Thursday, June 12, 2008
Pins and needles
The federal grand jury considering the two year investigation of the Fayette County Detention Center inmate abuse scandal is working at this very minute and may be doling out some indictments at any time.
We aren't solving the pension crisis
We have been down this road before. Every time the projected growth of a government program is trimmed even the slightest amount, the "stakeholders" clinging to that government program scream bloody murder that people will die in the streets because of the cut.
The same thing is happening in reverse with Kentucky's public employee fringe benefits crisis, now $27 billion in an ever-deepening hole.
House Dems are talking now in terms of "saving" $500 million a year and "fully funding" the programs by 2025.
Don't be fooled. All they have agreed to do is "cut" the growth rate of the $27 billion hole that needs so desperately to be filled up. They aren't really cutting anything or saving anything, unless you really want to get excited about the possibility that in a few years things won't be quite as horrible as they will be if we do absolutely nothing.
The teachers union giving their stamp of approval to this agreement should have been a dead giveaway.
The same thing is happening in reverse with Kentucky's public employee fringe benefits crisis, now $27 billion in an ever-deepening hole.
House Dems are talking now in terms of "saving" $500 million a year and "fully funding" the programs by 2025.
Don't be fooled. All they have agreed to do is "cut" the growth rate of the $27 billion hole that needs so desperately to be filled up. They aren't really cutting anything or saving anything, unless you really want to get excited about the possibility that in a few years things won't be quite as horrible as they will be if we do absolutely nothing.
The teachers union giving their stamp of approval to this agreement should have been a dead giveaway.
No, state government websites weren't hacked
If you need to go on the legislature's websites this morning, you may be in for a little wait. Or it may be a long wait. No one knows for sure.
It seems BellSouth is having some technical problems. Just a quick taste of the technical problems state government is going to have waiting for 2025 when Speaker Jody Richards says the public pension systems will be fully funded.
It seems BellSouth is having some technical problems. Just a quick taste of the technical problems state government is going to have waiting for 2025 when Speaker Jody Richards says the public pension systems will be fully funded.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
No education in the second kick of Draud's mule
Education Commissioner Jon Draud could have avoided his whole tearful "I have sinned" moment today if only he had supported putting the education department's checkbook on the internet.
Bruce Lunsford knocks himself off message
Bruce Lunsford got a baptism by fire today when he forgot where he was, tried to cover it up, and then tried to blame it on Republicans.
First, he went to Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond:
Then, he got his story straight:
And then, after the Republican Party of Kentucky had a field day with the slip-up, Lunsford campaign spokeswoman Allison Haley tried to blame the whole thing on Republicans when she told the Lexington Herald Leader "their time would be better spent trying to address the energy crisis."
That's just it, though. While the Lunsford campaign thinks botching a photo-op at a gas station is going to change something, Republicans in Congress have been prevented by "environmental" zealots from expanding energy exploration.
Another thing: as fun as Lunsford's misstatements are, some of the things he has said on purpose have been even better. Like this and this.
First, he went to Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond:
Then, he got his story straight:
And then, after the Republican Party of Kentucky had a field day with the slip-up, Lunsford campaign spokeswoman Allison Haley tried to blame the whole thing on Republicans when she told the Lexington Herald Leader "their time would be better spent trying to address the energy crisis."
That's just it, though. While the Lunsford campaign thinks botching a photo-op at a gas station is going to change something, Republicans in Congress have been prevented by "environmental" zealots from expanding energy exploration.
Another thing: as fun as Lunsford's misstatements are, some of the things he has said on purpose have been even better. Like this and this.
Only one way to take away Jon Draud's fancy car
Education Commissioner Jon Draud has announced his study group on educational assessment. That's the CATS test Senate Republicans tried unsuccessfully to get rid of earlier this year. Draud is the arrogant SOB you are paying $220,000 to drive around in a luxurious car you bought for him. Your elected representatives voted to fatten his pension (HB 470). And this morning, you bought him a tankful of gas.
Blog readers may remember that we got rid of the last creep who came in here to blow smoke at us in the name of our children. I don't see how anyone can take Draud seriously to really address education issues at a time in which doing so couldn't be more important.
Do you?
Blog readers may remember that we got rid of the last creep who came in here to blow smoke at us in the name of our children. I don't see how anyone can take Draud seriously to really address education issues at a time in which doing so couldn't be more important.
Do you?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Pucker factor Thursday
This will drive the hater bureaucrats in Lexington crazy, but I'm hearing a lot of chatter around the Fayette County Detention Center about the first round of federal indictments coming down this Thursday.
After so many false alarms, I'm not exactly holding my breath. But after two years of investigation, getting the prosecution phase of this saga going would provide a welcome pressure release for the good guys. And an even more welcome punch to the gut of those who have lied, obstructed, and intimidated their way through life for way too long.
The pusillanimous FCDC Deputy Director Don Leach may have buried the latest sexual harassment complaint, but several employees who claim to have suffered his bullying for years are encouraged that the questioning of his various activities by officials seems rather precise.
After so many false alarms, I'm not exactly holding my breath. But after two years of investigation, getting the prosecution phase of this saga going would provide a welcome pressure release for the good guys. And an even more welcome punch to the gut of those who have lied, obstructed, and intimidated their way through life for way too long.
The pusillanimous FCDC Deputy Director Don Leach may have buried the latest sexual harassment complaint, but several employees who claim to have suffered his bullying for years are encouraged that the questioning of his various activities by officials seems rather precise.
Skippy can't dance
Gov. Steve Beshear may have missed the irony of putting the same guy who ran the KAPT program into the ground in charge of his study group for public employee pension reform.
But as the General Assembly moves toward to a special session for the purpose of putting a Band-Aid on the bloody mess, the possibility exists Jonathan Miller and Beshear could become accidental heroes for fiscal sanity.
The closer we get to insolvency of the fringe benefits systems, the more discretionary spending will get crowded out in favor of piles of cash for employees and retirees. Heck of a way to instill discipline, but with these guys it's surely our only shot.
But as the General Assembly moves toward to a special session for the purpose of putting a Band-Aid on the bloody mess, the possibility exists Jonathan Miller and Beshear could become accidental heroes for fiscal sanity.
The closer we get to insolvency of the fringe benefits systems, the more discretionary spending will get crowded out in favor of piles of cash for employees and retirees. Heck of a way to instill discipline, but with these guys it's surely our only shot.
Will Obama mess up KY's pension reform party?
The mainstream media is pretty excited to see the General Assembly, the teachers union, and other "stakeholders" join hands over their latest plan to tweak our way out of the $26 billion public employee fringe benefit disaster.
The reason for all the hand-holding and singing is that Frankfort is counting on President Barack Obama to implement a federal universal health insurance plan, thereby removing the states' responsibilities for employee health coverage. Since most of the actual problem with the "pension" mess is the opulent health insurance benefits given to public employees, we continue to celebrate official inaction.
Maybe President Obama will make corruption illegal in our public school systems so we won't have to worry about that, either.
The reason for all the hand-holding and singing is that Frankfort is counting on President Barack Obama to implement a federal universal health insurance plan, thereby removing the states' responsibilities for employee health coverage. Since most of the actual problem with the "pension" mess is the opulent health insurance benefits given to public employees, we continue to celebrate official inaction.
Maybe President Obama will make corruption illegal in our public school systems so we won't have to worry about that, either.
Anti-smoking Nazis ride north
County officials in Kenton, Campbell, and Boone counties are trying to spring public smoking bans on the people of their counties simultaneously this summer without much public discussion.
More evidence of tax dollars working to fool you
If you have kids in public schools in Kentucky, expect to see more nonsense over the next six years relating to school "testing" than you have ever seen in your life.
Here is why.
Here is why.
Help us rebuild Bluegrass Institute
The hacker who took down the Bluegrass Institute, it turns out, did a heck of a job.
After several false alarms that had us believing our sites might be coming back up at any moment, it is now clear that the old sites won't be up for at least another week, if at all.
So I have rebuilt the Institute's blog on my own. Please take a minute to check it out, leave a comment, and tell a friend.
We are working furiously to build a much stronger web presence and we will succeed to better pursue free-market policies and making Kentucky into the kind of place free people can live together more peacefully and prosperously. Thank you.
After several false alarms that had us believing our sites might be coming back up at any moment, it is now clear that the old sites won't be up for at least another week, if at all.
So I have rebuilt the Institute's blog on my own. Please take a minute to check it out, leave a comment, and tell a friend.
We are working furiously to build a much stronger web presence and we will succeed to better pursue free-market policies and making Kentucky into the kind of place free people can live together more peacefully and prosperously. Thank you.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Can't keep a good blog down
The Bluegrass Institute is making the most of a hacker attack to revamp it's entire web presence, but this afternoon the public policy group's blog is up with new content.
Readers of the Bluegrass Policy Blog will find the comments section much, much easier to use than it used to be. Check it out.
And as always, arguments from every side are greatly encouraged. Thanks.
Update: a blog poll on the new site brings up the question of how far we want transparency to go. Should government transparency include posting welfare payments to individuals on the internet for everyone to see?
Readers of the Bluegrass Policy Blog will find the comments section much, much easier to use than it used to be. Check it out.
And as always, arguments from every side are greatly encouraged. Thanks.
Update: a blog poll on the new site brings up the question of how far we want transparency to go. Should government transparency include posting welfare payments to individuals on the internet for everyone to see?
Hey Mayor Jerry, at least do a silly task force!
This really shouldn't be about politics.
Jefferson County Republican Party Chairman Brad Cummings said today Louisville should put it's spending information on the internet. The gesture is well-timed, but it is amazing that Mayor Jerry Abramson, a Democrat, should even have to be prodded a little bit, much less harassed by a local political figure, to do the right thing:
Page One has more.
Jefferson County Republican Party Chairman Brad Cummings said today Louisville should put it's spending information on the internet. The gesture is well-timed, but it is amazing that Mayor Jerry Abramson, a Democrat, should even have to be prodded a little bit, much less harassed by a local political figure, to do the right thing:
“The people of Louisville Metro deserve to see how their tax dollars are being spent through an online database that can be accessed through Google or any other search engine” Cummings said. “Secretary Trey Grayson has shown great leadership on this very important issue with Governor Steve Beshear recently proving to be a willing student of Trey’s vision. Our Mayor should sign up for the same class while seats are available.”
Page One has more.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Franklin County jail Sex Tax passes
Franklin County taxpayers get to dole out 4% pay increases for county employees next year, thanks to a Fiscal Court budget vote on Friday.
And the budget includes a levy similar to the old Spanish-American War tax which will pay off the rest of a $5million court settlement awarded to five women. They sued after being victimized sexually by a former Franklin County jailer.
Anyone care to guess whether the Franklin County Sex Tax will be repealed after paying off the court settlement?
And the budget includes a levy similar to the old Spanish-American War tax which will pay off the rest of a $5million court settlement awarded to five women. They sued after being victimized sexually by a former Franklin County jailer.
Anyone care to guess whether the Franklin County Sex Tax will be repealed after paying off the court settlement?
A great idea from across the aisle
Lexington blogger Ralph Long (he ran against Rep. Stan Lee in 2004) has a great idea for making state government more transparent. He says we should make public all expenditures on state credit cards. That's a good one.
Ralph also got a little rough with fellow Democrats Gov. Steve Beshear and Rep. Mike Cherry for coming late to the government transparency party.
Ralph is starting to sound like a right-wing blogger.
Ralph also got a little rough with fellow Democrats Gov. Steve Beshear and Rep. Mike Cherry for coming late to the government transparency party.
"Let’s give Steve Beshear credit for being able to steal a good idea... this is such a great idea, I think it is, then why did it die in the legislature and who killed it? I don’t know why this died, other than most of our legislators wouldn't know a good idea if it bit them in the ass, but the guy that killed this puppy was Mike Cherry."
Ralph is starting to sound like a right-wing blogger.
If we had lower taxes we might have more of this
While the state's major political parties were meeting this weekend, Walmart was actually doing some good.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Did you see this?
Making it harder for politicians to hide what they are doing with your money shouldn't be something we have to argue very hard for. Secretary of State Trey Grayson understands that and is leading the way. If you can get to Frankfort Monday morning and want to help wrest control of Kentucky's government from the hands of those who prefer to keep us in the dark, this is the place to be (click to expand):
Depends on your definition of success
The Lexington Herald Leader can be so funny sometimes.
Take today's editorial as an example. In it, the editors claim "real progress" in a national education report showing Kentucky's high school graduation rate was 71.6% in 2005.
Now all we need to do, they claim, is throw more money at the education bureaucrats who got us to this point. One minor problem with this is those same Kentucky bureaucrats just told us a week ago our graduation rate for 2005 was 82.86%.
In a sane world, the mainstream media would be all over this illusory 11%. But no, the best answer we get from our constitutionally-protected watchdogs is a whitewash, a guilt-trip, and some revisionist history:
Clearly, these people can't be trusted to address how much we are going to have to dumb-down the CATS tests over the next five years to come anywhere close to mandated proficiency goals.
Take today's editorial as an example. In it, the editors claim "real progress" in a national education report showing Kentucky's high school graduation rate was 71.6% in 2005.
Now all we need to do, they claim, is throw more money at the education bureaucrats who got us to this point. One minor problem with this is those same Kentucky bureaucrats just told us a week ago our graduation rate for 2005 was 82.86%.
In a sane world, the mainstream media would be all over this illusory 11%. But no, the best answer we get from our constitutionally-protected watchdogs is a whitewash, a guilt-trip, and some revisionist history:
"No one in Kentucky has an excuse to rest on laurels, especially when the state is eliminating and underfunding reforms that have worked."
Clearly, these people can't be trusted to address how much we are going to have to dumb-down the CATS tests over the next five years to come anywhere close to mandated proficiency goals.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Mainstream media waking up to transparency
The idea of making the government show us the public checkbook is catching fire.
WHAS Louisville reporter Mark Hebert has a post up this evening about Governor Steve Beshear trying to catch up to Secretary of State Trey Grayson on the transparency initiative promoted heavily by the Bluegrass Institute.
What's funny is this part:
That would be somewhat easier to believe if we didn't have two House bills (HB 105 and HB 769) earlier this year that could have gotten a huge boost with a kind word from the governor back then. Nevertheless, it is good that he seems to be getting on board now. Hope he doesn't spend too long studying it.
WHAS Louisville reporter Mark Hebert has a post up this evening about Governor Steve Beshear trying to catch up to Secretary of State Trey Grayson on the transparency initiative promoted heavily by the Bluegrass Institute.
What's funny is this part:
"Spokesman Dick Brown says the internet records transparency initiative has been in the works for some time and will fulfill a campaign promise made by Beshear."
That would be somewhat easier to believe if we didn't have two House bills (HB 105 and HB 769) earlier this year that could have gotten a huge boost with a kind word from the governor back then. Nevertheless, it is good that he seems to be getting on board now. Hope he doesn't spend too long studying it.
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