And Still More After SOTU Address.

Day After POTUS Barack Obama Delivered SOTU Address.

Barack Obama Delivers "State Of The Union (SOTU)" Address. LOL.

Watch POTUS Barack Obama Giving His SOTU Address.

Justin Bieber!

Words To Live By, Words Of Wisdom, And Words To Ponder.

f any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering: for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 

-- The Bible, James 1:5, NKJ version



For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

-- The Bible, John 3:20, NKJ version

How Joel Pett Saw Steve Beshear's State Of Kentucky Budget Proposals Address.

Barack Obama On #Syria.

News: Syria Embarks On Peace Talks.

GOP: ... But What About Benghazi?!

Finally, Belated Justice For 14 Year Old George Stinney, While The Wicked, who thought They Found Him Guilty, Shall Burn In Hell Fire?!

Ten To One Odds In Kentucky. LOL.

POTUS Barack Obama Loves Poor People! LOL!!

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Let Us Not Forget His Dream.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.

Words To Live By, Words Of Wisdom, And Words To Ponder.

And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

-- 1 John 4:21, The Bible, King James version

NSA Is Working Real Hard To Protect You!

Barack Obama Makes Promises On NSA Reforms, But Did He Really Say Anything?!

Chris Christie Revisited!

How The NSA Used Special Devices, Radio Waves To Spy On Offline Computers. Watch Video.

Today, We Remember Bob Gates' New Tell All Book! LOL.

"Untouchable" Richie Farmer, Kentucky's Ex Agriculture Commissioner, Sentenced To 27 Months In Federal Prison, Fined $120,000.

Ex-ag chief Richie Farmer sentenced to prison

FRANKFORT — Former University of Kentucky basketball star Richie Farmer was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in prison for misusing state resources during his tenure as Kentucky's agriculture commissioner.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove ordered Farmer to pay $120,500 in restitution, with $105,500 going to the state and $15,000 going to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

Farmer, 44, a guard for the 1991-92 UK team dubbed "The Unforgettables" for their gutsy play, had pleaded guilty in September to two counts of misappropriating government resources while overseeing the Agriculture Department. Farmer, a Republican, was agriculture commissioner from 2004 to 2011.

"Certainly, I made some mistakes and I made some poor judgments, and for that I'm truly sorry," Farmer said in a brief statement in court. "I just want to say publicly I am sorry for all those things. ... I am truly, truly sorry for what I've done."

Farmer also is scheduled to be sentenced Friday before Franklin Circuit Court Phillip Shepherd to a one-year concurrent sentence. He pleaded guilty in a separate case to one count of violating state finance law, relating to 2008 campaign expenditures.

In April 2013, Farmer was charged by a federal grand jury with four counts of misappropriating money and property and one count of soliciting property in exchange for a state grant. Each charge carried a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He initially pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Prosecutors alleged that Farmer had created political jobs for close friends who performed little or no work. Those employees allegedly ran personal errands for Farmer, including building a basketball court at his home in Frankfort and chauffeuring his dog, while being paid by the state.

The indictment alleged that Farmer took a variety of state property, including electronic equipment, guns, knives, refrigerators and filing cabinets. Farmer's extended family stayed in hotel rooms that were paid for by the state during the Kentucky State Fair in 2009 and 2010, the indictment alleged.

Farmer also faced a 42-count charge brought by the Executive Branch Ethics Commission. Those charges included misuse of state employees, misuse of state resources, improper use of grants and improper use of Kentucky Proud marketing funds.

Much of the information in the indictment and in the ethics charges stemmed from state Auditor Adam Edelen's review of the agriculture department after Farmer left office in 2012. The audit found that a "toxic culture of entitlement" permeated the department under Farmer.

Van Tatenhove said he would recommend that Farmer serve his sentence at a federal camp at Manchester in Clay County, Farmer's home county. The decision of where he serves the sentence will be made by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Farmer will be free until March 18, when he must report to prison.

Defense attorney J. Guthrie True had argued that a 21-month sentence would be sufficient, but Van Tatenhove chose to go with the greater sentence sought by prosecutors.

"Breach of the public trust is a really serious crime," Van Tatenhove said. "Part of my job is to hold you accountable for that."

The judge took note of Farmer's basketball triumphs and said: "Nothing I'm saying today should take away from those accomplishments."

Van Tatenhove then added his two cents' worth on whether Farmer's retired jersey should still hang from the Rupp Arena rafters. Some people have questioned whether a uniform honoring a soon-to-be federal prison inmate should still hang there.

Van Tatenhove left no doubt about his opinion, saying it "should remain hanging from now until eternity."

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said reaction in Clay County about Farmer is "one of quite mixed emotions."

"We're very sad that this occurred, but we hope that this is a chapter in his life that he can get behind him and move forward.

"He has three small children, parents and relatives who have all been affected by this. We hope this brings to a conclusion this matter."

Few athletes in the state's history were as beloved as Farmer. He became a folk hero in Clay County in the 1980s, leading the school in the Eastern Kentucky mountains to three state title games and the 1987 Sweet Sixteen championship.

By the time Farmer ended his high school career with 51 points in the 1988 state finals, his popularity was so great that then-Kentucky coach Eddie Sutton offered him a Wildcats scholarship.

Farmer and his fellow UK classmates Deron Feldhaus, John Pelphrey and Sean Woods stuck with Kentucky through the Sutton-era NCAA probation. The quartet helped Rick Pitino rebuild Kentucky basketball. In 1998, Farmer was inducted into the Dawahares/Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. The Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in Louisville — the statewide sports hall — inducted Farmer in 2002.

In 2011, his last year as agriculture commissioner, Farmer ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor on a ticket with former state Senate President David Williams of Burkesville. They lost to incumbent Gov. Steve Beshear and his running mate, Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Taylor said "no one takes pleasure in seeing one of Kentucky's favorite sons take a fall like this."

Nevertheless, Taylor said Farmer's sentence should send a message to others who would abuse the public trust, who want to know "where the edge of the road is."

"A message has to be sent," Taylor said.

True, Farmer's defense attorney, said that for someone like Farmer, who climbed higher in life, "the risk is the higher fall when you make a mistake."

"I am one bad decision from being in that same spot," True said.

True then argued that a 21-month sentence would send the same message and would be the same deterrent to others as a 27-month sentence.

"I would submit that 21 months is sufficient," True said.

But Judge Van Tatenhove, citing French historian Alexis de Tocqueville, said, "Liberty cannot endure without morality." (The judge took liberties with the quote; what de Tocqueville actually said is "Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.")

In any case, the judge said the punishment must be about "upholding the public trust," and chose the greater sentence for Farmer.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/01/14/3033479/farmer-sentenced-to-more-than.html#storylink=cpy

Joel Pett Continues To Be LOL Funny!

The Rights Of The People In A Banana Republic, Like #Nigeria!

the one thing that distinguishes a banana republic, like #nigeria, from any other, is the right of the people to bear arms.

people in a banana republic have no such universal god given rights, as their government denies it to them, lest the people overthrow them!!

A-Rod Suspended For Doping!

Conservative Group, Madison Project, Aims To Help Matt Bevin Unseat Mitch McConnell In Kentucky's U. S. Senate Race.

Conservative group to open 5 offices in Kentucky to help Bevin beat McConnell

In another sign that the 2014 U.S. Senate race has kicked into a higher gear, a conservative group allied with Louisville businessman Matt Bevin is opening five field offices as part of the effort to defeat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The Madison Project, a player in Sen. Ted Cruz's upset win in 2012, is planning to open Get-Out-The-Vote, or GOTV, offices in Louisville, Florence, Owensboro, Glasgow and Bowling Green, the Herald-Leader has learned.

The offices will have paid staff and trained volunteers, said Drew Ryun, the group's political director and former deputy director of the Republican National Committee.

In an interview during the weekend, Ryun said he and his team had studied turnout results in recent Kentucky elections, especially those in Sen. Rand Paul's 2012 primary win over then-Secretary of State Trey Grayson, whom McCon nell backed. The cities picked for offices, Ryun said, represent traditionally strong areas for McConnell, so they're "going where Mitch McConnell thinks his strength is and kicking the legs out from underneath him.

"If you want to win statewide, you've got to win the right counties," Ryun said. "And if you're going to win the right counties, you've got to win the right precincts."

The offices are opening in coordination with several of Kentucky's different Tea Party organizations, and Ryun said he had been visiting the state since September to train staff and volunteers on the "nuts and bolts" of GOTV plans.

Ryun emphasized the importance of a ground game while noting that conservative groups such as the Senate Conservatives Fund and Club for Growth were in better financial positions to handle costly television advertising.

McConnell and his allies probably will have an overwhelming financial advantage over Bevin and the groups backing him.

"As with all campaigns you can never have enough money, but I do think the ground game can be a great equalizer," Ryun said.

After a string of Republican Senate losses in recent years — losses that McConnell and others in the GOP think have cost the party control of the Senate — Kentucky's senior senator has declared war on groups like the Madison Project.

In an effort to make the May 20 primary the final battle in a lengthy war between establishment Republicans and outside groups, he has been painting Bevin as a proxy for Tea Party fundraising groups.

On Sunday, Allison Moore, McConnell's spokeswoman, said the Madison Project had a failing plan to reach out to conservatives if their strategy was to attack McConnell or Paul, noting that Ryun said in a tweet last week that Paul was a "tool."

"Their genius strategy is to smear Mitch McConnell, call Rand Paul a 'tool,' and then ask Kentucky Republicans to abandon their own and support Matt Bevin," she said. "They've got a better chance of signing up Barack Obama than any Kentucky conservatives to help their cause."

If McConnell sees the stakes of his race as critical to the future of the Republican Party, the feeling is mutual, Ryun said.

He repeatedly declared that the "stakes are high" in the 2014 race. He envisions offices that will stay open after the election to build a permanent infrastructure for Tea Party groups as the Republican Party continues to wrestle with a havoc-wreaking identity crisis.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/01/12/3030852/conservative-group-to-open-5-offices.html#storylink=cpy

U. S. Issues Travel Warning To Banana Republic Of #Nigeria! Ignore It At Your Peril!!

US: Nigerian Islamic Uprising Could Spread

An alarming U.S. travel advisory warns Nigeria's Islamic uprising could expand out of the north and counsels against travel to 16 of the West African nation's 36 states, saying Americans have suffered violent crimes from kidnappings and rape to home invasions.

The advisory says nine foreign nationals including Americans died last year in kidnappings in southwest Nigeria, three of them killed by their captors during military-led rescue raids.

The advisory posted at the U.S. State Department website and dated Jan. 8 tells citizens to expect little help from law enforcers known for harassing and shaking down foreigners and Nigerians at checkpoints.

It says U.S. missionaries in northern Nigeria have received "night letters" — covertly distributed specific written threats to their safety.

Pointing to possible targets of extremists, it says U.S. citizens should be particularly vigilant around government security facilities; churches, mosques, and other places of worship; locations where large crowds gather such as hotels, clubs, beer parlors, restaurants, markets and shopping malls; and all other areas frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers.

Thousands of people have been killed in a 4-year-old uprising by the Boko Haram terrorist network based in northeast Nigeria, many more Muslims than Christians, which continues despite an 8-month-long state of emergency that deployed thousands of troops to three states covering one-sixth of the country.

"Late 2013 saw an increase in Boko Haram attacks and clashes with Nigerian government security forces in northern Nigeria," the travel advisory says. "Boko Haram is known to descend on whole towns, robbing banks and businesses, attacking police and military installations, and setting fire to private homes."

It warns "U.S. citizens should be aware that extremists could expand their operations beyond northern Nigeria to other areas of the country." Boko Haram already operates in neighboring Chad, from which it kidnapped a French priest who was released earlier this month, and militants from Chad, Niger and Cameroon have been reported fighting alongside Boko Haram in Nigeria, raising fears the rebellion could also spread beyond Nigeria's borders.

The United States advises against all but essential travel to all 13 northern and central-northern Nigerian states as well as central Plateau state, for years the site of deadly ethnic-religious clashes, and the oil-rich southwestern states of Delta and Bayelsa, on the Gulf of Guinea where piracy is on the rise and militancy by activists demanding a bigger share of oil riches from a government embroiled in numerous corruption scandals.

Kidnappings of foreigners and attacks against Nigerian police forces in the Niger Delta region and in Lagos State, home to the commercial capital Lagos city, continue to be a danger, it says. "Criminals or militants have abducted foreign nationals, including U.S. citizens, from offshore and land-based oil facilities, residential compounds, and public roadways."

It adds that international companies and local authorities assert that the number of kidnapping incidents throughout Nigeria is underreported.

And home invasions "remain a serious threat," with armed robbers getting into even heavily guarded compounds.

"Violent crimes occur throughout the country," the advisory says. "U.S. citizen visitors and residents have experienced armed muggings, assaults, burglaries, armed robberies, carjackings, rapes, kidnappings, and extortion."

For more, go to: http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings.html

Words To Live By, Words Of Wisdom, And Words To Ponder.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 -- Ephesians 6:12, The Bible, King James Version

Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions

-- Prov.18:2, The Bible, King James Version

Joel Pett Is Still Funny, And Still Picking On The GOP!

Joel Pett Takes On Global Warming Deniers.

Chris Christie!

Tom Jurich And Bobby Petrino Reassure Each Other! I'm Sold!!

Breaking News:Jeff Brohm selected as #wku football coach.

Joel Pett Has New Ideas For A New Rupp Arena. LOL.

We Applaud Tom Jurich For Hiring Bobby Petrino To Be The Head Football Coach For Louisville Cardinals. Let's Play Ball, Coach.

Read more here and here.

Utah Wins Reprieve From SCOTUS, And This Cartoon Is LOL Funny!

How 2013 Went For Barack Obama.

Global Warming/Cooling!

A Governor From Louisville?

A governor from Louisville?
It will be interesting to see if any candidate can break the big city curse next year
By John David Dyche

Some members of Kentucky’s media, including this one, occasionally say that the state has never had a governor from Louisville. When they do, Al Cross, the walking, talking encyclopedia of Kentucky politics who now directs the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky and writes a column for The Courier-Journal, is quick to set the record straight.
Lawrence W. Wetherby, who claimed Middletown as his hometown, is the only governor who was born in Jefferson County. Wetherby, a Democrat, became governor by succession in 1950 when Earle Clements went to the U.S. Senate and then won election in his own right the following year, but that was decades before the Louisville and Jefferson County merged.

But Cross rightly reminds errant commentators about Augustus E. Willson. He was not born or raised in Louisville, which may account for some of the confusion, but Willson lived and practiced law in the state’s largest city when he won the governorship in 1907.
Willson was born in Maysville, moved to Covington and then to New Albany, Indiana. Orphaned at age 12, he lived with relatives first in New York and then in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
After attending Harvard Law School he returned to New Albany where he lived with an Indiana congressman before joining the Louisville law firm of fellow Republican and future U.S. Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan. He left Louisville to be an assistant to another eminent Kentuckian, U.S. Treasury Secretary Benjamin Bristow, but soon returned.
Willson lost a lot of races for elective office before finally securing the GOP gubernatorial nomination. With strong urban support, he won a campaign in which the Black Patch Tobacco Wars and prohibition were big issues, and the Democrats divided.
Despite conflict between Willson and the Democratic legislature several progressive reforms became law during his administration. But there was plenty of controversy, too, especially as to his aggressive actions in the tobacco conflict and his pardons of Republicans implicated in the 1900 assassination of Democratic Governor William Goebel.

After his term Willson returned to Louisville, lost a U.S. Senate bid to another former governor, J.C.W. Beckham, and died in 1931 at age 84. He is buried in Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery.
Since Willson several from Louisville have sought the governorship without success. Former Louisville mayor Wilson Wyatt wanted it badly in 1959, but settled for the second spot on a Democratic ticket with Eastern Kentuckian Bert T. Combs.

More recently, Bruce Lunsford made losing primary bid in 2007. Another former mayor, Harvey Sloane, met the same fate in 1979 and 1983, as did former Jefferson County Judge-Executive Todd Hollenbach in 1975. Another Jefferson County judge, Marlow Cook, lost the 1967 Republican primary.

Next year’s race could feature a contender from merged Louisville in each party. Attorney General Jack Conway, a Democrat, and former Louisville Metro councilman Hal Heiner, a Republican, are both acting like candidates.

Can either of them break the curse that has afflicted the gubernatorial aspirations of the biggest city’s candidates for a century (Wetherby, perhaps, excepted)? It will not be easy, but both men have reasons for hope.

Conway has won twice statewide already. But he has also lost statewide, and rather badly, in his 2010 U.S. Senate bid against Republican Rand Paul.

Heiner has virtually no statewide name recognition. But he is working hard to remedy that and has the financial resources to get his name known once he tabs a running mate and really gets started. An even bigger obstacle for both will be the formidable primary foes from “out in the state” that they are likely to confront. Conway could face two popular Democrats from the Bluegrass region, former auditor Crit Luallen and current auditor Adam Edelen, while Heiner will likely go against popular Agriculture Commissioner James Comer from South Central Kentucky.

There could be others, too, of course. Luallen, Edelen and Comer are all proven statewide winners without the albatross of Louisville around their necks.
Louisville may be the state’s most powerful economic engine, and it pays considerably more into Frankfort than it gets back. Unfortunately, fear, loathing and misunderstanding of it persist to varying degrees throughout the rest of the commonwealth.

Kentucky’s state seal shows a frontiersman shaking hands with a formally clad fellow and represents the unity of rural and urban interests. In some respects, however, the emblem remains more aspiration than reality.

God, America And Europe, And Record Cold/Snow!

it is true that God never gives us more than we can bear. a case in point? this bistering cold/snow in #america and #europe.

had this weather onslaught happened in #africa, particularly in the banana republic of #nigeria, countless millions of people would have frozen to their deaths, due to the fact that any money to build shelters and the like, would have been stolen by kleptomaniacs that are legion there, and the people left to shoo-shoo the cold away.

kinda like spitting on a home invasion robber and hoping you scared him into leaving you alone!!

What Awaits Kentucky Lawmakers As They Return This Week For Another Legislative Session.

 Legislative Preview: A guide to the top issues facing Kentucky lawmakers

KEY LAWMAKERS

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg: The boss of the House, Stumbo has sat in the chamber since 1980 except for a four-year stint as the attorney general who got Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher indicted.

House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook: Stumbo's man on the House floor and fellow Eastern Kentuckian, Adkins helps control the flow of legislation.

House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown: Hoover wants to flip the House to Republican control in November. The GOP now holds 46 of 100 seats.

House budget chairman Rick Rand, D-Bedford: The House gets first crack at rewriting Gov. Steve Beshear's proposed two-year state budget, with Rand's committee in charge.

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester: Stivers won credit for making the Senate run more smoothly last year when he replaced the often combative David Williams as president.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown: Stivers' No. 2 is mentioned as a potential candidate for lieutenant governor in 2015.

Senate Minority Leader R.J. Palmer, D-Winchester: Democrats hold only 14 of the Senate's 38 seats, so Palmer's caucus has little influence.

Senate budget chairman Bob Leeper, I-Paducah: Leeper, the legislature's only independent, is stepping down at the end of 2014 after helping to craft his last state budget.

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky General Assembly begins its 2014 session on Tuesday, facing the usual trouble: Not enough money is coming in to pay for the services Kentuckians want, and there's no political appetite to raise taxes, especially not in an election year.

Since taking office in 2007, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has ordered $1.6 billion in spending cuts across state government. Debt repayment, Medicaid and prisons have gobbled bigger wads of what money remains. The losers include K-12 schools, public universities and social services.

Meanwhile, the state employees' pension fund is 23 percent funded, needing $8.7 billion to cover future liabilities. That's one of the reasons Moody's Investors Service in New York warned bond buyers last May that Kentucky's credit outlook is "negative."

"The commonwealth's sizable budget deficits over the past few years led to a depletion of reserve balances and borrowing for budget relief," Moody's said.

Civic leaders say there must be dramatic changes this winter.

"After five years of school budget cuts and other services to kids being reduced, this whole notion of 'doing more with less' that we've been preaching throughout the state, I think that's run its course," said Roger Marcum, chairman of the Kentucky Board of Education. "People accepted it for a time because they knew the national economy was going through a rough stretch. But now we're supposed to be in recovery."

Without more funding, Education Commissioner Terry Holliday has warned, 1,000 to 2,000 teachers and other public school employees could lose their jobs later this year.

"I'm very concerned about what's going to happen to our schools in spring semester if funding is not restored," Marcum said.

Don't expect relief from the two-year budget written this legislative session, lawmakers say. The General Fund is expected to gain only 2.6 percent annually, taking it to $9.7 billion in fiscal year 2015, which begins July 1, and $10 billion in 2016. That extra $500 million is spoken for, and then some.

"The minimal amount of growth that we're going to experience is already spent in terms of pension commitments, health care costs for our state employees and new Medicaid enrollment costs," said House budget committee chairman Rick Rand, D-Benton. "If we want any more money for things like schools or state worker pay raises, we're either going to have to raise taxes or cut something else further."

CASINO GAMBLING

There's a third option, though it wouldn't take effect soon enough to help this year.

The General Assembly could give the state's horse racetracks what they've long clamored for — casinos full of slot machines and table games, with licenses purchased from the state and a portion of annual revenue going to the General Fund through taxes.

Beshear supports casinos, and most states now allow them in some form, including Kentucky's neighbors other than Tennessee and Virginia. But past efforts in Kentucky have failed because of horse industry infighting and reluctance by conservative lawmakers who worry about the impact of expanded gambling on families. If casinos make billions of dollars, critics say, that means Kentuckians are losing billions of dollars.

Longtime casino backer Rep. Larry Clark, D-Louisville, pre-filed a bill that would put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to let voters decide whether to permit casinos.

Another Louisville lawmaker, Republican Sen. Dan Seum, has his own proposed amendment to allow seven casinos across Kentucky, with 10 percent of the revenue guaranteed "to promote equine interests" and the state's share dedicated to "job creation, education, human services, health care, veterans' bonuses, local governments and public safety."

Kentucky Wins, the newest pro-casino lobbying group, predicts that casinos would generate $464 million in first-year gambling taxes for the state. That projection comes from a 2011 study for the racing industry that made certain assumptions, such as eight successful casinos paying 40.65 percent of their net gambling revenue as taxes.

To rally support, Kentucky Wins is enlisting politically powerful allies like Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, bankers and entrepreneurs, the Kentucky School Boards Association and the Kentucky Association of Counties. This isn't just about the horse industry anymore, said Kentucky Wins co-chairman C. Edward Glasscock, a Louisville lawyer and horse racing enthusiast.

"We're in desperate need of new revenue in this state," Glasscock said. "I think the timing for this is good. I don't think it could be any better."

FELON VOTING

Like casino gambling, felon voting is another perennial loser in Frankfort that might have a better shot this time.

Most states restore voting rights to felons once they complete their sentences. Not Kentucky. Unless the governor issues a partial pardon, a felon in Kentucky is permanently disenfranchised from voting or holding office. The ACLU of Kentucky, which lobbies for felon voting rights, estimates that more than 180,000 Kentuckians are now barred from the polls, including one in four black adults.

Every winter, Rep. Jesse Crenshaw, D-Lexington, files a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the restoration of voting rights to felons convicted of nonviolent and nonsexual crimes. Every winter, it dies in the Republican-led Senate.

Now, however, felon voting has a new champion: Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who is influential among Kentucky conservatives, including those in the state Senate. Speaking to largely black audiences, Paul criticizes the War on Drugs for locking up a disproportionate number of black youths and taking away their constitutional rights.

"I think particularly for nonviolent drug crimes, where people made a youthful mistake, I think they ought to get their rights back," Paul said in a Louisville speech last September.

Crenshaw declined to discuss Paul's position but said, "I hope the members of the Senate see fit to pass it and let the voters decide."

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

In 2013, female legislative staffers filed an ethics complaint accusing Rep. John Arnold Jr., D-Sturgis, of sexual harassment. Arnold resigned while protesting his innocence. He is scheduled to face the Legislative Ethics Commission in February to determine whether he broke the law. A lawsuit against him also is pending.

That case mushroomed into a larger controversy about lawmakers' behavior at the Capitol. First came a retaliation suit against Rep. Will Coursey, D-Symsonia, by an aide who said Coursey inappropriately pursued an intern, which he denies.

Then Robert Sherman resigned as director of the Legislative Research Commission amid criticism that he failed to act on hostile workplace complaints.

Finally, Kentucky State Police opened an investigation into documents that Sherman shredded at the Capitol during an after-hours visit following his resignation.

The fallout from the investigations could make House Democratic leaders squirm. They worry that a scandal might cost them control of the chamber in the November elections. They already lost Arnold's seat to a Republican in a Dec. 10 special election. If the GOP claims just five more, it will run the 100-seat House for the first time in nearly a century.

Over Democrats' protests, the legislature agreed to pay $42,410 to the National Conference of State Legislatures to audit the LRC's operations and find Sherman's replacement. Also, two lawmakers have pre-filed a bill requiring members of the General Assembly to undergo sexual harassment awareness training.

"I'm disappointed and embarrassed," said Rep. Robert Benvenuti, R-Lexington.

Benvenuti was a member of a special House committee that was supposed to investigate Arnold's conduct but was instead forced by its Democratic majority to disband without taking any action.

"There are children reading about this and hearing about it on television and the radio. We go to Frankfort after we tell people we're going to serve them and look out for their interests, and I think they're entitled to expect better from us," Benvenuti said.

HEROIN OVERDOSES

The General Assembly passed laws in recent years to limit access to two major sources of drug abuse: prescription painkillers and methamphetamines.

Addicts started turning elsewhere for their fixes — to heroin, a popular street drug of the 1970s. Heroin-related overdose deaths in Kentucky jumped from 22 in 2011 to 143 in 2012, and they were on track to reach 174 by the end of 2013, according to the state Office of Drug Control Policy. Until 2010, Kentucky saw an average of five heroin-related fatalities per year.

Lawmakers softened penalties for some drug crimes in favor of addiction treatment when the General Assembly enacted a 2011 reform package to reduce prison crowding. Because of the rise in heroin overdoses, the 2014 session will see a small push in the other direction, to stiffen penalties for that drug and other opiates.

Sen. Katie Stine, R-Southgate, said she will sponsor a bill that would help state prosecutors pursue criminal homicide charges against heroin traffickers whose customers die from an overdose. It also would help drug addicts get better access to treatment and hit traffickers with longer mandatory prison sentences.

Last year, a previous version of Stine's heroin bill died in the House as criminal defense lawyers lobbied against it. But her reworked bill has bipartisan support from House Judiciary Chairman John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, and Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway.

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Without legislative action, 83 percent of Kentucky's 119 public library systems could lose much of their revenue due to lawsuits successfully challenging their right to increase tax rates.

The suits affect library boards established under Chapter 173 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes, which requires voters to approve any change in tax rates. For years, as advised by the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives, the library boards followed a separate law, House Bill 44, passed in 1979, that allows taxing districts to raise tax rates up to 4 percent annually without voter approval.

In 2012, Northern Kentucky taxpayers noticed the difference between the two laws. They separately sued the Campbell and Kenton county library boards. The suits allege that HB 44 is irrelevant for the libraries, so tax increases enacted since 1979 have been illegal because voters were not asked to approve them. The suits demand a reduction in local library tax rates to their much lower 1978 levels.

Circuit judges sided with the taxpayers last spring. The cases are before the Kentucky Court of Appeals for review. Other challenges are being prepared against libraries around the state. (The Lexington Public Library is exempt from this challenge because it's not a taxing agency. It gets a fixed share of local property taxes raised by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.)

As one example of what might follow, Campbell County's library is looking at a potential 56 percent cut to its $4.6 million budget, library director JC Morgan told the Cincinnati Enquirer in November.

"We would retain some level of services, but the impact would be tremendous," Morgan told the newspaper. "Branches would close, our staff would be cut in half and some key services, such as children's outreach, would have to be cut."

Briefing lawmakers ahead of the 2014 session, legislative aides said the General Assembly could wade into the fight and clarify the taxing authority of library boards. It could make library boards an elected position from this point forward and require future tax increases to be subject to voter approval. Or it could do nothing and defer to the courts.

SALES TAX

Speaking of taxes, some Kentucky cities and counties want the power to levy a local option sales tax on top of the state's 6 percent sales tax.

Unlike most states, Kentucky doesn't let local governments levy sales taxes. To change that, three Democratic senators from the Louisville area sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment in 2013 that, if passed, would have allowed local governments to add a 1 percent sales tax to fund specific projects if local voters approved. When the projects were finished, the local tax would expire.

The bill died without a committee hearing. Lawmakers said they worried that communities could raise taxes so high that they become unattractive places to live and do business.

But Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, the Kentucky League of Cities and the Kentucky Association of Counties, among others, continue to lobby for a local option sales tax, so the debate is expected to resurface this year. (Last fall, Gray said he would not use such funding on the redesign of Rupp Arena and the Lexington Convention Center, but other urban projects might be a good match.)

EMINENT DOMAIN

In May 2013, Williams Co. and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners proposed building a natural gas liquids pipeline through 13 Kentucky counties. The underground line would carry natural gas liquids from the northeastern United States to an existing connection in Kentucky that runs to the Gulf of Mexico.

People who live along the announced route, including many in Central Kentucky, are concerned about the risk of explosions or leaks that could pollute their underground water supply.

They're also upset that the companies behind the pipeline claim the right of eminent domain, the power of a sovereign state to condemn and seize private land for public use in exchange for fair compensation.

In legal opinions, the attorney general and lawyers for the state Energy and Environment Cabinet rejected the companies' claim that they can use eminent domain to acquire land for the pipeline.

But there is pressure on lawmakers by pipeline opponents to rewrite Kentucky's eminent domain law so that no private company could use it, at least not without some state oversight. Several lawmakers have pre-filed just such a bill.

Pipeline opponents also are urging the General Assembly to create oversight for natural gas liquids, either through the Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, or a through board established by the legislature in 2002 to review proposals for unregulated power plants and transmission lines.

Neither the state nor federal governments has much regulatory authority over natural gas liquid pipelines, which are becoming more common as natural gas drilling increases nationally. Because the pipelines are not a public utility and they don't carry oil or natural gas — just the byproducts of gas, to be sold elsewhere — they mostly slip between the government bureaucracies meant to protect public safety and monitor potentially explosive infrastructure.

Key lawmakers

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg: The boss of the House, Stumbo has sat in the chamber since 1980 except for a four-year stint as the attorney general who got Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher indicted.

House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook: Stumbo's man on the House floor and fellow Eastern Kentuckian, Adkins helps control the flow of legislation.

House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown: Hoover wants to flip the House to Republican control in November. The GOP now holds 46 of 100 seats.

House budget chairman Rick Rand, D-Bedford: The House gets first crack at rewriting Gov. Steve Beshear's proposed two-year state budget, with Rand's committee in charge.

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester: Stivers won credit for making the Senate run more smoothly last year when he replaced the often combative David Williams as president.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown: Stivers' No. 2 is mentioned as a potential candidate for lieutenant governor in 2015.

Senate Minority Leader R.J. Palmer, D-Winchester: Democrats hold only 14 of the Senate's 38 seats, so Palmer's caucus has little influence.

Senate budget chairman Bob Leeper, I-Paducah: Leeper, the legislature's only independent, is stepping down at the end of 2014 after helping to craft his last state budget.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/01/04/3018241/legislative-preview-a-guide-to.html#storylink=cpy

Words To Live By, Words Of Wisdom, And Words To Ponder.

Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

-- Isaiah 29:13, King James Bible

Kentucky Begins New Legislative Session, Budget Looms.

Louisville Cardinals' AD Tom Jurich Talks About Charlie Strong Taking Texas Longhorns' Head Coaching Job. Watch.

MSNBC's Melissa Harris Perry Apologizes Foe Dissing Mitt Romney And His Adopted Black Child. Can You Say: Unbridled Hypocrite?! Watch Video.

Watch the teary apology: : update (1/5/14): Mitt Romney accepts apology, but i want to hear from his wife, Anne. Nothing else will suffice for me:

I Am Saddened To Report That Warren County Family Court Judge, Margaret Huddleston, Has Lost Her Battle With Breast Cancer. RIP.

Family Court Judge Margaret Huddleston loses battle with cancer

Longtime Warren Circuit Court Family Judge Margaret Huddleston, whose pioneering work on the bench included creating several initiatives to improve the living situations of at-risk children, died Friday after a battle with cancer.

Huddleston, 64, began her service as a family court judge in 1998, when she was appointed by then-Gov. Paul Patton. She became one of the earliest judges in the state to implement the family court program and the first female circuit judge in Warren County.

"Margaret has been recognized around Kentucky and around the country for her contributions to the development of the family court model," said Kentucky Chief Justice John Minton, of Bowling Green. "We're indebted to her for her leadership over the years ... . She was one of the people across the state that I would go to to provide guidance for how we should develop rules of practice."

Huddleston was among those who worked with Minton to develop uniform rules for Kentucky's family courts.
"Margaret was a substantial contributor to that, and the people of Warren County have lost a tremendous public servant," Minton said.
For more on this story, visit www.bgdailynews.com

Barack Obama's Administration Is Transparent. Wink.

We Mourn The Passing Of Phil, The Younger Of the Velvety Voiced Kentucky Born Everly Brothers."Bye, Bye, Love. Hello, Emptiness"! RIP.

Feds Aim To Make Richie Farmer A Poor Man, Seek 27 Months Prison Sentence Plus Fines

Feds want 27 months in prison for Farmer

LOUISVILLE, KY. — Former Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer abused the trust and goodwill he earned as a basketball star at the University of Kentucky and should spend 27 months in federal prison along with having to pay $120,500 in restitution to the state and the agency he led for eight years, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Taylor wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Farmer's star treatment and public adoration of him engendered "what appears to have been a profound sense of entitlement."

"The defendant's athletic success provided the platform from which he could obtain the very office he abused," Taylor wrote. "Seen from that perspective, the goodwill was squandered and the public betrayed."

Farmer pleaded guilty in September to two counts of misappropriating government resources while overseeing the Agriculture Department. Before becoming the two-term commissioner, Farmer was a sweet-shooting guard for the 1991-92 University of Kentucky basketball team dubbed "The Unforgettables" for their gutsy play.

Prosecutors moved to dismiss two charges against Farmer in exchange for his guilty plea. U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove is scheduled to sentence Farmer on Jan. 14 in federal court in Frankfort. The restitution would be split, with $105,500 going to the state and $15,000 going to the Agriculture Department.

Farmer's attorney, J. Guthrie True, had not filed a sentencing memorandum as of Friday afternoon. True said a memorandum will be filed in the coming week and declined to comment on Taylor's memo.

Taylor outlined a wide-ranging series of alleged abuses by Farmer during his eight years in office, including hiring friends and expecting little or no work from them; using state employees for personal business, including to build a basketball court at his home in Manchester; and taking items such as laptops, personal refrigerators and filing cabinets home with him, as well as keeping some of them after leaving office in 2012.

"This course of conduct permeated Farmer's entire administration," Taylor wrote. "Unfortunately, those around him were too fearful of losing their jobs, income or position to report the abuses until he left office."

Failure to punish Farmer would allow his conduct to become "part of the culture of government," Taylor said.

Farmer, 44, ran for Lt. Gov. on the Republican ticket with then-state Sen. President David Williams in the 2011 gubernatorial election. The pair lost to incumbent Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, and his running mate, former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.

Farmer was named Mr. Basketball in the state of Kentucky in 1988. He played shooting guard for the University of Kentucky from 1988 to 1992, where he posted career averages of 7.6 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. Farmer and fellow classmen Deron Feldhaus, Sean Woods, and John Pelphrey, became known as "The Unforgettables." Farmer's No. 32 and the jerseys of the other three players were retired.

The Wildcats' run in the NCAA Tournament would end in a regional final against Duke that is often cited as the greatest college game ever played. The heavily favored Blue Devils survived an overtime thriller on Duke forward Christian Laettner's last-second shot at the buzzer.

The team was Kentucky's first to play in the post-season after a two-year ban for NCAA infractions.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/01/03/3016547/feds-want-27-months-in-prison.html#storylink=cpy

"Weed Makes Me Paranoid"! LOL.

LOL.

Happy Start Of The New Year From CONgress!