Friday, 28 September 2007

Beshear's Smarmy Campaign

What does the Beshear campaign do next after caught being caught lying about the Kentucky Central debacle? They send out their press secretary, Vickie Glass, to act like a reporter and try to get a rise out of Fletcher. She sticks a microphone right in his face, he pushes it away telling her she isn't in the media. She attempts fake outrage and somehow this becomes a news story.

To me this story should be about why Beshear's press secretary was attempting to impersonate a member of the media? It seems to me that it is nothing less than a sleazy stunt to provoke Fletcher. But alas, the news media has Fletcher Derangement Syndrome. So instead of asking the tough questions, we are treated to a phony story about a "conflict between Fletcher and a member of Beshear's campaign staff". At the same time, is the Beshear campaign is so childish and vapid that they have to resort to cheap political theater to attack their opponent? This non-story tells us a lot about the State media and the Beshear campaign. And it doesn't reflect well on either of them.

Posted by brians at 12:48 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Thursday, 27 September 2007

Beshear Begins to Tap Dance

Steve Beshear has decided to change his story about the Kentucky Central case. Contrary to his previous statements, Beshear is now admitting that he was removed from the Kentucky Central case. He is spinning the story to make people believe that it was "only for a short period of time".

Faced with increasing evidence to the contrary, Beshear had no choice. He could not longer maintain his stance that nothing happened in the Kentucky Central case, and that if anything did happen he was unaware it. But even if we believe him now, the primary question remains.

Why was Beshear removed from legal representation if he did nothing wrong? Considering Beshear's level of honesty to this point, it would seem a more pertinent question than ever. The only way we will find out is if the secret investigative report, written by the law firm Porter, Wright, Morris, and Arthur and sealed by Beshear's good friend Judge Graham, is released to the public. Only then will we be able to get to the truth.

Posted by brians at 12:23 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Tuesday, 25 September 2007

Murkiness Surrounds Beshear with Regards to Kentucky Central

The Kentucky Central fiasco is a complex and involved story of potential fraud involving Bank of Louisville. Stites and Harbison, and Kentucky Central. I will try to sum up the case as best I can and then ask the pertinent questions.

In 1989 Dudley Web was looking for a 13.5 million dollar loan from the Bank of Louisville. Since Web didn't have sufficient equity for the loan, the Bank of Louisville required a third party to provide the equity. Kentucky Central became the third party in this deal. (This deal in itself was illegal because insurance companies are forbidden from having real estate investments that are subject to mortgages. But that is another matter.) On September 15, 1989 the Bank of Louisville provides a loan to the Dudley for 13.5 million dollars while Kentucky Central pledged securities to secure the loan.

In 1992 all of the parties agreed to extended the debt to June 1, 1994. Shortly after Kentucky Central began to run into financial troubles. The financial problems became so bad that on Feb 12, 1993 the court appointed Insurance Commissioner Don Stephens as rehabilitator. This position placed Stephens in control of all assets, properties, books, accounts, etc of Kentucky Central. Of course the commissioner was never made aware that securities were held by the Bank of Louisville.

On March 9th, 1993 Kentucky Central Life employs Sites and Harbison to provide legal council to assist in the rehabilitation process. Beshear was one of the attorney's assigned to this case.

On May 4th, 1993 Stites law firm held a conference call with the Bank of Louisville. The Bank of Louisville faxes to Stites an Irrevocable Power of Transfer form. The next day, Stite's partners, Vance and Joeseph, meet with Beshear to discuss the Bank of Louisville's Stockpowers.

On the 6th of May, Vance and Joseph meet about approval for $8 million of Kentucky Central's securities that are held by the Government National Mortgage Association. The same day Vance contacts the GMNA about th e process. On the 10th, Vance seeks authorization from the GNMA to move the securities without having to use a PD 1832 form which he claimed was not feasible to obtain. Instead they wanted to use the Bank of Louisville officer's "Irrevocable Power of Transfer" exception. Hidden from the GMNA was that fact that the infeasibility to obtain the PD 1832 was due to the fact that such an action would have tipped off Stephens, the rehabilitator, to these funds. Knowing about transaction, Stephens would have put a stop to the sale of security funds.

On May 17th Joseph has a conference call with the Bank of Louisville. Shortly after the Bank of Louisville informs Kentucky Central that the securities have fallen below the minimum value necessary and asks for payment on the difference. On the 18th the GNMA balks at the proposed sale and calls in their general council.

10 days later Beshear is involved in a phone conference with Bank of Louisville officers. A few days afterwards on June 1st, Vance has a phone conference with the GNMA and the GNMA grants permission for the Irrevocable Power of Transfer exception.

Things are ready a week later  when Vance holds a second phone conference with GNMA. Afterwards, he sends a letter to the transfer agent, Chemical Bank,  describing the steps necessary for a transfer of securities.

Over the next several days Stites and Harbison engages in multiple conference calls with the Bank of Louisville. By the 18th of June the securities are re-registered from Kentucky Central to the Bank of Louisville. By the 23rd the securities were sold and money applied to the loan made to Dudley Web even though the note wasn't due for another year!!! On top of that Kentucky Central did not even retain ownership of the the properties because Web didn't have to transfer them.

In the first half of July, Beshear is confronted by Kentucky Central but denies involvement in the actions. On July 19th, Michael Cuscaden the special deputy rehabilitator sends a letter to the Bank of Louisville requesting a return of Kentucky Central's securities since they were sold without permission.

By 1995 this became a major legal battle and Stephens in March filed a motion for partial summary judgment against the Bank of Louisville for three counts. First for establishing a custodial account that was not approved by the commissioner. Secondly for holding Kentucky Central's securities in the Custodial Account as collateral to secure an obligation of Kentucky Central to the Bank of Louisville in violation of state law which requires securities in custodial accounts to remain property of the insurer and not the custodial bank. Lastly for transferring securities in the custodial account in the Bank's own name, selling them, and applying the proceeds to Notes which were not due or in default which violates a number of state laws. Especially since the securities are in place to benefit and provide protection to the insurer's policy holders and creditors.

In addition Stephens asks Stites and Harbison to perform an internal investigation into the matter. On August 15th, 1995, Porter, Wright, Morris, and Arthur is hired to look into the transaction. They were tasked to see if their was a conflict of interest in handling legal work for Kentucky Central and Bank of Louisville. By the early part of September they completed the report and returned five copies. One of the copies was sent to Stephens and one went to Beshear. After reviewing the report, Stephens on September 18th, asks Stites and Harbison to block five lawyers including Beshear from continuing to work on behalf of Kentucky Central. Beshear was removed from representation.

One week later, on Sept 26th, Judge Graham shuts down the investigation and has the reports returned to Porter, Wright, Morris, and Arthur. This is the same Judge Graham who presided over the Fletcher "investigation" and is currently working for Beshear's campaign. The same guy who said he was a long time friend of Beshear.

Three months after Graham ends the investigation, Beshear files to run for US Senate against Senator McConnell.

Now it is time to fast forward to today. Beshear has repeatedly denied that he didn't recall anything about a secret ethics report by Porter, Wright, Morris, and Arthur. Beshear also says he doesn't remember being removed from the legal process in liquidating Kentucky Central. Obviously, Beshear is lying. I find it difficult to believe that he can't remember being pulled from such a massive case that made headlines at the time. If he is lying about his involvement then it would make sense he would lie about his lack of knowledge with regards to the report.

Which leads me to ask why he is trying to cover all of this up? Why is he denying involvement? Is he afraid he might be found guilty of collaboration to commit fraud? I want to know what role Beshear might have played in an apparent attempt to defraud Kentucky Central. The only way to know more is if the courts decide to open up the secret report sealed by Judge Graham. Hopefully, Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate, will agree to open up the records when he holds another hearing on the matter October 8th.

It is starting to look like Beshear's claim to bring "ethics back to Frankfort" might prove as empty as his claim that casinos will solve all that ails Kentucky.
 

Posted by brians at 11:46 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Saturday, 15 September 2007

U of L vs UK

I don't get a chance to blog much about sports, but I figure today is a good chance to rectify the situation and talk about the biggest football game in Kentucky this year and make some predictions.

This game has a interesting feel because on one side the UK fans really think they are going to win this game. Heck many of the national pundits are calling this game a potential upset special. On the other hand Louisville feels they are an unstoppable force and will overwhelm UK.

Coming into this year, the game wasn't supposed to be close. What happened to change the perception? What is fueling UK's new found hope. One simple thing. U of L's defense in the first two games was porous. It I hard to understate how bad the defense looked and became the stimulus for all of the growing doubt surrounding U of L.

What do I think about the game? For me the difference in this game is going to be the offensive line. Which ever team which can control the line of scrimmage will win. Why? Because they will be able to run, throw, and score lots of points. In this regard U of L has a distinct advantage. They have a more experienced and more heralded line. Ultimately, I believe this advantage on the line will be the difference in the game. I think U of L wins this game by double digits.

Of course the X factor in every game is turnovers and penalties. These are mistakes that can turn a game regardless of how dominating one team might be.

What should you look for in this game? Can UK get out a head of Louisville in the early stages of this game. Because of the explosiveness of U of L's offense, UK must play most of this game with the lead. If UK gets behind by more than two scores this game it will be over. They won't be able to keep up with UL's ability to put points on the board. From behind UK will be forced to take chances and you can only press so much before mistakes happen. The pressure to score will only mount the longer they trail and cause them take to many chances. Errors will occur and the game will turn into a route.

Regardless of what should happened, you still have to play the game.

Posted by brians at 5:16 PM in Sports Topics
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Friday, 14 September 2007

About World Car Free Day

I came across a small blurb in the Courier Journal about a rally Saturday at Bardstown and Eastern Parkway to promote World Car Free Day on Sept 22nd. The rally hopes  to introduce people to the idea of driving less.

Now this seems like a reasonable goal. Urging people to drive less is a wonderful conservation practice. But my liberal/socialist warning detector told me that there was more to this story. So I decided to check out the World Car Free organization's web site that the Courier included in the article.

I was greeted with the following message
Welcome to the online headquarters of the World Carfree Network, the hub of the global carfree movement. Worldcarfree.net is a clearinghouse of information from around the world on how to revitalize our towns and cities and create a sustainable future. In addition to serving the carfree movement, Worldcarfree.net offers resources for architects, planners, teachers/professors, students, decision-makers and engaged citizens.
To an untrained eye these may look like reasonable goals. But I saw the first signs that this is nothing more than another socialist movement. I was tipped off by their goal to "create a sustainable future". That is liberal speak for bringing an end to capitalism.

So I delved a little deeper and went to their "free resources page" and found the true motivations of this organization. Here I found great titles like An Activist's Guide to Exploiting the Media, Depaving the World, and Road Raging: Top Tips for Wrecking Road building.

This seemed a bit radical to me so I continued onward and it got better. They have a number of "thought pieces" available which outlined the true socialistic goals of the organization. All of them were nothing less than diatribes railing against capitalism. Let's sample a couple entries.
The Automobile and Décroissance
Although they have been revealed many times over, the misdeeds of the automobile are never truly heard and absorbed, and their exposure is stifled by an ideology that absolutely does not want to hear about them. In a world that professes to be rational and logical, the car is the most emotional and the most aberrant tool there is. Automobile growth cannot be sustained in the long-term and is also not even feasible in the present, due to the fact that only a privileged minority of humankind benefits from its economic development. If we would like that life be possible on Earth in the decades to come, our only solution is to thus abandon this scourge. At the same time, we must put into question, in a deep and radical manner, the causes which have made the car ideology dominant in industrialized countries. The elimination of the automobile should be effected by reducing our consumption of materials and natural resources, reducing the transportation flow, and a re-evaluation of our goals.
See! The car has brought industrialization (capitalism) which has brought inequality. It is a scourge that needs to be wiped off the face of the earth. Of course they have to rationalize how much better for humans it would be if we didn't have cars.
Energy And Equity
Ivan Illich’s brilliant, classic, mind-blowing essay argues (among other things) that high speed is the critical factor that makes transportation socially destructive, that we have become dangerously overpowered by our technology. He calls for a society based around low-speed transport, having found that, at speeds faster than 15 mph, equity declines, the scarcity of both time and space increases, and the human and natural environment are degraded. Illich thus finds a contradiction implicit in the joint pursuit of equity and industrial growth.
See! We would all be equal! Yeah, equally mired in misery. But the capper is this little ditty.
The Importance of the Car to the Modern Economy
A critique of the automobile as a part of a larger class-conscious critique of capitalism. It dissects “Fordism,” which raised labour productivity through assembly-line-based industrial production methods and provided the basis for mass consumption. Addresses the freedom of movement introduced by car ownership as a false freedom, a formal freedom, a representation of freedom which becomes a necessity that reduces the freedom of others. Also looks at the contribution of the automobile to social alienation and powerlessness.
Let me see if I understand this. Mobility is a "false freedom". I guess I have no idea what freedom means. Here I thought it meant the ability live as one chooses, without being subject to any undue restraints or restrictions. Silly me. The diatribe supposedly talks about how cars have fueled the capitalistic engine which creates alienation and powerlessness. This stuff is straight from Marxist camp of psycho-babble.

People ask me what I have against the environmental movement? Don't I care about the environment? Of course I do, I have no problem with conservationism. I just have a problem with environmentalism. Environmentalism is not about conservation. It is about deconstructing capitalism. It is the modern day home for socialism. They can't win in the arena of politics so they hide out under the auspices of saving the environment. The world car free net is just another example of this. They want you to think that they are only trying to get people to drive less, but they really want to attack and undermine the pillars of a truly free society.
Posted by brians at 5:49 PM in Political Issues
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Thursday, 13 September 2007

Beshear's Solution for Health Care

The good people at Pol Watchers are doing an on-line debate between the candidates. Our first installment is  a question about gambling.
Pol Watcher:
Do you believe gambling – whether it occurs in a casino, at a racetrack or in the basement of a Catholic church – is a sin? Also, what’s the most you’ve ever won or lost at a casino, racetrack or bingo hall?
Beshear's Answer:
The real sin is that in 2007 more than a half-million Kentuckians, including 81,000 children, have no health insurance. The real sin is senior citizens have to choose between medications and food. The real sin is school children deprived of educational opportunities essential in preparing them for the 21st Century, and Kentucky lagging behind in job opportunities. The real sin is an indicted governor who has shortchanged Kentuckians with dishonest leadership. My father and grandfather were ministers who instilled in me faith and values that remain with me today. As Governor, I will serve the people of Kentucky with integrity.
This is nothing less than demagogic tripe. Let me see if I get his answer about gambling straight. People don't have health insurance because we don't have legalized gambling. Senior citizens are choosing between medications and food because we don't have casinos. Children are deprived of an education because we don't have slot machines. It almost as if legalized gambling is a magic wand that will fix all that ills us. Give me a break.

Let's pretend for a moment and take a trip into Beshear's fantasy world. Let's assume that casinos will generate oodles and oodles of money. Enough money to make sure everyone has health insurance and seniors don't have to choose between drugs and food. What happens 10 years down the road? If we don't stem the rising costs of health care then the costs will eventually outgrow the money generated by casinos. What do we do then? Beshear's solution is like treating a broken arm by giving the patient morphine. Sure the patient no longer feels any pain, but when they get home and the pain killer wears off they still have a broken arm and it hurts worse than ever. All Beshear is proposing is kicking the problem farther out into the future rather than addressing the tough issues.

Now let's come back to reality. Even if Beshear is elected their is no guarantee the legalized gambling will pass the legislature nor a general vote. But even if it does pass, it will be 3 to 5 years from now before the state receives any money from legalized gambling. What about the seniors who have to choose between medication and food? He is just going to let them starve in the mean time? With this statement on gambling, he has removed himself from consideration as a serious candidate. He brings nothing to the table in addressing the real problems we face. This is a nothing but a repeat of Wally Wilkinson's lottery panacea for education. And we all know how well that turned out.

The real problem facing health insurers is the spiraling costs of delivering world class care.  What we need is not casinos but to figure out how to get the free markets more involved in the health care industry. If Walmart can figure out how to deliver goods to people across the country at an affordable price, we should be able to find a similar free market solution to health care. While Fletcher's solutions may not be ideal, he is at least addressing the real issue of rising costs and not spouting off populistic bombast.
Posted by brians at 1:44 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Monday, 10 September 2007

Stumbo - The Political Hack That Won't Go Away

Once again we get another assault from the Stumbo Center of Democratic Public Policy, more commonly known as the Attorney General's Office. This time it is in regards to the make up of the state university board of directors.

The law (KRS 164.011) states that members of the board must reflect the political registration of the state of Kentucky. And since a majority of the "appointed board" is registered Republican, Stumbo has gone into a tizzy.

In his letter last week, Stumbo said, "The citizens of Kentucky are entitled to representation on these boards that faithfully reflects their own political choices and makeup. By creating a Republican majority among the gubernatorial appointees to those boards, you have denied the people their guaranteed voice."

So now he is going to take Fletcher to court once again. This is by far the most stupid thing that Stumbo has done to date. If anything he should be challenging the legality of this absurd law.

How can a law that mandates the composition of a board be made based on political registration be Constitutional? Political party is not a protected class of citizen in the US. It is not like race or gender where you can't change your membership (at least not easily). In fact given 15 minutes, I or anyone else could change their party registration. To base membership on such an arbitrary classification is at best silly. But if I were to accept the ridiculous notion that Political party is a protected class then half of the state's population which is not registered to vote has been disenfranchised by this law.

But the real stupidity of this law is not it's unconstitutionality, but how easy it would be to manipulate. If I were Fletcher, I would go to a couple of Republican board members and ask them to switch their political registration while they served so as to be in compliance. In fact, if I were Fletcher I would ask all of them to switch their registration to cause an imbalance of Democrats on the board. Next I would then remove the previously registered Democrats and replace them with Republicans to "restore balance" to the board and highlight the absolute stupidity of this law.

At this point I can't see how anyone could argue with a straight face that Stumbo as AG has been nothing less than a political shill for the Democratic party of Kentucky. He has become an embarrassment and should just go quietly into the night. Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be the case.

Posted by brians at 2:26 PM in Kentucky Politics
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