Welcome, Mark Nickolas lemmings!

Several months ago, we heard from a reader who indicated that Mark Nickolas was not allowing links to posts on this blog to be posted to his bluegrassreport.org site.

Today, we find that Nickolas himself has linked to and highlighted our post in which we urge current non-merit Fletcher administration employees not to surrender to the incoming Beshear administration and go quietly.

Well, yes, Nickolas, Fletcher has said that he will cooperate with the transition. What else is he supposed to say or do, stand in front of the governor's office or the mansion with a rifle? The fact that Fletcher urges cooperation is a measure of Ernie Fletcher the man, who is a good and decent and honorable person despite what the press and his political enemies have said the past four years.

All of us here at KPac readily admit that we are not as good and decent individuals as is Ernie Fletcher. He is much more charitable and forgiving than we are.

And about Larry Forgy and Mitch McConnell: We freely admit that we are angry at McConnell for not being more supportive of Fletcher, especially right after the investigation began. And we admire Forgy for being one of the few Republicans in this state with the loyalty and integrity to stand up for the embattled and under-siege governor.

We've had our differences with Forgy in the past, most notably for his decision to bail out of the 1987 governor's race when many believed he could beat the Democratic nominee (which turned out to be Wallace Wilkinson) and for his decision to get in the 1991 race late, after most of the party's big names had already come out in support of Larry Hopkins. But he has truly earned back a lot of respect in our eyes for his support and defense of Gov. Fletcher.

McConnell, while having served admirably for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, let a lot of conservatives down by originally supporting the illegal alien amnesty proposal. And we still quite honestly find his treatment of his political protege Fletcher to be shameful. We don't know if we're ready to support Forgy over McConnell, but right now we're angry with McConnell and proud of Forgy.

At any rate, we welcome those of you who follow Mark Nickolas to the ends of the earth. Stick around here, read and learn. You will be infuriated, angered, educated and enlightened. For here you will read truths that are readily available to any reporter or blogger, but truths that very few of them make public.