Conservative Versus Moderate In Lexington's 88th

Rep. Bill Farmer (R-Lexington) might have been a little concerned when he noticed that former Lexington city councilman Fred Brown filed to run against him in a rare House Republican primary.

He shouldn't be.

In an interview today, Mr. Brown was asked to explain why he thought he would make a better legislator than Rep. Farmer.

He said,"I am more moderate than the incumbent." He added that he thought Rep. Farmer is an "ultra-conservative."

Looks like a pretty good way to position yourself out of a Republican primary before it even starts. Mr. Brown is well regarded from his years on the council, but 2006 is shaping up as the year of the conservative in Kentucky. Not only are nearly all the House Democrats busily trying to out-conservative each other, but insiders say that Governor Fletcher himself is ready to blaze a more consistently conservative trail through this session.

With any luck, that will mean more for economic policies and less for the goofy intelligent design in schools stuff. I call that lipstick on a pig. Let's not worry so much about the odd biology teacher who wants to make monkeys of all of us. We need school choice and to get serious about school accountability first. And be watching for a school voucher bill.

New Media Swings A Big Stick

Watching the staffers of www.kentuckyvotes.org hold court in the Capitol cafeteria this morning was striking. I saw legislators come by and explain their actions and ask questions about the functions of what is essentially the new sheriff in town.

Expect the House to change some of their voting procedures this year, especially the bum's rush of bills that legislators have to vote on without even reading in the waning days of each session.

When that happens, Kentucky Votes will deserve the credit. Complete legislator voting records will be available online for the 2006 session. Who do you think made that happen? The Herald Leader or the Courier Journal? Nope. It's Kentucky Votes again.

Voter disconnection from the legislative process has long since turned most people off to how our laws are made. Those who thrive in the shadows are hoping you don't embrace the new technology that Kentucky Votes has harnessed.

The Death of 24 Hour News

The West Virginia mine disaster story illustrates perfectly why we don't need 24 hour news.

The feeding frenzy that began in the middle of the night when a rumor that twelve of thirteen trapped miners had been found alive should never have made its way all around the world unchecked.

The mainstream media continues to push the ridiculous idea that they are the "official" word because they have layers of editors. The editors didn't help last night. The rush to get the word out first did.

Incidentally, I just got in from the Capitol in Frankfort. Got my "media" credentials.

So there. The times, they are a changin'.

Two Stupid Kentucky Bills

Two House bills filed yesterday jump off the page as particularly wasteful government activity: Rep. Rick "Black Out" Nelson (D-Middlesboro) wants to suspend market forces and prevent utility rate increases in 2006. Rep. Don "The Private Sector Already Does That" Pasley (D-Winchester) wants to set up a state government agency to compete with the private non-profits who have successfully for years helped low-income senior citizens get their prescription drugs for free.

Up Next: Louisville's 37th Senate Special Election

We are waiting for Democrat Virginia Woodward to drop any appeal of last month's Supreme Court ruling so Senate President David Williams can call a special election for Louisville's vacant Senate seat. President Williams said today that he is waiting for such an assurance from Woodward before he sets the special election.

Woodward said that she was unaware of President Williams' request and had not heard anything from him. Republicans would be well-advised to get on the phone with Woodward immediately. Then call the election.

Virginia Woodward is seen even by many Democrats as an illegitimate candidate because she only became the Democrat nominee in 2004 because of a scheme cooked up with Sen. Larry Saunders. He withdrew his filing, allowing Woodward to file with less than thirty minutes before the deadline as the only Democrat in the race.

Louisville Metro Councilman Doug Hawkins looks like the best shot for the Republicans.

Final Answer: "Book Of Daniel" To Air On WLEX, WAVE

I sat down and looked at a few network television shows Friday night to see if there was an alternative to the upcoming "Book of Daniel" show that starts this week.

There really wasn't anything on worth recommending.

WLEX President Tim Gilbert said today that despite local requests to not broadcast the program, the "Book of Daniel" show will go on.

He said he watched the program to see if it met community standards, a quasi-legal standard that usually refers to obscenity. He found no compelling reason not to air the show.

"Do I think someone went out of his way to demean the Christian faith? No," Gilbert said.

Gilbert said that, having watched the show, he could understand objections to the program but that banality wasn't a strong enough reason for an affiliate to fight a programming decision by the network.

"The show is completely ridiculous," Gilbert said, adding that the characters were unusually dysfunctional. "Halfway through the first hour I was so bored I thought 'what am I doing here?'"

Democrat Insider: John Kerry Coming To Bluegrass

Sen. John Kerry is making plans for an early spring fundraiser in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, according to a Democrat insider who spoke on condition of anonimity.

Can't wait to hear from elected Kentucky Democrats who Sen. Kerry is coming to represent.

More Drunk Tennesseans In Orange

A new law in Tennessee starting yesterday requires first-time convicted drunk drivers to don orange vests and pick up litter on the state's highways.

It's not all bad for the drunks, though. Following their community service, they are provided two free football tickets and they get to keep the snazzy vest.

Good Ol' Rocky Top!

Make A Law Against Anti-War Funeral Protests

Several states are actually having to go to the trouble of passing laws forbidding protest marches at Iraq war soldier funerals.

Kentucky needs to join this.

Or maybe we can trot out my favorite: a $25 dollar fine for beating up a war protester who would rant and rave at a soldier's funeral.

Could Kentucky Democrats Change Their Name?

Despite the flurry of media-inspired public relations debacles for Republicans in 2005, the fact remains that many Kentucky Democrats are going to have a tough time at the ballot box in 2006, primarily because of problematic policy positions locally and a national party seemingly oblivious to issues that resonate with the electorate.

One scenario could play out that would result in at least a superficial change for Kentucky's left-of-center politicians.

They could change their name.

I noticed a Wall Street story that could provide momentum for such action. Investment giant Merrill Lynch announced their strategy for improving the results of their troubled mutual fund division: you guessed it, they are changing its name.

Such a move is not unprecedented in recent American politics. Minnesota's liberal party is actually named the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. Has been since 1944 when Democrats merged with the Farmer-Labor party.

Kentucky's left-wing name change probably wouldn't involve such a coalition, but would of necessity probably have to undertake a little creative positioning and marketing license.

Maybe the "Very Conservative, Strong Christian, Family-Oriented Democratic Party of Kentucky."

What do you think? I don't know; maybe they need to work in something about having the courage to raise taxes and to hold the seemingly contradictory position of being against fighting terrorists but for the military.

Oh, and they will have to do something about their bad habit of protecting trade unions at the expense of regular workers and consumers. And there is the little issue of holding to the status quo in education with regard to policy and just continuing the clamor for more and more money.

Maybe a name change won't get it done for Kentucky Democrats, but neither will embellishing their fundraising efforts with Hillary in December. We will have the real numbers on that very soon.

Stay tuned.

Welcome, Lexington Herald Leader Readers!

The new year is going to be pivotal for conservative people in Kentucky. The General Assembly starts next week and the action will not slow down even a little bit until the elections in November.

It's noteworthy that nearly every Democrat from Pikeville to Paducah is busily trying to cover himself in "conservative" clothes -- just like Extreme Makeover Hillary!

Top priorities for Frankfort over the next three months include enacting anti-union protections for workers, saving taxpayers dollars with prevailing wage legislation, saving Medicaid, and changing how we handle our education spending and prioritization. Also have a little issue about cutting taxes on business. It will be a wild time.

Conservative people have taken a beating in the media this past year. This is our time to stand up for our principles and take our cities, towns, counties, state, and even our nation back from those who are just as happy to see us cave in to those who would see us ruined all in the name of not hurting some pervert's feelings (or worse, a terrorist's).

I think the first order of business for conservatives in 2006 is taking a stand and shutting down the NBC television show "The Book of Daniel." The network's own promotional materials show this to be a ridiculous depiction of "Christians." That is bad enough, but its characterization of our Lord, Jesus Christ, as some kind of smart aleck is beyond the pale. Call your local NBC affiliate and tell them not to air the show.

Happy New Year!

Is This Our Guy For 2008?

Senator George Allen (R-Virginia) may be our best shot for the White House in 2008. Tradesports.com has John McCain as the current favorite for the nomination, but there just aren't enough open primaries for Democrats to nominate him. What McCain has now is name recognition. When all the people who aren't going to run -- like Gingrich, Giuliani, Cheney, Rice, and Jeb Bush-- drop off, Allen will have to get past Senator Bill Frist and my bet would be that he can do it. Pretty easily, really. For the record, I think Jeb Bush would make a better President, but I can't see the Bush family getting a hat trick.

Much more on this to come in the new year.

"Book Of Daniel" Update

An inside source at WLEX, the NBC affiliate in Lexington, reports that calls of protest against the "Book Of Daniel" program continue to inundate the station's switchboard and that management has ordered an advance copy of the show to determine if it fits community standards.

This is a great story and the media is missing it.

This Time, Open Mouth Disease For Howard Dean's Brother

Jim Dean just put himself in the running for idiot of the year.

In a letter to supporters of his website "Democracy For America", Jimmy made a list of successes in 2005. Several of them are noteworthy-- shutting down the discussion on Social Security, joining the Cindy Sheehan parade, electing a Democrat governor in New Jersey, and shutting down conservative ballot initiatives in California, but one talking point surprised even me.

Here it is, from the brother of Howard Dean:

"In June, you helped expose the Bush administration's rush to war by forcing the Downing Street Memos into the mainstream media. Public support for the war has been on the decline ever since."

First off, it took about 48 hours for even the New York Times to admit that there was nothing to the Downing Street Memo. But that isn't a big deal. Touting a decline in public support for the war as some kind of badge of honor for the fringe left leaves me speechless.

When are Kentucky Democrats going to publicly repudiate this character and his brother? Why won't they do this? Will they stop at nothing to relive their glorious days of our loss in Viet Nam?

Child Molesters Against The War

We know that the ACLU, Sierra Club, NARAL, NOW and the full alphabet soup collection of liberal groups in this country have spoken loudly their opposition to the war effort.

Well, did you know that a national association of homosexual child molesters stands with them all in opposition to hunting down the terrorists in Iraq?

The North American Man/Boy Love Association, whose main function is providing tips to pedophiles on how to avoid detection while raping little boys, had this to say before the war with Iraq started.

An excerpt: We will not insult readers’ intelligence by pointing out the many even worse dictators who have not been targeted or the ones current and past American administrations have hypocritically supported.

Thanks for not insulting our intelligence, guys. And thanks for being on the other side of this issue too.

"Book Of Daniel" Day Two

I will be a guest on the Sue Wylie Show on 590 WVLK AM this morning at 11 AM talking about the "Book of Daniel" controversy.

Walter D. Huddleston Jumps Back In The Fray

Seventy nine year old former Kentucky Senator Walter D. Huddleston appears to be making his move back into public life with a public call for a $10 minimum wage in the Bluegrass state.

Huddleston is really just an honorary co-chair for a left-wing group in Lousville called the Center for Kentucky Progress. But they are promoting a laundry list of darn-near communist legislative priorities like socialized medicine, two year full-day kindergarten, and requiring pharmacists to fill prescriptions for birth control pills.

They also want huge increases in education spending so that Kentucky winds up being 25th nationwide in per capita spending in ten years. That's pretty arbitrary, but my favorite is the minimum wage thing. We could call it the "Soup Kitchen Bill" or the "Giant Sucking Sound Bill" for all the jobs that would be lost if we suddenly gave employers the choice of paying all their workers ten dollars an hour or leaving the state. (I guess we could pass a law preventing businesses from shutting down like they did in Atlas Shrugged, right?)

The General Assembly session is drawing near. This kind of stuff, which will get a lot more discussion than it deserves, will have the nouveau conservative Democrats flipping and flopping to avoid alienating a key Democrat constituency without getting themselves plastered with the dreaded "L" word.

They will be a sight to behold.

Will WLEX, WAVE Attack Christians With "Book Of Daniel" Show?

If you have not heard about an idiotic television show starting in January purportedly about Christians and Christianity, hold on to your hats.

"The Book of Daniel" is to begin airing January 6 on NBC affiliates and, according to the American Family Association, it is a particularly offensive depiction of "Christians" who engage in drug abuse (and drug dealing), illicit sex, and a wise-cracking "Jesus" character. And all this happens in the home of the Episcopal priest around whom the story revolves.

According to sources at WLEX in Lexington, the station has received about 200 emails and 200 phone calls today about this program. They have not seen any of the episodes, but given the fast outpouring of viewer opinion, are considering the possibility of making a change.

"I'm taking this seriously," said station manager Tim Gilbert.

There is precedent for WLEX pulling offensive programming on a limited basis. This fall, the station received an advance copy of an episode of "The Office" and found it to be objectionable so they didn't air it at the normal time. They later aired it very late one evening.

But completely pulling a show from the network in advance of its premiere would be a big step, one Gilbert isn't ready to commit to.

"We could ask for (an advance copy of the show) and be told 'no,'" he said. "I haven't seen it yet. I'm kind of rocking back on my heels (because of the public response)."

The AFA has issued, via email, the following description of the show:

While the public has not seen the program, NBC is promoting "The Book of Daniel" as a serious drama about Christian people and the Christian faith. The main character is Daniel Webster, a drug-addicted Episcopal priest whose wife depends heavily on her mid-day martinis. Webster regularly sees and talks with a very unconventional white-robed, bearded Jesus. The Webster family is rounded out by a 23-year-old homosexual Republican son, a 16-year-old daughter who is a drug dealer, and a 16-year-old adopted son who is having sex with the bishop's daughter. At the office, his lesbian secretary is sleeping with his sister-in-law.

This story is not going away until NBC relents and pulls the television show. Major social shifts have started on less of a platform than this. We will be watching this very closely.

Associated Press Kentucky: Media Bias Parade

Heard yesterday that the Associated Press named the Merit Hiring Investigation as the top story of the year. Partisan Democrats obviously agree. What is funny is that while the AP trumpets a story that no one cares about, the various media efforts to erode American resolve for fighting terrorism was the true story of the year in 2005.

Next December when Democrat politicos are bemoaning their inability to get their message out, more people will realize that the left has painted itself into a tiny corner trying to make war protesting into the mother of all wedge issues.

That is what people care about and what they will remember.

What Kind Of Year Has It Been?

Interesting Ryan Alessi article in the Herald Leader this morning asks Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Ben Chandler to describe the year 2005 in Washington D.C.

In short, McConnell says it was the best year in a long time and Chandler says it was a bad one.

While it is tempting to go along with Chandler's point that it was a bad year for Republicans because Social Security reform was murdered in its infancy, the war effort was attacked relentlessly by the media, and the Tax Reform movement was betrayed by those most capable of moving it along, GOP initiatives to curb bankruptcies and illegal immigration, spur energy production, highway safety, and free trade all the while holding off Democrat efforts to mar the war effort make 2005 a qualified success.

It bears repeating that liberal Republican Senators give Democrats a voting majority on many issues in the United States Senate. Given that, McConnell is right and deserves praise for his work as Republican Whip to gain votes for key bills. Understood in its proper context, it is amazing that President Bush has been able to get anything done at all.

Ben "the wealthy haven't sacrificed anything" Chandler seems to be enjoying his rock throwing days in the minority of the House. He is right that Bush failed in his top priority of securing Social Security. But the Americans who will pay the price for Democrats' Pyrrhic victory of 2005 (read: all of us) will remember at some point that the liberal bum's rush on free market reform of the last huge defined benefit plan.

Zig zagging poll numbers have left wing activists seeing brighter liberal days ahead through their beer goggles. Drink up boys, but please don't drive home. You've done enough damage to America for now. And we want to see your faces when your obstruction comes back to bite you in the next year.

This year hasn't been all fun and games like you see over at Kentucky Kos, but it has just been a warm-up. All the games that count are in 2006. Don't forget that.

And we have them on tape crowing about the war, Social Security, and energy independence. Those should be fun to play back later.