Calling the point

In another lifetime, I used to referee karate tournaments. Although they could get kind of rough, especially for higher-ranking adults, they weren’t like today’s full-contact mixed martial arts or submission matches. The idea was to give regular people of all ages and levels a chance to safely compete with peers.

A full point — or “ippon” in Japanese — was awarded for a controlled legitimate technique correctly applied to a legal target area.

Grappling wasn’t permitted, although some foot sweeps or takedowns were allowed, with points awarded if they were followed up immediately with a strike or kick to the downed opponent. (I guess you could say “don’t kick ’em when they’re down” didn’t apply here. It was more like don’t take ’em down unless you’re going to kick ’em — in a controlled way of course.)

Although, after visiting karate’s birthplace in Okinawa, I came to doubt whether it should ever have become a sport, I took something valuable from that experience. No matter what I thought of a competitor, their teacher, fighting style or uniform, I tried to set aside stylistic rivalry, which was rampant, watch every match as closely as possible and call the point if I saw it.

In these days of polarization and political tribalism, I think we’d be better off as a state and nation if people made a habit of “calling the point” or recognizing positive ideas and actions of people across our divides when we see them, even if we must struggle over others.

Not that I expect anyone to care, but, in that spirit, I’d have to award two points to actions recently taken by the West Virginia Legislature. Really.

The first was passage of Senate Concurrent Resolution 202, a resolution calling on the federal government to release $8 billion to the state for job-creating mine reclamation projects. In addition, the resolution calls on Congress to pass the RECLAIM Act, which also would make funds available to deal with mine-related damage and to reauthorize the Abandoned Mine Lands program, which is to expire in September.

Although it passed with the support of Republican supermajorities, it also was supported by Democrats, community organizations and environmental groups. The United Mine Workers union has supported similar measures for years.

This realistic, solutions-oriented approach is a major step forward from the theatrical hissy fits of previous years. And it could actually happen, bringing huge benefits to coalfield communities and the state’s economy and environment.

Ippon.

The second point goes to House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, who recently announced the creation of a bipartisan Food Insecurity Work Group consisting of six Republican and six Democrat delegates. It’s dedicated to “utilizing every tool at West Virginia’s disposal to help reduce hunger throughout the state.”

The group is chaired by Delegates Larry Pack, R-Kanawha, and Chad Lovejoy, D-Cabell, both of whom take the group’s mission seriously.

In a House news release, Pack was quoted as saying, “We have plenty of evidence that shows us how deeply connected hunger is to other issues, such as overall health, mental health, academic achievement and economic prosperity. ... We are committed to putting in the time and energy to truly understand not only what specific roadblocks are out there hurting our West Virginia families, but also what solutions we can implement in the near future.”

For that matter, the Senate passed a bipartisan resolution in the 2021 regular session requesting a study on summer and nonschool-day food programs by county boards of education, something hunger advocates have been calling for since 2019.

This could be another big deal for West Virginia, where it’s been estimated that one in seven residents and one in five children are facing food insecurity, a problem that was highlighted by the school closings and economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m hopeful that the work group and community partners can come up with some real solutions.

It’s good to remember in times like these that people can sometimes set aside differences to confront real problems in a practical way.

There's this anyway

Times are hard in WV and especially in the coalfields. I wish the Obama administration had gotten onto the case a few years back, even for cynical political reasons. But there's this news anyway about some federal help for economic transition in Appalachia.

Then there's this: the Our Children Our Future campaign to end child poverty in WV just completed a pretty major voter drive. Here's a link to the story and the guide.

Finally, I guess it's not all bad news for coal miners (the ones who are working, anyway).

A tale of two counties and more

First a correction. In yesterday's post, I reported that Pearl, our aging peahen, was killed by a predator. I'm happy to report that, while she was indeed attacked the other night, the Spousal Unit found her intact with a little help from our box Bo. Apparently Pearl, who is pretty much blind, wandered into a creek and couldn't find her way out. So there's that anyway.

The big dog is still dead, alas.

Meanwhile, here's a tale of two counties that sheds a lot of light on the current situation of West Virginia. First, here's a sad tale of meltdown in Boone County in the wake of the collapse of coal. It's so bad that the school system can't afford to buy science books. With just one county between them, the county seat of Fayetteville in Fayette County, another traditional mining area, has rebuilt its economy around outdoor activities. Of course, Boone would have an easier time of it if the New River flowed through it.

Finally, if you just can't get enough of the discussion of Hillbilly Elegy, here's another take by way of Jacobin magazine.

It's not either or

Hoppy Kercheval is a big fish in the WV media pond with his conservative commentary and news reporting for WV Metro News. Occasionally I agree with him. I remember one time when that happened we agreed in an email exchange that on such occasions we should both reconsider our opinions.

He recently wrote a commentary in which he criticizes calls to diversify WV's economy while, correctly in my view, pointing out that a major problem is our low level of educational attainment.

I would only add that doing so would be one of the best ways to diversify our economy.

(I would also point out that big corporate tax cuts, which I believe he supported in the past, have also resulted in less funding for higher ed and higher tuition costs for WV students.)

I also sorta kinda agree with his implying that state government can't do a whole lot to plan an economy. I do think, however, that it can do the kinds of things that can position an economy to grow, like having a decent infrastructure, a great educational system, a skilled workforce and a decent quality of life.

The "invisible hand" strikes again

Here's an interesting item from Forbes on the decline of coal. Some excerpts:

Blame it on Obama? No. Blame it on market forces, which have not just provided the tools to dig out shale gas but to also commercialize advanced windmills and solar panels. In lay terms, coal’s financial and political troubles are because the electorate wants cleaner air and water, which has fostered innovation. And national policy has fallen into place and enabled the evolution...

When the political campaigns begin in earnest, the “War on Coal” rhetoric will no doubt get ratcheted up. But if economic survival is, indeed, the underlying concern, the candidates may want to convince their contemporaries to attract investment in the country’s new economic engines, and to implement the policies that would help facilitate such a future.

HELP NEEDED ON IRAN DEAL. For WV readers, Senator Joe Manchin is considered to be a critical vote on the Iran deal. If you can, please contact his office in support of the deal. You can find his numbers here.

Three for the road

It's late and it's been a long day, but here are three links in case you missed them.

FIRST, here's a call for the US to do right by WV coal miners in this difficult time.

SECOND, if I was Don Blankenship, I wouldn't want UBB to be discussed at my trial either. But it should be.

THIRD, here's a profile of a guitar playing friend of mine who offered me shelter from the storm years ago.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Tough times

This hasn't been the best of news weeks for West Virginia. First, a Kids Count report came up that child poverty in the state has increased by 13,000 kids since 2008. On top of that, we now have the highest unemployment rate in the nation. There are things that would help, given the political will, as this article from the Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram reports.

Something else that would help would be for Congress to put up or shut up by helping Appalachia's coalfields transition to a more diversified economy. So far, they've done neither.

Not all bad

These are tough times in WV's coalfields, but some positive things are happening there. One bright spot is Williamson in Mingo County, where work on basic issues like health and local food is starting to pay off.

Targeting workers and the poor

I was hoping that once WV's Republican-controlled legislature was out of session the attempted beatdown of working people would be on hold for a while. No such luck. Construction workers and local contractors once again have a bull's eye on their back with the state's prevailing wage law in jeopardy again.

Next up: drug testing welfare recipients.

OFF TOPIC, here's an interesting look at Appalachia's economic transition from a Kentucky perspective.

It's about time

For a good while lately, people on my end of the spectrum have been calling on the federal government to step up and assist those parts of Appalachia going through tough times because of the decline of coal. It looks like that is starting to happen, although on a fairly small scale.

I also found it interesting that WV's new senator, who metaphorically could be said to be a high priestess of the "war on coal" cult, is critical of the program, although she doesn't quite come out against it. For mythology buffs out there, her comments seem downright Protean to me.

A day late and...

Usually I leave Obama bashing up to others who are better suited to it and more capable of it. However, I feel obliged to point out to the administration, as if anyone was listening, that their belated concern about Appalachia and the future of coal communities might have been more helpful a couple of years ago. I guess you could say "Better late than never" about this. But not by much.

And here's a little bit of more good news for a coal community while we're at it.

One state over

It's been another long day and late night, but here's an interesting and optimistic look at a post-coal future for a corner of Appalachia in neighboring Kentucky.

A mess that needs fixing

It's no secret that West Virginia's juvenile justice system is a hot mess. It's even gotten national attention. The latest example of that is from PRI. The opening lines say it all:

The United States has been rethinking its juvenile justice system since the late 1990s. As a result, the national youth incarcreation rate has dropped dramatically in almost every state over the last 15 years--except in West Virginia.

While the US has cut its juvenile incarceration rate by half, West Virginia's rate is 42 percent higher than the rest of the country. The Mountain State has also seen the largest increase in youth incarceration since 2001.

 Fortunately, there is a good chance of things getting better on that front since Gov. Tomblin has convened a task force on the issue and solicited the help of folks from the Pew Charitable Trusts. It's gotten so bad that SOMETHING has to be done.

SPEAKING OF BAD WV SITUATIONS, here's another look at WV's economic future.

URGENT EXTINCT GIANT KANGAROO UPDATE here. Word is they didn't hop.

More on the southern coalfields

Lots of people even beyond WV are starting to track the situation in the southern coalfields, where mining jobs have been dramatically declining. Something about this piece by environmental writer David Roberts in Grist rubbed me the wrong way, at least a little.

It looks like I'm not the only one. Two people I think highly of responded at some length, Ken Ward at Coal Tattoo and WV native Jeremy Richardson with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

On a more positive note, WV Senate President Jeff Kessler announced the formation of a 13 member senate task force on the southern coalfields going by the acronym SCORE (Southern Coalfields Organizing and Revitalizing the Economy), which will hold listening sessions with coalfield residents and develop legislative proposals to assist the region. SCORE is modeled in part on Kentucky's SOAR (Save Our Appalachian Region) program.

Some ideas the group will explore include

Increase funding for tourism advertising and development.

Education and workforce development and retraining initiatives.

Dedicating monies for viable redevelopment projects.

Agribusiness and rural development opportunities.

Increase Broadband access.

Expanding and supporting intermodal transportation.

          Explore development of coalbed methane reserves.

Support clean coal research and development.

Kessler and his fellow senators deserve a lot of credit for taking this on. You can find more about SCORE here and here.

Coalfield blues

There's no doubt about it. These are hard times in the southern WV coalfields. Unfortunately, while the rhetoric is white hot (accent on white, by the way), straight talk is hard to find, especially in an election year. Here's a glum assessment of the current state of political debate here from my friend Ken Ward at Coal Tattoo.

On the positive side, some state leaders want to actually do something about it. State Senate President Jeff Kessler is holding a press conference tomorrow announcing the creation of a coalfield revitalization initiative. Obviously, it's way too soon to even guess how this will go but I think it's a big step forward just to create a task force to talk about the issues.

Meanwhile, people are starting to talk about the idea of some kind of federal assistance for displaced miners. Here's a piece from Grist titled "Should the feds bail out coal miners?" My short answer to that is, yes, as in programs modeled on other efforts to help workers displaced by trade agreements.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Republican WV Congressman David McKinley introduced a bill with a Democratic co-sponsor from Vermont to do something like that. The odds of it making it through congress any time soon don't look good, but it's another step in the right direction.

Another positive step that I've mentioned before is the What's Next, WV? effort, which is going to hold deliberative forums all over the state about our economic future.

None of this, however, is a big help right away to the over 5,000 miners who have lost jobs in southern WV over the last few years due mostly to shifting market forces.

Coal kabuki and climate

In case you missed, Ken Ward over at Coal Tattoo has some things to say about how West Virginia's leaders might deal with the whole Obama/climate change/EPA thing. I'm not holding my breath though.

Still, it's impossible to deny that these are tough times in the coalfields. Alpha Natural Resources recent layoff announcement is just another case in point.

That's all the more reason why we need to start talking now about economic transition.

Of plague and such

The extensive staff of this blog searches day and night for items of possible interest that would cater to a reader's every whim. That's just how we rock em.

The latest example of this is this item about an anthropologist who studies medieval skeletons to learn more about the Black Death. Interestingly, people seemed to live longer after the plague was over, possibly because it weeded out the weak and possibly because living standards went up in a less crowded world.

That really was an example of supply and demand in action. After the 14th century pandemic, so many people had died that demand for labor exceeded supply and wages for survivors went up. I'm guessing there was plenty of unoccupied housing to be had as well.

While El Cabrero is all about improving conditions for workers, I think I'd prefer it to happen without such drastic measures in 21st century.

ANOTHER WHACK to supply side economics is delivered by Jared Bernstein here.

WONKY BUT IMPORTANT. Economist Dean Baker looks at the minimum wage as an anti-inequality measure here.

TALKING COAL. Here's a thoughtful article from the State Journal about the downturn in coal employment and what might be done about it.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED