I AGREE With MoveOn.Org On This Petition. Check It Out.

Dear ,

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is pushing a settlement with the big banks and Wall Street firms that caused the mortgage crisis—letting them get away with a slap on the wrist.1

Wall Street bankers have not faced any serious punishment for the widespread fraud that crashed our whole economy—pushing bad loans, lying to investors, forging foreclosure documents—and banks are making profits again while homeowners continue to suffer.2

Unbelievably, Geithner wants state attorneys general to agree to a sweetheart deal where these banks would pay only $20 billion—a fraction of what they could owe if fully prosecuted—and would get immunity from investigation and prosecution of the criminal greed, negligence, and fraud that caused this crisis. This would eliminate any leverage regulators have to pressure banks to help out the homeowners they've hurt.3

This settlement is only possible because it's flying under the radar. So we're joining with Rebuild the Dream to send a strong message. If we can shame Geithner and the Obama administration with a massive public petition, we can stop Wall Street from getting a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Tell Treasury Secretary Geithner, "No more sweetheart deals for Wall Street. Let states investigate and prosecute the crimes that crashed our economy."
By pushing bad loans and peddling risky mortgage-backed securities as safe investments, these banks cost the world economy $7.7 trillion. Their widespread fraud and corruption also cost millions of hardworking Americans their jobs, their homes, and their shot at the American Dream. And instead of making them pay the price for their actions, we handed Wall Street nearly $2 trillion in loans to get back on their feet, while every day Americans are still struggling to make ends meet.4

Thankfully, some state attorneys general are standing up to Geithner and Wall Street. They refuse to settle with the banks until a full and real investigation exposes the role these banks and their executives played in the crash of our housing market and economy.

Eric Schneiderman and Beau Biden, the attorneys general of New York and Delaware, are holding strong despite enormous pressure from the administration to accept the deal. Schneiderman's insistence that these crimes be investigated and prosecuted has now gotten him kicked off the settlement committee.5
Owning a home is part of the American Dream, and justice for homeowners is part of the American Dream movement. We have to stand behind Schneiderman, Biden, and other state attorneys general, and not let Geithner and a yes-man settlement committee brush banks' criminal behavior under the rug.

Tell Treasury Secretary Geithner, "No more sweetheart deals for Wall Street. Let states investigate and prosecute the crimes that crashed our economy."

Thanks for all you do.
–Daniel, Elena, Tate, Mark, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "New York Attorney General Kicked Off Government Group Leading Foreclosure Probe," The Huffington Post, August 23, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=263396&id=30449-10582624-Ohg9dQx&t=5
2. "Biggest Fish Face Little Risk of Being Caught," The New York Times, February 25, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=263413&id=30449-10582624-Ohg9dQx&t=6
"Banks Poised to Pay Dividends After 3-Year Gap," The New York Times, January 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/business/14dividend.html
3. "Obama Goes All Out For Dirty Banker Deal," Rolling Stone, August 24, 20110
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=263395&id=30449-10582624-Ohg9dQx&t=7
4. "U.S. Subprime Crisis Costs World $7.7 Trillion Dollars," The Huffington Post, February 15, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=263403&id=30449-10582624-Ohg9dQx&t=8
"Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion in Secret Loans," Bloomberg News, August 22, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=263394&id=30449-10582624-Ohg9dQx&t=9
5. "New York Attorney General Kicked Off Government Group Leading Foreclosure Probe," The Huffington Post, August 23, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=263396&id=30449-10582624-Ohg9dQx&t=10


Editor's note: To sign the petition, go here.

A Look At Presidential Candidates -- What Voters See.

Bill Pre-filed In Kentucky's General Assembly To Drug Test Folks Who Receive State Assistance.

People on aid could face drug tests
Bill would allow for screening of those receiving state assistance
By ANDREW ROBINSON

A bill pre-filed in the Kentucky General Assembly could require people to submit to drug screenings if they’re receiving public assistance from the state. However, opponents say there are constitutional issues with the measure.

BR63, filed by state Rep. Lonnie Napier, R-Lancaster, would set up a testing program for any adult suspected of using drugs who receives food stamps, state medical assistance and other public aid.

State Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, said that while he supports the concept, there have been issues in the past with similar bills concerning whether such a program violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

He said the Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unusual search and seizure, and there’s no evidence that a person receiving public assistance is more likely to use drugs than a member of the general population.

It’s the second consecutive session Napier has filed such a bill. In the 2011 session, House Bill 208 received a hearing in the House Health and Welfare Committee but never came up for a vote, according to a news release from the Kentucky House Republican Caucus.

“Many Americans understand that we need to balance the needs of helping those who legitimately use public assistance to support their families with eliminating the fraud of individuals who sell their food stamps and use their welfare drug checks to feed a drug habit,” Napier said in a statement.

State Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green, said he hadn’t had a chance to look at the most recent filing, but said he believes if the bill gets a fair hearing in a committee, it would have a shot of going to the floor for a vote.

“That whole (constitutionality) excuse is just a cop out and nothing more than an excuse,” DeCesare said.

The bill would allow for any children of a parent or guardian who tests positive to continue receiving public assistance, and would allow individuals who later test negative to be eligible to receive public assistance again.

“What it shines light on is the people who are living on the government dime who are not using money where it should be - to support themselves and their families,” DeCesare said. “And instead you find some people using it to buy drugs and lottery tickets, and that’s not what it’s intended for.”

DeCesare described the bill as “statement legislation.”

“It’s a pretty decent statement and a heads-up to those people getting public assistance - make sure you’re using the money for the right reasons and not the wrong reasons,” he said.

Richards said there have been several efforts in the past to stem increasing drug problems in the state through legislation.

“There’s no question illegal narcotics are a huge problem in Kentucky and we’ve tried to curtail them in a variety of ways, and there always have been, for the last several years, bills to attack certain segments of the problem,” Richards said.

Watch Steve Beshear's New Ad. You've Got To Admit, Steve Beshear Is Doing A Good Job With These Ads.

The Campaign Of Gatewood Galbraith And Dea Riley Take Issue With Joe Gerth And The Courier Journal's Coverage Of Kentucky's Governor's Race.

Please find the latest release from the Gatewood/Riley 2011 campaign attached and below. This press release clarifies recent reports on the gubernatorial race and where each candidate stands according to what has been published in the newspaper. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Thank you,
Nicole

Press Release.....for Immediate Release

To: News/Political Editors
From: Gatewood/Riley 2011
Date: August 28, 2011
Re: Recent Media Reports/Polling


Recent news reports by both major Kentucky papers (The Courier Journal and The Lexington Herald Leader) fall short in their duty to report accurately the status of this year’s pending gubernatorial race. A recent article by reporter Joe Gerth of the Courier Journal reads:
“But don’t kid yourself; Williams isn’t as weak as independent candidate Gatewood Galbraith would have you believe. Galbraith went on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ radio show last week and said that he has pulled ahead of Williams in a recent poll. That was an unscientific online poll conducted by WKYT television in Lexington that found Beshear with 39 percent, Galbraith with 35 percent and Williams with 26 percent of the vote”. What the article neglected to mention is the fact Gatewood Galbraith has polled in first place, ahead of Steve Beshear, in five additional polls (The Hazard Herald, The State Journal (Frankfort), The Sentinel News, FOX 56 (Lexington) and a second WKYT poll). Each of the above-described polls shows Williams clearly in third place. The Courier Journal further denotes skepticism when characterizing such polls, as “non scientific poll”
yet there is no justifiable reason to believe those polls are more or less an indicator of the pending race than any other poll. Joe Gerth further ads “Galbraith has traditionally done well in such polls but then finished elections in single digits.” - Gatewood Galbraith has no knowledge of anytime in his previous races in which he has enjoyed first place in such polls and the article does not show its source for such a statement. The article itself is a speculative observation as to the status of each of the candidates in that no recent “scientific”
poll results have been published.

Today the Lexington Herald Leader’s main story “Can David Williams make Gubernatorial Contest a Real Race?” reporter Jack Brammer makes only one reference to Independent candidate Gatewood Galbraith in the final two sentences: “A third candidate for governor, Lexington attorney Gatewood Galbraith, is running as an independent. He has raised little campaign funds.” Adequate news reporting should not be solely reliant on the amount of money each candidate has raised as the single determining factor of the success or failure of candidates especially when a journalist is specifically taking a shot in the dark in the first place.

In addition, there is no mention of Senator Williams recent statement accurately reported by Joe Sonka of LEO: “I’m telling you, if you all really decide that Gatewood toward the end can win, and I can’t, vote for Gatewood.” Certainly that comment would serve as a relevant indicator if nothing else.

There is little doubt these lapses skew, censor and attempt to make relevant or irrelevant polls, is occurring for the purpose to negate the obvious success of the campaign to affect the outcome. The Courier Journal and Lexington Herald Leader should serve as the model of good journalism and adhere to established journalistic ethics standards. The Gatewood/Riley campaign has made itself accessible to
all members of the press, associations and public. Currently
Gatewood/Riley boast the largest social network sites of any of the candidates (combined) answering questions directly to constituents and further actively solicit questions and input on a daily basis. Press releases have been issued with no response and when reporting relevant issues affecting all of Kentucky reporters have relied on and published quotes from lesser-qualified sources. Many of the ideas and themes of Gatewood Galbraith’s former candidacy have become national news shaping policies, yet credit or even reference to his input was never attributed to Gatewood himself. The campaign issued a specific press announcement notifying all media entities of the fact Nicole Bartlett had come on board to serve as the campaign’s communication director and included all contact information – to no avail.

The people of Kentucky have a third choice in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race and deserve to hear from each candidate. Reporting should not be based on the number of ads purchased or amount of money raised. The 4th branch of govt., - the media – has a duty to adequately and accurately report each of the candidates free of bias, jealousy, personal theories free of contempt. It may be unimaginable to the Courier Journal and Lexington Herald Leader that a grass roots campaign could overcome such limitations, but it is a very realistic possibility to the people of Kentucky. Simply we are requesting and equal chance to express our views and platform. No other candidate has offered a specific educational program (the Commonwealth
Incentive) an environmental policy statement, an agricultural/bio-industrial plan or taken a stand on behalf of Kentucky’s state workers. Obviously it is not Gatewood/Riley 2011 that lacks substance. If this race were based on the “issues” then we win in every category. True, our opponents have out raised us in way of money, but they have fallen short in every other category – that would be news worth reporting.

###

Society of Professional Journalist Code of Ethics

Preamble
Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society’s principles and standards of practice.
Seek Truth and report it. Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

Journalists should:
• Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care
to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
• Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the
opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.
• Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as
much information as possible on sources’ reliability.
• Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify
conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information.
Keep promises.
• Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material,
photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not
misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
• Never distort the content of news photos or video Image enhancement
for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo
illustrations.
• Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If
re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.
• Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering
information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital
to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story.
• Never plagiarize.
• Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human
experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.
• Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
• Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity,
geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.
• Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.
• Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of
information can be equally valid.
• Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and
commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
• Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the
lines between the two.
• Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public’s business
is conducted in the open and that government records are open to
inspection.
• Minimize harm
• Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human
beings deserving of respect.
• Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news
coverage. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and
inexperienced sources or subjects.
• Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of
those affected by tragedy or grief.
• Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or
discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.
• Recognize that private people have a greater right to control
information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek
power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
• Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
• Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.
• Be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing
of charges.
• Balance a criminal suspect’s fair trial rights with the public’s
right to be informed.
• Act Independently
• Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than
the public’s right to know.
• Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
• Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise
integrity or damage credibility.
• Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and
shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service
in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
• Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
• Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
• Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and
resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
• Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid
bidding for news.
• Be accountable - Journalists are accountable to their readers,
listeners, viewers and each other.
• Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the
public over journalistic conduct.
• Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.
• Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
• Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.
• Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.


--
Nicole Bartlett
Communications Director
Gatewood/Riley 2011
502.542.2204

OMG: At Last, Someone At The Courier Journal Doesn't Do A HIT On David Williams And/Or Richie Farmer!

Blemishes marked Jerry Abramson's tenure as Louisville mayor
Written by John David Dyche

The two major party lieutenant governor candidates are extremely different from each other. Democrat Jerry Abramson is an urban liberal and career politician. Republican Richie Farmer is a rural conservative and relative political newcomer.

Farmer is taciturn. Abramson is loquacious. Although he talks a lot, Abramson says little. He uses torrents of empty rhetoric to avoid actually answering tough questions.

Recent reports have exposed questionable aspects of Farmer’s record as agriculture commissioner. But those matters (e.g., two mini-fridges or a hotel stay) are penny ante compared to Abramson’s awesome body of bad work.

Some say mainstream media go easy on Abramson, but plenty of stories have reported his poor leadership. Here are some questions about them.

You became mayor of merged Louisville Metro in 2003. Seven years later, state auditor Crit Luallen identified several serious flaws in city financial reporting and federal grant oversight. Why were Louisville’s basic financial functions such a mess so late into your administration?

You appointed personal friend Melissa Mershon director of the Neighborhoods Department and made another personal friend, Carol Butler, her special assistant at an $85,000 salary. Co-workers said Butler rarely appeared for work. Both women resigned after Mershon falsified invoices and made improper payments to Butler’s book company. Will you put personal friends in state government posts?

You called Kimberly Bunton a “change agent” when appointing her Louisville’s Housing Department director. She was indicted on felony charges for misusing public money. You also called Dr. Gilles Meloche, your Metro Animal Services director, a “strong change agent” when he resigned under criticism for mismanagement, sexual harassment and missing records. Are you bringing any “change agents” into state government?

After the January 2009 ice storm, you imprudently promised Metro government would clean up the debris by the Kentucky Derby. It did not, partly because you played patty-cake with labor unions before hiring private contractors to help. What promises are you making now, and as lieutenant governor will you put labor union interests before the public interest?

During your last mayoral campaign you touted building new libraries “without raising taxes.” Reelected, you backed a new library tax. What taxes do you want to impose or raise after being elected?

Over four years you spent $214,000 of public money from a personal slush fund with skimpy documentation. $3,400 feted “Louisville business leaders” at a swanky Washington restaurant. $2,378 went to Cordish Companies for a Fourth Street Live football celebration. Why should hard-working citizens fund such frivolities, especially when the no-bid sweetheart contract you struck with Cordish already gives that out-of-state casino company the benefit of millions in public money in a dubious development deal?

After your mayoral tenure Louisville area unemployment is worse than in Cincinnati, St. Louis, Nashville, Knoxville, Columbus, Indianapolis and 210 other metropolitan areas. Do you accept any responsibility for that?

You have previously (e.g., 2004) disclosed your vote in a federal election. Did you vote for Barack Obama for president in 2008? Will vote for him in 2012? Why?

Have you and your running mate, incumbent Gov. Steve Beshear, discussed his leaving office before his second term expires so you can succeed him and run for governor in 2015 as an incumbent? If elected lieutenant governor will you run for governor in 2015? Will you rule it out? Will you rule out running for another elective office before your lieutenant governor term expires?

Jerry Abramson did some good things as Louisville mayor, but he indisputably got worse with time. Kentuckians should know more about his record before putting him a heartbeat (or a resignation) away from the governorship of this conservative state, which has deeply-held conservative values that he does not always share.

Yet Farmer has gotten far more media attention in this campaign. Such disparate press coverage is yet another big difference between the two.

John David Dyche is a Louisville attorney who writes a political column on alternating Tuesdays in Forum. His views are his own, not those of the law firm in which he practices. His email address is jddyche@yahoo.com.

Syria's "Strong Man" Bashar Assad. LMAO!

Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt to Campaign For Todd P’Pool.

Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt to Campaign for Todd P’Pool
Kentucky native glad to be back in state
CONTACT: David Ray: Cell: 901-288-4300

MADISONVILLE – The Todd P’Pool for Attorney General campaign announced today another rising star in the Republican Party, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, will campaign with Todd P’Pool in Kentucky this September.
Attorney General Pruitt grew up in Lexington where he graduated high school and earned a scholarship to play baseball at the University of Kentucky before attending law school in Oklahoma.

Since taking office, Attorney General Pruitt has been an advocate in pushing back against the power and overreach of Washington.
Pruitt garnered national attention earlier this year when he filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and their activist agenda to improperly shut down domestic energy sources such as clean-burning coal plants in Oklahoma. Pruitt’s lawsuit against the EPA seeks to prevent the agency from proceeding with their improper implementation of the Regional Haze rule in Oklahoma, which is estimated would increase the cost of energy to consumers as much as 16%.
Pruitt believes finding ways to expand the use of all available domestic energy sources such as natural gas and coal will be vital to the strength of America.
Pruitt is also committed to fighting unconstitutional laws such as the healthcare law passed in 2010, and has filed suit in an Oklahoma federal court to prevent this attempt of the federal government to force Americans to purchase insurance or face a fine.

“We are excited to have Attorney General Scott Pruitt join us on the campaign trail,” said P’Pool. “While Jack Conway won’t stand up and take on the overreach of Washington, Attorney General Pruitt has aggressively fought to preserve state’s abilities to self regulate and put Washington in check.”
Scott Pruitt is the latest in a series of leading Republicans to announce they will assist P’Pool this fall in his election against Democrat Jack Conway. Others include Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, and former UK basketball star Travis Ford.

MAUREEN DOWD: Darth Vader Vents.

Darth Vader Vents
By MAUREEN DOWD

WHY is it not a surprise to learn that Dick Cheney’s ancestor, Samuel Fletcher Cheney, was a Civil War soldier who marched with Sherman to the sea?

Scorched earth runs in the family.

Having lost the power to heedlessly bomb the world, Cheney has turned his attention to heedlessly bombing old colleagues.

Vice’s new memoir, “In My Time,” veers unpleasantly between spin, insisting he was always right, and score-settling, insisting that anyone who opposed him was wrong.

His knife-in-her-teeth daughter, Elizabeth Cheney, helped write the book. The second most famous Liz & Dick combo do such an excellent job of cherry-picking the facts, it makes the cherry-picking on the Iraq war intelligence seem picayune.

Cheney may no longer have a pulse, but his blood quickens at the thought of other countries he could have attacked. He salivates in his book about how Syria and Iran could have been punished.

Cheney says that in 2007, he told President Bush, who had already been pulled into diplomacy by Condi Rice: “I believed that an important first step would be to destroy the reactor in the Syrian desert.”

At a session with most of the National Security Council, he made his case for a strike on the reactor. It would enhance America’s tarnished credibility in the Arab world, he argued, (not bothering to mention who tarnished it), and demonstrate the country’s “seriousness.”

“After I finished,” he writes, “the president asked, ‘Does anyone here agree with the vice president?’ Not a single hand went up around the room.”

By that time, W. had belatedly realized that Cheney was a crank whose bad advice and disdainful rants against “the diplomatic path” and “multilateral action” had pretty much ruined his presidency.

There were few times before the bitter end that W. was willing to stand up to Vice. But the president did make a bold stand on not letting his little dog be gobbled up by Cheney’s big dog.

When Vice’s hundred-pound yellow Lab, Dave, went after W.’s beloved Scottish terrier, Barney, at Camp David’s Laurel Lodge, that was a bridge too far.

When Cheney and Dave got back to their cabin, there was a knock at the door. “It was the camp commander,” Cheney writes. “ ‘Mr. Vice President,’ he said, ‘your dog has been banned from Laurel.’ ”

But on all the nefarious things that damaged America, Cheney got his way for far too long.

Vice gleefully predicted that his memoir would have “heads exploding all over Washington.” But his book is a bore. He doesn’t even mention how in high school he used to hold the water buckets to douse the fiery batons of his girlfriend Lynne, champion twirler.

At least Rummy’s memoir showed some temperament. And George Tenet’s was the primal scream of a bootlicker caught out.

Cheney takes himself so seriously, flogging his cherished self-image as a rugged outdoorsman from Wyoming (even though he shot his Texas hunting partner in the face) and a vice president who was the only thing standing between America and its enemies.

He acts like he is America. But America didn’t like Dick Cheney.

It’s easier for someone who believes that he is America incarnate to permit himself to do things that hurt America — like torture, domestic spying, pushing America into endless wars, and flouting the Geneva Conventions.

Mostly, Cheney grumbles about having his power checked. It’s bad enough when the president does it, much less Congress and the courts.

A person who is always for the use of military force is as doctrinaire and irrelevant as a person who is always opposed to the use of military force.

Cheney shows contempt for Tenet, Colin Powell and Rice, whom he disparages in a sexist way for crying, and condescension for W. when he won’t be guided to the path of most destruction.

He’s churlish about President Obama, who took the hunt for Osama bin Laden off the back burner and actually did what W. promised to do with his little bullhorn — catch the real villain of 9/11.

“Tracking him down was certainly one of our top priorities,” Cheney writes. “I was gratified that after years of diligent and dedicated work, our nation’s intelligence community and our special operations forces were able on May 1, 2011, to find and kill bin Laden.”

Tacky.

Finishing the book with an account of the 2010 operation to put in a battery-operated pump that helps his heart push blood through his body, he recounts the prolonged, vivid dream about a beautiful place in Italy he had during the weeks he was unconscious.

“It was in the countryside, a little north of Rome, and it really seemed I was there,” he writes. “I can still describe the villa where I passed the time, the little stone paths I walked to get coffee or a batch of newspapers.”

Caesar and his cappuccino.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who Is The Godliest Of Them All?

Planet of the godly
Written by Kathleen Parker

WASHINGTON — Rick Perry’s rapid lead over previous Republican front-runner Mitt Romney was predictable. But it is not a good sign for Republicans hoping to reclaim the White House and further highlights the crucial battle within GOP circles: Who is the godliest of us all?

That’s the mirror-mirror question for Republicans. Forget charisma, charm, intelligence, knowledge and that nuisance, “foreign-policy experience.” The race of the moment concerns which candidate is the truest believer.

This was always a tough hurdle for Romney, whose Mormonism is reflexively distrusted by Southern evangelicals. Even so, in the absence of a better candidate, Romney had a fighting chance to win his party’s support. Then came Perry.

Talk about a perfect-storm, composite candidate. Combine Elmer Gantry’s nose for converts, Ronald Reagan’s folksy confidence and Sarah Palin’s disdain for the elites — and that dog hunts.

Perry doesn’t just believe, he evangelizes. He summons prayer meetings. He reads scripture while callers are on hold. Not incidentally, he’s a successful governor. Perhaps most important, he’s a wall-scaling fundraiser whose instincts make him a force of nature in the political landscape.

If you’re Romney, Perry is a nightmare that’s still there in the morning. If you’re Barack Obama, maybe not so much?

Perry’s political instincts were in evidence when he timed his entrance into the race just as everybody else was trying to grab straws in the Iowa poll. If life is high school in adult relief, Perry is the guy who shows up in a truck with a winch and pulls the car out of the ditch while those other guys are looking for a jack.

Whether you like his politics or not, he emits a pheromonal can-do-ness. Apparently, plenty of Republicans do like his politics, which has much to do with the very devil-may-care attitude that eventually will become Perry’s cross to bear. Gallup’s recent polling shows him not just passing Romney, but dusting him. Among Republican voters, 29 percent now swear their allegiance to the Texas governor compared to just 17 percent for Romney.

Huddled around the exhaust pipe are, you got it, the jack handlers: Ron Paul (13 percent) and Michele Bachmann (10 percent), followed by Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman in the single digits.

Perry’s campaign strategy is to talk only about jobs, jobs, jobs, no matter what the question. That’s both smart and necessary, but jobs-jobs-jobs isn’t the money trinity with his base. Perry already hit that station with his prayer rally and various dog whistles to the congregation: He’s not sure anyone knows how old Earth is, evolution is just a “theory,” and global warming isn’t man-made.

That we are yet again debating evolutionary theory and Earth’s origins — and that candidates now have to declare where they stand on established science — should be a signal that we are slip-sliding toward governance by emotion rather than reason. But it’s important to understand what’s undergirding the debate. It has little to do with a given candidate’s policy and everything to do with whether he or she believes in God.

If we are descended of some blend of apes, then we can’t have been created in God’s image. If we establish Earth’s age at 4.5 billion years, then we contradict the biblical view that God created the world just 6,500 years ago. And finally, if we say that climate change is partly the result of man’s actions, then God can’t be the One who punishes man’s sins with floods, droughts, earthquakes and hurricanes. If He wants the climate to change, then He will so ordain and we’ll pray more.

Perry knows he has to make clear that God is his wingman. And this conviction seems not only to be sincere, but also to be relatively noncontroversial in the GOP’s church — and perhaps beyond. He understands that his base cares more that the president is clear on his ranking in the planetary order than whether he can schmooze with European leaders or, heaven forbid, the media. And this is why Perry could easily steal the nomination from Romney.

And also why he probably can’t win a national election, in which large swaths of the electorate would prefer that their president keep his religion close and be respectful of knowledge that has evolved from thousands of years of human struggle against superstition and the kind of literal-mindedness that leads straight to the dark ages.

Faith and reason are not mutually exclusive, but Perry makes you think they are.

Appeals Court Finds That Individuals Have Constitutional Right To Film Police Actions In Public Place. Talk About Keeping Them Honest!

First Circuit upholds right to record public police action

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit last Friday ruled that there is a clearly-established First Amendment right to film police officers performing their duties in a public space. The case is SIMON GLIK v. JOHN CUNNIFFE, 10-1764 (read it here). The case stems from a 2007 incident, when police officers arrested Simon Gilk after he openly recorded three police officers arresting a suspect on the Boston Common. Circuit Judge Kermit Lipez, speaking for the unanimous three-judge panel, rejected the officers claim that they had qualified immunity since the law regarding recordings of police action is not well-settled. The opinion recognized that the undoubted right to gather news from any source, by means within the law, is an important corollary to the First Amendment saying:

The First Amendment issue here is, as the parties frame it, fairly narrow: is there a constitutionally protected right to videotape police carrying out their duties in public? Basic First Amendment principles, along with case law from this and other circuits, answer that question unambiguously in the affirmative. It is firmly established that the First Amendment's aegis extends further than the text's proscription on laws "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press," and encompasses a range of conduct related to the gathering and dissemination of information. ... The filming of government officials engaged in their duties in a public place, including police officers performing their responsibilities, fits comfortably within these principles. Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting "the free discussion of governmental affairs.

Lipez cited well established case law and stressed that the right to gather news is not one that inures solely to the benefit of the news media but also extends to a private individual. The Court recognized that the right to record is not without limitations and is subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions.

The King, In Word And In stone.

King, in word and stone
The late minister is getting a memorial in his honor and that is as it should be
By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

WASHINGTON — It is one of the enduring mysteries of American history - so near-providential as to give the most hardened atheist pause - that it should have produced, at every hinge point, great men who matched the moment. A roiling, revolutionary 18th-century British colony gives birth to the greatest cohort of political thinkers ever: Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Hamilton, Washington, Franklin, Jay. The crisis of the 19th century brings forth Lincoln; the 20th, FDR.

Equally miraculous is Martin Luther King Jr. Black America’s righteous revolt against a century of post-emancipation oppression could have gone in many bitter and destructive directions. It did not. This was largely the work of one man’s leadership, moral imagination and strategic genius. He turned his own deeply Christian belief that “unearned suffering is redemptive” into a creed of nonviolence that he carved into America’s political consciousness. The result was not just racial liberation but national redemption.

Such an achievement, such a life, deserves a monument alongside the other miracles of our history - Lincoln, Jefferson and FDR - which is precisely where stands the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. It’s official opening at the Tidal Basin, adjacent to Roosevelt’s seven acres, directly across from Jefferson’s temple, and bisecting the invisible cartographic line connecting the memorials for Jefferson and Lincoln, authors of America’s first two births of freedom, whose promises awaited fulfillment by King has been postponed until next week because of a hurricane.

The new King memorial has its flaws, mostly notably its much-debated central element, the massive 30-foot stone carving of a standing, arms crossed, somewhat stern King. The criticism has centered on origins: The statue was made in China by a Chinese artist. The problem, however, is not ethnicity but sensibility. Lei Yixin, who receives a government stipend, has created 150 public monuments in the People’s Republic, including several of Chairman Mao. It shows. The flat, rigid, socialist realist result does not do justice to the supremely nuanced, creative, humane soul of its subject.

The artistic deficiencies, however, are trumped by placement. You enter the memorial through a narrow passageway, emerging onto a breathtaking opening to the Tidal Basin, a tranquil tree-lined oasis with Jefferson at the far shore. Here stands King gazing across to the Promised Land - promised by that very same Jefferson - but whose shores King himself was never to reach. You are standing at America’s Mount Nebo. You cannot but be deeply moved.

Behind the prophet, guarding him, is an arc of short quotations chiseled in granite. This is in keeping with that glorious feature of Washington’s monumental core - the homage to words (rather than images of conquest and glory, as in so many other capitals), as befits a nation founded on an idea.

The choice of King quotations is not without problems, however. There are 14 quotes, but in no discernible order, chronological or thematic. None are taken from the “I Have a Dream” speech for understandable reasons of pedagogical redundancy. Nevertheless, some of the quotes are simply undistinguished, capturing none of the cadence and poetry of King’s considerable canon.

More troubling, however, is the philosophical narrowness. The citations dwell almost exclusively on the universalist element of King’s thought - exhortations, for example, that “our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective,” and “every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole.”

Transcending all forms of sectarianism to achieve a common humanity was, of course, a major element of King’s thought. But it was not the only one. Missing is any sense of King’s Americanness. Indeed, the word America appears only once, and only in the context of stating his opposition to the Vietnam War. Yet, as King himself insisted, his dream was “deeply rooted in the American dream.”

He consciously rooted civil rights in the American story, not just for tactical reasons of enlisting whites in the struggle but because he deeply believed that his movement, while fiercely adversarial, was quintessentially American, indeed, a profound vindication of the American creed.

And yet, however much one wishes for a more balanced representation of King’s own creed, there is no denying the power of this memorial.

You must experience it. In the heart of the nation’s capital, King now literally takes his place in the American pantheon, the only nonpresident to be so honored. As of next week there is no room for anyone more on the shores of the Tidal Basin. This is as it should be.

"Kentucky Should Adopt Right-To-Work".

Kentucky should adopt right-to-work

Gov. Steve Beshear and the Democrat-controlled House are beholden to labor unions in this state and for that reason, year after year we continue to lose companies and jobs to other Southern states because Kentucky is not a right-to-work state.

Right-to-work laws protect workers’ freedoms by not forcing them to pay dues to a union upon becoming employed or throughout employment. Nearly any citizen in a right-to-work state is protected by a state’s right-to-work law.

Labor unions make up less than 9 percent of Kentucky’s workforce, so it would make sense that Beshear and the House would have more concern for the majority of the workforce. Sadly, they don’t. They need the unions, who contribute millions of dollars every election year through political action committees or other ways to encourage the governor and those in the House to follow part of their agenda, which is not allowing Kentucky to become a right-to-work state.

Kentucky is the only Southern state not to have a right-to-work law. For that reason, many companies don’t even consider our state when choosing plant locations.

Business 101 would tell you that this is simply bad business. The governor and House are hindering our state because they ignore reality. Shame on them. It reflects poor leadership and it holds our state back when competing for jobs that could be coming to Kentucky.

Simpson County Judge-Executive Jim Henderson is a strong supporter of the right-to-work concept.

“It’s an issue that’s dear to my heart,” Henderson says.

“There’s no way to even know how many companies we’ve lost. I know there’s countless companies who won’t even look at us because we’re not a right-to-work state. So they go to Tennessee because it’s right-to-work. We lose them and sometimes never know why we lost them,” Henderson said.

Henderson said more education is needed on this issue. He says it’s frustrating for us because it keeps us on an unlevel playing field.

“Almost without exception, there’s always a question about unions,” Henderson said.

Henderson said on a number of occasions during the process of trying to get a company to come to Franklin, it was eliminated because of not being a right-to-work state. He said it was communicated through correspondence and other means of communication that not having a right-to-work law is why companies aren’t coming to his city.

Henderson said Franklin has had success, but it’s certainly an issue for us.

“It’s a mystery to me how unions can be so strong in a state where unions are so small. It’s omission of freedom of choice and makes no sense to me,” Henderson said.

One only has to look at companies such as Nissan North America. The company admitted that one reason it decided to move its headquarters from California to Tennessee and not Kentucky was because of the lower business costs. Interestingly enough, the average Kentuckian has to work 13 months to make what an average Tennessean can in one year.

The number of jobs created in right-to-work states compared to forced union states like Kentucky are revealing.

According to Freedom Kentucky, between 1996-2004, Georgia brought in more than 500,000 new jobs, Virginia more than 400,000, North Carolina nearly 275,000. Tennessee brought in more than 125,000 new jobs, South Carolina around 125,000 and Kentucky brought in less than 100,000 jobs in that time.

These numbers show a significant problem. A big reason for us underperforming is companies want to do business in right-to-work states. Those who make plant location decisions vote with their wallets.

Bryan Sunderland, vice president of public affairs for the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, said his organization wants Kentucky to become a right-to-work state.

“We do agree it would be a positive aspect for us to look at. A lot of companies don’t look at us because of that. All right-to-work states have that advantage over us in competing for jobs,” Sunderland said.

“It’s part of our legislative agenda. Not being a right-to-work state is absolutely a factor in bringing jobs here. In some cases, it’s a primary factor,” Sunderland said.

He said in some cases, the chamber doesn’t know how many companies they lose because they don’t even look at us because we’re not a right-to-work state.

“Hopefully, headway will be made in the future,” Sunderland said.

State Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green, is a big proponent of Kentucky becoming a right-to-work state. DeCesare has introduced legislation in the House only to see it die in committee.

“Less than 10 percent of our workforce is union, and out of that they’re controlling the whole state and where we go. The right-to work-states are the ones getting the jobs,” DeCesare said. “I’m for allowing people to have the option to join a union or not. Some union employees don’t like their money going to political candidates, but they have no choice.”

DeCesare said unions have had their place in history, but now it’s about how much money they can get out of the free market.

DeCesare said it’s actually a pretty said situation.

“It keeps our economy from growing and bringing in new companies and jobs. It’s an issue that needs to continue to be addressed,” he said.

State Rep. Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green, has also been a strong proponent for making Kentucky a right-to-work state. State Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, unfortunately believes that Kentucky doesn’t need to be a right-to-work state.

Richards, Beshear and others are part of the problem that is holding us back.

State Sen. David Williams, R-Burkesville, who is running against Beshear for governor, gets it and believes that we should be a right-to-work state.

In 2006, state Sen. David Boswell, D-Sorgho said: “Right-to-work is designed to do one thing. It’s designed to destroy unions.”

That’s hogwash, pure and simple. Where unions do a good job of representing their members and don’t play games with members’ pension funds as a few crooked leaders have done, they should flourish regardless of whether a state has a right-to-work law.

What we are really talking about is giving a choice to those whose views are not in sync with unions and don’t care to pay dues.

Unions like to talk about their right to join together and organize. This is well established and protected and very few people would question this freedom of association.

If, however, there is a freedom of association, there has to be a corollary freedom not to associate and therein lies the essence of the argument for a right-to-work law.

Lexington Herald Leader Couldn't Resist Chiming In On David Williams.

Can David Williams make gubernatorial contest a real race?
By Jack Brammer

FRANKFORT — With signs that Republican David Williams' campaign for governor is struggling, Republicans — and even some Democrats — say he still can make the race competitive.

But national political expert Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics is about ready to call Williams' campaign finished.

"We're almost to Labor Day, and we haven't seen anything to suggest that Williams can win this race," Sabato said. "He would need something like lightning striking three times in the same place to win. Good luck with that."

With less than three months to go before the Nov. 8 election, Williams trails Democratic incumbent Steve Beshear in fund-raising and by more than 20 percentage points in polls.

His campaign has gone through two managers, and he has adopted the unusual practice of a "campaign by committee" to guide him.

Williams also has not reaped the widespread support of the Tea Party movement supporters who propelled Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul to victory in last year's U.S. Senate race.

Williams' campaign chairman, former state Adjutant General Donald Storm, said he thinks voters will "finally focus on the candidates and realize that if we are ever going to turn this state around, we have to have a governor who has a plan."

Storm said in a recent interview that Williams has talked about tax reform, public pension problems and social issues, while Beshear has avoided candidate forums and has said little about the issues.

As far as the resources to get out Williams' message, Storm, who is guiding Williams' campaign with state Republican Party chairman Steve Robertson and consultant Scott Jennings, said the campaign is focused on "getting money. We've just got to hope and pray."

In the latest campaign-finance reports, filed in June, Beshear had $2.7 million on hand and Williams less than $100,000.

The Williams campaign has had several major fund-raisers since then, including one Thursday night in Louisville with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Another one is planned in mid-September with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who has garnered national attention because of his fights with unions.

Storm said the Williams campaign will get tougher.

That became apparent late last week, when Williams injected religion into the race by accusing Beshear of not speaking out about the end of public prayers at Bell County football games.

While Williams tries to rally the Christian right, Beshear also has been criticized by supporters of separation of church and state for allowing tax incentives for the Bible-themed Ark Park in Northern Kentucky and the implementation of "In God We Trust" license plates.

Storm also said the Williams campaign will tell voters that the state coal industry "will suffer" if President Obama sees Beshear re-elected.

Beshear has kept his distance from Obama, but Storm said that's temporary. "Beshear will not float back to the left but will race back to the left if he gets another term," Storm said.

Beshear campaign spokesman Matt Erwin said the Williams campaign's comments are "a desperate and pathetic move by a campaign 25 points down in the polls by a 25-year career politician who is trying to hide his record of lavish spending and avoid talking about Gov. Beshear's record of smaller government, job creation and balanced budgets."

How tough a race can Williams, whose public likeability has been an issue in the race, run?

"He will be telling the truth," Storm said. He also defended Williams' use of a committee to run the campaign.

"I think we're the best organized now than we've been since the primary election (in May)," Storm said.

State Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, said the lack of a campaign manager for Williams is "much ado about nothing."

"David Williams is the best political consultant I know," Thayer said. "I've seen him running campaigns for Republican candidates for Senate, and he has done very well."

But the University of Virginia's Sabato said campaigns by committee usually don't work.

"The only thing that could be worse for a candidate is for the spouse to manage the campaign," he said.

Bill Cox, an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in 1979, said Williams has a shot to win the race, but only if he makes some changes.

"Abraham Lincoln once said an attorney who represents himself has a fool for a client. The same can be said for a candidate who manages his own campaign," Cox said.

"It's still not too late for him, but he's got to take a different approach," said Cox, who was a strong supporter for Beshear in the 1987 and 2007 races for governor.

First, Cox said, Williams should get a campaign manager whom he trusts and respects, and listen to him.

"I think the problem for Williams is that he totally misread Beshear's level of support," Cox said.

He said Williams should try to raise his "likeability" by explaining how he, as governor, would take care of children, the elderly, the sick and disenfranchised.

"David has not answered the question of why he wants to be governor, and he has not forced Beshear to answer that."

Cox also said Williams needs to concentrate more on the 1st and 2nd Congressional districts in the western and southern parts of the state, "where conservative Democrats and Republicans live," and "quit worrying about Louisville."

Louisville businessman Bill Stone, a strong Republican and Williams supporter, said he agrees with Cox's assessment about Louisville and Jefferson County.

Williams has to keep talking about the need for neighborhood schools in Louisville, but "he should not worry about the elite East End money in Jefferson County that is going with Beshear," Stone said.

The two major-party candidates were asked at the state fair last week how their campaigns are faring.

"We feel very positive about it," Williams said.

Beshear said he "feels good" about his campaign.

"The numbers are all looking great right now," he said, adding that he and his running mate, former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, "are working like we're 10 points behind, and that's the way we'll run every day until Nov. 8."

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said it will be "an interesting fall."

"We're fortunate to have two guys like Steve Beshear and David Williams competing for the governor's office. Both are obviously competent and qualified to serve.

"I think Gov. Beshear, however, has done a very good job managing our resources and deserves another term."

Stumbo called the race "an uphill struggle" for Williams, who "would be better served running as what he really is — a sort of progressive conservative," focusing on issues more than attacks.

A third candidate for governor, Lexington attorney Gatewood Galbraith, is running as an independent. He has raised little campaign funds.

Louisville Courier Journal HITS David Williams TWICE In One Day, And On Front Page. If I Didn't Know Any Better I Would Think David Williams Is The ONLY Candidate For Governor!

First hit starts this way (click here to read more):

"It’s just over two months away from the November election and there’s no reason to believe that Senate President David Williams has closed the gap on Gov. Steve Beshear in the Kentucky governor’s race."


Second hit follows (yes, click here to read more):

"While supporting scaled-back pension benefits for new state workers, Senate President David Williams has voted for legislation that has doubled his own state pension — to nearly $44,000 a year."

Courier Journal Finds Something Else To HIT Richie Farmer With, This Time It's Mini Refrigerators. Petty, Petty, Petty!

Richie Farmer kept state-purchased refrigerator in home office, spokesman says
Written by Tom Loftus

FRANKFORT, KY. — The state Department of Agriculture bought two small refrigerators within a period of a few months in 2010, one of which was kept in Commissioner Richie Farmer’s home office until earlier this year, a department official said.

Bill Clary, spokesman for the department, said one of the $179 Frigidaire refrigerators was in Farmer’s home from the day it was purchased in February 2010 until May of this year, when Farmer moved his belongings from that house after his wife filed for divorce.

It was then moved to the Department of Agriculture’s headquarters in Frankfort, where Clary showed it to a Courier-Journal reporter Thursday.

But Clary said Thursday, and again Friday, that he doesn’t know the whereabouts of the second Frigidaire.

“I haven’t found it yet,” he said Friday.

Farmer, who is near the end of his second term as agriculture commissioner, is the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor on a slate headed by Senate President David Williams, the GOP candidate for governor.

Clary defended the expenditure of taxpayer funds for a refrigerator at Farmer’s home, where, preumably, there’s also one in the kitchen.

“I would say that the commissioner believes that it helps him do his job better,” Clary said. “... It was in his home office from which he worked. It was not for his personal use. He also had a computer and a fax machine there too.”

Clary said that during early 2010 Farmer was “having some issues with his back, so he was spending more time in the house.”

The question of whether the Agriculture Department bought a refrigerator that was delivered to Farmer’s house first surfaced in an anonymous complaint sent to the Kentucky Personnel Board, which discussed it at an Aug. 12 meeting.

Most of the complaint dealt with a personnel move in the Department of Agriculture, but it also alleged that department employee David Fint had been directed by Farmer to buy a refrigerator at Lowe’s on his state credit card and deliver it to Farmer’s residence.

The Personnel Board did not act on that allegation in the complaint because it had no juristiction over such matters.

Clary initially responded to the complaint by saying that the allegation concerned a “dorm refrigerator” that was in Farmer’s office at the department. Beyond that, Clary said, “I’m not going to comment on anonymous office gossip.”

The Courier-Journal filed a request under the Kentucky Open Records Act, which turned up records of purchases of two Frigidaire compact refrigerators in 2010. Each is silver, 4.4 cubic feet in size, cost $179, and was purchased at Lowe’s in Frankfort.

The first was bought on a state credit card on Feb. 22, 2010, by Fint. An unsigned handwritten note attached to the Lowe’s receipt says, “fridge purchased for Commissioner Farmers office to replace broken (non-working) one!”

The released records also include an e-mail sent by Fint to department officials two days after the purchase seeking permission from deparment officials “to purchase a replacement small refrigerator for the Commissioners office...”

The second Frigidaire was bought on a state credit card on Aug. 11, 2010, by department employee Robert Meade. A document attached to this receipt said it also was “for the Commissioner’s Office.”

Fint declined comment, referring questions to Clary.

On Thursday, when he showed a reporter the refrigerator in Farmer’s office, Clary said he did not know if it had ever been at Farmer’s residence. But he said the refrigerator “has been here a bunch of months. ... It’s been here for ages.”

On Friday Clary said, after researching the matter, that indeed the refrigerator Fint bought in February 2010 “was taken to the commissioner’s home office” and remained there until May of this year.

Farmer’s wife, Rebecca Ann Farmer, filed for divorce in April, and the following month he moved his belongings out of the marital residence.

At that time, Clary said, the refrigerator was moved to Farmer’s office at the Department of Agriculture because Farmer “doesn’t have an office in his new residence.”

Clary said the difficulty in finding the second refrigerator has been complicated by the fact that he and other department officials have been at the state fair in Louisville nearly all week. The fair ends Sunday.

“When I get back to Frankfort Monday I will search for it,” Clary said.

Words To Live By, Words Of Wisdom.

"It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn."

-- George Washington, letter to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, 1789

Real Horsey? LOL.

What Would Jesus Say -- Or Do. Check It Out.

Paul Prather: What would Jesus say? Let's see
By Paul Prather — Contributing columnist

In my most recent column, I said that if Jesus were walking our sidewalks today, he probably wouldn't align himself too closely with either liberal Democrats or conservative Republicans.

This touched off a testy debate on the Web, and divergent opinions in the emails that readers sent me directly, regarding what Jesus would say about current hot-button topics.

Reading these responses, I had a startling thought: Why don't we let Jesus speak for himself? After all, we have four biblical books — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — that purport to record what he said and did on earth.

Often we really don't need to argue over what Jesus might say about some matter, including many of the very issues we face now. He told us plainly.

Here's a sampling of his views, as opposed to what political and religious spin doctors might like us to believe he said.

Talk to us, Jesus!

Taxes. Jesus' critics said, "'Is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar, or not?' But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, '... Show me the coin used for the poll tax.' And they brought him a denarius. And he said to them, 'Whose likeness and inscription is this?' They said to him, 'Caesar's.' Then he said to them, 'Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's'" (Matthew 22:17-21, New American Standard translation).

Good, law-abiding, God-fearing leaders. "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax gatherer. The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, 'God, I thank thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted" (Luke 18:10-14).

Wealth. A young ruler approached Jesus and said, "'Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?' ... Jesus said, 'If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieved; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to his disciples, 'Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:16-24).

Poverty. "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. ... But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry" (Luke 6:20-21, 24-25).

Health care. "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went off leaving him half dead. ... But a certain Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him, and bandaged up his wounds ... and put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the next day he took two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you.' ... Go and do the same." (Luke 10:30-37).

Public prayer. "And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand praying in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will repay you" (Matthew 6:5-6).

Politics. "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting. ... But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm" (John 18:36).

Who goes to hell: "Then he will also say ... 'Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite me in; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.' Then they themselves will also answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:41-46).

Paul Prather is pastor of Bethesda Church near Mount Sterling. E-mail him at pratpd@yahoo.com.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/08/27/1859193/paul-prather-what-would-jesus.html#ixzz1WGj2mOUg

Jim Bunning Endorses David Williams For Governor.

Bunning endorses Williams in KY governor's race
By ROGER ALFORD

ALEXANDRIA, Ky. (AP) -- Former U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning publicly endorsed Republican David Williams in Kentucky's race for governor on Saturday, a signal to GOP voters loyal to the former major league pitcher that the two longtime political allies are back together.

Bunning told more than 100 of his closest friends and supporters at a northern Kentucky picnic on Saturday that electing Williams and other Republicans running for state offices could improve the state's business climate.

Bunning, a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, said no one should be surprised by his endorsement of Williams in a race against Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear.

"David Williams has been there every time I needed him," Bunning told The Associated Press after making the endorsement.

Williams had been mentioned as a potential challenger to Bunning in last year's Republican Senate primary. That was at a time when GOP leaders in Washington were pressuring Bunning, a staunch fiscal conservative, not to seek re-election, fearing he was politically vulnerable to a Democratic challenge.

Neither Williams nor Bunning ran in that primary. But to Bunning loyalists, even being mentioned as a challenger could be off-putting, making Saturday's endorsement crucial.

Former Secretary of State Trey Grayson and Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul faced off for the GOP nomination. Paul went on to win both the primary and the general elections.

Williams attended Saturday's picnic where he paid homage to Bunning, who has kept a low profile politically since leaving the Senate at the end of last year.

"After Sen. Bunning retired on his own terms, I assumed the mantel as the Republican and conservative that liberals and liberal newspapers hate the most," Williams said. "And I'm proud to wear that badge."

Williams credited Bunning with helping to inspire him to public service and with changing the face of Kentucky politics by standing on his convictions, even though he was often a lone voice.

In an especially complimentary speech, Williams said Bunning ought also to be in halls of fame as a father, grandfather and political leader.

"His speeches ought to be a part of every civics course taught in the United States of America," Williams gushed.

All of Kentucky's GOP candidates for state offices attended the picnic, hoping to get Bunning's stamp of approval. Bunning gave a broad endorsement to all, saying "I am darn sure that David and his group that are running could change the atmosphere in Kentucky for business."

Williams and a third candidate, Lexington attorney Gatewood Galbraith who is running as an independent, are trailing badly in the polls. Williams declared Saturday that he will not be discouraged by those polls with more than two months remaining before the Nov. 8 election.

"We can win," he said.

Bonus Cartoon: Marc Murphy Takes A Swipe At Republicans.

Two Mexicans, Who Piloted Cocaine Laden Airplane To Bowling Green (To Refuel?), Plead Guilty To Charges And Face Life Imprisonment.

Two plead guilty in case of cocaine found on airplane
By JUSTIN STORY

Two brothers caught in an airplane with more than 70 pounds of cocaine at Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport pleaded guilty Friday to two federal drug charges.

Dagoberto Garcia-Guillen, 21, and his brother, Jesus Garcia-Guillen, 27, both pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to possession and conspiracy to possess 5 kilograms or more of cocaine.

The brothers, who are Mexican nationals, were arrested Oct. 1 at the airport by the Bowling Green Police Department.

Court records show that Dagoberto Garcia-Guillen piloted a Piper Seneca II twin-engine aircraft that landed at the airport in Bowling Green to refuel.

Unbeknownst to the pair, the federal Department of Homeland Security had been tracking the plane since it stopped in Cushing, Okla., to buy fuel. Homeland security officials tracked the plane after the brothers allegedly behaved suspiciously at the airport in Oklahoma.

Three BGPD officers, acting on a request from the DHS to assist in identifying the plane’s occupants, met Dagoberto and Jesus Garcia-Guillen at the airport here.

According to court records and earlier testimony from the officers, Dagoberto identified himself as the pilot, told police he was coming from Phoenix and had no particular destination, simply flying from airport to airport in an effort to attain flight time on his pilot’s license.

Dagoberto consented to a search of the plane, during which police found 30 bricks of cocaine concealed within zippered pockets of two suitcases.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky, the cocaine discovered on board the plane had an estimated street value of nearly $1 million.

At Friday’s change of plea hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Robert Goebel, the brothers did not speak other than to softly answer “yes” or “no” to Goebel’s questions.

Jesus Garcia-Guillen, who is being represented by court-appointed federal defender Patrick Bouldin, required a Spanish-language interpreter to understand the proceedings.

Dagoberto Garcia-Guillen is being represented by attorney Robert Kuzas of Chicago.

In addition to the BGPD and DHS, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement worked on the investigation.

The brothers face a maximum sentence of life in prison, supervised release of at least five years and a fine of up to $8 million.

They will go before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph McKinley for sentencing Nov. 30 at federal court in Bowling Green.

Blame For Hurricane Irene. LOL.

Bowling Green Jury Convicts Man Of Rape Of 12 Year Old Based On Placental DNA Paternity Testing -- First In Kentucky.

Guilty verdict quick with DNA help
Cutting-edge technology helps to convict man on two counts of first-degree rape of girl, 12
By DEBORAH HIGHLAND

Cutting-edge DNA technology proved that Charles Stowers, 31, impregnated a 12-year-old girl he raped twice in 2009.

After deliberating less than 20 minutes, a Warren Circuit Court jury convicted Stowers on Wednesday afternoon on two counts of first-degree rape and recommended a 50-year-prison sentence for the crimes. A final sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Sept. 26. Stowers has been lodged in the Warren County Regional Jail since his initial arrest in 2009.

Stowers’ conviction marks the first time that placental DNA paternity testing has been used to successfully convict someone of rape in Kentucky, Kentucky State Police Detective Scott Skaggs said.

“I think it meant everything to the case,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron said after the two-day trial.

Stowers was arrested in 2009 after the girl he was convicted of raping was taken to The Medical Center for abdominal pain and bleeding. The girl, who did not know she was between eight and 10 weeks pregnant, was having a miscarriage.

When the girl told care providers at The Medical Center that she had been raped, emergency room nurse Rebecca Melloan’s quick thinking helped preserve the evidence used to convict Stowers, Skaggs and Cohron both said.

Melloan cried while testifying Tuesday about the night of Sept. 9, 2009, when she helped treat the girl. Typically when a patient miscarries, the products of conception are collected and placed in a preservative that would kill cells that could be used for forensic testing, she said in court testimony.

Instead, that night Melloan called Dr. James Beattie, a pathologist, who instructed her and other medical care providers on how to preserve the tissue for DNA testing. That tissue and DNA specimens obtained from the girl and Stowers were taken to the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab and then to Orchid Cellmark, a Dallas lab that conducted the placental DNA paternity test.

“She had the presence of mind at the very beginning of this to not do what they always do and that’s take the placental tissue and put it in a medium that would kill the cells and render DNA analysis more difficult, if not impossible,” Skaggs said after the verdict was read.

That step was a “huge help” to forensic scientists at Orchid Cellmark, said Rick Staub, forensics laboratory director at Orchid Cellmark.

Staub testified that the DNA analysis concluded Stowers’ DNA sample obtained by police was a 99.999 percent match to the paternal DNA extracted from the placental tissue. A 100 percent match is “impossible” to obtain, he said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen one stronger than this one with a fetal mixture,” Staub said during a telephone interview Thursday.

The state lab doesn’t have the technology to test for paternity on placental tissue samples, forensic biologist Steven Barrett said during court testimony.

“It’s not a common specimen that we get in our lab,” Staub said about placental tissue. “But we have gotten them before, and we have gotten results from them.”

Orchid Cellmark works on a regular basis with about 20 state crime labs, Staub said.

“When I got this report, it was one of the happiest days in my career,” Skaggs said while holding the paternity test results after the trial. “It not only proved (Stowers) a liar, it proved (the girl) to be telling the truth.”

Cohron agreed.

“We knew what it meant. These cases are so difficult for the children, and the DNA means everything. You can’t refute the irrefutable,” Cohron said.

The girl’s mother cried as the guilty verdict was read and said she felt that justice had been served. Stowers showed no emotion upon hearing the verdict.

David Williams Takes Steve Beshear To Task Over Public Prayer.

David Williams calls on Gov. Steve Beshear to defend public prayer
Written by ROGER ALFORD

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Questions in a rural southeastern Kentucky school district over whether ministers should be allowed to lead public prayers at athletic events spilled over into the governor’s race Friday after an email surfaced showing a state government bureaucrat was the one who advised against the practice.

In the email, Kentucky Department of Education attorney Amy Peabody advised the Bell County school district that she believes allowing Christian prayers at the beginning of football games is unconstitutional. She advised the district to “cease this activity immediately.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate David Williams criticized Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear for not getting involved. Williams, the state Senate president, is one of two candidates running against Beshear in the Nov. 8 election.

“I call on Gov. Beshear to denounce this attack on prayer at public functions and lead the efforts of state government to defend our citizens’ right to voluntarily pray anywhere they choose,” Williams said in a statement.

Beshear spokeswoman Kerri Richardson had no immediate comment.

Bell County schools Superintendent George Thompson said last week that the public prayers had been halted after receiving a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Local pastors had been invited to lead the prayers over loudspeakers in the stadium.

Thompson said previous court rulings made him believe the county would lose a legal battle if the matter went to court.

Williams, a darling of the state’s social conservatives for his stands against abortion and gambling, said in a statement that he considers it “a travesty” that Beshear has remained silent on the issue.

“Steve Beshear has a troubling history of failing to protect our precious freedom of religion,” Williams said. “As attorney general, he ruled that posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional. As governor, he decided to call the state’s Christmas tree a ‘holiday tree.’ And now his administration has advised the Bell County school system to end the tradition of praying before football games.”

Courier Journal Editorial Criticizes JCPS Student Assignment Court Hearing. So Why Am I Not Surprised? WINK.

JCPS student assignment hearing off point

The Kentucky Court of Appeals hearing Wednesday on the legality of the Jefferson County Public Schools student assignment plan was a deplorable display of inappropriate judicial conduct.

Presiding Judge Kelly Thompson urged the district to drop its voluntary diversity plan as a failed “social experiment” and said the county needs to return to neighborhood schools.

Say what? First of all, that’s an insultingly dismissive description of an intensive — and court-ordered — effort of more than 35 years to provide equal educational opportunity to all of the county’s children, a process that has left public education countywide incomparably stronger than it was in the mid-1970s.

But the bigger point here is: Who cares what Judge Thompson thinks? His role isn’t to decide whether Jefferson County is doing the right thing or the wrong thing, or whether busing for diversity has worked or not worked. That’s the responsibility of the elected Jefferson County Board of Education. Judge Thompson’s job, and that of the court, is to make the narrow judgment of whether the student assignment plan conforms to state law.

And then there was Judge Michael Caperton, who questioned the wisdom of sending students from areas noted for low academic achievement across the city to school. Just what is that supposed to mean? It’s hard to come up with any translation other than: Keep your struggling students in the low-income or minority areas where they belong.

That said, the legal issue before the court is a tough one. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2007 that struck down JCPS’ racially based assignment plan removed the federal mandate for busing. It is plausible to argue that as a consequence, a state statute that says parents can “enroll” their children at the nearest school now gives students an absolute right to attend that school.

Our hope, however, is that the courts will decide that the broader weight of state law and practices gives each Kentucky school board the power to determine what schools students attend.

No matter how the appellate court rules, and no matter whether its decision is appealed to the state Supreme Court, this important case deserves judges focused solely on the relevant legal issues.

Muammar Ghadafi Is Defiant. LMAO!

Bowling Green Woman Who Locked Up Child In Room To Play With His Urine And Feces Indicted.

Woman accused of locking up son indicted
Byrns allegedly kept 4-year-old in room littered with urine, feces
By DEBORAH HIGHLAND

The mother of a 4-year-old boy who police found naked and locked in a feces- and urine-filled room was indicted Wednesday on a charge of second-degree criminal abuse.

A Warren County grand jury indicted Sharese Marie Byrns

, 28, 455 Three Springs Road No. 10, Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron said.

“The court will issue either a warrant for her arrest or an order to appear by the end of the week,” Cohron said.

If Byrns is convicted, she could spend five years in prison.

When Bowling Green Police Department officers arrived at Byrns’ home Aug. 8, no one answered their knock. A bystander, who asked to remain anonymous, told police that he or she had knocked on the door for more than a hour with no answer.

Officers asked the child, who was seen through a window, to come to the door. He told them he couldn’t, according to city police records.

After several minutes, the boy’s mother came to the door and said she had been upstairs in her room resting. She told police her son was locked in his room taking a nap, according to BGPD records.

When Officer Marc Kaiser walked inside the home, food containers and dirty clothes were scattered throughout the living room.

Fly traps hung from the ceilings in every room.

“I noticed the pungent smell of urine and feces,” Kaiser wrote in his report.

When Kaiser opened the door to the boy’s room, he noted that the lock to the door was on the outside. In addition to that lock, he noticed a silver latch on the door frame, the kind commonly used for securing tool sheds.

Once inside the child’s room, Kaiser’s shoes squished as he walked across the saturated floor padding. Kaiser said the odor took his breath away.

The little boy didn’t have a bed, only a urine-soaked mattress in the middle of the floor, which was littered with food and feces.

Instead of a coloring book and crayons, the boy reportedly had been playing with his feces and drawing on the wall with his own excrement.

Kaiser called child protection services, which removed the boy from the home, according to police records.

Byrns does not have any felony convictions.

Greg Stumbo: Both Steve Beshear And David Williams Are Qualified To Be Governor, It's Too Early To Write Off The Latter.

Williams' wife calls PAC's attack ads 'disgusting'
By ROGER ALFORD

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- An independent group's attack ads that depict Republican gubernatorial nominee David Williams as a big-spending Frankfort politician and a gambler aren't sitting well with his wife, who called them "disgusting."

One ad, paid for by the Kentucky Family Values PAC, criticizes Williams for spending $17,000 to upgrade his Capitol Annex office, including the purchase of a 60-inch television. Another claims Williams rails against the evils of gambling by day but goes to casinos at night.

"There's a whole lot better way they could spend their money than to disparage somebody personally," Robyn Williams told reporters at a Kentucky Farm Bureau breakfast in Louisville on Thursday. "I think it's disgusting."

The remark came at a must-attend event for Kentucky political candidates, an annual get-together that raises money for state charities by auctioning a prize-winning ham, which was purchased this year by Republic Bank for $600,000.

David Williams, who is trying to unseat Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, has been taking a thrashing from the independent political group on Kentucky's airwaves over the past month.

The Williams campaign hasn't responded with spots of its own to refute the attacks.

"I really don't think they're saying anything to respond to," David Williams told reporters Thursday. "And I'm not going to be in the business of responding to every negative ad or mudslinging that comes up."

Polls show David Williams trailing Beshear by more than 20 percentage points with more than two months remaining before the Nov. 8 election.

The Williams campaign could get a boost Thursday evening with a fundraiser headlined by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, giving some hope to a candidate who has lost two campaign managers since the May primary.

"So, we feel very good about what's happening," David Williams said.

Both the Williams and Beshear campaigns have been closely guarding fundraising information. As of June, the last time the candidates filed campaign finance reports, Beshear had some $2.7 million in the bank, and Williams less than $100,000. But the Williams campaign has had major fundraisers since then, including one that generated more than $500,000.

"We have adequate resources to provide a vigorous campaign," David Williams said Thursday.

A third gubernatorial candidate, Lexington attorney Gatewood Galbraith, is running as an independent, but has raised relatively little campaign cash.

Beshear, who chose former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson as his running mate, said he "feels good" about his fundraising and polling.

"The numbers are all looking great right now," he told reporters. "Jerry Abramson and I are working like we're 10 points behind, and that's the way we'll run every day until Nov. 8.

Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Kentuckians are fortunate to have candidates of the caliber of Beshear and David Williams running for governor.

"Both of them are honest people, competent and qualified to serve," Stumbo told reporters. "I believe that Gov. Beshear has done a very good job of managing our state's resources over the past four years and deserves another term, but that isn't to say David Williams isn't qualified to be governor."

Stumbo also said it's too early to write David Williams off.

"There's a lot of this race to run," Stumbo said. "The campaigns are just now getting in full gear, and we'll just see what happens."

Beshear, speaking to some 1,600 people who attended the ham breakfast, boasted that he has balanced the state's budget nine times since he took office in December 2007.

Beshear also reminded the crowd, made up largely of farmers and political operatives, that he and his wife, Jane, have a small farm in Clark County where they raise horses. "As the saying goes, we've got manure under our nails," he said. "Jane mucks stalls out at the farm, and I do the same thing sometimes in Frankfort."

Other speakers addressed the current political climate.

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, criticized Obama administration policies that he said have hurt the national economy through overspending, over-borrowing and overregulating.

"I'll say this for the president; he didn't inherit a good situation," McConnell said. "No question about it. But I think after two and half years it's fair to say he made it worse."

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky's junior senator, said both Democrats and Republicans are to blame for the nation's fiscal problems.

"It's not always one party's fault," he said. "It's not that Democrats are inherently evil, or that Republicans are inherently evil. There's blame to go around. To find a solution, we have to get beyond the empty partisanship."

Gatewood Galbraith Questions Steve Beshear's "Business As Usual".

Hello,
Please find the latest press release from the Independent candidate for Governor, Gatewood Galbraith attached and below. This time, we're posing the question to Governor Beshear about his choices in allies and spending in his time in office; topics that will be brought up in the coming debates.

Please feel free to contact me with any further questions.
Thank you,
Nicole

--
Nicole Bartlett
Communications Director
Gatewood/Riley 2011
502.542.2204

PRESS RELEASE……………………For Immediate Release
To: Political/News Editors
From: Gatewood Galbraith/Dea Riley
Date: August 23, 2011
Re: Personal Service Contracts

Galbraith calls on the Governor to explain Business as Usual (August 23, 2011 – Frankfort, Kentucky) – Following yet another ethics complaint lodged against the campaign of Governor Steve Beshear and running mate Jerry Abramson, Independent gubernatorial candidate Gatewood Galbraith stated, “The Beshear administration is mired in corruption. Greed, exploitation, and mismanagement continue to be business as usual in Frankfort. From the Transportation Cabinet, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, his cronies in the payday loan business to Medicaid managed care, the Beshear administration has been dishing out hundreds of millions of Kentucky taxpayer dollars in Personal Service Contracts over the last four years. The Governor continues “business as usual. He shovels out Kentucky tax dollars to favored contract recipients at election time as to secure the expected contributions to his campaign.”

Pointing to the Transportation Cabinet in July 2010, the department awarded fifty-five blanket Personal Service Contracts (PSCs) for $10.6 million ($200,000 each) for right-of-way appraisers; forty-five more, at $200,000 each, went to attorneys for miscellaneous legal services accounting for another $9 million.1

From August 2006 through August 2010, various state government cabinets and departments funneled $89 million to the Kentucky Sciences and Technology Corporation in Lexington, which was incorporated by former University of Kentucky president Lee Todd in 1987. The corporation described itself as an entrepreneurial entity developing and applying science and technology to compete in the global economy.
“Folks, state government could have used that money to pay for unemployment benefits instead of borrowing money from the federal
government.2 That $89 million would have made a dent in the $900 million Kentucky has borrowed over the last several years to provide unemployment payments for those out of work. If the governor had cut out a few Personal Service Contracts, he would not have had to scrape to find $29 million to pay the interest on that loan”.3

In addition to the buckets of PSCs being distributed by the Beshear administration, lump sums were given without any requirement of performance. The University of Kentucky contributed $2.5 million to Cornett Integrated Strategic Marketing in June 2010 for student recruitment. There is still nothing claiming success of this business
contract.4

“It was not surprising that the governor wanted to hide the nest of vipers within the Department of Fish and Wildlife where administrators avoid accountability to the outdoor enthusiasts who pay their salaries. Among the problems, the current commissioner who owns a private Kentucky corporation, Kentucky Wildlife Resources, advertises the same services - for pay - as the agency he heads performs the same service at no charge; five of the agency’s top administrators are retirees who returned to double dip.5 It also appears that the governor successfully buried an Executive Ethics Commission complaint, filed in February 2010, against the Fish and Wildlife commissioner
himself.6 Mismanagement in the department is noted that despite $14 million in federal grant revenue and $28 million in licenses and fees paid by boating, fishing and hunting enthusiasts, The Department of Fish and Wildlife ended the 2009-2010 fiscal year with a deficit of
$3.4 million7.

“This governor has contributed to the corruption on his watch just as he has maintained his decades-long association with payday lenders, first as a lobbyist and later as a recipient of their money for his campaigns. These legal loan sharks have been ripping Kentuckians off for years. The payday lender’s loan application form lists the firm’s annual percentage rate as 460.07 percent.”8

“Medicaid recipients are among our most vulnerable citizens and much thought and consideration should go into selecting providers for their care. Passport Health Plan, which calls itself the fifteenth best Medicaid provider in the nation, along with three other companies, were awarded the contract on July 1 for Medicaid managed care for more than 800,000 Kentuckians. Three weeks later, the Attorney General ruled that the $26.4 million Passport, a non-profit organization, paid to their owners—Norton and Jewish hospitals, St. Mary’s Inc., and University Medical Center and University Physicians Associated—was
illegal.9 Passport accumulated a $90 million surplus in 2009, while providing managed care for a 16-county area around Louisville.
WellCare, another company sharing the contract has five former executives indicted this year for Medicaid fraud.10 This is a crisis.”

It’s not only time for the administration to rescind these contracts; it is time for Kentuckians to extend the current ethics complaint to a more critical review of the administration in whole.

For more information contact:

Gatewood Galbraith
Office: (859) 259-1522
Cell: (859) 433-7484





1 Personal Service Contract List, Over $10,000.00, July 2010. That
$19.6 million in PSCs covered two years, 2010-2012.
2 Personal Service Contracts awarded Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation, from August 2006 through August 2010, from the Council on Postsecondary Education, Office of the Secretary for Economic Development and Department of Financial Incentives.
3 Glasgow Daily Times, 29 July 2011.
4 Personal Service Contract List, June 2010.
5 Southern Wildlife Resources’ website, southern-wildlife.com.
Secretary of State’s Office, Southern Wildlife Resources incorporation documents. Confidential informants.
6 The Herald-Dispatch, 16 February 2010.
7 Report of Statewide Single Audit of Commonwealth of Kentucky for year ending June 2010, 9-23.
8 Customer Agreement, February 25, 2011, Check Into Cash of Kentucky, LLC, store no. 03034.
9 Lexington Herald-Leader, 21 July 2011.
10 Courier-Journal, 20 June 2011, 9 November 2010. WHAS.com, 12 November 2010. Glasgow Daily Times, 8 July 2011. Lane Report, 7 July 2011.