The end of an era

 It's hard to believe that this (now irregular) blog started 18 years ago t next month. The name Goat Rope came from three sources:

*First, when the Spousal Unit and I were on the local volunteer fire department, we went to an auto extrication class led by someone with a hilarious voice. In a mixed class of men and women, he'd often say "Boys--you know what I see here? I see a goat rope." The term may have rodeo roots, but it mostly means a hot mess these days. It stuck.

*Second, when we moved out in the country, we decided to call the place Goat Rope Farm even before it was anything like a farm.

*Third, around 19 years ago, we became the proud caregivers of Venus, a pregnant Alpine diary goat. Venus was the first of several to grace our farm and torment their human caregivers. On some occasions, they even gave milk for drinking, cheese, yogurt, and soap as produced by said spouse (although they were probably more happy sticking their feet in the milking pail).

Yesterday, that era came to an end. We were down to two old dairy goats who had never given birth or milk (we tried) and were basically walking lawn ornaments that were becoming more of a challenge to manage. We were lucky to find a home for them in our extended family on a farm with kids (the human kind) who love goats.

So the goats are gone...but the goat rope remains.

Slacker goats

I never thought that I had much in common with the current occupant of the White House. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered that the president is a fellow goat herder...sort of.

According to the Huffington Post, Prince Joffrey  President Trump owns eight goats and 113 acres of hay at one of his golf courses in New Jersey. Unlike my slacker goats, however, his apparently save him $88,000 a year in property taxes.

Maybe I should get into kangaroos.

Speaking of democracy...

...maybe a small town in Vermont has finally gotten it right by electing a goat, Ms. Lincoln, as mayor. According to this news story,

That idea to elect an animal as mayor came from the town manager. He thought it would be a fun way to raise money for the school to build a new playground and get kids to start thinking about local politics.

On voting day, the kids took to the polls with their parents and had their very own ballot with 16 candidates ranging from cats and dogs to a goat! Lincoln won by three votes...

"We were really pleased to see it was a civics lesson for the students and that they could be involved and decisions made in the town and it something that we hope to continue in the future getting the kids voting with their parents on a regular basis," said Christopher Stapleton, Lincoln's owner.

The election was also intended to be a fundraiser, but only $100 was raised instead of the $70,000 hoped for.

I could have told them that goats were a money pit. On the other hand, the last few years have shown that could could do a lot worse when it comes to elected officials. 

Goat Fund Me?

We interrupt Goat Rope's regularly scheduled programming to point out this news item from California about a "Goat Fund Me" effort. Apparently, the goal is to raise money to support a herd or so of goats to clear excess brush on 450 acres of city-owned land in an effort to prevent wildfires.

This has been done in other places as well. Goats have also reportedly been used to restore native grasses and clear other areas in order to restore native grasses.

Here in WV, the National Park Service used goats to eat kudzu in the Thurmond area. Not sure what they'll do during the shutdown.

The thing I can't figure out is how these public spirited goats can be so different from the crew we have. Our goats, which tend to think of us a stupid waiters who constantly get their orders wrong, usually prefer to eat the plants we don't want them to.

Department of Corrections

In yesterday's post, I meant to link this article about the tragic killing of James Means, an African-American teenager who was called "another piece of trash" by the white man who killed him. Here's the corrected link. Sorry about that.

Meanwhile, here's more bad news about Trump's apparent secretary of education.

Finally, as wretched as things seem, here's a little less heavy news story about a Swedish holiday custom that involves a giant straw goat. Whatever else can be said about them, straw goats are probably easier to deal with than the real thing.

Another road not taken

The latest Front Porch features an interview with Gazette-Mail reporter and Coal Tattoo blogger Ken Ward on WV's neglected plan to deal with flooding.

On a more positive note, here's something from the UK Guardian about research that suggests goats want to form social relationships with humans. Whatever. The real deal is that they think we are stupid waiters who get their orders wrong.

Drop everything

A friend just sent me a link to this Australian news story about a helicopter disabled by a goat while on a mission of mercy. Clarification: the helicopter, not the goat, was the one on the mission. A goat on a mercy mission would REALLY be news.

Off topic, one bill being kicked around at the bad idea factory, aka WV legislature, is photo ID/voter suppression. Here's a good take on this from the Huntington Herald-Dispatch.

And one more for the road: here's a recent poll of presidential favorites in WV with some surprising results.

Biblical paraphrase

The prophet Isaiah spoke of a coming day of peace and justice when "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the goat; and the calf and the young lion and the yearling together; and a little child shall lead them."

Obviously, we haven't gotten there yet. But at least in Russia there's a goat that lies down with a tiger (after taking its bed).

I reckon that's a start.

Requiem for a goat

It is with heavy heart that I must report the passing of Arcadia Starlight Venus, doyenne of Goat Rope Farm and the initial inspiration for the name of this blog. She died at nearly 15 years of age, which is pretty old for a diary goat.

I still remember when she first came into my life. I had gotten back late on a Saturday night from a work trip around April Fool's Day 2005. My wife woke me up on Sunday morning with words that have sometimes caused me trepidation, to wit "Honey, come see."

There she was in all her glory.

From my earliest infancy, it has been the height of my ambition to be the partial owner/caregiver of a pregnant Alpine dairy goat. Imagine my delight in this first encounter. (Note: that was mild irony.)

My first thought was, who on earth would name a goat after the Roman goddess of love? But then I got it.

Venus turned out to be a delight, a sweet affectionate goat,  a good mother and grandmother and a good milker. Yes, she had that Alpine contrarian attitude, but she was a heart-breaker in her way. I must admit that she was the first goat I ever kissed...

(It's probably not a coincidence that according to Greek mythology Zeus, father of gods and men, was nourished in his infancy by the mother goat Amalthea. Or that the Norse god Thor rode in a chariot drawn by goats.)

Among her descendants at Goat Rope Farm are son Cornelius Agrippa, daughter Pina, and granddaughter Honeysuckle.

This song is for her.

I like to think that Venus has gone to the place where good goats go. I don't think it's very crowded, since in my experience there aren't all that many good goats.

Anna and I are sad tonight. We can only say, "Goodnight, sweet princess: and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

Finally, an important news story

I was a bit surprised today when surfing the web to find a news story on NPR about how to tell whether one's goats are happy. According to the report, goats are in these days, with global population increasing from 600 million to 900 million since 1990.

Apparently, someone has actually studied how to tell whether goats are happy or unhappy. With ours, it's pretty easy to tell, but I'm guessing there may be a big difference between goats as productive livestock and goats as spoiled lawn ornaments who think their humans are stupid waiters.

ON A MORE SOMBER NOTE, it looks like WV's new political majority is planning anti-labor legislation for the 2015 session. That's no surprise.

You deserve a treat

So what better than watching a video of goats screaming like people?

Regarding goats and accents

This blog was established six years ago to cover cutting edge economic justice issues.  While all that is no doubt important, it is hard to deny that many posts these days have been devoted to such things a possums and zombies.

What can I say?

In an effort to clear the palate, I now offer this item, which suggests that goats, just like humans, speak in accents depending on their locations and circumstances.

All of which leads me to wonder whether the twang in caprine accents increases as one moves south in El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virginia. Inquiring minds want to know.

IMPORTANT NOTICE.  I promised yesterday to avoid writing any more about possums. Tomorrow I may well break that promise.

ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE, here's a look at the war on science currently waged by climate change deniers.

A HOPEFUL SIGN? A bill to address prison overcrowding crossed a hurdle in the WV senate.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Goats announce farm occupation

We should have expected this given the worldwide outbreak of protests inspired by Occupy Wall Street. The goats here have announced their official occupation of Goat Rope Farm after meeting in a general assembly to prepare their demands.

According to Arcadia S. Venus, duly elected spokesperson, who stressed that she was not the leader of the group, "We want grain at least twice a day, plus beet pulp, alfalfa cubes and decent hay. And we demand clean drinking water and a formal acknowledgement that whenever we poop in it it's your fault."

Since these demands have basically all been met, aside from the formal acknowledgement, we anticipate that the occupation will continue indefinitely.

SENSE IS TALKED HERE about the American Jobs Act.

ANOTHER TRILLION. Outstanding student loan debt has hit the magic number.

IN CASE THERE'S A BABY IN YOUR LIFE, they learn more from playing than from watching screens.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Jesus and goats, or a caprine crime wave

I have long noticed that Jesus, or at least the author(s) of the Gospel of Matthew, didn't seem to like goats much. In chapter 25 of that gospel, it is said that the apocalyptic Son of Man will come and

he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

The guys on the left are gonna get it.

Since we got goats, I've had a few problems with that verse. I mean, goats can't help not being sheep, whereas people presumably have some type of choice about whether they will behave decently. Amongst my many heretical musings I also began to wonder whether the Second Person of the Holy Trinity harbored a prejudice against goats...or did he just have better information?

A caprine crime wave that hit Goat Rope Farm last night helped to answer that question. It seems that Cornelius Agrippa (above) decided to batter his way into the part of the barn where grain and hay are stored....



...busting up a door in the meantime. He was then joined by several accomplices and they had a good time knocking over storage cans, chowing down, relieving themselves on fresh hay and generally trashing the place.

I'm now willing to concede the point. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Jesus knew a thing or two about a thing or two.

TAXING QUESTIONS. A new poll suggests that Americans overwhelmingly favor increasing taxes on the wealthy.

AMERICAN NATIONALISM considered here.

COAL GOING UNDER? Some analysts predict a steep decline in the WV coal industry over the next few years.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Just kidding

We once again interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to announce new arrivals at Goat Rope Farm.


Yesterday morning, Juno, daughter of caprine doyenne Arcadia S. Venus, was herself delivered of two kids representing respectively both the male and female persuasion.



I'm not sure what's gotten into the female goats around here...

WHAT WAS CUT IN THE LAST BUDGET DEAL: a lot, for ordinary people. And that's just the start of it.

A MODEST PROPOSAL. This NY Times item suggests that if Congress did nothing about the deficit things would get better--by letting Bush era tax cuts die.

AYN RAND AND PARENTHOOD. They don't seem to go too well together.

JUSTICE IS BLIND (BUT TIME OF DAY MATTERS). A study of parole hearings found that whether you get it or not may depend to a surprising degree on what time of day your case is heard.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Goats versus picnic tables

Don't bet on the picnic tables.

WHERE'S THE BEEF? Krugman takes the president to task again here.

TALKING SENSE. This op-ed by some friends of mine talks sense about taxes, budgets and deficits.

JAWING AROUND. A Kentucky coal miner found the jawbone of a 300 million year old shark 700 feet underground.

AUTHOR CHRIS HEDGES spoke in Charleston WV this weekend about the decline of liberal institutions.

UNION SUPPORTERS rallied at the state capitol Sunday as well. El Cabrero was on the way when the fan belt died in my old car.

BOUNCE BACK from stress if you want to live to be 100

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

New arrivals

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to announce that Arcadia S. Venus, caprine doyenne of Goat Rope Farm, was delivered of two baby goats this Thursday, one male and one female. Since Venus' gentleman companion this time around was named King David, we felt we had no choice but to name him Solomon. The Spousal Unit is on a Dante jag right now, so she named the female Beatrice.

This could happen to anybody

Goats could drive anybody to drink.

Okay. Every so often a news story will catch the eye. This week I ran across one from Poland about a farmer who was arrested for drunk driving while taking his lonely goat out on a date.

Lest there be any confusion, he was not dating the goat himself, but rather escorting it on a visit to a female companion. Apparently the goat was riding in the back seat. It is a truth universally acknowledged that goats dislike riding shotgun.

Apparently, when he got to the farm of his friend, whereat the female goat resided, the humans pounded back some vodka while the goats engaged in that delicate form of courtship for which they are so famed.

Actually, I've been in similar situations, minus the vodka. We don't have a buck (an un-neutered male for you goat civilians) so whenever our lady goats are in the mood to enjoy the converse of a caprine gentleman we put them in the back of the Spousal Unit's Matrix and haul them off.

Perhaps one reason we haven't indulged in vodka on these quadrupedal booty calls is because they don't take that long...

(For some reason, our lady goats tend to crave male companionship at awkward times and are often particularly demanding about such visits on or about Christmas Day, which kind of puts a damper on the whole manger story for me.)
While El Cabrero is officially opposed to drunk driving, the thing that really stuck in my mind is the idea of putting a randy male goat in one's car. They are odoriferous beasts and the odor clings to anything they come into contact with for a long time to come. Whatever happens to the driver, I hope there's a good stockpile of car air fresheners in the European Union. And, it goes without saying, I hope that the date was a felicitous one.

THE GREAT DIVIDE. Here's another call for debate without destruction.

THE LEGACY OF NONVIOLENCE. From the WV News Service, here's a story featuring a friend of mine and an associate of the Revs. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sr. on violent and nonviolent communication.

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS. Conservative activist Grover Norquist wants public debate on the costs of the war in Afghanistan.

DENIED. In a move sure to generate coalfield controversy, the EPA vetoed Arch Coal's Spruce Mine permit, which would have been the largest mountaintop removal mine in WV history.

CUTE LITTLE DINOSAUR UPDATE here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Too optimistic to be happy

According to Buddhist tradition, being born as a human is a rare privilege. Other states of being may be more or less pleasant but the human state is said to be the only one in which one can attain enlightenment. It is even rarer and more fortunate to be a human and be exposed however briefly to the Buddha and his teaching.

By those standards, I guess I'm pretty lucky. Due to a traveling grandfather who died before I was born, I don't remember a time when I didn't know about Buddha or at least recognize his image, thanks to a statue and a prayer wheel he brought back from China in the 1920s. Learning about Buddhist teachings came later, partially through my study of martial arts.

For the record, I'm not a card-carrying Buddhist but more like a Buddhist sympathizer. Seated meditation drives me nuts and I'm way too fond of wine to sign on to the Fifth Precept. But I've been struck over and over again by the practicality of some Buddhist teachings to working for social justice--and not going crazy in the process.

Here's one to start with: life is suffering. Some people seem to have this magical idea that if only this or that could be made to happen or stopped from happening then everything would be just peachy. If the desired state does not come about, they can make themselves pretty miserable. Paradoxically, they are too optimistic--in the sense of thinking everything can be fixed--to be happy.

Buddhism isn't pessimistic but it is realistic. Things aren't all bad all the time but living and suffering are intertwined. Such a view is entirely compatible with happiness, strange as that may seem. We can do things to increase or decrease the amount of suffering in the world but not eliminate it. That insight makes me grateful for little victories and for all the things that aren't terrible at any given moment.

Here's a suggestion: try to make it a practice to notice it when you don't have a toothache.

DEJA VU. This New Yorker piece by Sean Wilentz traces Glenn Beck's outlook to old, hard right groups like the John Birch Society.

JUST SAY NO to more foreclosures. Dean Baker calls for a moratorium here.

YOU CAN READ THIS LATER. It's another New Yorker item about procrastination.

DROP EVERYTHING and watch this video clip from Stephen Colbert about how goats are stealing American jobs.

SPEAKING OF SUFFERING, elite athletes train to push past pain and other people can learn to do this too.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

It's a girl

Goat Rope Farm is pleased to announce the birth of Honeysuckle, daughter of Juno and grand daughter of Arcadia S. Venus, the farm's official matriarch. This was Juno's first birth and she had the courtesy to do it without need of assistance while El Cabrero was out of town. La Cabra is much relieved.