goatrope.blogspot.com
The Goat Rope: 2015-04-26
http://goatrope.blogspot.com/2015_04_26_archive.html
May 02, 2015. This pod's for you. Here's the latest installment of WV Public Broadcasting's newish program The Front Porch, in which executive director Scott Finn moderates discussions on live issues between Charleston Daily Mail columnist Laurie Lin and yours truly. This one jumps all over the issue of race and racism. This program is now available on iTunes. May 01, 2015. April 30, 2015. Doing well by doing good. Labels: Affordable Care Act. April 29, 2015. Lots of people today are thinking about Balti...
goatrope.blogspot.com
The Goat Rope: 2015-05-31
http://goatrope.blogspot.com/2015_05_31_archive.html
June 03, 2015. This blog was once known for its steady stream of gratuitous animal pictures, a practice that has largely fallen by the wayside. To partially remedy that situation, allow me to introduce the latest piece of exercise equipment to be added to our menageria, a rescued boxer pup named Bo. The good thing about such a name is the almost infinite variations. Some of my favorites are Botox, Bolo, Bogusziti, Beauregard, Beau Gest, Bodhidharma (not very often), Bogo, Bogomil, etc. June 01, 2015.
goatrope.blogspot.com
The Goat Rope: 2015-07-12
http://goatrope.blogspot.com/2015_07_12_archive.html
July 17, 2015. How to speak hillbilly. Sorry about the slow posts lately. You can blame most of those on the recent storms that hit WV and KY hard and took out our phone and internet as they blew through. Anyhow, here's the latest Front Porch podcast from WV Public Broadcasting. This time it's a fun one, with the topic being Appalachian accents. With some lessons on the same delivered by yours truly. Remember: pen and pin sound exactly the same and don't drop your Rs! July 13, 2015. The target of the mom...
goatrope.blogspot.com
The Goat Rope: 2015-04-05
http://goatrope.blogspot.com/2015_04_05_archive.html
April 11, 2015. First of all, I'd like to have one of these extinct carnivorous terror birds. They couldn't be that much worse than guineas. Second, here's another look at the impacts of coal's decline. Third, if you are really bored, here is what proclaims itself to be a Marxist critique of Game of Thrones. How's that for variety? Labels: ancient giant birds. April 08, 2015. It's been another long day and late night, but here's an interesting and optimistic look at a post-coal future. April 07, 2015.
goatrope.blogspot.com
The Goat Rope: 2015-08-02
http://goatrope.blogspot.com/2015_08_02_archive.html
August 06, 2015. The most recent ruling class hissy fit over the president's Clean Power Plan is pretty much like the last several, only more so. Ken Ward summed up the reactions pretty well at Coal Tattoo. It's all sad and complicated, but I keep coming back to the thought that catastrophic climate change is likely to make all our other problems look pretty small. Speaking of hissy fits, despite the one by legislative leaders over prevailing wage. August 04, 2015. In case you were wondering. Even better...
goatrope.blogspot.com
The Goat Rope: 2015-04-12
http://goatrope.blogspot.com/2015_04_12_archive.html
April 16, 2015. A little good news from Congress (no, really). It doesn't happen very often but the US Congress recently acted in a bipartisan way and did something that made sense. The US Senate overwhelming passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which among other things extends funding for the popular Children's Health Insurance Program through 2017. There were concerns that this program would have withered away. So, yeah, it's not all bad. Labels: Childrens Health Insurance Program.
goatrope.blogspot.com
The Goat Rope: 2015-06-07
http://goatrope.blogspot.com/2015_06_07_archive.html
June 13, 2015. The latest Front Porch podcast is about whether or not to drug test welfare recipients. Labels: drug testing for public assistance. June 11, 2015. In case you missed it, this op-ed of mine appeared in today's Gazette. In the course of human events, to coin a phrase, people have tried to use remedies that did more harm than good. Over and over. His caregivers applied a standard remedy of the time: bloodletting. When the first attempts didn’t seem to help, they did it over and over...Sometim...
goatrope.blogspot.com
The Goat Rope: 2015-07-26
http://goatrope.blogspot.com/2015_07_26_archive.html
July 31, 2015. The great pepperoni roll war. A titanic albeit brief nonviolent war for social justice was concluded yesterday. At issue was a product sacred to many West Virginians, especially up north, to wit pepperoni rolls. For the uninitiated, pepperoni rolls in the Mountain State are something like what maple syrup is to Vermonters or what ambrosia is to Greek gods. The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward pepperoni rolls. You can read more here. July 30, 2015. July 28, 2015. It lo...
goatrope.blogspot.com
The Goat Rope: 2015-06-28
http://goatrope.blogspot.com/2015_06_28_archive.html
July 04, 2015. Verses for the Fourth: God speed the year of jubilee. To celebrate Independence Day this year, how about some verses by radical abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison:. God speed the year of jubilee. The wide world o'er! When from their galling chains set free,. Th' oppress'd shall vilely bend the knee,. And wear the yoke of tyranny. Like brutes no more. That year will come, and freedom's reign,. To man his plundered rights again. God speed the day when human blood. Shall cease to flow! July ...
3rdagebicycler.blogspot.com
reflections of a third age bicycler: January 2011
http://3rdagebicycler.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html
Reflections of a third age bicycler. With c 'n r's arcade. Thursday, January 13, 2011. Many of us mountaineers who don’t live in the political center of the West Virginia universe (i.e. the Kanawha Valley) have come to know about Jim Lewis through his anti-war activism related to the Iraq war. For example, he’s been a frequent guest on Hoppy Kercheval’s popular daily Metronews Talkline. Another thing that interests me about Jim is that his social and political involvement doesn’t focus mostly on is...