Beshear Is Re-Inventing His KY Central Role

The Courier-Journal reports on a minor dust-up between the Fletcher and Beshear camps about court records in the case of the defunct Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company.

Fletcher's campaign has criticized Beshear for fees of about $20 million paid to Beshear's former law firm, Stites & Harbison, for representing the state Department of Insurance in the complex litigation to recover money for policyholders, creditors and shareholders in the wake of the financial collapse of Kentucky Central in the 1990s.

Beshear and the firm say the state was charged rates far below what the firm charges private sector clients and that the firm did an excellent job in recovering money for policyholders and others from those whose actions contributed to the company's collapse.

The litigation wasn't nearly as "complex" as it was unnecessary. The company had already been raped and pillaged by insiders, but was still quite salvageable and would very likely still be operating today if Stites & Harbison hadn't taken the money and run. Beshear and some of his pals in the media have worked diligently to spin this sad tale as one of lawyers riding in on white horses to save the day. In truth, they were more like vultures who swooped in on their prey and, finding it still alive, they killed it.

The Fletcher folks are on to something here. I can only hope they will make something of it.

Economic Development Idea: Big Bread

Now that Kentucky taxpayers are going to be funding all these carbon capture-ready facilities, maybe we should start building bread factories as well.

California is running off a major bread manufacturer because baking bread gives off carbon dioxide.

Destroying Federal Property One Beer At A Time

If you are looking for one reason why socialized medicine won't work in America, look here.

Some British pols want to reward good health habits with extra benefits and strip National Health Service access from those with bad health habits:

But heavy smokers, the obese and binge drinkers who were a drain on the NHS could be denied some routine treatments such as hip replacements until they cleaned up their act.

Those who abused the system - by calling an ambulance when a trip to the GP would be sufficient, or telephoning out of hours with needless queries - could also be penalised.

Beating The Casino Gambling Horse To Death

I understand the strategy of keeping the gubernatorial race on casino gambling. But the lack of issue discussion in this race is driving me crazy.

The most important long-term issues in the state are education and economic development and the most pressing immediate issue is the public pension/health insurance unfunded liability.

We have real problems demanding real solutions. But we won't be getting any of those this fall.

Thinking Before We Double Expenditures

There are two Kentucky bills coming up in January, HB 12 and HB 22, to double the dollar amount of Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarships awards. The KEES awards already incentivize taking less challenging courses. Before we just throw more money, we should cut out all awards for students with GPAs of lower than 3.0 and pay more for accelerated courses. We should also put more emphasis on ACT scores. Currently, students who get as low as a 15 on the ACT get a supplemental award to their KEES award ranging from $36 a year for a 15 to $500 a year for a 28. As high as our drop-out rate is already, it makes no sense to subsidize ACT scores or grade records of students who demonstrate a very high likelihood of dropping out, such as those who score below a 21 on the ACT. Maybe we could cut off more kids who graduate high school with poor records and then give them higher awards later if they gain a degree from a community college. Similarly, we could lower awards for some students with mediocre records in high school but increase those awards for good results in college.

School has started and the KEES awards are going out to colleges. Now is the time to have a real discussion about how we spend these dollars.

On The Bus To Go See Fred Thompson

Thanks to Mark Hebert for the link about the Kentucky bus caravan to the Fred Thompson rally Saturday, September 15, in Lawrenceburg, TN.

It's a quick trip down Saturday, coming back late the same night.

There is no charge for riding the bus.

Anyone who wants to come or just wants more details as they are made available, please email me at kyprogress@yahoo.com.

More Mess In Transportation Cabinet

The braintrust running the state Transportation cabinet has cooked up another fine mess and they are just about to jump into the soup and pull the lid down over their heads.

Rumors have been swirling the last few weeks about lawsuits against the Fletcher administration from Transportation Cabinet employees and those rumors are about to be proven true.

It seems Cabinet officials are selectively enforcing internet usage rules -- and utilizing a special brand of fuzzy math along the way -- against certain staff attorneys and threatening disciplinary actions.

Bad idea.

A few people with more power than brains are doing things in the name of Ernie Fletcher that will not work out well for them. Or him.

American Cancer Society Needs More Dead People

Last week we learned China is crediting its forced government abortion program with slowing global warming because dead Chinese babies don't have a carbon footprint.

And now we learn the American Cancer Society is going to blow its entire annual marketing budget pushing Hillary Clinton's socialized medicine program. The Cancer Society's CEO even claims lack of access to the American healthcare system might soon become a "bigger cancer killer than tobacco."

Given U.S. Census Bureau statistics released last week showing the rate of uninsured Americans hasn't changed since Hillary hid the Rose Law Firm billing records in the White House, we can only assume ACS is talking about cutting the population.

The only question then is to figure out if the American Cancer Society is talking about euthanasia (which is what we get with rationed, socialized medicine) or Chinese-style abortion.

Poverty Is A Great Motivator

An editorial about "poor kids" in the Lexington Herald Leader this morning is thought-provoking.

I have some things to say about it, but that will have to wait until after church.

Your thoughts?

Kentuckians For Fred Road Trip

A group of Fred Thompson supporters will rent a bus Saturday, September 15 in Louisville to head down to Lawrenceburg, Tennessee for a rally with the presidential candidate. They have room for a few more Kentuckians.

E-mail me at kyprogress(at)yahoo.com for details.

Kentucky Needs Entrepreneurs

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Bush Bites On Universal Housecare

President Bush just couldn't miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity to stand up for the free market today.

The official said Bush will direct Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson to work on an initiative to help troubled mortgage holders get services and products they need to keep them from defaulting on their loans. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the initiatives ahead of the presidential event.

Bush also planned to:

• Urge Congress to pass Federal Housing Administration overhaul legislation that would give the FHA more flexibility in assisting mortgage holders with subprime mortgages.

• Pledge to work with Congress to reform the tax code to help troubled borrowers rework their loans.

• Call for rigorously enforcing predatory lending laws and strengthening lending practices.

Why is anyone going to bother getting and keeping anything on their own when they will surely soon see a government program to "help" them get or keep it?

The Full-Court Press For Lexington's Blue Laws

Pastor Jeff Fugate of Lexington's Clays Mill Road Baptist Church plans to go on radio and television to convince Lexingtonians not to allow full-fledged Sunday alcohol sales in their city.

The Lexington city council is expected to vote September 13 to allow anyone with a liquor license to sell alcohol on Sundays. Currently, limited alcohol sales are available on Sunday only in certain large restaurants.

Pastor Fugate is also putting together a rally against Sunday alcohol sales.

China: We're Killing Babies To Stop Climate Change

Chinese authorities claimed today they have done their part to cut back on man-made climate change by aborting 300 million babies.

No, I'm not kidding.

China, which rejects criticism that it is doing too little to confront climate change, says that its population is now 1.3 billion against 1.6 billion if it had not imposed tough birth control measures in the late 1970s.

The number of births avoided equals the entire population of the United States. Beijing says that fewer people means less demand for energy and lower emissions of heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels.

"This is only an illustration of the actions we have taken," said Su Wei, a senior Foreign Ministry official heading China's delegation to the 158-nation talks from Aug 27-31.

He told Reuters that Beijing was not arguing that its policy was a model for others to follow in a global drive to avert ever more chaotic weather patterns, droughts, floods, erosion and rising ocean levels.

But avoiding 300 million births "means we averted 1.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2005" based on average world per capital emissions of 4.2 tonnes, he said.

Pro-abortion global warming zealots in this country should have to choose sides on this one.

Welfare For Politicians Is Back

Steve Beshear is showing no signs of running away from his support for taxpayer-financed gubernatorial campaigns.

Beshear Spends More Money We Don't Have

In his latest commercial, Steve Beshear promises to spend state money on health insurance for children and prescription drugs for senior citizens. He will have to get that money from the casinos he is going to get passed whether the legislature goes along or not.

The more he talks, the more Beshear cedes the high ground and proves himself to be a politician who will say anything to get elected.

Who Do You Want To Beat Hillary Clinton With?

Inconvenient Truth About Health Insurance

Media accounts of the U.S. Census Bureau's report of health insurance and poverty in America were not responsible for the wild swings in the Dow Jones Industrial Average this week, but you might be forgiven for thinking so.

The New York Times sobbed yesterday:

The bureau reported a large increase in the number of Americans who lack health insurance, data that ought to send an unmistakable message to Washington: vigorous action is needed to reverse this alarming and intractable trend.

Interestingly, the Club for Growth responded with the opposite diagnosis and prescription:

Of course, Hillary Clinton and her cronies fail to mention that of the 2.2 million people who became uninsured in 2006, 1.4 million, or 64%, had a household income of $75,000 or higher. In other words, an overwhelming majority of the newly uninsured can afford health insurance but are making the choice to forgo insurance because they believe it is not worth the expense.

“The conclusion to draw from this statistic is not socialized medicine,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey, “but the need to deregulate healthcare in this country and make health insurance more affordable. One of the best ways to do this is by passing Rep. John Shadegg’s Healthcare Choice Act, allowing insurance companies to comply with any one state’s regulatory regime and sell to individuals in all 50 states. Healthcare in this country is so overregulated and expensive, some states, like Washington, require health insurance companies to cover such crucial procedures as acupuncture, chiropractors, and massage therapy. It’s no wonder more Americans are choosing not to purchase state-mandated luxury health insurance policies.”

In much the same way government-control proponents argue we need to run up taxes on gasoline because it is hot outside, they want us to believe that we need to dismantle our health insurance markets and turn everyone over to the government because a growing chunk of the upper-middle class is deciding to flee the over-regulated, over-priced health insurance markets.

The facts clearly indicate the poor in America are gaining insurance coverage rapidly and the middle class would benefit from deregulation, not a government takeover.

Would You Hire This Train Wreck?

Fayette County Detention Center Director Ron Bishop is trying to weasel his way out of paying $832,000 in jury verdicts awarded against him last year for violations of Kentucky's Civil Rights Act, retaliation, and racial discrimination.

The lawsuits came as a result of some of his illegal activites in the 1990's while he was Director of the Jefferson County jail.

Meanwhile, Bishop is facing similar charges here in Lexington and is, predictably, trying to escape to another job in yet another city.

The Myth Of Skyrocketing Uninsured Rates

Much like the failed War on Poverty, which has spent $11 trillion on itself without having any impact, the War on lack of health insurance is going nowhere fast.

Time to throw more money at it, say government gurus from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to Steve Beshear and Daniel Mongiardo.

A chart from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that since its 1997 start the Clinton SCHIP boondoggle has had no impact on the rate of uninsured in this country.

So, of course, the House of Representatives wants to throw another $50 billion in to speed things up.

And then there is this late-breaking news from the CATO Institute regarding government efficiency in SCHIP:

According to a cost estimate released by the Congressional Budget Office last Friday, the Senate-passed legislation expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program would enroll an additional 6.1 million children in SCHIP and Medicaid. However, 2.1 million would lose their private health insurance. So while the legislation would provide government-run health care to 6.1 million children, it would reduce the number of uninsured children by only 4 million.

That’s government efficiency for you: extending health insurance to two children for the price of three!