It’s silly to protest this North Carolina nutjob. He’s so crazy that a protest isn’t necessary. His words do all the work for you. [HuffPo]

The paper in Lexington felt it was necessary to run a NYT piece about the 4th District race. Instead of writing about it on its own, that is. [H-L]

Here comes Mittens Romney pretending that he knows a lot about and cares about public education. [Reuters]

The feds are cracking down on food stamp fraud. We’re left wondering when they’ll start cracking down on disability fraud, which is rampant in Kentucky. [NPR]

The ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee has called on President Barack Obama to order an investigation into the case of Clarence Aaron, a federal prison inmate whose quest for a presidential commutation was the subject of a ProPublica investigation. [ProPublica]

Can you imagine what life would be like if rail travel was part of Kentucky’s reality? [Politico]

You can’t even beat somebody until their school fractures in Barbourville without being arrested these days. [WKYT]

Unemployment rates fell in 110 of Kentucky’s 120 counties in April, according to data released Thursday by the state’s Office of Employment and Training. Maybe because more people fell off the jobless rolls? [H-L]

The Kentucky Supreme Court today reversed the three murder convictions of Lloyd Hammond, who was sentenced to life without parole in 2010 for killing William Sawyers, Terrell Cherry and Kerry Williams. [C-J/AKN]

Yep, the wingnuts are all in a tizzy over the Creation Myth Museum not being the top most important vacation destination on the planet, amen. [Wonkette]

Yep, we know, the Times-Picayune is on its deathbed and is just cold producing fewer papers each week – just three days. Yep, A Kentucky Newspaper will soon be in that same boat. [HuffPo]

Senate appropriators voted 18-12 on Thursday to reinstate funding for family-planning programs abroad, setting up a clash with the House. You know Rand Paul will be losing his elfin mind over this. [The Hill]

Convenient timing, isn’t it?

Here’s the listing:

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Overall management of financial affairs of KET, including budgeting, audit, tax, accounting, purchasing, real estate, contracts, legal, insurance, and long range forecasting
• Ensures timely and accurate budget preparation and ongoing strategic analysis and compliance with all state agency processes and prepares and presents financial reports for the Executive Director, board of directors and others
• Overall management of Human Resources and compliance with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations related to personnel, payroll, and benefits
• Recommends and develops organizational development and human resources strategies and procedures to support and enhance personnel and achievement of agency objectives
• Monitors and /or helps develop, implement, and enforce policies and procedures of the agency to ensure compliance with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations, including Federal Communications Commission, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and Public Broadcasting Service requirements
• Directly supervises approximately four subordinate managers and responsibilities/functions of the Business Office, Human Resources, and the Mail Room
• Serves as the agency’s ethics officer to ensure compliance with the Kentucky Executive Branch Code of Ethics

We’re not sure how that works, really, since the job requires both more experience and education than the Executive Director currently has.

But back to timing. It really is convenient, as Verhoeven is among those at KET being sued in federal court. We’re guessing her deposition will be extra-special now that she’s leaving the joint.

Who wants to bet that Hopkins won’t be far behind?

Ampad’s a paper company that purchased and quickly closed a plant in Marion, IN – killing all 250 jobs. The company went on to shed a total of 1,500 jobs while Mittens and his investors pocketed more than 20 times what they initially invested.

Mittens loves to talk about his business experience as his main qualification for being president. His most frequent claim is that he’ll use that experience to boost the economy, create jobs and reduce the deficit.

Interesting how that works.

Like this one:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Ouch. That teabagger hypocrisy is just a little ripe.

What does tomorrow hold for the 4th District?

Robert Wilcher, one of two Kentucky Retirement Systems board members representing county employees, resigned today. The board gets to appoint someone to fill his term. [Deep KRS Shenanigans]

From the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet: As mandated by the Kentucky Legislature, uninsured motorists across the Commonwealth will begin receiving notices in June that registrations for their personal vehicles will be canceled if they do not obtain required insurance or show proof of existing insurance. [Press Release & More Info]

This ad against Gary Moore and Alecia Webb-Edgington from the teabagger kid in Texas is hilarious. Alecia missed some votes and Gary went on a work trip. Ha. [Joe Gerth]

State Rep. Tim Moore is currently in flight training as part of his duty with the Air Force Reserve. Maybe he should fly over West Liberty to reflect on his insensitive and gross remarks about political choices and deadly storms? He sure needs a reality check on that front. [Deep Frankfort Thoughts]

Where the heck was this Herald-Leader editorial writer as all this was going down? Oh, right, completely ignoring the political realities of Frankfort. [H-L]

Secretary of State Alison Grimes says no one is going to vote in next Tuesday’s primary election. [Press Release]

Mitch McConnell is really mad at the Democrats again this week. He’s so mad he could spit if he had lips. [The Hill]

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services has launched a new website it says will enhance customer service re: child support. Customers can make payments, update information and check appointments. [Press Release]

Even Fox News says President Barack Obama is ahead of Mittens Romney. And that’s from their poll. [Politico]

For the first time, racial and ethnic minorities make up more than half the children born in the U.S., capping decades of heady immigration growth that is now slowing. [NPR]

The Texas teachers’ pension fund invested in casinos and lost $99 million. Those casino owners who got the investment? They were Gov. Rick Perry’s donors. Sounds just like Kentucky! [Dallas Morning News Here & Here]

New claims for jobless benefits last week held at levels suggesting sluggish growth in hiring and factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region contracted in May, worrisome signs for a still-fragile economic recovery. [Reuters]

Now Steve Beshear has a good excuse to get rid of one of Daniel Mongiardo’s last guys, Jerry Lunsford. [H-L]

CLICK FOR HUUUGE PDF

We haven’t dissected it but feel free to dig in.

According to a release, he’s also going on a jobs tour in the 4th District.

During a February meeting of Lewis County’s fiscal court, a resolution was presented to authorize an application for a Community Development Block Grant that would have added 27 jobs.

But because it was a federal program? Massie voted against it and the 27 well-paying jobs it would create:

The text, if you can’t read it above:

On a motion made by Joe Bentley duly seconded by Milt Stanfield voting yes and Judge Massie voting no to approve Resolution #12-2, Industrial Park with Buffalo Trace Area Development District.

Fortunately, he was outvoted by magistrates and was forced to sign the application:

And then he sent a letter along with the application objecting to the involvement of Buffalo Trace Area Development District.

So what was that, again, about being a job creator?

CLICK TO ENLARGE

What, exactly, would she know about that? She’s been suckling at the gubmint teat her entire career. How many government pensions does Alecia have, again?

Roger Alford will write a story about what a job-creating genius Alecia is in 3, 2…

Empty words falling on deaf ears.

Makers of flame retardants manipulate research findings to back their products and downplay health risks. [Chicago Tribune]

Colin Powell says that Dubya didn’t bother consulting his national security council on the Iraq War. [HuffPo]

Let’s not pretend for a second that this ignorance in West Virginia involving $22,000 internet routers doesn’t happen in Kentucky every single second of the day. [WV Gazette]

How long will it take mouth-breathers to freak out over this story about government job cuts threatening the black middle class? [NPR]

18 people died in 17 separate crashes on Kentucky roadways from Monday, April 30 through Sunday, May 6. [KSP Release]

December 2011 was a busy month for supporters of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. The former speaker of the House had surged ahead of his Republican rivals in several polls. Suddenly he was being barraged by negative TV ads produced by Restore Our Future, a Super PAC for rival candidate Mitt Romney. [Reuters]

We think this might have been how Bing Crosby looked when he got too much Scotch in him and started beating on his wife and kids. What brings the scary early scenes of The Stepfather out of mild-mannered Mittens? QUESTIONS! [Wonkette]

Poverty in the United States, including in the reservations, is so entrenched because it is often part of a toxic brew of alcohol or drug dependencies, dysfunctional families and educational failures. It self-replicates generation after generation. [NYT]

Mouth-breathing House Republicans in Warshington voted to cut the detailed census survey that’s been conducted since the days of Thomas Jefferson. [HuffPo]

People in 49 states – like Kentucky – saw a significant decline in health care access during the last decade. [The Consumerist & Urban Institute]

Custody battles, Kentucky and a trailer park in Alabama. Those are the things that make this story. [H-L]

Kentucky Chief Justice John Minton’s tenure as a Warren Circuit Court judge was commemorated Wednesday with the unveiling and dedication of a portrait that will hang in the courtroom where he once presided. [BGDN]