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By: admin
According to U.S. News & World Report, Kentucky has a handful of high schools worthy of mention. I don’t recognize any private school names in here, so either they weren’t worthy of mention or they weren’t studied. From the results USNWR put out, these are all 2nd & 3rd level schools - Silver and Bronze. We had no Gold, 1st level schools.
Top-tier (Silver), in no particular order:
- Beechwood High School
- Bowling Green High School
- Dupont Manual High School
- Highlands High School
- Louisville Male Traditional High
- North Oldham High School
Second-tier, in no particular order:
- Barbourville City School
- Brown High School
- Butler Traditional High School
- Eminence High School
- Graves County High School
- Harlan High School
- Jackson City School
- Johnson Central High School
- Lee County High School
- Monticello High School
- Murray High School
- Owensboro High School
- Paris High School
- Phelps High School
- Pikeville High School
- Walton-Verona High School
- Williamsburg City School
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December 31, 2007 |
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By: admin
FactCheck.org has a piece up about an Alan Guttmacher Institute study that says “Catholic” women are slightly more likely to get an abortion than “Protestant” women.
Does this mean Protestants are more serious about their faith, proportionally?
I don’t know what that institute is, and if these results could be skewed or anything, but I guess it could make for nice conversation.
December 31, 2007 |
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By: admin
All Kentucky News will be back next week, after I get moved.
By: admin
This reminds me of what I wrote last Sunday about living through hardship. Thanks to Johnny Waltz of Vets for Freedom for sending me this letter. Please copy and forward liberally.
A Thank You Letter from LTC Jim Crider (1-4 CAV)
Some time ago, I ran into an old high school friend who asked me if I was still in the Army. After I said yes, he slowly shook his head and asked me how much longer I had to go before I could get out. I am sure that in his mind it is like I am serving a prison sentence counting the days before my release. The truth is that I do not want sympathy. I not only enjoy Army life, I count it a privilege to serve. I frequently receive heart-felt thanks from people I do not even know for serving in the Armed Forces and I appreciate it. Cards, letters, emails and even a standing ovation as I traversed through the Dallas airport going home on leave from Iraq recently. However, I have been feeling lately like I should thank the American people for the honor of fighting for and representing the United States of America.
In the early summer of 2007, an IED detonated on the main street of a neighborhood in our area. A very small food store was the only thing open in the empty streets so I went inside to see if the owner was alright and if perhaps he had seen anything. The owner appeared utterly hopeless and almost in tears as he stood next to his wife. He did not know anything. Months later, the effects of the surge and our counterinsurgency strategy had taken hold. The streets were full of people and that same owner had used a micro-grant to fix up and expand his once lonely store. His grand kids were at his feet as I introduced him to a reporter accompanying me on a walk through the revitalized neighborhood. I had never heard him speak English but this day he looked at me and said, “I tell you , Sir, I love you with all of my heart!”
Right outside of our outpost in southern Baghdad is a dirt poor family of seven with children ranging in age from eighteen months to eleven years. Americans from all walks of life sent us toys and other small items to share with the Iraqi people over the holidays. We thought this would be the perfect family to share some of them with. We stopped by and the kids ran to the trucks. I asked the oldest boy if his parents were home and he said his mom was but that his dad was out picking through the trash. We later learned that he collected soda cans and sold them to make a living.
The children’s mother walked up and was very grateful and in classic Arab tradition insisted that we come into her tiny home for tea. I told her that we could not stay but saw immediately that she was disappointed. She told me that the soldiers never accepted her invitation. I promised her I would return the next day and did so the following afternoon. We arrived and to learn that she had been waiting since early in the morning and made her husband stay home so he could be there. We went inside and sat on the floor but not before she placed blankets under us!
While the mother went to make the tea, her little girl came in and sat down. We asked her how old she was and she did not know. She ran to her mother to ask and came back telling us she was six years old with a big smile. Her father came in shortly after and was thrilled beyond belief that we were in his home to have tea. We shared the only two tea glasses they had. After our visit we took a family photo for them and delivered it framed on Christmas Day.
The experience of war changes people. For some it is a negative change but most manage to absorb the experience and use it to make themselves stronger. I have said goodbye to a mortally wounded soldier in the hospital, spoken to grieving family members of our casualties, and tried to comfort soldiers who just lost their best friend in a single violent moment. I have been under fire, looked insurgents in the eye, and seen corruption up close. I have also seen people emerge from oppression and live with hope for the first time in years. I have seen children reach up and grasp the hands of American soldiers just because they trust them. I have felt the desire to help and then been given the resources to do it. Finally, I have felt the close knit camaraderie that develops when you serve with a group of people fighting for a cause larger than self. Yes, this experience has changed me. I am stronger, more driven, and humbled all at the same time.
Thank you, America.
By: admin
and, The Case for Erwin Roberts
We knew this already, but to see it in print in the MSM is reassuring, nonetheless.
Al Cross said today that Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY / San Francisco) has a weak explanation for his votes to affirm the importance of Ramadan and the Muslim faith, but not to affirm the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith in two similar House Resolutions.
Those votes from Yarmuth and a few other very liberal Reps. made shockwaves nationwide, and opened Yarmuth up to sharp criticism from his African-American Republican challenger Erwin Roberts, who said in an email to his supporters:
By his votes, Mr. Yarmuth has shown that he does not grasp one of the most fundamental principles of our American Constitution: Government must treat all religions with equal respect. Everyone in the 3rd District — particularly Christians — should be offended that their elected representative has, by his official actions, elevated one religion over another. Everyone in the 3rd District should be disturbed that Mr. Yarmuth chose to ignore a fundamental constitutional principle in order to play sectarian favorites. And until the voters of the 3rd District remove him from office next November, the message to Mr. Yarmuth should be loud and clear: At least for now, he represents all the people of the 3rd Congressional District, including Christians.
Today we get this from Al Cross, the veteran KY political writer:
On the Joe Elliott Show this fall, he deftly handled callers’ questions about hot-button social issues in just the way a Democrat representing Louisville should, but this month’s explanation of his Dec. 11 “present” vote on a resolution saluting Christmas and Christianity — that Congress shouldn’t spend its time on honorary measures — won’t wash with many of his constituents.
No explanation can justify these two votes to Louisvillians, and hard-hitting ads next fall exposing Yarmuth’s fundamental lack of understanding regarding the roles of government may drag his support down far enough to buoy the political newcomer Roberts.
Louisville Republicans need to understand that Roberts is their only hope for decent representation in Congress. Anne Northup will not run for that seat again. She definitively will not. However, in talking with Roberts on a number of occasions, I feel very strongly that he will vote how the majority of Louisvillians would on Congressional matters most of the time. Additionally, I believe Erwin Roberts will provide much-needed common sense leadership on federal matters and in community issues which affect Louisville’s minorities.
The city of Louisville has a long, painful, and somewhat awkward race relations history, going back to the immoral times of segregation, the rise of Cassius Clay and the subsequent birth of Muhammad Ali which his hometown somewhat resented, forced busing, and the recent Supreme Court case which declared the JCPS system of race-based school assignments unconstitutional. The events of the last forty years have quite possibly rendered the city ripe for African-American representation in Congress. The election of an African-American to represent Louisville in Congress could take the city and the state a long way toward eradicating racism if he could effectively represent the majority of the city.
Something that all Louisvillians need to ask themselves is who they trust more - a sixty year old man who acts like a Beatles-obsessed idealistic teenager who has never wanted for money, health care, or a good education, or a man who grew up without anything and has steadily and honestly climbed his way into the middle class? Which of these two men are best fitted to honestly help people improve the lives of themselves and their children? Who is more likely to vote to institute policies in the federal government that would enable people? Who is more likely to vote how the majority of Louisvillians would on legislative matters that arise in the House of Representatives?
John Yarmuth is not that man.
Not many people yet realize that this is not Yarmuth’s first major blunder as Congressman. When a resolution condeming MoveOn.org’s Betray Us ad, which questioned the integrity of General David Petraeus, came up in the House, Rep. Yarmuth refused to condemn the ad. Yarmuth was the only member of KY’s Congressional delegation who did not condemn the ad. Even Democrat Rep. Ben Chandler condemned the ad - a courageous move considering the anger it drew from MoveOn leftists. Our Democrat neighbor to the north, Rep. Baron Hill of just across the Ohio River in Indiana, also condemned the ad. The people of Louisville are not very different from the peoples of Lexington and Southern Indiana. What made Yarmuth not condemn the ad, when the majority of the nation including the majority of his own general geographic area found it reprehensible and despicable?
Yarmuth has also voted repeatedly to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq, a move that Erwin Roberts simply would never make.
The fact of the matter is, John Yarmuth got lucky. He was standing in the right place at the right time in 2006 and narrowly defeated an incumbent Republican. His own arrogance is his achilles heel, though. Apparently he believes he was elected because he is as liberal as one can be, and he is not in touch with the people of Louisville or showing us the respect we deserve and voting how the majority of us would most of the time.
If Barack Obama is right, and we are in fact entering the post-partisan era, John Yarmuth is in trouble. Washington Post analysis reveals Yarmuth as the most partisan member of KY’s Congressional delegation.
In the fall of 2008, the people of Louisville need to act responsibly and send a man to Washington who can represent us honestly and accurately. That man is Erwin Roberts.
By: admin
The difference between John Yarmuth and Ben Chandler.
According to Washington Post analysis, Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY / San Francisco) is the most partisan member of KY’s congressional delegation, voting with Nancy Pelosi 97.1% of the time!
Ben Chandler is a close second with 95.2% partisanship, but as I documented here a few months ago, there are big differences between Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY / San Francisco) and Rep. Ben Chandler (D - KY). One notable exception came when Yarmuth voted not to condemn MoveOn.org’s “Betray Us” ad which criticized the man who has implemented relative calm in Iraq, General David Petraeus, while Chandler cast the sensible vote that the majority of his constituents would have cast.
The majority of Louisvillians would have voted to condemn the MoveOn.org ad. John Yarmuth did not.
Of course, the majority of Louisvillians would have affirmed the importance of Christianity and Christmas after paying Islam, Hinduism, Ramadan, and Diwali that respect. Yarmuth did not do that either. Erwin Roberts called him out on it yesterday.
By: admin
As Pat Crowley has already pointed out, Vets for Freedom has produced an advertisement endorsing Mitch McConnell for Senate re-election.
This is the same group that held a rally in Louisville recently supporting the troops and veterans.
By: admin
I don’t know the details of this story. I don’t think anyone really does yet, if ever. What I do know, however, is that Jason Roach deserves fair treatment in the media and in the courtroom. Here’s a sample of an email I got from a friend who knows Roach:
Jason Roach was an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran and a father of three plus a friend of my wife and I. From my understanding Kelly Douglass (deceased) was a friend of both Jason and his wife Misty. Jason was continually getting worse with PTSD symptoms IE: paranoia, flashbacks, nightmares, lack of sleep etc. Kelly did come to the house unannounced and an argument broke out instantly, which is when Jason told him to leave. A scuffle ensued and while they were fighting Kelly fell and hit his head on the corner of some concrete. Kelly went unconscious and Jason started screaming for help. Jason is charged with voluntary manslaughter and at this time he is being held in jail on $500k bond.
The media has made Jason appear as a savage who beat Douglass to a pulp but we are trying to counter that now. Here is one of the few media sources that are semi accurate. Please check out the story here and there is a video on the right hand of the screen as well. http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=4906ee7a-d6a1-4a46-a8b8-beac8611b713
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December 20, 2007 |
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By: admin
In an email sent today, Erwin Roberts took his opponent, Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY / San Francisco) to task over his vote to recognize Islam as one of the world’s great religions, but not to pay Christianity the same respect.
Roberts said:
Last week, my opponent, John Yarmuth, again demonstrated how out of touch he is with the people of the Louisville’s 3rd Congressional District by refusing to support House Resolution 847, a resolution “recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith.” Yet he gladly supported House Resolution 635, which recognized the Muslim holiday Ramadan and the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world.
Then Roberts hit Yarmuth hard:
By his votes, Mr. Yarmuth has shown that he does not grasp one of the most fundamental principles of our American Constitution: Government must treat all religions with equal respect. Everyone in the 3rd District — particularly Christians — should be offended that their elected representative has, by his official actions, elevated one religion over another. Everyone in the 3rd District should be disturbed that Mr. Yarmuth chose to ignore a fundamental constitutional principle in order to play sectarian favorites. And until the voters of the 3rd District remove him from office next November, the message to Mr. Yarmuth should be loud and clear: At least for now, he represents all the people of the 3rd Congressional District, including Christians.
Wow.
Erwin is encouraging everyone who is disturbed by Yarmuth’s votes to donate some amount of money to his campaign, so that his message can be communicated loud and clear in the fall of 2008. You can do that here.
HR 847 has made waves nationwide, including here, although thus far Louisville’s MSM has mostly protected Yarmuth and his nonsensical votes.
Props to John Rott for the awesome photo.
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December 19, 2007 |
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By: admin
Living through hardship makes people stronger and wiser.
The collection of experiences may be passed from generation to generation to make for strong family characteristics and even strong community characteristics, depending on who is told the stories.
Then, the memories of a prior generation may live in the present generation, as if the present generation had experienced those hardships itself.
It makes me wonder how people come to know what it is to be satisfied. Some people are not satisfied until they have all the newest gadgets, eaten so much they can no longer move, or spent a certain dollar amount at some store. Other people are satisfied more easily despite, or even because of, the exercise of moderation or temperance.
If a person grows up being trained to eat or shop in certain amounts, it should surprise nobody to see them seek that learned level of satisfaction as an adult. So is it possible to pass down good behavior to the next generation? Of course it is, but most easily for individuals and families. Children who are trained to be satisfied by the exercise of moderation and kindness will succeed more often, more easily, and more honestly than children who are trained to seek pleasure constantly - and in essence never be satisfied.
With obesity proving to be a growing problem for the American people along with debt and other vices, all signs point toward growing dissatisfaction among us. Moderation seems to be an uncommon trait. Many healthy people are almost too healthy, as they exercise constantly and pay copious amounts of money for expensive healthy food, often for selfish, narcissistic reasons. Unhealthy people are very unhealthy. Kids want to be famous when they grow up. However, to be famous is a rare and extraordinary thing - despite the fact that the famous are often very ordinary.
People do not seem to understand that to be ordinary is actually extraordinary. The lives of working parents of three who live frugal lives and build healthy retirement nest eggs are not the stuff that teenagers’ dreams are made of. However, the lives of the millions of people who carry out these lives which are so unexciting - by the MSM media and mega-entertainment industries’ standards - are what make this country continue.
To the degree that parents tell their stories of hardship and learned wisdom to their children, they are helping pass down good behavior to a new generation and to instill reasonable satisfaction into it. Teenagers may not act like they hear the message, but they do, and they want to hear the stories, even if they act like they don’t. Talk to them anyway.
Despite the fact that every quintile of the population is richer than ever before in real terms, we are still dissatisfied and sad. This would indicate to me that more people than ever before are not being told the stories of hardship and learned wisdom that they need to hear in order to be able to cope with and responsibly manage their life of increased wealth over the prior generation. More people today squander financial wealth that many from prior generations would have cherished and used wisely. As if that were not enough, they toss their personal health, well-being, safety, and happiness as well.
Is there a solution? No. Only many solutions. Inter-generational communication must be revitalized, as well as inter-generational respect in many cases. The government needs to respect the rights of the individual over itself where proper. There needs to be a re-emphasis on who granted the government power, and who can take it away. People need to be taught how to manage their lives in a world that wants something from them constantly.
Much of this work needs to be done on individual levels, however I believe a compelling public figure could do a lot for your community and this nation as a whole. A public figure needs to educate this generation that is lost in its own wealth on from whence we come, and teach those of us who have fallen through the cracks of society and have not been taught learned wisdom from a prior generation about how to gain satisfaction. We need a public figure who has lived through hard times, knows what life the poor lead, and most importantly, how to leave the poor, dissatisfied, sad life behind.
There is no reason this can not start in Kentucky.
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By: admin
So, it’s official. Chris Thieneman is running for Louisville’s Metro Council. This is a great development for Jefferson County’s Republicans. Thieneman was not only instrumental in defeating the library tax referendum, with the help of Councilman Hal Heiner and others, but he has a well-documented distaste for Mayor Jerry Abramson which he has actually put to use in challenging Abramson publicly and in the courtroom. He has also posted websites lambasting Jerry including www.abramsonuncovered.com.
Chris and his brother Tom co-founded the Derby Eve Mint Jubilee Gala Fundraiser, which benefits the James Graham Brown Cancer Center and Gilda’s Club Louisville. According to the website:
Louisville natives Tom and Chris Thieneman, created the Mint Jubilee in the early 1990’s. The Thienemans, local real estate developers, were interested in finding a way to give back to the community they had lived in all their lives. The idea of a Kentucky Derby gala to raise money for this worthwhile cause seemed like a natural.
I first nominated Thieneman for Louisville Mayor 2010 on this blog in March of this year, about nine months ago. Getting a Metro Council seat would be a smart first step for Thieneman. Stature, money, and public recognition will all follow easily with his personality. In fact, Thieneman recognizes the potential also. He said in a phone interview with CJ reporter Joe Gerth, documented on The Arena:
Thieneman said in a phone interview that some people had urged him to run for mayor in 2010 but that he decided that he ought to first run for council.
“If I can show I can do a good job at this, I’m not going to rule out a run for something else in the future,” he said.
I’m with you, Chris.
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By: admin
Mitch McConnell has a new video posted on The Hill’s Congress blog.
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By: admin
Looks like the Democrats are trying to spend our tax money in Louisville to try to keep Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY / San Francisco) in office, and they don’t consider him a lock for re-election despite Jefferson County’s hefty Democrat registration advantage.
USA TODAY analysis shows that Yarmuth is receiving an exceptionally high amount of money due to his high ranking on the DCCC vulnerability list
The analysis found that some of the most vulnerable freshmen Democrats in next year’s election were among those who got the most money: Eight of the top 10 House freshmen earmark sponsors defeated Republican incumbents, and five won in districts carried by President Bush in 2004.
Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., says Democratic leaders tried to help freshmen like him who are on a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee list of the most vulnerable incumbents. “I think I got a boost from being on that list,” says Yarmuth, No. 9 among House freshmen as the sole sponsor of $10.5 million in earmarks.
Yarmuth has said he wants to expand government health programs and fund them by doubling payroll taxes. The thing is, higher payroll taxes makes it harder for me to pay for my own health care. It makes it harder for me to pay for my own home. It makes it harder for me to build up a retirement fund. Besides, I don’t want to go to a government building to find a doctor. Can you imagine what a disaster that would be? Does Yarmuth want to make me depend on the government for all this stuff?
I already get about 20% of my pay taken away from each paycheck by our wonderful governments and their lame attempts to solve the world’s problems and create a secular utopia in the United States. Yarmuth wants to double the amount taken from me for Medicare. Screw that.
Get your money from somewhere else, John Yarmuth. There’s plenty being wasted. You should know. Of the vulnerable freshman Democrats, you’ve received the 9th highest amount of earmark funding.
When the money can be shifted around for political purposes, you know it’s being wasted. I think some spending is fine, especially for infrastructure and to jump start or complete a project aimed at conservative goals. When a Congressman can get money just because he’s vulnerable - it’s waste.
The Democrats are putting politics before policy and it is not right.
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By: admin
For as long as I can remember, people have been saying “If you’re 18 and you can join the army, you can die for your country, you can drive, you can own a home, why can’t you drink a beer legally?”
One Kentucky lawmaker is trying to correct this lapse in common sense which is so common for our governments.
House Bill 150 (Legalize alcohol purchase and consumption by miliary members under age 21):
Introduced by Rep. David Floyd on January 8, 2008, to exempt enlisted members of the United States Armed Forces, a state National Guard, or the Reserves from laws prohibiting alcohol possession or consumption by people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one.
Details and Comments: http://www.kentuckyvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=55259
This isn’t the best possible law that could be passed in 2008, but I like the attempt to bring common sense back. If a person is 18, the law considers him an adult. Let them be adults. If 21 is the age where people are responsible enough to drink, then 21 should be considered the age of adulthood. If 18 is the age, let them be adults. Let the nanny state recede.
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December 14, 2007 |
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