Something useful for a change

West Virginia's political leaders threw a world class ruling class hissy fit in the wake of the Obama administration's efforts to deal with climate change, which can't be true here because of money. For what it's worth, I'd like to pitch two reality based assessments of the current situation. First, here's Kentucky's Jason Bailey talking about some practical ways of dealing with Appalachia's problems. Second, here's Ken Ward from Coal Tattoo calling leaders to a higher standard. Whether anyone is listening is an open question.

So this is my state

I sooo knew this was coming:  a command performance ruling class hissy fit regarding the Obama administration/EPA's efforts to curb carbon emissions. Everybody who was anybody, with the singular exception of retiring Senator Jay Rockefeller (and the ghost of Robert Byrd) joined in to bash the president and EPA.

AND WHILE WV IS BASHING THE FEDS, it looks like WV gets more federal $ than any other state per capita.

IT'S NOT ALL BAD.  One bright spot is this Gazette article about how Medicaid expansion is helping former prisoners deal with addiction issues. Actually, WV is a national leader in implementing the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

We used to be so much cooler...

Much diminished

One annual ritual at Goat Rope Farm this time of year is the shaving of Arpad, our Great Pyrenees security chief. After a winter of running around, barking all night in the woods and brambles and eating rotten deer carcasses and getting sick--in the line of duty--his coat is rather nasty. Plus, he's so hot that all he wants to do is lay around.

We take him to a place with a dog whispering groomer who does the job, which usually takes more than two hours. When it's all done, we learn that he is mostly composed of hair and the summer product is a fraction of the dog he used to be.

Although I'm sure the procedure makes him more comfortable, he seems self conscious for the first week or so and doesn't like to make public appearances. I hope he won't mind this exception...