Teachers' Union Weeps, Wails, Gnashes Teeth

As a public school graduate and parent of four young public school students, I would love to see a school voucher system to give people the choice of where to spend the tax dollars dedicated to their child's education.

This would only benefit the sincerely motivated public schools and, more importantly, the students. The schools would have competition, so they would have to survive without the crutch of a government mandated position at the top of the marketplace. The benefit to the children is surely too obvious to need mentioning.

Given this set of circumstances, I find it completely hilarious that the National Education Association issued this press release about a U.S. Senate effort to revive a voucher bill.
The school choice movement is just getting warmed up. And politicians of both parties should know that the status quo mentality will carry a heavy cost for you when school choicers get mobilized.

Liberal KY Group Wants $1.8 Billion Tax Hike

Just in time for the Kentucky General Assembly session to start up, a Kentucky organization is calling for a special kind of tax reform. The Kentucky Economic Justice Alliance wants $1.8 Billion each year in tax increases.

One specific proposal is to increase property taxes by nearly two and half times. Further, the group wants to raise personal and corporate taxes but doesn't say how much.

What Are They Doing Now?

I might as well beat Mark Nickolas to the punch and give the Fletcher Administration a hard time for sending out a big announcement email trumpeting in capital letters that the state has taken out an advertisement in Forbes Magazine.

This does nothing for the image. Neither does the awkwardly worded announcement with a grammatical error in the first sentence. You will see it soon enough.

Sheesh!

Just Exactly What We Are Doing Here

A very funny New York Times Magazine article talks about why they think conservative blogs are more effective than liberal blogs. (You may have to sign up to read the article, but it is free.)

The writer concludes, predictably, that conservative blogs thrive because of the conservative-dominated media that appeals to supporters' emotions and doesn't mind lying to promote an agenda. Liberal blogs, he writes, spend more time examining all sides of an issue and arguing the nuances with other liberals.

While the article is laughably slanted for a publication whose writers manage to keep a straight face when they recoil in horror from charges of bias, it does make one good point. Liberal bloggers are generally less effective when it counts than conservative bloggers.

The "culture of corruption" campaign slogan is effective, for now, on the lefty blogosphere. But when it comes to shedding light on issues that matter to people and not just preaching to the choir, the liberal blogs come up short.

Can the conservative blogs spank the liberals in 2006 like they did in 2004? No one knows. But little of a structural nature seems to have changed since then, except that the mainstream media pays a lot more attention to the blogs. There are many interesting subtexts to this story that I don't want to get into publicly now, but this will be a huge story one year from now.

Democrat Dreams in 2005; Lib Nightmare in 2006?

Watching activist Democrats feel their oats these days with their "GOP culture of corruption" chorus isn't much fun, but it seems to me most likely that their revelry won't last and may already be over. As the merit hiring investigation is about to get some national attention (more on that later), one has to wonder if it has run out of shock value for anyone but the most easily shocked Democrat partisan.

In the real world, inflation numbers out this morning show an actual decrease in November's general price level. That news comes as the media reporting of our nation's economic solid growth of the Bush years stays gagged and bound in the closet. That strategy may continue, but I wouldn't count on it attracting any cross-over votes for Dems next year. The class warfare card won't carry the day in our upwardly-mobile nation.

That leaves out-of-power spinmeisters to rail against the U.S. trade deficit. Seriously, though, I would like to see anyone make a solid case for what is wrong with running trade deficits. Seems to me that with so many foreign entities willing to trade their goods for our little printed pieces of paper, we should feel great pride in our ability to produce wealth and to inspire confidence throughout the world for such transactions. And while Congressman Chandler has made the rounds painting a picture of a U.S. Treasury Bond collapse brought on by hostile Chinese dumping, no credible people see that happening or --even if it did -- having the desired effect.

Running against the "horrible" economic policies of the Bush administration can only hold Democrats' hopes during an election season if the media decides keeping the lid on GDP statistics is more important to them than trying to recover some of their severely damaged credibility. Another Dan Rather incident in 2006 would be a tsunami-like catastrophe for the MSM. They may risk it if their influence continues to dwindle toward niche levels.

Emboldened by their extremists, Democrats seem intent on pushing for socialized medicine and a policy of appeasement for terrorists. Railing against health care costs is easily the better political move, but no amount of reasoning will keep the anti-war movement from crippling what is left of the Democratic Party.

Republican bad actors remain the GOP's Achilles heel, but the national and state Democrats run the risk of blowing their advantage in the Commonwealth's county courthouses. Democrats taking out their own grassroots support at a time that Republicans have handed them so many political opportunities would be extremely difficult for Democrats to overcome for a long time.

The current environment may help Democrats ward off a crushing defeat in 2006, though. That is certainly the conventional wisdom. But their ideas and tactics grow ever closer to running out of steam. Six weeks remain for good GOP candidates to come forward for next year's elections.

Education War, Day Two

Rep. David Floyd (R-Bardstown) fired the shot that could well be remembered as the first one in the battle to bring true reform to Kentucky education with his bill (HB 999) mentioned here yesterday.

Today from his office in Bardstown, Rep. Floyd said that his purpose for filing the bill was indeed to start the conversation about how we should finance our public education system. He also explained that he intends to revise the language in the bill that would mandate 62% of the state budget to go to education costs. The revision will simply add "no more than" prior to the number 62%, setting a ceiling on the portion of the budget that can be eaten up by Big Education. This is a good thing and will allow us to get off the bi-annual demands for more and more tax money for schools. That way, we can turn our focus to changing our approach to education rather than fighting about whether to throw more and more money at it.

In the current budget, the state spends 60.6% of its entire budget on education expenses.

Education War of 2006 Starts

Looks like we might be going back to the voting booth on another constitutional amendment. HB 999, pre-filed today, would call for a vote to decide if spending on education should be mandated at 62% of the state budget.

If nothing else, this will get people talking about education. It is a subject too many Kentuckians have given up on.

Obviously, more money isn't the answer, but I welcome the discussion. Conservatives have the upper hand here. They just need to play it. What a terrific opportunity.

Right To Work For Kentucky To Get Senate Help

Right to work legislation got a boost today when we confirmed that Sen. Damon Thayer is going to sponsor a Senate version of Rep. Stan Lee's much needed workplace freedom bill.

Sen. Thayer can get it passed and then Rep. Bob Damron can steal Rep. Lee's bill just like he did with the fetal homicide bill last year.

Education Liberals Go Wobbly in Kentucky

What exactly does The Prichard Committee on Academic Excellence do in Kentucky? Since they have been "on" academic excellence since 1983, a cynic might conclude that they haven't been doing very much.

But I wasn't that cynical until I went and looked at their website and found that they seem to be little more than a lobbying group for education bureaucrats to demand more money for "education."

Sometimes they do say good things, like that students should work hard and parents should get involved, but their credibility was dealt a crushing blow today.

In much the same way that war protestors say Arabs can't handle democracy, teacher's union officials were thought to be the only people who could claim with a straight face that school choice wouldn't improve schools in poor Kentucky like it does in nearly all the states that outrank our state in scholastic achievement.

So it was in this spirit that the Bluegrass Institute challenged Pritchard's leader Robert Sexton do debate the merits of school choice.

Mr. Sexton took his opportunity to step up, and he punted it.

Republicans in the General Assembly absolutely must take on education improvement issues in the 2006 session. They can start with getting rid of the discredited CATS testing and then move on to school choice. The Democrats have no bullets left in this gunfight. Now is the time.

Grassroots Tax Reform

Take a look here at the latest discussion of the Fair Tax. The people are picking up where the politicians dropped the ball.

And don't look now, but FairTax supporting candidates are 8-0!

Clinton Secretary of State Reads Liberal Blogs

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright can't get it right as Democrats continue to ignore Sen. Harry Reid's good advice to stop talking about the war.

Speaking on the Meet the Press program, Albright repeated the war protestor/liberal blogger/mainstream Democrat talking point that President Bush claimed Iraq was an imminent threat.

For the one millionth time, President Bush told us that if we waited until Iraq was an "imminent threat" it would then be too late.

Republicans have had their problems for the last year or so. But the craziness coming from the loyal opposition on the economy, war, and social/spending/entitlement issues makes it easier for the few bad actors in the GOP to skate by.

Just keep calling Bush a liar, guys. The opportunity that you are throwing away is not only damaging to your party, but also to your country.

You should think about that.

Ken Lucas Opens Mouth, Shoots Self In Foot

Ken Lucas isn't going to run for Congress.

Democrat activists have been, well, active is trying to crank up momentum for a Lucas return to Kentucky's 4th Congressional district. This is coming on the heels of their effort to draft him to run for governor.

The former Congressman's comments about current events seem to be a trial balloon for the Democratic party line. That is unlikely to fly in northern Kentucky, and the next poll will probably convince Mr. Lucas to spend more time with his family.

Some highlights for the "conservative Democrat" file at NRCC headquarters:

"I voted with my commander-in-chief for the war because he said you don't want to see a mushroom cloud over New York or Washington," Lucas said. "It became apparent after the fact that the administration had pretty much made up their mind that they were going; it was just a question of coming up with the rationale."

It's funny that a lot of Democrat poll readers haven't yet figured out the nuances of voter discontent with the war effort. Until they do, they would be well served to take Harry Reid's advice and say nothing at all.

This following quote has special meaning for northern Kentuckians, who deeply understand the value of keeping government close to the people to keep elected officials accountable locally. It seems Lucas is still hot on the idea of consolidating local governments in the name of "efficiency."
"There's a lot of inefficiency in duplication all over Northern Kentucky," he said. "But you have smaller governments who are very protective of their turf. Really, for Northern Kentucky to make some more strides, there needs to be certainly more cooperation and consolidation."

League of Women Voters Dips Into Lexington Water

Central Kentucky observers who keep hoping for the water condemnation story to die are about to find themselves knee deep in the wet stuff all over again.

The League of Women Voters of Lexington have announced, via a small article in today's Herald Leader, that they have "studied" the condemnation issue and determined they are all for it.

This issue is not going away and truly conservative candidates at all levels in central Kentucky would do very well to embrace the issue and run on it.

Liberal Professor Calls God An Idiot

Here is an article about a Massachusetts professor who takes all his complaints about the human body and concludes that God must be an incompetent.

Kind of puts what they say about George Bush and Republicans into perspective, doesn't it?

Democrats Try To "Social Security" The War

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is urging Democrats to stop talking about the war so they can avoid uncomfortable circumstances like those presented recently by Howard Dean and the increasingly sane and sober Joe Lieberman.

"Just Say No" may be good politics for the Democrats. But the rest of us will spend this Christmas season praying they don't succeed in shutting down national defense the same way they succeeded in killing Social Security reform. After all, their "victory" on entitlements only costs us money.

America Wins, Democrats Lose

Today, 193 House Democrats voted against extension of the 2003 tax cuts. And yes, Ben Chandler went right along, voting to increase your taxes. Too bad for them, 225 Republicans voted the right way.

"It's for the rich," they will say over and over again. All the multi-millionaires who saw their 15% tax bracket drop to 10% under President Bush know better. The middle class families who will escape the punitive alternative minimum tax do too.

History will show the solid economic gains of the first decade of the 21st century happened despite a world-wide war effort like none before and with the assistance of tax cuts that were delivered by Republicans and fought by Democrats every step of the way.

They tried to "Murtha" the economy and they failed.

Good day.

KY Schools Can't Live With Or Shoot Private Schools

The Kentucky Board of Education is treating the state's private schools like Maureen Dowd wants to treats men: keeping them around for convenience but kicking them to the curb when they get too uppity.

Yesterday, the KBE refused to put an end to the KHSAA's bid to remove private school athletic teams from state playoffs. This comes in the same week we find the KY Department of Education can't show increasing ACT scores without taking credit for private and home schooled students' scores.

Bad week for public education in Kentucky.

No, Virginia, There is No Guaranteed Benefit

In ruling today that a Social Security recipient's benefits could be seized to pay delinquent student loans, the United States Supreme Court confirmed once again that there is no "guaranteed benefit" in Social Security.

Earlier this year, Congressional Democrats used their megaphone in the mainstream media to beat home the idea that Social Security benefits are guaranteed. This has definitively been untrue since the 1960 Flemming v. Nestor case stated that no such guarantee exists.

The existence of a "guaranteed benefit" was the cornerstone of Democrats' arguments against Social Security reform. Social Security will be insolvent in eleven years.

Sunlight V. Fake Blindness

Interesting article by Ryan Alessi this morning about fundraising in the Supreme Court race beween Justice John Roach and Judge Mary Noble.

It seems that Justice Roach is going to publicize campaign contributions more quickly than required by law. In response, Judge Noble told a group of fifty contributors, apparently to their faces, that she is going to pretend not to see any of them.

Is this what she thinks "justice is blind" means?

KY Ed. Officials Take Credit For Private ACT Scores

Each year, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) touts the ACT scores achieved by Kentucky high school students. What they don't say is that those scores are skewed upward by the inclusion of scores made by private school students in the state.

The KDE, a state government agency, plays no role in the education of nonpublic-school students.

Accountability for our public schools has been a key federal government issue since 2001. The Bluegrass Institute has published a report that points out this reporting discrepancy and asks why Kentucky's public school officials "would rather hide behind the stellar performance of Kentucky’s nonpublic-school students than acknowledge more than a decade of stagnation in the commonwealth’s public schools. "

KDE spokeswoman Lisa Gross addressed the question by questioning the motives of BIPPS researcher Richard Innes.

"We have concerns about Mr. Innes," Gross said. "I can't refute his numbers but his conclusion is that we are intentionally trying to mislead people. If we had time to do that, we would do a better job of it."

Gross said that scores of thousands of nonpublic students are included in the KDE press releases because the ACT reports them to the state that way. ACT confirms this.

But is the incorrect picture of state school achievement simply the cause of laziness or lack of curiosity on the part of school officials? Gross said it isn't.

"We don't have any way of breaking (public versus nonpublic results) out," she said.

Innes scoffed at this claim. He said that the state's Office of Education Accountability, part of the state's Legislative Research Commission and located less than three miles from KDE, has public school ACT results for individual students going back to 1990. Figuring out the difference between public and private results is then just a matter of subtracting the number of public school students and their scores out.

"It's a simple algebra equation," Innes said.