Let's Get Our Priorities Straight

I am a lifelong non-smoker,and there are days when I would ban tobacco from ever being sold--due not just to its cancer-causing nature, but to the dozen of toxic chemicals therein (some of which we do not even fully understand.)  But to ban people from buying tobacco until they are 21 is NOT the way to go.
 
In many states you may vote at 18. Now we have declared that being able to smoke is more important than being able to vote.  You can enlist and be drafted at 18, fight and die for your country, but you can't smoke along the way.  Pure asinine stupidity on the part of a bi-partisan Congress that voted these new limits as part of a huge spending and "clean up the year-end business" massive bill that defied all "germane" rules, as well as voting $1.4Billion of your money and mine to build a border wall that from day-one Trump and the GOP had promised Mexico would pay for. (And by the way it was the Dems that pushed this thru in a spirit of compromise.)


So much for promises.

So much for compromise, which as with everything else in Washington, and life, has its limits.  All of which have now gone up in smoke..at least until we are all 21.

I'm just sayin'...

I Was Wrong!

In a recent blog I said something about we needed to thank Gov. Bevin one last time. His ill-fated attempt to challenge his close election cast a light on our really bad election recount laws, and it looked as if the General Assembly might take a long overdue crack at modernizing them.  Then, our departing guv issued a whole series of pardons and commutations, almost all of which have aroused great controversy. Thanks again, sir, for casting light on our antiquated laws here, with the hope we may see improvements.

And yet---allow me to point out, that not all of these were truly bad. In one case he commuted the life sentence of a man convicted of murder in Northern Ky. years ago.  It was a death case, and all the good lawyers of the area refused to take his case (Ky. Bar are you listening?)  He was assigned a young public defender who had never tried a death case, and a second local lawyer who had no office, no phone and who got business passing out his cards in local taverns. Surprise! The guy was convicted. I do not know if he was guilty or not, but I know he did not get a fair trial. This commutation was definitely in order---which is why we have the system.  Let it be noted the attorney's office that got the conviction (for you and me) still insists it was a fair trial!!!

As to pardons, the entire national system needs overhauling, not just because Trump is threatening to make a mockery of it, but because ever since Ford pardoned Nixon (without a trial!)--and lost his re-election, lawyers have complained about the system, and done NOTHING.

Item 2:

The annual list of top US firms who paid NO federal taxes in 2018 is out, and it should make your blood boil. Some in Congress  (and Democratic candidates in the debates) complain about this..but there haven't been changes in years. Among those on this list of great public sinners are:

Gannett (owns the Courier-Journal, awaiting editorial here. Yeah.)
DowDuPont
Duke Energy
Prudential Financial
Eli Lilly
Goodyear
Chevron
Delta
Netflix
General Motors
MGM
American Electric Power
Starbucks
Amazon
McKesson (of oxycontin fame)

Please ask your Congressional candidates  where they  stand on this issue in the election next year.

Item 3:

All I want for Christmas is some radio station in Central Kentucky to play classical music at least part of the day and night.  Are you listening my friends at WUKY-FM???

I'm just sayin'... 


 

Thank Gov. Bevin One More Time

In his brief  thought about challenging the vote in the legislature, he pointed out a glaring deficiency in our election law. After a recanvass (a check of the vote math) there really isn't any other way to make sure a close race is right; except by asking the legislature to validate the results. Then begins an arcane procedure which has already caused 1 murder and puts Kentucky down in history as the only state whose governor was assassinated while in office. (Google: William Goebel)---brought about by the same election law STILL on our books, and which needs to be changed.

Hopefully the next General Assembly will come up with better, modern ways to resolve a close race--which we seem more and more to be in risk of having.  And while they're at it, some other changes need to be made. 

For example:

 
1---asking Congress to make federal election days national holidays, especially the November general one.
(2---asking UK NOT to play a basketball game November election night.)
3--adopt Automatic Voter Registration, urged by the League of Women Voters and many similar groups, which may increase voter turnout (which is our real problem!!)
4--re-register ex-felons who have not served time for a violent offense when they have served their time.
5--let people register to vote who come to the polls election day, with sufficient ID
6--and, most important, pass The National Popular Vote resolution  (as 16 other states, including 4 small ones such as Kentucky ) that says our electoral votes will go to the candidate who has the largest national votes cast--once the number of states passing this plan exceeds the required electoral college majority  needed (273).  States with 74 more votes are needed and such a resolution is being urged in more than that number of states,and  Kentucky should be one of them---otherwise the entire idea of "One person, one vote" goes down the drain and democracy is the poorer.


It has happened too many times already..including the Trump-Clinton election, where Mrs. Clinton got almost THREE MILLION More votes than Mr. Trump, but still lost--because of a 2 century old "college" which isn't one and has no sense behind it in 2020.
 
Thanks, Gov. Bevin for reminding us. 

I'm just sayin'...

My Turn

Our election is over. Lots of views on why what happened, happened.

Gov.- elect Beshear thinks he won because he kept it local, talked about family issues across the dining table, turned his school teacher base out, avoided nationalizing it. Gov. Bevin had other views, but I'm going to agree with Beshear and add one point: years ago in a similar race in Ohio the Dem incumbent lost, and when asked why, he replied with remarkable (and true) candor, "people voted against me." This was so unusual at the time it made the national press and the network evening newscasts.

So, I think, it was with Bevin, a guy who seemed to go out of his way to insult people, make totally UNnecessary inflammatory statements, toss his own Lt.-Gov. candidate in an historic row which went to the courts--and triggered her base staying home. Bevin lost a N. Ky solidly GOP county for the first time in years. and came out of other more recent Republican strongholds with diminished margins. Fayette & Jefferson counties provided extra margins over 4 years ago for Beshear, and so the deed was done.

Note for Rep. Comer and Sec. Quarles--if you consider a run in 2023, remember for the 2nd straight time a GOP guv got only one term. The situations were very different, but (...)
That said, allow me to point out that for all his gaffes and un-political behavior, we all owe Gov. Bevin a debt of gratitude. He focused as a laser on the overwhelming need for pension reform, and he was right. That will be his legacy, and one hopes the new guv and legislature can carry on and do something practical about the dire situation; which past guvs and legislatures of both parties failed to do.

Now we can keep a weather eye on the new split-responsibility in Frankfort and hope the need for pension reform, and a lot of other issues, gets statesmanlike consideration, not just partisan posturing for 2020 and beyond.

Will the Kentucky media, my colleagues, be up to their job of keeping tabs on the new administration in Frankfort. With the Loss of some major reporters, Tom Loftus of course, I wonder. We can hope the broadcast media do a better job, and wonder whether the new player in town, WLEX under new ownership, will seize the opportunity of opening a bureau in the Capital, which WKYT has allowed to languish.

Hopefully, though staff and budget have been reduced, we may still count on KET to cover the legislature as ably as it has done in the past. Now, more than ever, we need this gem of Kentucky. (And speaking of "gems", I hope you all saw the 25th anniversary show of KET's Kentucky Life. What a joy and what great reasons to be proud of being a Kentuckian. If you didn't, it is on again Thursday the 5th at 9:30 p.m.with more repeats later, and a DVD available for purchase. Please take a look, and wonder why our Lexington stations don't emulate this type of commonwealth feature reporting. 

I'm just sayin'...

The UNReal-ID

Dear Attorney-General Beshear: Please save us from this "illegal" scheme. They're at it again, only this time they have finally confessed--their plan is against the law.  I'm talking about the so-called "ReaI-ID" special, extra expensive drivers license for Kentuckians. It's designed to be extra secure, so those who pay extra may fly domestically, and enter federal institutions (should you want to visit your family member in service.)


It was to be issued years ago but has run into nothing but trouble. The latest came when county clerks said it was too much trouble for their current staff to handle, because the US requires a lot of extra documents (and the usual red tape) before issuing--and many county clerks, especially in the smaller, rural areas simply couldn't do it. So the state vehicle people tried again, and came up with a plan for a dozen "regional" centers designed just to issue those Real ID licenses. That didn't work out, so that unworkable plan has just been expanded. Now the state is talking maybe 20-30 centers, and in current state buildings to keep down costs.


But, in releasing the new plan (and some locations) the state admits IT'S ILLEGAL.  Yup, after all this time and study and tryouts in Frankfort and Lawrenceburg, someone realized our law says ONLY county clerks may issue auto licenses. So now the plan is to ask the legislature in January to rush through a law permitting the Real IDs to be issued by people other than county clerks. Already almost 10 years late under the law originally passed by Congress (and waiver after waiver for KY) the US says "No more waivers." It MUST be done by October, 2020 or you and I can't fly on vacations or funerals, or visit the kids at Fort Knox, etc. Asking the legislature to work that fast is putting a lot of eggs in one basket, a "basket" that seldom works quickly. And when legislators hear from "back home" about the extra travel involved...well there just may be a delay.



Because in releasing the updated plan and list of locations where Real ID might be issued, the state admits some people in Eastern Kentucky. must drive an hour to get there...not just to their local courthouse.


There IS a better way. There is a hefty charge for the new license. use those funds to ADD people in our present 120 clerk's offices, however many that are needed. Those offices already exist, so not much extra expenses this way.  People must be trained to issue the new licenses; best they work in an office already set up and experienced in the license-issuing process just in case any problems arise. (Wanna bet they will?)


So, please Attorney General Beshear (or even Gov-Elect Beshear) call off the dawgs, end this illegal, extra expensive plan that just causes more problems for many of our people, find the seed money to get the program started in our present clerks' offices instead of 20-30 new state offices, some far, far away from the voter needing the new-type license. It's just good sense...and good politics.



I'm just sayin'...

Remember Those Purple Fingers?

It was a sign of hope, of a belief in democracy, and in the people. A rallying cry to end corruption, and tyranny, and dictatorship.  For many people purple dye on their finger often meant the first time they had voted in their lives--and it cost some their lives.

In many places, especially Africa and the Middle East, the people arose, threw out dictatorial governments and voted. Extremists groups, such as ISIS and Al Qaida, and local militias opposed the vote. Polling places were attacked, party headquarters burned, people lining up to vote machine gunned. And if they did vote, some had their fingers chopped off, were killed, raped, brutalized; all to stop them from voting again.

Now we in Kentucky have a chance to vote freely, without being intimidated or killed or exiled.

Will we?

The Purple Fingers point at us. Take advantage of your freedom and liberty they say, you can do it so easily, and in safety. Don't lose your democracy by being a No Show.

In many of those Purple Finger countries the turnout was 75%, even above 90%, even in the face of threats and death.

No such threats in Kentucky, and yet the estimate is that only 31% of us will exercise one of  our nation's greatest freedoms.

Vote Kentucky.

Don't let the Purple Fingers---who still look to America as the world's greatest democracy, don't let the Purple Fingers down.

I'm just sayin'...

Something Is Rotten In The State Of....Ukraine

And it isn't just Trump, but also Biden---Joe and Hunter, his son.
The President's handling of this matter is bad enough, but it crosses party lines, IMHO
The President may, or may not, have been coercing the new Ukranian president and withholding military aid to work on corruption there. That's open to debate...BUT..when he asked for help in digging up possible dirt on his possible opponent next year, and then repeated the offer to China days later, that violates an old, important federal law, and Mr. Trump had to know it.

The poor lady who heads the Federal Election Commission has so stated every time he has done so, and these two examples aren't the first ones, just the latest. I would hope no American of any party wants foreign interference in our elections, and for Mr. Trump to seek such help actively really is beyond the pale of our politics as well as illegal on the face.

Whether that is sufficient for impeachment, we will see. But it IS a case of his violating our laws, by commission.  As to former Vice-President Biden, he does not come off looking so well either, by omission.

2 conservative sources have reported his son, Hunter, received a monthly salary of $50K to sit on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas firm, itself the subject of some corruption probes. (Nothing proven yet) That alleged salary has not been verified. The Washington Post, in a wide ranging story could not verify those reports. But, if they are true, that's just incredible. $50K a year, to someone not known to have any expertise in the energy field would be bad enough. What little the son has said so far about why he is a board member and what he does for whatever salary he is paid have been very far from satisfactory. And now President Trump says the son, and maybe dad, has been involved in some type of business dealings in China, maybe worth a billion or so. All this not substantiated either.

BUT, Mr. Biden knows better. He should never have allowed his son to be involved in a country where he was the point man for President Obama in some important policy matter, and the same is true for China, where the possibility of a major conflict of interest for the present Trump administration (or even a possible eventual Biden administration) looms large. He knows that and he should never have permitted it.

But now it has come out, in many murky details. Candidate Biden should clear the air and tell the American people, in full detail, whatever his son has done in the Ukraine and whatever he and son may be doing in China. For a supposedly astute politician, he has handled this as stupidly as can be.

I'm just sayin'...

Star Horse Manure

One of the greatest loads of horse manure ever to come from a state agency was shoveled onto the public stage this past week when Kentucky gave up on (finally) issuing the new Star drivers' license. This is the higher security license needed by next year to fly domestically. Yup, if you have a last minute funeral to attend, or a major business meeting comes up quickly and you don't have the special Star license, thumb your way there. And what about just flying on a vacation? Oh, BTW, you cant get on a military base to visit your son or daughter without the Star license; commonly referred to as Real ID.


Forget that the state has been on notice since 2005 that such a license was coming, and has had ten years to prepare for it. Several past legislatures balked on doing it, under both parties. The state got extension after extension (meaning our licenses could be used by terrorists who faked them) while legislatures and state agencies dithered. Then, Gov. Bevin finally supported a bill and the legislature passed it, only to have Bevin veto it because the Tea Party said it might violate personal rights. 


New attempts to come up with the so-called Star license continued, along with new federal extensions, later and the motor vehicles people, after delay after delay, rolled out a test system in Franklin county, then extended it to Woodford, announcing plans for a further rollout "this fall."

All that came to a grinding halt this week when Frankfort announced the 2 county rollout had not worked. Clerks there were spending too much time on the new system, which did require much more documentation and paperwork, and were not getting to their other duties as needed.

In its place the state said, we will set up a regional system; possibly as many as 12 regional centers, where specially trained people will handle the new license process. So instead of driving to one or more offices in your home county, drivers in as many as ten counties will have to motor to the new regional center, more time and money spent, and get the Star license there, ASSUMING other problems found during the rollout are overcome. Clerks and other officials praise this current plan as offering the best solution available.


Horse manure.

We, (you and I,) need those new licenses which are long overdue, and will become even more entangled if the feds deny us another extension. They have the right to do so. And with all the emphasis on fighting terrorist who could blame them? But patriotic Kentuckians would suffer--needlessly.

Instead of distant regional centers,why not add specially trained staff to every county clerk's office to handle Star. But that would even cost less than the "regional centers" (new buildings, equipment, same staff, training, etcetc.) We might get our needed licenses on time, and thwart terrorists. 


Meanwhile all the state's efforts so far, and its ridiculous plans for the future of this major Star program, boil down to an immense load of horse manure, piled high and deep on Kentucky citizens.

I'm just sayin'...

Terry Wilson And Politics

It took just a second or so, and everything changed.

(In sports and in politics)

One bad tackle and the prime QB for UK is gone for the season. It has happened so many times, maybe we just put it in the back of our minds and hope it doesn't happen here. But it did.  While wishing Terry Wilson a speedy recovery, and Sawyer Smith a great season, let me continue my analogy to politics.
 
Dan Rather said years ago "In politics overnight is a long time, and next week is an eternity." He was right. Unfortunately a lot of otherwise good political reporters forget this.  Trump is a shoo-in for renomination. Well, of course he is, unless there's one bad tackle; and far from "next week" it is months and months until the GOP convention and the November 2020 election. I thought of that this week when South Carolina cancelled its GOP primary convention, It has every legal right to do so. State parties control such events, and it is costly to hold them. Of course, democracy suffers when they don't, and the faithful don't get to meet and greet and get riled up, as well as meet future party candidates. 3-4 other GOP states are poised to do the same thing.
 
Democrats have done the same thing. in 2012, 10 states cancelled their conventions or caucuses. American democracy was the loser.


I do not wish Mr. Trump ill, though I disagree with many of His policies. He is our President (elected by an obsolete electoral college system, not by a majority of Americans, please remember, but he IS the president.) Now, should Mr. Pence somehow become president, how fast do you think opposing GOP candidates would come out of the woodwork??? And S.C. might just vote suddenly to hold that state convention.
On the other side we hear "Biden's a shoo-in." (or some other name, insert your own choice) Well, he isn't, and as a matter of fact he isn't even the "front runner" except in the minds of some reporters, and some pollsters (do I have to comment further on polls this far from election day here??)

We also hear "it will all come down to four states." (except that depending on which "expert" you believe those four states aren't always the same four.)  People who believe such crap often stay away from voting, and again, democracy is the loser.

So, while the Democrats sort out an ungainly field of dreamers and old pros, while the GOP faces a coronation not a nomination (also bad for democracy,) keep an open mind. Tomorrow isn't here, let alone the presidential election year of 2020. Between tomorrow and 2020, a lot can, and probably will, happen, or didn't you see what happened to Terry Wilson last Saturday?

I'm just sayin'...

The Golden Rule Is Vague ...In Kentucky

Those of us who cover politics, on any level, know the importance of  the golden rule: he who has the Gold, writes the Rules.  That's why we favor laws that tell the voter who has to spend how much trying to get Joe SixPak elected. You need to know that before voting. While there are rules REQUIRING such campaign contributions to be reported, many of these laws are weak. That's where "dark money" comes in. It doesn't have to be reported under some strange federal rules (and lack of appropriate laws and proper enforcement.) Such money spent each election cycle is in the Zillions, we just don't know how many Zillions.
 
Then there's the Citizens United decision, proclaiming that corporations, BEING CITIZENS, don't have to make such reports; totally devastating what weak laws do exist. There's a national movement on, properly, to get this Supreme Court decision overturned.
BTW, forget Russian (or Chinese, or Iranian, or...) hacking into our elections, bad as that is. With weak election finance and reporting laws, they could spend their way into electing the favored candidates and no American would be the wiser.

So this week, when we learned that a Kentucky law on election spending was so weak as to be 110% useless, one has to wonder why?  Now, all of this reporting is based on a story in the Courier-Journal. (More later) Which is what the media is for. They noticed a group called Kentucky Tomorrow was placing Facebook ads, but hadn't reported its spending to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, as the law requires. To the group's credit, a day after the CJ asked why, the group made the required report, saying they had been "inadvertently overlooked." Then the paper asked the Registry for its response, since the law REQUIRES a fine of$100 a day for such late reports.
 
The Registry's head guy said no fine would be imposed, because our law is so vague. It does NOT say how much time a group has to file after spending! It could be weeks, or months, or years--the law does not say. Yes, a group a lawyers in our legislature wrote a law requiring such reports, and fines if they weren't made, without indicating how long they would have before violating the law.

Do you smell  a dead rodent here? Such an obvious part of the law is missing. Was it planned that way, deliberately? (It aids all parties.) Lacking this, the Registry gives all groups "a reasonable time" to file..a "reasonable time" may be anybody's guess, especially if a group contests a fine in court. With elections an almost yearly event in Kentucky, this law needs changing, but this time, please let's not let the lawyers write it.

BTW, Kentucky Tomorrow is a Delaware corporation, so the CJ found out, under US (not Kentucky) reporting laws, one contributor to it also is an investor in the proposed Braidy Industries aluminum plant in Eastern Kentucky, the same one that has a proposed heavy investment by a Russian aluminum firm.

Not that you and I would have known any of this without a vigilant, free press to tell us.
And that brings me to a sad note: The reporter who broke all this, and who has diligently covered the state's budget for years, and political shenanigans such as this weak Registry law, is retiring. Tom Loftus told me "it's time," after so many years of able reporting on the statehouse beat. I will miss him, greatly--and so will you.  Fortunately, the CJ seems to have a new crop of young capable reporters on the politics beat. It may take them some time to be as good as Tom has consistently been over the years, but all of us need to wish them well.  "Nothing less," as Jason Robards AKA Ben Bradley of the Watergate -breaking Washington Post said in All The President's Men, "than the future of the Republic depends upon it."

I'm just sayin'...

May I Point Out

In every community where mass shootings have taken place, certain things are common. One is the belief "that such a thing would never happen here. We're just not that type of place."  Reporters hear it over and over, even as the lists mount up of all those places "where such a thing could never happen."

Perhaps the final proof came recently at that Garlic festival in Gilroy, California. Here the mass shooter drove 600 miles from his home to that little festival town to work his evil. No strong bonds or reason why he drove there have surfaced, so we are left with the inescapable conclusion these evil doers don't care what place they pick, so long as they think they will be able to kill, kill, kill.

Let that sink in. No place is immune. Not even Lexington.  So, before the next place where the mayor or police chief will tell a reporter, "we never thought it could happen here," let's get the President and the NRA on board, and get some practical gun controls enacted. The NRA says its doesn't want guns in the hands of people with mental problems, but it also opposes expanded background checks, and some "red flag" laws. This does not compute. To keep guns from people with mental problems, some type of background checks are needed. Let's hope the President, and those polls showing 80% of all Americans supported expanded gun controls, may finally convince Congress to do its duty. And soon.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is under pressure to call the Senate back sooner than the planned schedule for home town electioneering, but has said he won't. If the guns of Gilroy, and Dayton, and El Paso aren't enough, how about: US-Iran relations, with the potential  for war, or those new N. Korean missiles, or serious troubles in Hong Kong which could bring in Chinese troops, or worse, the deteriorating relations over Kashmir by India and Pakistan, BOTH nations with nuclear weapons, far more serious than either Iran and North Korea. Or, more directly here at home, Wall Street laying an egg.

But members want to seek votes, and that seems more important than say, war. Shows you where their priorities are. Perhaps, as I have long supported, if House members had 4 years terms, half elected every two years, we might be able to keep Congress in session longer, instead of taking SEVEN weeks off when all those serious problems listed above are festering.

Perhaps, if members of Congress had up close and personal experience  with a mass shooter in their home, they would be more understanding of why the rest of us want something done.   But, of course, they have---they've just forgotten.  65 years ago this year, four "nationalists" entered the House visitors gallery and after a few minutes, brought hidden semi-automatic weapons from under their clothes and fired all their bullets into the House chamber below. 5 Congressmen were injured, only one seriously. All recovered. All the nationalists were grabbed since they were out of bullets, tried, convicted, and given long prison terms. What saved Congress was those semi-automatic weapons were pistols with limited magazines. Can you imagine what would have happened had they used high capacity magazines, as was done in ElPaso, Dayton, Las Vegas etcetcetc? (BTW, those "nationalists" were Puerto Rican "nationalists" seeking total independence of that island from the US. Their movement still exists but has few followers there.)
 
Congress reacted, by essentially tightening security in its chambers, hiring more cops, but doing little about the gun problems.  It's time for a change, before history tragically is relived even in a "place where nothing like this could happen."

I'm just sayin'...

Emerson Was Right

"An institution is but the lengthened shadow of one man."

The American essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote that almost 200 years ago, and he was right then, and now, when we apply it to O. Leonard Press or as most people knew him - Len Press, founder of KET, who died last week at 97.

It was his vision, his energy, and his wife Lil, that together created, championed, and stamped the role that KET plays in the lives of many Kentuckians. This state would be so much poorer without KET, not just for its basic work providing educational classes for schools at all levels, but for its rebroadcast of PBS programming, as well as its own news and public affairs efforts headed by its legislative coverage, programs such as Comment on Kentucky, Kentucky Tonight, and special events such as the past weekend's live coverage of Fancy Farm.

Len wrote a book about how KET came to be, and as usual, paid tribute to many others who helped him in major ways along that journey; all true, (none more so than his wife, Lil, whose own vision sparked the Governors' Scholarship program,) but it was Len whose ideas and dogged determination made it all come together and work.

He told about this in his book "The KET Story." Read it if you want to know more, and know that the KET story is an unfinished one. As education evolves, as TV programming changes, as American society goes through many changes, KET is the institution that lets the rest of us keep up with change, and make decisions on what's best for our futures.

Len Press gave us that institution--and that chance to make wise decisions. He didn't agree with all the changes that KET has made since he left as the head man; to him the "E" in KET was the important dimension, but his legacy is we have great help in our own education, and our own ---and Kentucky's future.

What a "shadow" he has left behind.  Hopefully we will be smart enough to support it and keep it going for many tomorrows.

I'm just sayin'...

Frustration: Or How Not To Get In Touch With Your Elected Official

Back in the day, it used to be so easy; you called your US official, a bright young staffer came on the line, you made your request, and you usually got an answer--and quickly.
Not so in these days of so MANY communication devices.

Let me explain:

Last week the US Senate Intelligence Committee issued a report on Russian interference in our 2016 elections, including reports on such interference in EVERY state, including Kentucky. I have written frequently about the need for better election security in Kentucky, so here was, hopefully, some facts on the matter I could cite in a blog urging local and state representatives to get on the ball.

So I decided to get a copy of the report:

First stop, my phone directory, to look up the district office number for Senator Paul. Putting on my reading glasses, because the type is small, I finally located his office number and called it.  That number no longer works, because Paul has given up his office in Lexington. (Thanks, Senator) So I called his Washington main office. Got a recorded voice asking me to leave a recording and they would get back to me. I needed to have a more definite report, because my blog deadline was already overdue, so I declined. 

Then I called his one state office in Bowling Green, where a sweet young thing said they couldn't tell me whether they could get me a copy or not, but if I called their field representative in LEXINGTON, she might be able to help. Got her number (somewhat incorrect) and after 2 attempts  on a very bad phone line left a message; and am awaiting a reply.

But, deadlines loom, so I tried calling the LEXINGTON office of Sen. McConnell. Got an instant recording saying if I heard that everyone was busy talking to someone else, so please leave a message. Now I remembered all those stories about how tough it is to reach the Senator; hadn't realized it also applied to his local office as well. (Not to be negative, but does anyone get through on their first try?) I declined to leave a recording.


Now, I went back to the current phone directory to look up the office of Congressman Andy Barr. Most helpful, they had a listing for our local congressman; but his name was Ben Chandler. (Lost to Barr six years ago, still UNcorrected) No number also.

Now, off to the internet, googling Barr. Not much more helpful, a lot of listing for him, but NOT his local offices, so I went to his DC listing, and there was the Lexington listing as well. Called the local number. Very helpful young man answered, for the first time, actually took down my request for a copy of the Senate report and asked me to hold while he checked. A minute or so later he came back on..sorry to tell me  they could NOT help me get a copy of any Senate report, apparently only House reports. I thanked him for his efforts.

I can tell you from many years of political reporting this type of runaround would not have happened "back in the day." What's going on here with requests from constituents?
As of now I have resolved not to call the offices of that Senate committee in DC or the GPO (Govt. Printing Office) to get this report. Maybe the lady field representative of Paul's will come through in time.

But I still don't have a topic for this week's blog.
 
Or, do I???

I'm just sayin'...

Special Session, Special Counsel, Special Numbers

Gov. Bevin is right to lay the stress he has on fixing our incredible pension crisis, although perhaps not to the exclusion of some lesser state problems; and of course reasonable people can argue over the best ways out. The crisis, decades in the making by lack of attention by many governors and the legislature, will not be solved overnight. His basic reforms, passed at the regular session show that. As they wend their way thru a major court test, he had to call a special session to correct some of the problems of the first bill...that's  now done..probably to face another court test filed by his fall opponent, Attorney-General Andy Beshear. We can only hope the courts will decide by the time of the November election, so voters may have the chance to make comparisons, or surely by the time of the regular session in January when other changes will most likely have to be made, and we may know if the corrections made in this week's special session are, in fact, corrections. Stay tuned, it's a complicated mess, but one that must be faced.


Special Counsel Robert Mueller tried to stress several things at his marathon testimonies this week. Let's hope at least one penetrated the skulls of legislators--and citizens: The Russians DID try to influence our 2016 presidential elections, and are at it AGAIN. And they are being joined, he feels, by China and Iran, maybe more. America is also NOT ready to meet those election challenges, either nationally or locally. Congress MUST face up to this but it is also a challenge that needs to be met in Lexington and Frankfort. Example: Lexington's election machines do NOT have a paper record and are thus subject to tampering that may not be discernible. And for all the political arguments over Sec. of State Grimes' powers, our state election process is not secure either. The next legislative session is probably our last chance to get our voting house in order and secure, if it isn't already too late. We need to thank Counsel Mueller for this crucial reminder.


Ever since Dr. David Roselle, an eminent mathematician, left the UK presidency, our flagship institution has suffered from some "number" problems. For the second time, UK has admitted many more students than it has rooms; despite years of cookie-cutter construction of such rooms through contracts with private builders, not itself. Can't UK count? Apparently not--and parents and citizens paying for UK need to know more about why not.  Meanwhile it has been reported that Dr. Eli Capilouto, our current UK president, is the 4th highest paid college head for public universities, over a million dollars a year in pay, benefits, etc. He's a good man, is doing well basically, but somehow this just doesn't seem right. We are not North Carolina, or Texas, or Michigan, or California and our financial resources are much more strained. Between "lifetime" contracts for a coach and this report, our priorities seem to be out of whack. Next thing you know, UK supporters will be yelling "We're number one!"

I'm just sayin'...

Kentucky Politics: Rumors And Reports

For some time there have been rumors that Democrat Amy McGrath, the ex-Marine jet pilot who ran a good but losing race against Congressman Andy Barr, would announce her candidacy for the US Senate seat now held by Mitch McConnell. Then came reports, from a New York talk show not a Kentucky news source, that someone named Amy McGrath was doing just that. Only it couldn't have been the old Amy McGrath.

This new Democratic candidate, unlike the first who had proclaimed her progressive beliefs, endorsed some of the Trump policies. Arrgh! And to make matters worse, this new McGrath said if she had been in Mitch's seat she would have voted to confirm Brett Kavanagh to the Supreme Court. Well, the national sisterhood jumped all over her on that, along with about everyone else--including the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer (who supposedly had urged the old McGrath to run,) and soon whoever this new McGrath was took it all back. Double arrgh!

So now who is this person? And who else, real or otherwise, might seek to oppose Mitch, who definitely needs opposing, even in his own party--an unlikely event.
Let us wait and see while other Dems consider jumping into what all know would be a very tough, uphill race. The state's lone Democrat in Congress, John Yarmuth of Louisville, would be a good one. A certain lawyer, masquerading as a sports figure, might be another, as would House minority leader Rocky Adkins, though he doesn't seem so inclined.

But meanwhile we have to consider what Dems do with a candidate who won many's affections by her straight talk running for Congress, and who now seems willing to throw all that political gold away trying to be all things to all people just to win.
Don't know who this new Amy McGrath really is, but her party, and Kentucky, could use the old---and real---one back.


I'm just sayin'...

I Smell A Rat, A Judicial Rat

And at the Supreme Court, too.

Its decision last week NOT to make a decision in 2 cases (more later) of obvious partisan gerrymandering (drawing election district lines to favor your party alone, screwing the other party and all voters) smells to high heaven of the worse kind of decision making by the high court (as bad as the decision on Florida voting ---more later--that may have cost Al Gore the presidency.)

The Chief Justice asked a legitimate question; how much partisan gerrymandering is OK? Where can the lines be drawn? And then totally surrendered his job of deciding such questions and gave up but, of course, by a 5-4 vote including the 2 new conservative judges. The court is there to make such decisions, tough or not. It has done so many times before. In the famous Florida vote case it was ultimately ruling on those famous "hanging chads," remember? Was this a Gore vote or a Bush vote? Hold the chad up to the light and try to ascertain the voter's intention. It did just that in its decision. Only the most important and powerful job in the world was at stake, yet somehow, it was able to make a decision.

But not in the current gerrymandering cases. I smell a rat.  The court had before it cases from 2 states, one where the GOP dominated state legislature had redrawn previous election district lines to favor them, and a second case where a Democrat controlled state legislature had done the same thing. What a great opportunity to reaffirm an old American tradition of one person, one vote, and say: a pox on both your houses! This is wrong no matter who does it, and when.

But this Golden Opportunity was too much for the Republican dominated Supreme Court to pass up. Indeed, I strongly suspect it waited for two cases from two states, each controlled by one party, to opt out and say  "it's too tough for us to decide." Judges  have been deciding tough cases ever since King Solomon and the 2 mothers who each wanted the same baby. But this time, with 2 cases where the gerrymandering was so apparent (and so partisan) the court gave up.

Could it be because the court knows the GOP controls many more state legislatures right now than Democrats? And with a new census but a few years away, NOT deciding gives the GOP even more of a chance to draw lines to favor it, on the state level and on the federal level (read, more gridlock in Washington.)

But the court can say, well, we had 2 cases, one from each party, that were blatantly corrupt, but we just couldn't decide where to draw the line without jepordizing FUTURE  cases that MIGHT come before us.  Meadow Muffins!

Is there any way we can garnish their salaries for failure to do the job to which they were NOT elected?


I'm just sayin'...

Congress, Again And Again

Remember a few weeks ago, a spate of stories about how Congress had bills before it to act on all those anoying robo-calls many of us get? I thought about a blog topic then along the lines of "what took you so long?" How many YEARS has this problem existed and it's only now that our Congress gets around to it?  BTW, nothing definite yet--from the body that is supposed to represent us.

Jon Stewart was right, also, to call Congress out for not acting on aid for the First Responders who have suffered grievious medical problems from their work in lower Manhattan during 9/11. He complained, rightly, their benefits were expiring soon and Congress had no timetable to taking up extending them. Our Mitch smugly replied that Congress often acts at the last minute-but it would take action here. Meanwhile, a few more 9/11 victims have died, and their families are up in the air in many cases because "congress often acts at the last minute." This important matter has been called to its attention and for the senate leader and others, to take more time than is needed, is inefficient, impractical, inhumane and ought to be remember when next he--and several others-run for office.


But Stewart also missed a major point, one that rankles me a lot, and shows another side. Congress acted VERY swiftly after 9/11 to pass a bill EXEMPTING those airlines who carried the terrorists from being sued by the families of the dead passengers. Congress can act quickly when it wants to and it wanted to let American, United, et al off the hook, and also not let defense lawyers circling to sue from getting their cases heard. Forget the facts that the TSA/FAA and airlines were monumentally negligent here; as news story after story, and actually tapes of the terrorists getting thru screenings proved beyond doubt--oh, and overlook the airline industries political contributions as well. These sad parts of the "First Responders' "  is still with us, and will be for some  time I suspect.


Congress is a century late, some tell us, facing another issue: "reparations for slavery." This may become a hot button issue in the campaign, but it shouldn't. There are just too many unknowns and intangibles here, such as who today should get reparations for all those dead people we did greatly harm then?  Do we even know--for certain? It's a bad idea, and it's out of place. IF we wanted to pay such reparations today, let us begin with the people we really injured much earlier, even before the first slave arrived in Virginia. I'm talking about the American Indians, or Native Americans if you prefer (I don't) or better, what Canada calls the "First Nation." If we are going to do reparations, we need to start there, and work our way up to a more present time.

I'm just sayin'...

Thanks NA$A, Thanks for Nothing

NA$A, our national space agency, announced recently it would partner with private firms to send civilians to visit, and stay, at the International Space Station, in orbit around the world.  The cost wouldn't be cheap, possibly as much as $58 million for a month's stay.
 
This is all so much stellar crap.

Millions of us paid our taxes for decades to allow NA$A to build the space station, and now our public agency wants to limit those who go there just to millionaires?
I propose instead, Congress require NA$A to hold a lottery for seats and stays, free to the winners. Anyone who paid federal taxes during the decades of the 60s thru now, could have their names entered. (I would exclude the top executives of General Dynamic, Boeing, Thiokol, General Electric, Lockheed, and all the other major NA$A contractors who got Billions from us taxpayers for space projects, but whose corporations paid zip/zero/nada/nothing in federal income taxes during many of those years (a sad fact that continues to this day, thanks to Congress's indifference to these lobbying giants with deep pockets for political contributions.)


But Congress could restrict how NA$A handles the proposed space visits; and it should.

Now, that would be a lottery worth winning.

I'm just sayin'...

Local Media Thoughts

Lee Cruse screwed up. So did LEX 18. His first mistake was in not reading over his copy before reading it on air. His second was in not understanding the story he was reading. Which, BTW, concerned a British broadcaster who came up with a pix of Harry & Meghan and their new baby, an African chimp. Lee thought that was funny. His station, properly, didn't. When Cruse recognized his mistake he apologized, several times, as he should have. LEX took him off the air to consider what to do. Then they fired him. After 20 years of presumably good and loyal service, one mistake and you're out. That's a load of meadow muffins. Or, to use an old Brit expression, the punishment doesn't ft the crime. It was announced by the current GM, from the previous owners, but probably is the decision of the new owners, Scripps Howard. That bodes no good for their new tenure as owners of the #2 TV station in town.

Speaking of TV, two notes regarding our local Fox affiliate. Co-Anchor Erica Abe has left us. She will be missed. Besides doing a creditable job as anchor, she is off to Harvard to study for an MA in foreign relations. We wish her well; that fields needs all the educated people it can get--and we will miss her.  And you shouldn't miss the Fox 56 10 pm news on Wednesdays, for sure. Erica's longtime anchor, Marvin Bartlett remains, and on Wednesday nights treats us to his weekly feature "Spirit of the Blue Grass." It's the closest thing we have to a Kuralt-type feature report, and--week in and week out--is well worth your watching. Wish more local stations would do the same.
 
WKYT's Sam Dick did do an excellent in-depth report last week on "the Boys from Kentucky,"and how a school class was following them from childhood to their deaths in Normandy after D Day. The student scholars dug up things the GI's families didn't even know, all presented in an emotional and excellent report---which we also need more of locally.

Then there's our leading morning newspapers, the Herald-Leader.  Some days it's quite good. Some days it doesn't know what day it is. Such as last Saturday's paper which arrived on my doorstep listed as "Early Sunday Edition." I expected next day's paper to arrive as "Early Monday edition," but it didn't.  Thank Heavens. The H-L doesn't even put dates on its inside pages (which its staff as well as readers have complained to management about and have gotten no explanation for this more than aggravating omission.) If you feel, as I do, that this is silly as well as aggravating, please let them know.

And you might also let President Eli Capilouto know it's about time our flagship university stopped trying to keep its dirty linen (or what it thinks may be its dirty linen) from us. Recently UK lost another in a long line of Freedom of Information cases. It has won very few of these, while trying to keep from us vital (?) stats on sex assaults on campus, incompetent profs firing settlements, you know-little things like that. Hard to teach citizenship and leadership when you don't follow the law yourselves.


I'm just sayin'...

A Tale Of Two Holidays

It's ironic..our two recent holidays.

OK, election day really isn't a "holiday"...yet, tho there are several proposals, in states and Congress, for making it one; in an attempt to encourage voting.  Sadly, too many people take a "holiday" from voting...but that ought to be considered along with other ideas to increase voting.
 
Australia voted recently, where voting is MANDATORY. It apparently works, and I would point out both Australia and the US have England and the British traditions in common.

The other holiday of course was Memorial Day, when we pay tribute to those who gave their lives that we can continue living in a free country, and so far that includes the freedom to ignore elections (and later complain about our public officials!)

Kentuckians turned out for the first holiday by 20%. We consider ourselves a patriotic people; don't we see the irony here?
 
Ironic...and pathetic.

I'm just sayin'...

Election Musings

OK, it's over, and no real surprise it will be Beshear vs Bevin this fall.
That despite a surprisingly strong challenge to the governor from Robert Goforth, and a similar one to the attorney general from Rocky Adkins. If Goforth pledged his support to Bevin, it was pretty lukewarm. Rocky made it clear that if asked, he will help and with his E. Kentucky base that could be important. So also may be the fact  that 395,000 voted in the Democratic primary, versus 259,000 in the GOP. (Statewide they are very close in registration figures.)


But, as veteran political reporter Al Cross pointed out on KET despite Bevin's very low popularity he has 3 major things going for him which could make him a potent candidate this fall: power of incumbency (true, but the last GOP incumbent, Ernie Fletcher, lost); a booming economy (even truer, remember that famous Democratic consultant's maxim.."it's the economy, stupid"), and Trump's popularity in Kentucky (also true, but the vultures are hovering over our Teflon-president and each week comes new anti-Trump revelations. How much popularity he still has in November is anybody's guess.  (And I remember as Watergate hovered over Nixon, who assured us he was not a crook, which he was, he was re-elected.)

As Cross also correctly observed, the major media, print and broadcast, did not spend as much time or talent covering this primary. What will they do this fall?
You could almost hear him saying, "Gosh I wish we had had some independent polls this Spring." Will the media author their own, again, this fall? IF so, will they be any better than in the past, where their track record is poor.Stay tuned.

And stay tuned to KET, which had far & away the most comprehensive coverage--carrying all but one major speech, victory or concession, live, and whose display of the returns was clearer and better than either 27's or 18's. Anchor Renee Shaw didn't mind letting viewers in on behind the scenes chitchat--talking on air to the control room, and telling viewers KET was staying on longer than had been scheduled, while the commercial stations went back to their entertainment schedule.

The only thing one can say that was good about the 19% voter turnout was that it was "better" than the 12.5% prediction. But 19% is shameful in our democracy, and the legislature needs to work on this. There have been a lot of suggestions (some good and some baddd; I plan a blog later on this) but  let's start with a law requiring primary candidates to state their party in all their ads! (Remember this is a PARTY primary, not a PEOPLES' election-that's in November.) To have a party election but not tell the public what party you are in is illogical, immoral and fattening, and should also be illegal. The vast majority of candidates in both major parties did NOT do so, which is truly ridiculous as ridiculous as our 19% turnout.

I'm just sayin'...

Theory & Practice

Our democracy says "no man is above the law."

In practice, it doesn't always seem to work out that way.
(Watch what happens to all in the college admissions scandal.)

Case in point: President Trump.

Since his inauguration I have counted at least a half dozen cases, little known laws, where he is, including declassifying security documents;  accepting certain gifts, etc--some things maybe small, some rather large and important.

Now comes the Mueller report.

It has become increasingly apparent that Mueller (and his team) really feel Mr. Trump DID obstruct justice---in the dozen or so verified instances they cite.  ( Over 500 current and former US prosecutors, of both parties, also think so, as they indicated in a letter to Congress.)  So why no recommendation to indict him?

Because of a long standing Justice Department policy (not a law, just a memo within the DOJ) that you can't indict a sitting president. This has never been taken to the courts to decide (as it properly should have been long before now.) Mr. Mueller has been portrayed as a strict believer in the rule of law. What a great opportunity to get a court decision on this VERY important point.

So, what is it:

A policy memo from some forgotten past DOJ lawyer

or

"No man is above the law."


I'm just sayin'...

Your Freedom...And Mine!

This past May third was World Press Freedom Day, declared  by the UN to call attention to the importance of press freedom for all of us. You probably didn't hear about it in your local news media; I didn't. Local journalists tend to ignore these things, even a lot of First Amendment stories--too busy with pickpockets in Lancaster, or celebrity divorces (which is their perfect right to report while "free.")

Some people think the First Amendment is just for reporters.  No, we may exercise that part of the amendment more than others, but we do so for you. Not just journalists practice freedom of religion, assembly, petition, etc. also you do too.


They're still killing reporters everywhere, including a young lady journalist shot "by accident" in the latest outbreak of "The Troubles" in N. Ireland.
And in Myanmar (once Burma) 2 Reuters reports were released after 7 years in jail. They were charged with possessing government documents after two policemen invited them to lunch, passed them a sealed document, and before they could even open it, were arrested. 
It sure sounds like a set-up to me, especially after the pair had been reporting on Burma's own Holocaust against a Muslim sect for which they won a Pulitzer prize. So far as I know, the police pair were never charged.

We journalists have had our share of real characters in our business. I was mentored by one of them, hired a few of them, and got to know a great Kentucky journalist through his writings. Celebrate press freedom this week by reading an account of his recent death; it's in the Wednesday, May 8th edition of the  Louisville Courier Journal, and it's a wonderful read--reminding all of us of our goal of "comforting the afflicted, and afflicting the comfortable" (rather than coming up with some new business plan for these trying days.)  Google: "Filiatreau, a former Courier Journal writer and editor, dies"


And please feel free to pass it on to friends and anyone who might enjoy it as a reminder of the importance of journalism these days---and always.

I'm just sayin'...

Politics And Wars

In over 40 years of covering politics, only once have I been present when someone announced they would run for President.

It was after midnight, in a small meeting room, at the end of the GOP national convention years ago. I was News Director for a small TV station in Fort Wayne, but our progressive company (owned as it happened by "Jock" Whitney, a prominent Republican, and brother-in-law of the president of CBS) sent a news team to both parties' national convention.  Our job was not to cover the race for President---we left that to CBS---but how our local delegates were taking it all in.

As it happened the best known member of our delegation was the mayor of Indianapolis, Richard Lugar---also known as "Nixon's favorite mayor."  Lugar had made a name for himself running Indianapolis well, and for his progressive views. He had been mentioned as a possible veep running mate, but that didn't happen. With Nixon safely nominated, the weary delegates---and reporters--were back at the delegation hotel ready for bed or booze, when word spread Lugar was holding an unusual midnight news conference in a hotel meeting room. My photographer and I raced there, and set up for whatever was to happen. Lugar came in, went to the podium and to our amazement told us that when Nixon's term was over, it was his intention to run for President. Til then he would continue  as Mayor, but start building a national base for his expected run. He just wanted his fellow  Hoosiers to know what his plans were. 


That was my introduction to Richard Lugar, who did run for President later, and got nowhere. Then he ran for the US Senate, won, and began a 36 year term, becoming one of its ablest members, an acknowledged expert on foreign affairs (this from a sometime isolationist state,) who didn't hesitate to "reach across the aisle" to another able Hoosier expert on foreign affairs, Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton, and later Georgia Senator Sam Nunn. Together they crafted some of the best, bi-partisan foreign policy laws in recent history. (The Nunn-Lugar approach to trying to find and control rogue atomic weapons is still basic US policy, if not exactly front burner in the current GOP administration.)

After 6 terms, Sen. Lugar lost, surprisingly in a primary battle to a Tea Party Republican who in turn lost to a moderate Democrat.  Senator Lugar died last week, honored by those who knew him from both parties and who honored his work for his country, above his party. He was one of the finest statesmen I have known and covered, a younger man in the mold of John Sherman Cooper.

We, (and by we I mean) America needs more public officials such as Richard Lugar, who worked to keep America out of wars, we seem to so casually enter today, all then while ignoring the Constitution.   



And speaking of war, and its often hidden costs, many which only pop up years late:.
A UN report has already told us we (US and allies) killed more civilians in the last few years of fighting in Afghanistan than enemy combatants, and the same holds true of our proxy allies in Yemen--more innocents, especially children, have died in "coalition" bombing than fighters. (Pres. Trump just vetoed a bill to get us out of Yemen, one of the very few times recently Congress has stood up to the President--and for the Constitution---a veto which will probably hold, unfortunately.)

And, remember Raqqa--the Northern Syria town that was IS headquarters? An independent study reports more than 1600 civilians were killed in the US-led coalition's months of bombing that finally "liberated" that city.


As to other, often hidden costs, one more good Kentucky boy is home, finally identified following his death at Pearl Harbor, and on the West Coast, a much younger veteran, suffering from what we once called "shell shock" drove his car into a group of people waiting at a bus stop, under the delusion they were IS-type supporters from his not-so-long-ago combat.


Dick Lugar probably wouldn't have had any answers for that one, but I know he would have tried.


I'm just sayin'...

Surprise!

I am very surprised that the election this spring has been so quiet. Not at all typical for Kentucky. Is this the lull before the storm? Before a slew of negative ads choke the airways?


I hope not. Adam Edelen's ads, so far, have been refreshing and interesting. But the lack of outside polling makes political reporters think he is running 2nd to A/G Andy Beshear and might "go negative" in an attempt to catch up.


Again, I hope not. Doing that, IMHO, would destroy some of the (almost) outsider nature of his candidacy.


Rocky Adkins is probably the most qualified of the 3 major guv candidates for Dems..due to his long legislative tenure. But he is mired in the belief he is a "regional" candidate..from East Ky.



Beshear has his name, his dad, His family, and his time as A/G. Much of that time, when he sued Bevin, he won; and that includes some major Bevin policies being overturned. He still labors under a feeling that many of his suits are for political purposes and not out of fundamental beliefs, no matter what he says in his ads. I still regret, for example, he did not join other A/G's in suing the inventor of 3D printing of guns, which he could have, and didn't, and there are more of these types of suits he might have filed, but didn't.


Will Bevin survive Robert Goforth Ike Lawrence and William Woods? Probably. And that will set the stage for a very interesting fall election. As of now, Bevin is, unlike most incumbent guvs, not a shoo-in to win. Too much alienation of teachers, even members of his own party, etc. to assume that.


There should be some good debates coming up on KET especially. Depending on how the candidates do, especially the 3 top Dems, could well determine their primary winner.  Debates can be important.


AND ONE LAST THOUGHT:  The Constitution says a president may be impeached only for treason, bribery, high crimes or misdemeanors.  As of last September, the fact checkers at the Washington Post determined Mr. Trump had lied to the American people 5000 times. (I don't know what the total is now.) Lying may not be a "high crime"...but surely it is a "misdemeanor."

I'm just sayin'...

More News Notes

CBS's UNMASTERFUL COVERAGE:

By mid afternoon Sunday we knew Tiger had won, but CBS didn't end coverage (which had started early due to impending severe storms, wiping out the best news magazine show on the air, Sunday Morning) it kept on repeating, repeating, and still repeating what had happened right up to 7pm, the original time it was supposed to end. To say this was overkill, even for the "historic" nature of Tiger's victory, is to put it mildly.


I hope local stations throughout the South, where storms and tornadoes killed at least 8 people, cut away and ran local news and weather coverage. Probably not, unfortunately, and yup, P.O'ed golf fans in Atlanta, sent death threats (death threats!!!) to the affiliate that did cut away to let viewers know of tornadoes in the area.    It's just too easy today to use social media to send such crap; I hope local police are after these thugs.


CRAPPY NEW POLITICS:

At least twice recently, national media have announced that Joe Zilch, a largely unheard of local official, had said he was running for President. Then, 2 weeks later, he announces his "formal" bid for President. Oh, No Buster! You used to get only one go round here; a one time announcement to seek the White house should be it. I am appalled at the Main Stream Media / AKA MSM doing this.


Years ago, when I was news director of a top radio station in South Carolina, it was customary you got ONE such announcement. I remember the mayor of a major town calling our station for a phone interview in which he said he would make his official announcement of running for the US Senate  the following week. Oh No, we told him, this is it; and it was. The wire services picked up the phone announcement, and that, as I remember it, was it.


It should be that way now. Besides, we have way too many people who think they are qualified to be President (probably because Trump has shown us that any egotistical, unqualified person can have such a dream.)  Hopefully the MSM will think better of its current policy of letting candidates call the shots and apply a little political birth control.


LAST WEEK:

I wrote of the silliness potentially fatal silliness of parents and others who refuse to be vaccinated, or let their kids be vaccinated, on supposedly "religious" grounds.  To wit this AP story and its headline in the Courier-Journal: "Madagascar's measles kill 1200."  It could happen here; remember WWI's "Spanish Flu"? It killed tens of thousands in the US, far more than died in combat.


SPEAKING OF HEADLINES:

A sad one recently from South Carolina, where I spent 3 happy years covering politics almost the "damndest" as here in KY. Long time US Senator, and former governor, "Fritz" Hollings died. He was colorful, "good copy" able, intelligent, but a true son of the South who was able to grow with the times, to learn and practice new things, who moved away from segregation and bettered his state---and country--for it. He ran for president once too.  By experience he was more qualified than many of his opponents, but he had no chance in those days. He taught me a lot about politics. I considered him a friend and I will miss him.  With more like Fritz, South Carolina, the South---and America--would be better off.

I'm just sayin'...

Your Freedom...To Kill Others!

Which is exactly what those who refuse to get vaccinated are claiming---the freedom to kill others.


Coating it in the argument of "religious beliefs" doesn't hold water. I know a church denomination which once held, as a tenet of its faith, the right to enslave people of a different color. (Was that really so long ago?) Religion has its limits.



Today, claiming "faith" as a reason to be UNreasonable may be fashionable in some areas, even sincerely believed (and often on sincerely false evidence.) Did you see the news story recently that over half of the vaccination posts on Facebook were wrong?  (Just one more argument I have to urge my friends to give up Facebook.)


It is not a coincidence that areas of the US where anti-vaccination beliefs were strongest are those areas which have seen a resurgence of measles; a malady once extinct in the US (though still a major health problem in other parts of the world.)  If I lived next to a family whose kids were not vaccinated I would tell health & school officials about them, and I would confront them as a parent, and tell them if my kids come down with what yours get, be prepared to be hauled into court.


When I was growing up, measles  was a really scary thing, especially for boys.  The word was then a bad case could make a young male impotent, forever.  Don't know if that is true today, but it was not a little worrisome then.


We have come so far in ending a disease that once killed  and maimed it would be a great shame to cause needless deaths; all in the name of  religion, which ought to be an enhancer of all our  lives.

I'm just sayin'...

A Legislative Review

Midway through the now concluded session a  conservative Republican friend of mine commented her party seemed determined to do some baddd things.  First, sending lawsuits it thought it might lose off to “friendly” judges elsewhere in the state, then burying information on its actions by changing open records law so no one could find out, and taking other steps which just seemed untraditional in America and Kentucky.  "What are they afraid of?” she asked.

 

What indeed?

 

Fortunately both of the cited bills failed, but not through lack of trying. To me that also indicates a  lack of faith in voters, and a “robust discussion of public issues.”

 

Governor Bevin seemed to echo those legislative actions. When the ridiculous concealed carry law passed (over the strong objections of law enforcement groups,) and a citizen raised objections with him, he basically told her to "move to another state if you don’t like what we’re doing.”

 

Geez.  Would he tell that to the CEO of Braidy Industries or any other firm he seeks to bring here?  And by the way, the Braidy deal remains mired in trouble, and you and I have invested in it. Are we going to be on the hook for its failure, as we apparently are for the Kentucky Wired project---which no one in the legislature seems interested in getting to the bottom of its problems?

 

Meanwhile, good bills-as usual, failed. I am thinking of medical marijuana, or changing our outmoded wine purchase laws, two of my own interests I admit, along with cutting the ridiculously high salary of a Bevin friend as IT czar

 

Yet, having said all this, I think the legislature itself needs modernizing. It should (1) hold annual sessions of sixty days, (2) be able to call itself into special session when needed, (3) have more research and support for bill drafting by the LRC—among other things - along with more open committee sessions to block more “sewage” bills at the 11th hour.

 

If it comes to a choice between an executive turned dictator (often in secret,) or a legislature making bad choices (after open debate) I pick the latter; as much more in our historic tradition.

 

i'm just sayin'...

Pardon Me, But...

While I wait for a lot more of the Mueller report to be released (and by the way I do realize that  grand jury testimony cannot be released by law,) let me jump ahead, and back a bit.

 

A big part of our government is based on 3 equal branches of it: executive, legislative, and judicial. Each has its role to play; has checks (in most cases) on the other-and these checks and balances have made our Democracy what it is.

 

The President’s “pardon power” in a dictatorial aberration and should be eliminated or greatly modified.

 

Example A:  as of now the judicial system can spend years and millions investigating a suspected criminal, getting an indictment, preparing for trial, and then in the blink of an eye, the president issues a pardon and all is forgiven, legally and for the record. That not only is not fair, it is an outright and total break of our system of 3 equal branches and checks and balances.

 

This can (and I suspect—has) happened.

 

Many presidents have been criticized for the way they used the pardon process. Clinton’s pardons, in some cases, didn’t pass the smell test. Prominent people (and party donors) got off.  Bush & Obama were also criticized for some of their pardons.  Many presidents have.

 

It’s long past time for a change, and all those lawyers in Congress know it. The president probably ought to have some power to pardon, but NOT until AFTER the judicial system has done its job; not til after someone has been convicted (and probably not til after the appeals process has concluded.) To let a president pardon sooner makes a mockery of our system of justice.

 

It isn’t what Trump might do, or what Clinton did. It’s the practice of democracy at stake, and to coin a phrase:

 

It’s time for a change.

 

I'm just sayin'...

Abolish The FAA

This is not a new thought; I have stated my belief that this is the worst of all federal agencies (and that’s saying a lot) but the preliminary indications are that, once again, the FAA has failed in its mission to protect the flying public.

 

400 graves in Ethophia and Indonesia attest to that.

 

If those 2 Max 8 planes had been US carriers, and the deaths were that of Americans what do you think the public reaction would have been?

 

The FAA has consistently sided with plane makers over the public; often even siding with the Boeings and Uniteds against the National Transportation Safety Board, even when the agency had shown a clear failure of plane or pilot—and people died. NTSB findings go to the FAA, which—under the law—does not have to follow them or even study them. (That should have changed a long, long time ago; but hasn’t - a signal of the political and administrative power of carriers and manufacturers within the agency, instead of its mission to protect the public.)

 

It’s not news that the FAA turned over to Boeing the decision that its new automated safety system was, in fact, safe. It is the prime suspect in the 2 crashes. The FAA, as usual, pleads lack of staff or labs to investigate all these things  (true, and Congress shares much blame here,) but if they don’t, why approve such crucial items as new planes come on line?

 

As they say, the “culture” of this agency is bad, wrong, and I suspect beyond redemption. It should go; let some new agency take over, and give more power to the NTSB in this field.

 

#####################

 

A political thought, or two.

 

Ever heard of “FDR’s Court packing plan?” Google it.  Isn’t Trump's “packing” the court with litmus test conservatives about the same? Yet FDR’s plan failed; looks like the President’s may succeed, and all without comment (or even stories of explanation) from the “liberal” media.

 

There are too many Democratic candidates running for president (many of whom are, IMHO, unqualified.) There are too few Republican candidates running for President.  A spirited party primary is good for Democracy.

 

I'm just sayin'...

Thoughts On Recent News Items

Another Kentucky soldier, killed in war has come home to be honored—and placed at rest. This time, he died at Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7th, 1941.

Modern science finally identified him---68 years later. Wars have a way of doing that. Bet I could ask a lot of people on the streets of Lexington when the bombing of Pearl Harbor took place and few would know. We hurry into war, often on bad or even spurious reasons. Seldom do we later repent, except briefly when a good Kentucky boy finally comes home.

(Will we lose more in Niger, Yemen, Syria, Somalia—and places Congress still has not declared us at war—and have their bodies finally come back years from now? Only time will tell.)

And speaking of time. It’s now Daylight Saving TIme. It comes too soon and lasts too long. The European Union just decided to end moving clocks forward and back each year. They haven’t decided which time will be “it” year ‘round, but a timely change is on the way. Maybe we should reconsider it also.

We lost two outstanding Kentuckians recently.       

   

I knew them both, slightly and more professionally than personally.  Ewell Balltrip was what every small town editor should be—devoted to his community, both small (Harlan) and large (the mountains.) He stuck up for both, but when he felt coal miners were wrong, he said so, and  made it stick. The New York Times recognized his talent and put him to work in their organization for many years, but he came home to the hills, ending his life with even more service to Eastern Kentucky. Later this month he will be inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. Too bad it took so long for him to be so honored.

James Archambeault has left his mark in many a Commonwealth home and school and office. His pictures, colorful and outstanding of many places in our state grace them, as he graced us with his talent. A fixture at the annual Kentucky Book Fair, I always went to his table to see what new book or calendar he had out. His work has brightened our lives and we will miss him. (Is there a professional Photographers’ Hall of Fame?)

Did you catch WKYT’s recent hour program on the Wildcats? Excellent; congrats to all involved, and please don’t think this is just carping, but why is it we often get such good programs on sports events and people, but not on the issues facing our state? Yes, they are costly and undoubtedly easier for stations to sell to sponsors, but there are public spirited sponsors out there (Toyota, Alltech to mention a few.) So why haven’t we had similar documentaries on: our pension debacle (PBS Frontline thought enough of this to spent most of an hour here, and the Herald Leader’s John Cheeves was one of their “experts.” Can’t he also be the same thing for 27 or 18 or 36 or KET?) Or on serious problems facing rural hospitals (Ditto: Frontline and PBS have explored this issue in Kentucky, but no doc from local stations. Or what REALLY happened at the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire? A provocative book has been out for a half dozen years but no TV expose---yet.  Or: what really happened to kill Kentucky Central?   

Meanwhile our legislature rolls on; probably racking up one of the most dismal session records in modern times. More on that soon.

Voting Legislation Needed NOW!

If you are tired of seeing the bigger states rule our national elections (and I am); if you are even more tired of the Electoral  College, which allows the winner of the popular vote to lose  (and I definetly am—and you should be too, regardless of your party) then please join me in urging our legislature to adopt NOW the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

 

Right now your vote, as a Kentuckian, isn’t the same as votes in surrounding states. Rather than being their equal, your vote could be more (but much likely less) than each voter there; and that’s not fair, not just, and not our democracy. It should be one person = one vote; no more, no less.

 

The proposed Compact allows for that, and gets around the “College.” The Constitution allows states to control how they divide their electoral votes. Most are winner take all. Some divide proportionately to how their citizens vote. The compact says each state's vote would go to whoever wins the national popular vote---if states with 270 electoral votes (a majority join). Right now 13 states with 181 electoral votes have joined. Kentucky should too, and reaffirm our belief in one person = one vote. Please urge your state representatives and senators to adopt the compact.

 

And while we’re on voting, which many complain is too cumbersome a process, registration, voting, etc., Kentucky should consider adopting AVR or Automatic Voter Registration. Simply put, if a citizen goes to any state office/agency for any matter, and isnt registered, there are forms and a person in that office who can register them there and then. Can’t force them to vote, but at least they are now ready to exercise the most important rite, or right - both most certainly apply, of American citizenship.

 

And, once again, Kentucky should be working NOW on redrawing voting lines after the 2020 census. Over a dozen states use a non-partisan commission of experts to draw these lines, and either that’s it, or the legislature can overrule them by an extraordinary vote, for example two-thirds.  No more gerrymandering, no more long drawn out, expensive, time consuming cases in the courts; do it right, do it scientifically with population and geographic experts and be done with it.

 

The problems in our Secretary of State’s office are minor compared to what important changes adopting these 3 approaches would make.

 

I'm just sayin'...

News Thoughts

1. Happy to see “Green Book” defy the odds and win the Oscar as Best Picture, despite carping from some that it is a “black picture for white folks.”  Any film that reminds us about how racist we were, even into the 1960s—and even in towns such as Lexington, where the locals thought otherwise, is worth an award.

 

BTW, when the buzz started about this flick I remembered seeing a copy of the Green book (a friend described it as “the AAA tour guide for black people”, telling them where they could sleep and eat in otherwise segregated areas) at the Lexington main public library. So I called the reference room to see if my memory was right. Maybe yes, maybe no, but they had no copy then, nor did the UK library. I find this extraordinary. Maybe now that the film has won, both libraries will see the necessity to obtain a copy.

 

2. Our legislature has gone from conservative to reactionary; and not just the least in arguments over abortion. It seems it can’t wait for Roe v Wade to be overturned, wanting our state to be first in line with new birth restrictions. (I do not like abortion. I like even less letting any administration have a say in whether a woman should give birth or not. It should be up to her and her religious beliefs. Remember: a government that can tell you you must have this baby is also a government that can tell you you must not have this baby, or have we forgotten, so soon, that China tried just that, and recently.)

 

Or the kowtowing to the utility industry which, as the CJ pointed out, spent several hundreds of thousands to get the rules changed (in the middle of the game) so they could pay homeowners less than what they promised to pay them originally.

 

Or keeping on spending millions on Kentucky Wired, long after the project has gone way over budget and way behind schedule, without finding out who screwed up the deal so badly that it may end up costing you and me millions.

 

Meanwhile it hasn’t done anything to insure our ballots can’t be hacked, or improving our elections (ex: the governor of WV changed from Dem to GOP a year after he was elected; a fraud upon Mountain State voters.) This has happened here, just not at such a high level. Why aren’t we prepared for that happening with a law that says what to do if it does? (not an easy question to answer, but one that needs to be raised.)

 

Meanwhile, still no constitutional amendment to let the legislature call itself into session, making it the UNequal of our 3 branches of government.

 

3. WKYT is the local top tv station, especially in news. A good part of the reason may be it has the only investigative reporter, Miranda Combs, and has won top regional awards for its work. That hasn’t always been the case, but LEX 18 bowed out sometime back.  Perhaps the new owners will see the light and give KYT some competition here; we would all benefit from that. Til then, channel 27 keeps on doing good work in several areas Miranda has probed.

 

Not so the way 27 handled its “news coverage” of the recent sport & boat show at Heritage Hall. Newscast after newscast just before and during the show carried thinly disguised promotions for it, passed off as legit news stories. They weren’t, and 27 never acknowledged its sponsorship of that show in those “reports.” This gets worse each year. Last year when I objected to this as both bad journalism and unethical. (Viewers had a right to know of the station’s sponsorship of the event,) the then manager agreed with me, and station sponsorship was acknowledged on following reports. Not so this year; wonder how bad it will be in 2020?

 

I'm just sayin'...

If Timing Is Everything Our Legislature's Grade Is A D-Minus

Over 40 years in broadcasting has taught me that “Timing is everything” is a good maxim, one that works there, and seems also to work in other aspects of life, including civic activities.

 

So the Kentucky state senate’s passage of an NRA-sponsored bill to allow guns to be carried concealed, without a permit and without training (as now)—on the very anniversary of the Parkland, Florida high school shooting  that killed so many—seems more than just callous, it seems ignorant and unnecessary.

 

Kentucky parents from our own Marshall HS shooting, more on that later, had testified earlier of the anguish they felt over the loss of their children –yet the Senate seemed to ignore those same feelings by parents in another state.  More than just bad “timing.”

 

And it got worse. One senator, an NRA supporter and former cop, argued that to end permits and especially to end training programs for those carrying concealed weapons was bad practice and flew in the face of experience.

 

Before the week was out came the shooting at a factory in Aurora, Illinois. It turned out the fired worker not only had his deadly weapon illegally (another example of failed state background checks), but  this was only found out when he applied for a permit for concealed carry. Will this now happen here, if the senate/NRA bill becomes law?

 

All of which would seem to indicate our state senate doesn’t give a hoot about our own tragic shooting at Marshall High. Yes, a study group afterwards had come up with an omnibus school safety bill, but it had 2 major faults. One, it was brought up during the 30 day session when no funding can ordinarily be passed to implement the bill, and two, it contained nothing about guns and their crucial impact on school safety.  Bad “timing.” (and head in sand.)

 

Our general assembly needs to consider a constitutional amendment to allow it to call itself into session; not, as now, where only the governor can do that. (He just did, with disastrous results; nothing accomplished on pension reform, and a lot of money spent for naught.)

 

Some other legislative issues bear serious study. Ex-speaker Hoover’s bill to require candidates for statewide office to make public their income taxes is a good idea and should pass. Yes, it may cause some good candidates not to run, but the overall idea is excellent.

 

Two, the GOP’s bill to slap Democrat Grimes handling of voter data in her Sec. of State office ought to pass also. A study by the Herald-Leader shows she probably had access to data she didn’t need, and for political purposes—though she denies it. This example, coming on the heels of the Republican candidate for governor in Georgia (also their Secretary of State) being charged with using his office to purge voting roles of people most likely to vote for his opponent---and winning a very narrow race—shows safeguards are needed in these officies that control voting rules and data.

 

That “timing” is right, so to are (finally,) bills to protect small water districts from collapse; though woefully late. How many years has it been since news media stories have shown the dismal, unsafe state of drinking water in many areas of Kentucky. But, better late than never.

 

Kentucky needs either to have annual 60 day sessions –or give lawmakers the power to call special sessions—or both. An amendment can’t get on the ballot too soon.  Til then, their “timing” score is D-minus. 

 

I'm just sayin'...

Once More A Rush To Judgment

In many ways, Virginia is Kentucky’s Mother Country. So many of our early settlers (and elected officials such as Henry Clay) came from there; so many of our counties were carved from Virginia land, we inherited much from that Commonwealth.

 

Let’s hope that does not include its rush to judgment.

 

Once again, accusations are being taken by the populace (and alas, by the professional media which should know better) as final judgments. They are not. (And this after the recent CovCath example.)

 

Let me take their Lt. Governor first. He has been charged with rape by at least one accuser. Rape is a crime, but we all know it often takes years for this crime to become public; in some cases, past the time such charges may count as a crime. Whatever the case here, judicial authorities should investigate and if the accusations prove credible, file a case against this man. If not, drop them. In the meantime, he should not resign; for in this case of “she said, he said” the way to try to discover the truth is in the courts, not the media. That’s not our job. Yes it will take time; justice usually does, but a rush to judgment, running the risk of getting it wrong, is worse.

 

Now to Virginia’s governor.  I don’t know what possessed him to say, first, he was one of those men either in blackface or Klan robes in his yearbook picture, but he soon took it back and said he was not either one. Who knows for sure? Not me. Maybe you can look beneath the robe or makeup and know, with 100% certainty, but I can not. In the meantime here is a man who has been a doctor, led the fight for civil rights and better health care in his state (and who is a member of a largely African-American church BTW!) and I will give him the “presumption of innocence” until I know more.

 

This UNAmerican rush to judgment must end. It demeans all of us, and our democratic institutions.

 

Would that John Dingle’s final words to his countrymen (which you need to read) might have touched on this, too.

 

I'm just sayin'...

We All Do It But...

Jump to conclusions that is.

Seems to be human nature, but that’s no excuse for trained journalists to do so.

 

Yes, I’m talking about the “CovCath” students in DC.

 

When I first saw the smiling young man standing so close to the drum-beating elderly man, my reaction was: who is he? Why is he smiling, but saying nothing? Who is the drum beater and why is he beating his drum?  Who are all those noisy people in the background and where is all this going on?

 

These are the questions reporters should ask, and many did, but a little late. Meanwhile people everywhere seem to have jumped to their own conclusions about those answers and gone on social media to tell the rest of us what the “answers” were, when, in fact, they didn’t know---either. (One lady blogger in San Francisco, telling the world she actually lived in Brazil, had a lot to say---mostly wrong...but she somehow got on the news.)

 

And now the media messed things up even more.  Not having trained journalists at the scene, we fell back on reporting the video as interpreted by social media reports, from people, not there as well. It took awhile, several days in fact to get things straightened out, at least some semblance of “the truth” all of which was not helped one whit by a statement put out by the Catholic diocese in Covington whose officials hadn’t been there either.

 

To the media’s (belated) credit, when complaints came in, and experienced minds prevailed, interviews with the participants got the “real” story (whatever that turns out to be) going, and a better approximation of what actually happened.

 

The media often quotes social media, many times it has to since no journalist was there at the time, but it needs to make very clear the “attribution” of those reports and views. (That’s  an old J school maxim, but often overlooked these days---to all of our disservice.)

 

Local case in point. Monday when Adam Edelen filed for governor (after Bevin had finally filed Friday) one local anchor reported "and the field is set over on the GOP side,too.”)  I fired off an e-mail to her saying "Not til 4:01pm tomorrow,” which was the filing deadline, and, sure enough some guy neither she nor I had heard of did file against Bevin.

 

My message is clear: resist all those jumps to conclusions, evaluate the source of the information, give it some time...things do tend to get corrected, it’s just that we can screw things up early on.

 

Remember, we’re all only human.

 

I'm just sayin'...