Here we go again

It looks like we're going to be in for another coal-fired hissy fit as the EPA takes a more active role in regulating mountaintop removal mining. Here's WV Public Radio on the topic. As I've said more than once here before, it wouldn't surprise me if things get really ugly around here.

This past summer, El Cabrero made the following predictions about coal controversies:

First, the powers that be here will resist any climate change legislation or regulations of mining with the same intensity that those in the south resisted desegregation.

Second, state political leaders will try to outdo each other in positioning themselves as defenders of the status quo--even some of the ones who know better.

Third, it wouldn't surprise me if somebody gets killed. If that happens, it will probably be at the hands of people inflamed by over-heated rhetoric.

Fourth, when it's all over, people will wish they'd done things differently.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED? The stock market may be back from the brink, but unemployment is likely to remain high and do a lot of damage without more action to stimulate the economy, according to Paul Krugman's latest.

LOUDNESS AND LOBBYISTS dominate efforts to block real health care reform, according to this op-ed from the Gazette.

RACISM AND THE RIGHT are discussed here.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST. I guess we can start revising the family tree after the discovery of a hominid who walked upright more than 4 million years ago.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED