Tuesday, 6 June 2006

Must Read About Confrontation Between Islam and the West.

The Pew Forum hosted a discussion of Islam and the West with Bernard Lewis. Please take the time to read the transcript from the event. It is a fascinating look at the battle between Christendom and Islamdom and how the two cultures differ from each other. An excellent read!
Posted by elendil at 5:02 PM in National Politics
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Yarmuth Campaign Tries to Infiltrate Northup Campaign

Robert Kahne, A 19 year old volunteer for Yarmuth's congressional campaign, was busted trying to use a fake name last week in an attempt to volunteer for Northup's campaign. Fortunately, the attempt to infiltrate the campaign was spoiled when a campaign worker for Northup remembered seeing Kahne on a web site of Yarmuth supporters.

Northup's team responded forcefully to the infiltration attempt

Patrick Neely (Northup's campaign manager) faxed a letter to Yarmuth yesterday, with copies to local media, accusing the Yarmuth campaign of "attempting to embed" Kahne with Northup's campaign, adding, "This type of Nixonian dirty trick represents the very worst kind of campaign tactic, and is not worthy of a candidate for local dog catcher."

Yarmuth's campaign issued a "sorta" apology for the event

Yarmuth's campaign later issued a statement disavowing Kahne's visit to Northup's campaign headquarters and "the words he has written."

The statement said "appropriate" action had been taken. In an interview, campaign manager Dan Borsch said Yarmuth met with Kahne yesterday. "Unfortunately, we have conveyed to Robert that we can no longer accept his volunteering on our behalf," Borsch said.

On his blog, Kahne mentions that he was an intern for the campaign. Yarmuth's campaign recognized he had been paid for some of his work in the primary but did not comment on whether or not he was a intern.

What makes this story even better is that Kahne is a kook leftist who wrote in his blog May 6th

I HATE REPUBLICANS. yes. hate. I hate them. all of them. I wish we could have a liberal inquisition and do like the Spanish, where we would go up to people and say "Are you a Republican?" and then if they said yes, we would kill them. with swords of course, guns would be illegal.

In a later blog he "sorta" apologizes to people who might have taken his statement seriously. Yeah, killing Republicans sounds like joking to me. The only funny thing about his statement is that he highlights his stupidity around the gun issue by highlighting the fact that people kill people and not guns.

But back on topic. This is a serious violation by the Yarmuth campaign. I have worked in enough campaigns to know Kahne was a regular in the campaign office. If he was a regular, there is NO WAY that someone in the Yarmuth campaign team did not know or even ask him to try to infiltrate the Northup campaign. Fortunately, Northup found out about this attempt and brought the seriousness of the matter to the public.

Hopefully, it will curtail the amateurishness of the Yarmuth campaign from any more sleazy campaign tactics.

Posted by elendil at 4:17 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Fletcher's Obstacles

There is an excellent piece in the Lexington Herald today by James R. Golden titled Deck stacked against Fletcher. In the article, Golden rightly lists the disadvantages Fletcher faces in his upcoming misdemeanor trial. The first of which is the fact that the case currently resides in Franklin County. A county that I have argued is an entrenched Democratic stronghold that would love to see Fletcher out the door. Golden bolsters my argument by pointing out the obvious facts about Franklin County.

  • He is the only Kentucky governor in living memory to serve with an attorney general elected from the opposition party. Greg Stumbo is not only a Democrat, he also is an aggressive, partisan rival for the governorship, whose political ambitions can only be helped by Fletcher's downfall.
  • Stumbo has had at his disposal a grand jury made up of state employees or their family and friends, mostly the product of decades of Democratic patronage, no doubt eager to investigate a Republican governor accused of unlawfully upsetting the established order.
  • Any disputes on the reach and fairness of the investigation are determined by a circuit judge elected by and beholden to the heavily Democratic state workers of Franklin County. It is no accident that many state statutes governing litigation with state agencies mandate Franklin County as the venue. It is a friendly place, if you work for the state.

Not only is Stumbo the only attorney general elected from an opposition party, he is the first attorney general to prosecute anyone under this law. From yesterday's Courier Journal, an article describes the unusualness of this case.

Kent Westberry, a lawyer for Fletcher, said the case is apparently unique as the first criminal case to go to trial under the section of the state Merit System law that bans political hiring and firing.

"Maybe something happened early in the history of the merit system, but I personally am not aware of this type of prosecution before," Westberry said.

Deputy Attorney General Pierce Whites could not cite a prior state official charged with this particular section of the merit law but said the case is not unusual.

Golden goes on to point out the glaring hypocrisy of Stumbo's legal attack.

While it is true that Fletcher's reform agenda and goody-two-shoes image put him on a pedestal, fairly begging to be toppled over, it is equally true that an investigation like Stumbo's could have been carried out with much greater effect during any of the Democratic administrations between Louie B. Nunn's and Fletcher's.

Imagine such a probe into the inner workings of the Patton administration, in which Stumbo, then a state legislator, was neck-deep in almost daily patronage hiring. And the message was that no Republican need apply.

Not only was Stumbo neck-deep in the patronage hiring, he had problems paying child support and was in deep with most of the legislatures who were sent to jail in the BOP-TROT scandal. A scandal in which he was somehow able to avoid prosecution. All of which makes it very hard to take Stumbo serious in these attacks. Golden points this out along with stating the obvious. That this trial not only needs a new judge, but a special prosecutor and a change of venue. Anything else would be blatantly unfair for Fletcher.

Posted by elendil at 2:43 AM in Kentucky Politics
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Time To End Jefferson County's Desegregation Policy

Currently, Jefferson County has a desegregation policy that states that schools must keep black enrollment from falling below 15 percent or rising about 50 percent. In 1974 when the courts forced desegregation on the county it was a good thing. Whites and blacks were treated very differently when it came to education. The black students got a small fraction of the money and resources of all white schools and that was neither fair or right.

But times have changed. Funding for schools is based on school population and not location. Many of the inequities that were prevalent in the 70's are no longer possible and I don't believe would ever come back. Besides I don't believe racial quotas of any kind should be constitutional. Preferential treatment for anyone is never a good idea.On the other hand three things can be gained by eliminating the program.

  1. The hundreds of thousands of dollars that are spent on forced busing can be used to provide better resources to help educate the students.
  2. Students wouldn't be forced to spend over two hours each day commuting to an from school. This would make it easier for students to participate in after school activities and sports. It would also make it easier for their parents to become involved in their schooling
  3. Lastly, I think it would bring a sense of community back to the schools. Today students don't go to their local school and as such parents don't have the neighborhood attachment to the locals schools. We could go back to the day when cheering for your school meant cheering for the kids in your neighborhood. I think it could do wonders to promote a positive environment for learning

Hopefully, this can become a reality as a local case is headed to the Supreme Court to test the legality of the desegregation provisions of the Jefferson County schools. Hopefully, the court will determine that quotas in this case are wrong. It will be better for the kids.

Posted by elendil at 2:12 AM in Kentucky Politics
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