Farmers Want Willie Nelson Back

Holy smokes! Land sakes alive! No, it wasn't Elvis; but the audience ended up all shook up anyway.

Had they only asked, I could have told this Farmer's Association about this recording artist, author, and political activist, Bob Miller. The very first thing I would have told this group was not to wear white to the meeting. The media didn't tag him, America's most controversial writer for the fun of it. Believe me, Bob Miller's little fireside chats are no fun. But no--they were not interested in what I had to say—I'm just a girl. This group wanted to be entertained and save a buck at the same time. The initial cost I'm sure was less than some of the big name speakers get, but that's before factoring in the cost of several years of psychoanalysis that's needed to get over one of Miller's speeches.

Miller started off on the right track to win the hearts of farmers everywhere, but it was to be short-lived.

"Since I have picked my share of cotton--by hand I might add—and walked behind mules from sun up to sun down trying my best to keep the plow point going in the right direction without hitting a root, and have cut fodder and pulled corn until my hands bled, I do not need someone to explain the drudgery and hardships of farm life to me."

My gosh, you would have thought George W. Bush had walked in. Cheers rang out that you could have heard in Utah, but an entirely different message was soon to be on its way to Utah. It was like wham, bam, thank you ma’am. Hate to eat and run, but got to go. Miller stopped talking to let the farmers embrace his words for the last time ever. He just stood there grinning. Finally, he took a sip of water and continued, but in an altogether different direction.

"My question is: Why are farmers so worried about the pennies minorities are getting in social aid? American farmers have more lobbyists in Washington, D.C. than the NRA. You whine about political corruption and even before a newly elected member of Congress can get to Washington, you're in his or her living room offering them bushel baskets full of money to see it your way.

"Not more than ten minutes ago a group of you were telling me we had to do something about these illegal aliens. According to law enforcement agencies, seventy-five percent of all the illegal aliens in this country are employed by farmers, ranchers and food related processing plants."

A few of the faces listening had a stiff upper lip, but most were looking at each other as if to say, "Please pinch me, I'm dreaming". But they were not dreaming and things were going to get worse.

"Talk about the worst kind of hypocrisy, and you're talking about the American tobacco grower and processor. And wouldn't you just know it, this little group of evil doers live and work in what's called the Bible Belt. And the vast majority of them, true to the bigot's code, are members of the so-called Moral Majority. Tobacco, as all of you know, is one of the most deadly drugs the world has ever known. The growers and processors of this satanic plant murder more people worldwide on an hourly basis than illegal drugs and Osama bin Laden and his crew do in a year."

By now most of the seats were empty, and that's probably just as well. From the Bible Belt Miller took off for Utah to talk about polygamy. Then it was off to Rome to see the Pope about why the church had been covering up and protecting pedophiles.

Bob Miller spent twenty-one years traveling across North America and interviewing people from all walks of life who claimed to have had a conversation with God. He presents a cross-section of those conversations in Toto Coelo, sub-title By the whole extent of the heavens. Not one word was changed, added, or deleted to conform to some personal or secular belief.

Thought-provoking and fun, Toto Coelo inspires its readers to laugh, scoff, and shed a tear or two. If you are like most people who have read this unique book, you will never forget it.

As one reviewer put it, it's easy to read this book's short conversations at odd moments throughout the day. That's how I began ... but the book pulled me in and I had to sit down and finished it.

The thing that sticks out most is how divergent each conversation is. At times I was amused; other times I thought the answers were highly ambiguous (perhaps I wasn't ready for these?) Sometimes I was filled with compassion and hope, and at other times I had a sense of foreboding or doom.

Whew! ... it makes you think. I will be purchasing several copies to give away as gifts.