Happy birthday, West Virginia, warts and all

Today is the 149th birthday of El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virginia.  We've probably seen worse days here, but we sure has hell have seen better ones. By chance, two state related items caught my eye today that deal with some ugly aspects of the current scene here.

These days, it seems that some of the state's leading politicians are given to cowardly pandering to the coal industry and, however indirectly, to racist elements. The song they are dancing to goes something like this: the Obama administration, which happens to be led by a black man with a strange name, is waging an unprovoked and all out war on coal through its diabolical Environmental Protection Agency.

West Virginia native Michael Tomasky has a great piece in The Daily Beast that confronts the racism factor head on.


And it was really refreshing to see that our senior senator Jay Rockefeller was channeling a bit of the late great Robert C. Byrd and calling on the coal industry to tone down its war rhetoric. Here's a link to his speech on the Senate floor.

I can't imagine either Senator Manchin or Governor Tomblin ever having the guts to say anything remotely resembling that. Besides, Tomblin is too busy cutting child care benefits for working families anyway.

So happy 149, West Virginia. And may 150 be a bit less cowardly and ugly.

Dirty institutions

Rosa Parks, 1955. Image by way of wikipedia.

Henry David Thoreau's essay on civil disobedience didn't make much of a splash when first written, but it was destined to have a major worldwide impact. The events that led to the essay took place during his stay at Walden Pond.

Here's how he laconically describes what happened in Walden:

One afternoon, near the end of the first summer, when I went to the village to get a shoe from the cobbler's, I was seized and put into jail, because, as I have elsewhere related, I did not pay a tax to, or recognize the authority of, the state which buys and sells men, women, and children like cattle at the door of its senate-house. I had gone into the woods for other purposes, But, wherever a man goes, men will pursue and paw him with their dirty institutions, and, if they can, constrain him to belong to their desperate odd-fellow society. It is true, I might have resisted forcibly with more or less effect, might have run "amok" against society; but I preferred that society should run "amok" against me, it being the desperate party. However, I was released the next day, obtained my mended shoe, and returned to the woods in season to get my dinner of huckle-berries on Fair-Haven Hill. I was never molested by any person but those who represented the state.

Of course, people have been resisting unjust laws and governments since ancient times--the Greek tragedy Antigone is a literary example of ancient civil disobedience. The histories of Josephus provide examples of Jewish non-violent resistance against the Romans under Caligula and Pilate. But Thoreau was one of the first to articulate it clearly and his essay about an almost accidental encounter would have a much greater influence than anyone at the time might have dreamed.

It's amazing what people can do sometimes even when they're not trying.

LIVING ON EARTH devoted a program to the changing view of the late WV Senator Robert Byrd on coal issues.

BAKER'S DOZEN (minus ten). Here are two good columns by economist Dean Baker. The first is about the politics of unemployment, while the second is about the growing inequality that is at the root of the economic crisis.

ANOTHER INTERESTING TAKE on the economic crisis can be found here.

GETTING EMOTIONAL can have its benefits.

BIRD BRAINS. They are more similar to those of mammals than previously thought. Having watched the complex behavior of the feathered inhabitants of Goat Rope Farm, I can't say I'm surprised.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Scenes from Senator Byrd's Memorial Service

Say what you want about West Virginia, but it seems to do public rituals right, with Senator Byrd's official state memorial service being a case in point.

The service featured bell ringing, music, prayers, many speeches (of course) and a 21 gun salute.

News reports estimated attendance in the thousands, but I'm guessing many chose to watch it on television because they overestimated the difficulty of getting there. Actually, the logistics ran very smoothly.

Music ranged from bagpipes to a military band to bluegrass to the state Martin Luther King Jr. Chorus.

Of course, most state political leaders attended, but national speakers included President Obama, former president Bill Clinton, Vice President Biden, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, and Congressman Nick Rahall.

It was a fit tribute to a one of a kind West Virginian.

Happy Independence Day!

An evening's stroll

The top story in West Virginia, and a big one nationally, is coverage of memorial tributes to Senator Robert C. Byrd. Thursday night brought thousands of West Virginians to come together and walk behind his funeral carriage or watch the solemn procession. Byrd was particularly appreciated by the working people of the state, as this banner at the offices of the United Mine Workers union attests.

The procession began at the Robert C. Byrd Courthouse and continued down Kanawha Boulevard along the river.

It was an old school funeral procession for an old school senator,

complete with the traditional symbolism of the riderless horse.

This picture gives a little idea of the size of the crowd.

On reaching the state capitol, there was a pause for prayer and music before his casket was taken inside where his body would lie in state overnight while thousands of people lined up to pay their final respects.

I had several conversations about his life and work along the way, especially about how Byrd kept growing and changing to the very end. One friend put it this way, "He grew into his stature."

On the return walk, I had a nice talk with the retired Methodist bishop of West Virginia who will give the invocation at the state memorial service Friday. Looking back at Byrd's life, he said "It's a story of redemption...a gospel story."

That was the late Senator's favorite kind of story.

Sculpting the body

The Dying Gaul, from a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original.

I have often thought that one of the saddest things about contemporary American life (and the competition is fierce in this arena) is that so many people don't really live in their bodies or seem at most to use them for various kinds of consumption. You can see this everywhere, not least in the epidemic of obesity.

One hillbilly hobby that gets on my last nerve--and I could be drummed out of the tribe for this--is the riding of four wheelers. After my stint on the local volunteer fire department, which responded to many calls involving death or injury from riding them, I sometimes find myself thinking of these as Darwin machines or natural selection devices.

Arpad, our (almost) Great Pyrenees canine, shares my distaste. He's generally laid back, but he's never met an all terrain vehicle he didn't hate.

In fairness, I'm sure they have their uses and I've been told that some of the trails in southern WV are good for economic development. But, as the saying goes, there's no accounting for taste. Just ask Arpad.

For quite a few people, this seems to be the only outdoor activity they engage in, and the closest thing to exercise, which is sad. Judging by the physical specimens that I've seen riding on them, it seems like most would be better off by any measure in walking, jogging or biking.

I have a feeling Thoreau might agree with me on this. Here's what he said about how we relate to the body in Walden:

Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to the god he worships, after a style purely his own, nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones.

HONORING A LEGEND. Tonight there will be processions through the streets of Charleston to honor Senator Robert C. Byrd. His memorial service tomorrow will include the president and vice president among those who attend. I plan on going, assuming I can get there, and will share pictures and thoughts afterward. WV Governor Joe Manchin has even given state employees the day off so that those who choose to can attend.

AFTER BYRD. Here's a NY Times article about a visit to Byrd's home town and the political lay of the land.

UNEMPLOYMENT. Congress is likely to vote today on restoring unemployment benefits, a measure which has failed several times in the last week or so. As I've argued here many times, the most immediate deficit we need to deal with is the jobs deficit.

I PREFER COFFEE. Here's an item about the Tea Party and the dangers of underestimating it.

URGENT ANCIENT CARNIVOROUS WHALE UPDATE here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

The wild and the good

Many people, past and present, have written eloquently of the human need for nature and the wild, but Henry David Thoreau was one of the most eloquent and influential. Here's a little nugget I've missed before in my several passes through Walden:

I found in myself, and still find, an instinct toward a higher, or, as it is named, spiritual life, as do most men, and another toward a primitive rank and savage one, and I reverence them both. I love the wild not less than the good.

The wild, alas is getting harder to find these days. Hmmm...could the same be said about the good?

SPEAKING OF THE GOOD, it looks like West Virginia's memorial service for Senator Robert C. Byrd will have a cast of thousands--including President Obama and Vice President Biden. I plan on attending, but getting there may be a challenge.

WHILE WE'RE AT IT, here are memories of Byrd from those who knew him in Washington.

STATE OF THE STATES. It isn't good, thanks in part to the refusal of conservatives in Congress to extend fiscal aid to states.

BETTING ON THE PRIVATE SECTOR to drive the recovery is risky business.

WHICH WAY? Here's an interesting take on the current political landscape for progressives.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

A changed landscape

The death of Senator Robert C. Byrd was a loss in many ways for many people. His life was a vivid testimony to the fact that people can keep changing and growing throughout their lives. It's an example and a challenge that will be tough to live up to.

The timing of his death was unfortunate in itself as the nation gears up for debate on energy and climate change issues. Byrd was the only West Virginia leader to take a strong, studied and independent stand on these issues and his voice and vote would have been crucial in making the next steps.

It's sad to say--and I'd really like to be wrong about this--but the great majority of state political leaders are likely, however unintentionally, to work diligently to block and obstruct any effort to seriously deal with climate change, an effort which, if successful, will help to ensure a dismal future for humanity. Coal controversies here are likely to get uglier and uglier without the voice of someone of his stature calling for a reasoned approach.

He leaves a void that is unlikely to be filled.

MORE ON BYRD. Here's Ken Ward's look back at Senator Byrd's changing position on coal and climate over the years. And here's the NY Times obituary.

RECESSION OR DEPRESSION? If it's the latter, blame a failure of public policy.

A CASE IN POINT is made in this op-ed by yours truly about the failure of the Senate to address unemployment and aid to states.

IT'S NOT ALL BAD. It looks like the nation is rethinking its approach to crime and punishment (the real thing, not the novel).

WANDERING MINDS may not be a bad thing.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

The end of an era

I was saddened this morning to wake up to the news of the death of West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd. He was said to have passed at 3:00 a.m. after being hospitalized for heat exhaustion and dehydration. He was 92 and served in the Senate since 1958.

Byrd was someone who kept growing throughout his long and distinguished career. Unlike many politicians, he seemed to save his best for last. He stood pretty much alone in Congress in steadfastly opposing the Bush administration's rush to war in Iraq and threats to the constitution. He overcame the prejudice of his youth to endorse an African-American candidate for the presidency. And, crucially for West Virginia, he was the only state leader with the courage and the standing to speak rationally but truthfully about coal, climate change, and the choices the state must face. There is likely to be no one with the courage to follow in his footsteps.

"He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again."

Repenting of goodness

There are any number of occupation hazards progressive types are susceptible to. Some of the worst in my book involve moralism and self righteousness, disorders often accompanied by the related condition of earnestness. I find it difficult to breathe in the presence of people without a sense of irony and a healthy dose of cynicism.

But it's not just a matter of taste. People who are overwhelmed by a sense of their own righteousness--or that of the cause which they profess, the two being easily confused--sometimes have zero sense of politics or tactics and are tone deaf and snow blind to even thinking about how their actions might appear to someone not already converted.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a good ethical fight, one where you try to correct this or that excess or injustice, but these days I try to think of such occasions less as a matter of righteousness than of getting my ya yas out in a socially acceptable manner. This is more a matter of moral luck than anything else; a different turn of the goddess Fortuna's wheel and I would have wound up in prison or worse.

I guess my thinking on these issues has been heavily shaped by people like William Blake, Nietzsche, Freud, Niebuhr et al who have been suspicious of our moralistic pretensions. But I'm also standing right smack dab in the biblical tradition. Jesus loved whacking self righteousness and the author of the First Epistle of John wrote that "If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

For reasons like that, I love the parts of Walden where Thoreau is critical of goodness and humanitarianism. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:

...if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?

and

There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted. It is human, it is divine, carrion. If I knew for certain that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life...

Having said that, y'all be good.

A VOTE FOR SCIENCE. Congratulations to WV Senator Robert C. Byrd for refusing to be buffaloed into a vote to block the EPA from dealing with climate change. Most state politicians seem to have adopted the position that anything which goes against the perceived interests of the coal industry is untrue by definition. Once again, WV's senior senator has stood out from the crowd.

NICE TRY. Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is trying to shift blame for its Upper Big Branch mine disaster to MSHA ventilation regulations. As the Church Lady on the old SNL would say, "Isn't that convenient?"

FELICITY. Here's another look at the politics of happiness. Thoreau might actually like this one.

BORED OR UNEMPLOYED? Here's a link to keep you busy.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

What he said

West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd has done it again. Yesterday, he released a powerful statement in response to the Massey Upper Big Branch mine disaster. Here's the whole thing. And here are some excerpts:

First and foremost, the coal industry must respect the miner and his family. A single miner's life is certainly worth the expense and effort required to enhance safety. West Virginia has some of the highest quality coal in the world, and mining it should be considered a privilege, not a right. Any company that establishes a pattern of negligence resulting in injuries and death should be replaced by a company that conducts business more responsibly. No doubt many energy companies are keen for a chance to produce West Virginia coal.

The industry of coal must also respect the land that yields the coal, as well as the people who live on the land. If the process of mining destroys nearby wells and foundations, if blasting and digging and relocating streams unearths harmful elements and releases them into the environment causing illness and death, that process should be halted and the resulting hazards to the community abated.

The sovereignty of West Virginia must also be respected. The monolithic power of industry should never dominate our politics to the detriment of local communities. Our coal mining communities do not have to be marked by a lack of economic diversity and development that can potentially squelch the voice of the people. People living in coal communities deserve to have a free hand in managing their own local affairs and public policies without undue political pressure to submit to the desires of industry....

The old chestnut that "Coal is West Virginia's greatest natural resource" deserves revision. I believe that our people are West Virginia's most valuable resource. We must demand to be treated as such.

Thanks once again, Senator Byrd for speaking the truth in a way that only you, out of all of West Virginia's leaders, have the courage to do.

PLENTY OF LAWS, NOT MUCH JUSTICE. Here's an op-ed by a friend on related issues.

BOOK EM. Here's a call to prosecute corporate criminals.

FROM KNOW NOTHINGS TO TEA PARTIERS. Here's a look at fringe political movements in the US that sometimes reached the mainstream.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Like thieves of mercy (and an action alert)

There are some unlikely plot devices in Hamlet, but I guess you'll have that in a play that opens with a ghost.

One of these occurs when the prince is sent to England in the company of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are carrying a letter to the king of England ordering Hamlet's death. Hamlet opens and reads the letters and changes it to order the death of his former friends. He was just lucky enough to be carrying with him the official seal of Denmark.

OK, I can buy that part, but then the ship is attacked by pirates (!) who wind up taking Hamlet with them and eventually dropping him off in Denmark. As he wrote in a letter to Horatio,

Ere we were two days old
at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us
chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on
a compelled valour, and in the grapple I boarded
them: on the instant they got clear of our ship; so
I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with
me like thieves of mercy: but they knew what they
did; I am to do a good turn for them.

(I think I'm gonna use the captured-by-pirates story next time I'm caught playing hookie. )

Another unlikely device is the plan Claudius and Laertes come up with to deal with Hamlet when they find out he's alive after all. They will contrive a fencing match at which Laertes will use poisoned blades and Claudius a poisoned drink. They could have used "more matter with less art" themselves.

It occurs to me that several characters in this play could have used some lessons in The Art of Whack from Tony Soprano...

ACTION ITEM. If you live in West Virginia, please click here to support a bill that would create an office of minority affairs to address racial disparities. The bill passed the House but is in danger of dying in the Senate Finance Committee, which such things often happen.

TWO WEEKS? The White House is pushing for quick votes on its health care reform bill.

ON A RELATED NOTE, Senator Byrd has indicated he might support reconciliation as a way to pass health care reform.

WORLDS APART. Schisms in the US Senate reflect different political and moral universes.

SURVIVAL OF THE NICEST? Some researchers suggest that kindness and generosity may convey some evolutionary advances.

ON THE OTHER HAND, hate groups seem to be doing pretty good these days.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

This and that

Random animal picture.

El Cabrero is attempting to play holiday catch up from the storm today but here are a few items that caught my eye:

ONE GOOD THING about the Senate health care reform bill, according to WV Senator Jay Rockefeller, is that it limits the amount insurance companies can spend on administration and profits.

SPEAKING OF WV SENATORS, here's the Washington Post on Senator Byrd.

DON'T BE ABSURD. No wait, cancel that. A new study suggests that reading absurdist literature may be good for your brain.

PLANTS apparently don't like to be eaten either.

ATTENTION HOLIDAY DRINKERS. Darker liquors may lead to worse hangovers. (El Cabrero prefers red wine.)

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Primeval soup

Lately Goat Rope is looking at the messy but interesting process of how public policy gets made (or doesn't). You'll also find links and comments about current events. If this is your first visit, please click on earlier posts.

Before any major new public policy is introduced to the public or placed on the agenda, it often begins as an idea developed by a peculiar human subspecies popularly known as policy wonks.

As John Kingdon put it in Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies,

Picture a community of specialists: researchers, congressional staffers, people in planning and evaluation offices and in budget offices, academics, interest group analysts. Ideas float around in such communities. Specialists have their conceptions, their vague notions of future directions, and their more specific proposals. They try out their ideas on each other by going to lunch, circulating papers, publishing articles, holding hearings, presenting testimony, and drafting and pushing legislative proposals. The process often does take years...and may be endless.

Kingdon compares the development of policy proposals to the biological process of natural selection:

Much as molecules floated around in what biologists call the "primeval soup" before life came into being, so ideas float around in these communities. Many ideas are possible, much as many molecules would be possible. Ideas become prominent and then fade. There is a long process of "softening up": ideas are floated, bills introduced, speeches made; proposals drafted, then amended in response to reaction and floated again. Ideas confront one another (much as molecules bumped into one another) and combine with one another in various ways. The "soup: changes not only through the appearance of wholly new elements, but even more by the recombination of previously existing elements. While many ideas float around in this policy primeval soup, the ones that last, as in a natural selection system, meet some criteria. Some ideas survive and prosper; some proposals are taken more seriously than others.

Believe it or not, ideas actually matter, although it's a long way from conception to implementation.

HEALTH CARE AND THE HOUSE. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says nice things about the Senate compromise on health care reform here.

JOBS AND THE FED. Here's Krugman on what the Federal Reserve can and probably won't do to boost employment.

THE HOLLY AND THE IVY AND MORE are discussed in the latest edition of Notes from Under the Fig Tree.

CHIMPS LIKE US dig music. They also like hugs.

TALKING COAL. Here's Ken Ward's Coal Tattoo post on public reaction to Senator Byrd's recent statement on the future of coal. And here's an item about coal and climate change legislation in the US Senate.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Award ceremony

It is not the usual practice of this blog to issue awards, mostly because nobody cares what I think, but I'm making an exception in this case. The first official Goat Rope Rock On With Your Bad Self Award--the highest award I have to bestow--goes to WV Senator Robert C. Byrd for having the guts to speak some truth to the WV coal industry about climate change, mountaintop removal and the industry's bullying tactics.

Here's what he has to say.

Byrd deserves particular commendation for not caving in to the latest hissy fit by the WV Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber's latest stunt consists of urging Congress to torpedo health care reform unless and until that body bows down and worships the coal industry as its lord and master and supreme deity.

There are several problems with this approach, but I'll mention only two. First, the Chamber would have opposed meaningful health care reform anyway, even if there were no coal controversies. Second, exactly who died and left the most backward parts of WV's coal industry in charge of the United States of America?

I'm sorry if this offends anyone--and I know this may be a shock to some people--but that sector of the coal industry does not own the hearts, souls,and other bodily and spiritual parts of everyone in West Virginia, much less of the United States as a whole (even though it seems to for some folks).

The thing that I admire most about Senator Byrd is that he improves with age--may we all be so lucky. In the past, I believed that Byrd's greatest moment was his courageous opposition to the Bush administration's unnecessary war in Iraq and its assaults on the US constitution. I don't want to take anything away from that but I now believe that his greatest moment may be the one where he speaks truth to power much closer to home, which is always a much riskier proposition.

Thank you, Senator Byrd!

UNFINISHED BUSINESS. From the New Yorker, here's a look at the history of health care reform efforts in the US.

THE COST OF NOT REFORMING health care is too high, according to Krugman's latest.

BRIGHT SIDED AGAIN. Here's an interview with Barbara Ehrenreich on the perils of unrealistic positive thinking and its effects on the US economy.

ANOTHER TAKE ON JOHN BROWN here.

"IMPROVING" THE BIBLE. Here's more on the "Conservative Bible Project." (Suggestion: it might be easier if these guys just took out all the stuff about Jesus and the prophets.)

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

...so let it be done

From John Brown's last speech:

Had I interfered in the manner which I admit...in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, — either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class, — and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.

This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me that all thing whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me further, to “remember them that are in bonds as bound with them.” I endeavored to act upon that instruction. I say, I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done — as I have always freely admitted I have done — in behalf of his despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, — I submit; so let it be done!

Two major anniversaries for the US and for West Virginia is coming up this year. Oct. 16 marks the 150th year after Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry (then in Virginia) and Dec. 2 is the date of his execution. I've always been fascinated with Brown, who seems to me like a meteor hurled into a guilty land by God or karma. He seemed to have failed at every particular thing he attempted in life except the biggest and even that didn't turn out as planned.

At any rate, the Charleston Gazette reported yesterday about an online exhibit about Brown's life and death. A real one can be seen at the state capitol's cultural center. Here's a link to the web version, which is pretty substantial.

COUNTING COSTS. Here's the latest on the health care struggle in Congress, including a report on a cost analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.

WHO'S THE REAL PREDATOR? Here's an item on the current rhetoric of the health care reform debate.

A GOOD SCOLDING. WV Senator Robert Byrd opened a can on Massey Energy after the company said it would not contribute money to relocate Marsh Fork Elementary School which is near its massive coal silo and slurry impoundment.

VIOLENCE. According to a new study, American children are exposed to more of it than previously believed.

URGENT CANNIBALISTIC DINOSAUR UPDATE here.

SPEAKING OF FOOD, Here's Michael Pollan on rules to eat by (or should that be rules by which to eat?).

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

What he said

Senators Kennedy and Byrd in Logan County, 2004. Image from WV Blue.

The top story (at the moment) in today's New York Times notes that the death of long time health care reform supporter Senator Ted Kennedy adds a new and volatile element to the ongoing debate:

The death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy has quickly become a rallying point for Democratic advocates of a broad health care overhaul, a signature Kennedy issue that became mired in partisanship while he fought his illness away from the Capitol...

It seemed unlikely that Republicans would suddenly soften their firm opposition in the aftermath of Mr. Kennedy’s death or that Democrats would relent on their push for substantial change, especially for a government-run insurance plan, which Mr. Kennedy endorsed.

But Democrats and others said the senator’s death should provide at least a temporary respite from the angry denunciations that flowed this summer, putting Democrats on the defensive as they met with voters back home. One advocacy group opposed to the Democratic proposals, Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, announced that it was suspending its advertising out of respect for the senator and his family.

Senator Byrd said it best:

"In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American."

WHO OWNS APPALACHIA? For the most part, not the people who live there.

MORE ON HEALTH CARE WHACKADOODLERY here.

SHORT RATIONS. Goat Rope is running short of links today. More tomorrow.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

OH THE WATER

Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water.
Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better;
It has no equal.
The weak can overcome the strong;
The supple can overcome the stiff.
Under heaven, everyone knows this,
Yet no one puts it into practice. Tao Te Ching, 78

The geologic history of El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virginia
as I understand it is the story of water versus rock, with the water winning every time.

Simple observations like this are at the root of the Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese classic (see yesterday's post).

You can probably think of other ones...trees that are brittle break during heavy snows or high winds, while the flexible ones don't. People when healthy are pliable and flexible, but become rigid when they are dead. Extremes of wind or rain don't last long. People can't run at top speed for very long. It's hard to scream at the top of your lungs all day (even if you feel like it).

Better stop short than fill to the brim.
Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt.
Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it.
Claim wealth and titles, and disaster will follow.
Retire when the work is done.
This is the way of heaven. (9)

Recognizing these obvious truths and acting in accordance with them are the basic elements of living according to the Tao or way of things, according to Lao Tzu, legendary author of these words.

Unfortunately, people aren't very good at doing things the easy way and often force their intentions on nature or other people in unskillful ways and with undesirable consequences. The Tao Te Ching has a very sophisticated critique of force and aggression, about which more next time.

SPEAKING OF CRITIQUES OF AGGRESSION, here is Senator Byrd on the Bush administration's "foolish consistency."

SUPERSIZE ME. Here are some interesting factoids gleaned from Dean Baker's book The United States Since 1980: average daily calorie consumption in the US rose by 22 percent between 1980 and 2002, with average daily fat consumption rising by 14 percent in the same period. In 2002, only 17.4 percent of people with college degrees were classified as obese, compared with 29.7 percent without.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

TOWN MEETING: WV CONGRESSMAN RAHALL ADDRESSES IRAQ

Congressman Nick J. Rahall (WV III) addresses a town meeting in Charleston.

Around 100 people attended a public forum in Charleston Saturday. WV Congressman Nick J. Rahall was the featured speaker and later fielded questions from attendees.

Rahall, who represents WV's third district, has been an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq from the beginning. In 2002, he was part of a delegation that visited that country to urge the regime to allow weapons inspectors, which it subsequently did.

That step wasn't enough to head off the Bush administration's predetermined pursuit of an unnecessary war.

Rahall recently returned from another delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Israel and Syria, noting "This is the kind of surge we need--a surge of diplomacy." He further stated that "Communication and conversation does not mean capitulation."

Here's WCHS TV's take on the event:

A packed room at the Christ Church United Methodist listened to Rahall discuss his recent trip to the Middle East. The Democrat was asked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to join her and others on the trip. He said the purpose of the trip was to prod all sides toward peace...

A child who had his hand raised for a half-hour before someone in the audience pointed him out asked Rahall why President Bush sent troops to Iraq in the first place. Rahall responded that he wished he knew the answer and that he didn't vote for this war from the beginning.

The town hall meeting was sponsored by the West Virginia Council of Churches, West Virginia Patriots for Peace, the West Virginia Citizen Action Group, the A-F-L C-I-O and the American Friends Service Committee.

The event was held in the district (WV II) of Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, a strong supporter of both the war and the Bush administration. She did not attend.

Senator Robert C. Byrd did not attend, but sent a representative with a letter supporting the forum and speaking of the need to "begin to put some sanity in our foreign policy again."

Retired WV United Methodist Bishop William Boyd Grove moderated the forum.