On Politics and Gas Prices

Hastert and Frist are decrying Exxon CEO Lee Raymond's compensation package, claiming that too many Americans can't buy groceries and put gas in their cars.

I don't like paying $3 for a gallon of gas either, but this mindless rhetoric from top Republicans is just ridiculous. We don't need Congressional hearings into gas prices and pay for oil execs. We need leaders who can take a break from the pandering long enough to pursue real domestic issues like entitlement and tax reform. Screaming about gas prices doesn't solve anything except make politicians feel better.

This guy agrees. He is no Bush fan, but he quotes internal Democrat memos encouraging their candidates to do campaign appearances at gas stations. Don't suggest any solutions, they say, just complain and rail against all things GOP.

The truth is the best thing we can do to lower prices is to drive less. Americans are showing some willingness and ability to do this, but not much. The obvious corollary to this supply/demand problem is that gas prices aren't too high. Yet. But it is political silly season, so don't expect much intelligent discourse on this very soon.

Setting The Bar Low Enough For Bad Republicans

More Democrat plans are unveiled. Here.

And next Saturday the Deaniacs will be going door to door in your neighborhood.

We Need Communist Free Radio In Kentucky

Jane Fonda is coming to Lexington April 29. That should be enough of a problem. More troublesome (for any of you anti-communists out there) is that she seems to have some friends here.

To be more specific, she has some friends here who hold FCC licenses and might be a little troubled by an effort to protest the renewal of said licenses.

Are you following me so far?

OK, here's the deal: LM Communications' 96.1 FM and Eastern Kentucky University's campus radio station WEKU are sponsors for Jane Fonda's invasion of the Bluegrass.

Here is the site.

You know what to do, don't you?

Try going here. Might also be a good idea to let these people know about it. And an earful for these guys is definitely in order.

Newberry: Insert Political BS Here

Lexington Mayoral hopeful Jim Newberry's tv commercials are full of a lot of the same platitudes he has built his campaign on. Watching his most recent pitch, though, I was struck by his promise to end the bickering and political infighting.

How the heck is he going to do that?

Incidentally, Councilman Bill Farmer's ads are on the air.

Good timing.

Democrats To Tell Us What They Really Think?

I spoke yesterday to a conference of the Kentucky Association of Government Communicators. Mark Nickolas of Bluegrass Report joined me in a presentation about blogging.

At one point, Mark said Democrats need to develop the same kind of message discipline Republicans have had.

I would like to see that. Democrats in Washington are pushing hard for tax increases and surrendering against terrorists. They should certainly do a better job of getting that word out.

Conservatism: The Answer To Immigration Trouble

Human Events has an interesting article about immigration. It isn't a new idea, but the point is a good one that conservatives need to be pounding on: economies run on conservative principles work better than those run on the liberal/socialist model.

It should be clear that if Mexico had an economy like ours, their people wouldn't need to risk life and limb fleeing to America for a chance at a better life. We are enabling their liberal inner child, really. So if we start treating the lawbreakers like lawbreakers (felon sounds about right) and going after employers who hire illegals, we should clear them out pretty quickly. The spread of socialism in central America will slow when the countries that adopt those policies are forced to pay their own price. Right now, we pay the price and it is getting too expensive.

Hillary Squeezed Out of Liberal Convention

Hillary Clinton's move to the Left for 2008 has been frustrated mightily as Kentucky Progress has learned that the Daily Kos annual convention will feature her opponent Mark Warner and not her.

Getting a picture of Gov. Warner with liberal flamethrower Markos Moulitsas will be a big help for '08. But for now, just imagining Hillary, rejected by her own, seething and throwing lamps makes today a good day.

Worley No-Shows Pro-Lifers

Sen. Ed Worley (D-Richmond) has done little to endear himself to Christians in 2006.

Despite the trail of fraud scandals plaguing the Senate Democrat Leader, Madison County Right to Life organizers invited him to a forum they held last night. Worley accepted the invite.

Then he didn't show. (free registration required)

The money quote of the evening from the Register story: "Worley has been weakened, Metcalf said. “since I lost to him four years ago by only 1,700 votes. He creates limited liability companies to hide nefarious business deals. He has used his positions as Richmond city manager and then as state senator to increase his own wealth and further his own ambition.”

Another Good Idea From Michigan

Outsourcing benefits public schools there.

Pro-Abortion Ignorance, Arrogance At NKU

A tenured professor at NKU has been exposed as a vandal and a blithering idiot this past week, in an event involving abortion/sanctity of life, freedom of speech, and and separation of church and state issues in the days before the most important Christian holiday of the year.

And the Lexington Herald Leader or the Louisville Courier-Journal couldn't muster much curiosity about the debacle.

It took a student publication to expose a picture of the professor participating in the melee she denied participating in. And, of course, bloggers to help get the word out.

Flattery Earns A Plug

Yes, this site flatters me beyond all reason, so I guess you could say I am just paying it back. It's neat to see someone covering only the Lexington Mayoral Race, though.

The author is a UK Economics professor with a no-nonsense view of this very important race.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-KY6)?

Fair Tax supporters will be interested to know that Congressman Ben Chandler would join as a co-sponsor of the Fair Tax Bill, but Nancy Pelosi won't let him.

Don't believe me? That's fine. Ask him why he won't support scrapping our federal tax code.

Terrorist Website: Impeach Bush, Please

This should tell the Democrats something.

Al Jazeera is doing a poll on its English language website asking if readers think President Bush should be impeached. Not surprisingly, by a three-to-one margin, terrorists and their English-speaking sympathizers say "yes."

Think about this...

Watching Kentucky lawmakers slap each other on the back for borrowing and spending Kentucky into oblivion is a lot like watching the actors on the tv commercial smile and say "I LIKE it that Wellbutrin has a low risk of sexual side affects!"

Paging Doctor Dan...

By now Rep. Harry Moberly is recuperating from his heart attack. Good. May he recover fully.

One funny thing though. Media outlets reported breathlessly all day today that when Moberly fell ill, Sen. Dan Mongiardo was quickly on the scene. My only thought when WVLK-AM in Lexington was reporting on "Doctor Senator Mongiardo" and his heroics was that it was a good thing he didn't do anything to hurt Harry. You see, Dr. Mongiardo doesn't carry medical malpractice insurance. Would have been fun to watch the liberal lawyers jump on that one.

There Oughta Be a Constitutional Amendment

Seems like we might save ourselves a lot of trouble catering to illegals in our hospitals and health clinics, public schools, and courtrooms if we changed the wording of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to benefit "citizens or documented visitors" rather than just "persons."

Welfare For Politicians, Take Two

Congressman Ben Chandler spoke to students at Eastern Kentucky University yesterday. He told them he has a plan to limit the influence of lobbyists in Congress.

His plan is nothing more than welfare for politicians.

The Richmond Register reported: "Public financing of congressional campaigns would be the best way to limit the influence of lobbyists in Congress, Chandler said."

Wow. Very deep.

Three Words: Line Item Veto

I hear too many people making too many good points about the lack of difference between Republicans and Democrats.

Governor Fletcher has a great opportunity to show that a distinct difference still exists.

The folks at the Bluegrass Institute are leading the charge again, urging readers to send the Governor a pen to strike offensive spending from the state budget.

My favorite, by far, is the $50 million bonded to buy computers for schools. Let them use a pencil and a piece of paper for just one more year and you will be able to buy the same computers for about $30-$40 million. There is no more misused tool in our schools than the computers. Better still, keep the $50 million out of it, concentrate more on teaching kids to think, and then computer "literacy" will be a snap when one is needed for more than word processing or playing games.

The New Political Slur

Senator Dan Mongiardo sank to a new low yesterday. Liberals have apparently gotten tired of calling Republicans "Hitler." Now they are invoking the the specter of Benito Mussolini.

Blaming Senate President David Williams for Mongiardo's own failure to read a bill that was coming up for a vote, Mongiardo whined: "We don't have leadership; we have dictatorship. My grandparents came here from Italy to flee fascism."

This guy is a little light in his loafers to be running for Governor. And no, I'm not talking about his questionable "dating" habits.

Normalizing Homosexuality, Kentucky Version

A dog biting a man is not news. Neither should it be newsworthy when a private, Southern Baptist college that prohibits sex outside of marriage and homosexuality kicks out a homosexual student. That didn't stop the Lexington Herald-Leader from putting this story on its front page.

Again, unfortunately, the homosexual lobby is demanding special rights. Their rabid supporters in the MSM are only too happy to help. People who practice homosexuality can freely attend lots of colleges in Kentucky. They just can't go to University of the Cumberlands. If they really wanted to be treated like everyone else, they would see that school as just like Midway College. Men can't go there.

But no. They won't be happy until homosexuals are celebrated everywhere and rules apply to them nowhere.