Musicians including Tula, Maurice Manning, Clack Mountain String Band, Rodney Hatfield, and authors Ed McClanahan and Gurney Norman performed at The Dame in Lexington last night in a tremendous homage to The Band's Last Waltz, a concert in 1976 made famous by Martin Scorsese's rockumentary by the same name.

    The house was packed all night with hundreds of people enjoying a great show for a good cause. 

     Kentuckians For The Commonwelth and also our allies at KCIRR (The Kentucky Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights) benefited from the concert, getting a cut of the money made at the door.  KFTC members also got a great chance to talk to hundreds of people about our issue and the work we do.
 
    KFTC activists signed fifty-seven people to become new members as part of our final push to become a 5,000-member organization by the end of the year.

    Tula and friends also put on two Last Waltz concerts late last year (in Lexington and Louisville) and are trying to line up a concert venue in Louisville for December.   Check the events calendar for more information and we'll post it as it becomes available.

    “The event went really great.  We got to talk to lots of people about what KFTC does while listening to some great music.  We really appreciate The Dame, the bands like Tula and everyone else.  They did a super job and it was a great time!"  said KFTC member John Ghaelian.

   If you opened the Lexington Herald-Leader's Opinions page yesterday, you may have been in awe that EIGHTEEN letters to the editor were printed, slamming Representative Jim Gooch.  Most letters challenged his backwards, fraudulent, and under-handed actions, claiming the global warming "scare" to be a "conspiracy" - all claims made in the service of big coal companies to which Gooch owes his political career as well as his livelihood. 

   Many of the letters were from KFTC members all across the state.  Indeed, there were so many letters against Gooch that no letters were printed on any other topic, and these 18 letters took up the entire Letters to the Editor page.

I am sick and tired of the absurdist version of reality that is continually propagated by skeptics of global warming.

Spectacles like the farce that went on in Frankfort on Nov. 14, when legislators applauded witnesses who declared they did not "believe in" disprovable scientific theories, help to explain why our state continues to rank near the bottom in so many national indicators.

At its root, science is an exercise in logic that leads to definitive answers, not a belief system or a political football game. Lawyers and once-influential British ideologists are not experts on climate change.

If state Rep. Jim Gooch could not find credible scientists to testify before his committee or was too insecure in his position to allow presentation of an opposing viewpoint, he should not have wasted his fellow lawmakers' time or citizens' money.

Policymakers who continue to wonder why our state has trouble retaining academically talented students and attracting growing industries need look no further than the inanity of Gooch and his compatriots.

Incidentally, I've decided I no longer believe in gravity."

                                                                                - Jay Prather, Lexington

Do you believe in reincarnation? If so, imagine state Rep. Jim Gooch as a polar bear swimming furiously to find the nearest glacier that has already melted. His recent denial of global warming is equally as futile. Denying it won't make it go away.

Debating the issue wastes valuable time needed to make important decisions about how we can expand our use of renewable energy sources in ways that could also be economically viable for all Kentuckians, especially our coalfield citizens.

But then maybe that's the whole idea when you put your profits ahead of the planet."

                                                                                - Suzanne Tallichet, Morehead

    Have you ever seen a car on the road with bumperstickers carrying messages like "I Love Mountains," "Support a Living Wage," and other things you agree with and thought "Wow - I wish I could tell that person about KFTC"?

    Well, now you can!

    For the last three years, members of the Central KY Chapter have distributed these cards a few at a time in their communities. 

    They keep them in their wallets and purses and as they're walking and run into a car with bumperstickers they like, they simply slip one of the cards under the car's windshield wiper and continue on with the rest of their day.

    In all, Central KY Members have distributed well over a thousand cards in total.  A handful of new members have actually come out to chapter meetings with a bumpersticker card being the only contact they'd had from KFTC (with the card in-hand at our door.)

    Mostly, it serves to remind friends, allies, members, and others that KFTC is out in the community, active, and always open to new people becoming involved. 

    "Frankly, it's a really clever way of reaching out to people," says David Anderson, a Central KY KFTC Leader, and someone who's distributed many dozens of bumpersticker cards.  "It's a compliment to the people receiving them, it's smart, and if we can get a few new members and lots of constant awareness out of something this simple and easy, well that's just great."

    You can download a simple statewide version of a Bumpersticker Card here.  You can get a PDF with the front side of the card HERE and the back side HERE. 

    University of Kentucky Students and Lexington Fayette Urban County Government might be coming into greater and greater conflict over the next few weeks as LFUCG considers an ordinance that would (among other things) make it illegal for more than 3 unrelated people to live together in the same residence, would effectively prohibit student homes from being within 150-200 feet of another student home, and  would stipulate that student homes have a minimum of 1500 square feet.

    Students say that this would have a massive impact, making housing prohibitively expensive for many students, increasing parking problems, and breaking up functional homes.

    UK's Student Government and the University Area Housing Association are spearheading the fight for student housing.

    UK Kentuckians For The Commonwealth members are watching the issue closely, speaking out, and considering taking the issue on as a major campaign. 

    "It scares me that the city seems to be doing all of this without thinking of the consequences.  If this passes as written, lots of students are really going to be in trouble.  I think this is something UK KFTC should continue to look into and to really fight,” said John Ghaelian, a UK KFTC member. 

    You can read much more about this issue through news stories published in the Kentucky Kernel (UK's campus newspaper)  HERE and HERE.

I have a 25-year-old son who had lost his faith in this Democracy... and he grew up watching me not able to vote and he didn't think voting mattered.  But last year, he signed the card to register to vote.  There's hope in my family and in my community in Democracy and that makes a big difference."      - Tayna Fogle

    On Monday, the Interim Joint Committee on State Government Task Force on Elections met at the Louisville Urban League building to discuss Restoration of Voting Rights for Former Felons and the bill filed by Rep. Darryl Owens for the upcoming General Assembly.

    KFTC members including former felons and allies came to the meeting from across the state to testify and convey their support for the legislation. 

    Speakers included Ed Monahan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, Mitchell Ford, a former felon spokesperson from People Advocating Recovery, Tayna Fogle, a former felon spokesperson and KFTC leader, Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney David Stengel, Teena Halbig, president League of Women Voters of Louisville, and Raul Cunningham of the NAACP.

"You're changing a lot of people's lives for the better if you pass this law"
                                                             - Mitchell Ford

    Legislators were very responsive to the testimony, voicing support and asking technical follow-up questions.  Senator Julian Carroll was especially vocal in his support, praising the former felons in the room for the steps forward taken in their recovery. 

    Reps. Owens, Mike Cherry, Mike Harmon, Melvin Hensley and Sen. Carroll were the only legislators to show up to their committee meeting, which lessened the impact of the powerful presentation.

• 37.3% Voter Turnout Statewide (Compared to 40.1% in 2003, the last Gubernatorial Election).

• Kentuckians Elected 4 Democrats and 2 Republicans to statewide constitutional offices.

• Huge margins all around – 14.2%-28% margins.  It’s interesting that the margins were so very large and yet both Republicans and Democrats won offices.

• Because this Election was watched so closely nationally, money, organizations, and efforts poured into the state from across the US, often manifesting in negative attack adds, automated “robo” calls to voters, and organizations mis-representing themselves (for example, robo calls from an organization pretending to be the Fairness Campaign).  We can expect these trends to continue into next year’s Election cycle because of the high profile of the Senate Race. 

• Victories by Representative Carolyn Belcher (elected Bourbon County judge executive) and Senator Daniel Mongiardo (elected Lt. Governor) have left the 72nd Representative District (Bath, Bourbon, Fayette, Nicholas) and the 30th Senate District (Rep Bell, Harlan, Leslie, Perry) vacant, pending a special election.  These elections have to take place at least 35 days from the day they are set.  The Election for the 72nd District has been set for January 8th.  January 15th seems to be a likely date for the special election in the 30th, but we’ll know for sure later. 

• Next Year’s 2008 election cycle will be even bigger.  With Mitch McConnell’s US Senate seat up in addition to all State Representative districts being up for election, all odd numbered State Senate seats, and a Presidential Election, we can expect a lot of action and room for Voter Empowerment organizing.

KFTC members from the community of Island Creek in Pike County have scheduled a Mountain Witness Tour December 1st, from noon to 4:30.  This will be a great opportunity to see the abuses of coal mining first-hand and to speak with people who must live with these abuses every day. 

Our Mountain Witness Tours are open to the public.  Contact your local organizer if you are interested in carpooling.  For more information about the tour, please visit the event page or contact our Canary Project organizer, Kevin Pentz.

State Rep. Jim Gooch was on Good Morning America on Sunday speaking out against global warming and making Kentuckians look backwards and anti-science.  Is this really the most qualified person we have to chair our House Natural Resources committee (which all environmental policy bills must go through)?

Click the image above to view the video

If you agree with us that this whole ordeal reflects badly on Kentucky, and you want state leadership that respects science, rather than ignoring it, please consider taking the following action steps:

1. Contact your legislator expressing concern about Rep. Gooch's leadership on environmental issues and urging support for policies that protect our environment. Better yet, contact KFTC and we'll help set up a meeting with your legislator for you and other KFTC members to express these views and to ask him/her to support legislation addressing mountaintop removal mining and other KFTC priorities.

2. Call the legislative message line (1-800-372-7181) and leave a message for Speaker of the House Rep. Jody Richards. Tell him that we need honest and courageous leadership to speak out against the abuses of the coal industry, one who will promote and respect honest debate about real issues, not propaganda.

3. Support KFTC financially, especially now during our Fall Fundraising Campaign, to help continue KFTC's work on these important issues. Donate online or respond to the fall fundraising appeal we just sent out.

4. Plan to come (in a carpool) to the I Love Mountains Rally and Lobby Day on February 14 in Frankfort.

Wednesday, a group of KFTC staff and members headed up to Frankfort to attend a presentation on the “myth” of global warming at a hearing of the Interim Joint Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.  The day began with a press conference where KFTC Chairperson Doug Doerrfeld presented KFTC's position on global warming: namely, that the debate on global warming is over and that our leadership in Kentucky should be in question if they believe it to be a myth.  Carl Shoupe was also on hand to read a statement by James Hansen, a climatologist at NASA.

    The presentation entitled, “Apocalypse?  No!  The scientific, economic, and geopolitical reasons why global warming is not a global crisis” was given by Viscount Christopher Monckton who was a policy advisor for Margaret Thatcher and member of the Science and Public Policy Institute, an arm of Frontiers of Freedom, a right-wing think tank funded in-part by Exxon-Mobile.  He was joined by James Taylor, a representative of the Heartland Institute in Chicago, another think tank that has been heavily funded by Exxon-Mobil.  Their presentations ranged from absurd to comical all the way to offensive.  Viscount Monckton, for instance, claimed that attempting to decrease carbon emissions would lead to condemning "tens of millions of poor people [...] to death."  Even more stunning than inviting two non-scientists to present members of the Kentucky legislature with information about the “myth” of global warming was the fact that Chairman Jim Gooch did not think it was necessary to invite credible climate scientists to participate in the discussion.

From, the Lexington Herald-Leader:

"It really wasn't my intention to get into so much science today," Gooch replied.

Before the hearing, Gooch said he called the Heartland Institute once he decided to address global warming and asked for any skeptical experts it might send. Scientists weren't necessary, he said.

"Well, I mean, where are we going to get scientists?" Gooch asked. "We're limited here in Kentucky to what we can do. I don't know how we'd necessarily get scientists to come here."

Some senators and representatives responded with various degrees of shock and dismay that Gooch would not allow for a debate, while others praised Monckton and Taylor for their ability to rise above the political correct opinion that global warming is real. 

Wait, what?  Doug set the record straight. Global warming IS real!  KFTC holds very strongly to the opinion that the time for debating global warming is decidedly over, and that leadership in Kentucky need to recognize this fact.  It is an embarrassment and offense to the people of the Commonwealth to have such nonsense presented in our state capital as if it were worth merit and discussion.