The Cletis Shoppe

     Occasionally, I will use my blog to showcase my design shop at Spreadshirt. My twitter account is @CletisStump if you wish to contact me. This is my pinned tweet.

     Below are some items I created for twitter followers. They are posted with permission. You may tweet these kind people for their views. 

     Click the image to enlarge.

@josnoopy29

    

@wildthing404

@notbeck

@catra922

@kaalax008

(Diva wrote the poem.)

@Eich97706

Own It And Change It

Did you vote for Donald Trump? Were you determined to make America great again? Did you really believe he was going to drain the swamp in Washington? If you truly thought you voted to make America great again, your'e wrong. Here’s what you actually did.

You voted so Republicans led by Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan can destroy the Affordable Care Act, turn your Medicare card into a voucher, and take away the Social Security check that sustains many of you.

Note: They will do this incrementally and word the legislation so skillfully you'll think you’re getting a good deal. Trump will sign the bills with a smile on his face.

Apparently, you also voted to shred the Constitution and turn America over to Putin. Honestly, I doubt treason is acceptable to you just because you're a Republican. Still, isn't your silence a form of acceptance?

Trump, McConnell, and Ryan lied to you. You know it. They are not Christians and they are not patriots. Their god is money. They are opportunists looking to make a buck even if  that means the destruction of our Republic.

The first step toward changing this is for you, your family, and your friends to own your part in this. If you truly do respect the Constitution and love America, you'll turn on these snakes and remove them from office.

Sit down with your family, your friends, and your neighbors. Talk about it. Get the truth out. If  we allow this, our children and grandchildren will pay the price.

Find the courage to stand up. It really is up to each generation to preserve our democracy.

Acceptance by CJ Montez

   I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico of Spanish descent. My family did not come to America through Mexico. There was no America and no Mexico when they arrived. I speak Spanish but it is an archaic form of Castilian Spanish. I am steeped in a culture rich in the traditions of the Spaniards who were my ancestors and the Native Americans who lived and worked with them.

   I studied Spanish and Chicano politics at the University of New Mexico and have taught school all of my adult life. I have traveled extensively and studied in Spain and in Mexico. Therein lies my complicated response to Governor Mike Pence and his three dismissive words ... That Mexican Thing.

   The Mexican people are truly some of the warmest people in the world. They are proud – kind, accepting, and generous. They are fiercely patriotic and live a life rich in tradition, family, and love. The community ... lo bueno de la gente ... share and share alike ... matters above all. I made many dear friends in my time in Mexico ... people I still communicate with and embrace as family.

   I love Mexico but it was in Spain where I found myself ... a connection so vital to the understanding of what I am that I’ve returned time and time again ... the music, the food, the language, the people, the architecture, the land ... to all of these things I feel an intimate connection. I was accepted. No assumptions were made about my heritage or my language. I was welcome ... period.

   More than anything it is a desire for that acceptance that drives me to write this commentary. I am an American citizen born and raised in my beloved New Mexico. Sadly, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t struggle for acceptance. Native Americans revile me if I claim my Spanish heritage. And, although I derive great joy from my job as a teacher, there are those in the Mexican community who look down on me because they believe I am Mexican and that I choose to deny my people.

   The truth is I have denied who I am for much of my life. My surname is Spanish and often misspelled. Few people care. I adore my students and have been instrumental in their successes and those of their families. Few people care. There is a box marked Mexican where I have been placed by a society determined to keep me there. I have self-identified as a Latina, a Mexican American, and as Hispanic when truly I desire to just be me ... an American proud of my great nation and of my rich Spanish ancestry.

   Tuesday evening I was shaken by Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence's lack of understanding and empathy. Friends I’ve known for years failed to note that an entire country and its people had been summarily dismissed as inferior – discarded and shoved aside as expendable. In my twenty-two years of teaching, it never occurred to me to dismiss the language, customs, and traditions of my students and their families.

   I lashed out at the media for its insensitivity. I lashed out at Pence for his ignorance. Many responded positively. Then, I realized something. The people responding to my comments reflexively saw me as Mexican American. I would be honored to be counted among those proud first, second, or tenth generation Mexican Americans but I am not Mexican nor am I Mexican American.

   Every year I’m sent messages of celebration on Mexican Independence Day. I am asked repeatedly how I will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo. My students cannot understand why I don’t decorate my classroom for Dia de Los Muertos. Those are all fine holidays celebrated in many communities across Albuquerque. I enthusiastically join in when I’m invited. However, these celebrations are not part of my heritage.

   I am repeatedly asked by society to deny the core of who I am ... to embrace society’s notion of who I am. I'm required to check a box on survey after survey and choose to be someone I’m not.

   I'm a good person. I care about all people. I worry as this election goes forward about how the people in the community I serve are treated. It matters that the quality of their lives be improved and that they participate fully in the comprehensive and all-encompassing society we strive to build.

   It is the overarching disdain and complete disregard Pence, Trump, and the Republican Party have for those they deem unworthy that sickens me. Thirty years of racist dog whistles ... years of manipulating laws and redrawing boundaries to suit the wealthy ... thirty years of eating away at the voting rights of non-whites in America has eroded our democracy and furthered the racial and economic divide.

   I’m heartsick and I fear for our country should Donald Trump become president. Still, in spite of this rising tide of hatred, I trust in the essential goodness of others. I have faith in a universe that has love in abundance. We need only stop looking at each other with narrow eyes and look with open hearts.

First Job by Diva

At the age of fourteen, I was hired by a white couple to watch their kids during the day while they worked. It was a summer job for me. The man worked with my grandfather who had recommended me. It paid $25 a week which seemed like a fortune.

After a week or so, the man started coming home for lunch which he had never done before. He said inappropriate things about my hair,  my body,  my skin ... then, he suggested that we could have beautiful kids. I looked so shocked he changed it to polkadot kids trying to make me laugh ... I did not laugh.

I told him my dad would kill him if he touched me. He left. I stayed with the kids until the wife came home and when I left I did not return. I told my grandmother because I knew cooler heads will prevail. I did not tell my grandfather because he would have felt guilty. I didn't tell my dad because he would have beat the man to a pulp. And, I did not tell my mom because she would've found a way to run over him. The next summer I got a different job in an office.

Editor's note: Reach Diva on Twiter @kaalax008

Beavis Butthead and Bevin

          I tend to avoid political designations. I don’t want self-imposed limitations placed on my views. By labeling myself politically, I commit to certain philosophies regarding government. I’m more thoughtful than that and have voted for Democrats and Republicans in the past.

          These days I do not consider the GOP a viable choice. Conservatism is a legitimate political philosophy and in many instances has great merit. Sadly, today’s Republicans are rarely true conservatives. Barry Goldwater and even Ronald Reagan would have no chance of being nominated for the presidency in these times. The Republican Party of old has been taken over by the least common denominator.

          Nationally, the Tea Party is in decline but, as Mark Twain noted, Kentucky is often the last to get the news. Now, come unto us Governor Matt Bevin. Let’s consider his philosophical views.

          Bevin says he loves the Constitution. Based on his website that love consists wholly of the 2^nd Amendment. That separation of church and state part doesn’t fit Bevin’s views. If he could, he’d make Christianity the official religion of Kentucky before you could say, “I ride with Jesus.”

          Like all Tea Party governors, Bevin rails against Washington and programs like the Affordable Care Act. It’s Tea Party gospel and that’s enough for Bevin and the Tea Party faithful.

           Over six hundred thousand people in Kentucky now have medical insurance via Obamacare and the consequent Medicaid expansion but that doesn’t concern Bevin. It doesn’t matter that by all objective analysis the ACA (Obamacare) has been a dramatic success. Bevin is a Tea Partier. He hates all things Obama. Facts and reasoned analysis are irrelevant.

          Bevin is also a disciple of Grover Norquist whose stated goal is to destroy our elected government. What Norquist and Bevin will not tell you is that while they are drowning the government of the people, by the people, and for the people in the bathtub they are also busily empowering lobbyists and enshrining corporations.

          The word that most often comes to my mind when I consider the Tea Party is childish ... as in, *Bevin has a childish view of government.* We never hear him speak of working to improve existing programs beneficial to our people. That’s not what his corporate masters require.

          Adults recognize that governing is about choosing. We legislate to bring about beneficial change and if the legislation is flawed we fix it. If there are areas where Obamacare can be improved, we should do so. If there are ways to spend tax dollars more efficiently, and therefore require fewer of them, lay out the facts and let’s make those adjustments.

          That’s not going to happen with Bevin. He is a child of Fox News. He sees what he has been told to see. He repeats what he has been told to repeat. He doesn’t understand that talking points are not the same as a serious discussion.

          Bevin’s entire campaign was largely about trashing Obama as the GOP has done for the last seven years. We also heard a lot about Hillary Clinton and Benghazi. Check Bevin’s website. He’s a God and guns man so get ready for a heaping helping of the Book of Glock.

          In many respects, we live in a wonderful age where information is readily available. Get on your computer and read about Kansas. Governor Sam Brownback brought the Tea Party’s childish vision to fruition there and, with support from the GOP controlled legislature, bankrupted the state.

           Contrast Governor Brownback with Governor Beshear who guided Kentucky through the horrible economic disaster Bill Clinton and George W. Bush left behind. Beshear made hard choices and governed as an adult. Brownback governed dogmatically and Kansas is paying the price. 

          I have no interest in turning the affairs of Kentucky over to a group of children led by Governor Matt Bevin. Nor should you … irrespective of political designation.

Barack the Knife ...

You have to give the President his due. Once again Obama has screwed the GOP. He has named a respected jurist to replace Scalia .... a moderate jurist that Orin Hatch (R UT) recently lauded as a *fine man* ... knowing full well the GOP controlled Senate will not even give Judge Merrick Garland a hearing. This obstructionism by McConnell and the GOP will not play well in November when many vulnerable Senate Republicans face the electorate.

Republicans say Obama is in his last year in office and should not nominate anyone to replace Scalia. The truth is that conservatve icon, Ronald Reagan, nominated Justice Kennedy in November 1987. Kennedy was then confirmed during Reagan’s final year of office in February 1988.

We elect presidents until their terms expire. Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court warrants the same consideration Reagan's received. The GOP is confident Americans will lose interest in this critical appointment. In this age of Facebook and Twitter, I'll take that bet.

Judge Garland Merrick deserves a hearing and Americans must demand that he have one ... quickly.

Judge Garland

I Am Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist. That’s enough for the ignorant on both sides of the aisle to condemn him.I find that somewhat odd cosidering socialist principles have been infused into our society from the beginning.

Consider This

The US Constitution is filled with references to the common good and even establishes a post office … a prime example of a socialist principle.

Through the efforts of Horace Mann, public schools funded by tax dollars began in Massachusetts in 1827. Each state followed the model … Mississippi coming on board 67 years later.

Want more? Teddy Roosevelt ... yes, a Republican ... established 100s of millions of acres as public lands. Eisenhower ... yes, another Republican ... built the Interstate Highway System. 

More? FDR brought forth Social Security in 1935. Truman later proposed a national health care law but was shouted down by the conservative rabble of his day. Thirty years later LBJ got it partly done and signed Medicare into law.

Bernie Sanders wants the next logical step, Medicare for All. His penchant for speaking truth to power ... a rare quality among politicians ... does not endear Sanders to the established players ... Republican or Democrat.

Opposition

Conservatives fight each and every socialist program beneficial to everyday Americans but strongly support socialism for corporations. Socialist subsidies for Big Oil & Big Ag are fine but don't dare speak of free education & Medicare for all as Sanders does.

For daring to speak truth to power,Sanders is assailed by today's Conservative rabble and, somewhat unexpectedly, by Democrats too ignorant and robotic to consider the breadth of his views. 

My Thoughts

If Hillary Clinton wins the democratic nomination, I will support her fiercely. She's an establishment candidate ... and far too cozy with Wall Street ... but is far more preferable than any Republican offered for our consideration.

Bernie first ... then Hillary … and never another Republican in the White House.

Twitter Dogs

"Jan, quantum physics isn't really all that hard. Pay attention and let's try it again." #easyforyoutosay

"Cheer up. She can't possibly eat the whole turkey AND a five pound ham, can she?" #yep

"There's a bottle of tequilla on the counter. Would you mind?" #hairofthedog

"I call it, *Disarray* ..." #artbyizzy

"Whewwwww! So, that's a treadmill ..." #dogtired

"No, don't soft pedal it. The vet distinctly said suppository." #twicedaily

"He should not be wearing those shorts ..." #justsayin

"One toke over the line, sweet Jesus ... one toke over the line ..." #alltogethernow

"You know full well I'm going to win. Just hand over the treats and let's move on ..." #everytime

"Vegan? Are you out of you mind?" #notofuforyou

"Sacred cow my foot ..." #moreplease

"Really? You're criticizing my reading material. The woman who has 27copies of Shades of Grey is criticizing my reading material?" #busted

"Belonged to your nana, huh?" #ohwell

"Three French poodles and three bottles of scotch ..." #themorningafter

In Memoriam

 This handsome guy is Chubs. He is missed ... #bestfriendsforever

The Turner Chronicles

The Turner Chronicles

The Coming of Tanis

This is not a traditional vampire novel. Vampires create the struggle that builds the tension good novels have but there is far more to consider.

I'm proud of this book. There are no awkward sentences and no slow moving paragraphs. Much of today's prose is poorly written. Readers skip entire sections to move the story forward. You will not skip a word of this book.

About the Book

Set in the Appalachian Mountains in the late 1800's the initial book of The Turner Chronicles (The Coming of Tanis) details the mountain peoples’ struggle against the vampires who rise every seven years.

There are no stereotypical images here of the Appalachian region or of cold, clammy vampires. This is a story of enlightenment and growth through struggle.

The Turner Chronicles is beautifully written and there are important things to consider. 

Have a look inside the book and buy it in paperback or Kindle. Here's the link.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1517457068?ref_=cm_sw_r_tw_awd_XlBhwbMDKHSDR   

Euphemisms by Daniel & Cletis

The extreme right wing has always been good at euphemistic language. States' rights was the favored code word justifying slavery 150 years ago and Jim Crow 100 years later. Religious freedom works well for denying women's right to control their own health care and doubles as justification for denying people's right to marry whom they choose. Voter suppression magically becomes about protecting electoral integrity.

Another euphemism in the news recently is right to work. Like states' rights, religious freedom and honest elections, right to work sounds like a good thing. It isn't. Right to work is nothing more than a cynical euphemism for union busting.

Trust me. What's good for the global economy is generally bad for workers. Corporations now have the whole world to find the cheapest available labor in their never ending pursuit for higher profits.

Unions won some early rounds but they've lost every round for the last forty years to an increasingly globalized economy. Can you spell NAFTA CAFTA and TPP?

Capitalism has no conscience. People are expendable. The environment is expendable. Reviving labor unions may well be the only thing standing between the American middle class and extinction.

Not Your Grandfather's GOP

Republicans have not always been totally crazy you know. Here are a few quotes from prominent members of the Grand Old Party you will not hear these days ... 

* “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

* “Labor is prior to ... and independent of ... capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration.” Abraham Lincoln

* “I believe there should be a very much heavier progressive tax on very large incomes, a tax which should increase in a very marked fashion for gigantic incomes.” Theodore Roosevelt

* “Today’s so-called ‘conservatives’ don’t even know what the word means. They think I've turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That’s a decision that’s up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right. It’s not a conservative issue at all.” Barry Goldwater

* “While I am a great believer in the free enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment.” Barry Goldwater

* “We establish no religion in this country. We command no worship. We mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are and must remain separate.” Ronald Reagan

Now, contrast these words with those of Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, or any of the other cave dwelling troglodytes who constitute today's GOP leadership ...

The Yellow Rose of Texas

I grew up in Kentucky and am well aware Stephen Foster did not write “… the people are gay” in his masterpiece, My Old Kentucky Home. He wrote “… the darkies are gay” which was changed some years back. However, until this morning when I was jumping around in Wiki, I did not know the fascinating story behind The Yellow Rose of Texas.

Here it is in brief:

Interestingly, the Yellow Rose alluded to in the song was most likely a mulatto woman named Emily D. West who was born a free woman in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1835 Emily indentured as a housekeeper for a year and was taken to Texas where, not long after, she was kidnapped by Mexican cavalry and forced to travel with Santa Anna’s army. 

In 1842 an Englishman, William Bollaert, wrote in his journal that Santa Anna was in bed with Emily when his forces were routed by Sam Houston's army at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836.

Bollaert's story grew and after his journals were published in 1956 Emily's legend became more widely known. Apparently, the original lyrics of the Yellow Rose were a tribute to her skin tone and great beauty. Like My Old Kentucky Home the lyrics have been changed over the years and no reference to Emily’s color remains.

Here are the original, handwritten lyrics of the Yellow Rose dated 1836 and archived at the University of Texas. No authorship is claimed. 

A Spock would say, "Fascinating."

 ... There's a yellow rose in Texas, that I am going to see/No other darky knows her, no darky only me/ She cryed so when I left her it like to broke my heart/And if I ever find her, we nevermore will part.

Chorus: She's the sweetest rose of color this darky ever knew/Her eyes are bright as diamonds, they sparkle like the dew/You may talk about your Dearest May, and sing of Rosa Lee/But the Yellow Rose of Texas is the only girl for me.

When the Rio Grande is flowing, the starry skies are bright/She walks along the river in the quite summer night/She thinks if I remember, when we parted long ago/I promised to come back again, and not to leave her so.

[Repeat Chorus]

Oh now I'm going to find her, for my heart is full of woe/And we'll sing the songs together, that we sung so long ago/We'll play the bango gaily, and we'll sing the songs of yore/And the Yellow Rose of Texas shall be mine forevermore.

[Repeat Chorus] ...

This is not the original but it is very early .... 1858 

Beware the Preacher

Mike Huckabee says: "I almost wish that there would be, like, a simultaneous telecast, and all Americans would be forced — forced at gunpoint no less — to listen to every David Barton message, and I think our country would be better for it. I wish it'd happen."

Now, here are a few things we would be hearing courtesy of Huckabee's idea of a historian, David Barton: 

1. Demonic powers control the government.
2. The Founding Fathers opposed the teaching of evolution.
3. Jesus opposed the minimum wage.
4. The Bible opposes Net Neutrality.
5. The US would have won the Vietnam war if it had flown just one more bombing run.
6. Prayer stopped the BP oil spill.
7. Intolerance of gays is a sign a nation is undergoing a spiritual revival.
8. We can't find a cure for AIDS because it is God's punishment for sin.
9. Life begins not at conception, but before conception.
10. People are probably on welfare because they are not reading the Bible enough.

According to Barton, "The NRA was founded in order to protect freed slaves from lynchings and that there never used to be school shootings in the 1800s because all of the kids carried guns to school."

Want more?

Barton's book, The Jefferson Lies, was pulled by his conservative publisher because Barton fabricated quotes in an effort to depict Jefferson as a staunch Christian. According to Barton, Jefferson said this about separation of church and state,

"On January 1, 1802, Jefferson wrote to that group of Danbury Baptists, and in this letter, he assured them—he said the First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between church and state, he said, but that wall is a one-directional wall. It keeps the government from running the church, but it makes sure that Christian principles will always stay in government."

This one directional section is a completely made up by Barton whose lies were even too much for many conservatives to stomach. Yet, Mike Huckabee still believes in Barton and wants us to eat this swill .... at gun point if necessary.

Now, one from Huckabee:

 

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

No thanks, Mike ....

Selfish

I’ll make you a bet. Think back on your school days. Remember any selfish kids? I'll bet you do and I'll also bet you don't remember them fondly. Selfishness is not a quality most of us admire. 

Consider GOP presidential hopeful Sen Marco Rubio. Rubio is hard line on immigration and distances himself from his own immigrant heritage by falsely claiming his parents were political exiles fleeing Castro.

They weren't. Rubio's parents immigrated to the United States in 1956; three years before Castro took power in Cuba. Oddly, Rubio now works to shut down the immigrant dreams of others; even kids who were brought here as small children and have known no other home.

Consider also Ben Carson, a prominent neurosurgeon turned GOP presidential candidate, who grew up eating meals courtesy of the food stamp program and wearing glasses provided through a tax-payer supported initiative.

Food and vision care provided by government programs for a child who now says, "Obamacare is the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery. In a way, it is slavery, because it is making all of us subservient to the government."

Want more? Consider recent vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan whose dad died young. Ryan, who received Social Security benefits until he was eighteen, now does all he can to privatize and destroy Social Security; derisively referring to those who need help as, Takers.

Many conservatives fail to understand that Social Security was never intended to be just a retirement account. We pay into it with the knowledge there will be money for us in our later years, but also with the understanding we are contributing to the well-being of millions of Americans we will never even meet; people like a sixteen year old kid named Paul Ryan. 

Public assistance is a truly noble idea and goes to the heart of the fundamental American belief that we are in this together; that we contribute to a common cause; that we work to create a supportive, compassionate society.

In short most of us aren't self absorbed ... and most of us aren't going to support politicians who ask us to be that way.

Union Made

The golf links lie so near the mill
That almost every day
The laboring children can look out
And see the men at play.

Sarah Cleghorn 1915

 

Not so long ago child labor was wide spread in America and widely accepted. There were no protections for kids and adult workers were little better than slaves. To a large degree it was union men and women who put an end to that. 

Now, by design, we again find ourselves headed in the wrong direction. Workers' rights are increasingly non existent; taken away by corporations and the politicians who do their bidding. So called Right to Work Laws, unfair trade agreements, and outsourcing have destroyed unions and consequently much of our middle class. 

None of this is an accident. The corporate take over of America is a choreographed, generational effort that has largely achieved its aims ... average real wages have not grown since 1973 while investor returns on an hour of American labor have more than doubled ...

Why? Consider this graph. Without unions workers have little say and the loss of union political influence has created a vast wealth disparity in America. Now, this 0.1% of our population, with the help of the best government money can buy, speaks of the wealth of Midas in dismissive terms. 

Oddly, these very Conservatives often scream about *wealth redistribution* policies when they are liberal efforts to feed the hungry or house the homeless but say nothing about tax laws that redistribute wealth upward.

Every work related benefit each of us enjoys was hard won by union men and women and we need to point that out to everyone we meet. We will not rebuild a vibrant middle class without first rebuilding unions that speak for workers.

With Gusto

Few people get through life without saying something embarrassing. I've done my share but the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done did not involve saying a word. Although I did, in a manner of speaking, make myself heard.

For a few years, I taught at a middle school conveniently across the street from a very busy McDonald’s. Most mornings I stopped in, ordered coffee and an Egg McMuffin, and settled down with the sports page of the Washington Post. It became routine and like most routines it became comfortable. Sometimes, that’s not a good thing.

Hot coffee, an Egg McMuffin, and the early morning light of a beautiful October day throwing leaf patterns across the room distorted my sense of place. I forgot where I was and being male ... think active gastrointestinal system ... and being ... I believed alone in the world … well, who would have thought a run of the mill McDonald’s would have acoustics rivaling Carnegie Hall?

The tone of the room altered and like Dorothy I realized I was no longer in Kansas. I slowly lowered my paper and was greeted by at least a hundred people ... frozen in mid bite ... staring in my direction. There was nothing to do but raise the newspaper, wait as long as I could, and slip out the side door.

The next morning I skipped breakfast and went straight to school. On my desk ... just the way I like it ... was a cup of McDonald’s coffee with two creamers and two packs of sugar. No one ever claimed responsibility.

High Places ...

"For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind And declares to man what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth ..." Amos 4:13

I grew up in the Appalachian region of Kentucky and my friends and I spent a lot of time in the mountains. As children, we tore up cardboard boxes and slid down the sedge grass on the lower slopes. We drank from cold, mountain springs and swam and fished in the rushing waters of silver quick streams.

As teenagers, we spent a lot of nights parked on wide spaces along the roads that crossed the mountains. We drank beer and sat on car hoods and tried to grow up. We struggled with doubts, argued, and debated philosophy in accordance with beer consumed. There was never a better place to be young.

It was Huckleberry Finn in the Appalachians. It was James Still’s River of Earth. In the shadow of Still's sun-ball, we were “a borning, a begetting, and a dying.”

Sadly, it seems the love of money always trumps plain good sense and in recent years Old King Coal has rearranged the Appalachian landscape. There's money to be made and the most cost effective way to make it is to blow the mountains apart and scrape up the coal.

Streams that have nourished the rivers of Kentucky for eons are choked off now. Trees that have stood watch since Daniel Boone walked through the Cumberland Gap lie broken and rotting on the ground ... the destruction of entire ecosystems ... the death rattle of a dying industry ... 

Genesis says we have been given dominion over the earth and over the plants and animals of the earth, If that's the case, I'm pretty sure God envisioned careful stewardship not carte blanche issuance of mountain top removal permits.

The Appalachians are among the oldest mountains on earth and they are sacred ... the province of the pilgrim ... and when coal is mined it should be mined in the least intrusive way possible. When we destroy places of the spirit, we erase our collective memory ... and we lose our ability to appreciate our smallness.

Here's Terry Muncy ...