Health departments across Kentucky are facing cuts amid growing demand. Legislators just kind of roll their eyes at the situation. [Debby Yetter]

The long-term unemployment situation in America just got a lot worse. The maximum duration is dropping to 79 weeks. [HuffPo]

Yep, it’s about time for the presidential race to get all, well, racy. Because fat white guys are always this stupid. [Politico]

Woah, are we finally seeing proof that sex education fails in mouth-breather-dominated areas of the country? [MSNBC]

How likely is it that the filing deadline won’t be moved again? Highly unlikely. Since Frankfort is a literal disaster. [Kenny Coleslaw]

A new University of Kentucky report says that the Commonwealth should broaden its tax code to include services. [H-L]

Bill Adkins filed to run as a Democrat in the 4th Congressional district. Which means a Republican is still winning. [NKY Losing?]

Of course child abuse secrecy in Frankfort is only designed to protect officials appointed by Steve Beshear. [C-J/AKN]

Mouth-breathers in this country will never cease to amaze you. Now they’re trying to ban abortions based on race and gender. Because abortion is all they thing about. [Wonkette]

No only is Michele Bachmann clueless about being married to a gay guy… she believes she was the perfect candidate. [HuffPo]

SuperPACs are altering the dynamics of the presidential race and it is turning into a primary about money. [The Economist]

Of course congressional earmarks are sometimes used to fund projects near lawmakers’ properties. Like that airport Hal Rogers had built for himself that sits empty. [WaPo]

Walter Blevins, Jr. has decided not to seek re-election. Eastern Kentuckians aren’t happy about it. [Ruh Ro]

The local press in the Fourth District is paying close attention to Thomas Massie’s candidacy to replace Geoff Davis in the U.S. Congress. [Ashland Independent]

Poor people in the United States pay way more for care insurance than the wealthy. Don’t act like you’re surprised in the least. [HuffPo]

Mitch McConnell’s new revisionist history is about the worst we’ve seen out of him in a long time. [TPM]

One of the sad things about Greg Fischer’s lack of any sort of experience is watching EMS workers like this guy suffer the consequences. [The 'Ville Voice]

Did you know that February is EARTHQUAKE AWARENESS MONTH in Kentucky? The more you know, kids. [SoS]

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services received a $600,000 federal grant – handed over by the Governor’s Office of Electronic Health Information – to connect behavioral health and primary care providers. We can’t help but wonder if those funds wouldn’t be better spent making sure social worker caseloads weren’t outrageous. [Press Release]

Will Warshington do the right thing and stop insider trading by lawmakers? [The Consumerist]

Dear Kenny Coleslaw: You should have included quotes from Steve Beshear saying we WOULD NOT consider tax reform in Kentucky. That would maybe prove he’s lying his ass off about flip-flopping. And it’s not just now that people are talking about this. [WFPL]

Former Rand Paul staffer Chris Hightower filed today to run for the State House. Mainstreamers are clamoring for the opportunity to interview him so they can dredge up the Paul campaign history. They likely won’t mention that all of the shenanigans were caused by David Adams and will attempt to lay all blame at the feet of Hightower. [Page One]

Can you hear them now? The Federal Reserve is making its views heard loudly and clearly. [The Economist]

Remember the McDonald’s incident in 2004 where a crank caller talked a manager into forcing an employee to strip? There’s a film about it. It premiered at Sundance. [Sundance]

A hearing over redistricting maps will be held Monday. So the filing deadline has officially been put on hold in Kentucky. [Ryan Alessi]

Where is R.J. Palmer? He campaigned to be the Democratic Minority Leader of the State Senate and now he’s invisible. More invisible than he was a lowly State Senator. He’s ceded his position to Ray Jones, it seems, as he’s the one who is always front and center. [Anyone Else Noticed This?]

The Vatican was shaken by a corruption scandal Thursday after an Italian television investigation said a former top official had been transferred against his will after complaining about irregularities in awarding contracts. [Reuters]

Here’s a long ass story about bonds being issued for the Ohio River Bridges Debacle. [Bond Buyer]

Woah, these two articles about Newt Gingrich are severe. Here’s one of the headlines: Not so fast, Newt – Like Walt Whitman, Newt Gingrich is large, and contains multitudes. [The Economist Here & Here]

Newt’s GOP pal, Duke Cunningham, is offering his support. From Federal prison. [Wonkette]

The State House and State Senate have agreed to continue their negotiations on congressional redistricting. [Bluegrass Politics]

You’ve gotta read the latest from Ronnie Ellis, the most spot-on Frankfort reporter currently on the beat. You know, if the problems we face weren’t so serious and threatening, the state Capitol would be about the most entertaining place one could find. He goes on to mention unintended humor. He might as well just come out and say schadenfreude. [Ashland Independent]

Some guy named Greg Frank filed as a Democrat to run for the U.S. Congressional seat in Kentucky 04. [SoS]

It’s frustrating when your elected officials make excuse after excuse for not taking action. But it’s entertaining when they do so publicly and on our websites. [We Get Comments]

A grand jury indicted that crazy constable guy in Louisville who shot a woman. [WKYT]

The Kentucky Division of Forestry is celebrating its 100-year anniversary. Steve Beshear has proclaimed 2012 as the ‘Year of Kentucky’s Forests.’ All while killing them with logging and mountaintop removal. [Forestry & Press Release]

Wait, Newt Gingrich has a vision of moon sex, lunar honeymoons and other creepy stuff? No wonder Sarah The Quitter Palin loves him. [HuffPo]

Just like that, Tom Jensen backed off the meth Rx legislation and Bob Stivers became the co-sponsor. [Corrupt Money Game]

An appeals court judge is allowing the state to withhold EVEN MORE details about child abuse deaths. [H-L]

During debate over the new health care law, concerns were raised about a wide variety of provisions in the bill, but few provisions raised quite as many eyebrows as the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) program. CLASS established a new federal long-term care insurance entitlement program. Despite bipartisan warnings that the CLASS program was financially unsustainable and a budget gimmick, the program was included anyway to help “pay for” the health care bill.

According to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND), the CLASS program was “A Ponzi scheme of the first order, the kind of thing Bernie Madoff would be proud of.” The program was set to start collecting premiums for eight years of the ten year budget window (at the time, 2010-2019), but not pay any benefits until 2017. This rigging of the delayed payment of benefits allowed Democrats to claim the bill reduced the deficit by $70 billion by counting CLASS program enrollees’ premiums as “revenue.”

Beyond the budget gimmicks used to sell the health care law, many people raised serious concerns about the structure and viability of the CLASS program itself.

Fortunately, a provision was included in the law that required the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to certify that the program would be solvent for seventy-five years before it could be implemented.

Click here to read his entire column.

Here’s a video of him from the Buffalo Trace Lincoln/Reagan Day Dinner in Maysville:

Thoughts?

At a time when more than 13 million Americans are unemployed, we should be doing everything it can to create a stable atmosphere for our economy and encourage job creation.

Too often, the message from Washington speaks of job creation, but the actions do not match the words.

One action that could be taken to immediately open the door to 20,000 jobs is approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The proposed pipeline would transport 500,000 barrels of oil daily from Canada to oil refineries in the U.S. A group of House Democrats even wrote to President Obama in support of the pipeline noting the 20,000 direct jobs and that the project would “spur the creation of 118,000 spin-off jobs.” Recognizing the positive economic impact of the project, it has won broad support from business groups to labor unions. Read more about the project including the letters of support at http://transcanada.com/keystone.html.

The Keystone XL Pipeline represents one of the most straightforward and simple opportunities to create American jobs. This shovel-ready project not only creates jobs, but decreases U.S. dependence on unstable foreign sources of oil.

Click here to read the entire thing.

Then foam at the mouth about the environmental woes.

We think his final days in office would be better spent focusing on Kentucky.

“I am happy to announce my candidacy for the House of Representatives. More than ever Congress needs a conservative, independent thinker who has a track record of innovation and problem solving in the private sector.

“Our founding fathers weren’t career politicians or government employees. In fact, they were farmers, inventors, and small businessmen that came together to craft the most impressive document in the history of government. Our Constitution is packed full of common sense, and that is desperately needed in Congress today.

“We need someone who is committed to lowering taxes, cutting government waste, and ending run away spending. I have done that in Lewis County and I will do that in Washington D.C. as your representative.” said Massie.

From his release:

Having acquired outside commitments for over $100,000.00, Massie is primed to enter this race on solid financial footing.

Thomas Massie earned two engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Based on his invention that made computers easier to use, he founded SensAble Technologies, Inc., raised over $32 million of venture capital, created 70 jobs, and obtained 24 patents. Ten years ago, he moved back to Kentucky with his wife and high school sweetheart, Rhonda, to raise their four children on a farm. He began battling big government as a concerned citizen in 2007, and stopped or lowered four separate tax initiatives in his county. In 2010, Massie challenged two establishment candidates in the republican primary for Lewis County Judge Executive, and beat them both by a two to one margin. In the first nine months of his administration, he eliminated enough wasteful government spending to pay his three years’ salary as Judge Executive.

Massie has retained a veteran Rand Paul staffer as his campaign manager. Ryan Hogan recently served as a field representative and body man for Senator Paul. Before that, Hogan was an essential part of Paul’s successful run for U.S. Senate in 2010, serving in many capacities from the campaigns onset.

Regardless of politics, it appears that Massie will be a formidable opponent for other Republicans in the primary. He’s already pulling in lots of traditional Republican support on top of the Paul Camp backing.

Though, he probably shouldn’t have mentioned that he got $100K+ in commitments prior to announcing his candidacy or filing official paperwork.

This race is going to be fun.

P.S. Here’s footage of Massie at a recent Lawrenceburg gathering:

Kentuckians already know there’s going to be a wild Republican primary to replace Geoff Davis in the 4th District. [Roll Call]

Kentucky’s getting $4,577,316 from the feds to cover April 2011 storm damages to roads & bridges. [Press Release]

What a travesty! Alison Lundergan Grimes appointed communications staffers but did not appoint the meemaws to anything! [Facebook]

Congressman John Yarmuth filed for re-election today and unlike other outlets, we don’t see what’s major or newsworthy about it to warrant an entire story. You’d think it was earth-shattering news with all the hoopla today. [Press Releases Galore]

How many people has Mitt Romney fired? Fifteen billion? Something like that? Let’s just pray he doesn’t get eated (intentional spelling) by that mob guy in New Jersey. [Wonkette]

Maybe Republicrats are realizing Jon Huntsman is the least nutty of all candidates currently running for pretzeldent. [HuffPo]

Even Former President Bill Clinton thinks Occupy Wall Street needs to simplify its messaging. And the folks in Louisville should take note. [The 'Ville Voice]

Meanwhile, that city’s Metro Sewer District scandal is raging out of control and there is apparently no real accountability. Just a bunch of smoke blowing. [Page One]

Looks like copper thieves may be responsible for the latest home explosion in Kentucky. This is why the Commonwealth can’t have nice things. [WKYT]

Woah, Cecil New admitted to drowning four-year-old Cesar Ivan Aguilar Cano. This nightmarish story has haunted Louisville for several years. [FOX41]

Instant racing revenue in Kentucky continues to climb. Up a whopping 17% in the month of December. [H-L]

Americans drastically overestimate how many unauthorized immigrants are in the United States and they don’t want to know the truth. [Slate]

“Gategood Galbraith missed some chances” is how A Kentucky Newspaper decided to weirdly headline Joe Gerth’s column about Galbraith’s death. [C-J/AKN]

What? Yet another way to evolve? Yet another way to piss off the Ark Parkers? [The Economist]

Papaw Beshear wisely rejected the University of Louisville Hospital merger request. Again. [WHAS11]

Since the new health care law was enacted in March 2010, debate has swirled about the constitutionality of one provision in particular: the individual mandate.

The individual mandate of the 2010 health care law is a provision that requires everyone to obtain health insurance (whether it is paid by you, an employer, or the federal government and taxpayers) starting in 2014, or pay a fine. The mandate is unconstitutional because nothing in the U.S. Constitution gives the federal government the power to impose such a requirement. If the federal government can require everyone to purchase a product or service, what will the next requirement be? What then are the bounds on constitutionally-limited government?

This debate will be heard in March by the Supreme Court with a crucial final decision in the months to follow.

-SNIP-

Most major pieces of legislation include a severability clause as protection in case any provision within the law is found to be invalid and unenforceable. The severability clause states that, in that case, the rest of a law should not be affected. The health care law, however, did not include such a clause.

To put severability into an everyday example, think of a recipe. Spaghetti and meatballs is a common meal popular in many households.

Click here to read the entire piece.

Yep, health care in the United States is just like spaghetti and meatballs. Makes you fat as all hell, clogs your arteries, requires something to die for you to benefit, a lot of the country can’t afford it.

We thought it was no big deal but it’s becoming more and more obvious that the woman needs to learn to stand on her own if she hopes to succeed.

Her campaign needs to reimburse the federal government for, well, just read it:

From: VanMeter, Rick
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012 5:56 PM
To: VanMeter, Rick
Subject: Moving on….

Friends,

After nearly three years with Congressman Davis, I am both sad and excited to let you know that I will be leaving the office for a new opportunity and challenge. Tomorrow (Monday), I will officially start as the campaign manager for Alecia Webb-Edgington for Congress in Kentucky’s Fourth District. I have already moved back to Kentucky to run the campaign.

It has been a pleasure working with you, and I greatly appreciate your help, advice, and most importantly, your friendship. I’m sorry that because of the timing of this opportunity, I was not able to say goodbye to anyone before leaving for the holidays, but I hope you will stay in touch.

I will be turning in my computer and blackberry in the morning, but I can always be reached at: REDACTED or 859-XXX-XXXX.

Thanks again, and I hope that our paths will cross again soon!

Rick VanMeter
Communications Director | Congressman Geoff Davis, KY-04

Who the hell sends that – with the resources of Congressman Davis’ office – after moving back to Kentucky and leaving the job? We normally wouldn’t even mention it (because it seems like common practice) if we hadn’t been flooded with all kinds of comments about similar activity.

Geoff Davis generally has top-notch staffers and rivals John Yarmuth when it comes to providing constituent support but this has really gotten out-of-hand.

Come on, Alecia, stop listening to bad advice. Because you’re about to get Trey Graysoned.

Way to hitch to the gubmint teat. And to take advantage of Davis. Head – desk.