That'll Teach Him

Not for his years of bullying governors, Democratic officials, his fellow legislators and random importunate citizens.

Not for his inexcusable obstruction of every progressive attempt to drag Kentucky into the 20th, not to say 21st, century.

Not for his destructive pandering to the worst elements of his own party.

No, not for any of that is Corbin removing David Williams' name from its exposition center, but for his failure to intervene successfully in an intra-county dispute.

Roger Alford at the AP:

Corbin leaders have taken former Senate President David Williams' name off an exposition center, complaining that he didn't do enough to protect the city in a dispute with Knox County officials over revenue from an occupational tax.

City Commissioner Ed Tye said Friday that the decision to delete the Republican's name from the David L. Williams Southeastern Kentucky Ag & Expo Complex was made before he resigned from the state Senate earlier this month to accept a judicial appointment.

SNIP
Tye said Corbin leaders believed that Williams, who for more than a decade was the most powerful Republican in Frankfort, could have helped the city in a longstanding battle with Knox County officials over the occupational tax revenue. Senate Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, was able to get legislation passed earlier this year that prevented Corbin from collecting 25 percent of Knox County's occupational tax.

Tye said that move cost Corbin about $600,000 a year.

Stivers is widely expected to succeed Williams as senate president in January. Corbin can expect no favors from the state senate as long as Stivers runs it.

Hey, Corbin Democrats: repugs just handed you a gift-wrapped opportunity. Don't blow it.

If It Doesn't Offend Anybody, It's Not Free Speech

Because if all you're going to do is praise motherhood and apple pie, you don't need the First Amendment.

So good on the conservative Sixth Circuit for slapping down the Kentucky Bar Association.

From Andrew Wolfson at the Courier:

In a nationally watched case on lawyers’ free-speech rights, a federal appeals court has ruled that the Kentucky Bar Association violated the First Amendment when it threatened to sanction an attorney for criticizing the state Legislative Ethics Commission.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held Friday that the bar association chilled the free-speech rights of Henry County lawyer John M. Berry Jr. when it warned him he could be punished for challenging the integrity of a ruling dismissing an ethics complaint against Senate President David Williams.


The appeals court said a rule barring lawyers from making reckless or false statements regarding the integrity of judges or legal officers was unconstitutionally applied against Berry because everything he had said about the Ethics Commission was true or protected opinion.

Berry is the brother of noted Kentucky farmer, author and activist Wendell Berry.  No political cowards in that family.

Read the whole inspiring thing.

Kentucky's Gamble Fails; It Has to Budget the Hard Way

Fun as it is to watch Sen. Damon Thayer throw a hissy fit over his own party leader killing his gambling bill, let's not let the hair-pulling and eye-scratching going on at the Capitol distract us from the desperate need to start making Kentucky's obscenely wealthy individuals and corporations pay their share in taxes.

Janet Patton at the Herald:

A bid to allow casino gambling in Kentucky fell short of passage Thursday when the state Senate voted 21-16 against it. One senator was absent.

Gov. Steve Beshear's proposed constitutional amendment, introduced by Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, would have let voters decide in November whether to allow up to seven casinos.

"I want to congratulate Senate President Williams," Thayer said after the vote. "He has orchestrated the defeat of this amendment and he deserves credit for doing that."

SNIP

The governor, who defeated Williams to win re-election with a campaign promise to "let the people decide" on gambling, blamed the Senate president.

"Obviously, I am disappointed that several of the senators who had publicly said they would support letting the people decide did not follow through on their commitment to our citizens," Beshear said in a statement. "I am also disappointed that Senator Williams chose to sabotage the chance for our citizens to decide by scheduling the vote for today, when he knew that a senator who planned to vote 'yes' would not be in town."

In 1987 Wallace Wilkinson got elected governor on the promise to establish a lottery that would solve Kentucky's budget problems once and for all. Lottery dollars would shower billions on education and give the Commonwealth massive surpluses forever.

Two decades of the lottery have left Kentucky poorer and more in debt than ever. Casino gambling would just make that result 10 times worse.

Williams and the Senate repugs did the right thing for the wrong reasons. If only they had a budget plan other than massive cuts and austerity for everyone but themselves.

Shamelessly Lying About Regulation

In case anyone forgot, it was the DE-regulation of Wall Street in 1999 that caused the Great Recession and destroyed 10 million American jobs. Since 1935, the Glass-Steagall Act had protected bankers from their own greed and stupidity by keeping commercial banks out of the stock gambling business. Repealing Glass-Steagall handed the keys of the economy to the drunk, stoned teenagers of the finance industry and let them take off.

Regulations protect not just consumers (clean air, clean water, safe food, safe drugs) but also businesses - especially small businesses who need protection from the corporate behemoths who would otherwise crush them.

Steve Benen:

There’s been a fair amount of work done lately to help demonstrate just how wrong Republicans are about regulations holding the economy back — this paper from the Economic Policy Institute’s Lawrence Mishel is terrific — but folks should definitely take the time to review this piece from Bruce Bartlett.

As Bartlett, an economist and a veteran of the Reagan and H.W. Bush administrations, explained, Republicans have been told to argue that freeing the private sector of consumer safeguards and worker protections will reduce “uncertainty.” Unfortunately for the GOP, from a policy perspective, they’re living in fantasy land.

Evidence supporting Mr. Cantor’s contention that deregulation would increase unemployment is very weak. For some years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has had a program that tracks mass layoffs. In 2007, the program was expanded, and businesses were asked their reasons for laying off workers. Among the reasons offered was “government regulations/intervention.” There is only partial data for 2007, but we have data since then through the second quarter of this year. […]

As one can see, the number of layoffs nationwide caused by government regulation is minuscule and shows no evidence of getting worse during the Obama administration. Lack of demand for business products and services is vastly more important.

These results are supported by surveys. During June and July, Small Business Majority asked 1,257 small-business owners to name the two biggest problems they face. Only 13 percent listed government regulation as one of them. Almost half said their biggest problem was uncertainty about the future course of the economy — another way of saying a lack of customers and sales.

Surveys from major news outlets, including conservative institutions like the Wall Street Journal, and the National Federation of Independent Business found the same thing: the private sector is concerned about customers and demand, not regulations.

Bruce concluded, “In my opinion, regulatory uncertainty is a canard invented by Republicans that allows them to use current economic problems to pursue an agenda supported by the business community year in and year out. In other words, it is a simple case of political opportunism, not a serious effort to deal with high unemployment.”

An Associated Press analysis published this week reached the identical conclusion: the private sector isn’t being held back by regulations; companies “aren’t hiring because there isn’t enough consumer demand.” Republican economic policies, of course, intend to weaken demand, on purpose, because they simply don’t believe this is the problem behind weak growth.

This is Big Government regulation:

From AP:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Federal regulators are seeking comments as they target a hazard in underground coal mines blamed for dozens of deaths.

A proposed rule from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration addresses systems meant to warn miners when they get too close to continuous mining machines.
The agency is holding a Thursday public hearing for the proposal in Charleston.

Officials say run-ins with these machines killed 30 miners and injured another 220 between 1984 and last year. Most of those killed were operating these huge machines via remote control.

Note that none of Kentucky's Big Coal Apologists, those Brave Defenders of Our Miners Against Job Killing Regulation, Senators Mitch Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, not to mention Governor Steve Beshear and his challenger David Williams, have anything to say about this blatant horrific Murder of Our FreeDumbs by the commiemuslinkenyanterrist Usurper and his socialist minions in the bureaucracy.

Did Al-Qaeda Fund Ads Promoting David Williams for Governor?

Maybe not, but we'll never know. Thanks to the reichwing majority on the Supreme Court, the group that spent $1.36 million attacking Steve Beshear does not have to reveal where its money came from.

Jack Brammer at the Herald:

An independent political group called Restoring America reported Friday that it has raised and spent $1.365 million in Kentucky’s governor’s race.

The group, which has aired TV and radio ads against Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and for Republican challenger David Williams, did not list any of its contributors in a report filed with the state Registry of Election Finance.

It simply reported that Restoring America, Inc., of Lexington, Ky., raised $1.365 million on Sept. 26 and spent the same amount on the same date with Strategic Media Placement Inc. of Delaware, Ohio, for “broadcast ads buys for advocacy.”

The report listed the group’s treasurer as Mark Blankenbecler of Powell, Ohio. A call to the phone number listed on the report revealed that his name actually is Mike Blankenbecler. He was not available for comment.

What are these supporters of David Williams hiding? Why won't Williams demand that those supporters reveal themselves? Is he afraid that Kentucky voters would recoil in horror if we knew?

C'mon, Bully of Burkesville: prove you're not taking money from terrorists.

Call the Waaaaaaaaaaaaahmbulance

David Williams has built his political career on bullying. He is re-elected to the state Senate by his constituents and to the Senate presidency by his colleagues because he is a bully. People either fear his bullying or want to benefit from his bullying of others. His primary qualification for office is his reputation as a bully.

Now he's whining like a little bitch because the big bad media is portraying him as ... a bully.

Beth Musgrave at the Herald:

Trailing badly in the polls, Republican David Williams said on Monday that a decade of bad press has hurt his campaign for the state’s top office.

In an interview with the Herald-Leader’s editorial board, the Republican nominee for governor said he has been unfairly portrayed as a bully by the media.

The Burkesville native, who has been president of the state Senate since 2000 and was first elected to the legislature in 1985, said he often shouldered the blame and political heat for unpopular stances taken by the Senate Republican caucus.

“Y’all have helped beat the hell out of me,” Williams said, referring to the media.

He has sometimes been referred to by his opponents and in editorials as the “Bully from Burkesville.”

“Nobody in Burkesville calls me a bully,” Williams said. “And few people in Frankfort do.”

Stop, you're killing me!

Everybody calls him a bully. People who hate him say it with disgust, and people who love him say it with pride, but everybody says it.

Hey David: people may disagree about the attractiveness of bullies, but everybody hates a WATB.

Williams Does the Full Wingnut Monty

The next time your septic tank gets clogged, don't ask David Williams for help.

He'll burn your house to the ground and form a committee of your neighbors to figure out how to improve the plumbing in the home you no longer have.

From the Herald:

Republican nominee for governor David Williams wants to eliminate state personal and corporate income taxes as part of his plan to create and retain jobs in Kentucky.

Williams’ plan, released Wednesday, also recommends several short-term tax suspensions designed to jumpstart Kentucky’s job market and several changes in the law, including allowing local voters to decide if their county should have a right-to-work laws. The plan also allows local voters to decide if local governments should have to pay the prevailing wage for public works projects.

Williams faces Democratic incumbent Gov. Steve Beshear and independent Gateood Galbraith in the Nov. 8 general election.

The plan also calls for creation of a commission of economic and tax experts to come up with a new state and local tax structure that would receive an up-or-down vote in the legislature.

Reporter Jack Brammer, who certainly knows better, simply transcribes this insanity as if it had a chance in hell of creating a single job rather than destroying what's left of Kentucky's economy.

Cutting. Taxes. Never. Creates. Jobs. When even proud "Capitalist Tool" Forbes magazine says so, the debate is over.

It’s a mainstay of conservative orthodoxy that tax cuts create jobs. In fact, the complexity of the tax code does create jobs for high-priced tax attorneys and accountants. But do tax cuts create “real” jobs?

The answer appears to be no for companies big and small. After all, U.S. public companies pay well-below the official 35% tax rate while 13.5 million American workers search unsuccessfully for jobs And start ups tell me that tax cuts don’t affect whether they’ll create new jobs. In short, the tax cut rhetoric, while effective politics, is lousy economics.

George H. W. Bush wisely pointed out in his 1980 debate with Ronald Reagan that expecting to balance the budget with tax cuts and defense spending increases was “voodoo economics.” But along with Reagan’s ascendancy came the rise of huge budget deficits — that Bush wisely helped end when he agreed to raise taxes in 1990.

Kentucky's tax system desperately needs reform, but Williams' plan is treating a brain tumor by cutting off your head. The operation was a complete success - the tumor's gone. Too bad the patient died.

Teabagger manager leaves Williams' campaign

I'm going to guess that Marchant wanted Williams to go full teabagger in the campaign, telling Kentuckians he's going to shut down state government the way Rick Scott in Florida, Scott Walker in Wisconsin and others have done.

Williams, who certainly plans to do just exactly that, is not stupid. He knows that for all of our complaining about state government, Kentuckians cherish the public services state government provides. We'll never vote for someone who actually admits he's going to take those away.

So, the 'bagger departs. Jack Brammer at the Herald:

The campaign manager for Republican gubernatorial hopeful David Williams has left the campaign, its chairman confirmed Thursday.

Luke Marchant, a political consultant with strong ties to the Tea Party movement, is leaving to pursue other opportunities, said former state Adjutant General Donald Storm, the chairman of the campaign.

Marchant, who was hired by the Williams' campaign after the May primary, previously was political director for Marco Rubio's successful U.S. Senate race last year in Florida.

Storm's statement said there were no other changes in the campaign staff, despite rumors in Frankfort that the campaign had a top-to-bottom shake-up. Recent polls have shown Williams trailing Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear by a wide margin.

Remember: Marchant's departure doesn't mean Williams has had a change of heart about putting Frankfort to the torch; he's just not willing to tell the truth about it.

Does Beshear Have Enough Time to Blow a 24-point Lead?

You betcha.

The Courier:

Gov. Steve Beshear holds a commanding 24-point lead over his challenger, Senate President David Williams, in Kentucky's governor's race, according to the latest Courier-Journal/WHAS11 Bluegrass Poll.

The poll found that Beshear leads Williams 52 percent to 28 percent and that the incumbent governor is ahead in all but three demographic areas. Independent Gatewood Galbraith is a distant third with 9 percent of the vote.

Conducted by SurveyUSA, the poll is based on computerized and live telephone interviews carried out from July 22– to 27. It includes the responses of 512 likely voters in the Nov. 8 governor's race and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

Among Williams' problems, the poll found that more than a third of the voters don't like him, while Beshear remains in good standing with nearly half of the voters despite a sluggish economy.

The campaign of the most hated man in Kentucky brings the funny:

The Williams campaign expressed optimism that as voters learn more about Beshear and his record, they will turn to Williams.

“Beshear has a terrible record on jobs. He and (his running mate Jerry Abramson) are not pro-life,” said Williams campaign manager Luke Marchant. “They both openly endorse Obama's dramatically unpopular health care plan and war on Kentucky coal.”

Repugs have spent so many decades exploiting Kentucky's poor and the coal industry, they haven't noticed that the poor are benefitting from the Affordable Care Act and the coal industry employs a tiny fraction of the people it employed just 20 years ago.

Beshear can still lose this one if he maintains his more-conservatard-than-thou campaign, and if this poll doesn't make the repug big money boys write Williams off.

Fancy Farm is next Saturday. We'll see who can keep standing in the heat, humidity and crowd abuse.

Co-opting the Teabaggers in Kentucky

Nobody ever said David Williams was stupid. Evil, yes. Stupid, no. So when his gubernatorial campaign is threatened by the Central Kentucky teabaggers who almost cost him the primary, he doesn't get mad.

He buys them off.

And does it subtly enough to fool everybody. For a couple of days.

Media Czech on Friday:

Oh my.

FRANKFORT — Lexington Tea Party movement organizer Mica Sims has joined Republican James Comer’s campaign for state agriculture commissioner as state field director, the Comer campaign said Friday.

“Rep. Comer is the not only the best choice for this office because he is a life-long farmer but he’s the voter’s only choice as a valid candidate for this office,” Sims said in a release.

She is to coordinate the campaign’s statewide grassroots and volunteer efforts.

*****

“I am very excited to announce my team who will coordinate with my local organizations to ensure victory in November. These individuals have lots of energy, they are very well respected, and are all experienced in organizing successful campaigns,” Comer said.

So that really happened. Mica Sims is directing a statewide field campaign. Because of her experience running campaigns and how respected she is. Wow.

I've heard lots of rumblings about bad blood between David Williams and James Comer. This certainly makes those rumblings a little more interesting (Sims is encouraging teabaggers not to vote for Williams). And I'm not sure whether this hire means that Comer already knows he has won, or he's completely insane. I'm better the former, but who knows?

By Monday, the truth was starting to dawn:

When I wrote about James Comer's hilarious hire on Friday afternoon, I wrote it off as either one of two things:

#1: Comer thinks that he's already won, and it doesn't matter who he hires to do field.

#2: Comer has gone a bit mad in the head.

But additional quotes in the update to the story, plus quotes in Ronnie Ellis' story lead me to believe that there might be a third interpretation that is equally plausible:

#3: Comer made this hire with David Williams' and RPK's direct blessing (if it wasn't their idea to begin with) in order to buy out and shut up Mica and tea party criticism of Williams so that they don't hurt Williams' already not-great chances of winning this November.

It's easy to look at quotes like these and think it is spin, but there may be a larger truth here:

Comer said he talked to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, Republican gubernatorial nominee David Williams and state GOP Chairman Steve Robertson about hiring Sims.

“None advised me not to get her,” he said. “They told me it was my decision.”

Robertson said the decision was Comer’s. “I know Mica has much enthusiasm for Jamie to win this race,” he said.

And:

Comer said he’d advised Williams, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and RPK Chairman Steve Robertson in advance he planned to hire Sims.

“Everyone is excited,” Comer said. “They are all supporting my campaign and they trust my political judgment.”

Scott Jennings, a spokesman for Williams’ campaign, confirmed Comer and Williams spoke earlier in the week and said Williams supports Comer’s campaign and thinks “he’ll make a great Agricultural Commissioner.”

Holly Harris VonLuehrte, an in-house counsel for RPK, also confirmed Robertson and Comer spoke about Sims’ hiring in advance. She said the two men are “close and meet and speak constantly. Steve is supportive of all (of Comer’s) campaign hires.”

And here's the kicker:

Sims said she won’t be involved in any other campaign, including the governor’s race, because her goal is to help Comer attract voters from both major political parties and the Tea Party. She said she doesn’t want to alienate any of them by speaking out about another race. She said she will coordinate grassroots and volunteer efforts across the state for Comer.

Bingo.

If I was a betting man, I'd say this was the grand bargain. Williams shuts up the criticism of him from the Moffett/tea party crowd that trounced him in the Golden Triangle this May, and Mica Sims gets a paycheck. Meanwhile, Comer will have another competent or at least remotely qualified staffer who will actually run his field, or it will be run out of the RPK. Everybody wins (except Williams most likely, just not as bad).

Regardless of whether interpretation #3 is correct, I would say that James Comer, much like Andy Barr last year, has some rather important questions to answer.

No, Let's Make Candidates' Religion A Campaign Issue

Herald headline: "Kentucky gubernatorial campaigns say religion isn't an issue."

The fuck it's not.

Incumbent Democrat Steve Beshear is turning the entire state into a giant asylum for creationist crazies by handing $40 million tax dollars the state doesn't have over to the Flintstones Truther Park. Far from creating a single job, that Bronze Age Fable monstrosity is going to kill thousands of jobs by sending rational employers screaming for the exits.

Republican challenger David Williams is an obedient creature of the corporate-owned, freakazoid-run GOP, crawling for endorsements to such vicious hate-mongers as Frank Simon while planning to follow the scorched-earth policies of such repug heroes as Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Rick Scott of Florida.

Independent Gatewood Galbraith has devolved from a genuine maverick and free-thinker to a fanatic freakazoid of the catholic variety, topping even His Popey-Rapeyness in misogyny by banning abortion even for victims of rape and incest.

These three morons may not be criticizing each other's religion - mostly because it's the same one - but their mutual eagerness to put the freakazoids in charge of running government most certainly makes religion a campaign issue for all of us members of the reality-based community.

Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?

David Williams Will Burn Kentucky To The Ground

In case you had any doubts that if he wins the governor's race, David Williams plans to rip the living heart out of Kentucky's economy the same way repug governors in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Texas, New Jersey and New Hampshire have done, here's the proof he's an unapologetic Anarchist.

From Media Czech:

Here's David Williams telling Bill Bennett how much he admires the union busting tactics of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (starting at 4:10):

It won't be 100% enthusiastic, but you can be sure that Labor will be all in for Steve Beshear this November, if only by default.

But it's not just labor, and it's not just Scott Walker in Wisconsin. The repub governors are all working from the same plan, and it's about turning state government into a piggy bank for the filthy rich and corporations.

In Florida, the public school system literally no longer exists - its entire budget was transferred into tax cuts for the rich, leaving school children with inadequate vouchers for worthless but expensive private schools.

In Michigan, the governor is removing elected officials at whim, turning local towns and counties into company towns for whatever corporate buddy he names local dictator.

Don't think the arrogant King David will hesitate for a heartbeat to join them in gubernatorial arson.

Kentucky Governor's Race and GOP Overreach

Four years ago, Steve Beshear's victory over incumbent Gov. Ernie Fletcher was taken as a harbinger for the 2008 presidential election. It probably wasn't, even though Democrats ran the table nationally, because a rabid ferret could have beaten Fletcher that year.

Now Beshear is the one seeking re-election, and is again fortunate in his opponent: David Williams is the most hated man in Kentucky, and his running mate is so dim they're not letting him speak in public. If Beshear wins, will it be good news for national Democrats in 2012?

Joe Gerth at the Courier asks the opposite question: will GOP overreach nationally help Beshear?

And the votes had barely been counted in Hochul's election when the Democratic National Committee sent out an e-mail to Kentucky reporters reminding them that Republican Reps. Ed Whitfield, Brett Guthrie, Hal Rogers and Geoff Davis — the state's entire Republican House delegation — voted for the GOP plan, which would also reduce federal Medicaid payments for children and the poor.

Alec Gerlach, a spokesman for the DNC, declined to say if he thought the issue could play a role in Kentucky's gubernatorial race. If it does, it wouldn't be the first time.

The last time national politics played a role in a Kentucky gubernatorial race was in 1995, following the ’94 Republican revolution.

That year Democrat Paul Patton and Republican Larry Forgy were duking it out for the governorship.

Early in the race, it appeared that Republicans had the advantage on national issues. The Republican revolution had, in fact, begun in Kentucky with a special election win by Ron Lewis in the state's 2nd District during the summer of 1994.

And Forgy had an advantage in the polls.

But the Republicans, fresh off winning control of the House for the first time in 40 years, went about rolling back decades of Democratic rule like they were killing snakes. And the public didn't like it.

Democrats focused on proposed cuts to Medicare and on Republican plans to sell power-generating plants located at 22 Corps of Engineers reservoirs in the southeast, including on four popular Kentucky lakes.

Patton won by 2 percentage points and served eight years as Kentucky's most progressive governor in 40 years.

This year, it's pretty clear that neither Beshear nor the Kentucky Democratic Party has any interest in attacking the GOP at its weak points: the KDP because it's run by a republican and Beshear because he's running as hard and fast to his right as he can.

If Beshear runs as a faux republican and loses, that's the real lesson for national Democrats.

Live by Repug Support; Die By Repug Support

Looks like Cowardly Waste of Oxygen Steve Beshear is still following his script for How to Lose Re-election to the Most Hated Man in Kentucky.

From the Herald:

The Democratic re-election campaign of Gov. Steve Beshear rolled out the names of 70 Republicans Friday who endorse him and said more names will be forthcoming.

The move by Beshear came on the eve of Saturday’s Republican unity rally at party headquarters in Frankfort.

Friday’s list of Republicans for Beshear and his running mate, former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, included former Lt. Gov. Steve Pence, former Lexington Vice Mayor and restaurateur Michael Scanlon, several mayors and Jon Ackerson, a Louisville Metro Council member and a former state representative and GOP chairman of Jefferson County.

Haha, very funny, how cute. Until you remember that the reason Kentucky Democratic candidates, with their 2-1 registration advantage, keep losing to repugs is that many Kentuckians registered as "Democratic" either vote repug or stay home in disgust at their candidates' blatant public sucking of repug cock.

Repugs, registered and otherwise, always turn out to vote and always vote for the repug candidate, no matter how much they hate him/her. I'm highly skeptical of the predictions that teabaggers will demonstrate their dissatisfaction with Williams/Farmer by either staying home or voting for independent Gatewood Galbraith. That's what Democratic voters do.

Yeah, touting your repug support is sure a great way to get those stay-at-home dems fired up for your campaign, there, guv.

Media Czech has more insight.

Farmer Divorce News Helps the GOP Ticket

First, kudos to Media Czech for beating everybody - including the MSM - on this story.

Rebecca Farmer, the wife KY Commissioner of Agriculture and current Lt. Governor candidate on the GOP ticket Richie Farmer, filed for divorce this Tuesday, April 5th, according to documents obtained by Barefoot and Progressive at the Franklin County Circuit Court Clerk's office.

The petitioner states in the filing that "the marriage between the Petitioner and the Respondent is irretrievably broken and there exists no reasonable prospect of reconciliation."

You bet there's lots, lots more to come - follow it here.

Secondly, the more revelations about sins committed by repugs, the more the freakazoids love them.

Maybe you have to be a born-again to really get this, but when the freakazoids say "hate the sin, love the sinner" they really mean it.

Saved is saved. Once you confess your sins and bring Jesus into your heart - preferably in front of a large congregation on Sunday morning - you are saved forever. No matter what sins you commit for the rest of your life, as long as you publicly express remorse, you are eternally forgiven and welcomed back into the fold.

This is what the parable of the Prodigal Son really means to modern freakazoids. The more you sin and repent, the more ecstatically you are welcomed back into the fold. Even if it's the same sin, over and over and over again. Repent publicly, and you are washed clean in the blood of the lamb.

This is how freakazoids can support, give money to and vote for the most corrupt, sinful repug candidates out there, while insisting that Democratic candidates who have led blameless, self-sacrificing lives embodying New Testament values are evil commie muslin terrists who must be destroyed.

It's about the appearance, not the substance.

Yes, it's a racket. The most successful racket ever invented.

The Williams-Farmer gubernatorial ticket just got quite a boost.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....

The Medicaid Disaster KY Rethuglicans Want

From Leo Weekly, via Media Czech, the human reality of the tragedy rethuglican senate president and gubernatorial candidate David Williams is causing.

I'm still not sure what the "True Leadership" of Williams is, but Kentucky is 8 days away from a Medicaid apocalypse. And it's been two days since the State House passed their compromise bill to avoid it by a bipartisan 94-4 vote. In a special session costing us $68,000 a day that was only called because Williams sprung his unpopular bill (all 41 House Republicans panned it) days before the end of the session.

And what has been the Senate President's reaction since the House passed this bipartisan compromise?

Crickets.

And what will happen if the Senate doesn't agree to the Medicaid compromise by next Friday?

The mother of an 18-year-old who is mentally retarded, autistic and bipolar, Baylon relies on Medicaid for her son’s health care, which includes extensive therapy from a behavioral specialist. Her health care provider recently contacted her to explain that if the Medicaid budget is not fixed by April 1, she will be in jeopardy of losing her son Simon’s coverage.

“This will desperately affect me,” Baylon says. “When change happens in our lives, his life, there are a lot of things that come from it: He becomes more aggressive, his behavior changes, he breaks things. These children, their whole lives are based on routine. Once you put a ringer in that, it means it will affect many people — the children, the families, the caregivers, the schools — it goes on and on.

“(The therapist) has been working with my son for eight years, and we’ve made tremendous progress with her. We could not live without her, honestly.”

And:

Rosemary Smith, who owns eight pharmacies in Central and Eastern Kentucky and a medical equipment company, said her employees and her clients are worried and scared.

“Our employees are frightened,” Smith said. “Our customers are frightened that they may not be able to get their prescriptions filled. They have asked us, ‘What am I going to do?’”

The 35 percent reduction would mean that pharmacies will lose money if they fill most Medicaid prescriptions, pharmacists have said. Previous testimony has shown that on some medications, a pharmacist would lose $64 if they filled the prescription for a Medicaid patient.

“We’re panicked,” Smith said. “We just can’t fill those prescriptions. And our Medicaid clients are our most vulnerable population.”

And:

“Such a drastic reduction would be devastating to providers, as the current Medicaid payments don’t cover the costs incurred by most providers in serving Medicaid beneficiaries,” said the letter, signed by Donald H. Robinson, chairman of the board, and Stephen Williams, president and CEO of Norton Healthcare.

Norton — which includes five hospitals — receives nearly $200 million a year from Medicaid. A 30 percent cut would equate “to nearly $60 million and would be disastrous, inevitably resulting in reduction or elimination of important medical services to the already medically fragile, reductions in workforce and other actions which would negatively effect our community and Commonwealth,” the letter said.

Mike Rust, president of the Kentucky Hospital Association, said internal calculations suggest the state’s hospitals would lose $125 million. How that would affect individual hospitals depends on how many Medicaid patients each hospital serves. Those with a higher Medicaid population, such as Norton, would have a much more difficult time managing the loss in cash, Rust said.

I know that the Mitch McConnell School of Obstruction is really good at winning elections, but considering that the health and well being of 800,000 Kentuckians are very much at jeopardy, don't you think it would be a good idea to maybe do the right thing this time?

Not that Cowardly Waste of Oxygen governor Steve Beshear and what passes for democratic leadership in the state house of representatives are much better, but at least they did finally pass a plan that might work.

Which is exactly why Williams and his fellow rethuglicans in the Senate will let it die.

Along with thousands of Kentuckians and Kentucky businesses it could help.

If I Believed in Magic ...

I still wouldn't pray for anything David "I can't get elected Governor without an illiterate roundball player on the ticket" Williams wants.

Senate President David Williams called Saturday for Kentuckians to pray that lawmakers reach a consensus this week after a fight over how to balance the state's financially troubled Medicaid program.

“I ask that you keep the members of the Kentucky state Senate in your prayers, and keep all the people in the General Assembly in your prayers, and, yes, keep our governor in your prayers,” Williams, R-Burkesville, one of three GOP gubernatorial candidates, told some 400 people at the 5th District Lincoln Day dinner in Corbin.

Williams' remarks come amid an acrimonious debate in Frankfort over how to shore up the state’s Medicaid program — a debate that has become politically charged amid this year’s gubernatorial campaign.

Want to help Kentucky legislators solve the budget problem? Call or email them here.

Immigrant Hate Bill in KY Even Worse Than Arizona's

I wish I could say that Kentucky Democrats in the state house and the governor's office are too smart to risk losing the Hispanic vote by supporting this despicable piece of racist bait, but I can't.

I'm afraid this is just the first of many teabagging pieces of shit with which Senate President and gubernatorial candidate David Williams will be torturing Democrats during this legislative session.

Opponents of an immigration bill filed Tuesday by Senate Republicans say it goes even further than a controversial Arizona law that has been challenged in federal court by President Barack Obama's administration.

Senate Bill 6 was one of several filed Tuesday that is backed by GOP leaders, who have said they hope to pass the measure by the end of this week. Other bills filed Tuesday include a proposal to create a panel that would recommend changes to the state's tax system and bills to tweak state pensions and election laws.

Those who oppose the immigration bill — which would allow police to ask if a person was in the country legally — began to rally against SB 6 on Tuesday, saying it appears to be more onerous than Arizona's immigration law. A judge has issued an injunction halting parts of the Arizona law, including the part that allows police to stop people and verify their immigration documents.

SNIP

The bill, filed by Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, also creates criminal charges for smuggling illegal immigrants and "aiding and abetting" illegal immigrants.

The Catholic Conference of Kentucky, Kentucky Council of Churches, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Kentucky Equal Justice Center were either in the process or had already sent letters to state legislators opposing the bill.

The Catholic Conference of Kentucky, in its letters to senators, voiced concerns that if such a measure were passed, it could cause more harm than good.

"For example, seasoned law enforcement officials report that once they are forced to take on immigration enforcement, they believe immigrants, with whom they have established a degree of trust, will be afraid to report crime to them or help solve it," Delahanty said.

It's impossible to say how many illegal immigrants are in Kentucky, although several studies have placed the number between 26,000 and 45,000. However, studies show that Kentucky has one of the smallest illegal immigrant populations. For example, California is estimated to have 2.7 million illegal immigrants compared to 45,000 in Kentucky, according to a 2008 Pew Hispanic Center study.

Read the whole thing.

Jake has the letter the ACLU sent to senators.

Williams Files Bill to Kill Kentucky Farmers

Don't be fooled by the racist, anti-American, un-constitutional facade of this supposed anti-immigrant bill. What Kentucky Senate President David Williams, rethuglican candidate for governor, is really trying to do is destroy Kentucky agriculture by eliminating its entire workforce.

And what better cover than having as his lite guv running mate the current - wait for it - commissioner of agriculture?

Political genius, I tell you - genius!

Courier:

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, on Wednesday unveiled his proposal for immigration reform, which mirrors the Arizona immigration law that is being challenged in a federal appeals court.

Williams, who is running for governor next year, wants to require local law enforcement to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.

A federal judge in July blocked Arizona from enforcing such a provision after the federal government sued the state. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last month heard arguments in the case but has not ruled. The law is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Williams' office released copies of Senate Bill 6 late Wednesday and did not respond to requests for comment.

As is the case with Arizona's law, Williams' bill would allow police to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country without authorization and check their status with federal officials.

If you're still courting skin cancer by cultivating a tan in Kentucky, I recommend you start carrying your birth certificate in your wallet and practicing a British accent.

Welcome Teabagger Governor David Williams

Yep, Cowardly Waste of Oxygen Steve Beshear has guaranteed he will lose reelection next year.

Here's the thing about pandering to the freakazoids, Stevieboy: they'll let you suck their cocks and rim their assholes all day long, then vote against you anyway.

You could change the name of the state to the Commonwealth of Jesus, take every dime away from the public schools and give it to xian madrassas, and bar everyone except born-agains from voting or holding a job, and they still won't vote for you or any other Democrat.

But that's not the worst of it. You didn't just waste $37 million taxpayer dollars and make a laughingstock of yourself and the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky bottom-feeding for votes you'll never get.

You lost the votes of the only people who could have gotten you reelected: liberal Democrats.

Remember what happened to Dan Mongiardo in 2004? He lost the U.S. Senate race to Jim Bunning by 1.4 percent. 22,652 votes. But at least 50,000 liberal Democratic voters sat home. Remember why?

Because in the spring, Mangy sponsored the Gay Hate bill in the Kentucky Senate. He didn't just vote for it; the scumsucker sponsored it. And bragged about sponsoring it.

I sat in political meetings in which lifelong Democrats, people who had worked for six long years to get rid of Bunning, people who would accept nearly any Democrat to get rid of Jimbo, stood up and declared in voices shaking with fury and despair that they would never vote for Mangy, and would resign from any organization that endorsed him.

I am one of the liberal Democrats who let Jim Bunning get re-elected in 2004, who kept your 2007 landslide from being even bigger, who made sure Jack Conway won the senate primary this year, because we'd rather eat ground glass than cast a vote for gay-bashing Dan Mongiardo.

But congratulations, Stevieboy! Mangy is no longer at the top of the liberal Democratic hit list in Kentucky.

You are.