Democrats, media suck-ups fail to cast blame of Benefind mess on Bevin Administration

The real news from today's Senate Health and Welfare Comittee meeting in which Democrats and their media pets continued trying to pin the ongoing mess with former Gov. Steve Beshear's government benefits consolidation program called Benefind on Gov. Matt Bevin was that the paper trail clearly shows federal officials claimed the program was ready and the Commonwealth faced threat of significant costs if its launch were delayed further.

"Gov. Bevin did these idiots a favor by not unleashing the Benefind disaster on Kentuckians during the ObamaCare open enrollment like the Obamacrats wanted, but they are so hellbent on attacking him they missed an excellent opportunity to shut up and keep their stupidity hidden for another day," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "They will all pretend evidence against their failed tactic is not readily available because they have so little else to attack with, but this fight is over."

Frankfort Dems' suicide to be televised Monday

Kentucky's Senate Health and Welfare Committee will hear two ObamaCare bills Monday morning at 10 am in Capitol Annex Room 171 in the most momentous showdown of the 2016 General Assembly.

House Bills 5 and 6 were rushed through the lower chamber last month in a clumsy attempt by Frankfort Democrats to replay a public referendum on ObamaCare.

"The fantasy that half a million worshipful ObamaCare beneficiaries will storm the polls and elect Democrats would have already made Jack Conway Kentucky's governor if it held any water," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "House Bill 5 would keep Kynect open at Kentuckians' expense and House Bill 6 would force us to stick with the most expensive form of Medicaid expansion available. Gov. Bevin was elected on a platform of cleaning up these messes just five months ago and Democrats are determined to lose the next election in November on the same issue. We will let them."

Will Kentucky dodge REAL ID bullet?

Every year since the federal REAL ID Act passed in 2005, Americans have been bullied into believing their drivers licenses must be upgraded rather expensively with tracking devices or else residents of negligent states would soon be prohibited from boarding domestic flights.

Until this year, very few Kentuckians fell for it. That seemed to change when state Senate leaders rushed SB 245 through their chamber March 22 in an attempt to sign Kentucky up for the nonsense.

With just one day left in the 2016 General Assembly, it appears cooler heads are about to prevail.

Please contact your state Representative before April 12, the session's last day, and inform him or her that falling for the stupid, obtrusive unfunded federal mandates thinly disguised as a plausible threat in SB 245 need not happen this year or any.

Baby Beshear can't read

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear missed the mark in a failed political attack on Gov. Matt Bevin today in which Beshear attempted to redefine what a state appropriation is.

In a statement to the Louisville Courier Journal, General Beshear got smart alecky in threatening a lawsuit against Gov. Bevin for ordering current year cuts in the state's higher education budget. "In fact, the governor's position would mean the General Assembly merely suggests how the governor might spend money if he so chooses," Beshear told the Courier's Tom Loftus. "A budget passed by the General Assembly is a mandate, not a recommendation."

But Beshear is wrong.

KRS 48.010 defines "appropriation" as "an authorization by the General Assembly to expend a sum of money not in excess of the sum specified." That means spending in excess of projected revenue is prohibited. Spending less is not. He should ask his dad, former Gov. Steve Beshear, who was forced to file an unprecedented six General Fund Reduction Executive Orders and an additional five Road Fund Reduction Executive Orders for overspending available revenues, mostly on Medicaid.

Actually, Baby Beshear, a budget is indeed a recommendation unless you are an overspender.

KRS 48.605(1)(a) gives Gov. Bevin all the authorization he needs to cut spending in the current fiscal year. If his father had ever tried voluntarily restraining his urge to expand government, maybe he would understand.

What the Democrat Industrial Complex is missing in Bevin's higher education cuts move

As they so often do, the Lexington Herald Leader and Louisville Courier Journal failed in their reporting of Gov. Matt Bevin's order to cut state General Fund higher education spending by 4.5% in the current fiscal year. This poor reporting does not serve readers seeking to understand issues underpinning the move and allowed House Speaker Greg Stumbo (D-of course) to claim falsely that Gov. Bevin is violating state law.

The statute related to appropriation reductions is KRS 48.600, which would indeed prohibit Bevin from ordering midyear spending cuts in this instance. But Bevin isn't ordering spending cuts in the sense of an appropriation reduction which that statute governs. He's ordering a revision of the allotment schedule, governed by KRS 48.620, which is within his power.

The difference is an appropriation reduction is deemed necessary in statute in the case of a revenue shortfall and an allotment reduction within an appropriation, which this is, can be authorized by the state budget director pursuant to KRS 48.605(1)(a). The legislature can object to the move, but KRS 48.500 clearly gives the Governor the upper hand in such a dispute.

Jim Gray attacks Rand Paul

Lexington Mayor and U.S. Senate candidate Jim Gray claims Rand Paul and Senate Republicans "are refusing to do their jobs and consider (Obama's) Supreme Court nominee."

Who is Mayor Gray kidding?

Refusing to confirm another Obama appointee is the very least Senator Paul and his colleagues in Washington D.C. can do to serve the interests of their constituents. If Jim Gray can't be bothered to understand the Appointments Clause in the U.S. Constitution, how could Kentuckians expect him to represent any of their individual rights which might be in conflict with his political party's political agenda, such as the Right to Life, the RIght to Bear Arms or the Freedom of Speech?

Easy answer: we can't.

Matt Bevin dead wrong about "REAL ID Act"

Gov. Matt Bevin pulled in support from lots of civil libertarians last year by better addressing concerns about government than his opponent did and by remaining silent on goofy, expensive, unfunded "security" mandates which do not make us safer.

Like REAL ID.

The federal unfunded mandate known as REAL ID is a national identification card program mandated by the federal government but mostly ignored by states because it makes no sense. States -- particularly Kentucky -- are not set up to create the massive bureaucracy necessary to put everyone's personal information into a centralized database.

And even if we could, we couldn't afford it. And even if we could afford it, there is no way to demonstrate that it would do anything to keep us safe.

Gov. Bevin has been sucked into repeating the lie that if we don't start implementing REAL ID then Kentuckians won't be able to board an airplane at some point in the future. Right now, the story is that this would happen to all REAL ID-deprived Kentuckians in 2018. Until late last year, the same Department of Homeland Security folks telling us this were saying that we had until December 31, 2015 at which time our outdated drivers licenses wouldn't allow us to fly. Guess what?

The simple fact is that the 2018 deadline will be moved further out sometime next year and they will be telling us we need to sign up for REAL ID quickly or we can't fly in 2020.

Gov. Bevin should stop spreading false information for DHS right away. Some political opponents will criticize him for flip-flopping, but he will be okay if his final position is the right one. We have been through this before.

Frankfort Obamacrats: Medicaid expansion's best days are already behind Kentucky

Kentucky's House Democrats have now completely cast their lots with ObamaCare and the Medicaid expansion just in time for its decline as predicted by the consulting group they paid hundreds of millions of dollars to tell us how great it was going to be.

Deloitte's pre-ObamaCare study predicted an $864 million positive fiscal impact from the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion through 2020, when the impact would immediately turn negative in need of increasingly greater funds, just like Medicaid has consistently performed throughout its history. The current fiscal year was found to be the high water mark, with the fiscal impact predicted to drop $28 million in the fiscal year starting in July and dropping precipitously thereafter.

"Frankfort Democrats blew the last election lying about the impact of ObamaCare and now they have already fallen on their swords for the upcoming election just to protect the rapidly deteriorating status quo," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said.

Former Democrat dismantles Speaker Greg Stumbo

House Speaker Greg Stumbo has a long history of saying ridiculous, patently untrue things in Frankfort. Jaws dropped across the Commonwealth dropped today, though, when Stumbo said ObamaCare premiums have "stabilized" in Kentucky.

But the best part came when former Democrat and current Republican Rep. Jim Gooch called him out on his lie.

Are any media types watching this willing to report the truth here?

"Kentuckians have been crushed by wild premium increases, obscene service failures and official lies under ObamaCare in general and Kynect in our state, but all we can shut down here and right now is Kynect," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "We won't fail to do that."

Stumbo's polyester pension plan passes House

House Speaker Greg Stumbo's HB 1 mandates full funding of the Kentucky teachers retirement system by pretending that money to pay the requirement exists. It doesn't.

"Stumbo's fake teachers retirement bill fits Kentucky like a cheap suit and should fool no one who can do basic math," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Kentucky teachers who aren't blind Democrats should be the angriest people in America after Stumbo has shown he thinks of them only as brainless political pawns."

Beshear ObamaCare is DEAD

Former Governor Steve Beshear's Save Kentucky Healthcare online petition has gained fewer than 150 names from all over the world in the last two weeks. The only people who will miss ObamaCare in Kentucky when its bogus Frankfort bureaucracy is gone is Frankfort Obamacrats.

Beshear, Stumbo, Grimes and all the rest should admit now that the 2015 Kentucky Lie of the Year was a lie and that they are the only ones who stand to lose when Kynect is shut down later this year.

House Dems "Jack Conway" themselves

In the last week before the 2015 election, outgoing Gov. Steve Beshear gave voice to Frankfort Democrats' belief that 500,000 angry ObamaCare recipients would storm the polls and give Jack Conway the Governor's Mansion.

By now we all know that didn't work out for them.

Frankfort Democrats continue to delude themselves about ObamaCare's efficacy and popularity and just today probably lost their House majority in the upcoming November elections with their overzealous cheerleading.

House Democrats voted for House Bill 5 today, to require state taxpayers to continue funding Steve Beshear's expensive, failed Kynect ObamaCare exchange despite our just electing a new governor on his promise to get rid of it.

"Kentucky's House Democrats can't stop misreading the causes of the ObamaCare disaster or the political fallout from this mess," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Their Republican opponents will do well this fall to remind voters in districts across the state about Obamacrats' continued politicization of the federal takeover of Americans' healthcare."

Bevin's brilliant "empty chamber" video

If you were a new Republican governor in Kentucky surrounded by a hostile opposition party and media eager to distort your message and stifle your efforts, what would you do? If you are Matt Bevin, you might make a video shining light on your message in a way that will cause your opponents to expose themselves as really not doing their jobs.

That's what Gov. Bevin did Monday.

His Facebook video has attracted nearly a million views as well as widespread media attention, mostly because he taped his comments in Frankfort's empty House chamber on Monday morning to complain about House Democrats dragging their feet on the budget. Democrat and media criticism has focused on the fact the House of Representatives' daily session does not convene on Mondays until 4:00 pm.

All this turned a white hot spotlight on Bevin so he could again point out the dire fiscal circumstances he inherited from Gov. Steve Beshear and the need for action from hesitant Frankfort Democrats.

It was a shrewd ploy that is working to keep attention on the need to reduce Frankfort spending. House Speaker Greg Stumbo and friends are stuck harrumphing around acting like the Governor can't tell time and he is getting needed attention to the fact that real time is wasting on real issues while the other side is playing politics as usual.

Andy Barr and Thomas Massie could do this together to kill ObamaCare once and for all

When ObamaCare was being written, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley was seen frequently working with Democrats crafting the bill. What resulted was a small provision in the final product which could now be used to neuter the entire federal takeover of healthcare.

Grassley inserted into ObamaCare a religious health sharing exemption to the "Affordable Care Act's" mandates and restrictions against Americans' ability to manage the purchase of healthcare services sensibly. The best thing about the exemption is that it forced the federal government to leave alone three small groups of Christians in existing health sharing groups who collectively set aside a few dollars each month to spent only on medical needs of people in their group. It's real health insurance as it was intended to be, which avoids the term "insurance" merely because preexisting regulations prohibited it. Of course, it's significantly cheaper and more effective than ObamaCare coverage.

The worst thing about Christian health sharing is also where the greatest opportunity lies. That is, if you aren't an active Christian, you don't qualify.

Christian health sharing has seen significant growth among healthcare consumers desperate to escape skyrocketing premiums, narrow and unpredictable provider networks and imploding government-created insurers. But for the huge segment of the American population which does not attend a Christian church regularly, the exemption has no value.

If you would like to gain exemption from ObamaCare but don't regularly attend a Christian church -- or just know someone who fits this description -- please ask Congressmen Thomas Massie and Andy Barr to work together to amend ObamaCare to allow for the creation of non-religious health sharing groups without ObamaCare mandates, designed merely to cover real medical needs of members and not some politician's idea of worthy social engineering.

Obamacrats would be horrified by accurate claims that they supported special treatment for Christians but are now standing in the way of equal health freedom for non-Christians. Such a bill would surely sail through Congress with veto-proof majorities and then everyone would have the ability to avoid ObamaCare.

Call your Congressman!

Beshear still needs 3500 Obamacrats

Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear attracted worldwide media attention one month ago saying he "cannot sit idly by" and watch his successor Governor Matt Bevin dismantle our ObamaCare exchange. He has apparently since reconsidered and is, in fact, sitting idly by.

Amid the decidedly unconvincing fanfare back in the early afternoon of February 11, Beshear claimed to have picked up a quick 2500 names on the online petition in support of his ridiculously named "Save Kentucky Healthcare" web site. The funny thing is that a month later the petition's counter says there are 11,221 names right above a convenient form for followers to add their name to the list by divulging email address, street address and selecting their country of residence from a drop-down menu which defaults to the United States but includes such Obamacrat hotspots as Azerbaijan, Djibouti and Tunisia.

The lack of energy evident in Beshear's search of Planet Earth for a few remaining ObamaCare believers would make big news in an age of less leftward media bias.

Frankfort Democrats try another tax increase today

Kentucky's House budget committee takes up HB 278 this morning, which would increase the minimum wage in Kentucky to $10.10 by July 1, 2018.

"This minimum wage tax increase hits consumers where it hurts by necessitating higher prices and is further evidence of the fact state government bureaucrats have no business trying to manage our economy," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "It's just more redistribution games from people who can't accept that the best thing for them to do is get out of the way."

Former election official casts pall over caucus

While other Republicans set about casting votes for president today, former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson took to Facebook to complain bitterly about heavy traffic at the polling location in his home Boone County.

"I am going to miss UK Senior game festivities and the opening tip because of the poor planning by the Boone County GOP in implementing this caucus," Grayson posted.

The really stupid thing about this is Grayson should have known that the caucus was squeezing 62 precincts of Boone County Republicans into one polling place today and if he had only planned ahead he would have had plenty of time to vote and get to all his "festivities."

Grayson's time working at Harvard after losing to Rand Paul in 2010 certainly didn't make him any smarter and -- if possible -- seems to have made him an even bigger crybaby than he was then. Grayson lost every single Boone County precinct in his U.S. Senate bid.

Authoritarian Trump natural heir to Obama

Whether you like Donald Trump or not, it seems clear his appeal is rooted in a belief that he will make things better in America by force. After eight years of Americans being forced to accept a radical dumbing down of public education, massive redistribution of resources through taxation and excessive accumulation of federal debt, a hostile takeover of the healthcare system and foreign policy disasters rammed down our throats in the name of keeping us "safe," can it surprise anyone that the most political energy in America now is coalescing around a figure who wants to "Make America Great Again" by running roughshod over critics, doubters and opponents?

Republican establishmentarians deserve blame for feathering their own nests at the expense of effectively combating Obama in the marketplace of ideas and allowing authoritarianism to flourish, but it's the same failed urge for a shortcut that inspired millions to welcome "Hope and Change" by any means necessary which now seems to generate no curiosity about how exactly we are going to make things "Great."

Trump's primary opponents have failed to pin Trump down with the simple question: How? Hillary Clinton made the same mistake in 2008. Don't expect her to repeat that failure.

America desperately needs a president who will voluntarily limit the power of his or her office to its constitutional boundaries and fight to end government's fantasies about managing our economy whether through currency manipulation, industry regulation or subsidization. America desperately needs a president who will champion state and local experimentation with education policy and social welfare. America desperately needs a president who understands national defense doesn't begin with groping grandmothers in airports and doesn't end with bombing people who fire back missiles purchased by proceeds from our own multi-billion dollar aid checks.

Time grows short.

Are we dropping the ball on Kentucky Caucus?

The Kentucky Republican presidential caucus will be held on Saturday, March 5 between 10 am and 4 pm. Way too many registered GOP voters don't even know that.

You can find your polling place by clicking here.

Any questions?

Kratom ban in Kentucky will worsen heroin

For all the billions of dollars government spends attempting to fight "drugs," you might think by now we would know better than allowing politicians to manage any part of the issue much less ban anything else.

"People across Kentucky are using a mild, natural product called kratom to step down from heroin addiction while Senate Bill 136 would ban kratom and throw people in jail for using it," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "If this stupid bill becomes law, heroin deaths will only increase. Politician tossing should be a sport."

Beshear: Conway was terrible, Stumbo worse

Gov. Steve Beshear's message in a Lexington press conference today was supposed to be about getting Matt Bevin to turn his back on the half million people who believed his campaign promises about undoing ObamaCare damage in Kentucky, but it didn't work out that way.

Beshear spoke to a half dozen nodding supporters at the Hyatt Regency hotel with a somber Crit Luallen and an utterly miserable-looking Audrey Tayse Haynes nearby. He told them ObamaCare is not a disaster. They looked like they really wanted to believe him.

"The picture of Beshear's Magical Misery Tour says a thousand words about what's left of Kentucky's Democratic Party in the wake of Obama and ObamaCare," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Beshear's effort here serves as an admission that the proper forum for this discussion, Jack Conway's gubernatorial campaign, was a huge failure and that Speaker Greg Stumbo's evaporating House majority is even less equipped to make a case for ObamaCare when reality is too clearly in opposition."

Anti-7th Amendment bill walks like gun control

Senate Bill 6 in Kentucky's 2016 General Assembly would force an innocent person harmed by medical error or negligence to go through a tangled mess of red tape taking a year or more before being allowed to seek reimbursement for losses, in violation of the 7th Amendment of the Kentucky Constitution and Section 7 of Kentucky's Constitution.

"There is nothing in Senate Bill 6 which protects consumers or lowers healthcare costs and the idea of asking a panel of doctors if you can hold another doctor who hurts you responsible is like asking Nancy Pelosi if you can buy a gun," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said.

Appreciating Rand Paul's efforts on race relations

Senator Rand Paul deserves to be congratulated for his efforts in the presidential race to improve race relations in America and we should carry on his fight, 30th district Kentucky House candidate Waymen Eddings said.

"The divide between people of different races comes down to lack of communication and we need to continue talking to bring people together," Eddings said. "Freedom for all still needs to be won and we can not afford to ignore Senator Paul's color blind message of putting the individual first in the 21st Century."

ObamaCare takes next step down

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield took another big step toward dumping its Kentucky ObamaCare customers today, announcing they are practically eliminating insurance agent commissions on their health plans.

"With today's action, we get one step closer to the planned total destruction of health insurance in America and the time when ObamaCare and total government control of healthcare mean the same thing," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Customer service at health insurance companies was already bad enough, but this is a huge nail in the coffin."

"Bad Doctors Gone Wild" bill SB6

Whether through negligence or sheer incompetence, a tiny fraction of Kentucky doctors account for most medical malpractice lawsuits each year. Senate Bill 6 would essentially eliminate the ability to sue for a malpractice by encouraging doctors to obligate any patients so harmed to skip court and rely on "binding arbitration."

"This is the legal equivalent of throwing the baby out with the bathwater," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "The Kentucky and U.S. Constitutions guarantee a plaintiff's ability to sue for losses caused by another person and once in a while someone may try to abuse that right, but we can't pretend that gumming up the works and delaying or preventing a legitimate day in court does anything but make that worse. Senate Bill 6 must be withdrawn or defeated."

Louisville House candidate defends gun owners

Attacking innocent Kentuckians' right to bear arms is the standard politician's answer to inner city crime and violence, but it doesn't work, 30th district House candidate Waymen Eddings said.

"My opponent, Rep. Tom Burch, has a 21% rating from the National Rifle Association, but his being an opponent of self-defense rights has not made anyone safer and only makes crime worse," Eddings said. "Working to improve public safety while also protecting individual rights will always be my top priority."

"Criminals are not known to comply with KRS statutes so then my opponent's approach simply imposes even more restrictions on my law abiding neighbors in Louisville. Gun control is a bureaucratic gesture, not a solution. So, I intend on engaging the community to find the true answers. These answers will be responsive to the unique dynamics of violent conflict in an urban environment while not penalizing the lawful citizen for the actions of the criminal element."

Will Matt Bevin abuse 7th Amendment?

Gov. Matt Bevin has said many times he supports using tort reform to lower healthcare costs, but if you want evidence that limiting medical malpractice jury awards does that, prepare to be disappointed. Such evidence just doesn't exist.

"Tort reform is politician-speak for 'I don't know what to do, let's just kill some lawyers,'" Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "It's a well-worn Republican buzzword, but tort reform not only runs afoul of the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Section 7 of the Kentucky Constitution, it simply fails to deliver what its advocates promise. In fact, as ObamaCare blew up healthcare for everyone while trying to fix it for a few, tort reform threatens to do the same thing to a citizen's right to seek redress in court."

"Gov. Bevin should speak clearly about his vision of tort reform without delay and that includes the bad idea in the legislature to force injured parties to go before a medical review panel in Senate Bill 6, which will only hurt consumers."

New York Times' Kentucky accounting failure

The editorial page of the New York Times ran an odd article trying to persuade Gov. Matt Bevin to give up his top campaign promise of reversing Kentucky's illegal adventure in ObamaCare implementation by demanding we return $290 million in federal ObamaCare grants. The Times is as ignorant of basic accounting as they are of their precious ObamaCare law and Kentucky's experience with it.

"Gov. Bevin has already documented we spent $58,341,000 in federal funds on our ObamaCare exchange last year when we weren't supposed to have any according to the law and in excess of the $19,916,000 we supposedly had left over from Obama's $253 million in establishment grants, so if they now want back all the establishment grants for the failed exchange which no one else has had to return and the law doesn't require returning plus $38,398,000 the law specifically prohibits the feds from sending to us, the response they deserve is to drop dead," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said.

KY Health Cooperative customers with unpaid claims were screwed long ago

The Associated Press ran a silly article over the weekend claiming the defunct Kentucky Health Cooperative is "selling assets" to "satisfy its debts." The AP should make clear, but doesn't, that the only debts that will be satisfied are federal loans and Kentuckians' unpaid claims don't make the cut.

The Cooperative reported $176.2 million in losses in 2014 alone, before losing even more money in 2015. It was created and maintained with $123.8 million in federal loans. That means unless they bought a bunch of office furniture which is now somehow worth more than $50 million more than they paid for it, any remaining unpaid claims cannot possibly be paid by "selling assets."

"If Kentucky officials had listened to me last summer, they could have ended the Cooperative charade before any more innocent Kentuckians were harmed by this ObamaCare nonsense," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Buying ObamaCare insurance remains a crapshoot and is not worth the risk."

Failing to cut Kynect ten year cost: $250 million

Frankfort Corruptocrats claim now the cost to shut down the state ObamaCare creation "Kynect" bureaucracy -- and web site! -- will cost $23 million and say this is why we should not cut the cord. Fortunately, we have learned Kynect's Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange busted it's budget last year alone by $27 million.

"Obamacrats -- or whatever they are calling themselves these days -- continue to depend on the media not telling you both sides of the story and this is a perfect example of the disconnect between their government takeover fantasies and the people they need to fool," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "If we take their numbers at face value, it looks like we save four million the first year and about a quarter billion in the first decade without Kynect."

Top Democrat blames bad economy on Rand Paul

America's labor participation rate is now as low as it was in the worst of Jimmy Carter's malaise and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid wants to pin that on Rand Paul's effort to audit the Federal Reserve Bank.

"Republicans have been trying to undermine the Federal Reserve mandate to strive for full employment," Reid said today after leading the effort to defeat Sen. Paul's bill which would have brought needed oversight to Fed activities.

The Federal Reserve operates under two main congressional mandates, maximizing employment and maintaining stable prices. It is not particularly good at either, but the idea that monetary policy can or even should be charged with creating jobs is absurd.

"Big Government types in Washington D.C. melt when you throw water on them and Rand Paul soaks them every time they cackle," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said.

Moore: Guns, more safety

Elizabethtown Rep. Tim Moore filed HB 221 yesterday to allow concealed carry permit holders to be armed on public school property in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The bill would also allow concealed carry permit holders to carry weapons into state and local government facilities except courtrooms and detention centers and to carry into meetings of the General Assembly.

The same people who are losing their minds over ObamaCare melting down will lose their minds over this. Good.

"Gun free zones are not consistent with the need to protect our children in the real world because every loose nut knows when they see that sign they will meet next to no resistance," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Our schools and government buildings are infested enough with leftist ideology but now Kentuckians are ready to start pushing back hard."

Bevin: Kentucky ObamaCare exchange busted 2015 budget by 78 percent

Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin's administration's latest financial report divulged without comment that former Governor Steve Beshear's last fiscal year in office featured nearly twice as much spending as budgeted to keep his very controversial ObamaCare bureaucracy afloat.

Despite his illegal creation of the exchange and the legislature explicitly forbidding him from spending state funds on the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange and refusing his attempt to create a tax to fund it, Beshear said he would run the exchange on less than $33,937,400. According to information compiled by Bevin, Beshear spent $60,524,000, which is 78 percent above the budgeted amount.

This same report also showed Beshear's falsely claimed budget surplus was actually a deficit of $603 million.

"This is another Obama fraud which shouldn't have been possible," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Federal funds for state-run exchanges dried up in 2014 and were not legally permitted past then under the ACA. Gov. Bevin can end this charade by shutting down the Kentucky exchange without further delay."

Bevin is currently a defendant in a Court of Appeals case, 13-CA-1590, which would force the exchange to be disbanded.

Let's get Kentucky out of Common Core

Project Veritas, the people who uncovered Planned Parenthood's gruesome flesh peddling enterprise, plan to release video next week exposing Obama's federal education takeover, Common Core.

Kentucky's General Assembly should move quickly to start dismantling the Common Core scheme here without further delay.

"One of the big lies out of Frankfort is that Senate Bill 1 of 2009 mandated acceptance of Common Core, but if you read the bill you know that isn't true," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "We need to put this embarrassing chapter behind us now, before it gets any worse."

Frankfort Obamacrats start 2016 off predictably

If you need to pull up Kentucky's ObamaCare web site today to buy health insurance, you are out of luck.

And, of course, since it's a holiday the advice to call customer service is no good either.

"Kentucky's disastrous dalliance with ObamaCare can't end soon enough," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "The only voices they have left are Steve Beshear on his Twitter page and Greg Stumbo barking about elephants in Bethlehem. Let's put them out of our misery soon, please."

Matt Bevin, tear down that CON

The web site for Kentucky's Certificate of Need program still proclaims staggering economic illiteracy to the world and Governor Bevin should take quick action to fix it.

The site currently reads as follows: "The Kentucky certificate of need process prevents the proliferation of health care facilities, health services and major medical equipment that increase the cost of quality health care in the commonwealth."

If proliferation of goods or services increased costs, every Economics textbook would be wrong. Providers of goods and services expanding offerings always benefits consumers because competition drives up quality and drives down cost. Politicians often pretend not to understand this when limiting such offerings can increase their own power. Such is the case with "certificate of need."

Governor Bevin should move quickly to end Kentucky's Certificate of Need program. He can start by reorganizing it with an executive order amending KRS 216B.115. That statute requires all appeals of Certificate of Need rulings to be taken to Frankfort and heard in the Franklin Circuit Court. Those judges have no better information about the healthcare needs in other parts of the state than Circuit Court judges in the counties harmed by a Certificate of Need power grab.

Bevin could make this change himself and then any resistance to quick ratification in the General Assembly could be presented to voters as politicians fighting to limit local healthcare offerings.

"Getting government out of healthcare in Kentucky starts with dismantling the certificate of need program and letting medical professionals and consumers decide what services are available," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "There is no reason for Gov. Bevin not to take quick action to right this wrong."

Bevin reverses Beshear child safety scam

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's administration is literally covered up with repairing damage Steve Beshear left, including a plot to combine two of Beshear's most controversial messes.

Had Jack Conway been elected Governor, an effort to embed online operations of Kentucky's corrupt child safety bureaucracy into Kentucky's ObamaCare web site would quickly have been consummated as internal efforts were well underway. Gov. Bevin reversed it.

"Running DCBS (Department for Community Based Services) through Kynect would have made the worst of both programs harder to fix or eliminate," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "This is further proof we got the Beshear/Conway tag team out of there just in the nick of time."

Bevin has made fixing DCBS and eliminating Kynect two of his highest priorities.

Not a typo: Kentucky government "net worth" dropped $24 billion last year

A new financial report issued today by the Bevin administration shows Kentucky state government's net financial position dropped from just over $10 billion in 2014 to just over negative $14 billion in 2015. The difference is largely a result of honestly accounting for unfunded pension liabilities for the first time.

The prior seven years under former Gov. Steve Beshear saw government's reported net position drop steadily from a high of $16.2 billion in 2008 to $10.057 in 2014, but those numbers concealed the pension wreckage in a document called Kentucky's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR).

The Bevin CAFR also revealed state revenues for the fiscal year ending in June were at an all-time high, but that spending was even higher which resulted in a real deficit of $603 million, despite earlier official claims to the contrary.

"Trust in government depends on honest accounting, which didn't happen much under Beshear's smoke and mirrors regime," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "Cutting back Beshear's excess starts with eliminating Beshear's deceptions."

Chris McDaniel seeks distance from pension scandal

Kentucky state Senator Chris McDaniel, who got burned in the GOP gubernatorial primary when his running mate couldn't explain voting himself a huge pension increase, wants to increase transparency of legislative pensions in 2016.

Senate Bill 45 in 2016 would require public disclosure of pension benefit information for current and future state legislators, which includes those who have taken advantage of Kentucky's corrupt pension enhancement for legislators who get high-paying state government jobs.

"This embarrassing chapter in Kentucky corruption deserves more attention and more political casualties that we have seen so far," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "Anyone who voted for HB 299 in 2005 should be run out of government without further delay."

Bevin finds Kynect in stunning disarray

State sources report barely one in three victims of the Kentucky Health Cooperative train wreck have signed up for a new ObamaCare plan as of last Friday. With less than a week before the deadline for January 1 coverage, the expected 2016 collapse of ObamaCare could well still happen in 2015.

More than 51,000 people lost insurance coverage with the grossly mismanaged "cooperative" earlier this year when its closure was announced. As of last Friday, only 19,000 of their 51,000 ObamaCare victims had signed up for another plan.

"The sound rejection of ObamaCare is surprising only to the reporters and left-wing pundits who have gotten nearly every twist and turn of this saga wrong," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "We just filed a motion last Friday with the Kentucky Court of Appeals to reverse earlier attempts to illegally create the ObamaCare exchange and the Bevin administration should move quickly so we can start the long process of digging out of the mess."

Steve Beshear to soon stop lying about state budget

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear will leave office next week, so the state budget process for next year is very likely to consist of less smoke and fewer mirrors.

"Beshear claims to have balanced the budget fifteen times in eight years, while in the real world Kentucky has gone deeper into debt while blowing through record revenues and a long-since wasted $3.7 billion in federal stimulus funds," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "State law requires the governor make available a comprehensive annual financial report each fall which Beshear has always released quietly the week after Christmas. I hope Governor Bevin makes breaking that little tradition an immediate priority."

Beshear can't amend Constitution by himself for felons or anyone else

Governor Steve Beshear's executive order granting convicted felons voting rights and the right to run for office violates Kentucky's Constitution in the plain language of Section 77, so he should rescind the order immediately.

"Beshear has the right as governor to pardon felons individually when they apply for reinstatement of their civil rights and Section 77 requires that the applications for each case be kept as public records forever, but Beshear takes it upon himself to strike the application process from the Constitution," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "If we allow this usurpation of power to stand, what's to stop this or any other governor from striking other words from the Constitution, like the right to bear arms or an individual's property rights?"

Since Governor Beshear clearly can't be counted on to do the right thing, Governor-elect Matt Bevin should make clear his intention to rescind Executive Order 2015-0871 on his first day in office. The regular constitutional amendment process can then be followed by the legislature if they so choose.

Steve Beshear to challenge Rand Paul

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear plans to announce in early January a run for the United States Senate against Rand Paul. The hope appears to be that his shameless profligacy might draw millions of dollars in leftist donations from around the country.

"Beshear gave us billions in new appropriation-supported debt, billions more in pension debt, signed us up for the Common Core fiasco and ObamaCare so he now wants to put on his diaper and a onesie and go to Washington D.C.," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "It would be a lot cheaper to let him have a pajama party at the Governor's Mansion this weekend with President Obama, Harry Reid and whoever else he wants to have over."

"Minimum wage" is Left's new ObamaCare

Kentucky Democrats just got their heads handed to them in statewide elections while waiting for 500,000 ObamaCare "beneficiaries" to storm the ballot box for their candidates. The same level of self-delusion is evident in their "minimum wage increase" strategy.

The line of thinking goes like this: unskilled workers will forever vote for left-wing politicians who force evil employers to overpay them for unskilled work. What could possibly go wrong with this plan?

The small number of sick people who have benefited from government forcing health insurers to charge their customers premiums as if they were all sick people was dwarfed by the number of people forced to pay. Similarly, when prices go up on everything because the cost of sweeping floors and taking out trash is raised by government force, the relative handful of unskilled workers who don't realize their prices went up too will be far too few in number to elect the next round of left-wing politicians.

Louisville's Metro government is already in court trying to explain how their minimum wage tax increase makes sense legally. Lexington's Council is expected to vote on their own such increase Thursday night.

The vote looks to be a close one, but Council members Richard Moloney, Shevawn Akers and Susan Lamb probably have the most to lose if Lexington's Minimum Wage Tax Increase becomes a reality.

Save taxpayers, kill Herald Leader subscriptions

All state and local government offices should hit the delete key on subscriptions to the Lexington Herald Leader.

"Any state office you walk into in Frankfort or around the state has fresh copies of the dead tree version of both the Herald Leader and the Courier Journal laying around at massive expense to taxpayers," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "We are spending way too much money each day for something anyone who can clear cookies off their computer can get for free and now is the perfect time to cut this waste."

Frankfort Obamacrats want their big win forgotten

In June of this year, the United States Supreme Court rewrote ObamaCare to allow the IRS to give tax dollar subsidies to people who bought health policies on the federal exchange after authorities realized their attempt to force states to set up their own exchanges had failed. Now that Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear is watching his failed legacy about to be reversed by Governor-elect Matt Bevin, he wants Kentuckians to forget that win.

From their luxurious retail locations at Fayette Mall and Mall St. Matthews, Frankfort Obamacrats hope to catch consumers and voters alike unaware by claiming falsely that ObamaCare "discounts" are only available on Kynect, despite the five month old ruling they fought so hard for which validated their position that subsidies also flow through the federal exchange.

"Frankfort Democrats can't get their story straight and clearly haven't learned any lessons from their failed election strategy of lies in 2015," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "Surely Greg Stumbo's 'Democrat Jesus' wouldn't condone their actions."

Herald Leader accuses Bevin of killing people

Lexington Herald Leader Government Editor John Stamper continued his paper's tradition of bizarre, false and misleading statements about ObamaCare today by suggesting on Twitter that shutting down the illegally-created Kynect and moving ObamaCare operations to the federal exchange would kill Kentuckians.

Stamper summarized a news story quoting Senate President Robert Stivers' claim shutting down Kynect might provide additional funding for the state's pension plans. Stamper added to his "tweet" in parenthesis "Plus, lifespans might shorten," repeating a common left-wing canard about any attempt to reduce waste and duplication in ObamaCare somehow killing people.

Stamper made no immediate attempt to clarify his statement.

"Jack Conway just got shellacked running on lies about 500,000 Kentuckians losing their health insurance, but the Lexington Herald Leader continues to pine for the glory days when people really paid attention to them," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "The garbage they are selling just isn't selling anymore and the Kynect exchange should be shut down right away."

Shut down Kynect on December 9

Governor Steve Beshear "created" the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange, Kynect, with an executive order in 2012 and then after the legislature declined to ratify his order as required by law, he tried again in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Each attempt failed. Governor-elect Matt Bevin should waste no time in correcting this gross usurpation of power by the outgoing chief executive.

Bevin can accomplish this by filing a temporary reorganization executive order clarifying the exchange was created illegally and no longer exists. He should do this as soon as he is sworn into office. The Senate could affirm the order in January and if House Democrats try to fight back, they could be made to pay the price in the November elections just like their gubernatorial candidate did this year.

In his order, Bevin could make clear how Beshear's multiple attempts betray utter contempt for the law since the exchange sought and received $253 million in federal grants to set up the exchange by falsely claiming the governor had the ability to create it unilaterally. Beshear should be held personally liable for his fraud, not the Commonwealth's taxpayers.

Waiting a year to hand over the reins of the exchange is not necessary because Kynect never legally existed. Plenty of other states have stood down and let the feds set up their scheme. Legally speaking, Kentucky has done the same. There's no sense continuing the charade only to prevent Beshear and friends from facing consequences for their actions.

Gov. Matt Bevin should clarify free speech rights

The Center for Public Integrity hired journalists in all fifty states to fill out report cards purporting to grade how good state governments are at keeping themselves honest. Frankfort's Stumbocrats ranked ninth this year, but that's not the funniest part.

The funniest part of this "integrity study" is that Kentucky's highest grade and highest rank came as a result of our campaign finance laws, which violate our Constitution.

Kentucky is the only state in the nation which guarantees freedom of public expression of political ideas, limits personal contributions -- and forbids corporate contributions -- to political candidates and does not exempt corporate media outlets from these limitations. KRS 121.015 defines a contribution to a candidate as a "thing of value" for the benefit of a candidate and exempts services provided "without compensation by individuals volunteering a portion or all of their time." Section 8 of the Kentucky Constitution forbids the existence of any law which restrains the right to speak, write or print. Corporate media reports, stories, editorials and endorsements are clearly things of value for which writers and reporters are paid. Since they gain wide distribution and are often easily worth more than the $1000 campaign contribution limit, either the contribution limit or the corporate speech are forbidden.

The language of Section 8 is clear: "no law shall ever be made to restrain the right" to speak right and print.

Senate Bill 62 in 2009 sought to exempt "news stories, commentary or editorials by the media." The bill failed.

Kentucky's 2015 Lie of the Year

Watching Kentucky Democrats try to figure out how they got decimated in the November elections has been a lot like an old Seinfeld episode. Sorting through all the "yada yada" has been funny to watch -- thanks Speaker Stumbo -- but what is most interesting is the lack of self-awareness evident in all the self-delusion.

While Stumbo's infamous "Democrat Jesus" tirade attempted to make elephants' lack of availability in ancient Bethlehem an issue and Jack Conway spent millions trying to convince Kentuckians that Matt Bevin's taxes should keep them awake at night and left-wing shysters Bluegrass Family Values tried to win in 2015 by recycling Mitch McConnell's worst lies from 2014, none of these held a candle to Kentucky's 2015 Lie of the Year.

The really big lie that ran Jack Conway and friends out of contention in 2015 was that Matt Bevin was going to take health insurance away from 500,000 people. Conway and Steve Beshear even doubled back and labeled Bevin "callous" for doing what he was never going to do.

The 500k lie first of all reminded everyone that Frankfort Democrats are really just Obamacrats, just as Republicans were spending millions of dollars telling them the same thing. Obamacrats lie a lot and the multiple layers of fraud behind the 500k lie may well serve to turn Kentuckians off of Democrats for a long time because they continue even now to repeat it ad nauseam.

We don't know how many Kentuckians were added to Medicaid by ObamaCare because Frankfort Obamacrats really haven't kept track. We don't know how many people who had health insurance they liked and could afford were tossed off of that and forced into Medicaid, to be touted among the lucky 500,000. We don't know, really, how popular or unpopular ObamaCare is in Kentucky because of misleading poll questions, bad polls and incessant media chatter about how wonderful ObamaCare is.

Shutting down ObamaCare has been the best rallying cry for Republican candidates in many years. Kentucky Democrats love to tell us how different they are than Washington D.C. Democrats, but when it counted in 2015 they couldn't help showing us they were the same. Governor-elect Matt Bevin couldn't reverse the Medicaid expansion now by himself even if he wanted to and shutting down the Kynect nonsense and sending those people to the federal exchange makes sense in every honest analysis. Democrats' claim that Republicans are going to take health insurance from 500,000 Kentuckians is the 2015 Lie of the Year.

Why Matt Bevin won

Matt Bevin will be sworn in next month as Kentucky's Governor for lots of reasons beyond a campaign's control such as speaking ability, relatability and relative trustworthiness, but four things the competing campaigns did have major public policy implications and bode well for Kentucky's future.

Bevin was always staunchly anti-ObamaCare, just as Jack Conway devoted tremendous campaign resources into informing Kentucky voters he saw nothing wrong with keeping them locked into the federal healthcare takeover. This alone made the race competitive as even those who feel better off under the 2010 reform have to wonder where the money will come from to keep their good deal.

Secondly, Matt Bevin got the social issues right. He opposes abortion, supports religious liberty and sought middle ground on the marriage issue versus a pro-abortion opponent who sought a hard line on marriage, which now apparently includes jailing those who seek clarification in the law.

Third, Bevin met with and expressed strong support for supporters of medical marijuana while his drug warrior opponent ignored the consistent super-majority of Kentuckians who believe government has better things to do than fight those seeking natural medical remedies.

Fourth, Bevin met with and expressed strong support for activists seeking acceptance of new technology to help people quit smoking -- electronic cigarettes -- while his opponent took the side of Washington D.C. control junkies eager to tax and regulate another easy victim out of existence.

Take a look around nearly any town in Kentucky and you will see electronic cigarette retailers popping up everywhere. These are small businesspeople, investors, employers and early adopters of proven effective new technology that Kentucky should be supporting and, fortunately for all of us, our state's next governor has gotten the memo. If we can get this right, we can get a lot of things right.

Why you should care if "vaping" goes up in smoke

Cigarette smokers are the redheaded stepchild of American life.

Technology and market-based freedoms have combined to create a powerful alternative to cigarettes just in time, for both a smoking-averse society and those hoping to avoid the stigma and negative health effects of smoking. Government taxers and regulators here have set their sights on this new technology, electronic cigarettes, just as evidence of its efficacy should be grabbing our attention instead.

Big Tobacco's propagandists have launched a full scale attack on electronic cigarettes and their attacks have been effective. Deep-pocketed monopolists blasting upstart competitors and using government to do it is nothing new, but that is exactly what is happening with e-cigs and all of us, whether we own Big Tobacco or not, will pay the price if they succeed. Throwing away a powerful smoking cessation tool to protect Big Tobacco hurts people who want to quit smoking and those who pay the social costs of tobacco-related illness as well as anyone who might ever enjoy a new technology which upsets the established order. Seeing this game played out again at the expense of a new technology and those who benefit from it to maintain the status quo can't be countenanced by anyone who values the way technology and freedom make life better for everyone.

Courier Journal fires pollster while touting same bad data to keep selling ObamaCare

After the second straight general election featuring a last-minute media poll overstating support for left-wing candidates by fifteen points, the Louisville Courier Journal announced it has fired polling firm SurveyUSA. At the same time, reporter Deborah Yetter couldn't resist using the same debunked polling data in yet another "news" article about ObamaCare.

"A recent Bluegrass Poll found that 54 percent wanted to keep the Medicaid expansion, while 24 percent said they wanted the next governor to reverse it," Yetter reported today, from the same poll for which SurveyUSA was fired.

Given the CJ's pollster's track record for overstating left-wing support by fifteen percent, it is reasonable to assume support for the failed program is more like forty percent. Under the incredible avalanche of pro-ObamaCare media propaganda in Kentucky, that is a pretty low number. Incidentally, it also tracks closely the real electoral support Democrat Jack Conway received on Tuesday against a staunchly anti-ObamaCare Matt Bevin.

The Courier Journal's funhouse numbers from this article also tout polling data suggesting Kentucky's rate of uninsuredness is now only nine percent, thanks to ObamaCare, but then elsewhere pegs the number of uninsured in the Bluegrass State at 285,000. Nine percent of Kentucky's 4.2 million population would be 378,000 uninsured people. The article doesn't state where the missing 100,000 Kentuckians went, but it's almost certain that when they are found 15,000 of them won't be as supportive of ObamaCare as Deborah Yetter wants you to believe.

Mike Harmon can lead on pensions by RETIRING

Kentucky's next Auditor of Public Accounts Mike Harmon has a great opportunity to lead on our public employee pension crisis by taking immediate retirement from the legislature rather than rolling his legislative pension over into his new Executive Branch pension, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Others have let the chance to do this slide with horribly embarrassing consequences.

This issue disappears as a problem for Harmon when he retires from the legislature and then makes public evidence that he took this step to protect taxpayers. It then gives him a very powerful platform from which to lead the discussion in the right direction.

Where are Jack Conway's 500,000 zombie voters?

Perhaps the most encouraging news from last night's elections is that Jack Conway's nonsensical line about Matt Bevin wanting to kick half a million people off their health insurance did not succeed.

"Jack Conway put the flesh-eating undead ObamaCare on the ballot thinking its biggest victims would carry him into the Governor's Mansion," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "If putrid ObamaCare were the massive success its purveyors keep insisting it is, his scheme would surely have worked."

Vape the election TODAY

Leading small government activist Grover Norquist has been encouraging Republican candidates for years to catch the vision of embracing the concept of "vaping" (electronic cigarettes) and the tax and freedom issues behind it in an effort to catch a libertarian wave just as Democrats push hard in the wrong direction. If Matt Bevin wins tonight, his efforts to "vape the vote" will have played a notable role in a come-from-behind victory.

Jack Conway has been and will likely continue to be hostile to most things that reduce government power in favor of individual freedom, like vaping. In contrast, Matt Bevin is a supporter of vaping's market-regulated mechanism for helping people quit smoking even if it means less government tax revenue and a healthier alternative to the government-created cigarette cartel.

Government opponents seem gleeful in their attempts to regulate and tax "vapers" as convenient victims.

Kentucky vapers should make themselves heard by voting in today's election. Further, users of vaping technology who can should show up tonight at election parties for the two major-party gubernatorial candidates with their electronic cigarettes in their hands. Matt Bevin and his supporters will be at the Galt House in Louisville tonight and Jack Conway and his will be at the Convention Center in Frankfort.

If you are a "vaper," make sure your e-cig is seen. If you aren't but see someone with an e-cig in hand, welcome them to the party and celebrate your freedoms together.

Protect yourself from tyranny by protecting others

I don't smoke and I don't use tobacco products or electronic cigarettes -- a non-tobacco process called 'vaping.' But I see an illegitimate attack coming from government against people who produce, distribute and use electronic cigarettes that is worth a closer look if you value freedom from government intrusion or coercion in any way.

State and federal regulators and taxers have set their sights on e-cigs and those leading the charge seem unlikely to let anything get in their way. This kind of zealotry always seems to be evident in the worst kinds of official abuse. If you need examples of that, look at the "War on Drugs'" decades-long attack on hemp as a drug, the "War on Poverty's" decades-long attack on stable families and the "War on Terrorism's" persistent attacks on individual liberties which seem to be well on their way to lasting decades.

Leading U.S. Senators speaking last Friday made clear their desire to destroy e-cigs, even though a recent study in England found vaping to be 95% safer than smoking and concluded doctors should prescribe e-cigs for smoking cessation. Meanwhile, an NPR-Truven Health Analytics poll suggests 53% of vapers use e-cigs to quit smoking or as a healthier alternative to smoking.

Allowing politicians to go to war against a proven smoking cessation tool and a preferred alternative because it looks like something that offends them is just like suspending seven year olds from school for pointing a PopTart "gun" at another student.

If we don't stand up to government's unfair attacks against people who think and act differently than we do, who can we expect to help us when we find ourselves in the crosshairs?

Sports fans, homeschoolers unite for KY "Tebow Bill"

Continuing decline of public schools in Kentucky increase the likelihood of budding star athletes opting to gain their education in a private or home school with little or no sports opportunities. A new bill for the 2016 General Assembly would allow such students to join the public school system only to participate in extracurricular activities, a provision known widely as a "Tebow Bill" since former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow came to prominence as a homeschool student playing football in a Florida public school.

"House Bill 76 is, of course, sponsored by Republicans, but Frankfort Democrats will surely set their hostility for educational choice aside at least for this issue," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "Kentucky's Tebow Bill would be a good last-minute issue for which to get the gubernatorial candidates on the record."

Frankfort's $100 million bailout proves failure

Late last night, Congress caved in to President Obama on spending caps and the debt ceiling and tucked a $100 million ObamaCare Medicaid bailout to Kentucky into the bill.

The bailout -- total immediate cost about $7.5 billion for all states combined -- highlights yet another ObamaCare mess Congress and Obama only make worse by papering it over with borrowed funds. What happened is this: quickly increasing healthcare costs under ObamaCare have jacked up Medicare spending, resulting in a requested $55 a month in Medicare premiums for some beneficiaries, including those on both Medicare and Medicaid. Such "dual eligibles" get their premiums paid by state governments.

There are around 200,000 dual eligibles in Kentucky. At a $55 increase, Kentucky's Medicaid funds would have faced an additional $132 million cost in 2016 just for this. The unaffordable ObamaCare Medicaid expansion's pre-existing strains on state coffers would have been rocked hard by this hit, which should have been anticipated by Frankfort Obamacrats, but wasn't.

The budget agreement reduced this year's $55 Medicare premium hike to $15. This means the big hit is put off to next year, which changes nothing for Kentucky's biennial (two year) budget. And the unaffordable $132 million 2016 Medicaid increase for Kentucky taxpayers is now an unaffordable $36 million increase in 2016.

None of these facts prevented Al Cross' ObamaCare sycophants at the University of Kentucky from reporting falsely that the deal "eliminates" the increase. Typical.

Obama FDA attacks people trying to quit smoking

Cigarette smokers across Kentucky trying to quit smoking with electronic cigarettes face strong resistance from big-government types addicted to tobacco taxes. This is a fight for all of us to engage in, much like the Boston Tea Party was a fight for tea drinkers and non-drinkers alike.

The Obama Administration is attempting to wipe out electronic cigarettes by saddling the industry with extremely expensive Food and Drug Administration regulation which would raise costs dramatically and probably cause most of the industry to go away just as it is starting to have a measurable impact.

A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey suggests more than half of people who have recently quit smoking (55%) use electronic cigarettes. Adam Mayer of Versailles, KY says electronic cigarettes helped him quit smoking.

"It's cheaper, tastes better, I feel better, it smells better, my sense of smell is better, it's faster than smoking, more convenient than smoking, and probably much less dangerous for you and others around you. Also, I don't have bronchitis every couple of months anymore," he said.

Ken Moellman of Independence KY agrees.

"It works and I feel better, too," he said.

The FDA is overreaching with their e-cigarette regulations by mandating ridiculously expensive regulation of all such products brought to market since February 2007. Imagine what it would be like if they did the same thing with cell phones. The difference here is e-cigs are being used to improve people's health and they are working. Free markets populated by free people have always made better regulators than government. H.R. 2058 in Congress now would rein in the FDA and allow the industry to continue to serve its ever-growing customer base.

Rep. Brett Guthrie of Bowling Green is the only Kentucky co-sponsor of this bill so far. Please ask your representative to help.

Non-smokers and people who don't use electronic cigarettes should come to the aid of these people while we can. Your business or a product that positively impacts your health could be next.

How Rand Paul can beat Boehner's budget bill

Boehner Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives will combine with Nancy Pelosi's Democrats to pass a smoke-and-mirrors budget bill as fast as possible, suspending the nation's debt limit and busting sequester spending caps. Senator Rand Paul has promised to fight the measure by any means necessary. His fight need not be in vain.

Moderate House Republicans claim falsely the bill makes cuts to Social Security Disability. This is a great place for Senator Paul to start shining light into this dark hole, because the bill simply moves money from Social Security Retirement to Disability without making needed reforms.

"Washington D.C. Republicans used to make fun of Obamacrats financing ObamaCare with billions of dollars stolen from Medicare, but now they are taking a very similar approach with Social Security Disability," said David Adams, Kentucky Progress publisher. "When Obama came into office, there were four million Americans on Disability and now there are twelve million. Addressing the fraud involved in this massive increase gives Senator Paul just the opening he is looking for."

The Stop Disability Fraud Act of 2014 never got off the ground in Congress, but now would be a great time for Rand to dust it off and start it moving. It's embarrassing to watch Republicans campaign on cutting waste and never follow through when they have the chance. This moment of conservative discontent is Rand Paul's big chance.

Beshear legacy: missing billions, hidden details

A newly released official report from Frankfort shows a $2.8 billion increase in budgeted state debt since Gov. Steve Beshear took office in December 2007, while another, more detailed financial report required by law to be released before Election Day remains hidden from the public.

The Semi-Annual Report of the Kentucky Asset/Liability Commission indicates state appropriation-supported debt as of June 30, 2015 was $8.9 billion. On December 31, 2007, when Beshear was sworn into office, it was $6.1 billion. Another document, the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), shows state government net assets declining from $17.3 billion in 2007 to $10.0 billion on June 30, 2014. The 2015 CAFR is required to be released by the end of September, according to KRS 48.800(3), but is nowhere to be found.

A state finance official stated on background that the report would appear after the November elections.

"Even after blowing $3.7 billion in federal 'stimulus' funds and ignoring billions more in accumulated unfunded pension liabilities, Governor Beshear has obliterated $10 billion in state assets since he has been in office, while annual revenues steadily increased," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "The Beshear legacy is not just one of fiscal mismanagement, but also of lying, spinning and hiding information Kentuckians need to judge whether to grant continued power to his political party or his family."

Make Kentucky a free market mecca

A new Gallup poll suggests support among American adults for marijuana legalization is close to sixty percent. In Kentucky, it is probably higher. Kentucky still has a great opportunity to lead on this front by declining to join states attempting to enrich public coffers with marijuana revenue.

Marijuana is food and should be taxed as such. In Kentucky, that means no sales tax. Kentucky needs freedom and real economic growth far more than it needs another direct revenue stream for state government. Dismantling the black market for marijuana in Kentucky would improve public safety beyond that which has happened in other marijuana states by eliminating demand for black market dealers. This real price competition would create a magnet drawing in people from all over the country.

Marijuana legalization and the creation of a real free market for its distribution remains a great political issue for those who lead the way in making it happen.

Matt Bevin should weigh in on bullying

Gov. Steve Beshear wants to set up another expensive state agency to "prevent bullying" in state schools. Of course. That's what people like him do. Jack Conway will be all over it if he gets the chance.

My guess is Matt Bevin would handle it better. He should say so.

Kentucky doesn't need legislative hearings to debate how to define bullying and we certainly don't need to spend more money on some kind of ill-conceived "war on bullying," for Heaven's sake.

"Ridiculous 'zero-tolerance' policies which punish self-defense as well as coming to the aid of a bullied child serve only to embolden bullies and worsen the atmosphere in our schools," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Jack Conway would have us create a new touchy-feely bureaucracy when all we lack is a little common sense. Bullies don't need group therapy and sensitivity training nearly as much as they need adults who won't coddle them in their bad behaviors."

Hillary blames GOP for Obama Medicare mess

The ObamaCare law raised Medicare payroll taxes, booked "savings" by reducing payments to Medicare providers and has raised healthcare costs dramatically. Given that her claim to fame is trying unsuccessfully to do the same thing to us two decades ago, Hillary Clinton took the opportunity of ObamaCare wreaking further havoc on state budgets to blame Republicans.

"This is outrageous and senseless and Congress must act to fix the law," Clinton told Politico. "At a time when out-of-pocket medical costs are already rising, we cannot afford to let Republican obstructionism pile additional costs on our seniors. I urge the Republican candidates for president to call on their congressional majority to end the games and protect our seniors."

This Clintonian nonsense deserves a swift response.

"Obamacrats didn't need a single Republican vote to force us into ObamaCare and Hillary Clinton missed every chance she had to stop this before it happened," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "Now she wants congressional Republicans to jump up and spend $10 billion this year we don't have to save her and her Washington D.C. friends from their latest embarrassment. No, throwing good money after bad to address damage that can only be fixed by repeal of ObamaCare is not why America elected Republican majorities in Congress. Go fish, Hillary."

Jack Conway channels Bernie Sanders, blames "market forces" for KY ObamaCare failure

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jack Conway took on the tone of his party's leading presidential candidate, avowed socialist Bernie Sanders, in blaming the failure of Kentucky Health Cooperative on "market forces," when the blame belongs completely to government.

"Federal law prevented health co-ops from hiring management with industry experience, so the Kentucky Cooperative was run by government hacks," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "When the Cooperative filed Kentucky's lowest health premiums for 2014, it was easy to predict they would get the sickest people who had no place else to go and that this would take them under. Insurance regulators could have prevented it, but like Jack Conway and the hacks running the co-op, they really thought the federal government would clean up all their messes. Blaming market forces for this is like Jack Conway blaming spoons for making him fat."

'Obamacrats R Us' opening in Lexington, Louisville

The dismal Kentucky Health Benefits Exchange's end of year spending binge launched today with news the state's medical insurance bureaucrats plan to open retail sales locations in Lexington and Louisville malls for three months beginning November 1, according to the Kynect web site.

Specific locations were not divulged, but expect to see "Obamacrats R Us" in the most expensive available retail space.

"Don't hold your breath waiting for fiscal restraint from these people," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "Anyone who blows through a quarter billion dollars setting up an ObamaCare web site can't be expected to make it through Christmas without wasting tens of thousands more on posh suburban backdrops for photo-ops."

Tell Rand Paul to investigate Frankfort Obamacrats

The Kentucky Health Cooperative quietly went out of business over the weekend, but not before posting staggeringly bad results with American taxpayer dollars. The in-your-face waste, fraud and abuse deserves congressional hearings and prosecutions as a serious start to reversing ObamaCare's damage.

In 2014, the Cooperative, run by former state insurance bureaucrats, booked $173.2 million in premium payments and incurred $349.4 million in claims on capital including $123.8 million in loans from the federal government. That alone should indicate at least two things: the money to repay the American people does not exist and the millions in salaries and perks for Cooperative management was ill-spent and probably fraudulently so.

"The same people who have been regulating health insurance into the ground in Kentucky in recent years sucked up massive federal loans for the ill-fated Kentucky Health Cooperative debacle, creating a trail of victims along the way," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "They deserve open hearings in Congress and fair trials before being frog-marched off to prison."

Watch for a $100 million Frankfort Medicaid bomb

If a proposed $55 a month increase in Medicare premiums gains approval this month, Kentucky taxpayers will be hit with another $100 million a year Medicaid bill in 2016 no one in Frankfort is addressing publicly.

That's because some 200,000 Kentucky Medicare recipients are also on Medicaid, which means the state pays their premiums.

The executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors sounded an alarm to the New York Times about this issue, though he didn't mention Kentucky specifically.

"This is a huge issue for states," Executive Director Matt D. Salo said. "To finance Medicare, the federal government would shift billions of dollars in costs to state Medicaid programs."

Idaho, which has about one-fifth as many Medicare/Medicaid "dual eligibles" as Kentucky, projects an additional $20 million cost. California, with about six times as many dual eligibles, expects to pay an additional $550 million a year.

The Medicare premium increase should be made official later this month.

"The Beshear administration's rosy projections for Medicaid expansion in Kentucky very stupidly didn't consider the impact of the Medicare unfunded ticking time bomb," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "At the very moment logic dictates we should be running away from federal healthcare manipulation as fast as we can, Kentucky Democrats have us curling up with it on the floor and counting down to zero."

Run, don't walk, away from KY Health Cooperative

In the week since regulators ordered the nation's largest ObamaCare health cooperative to shut its doors, Kentucky politicos have been silent about our Kentucky Health Cooperative, which is in even worse shape and faces imminent collapse.

Matt Bevin should not let this one go another week.

"When the Kentucky Health Cooperative dissolves -- and no one seriously expects that to be an 'if' anymore -- real people are going to be hurt because of unpaid claims," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "Jack Conway and Steve Beshear want to keep the truth hidden from their victims until after the election. The perpetrators of this sham rest easy at night expecting Matt Bevin to quietly let it go."

Latest federal ObamaCare statistics mean nothing

Kentucky's ObamaCare cheerleaders will soon be hyping new Census Bureau data claiming the rate of people without health insurance took another big drop in 2014, with the Bluegrass State leading the way. It is nonsense.

The data comes from a national survey of 68,000 households, performed by an agency of the federal government asking people if they are breaking the law or not by failing to keep health insurance during 2014. The decrease in the uninsured rate for 2014 is reported as 2.9% nationally and 5.8% for Kentucky.

"In America now you get hit with huge fines if you don't buy a larded up version of what used to be health insurance or take your chances with Medicaid," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "You can't expect meaningful data collection from a government entity asking people if they are doing something illegal or not. Besides, the number that matters isn't some statistically massaged estimate of how many people bought this coverage; it's the costs that matter and they are skyrocketing."

Jack Conway disappoints Kentucky consumers

A recurring banner ad on the Drudge Report web site paid for by Kentucky Obamacrats with your money screams "Great discounts, Better coverage!" but if you click on it, you are directed to the Kynect site for ObamaCare. If we had a functioning Attorney General who cared about consumer protection, our government would not do this.

There are no discounts in ObamaCare. The federal law mandating a slew of unnecessary health coverages funded with tax increases and made worse with multiplying regulations necessitates widespread subsidization to cover over even a part of the massive cost hikes wrought by ObamaCare. And the idea ObamaCare has anything to do with better coverage would be hilarious, but it just isn't anymore.

"Jack Conway's complicity in the ObamaCare debacle when his job requires him to protect consumers disqualifies him from public office of any kind," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "Consumers have much better coverage options at truly discounted prices from available health sharing ministries. For more than that, we need to elect politicians who understand ObamaCare must go. Jack Conway cannot be relied upon to make that connection."

Do illegal immigrants have the right to bear arms?

A Kentucky State Representative has pre-filed a bill to make it illegal for people not in the United States legally to possess firearms. This is a horrible idea.

State Rep. Diane St. Onge pre-filed HB 35 yesterday, which would nullify federal attempts to violate gun rights of Kentuckians, which sounds good. The bill also seeks, though, to prohibit illegal aliens and dishonorably discharged members of the military from arming themselves, which violates Second Amendment rights.

The ability of government to attempt to disarm anyone based on immigration status may be an issue in front of the U.S. Supreme Court soon, but think about it: The Second Amendment protects the rights of "the people" and the Kentucky Constitution protects the rights of "all men" to bear arms. St. Onge's bill may not be intended this way, but it looks like and could serve as a back door attempt to ban guns and harass people.

Are we going to force everyone with a gun to produce immigration papers on the spot? If we can ban guns for illegal aliens, why not ban guns for high school drop outs and then roll on to other out-of-favor groups?

The legislature simply doesn't have the right to do this. Amend the bill, Rep. St. Onge.

KY ObamaCare's negative impact, by their numbers

The Louisville Courier Journal's endless appetite for pro-ObamaCare "news" is well known, but today's episode was something special.

Debby Yetter's "More Kentuckians getting insurance under ACA" uses numbers that contradict her paper's headline and underscore the value of seeking alternative viewpoints to balance journalistic writing.

Yetter claims 9.8% of Kentuckians remain uninsured and "nearly 400,000" were added to Medicaid under its expansion. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, that means 432,518 Kentuckians remain uninsured, even though doing so is against the law. Before ObamaCare, Gov. Beshear claimed repeatedly there were 640,000 uninsured Kentuckians and his own Department of Insurance confirmed 280,000 Kentuckians were forced out of their insurance policies and "transitioned" to new plans at double the cost.

So even if you assume all 280,000 "if you like it, you can keep it" victims got insurance for what it would have previously cost to insure 560,000 of us -- they didn't -- then by their own numbers we have gone through this whole mess of higher taxes, much higher insurance premiums and substantial illegal activity by elected officials just to force 207,482 more Kentuckians into absurdly expensive "health insurance" for which we could have insured 400,000 without ObamaCare.

The numbers simply don't add up to a success for anyone other than politicians hoping no one looks beyond the spin.

"These numbers make clear the biggest unanswered question in ObamaCare is shouldn't we remove ObamaCare from insurance and just buy policies for the poorest people since we know we could do that much cheaper," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "Every day with these people makes the case for getting government out of healthcare that much stronger."

Did KY Health Cooperative lie to New York Times?

A weekend New York Times article about ObamaCare co-ops falling short of rosy federal projections shines an unwanted spotlight on the insolvent Kentucky Health Cooperative, but grossly understates the desperate condition of the non-profit "public option."

"The Kentucky plan lost $50 million last year, more than any other insurance co-op," the article states, "as it paid out $1.25 in claims for every dollar it collected in premiums."

As sloppy journalism seems to be the order of the day with regard to mainstream coverage of ObamaCare, no source for these data points is provided. While the $50.4 million loss of 2014 has been well-documented, the $1.25 claims/premiums ratio contradicts the co-op's own actuarial filing placed with federal authorities.

"The rate increase will positively impact the plan’s experience with the historical experience reflecting a ratio of earned premium of $173.2 million to total paid and incurred claims of $349.4 million for 2014," the co-op reported quietly to authorities in June.

Frankfort Obamacrats' may think nothing of underreporting a favorite spending entity's annual losses by more than $130 million and using the "newspaper of record" in their attempt to keep up appearances, but this is precisely the kind of behavior Kentuckians need to eradicate before it is too late.

Frankfort media dumbs down "budget surplus" to distract from explosive government growth

For the second time in two months, Frankfort reporters misled Kentuckians by abusing the term "surplus" is discussing state General Fund revenues. In July, a recorded increase in revenue was reported as a budget surplus and today, a predicted revenue increase for the current fiscal year was again referred to widely as a budget surplus.

If all Frankfort has to do to claim to have balanced budgets is to take more "revenue" from us, politicians become even less accountable to the people.

"The truth is Governor Beshear has piled two and half billion dollars more in revenue-supported debt on our heads since he took office in 2007, ran through $3.6 billion in federal 'stimulus' funds and increased public employee benefits' unfunded status by billions more while employing cynical tricks like this one to pretend to be fiscally responsible," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams.

"The ObamaCare mess is raising our fiscal debacle to a whole new level with its accounting smoke and mirrors and propaganda word games, so someone needs to document these activities to show where we went off the rails."

Time for Matt Bevin to get religion on marijuana

Matt Bevin is already at least half a step better than Jack Conway on marijuana legalization, but an Ohio ballot initiative certified for the November ballot yesterday may make this a more meaningful issue in our fall campaign.

On November 3, Ohio voters will decide if marijuana will be legalized for medical and recreational use. Polling suggests passage is likely. As a bordering state, Kentucky would then be faced with needing to either further expand our own failed drug war activity or not.

"Jack Conway is a lost cause -- a big government drug warrior -- who doesn't count costs of bad government schemes, but Matt Bevin has shown signs of being teachable on this," said Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams. "Kentucky farmers should lead the nation in marijuana production and Matt Bevin just needs to recognize the opportunity and pick it up and run with it."

Leading Frankfort Obamacrat gets defensive

The two greatest assets Frankfort administrators of ObamaCare have had in supporting their scheme are taxpayer money and unwillingness of news reporters to ask real questions. That may have started to change.

Former Courier Journal reporter Al Cross runs a site called Kentucky Health News which has picked up on the Kentucky Health Cooperative's dismal results. In a post published yesterday, Kentucky Health Cooperative Chairman Joseph E. Smith was asked why his organization is losing money faster than any other health co-op in the nation. His answers were revealing and should lead to more questions.

Smith cited three excuses, none of which hold water. Asked to explain KYHC's massive 2014 losses, Smith blamed reserve requirements, medical claims and grandfathered health plans. We already know health co-op reserve requirements have been grossly manipulated to benefit co-ops. And everyone should know that reserve requirements don't impact a profit-and-loss statement. Kudos to Al Cross and Kentucky Health News for exposing the fact the Kentucky Health Cooperative cannot withstand the slightest scrutiny.

And it gets worse.

Smith said Kentucky Health Cooperative got nearly all the sickest Kentuckians who had been kicked off their pre-ObamaCare coverage. This should come as no surprise to anyone, because KYHC underbid Anthem and Humana significantly on premiums. They did this intentionally to justify their paychecks and in hopes of attracting more federal funds. Whining about that now just because the congressional gravy train has stopped running for co-ops also does not explain why Kentucky's is the worst one.

And then Smith blames the existence of grandfathered health plans, which also has no bearing on annual earnings. Smith should be dragged around the circuit and forced to clarify his answers so all can see Frankfort Obamacrats have no real answers. Cross should let his nose for news overrule his heart for ObamaCare and stay on this story.

Please, Matt Bevin, take the lead on this.