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.