The minimum wage: who would win from a raise

Here's a good infographic about the minimum wage from the WV Center on Budget and Policy. If you have trouble reading it, click here.

THE WRECKING CREW. Here's a look at the real costs of the government shutdown, including lost economic growth.

IT'S NOT ALL BAD. Here is the Charleston Daily Mail and WV Public Broadcasting on the farm to school movement in WV.

CONSOLATION. It's not just for humans anymore. It never was.

URGENT 18 FOOT OARFISH UPDATE here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

So like...

Street protest outside WV Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito's office yesterday.

...what was the point of the whole shutdown thing again? Did the shutdown wrecking crew get what they wanted out of this?

Talk about sound and fury signifying nothing. What a waste and what an irresponsible abuse of power.

Watching this sorry spectacle, I was reminded of a saying of Napoleon's: "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

(Of course, El Cabrero loves everyone and has no enemies. But the point remains...)

WHO PAYS? Here's another look at the social cost of low wages.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO AMERICAN POLITICS? Here are some ideas.

MORE SPITE AT WORK. This item looks at the millions left out by the refusal of some states to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

A look at what Americans love and what they don't.

From all the buzz about the series finale of Breaking Bad, you'd think Americans have a soft spot for meth cookers. Whatever the case may be with that, it looks like they love zombies even more.

As for congressional Republicans, not so much. A recent poll shows that 74 percent of Americans disapprove of the ransom/blackmail school of government.

Meanwhile, here's one interesting take on where the "American center" is politically these days. There's some good news and bad news.

What they're thinking

At this writing, there's talk of an approaching debt ceiling/shutdown deal emerging from the Senate. That kind of news makes me wonder what they caved in on this time. I guess we'll know soon. At any rate, here's an interesting look at the folks who gave us the shutdown and how they look at the world. It's worth a look.

WEIRTON STEEL TO WAL-MART. Here's an op-ed by yours truly about how WV's economy has changed over the years. Mostly not in a good way. But there is some good news in there too.

FUN AND GAMES WITH THE AG. Here's an item by a friend of mine across the state about how WV's attorney general is working hard to keep people from getting health care.

IT'S NOT ALL BAD. German scientists are trying to raise drought resistant barley so we can still drink beer in a climate changed world.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ABOUT TO HIT THE CEILING

The generosity of the universe

Arpad (pronounced Ar-pod), our Great Pyrenees and security chief for Goat Rope Farm, loves this time of the year. As deer hunters hit the woods, they often leave behind such tasty offerings as legs and spines, sometimes both all joined together. These are sources of delight for a good month or two starting when the leaves start to turn.

The above picture shows his treasure haul for the day. And the season is still young.

For Arpad, it's proof that the universe is bountiful and generous. It's all good. The Pod abides.

HOW BOUT THOSE POLLS? It looks like the government shutdown/hostage crisis thing hasn't worked out too well for House Republicans.

A GRIEF OBSERVED. My friend the Rev. Jim Lewis recently lost his wife Judy after a long battle with cancer. Here are some of his reflections on dealing with loss.

ELEPHANTS get the point. Too bad some people don't.

ENDING THE (REAL) HUNGER GAMES. Here's a look at some recent reforms that provide free meals for all schoolchildren. We're working on that in WV.

WE KNOW FROM "OKLAHOMA" that the farmer and the cowman should be friends. Apparently, it wasn't that easy even thousands of years ago.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Who's winning?

Republican extremism in the US House is driving a wedge between Tea Party Whackadoodles and big business groups, according to the New York Times. Meanwhile, Nicholas Kristoff calls out the "gang of 40" here.

It looks like the shutdown/hostage crisis isn't gaining Republicans too many popularity points, as another poll suggests. AND the threats are causing consumer confidence to sink.

Talk about a goat rope. It's another example of government by artificial crisis of the kind we've been seeing for the last couple years. Who knows how much damage will be done. It looks like the biggest losers will be the American people.

Fear of success

It's becoming increasingly clear that what lies behind the mania of the US House majority to shutdown the government and crash the economy is fear that the Affordable Care Act will succeed.

I mean think about it. If "Obamacare" was a disaster, the thing to do would be let it roll out, capitalize on how bad it is, and ride that wave to victory. As Napoleon was supposed to have said, "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." That isn't happening. Instead, West Virginia alone, over 50,000 people have signed up for the expanded Medicaid program since Oct. 1.

I wonder how much damage the Whackadoodles will do before it's over, but I don't think they are going to be able to put the genie back in the bottle.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS: a recent poll shows that a majority of Americans don't think the shutdown crisis should be linked to Obamacare funding.

HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION. Here's a look at why it matters.

BOOMS AND BUSTS. Here's a call for WV leaders to get real about the future of coal. I'm not holding my breath on this one.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Statement of intent

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was sidetracked from running for around three months with plantar fasciitis, an irritating condition which is the next best thing to having a nail in your heel. It seems to be slowly easing its grip on my foot and I've started to limp/jog again, even hitting the three mile point today (we will not discuss speed).

A while back, my daughter, La Cabrita, pointed out that there is a marathon in October in one of my favorite places, Harper's Ferry. Aptly named Freedom's Run, it coincides closely with the anniversary of John Brown's raid. And El Cabrero is all about John Brown.

It'll take me a long time to catch up to where I was this spring, running-wise, and even longer to get ready for a marathon, assuming I stay injury free. But in a year...

OK, so I've had some heart issues and two bad knees and can barely limp a few miles. Whatever. It is SOOO on.

This one's for the wild man with the beard.

THE OTHER GREAT DIVIDE. There's not only an economic gap between rich and poor. There's also an empathy gap.

SINCE I WAS ALREADY AT THE TIMES, I scooped up the latest Krugman here on the government shutdown.

A LITTLE GOOD NEWS. It looks like WV legislators are studying ways of promoting physical activity for kids.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Shame

Watching the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act makes me proud of West Virginia and its governor, Earl Ray Tomblin. Tomblin decided in May to expand Medicaid under the act, after many West Virginians urged him to do so.I hear that around 50,000 low income West Virginians have signed up in the first few days.

Sadly, many states--and especially the former slave states of the south--have chosen not to do this. The New York Times sums it up pretty well:

A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help, according to an analysis of census data by The New York Times.

Can you say "racism?"

I'm quite a Dante fan and can only imagine how much fun the Poet had in assigning real estate in hell to people he thought deserving. Given the opportunity, I'd save some of the choicest spots for those who could have helped people and chose not too. Shame on them. Let me say that again in Shakespearean:
"Shame and eternal shame, nothing but shame."

MORE ON THAT (MINUS THE HELL PART) from CNN here.

THE REAL DEAL. Here's economist Dean Baker on the real reason some folks would rather shut the government down than let some people get health insurance.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

First steps

I'm feeling pretty grateful at the moment. For the first time in something like three months, I actually jogged first one mile, then two, over the last couple of days.

I'd been having a great running year (for me), including some longish trail runs and a half marathon. I started working on speed, a relative thing, and ran my best miles in 10 years. Then it happened. I came down suddenly with plantar fasciitis, which is the next best thing to having a nail in your heel.

Running was out of the question. Some days, especially in the morning, I could hardly walk. Other forms of exercise, like skipping rope or kicking a heavy bag, were also no-nos reinforced by serious pain.

Some things you just have to wait out. I think yoga helped, especially sun salutations where you hold the downward facing dog for several breaths.

I'm not better yet, but the nail in my heel is now something like a thumbtack. And, while my running may look like walking or even a zombie shuffle to others, I'm glad to have it back.

For those who aren't runners, it's hard to explain, but there really is no substitute. Anything else is just making do until you can do it again.

WHACKADOODLES who want to shut down the government aren't polling too well these days.

IT'S NOT ALL BAD. In some countries, extreme poverty is declining.

THINK ABOUT THIS. "Poverty is more harmful to children than gestational exposure to cocaine," according to a recent study.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

My wife told me to blog this

I received a direct order from the Spousal Unit to blog about a story in the news regarding the production and distribution of what El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virginia seems to regard as a dangerous and toxic substance, to wit, milk.

We have dabbled a bit in dairy at Goat Rope Farm, but it's hard when milk from non-industrialized (i.e., non-tortured) animals has roughly the same legal status as, say, nuclear waste or crack.

TWO TATTOO. My friend Ken Ward at Coal Tattoo was off last week, a busy week in coal news. But he's making up for lost ground this week. Here's his coverage on the latest climate change information for WV's ruling class to deny because of money and, closely related, here's his post on said ruling class's ongoing hissy fit over the EPA.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, at least WV's two senators voted against the Whackadoodle blackmail bill that threatens to shut down the government unless "Obamacare" is defunded.

FINAL THOUGHT. I love this tweet from Riann Wilson:

Things to say when you sit next to a stranger on the plane:
1) God put me next to you for a reason.
2) Are you ticklish?

I think I'll try that next flight.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED 

Tradeoffs?

Random animal picture. Can you spot the crawdad in the creek?

First up, here's a good analysis from the Economic Policy Institute about the deficit and proposed budget cuts.

Sample:

The bottom line: reckless spending didn’t get us here. What got us here was reckless gambling on Wall Street and policymakers’ failure to rein in these excesses because it would have required confronting politically favored constituencies in the name of protecting America’s working families. Note that none of this is solved by cutting taxes even more, as many conservatives are proposing.

The issue comes down to a question of priorities. If we can afford tax cuts for the middle class and the wealthy and corporations offshoring jobs, we can afford to keep teachers in the classroom and cops on the street. Budgeting is about tradeoffs. Trading an estate tax cut for the wealthiest one-quarter of one percent of Americans—a costly provision in the tax compromise—for budget cuts in child nutrition, grants for college tuition, and food safety (all in the Republican budget) is a really bad trade for the middle class. It’s bad for jobs, bad for our kids, bad for our health, and bad for competitiveness. It’s good for inherited wealth and big donors—that’s about it.

The prevailing sense of Congress seems to believe that deficits don’t matter when it comes to tax cuts for the already privileged, but do matter when it comes to spending. This is job-killing hypocrisy, and a textbook recipe for “starving the beast” and hurting the middle class, not for creating jobs.

NOT GOOD. Things aren't looking good in Japan's post-tsunami nuclear crisis.

AN END OR A BEGINNING? Did the struggle against union busting in Wisconsin wake a sleeping giant?

CLASS WARFARE? More like a one-sided class beatdown.

SOCIAL SECURITY. Progressives in the US Senate are trying to protect this program from yet another cave-in.

PLAYING CHICKEN. Most Americans oppose a government shutdown. However, a majority of Tea Party supporters are in favor of one.

GOOD ELEPHANTS gone bad.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED