Two Regions

I am still keeping an eye on the protests in the Middle East and North Africa while pulling for the people of those countries. I continue to pray for Freedom and Peace for all there. Democracy would probably be good for the region, too, but it would have to be a grassroots version and not one of our making. It also may take awhile to concoct. In trying to visualize the region, I found the map above that I thought might help others also. (You can click on it to view it better.)

I am also keeping an eye on what is happening in my home state of Kentucky whose General Assembly (legislature) is now in session. 

I am particularly interested in the eastern part of the state with its especially destructive brand of coal mining known as mountaintop removal (MTR).

This is really not that far off from what is going on in the Middle East and North Africa. In the Lexington Herald-Leader this morning, satirical columnist Larry Webster said that in the mountains the coal company Massey Energy is referred to as "Ole Massa." The coal companies have ruled Kentucky and especially its eastern portion dictatorially for years. They own both the legislature and the governor.

Kentucky writer Silas House  had an op-ed in the New York Times this morning in which he said:

The news media and the rest of the country typically think of mountaintop removal as an environmental problem. But it’s a human crisis as well, scraping away not just coal but also the freedoms of Appalachian residents, people who have always been told they are of less value than the resources they live above.

I also pray for Freedom and Peace for those in Kentucky and its eastern mountains. Democracy in Kentucky would be good, too.