From Coal Country To Oil Country, And I Didn't Even Get A Subsidy To Pave My Way

I drove to Dallas, Texas today and now I find out we are going to have a special session to cobble together a half-baked corporate welfare program.

The Senate has the votes to pass whatever they are going to cook up. The battle is in the House, of course.

Just wish we were fighting over something worth fighting for.

Fred Thompson 2008 Update

Insiders report Fred Thompson will announce his candidacy for President on July 2. Speculation will then quickly turn to Thompson's selection of a running mate.

How about J.C. Watts?

Lack Of Income Doesn't Cause Poverty

The liberal Brookings Institution has decided that Kentucky needs new laws to keep poor people from being charged more for goods and services.

This fabulous idea, if enacted, would work just like HB 250 in 1994 that ran off dozens of health insurance companies with the ridiculous mandate that the companies stop charging market rates. That too, was a left-wing scheme to improve on market forces.

The Brookings study was good to the extent that it recognized poverty isn't just about income. What it missed is that any able-bodied person with average intelligence and an absence of mental illness can improve his circumstances by working more and spending less.

If public policy were focused more on helping those who fall through more narrowly defined cracks, more people would figure out how to thrive.

Then we wouldn't have to depend on left-wing think tanks to tell us to change zoning laws to "weed out" high-cost businesses. Ugh...

Stumbo's Mark On Frankfort: Money And Sex

Attorney General Greg Stumbo is finishing up his embarrassing term in office by "fixing" the taxpayer-supported domestic partner benefits fiasco as only he could. At Stumbo's urging, the University of Kentucky dropped the requirement that domestic partners swear under oath that they have been having sex for six months.

They still get your money. Stumbo's friend Jack Conway has already said he is with Greg on this one.

Just one more reason to support Stan Lee for Attorney General.

Just Another Drunk Madison County Politician

Madison County Judge Executive Kent Clark got arrested for public intoxication again this weekend. But don't expect him to resign or even lose his next election in 2010.

His buddy Senator Ed Worley of Richmond got caught on tape last year conning one of his constituents out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate and he isn't going anywhere either.

Whip Cornflation In 2008 With Smart ForTwo

The Smart ForTwo is going to have a huge impact next year on the domestic car market and might even slow down some of the ridiculous government subsidies for corn.



For more info on this gasoline-powered car, go here.

In A Perfect World...

In a perfect world, this morning's story in the Herald Leader wouldn't be the first time the state MSM has considered whether AG Greg Stumbo was just grandstanding when he filed the price-gouging lawsuit against Marathon Oil.

In a perfect world, no one would have to be told this is what's going on.

Then again, in a perfect world Governor Fletcher would have already called off the three year old state of emergency that allowed Stumbo to file the lawsuit.

Dropping Out On The Installment Plan

Madison county is going to start a "secondary GED option" that requires high school students who are two years behind to stay in school fifteen hours a week and complete job training before dropping out.

This should be their first clue this isn't going to work out for anyone but the school system, which will get to show better "graduation" rates:

Board member Doug Whitlock described it as a great program, but he wanted to make sure it is monitored.

“I would hate to see this turn into something that other students would see as an easier way out,” he said.

Lefty Comes Unglued Over Boyfriend Bennies

Rep. Tom Burch has bought into the story that Kentucky taxpayers should foot the bill for "domestic partners" at state universities, even if they blow the lid off the costs like Attorney General Greg Stumbo wants them to:

Louisville Democrat Rep. Tom Burch, the other opinion seeker, said he is all for UK’s effort to extend health benefits. However, as chairman of the House Health and Welfare Committee, he sought Stumbo’s opinion because he wanted more legal standing before allowing his committee to pass the measure that would have explicitly blocked Kentucky’s public universities from providing domestic partner benefits.

“I figured if we had a clear decision on it, one way or the other, then it would be a more opportune time to deal with that issue. It was strictly to clear the air on that, (because it) might be wrong just to cave into a minority group out there that was raising Cain about it,” Burch told Business Lexington.

While the bill was in front of his committee, Burch said, he got more calls from people urging its passage than anything else he could remember, but said when he returned constituent calls, their information on the bill was lacking.

“I called these people back and talked to them about it,” Burch said. ‘They said, ‘What are you talking about? I don’t know anything about that bill; my preacher asked me to call.’” “Talk about an uninformed public,” Burch continued, “and believe me, the preachers don’t know anything either ... Let them stick to what Jesus said: ‘Give to Caesar those things that are Caesar’s and to God those things that are God’s.’”

“Everybody should have health insurance, and we should be encouraging people to get health insurance,” he added.

Thanks to Erik Carlson at Business Lexington for getting what has to be the goofy quote of the day. And thanks to Rep. Tom "Caesar" Burch for depicting so precisely what is wrong with Frankfort.

WalMart Shoppers Should Demand Health Reform

There is a big change coming to health care and Kentucky would be very wise to get on board. (Here's a hint: Hillary Clinton had nothing to do with it.) Health clinics in WalMart stores will heat up competition and Kentucky would do well to drop all barriers to health insurance companies returning to the state and to repeal Certificate of Need laws so we can have more competition across a broad range of health services.

WalMart really is amazing. What are they going to next, in-store private schools?

Late Night Lexington Jail Cover-Up Open Thread

What's your favorite part of the Mayor Jim Newberry scandal?

New Liberal Plan To Get Money Out Of Politics

Taxpayer-funded Democratic Party Chairman Jonathan Miller got Common Cause chairman Richard Beliles to file an ethics complaint against Senate President David Williams for raising money for Republicans.

KY 3CD Action Ramps Up

Erwin Roberts is running for Congress.

Meanwhile, Sen. Dan Seum, who is looking at the same race, just got back from a testing-the-water trip to Washington D.C.

Mitch McConnell Jumps The Shark On Gas Prices

Sen. Mitch McConnell today messes up his own call for expanding domestic petroleum production by playing a partisan political game that out-lived its usefulness the first time it was used:

The average price of gas has gone from $2.20 to $3.15 a gallon since the Democrats took over the Senate.

Good grief. Republicans aren't going to win on gas prices any time soon because too many people think the government can lower prices by making up more price gouging laws. Blaming gas price fluctuation on Harry Reid isn't going to advance exploration efforts or anything else.

Putting The Cart Way Before The Horse

Senator John McCain is interrupting his faltering campaign for the GOP presidential nomination to hold a press conference today in Los Angeles. He will be discussing Hillary Clinton's hidden earmarks inside the Defense spending bill.

Rude Awakening On Tap For Fayette Jail Union

The CWA union thugs representing corrections officers at the Lexington jail have joined hands with Mayor Jim Newberry in his cover-up of the wild array of misconduct surrounding the facility.

If the union thugs expect Newberry and his crowd will protect the union when the poop hits the fan at the jail, they just aren't thinking it through.

Bunning Joins Eight Senators In Calling For Enforcement Of Current Immigration Laws

So my question is how can there be just nine U.S. Senators who want to enforce current laws before passing more?

Just nine?

Yes, just nine.

Bipartisan Agreement On Barbara "Typo" Erwin

What in the world are we doing messing around with an education commissioner who can't get her story straight on her own resume?

Surely there is someone out there who can do this $220,000 a year job without causing more embarrassment to public education in Kentucky.

Would we have a problem like this if the education commissioner were an elected office?

Michael Moore Endorses Al Gore

Get your tin foil hats ready, folks. The interview goes a little long -- okay, nine minutes of Michael Moore is a lot long -- but he waxes goofy about what a great thing "free universal health care" will be. This should help Gore in the primary. At least until Streisand, Rosie, and the Baldwin brothers weigh in.

Maybe We Should Check Her Socks

Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton's former Secretary of State, has formed a group in support of "strong liberal values, and the need for strong national security."

The site is remarkably free of any kind of specifics. These folks really are going to keep their mouths shut until Hillary's move-in day, aren't they?