Daily Kos Takes Credit For Ben Chandler

The extreme left-wingers took a break today from forcing the Democratic party over the cliff on national defense and any semblance of fiscal sanity to take credit for electing Blue Dogs to Congress.

It is amazing to see Kos pat himself on the back for electing the last legacy politician in Kentucky and with a straight face continue to run away from the liberal label in favor of the preferred "progressive" term (which apparently means to pre-emptively surrender all potential military actions, shut down international trade, and stick everyone in a union):

"This had nothing to do with being centrist or liberal or conservative. It had to do with standing tall for core progressive principles. In fact one of the first people we supported was Stephanie Herseth in South Dakota who is now a Blue Dog. Ben Chandler in Kentucky."

Rep. Chandler has already run away from Montana left-wing polemicist Mark Nickolas. How fast will he duck and cover to escape a bunch who wants to chase off Hillary Clinton for being too conservative?

Backward Step On Most Basic Human Right

A pro-life source with inside knowledge of the campaigns of Steve Beshear and Jack Conway reports the two are planning a repeal of Kentucky's fetal homicide law utilizing Attorney General opinions declaring that a fetus is not a person.

Rep. Stan Lee sponsored the original fetal homicide bill in 2004, requiring that anyone charged with killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child be charged with two deaths. Governor Ernie Fletcher signed the fetal homicide bill into law.

Steve Beshear declared in a 1982 Attorney General opinion that an unborn child is not a "person" and instead only becomes "human" at some later point he did not specify.

It Is August, Where's Our Stupid Tax Holiday Bill?

On a day in which the Louisville Courier Journal wastes valuable ink setting the stage for an editorial calling for tax increases to fund crayons, notebooks, and clothes for schoolchildren, I have a question.

When will someone file another bill "giving" Kentucky parents a back-to-school sales tax holiday?

Rather than feel-good legislation though, wouldn't it be better if we repealed corporate income taxes across the board for the whole year? Consumers wind up paying them anyway, in addition to business compliance costs and avoidance techniques.

Bad tax policies hurt everyone in the state. Dropping sales tax on a few items for one weekend each fall does nothing at all to improve that.

Bloggers To Kill Off More Newspapers?

Well, not exactly. Not yet anyway. But if Rupert Murdoch takes the online version of the Wall Street Journal from subscription to free, you will see a lot of newspapers go down the tubes as a direct result.

Further changes to how information is delivered will have a very interesting impact on our political process.

If These People Did This To My Kids, I Would Be Going To Jail For A Long Time

And the thing is, if this happened in my local school district, I would be joined by a whole lot of friends in tearing these people limb from limb. If only we could match our social conservatism in this state with activism for education quality and for fiscal conservatism, we wouldn't be in a lot of our current messes.

More Polling Data To Check Out

The Lane Report poll making the rounds has a few interesting things I haven't seen reported. First, 49% of respondents said House Democrats did the right thing in ending the first special session without taking any action. Governor Fletcher was backed by 38% on the issue.

The Attorney General's race has the highest undecided tally at 53%. That has to be a positive for Stan Lee, whose support will grow for several reasons. More on that later.

Linda Greenwell's rematch against Crit Luallen should get a boost with the news that the race is a close 32%-26% with 40% undecided.

Here Comes The Cavalry

Former Congressman Pat Toomey, now head of the Club for Growth, is coming to Kentucky October 24-25 to raise money for free-market fiscal conservatives in the Bluegrass state.

Will Fletcher Be Like Isaac Or Davis?

Yesterday I was talking to Dave Krusenklaus, host of Kruser and Krew on Lexington's WVLK AM 590, and he brought up a parallel between Governor Ernie Fletcher and former Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac. After never getting much traction in the polls last summer and fall, Isaac failed to get re-elected.

So is Fletcher going to be more like Isaac or instead like Rep. Geoff Davis, who trailed throughout much of the campaign last year and pulled off the win?

What do you think?

By the way, I will be on the Kruser program today at 1pm. Call in at (859)253-5959 if you get a chance.

Let's Make 2008 The Year Of The Open Budget

Kentucky's legislative leadership now writes our state's budgets every two years behind locked doors, covered windows, and armed guards.

Whether you want the budget trimmed of fat or loaded with more, you can't be happy with the thuggish tactics we see played out in the spring of each even year.

The only reason the budget isn't worked out in public is because no one has called them on it.

This should also be an issue in this fall's elections.

The Wrong State Of Emergency

Kentucky is still suing Marathon Oil over violation of a "price gouging" law that doesn't exist anymore.

Publicity hound Attorney General Greg Stumbo started the lawsuit, which charges Marathon Oil made "too much" money from Kentucky consumers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The state of emergency which triggered the old law, though, was called by Governor Fletcher.

The new price gouging law doesn't allow a never-ending state of emergency. Currently, we are still under the one from 2005.

Our government wasn't set up to allow politicians to attack private businesses without making a very strong case. While all these guys are trying to get our votes, they should explain in detail why we should be suing under flimsy pretenses using a 2004 law we did well to repeal earlier this year.

There are two key issues here: one, if politicians can go after one industry in such a clumsy, overbearing manner, they can go after another and yours might be next. And two, despite the current fever for alternative fuel sources, we are easily decades -- if not centuries -- away from replacing oil. It is premature and unwise to be picking meat from the carcass of fossil fuels just yet.

Governor Fletcher and Attorney General candidate Stan Lee would do well to at least denounce Stumbo's crass action against Marathon.

Cutting The Size Of Government Isn't Easy

America's Governor Mark Sanford is struggling against his own party to change the political structure and culture in South Carolina.

Keep up the good fight, Mark.

Fat And Happy On Your Dime

Rep. Harry Moberly (D-Richmond) has gotten himself in position to be appointed president of Eastern Kentucky University and, of course, to rape our public pension system while he is at it.

The fine print on House Bill 299 from 2005 allows legislators to take state jobs for three years and draw a full pension for life.

I'm Pro-Choice On Education

As our children return to government monopoly school, it might be a good idea to read up on the spreading success of school choice in America.

It looks like Newt Gingrich is on the front lines in Detroit, but the same could be going on here.

Put Up Or, Well, You Know

Global warming alarmists must be excited Kentucky temperatures at an all-time high since 2005.

They can also make some money off your mantras with a contest that pays $100,000 to anyone who can prove man-made global warming.

Governor Fletcher Goes Left On Healthcare

I understand that Steve Beshear is a weak opponent who is talking himself out of the race with his slavish devotion to out-of-state casino owners. And I understand Governor Fletcher needs to expand his base to put Beshear away. But this latest promise from the Fletcher campaign is very disappointing:

The Governor will focus on expanding access to care for thousands of Kentuckians and will help every child in Kentucky to have health care coverage.

Unfortunately, every time government tries to equalize outcomes it winds up raising costs for all of us. I know no one in the Fletcher camp is listening, but taking care of our own kids would be much easier without the government doing so much to "help."

Beshear is still demonstrably worse on the issues, but this stuff is getting harder to swallow.

... And This Was Edited By One Of His Friends

Jack Conway seems pretty upset about his race against candidate for Attorney General Stan Lee. Pretty funny that the best he can come up with is that the Lexington Herald Leader editorial board doesn't like Rep. Lee.

Next week, Conway will report that the Courier Journal editors don't like him much either.



And after Conway's years of electoral frustration, I'd hate to see what kind of government Conway thinks the people of Kentucky "deserve."

Is Steve Beshear The Next Jennifer Granholm?

Steve Beshear is going to have a hard time getting through to November without doing a John Edwards and admitting that his agenda really means big tax increases.

And should he get elected, another interesting transformation would take place: when his gambling plan fails to gain support in the House or Senate, he will start a crying tour for higher taxes like Michigan's Jennifer Granholm is doing now.

Here's A Job For Liberal Blogger Union Thugs

Instead of standing by quietly while the left-wing Congress keeps voting to raise taxes and give the money to illegal aliens or push Americans young and old off their private health plans, soon-to-be unionized lefty bloggers should join the rest of us in fighting this:

Thank You For Gambling

Our son is packing to go to college next week. He is taking a $2500 KEES scholarship (lottery money) with him. He could go to University of Kentucky and pay $7096 in tuition, but he isn't going to do that. He is going to Georgia Tech, where tuition is only $4088.

Georgia has twice as many schools and twice as many students, while spending less than 70% more than Kentucky does on higher education.

So what is Kentucky doing with our money?

I'm grateful to the lottery ticket buyers of Kentucky for paying nearly all of my son's tuition, but sorry more Kentucky citizens don't demand better stewardship of our public education system.

Don't Just Stand There, Privatize Something!

Trusting government to continue maintaining our roads and bridges isn't a very good idea, according to a Wall Street Journal columnist.

Some objections to private ownership are simply cynical ploys by politicians looking to maintain their hold on public assets, especially since roads and bridges operated by transportation authorities are often job-patronage mills. Politicians from both parties in New Jersey railed against a recent study recommending leasing some of the state's toll roads, claiming such a deal would shortchange taxpayers. Of course, the state government is among the most bloated and costly for taxpayers in the country--and the Reason Foundation recently rated New Jersey roads worst in the nation. Yet the politicians worried that an auction, which could have raised some $20 billion for the fiscally challenged Garden State, might allow a private operator to take advantage of its citizens.

Unfortunately there are too many officials in both parties who are comfortable with the size of government and its continued expansion. What we really need is serious citizen activism to enforce a contraction of government's reach.