The Courier-Journal ran an editorial today further building on the case for federal support to Kentucky laid out in Sunday’s paper. Both pieces are worth a look. What are your thoughts on support to Kentucky – and especially, Kentucky’s Appalachian counties – in this time of state shortfall? Editorial | The federal pie Vows to reduce federal spending are popular on the campaign trail this year, but voters in Kentucky and Indiana better hope that no matter who wins the elections, most of the promises remain just talk. A report Sunday by Courier-Journal writers James R. Carroll and Lesley Stedman Weidenbener made clear just what the stakes are. Kentucky, one of the nation’s poorest states, ranked 12th among the 50 states in federal spending per resident during the 2009 fiscal year, according to Census Bureau data. That was a total of more than $50 billion, an average of $11,592.63 for every man, woman and child in the commonwealth. Indiana’s ranking isn’t as high — 32nd per capita — but it still amounts to a total of $61 billion in money from Washington. A couple of points should be clear to anyone who looks beyond the hollow sloganeering. One is that a big chunk of the money — 52 percent of the total in Kentucky, for example — comes from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. If congressional candidates want to reduce those figures, they will have to cut popular programs on which ordinary citizens depend. That would be political suicide,...