Thursday, 19 October 2006

Yarmuth's Smarmy Campaign

First we had Yarmuth's team trying to sneak a paid staffer in as a volunteer in the Northup campaign, but claimed he did it on his own. Then they ran an advertisement that lied about Northup's voting record, but claimed that version of the add was never supposed to run.

Now we are treated to another ethical lapse from these guys. This time in a violation of the campaign finance laws. It appears that Yarmuth failed to notify his opponents that he had personally loaned his campaign more than $350,000. Currently he has contributed $390,000 to his campaign.

Ryan said candidates who have contributed more than $350,000 are in violation of federal campaign finance law if they don't make the notification.

Jennifer Steen, a professor at Boston College who authored a study last year on the amendment for the Campaign Finance Institute, said the law is "unambiguous" in requiring notification.

She cited a commission brochure clearly stating that candidates who contribute $350,000 to their own campaigns must notify their opponents.

That seems like a pretty clear violation of the finance laws to me. But again we are treated to a "nothing was done on purpose" type of excuse from Yarmuth.

Yarmuth said yesterday that Burke made a good-faith effort to follow the law and that, if his campaign needs to notify other candidates of his contributions, it will.

For me this is a clear pattern of unethical behavior employed by the Yarmuth campaign in this election. It almost seems as if they believe they are so superior that the actual law and rules of campaigning don't apply to them. But then again, that is what we come to expect from Liberals now a days. The ends justify the means.

Is this the type of "new" leadership we want in Washington?

Posted by elendil at 11:04 AM in Kentucky Politics
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Brawl in Miami

Last Saturday in Miami, a football game was played between the University of Miami and Florida International. Late in the third quarter a melee broke out between the two teams. It was a wild affair with players swinging their helmets, players stomping on opponents with their cleats, and one player swinging his crutches at people.

The whole spectacle was a complete embarrassment to both teams and the schools they represent. The best commentary I saw on the incident came from former Kentucky coach Bill Curry

The aftermath is predictable except for one aspect. We are acting as if we are surprised. How could rational thinkers possibly be surprised? The surprise should be that we do not have more unbridled violence in our sports.

We live in a culture that celebrates belligerence like we once celebrated religious holidays. We live in a culture in which a large percentage of fathers have abdicated responsibility to raise their children. We live in a culture in which many parents would rather be friends with their children than disciplinarians of their children.

Our kids play video games that make the FIU-Miami brawl look like a Sunday school picnic. We pack huge arenas to watch grotesque actors impersonate competitive athletes while bashing each other with metal folding chairs and throwing referees out of the rings. We allow our children to listen to song lyrics that call into question the most basic attributes of human decency. We pay millions of dollars to radio talk hawks, who pound away at the fabric of reason and diplomacy. Football fans believe it is their absolute right to scream obscenities into the faces of coaches, coaches' families, players and players' families.

Curry insightfully outlines the root cause of the outright violence that showed its way onto the field last Saturday. We have a culture that glorifies violence, abdicates responsibility, and fails to discipline.

While the culture is not an issue we can address overnight, responsibility and discipline could have been enforced in this case.. Unfortunately, the universities (especially Miami) refused make examples of these thugs that desecrated the game. Instead most of the players will only serve a one game suspension. So much for the colleges setting an example for others to follow. Rather they decided to kick the can down the road for others to deal with in the future.

It's a shame to see these fine universities fail to act. Especially when they could have helped turn the tide against the poisonous elements of our culture.

Posted by elendil at 1:11 AM in Sports Topics
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