Rural Thoughts

A dedicated group of citizens from in and around Paducah, Kentucky protest the Iraq war regularly at Nobel Park, in Paducah, even in a chilly, windy rain.

MAYFIELD, Ky. -- The nation was in crisis as a presidential election approached.

One party’s nominee was an Illinoisan with little Washington experience.

Some people said he didn’t have what it takes to be president, especially in difficult times.

But Abraham Lincoln went down in history as one of America’s greatest presidents.

Before he was elected, Lincoln’s Washington tenure was brief. The first Republican president had served just one term in the U.S. House, in 1847-1849. He lost a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1858.

The Kentucky presidential primary is this Tuesday, May 20, 2008. Of course, everyone knows about the race between Sens. Obama and Clinton for the Democratic nomination. If you listen to the national media and the majority of the Democratic party leaders, the nomination is going to Sen. Obama - even after Sen Clinton picked up a major victory in West Virginia. But the pundits say it's too little too late for Clinton.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/05/china_quake_s...

I knew immediately when I heard the stories about the recent China 7.9 earthquake and the epicenter mid-continent on a large continent, and how the waves travelled hundreds, over a thousand miles. How people observed the ground undulating, how the main shock lasted for many long moments, was devastating and had severe effects on the environment, and how strong aftershocks went on for days, months, even more than a year.

Not surprisingly, again, the talk about the Obama/Clinton campaigns was front and center in the Sunday News Shows.

Here is a closeup of some "shooting star" wildflowers that were in bloom yesterday at Dixon Springs State Park in southern Illinois. Beautiful aren't they?

This is a field of buttercups just outside Brookport, Illinois. You can see Brookport's new watertower in the city park just beyond the woods behind the field. Soon this field will be poisoned or plowed for agriculture, but at least in the early spring we are treated to a blast of color that only nature can provide. Isn't it incredible? And the photo doesn't really capture the vastness of the field. But you get the idea, right?

John McCain is the real elitist running for president
By BERRY CRAIG
PADUCAH, Ky. – Sen. John McCain wants us to think Sen. Barack Obama is an elitist who looks down on working stiffs.

McCain’s shtick is as phony as blueblood Bush Sr. munching pork rinds and Dubya doing the Daytona 500.

McCain started slicing the baloney about Obama before the Pennsylvania primary. Obama had said years of lost jobs and unmet promises from Washington had left some working class Quaker State voters “bitter” and clinging “to guns or religion.”

I listened mostly to Obama's interview on Meet the Press today. I did hear a little of Clinton's appearance on Stephanopolous' show. It's just amazing how the media has worked to destroy Obama. Like he says, some of his problems are self inflicted, like "Bittergate." But the Rev. Wright thing is so way out of control, and it panders to the LCD of U.S. political emotions, one has to wonder who is behind it. But Obama did a good job in a very tough interview, although I do not agree with him on some of his positions. But the details of that are for another column.

Since my recent statement commenting on U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's TV ad broadcast in Western Kentucky, has been distributed more widely than any other statement I've written on Rural Thoughts, I thought I might elaborate a bit more. In the ad, McConnell pretty much claims to have been single handedly responsible for the sick worker's compensation program for the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

This is a photo of Reelfoot Lake I took Sunday. Reelfoot Lake is a natural lake located mostly in NW Tennessee. It was formed during the 1811-12 major earthquakes that rocked the eastern U.S. with the epicenter near New Madrid, Missouri, across the Mississippi River. According to historical accounts, the Mississippi flowed backwards for several days after the main quake and changed channels, and Reelfoot lake was created. It is an incredible place. This photo was taken from the public boat dock just south of the Airpark Inn.

When it comes to unions and worker safety and health laws, history is an open and shut case.
We need them both.

In an ideal world, everybody would live by the Golden Rule, some form of which can be found in just about every religion. But we live in a real world where greed is the gospel of all too many employers.

If most bosses had their way, we wouldn’t have unions or worker safety and health laws. For a long time, we didn’t have either in the United States.

POSTED BY Berry Craig

PADUCAH, Ky. -- Hear the snickers? It’s Sen. Mitch McConnell and his TV commercial crew, according to Jeff Wiggins, president of the Paducah-based Western Kentucky Area Council, AFL-CIO.

Today Kristi dug up one our favorite old "hippie" buttons which reads "Everyday is Earth Day" and put it on. Of course that's the way it should be. Unfortunately, it isn't. Some foresighted folks many decades ago had Earth Day officially designated to insure that the environment got some national attention at least once a year.