Monday, 28 December 2009

The Looming Debt Crisis

Everyone likes to spend money. I mean who wouldn't enjoy blowing money as if there was no end? The problem with spending sprees are that you have to pay for them when the fun ends. It is starting to look like the U.S. spending spree is coming to an end.
IT'S TIME to stop worrying about the deficit -- and start panicking about the debt. To put it another way, short-term deficits aren't the real problem. The punishing hangover of borrowed money is. The ballooning national debt once looked like a long-term problem. Now, the long-term has become the middle-term, fast-forwarded by the cratering economy and the unavoidable and immense spending in the service of saving it.

Consider: In the space of a single fiscal year, 2009, the debt soared from 41 percent of the gross domestic product to 53 percent. By way of comparison, the average for the past half-century has been 37 percent. This sum, which does not include what the government has borrowed from its own trust funds, is on track to rise to a crushing 85 percent of the economy by 2018. Getting the debt back down to a reasonable level will require extraordinary, almost unimaginable, fiscal discipline and political cooperation. Failing to do so will lower the national standard of living and ultimately threaten America's economic stability.
The bottom line is we are out of money. Our spending habits over the last few decades are no longer sustainable. It is now time to pay the piper. If we don't, our money will become worthless through a combination of inflation and stagnation. Our standard of living will disintegrate. How do we solve the problem? The Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform offered a solution.
The fiscal situation was serious before the recession. It is now dire. An important proposal being released Monday by the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform urges Congress and the White House to commit immediately to stabilizing the debt at 60 percent of GDP by 2018; come up with a credible plan for getting there; and begin phasing in the necessary policy changes in 2012, once the recovery is fully underway. Warnings about fiscal danger may sound familiar, but one reflection of the current circumstances comes in the composition of the group that signed on to this report and agreed that both tax increases and spending cuts would be required. They range from a liberal former chair of the House Budget Committee,  William H. Gray III of Pennsylvania, to a conservative former chair, Jim Nussle of Iowa. The recommendations envision annual benchmarks, enforceable by a debt trigger that would impose spending cuts and a surtax if the specified reductions were not achieved. Once the debt is stabilized in 2018, the goal would be to set it on a glide path to further reduction, (emphasis added)
Why is it whenever we talk about reducing the debt, tax increases enter the mix? It really isn't that freaking hard to solve the debt problem. DON'T SPEND SO MUCH MONEY! Half the crap our federal government spends money on is completely unnecessary. Until we cut back government to half the size it currently is we shouldn't be asking the tax payers to pony up any more money.  It is time Uncle Sam went on a diet. All we need are legislators who are willing to say no to the continual feeding of the monstrosity which is our federal government. As Ronald Reagan said "Balancing the budget is a little like protecting your virtue; you just have to learn to say no".

If we can't find any legislators willing to do the easy work, then we need to pass a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. Let's force these idiots to create a balance budget. If most states can survive with a balanced budget law, surely the federal government can survive with the same constraints. The fun and games are over. It is time to get serious before we become a banana republic.

Posted by brians at 10:19 PM in National Politics
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Wednesday, 23 December 2009

Henry Is Done

Steve Henry has a fascinating political story. His career arc seemed nothing short of meteoric. He went from doctor to Jefferson County District Commission to Lt Governor. He suffered a set back in 1998 when he lost the primary for US Senate, but regained his mojo by marrying Miss America and used his new found stature to run for Governor in 2007. Then the wheels completely fell off. He never gained any traction as his campaign was plagued by charges of billing malpractice as a doctor and campaign violations. Henry wasn't even competitive in the primary finishing a distant third. Not only did he lose the election but he was facing new charges of campaign finance violations. Tuesday, we learned the results of the investigation.
Former Kentucky Lt. Gov. Steve Henry is expected to accept a plea agreement Tuesday afternoon that would resolve three alleged criminal violations of state election-finance laws in connection with his unsuccessful 2007 campaign for governor.

Under the agreement, Henry would tender what is known as an Alford plea and be sentenced to 12 months in jail, conditionally discharged for two years. Assuming that Henry did not engage in further criminal activity during that time, he would not be incarcerated but would pay a $500 fine.

The Alford plea would allow Henry to maintain his innocence while acknowledging that there is sufficient evidence to convict him. It also would represent the third time in little more than six years that he has resolved government allegations of wrongdoing without admitting guilt.

Of course Henry denied any wrong doing and bashed the prosecution for conducting a with hunt.
No sooner had Steve Henry been pronounced guilty Tuesday afternoon of violating Kentucky election-finance laws in connection with his unsuccessful 2007 gubernatorial campaign than he proceeded to launch a spirited defense that he chose not to present in court.

The case against him amounted to nothing more than a “political witch hunt” instigated by then-Attorney General Greg Stumbo, Henry told reporters. His accusers were liars, he said, and the evidence against him was weak. The investigation of his conduct cost a staggering $900,000 but was able to identify only a few “Mickey Mouse” inadvertent violations, he said.
The only problem is he plead GUILTY. The prosecutor fired back at Henry's accusations.
“I don't know what kind of doctor Steve Henry is, but I know he's not a lawyer. He doesn't know what he's talking about,” Crawford said.

“If he's the innocent person he says he is, why did he stand up there and accept a conviction? If he doesn't believe we had the evidence, why did he agree to a plea bargain? He knows we could prove this case.”

If this was the only time he plead guilty, one might be convinced that Henry was the innocent victim. But this was the second time he used such a defense. Did I say second? I meant his third time.
The Alford plea would allow Henry to maintain his innocence while acknowledging that there is sufficient evidence to convict him. It also would represent the third time in little more than six years that he has resolved government allegations of wrongdoing without admitting guilt.
How can you make an Alfred plea three different times without actually being prosecuted? At some point you would think the prosecution would prosecute and send this scoundrel to jail. Regardless of the prosecutor's decision, this "plea" is the pathetic and bizarre ending chapter to what could only have been classified as a promising political career. And yes it is over. You don't plead guilty to three different crimes and run for office again. Even the Henry's know the truth of it.
Asked if his political career is over, Henry said, “My wife told me that we're not available for politics.” While Henry said he regrets not being elected governor, he added that he will “continue to do public service.”
Yeah, whatever. So long Henry, I doubt the state will miss you or your propensity for corruption.

Posted by brians at 10:10 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Tuesday, 22 December 2009

The Silent Majority Begins To Awaken

Candidates running for higher office such as Senator or Governor as there first gig rarely work. There are a number of reasons for the high level of failure.  First, most newbies don't have name recognition. Unless they are a sports star or some other local celebrity they have to create name recognition.

That leads us to the second problem. They don't have the money to raise name identification. Name id is the primary component necessary to win a primary. If people don't know who you are they aren't likely to vote for you. It is the primary reason incumbents get reelected in such large numbers. Unless a candidate is independently wealthy and has money to buy communications with the electorate to tell them who they are, they can't win.

Newbie candidates also have problems with personal baggage. It is the first time that their history will be reviewed in great detail. They don't have previous electoral wins to damper the effects. Being their first race, they generally have problems honing their message. It takes them awhile to figure it out which causes them to end up being wishy-washy on issues that opponents can exploit.

They also suffer from not having an experienced campaign team. A veteran team that has been in the war during previous election conflicts. Instead they have either a mercenary campaign team or an amateur untested staff. Neither is ideal when trying to put together all of the pieces necessary on election day to win a state wide election.

Tom Owens and Bruce Lunsford are examples of candidates that have tried this route and have failed spectacularly. These guys were independently wealthy, but couldn't put it together. Every election is filled with candidates who didn't have any money and get creamed. Heather Ryan in the 1st Congressional district is a perfect example.

Enter Rand Paul. Normally, he would be a candidate who, like Heather Ryan, gets 5 percent of the vote and no one knows who he/she is. What makes him different is his dad. His dad, having run for the GOP president, has amassed a huge mailing list of donors across the U.S.. Rand Paul has been able to tap into that money source to generate the funds necessary to run a serious campaign. He has the resources necessary to generate name id clearing a major hurdle necessary to win an election.

The only question is would his campaign avoid the implosion of other campaigns? They have a good start at it. First they got owned by Grayson for flip flopping on Gitmo. Now they have a major staffer who has quit the campaign because of crap posted on his web site.
The spokesman for U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul resigned Thursday after the campaign acknowledged that he maintained a page on a Web site that included racist remarks and suggested the government bore some responsibility for the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The campaign had nothing left to do but apologize for Hightower's site.
“Today the Rand Paul campaign became aware of some disturbing images on a social network site attributed to a campaign staffer,” a statement from the Paul campaign said in announcing Hightower’s resignation. “These images in no way represent Dr. Paul or his campaign nor do they represent the beliefs of this staff member. These images are reprehensible and have no place in civil discourse.”
The obvious question is how did this idiot become the spokesman and treasurer for the campaign? Does the campaign not have a vetting process? The obvious answer is that Hightower was close to Rand Paul to gain such a trusted position without vetting. Not only do the ties reflect poorly on Paul, they highlight the amateur nature of the first time candidate. A polished candidate would have already weeded out such rift-raft in previous campaigns.

Such a political gaffe provided easy fodder for the Grayson campaign.

Grayson said Thursday that Hightower positions are not out of step with the Paul campaign.

“The views and behavior displayed by Rand Paul’s communications director have no place in this campaign,” Grayson said in a statement. “I think Rand Paul’s judgment is seriously in question at this point. There seems to be a pattern of these kinds of disturbing views in his campaign.”

One would think that such campaign gaffes would be the beginning of the implosion of the Rand campaign. But a poll released today shows Rand with a monster 19 point lead on Grayson.

If there was any doubt Rand Paul is a serious candidate for the Republican Senate nomination in Kentucky it can be cast away. Our first poll of the race finds him leading Trey Grayson 44-25.

I imagine this poll is a bit of an outlier. I seriously doubt that Paul has a 19 point lead on Grayson. But I don't doubt that he currently maintains a lead on Grayson. How can this be? His campaign is not exactly running on all cylinders. How could he open up a gap while his campaign flounders?

Rand is in the right place in the right time. He is the "outsider" in the race when politicians are hated. Just look at the internals of the poll to understand why he is currently leading.

Paul is, as the conventional wisdom suggests, drawing his strongest support from Republicans who are unhappy with their party. He has a 54-22 lead over Grayson with voters who are unhappy with the GOP in Congress and a 54-18 advantage with folks who think the party's grown too liberal.

What we have here is more proof of an awakening. An awakening of the silent majority in this country. Earlier this year, we saw the beginnings of it in the Tea Parties. At the time, I thought it was amazing to see so many conservatives protesting. Protesting had always been the domain of the left. Liberals are always protesting something. Conservatives, on the other hand, were the silent majority. They did their job, raised their kids, went to church and pretty much stayed out of politics. The lived their lives.

No longer. The massive orgy of spending by Democrats and the attempts to socialize health care have woken these people from their slumber. They have realized the attacks on their freedom by a monolithic statist government was becoming real. Their simple way of life is now in danger and they are rising up against it. It is a popular revolt in the spirit of the founding fathers. Like many of the religious revivals speckled throughout our history, this one is moving people to action. A wave is coming and 2010 will not be safe year for any politician. That wave may catapult Rand, a man who represents the outside, into the U.S. Senate regardless of his amateur campaign.



Posted by brians at 10:32 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Friday, 18 December 2009

Global Warming - The Religion of Socialists

In Copenhagen last night, world leaders are trying frantically to put together a deal that will "save the world". Why? Because we no longer have any time to wait.
"Time is against us, let's stop posturing," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, one of scores of leaders who addressed the talks on Thursday. "A failure in Copenhagen would be a catastrophe for each and every one of us."
The time is against us. The time is against us. The time is against us. Always the environmentalists talk about how the time is against us. We must act before the world collapses.  You know why they are in such a hurry? Because the canard of global warming is beginning to crumble. Every day we get new stories about manipulating / cherry picking the data to show warming trends that don't really exist. Today we learn that data from Russia had been manipulated to show warming.

On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change based at the headquarters of the British Meteorological Office in Exeter (Devon, England) had probably tampered with Russian-climate data.

The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory. Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports. Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations.

The data of stations located in areas not listed in the Hadley Climate Research Unit Temperature UK (HadCRUT) survey often does not show any substantial warming in the late 20th century and the early 21st century.

The real hurry is that if we wait to long the earth will continue its cooling trend until they can no longer claim that we have run-away warming. There agenda will die.

What is the agenda? Why would they manipulate the data to show artificial warming? Two reasons: money and socialism. There is a lot of money to be made in scientific fear mongering. It leads to more money for government research. It leads to even more money for people dealing in environmental policy. Ask Al Gore. The man who made a billion dollars off this clap trap.

That is only half the story. The more onerous side of the story is the underlying desire to destroy capitalism. These "green" activists are socialists. They see this as a perfect opportunity to overthrow capitalism and replace it with socialism. Don't believe me? Let's take a peak into the Copenhagen convention.
Then President Hugo Chavez brought the house down.

When he said the process in Copenhagen was “not democratic, it is not inclusive, but isn’t that the reality of our world, the world is really and imperial dictatorship…down with imperial dictatorships” he got a rousing round of applause.

When he said there was a “silent and terrible ghost in the room” and that ghost was called capitalism, the applause was deafening.

But then he wound up to his grand conclusion – 20 minutes after his 5 minute speaking time was supposed to have ended and after quoting everyone from Karl Marx to Jesus Christ - “our revolution seeks to help all people…socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the road to hell....let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us.”  He won a standing ovation.
He won a standing ovation. Read back over what he said and realize it led to a standing ovation. Make no mistake. This is a fight between capitalism and socialism. The reason they need to hurry is because their "proof" of man made global warming is crumbling. They are running out of time before the world rejects their latest strategic attempt to destroy capitalism. They realize the stakes. If they miss out now, they may never get a chance again. We as Americans need to understand this and fight with everything we have against them. We need to take a stand for the American way. We must stand up for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those are principles which will dissappear under the socialistic despotism the fools in Copenhagen are planning.

Posted by brians at 6:15 AM in Political Issues
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Thursday, 17 December 2009

Is Rand Paul's Campaign Peaking

A number of political observers have wondered if Rand Paul's campaign was sustainable.
By raising expectations for a "moneybomb" Internet fundraiser today (12/16), Rand Paul's U.S. Senate campaign is walking a high risk/high reward tightrope.  If campaign manager David Adams' public hopes are reached to raise $700,000 in one day, even skeptics will have to take notice of Paul's sustained success.  But, if the moneybomb falls far short of the goal, Paul's upstart candidacy could be walking into a warning sounded by rival Trey Grayson, who has suggested that Paul's campaign is likely to peak too soon.
Well, the money bomb fell well short of the campaigns expectations. They were only able to raise $200,000. Less than 30% of the goal. Does that mean that Paul's fund raising machine is running out of steam? Probably. But who cares? They have raised over 1.5 million dollars. That is more than enough money to be competitive next May regardless of how much money they raise between now and then. The question now isn't if the candidates can cross a certain threshold. Both candidates have both achieved that level. The question now is how they will spend the money?

Posted by brians at 4:41 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Wednesday, 16 December 2009

Moving Team Elendil Posts

I am moving my triathlon posts off of Elendil's Journal. It just doesn't work to mix my training with Kentucky politics. If you are interested in following my triathlon training, I will be blogging at Team Elendil.

Posted by brians at 10:30 PM in Team Elendil
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KEEP's Next Move

Apparently the KEEP people have come up with a new solution after their multi-million dollar gambit last week blew up in their face. They realize that gambling isn't popular in many parts of the state so they have come up with a more localized solution to their problem.

The board voted unanimously to redouble efforts at membership and voter registration, but it did not take action on a specific legislative strategy now that efforts have stalled to remove Republican
Senate President David Williams, who opposes expanded gambling.

However, several alternatives were explored. Among them: amending the state’s lottery law to permit local-option referenda on allowing video lottery terminals, or slot machines, in counties where there are racetracks.

“We’re willing to let the people vote on it like you vote on a ‘wet/dry’ issue. That could be done quickly,” Jones said.

I think this is a brilliant change of course for them. They would easily win votes in Louisville and Lexington. The two locations they really care about. The only problem with their new idea is that it is still unconstitutional.  You can call them video "lottery" terminals all you want, but that doesn't make them a lottery. Which means it isn't allowed by our state constitution. First they need to amend the constitution to allow slots and then they can have their regional votes. Call me a stickler, but I think it is important that we follow the state constitution since it is the law of Kentucky.

Posted by brians at 5:15 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Tuesday, 15 December 2009

Kicking The Habit

Apparently budget deficits lead to fear monger and fear mongering leads to higher taxes. At least that is what I take from Stumbo's new found openness to higher taxes.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Tuesday that he’s open to raising taxes to maintain the progress that the state has made in education the past 20 years....

In something of a reversal from previous statements, Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said he is willing to consider ways of reforming the state’s tax structure and believes legislators and the public might be more open to the idea if the alternative is massive cuts to education and human services.
Why is it disastrous if government is forced to cut back? Only someone who believes in the religion of government would actually believe such hog wash. Only someone who puts government upon such a pedestal could believe that government is the answer to all of our problems. Only then would you conclude that government is to holy to be cut in size.
We need to stop worshiping false idols and begin believing in people. People can take care of themselves if only we show faith in their abilities.

Besides our problem is not that we are taxed too little, but that we spend too much. We don't give meth addicts more product, but we seem content to give politicians more money. How are we going to break our addiction to spending if we keep giving pols more and more money. I think it is time the state went cold turkey.

Posted by brians at 9:12 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Monday, 14 December 2009

Nothing To Offer Except Fear Itself

The Democrats in Kentucky suffered a serious setback last Tuesday. Higdon's easy win created shock waves that will be felt well into next year. Gerth has a good article today on the fallout of the election. He re-iterated points I made on the election. The Republicans nationalization of the election tapped into the anger over the national Democratic parties leftward tilt to help fuel the win. In addition Gerth noted that Higdon had a good GOTV campaign. His district had the highest voter turn out in the election.

Gerth also points the obvious problems the Democrats face next year. First an electorate that is pissed off at the Democrats in DC. Creating an environment for the GOP to sweep next year's election. Secondly, Beshear's push to get an unconstitutional slots bill is done. The most he can hope for is a constitutional amendment which won't take effect during his tenure in office which will do him little good. But Gerth doesn't give up hope. He sees a way Beshear can get gambling next year. Anyone care to guess what that strategy will be?

But the governor and the horse industry still have hopes that expanded gambling can win approval without a constitutional amendment, which would give Beshear hundreds of millions of dollars to spend just before his re-election campaign.

All they have to do is show the state Senate how bad the state’s budget is and how education and state police will need to be cut without it.

If you guessed fear then you guess correctly. They are going to try and scare the electorate with cuts in "education" and the "state police". They won't tell people that the cuts won't reduce the number of teachers or cops. It might reduce the numbers of bureaucrats, but won't do anything to the number of police on the streets or teachers in the classroom. The Democrats truly hate to see the loss of government bureaucracy. So instead of offering plans to intelligently trim state government, we are going to get a good dose of fear mongering. That is all they have to offer.



Posted by brians at 9:55 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Thursday, 10 December 2009

Attack of Socialism

The socialist leaders in the world are gathering this week in Copenhagen to plot the destruction of capitalism. All of which is done under the guise of "saving the planet". They continue warning of dire consequences if they don't act now.
Keeping global temperature rise under 2C (3.7F) will be almost impossible unless carbon emissions begin to fall within a decade, analysis suggests. (emphasis added)
How do they plan to reduce carbon emissions? You guessed it by capping our capacity to create energy. Such a move will skyrocket the cost of energy. The cost of all goods will in turn skyrocket causing a collapse of our economic markets. Make no mistake this is the end game. They have been building up global warming for the last decade for just such a moment.

They will not be stopped. Especially not by data that shows the planet has been cooling the last 10 years. No instead they have been manipulating the data to show warming where there hasn't been. The good people at http://wattsupwiththat.com have been looking into the data and have found some interesting results.

First they have been looking through the source code and have found some interesting manipulations of the data. Including the following source code bit.
2	; Apply a VERY ARTIFICAL correction for decline!!
3	;
4	yrloc=[1400,findgen(19)*5.+1904]
5	valadj=[0.,0.,0.,0.,0.,-0.1,-0.25,-0.3,0.,-0.1,0.3,0.8,1.2,1.7,2.5,2.6,2.6,2.6,2.6,2.6]*0.75   ; fudge factor
As you can see they are creating a variable called yrloc which is an array to hold the years. The second variable is an array named valadj which has a nice padding that is skewed toward the later years. I bet it is just coincidence that these adjustments just happen to resemble a hockey stick. It is a good thing the comments are there to help clarify why these adjustments are being made.

The manipulations aren't just related to the findings in code. The same site also started looking at data collection from the Darwin airport in Australia. They found that someone had been incorrectly manipulating the temperature readings from there. I am sure you would be shocked to learn that temperatures had been manipulated UPWARD.

Take some time and read the whole thing.

The game is up and the socialists know it. That is why they are hyperventilating about the need to do something now. Here in the U.S. they have taken a major step by declaring air as a pollutant. The EPA is now set up to regulate EVERYTHING. I suspect they will use that power if they can't get cap-n-trade passed by the legislators. I guarantee you that Kentucky will be hard hit by these coming regulations.

This is dangerous stuff. Our economy. Our way of life is the firing line of socialists. Make no mistake. They intend to destroy capitalism.  It is the only way they can bring about their socialist paradise.  Take some time to read Karl Marx. He explains it nicely. The only way socialism succeeds is that capitalism must first fail. These socialists are attempting to use "global warming" as a means to destroy our economy and hasten capitalisms demise. If we care about liberty and freedom, we must beat back this attack. Fortunately, it looks like the public is beginning to turn against the theory behind man made global warming. We just have to hold out long enough for the socialist's magical science to be exposed for the bunk it is.

Posted by brians at 7:53 AM in Political Issues
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Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Voters Reject Democrats

Beshear's dream of switching the senate by appointing Republicans popped tonight. Republican Jimmy Higdon beat Democrat Jodie Haydon with 56% percent of the vote. The solid victory occurred despite Higdon being outspent almost 3 to 1. Two components led to the Republican win tonight.

The first element was the strategic decision to tie Haydon to the national Democratic party. The national party's strong tilt to the left has been a monkey on state Democrats for some time and continued tonight. Secondly, Higdon was a state representative. He already had an experienced team at GOTV. He was able to use it to do well enough in his district to help sway the election results. This is the same thing that allowed Sen Webb to win the last special election.

In addition to the senate race, Republicans picked up the 96th District house seat in Eastern Kentucky. It was to fill the spot vacated by newly elected Senator Webb.  Republican Jill York trounced Democrat Barry Web with over 60% of the vote.

The results tonight will dash any hopes Beshear had for flipping the senate next year. The chance of that occurring now is close to zero. It also means the Kentucky constitution will not be violated by slots legislation. Expanded gambling will only occur with the passage of a constitutional amendment.

The Republican win should also send shudders down the spines of Mongiardo and Conway's teams. The effectiveness of Higdon's strategy of tying Haydon to the national party despite being outspent 3 to 1 is eye opening. It also provides a preview of what we are likely to see next fall. A fact that will prove very difficult for either Democratic candidate to win next year's general election. The tide has turned. The only question remaining is how big will the Republican wave be next year?

Posted by brians at 9:44 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Annual Anti-BCS Rant

Part of my yearly sports therapy is to use my blog as an avenue to rant against the stupidity of the current BCS system. This year was a nightmare for BCS supporters. Having 5 undefeated teams makes the title game a bit of a farce. How can you have a championship where deserving teams are left out of the mix? Especially when their only sin is not being ranked high enough at the beginning of the year. Or not having a blue blood name like Texas. It puts a lie to the argument "every week is a playoff". If so, then who eliminated Cincy, TCU, and Boise State?

The answer is so obvious it is frustrating. We need a 16 team playoff. With 16 spots every conference champion can get an automatic bid meaning every team starts the year with a chance to win the title. The remaining five at large births can be determined by the current BCS system. Like the other football divisions, the higher seeded team plays at home until the championship game which is played at a neutral site. Here would be this year's pairings.

16 Troy @ 1 Alabama
9 Georgia Tech @ 8 Ohio St
13 Penn St @ 4 TCU
12 VT @ 5 Florida
15 ECU @ 2 Texas
10 Iowa @ 7 Oregon
14 C Michigan @ 3 Cincy
11 LSU @ 6 Boise St

How cool would that tournament be? But won't that take away the excitement of the regular season? No for two reasons. First winning your conference is priority number one. Conference games are huge because winning guarantees you a spot in the playoffs. Secondly, it will encourage teams to schedule better out of conference in order to prepare for conference play. There will be no drop off in excitement. Every conference game is just as important as every game today.

But we will miss the drama from last weekend where Texas, UF, and Alabama were playing for a spot in the title game. Will we? Pitt and Nebraska would have been playing for spots in the playoffs while Texas, Cincy, UF, and Alabama would be playing for seeding. The UF / Alabama game would have still been big because it guaranteed home field throughout the playoffs. Plus it matters who the first round opponent would have been. There is a big difference between playing Troy and Virginia Tech.

Besides, the amount of buzz around the sixteen team playoff would be enormous. Many times greater than the buzz around the Alabama / Texas two team playoff. But instead of letting the players decide it on the field like every other college sport, the BCS is going to spoon feed us crap so they can continue to make their money. It is a joke.

Want to know the reason Texas got the miracle second back on the clock unlike say FSU versus Miami? Because the BCS didn't want TCU playing in the title game. How embarrassing would it be if TCU had won it? I also like how the Fiesta Bowl is taking one for the team. Pair the two non-BCS schools together so they can't suffer the humiliation they received last year when Utah punked Alabama.

But what teams being rewarded with a bowl game for a good season? You could still have bowl games. They would still be as meaningful as they are under the current system. Heck you could even invite the first round playoff losers to bowl games.

But instead of a playoff and bowl games we are treated to the BCS. An institution that is nothing less than a cartel used to keep money in the hands of the haves and out of the hands of the have nots.

The BCS is a cartel in the truest sense of the word. If Exxon Mobil and Chevron did in the oil industry what the BCS has done in college football, they would be prosecuted for violating antitrust laws.

Need proof of the cartel? Well, look at TCU (non-BCS conference) vs. Baylor (BCS conference). Here’s the tale of the tape from 2005 to 2008:

Baylor is earning more than $1.5 million a year from bowls it never plays in, while TCU — which during this time period beat teams such as Oklahoma, Texas Tech and even Baylor, twice — received just a third of that.

I am rarely for government involvement in our day to day lives, but these are public institutions getting public dollars. Maybe government should step in and at least break up the cartel. This would be more useful (and better for my health) than taking over the health care system. The whole thing pisses me off!  Ok, rant over. Return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Posted by brians at 6:32 PM in Sports Topics
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Monday, 7 December 2009

Attack Of The Environmentalists

The environmentalists got a huge win today in their quest to to take us back to the stone ages where everyone lives in mud huts. The EPA ruled that CO2 (and other "greenhouse gases") are a pollutant. Yes, a key component of air is a pollutant. Yes one of the key components that allows plants to thrive is now considered a pollutant.

Completely ridiculous! But the goal is clear.

The EPA signaled last April that it was inclined to view heat-trapping pollution as a threat to public health and welfare and began to take public comments under a formal rulemaking. The action marked a reversal from the Bush administration, which had refused before leaving office to issue the finding, despite a conclusion by EPA scientists that it was warranted.

Business groups have strongly argued against tackling global warming through the Clean Air Act, saying it is less flexible and more costly than the cap-and-trade bill being considered before Congress....

....the EPA has begun the early stages of developing permit requirements on carbon dioxide pollution from large emitters such as power plants. The administration also has said it will set the first-ever greenhouse gas emissions standards for automobiles and raise fuel economy to 35 miles per gallon by 2016 to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  (emphasis added)

They are going to use the Clean Air Act to regulate and destroy the energy producers in this country. They have one goal. Rolling back capitalism and replacing it with statism. They have been trying to use environmentalism as the vehicle for some time and now they have won a great victory. They have turned air into a pollutant so they can regulate everything.

What infuriates me the most is that the it is all based upon a sham. Man made global warming is a myth. We are just now learning about how the University of East Anglia CRU has destroyed its raw data and manipulated numbers to make sure that temperatures were "constantly rising". They might not have been the only organization to do so either.

Fortunately, people are beginning to have their eyes opened to the scam. The latest polls show that only 45% of people believe in man made global warming and that number has been dropping. Hopefully, we can stop this dangerous trend towards eco-stalinism before our energy prices soar and economy is destroyed.



Posted by brians at 10:48 PM in National Politics
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Thursday, 3 December 2009

Poor Horse Industry

Life is so difficult for Churchill Downs that they have decided to cut back... oh wait no they aren't cutting back at all. They are expanding by purchasing Arlington Park Racecourse near Chicago. Tell me again why we need to pump money into their coffers at the expense of the little guy?

Posted by brians at 6:03 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Wednesday, 2 December 2009

KY Democrats - Taking From The Poor To Give To The Super Wealthy

Every time a Democrat speaks they always talk about how they are for the little man. They tell us how the Republicans are the party of the rich while they only care about those who struggle to make ends meet. Turns out that really isn't the case.
Major Republican donors with ties to horse racing are crossing party lines to support a Democrat running for the state Senate who promises he’ll back casino-style gambling at racetracks.....

....Racehorse owner Virginia “Gigi” Lazenby of Nashville is among the donors who have crossed party lines in the race. She has traditionally supported Republicans, including Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, and was a “bundler” who raised more than $100,000 for Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign last year.

But Lazenby has given $1,000 to Democrat Jodie Haydon’s state Senate campaign in Central Kentucky’s 14th District.

Who are these people filling the Democrat's coffers? They are race horse owners or ones that have a stake in race tracks. Think about that for a second? Do you have any idea how much it costs to buy a thoroughbred? Owning a race horse is very expensive proposition. Horse racing is the play grounds of the super rich. Those who play are the super elite who have the cash to throw away on horses. Just look at the Kentucky Derby! Do you see any poor people in the grand stands on Derby day?

So why are they giving money to the Democrats? Because the Democrats are backing video slots at the tracks. These wealthy horse owners are smart enough to realize that money flowing into slots will directly line their pockets. They want some easy money and are willing to invest a little bit of cash on the Democrats in order to get it.

Who are the people that will be using these slot machines? If you have ever been to a casino, it is obvious that the high rollers do not play slots. No if you sit and watch the players who spend hours at the slots it becomes apparent that they are middle to lower class citizens. The ones struggling to make ends meet. The people the Democrats supposedly want to help.

At the end of the day what we have is an attempt by the Democrats to take money from the poor and give it to the rich. It is really that simple. Of course the Democrats have no problem with it because they will get to take their cut of the money to expand government's reach. The only thing they truly care about. It is disgusting and smells of rank hypocrisy.



Posted by brians at 11:00 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Tuesday, 1 December 2009

Global Warming Hoax Exposed

As we begin to learn more about the emails from the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, we begin to learn more about how they have manipulated the data to get the results they wanted. The world has finally been exposed to what can only be called the crime of the century.

Global warming is a scam, pure and simple. By any objective measure, it’s the crime of the century, with a dollar value that dwarfs the sins of Bernie Madoff or Enron. People like Al Gore have become millionaires by selling books and “carbon credits” to their marks… many of whom knew perfectly well they were being taken for a ride, but felt political pressure to play along, or saw opportunities created by the exercise of raw government power. The economic damage from legislation passed in response to this hoax will run into trillions of dollars, if Barack Obama’s disastrous cap-and-trade legislation passes the Senate....

… but no private corporation could do anything like this, could they? The global warming scam is the kind of crime that only Big Government can mastermind.

Can you imagine if a private company had used iffy science and false advertising to sell more of their product? How hard would the government come down on them? Ask the cigarette companies about it. They have been almost run out of business and have battled our government for decades. And they have been now where near as manipulative and fear mongering as the global warming crowd.

The good news is that the global warming science may be experiencing its own economic bubble.

This has long been one of the credibility issues with the AGW movement from the beginning, although one built into government grants for research in general.  Government grants create a market for research, which universities and other institutions create supply to meet, as Stephens rightfully notes.  That gives government a great deal of power to distort academic markets, if you think of them in those terms — and a massive incentive for the providers to endorse the reasoning behind the supply.  After all, concluding that an issue is negligible or nonexistent means the end of such grants.

But researchers have ethics and a sense of responsibility as scientists, some will argue in return.  That may be true in many or even most fields, but the e-mails exposed at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit — one of the premier institutions pushing the anthropogenic global-warming theory — show that the AGW field was not among them.  The e-mails repeatedly discuss ways to hide bad and contradictory data and ways to attack other scientists arguing against their conclusions.  The charitable conclusion to draw from this is that they believe in AGW so much that they became high priests instead of researchers; the less charitable conclusion was that they didn’t want the gravy train to end.  Either or both, they stopped doing science a long time ago.

With the discarding of the raw data by East Anglia CRU, the pretense at science has ended.  The cash incentives for reaching those conclusions should end as well.  If AGW is real, then let the scientists build a transparent and complete data set for all to review openly that proves it, instead of only publishing subsets of “adjustments” and destroying the raw data.  Science welcomes critical review; corrupted advocates shrink from it and conspire to block it.  While some may argue over the benefits and problems with government funding of the former, no one can argue that the latter deserves a red cent of public money to encourage it.

We can only hope so! And the sooner it happens the better.







Posted by brians at 10:11 PM in Political Issues
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