We're Off To A Bad Start With Promise Grants

Well, that didn't take long.

Friday, Congress passed an anti-accountability bill for college students and by the next day Eastern Kentucky University took its place in line for the gravy train.

RICHMOND, Ky. (AP) -- Eastern Kentucky University officials have revealed a plan to boost enrollment by nearly 5,000 by the year 2020.

The board of regents discussed the "20K2020" plan on Saturday afternoon.

Given our high failure rate for students in our state colleges, it makes little sense to merely throw more money and more students at the same system. Congress is dismantling the student loan system that requires families to consider college costs and replacing it with a massive federal grant program that just needs bodies.

In Kentucky, too many of those bodies are graduating high school unprepared for college work.

It is understandable that a college like EKU would respond to this set of circumstances by making room for thousands more federally-funded students.

But before we bond the billions of dollars necessary to expand our state schools for the coming flood of remedial students, we need to consider the costs to our higher education system when they drop out.

Kentucky Must React To Promise Grants

The U.S. House and Senate passed a higher education spending bill Friday that requires an immediate response from Frankfort.

It is the largest higher education spending bill since the G.I. Bill. And it all goes to finance a trip to college for students whose main qualification is financial need.

As soon as President Bush signs this bill, Kentucky must shift all its resources from need-based aid to merit-based aid and raise the standards on merit-based aid. Doing this may help keep middle-class families from being shut out of a college education merely because they have some ability to pay for it.

There are several party line-type criticisms I could make about this bill as there are some serious unintended consequences in it that liberals often seem to fall for. But there is no time for that. President Bush has said he will sign the bill.

A massive shift in state financial aid may be critical to the survival of our state colleges.

Cato/Goldwater Saturday

NewsFlash: Socialized Medicine Not A Panacea

It seems RomneyCare isn't meeting everyone's expectations.

"That is discrimination," said Evelyn Hartrey, a 60-year-old who found that the least-expensive plan would cost her $352 a month, while a 27-year-old would pay $176 for the same coverage.

Apparently some people thought the new law would somehow repeal all forms of reality. Of course, we can expect it to work differently in Kentucky.

What's Six Million Dollars Between Friends?

Looks like we are about to pay EDS $33.2 million over the next five years to set up an automated income tax payment system. If the state government chooses not to pick up the last two option years of the contract, the cost would be $23.4 million over three years.

The primary benefit of this deal seems to be that taxpayers could file state taxes online.

11:38 UPDATE: The Finance and Administration Cabinet is now disputing the amount of the five year contract EDS is giving out. According to spokesperson Jill Midkiff, it is $27 million instead of $33.2 million.

11:53 UPDATE: EDS spokesman Brad Bass said the Commonwealth of Kentucky approved the press release with the $33.2 million figure, but that he will double-check it.

5:24 UPDATE: Mr. Bass from EDS says it appears the company may have erred in its press release, but that he would call back when he had details.

The Finance and Administration Cabinet released the following statement: "The Comprehensive Tax System (CTS) will provide much more than electronic filing for taxpayers. The long-term goal of CTS is to replace all of our existing systems with a system that uses new technology that is easier to maintain, more cost effective, user and taxpayer friendly, and will better prepare the Department of Revenue for technological advances in the future. The purpose of CTS is to provide the Finance and Administration Cabinet the means to enhance the administration and collection of revenues using optimal processes and technology to benefit the citizens of the Commonwealth."

5:38 UPDATE: Mr. Bass from EDS called back to confirm the company was indeed wrong to claim the contract was worth $33.2 million over five years and would actually only be worth that much if the service agreement were to run for nine years. Otherwise, the state was right to claim that the five year contract is for $27 million. Which gets me back to my original question: "Is it worth the money?" For that, they will get back to me on Monday. Stay tuned.

A Very Bad Traffic Day

Next Tuesday afternoon on Main Street in Lexington around 4 pm won't be a very good time or place to be driving. That is because hundreds of people will be standing outside City Hall in support of maintaining local blue laws.

The Lexington city council is expected to vote next week to remove the remaining prohibitions of Sunday alcohol sales.

Two Buses For Fred Update

The unofficial effort to send two busloads of Kentuckians down to Tennessee to see Fred Thompson on Septempber 15 now officially has two buses, rented this morning.

On Saturday the 15th, one bus will leave from Lexington and one will leave from Louisville. Both buses will return late Saturday evening.

If you can definitely make the trip, let me know at kyprogress(at)yahoo.com.

Fletcher Campaign Calls Stumbo's Bluff

Good move.

Will AG Stumbo really sue to force a couple of political appointees to change their party registration from Republican to Democrat?

Don't you have more important things to do with the end of your political career, Greg? I thought you were busy running for U.S. Senate to give Hillary Clinton one more vote for partial birth abortion, giving our country away one taxpayer-provided doctor visit at a time, and teaching Mexicans how to live like welfare queens.

Protest Like A Pervert

Leave it to Che Guevara wannabe Daily Kos to suggest if only Senate Democrats were more like Sen. Larry Craig, they could surrender the war faster.

Gee, much of the public favors a withdrawal from Iraq. Who knew? Apparently not "some Democrats" in the Senate. I guess it takes a Republican like Larry Craig to see and know how to exploit the weakness in the GOP caucus. He's putting the Dems to shame.

I guess that means the Iraq ball is now in Speaker Pelosi's court.

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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