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.

Senate panel considers Gorsuch as threat of filibuster looms - The Washington Post

Senate panel considers Gorsuch as threat of filibuster looms - The Washington Post

After
being forced to swallow the actions of the Senate Majority Leader, our
own Senator McConnell, who refused to bring the nomination of Merrick
Garland to the floor for a vote we are now being asked to swallow a
person who is to the right of even Justice Scalia. One that is young
enough to sit on the court for 30 years, maybe longer. As Democrats, we
have swallowed many injustices brought by the reactionary right and
this one is particularly hard to swallow. Of course, the
election of Donald Trump with the help of lies fostered by a foreign
antagonist, was hard to swallow also. What it shows through the actions
of Senator McConnell and the election is that it seems impossible to
govern with honor. The reactionary right has no qualms about denying
the opposition the right to vote and forcing favorable conditions for a
vote they want. By their actions they have denied the voice of the
people to be heard and the consequences will last a lifetime. For
people of my age the question is "what can we do to offset the
dishonorable conditions without sacrificing our own honor?" "What can
we do to return the debate to the American People rather than entrenched
corporate interests and deep pocket libertarians?" Chances are we are
going to lose this battle but in doing so we will witness the
culmination of one of the most disdainful acts of the U.S. Senate and
Senator Mitch McConnell. Formerly known for statesmen like Henry Clay,
Alben Barkley and John Sherman Cooper now Kentucky will be associated
with the ignominy of Mitch McConnell.