Mere Politics

Douglas Wilson on Ron Paul (and the Ken Doll Republicans)

I think I agree with every point in this piece by Douglas Wilson.

U of L receives "Red Light" Rating from Freedom of Speech organization

The University of Louisville was among a number of schools that received the worst rating from a national free speech organization: Cardinal Red.  The "Red Light" rating came from The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, whose report, "Spotlight on Speech Codes 2007" rates schools for the prevalence of student speech codes.

The report doesn't detail what infractions U of L committed to receive the rating, but it's hard to believe that it doesn't come from the increasing intolerance on the U of L campus for expression that might reflect negatively on gays.  U of L's "Safe Zone" program has come under fire for, among other things, treading on the freedom of expression.

The "Red Light" rating is given as follows:

A school is rated as a “red light” if it has at least one policy that both clearly and
substantially restricts freedom of speech. A “clear” restriction is one that unambiguously infringes on protected expression. In other words, the threat to free speech at a red-light institution is obvious on the face of the policy and does not depend on how the policy is applied. A “substantial” restriction on free speech is one that is broadly applicable to important categories of campus expression. For example, a ban on “offensive speech” would be a clear violation (in that it is unambiguous) as well as a substantial violation (in that it covers a great deal of what would be protected expression in the larger society). Such a policy would earn a university a red light.

Congratulations U of L.

Did Fletcher do Williams a favor? Not likely.

There have been various reports that, on it's way out the door, the Fletcher administration awarded a fat road contract in Senate President David Williams home district. 

I'm not going to argue that this didn't happen.  This is the way Frankfort has worked for years, and let's just speculate on why the state's major papers have never questioned the Democratic road deals that have been going on from time immemorial.

But something doesn't compute here.

Why would the Fletcher administration want to do David Williams any favors?  Anyone who knows anything about the relations between the Governor's office and the Senate over the last for years knows that they were cold at best.  Icy might be a better description.

Why would the Fletcher administration want to act favorably toward someone who was so little favored by Fletcher and his staff?  And consider also the fact that the last week or two of an administration is a time when everyone is on their own and last guy turns out the lights.

My theory?  This was the act of a lone ranger.  And if that's correct, you can't necessarily lay it at the feet of Fletcher and his top staff.

It's Miller Time

When even the Democratic state blogs started talking about a sex scandal in the Beshear administration, I thought perhaps one of the Governor's people had been outed as a heterosexual.  But it was not to be.

What the buzz is about is a Jonathan Miller aide who, since she was hired out of college by Miller, has seen her salary increase from $21,000 to $78,981 a year. $25,000 of the increase came over the last three years.  Now such extravagance is not totally unprecedented in government.  But I guess I'm thinking of the Louis IV administration here.

Questions are also being raised about a trip in May to Las Vegas, on which the young woman apparently accompanied Miller, although one report said that Miller couldn't remember whether she went on that trip or not--right before he remembered again.

"We had business meetings," the Herald Leader reports Miller said. "On trips where I'm trying to look to my future and to develop my future business contacts, yeah, she would have been involved in that kind of activity."

Miller was appointed by Beshear as his Administration and Finance Cabinet Secretary.  The Herald-Leader reports today that the young lady was appointed to the post of executive director of inter-governmental affairs.

Yes, I know.  Don't laugh.

The story is significant for a couple of reasons: First, Beshear has raised the ethics bar very high.  A scandal like this in the first days of his administration could be deadly.  There is only one mortal sin left in politics: hypocrisy. Being caught in bed with a dead women no longer counts.  Not even a live boy raises eyebrows.

Second, Miller is the Democrats golden boy with a sterling reputation (one of the reasons the Democrats themselves are so upset about this).  Who was it that said that the corruption of the best is the worst?

Tolerance Police upset about Democrats' domestic partner bill

Here is the first paragraph of the Lexington Herald-Leader's article, written by Ryan Alessi, on a bill filed by 21 House Democrats that would prohibit state agencies from paying for the health benefits of live-in partners of their employees:

Two Democratic state lawmakers are dredging up a controversial proposal to block public universities in Kentucky from extending health benefits to unmarried, live-in partners of the institutions’ employees.

"Dredging up"?  My, my.  Are we not happy about this over at the state's second largest newspaper?

What has been amusing in all this is to see the shock and outrage among the Tolerance Police that such a bill could come from Democrats:

“I had expected it but not from those two,” said Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, who said he opposes the bill. “I expected it from Republicans.”

Burch was ringmaster of last year's Health & Welfare Committee circus in which the bill failed by an 8 to 8 vote.  One thing Alessi and other reporters completely missed in this story--and perhaps the most interesting aspect of it--is that one of the two primary sponsors of the bill was the very person who caused its failure in last' sessions committee meeting.

Ancel Smith (D-Leburn), sponsor of this year's legislation, was the deciding vote that would have broken the 8-8 tie.  When the meeting happened, Smith didn't.  He wasn't there.  It was later revealed (on my blog) that Smith had taken refuge in an annex suite, and was actually watching the bill fail on the KET broadcast.

Smith must have heard it from the folks back home.  Now he appears to be fully behind it, saying that the votes are there to get it out of committee.

As others have pointed out, Gov. Steve Beshear has vowed to veto such a measure.  Wouldn't it be interesting if Beshear's first veto was of a Democratic bill--and he lost?  This is all being taken into account by the powers that be, of course, and one wonders what House leadership is thinking. 
Are they wanting to stay close to the administration, or do they want to show their independence from the executive branch?

The number of sponsors to this bill indicates that the votes exist on the floor to pass this bill, which is one reason why the Kentucky "Equality" Federation is upset:

Are they crazy? There are over 550,000 Kentuckians without health insurance coverage!

So apparently the solution is to cover the ones who are shacking up.  Such is the state of thinking over at Tolerance Central.

Stay tuned.  This could get interesting.

Anti-trivial trivialities in the presidential election

In yesterday's presidential debate, the Republican presidential candidates were asked for a show of hands to indicate whether they believed that global warming was a significant threat caused by man. Fred Thompson rebelled against the format and asked if he could give a minute long answer.

No way, said the moderator.

Thirty seconds?

Nope.

Thompson refused to play along, an act that is now being compared to Ronald Reagan refusing to give up the microphone in the 1980 New Hampshire debate. Some are speculating that this trivial little incident could light a fire for the campaign.

Now think about this suggestion--that one mildly entertaining little comment could change the course of the presidential race. Thompson was rebelling against the format of the debate because it trivialized the process, and now that trivial little act could spark a renewed public interest in the campaign?

Tim Tebow was home schooled

Tim Tebow, this year's winner of the Heisman Trophy, college football's most coveted award--and the only sophomore ever to win it, was home schooled. 

Just thought I'd mention it.

What is the hope for Huckabee?

If you want a good illustration of the difference between a necessary and a sufficient condition, look at John Podhoretz's article over at Contentions on why Mike Huckabee is not a shoe-in for the Republican nomination for president. Here is the essence of Podhoretz's argument:

The Christian base of the Republican party is unquestionably important. It may make up as much as 35 percent of the primary vote. If Huckabee wins a landslide majority of evangelical votes nationwide, say 65 percent, he will have in his pocket one-fifth of the Republicans participating in the primaries. That’s a very significant number in a populous and divided field.

 

...The problem Huckabee faces as he moves into the first tier is that, aside from his very pleasing demeanor, he is not giving any other kind of Republican — a national-security Republican, a small-government Republican, a low-taxes Republican — any reason whatever to vote for him. Everyone understands you can’t win without the base. But the obsession with winning the base can blind some people to this basic fact: A man cannot win by base alone.

In other words, winning the base is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for winning the nomination.

This is a persuasive argument, but there are so many intangible factors in politics, such as the force of sheer momentum--and the smell of a winner.  Huckabee's economic views may not be conservative (which is why I'm for Thompson), but they are populist.  And a win in Iowa gives him the glow not only of success, but the appearance of political velocity: he is elevated from a 2nd tier to a 1st tier candidate, and is on his way up.

Tolerance Police Strike Again: Page One expells Waters for associating with undesirables

Well the steel toed boots got another good workout today when Page One Kentucky expelled Jim Waters from its site for associating with the wrong kind of people.  Page One had been hosting Water's column the "Bluegrass Beacon" (for how long I don't know).  Waters is with the conservative Bluegrass Institute.

But Page One is ending the relationship.  Seems Waters had been cheating on them and fraternizing with the World Evangel Prayer Center people in Louisville, which hosts a local television show.  Waters went on the show to promote a school choice plan in Louisville that, it turns out, is also backed by Frank Simon.

Now the liberals react to Simon is somewhat the same way that vampires are said to react to garlic.  So if you ever get accosted by liberals and you want them to go away, just get an American Family Association button to wear on your lapel.  It will keep them away.

But the most curious thing is that the Bluegrass Institute has been supporting school choice for some years now.  So why does the fact that Simon now supports a choice plan make any difference? I understand that Simon also combs his hair.  So if you see all the Page One liberals going around with shaved heads, you'll know what happened.

The liberal Page One had hosted Waters conservative column to show that they were open minded.  Now they're ceasing to host it because they're not.  Sort of ironic isn't it?

Feminist group offers to help Governor meet girls

Uh oh.  It turns out that Steve Beshear has a woman problem (No, not that kind).  The feminists are after him.  As it turns out, men outnumber women two to one in the Governor's cabinet choices  For shame, Governor, for shame.  The Kentucky Women website is after the Guv.  Here's what they have to say:

WCF Foundation Calls on Governors to Appoint More Women and Announces Pilot Program to Connect Governors with Qualified Female Candidates.

All those liberals out there thought all their problems would be solved--and now this.

I'm trying to figure out how to feel about this.  I think I'll try bemusement.