Government Smoking Bans: Just Say No

We all know smoking does wonderful things to your body. Just ask Keith Richards. But as bad as smoking is, government smoking bans are worse.

As Louisville continues to argue whether to ban smoking in restaurants and bars, Lexington and Georgetown are already gone. The spread of government smoking bans should concern anyone with even a single civil libertarian bone in his body.

The momentum is clearly with the pro-ban folks. The argument always shakes out the same. They start talking about public health and the anti-banners respond that a ban would be disastrous for business. This is a bad approach, especially now that pro-banners can point to evidence that the economy doesn't come crashing down under the weight of a smoking ban.

Kentuckians are protective of their freedoms. We would do well to fight future smoking ban initiatives with the argument that success on this front will only embolden do-gooders to ban other activities they don't like. Drinking alcohol, eating fat-laden foods, or consuming soft drinks would be easy steps from here. The real question is what would they be on to from there? I'm pretty sure we don't want to find out. Better to kill this little movement before it builds up a head of steam.

The question is: what are you going to ban next?

Kentucky Progress on Lexington Radio

I will be on Sue Wylie's show (WVLK 590 AM in Lexington) at 10 AM Wednesday. The subject is federal tax reform.

"I should have had a Club Gitmo Cocktail!"

One year before 9/11, four of the terrorists of that fateful day had been identified as Al Qaeda members by U.S. military intelligence, the New York Times reports.

Interestingly, the intelligence unit recommended that this highly valuable information be shared with the FBI, but the recommendation was rejected by the Clinton administration. The man pictured in this post is Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, recently noteworthy for having been caught stuffing classified documents into his pants. Our friends at www.anklebitingpundits.com wonder if this very serious scandal was the subject of the documents in Mr. Bergers tighty whiteys. We don't know.

While it is unreasonable to speculate that a suite at Club Gitmo -- complete with prayer rugs, gourmet meals, and urine-stained Qurans -- could have prevented 9/11, perhaps a little FBI scrutiny would have raised a flag or two, perhaps even before Mohammed Atta and friends headed off to the airport with boxcutters in their pockets.

Senator Bunning Eases Lexington Traffic Woes

Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) arranged for funding of a feasibility study for building a connector between US-27 (Nicholasville Rd) and I-75. This project, when completed, will clear up many traffic jams on this main artery through south Lexington and save lives.

No-growth zealots will scream bloody murder. In fact, it's already started with this goofy diatribe from a guy who seems to be incapable of making his point without exaggerating profusely.

Terrorists? No, Abortionists!

Planned Parenthood has come out with a wonderful new cartoon that includes brilliant satire like a pro-choice "hero" drowning a pro-lifer in a trash can full of anal lubricant, blowing up abortion protestors, and (above) a condom decapitating a man.

A Lie That Polls Well With Swing Voters

Rep. Ben Chandler claimed falsely in a March 23 press release that he had been appointed to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly by Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Actually, Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) had four appointments for Democrats and gave Chandler one of them. Stating that the Republican Speaker was paying attention to him must have polled well, though, because Chandler has done it again in his monthly column:

In March, I was honored with an appointment to the Assembly by House Speaker Dennis Hassert. Since that time, I have become even more convinced of the importance of our country’s membership in NATO and the valuable role NATO plays in the War on Terror.

Right.

Having a Congressional Representative so ineffective that he is reduced to making up silly little (and easily discovered) distortions as this is extremely frustrating.

Pre-emptive Strike Beats Empty Threats, Again

During an argument about the war effort, a Manchester, Ky. man who opposed the war died from a bullet wound to the chest after threatening to kill another man who supported the war effort.

Harold Smith, the war opponent, pulled a small pistol and threatened to kill Douglas Moore of Martin, Ky, the war supporter. Moore responded pulling out his .38-caliber pistol and shooting Smith once in the chest.

The Kentucky State Police determined that Moore was acting in self-defense and did not arrest him.

The Associated Press released this story today.

Never Forget Why We Are Fighting

We often lose sight of the fact that wars are political events. Without public support for our war effort, we wouldn't be able to muster a defense. We must remember what is at stake.

HB 516: The Elect Me Governor Act of 2005

House Speaker Jody Richards filed HB 516 last session in an obvious attempt to create taxpayer funding for a Louisville arena regardless of how bad a deal it is for the actual taxpayers.

The bill would allow cities to finance 100% of the cost of building a professional sports stadium with local property tax revenues and without the possible hindrance of a net positive impact review that would otherwise be required.

A shiny new building for a sports venue is nearly always a fun thing to visit, but also quite often it is a good deal for a small handful of powerful people and a lousy one for taxpayers.

Ask George W. Bush.

Fortunately, the bill died in the Economic Development Committee, but that probably had more to do with time running out than the most powerful Democrat in Frankfort being snubbed by a vulnerable member of his own party.

Richards may well try to bring this back. He should be stopped.

Incidentally, the way I found this bill was through the www.kentuckyvotes.org site. It is not fully operational, but it is an extremely helpful tool and will be huge when it is done. Check it out. You can comment on bills.

Another Campaign Finance Scandal

Working on details, but it is related to this.

Details: The problem started on October 20, 2004 when a pro-abortion group called Physicians for the Positive Choice (PPC) placed a full page ad in the Winchester Sun newspaper advocating for the candidacy of Democrat Rep. Don Pasley. Under only the smallest amount of scrutiny (the group is not registered with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance so we don't even know who they are or what other left wing issues they may support), PPC claims to be able to hide behind the smokescreen that they did not "expressly advocate" for Pasley or against his opponent, Dr. Ralph Alvarado, a Republican. This is confusing, then, because according to his own testimony, Rep. Pasley liked the ad so much that he went down to the newspaper office on October 25 and made arrangements to run substantially the same ad (one-half page and with the "paid for" line indicating that he in fact paid for the second ad).

Several of the people listed in the PPC ad had already made the maximum contribution to Pasley's campaign, so the likelihood that they contributed further to design and place the October 20 ad (and that Pasley didn't report the contribution) would clearly be against campaign finance laws. PPC has refused to provide information about who actually paid for the ad in question.

This matter is presently before the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance and it bears watching. If an unregistered pro-choice group is allowed to produce ads that are so effective for a Democrat candidate that he duplicates the ad and runs it himself and they all get away with it, Republican candidates would do well to set up multiple off-the-books "groups" to advocate for themselves in 2006. Or are only liberals able to get away with this?

Republican Wins Special Election in Ohio

Jean Schmidt beat Democrat Paul Hackett in a close one. Dems are already talking up ways to rig a recount.

This one was just across the river in Ohio, so a lot of our active liberals from here went up there. They will be juiced because it was a close race in a Republican dominated district. They have a right to be excited and Republicans had better be paying attention. Hackett ran in a conservative district as a conservative on the airwaves and as a liberal on the net. Watch for that to be duplicated in 2006 and beyond.

The hilarious thing was that the computers went down leaving nearly 10,000 votes to be counted by hand. Must have been Karl Rove flipping the switch on that one, right?

Chandler Goofs Again

Congressman Ben Chandler is congratulating himself for securing $3.1 million to plant grass in Wilmore, Kentucky. What's worse, he quotes Mayor Harold Rainwater thanking the Congressman for his largesse, saying "we have wanted this for years."

In fact, Mayor Rainwater says he never asked for the landscaping from the federal government, and that he was surprised when the Congressman's office called to tell him what they were doing. Jessamine county has numerous road needs and could benefit by upgrades to our roads. Landscaping is far from being one of our priorities.

Chandler claims "after a hard fight, the people of Jessamine county are still receiving the important funds they need."

Give me a break.

Check here to for Chandler's announcements in other 6th district counties.

Five Years After Hyde Park

On August 1, 2000, some elected Democrats (including Sen. John Kerry) gathered to Hyde Park, New York to express ideas for Social Security reform such as personal accounts, which they were in favor of at the time.

Read this account. Would be funny if it weren't so sad. Well, okay. It's a little funny.

Getting Tough With The United Nations

New Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton should prove to be another nail in the coffin of obstructionist Democrats. Bolton will serve on the President's recess appointment until January of 2007.

Senator Joseph Biden said "I think the president would make a truly serious mistake if he makes a recess appointment."

Say no more, Senator. That tells me we are on the right track. Now let's get back to Social Security reform. HR 3304 is a good first step, neatly underscoring the duplicity of "fiscally responsible" Democrats.

Conservative Blogosphere Growing Quickly

Former College Republican chairman at Georgetown College Ben McKown is headed to UK Law school and is getting back to work on his "The Mole" blog. He's a terrific writer.

He joins Eric Wright, who does fine work and pulls from a wide variety of sources to make powerful points "On the Wright."

These young guys can handle the issues and, when necessary, throw a little heat. Good job!

Summer Reading Assignment

Everyone with teenage kids knows the #1 selling book on amazon.com is the latest in the Harry Potter saga. But would you believe that #2 is a book advocating the repeal of federal income taxes and replacement of the entire tax code? The book comes out August 2. The group advocating for HR 25 The Fair Tax reports they are getting a good reception from Congressman Ben Chandler's office, but I am skeptical that he will follow through.

Read up on the Fair Tax. The left wing groups (and some of the tax industry supporters of the status quo) will be in full force against this pretty soon

Smoking Gun On The Run

UPDATE: I will be filing an ethics complaint against AG Stumbo relating to his financial disclosure statement. I guess we can call it BraveheartGate.

Thanks to Susan Allen of the Big Sandy News for digging this up.

Democrats Cave On Social Security Negotiation Ban

Apparently Democrats do have ideas to share on the retirement challenges facing American citizens. Unfortunately, they aren't very good ideas.

At the heart of their proposal is the pouring of taxpayer dollars into individuals' retirement accounts. The trick is their matching proposal does absolutely nothing for people who can't afford to contribute the first dime to an IRA because of the forced taking of their payroll dollars which are then dumped into an underperforming Social Security ponzi scheme.

I think I respected them more when they were just obstructing the Social Security reform process.

Howard Dean Can't Fool UK Students For Life

Last week DNC Chairman (I just love that, I really do) Howard Dean said "I think we need to talk about this issue differently. Republicans have painted us as pro-abortion."

A group of University of Kentucky students aren't likely to fall for the spin. UK Students for Life's Joel Haubenreich said:

"The Republicans have not painted the Democratic party as pro-abortion. The Democratic party's platform paints it as pro-abortion. Of course they will try to be clever and say something like, "I'm not pro-abortion. I'm simply pro-choice." They might even go so far as to say, "While I am personally opposed to abortion, I shouldn't like to obstruct a woman's choice." But the "choice" in "pro-choice" is a euphemism for "dismemberment." Being in favour of a woman's choice to have her baby dismembered, in my opinion, isn't much better than being actively in favour of abortion. There really is no difference."

Young Mr. Haubenreich gives us yet another reason to be optimistic about the future. UK Students for Life has a terrific website here. Please go check it out, contribute your comments, and check back often for thoughtful updates.

Sex Offender Registry Solution

Imagine checking Kentucky's sex offender registry because you have small kids. You are just curious at first, but then you get a shock: you find you have a couple of convicted perverts on your street. What are you supposed to do with this information? Want to sell and move to protect your children? The only problem with this strategy is home buyers check the list too, so now you can't sell. Some defense attorneys contend that the problem is the list, the registry of predators. Might some twice-victimized homeowners be inclined to agree, at least until they can get out of the neighborhood?

This scenario is happening right now in Kentucky. This is bad enough in a few isolated incidents, but what if this plague of sex offenders continues to spread, leaving a trail of blighted neighborhoods caused by the presence of sex offenders? What if, heaven forbid, one of them moves in next door to you?

I have an idea.

Let's remove the legal penalties for harassing sex offenders. Presently you can be sentenced to ninety days in jail for "harassing" someone who is on the registry.

I remember a few years back the state of Louisiana struggled with the issue of flag burning. They couldn't make it illegal, so someone had the outstanding idea to institute a $25 fine for beating up a flag burner. Maybe we could do the same with sex offenders. Got a pedophile on your street? No problem. Go to the ATM, get $50 and go kick his ass twice.