Flyover View - Politics News and Views from the American Heartland - May 19, 2023

19-05-2023 • 15 mins

Josh Hawley wants to be a man | Rural health clinic in Kentucky making a difference with federal funds | $11B for clean energy projects in rural areas | Conservatives worry they’re ruining their own schools | Sean and Adam talk about the role of public schools in rural America

Sean: Welcome back to flyover view, heartland news and views from the gateway arch to the rocky mountains and the stories impacting folks in the heartland, my name is Sean Diller and I’m here subbing for our regular host Kevin Smith, and with me is Adam Sommer, whaddya say, ready to start the show?

Adam: Is Ron DeSantis wishing he’d never picked a fight with a mouse?

Josh Hawley (name drop) Is A Man, Bro.
1. In his new book, Josh Hawley, the Sr. Sen. for Missouri, not from, is ready to transform America by calling on men and boys to lead.
2. HOW?
3. Great question - it seems, mostly, that Hawley is fixated on sex. Men should stop masturbating and porn should basically be illegal.
4. Oh, he must be super concerned for the women being exploited then..
5. NOPE… just with Men being weakened by lust. Hawley is up for reelection in 2024 against Lucas Kunce. You may recall Kunce from his 2022 campaign for the Democratic nomination and a particular video in which Kunce climbs a very tall poll in his shoes and using his hands. Based on Hawley’s book and his assertion of being the arbiter of manliness, we have to assume the 2024 Missouri senate race will be a series of feats of strength culminating in a caber toss right out of the scottish highland games in which the candidate who throws a tree the farthest will win the seat. No word yet from the Hawley campaign on if Josh’s incredibly soft hands can handle the splinters, we will monitor this one closely.
In more useful news… The federal Rural Health Clinic program started as a way to provide safety-net care to underserved populations.
1. https://dailyyonder.com/rural-health-clinic-program-offering-head-to-toe-womb-to-tomb-care/2023/05/17/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Center%20for%20Rural%20Strategies&utm_campaign=17d1501c13-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_05_17_03_36&utm_term=0_-17d1501c13-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=17d1501c13&mc_eid=33f9e891ee
2. Waylon Williams (great name) was born in Eastern Kentucky and at just 5 weeks old is already doing his name proud. Waylon is the first child born at a new facility in rural eastern Kentucky called “Beacons of Hope” a temporary housing facility for women facing substance abuse problems., part of the primary care centers of eastern Kentucky.
3. Beacons of Hope is an extension of PCCEK’s Pregnancy & Beyond, an addiction-treatment program that offers obstetrical services, medication for substance use disorder, prenatal education, pediatrics, and counseling – services that in so many rural communities nationwide are in critically short supply or entirely absent.
4. The town of Hazard, where the largest of PCCEK’s four clinics is located, is in Perry County. Perry County ranks 117th among Kentucky’s 120 counties in health outcomes. Life expectancy is 67, as compared with 78.5 for the country.
5. Great to see some blue solutions helping out in the blue grass state
Money and Power, as usual, go hand in hand
1. https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/rural-electric-co-ops-to-get-10-7b-in-usda-funds-for-clean-energy-grants-loans/
2. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin to administer two loan and grant programs worth nearly $11 billion to boost clean energy systems in rural areas
3. Rural areas can have more difficulty than more urban ones in attracting private sector investment, White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said. The programs are intended to allow those rural areas to take advantage of an industry-wide trend to invest in clean energy production.
4. “There’s a favorable wind blowing here,” he said. “This allows rural communities to put up a sail.”
5. The programs are meant to put rural electric cooperatives on equal footing with larger privately owned companies that have already put major funding into clean energy deployment, Vilsack said.
6. The programs represent the largest single funding effort for rural electrification since President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936, a USDA press release said.
7. The money is meant not only to address the climate impacts of fossil fuel energy and reduce home energy costs, but to act as an economic engine for rural areas, Zaidi said.
8. So get ready folks, because that leftist liberal woke power is gonna be indoctrinating your meter before you know it.
Conservatives concerned about right wing extremists impact on schools
1. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woodland-park-colorado-school-board-conservatives-rcna83311?fbclid=IwAR2ernEIIXvA4Vgdw4sD106umXpcK6cjzAGItWm9m4QtUe1TzQipAU4GIvA&mibextid=Zxz2cZ
In a story that comes as no surprise to people who live in reality, a school board in Woodland Park, Colorado is now home to a cadre of hard core right wing extremists and folks are not pleased
Chief among those concerned? Conservatives (whaaat?)
That’s right, it seems actual conservative folks have finally figured out that the MAGA members of their party might not be the best people to put in charge.
Lose Your School, You Lose Your Town - is the headline
1. Contrary to Lobbyist Social Media Postings, Rural Schools Are At Major Risk, and educators in rural states are not sitting this out.
2. https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/school-vouchers-and-rural-schools
3. Rural schools are also hubs for community engagement through concerts, theatrical productions, and sports. Often, they are a town’s largest employer.
4. “At our school, we offer a lot, because our community expects a lot,” says Steve Peterson, a teacher in Decorah, a town in northeastern Iowa. “They want good programs—academic, but also extra-curricular opportunities.”
5. Sean and Adam talk about the rural public school we went to