Kentucky has already budgeted more money for implementing ObamaCare than any other state but New York. Governor Beshear has been working behind the scenes to set up an ObamaCare health insurance exchange in Kentucky while most people are distracted by the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the ObamaCare mandate.
If he is not reversed quickly, Beshear will be able to run ObamaCare in Kentucky even if the federal law is overturned by the Supreme Court.
The legislature has failed to stop him. We must do it and the time is now.
On Monday, May 7 in Frankfort, the Beshear administration is holding a public meeting about the future of ObamaCare in Kentucky. As many of us as possible must attend. The Beshear Administration tried to keep this meeting quiet; the idea was to bus their people in and make it look like everyone loves ObamaCare. If you can make it at 1pm on Monday to 200 Mero Street in Frankfort (Transportation Cabinet Building Auditorium C105), please come. Even if you can't attend, please spread this invitation as widely as you can.
Saturday, May 05, 2012
Friday, May 04, 2012
Printing (or cutting) what doesn't "fit"
From the Associated Press (Printed in the Bowling Green Daily News):
Beshear's announcement raised concerns in Kentucky among opponents of the federal care reforms.
Tea party activist David Adams said Kentucky shouldn't have accepted the federal grants, and that Kentuckians should be outraged that Beshear has been working behind the scenes to plan the health insurance exchange.
"This is the most important thing state government will do to us this year," he said.
It's noteworthy that the Lexington Herald Leader chopped this off the online version of this story.
And here is my original statement:
| "If the legislature had any guts they would have prohibited Governor Beshear from spending even a penny setting up the enforcement bureaucracy for ObamaCare. They don't need to have meetings to discuss how great socialized medicine is going to be in Kentucky; they should have already sent the $60 million in federal funds back to Obama. The way the federal law is written, we can ignore ObamaCare mandates if we just refuse to set up an exchange. The purpose of the exchange is to blame the insurance companies and go straight to single-payer when the whole thing proves disastrous. They have to schedule this thing during the day so we can't get a crowd there, but this is the most important thing state government will do to us this year. If you thought the failed General Assemby session was bad, this is Armageddon." David Adams |
Thursday, May 03, 2012
Steve Beshear comes out of closet on May 7
Kentucky will be Ground Zero of the national battle against ObamaCare on Monday, May 7 in Frankfort when Beshear administration officials forcing us into government-controlled healthcare will hold an open meeting in Frankfort to discuss their progress.
Though some reports have been online and the state budget gives Beshear free rein to ram ObamaCare down our throats, this is his first time publicly admitting his involvement in this disaster.
The meeting will be held at 1pm ET in the auditorium (C105) at the Transportation Cabinet in Frankfort, 200 Mero Street. Beshear has continued to insist, despite the evidence, that he is not setting up an ObamaCare health insurance exchange -- the state enforcement bureaucracy for socialized medicine.
Kentucky has already budgeted more ObamaCare spending than any other state in the nation besides New York.
If you care about stopping ObamaCare and can make it on Monday, you won't want to miss this.
Though some reports have been online and the state budget gives Beshear free rein to ram ObamaCare down our throats, this is his first time publicly admitting his involvement in this disaster.
The meeting will be held at 1pm ET in the auditorium (C105) at the Transportation Cabinet in Frankfort, 200 Mero Street. Beshear has continued to insist, despite the evidence, that he is not setting up an ObamaCare health insurance exchange -- the state enforcement bureaucracy for socialized medicine.
Kentucky has already budgeted more ObamaCare spending than any other state in the nation besides New York.
If you care about stopping ObamaCare and can make it on Monday, you won't want to miss this.
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Who are Kentucky's Tea Party candidates?
In an email this morning, Louisville Courier Journal political writer Joe Gerth asked me who the Tea Party candidates are running in the state House and Senate this year. Below is my response. What's yours?
"Good question. I think it's a 'many are called, few are chosen' kind of thing. I hope they all wind up supporting tea party principles, but for now they are mostly running their own races. I hope voters ask the candidates where they all stand on tea party issues and why. Our state officials have underfunded state employee benefits for so long we have about three years left before we won't be able to pay benefits out of KRS funds. That's a tea party issue because taxpayers will be on the hook, but the establishment figures won't even talk about it. Our elected officials have left the door wide open for Obama and Beshear to destroy healthcare in Kentucky with a federally-controlled but state "run" health insurance exchange. Only a handful of candidates have pledged never to raise taxes. I think the candidates who will talk directly to these issues and keep talking about them will be the tea party candidates." |
Monday, April 30, 2012
Bob Damron has a Campaign for Liberty problem
Kentucky state Representative Bob Damron (D-Nicholasville) is one of only two Democrats in the General Assembly who completed a Campaign for Liberty survey with 100% affirmative answers.
He might have a problem or two with that.
Interested voters who haven't already written off Damron for bad votes might want to ask him which federal official he wants to arrest first.
Question 4 on the survey asks if the candidate would support nullifying ObamaCare and "authorize state and local law enforcement to arrest federal officials attempting to implement the unconstitutional health care scheme."
Damron answered that he would do these things. I would like to see him say that on camera.
While he could certainly claim that he would take this approach to stopping ObamaCare since the opportunity has never come up, question 7 is a different story.
Question 7 asks "Do you oppose taking federal money to create a state health insurance exchange?" Kentucky has taken more federal money for this purpose than any other state except for New York. Damron has been there through the entire ordeal and has never objected once.
He might have a problem or two with that.
Interested voters who haven't already written off Damron for bad votes might want to ask him which federal official he wants to arrest first.
Question 4 on the survey asks if the candidate would support nullifying ObamaCare and "authorize state and local law enforcement to arrest federal officials attempting to implement the unconstitutional health care scheme."
Damron answered that he would do these things. I would like to see him say that on camera.
While he could certainly claim that he would take this approach to stopping ObamaCare since the opportunity has never come up, question 7 is a different story.
Question 7 asks "Do you oppose taking federal money to create a state health insurance exchange?" Kentucky has taken more federal money for this purpose than any other state except for New York. Damron has been there through the entire ordeal and has never objected once.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Steve Beshear hiding latest ObamaCare plans
Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services officials are sitting on at least two periodic reports detailing state implementation of ObamaCare.
The most recent Health Benefit Exchange Planning Grant quarter report made public on the state's Division of Certificate of Need is dated July 15, 2011.
Kentucky has budgeted more money for setting up the state bureaucracy for ObamaCare implementation than any state other than New York.
The most recent Health Benefit Exchange Planning Grant quarter report made public on the state's Division of Certificate of Need is dated July 15, 2011.
Kentucky has budgeted more money for setting up the state bureaucracy for ObamaCare implementation than any state other than New York.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Kentucky paints itself into ObamaCare corner
A little-noticed provision in Kentucky's 2012 budget bill exposes a problem to be faced by states dumb enough to enact any part of ObamaCare.
Section 10 on page 296 of Kentucky's HB 265 would enable Kentucky to set up a state health insurance purchasing compact with contiguous states to allow for cross-border buys of health coverage.
Kentucky is actively setting up ObamaCare and is in the process of spending more than any other state in the nation other than New York on ObamaCare.
Kentucky has seven contiguous neighbors. Six of them have expressed an interest in a similar purchasing compact with their neighboring states. Of those six, five have taken specific legislative steps to protect themselves from at least one element of ObamaCare. They would have nothing to gain by combining with Kentucky on health insurance starting in 2014, when ObamaCare kicks in.
That leaves Kentucky and West Virginia, two ObamaCare states, to set up a multi-state health insurance purchasing compact. The way to avoid becoming an ObamaCare state is to avoid setting up a state-run health insurance exchange. Kentucky is too far into that process, with the legislature enabling and Governor Beshear expected to issue an executive order after the elections in November. Even a favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling later this year may not prevent that from happening if the individual mandate is invalidated but the rest of the law survives.
Our fearless leaders should have at least tried to avoid the insurance exchange trap when they had the chance.
Section 10 on page 296 of Kentucky's HB 265 would enable Kentucky to set up a state health insurance purchasing compact with contiguous states to allow for cross-border buys of health coverage.
Kentucky is actively setting up ObamaCare and is in the process of spending more than any other state in the nation other than New York on ObamaCare.
Kentucky has seven contiguous neighbors. Six of them have expressed an interest in a similar purchasing compact with their neighboring states. Of those six, five have taken specific legislative steps to protect themselves from at least one element of ObamaCare. They would have nothing to gain by combining with Kentucky on health insurance starting in 2014, when ObamaCare kicks in.
That leaves Kentucky and West Virginia, two ObamaCare states, to set up a multi-state health insurance purchasing compact. The way to avoid becoming an ObamaCare state is to avoid setting up a state-run health insurance exchange. Kentucky is too far into that process, with the legislature enabling and Governor Beshear expected to issue an executive order after the elections in November. Even a favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling later this year may not prevent that from happening if the individual mandate is invalidated but the rest of the law survives.
Our fearless leaders should have at least tried to avoid the insurance exchange trap when they had the chance.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Beshear slams shut bogus "Open Door"
After the Tea Party shifted Frankfort's discussion in 2012 toward the massive accumulation of debt in state government, two weeks ago we noticed Beshear had scrubbed state sites of significant data related to that debt.
It never occurred to me to check out the silly, but award-winning state transparency site but when I did, I found the state's vaunted Open Door has been closed.
If you click here and look at "Kentucky's Transparency Portal," the link labeled "State Debt Report" takes you to an error message.
Might be an interesting news story for some intrepid Frankfort reporter. No doubt if Governor Ernie Fletcher had tried this he would already have been drawn and quartered.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Would Missouri jail Kentucky lawmakers?
Missouri's state Senate is considering a bill -- already passed by the state House -- to make it a crime to help set up ObamaCare in that state. Kentucky's General Assembly just voted to spend $50 million to help set up ObamaCare in Kentucky.
And the really good news is the politicians prosecuted under this law wouldn't be subject to the Steve Nunn Exception and could lose their government pensions.
In all seriousness, Kentucky should return every dime of federal ObamaCare money and follow Missouri's lead in fighting against it. Granted, we would need more Republicans to go that far, but we should have had plenty to avoid getting in deeper than any state other than New York.
And the really good news is the politicians prosecuted under this law wouldn't be subject to the Steve Nunn Exception and could lose their government pensions.
In all seriousness, Kentucky should return every dime of federal ObamaCare money and follow Missouri's lead in fighting against it. Granted, we would need more Republicans to go that far, but we should have had plenty to avoid getting in deeper than any state other than New York.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Legislative pension issue enters KY primary
One issue gaining traction this year in Kentucky legislative races is whether or not a candidate will accept a pension for serving in the legislature. It has finally become a point of contention in a Republican primary in Lexington's 76th state House district.
Richard Marrs is a conservative Republican who ran in this district in 2010 against Democratic Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo. Marrs holds the distinction in Kentucky of being the only House candidate for whom then-candidate Rand Paul campaigned by knocking on doors in his neighborhood. Marrs has pledged to reject a legislative pension if he is elected.
Marrs' opponent, Lavinia Theodoli Spirito, is taking the opposite approach by saying she will not refuse a pension.
In what might be a competitive race between conservative Richard Marrs and his opponent Lavinia Theodoli Spirito, this could be a defining issue.
Richard Marrs is a conservative Republican who ran in this district in 2010 against Democratic Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo. Marrs holds the distinction in Kentucky of being the only House candidate for whom then-candidate Rand Paul campaigned by knocking on doors in his neighborhood. Marrs has pledged to reject a legislative pension if he is elected.
Marrs' opponent, Lavinia Theodoli Spirito, is taking the opposite approach by saying she will not refuse a pension.
In what might be a competitive race between conservative Richard Marrs and his opponent Lavinia Theodoli Spirito, this could be a defining issue.
Obama hopes you still don't read very well
I wonder how many people will send $3 (or more!) to President Barack Obama after reading this email, thinking that he is then going to fly them to Los Angeles to hang out with George Clooney.
Probably a lot of the same people who still believe ObamaCare will lower their medical costs.
You may laugh, but your state representatives are just about ready to come home and tell you how conservative they are despite just setting up a ticking time bomb on Kentucky's health care system.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Kentuckians can ignore Supreme Court ruling
A lot of people will be watching the U.S. Supreme Court this summer to see if the justices rule ObamaCare to be unconstitutional or not. Thanks to Governor Steve Beshear and the state legislature, Kentuckians need not bother paying attention at all.
The General Assembly have authorized expenditures of over $50 million dollars to set up ObamaCare in Kentucky. That's more than any other state but New York. It would have been better for our health and finances to refuse that money and let the whole sordid scheme wither from neglect.
Unfortunately for us, our representatives in Frankfort took the money and bureaucrats are working to set up ObamaCare for Kentuckians. Worse, they granted the state's Insurance Commissioner open-ended powers to take control of healthcare in the state.
So even if ObamaCare is overturned and other states are spared, Kentucky won't be off the hook. The legislature did their dirty work in House Bill 265.
The General Assembly have authorized expenditures of over $50 million dollars to set up ObamaCare in Kentucky. That's more than any other state but New York. It would have been better for our health and finances to refuse that money and let the whole sordid scheme wither from neglect.
Unfortunately for us, our representatives in Frankfort took the money and bureaucrats are working to set up ObamaCare for Kentuckians. Worse, they granted the state's Insurance Commissioner open-ended powers to take control of healthcare in the state.
So even if ObamaCare is overturned and other states are spared, Kentucky won't be off the hook. The legislature did their dirty work in House Bill 265.
Tim Kline, a rock star in the making
Tim Kline is a 34 year old Owensboro, Kentucky attorney running for state House of Representatives in the 7th district.
A former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, Tim is a solid conservative and exactly the kind of person we need more of in Frankfort. Expect to hear a lot more about Tim in the weeks and months ahead.
Tim has the courage to campaign against the abuse and fraud in Kentucky Retirement Systems and pledges that he will not accept a legislative pension.
Expect Tim to be an energetic leader among the new Republican wave coming in to augment Frankfort's decrepit legislature. The 7th district seat is currently held by a Democrat.
A former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, Tim is a solid conservative and exactly the kind of person we need more of in Frankfort. Expect to hear a lot more about Tim in the weeks and months ahead.
Tim has the courage to campaign against the abuse and fraud in Kentucky Retirement Systems and pledges that he will not accept a legislative pension.
Expect Tim to be an energetic leader among the new Republican wave coming in to augment Frankfort's decrepit legislature. The 7th district seat is currently held by a Democrat.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Ready for Kentucky's bankruptcy?
While Kentucky's political leaders mostly clown for the cameras in Frankfort, the smart money is watching the show but they aren't laughing. They are apparently, however, exploring ways to capitalize on our state's insane recklessness. The graphic below comes from www.statcounter.com, a site which tracks IP addresses of site visitors to Kentucky Progress.
Lazard Freres is a top financial restructuring advisory firm. In fact, Lazard Freres worked on the 2008 Lehman Brothers bankruptcy at the start of the banking crisis. It appears someone at the firm's New York office has been reading on this site multiple times. If you want to know what they know, you should read two of the pages they read most recently here and here.
States can't legally declare bankruptcy, but that may be of cold comfort to bondholders and/or pensioners when our fiscal situation gets so bad there isn't enough money to go around.
States can't legally declare bankruptcy, but that may be of cold comfort to bondholders and/or pensioners when our fiscal situation gets so bad there isn't enough money to go around.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Long memories, short pencils and Bob Damron
Kentucky state Representative Bob Damron (D-Nicholasville) is the only incumbent legislator this year who voted in 1994 to destroy Kentucky's individual health insurance market, subsequently apologized for it and then turned around and voted to spend $50 million we don't have to speed up ObamaCare implementation in Kentucky.
Damron called his vote for HB 250 in 1994 a "rookie mistake" and has claimed, correctly, that public backlash against Kentucky's attempt at creating "HillaryCare" here resulted in reforms that eventually enhanced what was left of our health insurance market.
Surviving his "rookie mistake" and then falling again under the spell of Barack Obama suggests strongly that it's time for Damron to call it quits. Damron's Republican opponent this fall is Nicholasville's Matt Lockett.
Barney Frank lives on in Frankfort, Kentucky
Massachusetts liberal Congressman Barney Frank is retiring in Washington D.C. but his thinking on ObamaCare seems to have taken hold in Frankfort.
Frank blamed the Democrats' loss of the House of Representatives in 2010 on President Obama's push for ObamaCare. It's not that he disagreed with the concept, he says they should have just waited until after the election because of the divisiveness of the issue.
Kentucky's politicians Steve Beshear, David Williams and Greg Stumbo appear to have taken to heart Frank's advice that Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi ignored.
Our Kentucky bunch waited until after the 2011 election to screw Kentuckians with a health insurance scheme that will haunt Kentuckians for years whether the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down ObamaCare or not.
Almost immediately after Beshear and Williams completed their uninspiring general election campaign -- in which Williams focused on calling Beshear a closet Hindu and Beshear focused on reminding people he was running against David Williams -- they set about passing a state budget that spends more money than every state but New York on ramming ObamaCare -- and worse -- down our throats.
If you liked how Frankfort destroyed Kentucky's individual health insurance market in 1994, you will love how they destroy it for everyone in the 2012 general fund budget. Oh, and you can thank Barney Frank for the political advice that helped make it happen.
Kentucky's politicians Steve Beshear, David Williams and Greg Stumbo appear to have taken to heart Frank's advice that Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi ignored.
Our Kentucky bunch waited until after the 2011 election to screw Kentuckians with a health insurance scheme that will haunt Kentuckians for years whether the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down ObamaCare or not.
Almost immediately after Beshear and Williams completed their uninspiring general election campaign -- in which Williams focused on calling Beshear a closet Hindu and Beshear focused on reminding people he was running against David Williams -- they set about passing a state budget that spends more money than every state but New York on ramming ObamaCare -- and worse -- down our throats.
If you liked how Frankfort destroyed Kentucky's individual health insurance market in 1994, you will love how they destroy it for everyone in the 2012 general fund budget. Oh, and you can thank Barney Frank for the political advice that helped make it happen.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Ron Paul money bomb stokes hopes, fears
Ron Paul has raised nearly $800,000 in the last 25 hours and is shooting for another $1.5 million or so by Tuesday.
Congressman Paul has essentially gotten his wish of a head-to-head race against Mitt Romney and with this fundraising support has to be close to putting Romney in a box of hoping Paul goes away but not daring to blow him out of the water for fear he will bolt the party and launch a third-party campaign in the fall.
Recent polls show Ron Paul offering a stiffer challenge to President Barack Obama than Romney would.
Congressman Paul has essentially gotten his wish of a head-to-head race against Mitt Romney and with this fundraising support has to be close to putting Romney in a box of hoping Paul goes away but not daring to blow him out of the water for fear he will bolt the party and launch a third-party campaign in the fall.
Recent polls show Ron Paul offering a stiffer challenge to President Barack Obama than Romney would.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Why doesn't Kentucky have a Republican like this?
A New York state senator showed more guts with his opposition to ObamaCare this week than any Frankfort Republican has managed in a long time.
From LifeHealthPro:
Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, does not see cost savings but more spending the state can ill afford. He issued a statement that said “any rush towards enacting ObamaCare is more political than reality. The promise of federal funding is not without strings and the program itself will ultimately, if enacted, cost New York taxpayers billions of additional dollars that we do not have. …. We can and should make landmark reforms, including reigning in big insurance in New York, but moving forward now to enact ObamaCare is simply not prudent.”
This was in response to a gubernatorial executive order setting up an ObamaCare health insurance exchange in New York. After telling Frankfort reporters for months that he had no plans to issue a similar executive order, Governor Steve Beshear stuck ObamaCare in his budget proposal and Kentucky's legislature pushed it on through without a peep.
And there hasn't been a single news article about it, either. The Democrats and big government Republicans are kicking our butts so hard they don't even bother to send out celebratory press releases any more.
From LifeHealthPro:
Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, does not see cost savings but more spending the state can ill afford. He issued a statement that said “any rush towards enacting ObamaCare is more political than reality. The promise of federal funding is not without strings and the program itself will ultimately, if enacted, cost New York taxpayers billions of additional dollars that we do not have. …. We can and should make landmark reforms, including reigning in big insurance in New York, but moving forward now to enact ObamaCare is simply not prudent.”
This was in response to a gubernatorial executive order setting up an ObamaCare health insurance exchange in New York. After telling Frankfort reporters for months that he had no plans to issue a similar executive order, Governor Steve Beshear stuck ObamaCare in his budget proposal and Kentucky's legislature pushed it on through without a peep.
And there hasn't been a single news article about it, either. The Democrats and big government Republicans are kicking our butts so hard they don't even bother to send out celebratory press releases any more.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Go directly to jail. Yes, you!
After the messy, expensive, wasteful General Assembly session ended Thursday and before the requisite "special" session starts on Monday, Kentucky taxpayers may want to check KRS 529.020 which prohibits paying someone who subsequently screws you.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Who is to blame for budget failure
It's not a question. Both sides are to blame for the 2012 General Assembly blowing up last night.
The rush to pass a general fund budget with too much debt and no solutions to our short, intermediate or long term problems in order for legislators to go back to their districts congratulating themselves on all the bipartisanship and compromise now means nothing to anyone.
Well, there is someone who comes out ahead in this ordeal: the tea party.
We have been telling anyone who would listen that the problem lies with both Democrats and Republicans and here it is again for everyone to see.
Do they not realize what will happen in three years when the state pension funds start to need $600 million a year just to pay their bills? We aren't the only state to destroy our finances by using public employee pension money as a slush fund for vote buying. We are just among the worst.
In any event, those expecting a federal bailout for Kentucky Retirement Systems are certain to be sorely disappointed. When that time comes, remember that the ensuing chaos was created by a lot of polticians on both sides. The great shame is that none of them in a position to do so put a stop to this before it was too late.
The rush to pass a general fund budget with too much debt and no solutions to our short, intermediate or long term problems in order for legislators to go back to their districts congratulating themselves on all the bipartisanship and compromise now means nothing to anyone.
Well, there is someone who comes out ahead in this ordeal: the tea party.
We have been telling anyone who would listen that the problem lies with both Democrats and Republicans and here it is again for everyone to see.
Do they not realize what will happen in three years when the state pension funds start to need $600 million a year just to pay their bills? We aren't the only state to destroy our finances by using public employee pension money as a slush fund for vote buying. We are just among the worst.
In any event, those expecting a federal bailout for Kentucky Retirement Systems are certain to be sorely disappointed. When that time comes, remember that the ensuing chaos was created by a lot of polticians on both sides. The great shame is that none of them in a position to do so put a stop to this before it was too late.
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