823. It's going to be a great week in America! Happy 2021.

 

38-3-51

100.305, 321.39, 323.10, 323.12, 323.13

35 Pa. CS 7301 (b).

You might ask, "What are these cites?"

Let me begin by saying starting next week, when the Kentucky General Assembly convenes, the veto-proof Republican-controlled legislature will be taking up 39A.100, which is the equivalent cite in the Kentucky statutes that the above numbers are in the Georgia, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania codes respectively.

They are all cites to state laws approved by their state legislatures granting governors (and in some cases other elected officials) broad (sometimes undefined) extensive authority in times of peril or pandemic. These are the times we are in.

We've been hearing our president (and many of the few supporters he has left) making the argument that the laws under which most of the states conducted their elections, because they were different, amended or altered in their operations by the governors or the officials in charge of elections, somehow nullifies the elections themselves because those laws were not approved by the legislatures themselves.

The stupidity in this argument, and stupid is a word I rarely use but it is most applicable here, is that I am able to cite to Georgia Code 38-3-51; Wisconsin Statutes 100.305, 321.39, 323.10, 323.12, and 323.13; and Chapter 35 of the Pennsylvania Code of Statutes, Section 7301(b), all passed by members elected into the legislatures of the respective states, just as KRS 39A.100 was codified into our Kentucky laws after being passed in last year's General Assembly, all of these granting the authority that the uninformed president and his uninformed supporters say doesn't exist.

Now that the GOP has complete control of the Kentucky General Assembly, and given we have a Democratic governor, they will likely reverse many of the laws they passed in 2020. Republican legislators clearly lack logic.

But lacking even more logic than Republicans in the Kentucky General Assembly is the president and his supporters who make the argument, stupidly, that laws do not exist which allowed the states to conduct last year's elections in the fashion they were conducted.

Fools like Congressman Louie Gohmert, Senator Ted Cruz, and Gov. Ron DeSantis should be tried for sedition, if not treason, against the Republic based on the United States Constitution and cites such as the Georgia Code 38-3-51; Wisconsin Statutes 100.305, 321.39, 323.10, 323.12, and 323.13; and Chapter 35 of the Pennsylvania Code of Statutes, Section 7301(b).

Next week is going to be a great week in America. The Republican Party is going to be seen as the anti-American, anti-Constitution, anti-Rule of Law, anti-Voter, and anti-Election fanatic cult it truly is.

© Jeff Noble, Louisville, Kentucky, January 2, 2021.

822. The First Sunday of Advent, 2020 - the waiting begins, in church and in America

The liturgical season of Advent, a part of the church calendar in many (but not all) denominations, begins todays.  It is a period of waiting.  Waiting, being watchful, and preparing for the birth of Christ on Christmas Day.

As this Advent season begins, America is in its own period of waiting.  Waiting on this interlude between effective presidencies, the current thus far unwilling to concede a clear loss, the clearly successful challenger moving on, preparing for his oath-taking on January 20. 

As to this American advent, the arrival of "Christmas," in this case Inauguration Day, cannot come soon enough, as the current office holder continues day-after-day to issue useless, meaningless, but in some cases harmful statements, knowing the media (on both sides) as well as his followers and those who oppose him are hanging on his every word.  He thrives on the attention.

I've decided we need to stop responding to his every dictum (which, admittedly, is very hard for me to do).  He is the lamest of lame ducks, having lost the popular vote twice (the only president to ever do so) and will be losing the vote of the Electoral College in two weeks.

In a little over seven weeks (and maybe sooner), he'll be a former president and America will move on from him and all of his criminal sycophants and misguided supporters, saving those serving in the Congress.  

Over the next four years, the best thing that could happen for the Democratic Party, whether the party moves left, center, or right, is for Donald Trump to remain the centerpiece and clear leader of the GOP.  He is not just another arrow in the quiver for the Democrats, but the best and most poisonous they possess.

© Jeff Noble, Louisville, Kentucky, November 29, 2020.

821. Rudy Strikes Out

The president's third attempt to steal Pennsylvania hit another setback with the judge's stinging rebuke. So far he's attempted to steal Nevada, Georgia twice (with another attempt in the works by the governor there), and Michigan, the latter of which included wining and dining two GOP legislators in an effort to get them to rewrite Michigan law between now and the day the Electoral College is set to vote.

His continued attempted-rigging of the election by baseless court actions to overturn the election and overthrow the votes of a republic is both funny and sad. Funny in that he and his team are so thoroughly incompetent at it; sad in that many Republicans, including most in the houses of Congress, are sitting idly by while the most basic right of the American people, that to elect their leaders, is being jeopardized and bastardized by the highest leaders of their party.

There are lots of reasons I've been a Democrat since first registering to vote in 1978. The actions of nearly the entire Republican Party in this November's election make clear that even as a seventeen-year-old, I made the correct decision.

© Jeff Noble, Louisville, Kentucky, November 21, 2020.

820. Smartmatic Machines; Trump's mental instability; Trump's supporters leaning toward treason

Here's the interesting thing about the Smartmatic Voting Machines that allegedly changed votes from Trump to Biden. According to Trump and his gang of lawyers, this only happened in states where Trump lost. These machines are used in 28 states, several where Trump won. Amazingly, the machines worked perfectly there. Only where Trump lost did the machines seem to have problems.

None of those states which Trump won had any problems? Really? None of the states which Biden won big had any problems? Really? All of the problems just happened to occur in the states with close counts. That's an amazing coincidence, almost too amazing to believe. To quote President-elect Biden, "Come on, man."

Here's the bottom line: The president is mentally unstable and may be a danger to himself and certainly to the Republic. Those who support him are accessories to whatever may befall him medically and professionally and are adding to the potential fall of the American Republic, which is akin to treason.

© Jeff Noble, Louisville, Kentucky, November 17, 2020.

Between 819 and 820. I intend to start blogging again.

I haven't regularly blogged in a while and it is my intent to do so again.  It may take me a minute to get back in the habit.  I haven't posted a picture in years - literally years.  But, we'll see what happens.  Stay with me.  Thanks.

819. Mary Margaret Mulvihill, Rest In Peace

Mary Margaret Mulvihill passed away the day before yesterday. She is someone who I've known of all my adult life although we haven't always been political friends. I did not know her the first time she ran for elective office, but in her next four races, I did not support her.

I first heard her name in the 35th LD elections of 1976, a three-way contest between her, the incumbent Ernestine Roach, and my uncle, Don Noble. I was 15 years old at the time. Ernestine, who lived in the subdivision behind my high school, won that race. As a note, Uncle Don died in 2005 and Ernestine died seven years ago today. That LD election began my involvement in City of Louisville politics as a "Stansbury Democrat" and put me on opposite sides with Mary Margaret.

My first long conversation with her was in April 1984, on another 35th LD election day, a race she won, in her dining room in North Audubon. She made me precinct captain of H-121 - the old 17-4, my precinct in Camp Taylor. I also came to be friends with her husband, Eamon, an Irishman who came to America in the early 1960s, who passed away in 2015.

Over a long period of time, I came to understand Mary Margaret's role in the formation of TARC, the social justice politics of Louisville and Kentucky, and the stern and effective way she served both in and out of public office, never ever stopping. When I decided to run for 35th LD Chair in 2000, despite a sometimes rocky relationship, I asked her to run with me as my Vice-Chair. (I remember going to Bellarmine's Knights Hall where she was attending a "B" District Commissioner debate with Dolores Delahanty and making this ask. It wasn't easy and she didn't make it any easier, but she did accept and with that acceptance brought together, at least in the 35th, two long-running factions of Louisville's Democratic Party under one tent.) We won that race over two other tickets, both of whom dropped out of the race before the election was held.

In the last twenty years, Mary Margaret has kept up her hard work in every way possible ultimately seeing the election of her son, Patrick, as Councilman in the 10th District, which overlays a large part of the 35th House District. I've mostly interacted with her in recent years through Patrick. Knowing Patrick since his days as a Little Leaguer at Germantown, I've supported him in his races for office, even when some around me haven't. While I haven't been in a district where I could vote for him, I do have property there and he has had a sign on my property in each of his elections. I know Mary Margaret is very proud of his accomplishments.

Mary Margaret has long been part of a group of leaders in Louisville - her, Suzy Post, and earlier this month Sue Speed - that is slowly passing from us and their work and devotion will be deeply missed in the future. May she Rest in Peace. ✝️

818. The Winter Solstice, 2019

When the sun sets tonight, it will end the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Here in Louisville, sunset will occur at 5:25 p.m. I have four friends vacationing in Key West (Ken, Josh, Bobby, Javier (and I wish I was with them)) and for them the day won't end until 5:43 p.m. My friends in Washington, D.C. can witness the sunset at 4:49 p.m. For a friend I am truly missing who lives in LA, sunset over the Pacific, a wondrous sight, occurs at 4:48 p.m.

Later this evening, at 11:19 p.m. EST, 8:19 PST, our Earth will cross a cardinal point on its annual journey drawing to a close these shortened days marking the Winter Solstice and with it ending autumn and beginning winter. With winter, new light and life slowly reveal themselves back into our world as the days lengthen leading to trees budding and gardens flowering.

Happy Solstice.

817. The Hunter's Moon, 2019

The Hunter's Full Moon arrives tomorrow afternoon at 5:08 p.m. EDT so tonight's view will be great. The moon is currently about 250,000 miles away from the Earth, about as far as it gets. Its furthest measured distance away is 252,622 miles (so far).

The full moon tonight is accompanied by the chance for a frost across nearly all of Kentucky and much of southern Indiana, reminding me of James Whitcomb Riley's poem, "When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock." Go outside and enjoy the lunacy.

Moonrise at the intersection of Dickinson Road and Davis Mill Road, near Trenton, Todd County, Kentucky, this evening, October 12, 2019. Photo by Wayne Addison II. Trenton is in the southwestern part of Todd County, which is in the southwestern part of the Commonwealth.

816. In response to the president refusing to cooperate with the House Impeachment Committees . . . .

Who cares?

The appropriate response to the White House is "Who Cares?" The House doesn't need the White House's permission to proceed, to consider, to investigate, or to vote. Apparently the president has never read the part of the Constitution related to impeachment and its highly likely that Rudy Giuliani hasn't either. Article I, Section II, Clause 5 is very clear on that point. Very clear.

But all this push back makes you wonder. If the call to Ukraine was so "perfect," then what's the problem? If the (12 minute) transcript of the (30 minute) call is all there is then what's the problem? How many of you, being innocent of an accused crime, wouldn't work like hell to get your story out in the news while under oath to clear your name?

Eventually it will all come out, all of his dealings with Putin and the Russian and Ukrainian mob long before he got into politics, long before he decided he needed money to bail out his failed New Jersey casinos, and long before he built not one but two Trump Towers - beautiful towers, no doubt - in Turkey, the leaders of which are no doubt wonderful people with whom to do business, even in times of war.

815. Mayday, mayday! It's a National Emergency!

Jeff Noble

 

I'm enjoying the glee with which my "conservative" friends are celebrating the president's declaration of a National Emergency to spend billions of dollars that he first promised Mexico would pay for and then couldn't get the Congress, including members of his own party, to buy into. So he's declaring a National Emergency to build his wall, something I told my friend Paul Schmidt I fully expected him to do when he didn't get his way with Mexico or the Congress. This will be the fourth National Emergency he's declared. We're presently living under 28 others besides his three, 12 of Obama's, 13 of W's, and some dating back as far as the Carter presidency. 

Under such an "Emergency," there are some 123 statutory powers the president can use to address the "Emergency." The one distinguishing difference between all 31 of the current "Emergencies" and this new one the president is proposing is none of them spend any money which hasn't already been appropriated by the Congress, something required by the United States Constitution - see Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of America's Bible on that matter. The president's plan is to expand Executive powers and usurp the fiduciary authority of the Congress by spending money which hasn't been duly appropriated. Hell, we don't even have it.

Under the current "conservative" president, tax revenues are flat, spending is up 9.6%, the deficit has risen 41%, and the National Debt has grown by $2,000,000,000,000.00. That has to be a "conservative" record. So while my "conservative" friends are celebrating this "conservative" victory, the smart thing for the Democrats to do is back off and let him do it.

There will come a day that a National Emergency will arise over climate change or gun violence or our crumbling infrastructure or the opioid crisis, the latter two something the president has promised to address but hasn't, and as long as there is a Democrat in the White House it won't matter if Mitch is still the Majority Leader. We'll have President Trump's precedent of expanding Executive Powers and usurping the fiduciary authority of Congress as established by this current "National Emergency." We should let him do exactly what he wants to do which, to be honest, is one more brick in the wall of destroying both the United States Constitution and the Republic in general.

And the "conservatives" rejoice at this destruction.

814. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposes first conservative fiscal policy in decades to the Congress

By 1981, America had built an interstate system across most of America, we had created a GI bill that allowed a lot of men and later women to go to college and then buy their first homes, and we had sent several men to the Moon and returned them home safely, and we had done all of it while keeping the national debt under One Trillion Dollars, and a Debt-to-GNP at one of its lowest points since the Great Depression. We were the envy of the world and rightly so. When Ronald Reagan described us as the "city shining on the hill," he had every right to do so.

Unfortunately, by that time, he had already set in motion the downfall of America, the fiscal course we're still following. Reagan began, and every one of his successors in office have followed, a series of lowering taxes, Let me point out here that the largest the federal government has ever been ever was under President Reagan. Please, go look it up. A few presidents, including Reagan, also raised taxes. In fact, Reagan raised taxes more than any other president in my lifetime. Please, go look that up too. But overall, Reagan and all of the presidents who have followed him in office have lowered the federal taxes that Americans paid and the end result is we are no longer the "city shining on the hill." We have crumbling bridges and highways. Veterans can hardly get a room at the VA, much less a decent loan to go to college or buy a home. And the debt, which tripled under Reagan, doubled under W, doubled again under Obama, and had added over $2T since Trump took office seems out of reach of ever being paid off. Does that mean we should just say "It'll never be paid off so why worry about it?"

That seems to have been the attitude of almost everyone for a long time although if you know me, I am not among that group of people and never have been. I believe Americans owe it to America to pay off the debt which was created by the governments they voted into office which created it. We are a republican form of government so to say "the debt isn't mine" is to essentially say, "I'm a shirker and screw my creditors." That's what we've been doing as a Republic since Reagan first allowed the national debt to almost triple. One final note on when this all began, back in 1981. At the time, the highest tax bracket for someone "Married Filing Jointly" and making "$215,400.00" was 70% on everything over that amount. 70%. 70% on everything over $215,400.00. In today's dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that would be $595,007.01. (I can only think of maybe four or five of my readers that this might possibly apply to).

Today's news and a lot of Facebook posts have been filled with that 70% number. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents New York's 14th Congressional District, today proposed a 70% Tax Rate on the nation's wealthiest people to begin addressing the debt and paying for other programs. Imagine that, a member of Congress responsible enough to suggest we find a way to 1) get out of debt and 2) actually pay for what we spend with our own money. (I'll note here that she is a cum laude graduate of Boston University majoring in International Relations and minoring in Economics). But let me repeat my last line - "Imagine that, a member of Congress responsible enough to suggest we find a way to 1) get out of debt and 2) actually pay for what we spend with our own money." You would think that such a policy would have conservatives jumping for joy. Finally a level-headed fiscal policy coming out of the mouth of a Washington politician. Spending our own money instead of borrowing it from China. What a novel idea.

Instead, conservative, Republicans, old white men, and, frankly, a lot of Democrats are up in arms at "such a crazy idea." They're calling her a socialist. She claims to be a Democratic-Socialist which is something altogether different but most of these people don't care about the difference and are too educationally lazy to find out what it is. We finally have someone in Congress who wants to address the economic woes of the Republic, woes wholly created before she arrived (which was yesterday), and the world goes mad.

Here's a thought. She's 29. She'll be 30 in October of this year. Her generation and the one following will have to live and pay the debt created by the three generations of American politicians who preceded her. And who is yelling foul the most? Those same people. Those same exact people. Either they are for fiscal management or they aren't. Since we are $21,000,000,000,000.00 in debt under their watch, it is clear where they stand.

Good work, Congresswoman. Finally a voice of reason.

813. An Open Letter to My Fellow Democrats on Marijuana

2019 General Assembly - Hemp - Marijuana

:

Friends --

The voters of Kentucky made one thing clear in November.  The Pension Crisis wasn't enough to turn out Republican legislators at the ballot box.  While the entire nation had a good night for Democrats, we in Kentucky quite honestly only did so in very few places.  For that we should be thrilled as we are sending some excellent new folks to the General Assembly, new blood, new ideas, new perspectives.  But we're already behind after this foolish Special Session.  The main reason given by GOP members in the House for its failure was the differences in this bill from that of SB151 in the 2018 Regular Session.  Jerry Miller and his pals will be back with SB151 as soon as they are able in the upcoming session.  Do we have a plan or are we just opposed to theirs?  The governor has moved money into the pensions by cutting services elsewhere and raising taxes which mostly affect working class people. If we are going to counter that, we had better have a plan that isn't just opposition to theirs and provides some stream of revenue that can be directed to the pensions.

As all of you know, a generation ago, Gatewood Galbraith started a movement to legalize hemp and marijuana in Kentucky. I voted for Gatewood twice, in 1983 for Ag Commissioner against David Boswell and again in 1991 against Brereton Jones for governor.  He ran last in both primaries but I'm still proud of those votes.  Gatewood's movement has finally come to fruition all these years later.  The problem for us is the Republicans, for the moment, own the matter.  Senator Mitch McConnell got himself onto the committee writing the final farm bill for the sole purpose of inserting hemp language and then made sure it got passed in Washington. When the president signed the bill two days ago, before the close of business on that same day, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles submitted the necessary paperwork to the federal Department of Agriculture (USDA), which the bill requires, for Kentucky to begin its program.  He already had the program in place waiting for the president's signature, making Kentucky the first state in the Republic to apply for USDA approval of its hemp program.

My point?  The Democrats in the General Assembly and those running for governor, and any other leaders of the State Democratic Party, better get on board quickly, as in by the end of the year and certainly by the gaveling in of the new Session, on this issue and push the envelope much further, to full legalization.  We're not winning with the Pension issue.  But we can if we have a revenue stream.  We can if we have an issue.  Right now the GOP owns the hemp issue.  McConnell created it just as he did the Tobacco Buyout Program in 2004 cementing the votes and support of tobacco planters and sellers throughout the Commonwealth. We cannot wait or McConnell and Quarles will completely own this issue by January.  Hemp is here.  Recreational marijuana is not.  

A lawyer friend of mine originally from Shelbyville offered me this quote earlier today.  He said, "I can see this Fancy Farm line: "You're right Governor, marijuana is illegal today.  And you're also right that I wouldn't want my child to use it today.  But I'll tell you what.  I'd rather be high on an illegal substance than have a first term mired by illegal bills, low approval ratings, and no substance."  If we want to capture the imagination and votes of both younger Kentuckians for whom this is a no-brainer and older Kentuckians who may see this as an alternative to expensive medicine, push the envelope.  Hemp is here and Trump, McConnell, and Quarles own the issue.  Recreational marijuana, properly controlled and taxed, is out there on the horizon waiting for Kentucky Democrats to reach out and make it theirs.  Don't wait. 

Jeff Noble

Kentucky Democratic Party State Central Executive Committee 

At-Large member

812. Posting to be posting and a bit about the Election with a promise of more to come.

I keep promising to get back to the blog - but I haven't.  But I feel I should post something just to say "This is mine, Jeff's blog," in much the same tone as Hamlet did in Act V when he proclaimed " This is I, Hamlet the Dane."  Of course, everyone died after that but that is immaterial.  I grow concerned that someone will jump in here and claim my work if I don't go back to it now and again.  Thus entry #812 is just that - going back to it every now and again.

I'll be back soon.  I want to discuss much more fully the work the Yarmuth for Congress Campaign did in certain parts of the Third Congressional District in this last election earlier this month.  I had handled a schematic to follow and from that schematic devised a field plan which I believe was very well executed.  However, we won't really know that until the voters who actually voted are recorded, or dumped as we say, into the Votebuilder system.

At that point we can see if the people we talked to in the 7th and 17th Metro Council Districts, the 29th, 32nd, 33rd, 37th, and 48th House Districts, and the 20th, 26th, and 36th Senate District, actually turned out to vote.  We know that some of the people running in districts where we walked won their districts and some won their district within the 3rd Congressional District but lost elsewhere. 

As I said, I want to discuss this more fully as I believe it was a well designed plan and credit is owed to a number of people.

Until then, Happy Belated Thanksgiving.

P. S.  If you are reading, please let me know by leaving a comment.  Thanks.  jtn

811. Betrayal.

July 16, 2018 will be recorded in the history books of future decades as the day an American president betrayed the 61,000,000 people who voted for him and the 74,000,000 who didn't, and every other American, by telling the president of Russia that he favors and believes him, a tyrant and dictator, over our own American intelligence and military agencies. It's an incredible day; the day the music died.

810. NPR and Soybean Futures

I listen to NPR News because I believe it has an intellectual bias I don't find elsewhere. Nonetheless I chuckled as I listened earlier to a report on the Chinese tariffs retaliation and the journalist trying to sound fully knowledgeable on "soybean futures." 

I do not remember "soybean futures" being mentioned on NPR in the past. It made me think of Barney Arnold and Jack Crowner and those early morning reports on the radio when I was a little kid.

809. Summer Solstice, 2018

About ten hours from now, at 6:07 a.m. tomorrow morning, we will pass one of those cardinal points on our annual journey around our personal star, the Sun. The Summer Solstice marks the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. In Louisville the period between sunrise and sunset will be 14 hours, 49 minutes, and 48 seconds, the longest day of the year. We're scheduled for some thunderstorms in between those two markers. 

Happy Solstice. 

I think it calls for naked dancing or something.

808. A little journey - figure it out.

So here was the path having left from my mother's house. South Park Road, Louisville to KY1450W to KY1526W to I-65S to KY245N to KY61S to KY733S to US62E to N. 5th Street, Bardstown to KY1430E to US31E N to KY245S to US150E to BG Parkway E to KY555S (a note on this later) to KY433S (where I piddled around a bit in Mackville - they have a really cool old bank building) - to KY152E to KY442S (the narrow highway full of cattle farms) to KY1920S to the park.

Leaving the park on KY1920S to US150E (where I piddled around a bit in Perryville - I had come across a house for sale online a few weeks ago that I remembered and found it at 216 S. Bragg Street) to US68E to US127N to US127BYP N to US127N (these last two changes require no turns) to I-64W to US42E to US42W to US60W to the Noble Abode in Butchertown.

807. If you think the GOP is conservative, you're not paying attention.

U. S. Senator Rand Paul has shut down the government, not over DACA, but over deficits.

He said, "If you were against President Obama's deficits, and now you're for the Republican deficits, isn't that the very definition of hypocrisy?" This is the same guy who just voted in December to give the rich and the corporate a huge tax break adding immediately to the deficit and long term to the debt. He represents the very meaning of hypocrisy as does the entire GOP crowd these days.

They claim the mantle of evangelicals yet support a president who paid off a whore shortly after the birth of his fifth child by his third wife. And they claim to be conservatives and libertarians yet the tax cut they passed in 2017 mostly helps the rich and the corporate and will add debts for future generations in the same manner that the wars and destruction of the American economy including the automobile and banking industries of George Bush, Jr. were paid for by the excessive borrowing of Barack Obama.

If you remain a conservative, and it is fine if you do, you need to go and form a new party because the Republicans in Washington are in no way conservative. They are big government spenders, big government borrowers, and huge, huge hypocrites. All of you know I am a big government tax-and-spend liberal in the form and image of LBJ and Richard Nixon.I am not a centrist such as Bill or Hillary Clinton or what Barack Obama proved to be, nor am I a borrow-and-spend Republican in the form and image of Ronald Reagan, both George Bush's, and Donald Trump.

806. Once in a Super Blue Full Moon with a Lunar Eclipse.

Once in a Super Blue Full Moon with a Lunar Eclipse.

Yeah, tomorrow morning's sky has it all, the triple header.

A super moon, the one when the moon is really close if 224,000 miles can be considered "really close" along with the Full Moon, the Snow Moon, arriving at 8:27 a.m. in the Eastern Time Zone, and since this is the second full moon in a calendar month, this is the Blue Moon that comes along "once in a Blue Moon." The last Blue Moon was July 31, 2015. The next one, however, will be two months from tomorrow so maybe they aren't that special after all. But the next one after that doesn't show up until Hallowe'en of 2020. I'll be 60 for that. The last time we had a Blue Moon on Hallowe'en I was 14. I think I remember that, I really do.

But on top of all this there will be a Lunar Eclipse just as the Moon is setting about the time the chickens are rising. At 5:51 a.m. Eastern Time look up and watch as the Moon enters Earth's penumbra (the lighter, outer part of its shadow). The penumbra slightly darkens the Moon, though only a little. It will touch the umbra, the darker part of the shadow which creates an eclipse beginning at 6:48 a.m. However, we'll miss the entire event as the Moon sets at 7:04 a.m.

All this early in the morning to start your Wednesday, end your January, and begin the campaign season in earnest here in Kentucky.

805. Call the House, Call the Senate, and Call the Governor

Governor Bevin has managed to pit 70 groups of program supporters against the 69 others, and many of the 70 seem to have lost sight of the pension crisis. Yes, there are some really good programs he has proposed to cut, in fact almost all of them and a few, maybe three, that maybe should be done away with. 
I'm partial to some eastern Kentucky educational programs, particularly the Robinson Scholars as well as several based in Lexington such as the University Press, this one mostly because my great-grandmother Alice Colston Hockensmith (Miss Alice to you Frankfort people) gave me many books from the press growing up and I've continued her gifts with gifts of my own.

The Chaffee Program in Louisville is an important program on its own but is nostalgically important to me because it is housed where I went to register for school for the first time, the old South Park Elementary School in Fairdale. That's probably not a good reason but it caught my attention. The Agriculture Public Service Program, another UK item, takes me back to my freshman year as an Ag-Econ student. Cuts to the State Tree programs and aid to the local County Conservation Districts show a lack of concern about the environment for the future. There is a conservation district in each county except Logan which has two.

And closing down the cafeteria in the Annex should be grounds for impeachment.

So these programs all have supporters and good reasons for that support. And as the governor points out, they all cost money. And he says he is proposing these cuts to help fund the pension crisis shortcoming which up until his address last night was all most anyone was talking about when it came to budget items in Frankfort.

Thanks to this "list of 70" the governor slyly and intelligently has everyone talking about all kinds of other things they want to spend dollars on and at some point, according to his critics, he is going to say "well if you want this, you can't have that" and "that" is pension reform. To the less cynical and more hopeful (and while it may pit me against my fellow Democrats, I should be counted in this group), he may say "if you want 'this' and 'that' then you've got to raise taxes."

Now I don't know if Matt quite has the gumption to say the word "taxes" or not but I firmly believe that he knows to do both, or to do any true pension reform, taxes must be raised. And, his Medicaid strategy debacle notwithstanding, I believe he wants to correct the pension crisis one way or another. But if he has 70 groups of supporters calling on the 138 to save their program with no coinciding and coordinating call for a raise of revenue, he'll understandably choose to do one or the other, or worse yet, allow the 138 to do one or the other and not both. If your concern is about pensions, make the calls to your legislators (800-372-7181, 502-564-8100) and tell them. If your concern is about saving one of the list of 70, make the calls to your legislators (800-372-7181, 502-564-8100) and tell them. If your concern is about both, make the calls to your legislators (800-372-7181, 502-564-8100) and tell them we need more revenues. And in this latter case, after you have called your House member and your Senate member, call Governor Bevin at 502-564-2611 and tell him he needs to lead the call for revenue to lead the Commonwealth forward.

This isn't about Democratic or Republican strategy - it is about taking care of the Commonwealth.

804. A Facebook exchange on Governor Bevin's posts about economic activity in the Commonwealth.

This was Governor Bevin's picture, along with the following comment, posted yesterday:

2017 was an INCREDIBLE year for economic development in Kentucky, with each district in the Commonwealth seeing significant business investment.

My response to the governor's post was: 

Then why the massive cuts in revenue to the state? Shouldn't there be increases? You've been in office since 2015. Unemployment in Kentucky is currently up? Explain.

A Mr. Donald Meagher responded to my comment earlier this evening with: 

Jeff Noble why does government have to take and spend more just because there is potential for increased revenue? A smart person would pay down debt or save for a rainy day not commit the potential revenue out to new real debt. An heck if government ends up with a real sizable surplus why not let taxpayers of KY keep more of their pay?

I replied to Mr. Meagher with this:

Mr. Meagher, good question - deserves an answer. And you've misinterpreted my post. Did I mention spending more? You've implied that I have. Tell me where. I said that with the governor touting these good economic tidings, one would expect increases in our revenues, not cuts in our budgets. Again, tell me exactly where I called for increased spending? I didn't. You made that up. But let's address what you said that is important and not fabricated. Yes, we should pay down our debt. Our credit rating has been imperiled since the Pension Crisis began in 2001, which is the same year that the Democrats lost control of the Senate and had to start compromising to pass a budget. I do not know if that is a coincidence or not. It would be nice to have a "real sizable surplus" someday and maybe someday we will. But we also have needs - not extravagant needs, but simple basic needs. Let's take infrastructure, something the president talks about a lot but has done nothing to address. The governor's own Transportation Cabinet has declared that 4000 miles of Kentucky roadway need repairs, that there are 1000 Kentucky projects on the books that need finishing. The Federal Department of Transportation last year ranked 1100 of our Kentucky bridges, bridges that carry you and me and grandmothers to the grocery and grandchildren on buses to schools as "structurally deficient. We pay one of the lowest gas taxes around, currently below 26 cents a gallon. Ohio, a Republican ran state pays 28 cents; Indiana, another Republican ran state pays almost 42 cents. We're woefully underfunding our futures and our safety, and this is just in the area of transportation. You can up and down the line see the need for both more revenue and more spending. The governor knows this although I'm not sure the legislature does. I hope someday we can do just what you say - save some money, have both a good rainy day fund and a surplus - get our credit rating up there with Virginia's - ran by Democrats I might add - their's is AAA, our's is A+. I am hopeful that all these projects the governor keeps telling us about at some point are reflected in the Kentucky budget as increases in our revenues. As of yet they haven't been and that's what my post was about. Here's a prediction for you. I sincerely believe the governor wants to solve the pension crisis. He knows it cannot honestly be done without a tax increase. He also knows that the legislature won't raise taxes on anything. I think once we get past the filing deadline (January 30), you'll see the governor come out swinging for both the framework for pension reform, and after this November's elections a strong push for tax increases to begin the long process of funding the pensions. Remember where you heard this. If you're close to the governor, ask him.

It was a good night.

803. Burrel Farnsley, 1946-2017

Burrel Farnsley's memorial service took place today at Christ Church Cathedral.

Burrel and I have been friends for decades. He has regaled me with many stories about his youth, his family ancestry, his father (and especially his time as mayor and his Friday afternoon Open Houses at City Hall), his ownership of the Schenck Mansion with Sandy Speer up in Vevay, unending theater talk, and lots of the history of the United States, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Episcopal Church. I was a natural pupil for his history lessons.

After his loss to John Yarmuth in the 2006 Democratic Primary, he came and volunteered at our campaign headquarters and somehow became my responsibility. He wanted to do a special Voter Registration Drive to prove a point on voter turnout. He chose two precincts in Smoketown, L111 and L112, and I created the voter lists for him. His goal was to knock on every door of those listed and if the person whose name appeared on the rolls was not the person who answered the door, then he would offer to register whoever answered. If no one answered he left them an already-stamped envelope with a voter registration card to be returned to our office so we could track the results.

I drove him over to the area around Shelby and Breckinridge streets most every day and dropped him off and picked him up later in the day. He'd have a handful of new registrants. We kept track of the all of new voters registered due to his efforts and sent them a letter ahead of the election encouraging them to vote. At the time both precincts voted at the old Presbyterian Community Center.

As it turned out, voter turnout was up, not significantly, but up, in both precincts. Once the voter rolls were updated, we could see that many of Burrel's new registrants were also new voters. His plan was a success.

Burrel and I continued our friendship through the years as his illnesses and demons began to take a toll on his body. He continued to call the office through October from various places, the last being a nursing home in Indiana. Unfortunately, I did not take the last of the calls he made to the office. I regret that now. 

May he rest in peace. O God, Grant to him eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon Burrel. May his soul and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Here is his obituary as posted in the Courier-Journal on January 2, 2018 by Legacy.com.

Burrel Charles Peaslee Farnsley, who was born on September 13, 1946, died on December 30, 2017. 

Burrel attended Atherton High School and he graduated from the Wooster School in Danbury, Connecticut. He also attended the University of Louisville. Burrel was a devoted Episcopalian and was a member of the Church of the Advent. He had also been a member of Calvary Episcopal Church. 

Burrel worked in the family's publishing business, the Lost Cause Press. A lifelong Democrat, he sought his party's nomination for mayor, Congress, and Senate. 

Burrel is survived by his brothers and sisters, Sally Bird of Arlington, VA, Ann of Vevay, IN, Alexander of San Diego, CA, and Douglass (Eliza), of Louisville, by his nieces and nephews, and by many friends. 

Burrel was predeceased by his parents, Charles and Nancy Farnsley. Charles Peaslee Farnsley was mayor of Louisville from 1948 to 1953. From 1965 to 1966, Mayor Farnsley was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Burrel was brilliant and will be missed by his family members and by his many friends. Burrel's family expresses their gratitude to the staff of Riverview Village for the outstanding care they provided during his final month. Visitation will be 4 - 7 PM Tuesday at Pearson's Funeral Home, 149 Breckenridge Lane. A Memorial Service will be 1 PM Wednesday at Christ Church Cathedral, 421 South Second Street.

Burrel's ashes will be buried in the Farnsley family lot at Cave Hill Cemetery. Pearson Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. In lieu, of flowers, memorials may be made to Calvary Episcopal Church or Christ Church Cathedral.

802. It's a new year and a full moon, and some other stuff. 2018 begins.

Fellow Moon Lovers, tonight's the night. The First Full Moon of 2018, a supermoon presently rising as a larger than usual orb in the eastern skies, occurs about three hours from now, at 9:24 p.m. E.S.T. It is known by some as the Wolf Moon for the sounds of wolves howling, communicating with each other on the cold lonesome nights of January. Find a fellow Moon Lover and do some howling! Tonight's the night!

I was prompted by a friend today to start posting more on the blog. Today's entry marks the eleventh anniversary of the blog so we are entering the twelfth year. At least for the next four and half months, it will be an interesting year due to politics. I'll explain in a subsequent post. 

For now, this is a start. Welcome back.