A Kentucky Story

Lord, Protect Us From Democrats....

The political affiliations of recent mass murderers is quite telling:

Fort Hood Killer:  Registered Democrat
Columbine Killers:  Too young to vote but families registered Democrats
Virginia Tech Killer:  Wrote hate mail to President Bush (probably just a disgruntled Republican)
Colorado Theater Killer:  Registered Democrat
Newtown Killer:  Registered Democrat
Boston Killers:  Too soon to know but bet we can guess...

Wonder how the mainstream media missed these connections?  Guess anything goes as long as you are on the team.  If these people had been Republicans do you think we would know about it?  As Sarah Palin would say: "You betcha!"

The mainstream media would have us believe that it is all those crazed Bible thumping, gun owning Republicans that are the problem.  Maybe before the Democrats work on gun control, they ought to work on controlling their own.

Grimes Met With Progress KY Founder

The prospect of Alison Lundergan Grimes running against Mitch McConnell looks less and less likely.  Buzz Feed has revealed that Grimes met with Shawn Reilly, one of the two Progress Kentucky founders being investigated by the FBI for bugging a McConnell strategy session.

Grimes met with Reilly in February 2011 while she was running for Secretary of State.

Reilly, helpful sort that he is, not only endorsed Grimes -- he tweeted a picture of the two of them.  In the unlikely event that Grimes runs, look for Team Mitch to have some fun with that photo. It will make a nice collage along with the photo of Reilly's big meeting at the White House, just months before Progress Kentucky tweeted its racist comments about Elaine Chao.

Given Reilly's propensity for having his picture taken with prominent Democrats, there must be more.  I imagine Jack Conway, Steve Beshear and all their cohorts are desperately trying to remember if they've had their picture taken with Reilly.

Congratulations Senator Paul!

KYProgress: Gift That Keeps Giving

One of the Kentucky Progress dudes alleged to have illegally bugged Sen. Mitch McConnell's campaign meeting just can't stay out of the news. Not even an FBI investigation shuts him up.

Curtis Morrison is still blogging and tweeting his progressive little heart out.  According to Joe Arnold, Morrison wrote:

"Am I a threat to @Team_Mitch?" Morrison asks on Twitter, referring to McConnell's re-election campaign.  "His campaign commercials suggest some fear. Someone do some polling?"

Morrison's relentless pursuit of defeating McConnell is very good news for Team Mitch.

Indeed, so damaging has Kentucky Progress been to the Dem's effort to unseat McConnell that some progressives have suggested that Kentucky Progress must be a McConnell plant. Talk about evil genius!

 That was before the Daily Caller revealed that the other Kentucky Progress dude, Shawn Reilly, was a delegate to the Democrat National Convention and had a meeting at the White House last December.

Much as the Dems might like to disown Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, they are Democratic operatives.

And Morrison makes clear that he is not going anywhere (except maybe a federal prison).  Until then, he is going to help the cause.

Here's where Morrison is making a big impact:  candidate recruitment.

Thanks to Kentucky Progress, there is a real possibility that no top-tier candidate will file against McConnell.

Why, for example, would Alison Ludergan Grimes take on McConnell -- which is a tough race under the best of circumstances -- when crack-pots like Morrison stand ready to "help," whether she likes it or not?

Courier-Journal Replaces He Who Must Not Be Named

Beware  passive writers. Sometimes, that passiveness is a sign of laziness and weak writing skills. Sometimes it is a tool of obfuscation.

Take Pam Platt's column today, in which she unveils "3 Conservative Voices."  Note her defensiveness.  "Recently the Courier-Journal Forum section found itself without a local conservative  columnist."

Found itself?   It is as if this is Peru and the Shining Path spirited him away.

She asserts that the previous columnist "voluntarily vacated" his column, but neglects to note that he quit after she refused to run his column -- a column that criticized the C-J and pointed out its hypocrisy.

Note that she never uses John David Dyche's name.

She boasts about replacing him with three columnists: "For those of you who are keeping score, that's more." Apparently she thinks conservative readers cannot add very well.

For those who care about identity politics, she has replaced one white male with three white males. The best way to fight the opposition is to diffuse its voices and lengthen the time between each columnist's turn on the editorial pages. That's a pity, because -- no offense to the other two gentlemen -- I'd like to read Scott Jennings every week.

Bugged by Non-News....

The most outrageous thing about the McConnell bugging scandal, beyond the illegality of it, is that Progress Kentucky and Mother Jones Magazine felt that the content of the bugged conversation was newsworthy.

McConnell and his staff had no conversations that George Bush or Harry Reid or Paul Ryan or Barack Obama haven't had a hundred times before.  Politicians are always talking in back rooms about strategies and attack points about their opposition.  They discuss things all the time which are not for public consumption, as we all do in our families, businesses and other organizations.  When we have these conversations, we do not expect someone we don't know to be listening in.

If Progress Kentucky had overheard a plot by McConnell to assassinate Ashley Judd, THAT would have been news.  What they relayed to Mother Jones Magazine wasn't even remotely newsworthy.  It is shameful that Progress Kentucky reported it and shameful that Mother Jones Magazine printed it.  The people at Progress Kentucky should be prosecuted for their illegal acts, but beyond that, the content of McConnell's conversation is a non-event.

C-J Gives Thanks For McConnell's Bugging

The Courier-Journal selectively focuses on what was said in Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's private campaign strategy session. This is the C-J's way of ignoring the fact that someone illegally taped the meeting, and the implications of that ugly tactic.

 The C-J editorial plays this shell game with phrases like "the McConnell recording, regardless of its origin . . . ."  (Emphasis added.).

The editorial ends with the C-J begging someone, anyone to run against McConnell:

"Given what they know, thanks to the recording, who is going to want to play Sen. McConnell in high-stakes Whac-a-Mole?

But someone must step right up." (Emphasis added.)

That is, the C-J never condemns the illegal recording of a private citizen who happens to be the highest ranking Republican in the country.

To the contrary, the editorial board actually expresses appreciation: "thanks to the recording."  That not only endorses the illegal and slimey conduct of whoever made the tape, but implicitly eggs other "progressives"to do the same.

This is the same paper that fired conservative columnist John David Dyche when he had the temerity to suggest that the C-J livestream its editorial meetings:

The Courier-Journal not only demands, but often litigates to ensure, full and open public disclosure of meetings and records of government bodies.  It should apply the same standard to itself given the prominent role the press proclaims for itself in the political process.  So live stream the meetings of editors and reporters and post the written communications and directives between them regarding assignments, policies, and stories. 

This hypocrisy on the part of the C-J is nothing new.  Privacy rights are all at the rage with the Left when it comes to their  social agenda.  Just not for conservatives discussing how to beat them.   

Ashley Chickens Out

So how long before John Yarmith starts recruiting George Clooney?

I am not surprised that  she blinked.  When Bill Clinton started counseling Allison Lundergren Grimes, it was inevitable that Ashley would come up with some pretext about how now is not the time.

Interesting that She Who Called Breeders Unconsciounable chose "family' as her reason for not running. Maybe she is going to give her sister some emergency dance lessons.  Wynonna,, in case you missed it, is on Dancing With the Stars.  I had to google her to ascertain that she is Ashley's sister, not her mother.

I thought Ashley faced daunting odds going up against Mitch McConnell.  Turning Wynonna into a dancer, however, will be even harder.

Sen, McConnell Hosts Sen. Rubio

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell hosted  Sen. Marco Rubio this afternoon at the McConnell Center at University of Louisville.

While McConnell made his introductory remarks -- saying Rubio personifies the American Dream --Rubio took a seat next to the 40 McConnell Scholars who flanked the stage. What struck me is how boyish Rubio is:  he looked like one of the undergraduates.

Rubio gave what appeared to be an extended version of the stump speech he will use to run for president.  Indeed, McConnell joked about him looking at vacation homes in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The main thrust of Rubio's speech was an argument for pro-growth, limited government policies as a way to grow the middle class and ultimately reduce the deficit. Job creation is being strangled in a mass of regulations and a tax code that is both uncertain and too confiscatory.

On immigration, as well as education. Rubio argues that federal policies do not reflect the reality of the 21st Century.

He cautioned against high levels of student loans as the next bubble, and said we must stop stygmatizing vocational educations.  When asked about a call to abolish the Department of Education, he said he thought that CPAC speech had been delivered by Kentucky's other senator, Rand Paul. Rubio would not go so far as to support abolishment of the Department of Education. He did advocate school choice and local control to develop curricula that address the needs of the local economy.

A 21st Century approach to immigration, according to Rubio, must play the cards we are dealt. That is, it must acknowledge that we are a compassionate country as well as a country that believes in rule of law.  Rubio said that the mistaken policy that lead to our current eleven million illegal aliens, that policy was crafted when Rubio was in 9th grade.  Implicitly, he seemed to be saying we have to deal with the consequences and don't blame me; it's not my fault we have millions of undocumented workers.

To the extent that he was referring to Simpson-Mazzoli, I wondered if Rubio knew that the former Congressman Ron  Mazzoli was in the audience.

A few observations about style.  Rubio is charming, humble and has an inspiring tale about his family's emigration from Cuba, so that he could have a better life. He seems to understand the fears of the middle class and the frustrations of those who aspire to be middle class.

As compared to Rand Paul, Rubio conveys more of a sense of warmth; he does not have Paul's clinical detachment when discussing issues.  His sense of humor is not quote so dry as Paul's.

I listen to Rubio -- as well as Paul, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee -- and I am optimistic that the Republican Party will find its way out of the wilderness.  I just pray it doesn't take 40 years.

Hey, Ashley: I Breed and I Vote

Not only that, I breed Republicans, and Number 2 Son will be old enough to vote next year.

Of all the crack-pot comments of Ashley Judd, the most offensive was her assertion that it is "unconscionable to breed."  Her rationale is that Planet Earth is too crowded and there already starving kids, so it is "selfish" to make more.

It's a particularly odd remark when viewed through the prism of Kentucky voters. Many of us chose to live here because it is such a great place to raise children -- much more family friendly then Washington, D.C., for example, from where my family relocated. There are great parks, safe neighborhoods, not much traffic, a variety of good schooling options, a low cost of living. Businesses here tend to recognize the importance of family and the resulting need for flexibility and humane schedules.

In fact, many of us chose to relocate here specifically for the advantages it offers to professionals who still want to spend not just quality time with their children, but quantity time, too.

Given the centrality of family to Kentuckians, Judd's choice of verb  -- "breed" -- is just creepy.  Like she's talking about livestock, not babies.  What is it with liberals and their incessant attempts to come up with new words to describe babies?  First they tried "choice" or "fetus."  (When was the last time you went to a Fetus Shower?)

Judd's contribution to the nomenclature is to shift it from that of constitutional penumbras, or clinical science, to the barnyard. It's beyond politically tone-deaf; it's just crude.

I commend Judd for working with the poor.  But she makes a false dichotomy:  one can care about starving children and still long to feel a baby's first kick.  For some, the choice to have children fulfills the Biblical purpose of a marriage.  Most Kentucky  parents would say that our greatest blessing is to create another life with the love of our life.

I don't condemn Judd's decision not to have children. Her lack of respect for the decision of so many Kentuckians to have babies shows that she does not share our values. Having a baby is a lifestyle choice, after all.  Democrats say they are all about lifestyle choice.

Over 20,000 Pages of Obamacare Regulations

Kentucky's Senator Becomes America's Senator

Sen. Rand Paul was just magnificent.  I tuned in last night for the ninth hour of Sen.Paul's filibuster, and was shocked to see how composed he still was; he didn't even break a sweat  No reading of the telephone book. Just a cogent explanation of the issue of drone strikes on Americans. After five years of Governance By Teleprompter, how refreshing to see a politician smart enough to ad lib.

As far as the underlying issue of the filibuster, I don't particularly care if Americans who have turned enemy combatants get killed in a drone strike on a foreign battlefield. As far as I am concerned, that person is a traitor who has relinquished his citizenship. Change the location to the United States, however, and the prospect of domestic drone strikes becomes more troubling.

Last night the substantive issue was secondary to the character Sen. Paul displayed. His singleness of purpose, discipline and tenacity were something to behold.  He mesmerized millions, and yet it did not look like self-aggrandizement (because it was not).

 Simply put, Sen. Paul has a reverence for our Constitution that makes him its relentless champion. What Americans saw last night is a man who disregards personal comfort and does not care who mocks him or how long the odds are.  He was doing what he thought was right, literally standing on principle.  For those who worry that the Republican Party has gone soft, it gave hope that we have new leaders who have the courage, as WFB put it, to stand athwart history and yell "Stop!"

The tweets were flying  during Paul's filibuster; the number one trending hash tag last night was #standwithrand.  My favorite tweet:  "Don't drone me, bro!"

When Sen. Mike Lee, as well as Sen. Cruz and Sen. Rubio took to the podium to give Paul a breather, it  sent a message not just of courtesy and collegiality, but of ideological solidarity. It provided a glimpse of a future for America that will be brighter than what we've endured under the Obama regime.

Sketchy Nutricional Advice from "MyPyramid.org"

Pictured above is the MyPyramid, created by the USDA in 2005
to push for a balanced diet and increased physical activity

If you haven't heard of it, MyPyramid was the USDA's failed attempt to push for more exercise and physical activity. While I applaud the government for its efforts, obesity is still very much on the rise. In an effort to come up with a better system, MyPyramid was replaced by MyPlate. I didn't know that, and nor did my health teacher when he asked us to search for it today during class.

Look at the screenshot below:

Notice that the first result is called "My Pyramid Plan." Almost anyone searching for MyPyramid would go ahead and click it, assuming that it's what they are looking for. It's been several years since I last logged onto the MyPyramid site, but everything looked consistent with how I remembered it. The site quickly promoted me to enter generic information about my age and physical activity. 

I knew something was not right when "greater than eleven minutes" was the highest option for daily physical activity. My first thought was that we must be a very obese nation, much more than I had originally thought if getting eleven minutes of physical activity is considered good. If I remember correctly, "greater than sixty minutes" used to be the top choice, but I do know that the government has been trying to scale back some of its overly ambitious health goals as they've failed, one by one.

Next I was taken to a page with general information about each food group. Everything on this page was a direct contradiction of anything I have ever heard about nutrition. 

Here's and example from the fruit section: 

          "...Some fruits can be rather tart or tangy, so a smart way to make these more appealing to children is to           

            select products with added sweetners."

Now from the meat section:
          "Liver and other organ meats are high in cholesterol. Just so you know. But who eats those creepy parts
           anyways, right?

Liver is actually extremely good for you, although I do find it revolting.

Finally, take a look at the "about" page:

Screenshot from the "About us" page.

So at this point, I know something is up. Could this site have been hacked? It seems to be mocking the government, and it would not be the first time a government website has been hit (i.e., the CIA). No, this site has not been hacked. Through a WHOIS domain search, I found out that the domain "MyPyramid.org" is in fact legally owned by Stephen Eisenmenger out of Minneapolis. Notice that he has a .org domain, not a .gov domain. Who would have noticed that, especially with it being the first search result? I sure didn't.

While I was at it, I thought I might see what else was going on at other .org and .com websites with similar names to official government ones. If you go to WhiteHouse.com, you'll notice adds for "Beautiful Spanish Girls," or "Top 10 Dating Sites of 2013." Hmmm...

I'm glad the President is making a point about increasing our cyber defenses. I think one way to start would be buying domains similar to .gov ones so as to not deceive American citizens. Someone could easily set up a fake government website and fool you into giving up personal information. Even high level government officials were fooled into giving their GMail passwords to Chinese hackers.

Progress Kentucky's Racism vs. Elaine Chao

Progress Kentucky, the Super PAC that is targeting Mitch McConnell, is simply disgusting. Its supporters are tweeting comments about Elaine Chao's ethnicity in a way that impugns her and McConnell's patriotism.  Elaine emigrated to America from  Taiwan when she was in third grade.

She and her family are living testaments to the American Dream.  She was the first Asian American to serve in a president's cabinet, where she served our country for eight years.

Progress Kentucky mocks her family for donating to McConnell's past campaigns, as if there is something evil about family members contributing to a brother in law or son in law.   Oh, I forget, the problem is They're Asian.  (Quick, hide, the Chinese are coming to get your job!).  It is filth that is beneath the dignity of any Kentuckian, and I will not link to it.

She and several of her sisters graduated from Harvard Business School  -- to which they have donated millions of dollars to honor their mother with a new building and endowment.

Anyone who has ever met Elaine can attest to her kindness, intellect, humility and deep faith. She is an extraordinary woman. I am proud she chooses to call Kentucky home.

As for Progress Kentucky and those of its followers responsible for the tweets at issue, I have to ask: are your mothers proud?

You Reap What you Sow.....

Attended a panel discussion on gun violence at St. Matthews Episcopal Church.  Panelists were Tom Wine, Commonwealth's Attorney, John Yarmuth, Congressman, and Donna Hargens, Superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools.

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that most of the attendees were not NRA members.

Donna Hargens provided the most constructive input, talking about the importance of education in producing productive members of society that are less likely to be involved in gun related crimes.  Wine and Yarmuth mostly rehashed gun control advocate talking points, i.e., banning assault weapons, limiting magazine capacities and requiring background checks for private gun sales.

The thing about forums such as these that is frustrating is the extent to which so many people who oppose gun violence are the same people that advocate social policies that foster it.  Abortion on demand, welfare programs that encourage fathers to leave, prayer and religious influences prohibited in public spaces, social policy that demeans traditional marriage, the list goes on and on.  In the face of such public policy is it any wonder that we have more criminals and mentally unstable people using guns?   We have a government that has created social policy over the last 50 years that has resulted in a more violent, courser and less compassionate citizenry.

Most gun control advocates need to look at their politics if they want to see why gun violence is rampant.  Want less gun violence?  Work to return our society to normalcy.

Sen. John Hoeven Delivers Weekly GOP Address

Mitch as Movie Star?....

If Mitch McConnell has to have a challenger in the next election, let us hope and pray that it is Ashley Judd.

Ashley Judd has as much chance of becoming a senator from Kentucky as Mitch McConnell has of becoming a movie star.

John David Dyche. C-J Story Goes National

Breitbart is reporting on the Courier-Journal's shabby treatment of John David Dyche, the lone conservative columnist for that paper who recently quit in protest of its censorship.

For those who continue to subscribe to the C-J just for the sports coverage, here's what you've been missing on the other pages:

Since the election in November, the newspaper’s editorial board has called for Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to resign as Senate Minority Leader and accused McConnell of being the target of “national ridicule,” and run comics depicting McConnell consigned to the flames of hell; it has suggested that Senate Republicans “smacked down the disabled of this country and the world.”

It's true that traditional media are struggling to compete with the convenience of digital media.  Still, the C-J's dwindling circulation -- and attendant mass lay-offs -- are exacerbated by its lurch to left.  It's always been a liberal paper, but depicting our senior Senator, of whom many Kentuckians are very proud, in the flames of hell crosses the line.

Paying that subscription fee to the C-J feels like writing a check to the Democratic Party. 

This paper that demands campaign finance laws to inhibit corporations from making political donations is itself a corporation that makes political donations every day -- in the form of favorable coverage for its chosen "progressives" and smear jobs on conservatives.  Likewise, this paper that demands transparency for everyone else refuses to make the modest changes John David Dyche called for to increase transparency.  The C-J's hypocrisy is boundless.

Conservatives should stop subsidizing it.  

C-J Loses John David Dyche

Those philosopher kings at the C-J must have a deep longing for early retirement, or irrelevancy.  They have refused to publish John David Dyche's weekly column -- his best ever -- because it called the paper out for its liberal bias.  Apparently, this column struck too close to home.

For example, JDD suggested that if the paper really supports transparency, how about it live stream its editorial meetings, and release the party registration of its editors and writers.  Scrutiny and transparency for thee, but not me, pronounces the Courier-Journal.

Rather than take to heart some suggestions for improving the paper, or at least letting the column run, it was much easier to tell JDD that this week's column was off-topic, and will not appear. (And in a voice mail:  classy!)

That gave the one token conservative no choice but to resign. John David could not be expected to write with the boldness that has characterized his column, while knowing that Pam Platt stood ready to censor him when he offended the powers that be at the C-J. That would have been an intolerable situation, and he was right to quit.

So much for speaking truth to power.

Mandy Connell has the column in question, JDD's response and the transcript of the voice mail from Pam Platt, informing JDD that she had decided not to run the column.  Mandy will interview John David Monday morning.

John David was too good for that rag. We hear that Insider Louisville would love to publish him (so would we!) and wish him all the best.