Here we go again...

It's been nearly 10 years since I made a pilgrimage to Okinawa. When I was there, I made friends with a freelance writer who likes to ping me on days when some weird news story breaks from West Virginia...

...which is to say, we've been in touch a lot.

The best such days are when it's just something weird, like maybe a real X Files-type story. The worst are those days when WV makes the national news over some acts of bigotry and/or craven groveling to exploitative corporations.

The last year or so has been an X Files bust and a bigotry/groveling boom.

Where are Mothman, Bat Boy, and the Braxton County monster when you need them?

Let's start with groveling. Top of my list in that department was the time when a representative of a business group told legislators that we didn't need to update safe water standards since West Virginians are heavier, drink less water and eat less fish.And won the day.

For real.

That moment was another example of why I want to update the state motto from "Mountaineers Are Always Free" to "You Can't Make This **** Up."

But it's been a real banner year for bigotry. We had the state delegate who made a joke about drowning his children if they turned out to be LGBTQ. We had the Islamophobic outburst at the state capitol. We now have a public library board about to consider banning a non-sexually explicit LGBTQ-friendly children's book.

You can probably guess where I'm going with this.

I agree with what WV Senator Joe Manchin said in the wake of the publication of a photo of corrections trainees raising their hands in an apparent Nazi salute: "This is not the West Virginia I know or grew up in."

But things have changed here over the last few years. Dramatically. And, while the outbreaks are by no means confined to West Virginia,they seem to be occurring more frequently here.

It makes me think of the early phases of an epidemic. In Albert Camus' novel The Plague, a parable about the rise of fascism and Nazism that I've often quoted, the first signs begin when dead rats start showing up in the Algerian city of Oran.

Nobody noticed that much at first. Then it was just a nuisance. But pretty soon, it wasn't just rats any more.

I keep going back to something one of the heroes of that novel said about the epidemic:

"All I maintain is that on this earth there are pestilences and there are victims, and it’s up to us, so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences."

The book ends with a warning against being too complacent about such metaphorical outbreaks. The narrator cautions that:

"...the plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good; that it can lie dormant for years and years in furniture and linen-chests; that it bides its time in bedrooms, cellars, trunks, and bookshelves; and that perhaps the day would come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it would rouse up its rats again and send them forth to die in a happy city."

Thoughts on Orlando

The South Region of the American Friends Service Committee issued this statement in the wake of the Orlando shootings.

The horrific violence of the Orlando mass shooting has appalled and saddened people of good will throughout the United States and the world. The American Friends Service Committee’s South Region stands in solidarity with all who mourn this tragic event. Like everyone else touched by this, we send our thoughts and prayers on behalf of the dead, the wounded, the fearful and the grieving.

Our staff and volunteers have labored long and hard in Florida and throughout the American South to promote nonviolence and social justice. Our work intersects with many of the flashpoints and fault lines this disaster reveals.

We have consistently opposed bigotry, hatred, intolerance and violence when these are directed towards those who are or are perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. We have actively opposed—and are actively opposing—discriminatory policies proposed or enacted throughout our region.

At the same time, we oppose the hatred and fear directed against Muslims by those who blame the entire Islamic community for the actions of individuals or small groups. We also fear that the backlash created by these events will result in harm to already marginalized immigrant communities from all backgrounds.

We recognize that violence and discrimination against people who are LGBT is a worldwide problem not confined to any region or religion. In our region, mean-spiritedness has often taken the form of bigoted legislation coming from the highest circles. We also recognize that Islamophobia, particularly when trumpeted by would-be leaders and media outlets, can lead to further alienation and acts of violence. The tragedy also highlights the needless suffering caused by easy access to weapons of mass murder and a culture that glorifies violence.

In the words of Lucio Perez-Reynozo, coordinator of AFSC’s Florida programs, “nothing that can be said can ease the pain and suffering of those who lost their relatives and those whose relatives were injured during this act of violence.  As individuals, we are called upon to reflect deep down in our consciousness and spirituality to find our divine force and condemn human violence happening in Orlando and around the world.  Violence only brings more violence.”

Situations like this one call upon the better angels of our nature. We urge those in positions to influence public opinion and promote public safety to avoid xenophobic responses to this attack, which could only worsen an already bad situation. This is a time to mourn, but also to build bridges and to reject hate even as we work to build a safer, freer and more secure world for all.

Those of us who carry out the work of the American Friends Service Committee in the South region, which ranges from southern Florida to central Appalachia, rededicate ourselves to the difficult task of opposing all forms of oppression and violence, whatever their source.

In the words of Albert Camus, “We all carry within us our places of exile, our crimes and our ravages. But our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to fight them in ourselves and in others.”

Oh good

The Koch brothers are pretending to give a ____ (fill in the blanks as your conscience dictates) about poverty.

COAL'S DECLINE. Here's an interesting take on that.

FINALLY, here's a sad look at what a life of fear sounds like.