News opinion 2008-06-01 Andanh.com

Beshear was right to issue ethics reform Sat, 31 May 2008 22:16:57 -0500
Gov. Steve Beshear took the appropriate step Tuesday by signing an executive order for ethics reform, even though his actions may have been driven in part by frustration. Beshear has campaigned hard since the 2007 election for ethics reform and the House passed most of the provisions in this year’s General Assembly, but the Senate failed to act. That was a shame, but we are glad that Beshear took the initiative and signed the order himself. Due to the misdeeds of past administrations, something had to be done to ensure actions taken by state officials pass ethical as well as legal muster. His order changes the process of appointing Executive Branch Ethics Commission members, going from a five-member panel appointed entirely by the governor to a rotation; the first vacancy will be filled by the governor, but the second will be chosen from three nominees submitted by the attorney general and the third from a list submitted by the auditor of public accounts. While this is an improvement in the process, it is unfortunate that Beshear excluded the secretary of state from the rotation. Trey Grayson is acknowledged as a competent and moral public servant, and his department oversees elections, which are certainly a viper’s nest of ethical issues. Apparently his only sin is that he is an elected Republican in a sea of Democrats. Also, state employees won’t be allowed to seek a new job from a person or company with which that employee is currently negotiating on behalf of the state. Legal defense funds will have to be registered and provide quarterly reports; donations can’t be accepted from anyone doing business with the state. Finally, members of about 74 policy-making and regulatory boards will be subject to ethical guidelines governing gifts and conflicts of interest. We feel all these policies will lead to a more open and ethical state government. It is also worth noting that Beshear announced that he and 60 percent of state management personnel have taken mandatory ethics training. While Beshear’s order is important, it only pertains to the executive branch, not the legislative branch. Also, since it was implemented by executive order rather than through the legislative process, subsequent governors could abolish it in the future. This is why we urge the General Assembly to address this issue in a future session and enact a broader bill with input from the governor.

No objectivity Sat, 31 May 2008 22:17:16 -0500
This just in: Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan has written a new book that hammers President Bush. Among other things, McClellan says Mr. Bush did not handle Hurricane Katrina correctly, botched the Iraq war, which never should have been fought in the first place, and partied hard as a young guy. That sounds like it’s worth $30, does it not? But the far-left media is swooning. Yeah, baby, a former Bush guy coming clean. Can’t get enough of that. Some inside baseball: Last November, “Factor” producers contacted McClellan's “people” about the book and were assured the author would be anxious to appear on my program since it routinely sells a ton of books. Great. But now old Scott has had second thoughts, and has booked himself on every far left venue around, avoiding your humble correspondent. Interesting. Maybe that’s because McClellan knows that in April of 2007, he appeared on Bill Maher’s program still supporting the Iraq action. On that show, former Sen. Bill Bradley actually got annoyed with McClellan for his hawkish stance. But that was then. McClellan’s former boss, Ari Fleischer, says that Scott confessed to him that the publisher, Public Affairs, made him “revise” some of the book, putting in more negative stuff about Bush. If that’s true, it makes sense. Few people these days are in the mood to read anything good about the president. Now, I predict McClellan’s book will disappear in a few weeks, but the media angle here is fascinating. Today in America there is a “vast left wing media conspiracy,” no question. Overwhelmingly, the press has made a sharp left hand turn even as there is little traffic in the right hand lane. That’s because many in the conservative media do not like John McCain, so there’s no drive to support him as there was with George W. Bush. The right may not like Barack Obama, but, without a champion, their zeal for the election is muted. But the left media simply loves Sen. Obama. It is all affection all the time, a constant drumbeat of good vibrations. Bush and McCain bad, Barack good. And, as the election draws closer, the Obama media chorus will grow louder. So, how will this affect the actual vote? No way of telling at this point, but it can’t hurt Obama. Independents will decide the election, and they will be subjected to quite an avalanche of glad Obama tidings. Once Hillary gets out of the way, the summer of Obama love will commence. There is something rather unsettling about the situation. With Gore versus Bush and Kerry versus Bush, the media was divided but equally passionate. Talk radio leading the way for Bush, the networks and big city papers heralding the Democrats. But this time, the deck is stacked for Obama. Good break for him, bad deal for McCain. That’s all there's left to say.

Pension reform, now Sat, 31 May 2008 22:14:00 EST
Good for Gov. Steve Beshear. He has asked lawmakers to make another pass at reforming the state pension system, which has become a huge burden on cities, counties, the state and, of course, taxpayers, too.

50 and counting, on you Sat, 31 May 2008 22:05:00 EST
Since it was founded a half-century ago, Bridgehaven, the Louisville-based nonprofit dedicated to helping adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses, has operated with very little government support. And it'll be no different in the upcoming fiscal year.

Your friend, the kitchen Sat, 31 May 2008 22:13:00 EST
If Americans are feeling frustrated about food, who can blame us? It's not just the bugs in the burger or the hormones in Chinese seafood -- or even the skyrocketing prices. It's that most of us feel powerless to fix things.

Virginia plan could be model Sat, 31 May 2008 22:11:00 EST
The transformation of Tysons Corner, Va., in suburban Washington from a car-dominated tangle of offices, malls and auto dealers into a livable city will start moving ahead in the coming weeks.

A speech Obama ought to deliver Sat, 31 May 2008 22:13:00 EST
Somewhere in the waning hours of this interminable primary, I found myself channeling Barack Obama as he began a long overdue and eagerly anticipated conversation ... on gender. 'Tonight, I want to talk directly with the women of America.

Are justices moving back to the center? Sat, 31 May 2008 22:10:00 EST
The Supreme Court last week made big news because it hardly changed the law at all. What was deemed noteworthy were lopsided majorities that spanned the ideological spectrum. What intrigued legal scholars was the justices' adherence to the Court's precedents.

From Dame's Rocket to the dame in the black bustier Sat, 31 May 2008 22:09:00 EST
The truck is finally on the fritz. For 15 years it has rendered faithful service, requiring few repairs, even though I have neglected its dents.

Obama faces Carter's challenge Sat, 31 May 2008 22:01:00 EST
A year after Jimmy Carter lost his re-election race to Ronald Reagan, Hamilton Jordan, his former White House chief of staff, sat down for a lengthy interview with scholars at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.

Is Hillary losing her soul? Sat, 31 May 2008 22:01:00 EST
If this campaign goes on much longer, what will be left of Hillary Clinton? A candidate uniformly described by her close friends as genuine, principled and sane has been reduced to citing the timing of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination as a reason to stay in the race -- an argument that is ungenuine, unprincipled and insane.

Note from a global warming agnostic Sat, 31 May 2008 21:59:00 EST
I'm not a global warming believer. I'm not a global warming denier. I'm a global warming agnostic who believes instinctively that it can't be very good to pump lots of CO{-2} into the atmosphere, but is equally convinced that those who presume to know exactly where that leads are talking through their hats.

READERS' VIEWS Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:05 EDT
PRO-GOP WRITERS IGNORED RIGHT'S WRONGDOING

As usual, Bill O'Reilly is confused. He mentioned in his May 26 column that all the recent presidents failed to have an alternative-fuels program.

Immediately after taking office, the god of all Republicans, Ronald Reagan, shut down the alternative fuels program started by his predecessor, Jimmy Carter. That program would have brought billions to Central Kentucky.

O'Reilly mentions that the liberals won't allow drilling in Alaska, but he fails to mention that Republicans won't allow drilling off the Gulf Coast. Could it be because there are so many Republicans in Florida and Alabama?

Letter writer Brent Risner must listen to garbage and hatred spewed by paid political assassins like O'Reilly every day. The truth is that Sen. Mitch McConnell never did anything for the working person.

Obama would act like a tonic on government Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:05 EDT
Slemp inherited whatever it was that compelled his mother to tell her church that as long as she was a member there, nothing would be unanimous.

Show Slemp an election in which one candidate is supposed to landslide the opponent, and he is just about bound to be for the underdog. But Barack Obama is the first candidate for whom Slemp tried to give out whiskey on the election grounds and nobody would take it.

Slemp's real reason for backing Obama is that Slemp is grateful to Africa for the banjo. And he wishes Obama actually was a Muslim, saying it would be a good time to have one for president.

Slemp says that if Republican county judges can turn Christians into Muslims, the safest thing would be to lock the county judges up in Guantanamo before somebody hires them to turn all Christians into Muslims.

Most of the women Slemp knows could use a good veiling.

State too quick to take children from parents Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:05 EDT
We have become far too quick to remove children from their parents, who have a fundamental right to care, custody and control of their children.

Outside of the stuffy language of the courts, this means there is a constitutional right to be a bad parent.

Sometimes the line between bad parent and a neglectful or abusive parent is thin and vague. The difficult job assigned to the overworked social workers who investigate allegations of abuse and neglect is certainly one where there is a natural tendency to err on the side of caution.

And the county attorneys who bring child-removal cases to court and the judges who hear them are justifiably inclined, when in doubt, to remove children to guarantee their safety.

Such caution is, in part, a reflection of our nation's increasingly overprotective attitude toward children. Despite the good intentions of all parties involved, too many children are being removed from their parents.

Light a fire under legislature Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:05 EDT
The Herald-Leader/WKYT-TV poll came within three points of nailing the victory margin in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary and, when undecideds are considered, was nearly that close on the Democratic presidential race.

We bring this up not to praise the pollster, but to make the point that the poll's other findings are also reliable -- including the support among likely voters for raising Kentucky's cigarette tax to $1.

The polling was completed almost a month ago. Since then, the public's desire for Kentucky to collect as much money as other states from the sale a pack of cigarettes can only have grown. That's because the need for new revenue has become even more achingly real.

In the last 10 days:

.. About 100 people, including disabled Kentuckians carrying signs saying "Every cut has a face," protested rollbacks in health and social services required by what Deputy Health Secretary Steve Nunn called a "totally inadequate budget."

ATV deaths teach grim lesson Sat, 31 May 2008 02:05 EDT
Memorial Day weekend offered a grim reminder that all-terrain vehicles aren't toys.

By the end of the weekend, ATVs had claimed the lives of four Kentuckians: two 12-year-olds, a Harlan County boy and a Pike County girl; a 17-year-old Floyd County girl; and a 20-year-old Rockcastle County man.

They added to the grim toll that makes this state the deadliest place in the nation for ATV fatalities, according to federal safety records.

We don't know whether any of the four had been taught ATV safety, although it seems unlikely. The accidents were almost a clinic on what not to do if you want to survive on an ATV.

ATV safety classes exist, but a 2003 study reported that only 7 percent of drivers nationally had been in an organized class.

Beshear the leader Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:05 EDT
This and that as we try to convince ourselves that the governor we saw in action last week is the same governor who seemed so inactive at times during the General Assembly session:

Yes, Kentucky, there is a governor. His name is Steve Beshear, and he's acting like a leader should.

I know. Some of you may want to qualify that statement with "sorta," "kinda" or "maybe." And you could be right. After all, the steps Beshear took in recent days won't produce great leaps forward for Kentucky.

But let's give the guy a little credit for doing some positive stuff.

By executive order, he imposed stricter ethical standards on his own administration than required by the laws in effect when he took office. That's a good thing, despite the sniping response from Senate President David Williams.

... Not the Scott McClellan I knew ... Fri, 30 May 2008 08:56 EDT

Random observations made
News, notes and quotes about this, that and other things ...

Gas fuels voters’ anxiety
I’ve been out of Frankfort this week, spending time in Barren County but also visiting Rockcastle and Henderson counties. But the talk is the same in all three places. As gas prices rise, people are angry and fearful.

Veteran pitches idea to court
At a recent meeting of Barren Fiscal Court, a member of the local veterans community floated an idea with the magistrates about the possibility of placing a piece of military memorabilia on the lawn of the Barren County Justice Center.

Best times leave memories
Ahhh … sweet summertime. Days when the kids can stay up way past dark and sleep in late in the morning.

YOUR VIEW: DARE officer thanks supporters of program
The Barren County Sheriff’s office recently had a DARE celebration day to reward the sixth-grade students and teachers from six of the county schools for their work in the DARE program.

CHEERS and JEERS: Partisanship hounds ethics reform policy
The General Assembly convened more than a month ago for good, but the House and Senate leaders are still swiping at each other.

Night at theater kills thrill
Let me save you $7.50 — the new Indiana Jones movie is a disappointment in every sense of the word (slight spoilers ahead).

YOUR VIEW: Givens thanks his supporters
I first want to say thank you to the voters in this 9th District Senate race.

Chinese Dir