REQUIEM FOR A UNION

The Slow, Sad Death Of The UMWA

In an Associated Press story dated September 5, 2015, we were informed that Patriot Coal had just shut down the last union mine in Kentucky.  In another story from "Coal Age" dated February 15, 2015, the magazine commented on the fact that the UMWA was now unrepresented in the Illinois Basin, one of the richest and historically most productive coal fields in North America.  These two stories served in many ways as a preliminary journalistic epitaph for the once mighty United Mine Workers of America which in its prime had more than half a million dues paying members across America and Appalachia.  The United Mine Workers had been one of the leading unions in the entire effort to organize American labor, fight for worker's rights, and to pave the road for most of the human services and environmental agencies and legislative achievements which had, until August 5, 1981, been considered to be mainstays of the relationship between corporate employers and the work force which performs their bidding.

Photo Of John L. Lewis by AZ Quotes

It has never been my good fortune to be a member of a labor union.  But I grew up in a strongly union oriented family on Right Beaver Creek in Knott County KY and my maternal uncle Mabry Hicks was a member of the UMWA for his entire career as a miner and I was allowed to read his United Mine Workers Journal every month as soon as he finished with it.  I started out liking the joke page and the stories it contained about the places and people I recognized from time to time.  But, over the course of time, along with the strong union orientation of my entire family, the journal helped me to develop an understanding of the tenuous and sometimes antagonistic relationship between labor and business.  I have lived in the Appalachian coal fields of KY and WV most of my life. I have also traveled fairly extensively through the coal fields of several other states including VA, TN, OH, PA, and IL.  My parents operated a small country store throughout my childhood and I was sometimes a patient, for minor childhood problems, at the UMWA owned hospital at McDowell, KY.  I saw on a regular basis what could be accomplished in Appalachia and America if workers organized, gained union representation, and held firm to their union principles both individually and collectively.  I saw the difference in wages and benefits workers received in union operations as opposed to the smaller, non-union punch mines. "Punch Mine" is the colloquial name given to leased operations which large companies placed in the hands of small operators because they were too expensive or too risky for the large operators to choose to assume the liability of their operation. The leasing operators would assume all the liability and pray to make a fortune by paying as little as possible to employees with few to no benefits above their substandard wages. In addition to receiving the royalties on any coal these leases produced, the large corporate owners also often leased or sold old, worn out, and shoddy equipment to the lease operators who were often starting out with nothing more than a foreman's license, a naive desire to succeed, a shaky credit rating, and no capital.  These operations were nearly always in coal seams with bad bottom, bad top, water, or gas. Quite a few of them had the entire combination. Many of them were also off the beaten paths of the railroads and any coal produced had to be trucked many miles to customers which naturally lowered the price of the product. It was always high risk for the lease operators and a guaranteed win for the corporations which held the mineral rights. If a ton came out the company got their cut and if the roof caved in, the mine exploded, or employees were killed or injured in a multitude of other ways the leasing operator took the fall. And if that operator went broke, gave up, or got killed themselves another ambitious and gullible individual was always standing by under the mistaken belief they could succeed in the same lease.

UMWA Journal Cover--Photo by Lorne Blair Rare Books

 I saw the benefits union miners received from the chain of hospitals operated by the UMWA in Appalachia.  I have personally been inside the hospitals at McDowell, KY; Beckley, WV; Hazard, KY; South Williamson, WV; West Liberty, KY;  and Man, WV.  The Man location was closed years ago. The entire chain is now operated independently as the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System.  I had known the wonderful work the hospitals and their dedicated staff performed on a daily basis before the union sold them off to lower expenses tied to a long list of elderly retirees, decreasing membership, and myriad other economic factors. I still use the West Liberty, Kentucky, location and the chain does provide good care in the region.  But it is not nearly as patient centered as it was when the UMWA owned it. 

Map Of The Illinois Basin Coal Field by USGS Energy Resources Program

I have watched as the numbers of UMWA members and UMWA mines steadily decreased over the past thirty or forty years. In the late 1930's, the UMA had about 800,000 members nationwide and was a social and political force to be reckoned with. But in today's world, there are less than 50,000 members and many of those are rapidly aging retirees.  From a high of 11,000 members in Logan County, WV, at the height of the coal boom to a current low of only a few hundred in the county, union membership steadily decreased all across the nation and union negotiating power has also persistently and fatally shrunk in direct proportion to the percentage of coal production tied to the union.

We will examine several reasons which I believe are tied directly to the steady deterioration of the UMWA.  Some of these reasons began more than forty years ago and the most prominent of those is the steady, ongoing war against union labor in particular and most mainstream labor in general which hit full swing in the early days of the Reagan Administration and which has continued under every Republican president and congress this country has elected since 1980.  This war against union labor has also been combined with a consistent effort to deregulate nearly every industry in the country by the Reagan White House and every subsequent Republican White House.  The first major blow in this two pronged effort was the firing of the air traffic controllers.  At the time, I was working as a horse farm foreman in Central Kentucky and spending little time in Appalachia.  But I knew at the time that the firing of the controllers was simply a first blow against organized labor in general.  The AFL-CIO chose not to become involved in the issue because they had endorsed Reagan and mistakenly believed that it was too early to end their supposed honey moon with the White House.  I believed at the time and still do that the AFL-CIO and organized labor in general should have stepped up and supported the controllers wholeheartedly and, if necessary, by means of a general one day nationwide strike by every union laborer in America.  Such an action could have proven instantly that organized labor collectively held a great deal of power and would not allow the White House to peremptorily terminate several thousand of the most critical and highly specialized union workers in America.  When organized labor quietly sat on their hands and watched the air traffic controllers be fired and replaced with poorly qualified and inadequately trained workers, the door was opened through which big business and the subsequent Republican administrations would chisel away at the superstructure of organized labor, workers rights, fair pay, and every other benefit which union women and men had won over the previous century.

The great majority of union labor contracts negotiated in America since that time have been, in one way or another, giveaway contracts.  In nearly every one of them, labor has lost either pay, benefits or both. Perhaps, the worst of these giveaway contracts was the one signed by leadership of the Teamsters Union and approved by their membership vote which stripped numerous benefits from the United Parcel drivers and laborers in 2013.  Beginning with that negotiation process, United Parcel couched their efforts to strip union workers of their rights and benefits in such terms as "seeking driver flexibility" which was a misnomer for the company's effort to broaden the job descriptions and increase the work load for drivers.  Such efforts across a large number of unionized companies steadily chiseled away at the strength and viability of unions.

Map Of Appalachian Basin Coal Field by Energy Data Exchange US Department of Energy

Additionally, the UMWA suffered from serious and permanently detrimental periods of leadership.  Beginning with the presidency of W. A. "Tony" Boyle from 1963 to 1972, a long period began when the union was deliberately and criminally mismanaged by its leadership.  In 1969, Joseph "Jock" Yablonski ran for the presidency of the union with strong support from the membership, the best of intentions to reshape the union back into the worker centered entity of its early years, and a great deal of likelihood of winning.  In September of 1969, even before the election, which was held on December 9, Boyle plotted to have Yablonski murdered, embezzled the money to pay for the crime from union funds, and arranged to have three men hired to commit the crime.  The murderers actually killed Joseph "Jock" Yablonski, his wife, and adult daughter all in their Pennsylvania home on December 31, 1969.  Boyle was indicted and convicted of embezzling union funds to make illegal election contributions in 1973 and sent to federal prison.  He was indicted for the murder for hire scheme in September 1973 and sentenced in April 1974 to three consecutive life terms. He died in prison in 1985.

Photo of Joseph "Jock" Yablonski by YouTube

In December 1972, Arnold Miller, a West Virginia mainstream miner who had previously run unsuccessfully for the state legislature, was certified to succeed Boyle as the union president.  Despite his apparent honesty and good intentions, Miller proved to be less than maximally effective as a union administrator.  His term lasted until 1979, and was marked by naive and inept decision making on the part of Miller and those who revolved in his orbit of power and influence.  At the time of his election, the union had about a quarter of a million members but a series of wildcat strikes, legislative attacks on the union, and increasing automation caused the membership to steadily shrink throughout the administrations of Miller and his immediate successor Sam Church who also proved to less than effective as an administrator even though he had been vice president since 1977.  Church was succeeded by Richard Trumka in 1982.  Richard Trumka did have a brief history as a working miner but became an attorney before returning to work for the UMWA in 1974 as a staff attorney.  Trumka is now president of the AFL-CIO and it appears that his intentions from the start were to achieve a higher office than the presidency of the UMWA.  While he had all the skills, education, and training necessary to be a strong president, his overall personal goals seem to have prevented him from focusing on  the needs of the union membership.  Since December 1995, the UMWA has been under the leadership of Cecil Roberts and that term has been not much more than a caretaker administration as union membership, representation among the active mining work force, and overall political and social power have steadily shrunk to the pitiful state in which it exists today.

During the week of June 18-25, 2018, in  "The Nation" magazine, America's best political magazine, a short article by co-authors Bryce Covert and Mike Konczal under the title "Union Strong" presents a graphic which shows that unionized workers which represented 30% of all American labor in 1955 now represent only 11% as of 2017.  The graphic goes on to show that union workers receive 10-20% higher pay than non-union workers, that workers of color benefit as much as 5 times the income boost from membership that white workers receive which serves to provide them with racial parity in terms of pay and benefits.  Therefore, the woman or man of color in the workforce has a great deal to gain from active membership in and unstinting support of a trade union.  And, as income disparity grows like a bloom of red algae all across America, the graphic goes on to educate us to the fact that "if union membership had stayed at 1950's levels, the growth in income share of the top 10% would have been reduced by 50%."  Those figures and facts from Mr. Covert and Mr. Konczal quickly and simply illustrate just how tragically the union membership shrinkage over the last 50-60 years has damaged the American workforce in general.  Those damages are no greater anywhere than in the coalfields which were previously represented by the United Mine Workers of America.   

In addition to the above mentioned problems of leadership, the UMWA was facing that constant stream of Republican attacks on workers rights and organized labor from January 1981 to the present day.  Beginning with the administration of President Bill Clinton, with its populist focus, coal companies, coal brokers, and industrial coal consumers began a structured attack on the UMWA, federal safety and environmental regulators, and coal mine laborers in general.  The US steel industry was shrinking due to foreign competition and industrial coal sales were shrinking commensurately.  The coal companies needed someone to blame for their problems. So they invented the purely fictitious "War On Coal" and couched it as an organization which was intended to protect the interests of front line workers.  Coal companies and industrial coal consumers poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the "War On Coal" which was and always will be a lie.  There never was a "War On Coal".  The only war being waged at that time was a coal company financed "War Against Regulation And The Working Class".  The companies incorporated a non-profit organization they called "Friends Of Coal" in order to draw in secondary coal related businesses and their owners all across the country.  They sought membership in these efforts from the front line miners, local small business owners, politicians at all levels, and anyone else dumb enough to fall for the idea that positive and constructive labor, production, and environmental regulations by the Clinton and Obama Administrations constituted their purely fictional "War On Coal".

This industrial public relations warfare was also augmented with a broad ranging, well funded effort to elect and control politicians at all levels ranging from governors and senators down to city council members and magistrates.  If you were a candidate who was willing to parrot the propaganda of the coal industry and vote in their favor on issues ranging from a single city ordinance regulating the weight and speed of coal trucks all the way up to destroying federal environmental policy and law, you were their candidate and they would put money and influence into your campaign.  They managed to turn West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky in particular into Right Wing Radical Repugnican voting fiefdoms of their overall goal of destroying labor laws, public health care, black lung law, workers compensation, and environmental laws not just in the coal fields but nation wide if they could. 

As an adjunct to the "War On Coal" and as the political influence of that fictitious entity has spread, they have managed to play a major role in the election of disgraced coal operator Jim Justice as Governor of West Virginia.  Since his misguided election, he actually changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Repugnican and has fully endorsed the destructive crime spree of TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump. According to the Lexington Herald Leader, Justice owes more than $2.5 million dollars in taxes to at least five Kentucky counties in which he has previously mined coal.  Despite making public pronouncements that he will pay the debts, not even a minimal amount has been received.  In West Virginia, he has also been ordered to pay $9.4 million dollars on a defaulted loan.  That kind of public action, or inaction as the truth may be, makes Justice the ideal candidate for support from coal operators and TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump.  Despite his avowed loyalty to TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump, coal field employment continues to drop in West Virginia further adding to the problems of both union and nonunion miners.  During the time Justice has occupied the governor's office, the largest mine in West Virginia has shut down. 

The UMWA Pension Fund is in deep trouble and the union has sought congressional actions to save these critical payments to retired and disabled miners.  But the Repugnican congress has been far less than receptive to bailing out the pension fund.  The lives and survival of most of the retired and disabled miners hang in the balance and it is not likely that congress will take any decisive or permanent action to save the pensions since the miners are a relatively small and rapidly diminishing voting bloc.  The days when being a member of the United Mine Workers of America was a guarantee of lifelong safety, healthcare, and general well being are no more.  

The United Mine Workers Of America has not ceased to be a trade union.  But they have ceased to organize, enroll new members, or maintain a credible political profile.  They are not dead as an organization.  But they are on life support and not likely to survive.  Just as America has lost our last veterans from the American Revolution, the Civil War, and World War I, we will also lose our last union miner in the foreseeable future.  That, my friends is sad state of affair. 

Birthright Citizenship--A Fascist Trial Balloon

Due to the unconstitutional and ignorant rants over the past weeks from TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump, birthright citizenship is being bandied about for a possible attempt at elimination by an "executive order" from the Russian Agent who illegally occupies the White House.  The Fourteenth Amendment is very clear in its wording about birthright citizenship.  It says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The authors of that wording could not have made it any more clear and that was their intention.  So that brings us to the insane, ignorant, and ill intentioned rant from TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump that he can nullify the US Constitution merely on a whim by virtue of his TREASONOUSLY gained power.  The US Constitution clearly describes and delineates the methods by which the document may be changed.  It says:

1. Congress may submit a proposed constitutional amendment to the states, if the proposed amendment language is approved by a two-thirds vote of both houses.
2. Congress must call a convention for proposing amendments upon application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states (i.e., 34 of 50 states).
3. Amendments proposed by Congress or convention become valid only when ratified by the legislatures of, or conventions in, three-fourths of the states (i.e., 38 of 50 states).

At no point, in no language, and under no other circumstances may the US Constitution be modified by anyone on the planet earth.  However, this is not just a simple case of an idiot with no knowledge of the US Constitution making an ignorant remark.  The stated desire to abolish birthright citizenship by TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump has a much more malicious, nefarious, and evil intent.  It is an initial FASCIST trial balloon by the Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate which illegally occupies the White House to test whether or not they can successfully pull off a national power grab modeled after the one Adolph Hitler successfully managed after being made chancellor of Germany in 1933.  They are hoping to actually have TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump issue another "executive order" abolishing birthright citizenship which they know will instantly be challenged in US District Court by numerous citizen's rights groups.  They will then, as rapidly as possible, ask to have the issue heard by the US Supreme Court which they now believe has a solid, unshakable Right Wing Radical Repugnican majority which would uphold the "executive order".  It is possible that could happen but I believe it is unlikely due to the fact that Chief Justice John Roberts, has on a few occasions in key cases shown a tendency toward honesty and truly judicious actions.  But the fact that these TRAITORS and Russian Agents are even willing to float such a scheme in public is a testament to the inescapable fact that there are no crimes they will not commit.  There are no boundaries they will not cross.  There are no evils they will not perpetrate in order to achieve their ultimate goal, as layed out by their Russian Owner Vladimir Putin.  Their ultimate goal is to destroy America, American Democracy, and the entire free world while advancing the political, territorial, and social goals of Vladimir Putin and Russia.  We are and have been since at least November 8, 2016, in the worst constitutional crisis since 1861.  

Now let's examine the historical example on which these TRAITORS are modeling their effort to destroy the US Constitution and all its rights for individual liberties.  On November 8, 1923, Adolph Hitler and the Nazis perpetrated The Beer Hall Putsch, one of the most famous acts of treason in the history of the world.  Hitler and the Nazis devised a plan to kidnap the leaders of the Bavarian government and force them at gunpoint to accept Hitler as their leader.  The plot failed and Adolph Hitler was rightfully charged with treason.  He went on trial but the Nazis managed to control the flow of events.  The judges for his trial were hand picked by a Nazi sympathizer in the Bavarian government. They gave Adolph Hitler absolute freedom to use the court proceedings as his own bully pulpit in which he preached his Nazi ideas.  He was allowed to do virtually anything he wished during the trial.  He could rant as long as he wanted on his own behalf, interrupt prosecutors and witnesses  at any time and even cross examine witnesses.  Hitler did not deny his treason and painted himself as a Bavarian patriot and the democratic government and all its key members as the real criminals.  At this point, my readers should ask themselves if this chain of events does not sound eerily and ominously familiar.  

The TRAITOR and Spawn Of Satan Trump has managed to commit TREASON with Vladimir Putin and, so far, has suffered no consequences for his actions.  He has been able to paint himself as the only person who can clean up the alleged swamp of Washington politics, hand pick two criminal judges to be placed on the US Supreme Court who will be key members in any judicial proceedings on any "executive orders" he issues, any further crimes he commits, and any criminal charges which may be brought against him.  He has been awarded the bully pulpit of his illegal residency in the White House and uses it daily to lie, cheat, steal, commit TREASON,and to foment insurrection by the Right Wing Radicals who support his crime spree.

As of November 7, 2018, one day after the national election which returned control of the US House Of Representatives to the Democrats, TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump forced his attorney general Jeff Sessions to resign so he could place a loyalist in charge of the US Department Of Justice in order to attempt to stop the Mueller Investigation into his crimes.  He also held a rambling, ranting, disjointed, and ill intentioned press conference in which he accused an African American female reporter of asking a "racist question" when Yamiche Alcindor, a White House correspondent for PBS News Hour, questioned whether TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump's use of the word "nationalism" at several rallies ahead of the midterm was a dog whistle for "white nationalism," as many of his critics have suggested.  He also engaged in an ignorant, demeaning, and belittling exchange with Jim Acosta of CNN calling him a "rude, terrible person" after he asked about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation during a volatile news conference at the White House.  Overnight, the White House has revoked Mr. Acosta's White House Press credential and nationwide protests are being staged on November 8, 2018, to attempt to protect the Mueller investigation.  All these actions by TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump are modeled after the actions of both Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini as they prepared to destroy the world in World War II.

Adolph Hitler was actually found guilty of treason against Bavaria because he admitted freely to his effort to overthrow the Bavarian government.  He was sentenced to five years in prison and actually served less than two years.  He also managed to complete the manuscript of "Mein Kampf" or "My Struggle" during his time in prison which still serves today as a "Bible" of sorts for a multitude of Nazi, Neo-Nazi, and other Right Wing Radical Hate groups.  Meanwhile, the Great Depression fell on the world and the Nazis rose to power in Germany in September 1930 due primarily to the economic disaster which was consuming all of Europe and the United States.  In 1932, Adolph Hitler ran against Hindenburg for the German presidency and lost but the Nazis got more than ten million votes in the presidential election and demonstrated sufficient clout to cause Hindenburg to believe he needed to appease them by naming Adolph Hitler as Chancellor Of Germany in January 1933.  

Similarly, in America, we have seen the TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump manage to steal the 2016 presidential election with the help of Vladimir Putin and Russian Hackers.  He has managed, with the help of Senator Mitch McConnell, Congressman Paul Ryan, and the Right Wing Radical Repugnican members of congress to install two servile, criminal, and equally Right Wing Radical judges on the US Supreme Court after Mitch McConnell managed to subvert the confirmation process for President Barack Obama's perfectly qualified and legitimate nominee Merrick Garland.  TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump was allowed to assume the occupation of the White House on January 20, 2017, despite the rapidly growing base of information pointing to his TREASON with Russia.  Then, in November 2018, with the the most important election in more than one hundred and fifty years hanging in the balance he was inciting mass murder and generalized violence from his followers while managing to generally walk a thin line between actually and directly calling for violence while simultaneously implying that violence would take place if he did not get his way.  Ever since he began his TREASONOUS pursuit of the White House he has been ranting about draining the swamp in Washington, destroying the US economy and ballooning the national debt with his tax package for the rich and his ignorant trade war, and simultaneously planning a Beer Hall Putsch of his own with his clearly unconstitutional "executive order" to obliterate birthright citizenship which he believes will be upheld by the Right Wing Radical Repugnican majority on the US Supreme Court.  Interestingly, at this time, I am reading "Fascism A Warning" by Madeleine Albright which is an excellent book and should be read by every American citizen.  On page 24 of that book, Former Secretary of State Albright gives us the origin of the phrase "drain the swamp".  It was first used by Benito Mussolini as he rose to power and the Italian verbiage is "drenare la palude". Just as TRAITOR and Spawn Of Satan Trump frequently uses the words and ideas of Adolph Hitler, it is also now apparent that he is also leaning on the ideas and phrases of Mussolini.  We are literally heading toward the culmination of a long series of TREASONOUS events which were modeled after the crimes of Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Luckily and wisely, the American voters did manage to restore Democratic control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections.  But we failed to regain control of the US Senate which is a tragedy whose limitations and consequences we will learn between now and January 20, 2021 or the date on which TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan is actually impeached whichever comes first.  The Democrats in the House can now call hearings to examine the crimes being committed by TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump and can finally subpoena his tax records which will disclose a multitude of fiduciary crimes extending many years into the past. Those tax records will also be highly likely to disclose many connections to Russian oligarchs loyal to Vladimir Putin and to their money laundering crimes.  The Mueller investigation is hopefully drawing to a close and we, if there is any justice in the world, should see the entire family of TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump indicted for at least some of their crimes and their collusion with Russia.  But the shadows of a Repugnican controlled US Senate and a theoretical Right Wing Radical Repugnican five to four majority on the US Supreme Court still loom over us. Additionally, on November 8, 2018, a news story broke disclosing the fact that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has fallen and fractured at least three ribs.  The potential specter of another Right Wing Radical Repugnican being added to an already suspect majority on the US Supreme Court is truly terrifying.  I do not doubt that Mitch McConnell and the majority in the US Senate will do everything in their power to avoid impeachment proceedings.  In my opinion, the only way impeachment will occur is if the Democratic investigations in the House uncover overwhelming evidence of TREASON, collusion, and obstruction of justice.  Hopefully, that will occur.  But it may well drag on into the next federal election cycle and the possibility does exist that this most TREASONOUS of criminals may well manage to avoid the consequences of his crimes.  In the meantime, every loyal American citizen should be fighting for the indictment, conviction, impeachment, and imprisonment of this worst TRAITOR in human history. 

Statue Of Liberty photo by The New York Post

"Beech Mountain Man" by Thomas Burton---Book Review

Burton, Thomas: Beech Mountain Man (Knoxville, Tennessee, University Of Tennessee Press, 2009)

Thomas G. Burton is a professor emeritus of English at East Tennessee State University and an acknowledged expert in the field of Appalachian Studies and, particularly, in the area of Appalachian Serpent Handling.  His books on that subject are two of the best, most accurate, and most respected by the serpent handlers themselves.  But this book we are discussing today is not one of those books.  While it is subtitled "...The Memoirs Of Ronda Lee Hicks", it is not truly memoir.  In my opinion, it is much more accurate to describe it as oral history.  The format of the book is primarily direct, dialect transcriptions of audio tapes which Dr. Burton recorded with the subject, Ronda Lee Hicks, in the home of Rosa Hicks, the widow of the great Appalachian story teller Ray Hicks who was also a cousin to Ronda Lee Hicks.  The book is transcribed into relatively short sections on particular subjects which Hicks discussed during the taping.  Those sections are then combined in several chapters also on common subjects such as work, the military, and drinking.  There are short, generally single paragraph introductions written by Thomas Burton at the beginning of each section and chapter.  The tapes were transcribed with a solid attempt to be precise and ethical in rendering the unique sub-regional dialect of Appalachian English which Ronda Hicks spoke.  However, it is not my impression that the transcription was conducted according to strict linguist rules from any professional association of linguists.  

The foreword is written by John Shelton Reed, Professor Emeritus from the University Of North Carolina, and sheds some light on the possible intentions of the author.  In his foreword, Reed makes this important statement: "...Hicks is a classic example of a well-known type, the Bad Man.  The Bad Man may not be bad in all ways...but this is definitely someone you don't want to cross, or even seriously annoy, because he may respond with abrupt, brutal, and overwhelming violence."   It is my belief that Thomas Burton intended to produce a book which would, by first person anecdotes, deliver a studious rendition of the life of one such Bad Man. The Bad Man is just as much an iconic figure in America as the Folk Hero exemplified by Paul Bunyan, Mike Fink, and Johnny Appleseed.  Real, living Bad Men have included the recently murdered James "Whitey" Bulger, Clyde Barrow, and Billy The Kid.  In my work in the human services professions, I knew numerous men, and a few women, who would have fitted into the rubric of The Bad Man.  My favorite client of all time was a man who walked into my office one day, introduced himself, and went on to say "You've probably heard of me.  I killed my brother down the road in front of ten witnesses, shot him six times."  Then he went on to tell the full story of the murder, why he committed it, and of his time in prison. We went on to have a mutually productive professional relationship for several years. In many ways, he was a great deal like Ronda Lee Hicks.   

Ronda Lee Hicks also exhibited, in his recorded stories, many key symptoms of at least two genuine mental health or substance use disorders according to the DSM-V, the book which psychiatric practitioners use to formulate appropriate, empirically rendered diagnoses of those with mental health problems.  Ronda Hicks drank heavily most of his adult life and freely admitted and discussed it with Thomas Burton.  He also committed numerous acts of violence which were minimally sufficient to require his arrest.  He served time in prison on two separate occasions.  Yet, he was also a man who could show a capacity to help others, to be considerate, loyal, and giving under certain circumstances.  To put it lightly, he was an enigma.  

The book is well worth reading for the student of Appalachian Studies, linguists, corrections or mental health professionals, and quite simply those who enjoy knowing about Bad Men.  It is not the best of the works I have read by Thomas Burton and, perhaps some day, I will reread his better books and write about those on this blog.  

"Trump/Russia" by Seth Hettena--Book Review

Hettena, Seth: Trump/Russia (Brooklyn, NY, Melville House 2018)

If you do not read another page in this book, find a copy and read pages 88-105 which discuss the life, crimes, and career of one Felix Sater. If you are not industrious enough to read even 17 pages of this book, then go to page 104 and read the last few paragraphs of that page and the next two short paragraphs on page 105.  However, do so knowing that this is a book on that ever growing list of works which should be read by every American who even pretends to love this country.  At the bottom of page 104 is an e-mail message between Felix Sater and Michael Cohen whose name even the most illiterate of you should remember as the person who once said "I would take a bullet for Donald Trump" and has since plead guilty to crimes related to those TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump and agreed to testify against his other co-conspirators.  Here is that e-mail as it is rendered on page 104: 

"Michael I arranged for Ivanka to sit in Putin's private chair at his desk and office in the Kremlin.  I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected.  We both know no one else knows how to pull this off without stupidity or greed getting in the way.  I know how to play it and we will get this done.  Buddy our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer.  I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this." Hettena, p. 104.

So you might ask 'who is this author Seth Hettena who could, in his research, find and safely publish that e-mail in his book'.  Seth Hettena is a native New Yorker who works as a freelance writer and is a former Associated Press reporter who holds a bachelors degree from Johns Hopkins University and a masters degree in journalism from the Columbia School of Journalism, the most respected journalism school in the world.  His research is voluminous, highly detailed, insightful, and incriminating in this book.  It is also capable of withstanding the standard denials which come from all criminals who are caught in the act that it is "fake news", fabricated, or unsupported.  Keep in mind that Michael Cohen has already plead guilty to some of his crimes in support of TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump and disavowed his relationship with the Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate. As a part of his plea bargain, Cohen has also agreed to testify.  Keep in mind that no legitimate publishing company will publish such allegations without fact checking and liability proofing the research, evidence, and supporting documents.  

This book is a must read for the person who seeks to remain fully aware of the crimes being perpetrated by TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump and his co-conspirators.  This book contains a great deal of information which was gained by meticulous and dangerous research.  In the acknowledgements, Hettena mentions and thanks many members of the FBI by saying: 

"...the FBI is a wonderful institution and I am fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know them. Of the many former federal agents I spoke with I would like to thank Ray Kerr and Jim Moody, who spent hours helping me understand Russian organized crime.  There are many other, inside and outside government, who helped me understand Russia, hacking, opposition research, social media, and information warfare."

Hettena's book is filled with much of the same information which will be and has been used by Robert Mueller and his team to successfully carry out the most important mission in the world, the indictment, arrest, prosecution, and conviction of the entire band of criminals which treasonously placed Donald Trump in a position of power which he his misusing every day to achieve the aims for which Russia and Vladimir Putin put him there.  Read this book!  Believe it and what it says about the greatest crime ever committed against the United States of America and then join the rest of us in working to keep this country from being destroyed forever.  

 

Edward Melcarth Exhibition "Points Of View", University Of KY 2018

Edward Melcarth & his painting "Last Supper" Photo by Lexington Herald Leader

First and foremost, I need to apologize for not having written and posted about this exhibition as soon as I was first aware of it so some of my readers might have been able to go to the exhibition.  But a combination of my schedule, my personal life, and other commitments prevented me from doing it when I should have.  But this exhibition was far too good to see it without attempting to write about it and inform other people of Edward Melcarth and his work.  The exhibition called "Edward Melcarth Points Of View" was at the University of Kentucky Art Museum and ran from January 13, 2018, to April 8, 2018. As I recall, my wife Candice and I saw it on the last or next to last day in April just before it closed.  There was also a second exhibition of Melcarth's work in Lexington for part of the time this exhibition was open.  That exhibition took place at Institute 193, 193 N. Limestone, Lexington, KY.  It was labeled "Edward Melcarth: Rough Trade”  and ran from Jan. 13, 2018, to February 10, 2018.  I had hoped to see both exhibitions on the same day but the weather in January and February prevented me from doing so.  I had learned about both exhibitions from an excellent article by Herald Leader columnist Tom Eblen which appeared online on January 11, 2018.

Edward Melcarth "Amendment" Photo by Lexington Herald Leader

But the major exhibition at UK was a real joy to see and gave us an opportunity, as well as the rest of the Lexington market to see work from an artist whose work had nearly fallen through the cracks into oblivion and was rescued from anonymity by a strange quirk or circumstance.  Melcarth had been born in Louisville in 1914, and early in his career was receiving critical acclaim.  He created murals which are still on display at the Pierre Hotel in New York City.  He received an award from the Art Institute Of Chicago in 1951.  His works are in the private collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Whitney Museum Of American Art, the Museum Of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Art Institute Of Chicago.  Yet no one has ever written a biography of him.  He has no biography on Wikipedia.   He had nearly disappeared from view in the ever changing world of American Art and art appreciation.  But an unusual set of circumstances served to bring Melcarth back into the public eye and to motivate the two exhibitions in Lexington.

Lexington historian Jonathan Coleman wandered into Melcarth's art while working on other projects including The Faulkner Morgan Pagan Babies Archive of Kentucky LGBTQ History.   Edward Melcarth, who was openly both gay and a communist,  had been born into a prominent Louisville Jewish family but changed his name from Edward Epstein for unknown reasons to Edward Melcarth.  He also moved to Lexington which has had a long and interesting history as somewhat of a minor gay Mecca for more than a hundred years.  Later in life, he moved to Venice, Italy, where he died in relative obscurity in 1973.  But Jonathan Coleman discovered his work and learned that upon Melcarth's death the publisher Malcolm Forbes had bought his entire estate.  Coleman approached the Forbes Collection and eventually arranged through his Lexington and University Of Kentucky connections to bring about the simultaneous exhibitions in Lexington which were the first public displays of Melcarth's works in many years.  Thanks to Jonathan Coleman art aficionados in Kentucky have at least had recent opportunities to view Melcarth's work and he has been rescued, at least temporarily, from obscurity.  He deserves to remain forever in the public eye.

Edward Melcarth "Motorcyclists" Photo by Lexington Herald Leader

Melcarth's works are powerful, emotionally evocative, and often unforgettable.  As an openly gay man, he frequently painted male subjects with striking appreciation of their bodies.  As a communist, he also created works involving strikers and working class subjects.  He worked in both paints and sculpture.  His wood carving "Amendment", seen above, is a wonderful construction but had visible damage and repairs from the past.  However those blemishes do nothing to keep the work from burning itself into an art lover's brain.  His use of light and shadow combined with his depiction of motion in "Motorcyclists", above, is also powerful and memorable work.  The male subjects in "Excavation", above, are wonderfully rendered and the painting gives insight into the lives of the working class.  I will not soon forget the works of Edward Melcarth.  If I ever have another opportunity to see his work on exhibit, I will beat a path to the gallery's door.  So should you!  Let us hope that these two recent exhibits serve to keep the works of Edward Melcarth in the public eye for many years to come, generate a desire on the part of other gallery officials to show his work, and facilitate his rebirth as a darling of the world of American Art.  

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/tom-eblen/article194180314.html#storylink=cpy

"The Restless Wave" by John McCain and Mark Salter--Book Review

McCain, John & Mark Salter: The Restless Wave (New York, NY, Simon & Schuster 2018)

"Bigger misfits haven't been seen inside a White House since William Taft got stuck in his bathtub." John McCain & Mark Salter, p. 327.  

This has been the most pleasant surprise I have found in a book in many years.  I went into reading this last book by John McCain with the preconception that I  would find a fairly standard espousal of some customary Right Wing Radical Republican views.  While I did find some of that, I also found a lot of honesty, perhaps expressed in the face of impending death, but honesty just the same.  There was honesty about both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  But, the most pleasant surprise of all was that there was honesty about TRAITOR and Spawn Of Satan Trump.  I had not expected to find that in spite of what I already knew about the less than pleasant relationship between the two.  But the book delivers some brutally honest assessments of the traitor who currently illegally occupies the White House based on his treason with Vladimir Putin and Russia.  McCain and Salter stop short of using the word traitor but they definitely did not pull many other punches in referring to the ongoing disaster in America.  I suspect that John McCain wanted to go to his grave with a somewhat clear conscience.  However, it is a real tragedy that he chose to not endorse Hillary Clinton for president simply based on is party loyalty.  My copy of this book is currently marked nearly from cover to cover with those tiny Post It Notes which denote a geek because I found so many statements in the book which I wanted to pass on to my readers in this review.  

The one possible area in which I question this book is the fact that John McCain was dying as it was being written, edited, and prepared for publication and much of it was probably written solely by Mark Salter.  But Salter had known and primarily worked for John McCain since 1988 and served as his chief of staff for a period.  They coauthored seven books together during their thirty year collaboration and Salter served as McCain's primary speech writer and one of his closest confidantes.  In that light, it is likely that few if any people understood John McCain better than Mark Salter. So even if Salter wrote the majority of the book, I still consider it authentic McCain.  McCain and Beau Bridges narrated the audio book version of this last book and it could be said that the manuscript was either finished or very nearly finished before McCain's death and all or most of it was written with his cooperation and knowledge in order to make his portion of the narration possible.  However, I do not know what percentage of the book McCain managed to narrate before his death.

McCain's first reference to TRAITOR and Spawn Of Satan Trump comes on page 103 where he discusses the torturous practises which were followed at Guantanamo, including waterboarding and Trump's claim that he was willing to bring it back.  McCain states that TRAITOR Trump

"...insisted that torture 'absolutely works' and swore he would bring back waterboarding and worse.  His statement was made out of ignorance, attributable to his lack of experience in a role related to the defense of this country.  It also exposed his apparent lack of appreciation for the importance of our values to our security, and for the understanding that simple human decency is as essential to the souls of nations as it is to the souls of people."  (McCain & Salter, p. 103)

There are several aspects of this quote which are worthy of discussion.  Firstly, McCain's reference to the ignorance of TRAITOR Trump was both accurate and timely.  Secondly, his veiled reference to the traitor's lack of military experience clearly compares the early lives of both men.  McCain spent five and a half years as a POW in Viet Nam while TRAITOR Trump spent those years exercising multiple claims of having bone spurs which kept him from being rightfully inducted.  Thirdly, the reference to TRAITOR Trump's lack of understanding of morals and human decency is also quite accurate. Unspoken in that quote is the fact that after five and one half years in a Viet Cong prison John McCain was an expert on torture and the information it might and might not produce from a victim.  This is the first notable mention McCain made in the book to the criminal who temporarily resides in the White House but it was not the last.  However, it did set the tone for everything else which was said in the book on that despicable excuse for a human.

By contrast, when McCain first mentions President Barack Obama on page 192, he refers to him as "...thoughtful and well intentioned..." while disagreeing with his views. I was also quite pleased to read McCain's discussion of dark money and the Citizens United decision by the US Supreme Court on page 200 where he states that

"...the explosion of unlimited and dark money in campaigns, an invitation to corruption made possible by the Supreme Court's decision in  the Citizens United case, a mistake made by five justices who never ran for any office and were more naive than a cloistered nun about the corrupting effect of unlimited money in politics." (McCain & Salter, p. 200)

When McCain approaches the discussion of immigration and the ongoing battle over illegal immigration, he surprised me totally by saying that Republicans who oppose immigration

"...need to be confronted, not ignored or winked at or quietly dismissed as kooks.  They need to be confronted before their noxious views spread further, and damage for generations the reputation of the Republican Party."  (McCain & Salter, p. 206)

McCain also was honest and patriotic in his discussion of the Mueller investigation into the crimes of TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump.

"I trust the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller, an experienced, skilled prosecutor, and a man of exceptional probity and character, to separate fact from fiction, and to get to the bottom of the so-called dossier. (The Steele Dossier) If it is the product of slander or groundless fears, he'll say so.  It will be up to Congress and the judiciary to evaluate his conclusions and act on them if necessary, to do our duty, whatever it proves to be, as diligently, fairly, and nonpolitically as Mueller will have done his."  (McCain & Salter, p. 241)

Although McCain did not discuss the Russian hacking and the collusion between TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump at length, on page 265 of the book he does say

"Moscow waged a sophisticated cyber and disinformation campaign against the Georgians as well, giving the world its first good look at a form of warfare the Russians would prove adept at, which we would see again in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, and, it pains me to say, in an American presidential election."  (McCain & Salter, p. 265)

If John McCain, a dying former US presidential nominee, long term senator, and war hero was willing to admit that the Russians hacked our election, no other American should ever doubt it. Keep in mind that John McCain was the person in American government who was chosen by Christopher Steele to deliver the Steele Dossier to the hands of US law enforcement and carried that out immediately upon receiving and reading the dossier.  Until we reach the end of the Mueller investigation and justice has run its course for TRAITOR and Spawn Of Satan Trump, America can never again assume that we are living in a functioning democracy.

Just as he did in reference to President Obama, McCain spoke favorably of Hillary Clinton on  page 270 where he said "She concluded correctly, that 'strength and resolve were the only language Putin would understand'." Time is likely to prove that the greatest tragedy of John McCain's life and career in politics was the fact that he did not fully endorse Hillary Clinton in 2016 instead of just refusing to endorse the TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump.  He did go on later in the book, on page 274 to say that Putin sought "...revenge five years later by ordering his trolls, and hackers and subcontractors at WikiLeaks to help defeat her."  He went on to say that "Sparing Putin any serious penalty for his assault on our democracy doesn't just encourage further aggression, it tells the victims and potential victims of Russian aggression...that the United States, the greatest power in the world, couldn't be relied on to defend its own democracy." (McCain & Salter, p. 288)  I would go even further and say that sparing both Putin and TRAITOR and Spawn Of Satan Trump any serious penalty for their crimes also encourages every other traitor and would be dictator in America to believe they can also achieve illegitimate and illegal access to power in our country.  McCain goes on in the book on pages 294-295 to further discuss his opinion of Vladimir Putin and his crimes against America and the world.  His concluding words in the section quoted immediately below also leave little doubt of his opinion about the fact that our elected congress members have failed to confront the crimes of both Putin and TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump.

"He is using our own weaknesses and virtues against us, the openness of our society and the increasingly acrimonious political divisions consuming us. He wants to widen those divides and paralyze us from responding to his aggression.  He meddled in our election, and he will do it again because it worked, and because he has not been made to stop.  He interfered in the  last French presidential election.  And he successfully helped reelect the president of the Czech Republic, a NATO ally, who opposes NATO and the EU and supports Putin's invasion and annexation of Crimea.  He did it with the same means he used to interfere in our election.  And yet, as of this writing, I don't see Washington prepared and focused to stop his continued assault on our democratic processes."  McCain & Salter, p. 295.

McCain goes on, a few pages later, to expand on his thoughts about what must be done to contain Vladimir Putin and the Russian plan to control our elections and destroy America, American Democracy, all out diplomatic alliances, and the entire free world.

"...we have a way to go before all Americans realize that Putin's goal isn't to defeat a candidate or a party.  He means to defeat the West.  He will try to interfere, he already is, in our next election, and the election after that, and the election after that.  He will keep doing it until we prevent him.  And we're behind schedule in that responsibility." McCain & Salter, p. 299.

The quote above from page 299 of McCain's book should have been a rallying cry for every loyal American both inside and outside the Washington Beltway to rise up and take the fight to Putin and Russia by all means possible and necessary.  But the TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump belongs to Vladimir Putin and has ever since Alfa Bank bailed him out of his deliberate bankrupting of the New Jersey casinos in 1987.  He will not and literally cannot do anything to fight or control Putin and has no desire to do so if he could.  He is a Russian agent.  We are in the deepest, most dangerous constitutional crisis in this country since 1861.

On the next page of the book, John McCain continues his discussion of the failures of TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump to use his illegally obtained office to confront Vladimir Putin. "...Trump seems to vary from refusing to believe what Putin is doing to just not caring about it."  If reading that statement from one of the most senior and most politically connected and experienced US Senators does not scare you, you aren't paying attention or simply denying the truth. "He (Trump) needs to needs to comprehend the nature of the threat Putin poses.  He needs to understand Putin's nature, and ours.  Last year, he implied that our government was morally equivalent to Putin's regime: 'We have a lot of killers, too.  You think our country is innocent,' he told an interviewer.  It was a shameful thing to say, and so unaware of reality."  McCain & Salter, p. 300-301

I do not believe that the statement quoted above by John McCain was "unaware of reality" on the part of the TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump.  I believe he was and is fully aware of what he is attempting to do when he discusses Vladimir Putin and Russia.  I believe he is first and foremost attempting to please the man who owns and controls him, Vladimir Putin.  I believe he is seeking to do everything he can to destroy America in support of his Russian Owner.  I simply believe he is a TRAITOR, fully aware of his TREASON and its potential consequences if he is unable to seize control of America in support of Russia.  I believe he is working toward his own selfish goals to protect himself from both the legal consequences of his TREASON and from the personal consequences if he is unable to do as ordered by the Russians who have owned him ever since they bailed him out of his New Jersey casino disaster.  Farther down page 301 in the book, McCain continues his discussion of the world wide consequences, both to the USA and to our diplomatic and strategic allies, of the TREASONOUS acts of TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump.

"The world is learning to live without our active leadership.  That's not good for the world and it won't be good for us.  That's the real damage our distractions are doing to our interests--the spurious nationalism animating our politics, our growing distrust of our institutions and of each other, facilitated by the activities of a committed enemy.  When President Trump compares us neutrally to the regime of a murderer and thug, it causes our allies and adversaries to wonder, if Americans don't believe in themselves, why should we."  McCain & Salter, p. 301.

Having that kind of public statement come from a senior US Senator, an undisputed war hero, a former major party presidential nominee, a man respected worldwide, is one of the most terrifying statements ever made about the relationship between the  USA and our diplomatic allies and it is absolutely true.  Our closest allies such as Germany, Canada, England, and the other members of the G7, the weak but struggling democracies we have always supported, and the enemies we have always fought both militarily and diplomatically are no longer accepting that the USA will stand up for good, fight against evil, or protect the weak whether they are people or governments and that is a tragedy which must be laid fully in the lap of the TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump.

I have gone to much greater lengths in writing this book review than I have on any other recently.  That is due to the fact that I firmly believe that this is a book which every American should read, especially those members of the Republican party who still, for some unknown and unknowable reason, support TRAITOR & Spawn Of Satan Trump.  This book is the final epistle from a dying American whose commitments to America and American Democracy were always unquestioned and unquestionable.  This author was writing his swan song to a wonderful career of service to his country and the world.  This is an author who will be considered credible by many people who still refuse to believe other American heroes and authors such as James Clapper, James Comey, and Madeleine Albright when they say the same things about the horrible state in which we find our country and our democracy today.  Read this book, study this book, take it seriously, and commit its truths to your memory and your heart.  I am also choosing to close with more words from John McCain.

"If you're alarmed by our descent into all-consuming partisanship  by the fact that much of the grassroots energy in both parties is with the closed-minded absolutists on the fringes, what are you doing about it?  Are you voting in primary elections?  Are you helping choose party leaders for your county, your state?  Are you running for leadership positions yourself? Are you showing up for precinct committee meetings, district elections, town halls with your elected officials?...Play as big a role in the mundane activities of politics as the zealots do.  It's important."  McCain & Salter, p. 360. 

                                                                        

We Had A Visitor Today, October 26, 2018!

We have lived in the same house in the country in Eastern Kentucky in a farming community for the last 26 years.  We have worked consistently during that time to protect, preserve, and enjoy the wildlife around us.  Over the years in our yard we have enjoyed visits from raccoons, skunks, wild turkeys, red and grey foxes, coyotes, opossums, rabbits, white tail deer, and untold bird species. We have seen a mother raccoon bring her litter of growing young to eat out of our cat feeder on the porch.  We have seen an adult coyote cross our yard in the broad daylight.  We have only missed seeing both young turkeys and white tail fawns raised in our yard a few years out of the 26.  We have had flocks of turkeys in a hard winter come to eat the bird seed on our driveway.  We have had as many as 5 fawns grow up in our yard in a single year.  And who knows what species we have missed seeing because they passed by in the dark?  We suspect that bobcats have regularly lived near us.  We have had eastern screech owls perched on our porch railing as the darkness gathered.  But today we had a rare visitor come by and I have the photos to prove it which were shot through the family room window.  A pretty nice 5 point white tail buck made a visit to the driveway and spent several minutes eating bird seed on our driveway.  It was pretty nice don't you think?  

White Tail Buck Photo by Roger D. Hicks

White Tail Buck Photo by Roger D. Hicks

White Tail Buck  Photo by Roger D. Hicks

Snack Time Photo by Roger D. Hicks