Uncomfortable as it may make us all, it’s time to own up to what the primary election results are bearing out. City people are misogynistic. It’s not clear whether urbanites fear the idea of female leadership or (like T.S. Eliot, who was from St. Louis, by the way) they just don’t like the way women […]
Posted inRural Voters
Democrats Split in Kentucky and Oregon Primaries
As Senator Barack Obama, speaking in Des Moines last night, strove to turn his presidential campaign into a race against Republican John McCain, Tuesday’s primaries in Kentucky and Oregon showed Democratic voters deeply divided. With all but Grant County reporting in Oregon, Obama has won Oregon’s primary, beating Sen. Hillary Clinton 58%-42%, a wider margin […]
Posted inRural Voters
In Kentucky, Clinton Sticks, Obama Shifts
The crowd at Sen. Clinton’s rally in Maysville, Kentucky. Photo: Barbara Kinney On the surface, the Democrats’ presidential campaigning this past week in Kentucky has mirrored the pre-primary tactics of a week before, in neighboring West Virginia. And today’s outcome indeed may repeat last Tuesday’s primary ““ most pollsters have predicted another landslide win for […]
Posted inRural Voters
Speak Your Piece: Musings Of A Hillbilly Liberal
Grandpa wouldn’t keep a Roosevelt dime. Grandma saved every one she could find. Dear Democrat voters in today’s primary elections in Kentucky and Oregon (especially left/progressive/liberals, one of which I am): 1. As you go to the polls today, remember that liberals are different from the Bad People. Remember that we are open minded and […]
Posted inEducation
Class of One
Jeff Greenwood is the 2008 graduating class from Opheim High School. Opheim is in Montana, ten miles south of the Canadian border. No matter to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (above), who made the commencement address over the weekend. Kristen Cates of the Great Falls Tribune reports that Jeff lost his only other Class of ’08 […]
Posted inGrowth and Development
Cities See Population Declines, Too
The always good Legal Ruralism notes the story in the New York Times about the declining population…in cities! Yep, although we associate areas that have more deaths than births as a rural phenomenon, there are plenty of cities suffering the same fate as counties in the Great Plains. Two decades ago, Pittsburgh had 70,000 kids […]
Posted inRural Voters
In Poll of Rural Voters, McCain Ties Clinton, Tops Obama
Less than six months from the November election, Sen. John McCain is tied with Sen. Hillary Clinton among rural voters in battleground states while the Arizona Republican holds a nine point lead over Sen. Barack Obama. McCain leads Obama 50 percent to 41 percent among rural voters polled in 13 states that are expected to […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Obama’s ‘Appalachian Problem’? It’s Not So Easy
Above are photos taken by Andrew Stern in Letcher County, Kentucky. The older picture above was taken nearly 50 years ago. Stern recently returned to Eastern Kentucky and took the other photos in this slideshow. See Editor’s Note on the next page. Once again the American media’s compulsion to entertain rather than to understand has […]
Posted inAgriculture
Farm Bill Payments ‘Off the Charts’
A deputy secretary of agriculture told the Des Moines Register that potential payments under the new farm bill “are just off the charts.” Charles Conner said the payments that would be due under the new farm bill could be billions of dollars greater than what lawmakers have estimated. For instance, the Register’s Philip Brasher wrote, […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Looking at Kentucky after 50 Years
Andrew Stern first came to the coalfields of Eastern Kentucky in 1959. He’d read a series of stories stories in the New York Times by Homer Bigart about the depression that had spread through the region. Stern brought his camera, and over the next four years he took photographs in Harlan and Letcher counties. The […]