It's the reckless spending

Decide to do more

The splash made by yesterday's Tea Parties will mean nothing if we don't soon start planning more such events.

An easy next step, of course, is Saturday's Bluegrass Tax Liberation Day in Lexington.

But to continue to build support for smaller, more efficient, and less intrusive government, we need a game plan for May. And it doesn't have to bear any resemblance to the strategies employed in March or April.

Changing the name of the events may even be a good idea, if only to frustrate a weird point of attack by opponents. The most important points are that a grassroots movement won't build itself and if we don't build bigger and better events, we prove them right.

One idea: holding discussions based on educating friends and formulating strategy on a single issue. My first effort along these lines is an April 23 discussion on school choice at Lexington's Inn on Broadway.

If you'd like to attend, please see my contact information at the top of this page.

Thanks, but no thanks, Congressman

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, a Congressman from Texas, weighed in on the Tax Day Tea Parties with the following statement:

"Today, millions of Americans are gathering at Tea Parties to stand up to higher taxes and out-of-control government spending. There is no better day than Tax Day to exercise our fundamental beliefs, particularly when it comes to the issue of government-forced payment. Liberty and freedom are values that our country was founded on, and Republicans in Congress will stand alongside those who demand a government that is accountable to its people. Those who dismiss this phenomenon as anything other than a grassroots revolt are the same people who have no problem taxing and spending other people’s hard-earned money under the guise of 'fairness.' The anger and frustration toward Washington politicians are a result of arrogance and disinterest in listening to the voters who elected them. While individuals like Tim Geithner, Charlie Rangel and a whole host of Democrat 'leaders' have been promoted despite egregious attempts to dodge the IRS, it should come as no surprise that honest taxpaying citizens feel the need to speak out."

I'm not buying it.

Since Rep. Sessions voted for the original bank bailout, he should know that we don't need his help.

Louisville Tea Party coverage

Fox 41 in Louisville did a good report on their city's event.

Click here to watch it.

CJ tactics take a turn for the worse

The last few weeks I have seen left-wing writers go from dismissive to beyond vulgar in their description of those of us who don't like our politicians' power growing by taking more of our money and giving it to their big donor groups with failed business models.

I'm talking, of course, about the Tea Party movement. Until a friend filled me in yesterday, I never thought of a tea bag as anything other than something with which to make tea. Turns out another use for the term "teabag" is as a verb; a rather homoerotic verb. Check out Urban Dictionary if you have to, but you will probably be sorry you did.

Anyway, the Louisville Courier Journal got in on the fun today, referring to "the anti-tax set's tea party and teabag talk."

My question: did a 250 word editorial really need to add "and teabag" to make clear the disdain they feel for people who disagree with them? Is the Courier Journal editorial board calling people who participate in Tea Parties homosexuals or are they trying to make some other kind of statement about what they think we do in the privacy of our bedrooms?

If the Louisville Courier Journal wanted to have a serious discussion about governmental functions, I would welcome it. If, at the very least, they intend to portray more than a flair for odious bathroom references, the editors should apologize for this latest offense.

Still not minding the store in Lexington

Disgraced former Lexington jail administrator Don Leach has been given permission by Director Ron Bishop to take three FCDC passenger vans on a five-day road trip to Louisville later this month.

How did you fit that into the budget, Mayor Newberry?

Pres. Barack Obama doesn't hear you yet

Here's the latest from the Teleprompter-in-Chief:

"To begin with, economists on both the left and right agree that the last thing a government should do in the middle of a recession is to cut back on spending. You see, when this recession began, many families sat around their kitchen table and tried to figure out where they could cut back. So do many businesses. That is a completely responsible and understandable reaction. But if every family in America cuts back, then no one is spending any money, which means there are more layoffs, and the economy gets even worse. That’s why the government has to step in and temporarily boost spending in order to stimulate demand. And that’s exactly what we’re doing right now."

This rationale for expanding government spending would only make sense if bureaucrats knew where economic equilibrium belonged all the time and knew how to get it there. Since they don't and can't, Obama's logic doesn't hold up.

Further, since Obama doesn't know where equilibrium is or how to get it any place in particular while he continues to insist on wasting our money trying to figure it out, we should probably all get together and talk about what we are going to do next.

How about Saturday in Lexington?

Awesome Tax Day video

Please watch and share this video by Kentuckian Caleb Brown.

Pot v. Kettle

Kentucky Republicans are really going to have to do more than just say they are different.

Save money by axing Kentucky Treasurer

One funny part of Pat Crowley's recent profile of state Sen. Damon Thayer suggests Thayer may run for Treasurer in 2011.

Sen. Thayer is not going to run for the do-nothing Treasurer's office. He filed the bill in 2008 to shut down the office to save money.

Thayer's no-nonsense style might be an interesting fit for an Auditor's office traditionally misused as a political weapon, though.

Is honest transparency a political winner?

It's too early to tell what Gov. Steve Beshear's cynical approach to government spending transparency will cost him politically. Conventional wisdom certainly would suggest that simple lack of awareness will continue to allow him to get away with yet another broken campaign promise.

But if really Louisville rolls out a taxpayer's checkbook web site this summer that shows where the money is going and Beshear continues the shucking and jiving, the stark contrast might attract attention.

If Councilman Ken Fleming's obvious pride in leading Louisville toward openness and better taxpayer service is any indication, this issue isn't going away.

What happens when everything is a casino?

West Virginia's legislature on Friday sent a bill to their governor that would expand casino dependency past race tracks and on to a bankrupt resort in order to "save" it.

How long till they set up casinos at all the libraries and DMV offices to fund them? Is this getting a little ridiculous for anyone yet?

Rolling through Richmond

Thanks to everyone who participated in a great Tea Party event in Richmond on Saturday!

I'll be back in Madison County on Wednesday, April 15 and in Fayette County the same day to speak to mid-day courthouse crowds. Hope to see you there.

Thanks to the Richmond Register!

It's great to see the Richmond Register newspaper promoting today's Tea Party in Richmond.

Leland Conway speaks to GOP breakfast

Since LBJ declared war on poverty in the 1960's we have spent more than $12 trillion on that effort and have seen the number of people in poverty increase."

"Ignorance is not the same thing as stupidity. Most people think like we do, they just don't know it."

"I think Americans by and large still believe in a culture of life and liberty."

"On Wednesday we will have another Tea Party downtown in Lexington and next Saturday we will have another one at Applebee's Ball Park. Some people are saying 'I thought they already had one in Lexington.' We did. And we will have another and another and and another and another until the politicians in Frankfort and Washington D.C. get the message."

"I believe in the depths of my soul this nation has a special purpose and that purpose is Liberty."

"Our nation was not meant to go down in socialism."

Stan Lee speaks about 2009 General Assembly

"In the midst of a recession, we voted to raise taxes on Kentuckians nearly $300 million."

"We passed a $1.2 billion road plan with over $600 million in new debt."

Rep. Lee mentioned that repealing prevailing wage would have saved the state "more than $120 million a year."

Said SB 1 was the most important bill passed in the General Assembly.

"We came back to Frankfort in June of 2008 to fix the problem of pensions. Then just a few months later we backed off of the little bit of good that we did in that Special Session."

"All the businesses who said 'stick it to alcohol and tobacco,' your business is next because we're coming back in June."

How media misreports government overspending

The state reported Friday morning that General Fund revenues are higher for March and for the first nine months of the current fiscal year.

That would seem to contradict the politicians' claims of revenue shortfall, wouldn't it? Well, you'd never get the idea that spending to much (rather than taxing us too little) is the problem if you depend on the Lexington Herald Leader and Louisville Courier Journal for your news.






Seeing words like "no growth" and "flat," one might get the mistaken impression that revenues have not continued to climb.

Try instead the Bluegrass Policy Blog, which got it right and even did the math for you. Click here to read the story on the Bluegrass Policy Blog.

Taking Richmond by storm

The Richmond Tea Party for Saturday, April 11, is all set. Should be a great time. Details are here. Check back for video coverage.

I am convinced that the key to these events is setting them up two at a time and to always be promoting the next event. A follow-up to Saturday's Richmond Tea Party will come next Wednesday, April 15 at noon at the Madison County courthouse.

Local political figures Kent Clark, Ed Worley, and Harry Moberly are NOT expected to attend.

Irony escapes another industry in transition

The Radio-Television News Directors Association gave WHAS11 in Louisville its prestigious Edward R. Murrow Investigative Reporting Award for covering a story we all read about first and best on PageOneKentucky blog.

Hoping for better from Karem

After failing to place a top teachers union official on the state school board last month, Gov. Steve Beshear appointed Thursday one of the authors of the Kentucky Education Reform Act, former Sen. David Karem.

With the end of CATS testing, Kentucky is headed in a new direction toward greater accountability in our schools. Hope Karem works with us and not against us.