Friday, December 08, 2006

Tax And Spend

For some insight into how Congressional Democrats are going to push tax increases, read this.

Borrow and Spend is not much better, but at least no one is trying to push it as a good for you.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

I Wouldn't Have Told That

Tericka Dye is the Kentucky high school teacher who lost her job when it was discovered that she had appeared in a pornographic movie. Given that her skin flicks were a decade old when they were discovered, I'm not sure she should have been fired. And now that she is trying to get her old job back, I am sympathetic to her cause.

Or at least I was.

In this news story, she admits that she hasn't worked since she was fired and is, instead, living off child support payments paid to her four children. If that is the case, she has bigger problems than just not being able to get back into the classroom.

Right To Work Bill In Holding Pattern

No one thinks Employee Choice legislation will pass this year in Kentucky, but a bill may be filed anyway.

To his credit, Governor Ernie Fletcher has never backed down from his support of this important policy that three-quarters of voters support.

Gore Must Be Running For Dem Nomination

Remember when a rash of post office shootings by disgruntled mail workers gave rise to the saying "he went postal?"

Well, let's just say Former VP Al Gore went "global warming" yesterday in an obvious pander to the extreme Left.

What exactly do you mean by "worse than a civil war" Al?

And seriously, we all know Al just says things for effect these days, but when he said the Iraq War was the worst strategic mistake in the history of the United States it got me thinking about what was actually the worst strategic mistake in our nation's history.

I'd say slavery. Without this particular labor situation, the American South would have likely industrialized as fast as the North and we would be a much wealthier nation now.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

So This Is What The Problem Is?

In a conference call today with reporters, Senator Jim Bunning explained why he is less than enthusiastic about Governor Ernie Fletcher.

"I've had a good relationship before he became Governor and it became strained because of his chief of staff," Bunning said.

Who, Stan Cave? No, Bunning explained.

"The first one," Bunning said.

Oh.

Bullying By Another Name Is Menacing

Senator Julian Carroll made a big deal earlier this year about schools lacking a "policy" on bullying by students.

The Senate paid no attention to him or his silly bill.

That has turned out to be a good thing. When kids go too far at school, we don't need another set of regulations for teachers and administrators to fool with. Menacing is already against the law.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Geographical Shift In House Leadership

In January, the Kentucky House Republicans appear very likely to elect Rep. Dwight Butler (R-Harned) their new Minority Whip.

Butler's district is out toward the western part of the state. Current Whip Ken Upchurch's district lies next to Minority Leader Jeff Hoover's district along the Tennessee border.

Fayette GOP Looks To Lee For AG

In advance of tonight's Fayette County Republican Christmas party, insiders report a full-court press effort to enlist Rep. Stan Lee in next year's Attorney General's race.

When Do We Lose If We Don't Surrender?

The Washington Post is excited to get Defense Secretary nominee Robert Gates on the record answering "no" to the question "Are we winning in Iraq?"

This exchange is particularly exciting for them because we have President Bush on the record from October 25 saying "absolutely, we're winning."

I'm glad these people weren't around in the dark days of the Civil War. Any optimism from President Lincoln would have quickly been hung around his neck.

The same nabobs who say Al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq before the war now expect them to stay there and blow each other up if we just leave.

A Last Ditch Effort To Restrain Spending

Fiscally conservative U.S. House members sent a letter to Speaker Hastert encouraging passage of a Continuing Resolution to restrain the new leadership coming in January from raising spending at least until February.

If they succeed, we will save billions of dollars.

Pretty important stuff.

Tis The Season For Income Redistribution

It's interesting that since the study came out about how liberals tend to be generous with other people's money and conservative's tend to be generous with their own, no liberals have tried to defend themselves against the easy charges of hypocrisy.

Come on libs, where are you?

Hating Walmart Full-time A Dem Shakedown

Presidential hopeful and anti-Walmart candidate John Edwards got caught recently turning up his nose at Walmart for a book signing and opting for Barnes & Noble instead.

The Walmart store he snubbed, who he criticizes for their labor practices, pays their employees $7.50 per hour to start. The bookstore he preferred to attend pays only $7.00.

Once an ambulance chaser, always an ambulance chaser; Edwards knows to go for the deeper pockets regardless of the facts.

Similar Democrat wars against the people who make our gasoline and the people who make our life-saving medicines suggest we may be in for a bumpy ride with this new Congress.

Monday, December 04, 2006

A Compromise With Social Security Bennies

We don't have much agreement about what to do with Social Security. In fact, a hard-core group of Democrats continues to insist there is no insolvency crisis looming on the horizon. That being the case, I thought we might look at one area of easy agreement and a free market solution that will only make the really hard core folks mad.

When you die, Social Security will pay a $255 death benefit to your survivors, presumably so they can make a down payment on a 1986 Chevy Nova.

Why don't we allow use a small portion of Social Security funds so workers can choose to purchase a life insurance policy?

If we are going to burn up all their money on a doomed redistribution scheme that will be out of surplus funds however you count them by 2040, shouldn't we at least allow taxpayers to withdraw a few dollars a month to protect their families when they die?

Hugo Chavez/Hillary Clinton Joined At Hip

Communist dictator Hugo Chavez of Venezuela won re-election -- notably, without any MSM charges of voter fraud -- over the weekend and promised to continue an "expansion of the revolution."

At the end of this AP story, Chavez insists he isn't really a communist and that he respects property rights. In the same breath, he suggests nationalizing utilities.

Sounds just like Sen. Hillary Clinton, who would vehemently deny being a communist but nonetheless supports nationalizing healthcare services.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Brian Goettl Considering Run For AG

Saying Kentucky needs a non-partisan Attorney General, Jessamine County Attorney Brian Goettl tonight announced his interest in running for the office next year.

"The Attorney General's office needs someone who can serve in a non-partisan manner," Goettl said. "We haven't had that in Kentucky and that is why I am looking at the race."

Goettl was elected last month to his second term as County Attorney in Jessamine, a county with over 2500 more registered Democrats than Republicans. He didn't draw an opponent for his re-election bid in this year's race.

"I couldn't be effective in my job if I let party labels get in the way. That no one ran against me this time indicates I have been effective at that."

"The Attorney General is more than just a prosecutor. You represent Kentucky in a number of ways like civil matters and providing legal opinions. My record shows I can do that effectively."

Kentucky Governor 2007

Ted Jackson's unfortunate comparison of Ernie Fletcher to David Koresh yesterday benefits no one. The May primary for Governor can only be a positive for Kentucky if the race is about bettering the state and not what some smartass says to get his name in the newspaper.

There will be enough pettiness in next year's race to go around. What's burning down our house is our public pension system, healthcare regulation, corporate taxation, and government spending.

Keep it on the issues. There is plenty there.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Hottest Rumor Of The Day

Anne Northup is going to announce for Governor tomorrow.

Max Cleland's Head Games

Turns out Ben Chandler wasn't the only Dem to step back from a rematch yesterday. Former U.S. Senator from Georgia Max Cleland also announced he will not take on the Republican who beat him in 2002.

But Cleland's excuse was really good.

From the AP story, Cleland "has acknowledged battling depression and said recently he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, possibly prompted by violence in Iraq triggering memories of Vietnam."

These people have no shame.

Which Cheap Dem Will It Be?

Rep. Ben Chandler was quoted widely yesterday saying the Governor's office was "cheapened" so he didn't want it.

One interesting thing is that Steve Henry has been excoriated in the MSM for his inability to land a running mate, while no such attacks have been launched against AG Greg Stumbo who is so "cheapened" already he not only can't find a running mate, he has party leaders in Frankfort very actively trying to talk him out of running.

I-CARE Giveaway Greeted With A Yawn

Earlier this year the General Assembly put $20 million in the budget to subsidize purchase of health insurance for small business. It was a glimpse into what socialized healthcare will look like in this country: you pay for your own health coverage and your tax dollars go to pay for everyone else.

The good news is that we aren't going to wind up spending much of the money. Less than 500 individuals are in the program now after a month of accepting applications and six months of promotion prior to that.

Applications for the subsidy are trickling in, but it is very likely that when the program sunsets at the end of the biennium, much of the $20 million will remain unspent. Good.

We still have a screaming need for real insurance reform in this state. Regulation should be reduced to three words: follow your contract. If we stopped telling insurance companies how to write their contracts and focused oversight on ensuring that companies kept whatever promises they made in their contracts, costs would go down and we wouldn't need $20 million for subsidies that are too small for people to bother signing up for.