Check back often for news and commentary about Kentucky by David Adams.
Contact via email: kyprogress(at)yahoo.com or Lexington area telephone 537-5372.
You know the old saying about a free lunch. Everyone knows it. The left-wing zealots at Kentucky Voices for Health hope enough of us are willing to blindly set aside the "there's no such thing as" part of this truism just one more time for the sake of ObamaCare.
If anyone you know has been holding back waiting for something to give a damn about in politics, now is their time.
Governor Steve Beshear says he will announce his decision to accept the optional Medicaid expansion part of ObamaCare and "Kentucky Voices for Health" is pushing for a yes with this online advertisement.
The idea that Gov. Beshear can provide health coverage for 400,000 Kentuckians "with a signature" should be so transparently absurd in a modern society as not to merit a response. Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in.
These people should be forced to identify 600,000 uninsured Kentuckians. Further, they should be forced to identify even 150,000 uninsured Kentuckians (probably more like it) who would benefit from being forced into an already overburdened, unaffordable and inefficient Medicaid system.
The truth is most of the new Medicaid recipients under ObamaCare will come from the ranks of the already privately insured.
And the costs will not be at all easy to ignore for anyone when they hit.
My greatest frustration is talking to people who don't believe a single word coming out of President Obama's mouth but have somehow swallowed whole the outrageous lie that ObamaCare and all its provisions are inevitable and that we should just stop fighting because we can't win.
The truth is we can win and as Democratic Senators who championed ObamaCare four years ago drop like flies, we are winning. These "free lunch" politicians deserve to have their heads handed to them and we can do it in a big way if just a few of us stand up now.
Please call your State Representative and Senator and tell them you do not support Gov. Beshear in his desire to accept the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion "free lunch." Ask them to relay your sentiments to the Governor. Then please call the Governor himself at 502-564-2611 and tell him the same thing.
And then please directly ask ten friends to do the same. Thank you...
The Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange "ObamaCare" website helpfully solicits citizen comments and questions on their web site. They don't, however, appear to be too keen about answering them.
Take, for example, an email I sent to them on April 24 at 2:25 pm. My question was fairly simple: "How many navigators will Kentucky hire and at what cost?" One week later, no response. So just now, I sent another asking "Exactly how will KHBE fund the Affordable Care Act Navigator program and how many navigators will there be in Kentucky? How much longer do you expect to be able to keep this quiet?" I've also been copying certain members of the Kentucky media with my questions. The first mainstreamer who breaks this story out will have a good one.
The ObamaCare state "exchange" web site created to make health insurance buying easier is also required to come with an army of people called navigators whose function it is to walk people through the newly created maze. Kentucky, by multiple accounts, is falling way behind in the creation of it's navigator program and I think I know why.
Beshear administration officials have been telling worried exchange employees that no new funds will be appropriated to operate the exchange and so the lawsuit to stop the exchange is baseless. While this misses the point that Beshear also violated the Constitution by creating an exchange in which he reorganizes government and spends unappropriated funds in addition to raising new taxes, it paints Beshear into corner in which he will either have to admit to the new taxes or claim he is going to pull money from another source to fund his ObamaCare scheme.
Federal law states he must make clear which way he is going.
So the statute requires an exchange to be "self-sustaining" and allows funds for its operations to come from either "assessments or user fees" which would be unconstitutional or from other sources, which would just be politically difficult. Exchange Executive Director Carrie Banahan has claimed both that illegal fees and existing funds will be used.
Administration officials are counting on this "gray area" in the funding source issue to keep the legal struggle in Adams v. Beshear quiet.
One little problem with that.
The law also requires exchanges to have a "navigator" program. And the navigator program must be funded directly by operational funds, which means revenue derived from business activity of the exchange. And that can't legally be collected or spent under Kentucky law.
So maybe Governor Beshear wants to claim the federal law allows him to pull money for the exchange from other parts of government to avoid creating a new tax. That's fine, but if even that works (and that's a big if) it all falls apart in the creation of a funding mechanism for the required navigator program.
Governor Steve Beshear said he plans to announce soon whether Kentucky will expand Medicaid eligibility, an option under ObamaCare. He does not even need to file an executive order for this like he has tried to do with the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange.
The Medicaid expansion is still unconstitutional, though. Demonstrating that merely involves a somewhat different legal strategy.
While the failure of the executive order setting up the ObamaCare "exchange" revolves around neither Kentucky law nor the Constitution allowing any governor to write law, reorganize government, levy taxes and fees and spend money without legislative approval, there is a statute that appears to allow him to expand Medicaid.
The trick is that law is unconstitutional.
KRS 205.520 (3) states "it is the policy of the Commonwealth to take advantage of all federal funds
that may be available for medical assistance. To qualify for federal funds the secretary for health and family services may by regulation comply with any requirement that may be imposed or opportunity that may be presented by federal law."
First, this is incredibly stupid law. Federal money comes with strings attached, usually, and always with Obama. We are opening ourselves up to enormous unfunded mandates in brain-dead fashion with this provision on the books. It simply shouldn't be there.
With regard to the Constitution, though, KRS 205.520 (3) opens up a very interesting can of worms by creating practically limitless current and future appropriations with no legislative approval or oversight. The legal argument from the Governor would likely be that Medicaid expansion is an "essential function" of state government. Debating the efficacy of an expanded Medicaid in open court is long overdue and would be a fight well worth taking on.
Watch out for a Fox Business Network special report in June on bad government regulations with John Stossel. Of course, they are reporting on Kentucky. (Did you even have to wonder?)
This time, John is looking at the stupid law requiring new moving companies to get the permission of all existing moving companies in order to exist and compete.
RJ Bruner of Lexington's Wildcat Moving has already taped his part of the show. Hope Mr. Stossel comes back when our battle against ObamaCare gets heated up this summer.
I will be a guest on the Jack Pattie Show in Lexington on Thursday morning May 7 at 9 am ET talking about the lawsuit filed to force shutdown of the Kentucky Health Benefit "ObamaCare" Exchange.
Please call in with questions and comments to 850-253-5959. The show will be broadcast in Lexington on WVLK AM 590 and on the internet at www.wvlkam.com.
Please help spread the word on Facebook by clicking here, on LinkedIn by clicking here or by sharing this post or the links in it by some other means.
And if you would like to contribute financially to this effort, please click here and donate what you can. This case is headed to the Kentucky Supreme Court where recent precedent should result in a strong win. Getting that far is the trick. Thanks for helping out.
They laughed at us last year when we suggested fighting ObamaCare with religious health sharing groups. This spring, though, we reversed a decade long persecution of Christian Medishare by Kentucky insurance bureaucrats and politicians by literally forcing passage of Senate Bill 3.
We have two more things to do to secure the existence of a free market escape hatch from ObamaCare in case we aren't able to completely dismantle it by other means. First, we need a bill for the 2014 Kentucky General Assembly to finish the job started by Senate Bill 3.
I have written a bill for the 2014 General Assembly that gives consumers legal rights if their health sharing group goes south on them. It involves removing the "no promise to pay" language in KRS 304.1-120(7)(f) and in the required disclaimer statement provided to each member.
The "no promise to pay" language in KRS 304.1-120 (7) can only be justified in terms of providing political cover for House Democrats and limiting underwriting risk for the health sharing groups. Left as it is, the consumer is the only player left unprotected in this scenario. If we think about it, fixing this makes a lot of sense.
The net effect of this suggested legislative change is that Kentucky consumers of these products, rather than being unprotected by both insurance regulators and courts, would gain protection of the courts.
Stand by for more information about this. The second item is one I need your help with right away. Please ask your member of Congress to sponsor legislation to repeal United States Code 26, Section 5000A, (d), (2), (B) (IV). This will create the opportunity for new health sharing groups to be started, creating more competition and a healthier market for consumers.
No matter what happens with ObamaCare later this year, people will be looking for better healthcare solutions. The best chance for that is outside of government regulation, among providers regulated by competition and informed consumers. Doing everything we can to develop such a market must not be considered optional. We have to do this.
Please consider contributing to this effort by clicking here and donating what you can. Thanks for all you do.
If Kentucky had a racketeering statute, Steve Beshear might be frog-marching to the State Reformatory in LaGrange rather than tooling around Frankfort.
Governor Beshear has fraudulently played on the hopes and fears of Kentuckians for years with literally hundreds of press announcements touting redistribution of wealth schemes to "create" thousands of new jobs that haven't subsequently materialized. Friday's announcement of 100 new call center jobs for the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange combines multiple enterprises of dubious value and a new state bureaucracy created unilaterally by the Governor without legislative approval.
David Adams of Nicholasville is suing Beshear in Franklin Circuit Court to shut down the Kentucky "ObamaCare" exchange.
"ObamaCare started with a promise of making health insurance more affordable," Adams said. "It's the public policy equivalent now of sending thugs around to collect money so your windows don't get broken or your wife doesn't get kidnapped."
The Commonwealth of Kentucky's decade long war against Christian health sharing group Medishare ended two weeks ago when the state "allowed" the Florida religious organization to return to helping members here escape the ravages of government-regulated health insurance.
The original version of Senate Bill 3 I proposed last July would have restored the most effective regulatory mechanism to health coverage -- market forces. The final compromise bill was better than the disaster we had before Gov. Beshear signed SB 3 on April 5, but the bill's protections for consumers are woefully insufficient.
Kentucky law now requires customers of Christian Medishare, Samaritan Ministries and Christian HealthCare Ministries to throw away any legal protection they might have against the organizations in the event of a dispute.
Yes, you read that correctly.
This error creates a black market in Christian health sharing for consumers in Kentucky. Think about it: if something goes wrong, you have no recourse.
Further, United States Code 26, Section 5000A, (d), (2), (B) contains a grandfather clause that allows only health sharing groups in continuous operation since 1999 to continue to exist under ObamaCare. So we are protecting providers from consumers on two fronts. Not good.
Stand by for proposed state and federal fixes to this nonsense tomorrow.
Late this past week, plaintiffs in Adams v. Beshear picked up vital new weapons and added a novel legal approach which might be fun to watch.
First, Adams v. Beshear became Adams, Cloyd and Durand v. Beshear. Michael Dean, of Irvine, Kentucky, then joined the plaintiffs as attorney on the case. Some credit Dean's aggressive legal tactics with prematurely ending the political career of former state Senator Ed Worley.
Dean's first act on the case was to challenge the constitutionality of KRS 12.028 which brings Attorney General Jack Conway into the fray, essentially as a very uncomfortable witness for the prosecution.
The strategy works like this: in his original executive order, Governor Steve Beshear claimed KRS 12.028 gave him the authority to set up a permanent ObamaCare exchange all by himself which it clearly does not. Dean is challenging the constitutionality of the statute itself so that the Attorney General must either argue it is clear and doesn't allow the governor to set up the exchange or that it is vague and violates Sections 27, 28 and 230, which also prohibits the governor from setting up the exchange. Jack will only be called on to testify if the judge doesn't first throw out Beshear's odd claim of authority under the law.
If that doesn't happen, Jack is in a box either way he goes. And so is Governor Beshear's illegal and unconstitutional Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange.
A full week has passed since Louisville Courier Journal columnist Joe Gerth repeatedly and apparently intentionally defamed me in his most recent column by falsely and incorrectly referring to a left-wing group facing multiple controversies as "Kentucky Progress."
He was quickly made aware of this gross error and yet it persists on the paper's web site even now.
Corrections, clarifications and apologies shouldn't be too much to ask for, right?
Eight months ago, Lexington Police stormtroopers raided a local business and illegally confiscated tens of thousands of dollars in inventory. Today, armed only with a judge's order, Botany Bay's Ginny Saville (pictured below with fellow Liberty fighter Bruce Layne) went to police headquarters on Main Street to recover some of her property.
In terms of the man-bites-dog story media types usually look for, this is like a child swallowing a Rottweiler whole. Come on reporters, where are you?
If you or someone you care about is in enough pain to need OxyContin, Sen. Mitch McConnell just compounded your suffering by making the federal government raise the price of your relief simply because some people abuse the drug.
When will these nanny state ninnies get it that raising prices on innocent people doesn't hurt drug traffickers and doesn't stop drug abusers? I'd really like to know if McConnell and fellow drug war beneficiary Rep. Hal Rogers understand the economic and fiscal failure of their policies or if they are simply lining pockets with these games and don't care who knows it.
If you are looking for a good reason to oppose Sen. McConnell's re-election from the right, you are looking at one.
On May 27, 2004, then Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo filed suit in Franklin Circuit Court against Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher for spending state money without legislative approval. Now that Democratic Governor Steve Beshear is attempting a far more egregious usurpation than that of Gov. Fletcher, Stumbo can show consistency by standing up for the legislature he currently has a hand in leading as Speaker of the House.
The Kentucky Supreme Court subsequently agreed with Stumbo in 2005 that the Governor may not spend funds beyond those appropriated by the legislature. In multiple recent media appearances, Gov. Beshear has claimed constitutional authority for setting up the Kentucky "ObamaCare" Health Benefit Exchange but has failed to specify which section of the Constitution provides him such authority.
That's because this question has already been answered: there is no such authority. Beshear appears determined to drag the Commonwealth through another pointless argument in his blind support for President Obama. Stumbo has made statements suggesting he suffers similarly with allegiance to the failed Obama. He could start to break free of these chains by taking on Beshear now and standing with the Constitution and the citizens he is so keen to lead.
The Federal Communications Commission under President Obama is apparently tired of banning profane language and soft pornography on television and conservative groups across the land are organizing email comments in protest.
That isn't the way to do it.
Not only is a torrent of emails unlikely to persuade left-wing feel-gooders in charge to stop trying to coarsen society as they have been working for decades to do, it's the wrong way to fight the fight.
My target is the people who provide the entertainment, not the government that regulates it. If ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox want into my home after this policy change occurs, they need to all make clear that ObamaPorn won't be broadcast on their stations. There are two weaknesses in this plan, though they aren't quite as bad as emailing the FCC: they are a package deal so if one goes Obama as far as I'm concerned they are all gone and, second, they won't have far to go because they are already pretty bad.
Still, demanding federal authorities prohibit service providers from delivering something they want to give consumers who want to get it to make those who don't want it happy is the wrong way to go. The path of government force deserves to lose this fight and it will.
So I will be unplugging the converter box that delivers these broadcasters into my home until such time as I'm convinced ObamaPorn is off their stations. If we really want to win the battle of the airwaves, that's our approach.
Sarah Durand, President of the Louisville Tea Party, has represented liberty issues on the state and national level extremely well for several years.
Dawn Cloyd would probably be president of the Lexington Tea Party if there were such a thing. Her boundless zeal in supporting free markets and free people has also been an inspiration to many.
These extraordinary women bring significant intellectual and organizational firepower to this effort merely by lending their names to it. Stay tuned for more exciting updates.
In February, liberal Super PAC Progress Kentucky gained international attention for tweeting about Mrs. Mitch McConnell. Due in part to confusion in the similarity between their name and my blog's name, I got a few unsolicited nasty phone calls from people who thought I was them. I got a good laugh out of it and no harm was done.
Well, I'm still not them.
I figured that wouldn't help much with the most recent "wire-tapping" issue stirring our names up again, but it may be even worse than I thought. I just noticed the Department of Homeland Security has taken a break from sorting out good brown people from bad brown people to check on a couple of liberal activists in Louisville and their search appears to have inadvertently brought them here.
The President promised he wouldn't send drones out after American citizens, right?
U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell broke his recent silence on guns this morning with an anti-Second Amendment statement inconsistent with the beliefs of his constituents.
"I believe the government should focus on keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals and those with mental issues that could cause them to be a threat to society," McConnell said in a press release.
This is the same kind of faulty reasoning that leads big government politicians like McConnell to support anti-liberty legislation like the Patriot Act and NDAA. The Second Amendment says the right to keep and bear arms "shall not be infringed." There are no "ifs and buts" and there is no wiggle room in the Second Amendment.
If Senator McConnell thinks he has figured out some magical way to keep guns out of anyone's hands, let him take a timeout from gun-grabbing and list-making and explain to us just how that is supposed to work.
Just got off the phone with Huffington Post's Howard Fineman about the new lawsuit to rescind Governor Steve Beshear's ObamaCare executive order filed in 2012.
Beshear has been hiding behind staffers and attorneys since Monday on this issue, but may not be able to keep that up for long. The main issue here is not whether socialized medicine is good or not. The main issue in this case is whether the Governor of the Commonwealth can violate state law and the Constitution to do whatever he wants in office.
This case may reach the point quickly at which Democrats want it to end faster than Republicans do.
Exactly three months after a January 8, 2013 Capitol Rotunda rally calling for an end to ObamaCare, I have filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Circuit Court to force Governor Steve Beshear to rescind his Executive Order 2012-587 and shut down the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange.
Governor Beshear cited as his authority for creating the exchange by executive order a statute requiring him to get approval from the General Assembly. KRS 12.028. This statute permits the Governor to create new government entities by proposing them to the General Assembly "for its approval."
He has obtained no such approval.
He also claimed constitutional authority, in the Kentucky Constitution, but didn't specify where that authority could be found.
Assuming no one has been able to locate a "Good and Plenty" clause or something else we don't know about that might make this legal, the only thing I can think of is Section 80, which allows the Governor to call a special session.
He could, of course, call legislators back in solely to approve Kentucky's continued head-first dive into ObamaCare's empty swimming pool of promises. It would make much more sense, though, to admit defeat and shut the whole thing down right now before this mess is supposed to take effect October 1.
Governor Steve Beshear says he will sign Senate Bill 3 today, possibly ending the state's decade-long harassment of Christian MediShare, a religious alternative to government regulated health insurance.
The bill nearly died before a discharge petition was filed by Rep. Stan Lee on March 5. Discharge petitions in legislatures allow a minority of members to force a floor vote on a bill being held up by leadership. As it turned out Lee's discharge petition was ruled out of order and negotiations by Senator Tom Buford broke the bill free from House leadership's grasp.
House rules relating to discharge petitions render useless what could and should be a very beneficial tool for better representation in Frankfort. House Rule 48 should simply be amended to require 25 House member signatures on a petition to force a floor vote within one day of its filing. As it is, the rule has been gunked up with nonsense about reporting a bill in a "reasonable time" and then only kicking it back to the Rules Committee where more games can be played to forestall actual action on the bill.
Given the increasing probability that Kentucky Democrats will lose their House majority in the 2014, they should move now to straighten up House Rule 48 to work for the people and not just a tiny group of power-hungry politicians.
When running for re-election in 2008, Sen. Mitch McConnell campaigned heavily on his ability to bring home bacon. He proved the point by voting for bailouts and massive piles of debt most Republicans realize we can't afford.
As the wind has shifted, so, of course, has Sen. McConnell. In fact, he took a break recently from caving in on the next debt ceiling deal to post a web site promoting a "Team Mitch" rewards program. Featured items include a War on Drugs protective helmet (for entertainment purposes only) and a Stimulus Package, complete with a broken window and coupon for a free pretzel at a mall near you.
It seems, however, not everyone is impressed with this latest offering (click to read):
How surprised can anyone be that 75% of Kentucky state Republican Senators and 83% of Kentucky state Republican members of the House of Representatives who pledged to never vote for a tax increase failed on that pledge in the waning moments of the 2013 General Assembly?
A bipartisan cabal inserted approximately $100 million a year in tax increases into HB 440 on the evening of March 26. It's likely most of these people were unaware of what they were voting for, which would be horrifying if our expectations weren't already so low.
The supposed purpose of the bill is to provide additional funding for public employee pensions.
You may be visiting this web site because you saw me on MSNBC on Saturday March 30 at 2:50 pm speaking with Craig Melvin. If that's the case, thank you!
These are very interesting times in America and if we have anything to say about it they are about to become much more interesting. Please stay in touch as we continue this grand experiment to bring the most diverse collection of people on Earth together as Americans seeking life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
You and I will agree on some things and disagree on others, but I hope to develop the kind of conversation that will lead to greater understanding and friendship even when our points of view can't align.
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By the way, if you are interested in looking at a program to improve your health through better nutrition and perhaps even a business opportunity to increase your income, click here. Thanks again!
I went to East Jessamine High School yesterday after classes to meet my son's teacher. I walked into the school and walked almost the length of the building before I saw a single adult among the mass of students.
But I did see this.
The only thing missing from this absurdity is a televised Cry-A-Thon about how scary guns are and maybe a buy-back program to "get them off the streets." And this is in Jessamine County, where individuals probably own two guns for every man, woman and child.
We need to stop this kind of brainless behavior about the U.S. Constitution and what its protections mean in an institution that is supposed to be teaching future generations things they need to know. Time for a real discussion about safety in our schools.
If you haven't made it to one of the monthly meetings of the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange, you are missing out on a real trip.
The big news from Thursday's meeting is that federal regulators have deemed KHBE the "least risky" state ObamaCare program in the country. I'm not kidding.
Kind of like being the tallest deck chair on the Titanic.
In other news, officials announced a white paper on the state's "navigators" will be released in about two weeks. Of particular interest is the number of people expected to be called on to provide personal assistance for people who need help using the website that was supposed to make purchasing health insurance easier. That will be interesting, too.
And the question of where the actual money will come from to finance this boondoggle will now not be answered for several months. There are no indications KHBE will do anything but waste time and money.
Kentuckians should demand their legislators seek hard answers right away on the sources of funding to be used for the exchange. The continued delay is completely unacceptable.
If you are coming to Frankfort TODAY Thursday, March 28 for the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange advisory board meeting, please note that the location of the meeting has been changed. We will be at the Department of Insurance 2nd Floor Hearing Room, 215 West Main St in Frankfort.
Look forward to seeing you there. This is a pivotal meeting for fighting back against the federal healthcare takeover atrocity.
Leaders in both chambers of Kentucky's General Assembly have agreed to pass language protecting employer associations across the state from the mess we call ObamaCare. The bill will go to Governor Beshear as either HB 365 or as House Floor Amendment 1 to SB 152.
Either way, this legislation speeds up the implosion of the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange (KHBE). So the choice for Gov. Beshear is this: shut down the KHBE now -- or at least create a partnership with the federal government so they share more of the cost and blame -- or veto this language, harming more Kentuckians sooner directly as a result of the federal "Affordable Care Act."
"Interest in better political leadership representing Kentucky is exploding. Several potential candidates representing conservatives who respect all constitutional rights equally are looking at entering the U.S. Senate race for 2014 and some of us are creating a process to reduce that group to one candidate. That process must be completed by June 1 and it will be. I believe this process will give us a better candidate to not only win in November, but to represent Kentuckians better going forward."
Another firestorm has resulted from another television interview with Senator Rand Paul in which people on both sides of the political spectrum have misunderstood his words and jumped immediately into attack mode. Despite the hysteria, this one will calm down very quickly and I think a very useful and productive conversation will come about as a result of it.
Rand was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN, who asked about Rand's proposed legislation defining personhood as beginning at the moment of conception. You will hear the question from Blitzer about whether or not Rand has changed his position on abortion, but what happens after that is, I think, the beginning of a real discussion that transcends the usual talking points on the issue.
Rand isn't even talking about abortion. That's the key point causing confusion. He's talking about defining the beginning of life in order to protect it. Watch the video and see if you can make that distinction. You may have to watch it twice to catch it.
It didn't take long for a reporter with Louisville's second-largest newspaper, LEO, to start the following email conversation which I've reproduced below with my replies:
Joe: Rand's switching his abortion position, too? Man, he's starting to act like McConnell. Me: He has the same position he has had on abortion. Talking thoughtfully about the issue's unusual cases out on the margins as he was doing will always create a hubbub like this. It's just the nature of the beast. Here is what's different: Rand has introduced again a thoughtful approach to a thorny issue and, again, he will be given the stage long enough and often enough to try to move the country more to a pro-life position with a greater understanding of liberty. People can look all day long for a 'gotcha moment' here, but not only will they not find but Rand will come out of this with more fans and a higher profile. Keep swinging at him, though. That helps too. Joe: How does advocating for no exceptions (public statements and candidate surveys), then saying there should be "thousands of exemptions" and "privacy between families and doctors" not a switch? conservatives are the ones swinging at him right now, fyi Me: You have to view any proposed law way out on the margins in terms of the most extreme possible unintended consequence. If we define life as the very moment of sperm penetrating egg, that opens all kinds of problems with regard to the law. Without being too graphic, you can use your imagination to think of any number of privacy issues there that don't have anything to do with deciding to terminate a pregnancy. I know the response ultimately from the other side will be that this is why government should not be involved at all in any part of the reproductive process, but government has to be involved now because those same people are the ones who dreamed up the idea that it is okay to kill a child if he or she hasn't yet exited the birth canal. Joe: Right, so he used to think there should be no exemptions, and now he does. That's an obvious change, David. Me: This isn't about a woman going to her doctor and explaining that she has been raped or a victim of incest or learning that her pregnancy may put her own health or life at risk. If the law is to state that life begins at the first moment of conception, there will be many cases involving death that shouldn't involve the government but might with a law stating that it does. Fixing that weakness in such a law is a very complex topic of discussion. We'll get past the political gamesmanship soon on this and more people will discover that they agree with the pro-life position. Joe: If Rand truly thinks that this is a private decision between a woman and her doctor, and is now open to exemptions for rape and incest, that would certainly be a welcome (and ideologically consistent) change. But you can't honestly think that this is the same position he's always had. A fertilized egg is either a person with rights, or it isn't, yes? Me: He hasn't said that at all. According to his proposed legislation, a fertilized egg is a person which has been as position at least as long as he has been speaking publicly and answering candidate surveys. Joe: Yes, and now he thinks there should be "exemptions" to "kill" this "person," in certain circumstances. Unless he didn't mean anything he said on CNN. Me: No, he's not talking about "killing." Your mistake is that you are trying to turn this into a gotcha moment and it just isn't one unless you put words in his mouth. I see another round of attack ads with tiny sound-bites designed to create a false impression, but that's all this amounts too. Again, once we get past this distraction it will be a very interesting philosophical discussion and more people will come toward the pro-life position. Joe: He either meant what he said and softened his position, or he didn't and hasn't changed. You can't have it both ways Me: Slow down, Joe. Breathe. This isn't a discussion about abortion. This is a discussion about the moment life begins and how to protect that life without going to absurd lengths. Given that the entire "pro-choice" movement is based on the absurd idea that a baby deserves protection at some magical moment in which he or she suddenly becomes human but not before, it may take you a while to get here with us. We'll be waiting. Joe: David, I may sound like a broken record on this, but if Rand now thinks there should be an exemption for rape, that is a clear an unambiguous switch from his previous position. Me: You aren't a broken record, you are just playing on the wrong track. Blitzer's question was the standard one about when abortion should be allowed. Rand's answer, which he began with "I think that puts things in too small of a box," did not involve the standard way of looking at the issue. Again, this is about defining life at a precise moment and not about deciding to abort or not abort a pregnancy. Go back and watch the interview as if you are trying to understand his point of view rather than as if you are trying to find the next Todd Akin and I think you will get it pretty quickly. Joe: you're in knots David.
Rand Paul 2010: no exemptions for rape (clear and unambiguous)
Rand Paul 2013: exemptions for rape (your words) and whoknowswhatselse (unless he doesn't really believe that)
you're the only one talking about gotchas and "philosophical" questions. This is a clear cut policy change.
Me: I hope you are going to blog this whole conversation. I am.
Joe: David, slow down and take a breath, you're getting really worked up. The point is not that he's suddenly "Todd Akin," because Rand Paul has always agreed with Todd Akin. The point is that he's no longer in the Todd Akin no rape exemption crowd, if he meant what he said. To quote Rand Paul: "Comprende?"
Me: I understand that you are trying to make the conversation about abortion procedures but that is not what it is. This is about the difficulty in defining the moment life becomes a thing for which protection is necessary and how we go about it. Difficult discussion made more so by people trying to score political points.
Joe: also, your contention that the discussion with Blitzer had nothing to do with abortion is hilarious
Me: Keep laughing. That's still my contention. The reductio ad absurdum argument is often applied to abortion, so let's apply it to this conversation. This one is about a personhood definition bill that specifies the beginning of personhood as beginning at conception. If we are to protect two-cell humans, there will be literally thousands of exceptions necessary in the law to protect people from all kinds of unusual circumstances unless we want law enforcement officials literally climbing in bed with couples checking for any signs of a productive coupling. Is that clearer?
Joe: David, I've never seen you so defensive, take a deep breath. l, for one, welcome Rand Paul's move towards the middle on abortion. You still agree with him on a lot of other things though, so don't be too mad at him.
Me: Now I'm laughing, Joe. Thanks
Joe: David, that position remains 100% clear. Just like it is 100% clear that Rand has switched to this position. Which I welcome! I hope he continues to move more towards my way of thinking in the future, as well.
The federal government won't be shut down next week in order to protect ObamaCare funding. And that's supposed to be the good news. At least that's the case if you get your Republican talking points from Senator Mitch McConnell.
It's a different story, however, if you ask Senator Rand Paul and Representative Thomas Massie.
In the last 24 hours, Senate and House bipartisan majorities both passed the Continuing Resolution to keep government operating through the end of the fiscal year on September 30. With a Democratic Senate and President, this power of the purse is the only congressional bargaining chip to stop ObamaCare.
Senator McConnell was joined by Reps. Ed Whitfield, Brett Guthrie, Hal Rogers and Andy Barr in throwing away this leverage. Sen. Paul and Rep. Massie did not follow suit. Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth also voted against the bill, but he is upset that it doesn't spend even more so he doesn't even count.
Kentuckians want ObamaCare repealed. Even more Kentuckians will want it gone when they start to feel more of the effects of it this fall. Those who played go-along-to-get-along on this may come to regret their trepidation pretty soon.
The late Gatewood Galbraith’s ardent advocacy of marijuana and hemp was easy to lampoon, but the endurance of his message can revolutionize American politics for those who now embrace it. In short, the Republican party should seek to become the party of cannabis.
Most opinions about repairing the Republican Party now focus on tweaking messaging or more aggressively courting various demographic groups. This approach reflects the current disconnect between much of the political class and the people.
The GOP can box out Democrats for temporary marginal gains with rhetorical tricks or outreach efforts, but a more fundamental shift is in order to really benefit the party and the country.
Republicans should focus more broadly on working to restore individual liberties to all people. In fact, they should visibly and repeatedly challenge Democrats to see which party can out-liberty the other and then run hard to win that race.
Government assaults on individual rights are often successful because most people haven’t learned to respond viscerally to attacks against the rights of others that don’t directly and immediately impact them. German holocaust survivor Martin Niemoller famously remarked in the 1950’s how apathy caused most people like him to ignore Nazi attacks on various groups of people, leaving no one to speak up when they came knocking on his door.
We are making that same mistake in this country presently and it shouldn‘t cause anyone a moment‘s comfort because the jackboots aren‘t coming for our neighbors just now. The destruction of liberty in America will have to be a more subtle effort than any before in history because we are an extraordinarily peculiar people. But the idea that “it can’t happen here” should have gone out the window with such liberty-destroying laws as the Patriot Act or NDAA. Such innocence dies slowly every time an innocent citizen is groped by a federal employee before boarding an airplane. Because of the increasingly brazen abuses against liberty in America, I suggest a specific mindset shift for our new age to pull us together despite our differences, elevating the individual over the bureaucracy and protecting the rights of the few from the appetites of the many.
Let us say, before it grows too late, that in 2013 we decided to end the massively wasteful and counterproductive “war on drugs” even though most of us are not recreational drug users. Let’s stop the colossally stupid prosecution and intensely counterproductive incentives of prohibition, lessons most learned nearly a century ago with regard to alcohol but haven’t managed to extend to our treatment of cannabis.
A tragically ironic joke among recreational pot users is that government expresses concern about marijuana ruining lives but devotes tremendous resources to beating weed to the punch by ruining young lives first with jail sentences and enforcement efforts leading to far worse crimes. Republicans stand to gain by first drawing down the exorbitant cost of the “war on drugs” at least as it applies to cannabis, for fiscal reasons. Next, they should move quickly toward protecting liberty in all its aspects and defining their positions in terms of how they help that effort.
We should dare Democrats to match our efforts in defense of liberty and meet voters where they live by giving them confidence our candidates consider leaving them alone to be our highest priority.
Politicians repeatedly like to declare big government dead, until their rhetoric puts them in charge of it. No one expects the Republican party to grasp the power of a shift toward competing for greater personal freedom, but that is exactly why it can work. Please spread the word.
Lexington prosecutor Sam Finley may add prosecutorial misconduct to his list of courtroom adventures on Tuesday if he follows through on plans to take employees of Botany Bay to trial. The new law he is prosecuting them under specifies they can't be found guilty.
Worse, Judge Kim Wilkie will hear a motion from the owner of Botany Bay, Ginny Saville, to dismiss all charges against her based on the unconstitutionality of parts of the same law. It's all part of a clumsy attempt to lump an absurdly broad array of substances into the "war on drugs," ruin the lives of innocent people and fund further police-state activities with ill-gotten gains.
If the purpose of laws were to selectively and arbitrarily persecute anyone at any time and to impose outlandish punishments without due process or respect for individual rights, this sordid tale would make everyone in the legislature, the judicial system and law enforcement proud.
A 7-year-old Maryland boy made national news a couple of weeks ago when school officials freaked out and suspended him because his Pop-Tart had been chewed into the shape of a gun. Kentucky law makes no mention of a "look-alike weapon," but that doesn't stop the Kentucky School Board Association from strictly forbidding them.
·Any object
designed to look like or imitate a weapon; or
·Any object
possessed or used by a student, employee or visitor to the school's facilities
or grounds to give the impression that the object is a weapon.
Violation of this policy by
staff members shall constitute reason for disciplinary action, including
possible termination.
Violation of this policy by students shall require that the Principal
immediately make a report to the Superintendent, who shall determine if charges
for expulsion from the District schools should be filed under Policy 09.435. In addition, when they have reasonable belief that a violation
has taken place, principals shall immediately report to law enforcement
officials when an act has occurred on school property or at a school-sponsored
function that involves student possession of a firearm in violation of the law
or assault involving the use of a weapon.
Violations by visitors shall be reported to a law enforcement agency.
(Emphasis added.)
I'm starting to think we need a Pop-Tart Day in Kentucky schools. I'm particularly interested in how the conversation would go with law enforcement for visitors who showed up wielding their Pop-Tarts. Seriously, though, this policy needs to be challenged and changed. I'll look into that this next week and report back.
The 2013 Kentucky General Assembly has two days left, the 25th and 26th of this month, called veto days. We should make sure they are used to get rid of the state's biggest ObamaCare cheerleader.
Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark is the only one of Governor Beshear's 51 appointees not confirmed by the Senate in the first 28 days of the session. That's not enough, but it is good. Please encourage your state Senator to make sure that her term draws to an ignominious, but decisive, end with the failure of Senate Resolution 181.
Clark has been the driving force behind forcing ObamaCare down Kentuckians' throats. We should return the favor by showing her the door.
Next up is the monthly meeting of Kentucky's Health Benefit Exchange advisory board. Please bring friends to 12 Mill Creek Park in Franfort at 1:30 pm ET on Thursday March 28 to help draw attention to the illegal activities of this destructive bureaucracy.
Muhlenberg County Public Schools' current Employee Handbook contains the following passage which conflicts with state law:
This policy can be found on page 23 of the handbook. Specifically, this violates KRS 527.070(3)(a) which allows adults to possess weapons contained within a vehicle on school property, KRS 65.870 which forbids local government entities from regulating possession of weapons and KRS 237.016 which forbids disciplinary action against an employee for possessing a firearm in a vehicle on the property.
Any questions?
Muhlenberg County needs to fix this illegal policy to comply with state law without further delay. Please call Superintendent Dale Todd at (270) 338-2871 and tell him his gun policy breaks state laws, as he seems to be unaware.
Observers remarked on the hatred in Kentucky Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark's eyes for me last week when I was the only person to testify against her re-appointment in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.
Good.
She is a huge proponent of ObamaCare with the power to inflict great harm on Kentuckians and she hasn't been shy about stating her desire to do so. Meanwhile, the religious health sharing bill, Senate Bill 3, looks like it will pass today through both chambers, providing at least a narrow escape for consumers when the ObamaCare hits the fan this fall.
This looks like the best we can get through for the 2013 General Assembly regular session. Lots more to do.
A Lexington, Kentucky suburb opened up the 'guns in schools' debate this week with a proposal to change school policy on the district level in Jessamine County. A loophole in the state's most populous -- and most hostile -- school district, however, creates an unexpected urban opportunity for 2nd Amendment rights sure to attract national attention.
Jefferson County Public Schools' Conduct Code and Related Policies includes the following language on page ten: "Carrying, bringing, using or possessing a dangerous weapon in any school building, on school grounds, in any school vehicle or at any school-sponsored activity without the authorization of the school or the school district is prohibited."
That means the school board has delegated its authority from the state to change its weapons policy to the individual schools. I don't know if there is one school in Jefferson County with the courage and foresight to abandon its reckless 'gun free zone' status, but the effort to find one presents a can't lose opportunity.
Conservatives waiting for House Republicans in Frankfort to assert themselves in the 2013 General Assembly may have missed the quiet signal of a shift in the last ten days.
In that time, House Republicans have filed discharge petitions on two bills. Senate Bill 5, which would levy enormous fines on doctors who fail to perform an "informed consent" ultrasound on a pregnant woman prior to performing an abortion, on February 27. On Thursday, March 7, a discharge petition was filed on Senate Bill 129, which seeks to limit federal efforts to infringe on 2nd Amendment rights of Kentuckians.
The purpose of discharge petitions is to force a bill past an attempt by a chamber's leadership to bottle it up in committee. House Democrats have procedural tools available to them to beat back a discharge petition, but Republicans have absolutely nothing to lose by expanding the fight to other crucial bills like the ObamaCare repeal bills -- SB 39 and SB 40 -- and turning up the volume.
In what remains of the 2013 General Assembly, let's hope so. Meanwhile, intransigent House committee chairs Tom Burch and John Tilley deserve to be bombarded with telephone calls.
Jessamine County School Board Vice Chair Amy Day is leading the way on changing safety policy in her school district to allow employees to carry weapons on campus to protect themselves and the children they serve.
"The people I've talked to are in favor of it," Day said.
Mrs. Day has two 10th grade daughters at East Jessamine High School. She is working on gaining support to make the change as authorized under Kentucky law to improve campus safety beyond the state suggestion which consists almost entirely of signs posted at school entrances informing would-be attackers that possession of a gun in schools breaks state law.
Jessamine County School Board members heard a presentation at their January meeting about making schools safer with this simple policy change. The next board meeting is at 7pm ET on March 25, 2013 at 871 Wilmore Road in Nicholasville.
Lunchtime today in Frankfort will pass quietly for all but a very few Kentuckians while a key constitutional struggle comes to a head.
At noon, the House Banking and Insurance Committee will vote on Senate Bill 3, the religious health sharing bill. The bill would simply move Kentucky into compliance with an exemption for Christians written into the ObamaCare law. As current Kentucky law stands, the freedom to contract privately among fellow followers of Christ to mutually cover healthcare expenses is punishable as a felony.
Leaving this kind of power in the hands of state insurance bureaucrats makes no sense. More than half a century of bureaucratic bungling has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that we need more freedom and less government in healthcare. ObamaCare will start to blow up in the faces of consumers later this fall. What happens today should determine how much of a disaster that will be.
Grassroots activists in Kentucky burned up the phone lines in Frankfort to force a committee hearing to the Christian health sharing bill, Senate Bill 3, legislative staff confirmed late Wednesday.
The House Banking and Insurance Committee will hold a vote to allow Christians in Kentucky greater freedom in escaping ObamaCare when the federal healthcare takeover goes into effect fully next year. The committee hearing will be Thursday at noon in the Capitol Annex Room 129. Senate Bill 3 is the only bill on the committee's agenda.
As U.S. Senator Rand Paul makes serious headlines for holding up an Obama appointee, Kentucky state Senate President toils in relative anonymity while doing the same thing to the biggest ObamaCare cheerleader in Frankfort.
Please call 502-564-8100 and tell Sen. Stivers you appreciate him standing up for Kentuckians and against ObamaCare. Refusing to allow the re-confirmation of Sharon Clark to the position of Kentucky Insurance Commissioner could have the most significant impact of anything this General Assembly does. Shutting down ObamaCare is on Sen. Stivers' shoulders now. He needs our encouragement to end Kentucky's involvement in the federal takeover of our healthcare system now.
Kentucky's Senate Banking and Insurance Committee attached all of the religious health sharing bill to House Bill 365 this morning, practically ensuring an end to the Department of Insurance's decade-long jihad against Christian Medi-Share in particular and Christian citizens in general.
House Bill 365 will very likely have no opposition in the full Senate and then will go back to the House in its amended form for a floor vote there. Please contact your state Representative and urge support for House Bill 365 as amended by the Senate.
This will allow Christian Medi-Share back into the state and limit the Kentucky Department of Insurance in their ability to harass and penalize Christians seeking to avoid the ObamaCare debacle. Non-Christians would do well to demand that the federal exemption to ObamaCare available to Christians must be expanded to protect them too.
Thank you to everyone who called your Kentucky state senator over the last two weeksdemanding they hold up re-confirmation of Kentucky's leading ObamaCare cheerleader, Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark. Allowing her to keep her job while forcing Kentucky over the ObamaCare cliff is not acceptable.
Senate staff confirmed this morning that Commissioner Clark is not on the list for tomorrow's confirmations, signally a significant shift. Please call your senator and thank him or her for not supporting Commissioner Clark until after Senate Bills 3, 39 and 40 are signed into law by Governor Beshear.
Your support in this has been invaluable. Turning back ObamaCare is the least we can do for our country and for future generations of Americans.
President Barack Obama is right about one thing: the "sequester" is a manufactured crisis. Of course, he made it, in conjunction with congressional leaders of both parties looking for an easy way out of the debt ceiling fight of 2011. This is Obama addressing the nation on Saturday.
Kentucky has had eleven such sequesters since 2008 and they haven't even slowed down the train.
Readers will awaken Sunday to national news coverage of the most powerful Republican in Washington D.C. hurling a boulder at two liberal Louisville activists for suggesting erroneously on Twitter that his wife is from China.
This is what passes for the "ultimate outrage" at a time in which we strain at petty slights but swallow whole imaginary fiscal crises like the sequester and big government blunders like providing funding for ObamaCare.
It is these latter issues which will haunt Sen. McConnell in the upcoming Republican primary for the seat he has occupied since his election in 1984. Long after this fainting goat routine runs its course, Sen. McConnell will have to run on his record.
Republican primary voters looking for seriousness in fiscal reform are in no mood to swoon for professional politicians who have become millionaires at the public trough trying to play the victim in such a transparent manner.
Sen. McConnell's bailout and corporate welfare chickens will come home to roost in 2014. Expect a Republican replacement to be there to clean up the mess. Republican primary voters either know or can easily be reminded about how Mitch ran Jim Bunning out of the Senate for standing up to the status quo and that we wouldn't still be playing Charlie Brown to Obama's Lucy on debt ceiling deals if he hadn't facilitated the debt ceiling increase and sequestration fraud in 2011.
