Stuff Works" but it's there.

It's the real story of the Marshall Plane Crash told tastefully and thoroughly. Kudos to the Web site.

Se it here.

I feel a little like Dr. Zhivago

2006-12-17T11:43:00.000-05:00

Time magazine has told us what many of us already know.

You are the Person of the Year. The Internet has liberated you to make a statement that is as accessible to the world as the statement of any politician. Or any columnist.

Hmmmmm. So it has come to this? Yes, it has. And I am so glad I am no longer dependent solely on my job as a newspaper columnist. Don't tell anyone, but it appears that newspaper columnists - people who make their living telling the masses what they think - is a dead-end career.

These days, anyone with access to the Internet can be a columnist. It's amazing, isn't it? People with ideas they want to share with the world have the capability of sharing them with an audience that's a thousand - no a million - times larger than most columnists who are is fortunate enough to still publishing a newspaper.

I love the movie "Dr. Zhivago." A scene from that movie comes to mind. After the Russian Revolution, Zhivago returns to his spectacular family home in Moscow. He discovers that the expansive mansion is inhabited by 15 families of Russian peasants who have "liberated" it in the name of the people.

When confronted by the fact that the revolution has changed things, Dr. Zhivago tells one of the peasants "It's much better this way, comrades...really it is."

Did the good doctor really mean it or was he simply trying to pacify "the majority" that had taken over his house?

Well, does it make any difference? That's the way it was in Russia and Zhivago knew that he simply had to deal with it.

So it is with the Internet revolution. Nothing can stop it. Like the Russian Revolution that was inevitable, so is the Internet Revolution. My ideas are no more important than anyone else's.

The fact I had access to the major distribution system for years, while others didn't, made all the difference to me. Now everyone has access to an idea distribution system that's many times more potent than an ink-on-paper distribution system that is rapidly disappearing as a major force.

But I really don't have to worry about the demise of one system in favor of another, at least when it comes to ideas. I can sit back and enjoy the chaos it has caused while I collect my Social Security check and revel in the joys of writing two columns a week for the Charleston Daily Mail because someone up there still thinks they matter. And who am I to argue with them?

Are we about to become Nazis?

2006-12-03T23:47:00.000-05:00

This is very disturbing

If we let these people become a majority, we will become a Nazi state for sure.

We never seem to learn from ours and others mistakes.

The greatest threat to America is NOT from external forces, but from inside our own society.

If we buckle under to the belief that all Muslims are terrorists, and shouild be branded, we have lost the fight to keep ourselves free.

The Cruel War is nearly over, thank God

2006-12-03T16:36:00.000-05:00

So now it appears that everyone in the world wants to change dramatically the course of the Iraqi War except President Bush. And even he appears to be caving a little.

I've been relatively civil during this war. I haven't exploded all over the blogosphere with the rage of a peacenik. I haven't hit any of the neocons who call folks like me an idiot. Generally, all I have done is sat quietly and waited for the truth to come bubbling to the surface. And now it has all but arrived.

Fifty hears from now, the Iraqi War will be tagged a big mistake. It won't be the first time America has screwed up militarily and it probably won't be the last.

But here's what they'll be saying in 2050: A group of Arabs commandeered airplanes and used them as bombs to kill more than 3,000 Americans back in 2001. Most of the Arabs were Saudi Arabians. So what was our response? We attacked Iraq while our leaders held hands with the Saudi royalty and called Saudis our friends.

It won't make much sense until those folks a half century from now understand that our peculiar ways were brought about by our love - no, our lust - for oil.

Every time America flips reality the bird and embraces some pie-in-the-sky ideology, we screw up. Iraq is no different. After we learned there were no weapons of mass destruction in that country, our leaders decided that we were there to impose democracy.

How in the name of all that is sane can democracy be imposed on a people whose majority wants a theocracy, not a democracy? But I didn't even ask that question of the hawks. You see, I have been called "stupid" and "idiot" more times than I can count. I don't have to set myself up for that any more, nor will I.

I knew that all I had to do was bide my time and we would fail miserably in Iraq. And that's exactly what has happened.

As for the threat of terrorism, this country had better take seriously the worldwide threat. Sure, there are terrorist in Iraq, especially now that we have created the atmosphere there in which terrorism can bloom. But there are countless countries worldwide where terrorists are eager to kill us. Iraq is simply another blip on the radar screen, but it's a blip where thousands of Americans have died because of a failed idea that we could somehow bring democracy to a county that doesn't want democracy and thereby democratize the Middle East.

I'd like to tell the hawks to sit down and shut up, but it would do no good. They're not going to do it. Like the old confederate soldiers of long ago, they'll go to their grave believing they were right and everyone else was wrong.

So be it. It's their problem, not mine.

"I don't want to look like the help"

2006-11-30T17:06:00.000-05:00

That's what Bill Murray, co-anchor of WSAZ's News at Five said Thursday.

He was doing a story on all the folks who are getting gussied up for the Marshall movie premiere that's really not a premiere at all.

He was trying on a tux at Skeffington's in Huntington - a rented tux.
The clerk was telling him how appropriate it looked.

Looking in the mirror, Murray said "I don't want to look like the help" as he straughtened his tie.

Good Lord, Murray. I think that's something I would have edited out even if I meant it.

The clerk assured Murray that he wouldn't look like "the help" at the big whoop-ti-do at the luxurious Big Sandy Superstore Arena. "The help" aren't wearing coats, the clerk said.

I'm sure that's a big relief for Murray and all the others who don't want to look like "the help."

I'm sorry but that kind of language, and the mentality behind it, goes through me like a jolt of electricity. It always has.

It's "the help" that makes this country what it is, Buster. And strangely, Murray is "the help." Hell, most of us are "the help" whether we wear a tux or a white shirt or kakhi work clothes.

I hope Murray enjoys his rented tux and looks like somthing other than "the help" on the night of the big non-premiere. I'll be at home, dressed in my jeans and laughing at the people in Huntington who apparently like to play dress-up and pretend.

In fact, that's what Huntington has become - dress up and pretend.

Gawd, Don't You Just Love America?

2006-11-03T19:49:00.000-05:00

BetUS.com Posts Odds On Accusations Against Ted Haggard

November 3rd, NEW YORK – The president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an outspoken opponent of gay marriage, has given up his post while a church panel investigates allegations he paid a man for sex. The Rev. Ted Haggard resigned as president of the 30 million-member association Thursday after being accused of paying the man for monthly trysts over the past three years.

With religious communities reeling and the general public speculating as to whether the allegations are true, up-to-the-minute analysts of current events, news and politics at the largest most respected sportsbook on the web, BetUS.com, posted odds on the situation in its entirety. People are logging on and wagering on how this scandal will play out.

Analysts at BetUS.com posted the following odds regarding Ted Haggard:

It will be proven that he had a homosexual affair: 6/4

A church sex scandal will happen before March 2007: 1/2

Haggard will issue an apology for the situation: 1/3

His voicemail messages to accuser will be released: 5/1

Others will accuse Haggard of paying them for sex: 4/1

Additional sports and entertainment odds can be found at:

www.BetUS.com

Don Blankenship is no mystery

2006-08-25T10:02:00.000-04:00

Don Blankenship has written a piece for the Wayne County News explaining who he is and what he's up to.

The only place I can find the essay on the Internet is on Don Surber's Blog. He may have transcribed it directly from the newspaper and I appreciate that.

First and foremost, I wouldn't want to stop Blankenship from trying to upset the political power structure in West Virginia. It's his right and, after reading his essay, I believe it's his cause.

He really beleives that politics is West Virginia's downfall, that everything can be laid at the feet of the people who write and enforce the rules.

I believe that the people we put in office is a reflection of the people who put them there. If so, we are in sad, sad shape in West Virginia and thus our problems can be laid directly at the feet of those who go to the polls, or don't go to the polls as the case may be.

I have news for Don. Things won't change, particularly in his native region of Southern West Virginia, until the people change. And his campaign which intends to tell the people just how corrupt some of our politicians are won't work until the people change.

Changing people's hearts and minds is damn near impossible. He's asking folks in Mingo COunty to give up any chance of getting their gravel roads and even their driveways maintained by the state every election year for a system that treats everyone fairly. Too many of these folks don't want fairness. They want their share of government resources and to hell with everyone else.

My dad was much like Don Blankenship, althouigh he wasn't rich and vertainly not famous. I don't know how many times he told me "Can't never did nothin' until he tried." I wonder if that same saying was told to Don when he was a kid. It sounds like it. That's what his essay is all about.

The same things that bother Blanksnehip about West Virignia, at least those stated in his essay, bother me as well. I am a bit concerned about what else bothers him, things that he's not saying he wants changed.

What blankenship has undertaken essentially is an "educational campaign." What's needed in West Virginia, particularly Southern West Virginia, is a long term grass roots educational campaign to make basic changes in a culture that allows political corruption.

And that cost much more than the few million Blankenship intends to commit.

And no one even said "whoops!"

2006-08-24T18:55:00.000-04:00

Jessica Lynch is pregnant.

An AP story says it's so. They're congratulating her on TeeVee. After all, she was wounded badly in Iraq. Who knew she could ever get pregnant? From the words of Jessica in the report, it sounds as if she is as surprised as anyone.

I wonder if her boyfriend is surprised?

Yes, I said boyfriend. Jessica is not married and the story doesn't indicate she and her boyfriend, a factory worker from Vienna, W. Va., will ever get married.

I'm happy for her. I'm happy she believes she has found someone she loves and who loves her. Of course, the chances of this relationship continuing till death they do part is about 50 percent, or maybe less. Sorry. Those are the stats.

If Jessica and her boyfriend are surprised, what surprises me is the turnaound we have made in this country and this state about conceiving children out of wedlock.

Hell, when I was a kid, I never knew which of my young female relatives got pregnant, even if they were married. And if they weren't, they'd disappear for a few months, then return, sometimes with a baby and sometimes without. But the mention of a child conceived out of wedlock? It never happened. In fact, I was led to believe that conceiving bastard children was not the only sin. Talking about it was another sin.

The fact things have changed so much in such a short time gives me hope that we will soon get over our fear of same sex marriages. It will happen, I believe, as will the elmination of other silly taboos.

Meanwhile, all I can say is that I hope both Jessica and her boyfriend had earth-shattering, hit-me-with-your-best-shot simultaneous orgasms at the moment of conception. And a thousand more in the future.

Good luck, Guys.

An Angry State

2006-08-14T22:23:00.000-04:00

Charleston is not the happiest place to live according to a national magazine.

Men's health ranked the 100 most angry cities in the country-- the Capitol city is on the list. Charleston takes 46th place.

The September issue based their anger-meter on the percentage of men with high blood pressure, FBI rates of aggravated assaults, Bureau of Labor statistics on workplace deaths from assaults as well as traffic congestion and speeding tickets.

I've thought a lot about anger recently and I ahve concluded that not only is Charleston an angry place, West Virginia is an angry state.

People drive like demons because of anger, I beleive. They die on four-wheelers because they are angry. They fight in the streets and on rural roads because they are angry. They are generally mean drunks because they are angry.

My theory is they are angry primarily because of enormous frustration in this state. I can offer no other reason.

Anyone else believe West Virginia is angrier than the average state? If so, why?

America will save the world (?)

2006-08-02T12:22:00.001-04:00

I have already introduced you to Bob Rogers in a previous post. I have been reading the amazing journal of his bicycle trip along the Silk Road. An entry from western China caught my attention:

How many other oppressed people believe that America will someday rescue them as our role as policemen to the world?

Scary. Really scary.

He is a large Uyghur man of 47. He says he was a boxer and basketball player. He is fat now, in a successful businessman sort of way; proof of prosperity. He orders the Han staff around like the stereotypical Ugly American, though he is a Chinese citizen. However he is not Han,

Being Uyghur is his identity; he knows the bounds of his ethnic identity and chafes at the loss of autonomy at the hands of the Chinese and Russians. "Peejo. peejo!" He waves his arm ordering more beer, and another Uyghur dish, both of which he pushes on us.

He says something else, raises both hands high into the air, lifting up an imaginary something to great heights. "America," he sighs. "America." Then his beatific smiles turns to a snarl, "China!" He turns up a little finger and spits on it, ultimate insult. "China bad." Spit. "America! "his voice softens again,

He frowns again, "Saddam. Bad!" He is showing his solidarity with another small ethnic minority, the Kurdish in northern Iraq. We listen. He of course assumes we agree with him completely.

There is no use trying to communicate that these questions are more complicated than perhaps he sees from his perspective. We smile. I try to drink just enough beer to please him, without getting drunk. I feel sorry for the poor man. He really thinks (he is not alone among Uyghurs) that America will someday restore the Uyghur homeland of western China to them.

Poor man. Even an ego as big as George W. Bush would not consider attacking China. The commercial dragon is awakening, and that is generally good for the world economy; the sleeping dragon of the Chinese military might is not something to be awakened; not for a few million Uyghurs; sheepherders, horse and camel wanderers of the steppes and deserts of China. No, the Uyghurs will be free when they free themselves, and the Han will probably never allow that. They will dominate and eventually overwhelm with sheer population numbers, as they have done to the Tibetans. The dragon sleeps, but is still a dragon none-the-less.

Strip Mining? What Susanna said......

2006-08-01T12:30:00.000-04:00

Susanna Rodell left as the editorial page editor of the Charleston Gazette last week. Her parting shot was a column explaining why she, a liberal, isn't 100 percent behind the tree-huggers who oppose strlip-mining.

You'll find the column here.

I have lots of tree-huggers I consider my friends, whether they consider me their friends or not. And I wouldn't stop them in their attempts to end strip-mining in West Virginia if my life depended on it. But I won't join them in a whole-hearted movement to ban stri-mining for the same reasons that Susanna states in her column.

About 30 percent of West Virginia's coal is mined by strippers. To reduce West Virignia's coal output by 30 percent would have a dramatically negative effect on this state's tax income. And that would mean cutbacks that would directly affect the poor.

Besides, to elminate coal as a major supplier of energy in this country would drive energy prices much higher. Who would that hurt? The poor mostly.

I hate to see the results of strip-mining. Beautiful second-growth forests are being destroyed daily. I have four acres and recently, a 100-year-old pin oak on my property died, apparently from oak wilt. I was bummed out for days. I hate to see any centernarian die, be it human or oak. Imagine what it's like to kill a thousand 100-year-old trees every day. Bad karma, if you ask me.

But what happens if coal isn't available to fuel the power plants? Old people would have to pay more for electricity to run their fans and air conditioners in the summer and their heaters in the winter. That's the irony in this controversy.

I have no answer, no replacement for coal mining of any kind. All we can do is make sure the coal barons follow the rules when they strip and fine them when they don't. Meanwhile, we must believe that coal can be mined and burned with zero environmental damage. And someday, maybe not in our lifetimes, we'll have cheap, non-polluting energy sources.

Meanwhile, all I can do is try to maintain balance on my four acres. And the fact I have no coal, strippable or otherwise, lets me do that.

Woking for God: The Ultimate Bulletin Board

2006-08-01T10:21:00.000-04:00

There's a guy who says that all Democrats are Satanists.

There's another guy, who says he's a preacher from northern West Virginia, who sometimes calls himself "Hatedorn." He's a trip.

Another high-toned old Christian lady loves to quote biblical scriptures containing graphic examples about how God is going to tear the scrotums off men who reject Him.

Another likes to call poor women who live in the projects "brood mares," and loves to talk about all the cars he owns. He apparently has bootstraps longer than his pecker and he claims he has picked himself up by them.

When the HuntingtonNews.net Bulletin Board began a few years ago, I had high hopes that it might bring about some solidarity among caring folks in Huntington and that they would come up with ideas about how to change Huntington for the better.

I was wrong as I usually am. It has only brought more confusion to an already confused city.

Most online bulletin boards are awash with grammatical and spelling errors and this one is no exception. One guy, who claims he's more godly than I am, started a thread called "Woking For God." I think he meant "Working for God," and I asked the question" If one is woking for God, what kind of wok does one use?" No one saw the humor and the guy who originated the thread didn't change the thread's headline.

I read the BB to remind me that there is little hope of changing things, either in Huntington or West Virginia or the Middle East.

You might want to do the same, if youi want to abandon all hope.

Mad Dog

2006-07-31T22:59:00.000-04:00

If you have a few minutes or a few hours, I recommend you spend some time with Bob "Mad Dog" Rogers and his wife Claire.

I wrote about Bob, a native of St. Albans, and his adventures with his wife as they ride their tandem bicycle all over the world in my Daily Mail Column. They have recorded their adventures on their Web site.

The most amazing trip they took was in 2005 when they traversed the Silk Road from Beijing to Insanbul, most of it on their two-wheeler. They stories they tell and the pictures they took are amazing.

Bob is as complex as the places he has been and the people he has met. He has a lover's quarrel with his home state and I can understand that. So do I. He decided to take a different approach to life than I, however.

He has been trekking for 20 years. I have lived in the same house for 57 years.

But we are friends.

Go figure.

Huntington's South Side :Where the money is...

2006-07-26T10:44:00.000-04:00

"Slick Willie" Sutton, an infamous thief in America during the 1930s, was asked why he robbed banks.

"Because that's where the money i," he replied.

I was reminded of that this morning when BREAKING NEWS on WSAZ reported that Julian's Market on Huntington's southside was apparently the victim of an armed robbery. Shots were fired.

My goodness! On Huntington's southside?

When I was a kid, the southside of Huntington was known as the "silk stocking district." There was no crime there because important people lived there. My mother, God rest her soul, didn't believe she was important enough to shop at the predecessor to Julian's market.

And now drug dealers dwell on the southside, living next to the remnants of Huntington's children of the silk stocking folk. Druggies in search of money to support their habit steal from southside folks. And sometimes they even attempt armed robberies in board daylight.

Used to be these crimes happened in other parts of town. As long as there was black-on-black crimes, the drug problem was largely ignored. Crime in the black neighborhood was "expected."

And now THE market in the heart of the former silk stocking district has been "hit."

Many rich folks have moved out of their Huntington homes to the suburbs. They don't care.

Well, I have news for them. The druggies have them targeted and, if they haven't already, they'll soon be targets to.

No one is safe from this affliction.

No one, especially the affluent, because that's where the money is.

Mom's Peonies: 60 years old (at least) and going strong

2006-05-19T19:53:00.000-04:00

I have written a column for the Monday Charleston Daily Mail about a peony that my mom planted nearly 60 years ago. Here's a picture of it taken earlier this week. It's healthier than ever.

She transplanted it from the place we lived in Guyandotte before we moved to where I live now. God knows how long it had been growing in Guyandotte. My grandmother may have planted it nearly a hundred years ago since my mom and dad lived in the house my grandma and grandpa lived in , probablyt since the 1890s.

I moved the peony once about 20 years ago - about 50 feet from where it used to grow.

By the way, I have a woody-stemmed hydrangea (snowball bush) my mom planted about the same time. It's showing its age, but it's still alive and I'm trying to nurse it back to health.

It's both exciting and conforting.

With apoligies to the writers of "Hair"

2006-05-04T13:29:00.000-04:00

..and William Shakespeare

Ripped open by metal explosion
Caught in barbed wire
Fireball
Bullet shock
Bayonet
Electricity
Shrapnel
Throbbing meat
Electronic data processing
Black uniforms
Bare feet, carbines
Mail-order rifles
Shoot the muscles
256 IEDs captured
256 IEDs captured

Prisoners in Niggertown
It's a dirty little war
Three Five Zero Zero
Take weapons up and begin to kill
Watch the long long armies drifting home

....

What a piece of work is man
How noble in reason
How infinite in faculties
In form and moving
How express and admirable
In action how like an angel
In apprehension how like a god
The beauty of the world
The paragon of animals

I have of late
But wherefore I know not
Lost all my mirth
This goodly frame
The earth
Seems to me a sterile promontory
This most excellent canopy
The air-- look you!
This brave o'erhanging firmament
This majestical roof
Fretted with golden fire
Why it appears no other thing to me
Than a foul and pestilent congregation
Of vapors

What a piece of work is man
How noble in reason

Quote of the week ...courtesy of a friend

2006-04-26T10:32:00.000-04:00

"In my Father's house are many mansions...But not nearly as many as there are in Marion County."

Dear Mr. President

2006-04-23T23:24:00.000-04:00

Dear Mr. President

Butterflies are free

2006-04-23T22:44:00.000-04:00

Why do butterflies gather on a single moist spot in the gravel?

I found these in the gravel along old U.S. 60 today in Fayette County.

I'm glad I met them.

Thanks, God.

Just another intermittant stream.....

2006-04-23T22:36:00.000-04:00

There's a special place along the New River, just before you get to Anstead, where a mountain stream tumbles fromk the mountain into the river. In the summer, the falls are nearly dry, but in this wet month of April, it roars and tumbles. This is the way it appeared today as my wife and I drove Old U.S. 60 to see spring in all its splendor.

Because it dries up in the summer, I suppose you could call it an intermittant stream. That means the strippers could destroy it if they found coal on the mountain above it.

May that never happen. This picture is imprinted forever on my memory if it does. And it's why I love West Virginia.

Make me look like Matt

2006-04-23T22:32:00.000-04:00

I told the barber to cut off most of my thinning and graying hair and make me look like Matt Lauer.

So, what do you think?

Maybe it's the smirk

2006-04-16T16:59:00.000-04:00

My first reaction to Don Surber's Blog telling me I, and most Americans, are wrong about George Bush was anger. How dare anyone tell me that I am wrong? How dare anyone say that the vast majority of the American people are wrong about how they feel about their president?

But I didn't react immediately. And I'm glad I didn't.

I asked my wife to read the blog and she did. She said it's not that she has lost faith in the president because of his botched war in Iraq, althoiugh she has (and so have I). It's that smirking smile he wears when he addresses the press, the people and apparently everyone. I wonder if he has what we West Virginians call that "shit-eating grin" when he talks to his cabinet behidn closed doors.

I had teachers in high school and college who had that same smirk. I never trusted them either. I learned little or nothing from them. I couldn't. I was always wondering why they smiled that way? Did they think they were better than I? Were they thinking how dumb I was? What were they hiding? Nothing good, I was sure.

But back to Bush.

First and foremost, I am not a fanatic about anything. Despite the fact I am a columnist, I do not rage against every news story that I read. Heck, I don't even rage about Bush every day of my life. People who shouldn't be dying in Iraq are dying because of his intractable path. We need to get out of that country because it's not in our interest or the world's interest for us to be there. In due time we will get out and we will chalk the war up to another mistake, one of the many this coiuntry has made in the last 200-plus years.

I am not alone in the way I feel. About 60 percent of the American people feel the way I do and we believe Don Surber is wrong. Some of us scream that belief in the streets and on Internet blogs. Others just believe it and wait till the next election to let our feelings be known. It will all work out, perhaps not soon enough, but eventually.

Meanwhile what about the smirk and what it represents? The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. A documentary I recently saw on TV said that, during the era of the robber barrons, one-eighth of the population controlled seven-eighths of the wealth. I wonder what it is now? Maybe not as out-of-kilter as that but it's getting there.

I see Bush and his ilk as enabling the rich while hobbling the poor. History says that America won't put up with this forever. We'll change it. We have to. Equality has what has made this country strong. Not unbridled capitalism. Not fear. And certainly not smirking politicians.

So tell me I am wrong. No problem. If I go down beause I am wrong, I can be cheered by the fact that the vast majority of Americans are with me. For some, it's just an uneasy feeling that things are not the way they should be. For others, it's a certainty that a smirking president is not what we want or need.

Take that , you local retail a**holes

2006-04-01T19:06:00.000-05:00

The told us when the big retailers replaced the mom and pop stores, we'd have a better selection of merchandise in Huntington.

They didn't tell us that even the big guys run out of things, even with their high-tech re-stocking protocols.

This is a story about a certain kind of face cream my wife likes and how it wasn't avaiable in Huntington, at least not at CVS or even Wal Mart.

We are both under the weather. And we don't need to spend $15 worth of gas and four hours going to every damn drugstore and cosmetic counter in the Tri-State looking for Dove Face Care Sensitive Essentials Day Cream.

So when we got home, I went to Google and put Dove Face Care Sensitive Essentials Day Cream in the search box. I found at least four places on the Internet where it could be purchased.

I ordered a jar from Amazon.com. It will be here in three to five days. My wife has enough to last that long.

I've done this a dozen times before and each time I get this wondereful warm feeling that no longer am I at the mercy of local retail stores.

I'm sorry, but that that's the kind of a**hole I am.

Damn WalMart Anyway!

2006-04-01T10:24:00.000-05:00

I went to WalMart yesterday and bought groceries and spring gardening stuff.

When I went to check out, the clerk said the bill was $78.97. I responded that I was in a financial pinch and I would pay only $50.00 for the merchandise. A manager was called and he refused the offer. So I left the goods on the checkout counter and walked out.

Well that didn't happen. But something similar happened at the South Charleston Samping Plant where uniokn workers said no to a plan to reduce their pay and benefits by the owners of the plant, ironically named Union Partners LLC.

If I truly tried to negotiate a price with WalMart, folks would think I was crazy. But I suspect there are those who believe the workers at the plant are too strident if not downright economically suicidal. We may even hear that from some in the right wing who think the only thing blue collar workers shoiuld says is "Pleas, Sire, May I have some more?"

Why didn't the stamping plan simply declare the cost of doing business at the plant incompatible with the future of the American auto industry and just shut it down? Probably because they thought they could put the blame on the workers.

Well, the workers as well as most other folks in West Virginia who know what the company is trying to pull won't fall for that.

As one employee told a tevivision news crew, if she doesn't accept the wage and benefits reduction, she'll lose her home. If she did accept the offer, her pay wouldn't be enough to pay the mortgage, so she'd still lose her home.

The union workers made the right decision and the owners should be ashamed they asked in the first place.

Why political blogs - and Rush Limbaugh - have no impact

2006-03-25T22:47:00.000-05:00

...and why they will go the way of the Kiwi.....

As most of you who have read my ramblings here and in various newspapers, I am not all that smart. I am extremely slow to "catch on." That's why it has taken me months to transform an uneasy feeling I have about the thousands - perhaps millions - of Internet political blogs into a theory.

In brief, there's nothing original about them. They people who create them feed off those who report news. Virtually none of them creates anything based on their own reporting.

Here's something to consider: What would happen to the political bloggers if all the news reporting organizations stopped reporting news for a day - or a week.

Would any of them have the news gathering personnel to get the news frokm which to spawn their commentary? Hardly.

What's ironic is the fact that most of these folks - especially the right wingers - spend most of their time bashing and belittling the sources of the news on which they depend.

I write opinion, but I admit that I rely on the news gatherers to keep me supplied, and it's why I never bash the reporters, the reportage or the news organizations that produce the news. And even with all that, I sometimes wonder why anyone reads what I write.

What we're dealing with in the political blog arena are opinions based on what others report as news. And when these bloggers run out of news upon which to comment, they turn their ire to the messengers, the very people who supply them fodder.

I have no idea what the ultimate fortunes of the political bloggers will be, but I suspect most of them - and perhaps all of them - will eventually disappear. Their impact is minimal at best as the elections of 2006 and 2008 will prove. Their influence and ability to change hearts and minds is minimal as well. Why? Because I believe the average American realizes all they create are smoke and mirrors.

Sometimes you just want to beat your head against a vein of coal

2006-03-11T09:33:00.000-05:00

Robert "Doc" Foglesong appeared on "Bray Carey Presents and Endorses" this morning on West Virginia Media TeeVee. He tells us that he is politically independent and will stay that way while he develops his own plan to promote leadership and stuff among West Virginia's young people with his own foundation.

The Mingo County native had an illustrious career in the Air Force. No one can deny that. Now that he is back in West Virginia, apparently to stay, he has received private and corporate donations for his foundatiion from such folks as Buck Harless and Don Blankenship.

And he is proud of the fact that he is a spokesman for Friends of Coal.

Well, we know who this "politically independent" superstar is aligned with, don't we?

Foglesong could make an imprint on West Virginia if he were to remain politically independent. But once he became a Friend of Coal, he ended that independence.

What irony! Too many people believe that, to do anything worthwhile in this state, one must get money from coal and sell out to the coal interests.

Politically independent? I don't think so.

I'd love to ask Foglesong his opinion of West Virginia's most i mportant natural resource. I'll bet he'd say "coal" in a heartbeat.

That's our problem, you see. Too many people believe that. And if you do as well, you need professional help.

Best Bluegrass Gospel Song of the Century - so far.

2006-03-10T19:37:00.000-05:00

A friend who relishes the country-bluegrass music and traditions of Appalachia, sent me this mp3. We have nominated it at the best bluegrass gospel song of the century - so far.

Be aware that if you are upset by four-letter words, don't listen to it. But if youi aren't, listen to it now.

Chris is right. Always!

2006-02-04T11:26:00.000-05:00

I wonder what Chris Stirewalt will be like when he grows up?

I don't know how old he is, but he doesn't appear to be able to grow a beard, or else he shaves very closely. His baby face probably belies his true age.

I had communication with Chris when he was an editor at The Daily Mail. When rats started deserting what appeared to be a sinking ship at the Mail several months agao, Chris left and took a job with the Bray Carey's State Journal.

When that happened, he apparently let his true conservataive colors come shining through.

Today he writes for West Virignia's cognoscenti and apparently he believes they are all moss-backed conservatives. His recent column is yet another of his right wing rants.

I know he is wrong. Some of the biggest movers and shakers in West Virginiia - those with social conscienses - must disagree with Chris.

Don't get me wrong. Chris is a good writer in a smart-alek sort of way. And I wouldn't deny him his political stance. I read most of his columns thought I doubt he reads mine.

When I was Chris' age, I was wildly liberal. Now that I am older, I have grown more conservative. I can't help but wonder what Conservative Chris will be like when he's my age. Will he resort to writing one simple sentence in his columns "Goddam liberals. They all ought to be shot for the good of the nation."

I won't have to worry about it. I'll be dead and Chris will probably still be belittling the dumb liberal Democrat hillbillies and flyinig into faux rages to keep his super-conservative heart beating.

I didn't know they peed

2005-12-22T21:56:00.000-05:00

I got this junk mail today. It's from a company that promises help for those who have trouble urinating. Old folks mostly. I'm one of those.

Sorry, guys. I had prostate surgery five years ago and I already pee freely.

The next question: Will the medication make it as big as a firehose? If so, I'll take a gross.

By the way, does anyone remember an old school superintendent in Wayne County, W. Va.? His name was Iliff West but he went by his initials. I.P. West. No word on whether he peed like a fire hose or whether he really used a compass when he urinated.

Fark headline of the day.....

2005-12-12T21:41:00.000-05:00


		Bush claims Iraq's struggle for democracy is just like America's was 250 years ago. Meaning, of course, that our founding fathers wrote the constitution while the French held a gun to their heads

West Virginia: A State To Die For

2005-11-25T19:43:00.000-05:00

I'm always seeking ways of saving money for cash-strapped Mountain Mama. I think I have found a solution to the Medicaid and state pension crises that, they say, are about to bury the state in unimaginable debt.

What if state government encouraged poor people and old people to die?

Better yet, give everybody on poverty a four-wheeler and let them die gloriously by hitting a tree or flipping upside down. Did you ever notice how young folks, particularly males, are praised as heroes if they die on a four-wheeler? We could extend that exhaultation to everyone in the poverty class who dies "in the saddle," so to speak.

As for old folks, just tell them that they should check out the day after they retire, that the state expects them to do it. They can drink themselves to death, quit taking their medication (more savings) or whatever.

To encourage this, perhaps the state should grant all those who die under these rules a special tombstone with the inscription " He (She) died for our state." The Legislature could pass resolutions honoring these people for their sacrifices. And as time allows, the governor could attend the funeral and say a few words. My, what a blessing that would be.

Death to the old and poor. My God, think of the money we'd save, and perhaps even a state.

And now a few words about democracy, which we don't have.

2005-11-19T22:51:00.000-05:00

Democracy. It's a funny thing.

We talk about it as if we have a pure form of it in the U.S. But everyone knows we don't. Never have and never will.

Every so often we vote to elect our representatives. That makes us a democratic republic, or so they say.

But we swear by this particular form of government. But it's not true democracy.

Democracy in its purest form would be unmanageable, or so they say. At the time the country was founded that might have been true. But no more. The vast majorityof Americans could go to the polls every day via one medium or the other and vote on issues that affect them.

But that's not going to work with the lobbyists who depend on the fact that those who determine policy are relatively small in number and generally in one place - Washington D.C. - where they are acceccible and buyable.

As best as I can determine, we aren't peddling pure democracy in Iraw. We re peddling another democratic republic beause those who make such decisions would probably gag at the thought of a pure democracy.

Besides, what if we had a pure democracy in the U.S. at this very moment?

We would be out of Iraq, In a in heartbeat.

We would never invade a country that didn't attack us first.

We would probably have universal health care.

And the current two-larty system. It would be long gone.

And who knows what else would change?

But would all those changes be for the better.

If we truly believe in democracy, it would truly be better.

Kaiser

2005-11-15T09:53:00.000-05:00

My son is getting a divorce and, in the process, he's losing custody of one of the bet dogs I have ever met.

His name is Kaiser and my son rescued him from an animal shelter more than a year ago. Kaiser is a Lab retriever mix, and though he is huge, he's gentle and perhaps the best-mannered dog I ever met.

He was so afraid he was going to upset someone, he did exactly as he was told to do and what was expected of him.

I wish we could have put in a bid for custody of Kaiser, but our own dogs -Barkley and Stella - didn't like Kaiser, though Kaiser wanted to be friends with them. As well-mannered as he is, he simply wouldn't fit into out family. And that's truly sad.

It's said that Kaiser will move to the St. Louis area where he will live with a family with kids. If he is treated gently, I am sure he will bring as much joy to his new family as he did to his old friends and family in Huntington.

I'll always remember how Kaiser would bring his "buddy" to me when I visited. His buddy was a rubber hedgehog which he loved to chase when I threw it.

But mostly I will simply remembe that look in his eyes which told me that in a previous life, he had probably been treated poorly but that he was so happy to be in a home where he was treated with respect. He thought it was going to last forever. Like most things, it didn't.

So long, Kaiser. I'll probably never see you again, but you'll be in my thoughts and my prayers.

You're a really really good dog.

Let's Bring Back Dueling

2005-11-13T09:51:00.000-05:00

Dueling lost its popularity in the U.S. prior to the Civil War, but I think we were hasty in declaring it immoral and illegal.

In light of all the name-calling these days, let's bring it back. After all, if things continue the way they are going, we're headed for Civil War anyway. Kill now and avoid the rush.

Twenty years ago, I would have never guessed that we would come to the point where such terms as "idiot," and "stupid" and "pathological liar" would be the most popular words in the English language, espeecialy when it comes to desscribing those whith whom one disagrees.

I have written columns for more than two decades and I am proud to say that I have never used such words to describe anyone.

When reading a history of dueling, it appears that there's much about it that was good and proper. Heck, there were even rules for dueling that helped the crazies in their murderous intentions.

What's the best part of dueling? If taken to it's ultimate conclusion, half the people who keep things in an uproar with their denuncitory vituperations will die and we'll be rid of them forever. And in time, perhaps we'll get back to debating ideas instead of attacking people.

So when are we invading North Korea??

2005-11-11T18:22:00.000-05:00

CNN threatens to present a special Sunday night on the atrocities happening in North Korea, complete with video smuggled out of the country.

It's clear the people of North Korea aren't free. They are slaves to the state. President Bush says we should come to the assistance of people who don't have freedom. We invaded Iraq to give those folks their freedom.

So when are we going to invade North Korea, Mr. President? Huh? Huh? Gotta be consistent.

And if we need another reason, North Korea is likely to have weapons of mass destruction.

After we free the North Koreans, I have a rather long list of countries we need to invade if we are going to free every citizen of the world.

The world is free of huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Heck, some of them are even located in countries where there are significant oil reserves.

We can't pick and choose, it appears to me. We have to free them all.

Or die trying.

If Byrd Were a Republican...

2005-11-06T20:21:00.000-05:00

...the neo-cons would be priasing his name.

And this tends to prove that he's really a conservative, especially when it comes to the Constitution.

Makes me even more proud I reject both rinky-dink parties and have remained an Independent since 1969.

"Shut up, you idiot."

2005-11-05T09:20:00.000-05:00

When I hear the words in the title of this blog used against me, I know I have won.

And I hear them more and more these days from neo-cons.

And frankly, I never thought I'd hear them. Why? Because they are words used by desperate people. Heck, their not even inflammatory. They are simply words used by people who have come to the end of the ropes and have thrown all thoghts of logic out the window.

An old college progressor of mine said we don't need to use these pull-the-trigger words. They are a clear indication that the sayer of the words is near defeat.

"For example," he said "don't call someone a son of a bitch. Tell him that you hope that when he goes home that night, his mother will come out from under the porch and bite him on the leg."

People who oppose the war in Iraq are idiots and they should shut up, some tell us. Right. Let me pencil that in on my daybook. I'll do it day after tomorrow. Maybe. Or maybe not.

The problem is that the solution - getting out of Iraq - won't come quickly. We have been on our way out of Iraq for six months but unfortunately it may take until 2008 to do what has to be done.

What scares me is that every violent movement begins with words of anger spoken in desperation.

It's too easy for words to become fists and guns. That may happen yet. And if it does, resonable people who oppose this noxious war will do what they have to do to protect themselves and/or their honor.

Remember, neo-cons. We are't wimps. We just want peace. We just aren't as desperate as you.

Wonder how much that cost?

2005-10-29T11:07:00.000-04:00

I asked a few people about what they thought happened in the dropping of drunk driving charges against Jack Whittaker.

All of them responded the same way. See the title of this blog for the response.

My own opinion is that it cost Whittaker about $10,000. Hell, you can buy a legislator for less than $10,000.

I predict that this unacceptable situation will be solved in another way. Whittaker hasnot got the message that alcohol kills. I suspect that he believes he is immune to the laws of nature and nature's God as well as the laws of man.

Well, he can't buy God, no matter what the right wing evangelical neo-cons believe.

Nice knowin' ya, Jack.

All West Virginia Democrats are liberals....

2005-10-22T11:05:00.000-04:00

...and all West Virginia Republicans are moral conservatives. Right?

Well how do you explain this?

I am extremely happy to report that I got out of the political party madness in 1969 and never went back. I am a proud independent and that doesn't mean I associate myself with an Independent Party, if there is one.

Joe Manchin is the titular head of the West Virignia Democrat Party but anyoe who beleives he is a liberal or espouses the principles of the party is living a dream - or perhaps a nightmare.

Manchin reminds me a little of Arch Moroe in his younger days. Arch believed he was bigger than any party and above the law.

Manchin has yet to show that latter attribute. But it's still early. He has threemore years in this term and perhaps a second term.

Meanwhile, it might behoove Republicans to stop branding West Virginia Democrats as liberals. A few of them might be, but most aren't. Most of them are whatever they think will get them re-elected.

I won't suggest Republicans stop labeling themselves as the good guys, though. That would be asking entirely too much, don't you think?

The Wisdom of Tom Delay

2005-10-03T16:38:00.000-04:00

1) "I AM the federal government." –Tom DeLay, to the owner of Ruth's Chris Steak House, after being told to put out his cigar because of federal government regulations banning smoking in the building, May 14, 2003 (Source)

2) "So many minority youths had volunteered…that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like myself." --Tom DeLay, explaining at the 1988 GOP convention why he and vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle did not fight in the Vietnam War(Source)

3) "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" –Tom Delay, to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston, Sept. 9, 2005 (Source)

4) "We're no longer a superpower. We're a super-duper power." –Tom DeLay, explaining why America must topple Saddam Hussein in 2002 interview with Fox News (Source)

5) "Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes." –Tom DeLay, March 12, 2003 (Source)

6) "Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare, the teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth control pills." –Tom DeLay, on causes of the Columbine High School massacre, 1999 (Source)

7) "A woman can take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure. To provide stability. Not that a woman can't provide stability, I'm not saying that... It does take a father, though." -Tom DeLay, in a radio interview, Feb. 10, 2004 (Source)

8) "I don't believe there is a separation of church and state. I think the Constitution is very clear. The only separation is that there will not be a government church." –Tom DeLay (Source)

9) "Emotional appeals about working families trying to get by on $4.25 an hour [the minimum wage in 1996] are hard to resist. Fortunately, such families do not exist." –Tom DeLay, during a debate in Congress on increasing the minimum wage, April 23, 1996 (Source)

10) "I am not a federal employee. I am a constitutional officer. My job is the Constitution of the United States, I am not a government employee. I am in the Constitution." –Tom DeLay, in a CNN interview, Dec. 19, 1995 (Source)

An Appalachian Oxymoron

2005-09-28T17:59:00.000-04:00

Back from the brink of death

2005-09-28T15:03:00.000-04:00

These are pictures of a crape myrtle planted on the property where I have lived for 55 years. It was planted by my mother circa 1950.

But thereby hangs a tale:

She must have planted it in the wrong place. It was under a tree near the house and it didn't thrive for more than 40 years. In fact, when I had some bulldozer work done on my property late one cummer about 10 years ago, it was barely a sprout though the root was four decades old.

I forgot to tell the bulldozer operator to work around the shrub. He bulldozed it.

Oh, well, I thought. I hated to lose something planted by Mama but it was destined to die anyway.

The following spring, about 20 feet away from where it was previously planted, a fragile sprout appeared. I recognized it as the crape myrtle. It was alive - barely.

So I mowed around it and threw some fertilizer on it. Look at it today. It's 10-feet all and in full bloom. Moving it accidentally 20 feet made all the difference.

I wish I could take credit for saving my mother's 55 year old shrub, but I can't.

It's a reminder to me that life is perhaps the most potent force in the universe and the will to live is strong - very strong indeed - among all living things.

Walt Whitman said the smallest sprout shows there is really no death.

And when the sprout becomes a 10-foot tree, it transform his premise into the ultimate reality.

What Irony !

2005-09-27T12:35:00.000-04:00

West Virginia:

Home of Jessica Lynch and Lyndie England.

Something is happening here...

2005-09-25T09:37:00.000-04:00

... but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?

Passing Gas Is Everyone's Concern

2005-09-23T09:20:00.000-04:00

WOWK-TV has a site where it delivers local news. Here's the headline and the first paragraph of one of its stories:

Motorists Concerned About Gas Passes
Posted 9/22/2005 10:24 PM

Hurricane Rita Puts Drivers On Edge
Story by Nicole Ward Email | Bio

With Rita swirling around off the coast of Texas, people are bracing for more flooding, more destruction and higher gas prices.

I think they meant "Gas Prices" but their headliine is a lot funnier.

Update: They fixed it.

Worth Repeating

2005-09-15T22:44:00.000-04:00

I wrote this in June but it's worth repeating because I like to gloat occasionally:

Good things come to those who wait....

... and the wait is about over.

What neo-cons don't understand about the vast majority of moderates and liberals in America is that they really don't care to engage in name-calling, back-biting and the rigors of mindless patriotism. They are interested in results.

Most just hang back and let things happen. And it's happening with the war in Iraq. While this is being written before President Bush's speech tonight, the speech doesn't matter. The majority of Americans are sick unto death of the war and where it has been heading for months.

One way or another, we're going to get out of that hell-hole and soon. The American people have said what they thought the timetable ought to be in Iraq and the day after tomorrow is not soon enough to get out as far as most are concerned.

As more troops come home and tell their stories of chaos and disintegrating moral, the polls are going to be even more anti-Bush and anti-war. We are still a nation of reasonable people and the war in Iraq is as unreasonable as the one in Vietnam.

What an absolute mess. The president has no plan and instead of defetaing terrorism in Iraq, it has become a breeding ground for terrorists. Could it be any worse?

But it will soon be over and our good men and women who have served so faithfully will soon be home because good things come to those who wait.

What Bill Maher said.....

2005-09-13T14:04:00.000-04:00

His closing bit the other night:

"Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed out. No one's speaking to you. Mission accomplished.

"Now it's time to do what you've always done best: - lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or space man? Now I know what you're saying: there's so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in. Please don't. I know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela. Eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote.

"But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised that you haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man.

Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire city to rising water and snakes.

"On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.

"So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is: 'Take a hint.' "

My Son's Current Favorite Bumper Sticker

2005-09-12T20:38:00.000-04:00

Pack Up All My Cares and Woes

2005-09-11T19:12:00.000-04:00

Here's a little flood history lesson from http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/02/1419233

In the spring of 1927, after weeks of incessant rains, the Mississippi River flooded. Racing south from Cairo, Illinois, the river blew away levee after levee, inundating thousands of farms and hundreds of towns, killing as many as a thousand people and leaving nearly a million homeless. The disaster laid bare the feudal between whites and blacks in the South.

As New York Times columnist David Brooks writes, "Blacks were rounded up into work camps and held by armed guards. They were prevented from leaving as the waters rose. A steamer, the Capitol, played "Bye Bye Blackbird" as it sailed away." The racist violence that followed the floods helped persuade many blacks to move north."

Here's a Katrina Timeline I Found Most Interesting

2005-09-11T14:47:00.000-04:00

http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline

Mr. Bill's A Prophet. Oh Noooooooooooo!

2005-09-10T09:02:00.000-04:00

In early 2004, lovable, crushable clay animated figure Mr. Bill from Saturday Night Live starred in an ad to alert people to the problems with the wetlands in Louisiana. On Good Morning, America today, President Bush said, "I don't think anyone could have anticipated the breach of the levees." He was wrong. Mr. Bill already had.

Here's the transcript of the 2004 ad:

MR. BILL: Gee, kids, I'm not sure we can do our show today because it looks like Hurricane Sluggo is headed right for us here in America's wetlands.

WALTER WILLIAMS, MR. BILL CREATOR: That's right, Mr. Bill. And since New Orleans is below sea level, if a hurricane hit us directly, it could push the water over the levees and fill it to the top.

BILL: Well then we'd better leave.

WILLIAMS: Well it's too late to evacuate since all the roads are jammed and under water.

BILL: Then where can we go that's safe?

WILLIAMS: Here this should work.

BILL: Gee, I hope it doesn't get much higher.

WILLIAMS: Well, Red, the alligator, doesn't seem too worried.

BILL: Yes, that's because he can swim. You know I don't do that too well.

WILLIAMS: Well in that case, Red says he'll have one of his buddies come and give you a lift.

BILL: That's OK. Maybe you could mind the water wings or something. Oh, get me out of here! No, wait, no, no, ohhh!

WILLIAMS: Let's act now before it's too late.

Sometimes You Wanna Beat Your Head Against A Wall

2005-09-10T08:42:00.000-04:00

Medical malpractice suits are evil. Right? That's what certain doctors and puffed-up bigwigs in West Virginia told us when they extracted medical malpractice legislation from lawmakers a coupleof years ago, warning us that medical suits would cause us to lose all our doctors and drain the state of its ability to treata people for medical conditions.

Now comes a story in The Herald-Dispath about a guy in Ohio who gave a million dollars to Marshall. He's a teacher. Where did he get that money?

That was nearly impossible on a teacher's salary. But after Dardinger's first wife lost her battle with cancer, he ended up as the recipient of a significant jury award and realized he could keep his commitment.

More Fun Than You Can Have and Remain Vertical

2005-09-09T22:09:00.000-04:00

See this for this:

DeLay to evacuees: 'Is this kind of fun?'

RAW STORY

A report on the Houston Chronicle blog by Chronicle reporter Purva Patel reveals that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay asked Hurricane Katrina evacuees if their current situation was "kind of fun," RAW STORY has found. Excerpts follow.

#

While on the tour with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.

The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"

They nodded yes, but looked perplexed.

...

"You are becoming famous all over this country and even the world," he said, adding that he's often approached by lawmakers commending Houston's response to the disaster.

#

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

2005-09-09T21:59:00.000-04:00

Big stories the mainstream news media ignored, blacked out, or underreported over the past year, according to Project Censored, a media watchdog group based at California's Sonoma State University:

Every year project researchers scour the media looking for news that never really made the news, publishing the results in a book, this year titled Censored 2006. Of course, as Project Censored staffers painstakingly explain every year, their "censored" stories aren't literally censored, per se. Most can be found on the Internet, if you know where to look. And some have even received some ink in the mainstream press. "Censorship," explains project director Peter Phillips, "is any interference with the free flow of information in society." The stories highlighted by Project Censored simply haven't received the kind of attention they warrant, and therefore haven't made it into the greater public consciousness.

Number 10 on the list:

10. Mountaintop removal threatens ecosystem and economy

On Aug. 15 environmental activists created a human blockade by locking themselves to drilling equipment, obstructing the National Coal Corp.'s access to a strip mine in the Appalachian mountains 40 miles north of Knoxville. It was just the latest in a protracted campaign that environmentalists say has national implications but that's been ignored by the media outside the immediate area.

Under contention is a technique wherein entire mountaintops are removed using explosives to access the coal underneath – a practice that is nothing short of devastating for the local ecosystem, but which could become much more widespread.

As it stands, 93 new coal plants are in the works nationwide, according to Project Censored's findings. "Areas incredibly rich in biodiversity are being turned into the biological equivalent of parking lots," wrote John Conner of the Katúah branch of Earth First! – which has been throwing all its energies into direct action campaigns to block the project – in Censored 2006. "It is the final solution for 200-million-year-old mountains."

Source: "See You in the Mountains: Katúah Earth First! Confronts Mountaintop Removal," John Conner, Earth First!, November-December, 2004.

Looking for the silver lining (sort of)

2005-09-09T20:08:00.000-04:00

This from a letter to the editor of the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Not a single Arabian horse has been reported killed by Katrina, so maybe FEMA director Michael Brown's work experience came in handy after all.

...and the devil didn't make me do this

2005-09-08T12:43:00.000-04:00

1 IF I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Mennonites Rock

2005-09-07T11:38:00.000-04:00

If anyone is still looking for a reputable private agency that does good work, may I recommend Mennonite Disaster Services at http://www.mds.mennonite.net/.

I watched the Mennonites do their volunteer jobs at Buffalo Creek and elsewhere in southern West Virginia during floods and disasters and while they aren't highly visible, the quietly go about helping rebuild and restore hope. Folowing the biblical admonition, they who who their neighbors are.

Huntington's take on the crisis

2005-09-06T09:26:00.000-04:00

I love the Huntingtonnews.net bulletin board.

It shows what relatively anonymous people in Huntington think about life.

The Gulf Coast disaster is much discussed on the bulletin board.

A woman who goes by the name of Huldah (Hebrew for "weasel") says there's a strong possibility that the chaos in New Orleans was orchestrated by Democrats who did it to embarrass the Republican administration.

And when a discussion arose about the possibility of bringing evacuees to Huntington, some other nameless, faceless person called Spiderman said "Huntington has enough homeless people already." His belief was corroborated by at least one other nameless, faceless person.

Admittedly, these two folks are in a minority on the board. But the minority have rights, too.

Later in the day, Huldah raised this possibility:

I'm still curious about the breech of the levies.
The timing of the breech and what (if any) actions were taken by the local government. What an opportunity to "cover up" corruption.
If the breech of the levy were to benefit anyone, who would be most likely to benefit?

Not How It Should Be but How It Is

2005-09-05T18:50:00.000-04:00

I get up early and sit on the side of the bed, waiting for the back pain to strike me. For the past three days, it hasn't. That's good, because prior to that, the muscle spasms made me an invalid until three pain pills dulled them enough so I could stand up straight.

My dogs - Stella and Barkley - want out. I can't let them both out at the same time. If I do, they disappear and don't come home till after dark. Bad dogs! Bad dogs!

Barkley goes out first while Stella whines. Barkley does what he has to do and comes inside where he huddles unde the dining room table to escape the flies.

Yes, my dog Barkley is afraid of flies. What can I say? To make matters worse, we have an outbreak of the insects right now. Barkley lives in terror.

I make coffee for my wife and me as the cats - Tiger and Toes - pace and meow. They expect a bit of tuna every morning and if it isn't delivered, they pout the remainder of the day.

Toes, the fat cat, eats all of hers. Tiger doesn't. Toes eats too fast and does a little recreational vomiting on the living room carpet. I clean it up. Then I look out the window and notice the birds are frantic. They are out of food. I hastily fill the feeder then cram a new suet cake in in the suet feeder.

Next comes food for Bernard the Beta, the new member of the family. He is excited as I shake a few flakes of food in his watery little world. The food god has once again saved him from starvation by dropping manna from the sky.

I have put it off for as long as I can. I turn the TV to CNN, grab a cup of coffee for my wife and me and sit in my recliner while Barkley joins me and slinks behind the chair where he feels safe from the flies.

What's that noise? It's Stella scratching at the back door. She wants inside. I get up to let her in and Barkley follows men snapping at a couple of flies as we make our way to the back door.

Back in the recliner, I watch in horror and sadness at what's happening on the Gulf Coast. I cheer for Gen. Russ Honore and sadly shake my head at some of the idiocy I see and hear. I know I shouldn't be watching this, but it's the NASCAR syndrome. It's why people watch car races, I suppose. To see disasters.

It's the way my days have gone in the last week - taking care of business and watching the disaster and the worse disaster of the aftermath.

Today, I changed my habits a bit. I spent some time browsing the Internet searching for the best buys on emergency supplies, things that will keep me and my family safe for a couple of weeks if and when tragedy strikes and the government fails me as it most certainly will.

Provide for the common defense? Promote the general welfare? Pure unadulterated fantasy.

Benefit Concert in Huntington

2005-09-04T19:28:00.000-04:00

JOIN THE FLOOD WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR A HURRICANE KATRINA BENEFIT IN HUNTINGTON

The 1937 Flood will be kicking off a benefit concert this
Wednesday night at Pullman Square to aid the victims of Hurricane
Katrina.

The concert -- which also will feature dixieland by the Backyard
Dixie Jazz Stompers, oldtime string band music by Big Rock and
the Candyass Mountain Boys and much more -- starts at 7 p.m. in
the square at 9th Street and 3rd Avenue. Admission is free.

Officials of the Red Cross will be on hand to take donations and
to tell you how else you can help this important relief effort.
Watch for more information as we get closer to the night – for
now, please mark the date and time on your calendar – Wednesday,
Sept. 7, 7 p.m., Pullman Square!

A general question

2005-09-04T12:02:00.000-04:00

Following what you have seen in New Orleans, are you more or less sure that our government can handle a weapons-of-mass-destruction attack on an American city?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

A General Request

2005-09-04T10:44:00.000-04:00

Someone who reads this may, by chance, be contacted in the next few days by a polling agency seeking information about what the general public thinks of the job President Bush is doing.

If, as I suspect, his rating fell below 30 percent, there's a chance he might consider resignation. Due to the person who would succeed him in office, I plead with those who might be called to lie. Tell 'em you think Bush is doing a hell of a job. Tell the truth and we might be stuck with President Dick Cheney.

"Put the goddam weapons down"

2005-09-03T11:05:00.000-04:00

"This isn't Iraq"

Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, commander, Joint Task Force Katrina, aka "The Ragin Cajun"

Hats off to the general!!

moveon.don

2005-09-02T17:19:00.000-04:00

On his blog, Don Surber says:

It is a tragedy. Send your money if you want. Donate blood if you want. But get on with your life.

Let's not, Don.

This is the greatest natural tragedy to ever strike the United States. The Gulf Coast tragedy has become a part of our lives, just as 9/11 has become a part of our lives. I've read your blog and notice you have never dropped that event from your memory.

We can't ignore it. It has already become part of our heritage and how we handle it and, more importantly, react to it, will determine the future of this country just as our reaction to 9/11 has charted a course.

I will get on with my life, but I'll be dragging this event behind me all the way to my grave. If that's wrong, so be it.

The Next Hot Net Thingy

2005-08-27T16:31:00.000-04:00

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Remember, you heard it here first.

No Matter Where You Go, There You Are

2005-08-27T12:28:00.000-04:00

Hippie Killer stirred a nest of yellowjackets with a post on Fifth Column.

As someone pointed out, it was a rainy Friday and frustrations are often amplified on days such as that one. HK must have been in an absolute blue funk.

We live in a great country where, if you don't like where you are, you can either (a) try to change things or (b) move.

But, of course, that is an over-simplification. Due to economic, famiy or social reasons, some folks feel as if they are trapped.

In a perfect world, everyone in America would be happy with where they live and their environs would match their expectations perfectly. I suspect everyone has a list - sometimes a long list - of things they would change about where they live, not matter where they call home.

This region has not treated me well in a strict conomic sense. I worked for The Herald-Dispatch for 32 years when the newspaper's administration used a rule that I violated to fire me without as much as a warning. As a result, my resources will probably run out before I die.

I have received more criticism than plaudits for what I have written. People here seem to be more afraid of change than those elsewhere. Too many are locked in a lifestyle that is counter to mine and, in fact, may make no sense in the 21st Century.

But I love it here despite the people who wish me ill and who have even taken action to make my life miserable. I have news for them. It hasn't worked.

As I write this, a book of poetry called "Wild Sweet Notes II" published by Publisher's Place in Huntington is beside me. It contains the poetry of native West Virginians and those who have lived in West Virginia at least five years.

I simply can't be depressed about where I live when I read this poetry which celebrates more aspects of West Virginia than my limited capacity to comprehend can imagine.

West Virginia is sometimes hurtful, but there are enough singers of lyrical songs in this book of poetry to make me realize that home has a special meaning in this state.

And when all is said and done, "home" and its attendant trappings- good and bad - are all any of us have.

George Bush

2005-08-27T10:56:00.000-04:00

Ray Evans, an old friend, reminded me of what Hunter S. Thompson said of George Bush. It may be more pertinent now than when it was written:

"Let's face it--the yo-yo president of the U.S.A. knows nothing. He is a dunce. He does what he is told to do--says what he is told to say--poses the way he is told to pose. He is a Fool.

This is never an easy thing for the voters of this country to accept.

No. Nonsense. The president cannot be a Fool. Not at this moment in time--when the last living vestiges of the American Dream are on the line. This is not the time to have a bogus rich kid in charge of the White House. Which is, after all, our house. That is our headquarters--it is where the heart of America lives. So if the president lies and act giddy about other people's lives--if he wantonly and stupidly endorses mass murder as a logical plan to make sure that we are still Number One--he is a Jackass by definition--a loud and meaningless animal with no fundamental intelligence and no balls.

To say that this goofy child president is looking more and more like Richard Nixon in the summer of 1974 would be a flagrant insult to Nixon.

Whoops! Did I say that? Is it even vaguely possible that some New Age Republican whore-beast of a false president could actually make Richard Nixon look like a liberal?"

Hunter S. Thompson from Kingdom of Fear, Simon & Schuster, 2003

An E-Mail

2005-08-15T19:48:00.000-04:00

An e-mail from a reader in Charleston

Thoughts on today's column

What we do know about the impact of mountaintop removal is that it is the cheapest, least labor intensive form of mining and that fewer jobs are created than you might think.

It's not likely that even five centuries will reforest the mountains. Greece, Lebanon and even Ireland have not recovered from deforestation, and in those countries the soil was left in place, not shoved out of the way. And when the forests disappeared so did birds.

What I find amusing about the Massey ads with the farmer and the teacher is that these people are surely actors, probably from Virginia. Do we know whether the people in the we live here too ads are actors or Massey employees? Do we know how many people would want to be in an ad saying we'd like to return to West Virginia? Do you suppose that they will stream back once Logan county is leveled?

And why does coal even need friends? Is there a Friends of Autos in Michigan? Friends of Motion Pictures in southern California? Friends of Corn in Iowa? Do you see a trend here?

My husband is an 8th generation West Virginian convinced that coal is a curse on the state and we'd have been better off without it.

Voices

2005-08-15T19:17:00.000-04:00

My Column in today's Daily Mail begs amplification.

Believe me when I say I wish there were no mountaintop mining in West Virginia. Ken Hechler once said that the most devastating thing that ever happened to West Virginia was when coal was discovered here. It sealed our fate and sent us down a path from which we suffer today.

When it comes to the relative merits of coal companies I am not sure one is just like the rest. Some are simply a little quieter about what they do.

A few years ago I went to the Arch Coal mountaintop removal mine in Boone County. The reclaimed land was 90 percent grassland. About 10 percent of the reclaimed land was covered in trees - locust trees, which were the only trees that would grow there. They are not hardwoods. They are what my dad called "trash trees." No self-respecting neo-tropical bird would nest in a locust tree.

Seventy years ago, the guy who built the house where I live moved some soil to create a place to build buildings. Would you beleive that, to this day, nothing but locust trees will grow on that disturbed soil? Look athte land that was disturbed along the interstates to create the roads. Nothign but trash trees grow on this soil today.

The problem as I see it is not that we let one company disobey the law and applaud others because they are good corporate citizens. The entire coal mining process is destructive and this state has allowed the industry to become the lifeblood of the state's economy.

What is the definition of a "good corporate citizen" among coal companies? They all destroy the original environment - God's environment, if you will.

A guy who supports mountop removal mining wrote me e-mail sort of applauding me for my stand in my column. He said that he understands Massey replants thousands of hardwood trees on its property in an attempt to reclaim it. I asked if they were growing. He said he believes they are. I doubt it. No self-respecting oak tree will grow on that God-forsaken soil.

I still maintain that it will be five centuries before the land will grow hardwood trees that are so vital to our original natural environment.

If we did what was right for the environment, we would shut the entire coal industry down. But in doing it, we would eliminate thousands of jobs. Coal is an economic addiction. Case closed.

Thousands live here because we mine "the fuel of last resort" as coal barron Rolla Campbell once called it in an interview I had with him just before he died.Eliminate the mining of coal and we would eliminate the state's economy.

The debate over whether we have the right to scalp the mountains and reclaim with grass and locust trees is not allowed and never has been allowed . We decided to take the no-debate path we have taken more than a century ago. That being the case, we have no alternative but to give Massey employees (and Massey) a voice.

We find it strange that Thomas Jefferson believed in the self-evident truth that man has inalienable rights, yet he held slaves. A hundred years from now, our descendants will wonder why we destroyed the environment in order to get the energy we claimed we needed to survive. I have a friend who also believes we will be condemned for our eating meat. I am inclined to agree with him

But maybe they will treat us somewhat kindly and write our actions off because we were simpletons when it comes to determining what's important. We are basically self-centered and greedy and lazy because we are not aggressively seeking non-destructive ways of getting the energy we need.

So, give Massey employees a voice because they deserve a voice under the rules. But give the environmentalists a voice and respect both.

Under the path we have taken, there is no alternative.

The High Sheriff of Cabell County

2005-08-05T09:19:00.000-04:00

I was out mowing the grass on the roadside last Saturday when the high sheriff of Cabell County stopped by to say "Hey."

For the unitiated, "high sheriff" doesn't refer to his physical condition. Some of us in West Virginia call the deputy sheriffs "Sheriff" but the elected county sheriff is known as the "high sheriff." I think it's an old English tradition.

I've known Sheriff Kim Wolfe since he was a kid. He's a little younger than I but he has lived in my community all his life. We went to the Mount Union United Methodist Church together when we were young. Kim was always different - a rather serious straight arrow. While we were out drinking and carousing, Kim generally did the work of the Lord and the Boy Scouts.

Kim became a Mormon and I gave up going to church for Lent one year and never started again. Not only did he become a Mormon Church member, he is the Bishop of the Huntington Stake of his church. In the finest Mormon tradition, he and his wife, Debbie, have eight children. I have never seen anyone juggle so many responsibilities and do it so well.

Kim, a Republican, wanted to pick my withering brain about running for Congress against Nick Joe Rahall, the incumbent Democratic congressman from the Third Congressional District. Here's the deal with Kim: He serving his second term as high sheriff and, under the law, he can't run for the office again. If he runs for Congress, he won't have to give up his high sheriff job.

When it comes to family values, something that's highly prized in West Virignia, Kim is a living testimonial to the phrase. And when it comes to being squaky clean, Kim defines that phrase as well. I once told Kim that I can die a happy man because I actually lived under a totally honest high sheriff.

Kim knows running against Rahall would be an uphill fight, but state Republicans are virtually begging him to run. As befuddled as they are, state Republicans know a good candidate when they see one.

As for me, I want him to run and I want him to win. I don't agree with some of his beliefs, but who wouldn't want a congressman living a mile away - an honest man and a bishop to boot?

Go for it, Kim.

More on 'maters

2005-08-01T12:08:00.000-04:00

If you read my column in today's Daily Mail, you already know my love for West Virginia tomatoes.

Here's a secret recipe I don't share with everyone but since you found my blog, yo are a friend, so here it is:

First, get some Old Fashioned Wilted Lettuce Salad Dressing from Appalachian
Mountain Specialty Foods in Sandyville WV - http://www.zestsauce.com. You
can order it online.

Cut up some tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers and sweet onions and put 'em
in a bowl. Pour the dressing over the whole shebang and let it marinate for
a day to two.

Eat it with half runner beans and corn.

Pure ambrosia.

The Thundering Product

2005-07-29T11:26:00.000-04:00

The Huntington newspaper has a story today about the new rules for viewing the Thundering Herd.

Coach Mark Snyder says about watching The Herd practice:

"We have a lot of work to do and it’s important for our team and coaches to remain focused when we practice.We are working to put a product on the field all of our fans can be proud of and these are times when sometimes we need to limit limit access to our facilities."

Bring On the Product.

Good Lord!

Gary Says Byrd Is The Word Too

2005-07-27T21:36:00.000-04:00

Gary Abernathy, a known Republican and formerly Executive Director of the chaotic West Virginia Republican Party sort of agrees with me. Robert C. Byrd can't be beat if he decides to run In a column on his Web site he says in part

We Republicans can complain all we want about how Byrd's largesse has created an atmosphere of dependency in West Virginia. What West Virginians know is that federal agencies and jobs have come to their state that otherwise would not have come had it not been for Byrd.

The political reality that we must face in West Virginia is that there are very few voters who have not either benefited directly from a Byrd hand-out, or have family members or close friends who have.

Pork buys votes, and if we think we can educate people to vote otherwise, no matter how correct our position, we are more foolish than the audience we are targeting.

As for his membership in the KKK, he points out that everyone who has ever voted for Byrd in West Virginia has probably known of his affiliation with the KKK. He likens it to Bush's brush with alcoholism 20 years ago. Bush apparently got over that but Republicans don't thinnk Byrd can get over the KKK.

Anyway, read Abernathy's column. There is much truth in it.

Byrd is the word

2005-07-27T09:46:00.000-04:00

The late, great Tip O'Neill once observed that all politics are local. There are those who tell us that people who believe that are naive, perhaps even stupid, and don't see the big picture. They tell us that when it wuits their political goals.

Don't look at what's going on in your neighborhood, they say. Look at what's going on in the world. Well, I do that, but I firmly believe that if we don't take care of what's going on around us, we can't begin to understand or solve world issues.

What does all this have to do with Senator Robert C. Byrd? Everything. In my case, Byrd is THE reason I have a connection to the outside world so I can find out what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I have cable modem service from Adelphia, the cable company that went bankrupt because its owner stole millions, if not billions, from the company. I never had really great service from the company when it came to cable modem service. When my cable modem went out and I called the company, I was ALWAYS told it was my fault, that the cabling inside my house was the problem. This was despite the fact that I replaced every inch of it.

Out of frustratioin, I drafted a letter to Adelphia stating that I considered the problem one of lack of regulation. Cable modem serivce goes unregulated by the government, although I believe it should be regulated since it is a vital public service and becoming more vital every day.

I decided to send copies of the letter to my congressman - Nick Joe Rahall - and my two senators - Jay Rockefeller and Senator Byrd - since it contained an endorsement of legislation to bring cable modem service under federal regulation.

I heard nothing from Rahall and Rockefeller.

But guess what? Byrd forwarded the letter in the form of a complaint to the Federal Communications Commission, despite the fact the FCC has no authority over Adelphia's cable modem service.

But that didn't matter. The fact Byrd was on the case was enough. In less than a week, I got a phone call from Adelphia's general counsel for the Eastern Region telling me to hold on, help was on the way. A few days later, I received a call from Adelphia's chief engineeer based in Huntington telling me that the problem would be corrected. Then he gave me his private cell phone number!

A few days later, three cable guys showed up at my house to fix the problem by doing what should have been done three years previously. They re-wired the modem with a new connection to their outside lines.

A couple of weeks later, the modem went down, but so did a few hundred others connected to Adelphia in the area. An automobile accident cause the outage. Ten minutes after it came back, I received a call from Adelphia asking me if my cable servie had been restored.

And some of you jokers want me to vote against Byrd because he was briefly a member of the KKK 60 years ago.

Byrd got my cable modem problem fixed when no one else could. And you want me to forget that?

No way.

The Egyptian Mafia is heard from

2005-07-21T17:46:00.000-04:00

I get a lot of e-mails with permutations of the Nigerian Scam. Here's the best one I have EVER received.

hey

i am one of biggest boss in egyptian mafia . i am hacker from egypt , i hacking
banks and get information of people .
i can make millions of dollar but need good client and asistant in usa . i need
your help not in have but i need your
help like american citizen and we will make many money together by transfer
money into his bank account and we will split
money 50/50 but if you don't accept this so forget about and delete this e-mail
if u accept
add me

No thanks.

More About the Octopus Party

2005-07-18T16:14:00.000-04:00

My Daily Mail column about the Octopus Party is not something the two parties in West Virginia are going to cheer about. The reason? Politicians think they run things. They don't. They never have and never will.

One of the basic tenets of power I learned in Dr. Simon Perry's class at Marshall University entitled "Power in American Society" is that elected politicians rarely have any real power and certainly no lasting power. The reason is simple: Their power is dependent on elections and unless they can guarantee the power weilders that they can last forever (Robert C. Byrd comes to mind), the people who hold the power will never consult with them about where public policy should go.

Elected officials come and go. Their power is fleeting. Power weilders are forever.

The real power people in West Virginia hold allegience to no political party(Buck Harless gives to people in both political parties.) History indicates they really aren't interested in improving the lot of the average West Virginia. They do not believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. They are out for themselves and the only way you can make it in this rarefied atmosphere is to do their bidding. Thus, if you want to remain in office and be a mover and a shaker, you do what they want you to do or at least you leave them alone to pursue their personal goals. Cross them and you're out.

It might be said that a politician who starts believing he has real power is dead in the water. Jerry Mezzatesta comes to mind. They tossed him to the wolves. It was a hard lesson for him to learn.

So, if you must blame the state's misfortunes on someone, blame them on the people who populate the undefined Octopus Party who set the agenda and make sure the elected officials follow through.

But be careful if you play the blame game seriously. They might getcha.

Clay County Update

2005-07-18T13:03:00.000-04:00

Bob Weaver, editor extraordinaire of The Hur Herald, tells me that he has obtained the tapes of the entire three-hour meeting of the Clay County Commission at which the commission declined to remove the Ten Commandments from the courthouse and, later this week, he will post a story on The Hur Hur Herald containig more on the amazing meeting.

I can't wait.

It's time for Stephanie Rove - er - Karl Timmermeyer to go

2005-07-17T11:41:00.000-04:00

The Charleston Gazette-Mail and Ken Ward Jr. have found the smoking gun in the case of the Marsh Fork Elementary coal silos.

It's crystal clear from the story that the people of Marsh Fork were correct and the state Department of Environmental Protection relied to much on the maps provided by a coal company when it came to permitting two coal silos so close to the elementary school.

DEP people are claming it was an honest mistake. In the real world, honest mistakes can get you fired. I am an example of that, but what I did didn't endanger kids or anyone else for that matter.

It's time for Stephanie Timmermeyer, the DEP director, to go. She has treated the people of Marsh Fork shabbily. Most people in the coalfields who want justice are treated shabbily by government. It's a long-standing tradition in the mountains. But the fact remains that as long as the're treated that way, we all stand a good chance of being treated that way.

It's clear that in Timmermeyer's mind coal comapnies are good and coalfield people are dumb hillbilies who don't know what they're talking about. That attitude is a big part of the reason the southern coalfields are in the shape they're in.

The governor may not be able to solve all the problems that have been created in the southern coal patch. But he can send a strong message to everyone that official mandacity won't be tolerated in his administration.

Timmermeyer must go.

The high sheriff of Clay County

2005-07-15T13:36:00.000-04:00

I'm still perplexed by the Clay County sheriff. Consider this from the story about a Clay County Commission hearing on posting the Ten Commandments.

Sheriff Randy Holcomb received a standing ovation when he told the audience that man-made laws are secondary to God's laws, indicating he will not follow constitutional rulings - "I don't have to go by man-made law."

I hate to be such so picky, but I suspect the high sheriff took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of West Virginia. Now he tells us he doesn't "have to go by man-made law. "

Pardon me, but isn't that a violation of his oath of office? And if so, should he not be removed, no matter how many people stand and applaud his statement?

Have We Seen the Future in Clay County?

2005-07-14T11:04:00.000-04:00

Bob Weaver of Calhoun County's "Hur Herald" attended the Clay County Commission's hearing on whether to remove The 10 Commandments from the courthouse.

Here is his report:

CLAY COMMISSION LEAVES TEN COMMANDMENTS POSTED - Over 200 Declare County "Nation Under God"

(07/14/2005)

By Bob Weaver

Clay County's three county commissioners voted unanimously before an audience of over 200 yesterday to leave a plaque of the Ten Commandments on the wall of their chambers, declaring Clay a "nation under God."

Commissioner Jimmy Sams told the audience the Commandments will stay in place, where they have hung for six years.

A member of Clay's Library Board, Jacob Nichols, defended the religious symbol, saying "The reason we don't want other religions is because they are false." He said Jews and Buddhists shouldn't have the same constitutional rights as "the one true religion."

The overcrowded meeting had to be moved from the court house to the local high school auditorium. It lasted three hours.

"There is no such thing as a Christian Muslim. There is no such thing as a Christian Buddhist. A Christian is a person who has their faith in Jesus Christ," proclaimed a Clay minister.

Sheriff Randy Holcomb received a standing ovation when he told the audience that man-made laws are secondary to God's laws, indicating he will not follow constitutional rulings - "I don't have to go by man-made law."

While hands were held upward with praise and hymns were sung, the single speaker for separation of church and state, Jesse Sizemore, said constitutional law must be followed, otherwise the law becomes meaningless and open to interpretation by many different religions and groups.

This standard is what has allowed America to flourish, respecting many different religions and beliefs, he said.

Hecklers disrupted Sizemore several times during his alloted five minutes, while he was saying this county should not have a "state religion."

Several speakers, including local ministers, called the American Civil Liberties Union an "arm of Satan."

The ACLU is familiar to Clay countians, bringing a suit after an elementary school principal was having altar calls during school assemblies.

The ACLU has been threatening to go to court against Clay officials for violating rulings related to separation of church and state.

Rev. Jimmy Duffield said "That UCLA is the cause of the problem," apparently referring to the ACLU.

Andrew Schneider, executive director of the West Virginia chapter, says there's no question the display is illegal but says litigation is always a last resort.

The US Supreme Court has handed down split rulings on the legality of displaying the Ten Commandments at public buildings. At issue is whether there is a religious or historical purpose behind each display.

If the neo-cons in this state were really intersted in truth instead of retribution and spite, they'd consult with their peers in Clay County, the home of more murder and mayhem than perhaps any other place in this state, and tell them to "cool it."

After all, according to Weaver, the Clay County sheriff says that we don't need to live by man's laws. And a preacher says the "UCLA" is the enemy.

Perhaps are we are seeing what this country is going to become if the neo-cons have their way.

Thanks to Bob Weaver for reporting this meeting.

Introducing the Sock Monkey

2005-07-12T10:16:00.000-04:00

West Virginia has an official Sock Monkey and it has a new blog here. He says he's on a mission fromk God to get the Sock Monkey declared the official West Virginia state animal.

Good luck, Mr. Monkey.

Democracy perfected?

2005-07-11T13:24:00.000-04:00

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

A Message to those in 2200

2005-07-09T15:29:00.000-04:00

As environmentalists storm the bastions of Massey Energy in Richmond today, my thoughts turn to Thomas Jefferson, a genius in many respects but a man trapped by economic cirsumstances.

As a young man, Jefferson argued for the abolition of slavery, but he held slaves until he died. I have a theory about why this anomoly. He could not solve the economics of slavery. Slaves were needed on the farms of the south. In those days before the inhdustrial revolution, and end to slavery would have meant an end to agrarian capitalism.

In fact, the Industrial Revolution ended slavery as much as the Civil War.

So it is with mountaintop removal. Two hundred years from now, our descendants will wonder why we allowed our mountains to be destroyed in order to get the coal that lies beneath the ridgetops. Even after 200 years, it will probably be another 300 years before the deciduous forests will be restored on that raped land. And while our descendants will marvel at our ingenity on some fronts, they will sadly shake their heads at what we did to the land.

Jefferson was a slave to slavery and, sadly, we have become a slave to coal and cheap eneergy. We can't figure out a way to keep this state marginally solvent and end mountaintop removal mining.

When Tom Jefferson held parties for his friends at Montecello, the slaves were invisible. They worked in the kitchens and in the basement under the house. The dumb waiter that Jefferson invented kept them out of sight and out of mind. The food magically appeared and the dishes magically disappeared. Not so with mountaintop removal and the by-products that stain our mountains.

If, by some miracle, this tome survives for 200 years, let me tell those who read it that I am truly sorry for what we did. We weren't as smart as we thought we were and we didn't try hard enough to do what's right.

Some of us knew what was going down, but not enough of us. Let's hope you guys in 2300 are wiser.

Garner Gone Wild

2005-07-08T18:27:00.000-04:00

Sometimes, you gotta just laugh and say "What the hell are people thinking"?

Is it tonight that they're giving thrice-married Jennifer Garner a baby shower at the People's Baseball Park in Charleston?

Well, at least she's married. Barely. She and Ben A Flack, the apparent father, got married a few days ago. But she's several months pregnant.

As my daddy used to say "That first one can come anytime. After that, it takes nine months."

I haven't heard anyone say this out-of-wedlock pregnancy is immoral. But what the girls at Banana Joe's are doing tonight for the "Girls Gone Wild" TV cameras is immoral, disgusting and God-knows-what-else, according to several people with obvious bugs up their butts who pontificated for The Daily Mail today.

What is it with this Garner woman? I'm not tied into the caste system in Charleston. Is she some kind of blue blood or what? Can she do no wrong? Is it impossible for her to go wild? Apparently.

I do not condemn Garner. Neither do I condemn the girls gone wild who'll be doing things for the camera tonight at Banana Joe's.

And those who do need to get a life!

FLASH!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-07-04T10:39:00.000-04:00

President Bush shakes hands with Arch Moore in Morgantown.

So many felons. So little time.

The Ultimate Parochialism?

2005-07-03T23:29:00.000-04:00

West Virginia Media Holdings stations in West Virginia feature Chris Stirewalt promoting a piece he is doing on how communities in West Virginia can protect themselves agains "big city drug dealers."

To hear him tell it, these dealers from the big cities are at the heart of the drug problem and if we could somehow keep them out of West Virginia, we'd be OK.

Horse hockey!!!

They are here because West Virginians are the consumers of the drugs. No one forced anyone to use them.

I would remind Chris and everyone else that most of the meth is made in West Virginia and has no connection with "outsiders."

To solve the drug problem requires more than building a wall around West Virginia to keep dealers out. It requires working on the heart of the problem which is 100 percent a problem of addicts.

Toyota Snubs the U.S. in locating a plant in Canada

2005-07-03T22:11:00.000-04:00

The Japanese are building a huge new Toyota Rav-4 production plant in Canada. Why Canada?

Read it for yourself.

First and foremost, Canadians have better basic educations than folks in the southeastern states, and, no doubt, West Virginia. It's difficult to train illiterates the Toyota folks say. And we have too many of them.

But, the story continues, the cost of labor is less in Canada because of the national health care in that country. Because of it, Toyota can pay $4 to $5 less an hour because the company doesn't need to pay for health care.

The the neo-cons say that national health care is BAD BAD BAD.

Who would have thought that national health care is part and parcel of economic development?

Keep it up right-wingers. You guys know everything. We are soooo privileged to be able to tap into your superior intellects.