Do Liberals Hate Homosexuals?

Hypocrisy, thy name is income redistributor.

Scott Alexander Pulls A John Kerry

Sen. John Kerry made headlines recently when he questioned the intelligence of our troops in Iraq. Now Democrat Scott Alexander of Hazard, who lost his election to Rep. Brandon Smith by 40 votes, thinks he would have won if his name had been listed first on the ballot.

"I definitely think it (ballot position) made 21 votes of difference," he told the Courier-Journal.

Some political science professor in California thinks he has a lawsuit, but I'm not buying it. Mid-term election voters don't just stumble into the voting booth and hit the first name. Shame on what's left of the Courier-Journal for playing along on their "news" pages.

Running McCain

Sen. John McCain makes his case for 2008.

I'm still quite skeptical, but I am watching him on This Week now. Not too bad.

What do you think?

No More Fake Solutions, Please

Most minimum wage workers are not poor by any standard. Stating this fact makes me a hateful s.o.b., I know, but even such clever rebuttals as that don't make mandated wage increases for the lowest paying jobs any kind of tool for fighting poverty.

If the minimum wage peddlers really wanted to help low-income workers, they would push for for expanding the state earned income tax credit. That way high school students wouldn't be the primary beneficiary of the poverty-busting crusade. The EITC can be targeted to families. Since there are so few of them who actually depend on the minimum wage, the public costs would be much smaller and the desired effect would be achieved.

It's a win-win unless your real goal is just politics.

Irregularities In Madison County

Madison county Magistrate Roger Barger won a close one this year against challenger Wayne Long. Barger prevailed by twenty votes.

Well, they keep "finding" votes in the courthouse and now have the margin down to six votes.

It's time for Trey Grayson to take a look at this one.

Williams Tackles 2007 Top Issue

Senate President David Williams' advice to Governor Ernie Fletcher couldn't be better. Now is the time to take a leadership role in killing off casino gambling in Kentucky.

Athletic Supporters, Rubber Pants, Hair Notions

I don't know what compels Rep. Bob Damron (D-Nicholasville) to re-file his "sales tax holiday" bill every year. Maybe it was a desire to make a laundry list of items which, unfortunately, includes those named above.

It certainly doesn't have anything to do with good public policy.

One of the wrinkles in this year's version of Damron's favorite bill is a provision to force businesses who can't remove sales taxes for a weekend to pay them without passing them along to customers. In other words, the way around one of the paperwork burdens of previous versions of this bill is to actually make this a tax increase for some merchants.

Shrewd.

What a terrible bill.

Inspiration From Playstation Generation

Caught a little tv news at noon today and saw interviews with exultant Playstation buyers who had camped out overnight to buy their toys. The common theme running through the comments of several of them was that they had overcome great difficulty to "earn" the right to buy their toys.

Good grief.

As fantastic as our economy is going right now, this is what passes for climbing steep mountains. What on earth are we going to do if this country is faced with hard times?

Heavy Name-Dropping Injures Politician

Former Sen. John "Breck Girl" Edwards sounds distraught in a story about a campaign volunteer of his shopping for him at a Wal-Mart and dropping his name while doing so.

The really funny part is that some electronics clerk decided to alert the media because the Presidential wannabe, now a full-time Wal-Mart critic, is going to have a Playstation game from Wal-Mart under his Christmas tree.

Let's hope his kids don't read the papers.

And then, to top it all, instead of blowing this off as a really stupid story, Edwards turns it into his own macaca moment.

It-gets-better UPDATE: Another news story quotes Edwards using his own six-year-old son as a prop in his war against Wal-Mart, claiming he castigated a classmate for wearing shoes purchased at Wal-Mart. (It's in the next-to-last sentence of this story.)

We can't all take our six-year-old sons to Brooks Brothers, Senator. I think you owe some first graders an apology for teaching your son to be such a snob.

More Kentucky Budget Follies

The folks at the Bluegrass Institute have been talking for a long time about the state budget being unconstitutional. Not many of the talking heads have picked up on the scandal, but I have yet to hear anyone make a good case for the legitimacy of Kentucky's biennial budget.

UPDATE (for some): A lawsuit was filed in Franklin Circuit Court in May, which is pending. If it is successful, as many as another two dozen could be filed.

Still Waiting For A Democrat Idea

Democrat legislators today punted on economic development again. The best they could come up with was a hike in the minimum wage.

School Choice's Unexpected Champions

Democrats usually don't support school choice.

But some are starting to.

No Big Deal: Merit Grand Jury Report

The Fletcher Grand Jury has issued the report they were completely expected to issue. The political carnage for this is already figured in. But what lots of people aren't thinking about now is this: if Governor Fletcher is nominated in May, the liberal blogosphere across the country will go crazy raising gobs of money against the Governor who blocked blogs.

It's stupid, I know. But that is what's coming.

Some people won't be able to resist calling me disloyal for mentioning this, but I didn't think of it first.

Who Is Ben Chandler Representing Now?

Rep. Ben Chandler is about to extend his month-long vacation by a third day, as it is expected he will be a no-show for the House session starting at 10 AM.

Lions, And Tigers, And Bears! Oh My!

Of all the challenges facing ex-convicts in Kentucky, does anyone really think restoring their voting rights is a meaningful priority for them (or us) worthy of legislative action?

Medical Cover Up In Kentucky

The truth about Kentucky's Certificate of Need program is getting harder and harder to hide.

Where In The World Is Ben Chandler?

Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson isn't running for governor, Auditor Crit Luallen isn't running for Governor, and Rep. Ben Chandler hasn't shown up for work the last two days.

Chandler's spokeswoman didn't return my call this afternoon so I don't know, but it is a little curious that Ben would need a couple of days off after his month-long vacation. With all this gubernatorial speculation going on, you just have to wonder.

Oh, Goody!

Meet your new House Majority Leader.

Hey John, say something stupid for the cameras about the war!

Taking Another Shot At Eminent Domain

There is a bill before the U.S. Senate that would ban the abuse of eminent domain by municipalities who take property from one private owner and give it to another.

One small problem -- Bill Frist is against it.

Typical.

Rolling Heads In Frankfort

A shake-up is in the works in House Republican leadership in Kentucky's General Assembly.

Any guesses?