Time to clear the palate?

There's a big dust up going on at the WV capitol right now over a medical marijuana bill. So far it's generating a lot of heat. (Did you notice I resisted the temptation to make a cheesy smoke joke?)

 Earlier today, there was a public hearing on nasty changes to the SNAP program. I was one of around 20 people who opposed it. The only one who spoke in favor was a paid lobbyist.

There are several bad budget bills floating around. Here's just one example from the senate.

I mostly just want things to be over.

If you just want a change from all that, in the most recent Front Porch program/podcast from WV Pubic Broadcasting, we talk about such burning issues as:

*Is it cool for public schools to teach little kids that Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs?; and

*What we think about Mike Pence's rules for having dinner or drinks with someone of the opposite sex.

WV Public Broadcasting also re-released a popular Front Porch program in which I attempt to teach the uninitiated how to speak Appalachian.

(The Spousal Unit noted an error I made in  the podcast while discussing cool forms of Spanish profanity in which I called a verb a noun. I usually don't make mistakes where profanity is concerned.)

This is our concern, Dude

Over 1000 very poor West Virginians are about to lose SNAP food assistance. Many of these may be homeless or living in isolated rural areas or may be dealing with diagnosed mental and physical health issues. I guess the good news is that the number of such people is probably much smaller than it would have been without public pressure and media scrutiny.

SO THIS MUST BE MY WEEK FOR RADIO. The latest Front Porch podcast from WV Public Broadcasting features my friend Pastor Matthew Watts talking about racial disparities in WV's prison system.

The Front Porch podcast/program, by the way, won 2nd place in the Associated Press broadcasting awards for Virginia and West Virginia. The category was editorial or editorial series.

And while we're at it, the multi-state public broadcasting program Inside Appalachia recycled a Front Porch segment in a program on "Appalachianism," Appalachian dialects, prejudices against hillbillies, and the politics of language. I  never said I was not a potty mouth in case you listen.

OFF TOPIC. Some big political news in WV is a planned visit by democratic socialist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to my home county. You won't find any endorsements here, but a friend sent me this article by writer and WV native Jedidiah Purdy. To be exact, he proposes 11 theses on Sanders.

I have no knowledge of this topic whatsoever, nor would I be disposed to discuss it if in fact I did, but I'm pretty sure the 11 theses is a riff on the same number of theses written about philosopher Ludwig Feuerback by the young Marx.  That's what I heard anyway.