Miners should join with opponents of mountaintop mining

It is a mystery why coal miners are the adversaries of environmentalists on the issue of mountaintop removal. It is an indisputable fact that coal will be a vital source of fuel during the lifetime of any miner who is now working. No matter which way the winds of politics blow, coal will be a primary fuel for at least 50 years. Ninety percent of Kentucky's power is produced by coal-fired power plants.

It's been said, though, that because of environmental activism, 30,000 mining jobs have been lost in recent years. I believe, however, that the mining industry is championing the cause of the job loss with its support of the practice of mountaintop removal.

I am no mining expert, but intuitively I would say that it takes far fewer miners to run giant shovels and huge dump trucks in the process of decapitating a mountain than it does to work a conventional mine.

The owners and board members of the big mining companies live in fancy homes near the big cities. Their top priority is to extract the greatest yield for the lowest cost. They are unconcerned that the mountains the miners have lived and raised families in are being reduced to moonscapes.

Coal miners should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with environmentalists in calling for a halt to this violation of their homeland.

By toeing the company line in an effort to save their jobs, I am afraid the Kentucky coal miners are selling themselves down the river.

Perry L. Waller

Somerset

Charen in the right

I smiled while reading a recent letter accusing Mona Charen, a level-headed conservative, of distorting the validity of religion in the public square.

The letter writer, a co-chair of the Central Kentucky American Civil Liberties Union, and his ilk are constantly on guard against the blasphemy of suggesting that Christianity has a role in government or the public-school system.

Our nation has a Christian heritage, and an atheistic and/or ultra-liberal minority has made it its mantra to minimize the Christian faith in all arenas since the 1960s.

The "wall" between church and state is a created phrase that has gained stamina and political force over the years. Charen, like millions of regular Americans, knows that prayer in school or a Christmas tree on the Capitol lawn in no way "promotes" religion. The ACLU and other groups want to imply it does.

Our founding fathers did not want to take religion out of the secular arena; they simply were wary of an official national religion.

The letter writer is the one being intellectually dishonest because his creed and mission seem to be to keep the Christian faith isolated and subjugated to his view of life and government.

Jonathan Mackey

Lexington

White pride

We have Black History Month and Latino festivals. But why don't we have a white history month?

We have beauty pageants that everyone can participate in, whites and blacks. However, blacks can have their own beauty pageants that white people can't enter.

Most of our forefathers who started this great country were white. I believe we should have one month set aside to honor them.

I also wonder why people who are not U.S. citizens can come to this country and work, drive and have the same benefits as citizens. We should not have to learn to speak Spanish if these people are going to live here — they should be able to speak English.

I'm proud to be a white American citizen, and I think white people should have a month to remember who our ancestors are and for what they died.

Evelyn Mitchell

Nicholasville

Corporate health care

Thank you for publishing Deb Moessner's corporate view of health care. It gave an insight of what the president of Anthem assumes medicine is for. It also shows how Rep. Ben Chandler got suckered into voting against the health care bill.

The politicians, pundits and other shills who have been bought by these companies get to define the terms of the debate. "Affordable" means corporations keep making obscene profits. It means ordinary people still go bankrupt because they get sick, and people who don't have money to begin with die because they can't get care. As corporations love saying, they are not charities. To them, medicine is for making money.

If we did recognize a right to health care, Anthem and their ilk would need to make sure they can suck money from all of us. This is why they can't tolerate what she calls "free riders." This is why they deny coverage to people with expensive pre-existing conditions. This is why they throw doctors out of their networks for ordering too many expensive tests. This is why they tell people to go to free clinics to get drugs, a practice akin to telling people to save money by raiding the local food bank.

This whole health care debate should have us asking: Does our society exist for the good of the people who live in it? Or does it exist to enrich the corporations that run it?

Will Warner

Lexington

A better pay plan

I like this idea of executive salary cuts but believe it should be extended to include elected officials at all levels of government. I suggest we not pay them anything during the work year and at the end of the year, we vote on how much of their salary and expenses they have earned and pay them in one lump sum. We could do this on an individual state basis.

Government occasionally follows the old adage, "even a blind pig will pick up an acorn every now and then" and does something right.

Donald R. Fugette

Lexington

Questionable arrest

There is a problem with the news report, "Police looking for meth find mushrooms." The article states that police conducted a raid looking for a methamphetamine lab, but instead found magic mushrooms and arrested the Pulaski County man on drug trafficking charges.

Did you see the problem? If police had a warrant for a crystal meth lab and did not find one, then the search warrant should be invalid — no matter what other items were found. If the basis for the search warrant turns out to be false, then anything found in the home is the product of an unconstitutional search. If anyone still cares.

Joe Hurt

Lexington

Change the sheriff

Our local elections here in Lexington-Fayette County are approaching. The office of Fayette County sheriff, held by Kathy Witt, will be one of those up for election.

We need change in the sheriff's office. Our current president, Barack Obama, campaigned on that same slogan. In keeping with that spirit, please consider change when you cast your vote for the office of Fayette County sheriff.

Jeff Coleman

Lexington