It seems like we’ve been stuck on nothing but bad weather and bad news for the longest time. Speaking of bad news, the latest bit is about how the era of cheap food may be over. This item appears right before Groundhog Day, BTW. You know, Punxsutawney Phil the gopher, who has taken it on himself to forecast whether winter weather is over or will continue for another six weeks? Well, now he must now prognosticate to a crowd that may be hungry. As Mark Twain once noted, here is food for thought.
I suppose everyone has taken note of the ruling from Circuit Court Judge Steve Combs that set aside results from the mayoral race in Elkhorn City. That’s a novel idea: Set aside an election because there may have been irregularities involved. Keep that sort of thinking up and we might never get an election settled again.
In this instance, the wrong ballot may have gone to three voters not eligible to vote in the mayoral race. As was noted by Roland Case, assistance Pike Co. Attorney, this would not have altered the election’s outcome. I have to agree with Case here. To throw out the results of this election is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. A judicial appeal would appear to be in order.
Now the mess that was dumped into the Mountain Water District’s (MWD) lap with the release of an audit done by Crit Luallen is another kettle of fish altogether. Where to start? Hard to say because practically nothing here passes the smell test. As Shakespeare observed in his play, Hamlet “Something is (allegedly) rotten in the state of Denmark.”
Let me state categorically that I am not accusing anyone of anything, but please! When there were those who stood to gain so much by the decisions of MWD’s directors involved in those decisions, somebody had better have some really good explanations.
It was, as I recall, Chris Harris, Magistrate, District Six, who pushed for the audit of the MWD. Coincidentally, Chris was the subject of an attack campaign ad in his last race by a group called Citizens for Eastern Kentucky Government (CEKG). The funny thing about the ad was its origins, Hotlanta, Georgia.
This attack ad was racy and its content was questionable, to say the least, so much so that WYMT refused to even air it. The contributors to the group that wanted it aired were kept secret for a while, but as it turns out, were convinced to become involved in CEKG’s efforts at least in part because Chris wanted MWD audited. CEKG also got contributions from several individuals who may have reason to be concerned about the just-released audit.
Those individuals mentioned in the audit or who are now involved in running MWD would like us to know that everything is okay in the MWD today. All those issues singled out in this audit have now been taken care of, they say. Move along, now, nothing to be seen here.
Well, if those, to whom the results of the audit have been forwarded, such as the Legislative Ethics Commission or the Attorney General, are convinced of this, this would certainly go a long way in convincing the rest of us.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Rebuilding U S 460
The weekend edition of the Appalachian had a story on the groundbreaking for two more segments of new U S 460 that have just been contracted out; one a continuation of the segment already underway on Beaver and the other the interchange that will connect the new road to U S 23.
This highway has remained largely invisible to the public; therefore it’s difficult to know how much progress has been made. That’s because 460, like rebuilt U S 119, is going through virgin territory. Consequently there are few places that offer a look-see at the progress that is being made.
You can see that part that will soon be joined to 23 from this highway, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to see it if you’re doing the driving because that requires you to divert your attention from the road and this road is dangerous enough if your eyes are riveted to it.
If you care to go out of the way a bit-and again, I wouldn’t recommend it, because the route I’m going to suggest is not for the faint of heart-you can go up Greasy Creek to where the road forks off. There by the now empty Greasy Creek Elementary School, you can see a part of the road that is under construction. If you take the right fork and cross the mountain into the head of Wolfpit, you’ll not only be able to see where the new roadbed had been laid out, you’ll actually get to drive on part of it, because the new road now divides this community.
Somewhere around the mouth of Wolfpit, you’ll part company with the new road, but if you go right on the Marrowbone road, you’ll soon pick up on the route the new road will be taking. If a tamer ride is what you desire, you can go up Beaver for a few miles and you’ll see the segment that will soon be continued.
Another way to get a view of the road is to get on Google Earth. Just remember that these images may be a bit dated. Once there, if you type in Pike Co., Ky., you’ll be taken over the county out to a point where you can not only see the whole of it, but pretty much every surrounding county and parts of Virginia and West Virginia as well. From here, it depends on how skilled you are in navigating your computer as to what you’ll see. Zoom in and you’ll see areas such as Shelbiana marked. It’s easy enough to find your way from there, and you should be able to see 460’s new path from beginning to end.
If you want to find a better view than will generally be offered from Google Earth-and these views are good only so high above the earth-you can google U S 460 online and it will take you to a site called, oddly enough, us460online.com.
On page one of this site, you can click on “construction images”, and here you can see photos of the highway taken by the state. These images let you see the whole project, and from here you get a good idea of the 460 we’ll be driving on one of these days-that is, if we live long enough.
This highway has remained largely invisible to the public; therefore it’s difficult to know how much progress has been made. That’s because 460, like rebuilt U S 119, is going through virgin territory. Consequently there are few places that offer a look-see at the progress that is being made.
You can see that part that will soon be joined to 23 from this highway, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to see it if you’re doing the driving because that requires you to divert your attention from the road and this road is dangerous enough if your eyes are riveted to it.
If you care to go out of the way a bit-and again, I wouldn’t recommend it, because the route I’m going to suggest is not for the faint of heart-you can go up Greasy Creek to where the road forks off. There by the now empty Greasy Creek Elementary School, you can see a part of the road that is under construction. If you take the right fork and cross the mountain into the head of Wolfpit, you’ll not only be able to see where the new roadbed had been laid out, you’ll actually get to drive on part of it, because the new road now divides this community.
Somewhere around the mouth of Wolfpit, you’ll part company with the new road, but if you go right on the Marrowbone road, you’ll soon pick up on the route the new road will be taking. If a tamer ride is what you desire, you can go up Beaver for a few miles and you’ll see the segment that will soon be continued.
Another way to get a view of the road is to get on Google Earth. Just remember that these images may be a bit dated. Once there, if you type in Pike Co., Ky., you’ll be taken over the county out to a point where you can not only see the whole of it, but pretty much every surrounding county and parts of Virginia and West Virginia as well. From here, it depends on how skilled you are in navigating your computer as to what you’ll see. Zoom in and you’ll see areas such as Shelbiana marked. It’s easy enough to find your way from there, and you should be able to see 460’s new path from beginning to end.
If you want to find a better view than will generally be offered from Google Earth-and these views are good only so high above the earth-you can google U S 460 online and it will take you to a site called, oddly enough, us460online.com.
On page one of this site, you can click on “construction images”, and here you can see photos of the highway taken by the state. These images let you see the whole project, and from here you get a good idea of the 460 we’ll be driving on one of these days-that is, if we live long enough.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Learning the Art of Compromise
We have once again entered an era of power sharing in the federal government, as the first session of the 112th United States Congress is officially underway. Yes, the Senate is still in the hands of the Democrats, though not by the majority they once had, but the House of Representatives is now solidly in the hands of the Republicans, and it is from this chamber the GOP expects to launch its counter offensives.
The first thing on the agenda for the new Speaker of the House, John Boehner, is the repeal of Obamacare, or more properly, the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Well, the GOP was never a great believer in the need for healthcare reform, and certainly not in this effort to reform it, as not a single member of the GOP in either the House or Senate voted in favor of it.
The bill became law, but only as a result of some clever parliamentary maneuvering by the Obama Administration and the Democrats from the 111th Congress. The death of Ted Kennedy and the loss of his seat to the GOP gave the Republicans the means to prevent the passage of the bill through normal procedures.
In the Senate, unlike the House, there is no limit on the amount of debate that can take place prior to voting on a proposed bill. In effect, a bill can be talked to death, and this procedure, called a filibuster, can only be broken if there are 60 votes to cut off debate.
To keep the healthcare bill from meeting such a fate in any re-votes in the Senate after a rewrite of the healthcare bill by a conference committee, the House met and passed the Senate version of the bill. The differences in the two original bills were then ironed out in a process called reconciliation, where a simple majority is all that is required in the Senate. In the end, President Obama accomplished what no President before him was able to, and that was to get healthcare reform passed.
The off-year election that saw the Republicans reclaim the majority in the House of Representatives was won by candidates who ran on the idea of repealing Healthcare reform, and since they do have the numbers, no one doubts that repeal will pass in the House.
It is in the Senate this effort is expected to be derailed. Because of the filibuster, the GOP would need 60 votes to even bring the bill up for a vote. And even if the Senate somehow voted to bring the bill up for a vote, and even if, by some miracle, got enough votes to pass it, it would then face a certain veto by President Obama.
Still the vote will take place in the House of Representatives. It is a token bill doomed to failure, but the GOP feels it is a step that must be taken. Let us hope it is the last such bill introduced.
Compromise must now become the watchword. If this means Republicans and Democrats must accept what they would have earlier rejected out of hand, so be it. This is the only way either party will be able to convince the voters in 2012 that it had their best interest at heart.
The first thing on the agenda for the new Speaker of the House, John Boehner, is the repeal of Obamacare, or more properly, the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Well, the GOP was never a great believer in the need for healthcare reform, and certainly not in this effort to reform it, as not a single member of the GOP in either the House or Senate voted in favor of it.
The bill became law, but only as a result of some clever parliamentary maneuvering by the Obama Administration and the Democrats from the 111th Congress. The death of Ted Kennedy and the loss of his seat to the GOP gave the Republicans the means to prevent the passage of the bill through normal procedures.
In the Senate, unlike the House, there is no limit on the amount of debate that can take place prior to voting on a proposed bill. In effect, a bill can be talked to death, and this procedure, called a filibuster, can only be broken if there are 60 votes to cut off debate.
To keep the healthcare bill from meeting such a fate in any re-votes in the Senate after a rewrite of the healthcare bill by a conference committee, the House met and passed the Senate version of the bill. The differences in the two original bills were then ironed out in a process called reconciliation, where a simple majority is all that is required in the Senate. In the end, President Obama accomplished what no President before him was able to, and that was to get healthcare reform passed.
The off-year election that saw the Republicans reclaim the majority in the House of Representatives was won by candidates who ran on the idea of repealing Healthcare reform, and since they do have the numbers, no one doubts that repeal will pass in the House.
It is in the Senate this effort is expected to be derailed. Because of the filibuster, the GOP would need 60 votes to even bring the bill up for a vote. And even if the Senate somehow voted to bring the bill up for a vote, and even if, by some miracle, got enough votes to pass it, it would then face a certain veto by President Obama.
Still the vote will take place in the House of Representatives. It is a token bill doomed to failure, but the GOP feels it is a step that must be taken. Let us hope it is the last such bill introduced.
Compromise must now become the watchword. If this means Republicans and Democrats must accept what they would have earlier rejected out of hand, so be it. This is the only way either party will be able to convince the voters in 2012 that it had their best interest at heart.
Monday, January 10, 2011
How words can move us.
Jared Loughner is not mentally stable: This much must be understood if one is to come to grips with the crimes he committed this past Saturday in Tucson, AZ. It was then that Loughner showed up at a meet and greet session called Congress on your corner, hosted by U. S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, with a Glock 19 semiautomatic handgun and a high capacity magazine, intending to assassinate her.
Perhaps his madness knew no bounds, but for whatever reason, once Loughner had shot Rep. Giffords, he kept on shooting until he'd wounded 14 people, including Rep. Giffords, and killed the following six people: U.S. District Chief Judge John McCarthy Roll, 63, appointed by President H. W. Bush in 1991; Gabriel Zimmerman, 30, director of community outreach for Giffords; Christina Taylor Green, 9, granddaughter of one-time Philadelphia Phillies manager, Dallas Green, and newly-elected member of her elementary school student council; Dorwin Stoddard, 76, a Pastor from an area Church of Christ who died while protecting his wife from Loughner’s bullets; Dorthy Morris, 76, retired homemaker and secretary; and Phyllis Scheck,79, a widow, great-grandmother and winter resident of Tucson.
Had he not been tackled when trying to reload, there might have been many more victims.
The bullet meant to kill Giffords went through the left side of her brain from the rear of her head to the front, but followed a miraculous path that left her alive. Despite massive damage done to Gifford’s brain, she is expected to recover, even if the road ahead is going to be rough.
Now that we have established that Loughner is not in his right mind, can we now say that he alone is responsible for the carnage he unleashed? That may not be quite so cut and dried. It’s impossible to say what drives such individuals when they do go completely mad; like children almost anything can reach them and compel them to act in completely unpredictable ways.
If the rhetoric of some political movement did reach him and act as a catalyst, there are any number of such statements one might cite that on their face seem to be a call to arms against members of our government. Sarah Palin, for instance, is now under fire for at least one statement that might have inflamed Loughner. She once said that, instead of retreating, her followers should “reload”. And in another action actually cited by Rep. Giffords as irresponsible, Palin highlighted 20 Democratic Congressional districts, including Giffords’; with the crosshairs of a rifle to indicate they were vulnerable to takeover.
Sharon Angle, in her race for the U. S. Senate in Nevada against Harry Reid conceived of a 2nd Amendment remedy to counter Members of Congress with whom one disagreed, and then called for her opponent to “be taken out”. A more recent and unmistakable call for violence against politicians was made by a conservative radio host who said very explicitly, “If ballots don’t work, bullets will.”
Even if it’s impossible to say that these statements were the driving force behind Loughner’s murderous acts, it’s just as impossible to say they had no effect. Words such as these are meant to incite the listener to action and the speakers can then only hope that when any actions are taken, they are kept within the bounds of reason.
Perhaps his madness knew no bounds, but for whatever reason, once Loughner had shot Rep. Giffords, he kept on shooting until he'd wounded 14 people, including Rep. Giffords, and killed the following six people: U.S. District Chief Judge John McCarthy Roll, 63, appointed by President H. W. Bush in 1991; Gabriel Zimmerman, 30, director of community outreach for Giffords; Christina Taylor Green, 9, granddaughter of one-time Philadelphia Phillies manager, Dallas Green, and newly-elected member of her elementary school student council; Dorwin Stoddard, 76, a Pastor from an area Church of Christ who died while protecting his wife from Loughner’s bullets; Dorthy Morris, 76, retired homemaker and secretary; and Phyllis Scheck,79, a widow, great-grandmother and winter resident of Tucson.
Had he not been tackled when trying to reload, there might have been many more victims.
The bullet meant to kill Giffords went through the left side of her brain from the rear of her head to the front, but followed a miraculous path that left her alive. Despite massive damage done to Gifford’s brain, she is expected to recover, even if the road ahead is going to be rough.
Now that we have established that Loughner is not in his right mind, can we now say that he alone is responsible for the carnage he unleashed? That may not be quite so cut and dried. It’s impossible to say what drives such individuals when they do go completely mad; like children almost anything can reach them and compel them to act in completely unpredictable ways.
If the rhetoric of some political movement did reach him and act as a catalyst, there are any number of such statements one might cite that on their face seem to be a call to arms against members of our government. Sarah Palin, for instance, is now under fire for at least one statement that might have inflamed Loughner. She once said that, instead of retreating, her followers should “reload”. And in another action actually cited by Rep. Giffords as irresponsible, Palin highlighted 20 Democratic Congressional districts, including Giffords’; with the crosshairs of a rifle to indicate they were vulnerable to takeover.
Sharon Angle, in her race for the U. S. Senate in Nevada against Harry Reid conceived of a 2nd Amendment remedy to counter Members of Congress with whom one disagreed, and then called for her opponent to “be taken out”. A more recent and unmistakable call for violence against politicians was made by a conservative radio host who said very explicitly, “If ballots don’t work, bullets will.”
Even if it’s impossible to say that these statements were the driving force behind Loughner’s murderous acts, it’s just as impossible to say they had no effect. Words such as these are meant to incite the listener to action and the speakers can then only hope that when any actions are taken, they are kept within the bounds of reason.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Notes from an eternal optimist
We are now in the New Year, coming down from the holiday euphoria, and ready or not, we must once again come to grips with the cold reality of everyday life; all those sticky wickets with which we have been wrestling non-stop for what seems like forever are still there and must be reckoned with.
We will have some participation from new sources, though. A new Congress is ready to begin its first session, and included in its ranks are a host of Tea Partiers, one of which is the new Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul.
Rand’s father, Representative Ron Paul, R. Texas, also a doctor, was re-elected to the House from his district in the Lone Star State. Rep. Paul, as many of you may recall, is a maverick member of the GOP, who just came off a run for the presidency in 2008. He is more of a libertarian than he is anything, and certainly some of his views set him completely apart from his opposition in his quest for the White House. Consider that he, unlike his opposition in the presidential primaries, was vehemently opposed to the Iraqi war.
Rep. Paul is also the author of a piece of legislation, H R 1866, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009. This simply worded act, if passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law, would change the definition of hemp so that it would no longer be classified as marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.
As I stated in a previous column on the then candidate, Rand Paul, I, too, am a libertarian. I know, because I took a test on facebook, and it said I was. And what could be more conclusive than a facebook app? (LOL) But, as I point out in that column, because both Sen. Paul and I share a political ideology, that does not mean we are in complete agreement on every issue. I, for one, am not convinced that the free market is infallible. Big corporations are as capable of reckless acts as big government is.
But there is the eternal optimist in me that sees hope where a pragmatist might see none. H R 1866 has at least 25 co-sponsors in the House, but has had no co-sponsor in the U. S. Senate up till now. That might be about to change now that Rand Paul is taking his place there.
The free market is beginning to favor the idea of allowing industrial hemp production in the U. S. For an interesting article on this subject, you might go to this web site: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-brones/legalize-it-and-i-will-in_b_322867.html. Here, the author points out how profitable hemp could be for both American industry and its farmers.
Hemp already has a fairly large presence in products available in the U. S. The article points out that “hemp makes its way into everything from ice cream to paint to clothing” and that it is a “wonder resource”. It is just not available to U. S farmers. Yet.
With the help of enlightened entrepreneurs, David Bronner (Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap), Isaac Nichelson (Livity Outernational Hemp Clothing), and certain progressive office holders, we could see the irrational policy that has outlawed the production of industrial hemp in the U. S. finally overturned.
We will have some participation from new sources, though. A new Congress is ready to begin its first session, and included in its ranks are a host of Tea Partiers, one of which is the new Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul.
Rand’s father, Representative Ron Paul, R. Texas, also a doctor, was re-elected to the House from his district in the Lone Star State. Rep. Paul, as many of you may recall, is a maverick member of the GOP, who just came off a run for the presidency in 2008. He is more of a libertarian than he is anything, and certainly some of his views set him completely apart from his opposition in his quest for the White House. Consider that he, unlike his opposition in the presidential primaries, was vehemently opposed to the Iraqi war.
Rep. Paul is also the author of a piece of legislation, H R 1866, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009. This simply worded act, if passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law, would change the definition of hemp so that it would no longer be classified as marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.
As I stated in a previous column on the then candidate, Rand Paul, I, too, am a libertarian. I know, because I took a test on facebook, and it said I was. And what could be more conclusive than a facebook app? (LOL) But, as I point out in that column, because both Sen. Paul and I share a political ideology, that does not mean we are in complete agreement on every issue. I, for one, am not convinced that the free market is infallible. Big corporations are as capable of reckless acts as big government is.
But there is the eternal optimist in me that sees hope where a pragmatist might see none. H R 1866 has at least 25 co-sponsors in the House, but has had no co-sponsor in the U. S. Senate up till now. That might be about to change now that Rand Paul is taking his place there.
The free market is beginning to favor the idea of allowing industrial hemp production in the U. S. For an interesting article on this subject, you might go to this web site: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-brones/legalize-it-and-i-will-in_b_322867.html. Here, the author points out how profitable hemp could be for both American industry and its farmers.
Hemp already has a fairly large presence in products available in the U. S. The article points out that “hemp makes its way into everything from ice cream to paint to clothing” and that it is a “wonder resource”. It is just not available to U. S farmers. Yet.
With the help of enlightened entrepreneurs, David Bronner (Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap), Isaac Nichelson (Livity Outernational Hemp Clothing), and certain progressive office holders, we could see the irrational policy that has outlawed the production of industrial hemp in the U. S. finally overturned.
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