Time For Lee Todd To Go

The University of Kentucky should fire Lee Todd.

University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. will recommend that UK's Board of Trustees approve an employee benefits package that includes domestic partner benefits for unmarried same-sex and opposite-sex couples.

Todd will give his endorsement when the full board meets Tuesday.

The committee on domestic-partner benefits projected the additional health coverage to cost $633,000 annually.

Is This All They Have Left?

If this is the best hit piece the Courier-Journal can muster against Governor Fletcher, we can only assume they are close to conceding that the field is too weak to beat Ernie.

This week, Gov. Fletcher left open the possibility of tackling only half the pension problem in a special session, which would be worse than tackling none of it at all.

Fixing the financial problem without dealing with the systemic issues that caused it would be a terrible mistake.

After all, if the benefits for future employees aren't changed, then pension costs will eventually take up so much revenue that there won't be money for education, health care and other obligations.

As the Governor said, fixing this will require hard work. It's time he did some.

As uninspiring as this race for the Governor's Mansion has been for fiscal hawks, it has been far more demoralizing for the wage-fixing, homosexual agenda, socialized-medicine folks who lack a champion with enough energy to draw a crowd.

In another month, The Courier Journal and friends will turn their attention from the Governor's race and toward trying to get Louisville liberal Jack Conway elected Attorney General.

Skippy For Chairman?

Sources report Congressman Ben Chandler and Auditor Crit Luallen are pressuring Jonathan Miller to drop his bid for the Dem nomination for governor. The payoff for Miller would be the chairmanship of the Democratic Party of Kentucky.

Their hope is to get Miller's supporters to go for Steve Beshear.

Federal Entitlement Fans' Wrong-Way Bet 2005

In the two years since opponents killed Social Security reform, The Dow Jones Industrial Average has gone up approximately 30%.

Thanks guys.

NKY Poverty Activists Trying To Kill Off Labor Market For Homeless Day Laborers

A lawsuit to "help" homeless people won't result in higher pay for them. They will lose their jobs while the activists rail against the evils of Corporate America.

What Kind Of Sick Puppy Watches The KET Democratic Secretary Of State Debate?

Let's just say Trey Grayson will definitely look like he is ready for higher office after dispatching one of these three very forgettable candidates.

Bruce Lunsford's Fifteen Minute Video

This will drive the other Dem campaigns crazy.

There was one noteworthy quote among the fluff. Lunsford said near the end of the video "He (Ernie Fletcher) promised me he would clean up the mess in Frankfort, he promised me that he would provide health insurance for all the Kentuckians and he promised me he would be bi-partisan."

Lunsford is an avid -- and apparently delusional -- proponent of socialized medicine in Kentucky.

Is Fred Thompson Reaganesque?

Cal Thomas says yes.

Proud

Our oldest son, Tommy, is headed to Georgia Tech this fall to study Nuclear Engineering. He gets his brains from his mother. Thanks to Jeff McDanald at the Jessamine Journal for picking up the story.

And thanks to the taxpayers and voters in Georgia for setting up the nation's largest state-run merit-based scholarship program. As a Kentucky resident, Tommy didn't qualify for a HOPE scholarship, but with this good public policy and the Academic Common Market, higher education is surprisingly inexpensive in that state.

Maybe Jonathan Miller Should Plagiarize Some, Too

The MSM has tracked down the sources of Bruce Lunsford's and Steve Beshear's fresh new ideas.

A quick look at Jonathan Miller's website suggests he could use a plagiarist or two on his staff as well:

Education of Kentucky's children is not simply the responsibility of government it is a moral obligation and a question of justice. Every child, regardless of circumstance, should be afforded an education that enriches and empowers. Moreover, it makes sound economic sense for our state. For too long Kentucky has lingered near the bottom nationwide in educational success. By investing in our children early and giving them the tools they need to be successful lifelong learners we ensure the future health of the Commonwealth and the wellbeing of its communities and families.

Is that how they taught you to write at Harvard, Jonathan? Not only does the above paragraph take several sentences to say nothing, it is plagued by poor punctuation and hackneyed verbiage. You have all that liberal Washington D.C. money. Hire a plagiarist.

Louisville Mayor's Handwriting On The Wall

Jerry Abramson won't pick a favorite from the B-list.

Rep. Ron Lewis Says Repeal Tax Code By 2010

HR 510 would repeal nearly all of the federal Tax Code. Rep. Ron Lewis is the only Kentucky co-sponsor. The rest of the state's delegation should be made to explain why they prefer to keep the American people trapped under the current tax scheme when we could do better.

Repeal is the proper first step. We need to repeal payroll taxes as well, but scrapping the Code and giving Congress until December 31, 2010 to replace it would be a great way to start working on a solution to a problem we all agree we have.

In fact, the key to financial literacy isn't a school program or a public-private partnership preaching to kids. The key to financial literacy is getting rid of payroll deductions for federal and state taxes. Make citizens write those checks themselves and see how fast they start paying attention to personal financial and public fiscal matters.

Mitch McConnell Smacks Down Tax Increases

As the majority in Congress inches closer to repealing the Bush tax cuts, Sen. McConnell calls them out.

Out Of Tragedy, Gun Grabbers See Big Opportunity

Stan Lee Wins Economic Freedom Award

The Kentucky Club For Growth release its first annual General Assembly scorecard naming Attorney General candidate Stan Lee as the state's top-ranking legislator and one of only two winners of its Kentucky Defender of Economic Freedom Award.

The Club's executive director Brian Richmond said "fiscal conservatives are in short supply in Frankfort. For the benefit of taxpayers, their children and grandchildren, this must change."

Lee's 91% score narrowly topped Rep. Jim DeCesare's 88%. No other House member scored above 70% and only two Senators -- Dick Roeding and Bob Leeper -- scored above 75%. Richmond had praise for the Senate as a whole, though.

"The Senate did not have as many eligible votes as the House did, which is a good thing," said Richmond. "The Senate defended the taxpayers of Kentucky by not calling to a vote some terrible legislation that passed the House and we commend them in that regard."

Could Public Schools Teach Financial Literacy?

If we allow our state's public employee benefit plans to deteriorate for just a few more years, the subsequent tax increases will destroy the state.

As the The Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Employees Retirement Systems starts meeting in Frankfort, realization of the depth of the fiscal crisis facing states and municipalities across the nation is starting to draw wide attention among serious policymakers.

A newspaper column in Delaware suggests making financial literacy classes mandatory in public schools. In response to this, I have one question: have you seen a high school history book recently?

We absolutely need increased citizen financial literacy for our long-term fiscal health. But the public schools can't get it done.

If you want to do your part to increase financial literacy, get out of debt and learn about and invest in equities. If you want to increase financial literacy for others, help your children set up retirement accounts with their first jobs.

Take a look at a simple retirement calculator and see how a little grows into a lot, especially when you start early.

Jody Richards: The Education Governor

Well, to give credit where it is due, at least Speaker Richards isn't calling himself the Economics Governor.

Richards "new and exciting plan" apparently consists only of increasing need-based aid to college students. This is exactly the wrong thing to do at exactly the wrong time. Until we dramatically increase graduation standards in Kentucky, we will continue to send unprepared students to college where too many of them are doomed to fail. Giving them more money to do it doesn't accomplish anything. In fact, piling more state aid on our colleges artificially inflates tuition rates for those students who remain after the weak ones wash out. That makes education harder to afford for people who aren't poor enough for the aid.

Seeking to offer universal access to higher education (or Galbraith's "further education") will always have a perverse effect on the demand curve, squeezing middle income students out. What we need is a combination of more merit-based aid to improve our state schools and higher standards to better prepare our children. Until we do one of these, we will keep failing our students. And until we do both we will continue flushing increasing amounts of money down the toilet.

Northup Yard Signs Available Now

The Northup campaign has yard signs available, for only $10 each.

Kentucky Club For Growth Takes First Shot Tuesday

Stay tuned for a major announcement tomorrow from the Kentucky Club For Growth.

State Would Have Zapped Billy Donovan $210,000

As you write out your state income tax check, consider another reason Florida Gator coach Billy Donovan is smiling in sunny Florida.

No state income tax.

If the University of Kentucky had paid Donovan $3.5 million as was rumored to be their offer, the state's 6% cut would have been $210,000.

Don't tell new coach Billy Gillispie, formerly of no-income-tax Texas.