Steve Beshear's new ObamaCare decision

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."

All the more reason to join us this Thursday in Frankfort for the advisory board meeting of the KHBE. They should be talking about the massive new, illegal taxes on Kentuckians to pay for this ridiculous scheme. And by then, they may have to discuss how Gov. Beshear and the legislature just made their ride on the big government gravy train a much shorter one.

My tea party statement for Friday, March 22

"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."    

Rand Paul is 100% pro-life, same as always

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.

Me: Not a chance. 

Joe: Tell me how his new position is 100% consistent with this: http://c0469351.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/KYRTLresponse.pdf 

Me: Explanation of the bill: http://nationalprolifealliance.com/rlacv_video.aspx

Massie and Paul have other 5 surrounded

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.

GOP should become party of cannabis

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.

Kentucky "drug warriors" play fast and loose

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.

Challenge Kentucky educrats' fake Pop-Tart ban

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.

KSBA weapons policy banning Pop-Tart guns includes the following passage:

A look-alike weapon refers to the following:

·         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.

Fire Sharon Clark now

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 KY Schools breaking state gun laws

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.

Thanks for the heads up on this to Jarrod Douglas of 2A Squared -- Second Amendment Aware.

One victory coming today

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.

Divide and conquer Louisville gun grabbers

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.

Will Kentucky House GOP go nuclear on Dems?

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 mom takes on gun-free zones

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.

This Christian battle is for everyone

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.

Christians bust through logjam in Kentucky

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.

Kentucky's filibuster: Robert Stivers?

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.

Crushing Frankfort's war against Christians

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.

Taking out the trash in Frankfort

Thank you to everyone who called your Kentucky state senator over the last two weeks demanding 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.

Kentucky leads nation in this, too

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.

Mitch McConnell's "outrage" masks weakness

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. 

UK grad schools Jack Conway on 14th Amendment

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway wants to shut down RJ Bruner's Lexington moving company and send his 31 employees packing.

Wildcat Moving was fined thousands of dollars in 2011 by the state for operating a moving company without state permission. Bruner took a good look at the arbitrary and capricious state application process and the 2010 MBA graduate filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging violation of his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law.

He is right. And this week, United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves sided with him in refusing Conway's motion to dismiss his lawsuit. Kentucky law gives existing moving companies the right to veto new applicants wishing to join the marketplace.

At his next press conference, Conway should be forced to explain why he is fighting against this young Kentuckian and his small army of employees instead of fighting for them.

Senator Tom Buford's Senate Bill 132 would eliminate this process for companies moving "household goods" but leave it in place for those moving people. His bill needs to become law and then we should go back and strike the whole ridiculous idea of government deciding who gets to be a market participant and who doesn't.

Getting this right across the board would only help Kentucky consumers and providers of such absurdly over-regulated products and services as health care, financial services and labor.

Beshear attacks Kentucky dentists

More shocking mismanagement of Kentucky Medicaid Services (KMS) has come to light in which state officials are illegally attempting to bilk oral surgeons who treat poor, toothless Kentuckians. At issue is a service called alveoplasty performed for Medicaid patients after all their teeth have been removed.

In an attempt to shore up state finances, KMS has cut payments for alveoplasty services retroactively from 2006 to 2011 and demanded repayment from surgeons for work they performed during that time. Some Kentucky surgeons are looking at bills from the government for tens of thousands of dollars.

Of course, our surgeons are fighting back. We must join them in this because such outrageous actions threaten to further limit the availability of dental surgeons in Kentucky at reasonable prices -- or perhaps at any price at all. 

Please share this information with your elected representatives in Frankfort. Tell them to force recission of Department of Medicaid Services Internal Change Order 16402. Further, they should support Senate Bill 39, which will require greater scrutiny of the proposed Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare. If they are playing these flimflam games with Medicaid now, it will only get worse under a much larger program.

Kentucky sequestration exclamation

Amid the wall-to-wall freaking out over the federal "sequester," it's worth pointing out that Kentucky has had eleven sequesters since Governor Steve Beshear took office. Notice anything about spending in this chart?

Mitch McConnell skewers himself

Sen. Mitch McConnell has never been a big fan of the Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative Washington D.C. group committed to replacing moderate Republicans with fiscal hawks.

It's about to get a whole lot worse for him.

The Club has released its 2012 Congressional Scorecard which shows Sen. McConnell with his lowest score since 2008.

Think bailouts.

The 2012 votes that could cost Sen. McConnell dearly in May 2012 include votes against cutting federal gas taxes and returning some highway programs to the states, voting against a fiscally conservative budget blueprint, voting against cuts to farm subsidies and loan guarantees. He also got dinged for voting in favor of a bloated spending bill for transportation programs, student loan and flood insurance subsidies and for voting to fund ObamaCare.

Mary Lou Marzian bites Louisville Courier Journal

If the Louisville Courier Journal has a favorite Kentucky state legislator, it could well be Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, a left-wing politician of epic proportions. It is more than a little odd, then, to see her filing a resolution in Frankfort to muzzle our largest newspaper, a left-wing media outlet of epic proportions.

House Concurrent Resolution 6 would force media corporations to stop attempting to influence elections in Kentucky. That's not Rep. Marzian's intention, of course, but that's what you get when you don't think things through.

And she seriously didn't think this one through.

HCR 6 calls on Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and prohibit corporate political support through federal and state legislation.

A little thing called a "media exemption" jumps out as problematic here for fans of the Courier Journal. Banning corporate political speech nationally won't generally concern Gannett, the CJ's corporate parent, because federal election law exempts what it defines as "media" from such regulation, but Kentucky law contains no such loophole.  

That means Rep. Marzian can't shut off corporate political activity for Kentucky corporations she doesn't like without also silencing those she does like. 

A bipartisan trait of most politicians somehow prevents them from universally recognizing the value of absolute individual rights. Some like absolute gun rights but can't imagine missing an opportunity to prohibit ingestion of some substances. Others, like Marzian, like speech from friends supporting their worldview but can't endure thoughts from political opponents. Sometimes, amid all their infringing and prohibiting, these politicians get a little sloppy. This is one of those times.

Why don't these people just once, when faced with a choice between limiting freedom unevenly and promoting its unalienable aspects stop twisting themselves into pretzels to justify controlling people and just let freedom happen?

Kentucky's Constitution very unambiguously guarantees freedom of speech, promising "no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof." Rep. Marzian embarrasses herself attempting to use Section 150 of the Kentucky Constitution in her resolution to justify stifling political speech of corporations, when this section speaks to vote buying activity of both individuals and corporations. Is she saying she wants to muzzle private citizens in Kentucky as well as her hometown newspaper, which seems to never tire of endorsing her and her ideas?

I'd love for a Courier Journal reporter to ask her that.

Don't let Frankfort Republicans cave on this

Kentucky's Senate Republican caucus has agreed to approve all of Governor Steve Beshear's executive branch appointments this year in exchange for nothing, President Robert Stivers' office has confirmed.

This will not do. Kentucky conservatives have a great opportunity to fight back against this cave-in mentality and exposing Frankfort's ridiculous "new tone" nonsense, which is political speak for giving up the farm.

Of fifty one confirmation resolutions filed in the Senate so far, fifty of them are sponsored by members of the Senate Republican caucus. The one exception is Kentucky's point person for ObamaCare, Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark. Republicans are understandably squeamish about publicly sponsoring re-confirmation of the bureaucrat behind Kentucky's illegally formed and funded ObamaCare scheme, but the fix is in for approval of Commissioner Clark in the late days of the session in hopes sexier issues will distract attention from this outrage.

Senate Republicans have made a deal with Beshear to the detriment of all Kentuckians just to play to the media theme of them being nice guys. Please call your Senator and demand that he or she publicly refuse to support confirmation of the person who has set us up for the massive federal takeover of our healthcare system.

Perjury for fun and profit in Lexington

Fayette County Prosecutor Charles "Sam" Finley apparently thought he was being cute in his court battle against a Lexington small business and it may get him in hot water.

Finley filed an 11th hour motion yesterday to appeal a judge's order for Lexington police to return tens of thousands of dollars in improperly confiscated inventory to Botany Bay, 932 Winchester Rd. Lexington Police have blatantly ignored orders from Judge Kim Wilkie to return the inventory -- which video evidence seems to indicate they have destroyed.

In Finley's motion, he claimed Judge Wilkie did not allow prosecutors and police to give supporting evidence for holding on to Botany Bay's inventory, much of which was taken despite not being specified -- even generally -- on a search warrant served last August. His claim, it turns out, was false. Judge Wilkie made that point abundantly clear in court.

Wilkie's ten minute dressing down of Finley in court this morning was a sight to behold. How this young kid, a 2011 graduate of NKU law school, thought he would get away with it is unimaginable.

Hemp unanimously passes Senate panel

The funniest thing about hemp opponents' drubbing in today's Senate Agriculture Committee was Democrats who voted in favor of the hemp bill telling anyone who would listen that Governor Steve Beshear called and told them to vote no.

Industrial hemp in Kentucky has bipartisan support and its opponents risk looking very silly if they keep fighting it. Should be a fun issue in the 2014 elections for those "drug warriors" so anxiously engaged in keeping Kentuckians from producing such a beneficial product.

"Some people" are right, Senator

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers got the state pension discussion off to a bad start when he told the Lane Report the General Assembly is not to blame for us having the worst funded fringe benefits in the nation.

"Some say the General Assembly caused the problem," Stivers told Ed Lane. He then explained that since he has been in leadership (2008), the legislature "has funded to the recommended or greater amount than the Kentucky Retirement System stipulated to the Senate as being the appropriate contribution -- each and every budget cycle."

Technically, Stivers' whole statement is true, but the only meaningful part is the bit about some people blaming legislators. The problem is not enough people are blaming legislators yet. Yes, since 2008 KRS has "stipulated to" the funding schedule passed in 2008 that requires legislators to fund an increasing portion of the the annual required contribution over 20 years, though the contribution never gets up to full funding until the twentieth year.

By then, it may be too late. The Senate's pension reform bill, SB 2, by the way, is basically another "too little, too late" effort that isn't terrible but also lacks the substance to end our pension crisis. Only better budgeting and more funding (and oversight) of KRS will do that now. 

UPDATE: Just got an email from Sen. Stivers' office clarifying that he meant to say the legislature has funded to the level requested by the Governor (and not KRS). And that's fine, but it and all the talking in the world won't solve what actions would have taken care of a long time ago. The public can be engaged effectively on this issue, Senator Stivers, but we are missing the opportunity.

Jim DeCesare, ObamaCare slayer

Kentucky Senator Julie Denton's anti-ObamaCare bills (SB 39 and SB 40) will have no trouble getting through the Senate, but Obamacrats in the House have promised a swift death to both of them in the House Health & Welfare Committee.

A discharge petition requiring signatures of twenty five House members could force the bills past leadership and onto the House floor for a vote, where lots of Democrats would be afraid to vote against them. Bowling Green Rep. Jim DeCesare was the first to bring the issue up today.

"We would have to let the bills languish in a committee for a little while, but then we could do (a discharge petition)," DeCesare said.

Please call the legislature at 502-564-8100 and thank Rep. DeCesare for his leadership on killing ObamaCare in Kentucky. He will then need 24 friends in the House to step forward. Any volunteers?

Kentucky spending orgy

Kentucky's Health Benefit Exchange has finally coughed up the Budget Narrative from their monster $182 million ObamaCare grant application that came through for them on January 17. In it, they describe the titles, duties and cost of 119 employees for the web site purportedly designed to make it easier for us to buy health insurance.

The average annual pay plus benefits for 119 employees comes out to $122,650. Nothing else these people have pulled could possibly better frame this issue for handling it correctly. It is past time to shut down ObamaCare in Kentucky. Please contact your representatives, local media and everyone you know and tell them about this so we can finish the job once and for all.

If you like getting information like this first, please consider clicking here and making a contribution to keep the effort going. Thanks for all you do.

Romney staffer still pimping ObamaCare

If Mitt Romney had been elected President, his chief of staff would have been former Utah Governor Michael Leavitt. Governor Leavitt has been a chief proponent of ObamaCare.

Late last week, Leavitt posted on his blog another sales pitch for state-run health benefit exchanges, complete with seriously questionable economic assumptions and ignoring the key fact that states who want out of ObamaCare need to decline to run their own exchange in order to avoid federal tax penalties.

The advisory board of Kentucky's health benefit exchange meets again on February 28, 2013 at 1:30 at 12 Mill Creek Park, Frankfort. Please make plans to attend if you can and bring friends to draw more attention to what these people are trying to spring on us. Attendees at previous meetings have found them to be a very eye-opening experience.

A better "drugs" solution

I will be speaking at a rally in favor of medicinal marijuana on Wednesday at 1pm ET at the state capitol on Wednesday. We will be in room 149 in the capitol annex if we can all fit in there.

Please spread the word.

Frankfort's jig is up

Among the things I have been yelling about for years is the fake balanced budgets state government keeps patting itself on the back about and the pretense to revenue shortfalls. Sadly, state media members have been more loyal to politicians than to their readers or the truth on this front.

A small sign this may soon change came in the form of a front page article in Saturday's Lexington Herald Leader headlined "Kentucky's financial outlook lowered to 'negative' because of pension woes."

Deep in the article was a quote from Moody's, a ratings agency who isn't as susceptible to political spin.

"Kentucky's credit outlook is negative. While revenue growth has improved, the commonwealth's sizable budget deficits over the past few years led to a depletion of reserve balances and borrowing for budget relief."

Republicans and Democrats alike tell their constituents how hard they work each year to "balance the budget." It's baloney. Spread the word, please.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/02/01/2499515/kentuckys-financial-outlook-downgraded.html#storylink=cpy

On WLAP 630 AM Lexington today

I will be a guest on the Matt Walsh Show with substitute host Tom Dupree today at 4:30 pm. We will be talking about a unique constitutional protection available to Kentuckians that we would do well to pay more attention to and that other states would do well to emulate.

You can listen by clicking here.

Mitch McConnell leans toward right on drugs

Mitch McConnell today said he supports Kentucky hemp. Good.

I'm glad to see Senator McConnell moving to the right with his statement on hemp, though he continues to cling to the big government view that if we just spend a few billion dollars more on 'drug eradication' that people will suddenly stop taking drugs.

Not so fast, Sheriff

The Kentucky Sheriffs Association has clearly misunderstood the nature of their constituents' concern about federal threats to Kentuckians' gun rights.

Don't believe me? Call KSA Executive Director Jerry Wagner at 606-782-0592 and ask him if his statement from Tuesday means that all Kentucky Sheriffs are prepared to refuse federal orders limiting our self-defense rights guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment.

As a group, they aren't.

We need a stronger, more precise statement from our Sheriffs than the one they made on Tuesday, when they stated support for the Constitutions of the Commonwealth and the United States. They are crazy if they think we are just going to let this go.

Lexington Police paint city into a corner

Fayette District Court Judge Kim Wilkie ordered Lexington Police for a second time to return confiscated inventory to a small Lexington business this morning.

Police raided Botany Bay last August with a search warrant seeking illegal drugs. Finding none, they then proceeded to pull two truckloads of miscellaneous items out of the store -- many of which were outside the scope of the search warrant.

Police video of the raid clearly depicts officers destroying a substantial amount of Botany Bay's property. These same items are now supposed to be returned to Botany Bay in the same condition in which they were taken.

Before Lexington citizens are asked to reimburse Botany Bay for the results of this latest adventure in law enforcement, they should seek serious answers from city politicians.

KY Sheriffs unanimously support Constitution

Members of the Kentucky Sheriffs' Association voted unanimously today to support the Constitutions of the United States and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Citizens across Kentucky have been calling county law enforcement offices seeking clarification of sheriffs' positions on gun rights in the face of recent federal rhetoric about confiscating private weapons.

"A lot of people have been calling and we just wanted to clarify that we do support the Constitutions our members have sworn to uphold," Jerry Wagner, Kentucky Sheriff Association Executive Director.

This comes less than three weeks after Jackson County Sheriff Denny Peyman created a national firestorm by proclaiming that he would defy federal efforts to violate citizens' Second Amendment rights.

*** For an important update to this post, please click here.

My remarks to Jessamine Co. School Board

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. I have been an engaged, sometimes critical, but ultimately very satisfied parent customer of Jessamine County Public Schools continuously since 1995. I have about six years left with my youngest child here and we appreciate you giving me a couple of minutes of your time.

I'm here to address an issue that has become rather incendiary in recent weeks due to national events. That issue is child safety in our schools. As you know, Jessamine County Schools' policy matches state law in effectively banning possession of firearms on school property. What you may not know is that state law also allows district school boards to change their policies to allow parents and teachers to carry weapons inside the walls of our school buildings.

I'm here to request that you make that change. There is a reason that mass shootings usually occur only in gun free zones. That's because people with ill intent are not concerned about state laws those of us who are trying to be law-abiding citizens choose to observe.

I expect there will be a process of persuasion required to widely gain a better understanding of this subject before we see action. Opponents are already making their voices heard in opposition to re-thinking this issue. They come up with all kinds of nightmare scenarios they say would result from taking this step to better protect our children. The President of the United States has already weighed in against it. But the truth is we could take all kinds of precautions to both pro-actively protect our children and to prevent accidents. We could expand policy to perhaps include only concealed carry permit holders, who undergo substantial gun safety training. We have been fortunate in Jessamine County to have had no school shootings. In all likelihood, expanding policy in this way will result in the number of school shootings -- currently zero -- staying at zero here. Allowing us to carry guns in the schools will serve merely as a deterrent to would-be attackers.

The difference between current policy and this proposed change is that we will stop a dangerous gun ban that stops only those who would protect our children. I hope to encourage school districts across the state to expand policy in this way to better protect our children to send a message not only to attackers here but to set an example on child safety for the nation. It would be nice to see my home district lead the way. I will follow up with board members here and ask that you carefully consider the safety needs of our children in your decision-making. Thank you.

Please join Kentucky Safer Schools Project

It's right there in Kentucky's law books. KRS 527.070(3)(f) states local school boards can decide who is allowed to carry firearms in our schools. This section lists exemptions to state law prohibiting possession of weapons on school property. It states anyone "authorized to carry a firearm by the board of education or board of trustees of the public or private institution" may do so.

Please contact your local board of education and find out what their policy is on authorizing staff members and parents to carry firearms on campus. Respond to this post with what you find out and we will put together a list to get to work on ensuring that parents and staff members have the ability to protect children from attackers who manage to get inside our schools anywhere in Kentucky.

#BillClintonDefault

U.S. House Republicans' effort to "resequence" the federal debt discussion needs a little help.

I get the logic of Speaker Boehner's "no budget, no pay" bill with the creation of a debt ceiling date set to May 18 so someone other than Obama knows when default occurs. Rep. Andy Barr, my Congressman, voted for the measure on Wednesday. I appreciate his logic and the idea that the bill creates some chance for a positive outcome to this standoff rather than no chance. If the bill becomes law -- and it might -- there is at least some reason to hope spending might be curtailed in the ensuing battle.

But I agree with Rep. Thomas Massie's "no" vote. We all feel like we have been here before because we have been.

The current strategy is missing something and I think Republicans would do well to turn all their firepower on it for a while. That something is former President Bill Clinton.

Congressional Republicans have spent the last decade missing a great opportunity they can no longer afford to miss. They must destroy once and for all the fiscal accounting gimmick-driven myth of the Clinton budget surplus.

The truth is that proper accounting for intragovernmental transfers -- in this case, squandered Social Security surplus funds -- completely eliminates any so-called Clinton surplus.

Republicans have wasted the last decade trying to give Newt Gingrich credit for the "Clinton surplus." That must end now.

The effort to resequence the fiscal debate will be made much easier and more potent if we first resequence Bill Clinton. Democrats won't know what to do with this line of attack when it is launched and the disarray that will follow if we stick with it long enough will set the stage for reality-based budgeting, a desperately needed change in focus.

Tea Party press release

Tea Party leaders from around Kentucky will hold a brief press conference today following the meeting of the advisory board of the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange at 12 Mill Creek Park in Frankfort. The meeting begins at 1:30 pm.

The KHBE has improperly taken upon itself taxing authority without the permission of the General Assembly. Senate Bill 40 would allow the people to have their say in the creation of this expensive new bureaucracy and we must be allowed to have that say.

The secrecy and incompetence exhibited by the federal government and certain elements within state government to illegitimately force Kentucky into spending untold millions of dollars purportedly for a web site deserves better answers than we are getting. That changes starting today.

David Adams

859-537-5372

Lexington, KY police smacked by Constitution

Exactly five months after Lexington, KY police stormed a local business, a judge has ordered them to return tens of thousands of dollars in merchandise and cash they improperly took.

Back on August 16, 2012, Botany Bay on Winchester Rd in Lexington was invaded by several Lexington police wrecking personal property and issuing threats to put the local company out of business.

Today, Fayette District Judge Kim Wilkie ordered police to return all of Botany Bay's property, much of which witnesses saw officers destroy in August. The return is to be completed in two weeks. Most of the confiscated items were not listed on a served search warrant supposedly intended to capture illegal drugs. Police falsely told media at the time that they took illegal drugs from Botany Bay.

Judge Wilkie scheduled a February 19 hearing on the constitutionality of the new Kentucky law under which police attempted to prosecute Botany Bay. That new law was passed in 2012 by the General Assembly under the title House Bill 481.

Hazard "gun free zone" shooting tonight

Two people are dead and another injured in a shooting tonight on the campus of Hazard (KY) Community and Technical College. The eastern Kentucky school has a policy prohibiting firearms.

This comes about as President Barack Obama plans to take to the airwaves tomorrow morning to announce plans for tighter gun control in America.

Plans for multiple Second Amendment rallies are underway to counteract federal gun grabbing schemes.

Kentucky's sleeper issue: health freedom

Kentucky's internal struggle with implementation of ObamaCare got its share of attention this week, but a key part of that fight just leapfrogged all other issues on the legislature's drawing board.

While Gov. Beshear yammered about raising the drop out age to "improve" education and legislative leaders feigned sudden interest on the long-ignored fronts of tax and pension reform, a consumer protection bill that actually works within ObamaCare while protecting consumers from its worst provisions gained more co-sponsors than any bill in either chamber.

Senator Tom Buford's health freedom bill was bumped up from SB 16 to SB 3, a strong sign of leadership recognizing it as a key priority. Fourteen other Senators quickly signed on their support.

The bill would simply force Kentucky's Department of Insurance to stop being more arbitrary than the Obama Administration with regard to a little-noticed protection for Christian free marketers written into the ObamaCare law.

Even most House Democrats don't want to be seen supporting ObamaCare, much less supporting state insurance bureaucrats in being more hostile to Kentucky consumers than the federal government currently is.

Please encourage your legislators to go on the record immediately in support of Senate Bill 3.

Kentucky sheriff to defy any federal gun grab

Jackson County Sheriff Denny Peyman has some advice for federal officials attempting to confiscate legal guns held by citizens in his jurisdiction: "go ahead, make my day."

Sheriff Peyman says he is very concerned about proposed federal legislation that could result in massive gun ownership bans and orders of confiscation.

"My office will not comply with any federal action which violates the United States Constitution or the Kentucky Constitution which I swore to uphold," Peyman said. "Let them pull that stuff in other places if they want, but not in Jackson County, Kentucky."

Peyman hopes his strong stand in support of the Second Amendment encourages law enforcement officers around Kentucky and elsewhere to reassure citizens of their protection from overzealous federal action on gun control.

"Just a few of us have to be willing to stand up to political opposition putting our people at risk," Peyman said. "The other side will back down."

Analyze this ObamaCare scam, please

The biggest reason ObamaCare has gotten this far is a lack of careful analysis. State-run health insurance exchanges represent a perfect example.

Let's take Kentucky's Health Benefit Exchange. What we are getting is a web site people can use for comparing and purchasing health insurance under ObamaCare. Be careful not to confuse KHBE with www.ehealthinsurance.com, a private site serving the same purpose and not costing us anything. No, KHBE will be "better." Trust them.

This should beg several questions. Chief among them is the cost of running KHBE. Under ObamaCare , KHBE is a new permanent bureaucracy we will have to pay for starting January 1, 2015. According to KHBE's own estimate, that cost will be $39 million a year.

No analysis of ObamaCare shows it actually lowering costs. At best it transfers some uncompensated care expenses back and forth between consumers, and KHBE will be no different. Insurance consumers forced to do business with KHBE will pay extra to cover the $39 million.

And the amount is only going to be that low to the extent that the estimate is valid or for as long as costs don't increase further. Any guesses how that will work out for us?

The largest annual component of this cost estimate is $20.5 million. That's the current annual contract KHBE has with Deloitte for IT consulting. The second largest component is $11 million in spending for new state employees. Then comes $3.3 million in contracts with other state employees. After that, we have $2.9 million in hardware and software maintenance and licensing and $1.3 million for "miscellaneous" costs.

Governor Beshear signed off on all this nonsense with an executive order setting up KHBE for ObamaCare. He also told us he managed a $46 million budget surplus last year, though we now know better. More than half the other states have ruled out setting up ObamaCare exchanges despite pressure from the Obama Administration and the Republican Establishment.

Resisting temptation from both sides of the political status quo is as simple as digging into the numbers. Any questions?

Mitch McConnell pulls a Nancy Pelosi

As more details emerge on last night's fiscal cliff tax increase vote in the U.S. Senate, the secrecy of this bad deal and its similarities to Nancy Pelosi's happy claim that they had to pass ObamaCare so we could see what's in it continue to grow.

McConnell's deal with Vice President Joe Biden deserves a slow, painful death in the House. If they want to wait two months before spending cuts get back on the table, then let's drag this out for two months and make full repeal of ObamaCare part of the discussion.

ObamaCare's tax increases are the worst thing taking effect today and we should be talking about that.