This columnist  took a break from his recent tasks to attend the Appalachia Rising Day of Action in Washington D.C. on Monday, September 27. At least one thousand people took part in an inspiring and passionate rally calling for an end to the devastating practice of mountaintop removal by the coal companies in Appalachia.

I was already cruising over the Chesapeake Bay in my personal airship, the Silver Pelican, and with sidekick Ross Perot still on board as my guest, we set a course for our nation’s capital, and turned what would have normally been a two-and-one-half hour car trip into a bracing fifty-minute flight. My Head On Radio Network credentials cleared us for a one-day dirigible mooring pass, and I found a great spot on the old zeppelin mast atop the Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House. Encouraging me to “Get straight to the bull’s-eye on this deal down there,” Ross elected to remain with the ship and observe the activities from above, so I grabbed my camera and a rain jacket and descended, amidst  beaucoup d’esprit de bienvenue, to the genial but serious gathering below. You know, I never get tired of that.

Readers of this column are aware of our penchant for mirth and satire. But there is nothing amusing, let alone necessary, about blowing the tops off our mountains to extract more dirty fossil fuel–a process that we should be ramping down if not eliminating outright. Also in town were Bob Kincaid of the HORN – http://headonradionetwork.com/ and Matt Osborne – http://www.osborneink.com/ and we discussed this very topic later in the day. (You’ll notice in one of the pictures that Bob has no problem jumping right in the middle of the action. Unfortunately, this makes it easy for Dick Cheney’s spy satellites to locate and train their deadly high fructose rays on him.) It wasn’t so much that the rally lacked humor–it was certainly a jovial, exuberant and sociable affair. The funny part was how totally different this was compared to a typical tea bagger party.

These men and women are passionate and intense with their message, but unlike the Right, they’re not trying to scorch debate and criticism with shrill and incoherent posturing. Appalachia Rising and similar groups are made up of caring and discerning citizens who have a specific and legitimate concern and they are directing their protest at exactly the source of their anguish: Big Coal and the government which supports it. On Monday, I heard and watched these voices of the mountains, along with many others sympathetic to their cause, being eloquent, expressive and articulate. They understand history and context; they demonstrate an awareness of the connections between life, work and health and the real institutions which threaten them. To put it another way, those arrayed against Big Energy and mountaintop removal and in favor of conservation and alternative energy broadcast signal. The other side only transmits noise.

They are what the tea baggers wish they were and can never be.

An overwhelming majority of Appalachians stand in opposition to mountaintop removal. When your kids’ teeth are rotting, your water is poisoned, your home and land is being dynamited, and your neighbors are getting sick and dying, you don’t need handlers to tell you what the day’s talking point is. The folks who reside within the sound of mountains exploding every day don’t need to be reminded that we all live downstream, and that the damage is irreversible. I like to end my occasional call-in conversations to Bob Kincaid with a line from the book Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan. It’s simply stated: make it personal. I don’t know how it could get any more personal for the people living in these corridors of destruction. The fact that they keep their tempers in check and their disobedience civil is even more to their credit.

The Right Wing has classically attempted to misrepresent the two basic camps of Americans by perpetuating an erroneous national distinction between them. It goes like this: those on the negative side who promote war, destruction and profit above all else–who essentially worship death– are strong and patriotic. Those on the positive side who seek peace and protecting the earth and it’s people from harm–who worship life– are portrayed as weak and un-American. I’ve never been quite able to have my synapses to fire completely around this. If I can ever get Ross out of the Silver Pelican’s rec room and away from playing Galaxy Girl for two minutes maybe he can explain the appeal of this anti-progressive myth.

It’s a characterization that has no substance. Because what results from building genuine and positive strength from the bottom up is a power that can face down the most entrenched opposition. Once you become a true victim of the system–once you realize that the Establishment will sacrifice you and your family for economic and political gain–then you become a force to be reckoned with. The cries and protests rising out of West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky are resolute and unwavering. They are of the same grassroots stock as those who helped bring an end to the Vietnam War, who marched for civil rights, and who should hit the streets against our senseless crusade in the Middle East. But there are too many causes and not enough time, and right now, the war zone for these people is in the heartland of Appalachia.

You almost have to pity those who sat at the gates of the White House on Monday (and about one hundred peacefully arrested), and basically begged their president to acknowledge these reasonable and justifiable concerns from the people who helped put him there. Mr. Obama and all the legislators who were the fortunate recipients of the wave of populist spirit in 2008 should make no mistake about it:  these were your voters for hope and change. You asked them to believe and to show up on election day and they did. Now they are asking you in return to listen and act on their behalf. The only special interest here is our quality of life.

There is no doubt that there is a sense of powerlessness over America. Inequality has never been greater and participation in government and affecting the forces that shape our lives by the middle and working classes has never been more difficult. Those with wealth and influence can pick up the phone and be patched through to Senator Snorebuckle’s office as I write, and some call that democracy. Well, it ain’t. Anyone who claims to believe in the real thing should have been in Washington for the Appalachia Rising Day of Action. That is what democracy looks like.

Reverbo                                                                                                                                                                           Critic-At-Large

Climatologist James Hansen

Our man in the middle

Organizer Bo Webb

Hillbillies dying in a hole is somewhere below grunts dying in war. With apologies to both groups for using these unflattering expressions, that is an essential component to this tragedy and gives it the emphasis it demands. That’s what your boss thinks of you, that’s what the generals think of you, and the reason more people aren’t outraged is because that’s what they probably think of you too. That needs to be changed.

So how do we close down a coal mine? How about what it takes to have safety, health, and a clean, prosperous future once more? Three things: enforce regulations, severe penalties for violators, and hicks have to want to stop being hicks. Do not mistake that last conclusion for a lack of sympathy, but there’s no other way put it; the serfs have to say, no more. For too long one check for a million dollars has been worth more than a million votes. Obviously we need a massive revision of our priorities but we have to be smart about it. The screech of ignorant tea-baggers is a misguided waste of effort.

To all the folks who were ever called hillbillies, and the rest of the working class who are being herded closer to those same circumstances every day, it is time to discover your mind, announce your humanity, and say goodbye to the dark side once and for all. If you do that, you’ll have real allies you would have never expected, instead of those con artists who only wish to exploit and abuse you. I have said before in frustration that the bus can’t wait any longer and y’all evidently don’t want a ticket, so we’re leaving without you. But what happened inside a coal mine again is so sad, and so unnecessary, that after this one – well, I don’t know. Perhaps only together can we repair the nation. Does everyone finally realize we’re all on the same page? The powers that be want to turn back the clock on all of us. 

With the deaths of over two dozen coal miners, we have yet another example of the price we pay for allowing our choices to be controlled by people who measure progress by personal fortune and power. This picture should be clear to anyone who is paying attention to the true causes of our social and economic decay. We have had too many years with our citizens and our country being expendable in the name of profit, and Republicans have the most explaining to do. It is worth everyone’s time to examine how a mine owner can buy protection, who was running the country, and the values of an administration that rewards such dishonesty.

There’s no attempt to even conceal what’s going on anymore. Everyone knows who has connections and how they use them to rig the system. The fix is in deeper than it’s ever been. I believe President Obama is trying to turn things around, but as we have seen, it will be slow going. The labor situation in this country is in sad shape almost everywhere you look, and to further their own sick version of a retro-future where West Virginia is the model for everyone, there are forces who actively want to keep it that way.

Unfortunately, this will continue and people will die as long as plantation owners like Don Blankenship can pay off the heat. Hell, a guy can barely even run a coal mine with all these damn restrictions. Everybody has violations in this business – as a matter of fact, Performance Coal, a subsidiary of Massey Energy, which operates the Upper Big Branch Mine, received fifty-seven in March of 2010 alone (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/04/west-virginia-coal-mine-tragedy.php). It’s nothing personal, just part of your operating expenses. The fact is that the probability of cutting corners, allowing dangerous conditions, and running your business with criminal disregard for the people and the environment is a factor of the risk of getting caught versus the severity of the punishment. You can almost hear the anguished cries from the next tragedy.

Reverbo                                                                                                                                                             Critic–At–Large

Note:  That photo is the entrance to the exhibition mine at the Beckley Coal Mine and Youth Museum (http://www.beckleymine.com/).  Apparently, the State of West Virginia considers their coal mines family tourist attractions. C’mon kids, let’s have a race to the bottom.

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Watch the complete video series here!