What might have been...

In a better world, newly inaugurated Gov. Steve Pence would be giving his first State of the Commonwealth address tonight in Frankfort.

However, due to a combination of politically-motivated investigations and Pence's own wrong-headed decisions, that's not happening. Instead, Gov. Steve Beshear is kicking off a second term that promises to be as bad as, if not worse, than his first term.

There's really no need to rehash Greg Stumbo's partisan attacks against the 2003-2007 term of Gov. Ernie Fletcher, except to note Pence's disloyal and cowardly behavior as the personnel probe progressed. And it's also important to note that Pence was not Fletcher (and Sen. Mitch McConnell's) first choice as a lieutenant governor running mate, but he appeared to be a much more solid choice than McConnell's original designee, Hunter Bates.

Lt. Gov. Pence had it right when he uttered his infamous "indict a ham sandwich" remark. Or at least it would seem so; that he recognized that the charges were baseless and were sparked not by any real desire to punish wrongdoing, but to drum a Republican out of the Governor's Office because the Fletcher administration (gasp and egads!) dared to reverse a decades-long trend of hiring Democrats for merit system jobs.

A former federal prosecutor, Pence seemed to grasp exactly what was going on as the special grand jury rolled on. But appearances were deceiving. Once Fletcher took the wind out of the investigation's sails by issuing pardons, and calling for the resignations of those he felt had made non-criminal mistakes in the hiring process, Pence retreated from the administration. He refused Fletcher's request to resign, then ended up supporting Fletcher's opponents in the 2007 primary and general elections when Fletcher wisely chose someone else to be his running mate in his failed re-election campaign.

Had the former prosecutor been out front explaining why the investigation was trumped-up and the pardons were appropriate, perhaps things would have been different. His credibility on the matter would have been impeccable. He might have helped to blunt the political damage Stumbo's persecution caused, could have completed a second term as lieutenant governor, and may have successfully won a term of his own as governor. Instead, he's relegated to representing Rick Pitino in the infamous Porcini's matter.

But we all know what happened. Beshear beat Fletcher in 2007, completely mishandled the surplus the Fletcher administration left in the state government treasury, and has in general been a failure as governor the past four years. Despite the ascendancy of the Republican Party in Kentucky over the past decade or so, no truly viable candidates stepped forth to challenge Beshear's re-election bid. Senate President David Williams, soiled by years of unfair and unanswered attacks from the state's liberal media, put up a respectable challenge, but the damage done to his persona via relentless criticisms from the Herald-Leader and Courier-Journal proved to be too much to overcome. The seeming self-destruction of Richie Farmer didn't help. Farmer was generally regarded to have done an excellent job as agriculture commissioner, and his status as a legendary Kentucky Wildcat basketball player was supposed to be an asset. A series of political blunders and the unfortunate timing of his wife's filing for divorce tarnished Williams' choice for a running mate.

Williams also wasn't helped by attacks by a few self-promoting and self-proclaimed Tea Party participants. Funding was going to be a problem for Williams in the general election as it was; the Phil Moffett candidacy and its backing by the likes of loudmouths David Adams and Mica Sims forced Williams to spend money in the primary that would have been better spent in the general election.

So now, with Beshear back in office for another four years, Kentucky has little to look forward too. He came into office poor-mouthing and no doubt he'll continue to do so. He's bought into the wrongheaded notion that the only way to rejuvenate the horse racing industry in Kentucky is to allow the tracks to run casinos, so he'll finally make a concerted effort to pay back those who bankrolled his 2007 win. He fails to see the need for comprehensive tax reform. He turns a blind eye to some of the wasteful spending of Kentucky's "educracy" every time he exempts education from a budget cut. There just simply is no reason for optimism that this state will move forward, especially when you see the cast of supporting characters that has been assembled in the background, both in appointive positions and the lower-level elected positions. And don't forget that snake-in-the-grass Stumbo is still in charge of the House. We can only pray that Williams and the Senate Republicans can stand firm against the worst of the Democrats' initiatives.

As we watch "World's Dumbest" or "Dog The Bounty Hunter" or "Law & Order" reruns, or anything other than Beshear's lies and false promises tonight, we'll take a moment -- but not much more than that -- to wonder just what Steve Pence is doing and thinking. Had he merely done the right thing, there's a better-than-average chance that he could have been making that speech tonight.

Lefty blogger cat fight!!!

We'd be lying if we said we held any of Kentucky's liberal bloggers in any sort of esteem at all. Most of them exhibit everything that's wrong with politics in this state and nation. The liberals don't have the answers for what ails this nation -- they are, in fact, what's wrong with this country -- and everyone knows the Democrats have mismanaged this state for years. For most of our lifetimes we've only had two Republican governors (and only one of them was conservative) and only for the past decade or so have we had one chamber of the General Assembly under GOP control.

We've railed against conservative cannibalism on countless occasions, yet we can't help but be amused when the libtard cheerleaders turn on one another.

Case in point: The ongoing catfight between Page One Kentucky and a handful of other blogs.

We've said before that we don't have any use for Jake Payne's political views, but at least he appears to be as intellectually honest as a liberal can be. He's been pretty harsh on Steve Beshear's performance as governor, Jack Conway's campaigns and a number of other Democrats who hold office in Kentucky. (On the other hand, he loves partisan hack Crit Luallen, quite possibly the most politically motivated state auditor ever elected in the Bluegrass State, but that's neither here nor there).

Payne certainly can't be considered a fan of the Republicans, but since the David Williams/Richie Farmer ticket has deemed it necessary to waste money advertising on Page One, he's come under attack for being a "sellout" because he accepts their advertising dollars while at the same time daring to be critical of Steve Beshear -- especially when Beshear actually stands up for Kentucky by blasting the Obama administration's anti-coal policies.

Blue Bluegrass, a blog run by an admittedly liberal state employee known only as "Bob," has been pounding away at Payne and Page One. A new anonymous blog, Jake Payne Watch, has sprung up within the past couple of weeks and the author there keeps hinting at some sort of bombshell that will totally destroy Payne's credibility.

We've even seen some signs of discord between Payne and the blogger who always appeared to be his BFF, the godless liberal Joe Sonka at Barefoot & Progressive -- the same blog that Bob at Blue Bluegrass likes to praise.

(A radically liberal state employee -- what a novel concept, huh? No wonder state government is totally screwed up, with liberals like "Bob" being the main cogs in the wheel. But that, too, is neither here nor there).

From a distance, we think it's fun to watch this split in liberal blogland. We still think that in total, the collective intelligence and common sense of all these liberal Kentucky blogmeisters wouldn't fit in an Ale-8 bottle. It appears that Payne is being critical of Democrats who aren't liberal enough for him (hence his frequent diatribes against Ben Chandler, who is darn lucky he still has a Congressional seat) and some of his detractors are yellow dogs who support their party even when its positions are harmful to Kentucky.

What will become of it all? Payne has filed a lawsuit seeking to know the identity of the blogger behind the Jake Payne Watch. That blog disappeared for a few hours but is back as of this writing.

There's a divide in the Republican Party between Tea Party types and some of the more establishment GOPers, on everything from the Kentucky governor's race to the recent federal continuing resolution deal. Democrats say they are enjoying that.

Well, it looks like we have our own little feud on the other side to keep us entertained. We admit to reading many of the Democrat blogs in question and truthfully, we all often feel like we need showers when we are finished and we feel like our IQs are diminished after wallowing in such liberal ignorance.

So just keep on fighting, libtards. The amusement you provide gives us a brief distraction from the ruination and misery you're inflicting on our state and nation.

Is there a lesson for Mitch McConnell in all this?

Before we move forward, let us look back. We heartily disapprove of the way Kentucky's two senators, Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning, treated Gov. Ernie Fletcher when he came under attack by Democrats and during his unsuccessful 2007 re-election campaign. After having seen how McConnell treated Fletcher (and himself joining in the disgrace), Bunning should not have been surprised when McConnell did the same thing to him. That whole incident caused us to lose respect for the senators and it cost them our support, and we aren't sad to see Bunning leave the Senate.

Having said all that, given the events of the past week, now we wonder if McConnell isn't perhaps regretting his treatment of Bunning.

Bunning barely survived his 2004 re-election bid against Dan Mongiardo, then an unknown state senator from Hazard, due in large part to a series of gaffes he made on the campaign trail. Bunning started the campaign with a huge lead on Mongiardo, yet only won re-election by two percentage points. When Bunning announced his plans to seek re-election this year, McConnell publicly questioned his ability to win and began working behind the scenes to dry up his funding. Those acts effectively forced Bunning out of the race. It also left him palpably angry at McConnell.

Fast-forward to the events of the past several days. With no need to cater to the voters, Bunning singlehandedly blocked legislation in the Senate that would have extended unemployment benefits, funded transportation projects, and a host of other things. You had to be impersonating Rip Van Winkle the last few days not to have heard about it.

Despite what some of the conservative pundits are saying (and we love Limbaugh, Hannity and Levin as much as anyone), his stance was wildly unpopular among the country's voters. Suddenly the Democrats, on the defensive because of health care and cap-and-trade and a number of other issues, had an item they could pick up and run with.

Prior to Bunning's stunt, some analysts were predicting that the Republicans could recapture both the House and the Senate this fall. That would have brought Obama's socialist agenda to a screeching halt. Now, a defiant Bunning has let them back in the ballgame, the same way his erratic behavior turned Mongiardo from a politician without a chance into the candidate who nearly pulled one of the biggest political upsets in Kentucky history.

So think about it. Had McConnell not chased Bunning from the race, would he have made such a visible and unpopular stand in front of the nation and the state with an election coming up this fall? Would he have defied McConnell's pleas to get on board with the unanimous consent resolution to fund the unemployment extension and the other programs?

If the Democrats hold onto control of the Senate this fall and McConnell is relegated to his current post of minority leader instead of ascending to majority leader, it will be in no small part due to Bunning's antics. And McConnell need only look in the mirror to find a big part of the reason Bunnning was so obstinate and defiant.

We understand why Bunning took the stance he did. He wanted to force the Democrats to follow the "pay-go" rule they recently passed, and he wanted these items to be funded through unspent money already allocated for the stimulus. Had he been running for re-election, he might have gone about it in a different manner. But since he had nothing to lose due to his status as a lame duck who doesn't have to face the voters this fall, he threw his little fit for the nation to see. And he said "no" when his former friend publicly tried to get him to change his mind before he finally relented.

Make no mistake. What Bunning did was harmful for Republicans. It will probably come back to bite them in the fall, and was not what the GOP needed at a time when they were gaining momentum through what Limbaugh and others are rightfully calling a conservative ascendancy. It may very well cost McConnell the opportunity to reassume the post of Senate majority leader.

And McConnell can thank himself for this setback for his party due to his meddling in Bunning's campaign. This is the second time McConnell has sold out a fellow Republican when he was in a position to help, and may become the second time he's cost his party the election. Having help sink Fletcher's re-election campaign, McConnell now has likely contributed to a defeat for his party this year. Wonder if there's a lesson for McConnell somewhere in this mess?

Political rumors

While much of the state is fascinated with the U.S. Senate race on both sides of the aisle -- frankly, we're disgusted with it already and are sickened by the lack of quality among the front-running candidates -- we are hearing some interesting political rumors on other races.

One rumor we've heard is that an incumbent state representative, who's getting a challenge from within his own party in the primary, may be in some trouble. The incumbent has written several letters on behalf of criminal defendants, including one sex offender who re-offended not long after being let out on shock probation. This isn't setting well in the community. We're also hearing that school politics may come into play in this race, since the challenger is the brother-in-law of a school board member who's in a bit of legal trouble and blames the superintendent for causing it.

Another rumor involves one of the statewide races next year. One officeholder, a former collegiate athlete, may be contemplating a run for governor. And in the opposing party, another ex-college athlete and current officeholder may be rethinking possible plans to run for governor because he doesn't want certain things about his past to become known. We also hear that he used to date the daughter of yet another officeholder from a nearby county, but the young lady broke up with him because of those past habits. This past has been alluded to over the years by posters on other blogs, but we never put much stock in those tales until now.

We're not quite sure how this all would impact the incumbent. We're not sure that the rumored challenger would be any great threat, but the one who's rethinking plans has been all but inaugurated by many political pundits who like to post comments to blogs.

We're still not sold on the notion that Greg Stumbo won't run, however. We just hope that his opponents won't be as gun-shy about using his past against him as they have been in the past.

Exclusive: Fraud and abuse by food stamp recipients

With the debate over yet another federal unemployment extension taking place in the Senate, and with recent news that the number of families receiving food stamps (now formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is on the increase, we were alarmed when we heard of a growing system of food stamp fraud that is helping fund the purchase of illegal drugs in parts of rural Kentucky, especially the eastern mountains.

The scheme goes something like this: Food stamp recipients purchase large quantities of soft drinks with their food stamp benefit cards. They then sell this pop to retail outlets for cash at a cost significantly lower than the retailer has to pay the drink distributor. The retailer sells the pop again, and the individual who sold the pop uses the cash to buy drugs. Apparently this is a very popular and common scheme (or scam) in many areas, yet we've never seen anything in the press about it or any law enforcement activity centered on the practice.

We're outraged and offended by this scam on many levels. First, it's preposterous that soft drinks are even eligible for purchase with food stamps. At a time when soda pop is coming under fire from nutritionists, and WIC recipients are limited to purchasing store brand milk and other dairy products over name brand products, it's hard to believe that soft drinks are on the eligibility list for food stamp purchases. We couldn't believe it, but we looked it up and soft drinks are not on the list of prohibited items. Indeed, one state tried six years ago to get the federal government to allow it to make soft drink purchases ineligible for the food stamp program, but that request was denied.

What would we like to see done about this debacle? First, it's time that Congress passes a law making soft drinks ineligible for purchase with food stamps. There is absolutely no logic in having the taxpayers subsidize the consumption of something that not only has no nutritional value, but is considered detrimental to good health by many.

Next, it's time for a crackdown on this fraudulent practice. Until such time that soft drinks are made ineligible for the program, limits should be imposed on the amount of soft drinks that can be purchased with SNAP benefit cards. Surely there is a way to track purchases and to deny payment for any pop purchases beyond a certain level.

Years ago, it was common to hear that a business that had made improper food stamp sales was suspended from participating in the program. This was usually a stiff punishment for the business because many rural stores depend on food stamps for a large portion of their revenue. If stores that accept food stamps are found to be buying soft drinks from SNAP recipients and paying cash for them, their food stamp sales privileges should be suspended or revoked.

Finally, the individuals who are doing this should be punished. Food stamps are meant to provide nutritious meals to needy families. Individuals who buy pop and then sell it for cash to buy drugs are taking food off the table for their families. This fraudulent practice should be dealt with severely. This also helps subsidize the illicit drug trade that plagues our state and claims so many lives.

Even though this seems to be a popular and growing scam, we have yet to read or hear anything about it in the media. If any media representatives are viewing this (and we know at one time that you did read this blog), this is fertile ground for a blockbuster story. Start asking around in the rural areas of the state and see what you uncover. And we challenge other bloggers who read this to link to it and spread the word to help end this abhorrent practice.

Why?

As we close in on the filing deadline next week for local offices to be filled by election later this year, we have a question.

Why?

Why do we continue to elect so many local officials who should be selected on the basis of qualifications, not popularity?

In addition to the executive and legislative officials, counties elect a number of people who have professional duties. Folks such as the county clerk, sheriff, property valuation administrator, coroner and even a county surveyor are chosen at the ballot box instead of for their qualifications.

Give the state credit, in recent years they have instituted competency tests for the PVA and circuit clerk positions and only those candidates who have passed the test can run for those offices. But there are no such requirements for the other offices.

A sheriff should be a professional law enforcement officer, yet in one county in Kentucky a convicted felon -- convicted because of misconduct during a previous term as sheriff -- was elected to the office four years ago after being pardoned. And in another county, yet another sheriff who was removed from office and convicted in federal court for being corrupt is running for his old seat after being given a pardon thanks in large part to political connections.

We understand the need to elect the county judge-executive and the fiscal court magistrates or commissioners. These are the executive and legislative officers of the county. But the other jobs? Sheriff? County clerk? Coroner? These are professional jobs requiring certain qualifications, experience or educational attainment, yet are often filled with unqualified people who happen to be popular at the ballot box.

It's time for Kentucky to reform the local election system. These professional jobs should be civil service positions, filled by the most qualified people and not subject to the whims of the voters. People laugh at our archaic oath of office that includes a statement disavowing any past participation in a duel. What's more embarrassing is that we elect people who should be qualified professionals. If we are going to continue to elect these officials, then there should be some more stringent qualifications for candidates besides the standard age and residency requirements.

When voters go to the polls in May to select their party's nominees, and then again in November, we urge them to look past partisan politics and factors such as friendship or kinship, and instead cast their votes based on qualifications.

Solving the state's budget crunch (Part one of a series)

Our state's clueless governor continued his poor-mouthing of the state's financial picture this week, saying the revenue estimates issued by the Consensus Forecasting Group are better than expected but still not good enough. (No doubt he'll continue his drumbeat for casino gambling in the state as he still frantically tries to get gambling approved in Kentucky to appease those who financed his 2007 campaign and who he will want to pony up the cash in two years.)

While we are still very skeptical of the doomsday scenario Steve Beshear continues to lay out, we do agree that there are lots of places where the state could cut budges and make financial improvements. We'll be offering ideas to our intellectually-challenged governor over the next several weeks.

One way the state could cut costs is to restrict state vehicle usage. Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration made great strides in this regard. They put severe limits on the number of people who could drive state vehicles home and back to work. By the end of the Fletcher administration, basically the only people who could drive a vehicle after hours were those who were subject to being called out for an emergency during the night, such as traffic signal technicians and county maintenance garage superintendents. Others had to drive their personal vehicles to and from work, just as most of the rest of us out in the world have to do.

Under the Beshear administration, this trend has been slowly being reversed. More and more people are being given permission to drive their state vehicles home, or even to use them for personal errands during lunch. Some of these people drive long distances; commutes of an hour or so. While it's great for them because they are not buying gas or wearing out their own vehicles, it's a burden on the taxpayers.

It's time for the use of state vehicles to be restricted to business use only. Only those with legitimate emergency needs should be able to drive to and from work in a state car or truck. No employee should be allowed to drive their personal vehicle to work and then take their state vehicle to Wendy's or Walmart during lunch.

When state employees hear tales of woe about the state's budget and wonder why they aren't getting their statutory raises, then see a select few abusing their state vehicles, morale is shot and the workers become even more unproductive. And they wonder about the colossal waste of money they see under their noses.

It's time for the Beshear administration to put curbs on the personal use of state vehicles, for appearances as well as for budgetary reasons.

More whining for slot machines at horse tracks

It was interesting to learn today that Kentucky isn't the only place where the horse racing interests are whining that they can't survive without slot machines at the tracks. New York's horsey folks are making the same claim. And they're saying the Belmont Stakes, the last and longest of the three jewels in the Triple Crown that begins with the Kentucky Derby, is in danger unless something is done.

We have to wonder: Does the horse industry have a collective one-track mind? Is "slots, slots, slots" all they can think about? Are they unable to come up with innovative and original ways to promote their business? Do they have to rely on gimmicks to survive?

We find it very funny that people, mostly on the left, are trying to prop up what is obviously a dying industry -- one that is for purely frivolous and entertainment purposes -- that is said to be one of our state's signature industries, while they can't race fast enough to kill another one of our state's signature industries -- coal mining -- that is absolutely essential to our way of life; indeed, our very survival.

We fully intend to expound on that at some point in the future, but for now we just chuckle in amusement at the lack of originality shown by the horsey set when it comes to making their business viable and pertinent. Can't they be any more innovative than slot machines?

And we're still waiting for the Rand Paul supporters to weigh in on whether or not they think casino-style gambling is good public policy in Kentucky.

An interesting observation about Rand Paul's supporters

We hadn't heard a peep out of the supporters of Rand Paul's Senate campaign until we posted a tongue-in-cheek note prior to Thanksgiving that we were thankful they hadn't inundated this blog the way they have others in Kentucky, both on the right side and on the wrong side.

Someone must've tipped them off to that post, because several of them replied. Oddly enough, they've been silent since then.

In fact, we can't really recall seeing them posting about Kentucky issues on any blog.

We don't have a mechanism here to check IP addresses of visitors or commenters, but other blogs do. Most of them have noted that the vast majority of pro-Paul traffic comes from outside of the Bluegrass State. The theory is that these are supporters of Ron Paul's failed presidential bid who are coalescing behind his son.

Most of the Paul supporters -- derisively called "Paultards" by some -- talk about things like closing the Gitmo prison for terrorists, repealing the Patriot Act, and ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (the latter effectively ending the hunt for Osama bin Laden), and other such issues. Thus far, none of them seem to have any knowledge of, or interest in, Kentucky issues.

So we wonder. What's the position of the Paul supporters on casino gambling in Kentucky or slot machines at horse racing tracks? What do they think about Kentucky's current budget situation? What about funding for the East End Bridge in Louisville? Fighting the battle against illegal use of prescription drugs and the boom in meth making and usage? Texting while driving? The Kentucky League of Cities and KaCO? The firing of Ron Mills?

Yes, we know these are mostly state issues that aren't particularly relevant at the federal level, but they are Kentucky issues and whomever takes Jim Bunning's place will be representing Kentucky.

We guess our question is this: Do the Rand Paul supporters and money-bombers have any interest in, or knowledge of, this state's unique issues? Or are they looking to elect a senator, any senator, who mirrors their hero's positions and have lucked into having his son run in the commonwealth?

For the record, we support neither Paul nor Grayson. None of us here at K-Pac will be voting for either of them in the Republican primary. So Rand's Randies shouldn't think we are a pro-Grayson or "GOP establishment" mouthpiece, as we were accused of being earlier. But we do wonder just how much of a grasp on Kentucky politics the Paul fanatics and donors from elsewhere really have.

A better idea

News comes today that the Kentucky Department of Education will be seeking authority from the legislature next year to remove school superintendents and/or duly elected school board members in school districts where students don't perform well.

We have a better idea. How about removing the teachers whose students don't perform well?

After all, no state agency has the authority to remove a county judge-executive or magistrate or county road foreman if the local road crew doesn't perform very well. And school board members actually have very little authority over school districts anymore, thanks to KERA. Likewise, superintendents have basically had their hands tied behind their backs when it comes to dealing with persistently poor schools.

The teachers are the ones who are responsible for how well students do, not the superintendent or the elected school board members. They are the ones who should be accountable for the kids' performance in the classroom.

Beshear sacrificing state employees on altar of casino gambling

Even before he took office as governor, Steve Beshear started poor-mouthing the state's budgetary outlook in order to promote the establishment of casino gambling in Kentucky. So far he's been unsuccessful, but now it appears that he plans on sacrificing some state employees in an attempt to pay off the gambling interests that bankrolled his 2007 campaign.

In his latest dire prediction in a series of dire predictions, Beshear claims that the next round of budget cuts made necessary by a poor economy will likely include furloughs or layoffs of state employees.

In other words, if we don't pass casino gambling soon, state employees will start losing their jobs.

That's a fine way to treat some of your most loyal supporters. State workers are a reliable constituency for Democrats, in large part due to decades of patronage hiring. (Democrats account for around 75 percent of all state merit system workers). Fueled in large part by lies told about the Fletcher administration's treatment of state workers -- contrary to rumor, not one non-probationary merit employee was fired for political reasons during the Fletcher years -- state workers voted in droves for Beshear.

But unfortunately for them, state employees are a forgotten constituency with Democrats. Once they are used for their bloc of votes, they are summarily discarded until the next election comes along. State law requires merit system workers to receive a 5 percent raise every year, but that law is rarely obeyed by the legislature and governor when they craft the state budget. Yet state workers will again flock to the polls to vote for a Democrat in every governor's race.

Now Beshear threatens this constituency with layoffs if he can't appease the casino moguls. He's basically bought a couple of state Senate seats with taxpayer dollars in an attempt to make that chamber more receptive to passing a gambling measure; now he's going to use the salaries of state workers as a bribe.

Any state worker who would consider voting for Beshear for re-election is insane. You've seen how little he values you; you're just a pawn in his high-stakes games with the casino bosses. And while it's true that state government is overstaffed well in excess of the 33,000-employee statutory limit, the folks currently working for the state didn't ask to be tossed away so Beshear can pay back his moneyed supporters.

We've never believed Beshear's poor-mouthing, especially since he started it even before taking office when the Fletcher administration had left the state in excellent financial condition. We always believed it to be a front for his support for casino gambling, and we continue to believe it.

If the state really is in dire financial straits and in need of budget cuts, we can identify several places where expenditures can be trimmed without requiring layoffs of state merit workers, many of whom do hard work for low salaries even if they are patronage hirelings. We'll be posting some of our ideas in the next few days and weeks and we invite readers to do the same.

In the meantime, Steve Beshear should be ashamed of himself. These are real people's real lives he's considering messing with to pay off his campaign contributors. You can bet -- pun intended -- that Ernie Fletcher would never have done such a thing.

Giving thanks

There are many things to be thankful for as Thanksgiving approaches, but one thing we are especially grateful for is the fact that we haven't been invaded by the avid Rand Paul supporters, unlike a lot of other blogs on both sides of the ideological spectrum.

The Paul supporters, not so affectionately dubbed "Paultards," are frequent posters on media blogs as well as both conservative and liberal sites. Any attacks on their hero and his unorthodox views or those of his father, Texas Congressman and former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul, are met with a vehement and passionate response.

We make no bones that we are not fans of Rand Paul. We disagree with several of his views, particularly regarding national defense and the war on terrorism. But likewise, we are not fans of Trey Grayson, who does not demonstrate enough conservative views and traits so as to warrant consideration for an important office like senator or governor. We won't be supporting either Paul or Grayson in the Senate campaign.

We'll continue to be thankful if the "Paultards" continue to keep their rants confined to other sites.

Enjoy your turkey, everyone, and be careful out there if you venture out to the stores on Friday.

A real waste of state resources

In his continuing vendetta against Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo's U.S. Senate campaign, Jacob Payne at the Page One Kentucky blog has been railing about Mongiardo's press office's habit of attaching PDF versions of the original Word document of press releases and media advisories to the e-mails. Last week Payne lamented this terrible waste of state resources, talking about the time and effort and electricity required to create the PDF file and attach it to the e-mail message.

That's laughable. The amount of time and energy that requires is miniscule.

A real waste of state resources is coming from the way Frankfort sends unemployment checks.

Earlier in the year, the federal government funded a supplemental unemployment benefit giving each recipient an extra $25 per week. Seems it would be a simple matter to just add the money to the regular check and be done with it.

But no. Nothing Frankfort does is as simple or easy as it should be. Each unemployment recipient gets two checks mailed to them every two weeks. One check contains the normal benefit. The second check contains the extra $50 for the two weeks, minus any taxes that are withheld.

This strikes us as a monumental waste of money and resources. The state prints two checks and mails them separately, incurring two separate postage charges. This doubles the amount of money it takes to put the unemployment funds in the hands of the recipients. Even if the regular and supplemental benefits come from two accounts, seems like it would be a simple matter to pool those funds and keep track of them administratively instead of having to print and mail two separate checks.

If Frankfort is hurting for money so badly that most state agencies are being told to prepare for 6 percent cuts, it seems to us that a very simple way to recover some costs is to quit mailing two checks when one combined check, at half the cost, would do.

Coming this spring to Frankfort

There's big news out of Frankfort. This spring, Steve and Jane Beshear will be sponsoring a Holiday Egg hunt on the Capitol grounds.

A few questions for a few UK students

We have a few questions we'd like to ask the University of Kentucky students who protested the naming of the new basketball dormitory, to be paid for fully with private donations, the Wildcat Coal Lodge.

How many of you pay your own electricity bills as opposed to having mommy and daddy foot your room and board expenses?

Are any of you actually from Kentucky's coal counties, or the coal counties in neighboring states?

Do any of you have anyone in your family who is employed by the coal industry or its related businesses?

Do any of you have family or friends who are from the communities that rely on coal money for a large percentage of their economic activity, such as retail sales?

If so, then you have skin in the game (to quote your beloved president, Barack Hussein Obama) and you have standing to criticize the decision because you have a personal stake in the future of the coal industry. You are the ones who will be paying higher prices for electricity and you are the ones who will see the hometowns of your relatives and friends suffer economically.

If not, then leave the discussion to the grownups and those who would be most impacted by the demise of coal mining, and go protest something like UK's ban on alcohol on school property. Your opinions would be much more relevant in that debate.

Naming rights for an evergreen donation?

Much ado is being made over an innocuous line in a press release referring to the prospective state Christmas tree as "the Commonwealth Holiday tree."

Why the Frankfort Plant Board will be retrieving the tree is something that doesn't quite compute with us. Doesn't the state have personnel and equipment sufficient enough to travel out in the state to cut the tree and haul it back to Frankfort? Why should the FPB face the possibility of having to drive to Pikeville or Paducah to get the tree?

But putting that aside, we've watched with amusement this week the furor over the naming rights to the new University of Kentucky basketball dormitory. The donors put up money to build the facility on the condition it be called "Wildcat Coal Lodge."

So we have a suggestion for all those would-be tree donors out there who have a tree meeting the criteria.

How about you give the tree only on the condition that it be called "the Commonwealth Christmas tree" and tell Steve Beshear and Jonathan Miller that if they insist on being politically correct for fear of offending a minority of Kentuckians, they can't have your tree but you will gladly provide them a few limbs that they can shove up their holiday anuses?

Horse manure

Not only is coal mining one of Kentucky's signature industries, it is responsible for employing hundreds of people in eastern and western Kentucky and contributing to the financial and business success of several counties and town in the state. Yet there are a number of people, mostly Democrats, who are trying to dismantle the coal industry without regard to the economic havoc they would create.

They claim their actions are environmentally motivated.

These same people are clamoring for allowing some form of casino gambling at Kentucky's horse racing tracks to prop up another of the state's signature industries.

Leaving the issue of why they'd demonize one of the state's signature industries while at the same time trying to artificially prop up another signature industries for another discussion, we think this "save the environment" line is worth looking into.

Wonder if anyone has ever determined just how much methane that horse flatulence puts into the atmosphere, and what kind of "carbon footprint" horses have and how much they contribute to global warming? After all, if cow flatulence is supposedly so bad for the earth, surely horse gas is equally evil.

And if coal mining is ruining drinking water in the mountains, what about runoff from horse poop in the Bluegrass?

Just a little something to think about on a cloudy Wednesday.

When dinosaurs speak

What happens when dinosaurs speak?

You get this.

Someone needs to tell Wendell Ford to go back to Owensboro, continue to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, and keep his worn out, discredited opinions to himself. His time has come and gone with very little if anything to show for the benefit of Kentuckians during his time as governor or in the U.S. Senate.

General Cliched Talking Points

Could retired Gen. Wesley Clark have uttered more old, tired, cliched and patently false talking points than he did in this interview with the Herald-Leader?

How anyone can say that Democrats believe in "taking care of people" when they are voting for legislation that will cause energy bills to skyrocket and will result in Medicaid cuts?

We always thought military men had honor, and part of honor meant not lying to the people. Someone forgot to tell Gen. Cliched Talking Points that.

About the only thing Clark said that wasn't a tired old false talking point was when he said President Obama should listen to the field commanders when it comes to making a decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan. He strayed from the talking points on that one, for sure.

Horse manure isn't the only thing they'll have to clean up at The Red Mile after Clark's speech in Lexington. There's a lot of bull crap that needs to be shoveled away now, too.