Why Wingnuts Love Sarah Palin

A lot of my progressive friends convey feelings of confusion to me when the subject of Sarah Palin arises. Why are so many infatuated with a woman whose speech is without substance? Who hints at running for POTUS but can't even finish one term as Governor, or chair of the Alaska oil and gas commission, for that matter? Why are people so willing to fawn over and fork over their money to a woman who clearly lacks leadership and communication abilities?

But I think these progressives are missing the mark in their analysis of both Sarah Palin and her followers. One has to put themselves in the shoes of a Palinite teabagger to really understand her appeal. It is crucial to understand why she appeals to the wingnuts, because the left went through the same questioning phase about why a president who seemed so "stupid" thought he could win another election. What followed was this president's re-election, subsequent wrecking of the economy at the benefit of the top 1%, and a democratic identity crisis that lasted until Obama convinced Hillary supporters to cast their vote for him.

So, understanding Palin is critical. Not because I perceive her as a threat in 2012 (I'll get to that at the end), but so we can understand in the future when people like this present themselves, and frame the debate to the progressive advantage. What people must first understand is that Palin's contrived image is fraudulent at its core.

The Palin Fraud
Palin's book is called "Going Rogue" which implies she is a maverick dedicated to doing things her own way instead of swallowing the party line. And perhaps if you pay attention solely to her talking points and don't look past the veneer, this might work. However, Sarah Palin was actually a huge proponent of Socialism in Alaska before she emerged as a national A-list political celebrity and was forced to swallow McCain's party line.

Alaska is fiercely dependent on federal money, arguably even moreso than Mississippi. She had been lobbying for the "Bridge to Nowhere" project until the media decried it as a national symbol of wasteful pork spending. Representative Don Young and Senator Ted Stevens were notorious for supporting pork projects that brought federal money specifically to Alaska.

But even more than that, Sarah Palin was a huge backer of taxing windfall profits on oil companies operating in her state. By hefting huge tax increases against Big Oil, Palin generated billions in revenue. It was a wonderful symbol of what real bipartisan reform can achieve, and a perfect example of progressive taxation; if you have more than most people, then you better be prepared to pay more than most people. She used the money made from that decision to give to the people of Alaska. According to the story linked above, that amounted to a $3200 check for every person in Alaska, just from surplus dollars. That's the essence of productive government regulation on big business.

However, this didn't mesh well with what McCain was all about, so he and his aides went about telling her to tell the rest of us that she was an anti-Socialism, anti-pork barrel spending crusader.

The Palin Appeal- Framing 101
Palin's followers, mainly neoconservatives, love Palin because she represents one of them. Like Palin, they rally against the "elites."

Neoconservatives believe our country is ran by a cabal of powerful and wealthy liberal "elitists" who use their influence to give opportunity and free stuff to lazy, good-for-nothing moochers. Mainly poor people and foreigners. These neoconservatives believe themselves to be "hard-working" and "normal," but are not reaping what they sowed because the government elite gave those rewards to people who didn't deserve them.

This is why they love Sarah Palin so much. This is why when she stumbles over her words or makes a rhetorical error in a debate with Joe Biden, she is applauded. They see this not as "stupid," but as "normal." Like them.

So when Sarah Palin is mocked in the "liberal media," her cause is actually strengthened; her followers see themselves reflected in a working-class hockey mom who is being harassed by the "liberal elite." When Palin complains about such treatment by the media, what progressives see as complaining is interpreted by her followers as what they believe their experiences to be; a normal blue-collar conservative being sold short on her accomplishments by powerful liberals.

A Walk in the Shoes of a Palinite
Those who support Sarah Palin do not admire or respect politicians with prestigious education or those who have a way with words. Most of these folks see education and glib speech as tools used to victimize and deceive people. Thus, the educated and well-spoken are resented among the far right.

The extreme right is not against intelligence, but simply against education. In their mind, they don't see that attitude as maintaining stupidity, but as rejecting an institution that forces information on children that they know to be wrong. This is why you see the most righteous neocons and libertarians being proponents of home school, so they can shelter their children from the evil "facts" of the liberal "elite," and also so they can inject education with their authoritarian worldview and religious beliefs which are "under attack" by Science. Because critical thinking is demonized by the right, they see those who rely on "facts" as simply catering to an elite power. Environmentalists worship Al Gore, Evolutionists worship Darwin, etc.

When a Palinite sees Barack Obama giving an address, they don't see a well-traveled statesman with decades of diverse education, but rather a foreigner with an unfamiliar name, using his gift of gab with clear intent to manipulate and deceive. He, along with all other well-spoken people, is seen as a trickster, and hearing him speak makes the far right feel judged, rather than informed. It angers them instead of calming them.

When Sarah Palin speaks, these folks feel right at home. Her down-home folksiness gives them a sense of acceptance and assurance that those who speak with authority on issues are frauds. Those who idolize Sarah Palin do not understand nor care for domestic or foreign policy issues, and do not follow nor perceive their complexity. What is important to the Palinite is that the politician doesn't act like they know more or are more worthy than the average Joe. To a Palinite, someone who sounds complicated when explaining complicated issues isn't revealing truths, but hiding them.

Palin's Power Over People
Sarah Palin gives her supporters the impression that she would make decisions for the country the way a mother or father makes decisions for the family--like they do. For wingnuts, Sarah Palin symbolizes the person who overcame the intellectualized, complicated political infrastructure of the "liberal elite." She is often characterized as "truthful," much like those same people refer to Glenn Beck as "truthful."

The truth to this radical fringe group is that the liberal elite is against them, the normal, hard-working Joes and Janes--and are for helping the undeserving do-nothings--foreigners, lazy people, and poor people. Palin often uses the term "common sense" in describing her politics. For Palin's followers, "common sense" is that the hardworking are constantly under attack by the elite establishment.

As I mentioned in the first part of this blog, Bush used this same narrative (perfected by Reagan) to win over the people of Texas, and then to win over the USA. While most every crisis our nation faces today can be traced back to the Bush or Reagan years, those two are still celebrated universally by the right. These people may be full of talking points and no solutions, but they still hold influence over lots of people.

Palin's Political Potential
However, progressives in America can rest assured that Sarah Palin will not be a viable contender for the GOP nomination in 2012. Her record shows overwhelmingly that she is not fit to handle an executive position, whether it's over the oil and gas commission or one of the union's smallest populations. Even Republican mouthpiece Haley Barbour refused to acknowledge her as a political contender in the next presidential race. I personally believe she is currently peaking, and too much media coverage this early will hurt her chances three years down the road.

Besides, just take a look at how quickly fans who waited in the rain all day to meet her turned on her when they learned she wouldn't be signing all of their books. One guy even called her out by saying "She's quittin' on the job right there!"

America is a fickle nation. Sarah Palin will be ultimately forgotten.

Concerning the Stupak Amendment- When Private Insurers Don't Cover Abortions

A friend of mine connected a harrowing personal experience of hers to the attack on and undermining of women's health and free choice in this country through the Stupak/Pitts amendment that just recently passed the House. This is a short and moving piece; anyone interested should read this.

When Private Insurance Companies don’t Cover Abortions
by Anonymous

The good news is universal health care is more of a reality, but now, if passed in the senate this legislation will be a major setback for women.

On Nov. 7 the house approved a bill that would severely restrict access to insurance companies for abortions. The house measure would block insurance companies from selling abortion coverage to anyone receiving a federal subsidy and anyone who receives health insurance through a government-run plan. Ironically this restriction would make little impact on the current system.

According to the Guttmacher Institute out of 1.2 million abortions performed each year, only about 13 percent (156,000) are directly billed to their insurers. Many women are unaware that their insurance plans cover abortions or just don’t want their insurance companies to know.

Last year I found myself in the same position and wanted to have the procedure anywhere but the Women’s Health Organization in Jackson, Mississippi (The state’s only abortion clinic). Upon calling my insurance company I was met with by the voice of an unsympathetic woman, who told me my plan did not cover abortions. But she did enthusiastically list off all the prenatal services and benefits covered through my employer for having a child.

My only option at that point was to make way through the throngs of protesters and receive care at a clinic with little concern for my prior medical history, a disorganized staff ( my file was lost three times), and lack of thorough explanation for the procedure and the instructions afterwards.

It took two months and eight visits (that’s 16 times I had to walk through protesters yelling “Mommy don’t do this” in baby voices) for the clinic to determine my pregnancy had been terminated. I can’t say if my procedure was unique but the lack of quality care for a sensitive procedure should not be taken lightly, or with a “that’s what she deserves” attitude.

Can you imagine any other medical procedure conducted in this manner?

If my insurance company did cover the procedure would I have been treated more like an actual patient?

I don’t want to blame my experience all on the clinic. It’s the only clinic in the entire state dealing with legislation and opponents trying to shut them down every chance possible. The volume and influx of patients is exceedingly high for the clinic’s capacity and staff.

Women are still going to have abortions whether their insurance companies provide them or not. The real question is how can we make sure these women are safe and receiving the best care possible?

Using Holocaust Victims for Political Gain

I think most sensible people would agree that nothing today should even be remotely compared to the horrific time in human history that was the Holocaust. That was an event that has gone down in history as the most horrible act ever committed by a member of the human race. The cold, calculated genocide of millions of Jews through organized, brutal means should never be invoked in vain, especially for the sake of politics. No matter your party affiliation or ideology, I believe most Americans are united in the belief that the Holocaust was a horrible memory for the world, and that while victims must be remembered and honored, that period in time is best left alone out of respect for the families of those massacred.

However, the teabaggers who stormed Washington yesterday, as well as house Republican leaders, apparently feel different than the rest of us with a sense of decency for our fellow human beings. For those of you unfamiliar with what happened, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) yesterday hosted a Tea Party protest of the House health care bill. As per usual, corporate Astroturf (fake grassroots) groups organized the event and bussed in protesters from all over the East Coast. Americans for Prosperity, an outpost of Dick Armey's FreedomWorks (former Republican leader in the house) was key in organizing the event through their website, dontkillgrandma.com. Yes, that is a real website. Yes, it is sponsored proudly by current and former Republican leaders.

This is the same group that organized the town hall mobs in August, paid to transport protesters and even wrote a memo instructing attendees how to best disrupt dialogue and meaningful conversation. Right-wing money interests feel very threatened by actually having to compete should health care reform pass, so they've been working hard all year to spread lies and sow the seeds of fear and hate amongst the weak-minded.

Also, people should know that those who attended this protest, who came to speak out against the ineffectiveness of government programs, used public transportation to arrive at the nation's capitol. This protest was also deemed a "press conference," although no such conference took place. It was an event organized by government officials, held on government property, with permission of government entities. There were even five people at the rally who received government-sponsored emergency health care.

People should also know that while crowds chanted "kill the bill," and proudly wasted plenty of paper, not once did anyone offer any valid alternatives to health care reform, despite reluctantly acknowledging that our health care system leaves much to be desired. Once again, this proves without a doubt that today's conservative movement is full of hot air, little organization and poor leadership.

But all hypocrisy, corporate whoring and contrived populism aside, there was one thing yesterday that crossed the line entirely.

Protesters proudly carried posters depicting emaciated bodies of Dachau concentration camp victims during the Holocaust. The words on the poster say "National Socialist Health Care- Dachau, Germany 1945."

The congressmen and congresswomen who organized and spoke at the event, and who did not publicly denounce the heinous, vile use of death camp corpses owe us all an apology for not immediately condemning this behavior. America is waiting for an apology from House Minority Leader John Boehner and Representative Michelle Bachmann for not speaking out against the use of such atrocities for such petty, vain reasons. Speech should remain free, but invoking the Holocaust and trivializing the murder of millions for mere political gain should never be allowed. Congressman Steve Israel has publicly demanded an apology on the behalf of all Americans offended by this display.

So where do teabaggers draw the line at common decency? When will our national political discourse be returned to a sensible, logical dialogue? When will Republican, teabagger, and Astroturf figures apologize for their insensitivity and brutishness?

Meeting T-Model Ford

Gritty distortion lingers in the speakers as James Louis Carter Ford politely nods at his cheering fans and briefly puts his guitar in his lap. He produces a flask from his jacket pocket and unscrews the lid.

"What time is it, T?" Asks someone in the audience.

The 89-year-old takes a swig and bares his teeth.

"It's Jack Daniels time!"

The audience laughs and cheers even louder.

T-Model Ford was one of the reasons I was so excited to move to Jackson, Mississippi. I was first introduced to his music while playing in a Blues band in Kentucky when I was in college. The first song of his I heard was called "I'm Insane," where he crows over a guttural guitar riff about how he's been to jail and how his wife, Stella, better not let him catch her messing around. The lyrics are hilarious, but also raw and gritty. We played the song over and over and laughed until we had tears in our eyes. Since then, I've been a huge T-Model fan and he's earned his place on my list of all-time favorite Blues musicians.

After I moved to Jackson, I fantasized about getting to meet T-Model one day. He's from Forest, and I'm a sucker for Delta Blues, so I had it in my mind that I'd track him down at a local Blues festival one day a few months down the road, or whenever he came around to the area.

That was until I casually opened an issue of the Jackson Free Press, and saw his name in bold letters. He was playing on Saturday the 17th at the Ridgeland festival, just a few days away! I wrote it down in my planner and made sure not to miss it.

Saturday was a cold day in Ridgeland; folks were clad in barn coats and hats, and hot chocolate was selling by the ladleful at a local storefront. I rushed around, asking passers by if they knew when T-Model was playing. Most of them shrugged and said they didn't know, but one pointed me in the direction of a festival organizer named Ron Blaylock, who owned a recording studio in town.

"Hey, T-Model hasn't played yet, has he?" I asked frantically.

"No, he doesn't play until 6:45. I don't imagine he'll be here until 5:30 or so. But he'll be by the stage, so just go on and grab him if you see him," Blaylock told me.

After polishing off a heaping pile of ribs from the Parker House people and an Oktoberfest-style beer tasting, I wandered back over to the stage and started up a conversation with the singer of the Common Ground Blues Band, who had just performed. After some conversation about the Jackson Blues scene, I asked him about T-Model.

"T-Model? He's over in that white car over there."

I looked over and saw an old, beat-up Buick idled by the stage. Curiously, I walked around to the passenger's side to get a look at who was in the car. An wizened old black man rolled down his window and flashed a hospitable smile.

"Hey boy, how do?" T-Model Ford extended his hand, and I shook it, unable to suppress a Cheshire Cat grin from spreading across my face.

I told T-Model who I was, that I was a big fan, and that he was the main reason I drove to Ridgeland that day. I asked his driver and bass player, Eric Deaton, if I could interview him after his set.

"Well, we're actually looking to get out of here real soon after the show. But we can do it now, if you like."

"Great! Is there a place we could go that's a little quieter?" I inquired. We were right next to the stage, and Gary Pfaff & the Heartwells were in the middle of their set.

"Actually, since its really cold out here, could we just do the thing in the car here so T can keep his hands warm?" I readily agreed, and helped Eric unload an amp and a mic stand from the back seat. I climbed inside and turned on my recorder to capture living Blues history.

Describing the octogenarian bluesman as a colorful character would be equivalent to describing the Gulf of Mexico as damp. He's living proof that anyone can learn a musical instrument, no matter their age or condition.

"I can't read, I can't write, I can't spell my real name." Ford said. "I didn't put my hand on a guitar until I was 58 years old."

Since that age, Ford said his biggest influences have always been Delta Blues greats Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, whom he had been listening to since his teenage years. T-Model still remembers the first song he ever played.

"It was 'How many more years baby you gonna dog me around.' (Howlin' Wolf) And that's what I come out playin' when I picked up a guitar and caught myself tryin' to play," Ford said.

Bassist Eric Deaton has known T-Model for several years. While they don't turn on the radio much on long road trips, he said Ford will always listen to old Delta Blues recordings.

"Anytime we get on the road, T always asks me to put in a Muddy Waters CD," Deaton said.

Before his days as a Blues guitarist, the Forest native lived a life that would make Ernest Hemingway blush. He was once sentenced to ten years on a chain gang for murder, although he only ended up serving two.

"I was the devil when I was a younger man," T-Model said. "I was the type of man who'd walk up to you, laugh at you, and knock the hell outta you."

Ford said his roughest days were more than 30 years ago, when he first started playing out. He recalled a story from playing a club in Greenville, Mississippi.

"I slapped a man, he was six foot tall, workin' for the city. He snatched a cigarette outta my mouth," Ford said. "I took my strap off, set my guitar down...he pulled a pistol out. When he pulled that pistol, I slapped him...Blood went everywhere. He bawled, I looked down, kicked him all upside the head. He didn't get up...I heard he had a stroke after that. I don't think he ever came back to Greenville...I didn't feel sorry for him."

T-Model Ford described his reputation as a "sure enough dangerous man."

"I didn't let nobody whoop me. I didn't argue with you. Like I tell you, me and you get in an argument...I'll done hit you before you know it. I didn't care how big you were...ain't nobody ever whooped me before. Even in the shape I'm in, I don't think anybody could whoop me now."

Nowadays, T-Model is a devout Christian. He said he turned his life around after he was nearly crushed inside of his car.

"A tree fell on me, and the good lord is takin' care of me, cause that tree laid on me thirty minutes before they got it off of me," Ford said. "It broke my arm, broke my hands. I believe it broke my legs, but the doctor said it didn't."

"The good lord kept me livin. So now, I ain't got no dirt in me. I like the white peoples now."

Ford says even in his late eighties, he feels just as spry as he did when he was twenty. He attributes that to his life as a traveling Bluesman.

"I feel just as good as I ever felt in my life right now," he said. "I don't be sick, neither. Anytime anybody calls me to go, I'm ready. I don't turn down nothin'."

Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way- A speech I'd like to deliver to Republicans in Congress

That's the only advice I can give to the conservative right at this point. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Conservatives have proven for the last 8 years that they are incapable of leading the nation in the direction we need to go. Bull-headed unilateral war efforts on two fronts blew a hole in our budget, and neither nation has any real direction at this point, nor is there any clear way to progress. Republican leadership ensured that Afghanistan and Iraq will be war-torn, desperate nations for decades to come. And they have assured the rest of the Middle East that the United States isn't interested in bringing them peace and prosperity, but death and poverty.

Congressional leadership on the Republican side has shown where the right's priorities lie. They aren't interested in helping the president restore America to greatness, only heckling him during his address to the nation. They've shown their true feelings about domestic violence and bigotry against homosexuals. They have made it clear to us that they put the interests of multinational corporations before the interests of gang rape victims.

Their foreign policy, aside from the "shoot now and ask questions later, because they're probably all terrorists anyway" attitude has consisted of encouraging our allies not to trust us.

On education, they've shown that they prefer instilling our kids with religious dogma and blind nationalism instead of teaching them actual science, history and literature. Apparently they care little that American children of the future will have few skills to offer when it comes time for them to enter the career world.

They've shown that they still hold dear the backwards social traditionalism that we've worked so hard to move away from in the last century. Republicans have also been working so hard to please the Christian Right that they introduced legislation that would make the Bible the word of God for all Americans, despite that going completely against something our founding fathers held most dear.

House Republican leaders have shown Americans that they aim to bully women into accepting their elitist, jingoistic social agenda with fear and deception. They've made clear their feelings about equating anything they don't personally agree with to Socialism, even though the association of such concepts is nonsensical.

Instead of helping the elected leader of our nation work to fix the messes we're in, elected Republican officials have shown that they would rather spend their time insulting the President's wife. They've openly made statements to the press that reek of racism. They've been relying entirely on fear to force their regressive agenda upon us, and even focusing their fear tactics on veterans and parents of disabled children.

Congressional Republicans believe gay equality is allowing homosexuals to exist. They endorse attacks on everything humankind has achieved in science. Their attitude to helping the poor is to encourage them to stop breeding. They see hunger as a non-issue, instead telling us that it can be a great motivator.

Health reform has met Republican obstacle after obstacle since the FDR administration. While our president encourages bipartisanship, and while Democrats have repeatedly made costly compromises to get the support of the right, Republicans continue to offer a resounding "NO" to any measure put forth in fixing our broken health care system.

Neocon hero Rush Limbaugh epitomizes today's conservatives; rooting for our country's failure from his comfy seat and golden microphone. Likewise, conservatives have yet to offer any ideas of their own in solving any of the many crises--domestic and international-- we face today. As President Obama has said, this is equivalent to watching someone mop up a person's mess, and that person sitting on the sidelines instead of grabbing a mop and helping to clean up.

Congressional conservatives, I have only this to say to you now; if you can't lead and refuse to follow, then get out of the way. Let the people who actually care about helping America do their job.

Senate Republicans: Gang Rape is Okay, but Fake ACORN Prostitution Crosses the Line!

So how does everyone here feel about gang rape? Its bad, right? If you agree with me there, I think we'll probably see eye to eye. (And if not, 4chan is right over there.)

Well, apparently there are 30 republicans in the senate who don't see things the way we do. Yes, 30 people voted to support rapists. Yes, they were all republicans. And yes, all of them were men. Let me backtrack.

Four years ago, a Halliburton employee named Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged and gang raped by her coworkers. They locked her in a cell for 24 hours without food or water, and told her if she looked for help after the rape, she'd be fired. However, she wasn't allowed to sue her employer because fine print in her contract forbade her to take legal action against her company, even if she was raped.

Basically, if Halliburton employees under government contract rape someone on the job, they can't be prosecuted.

Halliburton is a defense contractor with a long history of dealing with the US government. So obviously, the government needs to stop doing business with companies who support rapists, yes? So, Al Franken, our newest senator, decided to write an amendment that would do just that. It passed 68-30. Amongst the 68 who supported anti-rape legislation were 10 republicans, each of whom deserve a pat on the back for true bipartisan progress. However, 30 white republican men didn't think the government should have any say in how a government-employed contractor does government business.

"The congress should not be involved in writing or re-writing private contracts. That's just not how we should handle matters in the United States Senate.
-Jeff Sessions, R-ALA"

That's right! No government meddling in private organizations that receive government funding!

Well, unless its two people pretending to be a pimp and a prostitute in an ACORN office. Then its totally okay for the government to meddle! Just ask the man who voted for rape from Nebraska, who's behind shutting off ACORN funding-

"This is an organization that just continues to dig itself into a deeper and deeper hole. This group needs to be defunded and investigated."
-Mike Johanns, R-N

You tell 'em, Mike. Any organization that gives advice on tax evasion to a make-believe pimp needs to have all their money taken away, because that's lightyears worse than gang rape!

And Johanns knows what constitutes good business and bad business. That's why he voted to take the side of rapists by saying no to Franken's amendment, and then went and wrote the "Protect Taxpayers from ACORN" act. Taxpayers need to be protected from those community organizers!

Now if a taxpayer is raped by oil company employees? Well, she should've just read the contract before signing. We can't be telling rapists how to do their job or anything. They NEED that government money, right GOP?

What Appalachia Can Learn from Afghanistan

I was prompted to write this after seeing the Kentucky premiere of the documentary "Coal Country" in Lexington last night. Even after covering Dave Cooper's Mountaintop Removal Road Show a few years back and doing several reports on energy and the economy, I was still privy to many touching stories and experiences I had yet to hear up to that point. I suggest seeing it whenever you can to learn more about this issue.

Coal Keeps the Lights On
We've all seen that bumper sticker around Kentucky, haven't we? Or West Virginia, or Alabama, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and the rest of Appalachia? That's because Big Coal is on a very costly PR campaign to win back public opinion after those nasty "fact" things came back to bite them.

Next to wood, coal is the oldest source of energy humans have used. Since the mid-18th century, we've been burning coal to power our homes and workplaces across the globe. Even today, coal continues to be a staple of Earth's energy. Here in Kentucky, for example, 93% of our energy is coal-powered. The figures are higher in West Virginia and Indiana, but Kentucky ranks a solid #3. Coincidentally, these states are also the places where power is most affordable.

Likewise, looking at that same chart, we see that coal only keeps 14% of the lights on in New York. They also have power costs of up to 15 cents per kilowatt hour (KWH), compared to Kentucky's five cents per KWH. The facts don't lie; coal does keep the lights on, and its less of a burden on our wallet than any other source.

But there's a slight problem; coal is past its peak. Way past. Even with new developments in technology, and the inception of evil practices like Mountaintop Removal Mining that yield the most gain for the least work, we have yet to mine as much coal as we did in 1990. 20 years of advancement, but we're still well past the peak, try as we might to deny it. Coal is almost gone. So what are we to do?

The True Cost of Coal
While we have more advanced fossil fuel sources like oil, even that's close to peaking. And, like oil, the price we pay as consumers is not the true cost of using that fuel. The CBO released a 2006 study that stated the true cost of fuel is around $12 a gallon through taxes, not at gas stations. Basically, if we pay $2.50 a gallon at the pump, we still pay around $9.50 per gallon to fund diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, and to prop up dictatorships like the Saud family so OPEC can sell us cheap oil.

Coal is the same way. When we take into account the destruction and havoc wreaked upon the landscape, reclamation efforts and the surrounding communities' tainted water supplies and depreciation of homes, the true cost of using coal is really much higher than 5 cents per KWH.

So at this point, you might be wondering why I brought Afghanistan into this?

In Afghanistan, Opium Keeps the Lights On
70% of the world's Opium is grown in Afghanistan. For those of you unaware, Opium, extracted from the poppy plant, is the main ingredient in heroin, one of the world's most deadly and addictive narcotics. While it would be nice to torch all of the poppy fields in Afghanistan, that would effectively destroy Afghanistan's economy. As horrible of a drug as Opium is, people in Afghanistan must grow it and sell it, or they can't put food on the table. Their kids will starve without Opium.

Opium is to Afghanistan what Coal is to Appalachia. The consequences of using it are monstrous and destructive, but ceasing production altogether would also render most of the population unemployed. Coal poisons water supplies, covers homes in coal dust and has negative long-term health effects to those exposed to it, but that doesn't stop it from being the only job in the area other than fast food. Would you rather make money and have cancer, or be broke and healthy? That's the conundrum.

The Coal Side of the Economic Crisis
What is a conundrum for everyday Appalachians is a blessing for the coal industry. Coal mining companies like Massey Energy like it that way; when people depend on them for their livelihood, they can treat the environment and their workers however they see fit. Just as the Taliban keep their poppy fields healthy; when the people depend on you for paychecks that pay for food and shelter, they are powerless to fight.

This is why coal is such a touchy and divisive issue for Appalachians; the wedge is created when environmentalists and families with traditions of coal mining dating back several generations clash. When the environmental topic has been discussed, both sides usually stalemate when it comes to jobs. Sure, maybe coal is bad for the environment, but it keeps people working. However, this talking point is void when we take into account the practice of Mountaintop Removal Mining.

MTR mining is when the tops of mountains are blasted off, and coal deposits are scooped up while the waste is dumped into nearby streams and rivers. Because mining has peaked long ago, and underground mining is far too dangerous and costly, most companies find this practice yields the most coal with the least work. Coal companies can make more money this way while simultaneously hiring less workers.

This is why there are considerably less coal miners today than there were several years ago. People are losing jobs in coal mining, but it has much more to do with greedy profiteering and wolfish capitalism than with environmental concern.

So, we're still at an impasse. What's the solution to all of this? Is it simply breathe coal dust and work while coal rapes the planet or work in fast food? Or is there another solution?

Land Ownership: The Real Solution
Right now, coal mining is allowed to go on full speed ahead, because the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) can stake out any land they deem to be potentially productive for coal extraction. There are still dozens upon dozens of permits for the ACE, allowing them thousands of acres of land to reserve for future coal mining endeavors. So, the solution is land development.

Think about it logically; if there are only jobs in coal mining or fast food, and if coal mining is destructive and fast food not profitable, then why not use all of that undeveloped land to bring in new industries and jobs? Maybe some of those acres reserved for the ACE can be instead reserved to build a university. There'd be numerous construction jobs, teaching jobs and other staff jobs for people to just pick up and start earning money. Or maybe a hospital, to bring proper medical care to the people who have had their health jeopardized by years of exposure to coal dust and slurry.

The same solution for Appalachia can be the same solution for Afghanistan. The fight there can be won by using all of the land cultivated for poppies to grow something else that's useful and beneficial for the people growing it. Instead of harvesting heroin, people could grow soybeans or wheat for food. Or they could grow industrial hemp for fabrics and paper. And as the Taliban would lose the money they make from Opium sales, Afghanistan's people would gain back their health and livelihoods. Just as Massey would be denied permits from the ACE because of clean water regulation, that land could be developed for things like education, health care and other non-extractive industries.

Instead of agonizing over symptoms, its time we shift our focus to the problem, and all get to work on making this world a better, safer, healthier place to live.