"The government sector, which includes public education, public administration agencies and state-owned hospitals, gained 500 positions in November 2008. The sector has added 10,000 jobs since November 2007."
"The state board evaluated Draud in August and was supposed to present him with the findings at its October meeting, which was postponed because of his stroke."
"In his evaluation, board members applauded Draud's effort in starting two major task forces: one on improving low-performing schools and another looking at the state's assessment and accountability system."
"Obama expects that the (1)premiums paid by most Americans will decline and subsidies will be offered to more moderate-income people to allow them to buy into the plan. Of course, this is not all free. Obama's team estimates it should cost approximately (2)$100 billion a year. Obama does not intend to raise average Americans' taxes to pay for the plan, but rather intends to fund the plan from the government savings he expects we will get by pulling our troops out of Iraq and (3)ending the war, from the tax increase he proposes for (4)Americans earning over $250,000 per year, and from the money he raises by instituting a (5)carbon tax on carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, Obama will mandate that employers who are not currently paying for quality healthcare coverage for their employees will (6)have to contribute a percentage of their payroll costs to the plan."
"Nearly one out of every four New Yorkers under the age of 18 is obese. In many high-poverty areas, the rate is closer to one out of three."
"That is why, in the state budget I presented last Tuesday, I proposed a tax on sugared beverages like soda. Research has demonstrated that soft-drink consumption is one of the main drivers of childhood obesity."
"For example, a study by Harvard researchers found that each additional 12-ounce soft drink consumed per day increases the risk of a child becoming obese by 60 percent. For adults, the association is similar."
"If we are to succeed in reducing childhood obesity, we must reduce consumption of sugared beverages. That is the purpose of our proposed tax. We estimate that an 18 percent tax will reduce consumption by five percent."
"Our tax would apply only to sugared drinks -- including fruit drinks that are less than 70 percent juice -- that are nondiet. The $404 million this tax would raise next year will go toward funding public health programs, including obesity prevention programs, across New York state."
"I'm not going to let this economy crater in order to preserve the free market system."
"A part of the public notice law allows smaller cities to mail their notices by first class mail, if the city can show it’s cheaper than publishing in the local newspaper. In the 22 years that’s been part of the law, not one single agency has found it cheaper to mail a notice by first class than by newspaper publication."
"Cutting alone, though, only gets the state about a third of the way to the nearly half-billion mark."
"To make even this slim budget work, there's got to be more revenue, and Beshear is looking to a 70 cent a pack increase in the tax on cigarettes to make up about half the shortfall."
"We have long supported increasing this tax, to improve both revenue and public health. When the price increases, some people quit smoking and a lot — especially young people — don't start."
""It's is extremely difficult to criticize the governor on what he wants to do," said Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville. "And anyone who would want to criticize the governor, I would ask them to lay out a better plan.""
"No. We’re not propping up companies. That’s your mistake," he tells Stahl, who had asked him about taxpayer money going to prop up companies that had made bad decisions. "We’re propping up individuals. The world doesn't consist of companies. The world is people. The country is people."
When Stahl points out that Frank is then talking about welfare, he responds, "Yeah, I’m for welfare. You’re not? Are you for letting people starve?"
"The Governor's proposal is horrible policy. It fails to address the underlying problem and if things don't get better immediately he will have used all of the tricks in the bag."
"The House has a record of strong leadership in these matters. Last session, we expressed our support for additional revenue by passing a cigarette tax to avoid disastrous cuts in education and human services. We in the House have not shied away from the tough decisions when it means doing what is best for Kentucky."
"The LFUCG and state will not enforce illegal hiring practices. Neither government will enforce federal immigration laws as demonstrated by Beshear's, Newberry's and Conway's stated policies. Now the door has been closed for one citizen's request for relief from the District court to enforce the laws restricting public benefits to ineligible recipients. My interpretation of these collective practices is that Kentucky and Lexington clearly fit the definition of Sanctuary status and are determined to be safe havens for illegal immigration."
"I've taken this to its logical conclusion for being one voice, one citizen."
"On the local, state, and now the federal level there is the not the political will to stop illegal immigration into Kentucky or address the drug cartels, prostitution, human trafficking, or gangs. I've spoken out on all three levels. The point has been made. There are 4,241,000 Kentuckians and 271,000 Lexingtonians who need to address the issues if they see an existing problem. I think I've carried the water about as far as I can. It would seem that there isn't the majority who will stand up on the issues and carry the water any further. Sadly, we will all suffer the long term negative consequences. Our politicians, at all levels, are content to betray their duty to protect the citizens."
"The cowardice of hiding behind the excuse, "its a federal issue," is both unpatriotic and treasonous. They would, of course, need to know the definition of these two concepts to understand them but, after all, those in Kentucky are products of the failed Kentucky education system. What can you expect?"
"I'll need to give careful consideration to my options but for now I plan to enjoy the holidays with my family. Fortunately, I am fluent in Spanish so the transition to our new Hispanic culture won't be too hard."
"It's also becoming increasingly clear that the real goal of Democrats isn't to save jobs per se, but to tell Detroit what cars to make and how to make them. The goal is to turn GM and the rest into Big Green Machines that will stop making SUVs and trucks and start making small cars that run on something other than carbon fuel. If consumers don't want to drive them, well, the next step will be to impose subsidies or penalties and taxes to coerce them to do so. Giving the federal government an equity stake could also lead to protectionism, as the politicians attempt to shield Detroit's mismanaged assets from competition by citing the interests of the UAW, the environment, or some other "social" good that has nothing to do with making cars Americans will want to drive."
"None of these measures will save Detroit in any real commercial sense. For precedents, consult the history of France's Renault, S.A., or perhaps of Jawaharlal Nehru's industrial policies in postwar socialist India. But a bailout will harm consumers, harm the auto industry as a whole, put taxpayers on the hook indefinitely, and bring the U.S. commitment to market principles further into doubt."
"If this is how Barack Obama wants to begin his Presidency, so be it. But Mr. Bush will not enhance his legacy by helping Congress and the Sierra Club nationalize Detroit."
"How did we get into this mess? Corporate greed and incompetence, for sure, as well as some irresponsible consumers."
"The Wall Street meltdown can be traced to greed and abuse made possible by deregulation and lack of government oversight. And if government had pushed harder for tough fuel economy standards — or helped fund innovation the way Japan has done with its automakers — the Big Three and the rest of us would be in a lot better shape now."
"Why should businesses bear that burden? If government took more responsibility for managing health care with private providers, many people think both quality and coverage could be improved. Freed from those benefits burdens, companies could be more competitive globally. Plus, think of the entrepreneurial potential that could be unleashed if so many workers weren't tied to jobs they hate by fear of losing health care benefits."
"Like many Americans, I'm uncomfortable with government trying to manage big business. But if government would use this opportunity to learn how to do a better job of governing, we might be spared more corporate bailouts in the future."
"STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Nobel economics prize winner Paul Krugman said Sunday that the beleaguered U.S. auto industry will likely disappear.
""It will do so because of the geographical forces that me and my colleagues have discussed," the Princeton University professor and New York Times columnist told reporters in Stockholm. "It is no longer sustained by the current economy.""
"I gather that there’s a report on the wires quoting me as saying that the US auto industry would disappear. What I actually said was that the concentration of the industry around Detroit would disappear."
"And did I really say “me and my colleagues”? I guess it’s possible — but that doesn’t sound like I speaking."
"Congressional officials say the lawyer who oversaw the 9/11 victims’ compensation fund has emerged as a candidate to be the “car czar” in charge of a federal loan package for the Detroit Three automakers."
"Over the course of a full year, a 70-cent increase per pack would produce about a third of the revenue needed to offset the current $456.1 million shortfall."
"... the two compelling arguments for legalizing casino gambling: to capture for our own treasury the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue Kentuckians are contributing to bordering states by gambling at their casinos and racinos, and to keep Kentucky's signature racing industry competitive with its counterparts in states where purses and breeders' incentives are supplemented with the profits from expanded gambling."
Don't let your child choke or suffocate on gift-wrapping materials.
Your child may choke on a golf ball or ping pong ball. Be careful.
String may strangle your baby.
Some people trip over toys.
Wheeled toys can kill you.
Don't trim your tree with items your children may mistake for food.
Don't inhale artificial snow.
"A Swedish woman injured in a car accident has had her disability benefits withdrawn after the country’s social insurance agency determined her large bust was to blame for the pain."
"The agency’s decision comes following an assessment from a doctor suggesting that Andersson could return to work if she had breast reduction surgery."
""I had understood authorities to be impartial, but I don’t feel that way any longer. I see this as more of a political judgment than a medical one," she said."
"The 40 percent of Kentucky families who earn the least must use 39 percent of their income to attend a 4-year college, up from 33 percent in 2004, the report found. And that's after accounting for financial aid, which is increasingly being used to lure high-achieving students who boost a school's reputation, but who don't need help to go to college."
"What's important is what is being done about it," Fratto said. "The most important things we can do for the economy right now are to return the financial and credit markets to normal, and to continue to make progress in housing, and that's where we'll continue to focus."
"Important lessons on our current crisis can be drawn from Japan’s “lost decade” in the 1990s, where deeply flawed policy responses lead to a protracted period of stagnation. In the early 1990s, Japan experienced a sharp economic slowdown resulting from the bursting of a real estate and stock market bubble. Sound familiar? In response, Japan’s policy makers pursued an aggressive agenda of fiscal stimulus packages after 1993. Japan’s preference for public spending at the expense of private investment led to record deficits, increasing government debt to 130% of GDP. Following the array of new spending projects, Japan made the critical mistake of raising its consumption tax rate in 1997, proving fatal for Japan’s already stagnant economy. Rather than addressing the significant structural problems in Japan’s financial sector or reducing taxes to spur sustained economic growth, Japan followed a path of increased spending followed by increased taxes. Such a path proved disastrous for Japan, and – should Obama and the Congressional Majority follow a similar path as they’ve promised – it will prove disastrous for America."
"... he's either expecting to raise taxes, or not expecting the $456 million shortfall to materialize."
"Like President-elect Obama (but unlike candidate Obama), I am all for getting rid of farm subsidies. But why would you want to use taxpayer funds to encourage large, efficient, profitable farms to break up into smaller, less efficient, less profitable farms?"
"Sutter said, “Now is the time to get on this. It isn’t something we want to wait for. We need to be very proactive with this.""
"Shelbyville’s quality of life may depend on it."
"The latest report by the National Drug Intelligence Center reports drug cartel activity involving the Federation Cartel in Louisville and the rival Gulf Coast Cartel in Lexington."
"Authorities fear violence in the future as these two groups begin to fight over territory here in Kentucky."
"In a letter to the Hopkins County Health Department, Kentucky Freedom Coalition spokesman Hal Latham promised his group will “vigorously fight any attempt by the Health Board to enact laws concerning this matter . . . We are passionate about freedom and private property rights.""
"Surely, no process that exists is more fundamentally un-American than laws enacted and enforced by non-elected bureaucrats."
"Beyond pure economic considerations, of course, there is the emotionally persuasive argument that the press needs to be saved so it can fulfill its unique role as the watchdog for the oldest democracy in the world. The problem is that it is difficult to imagine how the vigor and independence of the press would be maintained if the industry depended on the largesse of the very government officials it is supposed to be watching."
"We never used the term "yokels," but rather "Yokeldom" as a reference to the general population of backward people."
""The most important thing is to make sure that we reach out to Hispanic voters, to African-American voters,” Crist said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt.""
""The problem to a degree we’ve had as Republicans has been running on one message of conservatism and then governing a very different way," Sanford said. "I think that the way that you appeal to blacks or Hispanics is to first of all carefully define what you’re about.""
"President-elect Barack Obama said the U.S. government will do "whatever it takes" to revive the economy, and that means "we shouldn't worry about the deficit next year or even the year after.""
"For the most part, the auto industry’s woes were self-inflicted by decades of insular and unimaginative senior management. The problems are not the fault of the workers, the customers, the suppliers, OPEC or the competition. They result from management’s lack of vision, objectivity, originality and courage."
"The news industry didn't help anyone, least of all Detroit, by selling out and becoming shills for the industry. They've done the same thing by selling out and shilling for Obama and the Dimwits in Congress. People don't buy your product because they've found you to be untrustworthy and they do have an alternative. That the anti-newspaper is free to them is icing on the cake. Choice, for free ? From home, dry and warm ? Newspapers can't compete with that. Sell the presses for scrap. It's over. The patient died. He refused to take his medicine when it might have done some good."
"I'm a market-oriented guy, but not when I'm faced with the prospect of a global meltdown," Bush said.
"Some Democratic legislators have stated quietly their belief that a federal universal health insurance plan will save them the trouble of catching up with the rising costs of state and local employees' and retirees' healthcare costs. The funny thing is, none of them have bothered to ask Sen. Barack Obama about that."
"What's even funnier is that Sen. (Tom) Buford did ask." (click here for more)
In particular, the government spending that would be reduced if direct spending programs are cut is often concentrated among local businesses…. By contrast, the spending by individuals and businesses that would be affected by tax increases often is less concentrated among local producers — since part of the decline in purchases that would occur if taxes were raised would be a decline in the purchase of goods produced out of state. Thus, more of the reduction in purchases that results from tax increases than from government budget cuts falls on out-of-state goods (relative to in-state goods), lessening the adverse impact of a tax increase on the state economy. Reductions in direct government spending consequently could have a larger adverse impact on a state's economy than tax increases, which have a stronger adverse impact on out-of-state goods and services.
"Asked if he has ruled out supporting a cigarette tax increase, Williams said, "I'm not going to get involved in a discussion about ruling out anything. I've never signed a no-tax pledge in my life because you could have some catastrophic circumstance that would require additional revenue.""
"It is our hope that the actions that Congress has taken, and that the Administration may take, will restore the preeminence of our domestic manufacturing industry so that it can emerge as a global, competitive leader in fuel efficiency and in new and path-breaking energy-efficient technologies that protect our environment."
