David Glauber signs Kentucky tax pledge

Kentucky's fiscal woes were created by overspending and not a lack of revenue, said 26th state House district candidate David Glauber, who is encouraging all legislative candidates to join in him swearing off tax increases.

"State government revenue is at an all-time high, but spending is even higher," Glauber said. "Now that Governor Beshear is talking about tax reform, we need to tie our politicians' hands against the possibility of raising taxes on hard working Kentuckians. We are taxed enough already."

Earlier today, Glauber signed the Americans for Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge, promising not to vote for tax increases. He encouraged other candidates to follow suit.

"Kentucky can't thrive with a government that keeps getting in our way. We need lower taxes and fewer regulations so the private sector can be profitable. Profitable companies hire more people," Glauber said.

David Glauber seeks to represent the new 26th House district comprising part of Bullitt County and part of Hardin County.

Kentucky should do this

Missouri's state Senate is considering a bill to prevent their governor from doing what Kentucky's Governor Steve Beshear is doing to us with regard to ObamaCare.

Beshear is quietly attempting to implement ObamaCare by creating, via executive order, the bureaucracy to enforce a federal takeover of the health care industry.

ObamaCare mandates a health insurance "exchange," which Kentucky has already taken millions of federal dollars to start implementing. We really need the legislature to take action on this right away.

Media freedom (could be) people freedom

A news item getting worldwide coverage this week was a ranking of press freedoms in 179 countries placing the United States 47th, tied with Romania.

Everyone across the political spectrum in America should be able to agree that our freedom of speech is a cherished right and that we don't want to be outdone by a nation separated from communist domination by less than a quarter of a century.

In fact, it's not good enough that the USA merely crack the top 25 in next year's ranking. We should have the freest media in the world.

I have an idea.

Our constitutional freedom of speech guarantees on both the federal and state levels include a term that has created some confusion we need to clear up in order to better protect our freedoms. The term is freedom of the press.

The Kentucky and United States Constitutions were written at a time in which the cutting edge communications technology of the day was a printing press. Employees of media corporations sometimes claim their profession is the only one protected by the Constitution. This is clearly not accurate. If the internet, television, radio or even telephones existed in the late 18th century, it is certain the word "press" wouldn't be found in either document or the other technologies would be included as well.

To update and clarify free speech rights in the United States we need to change our definitions of "media" and "press" to include all individuals, since we all have broadcast capabilities our founding fathers could not even imagine.

Click here to read proposed legislation for Kentucky.  Our state law does not include a "press exemption" or "media exemption" such as that used on the federal level to create special rights for media corporations, so a federal solution would be a little more involved. But it is worth the effort to protect our sacred freedoms. If you agree, please forward this post widely.

Kentucky industrial hemp rolling

The industrial hemp bill in Kentucky's House of Representatives has 15 co-sponsors, seven of which are Democrats.

Kentucky agriculture needs the freedom to grow industrial hemp and it can't happen until our politicians lose their ridiculous fear that someone might mistake this incredibly useful crop with a hallucinogenic drug.

Coming on the heels of advancement of Kentucky's milk freedom bill, this progress is a welcome sight. If you haven't already, please ask your representative to sign on to the hemp bill.

Kentucky milk freedom advances

The Kentucky Senate Agriculture Committee advanced a bill on Thursday to clarify the freedom of Kentuckians to produce, sell, buy and drink raw milk.

Senate Bill 47 came about as the result of an ugly incident in Louisville last May in which local "health" authorities raided a food club and took their fresh milk.

The bill has only four sponsors in the Senate. Please contact your Senator and ask him or her to support food freedom in Kentucky. Especially with the federal government getting more aggressive toward food freedom, getting this right on the state level is worth the effort.

It's not too soon to start talking this up with your House representative as well.

Going cold turkey off Kentucky crazy checks

Kentucky is about to make national news big time with a bill that would require a drug test for welfare recipients suspected of abusing illegal drugs.

Lonnie Napier's HB 26 now has 55 co-sponsors in the 100 member state House.

Florida passed a similar law that was blocked by a federal judge last October because it didn't limit testing to cases in which there is probable cause. A 1999 Michigan law was also thrown out for the same reason.

A similar measure is under consideration in Tennessee, but Kentucky is the one state in which someone is doing this correctly.

We can agree to cut this, right?

Kentucky legislators appear to be dragging their feet on clearing up the David Williams pension scandal in Frankfort, perhaps because too many of them are afraid of the Senate President.

But what about Steve Nunn? The Kentucky Knows Best PAC stirred up interest in bloated legislative pensions last summer with the news that convicted murderer and former state Rep. Steve Nunn would draw his state pension in prison for the rest of his life simply because he didn't murder his girlfriend while he was a legislator.

Cleaning this mess up will be very easy. See details by clicking here.

You can get the ball rolling by calling or forwarding this post your representatives or to Rep. Mike Cherry and Sen. Damon Thayer. While the legislature is patiently waiting for the candidate filing deadline to pass, dealing with this should be an easy and painless way to pass the time.

Small victory for free speech

State Rep. Jim Wayne (D-Louisville) withdrew a public financing of judicial campaigns bill today that would have given participating candidates funds to match independent expenditures made on behalf of an opponent.

Particularly during a presidential election year in which hundreds of millions of independent expenditure dollars are sure to be spent, it's interesting to see attempts like this to counter private funds devoted to a political campaign with funds forcibly taken by the government.

Glad to see such a ridiculous bill fail to get any support in the House. We should use the demise of this misguided attempt as a reason to reinforce individual free speech rights in Kentucky.

Kentucky Medicaid enrollment shocker

Kentucky's Medicaid/KCHIP enrollment under ObamaCare will increase by 42%, a new Urban Institute study projected.

This is significant mostly because Kentucky already can't afford what we spend on Medicaid (14.8% of general fund appropriations in the current budget proposal.) But also, there is this: the Urban Institute, a left-wing think tank supports ObamaCare. The Heritage Foundation, which opposes ObamaCare, projects an increase of only 31%.

The Urban Institute suggests Kentucky will be able to make up for much of the additional costs by almost entirely eliminating uncompensated care costs. Yet again, if Massachusetts serves as a guide, that's another bad bet for Governor Beshear, who continues to force ObamaCare on us through the back door.

How will you protect free speech in Kentucky?

Theresa Camoriano, a Louisville attorney, understands better than most that we don't appreciate our free speech rights until we notice them being taken away. Mrs. Camoriano has written a legislative bill to ensure that individuals can maintain those rights in the face of a state government growing increasingly hostile toward its citizens who dare to speak out.

Her bill would amend KRS 121.015 by adding the following to it:

(18)     "Press" means any resident of the state of Kentucky who engages in any form of communication. 

(19)     "Media" means any resident of the state of Kentucky who engages in any form of communication.

(20)     "Newspaper" means any form of printed material that includes any advertisement or other information for the purpose of public distribution, including information printed on paper, billboards, signs, fliers, web pages and other electronic print material.

The purpose of this portion of Kentucky statute is to clarify that the speech and press rights of the flesh and blood residents of Kentucky are no less than the speech and press rights of legal persons taking the form of newspaper and broadcast businesses operating in Kentucky.

Given Kentucky's clear constitutional prohibition on government infringement of free speech rights, this change in state law shouldn't be necessary. But as long as we have Democratic elected officials promoting nonsense like this and Republicans willing to go along when they don't want to be criticized either, we need to be proactive.

This language would prevent the Commonwealth of Kentucky from punishing any citizen for simply exercising his or her right to speak freely. Anyone opposed to that?

Everyone wants to co-opt the tea party

Possibly the greatest political quote in history, from Mahatma Gandhi, applies to the tea party in a big way: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

In the battle between the tea party and the establishment, we are in the thick of phase three.

Newt Gingrich just won South Carolina and many of his voters claim to also support tea party principles. That might make your skin crawl if you oppose some of the big government positions Speaker Gingrich supports, but defeating the establishment was never going to be easy and we should expect a few more big twists and turns before we win. Newt is just another brick in the wall.

Where others view with disgust a dalliance between Newt and the tea party, I see a movement securing its footing for a major advance. Hold on tight for a very bumpy ride.

But at some point soon (very soon, I hope) the tea party will be bigger than both the Republican and Democratic parties. Then the only way someone can get elected to office is to swear a blood oath that he or she will make government smaller and less powerful.

The establishment, I think, will keep doubling down on their big government garbage past the point at which it stops working for them. In 2010, we got a very small taste of what that looks like. This year may not be the tipping point, but there is no question we are close.

Another positive sign is that Washington D.C. Democrats are saying out loud that the GOP has gone too far with the tea party and that they think they will get back all their power in 2012. They might win some races, but that would only pour gasoline on the tea party fire. If we do take a step back this year, the next move forward will be unstoppable. That could get really ugly because the power players are so entrenched, but the big government folks really are out of other people's money. They are running out of time faster than we are.

To end this post on a related but somewhat lighter note, I noticed today some on the far left using a familiar tea party symbol to support one of their own, Senator Kathy Stein. Did you see this?

If the Dems wave Gadsden Flags like this at their Sunday afternoon rally, I suspect the media will try to blame the tea party for any police cars they set on fire.

Unbridled "Medicaid Eligibility" foolishness

Governor Steve Beshear's 2012-2014 budget proposal includes a bonding request of $50 million for a Medicaid Eligibility program to "provide for real-time time determination of applicant eligibility."

Aside from the obvious stupidity of spending $50 million for a program to tell if someone is eligible for Medicaid or not, the laundry list of federal agencies involved in the project suggests strongly this has something to do with the ObamaCare program the legislature is quietly allowing Beshear to implement without our approval.

If there is any resistance left in Frankfort, now would be a great time to start resisting.

Kathy Stein gets her David Williams payday

Sen. Kathy Stein has been redistricted out of her state Senate seat. Expect her to quickly get appointed to another state job to cash in on the David Williams pension scam.

So far, the Kentucky legislature in 2012 has shown no inclination to clean up any part of the pension mess or address the debt problem.

Forty eight days remain in the 2012 General Assembly.

Only 8 cosponsors on concealed carry bill

Kentucky state Rep. Mike Harmon is trying again to restore to Kentuckians the right to carry a concealed firearm without getting a government permit first.

The biggest surprise about this bill, filed Wednesday, is that only seven other House Republicans have signed on with Rep. Harmon.

Please call your representative and ask him or her to stand up for our Second Amendment rights. In an election year in Kentucky, surely we can pass a bill like this.

Say no to this "health" nonsense

Kentucky's House Health and Welfare Committee will take up HB 206 on Thursday. It's a bill that would spend millions of dollars putting health departments across the Commonwealth through a new national accreditation process.

Sounds pretty hopey-changey to me.

If we need to improve our public health departments, that's fine. But the Public Health Accreditation Board needs to develop a track record of doing more than calling themselves experts before we spend money we don't have on their program.

The bill will pass the committee because that is how they roll. But the bill shouldn't stand up under much scrutiny. Let's hope it gets some before it hits Gov. Beshear's desk.

Tennessee might beat Kentucky this time

Tennessee's state Senate leader Ron Ramsey needs to get with Kentucky state Rep. Lonnie Napier before he gets much further with his welfare drug testing proposal. But once Ramsey gets clear on the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, he appears to really be on to something.

Ramsey says he wants to drug test nearly everyone getting any kind of government benefits. The problem with this is that in order to get through the inevitable court challenges, any such bill must limit testing to cases in which there is shown to be probable cause.

But that's easy to fix.

The really interesting part is where Ramsey's Tennessee proposal goes next. He doesn't just want to test welfare recipients, but also corporate executives getting government subsidies and even legislators.

You see, this isn't just about drugs. It's about questioning who gets government money and why. Once we start weeding government recipients out based on anything -- and drug abuse is a fairly easy one to sell -- then we are one big step closer to questioning the programs altogether.

And we can't get government under control until we question thoroughly the value of every program, eliminating the ones with limited value. Failed welfare programs and "economic development" are two fine examples.

Proliferating pain pill perversity

A new legislative proposal in Frankfort underscores the need to teach economics more widely in Kentucky.

House Bill 251 would cause some health care providers to be prosecuted as felons for accepting cash for their services. The intent is to cut down on overprescribing of pain pills, but at a time that our federal government is moving toward destroying our healthcare system through radical manipulation of insurance options, the last thing we need to be doing is telling sick people they can't pay cash to go to the doctor.

In fact, multiple medical examples such as contact lenses, plastic surgery, and LASIK, which are not payable by health insurance, suggest strongly that we should be encouraging cash payment for healthcare rather than throwing people in jail.

There are better ways to make prescription drug abuse more illegal than it already is. We don't need to throw bad economics into the mix.

Beshear sneaking ObamaCare past legislature

Understanding what is going on with ObamaCare in Kentucky depends on which Steve Beshear you believe.

With no chance a state ObamaCare exchange bill could pass even the Democratic-controlled House this year, Beshear's best option is to do nothing and let the law collapse on its own. His administration, when pressed by concerned Kentuckians, insists that is the approach it is taking. But they have told others something altogether different.

Last month, the Beshear administration told Health Policy Director Joy Johnson Wilson at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Washington D.C. that Beshear is proceeding secretly to implement a state-run exchange by executive order through the Division of Certificate of Need in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services' Office of Health Policy.

We can't afford ObamaCare in Kentucky and as word spreads of Beshear's duplicity, outrage across the Commonwealth will send that message to Frankfort very clearly. 

The legislature should move immediately to get its members on record in support of or against Beshear's sneaky ObamaCare implementation. Such action would shine some much-needed light on Frankfort. 

Rep. Richard Henderson gets two things right

This Thursday, January 19, Agriculture Commissioner James Comer starts making good on his campaign promise to restart hemp cultivation in Kentucky with a 3:30 pm press conference to unveil a bill by Rep. Richard Henderson that would make the growing of hemp legal in Kentucky.

Misinformed opponents sometimes confuse hemp with marijuana, which is odd since hemp cross-pollinates with marijuana and renders it useless as a drug. The economic benefits of hemp cultivation are well-documented. Kentucky House members who care about growing our economy should join Rep. Henderson and Commissioner Comer.

Rep. Henderson is also one of the forty seven cosponsors on Rep. Lonnie Napier's welfare recipient drug testing bill. We need more lawmakers in Frankfort who understand both industrial hemp's many benefits and who can tell the difference between it and the drugs on which welfare recipients shouldn't be spending our money.

The Thursday press conference will be held in the State Capitol. Please plan to attend if you can and invite friends. Further details will be made available here when we get them.

Stopping welfare waste starts here

Kentucky state representative Lonnie Napier has the best bill in the country for drug testing welfare recipients and so far forty six of his fellow House members agree.

The bill's forty seven cosponsors (including Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Majority Caucus Chairman Bob Damron) are more than enough to guarantee the bill a floor vote in case Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Tom Burch attempts to tie up the bill prematurely.

More efficiently attacking abuse of the welfare system is a great tea party issue. If your representative is not a cosponsor, please call him or her today.