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steel and oil barons of the 19th century by clinging to outdated and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.