Reply #14: Sorry I wasn't able to logon yesterday evening because . . . [View All]

. . . my husband went in for pre-op testing yesterday afternoon and, last evening, we were running around searching for everything he'll need for one of those all-day liquids-only diets (Thursday) in preparation for out-patient surgery on Friday. Anyway . . .

After reading your essay a couple of times, I went to bed with the uneasy feeling that there was something not quite true about what you're saying and, for some unknown reason, I fell asleep remembering something that Robert Frost, the poet, had written about thinking in metaphors . . . something to the effect that there are strong and weak metaphors. I concluded that, though it might be made stronger, your metaphor is a good one: "Mining Coal in Iraq"?? Indeed! HOWEVER. . .

You're going to need to do a little more re-thinking on the subject because, for one thing, the "Age of Coal (AoC)" is not (yet!) a thing of the past. From where I'm sitting, right now, it looks as though the Age of Coal is an on-going battle for justice in the coalfields . . . and it's something with consequences--hidden and otherwise--upon any and all of our heads whether or not we use electricity . . . (as I do while creating the very monitor glare that limits my time in front of this computer) . . . (sigh)

Rather than detailing what I'm talking about, I ask that you check out the following websites for a better idea of what it means to fight for justice in the coalfields. Hopefully, you'll consider doing a little more thinking in metaphors and writing another, updated essay about "Mining Coal in Iraq".

At the following URL, scroll down to the link for a LTTE written by someone who must have had the same "American Dream" as my husband and I. Be sure to read, too, the readers' comments re: the LTTE.

Note: I tried to post a URL directly to the newspaper in Pennsylvania, but it didn't work; and the following URL is for a coalfield citizens' organization comprised of local citizen action groups from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio who are fighting against the irresponsible longwall mining practices that (since 1975 in our home-county alone) have been damaging/destroying natural water resources and supplies . . . not to mention our houses, barns, etc. and our very way of life . . . (BTW: Some folks say you haven't really lived until your well is subsided, the water disappears, and you can light the methane coming out of your kitchen water-faucet like a blow-torch!):

http://www.tristatecitizens.org


The following URL will take you to a coalfield citizens' group in downstate West Virginia . . . where they're fighting against the mountaintop removal/valley-fill mining method . . . i.e., blast-the-top-off-the-mountain & dump-'er-in-the-hollow mining method . . . (and, besides, who cares if, in the mining process, a boulder crashes downhill through the wall of a house and lands in a bed on top of a sleeping three-year-old?):

http://www.webpages.charter.net/crmw/permit.htm


While you're at it, check out the following URL for a national coalfield citizens' group:

http://www.citizenscoalcouncil.org


Sure hope you like to do research, arendt. :-) Hang in there!

(edited to correct a couple typing errors)

(edited--again!--to add the following):

Today, I took a closer look at West Virginia's flag. (It's June 20th, 2006, the State's 163rd birthday, BTW.) And . . .

I said to myself: "Do you think that, perhaps, West Virginians should think about having someone design a new flag for us? I mean: Thanks to modern coal-mining methods, both of the men pictured on that flag--a miner and a farmer--are becoming anachronisms in the 'Age of Coal (AoC)'."

"Yeah," myself replied. "While we're at it, think about how we're no longer 'Wild and Wonderful West Virginia' but we're--wouldn't ya know it?--'Open for Business'."

"Well," I said. "Maybe we should seriously consider changing our State motto from 'Mountaineers are always free' to something more realistic. For instance: 'Hillbillies to the highest bidder'."

Etc., etc., etc. :eyes: