Unfortunately, the minimum wage increase passed the House of Representatives.

Republicans muscled the first minimum wage increase in a decade through the House of Representatives early Saturday after pairing it with a cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates.

In the Republican plan, the minimum wage would increase over the next three years 40% from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. A bill that will damage poor families that it claims to help. How? By having an inflationary effect on the economy which will lower the purchasing power of the poor.

But how will it have an inflationary effect if no one is making minimum wage currently? First off, not every is making 40% over the current minimum wage. So the increase to wages for these people will cause the cost of labor to go upward. In addition the minimum wage will increase pressure to raise the wages of those making just over $7.25 an hour. Again raising the cost of labor. Finally, many of the unions wages are tied to the minimum wage. Thus any increase in the minimum wage will automatically cause union wages to rise. Once again adding to the cost of labor.

This new cost to labor will be passed on to the consumer creating a dampening effect to everyone's purchasing power.

The only good news from the bill is that Democrats in the Senate are planning to kill the bill because the rate increase was tied to cuts in the hated death tax. The rate at which government taxes wealth at a person's death is appalling. Wealth that was already taxed when it was first created. Any tax like that death tax which creates double taxation on wealth should be repealed all together. Unfortunately the Republicans weren't able to win the day on that , but were able to make a dent in it.

Of course the Democrats love taxation. Especially double taxation aimed at those who work hard to create wealth in this county. Their love of taxation is so great that they prefer keeping the death tax rather than helping the "working poor". I wonder how that will play on the campaign trail when the Republicans can honestly say they voted for a minimum wage increase and the Democrats voted against it.

Of course my favorite part of the story is how the media editorializes the death tax. The call it a "cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates." Nice try!

In a victory for property rights, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously that economic development is not a reason for the state to confiscate peoples property.

This was the first case since the U.S. Supreme Court pushed aside property rights in a 5-4 ruling that allowed New London Connecticut to take private property to build a shopping mall. Basically it allowed the city of New London to use "eminent domain" as a means of taking private property from one individual and giving it to another. Hmm, that sounds a lot like socialistic redistribution to me.

Fortunately, the justices of the Ohio Supreme Court had the good sense to reject outright socialism and reaffirm the concept of private property. Good for them!

Yeah! We get to waste tax payer money!

The headline in scintillating: "Job memo cites effort to oust Democrats". But does the headline live up to the hype. The memo is part of the bill of particulars released by the Attorney General's office. The article itself rehashes the case highlighting one part of the document instead of reviewing the actual document. Therefore, we will break the particulars down and see what the case against Fletcher really is.

Count 1 - Criminal Conspiracy

1. Fletcher created the Local Initiatives for a New Kentucky (LINK)

2. LINK was used to "vet" the names of current and prospective state merit employees for appointment, promotion, demotion and transfer based upon political affiliation or opinion. Here is my first problem with this case. I understand that employee promotion or demotion based on political affiliation is covered under the law. I didn't see anywhere in the law that states that opinion is protected. That seems a interesting interpretation of the state's laws.

3. The have evidence that supposedly removes any doubt that a conspiracy existed for the purpose of replacing Democrats in merit positions. Here we get the "memo" from Willard Hansford which is the "smoking gun".

Support for Governor Fletcher remains strong. Many contacts have been made this week concerning employment with state government. Constituents are ready to fill vacant merit positions and replace Democrats in both merit and non-merit positions.

The problem is that this memo is created by one of the regional directors of LINK in the Cumberland area. Out of all the thousands of documents the prosecutors procured they found 1 document which states replacing Democrats in merit positions. I have a number of questions. Is this document of an underling stating the policies of the entire LINK? Was he even aware of merit laws for state government employees? Did he make a simple mistake? Even if it was deliberate, an underling does not set the policies for the entire organization and such should not be taken as evidence to the contrary. So this document is at best a tenuous link and not at all "evidence that removes any doubt" as the prosecutors would have us believe.

4,5,6,7 - Pre-selection of Maggard and Montgomery

These are the most bizarre sections in the particulars. Here we have Fletcher meeting with a campaign fund raiser and acquaintance, Maggard. In the meeting Maggard wants to talk about an opening of a merit position. Fletcher said he would see if he could help him.

Others in the administration want to see Murgatroyd in the position that Maggard was seeking. They broker a deal that Fletcher signs off on where Murgatroyd gets the position but Maggard gets promoted to Administrative Section Supervisor.

Let me see if I understand this one. Since Fletcher fails to help someone get a job he wants, Fletcher is guilty of merit law violations? On top of that what is wrong with people putting in a good word for others they know. That happens everywhere and no one rightfully would consider it illegal. These four points are just bizarre.

The Governor's Personnel Initiative

8. Governor Fletcher has Grooves find someone to focus on personnel issues (8/18/04)

9. Grooves works with Bob Wilson to develop Gov's Personnel Initiative (8/04 - 10/04)

10. Grooves and Fletcher to decide on personnel director at Transportation Cabinet (9/8/04)

11. Grooves and Wilson interview people for the job (9/04 - 12/04)

12. Grooves asks Reeder to temporarily head KTC personnel department (9/04)

13. Fletcher asks Grooves about Reeder. Groves responds "I think Steve would probably do a good job... but it would be the same as Tommy, in the sense that we would still have a Dem hiring and rejecting our people." (9/9/04)

14. After meeting with Grooves, Fletcher asks Reeder to help with personnel issues at KTC. At this point, this seems to be a problem for the prosecution since Fletcher appears to have no qualms about asking a Democrat to lead up personnel issues at KTC. (9/10/04)

15. Grooves interview Druen for the liaison job. (11/15/04)

16. Grooves acting under Fletcher's authority directs Wilson to develop a training program for people selected to work for the Governor's Personnel Initiative. Ok, so now since Fletcher asks Grooves to develop a training program, he is responsible for the results of that program? That seems a weak link. (5/04 - 11/04)

17. LINK officials and others within the office of Governor supposedly engage in a systematic process of political patronage involving merit employees. Notice that it is people working for the Governor and not the Governor who is supposedly breaking the laws. So far the evidence doesn't show any sort of conspiracy by the part of the Governor. (8/04 - 11/04)

18. Fletcher was updated on the status of job requests in the KTC made by Darrel Brock. (9/19/04)

19. Hamm participates in a heated conversation with Disponett and Brock why a particular female had not been hired. Hamm told Brock she wasn't qualified. Brock said "When I give you a name I speak for the Governor". At a follow up meeting Hamm shows an ethics commission advisory opinion stating that this type of recommendation was improper. Disponett responded with "If we hire the most qualified people how are our people ever going to get hired" (Fall 04)

Personally, this sounds more like a power trip play by Brock and Disponett than a direct order from the Governor. Especially since Brock is head of the state Republican Party. This makes it even more disgraceful that Brock didn't step down as party chair.

20. Fletcher meets with Grooves and Brock about personnel issues. These issues are described in handwritten notes by the Governor's assistant as "pretty hot right now". (10/04)

Brock is pissed off about the hiring situation at KTC and brings it to the Governor. Since Brock is the head of the state party, Fletcher tries to calm him down and placate him. Thus the notes about the situation being pretty hot. That doesn't mean that Fletcher did anything about it.

21. Greenwell prepares booklet on violating merit laws which he gives to Fletcher because he feels some in the administration might be violating the laws. (11/04)

22. Wilson sets goals for Governor's Personnel Initiative which involved providing hiring lists to LINK who would coach candidates and help them through the process. (11/3/04)

OK, so Wilson sends out information to LINK on helping constituents get jobs with the state. I don't see anything wrong with this.

23. Fletcher appoints Cave chief of staff and keeps Grooves as a senior adviser to allow him to continue working on personnel issues (11/10/04)

24. Doerting resigns as Director of Personnel at KTC because he feels that administration officials have acted in a way that is "inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the merit law". (11/19/04)

It is interesting to note that he said spirit of the law and not that actual law. This inclines me to believe that he thought the administration was skating on thin ice but hadn't crossed the line.

25. General counsel for the Personnel Cabinet sends copies of Ethic advisories to Wilson and Grooves that states that the Governor's office can not be used for political patronage. (11/22/04)

26. Fletcher sends email that says that Turbyfill will be the new head of the Personnel Initiative and describes him as someone who would be "willing to do what I ask of him". (11/28/04)

Of course this implies that he would be asked to break merit laws. This is a bit ambiguous and I am guessing done so intentionally to provide a suspicion of a conspiracy and to make Turbyfill out to be a "yes" man. That way we can believe Fletcher ordered Turbyfill to break the law.

27. Fletcher has meeting on personnel issues (12/3/04)

28. Grooves updates Fletcher on status of initiative (12/7/04)

29. Fletcher holds cabinet meeting where he gives Turbyfill the authority to implement personnel goals. (12/10/04)

30. Kickoff for the Personnel Initiative. Turbyfill makes statements regarding the pressure of people seeking jobs from the Governor. There job is to relieve the pressure and get "our people" hired. (1/6/05)

Two things. It sounds like the goal of the initiative is to take Fletcher out of the loop in regards to hiring decisions. That would mean that Fletcher could not possibly be part of a conspiracy. Secondly, the prosecutor continues to use the term "our people". But the meaning of those words is at best ambiguous.

31. LINK is directed to send lists of candidates directly to the cabinets to "streamline" the process and make sure that it is "effective and accountable" (1/20/05)

Again we seem to be moving further and further away from the governor.

32. Turbyfill and Wilson conduct weekly meetings with personnel liaisons at each cabinet. During these meetings the liaisons were advised to hire "good Republicans" and "our people". The goal would be to reduce Democratic influence in state government. (1//17/05)

What does this have to do with Fletcher? Also, does this mean "good Republicans" is not the same as "our people"? See what I mean by ambiguous.

33.Turbyfill and Wilson advise liaison's to provide weekly job lists to the people at LINK. Hamm thinks this action is illegal so Annear and Ritter suggest seeking an opinion from the personnel cabinet. (1/26/05)

34. Ritter advises Brock that LINK connection with personnel was improper. (1/26/06)

35. Jim Host appears at meeting and tells everyone to fall in line with the initiative and ignore Hamm.

36. State merit employees were supposedly appointed, promoted, demoted, transferred or dismissed based upon political affiliation or opinion. (1/05 - 5/05)

Again we get this weird "or opinion" part in the prosecutor's wording.

37. Ritter directs LINK reps to not participate in personnel activity. (2/06)

This seems to happen shortly after the opinion from the personnel cabinet

38. Murgatroyd assumes Deputy Chief of Staff (2/22/06)

39. Fletcher directed, authorized, or otherwise approved promotions of Hazlette and Dreun within the Transportation Cabinet. (3/10/05)

Wait a second. There is a huge distinction between directed and "otherwise approved". One means direct involvement while the other could mean implicit approval. That ambiguity is very misleading which I am sure was intentional.

40. Druen takes over as Executive Director of Personnel (3/10/05)

41. KTC personnel admin Otis Reed was fired by Cave. (3/15/05)

42. KTC Secretary resigns (3/22/05)

43. Nightbert is appointed acting Secretary of KTC (3/22/05)

44. Nightbert appoints Adams, Druen, and Hazlette (3/05)

45. Ritter meets with Cave and Fletcher and advises them on how LINK has no business being involved in personnel and has removed LINK reps from that duty. (3/05)

46. Ritter's job functions were supposedly remove (4/05 - 6/05)

47. Nightbert instructs Druen to compile a list of KTC employees for adverse employment actions. (4/05)

48. Nightbert, Druen, Hazlette, and Adams review the list (4/25/05)

49. List was given to Fletcher. The contents were discussed with Turbyfill (Not Fletcher) following the meeting. (4/26/05)

50. Duncan, an employee on the list, was dismissed. (5/13/05)

Since Fletcher was given a copy of the "list" we are to now assume that he gave the orders to fire Duncan. Just because he was given a copy of the list does not mean he did anything about it. That is just speculation on the part of the prosecution.

Count 2 - Official Misconduct in the First Degree

This is only the case if Fletcher is found guilty of the previous count.

Count 3 - Prohibition Against Political Discrimination

Since Fletcher was given a copy of the "list" of people compiled by Druen, he approved the firing of Duncan. According to David Ray that when questioning Nightbert about the dismissal Nightbert said "Its not what he wanted but what the Governor wanted". Therefore Fletcher ordered the firing. On the surface this explanation looks plausible, but given the rest of the information of the case this seems highly unlikely. It seems to me that Turbyfill gave the order to commence the firings and not Fletcher.

Bottom Line

After the election, Fletcher was inundated with requests from Republicans for jobs since this was the first time in 30+ years that jobs in state government were open to Republicans. Not wanting to deal with the party, he pushed personnel decisions off to members of his staff. Fletcher's mistake was keeping personnel decisions in his office at all. This gave the appearance of impropriety.

Now the prosecutor's case appears a bit weak. They try to link the LINK program to Fletcher as part of a grand conspiracy, but it appears the LINK program stopped personnel activities as soon as they received an opinion from the personnel department. Thus nothing improper happened in those transactions. The rest of the case points to possible wrong doing by members of the Fletcher's staff, but fails to make a connection between Fletcher and the actions from members of his staff. Instead we are treated to allusions of Fletcher being part of a grand conspiracy that didn't seem to occur. The reality of the situation is that Fletcher is Governor. Which means he has a lot of things going on trying to manage all aspects of state government. Which in turn makes it hard for me to believe he was deeply involved in a conspiracy to break the merit laws.

The more I read about the details of this case, the weaker I believe the prosecution's case is, and the nuttier the Courier's headlines get.

Democrat Ken Lucas has a 50 to 41 lead over incumbent Geoff Davis in the 4th congressional district in Northern Kentucky. The results of this poll are a bit shocking considering the Republican lean of the district. But then you look at the details of the poll and begin to wonder about the poll's accuracy.

First off, it is an automated phone poll which are not overly reliable. Secondly, it interviewed 849 registered voters of whom only 447 identified themselves as likely voters. That means we have a poll that includes over 400 people who probably won't even vote. I wonder what the results from only the likely voters were? I am guessing it shows a much closer race or we would have seen those numbers. But that doesn't fit into the media's template so they are ignored.

What we do know is that Davis has over one million dollars more in the bank than Lucas. The money will allow Davis to overcome Lucas's favorable press and allow Davis to paint a vote for Lucas as a vote for Pelosi. A charge that will be difficult for Lucas to counter on a limited budget.

Regardless, the results of this poll means that this could be an interesting race to watch this fall.

Abramson is planning an August 3rd fund raiser in which he hopes to raise $240,000 for his mayoral campaign. If he succeeds in raising those funds it will bring his total to 1.2 million dollars. 3 times more than Downard has been able to raise to date.

Even with the financial disadvantage, I think Downard can make a run a the mayor. While Abramson is the toast of the town with Louisville's rich and famous, he has made a number of enemies while in office. The foremost on that list are the police and fire departments. Both of which will be strong allies for Downard in the fall.

But even so, Downard must raise more money. If he can't stay within 50% of Abramson, his message may well get drowned out by Abramson's and Northup's campaigns. Both of which will have lots of money to spend on advertising. That would be a shame. Please take a few minutes and donate money to the Downard campaign and help him run Abramson out of office.

A Slate article by Shmuel Rosner, chief U.S. correspondent for the Israeli paper Ha'aretz, tried to outline the current battle in Lebanon as just a regional conflict between Israel and Iran.

He makes two huge mistakes in his analysis.

His first mistake is limiting the scope of the conflict. His current concern appears to be the conflict in Lebanon. One that pits Israel against Iran. But he fails to realize that the battle is another front in a much larger war. A war against Islamic fascism. A war with many fronts.

Take for instance Iraq. Here Iran is trying to foment discord in the fledgling state by funding terrorists activities in the country. We are also seeing a new front opening up in Somalia as Ethiopian forces attempt to drive out Islamo-fascists who have overrun the Somalian capital.

His second mistake is in misunderstanding the real threat. (Emphasis added)

A couple of years down the road, when Iran gets its coveted nukes, this could be the new face of the Middle East. The Arab-Israeli conflict will only be fought through terror organizations and in no-man's land���since fighting it out in a more direct way could bring doom and destruction on an unprecedented scale.

Here may be his biggest mistake. He assumes that if Iran gets nuclear technology they will be rational and only use it as a deterrent. But when have the Islamic fascists ever been rational. Take Ahmadinejad's comments about Israel. He has called it a cancer that needs to be wiped away. He has denied the Holocaust occurred. How rational is that thinking? The last leader to use such vitriol about the Jews was Adolph Hitler and we know how that turned out. We can't afford to give Ahmadinejad the opportunity to flex his power like Hitler. Because unlike the Soviets, who were rationale, the Islamic fascists are not.

Recently, Newt Gingrich characterized the war against Islamic fascism asWorld War III. His intent was to stress the seriousness of the war we are in and the need for our commitment to the war until the enemy is crushed. While he is right in noting that this is indeed a war which is global in scale, he overstates his case a bit. I don't think this war will create the devastation and destruction that was seen in the first two world wars. And such should not be categorized with them.

But that doesn't mean that our enemies are not deadly. They are just incapable at present to cause the damage seen in previous world wars. And that is why we must be engaged in this war and win it before the capabilities of our enemies are improved.

Once again we find evidence to refute the global warming scare. The latest has to do with the "hockey stick" effect. The hockey stick effect shows how temperatures have risen recently in comparison to temperatures over the last 1000 years. The problem is when you extend the view to more than a thousand years of data the graph looks more natural. There is no "hockey stick". Why? because the temperatures in the middle ages were a lot warmer than today's temperature.

In addition, how can we assume that global warming is man made when temperature in the middle ages were warmer? I know "industry" didn't cause temperatures to rise back then. Maybe the truth is we are in the middle of a "natural" warming cycle and not on the edge of cataclysmic catastrophe that environmentalists want us to so desperately believe.

So if we are in the middle of another natural warming cycle, why would the environmentalists want us to believe we are in a crisis? To find the answer we need to look at what these leftist's are recommending to remedy our current crisis. The first step in their plan is to "curb emissions". The results would cost the economy billions and billions of dollars that could easily implode our economy and stop the momentum of capitalism. The next step is to "fund" alternative fuels. This means government spending or government control over the economic sector. Hmmm, both of the goals sound eerily similar to the goals of socialism. No wonder the modern left has gravitated to the cause.

Watching the Metro Council bicker about the union's role in the construction of a new downtown arena in Louisville is comical. First they almost sabotage the whole endeavor by giving the unions a seat at the table during contract negotiations. Now they are trying to figure out how union's are going to have an oversight role of the project. The current debate is over the use of the word "audit" in the proposal.

The council planned to present an amendment to Abramson's funding resolution granting that authority and giving the union oversight position to a member of the trades council.

Blackwell said "audit" authority would simply give the unions power to go onto the job site and ask workers if they are being paid prevailing wage and other simple questions.

But yesterday, Downard said, some of the funding partners were raising questions about the plan. He said he's confused that the issue has arisen now after Abramson and Host agreed to the changes.

Downard said that there is "nothing nefarious" about the wording but that he and Blackwell will try to avert any serious problems.

But Downard said he believes the concerns being raised are unfounded since it was never intended that the term "audit" would be used to provide proprietary information to unions.

"Rick and I are going to try to find some wording that doesn't scare anyone," he said.

Of course giving the unions any oversight is a bad idea. This will provide them with all of the leverage they need to force their way into contract negotiations and gain at least partial control over the project. But then again, the whole project is a bad idea so what does one more silly mistake matter? I am sure the tax payers won't care about wasting a few million dollars.

Just when you thought it might be over, we get yet another puff piece about Mark Nickolas. For some reason he has become the darling of the media. Forget the fact that he is a chronic campaign loser. He is a liberal and is wired into the democratic crony-ism that is entrenched in Frankfort. The same deep seated partisans that have tried to unseat our governor and derail his initiatives. I know that makes him attractive to the media, but enough is enough.

I want to congratulate Miss USA / Miss Kentucky Tara Conner for her in yesterday's Miss Universe pageant. Her fourth place finish makes her one of the top 3 finishes by a Miss USA at the pageant in the previous 10 years. Check out the pageant's pictures of Kentucky's hottest chick. Thanks Tara for representing the U.S and Kentucky so well.

Hopefully, she can come back and replace Heather French Henry as the state's best known babe.

It looks like the Louisville Arena will move forward again. A compromise was reached that would allow the labor unions to monitor the construction but won't get to negotiate the ground rules for the project. It appears that all sides are in agreement so there are no further stumbling blocks for this fiscal boondoggle to move forward.

Of course there is enough fiscal stupidity in this proposal to make a bad deal worse.

• It guarantees prevailing wages for every worker
• It sets a goal of 20 percent minority and 5 percent women participation from employees and contractors.
• It sets a goal of 75 percent of construction jobs for residents of Kentucky and Indiana with 60 percent set aside for residents of the Louisville MSA.

The first mistake is the guarantee of prevailing wages. Forget trying to get the best deal for the taxpayers by letting the free market determine wages. No, we are going to artificially inflate the wages of a few people at a greater cost to everyone else. What a great deal!

The second mistake is setting artificial percentages for hiring workers. Whether it is hiring women or minorities or having to hire people from Kentucky or Indiana, one is introducing constraints that may only be met by going with contractors which are more expensive. Again, not a good deal for the taxpayers of the city.

Lastly, what is up with saying the workers have to be residents of Kentucky or Indiana? Is Indiana paying for any of the stadium? Last time I checked they aren't. So why not just focus on residents of Kentucky.

What a great deal for the taxpayers of Kentucky and Louisville! But we can't let the needs of the people get in the way of the dreams of the city's big wigs.

In a story from Reuters we are treated with this gem of an opening paragraph.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will cast the first veto of his presidency on Wednesday to stop legislation championed by top scientists and desired by most Americans to expand embryonic stem cell research, the White House said.

Yeah, I am sure that is exactly what the White House said. But of course there is never any bias in the media. Unbelievable!

As the campaign season nears, things are starting to look bleak for Yarmuth. During the April 27th to June 30th reporting period, he raised $412,395 dollars. But only $212,395 was from donations and PACs. The rest came out of his pocket. In that same period, Northup raised $312,972 from donations and PACs. Yarmuth's personal wealth is the only reason he stayed ahead of Northup in fund raising.

The totals for the campaign are devastating. Yarmuth only has $417,929 cash on hand while Northup has $1,850,000 cash on hand. Yarmuth has six weeks before labor day and the kick off of the campaign season to get back into this race financially. To do that he will need to raise in excess of $600,000 to be remotely competitive. This could be a problem since he has only been able to raise $520,000 outside of his personal wealth.

In hopes of shaking up his campaign, he replace Dan Borsch as campaign manager with 34 year old Jason Burke from Connecticut. Personally, I feel it is going to be difficult for an outsider to come into town and be able to quickly understand the geopolitical variations of the 3rd district. On top of that Burke is pitted against an excellent and veteran campaign staff that understands the district as well as anyone. It seems to me the road keeps getting steeper and steeper for Yarmuth.

In a surprise move, Mayor Abramson vetoed the Metro Council's plan that would give control to unions and enforce prevailing wages for all arena workers. I didn't think the mayor had the nerve to stand up to the unions on this issue. Of course, I didn't take into account the number of wealthy campaign donors who would be on the other side of the debate. It also keeps Downard from gaining traction on this issue in what is shaping up to be an interesting mayoral election.

The veto came on the heels of Fletcher's vows to not release 75 million in bonds to pay for the project. He believed that the newly inserted "labor agreement" was against Kentucky's laws governing the state's process for open bids in all contracts.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher said that provision will keep the state from issuing $75 million to pay for the project ��� and he said he���s not going to negotiate that point.

���I���m not here to negotiate at all,��� Fletcher said in an interview. ���That���s not part of my job. We���ve presented our offer to the council to support this project. The council needs to determine if they want the arena to move forward or not. The ball is in their court.���

I thought this was a bold move by Fletcher that caused the Mayor to blink and capitulate. Once again the Governor has done an excellent job setting the state's policy and making sure money is not wasted. The reality is that the project with union dominance and the demand for "prevailing wages" would have dramatically increased the cost of the project. Fortunately because of Fletcher, it looks like we are going to be saved that fate.

Council member Rick Blackwell, D-12th, who led the effort to insert labor provisions into the resolution that prompted the veto, asked Abramson for a meeting Tuesday, saying he hopes an agreement can be reached that will suit both sides. He conceded that Democrats don���t have the votes to override Abramson���s veto.

Of course the unions freaked out.

���Now there is no one at the table in the process that will advocate for workers. No one,��� said Larry Hujo, a union representative. ���It���s all about the business community. It���s all about the governor and his appointees, and I don���t think he has the interest of working families at heart.���

Let me translate for you. We will not have anyone at the table that can funnel money to us by fleecing the public. It is all about the commonwealth being able to save money through good leadership by accomplished businessmen. None of those guys will have our best interests at heart regardless of how much we could have fleeced the public.

Of course my favorite quote from Larry is about right to work.

���This is another step in their plan to bring right-to-work to Kentucky, which as everyone knows undermines the living conditions of working families,��� he said.

Ummm, Larry you and the labor cronies are the only ones who believe that right-to-work undermines living conditions of working families. In fact good economics would say that right-to-work would actually boost the living conditions by working families by creating more jobs and providing equal opportunity for success. Otherwise the monopolistic unions would horde both the money and opportunities for good paying jobs. They would be the arbiters of who "succeeds" and not the free market.

All in all, it is a good day for the people of Kentucky and Louisville. Well as good as a day is possible considering they have committed to building this silly stadium in the first place.

Update: 5:30 PM I received a letter from GLI (City Chamber of Commerce) today. I have included part of it below.

We finally stand at the threshold of success on this project, with the final decision in the hands of the Metro Council. Unfortunately, the resolution passed last week by the Council will result in the loss of the $75 million instate funding critical for the project's success.

The Council's resolution includes a condition that was not negotiated with the Arena Authority and includes a mandate that was not funded. This situation creates unknown and unacceptable risks for both the public and private sectors.

Because of these changes, GLI and the business community will not move forward with the $45 million in private funding pledged by business leaders in support of a downtown, multipurpose arena. In addition, we will not raise any new dollars from the private sector until the public sector financing is restored.

It appears that all of the major forces except unions are aligned against the 15 Democrats on the council. It will be interesting to see what they do.

Democratic Senator Evan Bayh is starting to focus his message for a presidential bid in 2008. He wants us to believe that he now cares about the middle class.

Yesterday in a National Press Club speech and again later in the day in Iowa, Bayh said he is aiming his possible candidacy at America's middle class. He said the Democratic Party has forgotten how to address the middle class, and the Republicans have ignored it.

...

While the Democratic Party has been, and must remain, a champion of the poor, Bayh said, it must not make issues like increasing the minimum wage "the entirety of our economic agenda."

He said aiding the nation's middle class would be "a centerpiece of my campaign," if he makes one. He left no doubt of his target audience, mentioning the words "middle class" 45 times in his formal remarks.

"We must confront the challenges middle-class Americans face — health-care costs, college affordability, retirement security and more — so that all can build lives of greater prosperity and promise," Bayh said. "And we must reward hard work, thrift and ingenuity so that all who aspire to it can join our middle class."

Bayh's rhetoric sounds hauntingly similar to Bill Clinton. In fact, I used to believe that Bayh was a moderate Democrat that could win the presidency if he could get the nomination. But then there is his pesky Senate voting record. I have already noted that in the last year, he has moved solidly to the left in his voting.

This sudden shift to the left is also found when looking at the 109th Senate's voting patterns. Where he used to be a moderate, his current voting pattern puts him in the same category with well known liberals Kerry, Shumer, and Feinestein. So even though he talks the moderate game, his voting record belies a liberal at heart. Which may help him in the primary but may well prove fatal in the general.

This is surreal. We have yet another story about state's effort to block blogs to state employees.

The article is the same story different day. Paper claims state is not blocking sites even handedly. State responds that they are continuing to update their filtering until it works.

More shamelessly, we get the continued free advertisement for Mark Nicholas's liberal blog. This story had no need to mention his site, but guess what? It is in there with a link to his site. Ridiculous!

But Fletcher's decision to block some political blogs and not others raises constitutional issues.

Government computers are subject to constitutional restraints, and discriminating based on a viewpoint isn't allowed, said Bob Corn-Revere, a First Amendment lawyer based in Washington, D.C.

"The fact that the new policy seems to, with the precision of a laser beam, pick out some news Web sites and not others is a very troubling thing for the state," Corn-Revere said.

First off, I love how the story makes it sound like Fletcher's "personal decision" on which sites to block. I am sure he has no idea what sites are blocked. Secondly, I love how they talk about constitutional rights and how they are cherry picking sites to block. Do these people have any idea how technology works. The sites picked are done through the filtering software. And they continue to add new sites as they deem then inappropriate for state employees. In fact most of the top conservative bloggers are banned by the state. Seems like an across the board policy to me.

The reality of the situation is that it is impossible to ban everything... you just have to keep adding new sites as they are discovered. This is probably being done by review of the proxy logs to see what sites people are hitting. I know that is how I would do it.

What infuriates me about this continuing series of articles is how Mark Nickolas, who managed Democrat Ben Chandler's 2003 campaign against Fletcher, continues to get free advertising fpr his web site everyday when a new story is printed.

The fact that the lawsuit comes from Nickolas and not a state employee troubles Jon Fleischaker, a Louisville attorney who represents the Kentucky Press Association, The Courier-Journal and other media outlets.

"Nickolas is saying that he has a right, by electronic means, to get into all government offices," Fleischaker said. "I think that's a real stretch."

If Nickolas has that right, then everybody else does too, he said.

"It would effectively deprive government of any chance to restrict messages of any type that had content to its employees," he said.

Alvin Goldman, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law, disagrees with that assessment. The government doesn't have to provide access to the Internet for its employees, but once it does, it has two choices: Prohibit personal use of the Internet, or allow it, as long as it is not excessive.

Most private employers choose the latter, said Goldman, who specializes in labor law and has taught constitutional law for many years. Prohibiting all personal use is bad for morale and difficult to enforce, Goldman said.

Fleishchaker hits the nail on the head. Nickolas believes he has a right to be heard by every state employee during work hours. That is the problem. Employees should be "working" and not reading opinion pieces. They still have the right to read Nickolas's rubbage after work hours.

Alvin Goldman on the other hand doesn't get the problem. Of course most companies allow personal use unless it is not excessive. Because they have the ability to "fire" employees. The state does not have that luxury. Therefore they are forced to attempt measures to cut down on personal use in what appears to be a fair way.

This is an amazing non story that is only being pimped because it make Fletcher "look like a dictatorial leader" when all he is doing is trying to improve employee productivity.

In a hysterical move, the Waterfront posted fake danger signs to keep people from swimming in the fountains. The signs read "Danger! Water Contains High Levels of Hydrogen Keep Out" Of course there is nothing dangerous with high levels of hydrogen since hydrogen makes up 66% of a water molecule. What is funny is that they were counting on people's ignorance to keep people out of the water

Karem said he was counting on a lack of understanding about water's chemical makeup, and he thought that suggesting a link to one of the world's most dangerous weapons -- the hydrogen bomb -- might keep them from jumping in.

"I thought that with the word ��� maybe people would not go there," he said.

The best part is that the signs are working. Personally, I think they should up the ante a bit now that the scheme has been uncovered by the "ace" reporting of the Courier. They should put up signs warning about the high levels of di-hydrogen monoxide in the fountains. Then they can put up additional signs warning about the dangers of Di-Hydrogen - Monoxide. That would be most excellent!

The left in this state have freaked out over the fact that the state has blocked people from viewing political web sites. In fact, Mark Nickolas from BluegrassReport.org has filed a federal lawsuit claiming he was discriminated against because of his criticism of Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

Yeah Mark, he did it to target you! Well, you know my blog is blocked from the state and I support Ernie Fletcher! Am I discriminated against as well? See I don't think I am. Why? Because these employees can read my blog when they are home. They don't need to be reading it while on the clock. The reality is the state like many business are trying to cut down access the unproductive side of the Internet from employees.

Finance Cabinet spokeswoman Jill Midkiff said no individual sites were targeted, but rather categories of sites -- such as blogs, entertainment, humor, online auctions and shopping. The software was imperfect and has been updated to ban new sites or unblock legitimate ones, she said.

A review of state employee computer use had found that workers were spending significant amounts of time viewing sites unrelated to their jobs, Midkiff said. "There is no attempt to limit anyone's free speech," she said. "This is an effort to ensure that state government employees are using state government resources on state time to do state work."

Personally, I think it shows that this administration cares about how it is spending our taxpayer dollars. It shows that the state is being run more like a business and less like a welfare center.

The Louisville Metro Council voted last night to approve funding of the downtown arena. The vote was 18-5 in favor of spending 200 million tax dollars to fund the arena.

Republican's immediately called on Abramson to veto the legislation because a provision gave labor unions a seat at the table when determining who will build the arena. The provision would give union's the ability to stall construction if their demands are not met. Such dependency on the unions will invariable drive construction costs much higher than originally estimated.

Of course, Abramson won't do anything. He is in an election year and doesn't have the stomach for doing anything that might upset someone.

Gov. Fletcher, on the other hand, is rightly concerned about this sudden change in course. This late attempt to hijack the process is really lame since it is nothing more than an attempt to pander to the Democratic base. The Democrats are hoping that the project has too much momentum to be stopped by this partisan ploy.

If I were the Governor, I would veto the plan saying that partisan politics has stopped this project from moving forward. The state has held up its end of the bargain, but the Louisville metro council has decided to not hold up their end of the bargain. Thus putting the blame back where it belongs, on the Democrats in the metro council.

Due to the perceived importance of the project, I doubt Fletcher will do more than "express concerns" over the new proposal and "threaten" to veto in hopes of getting the mayor to veto the agreement. But I suspect the unions will end up with a seat at the project table.

So my question is this. With the unions now becoming involved in the construction, do you still believe it will only cost $400 million to build? The boondoggle continues onward, wasting tax payer money at every step.

The Yarmuth campaign has looked amazingly inept recently. The problems started when an intern for Yarmuth was caught trying to infiltrate the Northup campaign. Now it appears they may have violated the federal law with radio ads produced for the primary election.

Northup's campaign said both ads violated disclaimer requirements under federal law, and it sent a letter requesting the FEC investigation. Northup campaign chairman Ted Jackson accused Yarmuth of being unable to "follow the most basic campaign finance law. So either John Yarmuth is one of those few people who are unaware of the law, or he just decided not to follow it."

Yarmuth's campaign said it believes the commercials "complied with the spirit of the law. We are confident that no action by the FEC will be forthcoming."

The spirit of the law is not the letter of the law and I would not be surprised if the FEC rules against the Yarmuth campaign. This is just plain incompetence. If they can't right the ship, they will continue to be exposed as incompetent boobs. Especially this fall, when the campaign season swings into full gear.

Of course these events are trivial compared to the ice berg that the Yarmuth campaign struck today.Northup's campaign has reached an agreement with the LEO to provide access to copies of the magazine for the 15 years that it was run by Yarmuth. This will be the beginning of the end of the Yarmuth campaign. For it is in those weekly articles he has published over the last 15 years that many of his fringe leftist views were espoused. For it will be those words that will paint a picture of a man far outside the mainstream of American politics. Northup's team will use Yarmuth's own words to define the race and put the Yarmuth team on the defensive. This is a position they can ill afford to have. Especially with the incompetence they have shown over the last few months.