Beshear Campaign Staff Gains As UAW Strikes

General Motors union employees across the nation walked off the job today in a massive strike larger than any seen in the automobile industry in thirty years. Now they will have more free time to campaign for the Democratic campaigns.

Good thing Beshear and friends haven't succeeded in unionizing Toyota yet.

Jody Richards Agrees To Return Unearned Money

The unearned checks distributed to legislators after the House Democrats surrendered the July special session will be returned today, House Speaker Jody Richards' spokeswoman reported this morning.

2:27 pm UPDATE: Frankfort sources report Speaker Richards will refuse again today to send back the taxpayers' money.

We need to have a little fun with this while we wait for Jody Richards to pay up. Whoever can get closest to the time and date which confirmation goes out that the unearned paychecks are turned back in wins.

Where Are Steve Beshear's Barking Dogs?

Kind of funny to see the Beshear campaign still proudly touting their unsurprising support from former state Rep. Steve Nunn, who was run out of office last year in part because of a hilarious barking dog radio ad that hounded him for supporting a variety of tax increases.

After Beshear's casino gambling plan bites the dust in the legislature again, he and his dogs would have little choice but to try biting us with tax increases as well.

Socialized Medicine Plans Shrink In Sunlight

Maybe we should call California's ArnoldCare and Sen. Clinton's HillaryCare "the Shrinky Dinks."

Hillary couldn't take the heat in the '90's. This time won't be any different.

The claim that no new bureaucracies are created will be challenged. Like Gov. Schwarzenegger, Mrs. Clinton envisions requiring everyone to prove they have health insurance. But she's vague on the details: "At this point, we don't have anything punitive that we have proposed." You can bet she will have some ideas.

Even so, making certain people have insurance is easier said than done. California has had a law mandating that drivers have car insurance since 1970 and has required physical proof of insurance to register a car for a decade. Even so, the Insurance Research Council says 25% of the state's drivers remain uninsured.

• Illegal aliens and their access to health insurance will be controversial. Mrs. Clinton promises health care for all, but is punting on the issue of whether the illegal aliens, who often use emergency room services, will be covered. Ms. Rubiner admits it's a "huge issue," but says "that's one we're going to have to think through a little bit."

"Let The Liberal Editorial Boards Decide!"

Just heard Hillary Clinton describe public financing of political campaigns as her solution to her own campaign finance scandals.

If Steve Beshear wins the governor's race -- and after his casino plan falls flat -- it will be fun next year running against this and other really bad ideas he and Hillary share.

Destroying Business As Fast As They Can

Sen. Barack Obama's idea to save Social Security without paying a political price among the middle class would make HillaryCare look like a bounced check fee.

What he hopes you fail to realize is that employers pay half of Social Security taxes. And taxes on businesses have a funny way of hitting everyone with price increases and job cuts.

Meanwhile, it's a terrible shame Republicans squandered the opportunity to stop spending the annual Social Security surplus while we still have one.

Frankfort's Own Frito Bandito

Jody Richards still has the taxpayers' money he promised to return after the House Democrats surrendered the special session in July. Maybe we should check under his hat.

Reading Past First Paragraph For The Real Story

Which do you think is more newsworthy, that Steve Beshear's law firm paid $100,000 for research into its role in the destruction of Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company, or that the head of the firm's Louisville office now says the report "will be 100% discredited" even though he hasn't seen it and no one in the firm can seem to remember seeing it.

To the Herald-Leader's credit, they did include that interesting quote (albeit near the end of the story) as well as this classic from Beshear:

"When I say 'I don't recall,' if later you come up with something that says I was there, that's OK because I'm being up front in saying I don't recall because this is, what, 14 years ago?" he said.

Left Can't Stop Lying About SCHIP

U.S. Census data clearly shows (page 19) that the rate of uninsured in America has been unchanged for almost fifteen years.

But that doesn't stop some group called Mathematica Policy Research from making this up:

SCHIP was enacted at a time when the number and rate of uninsured children were growing rapidly, especially among those just above the poverty threshold— too poor to purchase private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.

And, of course, Daily Kos bit hard.

President Bush is promising to veto expansion of SCHIP, though his own original proposal was to expand it as well. He just wanted to expand it less than Congress wants to.

SCHIP has served mainly to increase government spending and increase the cost of health insurance. I'm not holding my breath, but the data strongly suggests scrapping the whole thing would be great fiscally. And I suspect that when the sky didn't fall, it would be a great thing politically as well.

Laptops And Library Cards

Steve Beshear's education plan (spend more money and give kids library cards) would be pretty easy to ignore if he weren't 20 points up in the polls.

Musical Chairs In Lexington's City Hall

Some observers thought Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry might be serious about cleaning up the mess in Lexington's public safety bureaucracy when he fired Rebecca Langston from her post as Public Safety Commissioner.

Alas, it was not so.

Langston has re-upped as Council Administrator, Grade 121E, and is being paid more than $85,000 a year for her trouble.

Union Attorney Champions Government Healthcare

Polwatchers just needs a different headline on this post.

Battling It Out In A Casino Town

Since Ernie Fletcher reported from Aurora,Illinois, the town has been in an uproar. The hubbub isn't because of the controversy over its casino, but because Planned Parenthood is trying to sneak a huge abortion clinic into the town.

There has already been a big pro-life rally. Next Tuesday, the pro-abortion folks will take to the streets.

Just Like Being Homeless, Except When It Isn't

Cardboard box? Check! Outside all night? Check! Pizza, movies, and live music? Check!

In what is easily the most ridiculous thing I have heard since Speaker Jody Richards blew up the July special session and promised to return legislators' paychecks but didn't, Eastern Kentucky University students are going to sleep outside overnight to "to create a sense of empathy for problems the homeless face every day."

If you've seen the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness," this next part will infuriate you:

Participants will partake in free pizza and refreshments, as well as enjoy live music during the event. At 9 p.m., a speaker from United Way will take the stage, followed by a screening of the Will Smith film "The Pursuit of Happyness." The film was chosen for its relevance to the issue at hand.

"We have a big outdoor screen," said David Fifer, student body president. "It's a moving tale on the plight of homelessness."

There is more, but I just can't stand it. Read it yourself.

"Honey, The Union Thugs Are At The Door Again"

Kentucky's most politically active union members will be knocking on doors this Saturday to benefit the big government, high tax, anti-growth policies of gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear.

Don't Lose Jack Conway's Pants If He Wins AG

Remember the story of the bozo judge who sued his Washington D.C. dry cleaner for $67 million after his pants went missing?

Well, the bozo didn't get the money but he did destroy the business.

The bozo judge has graciously lowered his demand from $67 million to $54 million.

By the way, if anyone finds Jody Richards' pants let us know. He is carrying around hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

George W. Bush The Fiscal Liberal

Alan Greenspan says George W. Bush has been a big spender. Dick Cheney says it ain't so.

The data says -- Republicans deserve to lose when they spend like Democrats.

Taking A Break From The Action

Still waiting for Jody Richards and the House Dems to pay back our tax dollars? Me too. While we are waiting, hit this link and play a little chess.

If you can beat that darn thing, you are a better man than I am. Pay up Jody.

Beshear Can't Back Up Education Statement

The Louisville Courier Journal reports Steve Beshear wants to depend more heavily on CATS testing because, he says, it is a better measure of skills than NCLB.

Better at what, keeping liberal hacks employed at the Kentucky Department of Education?

In the face of no evidence to back up his confidence in CATS testing, Beshear should have to explain what he means by this.

Can Ernie Fletcher make him do it?

BIPPS Rips Questionable School Data, Spending

The conclusion of this article is that Kentucky public schools don't need more money as much as they need more honesty and greater accountability.

These incremental rates of educational improvement seem out of whack with the massive new spending that accompanied the Kentucky Education Reform Act. So those expecting reform from within the Kentucky Department of Education best look elsewhere.

Research Report 338 published last year by the Legislative Research Commission found that while educators now devote more money to improving key educational outcomes, “spending for programs linked to specific accountability areas, such as reading and math core content, currently cannot be analyzed” due to misreporting of expenditures. The report stated that such misrepresentation “limits the ability to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of these programs.”

For several spending categories at some schools, the commission found it impossible to determine where much of the money went, concluding in its report that “there is no way to identify the specific purpose of the expenditures or to evaluate the impact of the spending.” Due to this atrocious accounting, it’s likely that even a competent audit could not track the money.