Tuesday, July 03, 2007
More News Cover-Up On Socialized Medicine
Whether you are concerned or not about Governor Beshear and LG Mongiardo hitting us with their utopian fix for healthcare, you might want to look at what you aren't being told about the government-run program in England they want us to have.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Public Pension Mess: Forgotten But Not Gone
If we are really going to have a special session starting at the end of this week, the least we can do is repeal the bad law from 2005 that allows lawmakers a huge pension bonus for going to work elsewhere in state government.
It's The Health Care Costs, Stupid
Neither gubernatorial candidate is addressing a real pocketbook issue that could be fixed with a few simple changes in the law.
Health care.
Of course, Beshear thinks casinos will fix the problem, so Fletcher has a slight edge. But neither sees what repealing Certificate of Need would do. We need more competition among providers and insurers, yet our laws serve mainly to inhibit market forces from working.
It is a shame we have accomplished nothing on this front after four years with a Republican governor. The Democratic answers, meanwhile, will only make matters worse.
Free market supporters would do well to embrace this issue before it is too late.
Health care.
Of course, Beshear thinks casinos will fix the problem, so Fletcher has a slight edge. But neither sees what repealing Certificate of Need would do. We need more competition among providers and insurers, yet our laws serve mainly to inhibit market forces from working.
It is a shame we have accomplished nothing on this front after four years with a Republican governor. The Democratic answers, meanwhile, will only make matters worse.
Free market supporters would do well to embrace this issue before it is too late.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Fear Not, Liberal Kentucky Blog Readers
Bluegrass Report is on the trash heap Monday morning, but we still have BluegrassRoots.org for the crazy left-wing stuff.
Making The Right Call
There has still been no call of the special session that is supposed to start on Thursday.
Governor Fletcher should forget about the coal processing subsidy business and call a special session to address healthcare costs.
While everyone else is increasing government control in hopes that the next brilliant idea will finally work, Kentucky should eliminate all mandates on health insurance companies and focus regulatory efforts on enforcing contracts only.
Governor Fletcher should forget about the coal processing subsidy business and call a special session to address healthcare costs.
While everyone else is increasing government control in hopes that the next brilliant idea will finally work, Kentucky should eliminate all mandates on health insurance companies and focus regulatory efforts on enforcing contracts only.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Courier-Journal Insults Normal People Again
The CJ weighs in on illegal immigration again by suggesting anyone who is opposed is racist and uninformed.
Typical.
And then they got in the talking point du jour, bringing back the Fairness Doctrine:
If the liberal papers are so desperate in their rapid decline that they are really going to hang their hopes on shutting down talk radio legislatively, they sure don't need subscriptions or advertising dollars from people who disagree with them.
The free market is doing its thing again.
Typical.
And then they got in the talking point du jour, bringing back the Fairness Doctrine:
But if right-wing radio could produce such venomous (and effective) resistance to a reform supported by George W. Bush, imagine how it would react to a similar measure offered by Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
If the liberal papers are so desperate in their rapid decline that they are really going to hang their hopes on shutting down talk radio legislatively, they sure don't need subscriptions or advertising dollars from people who disagree with them.
The free market is doing its thing again.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Milkflation
Cows make milk. Corn feeds cows. Federal government screws up corn market with ethanol nonsense, raising the price for the milk corn-fed cows make.
Got water, anyone?
Got water, anyone?
Cracking Down On Illegals In Kentucky
Rep. Rick Nelson (D-Middlesboro) told me yesterday he is going to file a bill to penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Pre-filed Bill Would Cut Pay For Special Sessions
Rep. John Will Stacy (D-West Liberty) pre-filed a bill yesterday afternoon that would cut off legislator pay for either legislative body that adjourns during a regular or special session without the consent of other chamber.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Democrats Play Catch-Up On Energy Pork Bill
Speaker Jody Richards just started off today's House A&R meeting by stating his position that we don't need a special session.
I agree with him.
Update: Dr. Jim Bartis of the Rand Institute said if we do this we should also build a carbon sequestration facility because that will be necessary to attract potential federal subsidies in the future.
This is a reason not to do it.
Bill Caylor of the Kentucky Coal Association said he was in favor of anything that involved mining more coal but that the energy pork would have no impact on gasoline prices.
I agree with him.
Update: Dr. Jim Bartis of the Rand Institute said if we do this we should also build a carbon sequestration facility because that will be necessary to attract potential federal subsidies in the future.
This is a reason not to do it.
Bill Caylor of the Kentucky Coal Association said he was in favor of anything that involved mining more coal but that the energy pork would have no impact on gasoline prices.
Unfinished Business
Am I the only one who sees a momentum shift as the effort to give away the farm to illegal immigrants wanes? By the way, if you are still stuck on the Senate cloture vote, you may find solace among the House Republicans.
After Amnesty dies again, we need to push back by cutting off entitlements for illegals. I don't have a problem with them competing for our jobs, but there should be no incentive whatsoever for them to come here and draw welfare.
Meanwhile, as a column in today's Herald-Leader correctly notes, Kentucky is held back by the Alternative Minimum Calculation.
Governor Fletcher has shifted on casinos. Now is the time for him to shift on this bad tax. The primary vote in his race split down the middle with his two opponents promoting repeal. The conservative base has only two choices on election day: vote Fletcher or stay home. Giving us this one should make sense to Team Fletcher.
After Amnesty dies again, we need to push back by cutting off entitlements for illegals. I don't have a problem with them competing for our jobs, but there should be no incentive whatsoever for them to come here and draw welfare.
Meanwhile, as a column in today's Herald-Leader correctly notes, Kentucky is held back by the Alternative Minimum Calculation.
Governor Fletcher has shifted on casinos. Now is the time for him to shift on this bad tax. The primary vote in his race split down the middle with his two opponents promoting repeal. The conservative base has only two choices on election day: vote Fletcher or stay home. Giving us this one should make sense to Team Fletcher.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Governor Fletcher Steps Up Against Casinos
Finally.
Governor Fletcher announced today through his campaign manager that he doesn't support putting casinos on the ballot in Kentucky.
Good move. A little late in the day, but a good move nonetheless.
Casinos cost states more than they benefit them and putting the issue on the ballot only allows the casinos -- and their pathetic mouthpiece surrogates like KEEP -- to pour millions of dollars in slick advertising onto the airwaves.
While it would have been satisfying to see Team Fletcher jump on this earlier, they were right to hold onto it for a while. Beshear has no place to go on casinos, except maybe to bid higher.
Can we get $600 million a year, Steve?
Governor Fletcher announced today through his campaign manager that he doesn't support putting casinos on the ballot in Kentucky.
Good move. A little late in the day, but a good move nonetheless.
Casinos cost states more than they benefit them and putting the issue on the ballot only allows the casinos -- and their pathetic mouthpiece surrogates like KEEP -- to pour millions of dollars in slick advertising onto the airwaves.
While it would have been satisfying to see Team Fletcher jump on this earlier, they were right to hold onto it for a while. Beshear has no place to go on casinos, except maybe to bid higher.
Can we get $600 million a year, Steve?
... And West Virginia Surely Wants Us To Elect Steve Beshear As Our Governor, Too
I'm delighted to see Canadians want to see Hillary Clinton elected President of the United States.
RPK Launches Salvos, But No Explosions Yet
It has been mildly funny to watch Democrats go apoplectic because RPK Chairman Steve Robertson questioned the judgement of their Attorney General and the effete character they picked to replace him.
It has been more enjoyable to watch the Lexington Herald-Leader scramble to come up with a coherent answer to campaign contributions to liberal extremist candidates from their own staffers. You can almost see the wheels spinning in their heads as it occurs to them that money really is speech.
But if they really want to see the opposition squirm in their own little painted corner, the Republican party should go after the teachers unions. Kentucky desperately needs school choice and Democrats aren't going to give it to us. Republicans should.
In these dog days with relatively few people paying attention, now is the time to start explaining how everyone wins with school choice. Well, everyone except those addicted to the status quo.
It has been more enjoyable to watch the Lexington Herald-Leader scramble to come up with a coherent answer to campaign contributions to liberal extremist candidates from their own staffers. You can almost see the wheels spinning in their heads as it occurs to them that money really is speech.
But if they really want to see the opposition squirm in their own little painted corner, the Republican party should go after the teachers unions. Kentucky desperately needs school choice and Democrats aren't going to give it to us. Republicans should.
In these dog days with relatively few people paying attention, now is the time to start explaining how everyone wins with school choice. Well, everyone except those addicted to the status quo.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Where Immigration Reform Should Start
President Lyndon Johnson's words about transforming America into a Great Society can be instructive to our current immigration debate, but not in any way he would have anticipated or that his ideological progeny now appreciate. When he said "it is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than with the quantity of their goods," he invoked the socialist bugaboo "materialism" to justify entitlement spending. Today, we hear pejoratives such as "racism" and "nationalism" tossed about to justify an invasion on American soil attacking the soft underbelly of our society: our entitlement system. The quality of our goal to enhance life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness most widely will be tested as we wrestle with illegal immigration, but this healthy discussion will present great opportunity for advancement.
America is turning the corner on immigration and entitlements with the current unrest over the proposed granting of wholesale amnesty to illegal immigrants. Politicians who fail to see the coming events in time will pay a heavy price. I believe what we are experiencing is a return to the path that made America great and the one that will make our nation greater still. That path involves more freedom in our free enterprise and less entitling in our entitlement system. We will accomplish this by expelling illegals from our communities without using massive police action or by building miles and miles of walls along our southern border. We will accomplish a renaissance in America by dismantling our welfare system and it will rightly begin by cutting off those in this country illegally.
As the least productive among them either choose to become more productive or choose to leave, the lights will start to come on across America. We don't need a guest worker program, we need Americans to see foreigners come here and truly risk everything to gain what we take for granted. That doesn't happen when the newcomers live far better here on welfare than they do at home.
The cold fact is that we can easily afford illegal immigration. Any new person who is even minimally productive is a net positive to our economy, even on all kinds of welfare. This is why we have survived so well despite granting socialist advances beyond Karl Marx's dreams. But the more important fact is that we can do even better for everyone without the Great Society bluster and largesse. It is time we gave this a shot. And the first blow will be struck when we clamp down on government benefits given to those who are here illegally.
America is turning the corner on immigration and entitlements with the current unrest over the proposed granting of wholesale amnesty to illegal immigrants. Politicians who fail to see the coming events in time will pay a heavy price. I believe what we are experiencing is a return to the path that made America great and the one that will make our nation greater still. That path involves more freedom in our free enterprise and less entitling in our entitlement system. We will accomplish this by expelling illegals from our communities without using massive police action or by building miles and miles of walls along our southern border. We will accomplish a renaissance in America by dismantling our welfare system and it will rightly begin by cutting off those in this country illegally.
As the least productive among them either choose to become more productive or choose to leave, the lights will start to come on across America. We don't need a guest worker program, we need Americans to see foreigners come here and truly risk everything to gain what we take for granted. That doesn't happen when the newcomers live far better here on welfare than they do at home.
The cold fact is that we can easily afford illegal immigration. Any new person who is even minimally productive is a net positive to our economy, even on all kinds of welfare. This is why we have survived so well despite granting socialist advances beyond Karl Marx's dreams. But the more important fact is that we can do even better for everyone without the Great Society bluster and largesse. It is time we gave this a shot. And the first blow will be struck when we clamp down on government benefits given to those who are here illegally.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Why Didn't Kentucky Lawyers Think Of This?
Lawyers in Dallas are really getting ramped up to handle global warming lawsuits.
Given our subsidy-for-coal plans, when this stuff hits Kentucky it will get messy fast and doubly expensive for consumers.
Given our subsidy-for-coal plans, when this stuff hits Kentucky it will get messy fast and doubly expensive for consumers.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Expensive Bipartisan Inaction On KY Pensions
It would be difficult to overstate the risk to Kentucky taxpayers of doing nothing about public pensions.
Here is a good editorial.
We have waited too long to trim the pension benefits of politically-connected Kentuckians paid for by the rest of us.
The blue ribbon meetings on this aren't going to accomplish anything. So far, Kentucky's Senate majority is the only group who has done anything productive on this. We need leadership on this issue now.
Here is a good editorial.
We have waited too long to trim the pension benefits of politically-connected Kentuckians paid for by the rest of us.
The blue ribbon meetings on this aren't going to accomplish anything. So far, Kentucky's Senate majority is the only group who has done anything productive on this. We need leadership on this issue now.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
McConnell Steps Up Against Gouging Bill
Thanks to both Kentucky Senators for voting against a bad bill to tighten "price gouging" restrictions.
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