Requiem and Exordium

You saw them. The endless ads on social media prior to the General Election last year. The endless attack ads from sites like redstateusa or takebackourcountry or hillaryforjail that incessantly pounded away with ridiculous allegations that were easily disproved. When you responded with Snopes or FactCheck those who posted just said that those were liberal sites that could not be trusted. Vaunted news sources such at The New York Times and Washington Post and even the right leaning Wall Street Journal were and still are dismissed as “fake news.” The endless sprawl of sources that no one had ever heard of before were received as gospel only because they pandered to those who had

already succumbed to the false narrative. Not only were they received by the public as gospel but they found their way into marginally more reliable resources such as Breitbart and Newsmax and The Blaze and thence into campaign pronouncements by the candidate himself. Candidate Trump seemed to accept any allegation that made its way into print, no matter the veracity, as suitable fodder for his campaign rallies and he used them to stoke the flames.

Perhaps 10 days before the election polls showed Hillary Rodham Clinton leading by as much as 10 points. Donald Trump had been slammed by the Access Hollywood revelations of his audio recordings in which he described groping women in a very crude manner. At the same time Wikileaks began the dribble of emails hacked from the DNC. Just a few each day to keep the pot boiling. Did anyone ask where the leaks were coming from? Why, yes, they did but those questions were met with an uproar from those haters of Hillary Rodham Clinton and she has many. Thirty years of recorded government service makes it almost impossible for anyone who has been in the public eye to be elected these days. But the questions remain. Who is responsible for dribbling these nuggets out to Wikileaks to be distributed?

Just a few weeks before the election FBI director James Comey, who had recently cleared Hillary Rodham Clinton of wrongdoing in her email fiasco, said he was reopening the case due to recently discovered emails that may or may not bear on that investigation. About 10 days before the election he stated that no, they did not but by then the damage was done. Even proven revelations that Russia was interfering in our electoral process were ignored.

I bring this up at this time, far too late for any correction, because I finally got around to watching Frontline's two episode expose entitled “Putin's Revenge.”   Link to Frontline  Step by step it revealed
how attempts at lying and misinformation during the Ukrainian violence and the interjection of Russian forces into Syria clouded judgment on how to respond and, finally, nothing was done. Then as the campaigns heated up in 2015 Putin, who despises Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Russian intelligence services began to inject mechanisms that would stoke the flames of conspiracies and hatred into social media. Have you wondered whatever happened to all those crazy postings that disappeared after the election? Well, now you know.

Something like 80,000 votes spread over 3 states tipped the electoral college. Hillary Rodham Clinton went on to outpoll Donald Trump by some 3,000,000 votes. Mostly from the west coast.

Til now I have refrained from speaking on the validity of the election but the Frontline series is so damning using facts that are verifiable and confirmed by our leading intelligence agencies' directors that the knowledge must become widespread in order to avoid the influence of nefarious actors in our elections. It is critical that we trust our electoral process and believe that our decisions are based on truthful evidence.

Of course, these allegations are cheapened by the attempted humor of those who benefited, some of them exclaiming “I didn't see no Russians where I voted” as if that was a statement with any meaning other than to thumb their noses at the opposition.

And now we have a few Congressional committees looking into the allegations of impropriety with the majority party doing its best to put a clowns face on those who bring the charges. The investigation that finally matters is the one conducted by Director Mueller who, from all appearances, is digging deep.

Here is My Take. I don't think that Donald Trump met with the Russians and hatched out a plan to subvert the election. However, I do think that it is possible that some in his campaign did. I don't think that the Trump campaign went out and dug up dirt wherever they could get it because it is obvious that their tactic was just to lie about it. What I believe is that the Russians did use Russian resources to contaminate social media and I believe that they were the suppliers of “leaks” to Wikileaks and were exceptionally creative with the timing of the leaks. What I believe is most damning is that Donald Trump and his campaign were aware of the spurious nature of this information and used it anyway. A clear indication of what his administration would be like. It has become the least trusted and most dramatically incompetent administration seen in the modern age, maybe in our history.

Yes, Donald Trump won the election. The ballots were not fudged nor boxes stuffed. Yes, enough of our fellow citizens bought the lies and misdirection to elect him, heaven help us. Now we have to hope against hope that there are still enough honest and patriotic men and women in Congress to save us. Yes, that body that only a couple of years ago had the lowest polling numbers in government is now our bastion of hope.

Don't take my word for it. Read some trustworthy news source but, at the very least, watch the Frontline report I mentioned.

End of The Tunnel or the Train

Republicans who represent what used to be the GOP are declining to seek re-nomination for their Congressional seats. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee and, today, Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona have both announced they will not seek to hold their seats. I won't try to pretend that I was often on the same side of issues with them but they are people that one can respect even if there are differences. These days the rage is to not only be contrary to but to be all disrespectful about it while calling people derogatory names that defy common knowledge. The other day I had to ask just what a

snowflake is. I figured it couldn't be good but just how disrespectful it is surprised me. The same goes for the epithet “libtard.” I figured that one out but it is disgusting. I don't mean to say that I am above a good euphemism from time to time but when referring to the opposition I will use the term “reactionary” or “right wing” but I have to admit they don't carry the same load of degradation as those other terms.

Senator Flake gave an eloquent speech to announce his intentions and he did not mince his words leaving little doubt as to exactly what he felt about our leader and those who support him in his

disrespectful way of communication. I am awaiting news coverage to hear the latest from tweet central concerning this matter. Senators, Flake, McCain and Corker are becoming more emboldened. Not finding it necessary to cater to the strange proclivities of some of the electorate is liberating indeed. Senator McCain is likely to be set free by another means and he seems willing to joust with the devil before yielding to the inevitable. I say God bless them.

We have spent what seems to be an eternity awaiting the rising of the loyal opposition to reclaim its just place in the hierarchy of political discourse. The mutiny that has seized power within the GOP has recently overcome us. It has been stalking our halls of power for decades funded by obscenely wealthy white men who want nothing less than domination of all that they survey. They view any concession made out of compassion or general good will to be a sign of weakness and detrimental to the hegemony of the United States. Our leader believes that any deal made must not be equally advantageous but must always provide a superior benefit to our country. This is not how we became a great nation that professes to not seek empire but strives for an equitable world in which all are given the opportunity to rise to their gifts.

There are a lot of people whose desire it is to toss out the baby with the bath water and do away with the existing political parties and toss incumbents out of Congress. Drain the swamp, if you will. That is a misguided desire and ignores our responsibility to seek change and improvement within

ourselves to repair a damaged political system. Can they really believe that by installing new people without the electorate itself living up to its charge will result in something better? What it seems that people want is some form of fascism to dictate whatever result they deem proper to be enforced. I despair sometimes that we may not be smart enough to rule ourselves but I am yet committed to that principle because anything else is demonstrably worse.

It is my earnest hope that the actions of these Senators will foster a movement that will result in the reclamation of their party and its traditional tenets. Even if I disagree with them they were people who could be relied on to earnestly seek the welfare of the national being. I hope that these few will be the match that lights the fire of democratic expression in the GOP and burns out the fascism that has reared its ugly head.

A political axiom goes that when your opponent is digging himself into a hole then you should get out of the way. If this is what the Democratic Party is using for a guiding principle then it is sorely misguided. The President has a rock solid 35% base that wouldn't care if he blew up Boston. They are going to be with him. As nauseating as that may be it is the political reality that we now face. If the Democratic Party thinks that a successful campaign can be run by just saying they are not Trump then the party is primed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The Democratic Party must develop a narrative that explains to the American people why they would be better off with them in power than with the GOP. That has not been done to my satisfaction and I doubt that it has for large numbers of

others. Were it so we would not see so many people gravitating to the far left of the party. The Democratic Party must clearly state what its principles are on trade, immigration and global relationships and pray that there are still enough members of the American electorate who can understand or even want to understand that narrative. The attention span of the electorate has degraded to the point that if you can't state a message in 15 seconds you're toast. Remember Ross Perot and that 30 minute commercial complete with charts? The audience would be watching Dancing With The Stars 3 minutes into it. Let's face it. It is harder to build a positive message than it is to just denigrate and tear the other person down. People respond to negative ads and that is a simple truth but if we are to choose leaders based on who is the nastiest then let's just crown Steve Bannon.

I have often said and I believe that the people get the kind of government they ask for. My Take is that they got it in spades this time.

Liberal v. Conservative. Do you have a clue?

Is ‘Classical Liberalism’ Conservative? - WSJ



For the political scientist this kind of stuff is manna cast before the masses.  While I do not agree with every tenet espoused here this exposition illuminates the ignorance so prevalent as to what passes for "liberal" and "conservative" these days.  I have grown weary of people shouting "libtards" and "snowflakes" as if they had any real meaning other than in the pejorative sense and I am just ticked off enough to begin calling people out on this.  Common consensus is no replacement for actual knowledge.  One cannot understand the liberal democratic (note the lack of capital letters) experiment in the United States without understand at least to a small degree the underlying political philosophies underlying the creation of this nation.  Many rail about how we need to get back to our Christian values on which the country was founded but this country was not and has never been a "Christian Country."  The values sometimes are identical but our underlying philosophies are firmly based in property rights and the protection of said rights.  I do not mean to diminish the value of Christianity because it serves a totally separate and distinct purpose but that purpose does not include governing the people of the United States.



If you have the stomach for actually expanding your mind and thinking deeply this article can be a gateway into one of the great learning experiences available to the evolution of modern mankind and by understanding it you may come to understand how our lack of knowledge undermines the very foundations of this republic.



If only a small number of people would read this and become curious, or even a single person, about the rationale for our founding then this diatribe may have been worth it.

Carnage As A Way Of Life

Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
Our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad bull lost its way

Gimme Shelter: Rolling Stones

Guns? Whaddaya gonna do? I own several but only use one. A .22 rifle that I use to take pot shots at things with and to discourage the occasional grackle when it lingers too long at my bird feeders. I am judicious when I use it because I have been known to destroy a perfectly good bird feeder in order to dissuade the bird. I have a .30-.30 that I have only used once to shoot the leg off a robin that kept flying into our window. That was before I got the .22. Americans have a love affair with their guns. There are far more guns than there are people and that even allows for those who do not own guns. I keep them put up and unloaded because I am aware that people are a fractious bunch given to

excitable exhibitions of impulsive behavior. In other words, I am far more fearful of them being used to kill me than I am of some imagined intruder breaking in and killing me before I could run to get one and bring it to bear. As a matter of fact I have tried to imagine a scenario in which I could reach a weapon to deter him from bringing harm to me or mine. I decided that if I kept one tucked into the couch cushion I might be able to get it out and use it before the intruder used his. Now, this is not some idle maundering because I know people who do just that and they scare me. If they are that jumpy then I need to sit out in the car and blow the horn before I approach the door.

We have about 36,000 gun deaths per year here in the land of the free. It seems that almost half of them are from suicides. I've heard a lot of stuff. Probably the most frequently used is that it is not the gun that is the problem, it is the people and their depraved hearts. That is just hard to argue with. It is

almost certainly true but depraved or not if the gun had not been present it may have been a bit harder to come up with another method. One woman who is a friend of mine said that she wanted to have as much firepower as whoever was on the other side of that door. That one sure sounds good but when logic and reason is applied it has to be realized that in the case of an attack a prolonged gunfight is not likely to be the outcome. To be sure, there are reports of people using their personal weapon to fend off an attack on themselves or on others and just knowing that is an option can't be discounted.

Of course, I'm talking about this now because of the massacre in Las Vegas. Some say we shouldn't politicize this horror by bringing up gun control but I say when would be better? Right now when the blood is still fresh and the smoke is in the air. While the horror of knowing 59 people died and over

500 were wounded by ONE man is the perfect time to be discussing this. As far as politicizing it, how is acknowledging the murders and searching for solutions being political? Oh, I know. Many will see this as a conservative/liberal issue because that is the way we are being conditioned to think about everything these days. Most certainly there is a large range of thoughts as to how we can get a handle on this but it is not impossible to come to some agreement.

First we must look for the things on which we can agree. It may be distasteful to some but overall there is room for immediate relief just by sitting down and talking without the lobbyists in the room. It looks like bump stocks (who had ever even heard of that) are one issue we can agree on. Maybe on armor piercing ammunition (I can assure you the police will be in favor of regulating that). To me silencers is a no brainer. The argument is so that gun enthusiasts can protect their hearing. Try ear protection. One of the costs of suppressors is that they degrade performance and who wants that?

The only thing that can stop a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun. These cute little memes come to you courtesy of the National Rifle Association the purpose of which is to sell more guns for the weapons manufacturers. The gun rights advocates are not going to get what they want and the gun regulation advocates are not going to get what they want either but we have to start somewhere or just accept that mass murder is an integral part of our culture. I can't do that.

If you take the guns away from law abiding people then only criminals will have guns. Another cute

meme designed to remove logic and inject emotion into the argument. First, it will not be possible to take people's guns away from them so don't stress over that but we can begin to reduce the number of guns available over time. Australia used a buy back that had quite an impact. Once laws are on the books to prevent undesirables from obtaining guns then we can begin to reduce the numbers that the bad guys have by taking them away from them whenever they cross paths with the police. Guns are so pervasive in our country that anything we do will take years to accomplish and an unknown time for the deaths to begin to decrease. There is no panacea that is compatible with our Constitution. We have to want it to happen for it to work and there is the elephant in the room. We love our guns.

What are you willing to sacrifice in order to see gun deaths come down? To not hear of mass murders on television and see those victims whose hearts are breaking and whose lives will never be the same? What would it be worth to you to not hear of children killing children in Chicago? Do you have the heart for it or will you cling to your own unwillingness to give up your love? My Take is that I would give a lot. I would sacrifice my own irrational love for my firearms. There will be millions, yes millions, who will reject this out of hand without any thought whatsoever. Will we continue to allow them to permit our children, brothers , sisters to be killed?

Taking Prayer for a Walk

Taking Prayer for a Walk

I once had a Pastor that was truly a man of prayer but he always mentioned that “we need to put legs on those prayers.” I took that to mean that it was all good to pray but that prayers worked better with some action.

After a period of trying to reason with people who are not racist as far as I know that white privilege does exist and that the statues of the Confederacy are symbols of that privilege I have given up. I can't penetrate the armor that protects people from the hard facts of racism. So many continue to say that the statues aren't the problem, that the hardness of people's hearts is the problem. Well, duh. But for the time being the statues are part of the problem. As is the meme floating around about never owning any slaves so just get over it.

So, I really want to request prayer for those cops that beat Freddie Gray to death. Even though they can't be convicted in a court of law maybe they can be convicted in their hearts. And I want to ask for prayer for Freddie Gray's family so that they can have peace knowing that people are praying for them.

Also for Tamir Rice who was killed by cops seconds after pulling up on him. Maybe those prayers will change the hearts of people who weren't appalled by his death. Too late for Tamir but better late than never.

And instead of people who are angry that anti-semitics, nazis and white supremacists are marching through our streets spouting hateful rhetoric I would like to ask for prayer for those skinheads, etc. to see the light and go home and do good works. No need to protest against them. Just stay home and watch television.

Personally, I'm a big fan of prayer but I'm also a big fan of action. Legs on the prayers. I don't think they are mutually exclusive.

My Take is that people sometimes hide behind prayer to keep from taking action. That's not right.

Down the Garden Path

In 1972 the Dow Jones average was at about 850. Yes, that's right. 3 digits. Last week the Dow cracked 23,000, 5 digits. Please don't think that I am an economic expert just because I happen to know how to get these figures. But, to me, this means that over the past 45 years the amount of wealth generated by those companies listed on the Dow Jones Exchange increased by a factor of 23. What is more surprising but irrational is that the wages of the average worker have increased by zip. That is right. The average worker in the United States has not received a raise in buying power in 45 years. How can that be possible?

Just today I saw an ad on television that said American businesses are hurting and can't afford to reinvest these surpluses and hire additional workers. The ad went on to say that the United States has the highest tax rates in the world and that we need tax relief. Thing is the ad didn't really say what it meant. What is true is that the United States has the 3rd highest corporate tax rate in the world but that hardly anyone pays it. For instance, for years now General Electric has not paid a cent in federal taxes. Apple and Microsoft, two of the most profitable companies in the world managed to tweak the law to an average tax rate of 16% to 19%.

Hedge funds, which are shelters for people with too much money and who don't want to risk it on a new reinvestment venture which may lose money, use something called "carried interest" which is taxed at a rate of 20%.

Often when I try to talk to people about this they just tell me "well, they're just smart. What they do is legal." That is true but that doesn't make it right. What they don't say is that the financial industry has the resources to lobby Congress for favorable taxation avoidance laws. Legal as it can be. The money spent on lobbying is the best money a corporation can spend having returns of thousands of dollars

for each dollar spent lobbying. One friend tells me joyfully that his investments have done better under President Obama than under President Bush by a lot. And that is after the Great Recession. Why is that? Government was forced to make investments to prevent the entire system from crashing which were very favorable to businesses. Much of the money loaned to the big banks was used not to create more jobs but, instead, to buy back stock thereby increasing the wealth of its investors. Money loaned to corporations at rates approaching 0% interest were used for the same things. Trillions of dollars financed by the federal government to essentially increase the wealth of investors. Now, the Federal Reserve is beginning to raise interest rates in order to pay off the bonds that it sold to finance those trillions and you should hear the howling.

But, what has that to do with us, the average Joe or Joan on the street? The question is where is the money? Politicians like to say that NAFTA allowed our jobs to go overseas and our leaders stuck it to us. It's true that many low skill, good paying manufacturing jobs went overseas leaving millions in the lurch but it is also true that manufacturing in the United States is now higher than is was before NAFTA. So, why can't people get good paying jobs? The answer is automation. Look at an assembly line. Where there used to be a man or woman welding or putting a nut on a bolt now there is a

machine doing it. How did that happen? Those companies used the money they borrowed from the Federal Government essentially interest free to automate and update their plants. Robots don't take vacations, get sick, have babies or ask for raises. They just work 24/7/365. What a deal!
But we really can't blame those corporations. The investors invest to make money and this one has a good return on investment. The real and the most pertinent question is why hasn't the average American worker shared in that explosion of wealth? Who does the lobbying for Joe and Joan? How can we restore the American middle class to the position of esteem it once held. From WWII to the 1970s it was the American worker who saw the greatest increases in wealth. Since then wealth has gone almost entirely to the wealthy leaving the middle class to gradually become the lower class with all of its attendant lack of benefits.

Now the talk of Congress is tax reform. They don't mean reform for Joe and Joan, they mean reform for those who just can't stand to see their millions and billions be subject to taxation like Joe's and Joan's. Once again they dangle the chimera of lower taxation for the rich meaning more jobs for you. Don't you believe it. It was a lie before and it's a lie now. I could maybe support a lower corporate tax rate if Congress would eliminate most or all of what is know as “tax expenditures” which are loopholes that corporations use to avoid taxes. I'll be you'd hear some howling about that. So, when they come to you talking about voting for tax reform and lower taxes don't you think for a minute they mean for you because that's not what they mean.

I want to leave you with a quote from Neel Kashkari who is President of the Minneapolis Branch of the Federal Reserve.

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said Monday that businesses who complain they are having trouble finding workers but don't raise wages are just "whining." In a question-and-answer session in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Kashkari said short-handed firms during the recent oil boom in North Dakota raised wages and "people responded." "Are you really struggling to find workers? If so, the proof for me is you are raising wages. If you are not raising wages, then it just sounds like whining," he said.

My Take is for Joe and Joan to hold on to their wallets because they're coming for you again. When they say tax reform ask “for who?” Next time we'll follow the money.

Which Side Are You On

Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin'
Four dead in Ohio

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I traveled to Lexington to be at the planned protest for the visit from the Vice-President. VP Pence had come to speak to a invited, select group of businessmen to hear of their misfortunes doing business with the Affordable Care Act. We wanted to remind the Veep and his guests that there were quite a few people who were expected to have trouble doing business without it. Likely far more than those who have been inconvenienced. We got there kind of early and there were only about 50 to 75 people there but as the afternoon wore on the crowd swelled to around 250 to 300 people who were passionate about health care for everyone which, of course, is in direct contradiction to what the Veep wanted to hear. While he listened to people tell him of how they were struggling to cover the increased costs of complying with the law we were loudly reminding them that there were people dying because of lack of access to affordable health care and, if the ACA is repealed then another 22 million will face the same future. In our crowd we had people who had suffered in secret until the ACA and expanded Medicaid made it possible for them to see a doctor.

This brings up one of the issues which is that insurance companies are having trouble assessing risk in covering a population with pent up health care needs. There was a provision in the original ACA to deal with this but the GOP objected and the provision was excluded. Now, in a twist of fate the GOP wants to do the same thing the original ACA did but now it's a new idea. Go figure. There was also a mechanism that would have prevented the imposition of duress on businesses but, you guessed it, the GOP got that thrown out too. Now they are going about as if they've never heard of it. The fact is that our own Senator Mitch McConnell tried every obstructionist trick in the book to cause the ACA to founder but, even now, with all its problems it is a very popular program and people don't want to let it go until they have something better. Well, that is what was promised you know but, as the President said, this stuff is hard. It was hard when President Obama proposed it and it was hard when Congress negotiated it and debated it. Something that Senator McConnell is loathe to do.

In May of 1970 National Guard units at Kent State University in Ohio opened live fire on students who had gathered to protest the war in Vietnam. Four students were murdered. That lit a fire that burned nation wide within 24 hours and campuses across the nation went out in protest. About both the murders and the war in Vietnam. It was the catalyst that began the long downhill slide to withdrawal from that war. I was at that protest in 1970 at the University of Kentucky and nothing in the intervening 47 years has motivated me to once again take up a sign and join with fellow citizens in this act of democracy. Peaceful, civil protest.

One of the things that has caused me pain is that the younger generations have not felt the pressure to take up this cause or any of the other causes that were sufficient reason to take to the streets. The fact of the matter is that change will not come until the people speak loudly enough to be heard. Loudly enough to cause someone sitting in a safe seat in Congress to become worried that he or she may have to get a real job. One where production is considered important. There were a few people there from the current collegiate generation and I asked a few of them why they hadn't become a force. Most often what I heard was that those generations have grown up with the notion that the individual is powerless and that all politics is crooked. Those of us who are older have to ask ourselves how did we let that happen? How did we become fat and lazy enough to allow the will of the people to become something that can be ignored. How did we fail to pass our passion on to our children? How did we allow our government to become so devoted to the rich and powerful and neglectful of the great people of the republic? I have always been informed politically but it is not enough to just know what is happening and go vote. I have to speak up and not be silent. There is someone who needs to hear my voice and that is what motivated me to leave my comfort zone and go to Lexington to carry a sign and chant slogans in unity with those who feel as I do. I'll tell you, it was over 90 degrees and no cloud cover and I thought wistfully of my air conditioned home but I emphatically believe that our creature comforts are in danger of loss and I believe that the time is near when medical access may be considered unnecessary for people like me.

47 years ago I was a much younger and more passionate man. It was easy to see what was right and what was wrong. Now I'm an old man though I hate to consider it. Regardless of age one must speak out for right when wrong is on the attack. I have to ask you. When will you pick up your sign and leave your comfort zone? Wait and it could be too late.

Four citizens were killed at Kent State. Vietnam took some 58,209 of our best. If the ACA is lost it has the potential to kill millions. My Take is “which side are you on.”

MMF 2017 Opening night

I have to say that the award for the first day of the festival goes to Roanoke. This band brought great musicianship, lead vocals and harmony. Their songs fit squarely into the Americana category evoked visions of their storytelling. Well, except for their cover of Chains by Fleetwood Mac which they performed very well. I don't think the song lost anything in the translation.

I was floored to hear the first band, Frontier, do an amazing job. Usually the first act is one that is perhaps not yet ready for prime time but Frontier, doing their own songs, definitely are ready for prime time.

They were followed by The Wooks who sounded somewhat like The Seldom Scene or Yonder Mountain String Band except not as good. Some may disagree with me on this one but, to me, the vocals sounded a bit flat. Colter Wall came next and I felt about like I did after The Avett Brothers were here. I thought “who is this guy and why does everyone know about him except me?” He drew a big crowd of avid listeners plus he had a cute fiddle player who put on quite a show.

Leaving the Old 97's and, while they were competent, sounded like their name. A bunch of Old 97s. What I mean by that is that the music seemed dated. Maybe it's because most of the people there wouldn't have been old enough to listen to music in '97 and missed it first time around.

But, all in all a satisfyingly successful opening to the festival. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

I Have Known a Few

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no

Credence Clearwater Revival

One time I did some business with a local contractor who was known for being a bit reluctant to pay bills upon presentation. Being paid promptly is critical for a small business since cash flow is often dependent on, well, cash flowing. Being aware of his proclivity I wrote a clause in my contract that specified payment in full within 10 days of completion. I even went so far as to define “completion.” Predictably there was some reticence to make payment and I have to admit that in my earlier days I

could get a little excited over things like that. I had to deal with an underling so I got him cornered in the hallway and excitedly pointed out the clause in the contract. Well, he had to talk to his boss but returned with a check and told me I'd never work for them again. I told him that would be no problem and not to do me any favors. Now, he could have just stubbed up and told me to sue him which would have caused havoc in my cash flow but he didn't. He was marginally more honest than our President who has reportedly allowed himself to be sued numerous times and finally settled for pennies on the dollar or just forced smaller contractors into bankruptcy.

One runs into people like this from time to time. They consider themselves entitled because they are quite aware of the power they wield. As a matter of fact, it is the power that is the ultimate goal and it is power gained by humiliating opponents and exists for no other purpose than to humiliate. There is no inclination to use that power for good or altruistic purposes. They have none of these attributes and even acts of charity are performed for self-aggrandizement.

I don't know if it's nature or nurture that causes the development of such a narcissistic and self serving view of the world but, whatever it is, the motivation for such a person is the humiliation and debasing of the opponent. We've all known someone like that. Maybe it was the kid on your block or at your school who always had a nice baseball glove or the newest toys and liked to show them off. When you displeased him in some way he would not let you play with then and would allow someone else to play with them in front of you. As is obvious, I have known a few. If you didn't display proper reverence or provoked him he could call you names to debase your standing in relation to his. If you're unfortunate enough you've had a boss like this.

Our President is this kind of person. He has aspired to the highest office of the land, not to share his discernment and largess with others but for self-aggrandizement. He has accumulated the biggest toy box in the neighborhood and now gets to say who can play and who hasn't shown the proper respect to deserve his favoritism. He went to the Kingdom of the House of Saud who showered him with gifts and adulation which he reciprocated by reaching into his toy box and allowing them to play with his military hardware. One despot to another but showing proper respect. Then, on to Europe where, forcing his way to the front, he proclaimed that the other nations of the most significant alliance on Earth were robbing his rich country blind and he was going to take his toys and go home if they didn't begin acting as though they knew a good thing when they saw it. But, these were all democrats who presumed to be on an equal footing with him. What presumptuousness! He called them some names and came home. Now we find that our democratic allies that have participated in the greatest alliance ever are losing respect for him and,consequently, for the nation he represents. More troubling is they're beginning to form alliances that cut his country out of the mix but that's OK. America First, we don't need them anyway. Now the despots in China haven't done his bidding and tied North Korea down so he'll show them. He just shares his toys with Taiwan which is like blood in the water to a shark and threatens them with import tariffs.

You recall what I told that accountant? Well, that is what any self respecting national leader would also do and they are doing that resulting in American isolation because no one can trust our beloved country to always act with the well being of its allies at heart. How long can a great nation remain great in the light of such arrogance and ignorance.

Now, in a show of egalitarianism, the President has engaged with some talk show hosts that may have been critical over twitter, a messaging service previously suitable for only teens and pre-teens who have not yet formed the ability to maintain a thought for more than 140 characters.

I don't know how long a great country can stay great doing these things but one of the things that I

find dismaying is that some 35% of the American voters say he is doing a good job. That's about the size of his base who delight in the thumb in the eye rhetoric and who say he could be really great if people would just leave him alone.

My Take is that most of you would have punched that kid in the nose or at least decided you didn't need friends like that. That's where I am.

Trump Hands the Chinese a Gift:

Trump Hands the Chinese a Gift: The Chance for Global Leadership - The New York Times



 From the Trans Pacific Partnership to allowing the Chinese to assume
global prominence in a few short months. People decried the negative
aspects of the TPP which were largely imaginary but failed to have the
insight into the real purpose of the partnership. The containment of
the Chinese Expansion. The withdrawal today of the United States from
the Climate Change Accord has the potential to relegate the United
States to a second class power in solar, wind and other alternative
energy sources. The President has revealed a wish to be like the great
steel and oil barons of the 19th century by clinging to outdated and
doomed technology. The hope is that the market forces have begun to
change in such a magnitude so as to make it impossible to totally
retreat. A sad day for the United States.

Soggy Protest over the ACA Vote

It was definitely a soggy day in Somerset today for our planned protest event at Hal Rogers' office. We, members of Indivisible Lake Cumberland and Trumped Out in 2020,  had hoped for more but rain has a way of dampening spirits (pun intended). So 10 or 15 showed up with the tombstones with their message on them and they were pretty good and it was a motivated crowd. I have to admit that I was disappointed because I had a vision of meeting outside where the Friday afternoon traffic could see us and wonder what all those crazy people were doing at Hal's office. Didn't they know he wasn't there? We did know that but we are pretty upset at the way the vote to repeal and replace the ACA went even though we realize the House was just kicking it upstairs to the Senate. Sort of like the old game of kicking the can. Just make it go away with as little damage as possible. The Congressman had the opportunity to vote in favor of his constituency but turned it down in order to be the good soldier for the party. He really has no need to because it is commonly thought he can't be beat in the 5^th District and needs not fear for his reelection and he is almost 80 for crying out loud. Wouldn't he like to go fishing or something.

As I said, it was a motivated crowd and the Congressman's representatives there at the office were, as usual, very sympathetic and cordial. It's hard to act angry when people are so nice but we gave it our best shot. Amanda Morris spoke for many of us and she is quite articulate. We offered to leave our signs there but in a moment of rare candor one of the women working there said she would be happy to throw them in the trash for us so we took them home. One never knows when a good protest sign might come in handy.

I shot a few photos and the Commonwealth-Journal was kind enough to send a reporter over to cover the exciting event and then we dispersed having voiced our complaints with as much anger and disdain as we could muster.

This is why a good protest must always be in a high visibility area and have enough participants for it to look like a crowd. Unfortunately we all managed to fit inside the office and did so to avoid being soaked. We are still novices at this and it has been a very long time indeed that I have been vociferously involved in a protest. I pledge to do better.

 

this one was mine.  one can tell from the artistry.  plus it is the 

only one I had available to photograph

Legacy

Congressman Hal Rogers

The vote to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act is in and the House of Representatives has voted in favor of repeal and replace. Our Congressman Hal Rogers voted in the majority. In his 5^th Congressional District some 83,000 people gained insurance under the ACA. The 5^th district ranks

dead last of the 435 congressional districts in measures of well-being. It is the poorest district in the United States. In Congressman Rogers' district there are thousands of people who will lose their health insurance, many by having pre-existing conditions. These are all people who every two years line up and faithfully vote for him to return to Washington D.C. to represent their interests.

Congressman Rogers has done very well over the decades in bringing millions of dollars in development money to his district. We have good roads and The Center for Rural Development is a jewel of a showpiece. The 914 bypass is a wonderful and safe road and is a real time saver for driving around the area. It's linkup to the Daniel Boone Parkway by way of the proposed I66 is a vision for the future. Congressman Rogers was first elected to the House in 1981 and has served uninterrupted until now. He eventually rose to the offices of the elite in the House only to be met with an insurgent party that killed the practice of earmarks leaving him without the spoils of victory. He's done a fairly

good job at attracting some industry that locates in our area largely because we work cheap and give out incentives fairly freely. He is involved in the effort to bring potential to Eastern Kentucky through development and broadband services that some believe will open up the mountains to investment capital. I would say though that it is hard for a zebra to change his stripes. Many of those efforts are mired in the same quest by the wealthy to insure that those development dollars end up in their pockets. I have to say though that the vote to strip his constituents of the basic right to affordable health care is the nadir of his career.

The Congressman will turn 80 this year and it is likely he will not serve too many more terms. His apex of power has been reached and now is on the wane. He will be able to retire to his home of Somerset to live out his time with reverence. It is good to be a king. Now, though, he might turn his thoughts to his legacy. After all, our time here on Earth is brief and we live on only in memory of our works and relationships. We have been fortunate here in Somerset and Pulaski County to hold dear another icon who has our love and respect in Senator John Sherman Cooper.

Senator Cooper is in the top 2 or 3 Kentuckians who have served their constituents and their nation with great dignity and distinction. As a young man I became an admirer of his courage when he teamed with Democrat Frank Church to offer the Cooper-Church Amendment to limit funding to the Vietnam War and the invasion of Cambodia. It was the first high level attack on the status of the War in Vietnam and he did it as a Republican during the administration of President Nixon. He always

preferred negotiation with the North Vietnamese and it took a great deal of nerve and righteousness to do that and he was attacked for it. It failed to pass Congress but it still stands as a significant point of resistance to an immoral war. Senator Cooper also served as Ambassador to the United Nations, to NATO, to India and was special emissary for the President on many occasions. After President Kennedy's assassination he served on the Warren Commission that investigated the President's death. A statue in bronze stands on our Fountain Square to demonstrate our respect and to honor his memory. He was in all likelihood the last of the great Kentucky statesmen.

At this stage of his career Congressman Rogers has the opportunity to rise in his comparison with Senator Cooper. The Congressman is already revered in his district regardless of his actions that have not served his disadvantaged constituents all that well. He is not likely to return to the echelons of power that he once held but he can become a well known and renowned member of his party to help put the partisan gridlock that exists in our government away. It is thought that he is unbeatable in his 5^th district and that may well be true. Without fear of losing an election he is in a unique position to reach across the aisle to form coalitions with the opposition that will bring real improvement in well-being to his constituents who have been battered by persistent poverty, drug addiction and pollution. He, too, can become a beloved icon and maybe someday get his own recognition on the square.

My Take is that our Congressman can do a lot to cement his legacy by focusing on bipartisan relief for the Kentucky 5^th District which only recently was named the worst in the country for access to affordable health care.

Worst healthcare in the nation. 

I Am A Citizen

I Am A Citizen

War is the ultimate expression of the failure of humankind.

I thought now might be a good time for me to write a bit about war since the rattling of sabers is become louder by the day. I often express my dislike of war and my disdain for its effects. From those comments many of those who I encounter seem to think that I disrespect our men and women in uniform and take me to be less than patriotic. I want to make clear that I respect our men and women in uniform without reservation and appreciate the difficult and hazardous job that they do. They answer the call of their country out of different motivations but they make themselves available to be used as weapons when their country deems force to be necessary. Without the sacrifices made by hundreds of thousands of them we would not be living in the comfort and freedom that we do. What I have a problem with is the decision making that sends all those people into harms way. If I criticize military action I am not criticizing the soldier, sailor, airmen or marine who is doing the fighting. I am criticizing the people who make the decisions. Sometimes, rarely, I agree that military

action is necessary and proper. Most of the time I think we raise the sword too quickly. One of the things that I have noticed is that military leaders are not all that anxious to go into battle but once they are given the go order by the civilians that are in control of our military they set out with purpose to do the job. I think that many forget that the founders placed that in the founding document because they were well aware of what happens when a military is answerable only to itself. To their eternal credit our military leaders acknowledge this and honor it. With the civilian leadership we have these days that is proving to be a welcome practice.

We maintain the largest military in the world. Maybe not in bodies but certainly in war making ability. We spend more on the defense budget than the next 9 or 10 countries combined and that

includes Russia and China. An argument can be made that it is necessary to do that to make the world safe for democracy but that is a bit specious. Mostly what our worldwide projection of power does is make sure that markets remain open for our corporations. As a matter of fact it is estimated that as much as 80% of our defense department expenditures are devoted to this purpose and that only 20% is actually spent on national defense. On the other hand, keeping markets open also has the effect of maintaining global economic alliances that translate into security alliances. This was the point of the Trans Pacific Partnership but narrow minded people focused solely on the economic details and ignored how it would create a unified front against Chinese expansion in the South China Sea and the Pacific Rim. This isn't to say that the economic details could not be negotiated but that it had value beyond trade. Now, in the absence of such an alliance China is forging ahead with its colonization of the South China Sea and making alliances with other countries in the region. Eventually this will prove to be detrimental to the interests of the United States and maybe sooner rather than later. It appears that foresight is not a trait this administration possesses.

So, now the President is tweeting about North Korea not behaving and threatening to make them behave if China can't. This is what passes for diplomacy these days but that is not surprising since the State Department has been hollowed out and management positions still remain unfilled 100 days into the new administration which betrays an alarming lack of understanding of global affairs. Now, nobody wants North Korea to become a nation that has the ability to attack anyone with nuclear weapons. Especially Japan and South Korea but, if a shooting war starts, these are the two countries that will bear the brunt until the United States can respond. If we begin shooting in North Korea without exhausting every conceivable diplomatic effort then I will once again criticize those who send our men and women to war. Do I have the right to do that? Darn tootin' I do but that does not make me unpatriotic or unappreciative of our military. If we commit our military to any effort other than to degrade ISIS in Syria I will be critical of the decision making because no one has ever

answered the question of what we do afterwards. This is what happened in Iraq. It happened because the civilian decision makers chose to go to war based on faulty assumptions of what would happen. The military was not all that anxious to do it but once the orders were given they did it to the best of their ability which was pretty darned good. Everyone knew that a political solution would have to be reached to bring peace and that peace could not be gained militarily but on we went. It was a terrible decision that is still causing repercussions and will for decades yet. Shoot yeah I'm critical of that but not of those thousands who gave their lives or came home damaged. They did what was asked of them.

So, My Take is that I have every right to be supportive or critical. I hold the highest rank possible in the Republic. I am a citizen.

rmoore@somerset-kentucky.net

Tax Cut: Redux.

Trump Treasury Chief: Our Tax Cuts Will Pay For Themselves, Once We Figure Out What They Are | The Huffington Post





Now, Where have we heard this?

Perilous Times

 

Perilous Times

Last week Matt Jones, who is known by many through Kentucky Sports Radio, came to speak at a dinner in support of the New Kentucky Project. He and Adam Edelen, who was supposed to accompany him, were both slated to appear but Mr. Edelen could not attend for unresolved reasons. I leave you to consider that. Both of these men are considered to be possible candidates for elective office from the Democratic Party. As the party and most of the rest of Kentucky is aware the Democratic Party did not fare that well in the last election and nationally there is an emerging effort to reclaim the base that once secured the party. For the life of me I can't understand why the party failed to attend to the housekeeping duties during flush times. To the great credit of our democratic republic and the two party system the opposition stole their lunch and multiplied it into a feast.

Anyway, it is the goal of the New Kentucky Project to place a representative of the party in every precinct and to support candidates from each county. What? We we weren't doing that already? Anyway, as President Obama showed in the 2008 and 2012 elections there is no substitute for grass roots organizing. Also, beginning in the 1990s there were some deep pockets in the GOP that saw that the real battle was going to be in the state houses because they get to draw congressional districts. That has payed off big time for the GOP and gerrymandering has left us with very few competitive districts nationwide. The New Kentucky Project aims to counteract that in Kentucky.

This is what the New Kentucky Project has told us so far. Matt Jones made a point of stating that it is their belief that the people of Kentucky can agree on 80% of the issues facing them. Jones and Edelen believe that we can focus on the similarities and that persuasive arguments for a reasonable solution can turn back the tide of partisanship that has gridlocked our nation. Well, I can certainly agree that most people agree on 80% of the issues. That is the way it has always been. It is the other 20% that bedevils us and candidates focus there because that is where elections are won and lost. Grass roots organizing is the key to mitigating those differences. All politics is local and generally people vote in a consistent manner with the group they associate with.

The National Democratic Party elected a new chairman and made his more progressive opponent his deputy. Tom Perez has been touring with Bernie Sanders to energize not only the existing voters but to also induce new participants in the system to register to vote and become politically active. For whichever party you belong to this is good news just as it is good news for the entire nation.

Immediately following the inauguration women across the country took up the battle to resist the Trump administration and have been furnishing the energy to create more participation in order to

change the results that have been disastrous to them. That energy has translated into GOP congressmen who won't show their faces in an event where they may be questioned because they know what the people want and that is not what they want. GOP congressmen will not show up at town hall meetings because they got a taste of that early on and they remember what the Tea Party did to democrats at the town halls. It is all about public perception.

There have been millions of cards and letters sent to congressmen and congresswomen and those missives have been effective in stiffening the backbones of democratic representatives and changing the perceptions of GOP representatives. What happened to the attempted repeal and replace of the ACA is testament to that. This week there are other issues of significance coming up. It is expected that another run will be made at the ACA but also a spending bill is coming up and the President wants funding for the border wall that he said Mexico was going to pay for. One thing of great significance to us is the funding for a permanent solution to the health benefits crisis for the out of work coal miners. Miners health benefits video The conservative Heritage Foundation says that we can't do that because it would set a bad precedent. What would be a GOOD precedent is for our wealthy nation to furnish health care for everyone. Problem solved. These miners were promised

benefits in their contracts and the coal companies were allowed to use bankruptcy to avoid payments to the fund. Even when the assets of those companies were liquidated it wasn't the miners who got taken care of. It was the big banks. Just awful treatment and now a government that lacks honor and compassion wants to leave them to die of black lung and other afflictions suffered as a result of their labors. It is only right that these people be given their health benefits but this is only another way that King Coal managed to be such a cheap fuel to use. King Coal never cleans up its messes.

I'm thankful for the New Kentucky Project but if the goal is to win seats in the 2018 mid-term elections and take back the White House in 2020 it is going to take a change in public perception and that will not quickly come by making persuasive arguments in a debate. It will come by making those arguments come alive in public demonstrations both small and large. Public action with news coverage is a force multiplier. Demonstrations in Beattyville and New York. This must be a goal of political organization.

My Take is that these are perilous times. The situation is dire and solutions must be visibly presented.

The Arnow Conference 2017

Harriet Simpson Arnow

I just love the annual Harriet Simpson Arnow Conference on Appalachian Literature and Culture held at and presented by Somerset Community College. It gives me a chance to be in the company of some real writers and people who appreciate the art. They have some speakers there whose words fall off their lips in prose and fall gently onto the paper. My writing is not like that. I am so impressed by the way that a simple act of seeing or hearing can be described in its entirety so that a visual

impression is left on the brain without the need of seeing it with one's eyes or hearing it with one's ears. What it does to me is to remind me that one lifetime is not enough to be able to learn the answers to my questions or to take advantage of new insight. However, one is all we have and if a portion of a lifetime is squandered then the situation is dire indeed.

Writers see the world differently than we do. It's almost like they are observers of the human condition and, for the time that they are practicing their art, they float above us in a kind of ethereal way. Am I waxing too poetic here? Maybe, but I am impressed for real. I suppose that for the most part they have lives just like the rest of us with bills and families. They probably catch colds but they are very descriptive colds and unlike the common colds that most of us catch where you just lie there and suffer.

Crystal Wilkinson

I sat there with my friend Bill and listened to Crystal Wilkinson speak and read from her book “The Birds of Opulence.” The way she took common, everyday experiences and wove them into a tapestry was like having my eyes opened to the vivid mental imagery of those mundane happenings such as one would find in a daily diary. It is revelatory that Ms. Wilkinson hails from Casey County which

only serves to remind us that the gift can fall anywhere. That the seed be strong enough to survive and be nurtured to maturity seems to be the qualifying characteristic. Her accomplishments are many and it does not reflect very well on me that I had never heard of her.

I have been familiar with Gurney Norman for decades largely due to his novel “Divine Right's Trip” which was serialized in “The Last Whole Earth Catalogue.” It was required reading for my generation so Mr. Norman is well known in Kentucky. He has written many other books about life and adventure in the Appalachian Mountains and he ability to spin a yarn is second to no one. He did,

Gurney Norman

however, bring up an idea that was fresh to me about his pondering on watersheds. How we here live in the Cumberland River watershed but in the mountains where he was from it was the Kentucky River watershed. It was more than a geology and geography lesson in that it is possible to discern watershed occurrences in our lives where up to a point everything leads to a particular set of events and then one can cross metaphorically into another watershed and a whole new set of events. What these wonderful people do is cause us to step outside our normal repetitive daily lives and look into the events that brought us to where we are. Then perhaps we can even find the narrative to write about it with some expression that may even surprise us.

Up next was Silas House who everyone in these parts has heard of. He is a very accomplished novelist. He also is from neighboring Laurel County and spent much of his life in Leslie County which is the home of my Mother so I am a bit familiar with the surroundings. He has been writer in residence at Eastern Kentucky University and Lincoln Memorial University and writes about rural life largely in the Appalachian Mountains. His description of his requirements for writing and the

Silas House

way he may approach a story are, like the others, almost another language to me. To come from modest or even poor circumstances and still possess the will to write (to say it is a gift implies it is given to one) should be inspirational to everyone who has ever looked at the world and wondered why it is the way it is. In my case I am interested by what makes people tick and how they reach the conclusions that they do but my style is more journalistic. I think that everyone who writes like I do longs to be one of those who sees the world differently and is more receptive to the emotional expression than to the factual. Maybe someday.

One of the things that each speaker mentioned though was their love for the writing of Harriet Simpson Arnow who was from Burnside and environs and possessed the will to describe her life through the imaginary lives of others. She left the homeplace and moved to Cincinnati and then on to Detroit where she spent most of her life. Her most famous book was “The Dollmaker” which she wrote in 1954. It bears mentioning that she worked in the early 1930s for the Federal Writers Project of the WPA, a government program established by President Roosevelt to help combat the deep depression the nation was enduring. I mention this because at this time our federal government is slashing funding for the arts and humanities as if there is no longer any need for replenishment of the soul.

Then my friend Bill and I sat for a couple of hours just talking about literary stuff. Bill is one of the most literate people that I have had the pleasure of meeting. He can talk about fiction, music (jazz, blues, bluegrass) and speak with authority on names that I've only seen mention of. One of the things that I like about my friend Bill is that he can speak of musicians and philosphers and then ask if I have read or heard some work to which I almost uniformly reply “no” even though it is tempting to lie about it every now and then. Fear of discovery causes me to maintain my honesty which is poor reason indeed to be honest.

This is a great conference that is hosted by Somerset Community College. It is good for our souls to know that our own small world really has no boundaries. That literature and music ties us to the larger world and that our own Appalachian Mountains are incredibly rich with fodder for the creation of fine works of art. When I am exposed to these artists I am reminded how I have lived my own life far too engrossed in the daily grind and anxious of tomorrow. Then I wonder how these writers and musicians manage to deal with the daily grind and still listen to their muse.

My Take is that we are surrounded by fine writers, artists and musicians whose work is rarely seen or heard. The local arts community is a flourishing one that should have more avenues for exposure to the people.