Category: rant

Suffer the Consequences of Political Correctness

Posted by Eric – August 11, 2010

In April of this year the Transportation Director for Christian County Public Schools was terminated due to allegations of sexual harrassment. The Board of Education did not even have the courage to say publicly why Elzie Pollard was being canned.

HUNEYCUTT SAID SHE COULD NOT COMMENT ON WHY POLLARD WAS PLACED ON LEAVE OR WHEN HE MIGHT RETURN TO WORK. SHE SAYS IN THE MEANTIME, OFFICIALS ARE WORKING TO FIND SOMEONE TO FILL HIS POSITION.

Roger Kerns was eventually picked as the new Transportation Director. Mr. Kerns redrew the bus routes for the entire county during the two month summer break. It is little wonder that the necessary paperwork was not delivered to the schools on time.

SEVERAL STUDENTS WERE NOT PICKED UP AT ALL YESTERDAY (TUESDAY), WHILE OTHERS DIDN’T ARRIVE AT SCHOOL UNTIL AROUND 11 O’CLOCK AND THEN STUDENTS AT CHRISTIAN COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL WEREN’T ALLOWED TO LEAVE UNTIL AROUND 5 O’CLOCK.
THE ISSUES STEM FROM A CHANGE IN BUS DRIVERS, BUS ROUTES AND NOT HAVING PROPER PAPERWORK AT THE SCHOOLS.
The result of the new, undocumented bus routes is a giant clusterfark that put lives at risk.
WATER WAS PROVIDED TO STUDENTS ON BUSES, A PRECAUTION LINK SAYS WAS TAKEN DUE TO THE EXCESSIVE HEAT, BUT ONE STUDENT WAS TAKEN BY HER PARENTS TO THE HOSPITAL AND WAS TREATED FOR DEHYDRATION.
Mr. Kerns and Superintendent Link are both responsible for how this situation was handled. It is my opinion that the ultimate cause is the fact that fear of lawsuits rule the day. Elzie Pollard was abruptly removed from his position based on the accusation of misconduct without an orderly transfer of responsibility.

God help all of the bus drivers this year. They will get no help from anyone else.

Work Now solves the Wrong Problem the Wrong Way

Posted by Eric – July 16, 2010

President Obama sprinkled some more money from Heaven his Stash. The Work Now program offered by the WKWIB subsidizes the wages of unemployed parents for a two month period. Julie Andrews claims these employees are ‘free’ to the employers who hire these temporary workers but this is not true and it never will be true. First of all, the five million dollars used to fund this program had to be confiscated from other businesses that haven’t failed yet. There is no net economic gain to moving money from one pocket to another; in fact this transaction results in a net loss because the government takes a dollar from Company A and gives a dime to Company B. Second, companies don’t need help in finding employees. Human Resources is already jammed full of job applications that will never get interviewed because they have no plans to hire for the foreseeable future. Companies only hire new employees when there is demand for new product and not a moment sooner. If the Democrats were interested in creating jobs they could do so at the stroke of a pen.

Jindal vs. Obama: Time to End the Drilling Moratorium
Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Continues Killing Jobs in the Gulf
EPA Regulations Cause Drought in California

End the Moratorium Now! America has all of the oil we need if we remove the regulations that prevent us from drilling.

The Unemployed Need Jobs Not Stimulus

Posted by Eric – June 16, 2010

In a blog post published by Governor Beshear he justifies paying out unemployment claims despite the program coming unglued from its intended purpose.

Few things are as devastating to a family as losing a job. Without income, almost everything they need for both short-term survival and long-term stability is at risk: Food, medicines, clothes, shelter, heat, water, transportation, education … everything.

Since 1935, the Unemployment Insurance program has sustained our families when loss of employment threw them into disarray through no fault of their own.

If some states are still paying out benefits at 99 weeks then this stops being temporary. Extended periods of unemployment make government benefits more appealing. Eventually, idleness and government subsidy become a way of life. Motivation and work ethic are destroyed because the productive workers see their neighbors receiving benefits that they do not.

Entitlement. In a word, we have too many idle nitwits believing they are owed something because they belong to a protected class of voters.

April commented earlier on the blog

You say limited and I say where do we draw the line? I am sure people years ago panicked over the thought of a public school system. Or Public roads, fire departments, police departments etc. I am sure they panicked the same way they are now over the health care situation. Now though, we wouldn’t know what to do without those institutions. Why will a Public option health care be so much different?

OK, April, how much debt is too much? The Democrats have spent us into a hole from which it will be very difficult to pull ourselves out of. If our nation is to survive, we  must immediately put governments at all levels on a crash diet. Some people like Governor Chris Christie get it (No fat jokes! Christie is the real deal.).

Interest-free loans and Unicorns

Posted by Eric – April 14, 2010

Again with the “interest-free” nonsense. The new middle school is going to be built with interest-free bonds funded with Federal stimulus dollars.

IF THE DISTRICT HAD USED A TRADITIONAL BOND PROGRAM TO FINANCE THE NEW SCHOOL, THE FINAL BILL WOULD HAVE BEEN ROUGHLY 41-MILLION DOLLARS, BUT WITH THE 14-MILLION DOLLARS SAVED FROM NOT PAYING INTEREST AND THE 7-MILLION DOLLARS EARNED IN INTEREST FROM THE ESCROW FUND, THE NEW MIDDLE SCHOOL WILL BE BUILT AT A COST OF 20-MILLION DOLLARS TO THE TAXPAYERS OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.

The money being spent here doesn’t magically appear because somebody chased down a leprechaun and stole his pot of gold. The money is generated via three methods all of which are very bad for us. The first is through selling U.S. Treasuries that earn interest to the investor. We already have a crushing level of debt; we can’t afford to borrow another penny period! The second is through the printing of paper currency. The unregulated printing of paper demeans the value of all dollars in circulation. The third and final method is through direct taxation. Which will be the number one topic on April 15th.

WKDZ normally provides excellent news coverage but this story is really no better than if the station had reported unicorns flying through the streets of Hopkinsville. The concept of an interest-free loan does not stand up to any kind of smell test at all. To borrow money is never free unless someone else agrees to eat the cost of not charging interest.

Get Green, Go Broke

Posted by Eric – April 7, 2010

straw hut

Stimulus-funded Vegetative Dwelling

A few years ago I got on the CFL bandwagon believing they were a good idea. Today, the house has been fully installed with CFL bulbs. They suck big time. CFL bulbs are not any brighter than incandescent bulbs. I don’t believe they burn long enough to be a cost saver. That’s the general problem with everything that is labeled as “Green” and so called alternative energy.

At the state level I wish it were only faulty CFLs that Gov. Beshear was granting money for. Governor Beshear’s plan is to spend $500,000 on some incredibly expensive ‘improvements’ to an abandoned building. The money is meant to convert a larger building into a new firestation for Russellville. A new firestation would be a wonderful thing except for the unnecessary embellishments.

The new station will be fitted with the latest sustainable materials and technologies mandated by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design U.S. Green Building Council standards, including a vegetative roof, wind turbine, solar panels and recycled roof rainwater.

The vegetative roof, wind turbine, and solar panels are all superficial additions. I don’t believe for a second that these changes will ever pay for themselves. Ultimately, Kentucky doesn’t have the money to pay for this because Beshear is borrowing it from Federal stimulus funds. The Federal government doesn’t have the money because the Treasury was emptied of all value many months ago. The actual source of the half-million dollars to build this new firestation will be either borrowing from foreign creditors or simple printing of worthless paper.

The United Socialist States of America

Posted by Eric – March 19, 2010

Obama Obey

Kneel before the One

Obamacare is not about providing better health care to anyone. It will be the vehicle through which the government gains control of everything including your own living body. Living under Obamacare will mean a bureaucrat decides whether your children will be born. A bureaucrat will decide what medical treatments you will receive. A bureaucrat will decide when you die.

A patient under Obamacare will no longer be a freeborn citizen but they will be serfs subject to the will of the State.

If you think this is alarmist rhetoric and overblown you haven’t been paying attention to the actions of this Democratic congress, the Federal Reserve, and Obama’s many Czars.

Will KY Leadership Lead?

Posted by Eric – November 18, 2009

Kentucky has borrowed nearly $474 million from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits this year and the total will likely reach $1 billion before the state’s economy improves.

A Billion dollars is a lot of money for the average Kentuckian. It all becomes play money in the halls of Frankfort, though.

Union leaders want the task force to recommend increasing the unemployment tax for employers. Business leaders prefer a wait-and-see approach on any tax increase and perhaps a reduction in benefits.

With a Democratic governor, I couldn’t guess who is going to win this struggle.

Currently, the state pays out 79 weeks of benefits, although Beshear announced Tuesday the state is working to quickly implement a new federal law that allows 20 additional weeks of payments to those who have already exhausted their benefits. In addition, Beshear recently signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor to temporarily increase the weekly payout by $25.

Sigh… Why do I bother depositing my check at all? The Democrats might lose the next election cycle but does that mean anyone learned why we have the problems we do?

Unfortunately, I think Kentucky is headed toward higher taxes and a very poor job environment. Both of which advance President Obama’s goals of putting more people on welfare. I would say Kentucky needs to learn from California’s experience and not go down that road but those Democrats know exactly what they are doing. The whole country is being methodically bankrupted by our own leaders for a very specific purpose.

It’s so bad in California that even the State Treasurer has come out and spoken the obvious.

Kentucky voters need to listen up. Your elected leaders aren’t stupid they do what they do deliberately.

Gag me with a Hate Crime

Posted by Eric – October 30, 2009

My favorite left of center blogger from Lexington celebrated the addition of new protected groups under Federal hate crime law. It’s funny because after almost a year in office this is President Obama’s most successful legislation signed to date. Obamacare has been trapped within a Congressional stalemate between the hard-left and slightly less radical Democrats. Obama being completely ineffective in providing any leadership whatsoever the only green twig he can find to say that he accomplished something is this laughable enlargement of hate crime constituencies. Even so, Obama is still quite capable of making permanent and unconstitutional changes even with his obvious leadership handicap.

Supporters of expanded hate crime laws always bring out the most grotesque examples of murder and mayhem. To make the false argument that such crime can only be punished under these laws. The truth is that standard laws already exist for every variation of mental, emotional, and physical abuse possible.

Appropriately, it is named for Matthew Shepard, a gay young man tortured and killed eleven years ago this month, as well as James Byrd, Jr., the black man who in that same year was dragged alive behind a truck in Jasper, Texas by three white men, until his limbs and head were severed.

Yes! Yes! Yes! The deaths of these two men were horrific. I would support the death penalty for everyone who was involved. The death penalty is not used often enough period! Why is my life less important than a disabled man if both of us were murdered in the same manner? All U.S. citizens enjoy the equal protection of the law yet how can this be when it is made explicit that some men are more equal than others?

Standard crimes of theft, terrorist threatening, or murder are all based on the provable actions of someone to commit said crimes. Hate crimes are different in that it does not require any action to commit a hate crime. Hate speech laws are used mostly to silence the opposition when they speak the truth. Actual crimes of libel, slander, and defamation  already cover the valid reasons for stopping the speech of another person.

Harassment, as vaguely defined in the directive, allows an individual to accuse someone of discrimination merely for expressing something the individual allegedly perceives as creating an “offensive environment.” The definition is so broad that anyone who feels intimidated or offended can easily bring legal action against those whom he feels are responsible. Moreover, the directive shifts the burden of proof onto the accused, who has to prove the negative, i.e. demonstrate that he or she did not create an environment which intimidated or offended the complainant. If the accused fails to do so, he or she can be sentenced to paying an unlimited amount of compensation for “harassment.”

This comes from the European Union. Hate speech laws have no purpose other than to club the opposition into submission.