Last week about 20 KFTC supporters recently gathered for an informal house party in Perry County. People ate good food, shared fellowship, played music together, and discussed the upcoming legislative session.

Members also took some time to reflect on why they have value KFTC. From these reflections, a series of Haikus were born. Here are some of the creative gems that were born out of this exercise:

Empower people
Education excitement
Haikus for justice

Motivate justice
Fantabulous hopes and dreams
Wonderful action

Calm before the storm
Family community
starry wonderment

Warning rebuttle
We must rise up for action
Of the earth’s power

Freakin’ progressive
Empowering Kentucky
Cool KFTC

Community voice
Warning of earth’s rebuttal
We will scream out loud

Clean coal is bullcrap
KFTC rocks my socks
Motivated folks

Simple liberty
Can be attained with action
With people power

UPDATE: The EQC public hearing has been postponed due to the weather!!
From the EQC website:

Due to the inclement weather, the Environmental Quality Commission public forum for tonight (January 29) has been postponed.  A majority of the videoconferencing sites that were planned for the meeting are closed.  As soon as the meeting has been rescheduled, a notice will be placed on the Web site with the date, time and locations.

Tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission is hosting a public forum to discuss Governor Beshear's recently released energy plan.  Citizens from around the state will be able to participate in the forum via video conference at five locations (see below).  While there are some good ideas in the governor's energy plan, much of it will keep our state moving in the wrong direction, including proposals that would lead to huge increases in coal extraction and more mountaintop removal mining.  KFTC has just released a response to the plan with a point by point analysis of his proposals and how they fall short, and ideas for improvement.

In addition to time for public comments, discussions of upcoming legislative issues and mountaintop removal mining are expected. If you would like to preregister to speak during the public comment portion of the agenda, please contact:

Johnna McHugh
Director of Operations
Environmental Quality Commission
(502) 564-2674 ext. 121
johnna.mchugh@ky.gov

If you are able, please read our response and attend the hearing so that our voices can be heard in this debate.  Kentucky needs bold, new ideas to be a player in this new energy economy.  We cannot afford to continue down the same path we've been on, laying waste to our mountains and polluting our water and air.

FRANKFORT
Kentucky State University
Academic Services Building, 5th Floor

PIKEVILLE
Pikeville College
Community Technology Center, Room 134
Hambley Boulevard

BOWLING GREEN
Western Kentucky University
Media and Technology Hall, Room 279

LOUISVILLE (this is a change from an earlier location)
University of Louisville
Miller Information Technology Center (MITC), Room 55.
Enter the campus from the Third Street entrance onto the circle. The West Information Center will be on your right. At the West Information Center you will be directed to the parking lot and will be given directions to the building, if needed. MITC is a 3-minute walk from the parking lot.

RICHMOND
Eastern Kentucky University
University Building, Room 135
University Drive

Thank you for taking action!

Some of our members and organizers have recently been using the digital stories created by students at Berea college in cooperation with KFTC and requested that we re-post it on our blog.  Here they are.

Mine shut down after boulder rolls through house
The Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- State officials have ordered a mining company to stop work at a site in eastern Kentucky after a rolling boulder destroyed a house.

The Kentucky Department for Natural Resources says it shut down work at a Pike County site run by Central Appalachia Mining Kentucky, LLC.

The state says a rock from the company's Marion Branch mine at Island Creek tumbled 500 feet and crashed into a home below the site on Wednesday. No one was injured, but the home was deemed unlivable...

For the complete AP story, click Here.

People in Louisville got to view the film Democracy's Ghosts last night at a screening sponsored by the ACLU of Kentucky, the Anne Braden Institute and the Jefferson County KFTC chapter.  Linda Stettenbenz organized the program and emceed the event.

Democracy's Ghosts is a short but moving film about the disenfranchisement of 5 million voters nationwide because of a past felony conviction. About 186,000 Kentuckians are denied the right to vote even though most have completed their sentences.

One of the people in the film defined the word "ghosts" in this context — "someone without a voice."

That experience was echoed by KFTC members Tayna Fogle and Carl Matthews who both spoke after the film.  Tayna lost her vote for 13 years but finally got her right restored after a lengthy process. "I made a mistake, I am not a mistake," she said in acknowledging bad choices many years ago before she turned her life around.

The only way for a former felon to have their voting rights restored is by an order from the governor. The speakers thanked Gov. Steve Beshear for making that process easier and removing some of the barriers put in place by Gov. Ernie Fletcher.  They emphasized that is why constitutional change is needed, so that the process becomes automatic and not subject to the whims of whoever is the governor at the time.

Carl encouraged people to get involved in efforts to pass this constitutional reform (House Bill 70) and chapter member Mary Love explained the citizen lobbying process with KFTC in Frankfort.

The evening ended with conversation and commitments to see each other again at the Restoration of Voting Rights Lobby Day in Frankfort on Tuesday, February 10. Click here to learn details of that important lobby day.

The Lexington Herald-Leader blog reports that Senate President David Williams, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, and Gov. Steve Beshear are meeting behind closed doors to discuss how to address our budget shortfall.

It's possible that these three are hatching a plan to raise revenue fairly through real, comprehensive reforms.  But it's likely that they aren't, and that cuts are a bigger part of the focus than they should be.

Education, health services, environmental protection, college affordability — all have been compromised by years of chronic underinvestment.  Last year's demand to "tighten the belt" felt senseless because it didn't acknowledge the reality that these services and programs were already starved for funding.  Can we afford more cuts?

And can we afford the job losses?  As unemployment skyrockets — especially here in Kentucky, with a state economy so dependent on manufacturing jobs — can we really afford to keep up a trend that has already lead to layoffs and job cuts?  KCTCS, our community and technical college system, has cut 240 jobs across the state.   According to the Kentucky School Boards Association, 975 teachers, aides, and staff have lost their jobs with Kentucky schools because of the budget cuts.  On top of this are the layoffs and closings in family service and community health centers.  Is cutting budgets and cutting jobs what we want to be doing now?

Of course not!  Now is the time we most urgently need revenue reforms that are fair and adequate.  One set of solutions is our tax plan, which would raise much needed revenue while cutting the taxes of low- and moderate-income working families, making our tax structure fairer and more adequate.

Kentucky's budget belongs to all of us.  It doesn't belong behind closed doors.  As state leaders have these discussions, take a minute to offer your thoughts!

Take Action!

Call Governor Beshear, Senator Williams, and Speaker Stumbo, and tell them that Kentuckians have been hurt enough.  Kentucky needs real tax and revenue reforms that are fair and adequate.

(502) 564-2611
Fax: (502) 564-2517
Online Contact form

Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 any time from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m.
Leave a message for David Williams, Greg Stumbo, and your own legislators.

KFTC members participated in a number of Martin Luther King Jr. Day events across the state earlier this week, often making connections between King's legacy and the campaign to restore voting rights to former felons in Kentucky, a practice that takes voting rights away from 1 in 4 voting age African Americans in Kentucky.  

Members passed out information, had conversations with people, and otherwise celebrated the spirit of King's life in solidarity with ally organizations

In Lexington, Doug Rigsby, Tayna Fogle, and others got Restoration postcard to legislators signed after the Unity Breakfast at Heritage Hall and before the MLK March.  Afterwards, members had a powerful Open Mic Night at Al's Bar in honor of MLK Day.

Members in Perry County, Louisville, and Springfield, and in many other communities had other events honoring King's memory. 

   

   

 UPDATE;  Apparently the White House switchboard is having some major technical difficulties today.  Here is a message from CLEAN's organizer Carrie...

So here's the situation: The White House is having some serious "technical difficulties" -- their switchboard and comment system appear to be down indefinitely-- so we have suspended today's call and have been forced to reschedule our Call the White House action. I know this is frustrating, since we all have put in so much work on this, but unfortunately we have to wait for them to correct it. We can't thank you enough for everything you've done, and continue to do!

There is a place for email comments at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ if you  are really itching to do something today, but we will be rescheduling the action.

 

ORIGINAL POST

Today thousands of concerned citizens across the U.S. will take action by calling the White House and asking President Obama to give immediate priority to his promise of fighting global warming and creating a clean energy future. Will you join us in doing so?

We will ask him to support and invest in renewable energy such as wind, solar and geothermal and create true incentives for energy efficiency — starting with the current economic stimulus plan now before Congress. We will ask him to say no to the myth of "clean coal" and to costly and unsafe nuclear power. 

Call 202-456-1111 or 202-456-6213 (TTY/TDD) any time on Wednesday, January 21 after 9 a.m. and leave your message of support with the White House operators.  Ask your family and friends to call too.

This effort is being coordinated by CLEAN (Citizens Leading for Energy Action Now) and pushed by dozens of groups like KFTC around the country. Every additional call will make our appeal a little stronger, and our voices a little louder. 

And you can let CLEAN know you called or plan to by registering your call here (the best way for us to know how many people called since we don't get that information from the White House). Be sure to click "find organization,"  scroll through the list and select KFTC while completing your signup.

Thanks for taking action!