Politicians For Polar Bears

Kentuckians who might be a little disappointed by the small cuts to Kentucky's budget have to be warpath-bound by House Speaker Jody Richards' latest bid to become Minority Floor Leader.

"I will emphasize in the future never to let that happen again," Richards said of the cuts. "We have a moral obligation to put all these projects back."

I guess the Louisville-bound polar bears can take solace in that, as they wait for their $6 million appropriation to get rescued in January.

Budget Mess

The projects cut from the state budget tonight will reinstated next year. Unfortunately, we are still over two billion dollars in the hole and show no signs of fixing our overspending problem or our long-term shortfall in the state employee pension fund.

Damn...

The Best Disinfectant Is KyVotes.Org

Frankfort insiders freaked out last year when the Bluegrass Institute asked for General Assembly floor votes to be published online. When they saw the train bearing down on them, they jumped on board and www.kentuckyvotes.org had a strong presence in the state this session.

Well, now the freak out is over BIPPS' request for committee votes. We expect a similar outcome, when the whining and complaining runs its course.

If you are interested in helping expose the inner workings of official Frankfort, you will want to attend a special lunch in Frankfort this Thursday.

See you there!

Bloody Monday: D.C. Dems Rear Flank Exposed

Nancy Pelosi might need to take a break from picking out drapes for her House Speaker's office.

Read this.

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."