Senator McConnell Still Doesn't Get It

In an article on cn|2 Politics today, Senator Mitch McConnell is crediting The Money as the reason Thomas Massie crushed his northern Kentucky GOP establishment opponents in the May 22nd KY-4 GOP congressional primary.

So, senator McConnell isn't crediting the TEA Party, the liberty movement, and the rock solid Republican voting base that's fed up with career politicians who run as conservatives and then vote for taxpayer funded Wall Street bailouts, even though those are the reasons that Thomas Massie credited in his victory speech?

I'm not surprised, but I'm unsure whether senator McConnell is saying this because he's trying to dump cold water on the constitutional conservative brush fires that are popping up all over Kentucky, or whether his message is intended to reassure himself after senator Rand Paul defeated establishment candidate Trey Grayson in a Randslide (Grayson was McConnell's hand picked replacement for senator Bunning) and Thomas Massie just crushed the best the establishment GOP could throw at him, earning more votes than Webb-Edgington and Moore combined.

For those just tuning in, Senator McConnell not only voted for the unconstitutional and obviously not conservative TARP-1 bailout of Wall Street, he also twisted the arms of Republicans in Congress or it wouldn't have passed.  McConnell's top five campaign contributors that year were big financial interests that stood to gain plenty by privatizing their unearned profits and then nationalizing their well earned losses onto the backs of hard working tax payers and their children who were sold into debt slavery by the Bankster Bailout.

There is a HUGE difference between the Wall Street bankster money that funds Mitch McConnell's campaigns and the money from individuals that funded Rand Paul and Thomas Massie.  We the People contributed money to take back our country from the wolves that fund most political campaigns, and thus own most politicians.

Thomas Massie didn't win because of money.  Sure, money is needed to fend off the vicious lies from the desperate establishment party candidates in the primary, but Kentuckians voted for Thomas Massie because he isn't an establishment hack who puts himself above everything else and his party ahead of his nation, while shunning our Constitution after swearing an oath to defend it.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, lost 14% of the vote in the 2008 Republican primary to a truck driver who spent so little money that his campaign website was a free hosting site with annoying popup banner advertisements compelling us to "Meet Russian women for friendship or marriage".  That 14% was the "anyone but McConnell" vote in 2008, and Kentuckians are MUCH more awake now.

Senator McConnell's establishment colleague and mostly silent partner in the US Senate, Bob Bennett, was defeated by TEA Party candidate Mike Lee in Utah in 2010.  In fact, Bennett, the incumbent with very strong establishment support, was eliminated early in the state convention ballot process, finishing third.  That's something for conservatives in Kentucky to think about as we all look forward to the 2014 election, when the real conservative activists are going to be out in force.  Hey, Mitch... remember THIS?

Kentucky voters not only remember the TARP-1 Bankster Bailout betrayal, but more and more are learning about it all the time.  That issue is not going away because it symbolizes all that's wrong in Washington DC, and We the People mean to change that.  We are changing it.  One election at a time.

Best of luck to Thomas Massie, swimming with the sharks in DC.  Go with our extreme gratitude for your sacrifice.  You're too nice a guy for such a fate.

Liberty TEA Party Wins Big - Thomas Massie

Thomas Massie is Super Liberty Man!

Ready to defend truth, justice, and our Constitution!

When the dust settled, the darling of the TEA Party, the overwhelming favorite of the burgeoning liberty movement, and the friend of the rock solid fiscal conservative base of the Republican Party in Kentucky won handily over the establishment candidates, Alecia Webb-Edgington and Gary Moore.

The mood was very festive at the Thomas Massie victory party, with huge cheers every time the big screen TV flashed up the latest election returns, which consistently showed Thomas in the lead over Alecia Webb-Edgington and Gary Moore, by a decisive 45-29-15 margin.

Expect some savvy political analysis to conclude that the establishment Republicans will learn not to run two establishment candidates against a TEA Party candidate, but you don't need a master's degree in engineering from MIT to realize that even if Moore had dropped out and every single one of his votes went to the other establishment candidate, Alecia Webb-Edgington, Thomas Massie would have still won the race... at least based on the 19 of 20 counties reporting at the time this blog went to press.

My favorite part of the evening was Thomas' victory speech.  I usually don't enjoy these, as the candidates are exhausted from the stress and insane hours of a long and hard fought campaign, and even those who are natural public speakers gush a bit and then fall back on the same trite and shop worn talking points that could as easily have been uttered by their primary opponents.  Not this time.  Thomas referred to the TEA Party several times.  Even more amazing was the way he specifically called attention to the liberty movement as an entity distinct from the TEA Party on each of these occasions.  Knowing this distinction was too subtle for the clueless mainstream media by four orders of magnitude, he called their attention to it and almost dared them not to cover it.

I haven't counted yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if Thomas said "liberty" twenty times in his victory speech.  I had the impression that maybe someone told Thomas that the rowdies in the back of the room had decided to make a drinking game of his victory speech, agreeing to take a drink every time he said "liberty", and Thomas was just messing with them.

Nah.  That's not it.  Thomas just really likes liberty... a LOT.

Thomas also specifically called out the establishment.  He wasn't petty or rude about it, but he certainly wasn't pandering to them either.  It was clear that he wanted everyone to know this was a win for liberty and a repudiation of RINO establishment politics as usual.  He certainly wasn't simply pandering to the TEA Party and liberty loving crowd at his victory party either, because he disparaged the political establishment while the seven or eight TV cameras were filming.  His comment was very much a public statement, zinged in the direction of the Republican establishment.

If there was any doubt that this was TEA Party versus The Establishment, that doubt was put to rest.

The official festivities began with congratulatory comments from US Senator Rand Paul, delivered via Skype.  Rand wasn't shy about going full court liberty, either.  There was a decided feel of a liberty revolution in the air, and there was talk among the crowd of forming a liberty caucus in Kentucky.

Thomas Massie's race was sold as Rand 2.0, and it certainly felt that way tonight with the big Thomas Massie win.


However, Thomas wasn't the only liberty candidate to post up a win tonight.

Chris Hightower FTW!

I'd like to give a big shout out to my friend, Chris Hightower, who pulled off a 53-47 win over his Republican primary rival in the battle for Kentucky's 16th House seat.  We're all behind you Chris, and we'll be there to support you in the uphill battle against the incumbent Democrat in November.  Many of you remember Chris Hightower as the first person Rand hired to help with his US Senate race.  There are little brush fires of liberty popping up everywhere!

There were some liberty and TEA Party losses, as well.

Kelly v. Barr - In the KY-6 congressional race in central Kentucky, establishment favorite Andy Barr pulled 83% of the vote, and the liberty candidate, Patrick Kelly received 12% of the vote.  That's not as bad as it sounds.  Andy Barr was the front runner in that race two years ago, and has for the most part continued campaigning ever since.  He had all of the money and all of the name recognition.  Patrick's 12% is very impressive when we consider that A) he's 26 years old, B) he ran on almost no money, C) he only started campaigning two months ago, and D) his yard signs had his name in small print and most of the sign real estate was devoted to some sort of Rorshach ink blot test to promote his unconventional (to say the least) I Like Beard website.  Many people thought the beard looked like a manta ray, a dog bone, etc., but a lot of people liked Patrick's message, which really wasn't that different from Thomas Massie's message.  There's no doubt that Patrick easily beat Andy Barr in terms of votes per dollar.

Butler v. Givens - Don Butler ran in Kentucky's 8th House district Republican primary against incumbent David Givens.  Don famously and effectively ran on the anti David Williams platform, but it's very difficult to overcome the incumbent advantage, and Givens prevailed 76-24.

Polston v. Girdler - From what I've heard, Chris Girdler is running in Kentucky's 15th Senate district, on the very well funded coat tails of Hal Rogers, and he prevailed over Mark Polston, 50-40.

Flaig v. Wuchner - In Kentucky's 66th House district in northern Kentucky, establishment candidate Addia Wuchner defeated liberty candidate Cathy Flaig, 53-42.

Bruce v. Linder - In a race receiving little media attention, liberty candidate Scott Bruce was defeated by Brian Linder in Kentucky's 61st House race primary.

Treitz v. Rowland & Harbison - Liberty candidate Richard Treitz finished third in the three man Republican primary race for Kentucky's 53rd House seat, with 14% to Bart Rowland's 61% and Freddy Harbison's 25%.

All of the above TEA Party and liberty races were in Republican primaries, with many of the candidates more liberty leaning than TEA Party leaning, although there is certainly a lot of overlap between the two factions.  However, there was an interesting Democratic primary with a TEA Party candidate.

Caswell v. Meeks - Wendy Caswell is a well known Louisville TEA Party leader, who was defeated 80-20 by Reginald Meeks in the Democratic primary for Kentucky's 42nd House seat.

Win lose or draw, I'd like to express my sincerest appreciation to all of the TEA Party and liberty candidates who ran for office this year.  Thank you for standing up to the establishment political machine that has brought our country to the brink of disaster.  We need good candidates to represent the people, by upholding the wise and noble principles conveyed in our Constitution.  As Thomas Massie observed in tonight's victory speech, if we simply followed our Constitution, we wouldn't be in this big mess.

If you'd like to see the results of any other races in Kentucky's 2012 primary, the best place to find all of the official results in one place is the election results page on the Secretary of State's website.

There was one final race worth mentioning that didn't have any TEA Party or liberty candidate.  Our incumbent president Barack Obama pulled off a narrow 58-42 victory over Uncommitted in Kentucky's Democratic presidential primary.

I'm not sure, but this may actually be more embarrassing than the West Virginia Democratic presidential primary, where president Obama defeated a convicted felon, currently serving his time in a Texarkana prison, by a mere 59-41 margin.  In the West Virginia primary, at least there was another person in the race.  In Kentucky, with an 8% swing, president Obama would have lost to NOBODY.  Apparently, nobody is 1% more popular than a convicted felon, and 16% less popular than president Obama.

Q: What could possibly be more embarrassing than that?

A: When Mitt Romney loses to this Obama joker in November.

How's that lesser-of-two-evils voting thing working out for you?

The real news tonight wasn't news at all.  It's a familiar theme.  If the Republican Party wants to win, they need to run better candidates.  That means no more RINOs or career politician hacks.  Run candidates who balance budgets and respect individual liberty and free market economics.



UPDATE:  Here's Thomas Massie's excellent 17 minute victory speech.  By my count there were six references to our Constitution, nine mentions of liberty, eight references to the TEA Party, and Thomas directly called out the political establishment (career politicians, elite) seven times.  There were also numerous references to fiscal conservatism.

5 Out Of 6 Kentucky Congressmen Voted To Make The US Into A Tyrannical Dictatorship

Have you been following the flap over the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act?  Basically, sections 1021 and 1022 authorized the executive branch of the federal government to use US armed forces to capture and detain US citizens on US soil, without any due process at all.  All that would be needed would be for president Obama or his henchmen to put you on a list, and you get a black bag over your head and you disappear.

I know.  You're thinking that can't be right.  Not in America.  Heck, they don't even do that in many brutal dictatorships.  Well, think again.  Search for 2012 NDAA and read the law for yourself.

As part of the 2013 NDAA, Congress had the chance to right their previous wrong.  Many of them had claimed that the legalese was buried and the 2012 NDAA bill summary said nothing about a US presidential tyrant nabbing US citizens off the street and throwing them into a cell to rot... as if not reading the bill before voting to make it a law is an acceptable excuse.

Only one Kentucky congressman, John Yarmuth, voted for the Smith-Amash amendment that would have reversed the unconstitutional indefinite detention clauses in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.  The other five - Chandler, Rogers, Davis, Whitfield, and Guthrie - all voted against restoring our right to habeus corpus when they voted against Roll Call 270.

There was a fake repeal amendment of the unconstitutional parts of the 2012 NDAA, and Kentucky's congresscritters switched sides, with Yarmuth voting against Roll Call 291 and the other five voting for it.  The fix was in.  The fake amendment actually makes the unconstitutional provisions more confusing (more open to government interpretation) and adds further constitutional insults to the previous injuries.  As usual, this is a dodge they use to vote for a more oppressive federal government and then be able to bluff their way through a question from an irate constituent when they return home, by telling the assembled crowd, "I voted for the other amendment that fixes the unfortunate wording and protects America from the dirty terrorists next question please."

I can only conclude that these five congressmen intend for the federal government to exercise the power to arrest and indefinitely detain US citizens on US soil anytime they like, without due process, and entirely in violation of our Bill of Rights.  That's treason.

I heard Brett Guthrie on Leland Conway's radio show soon after the 2012 NDAA was passed, and he tried to say that the two offensive clauses don't mean what they clearly do mean.  Leland read the clauses and 'splained it to him.  Then Guthrie tried to sell the audience on the belief that, even if it might be interpreted that way, no agents of the federal government would ever actually do something like that.  It sounded a lot like the old adage that only the small lies need to be kept, because the big lies are too unbelievable, so few people will believe them.  Nobody wants to think their government is going to put a black bag over their head and make them disappear.

Well, Brett Guthrie had months to study the 2012 NDAA provisions related to the indefinite detention of US citizens without due process, and have his staffers explain it to him in itty bitty words so he could understand it.  He had the chance today to fix his earlier mistake, if that's what it was.  Clearly, it wasn't anything close to an honest mistake.  His big government handlers told him how to vote, and that's how he voted... for big government and against the people who voted for him.  Hopefully the voters in Kentucky's 2nd congressional district will correct their mistake at the earliest electoral opportunity.

Chandler, Rogers, Whitfield, and Davis are just as guilty.  If you'd like to tell the person who works for you as your representative that you like habeus corpus and you don't like them voting to allow Eric Holder to put your name on an Enemies Of Obama list and snatch you in the middle of the night....

Brett Guthrie
270-842-9896
202-225-3501

Ben Chandler
859-219-1366
202-225-4706

Hal Rogers
606-679-8346
202-225-4601

Ed Whitfield
270-442-6901
202-225-3115

Geoff Davis
859-426-0080
202-225-3465

I don't often have a good reason to thank John Yarmuth, but I think I'll call and thank him for his vote on Roll Call 270 in support of the Smith-Amash amendment.

John Yarmuth
502-582-5129
202-225-5401

I try to look for a bright spot, but it's almost never found within the dark halls of Congress.  It's rarely found in the federal judicial system either, but this is one of those rare moments.  Katherine Forrest is a US District Court judge in Manhattan.  She was appointed by president Obama, and she issued an injunction this week preventing any US citizen from being unconstitutionally arrested or detained under the provisions of the 2012 NDAA.  That took some guts, because Obama signed the 2012 NDAA and in a signing statement he claimed that HIS administration would never use that executive privilege, but his administration has consistently supported the unconstitutional provisions of the 2012 NDAA.   I wonder if Hallmark makes a Thank You card for protecting our rights?  Judge Forrest should get a nice fruit basket or something.

It's critically important that we elect people to represent us in Congress who understand and obey their oath to protect and defend our Constitution, from all enemies, foreign and domestic.  We have a good chance to do that in our 4th congressional district next Tuesday.  If you live in the 4th district, please vote for Thomas Massie like your life and your liberty depend on it... because they probably do.  Mine too.

Moore Baseless Attacks On Massie

From the outset, the TEA Party has viewed Thomas Massie's race as Rand 2.0, with good reason.

The vitriolic attacks from Gary Moore and Kevin Sell (Alecia Webb-Edgington's agent) are Too Kooky For Kentucky 2.0.

That attack didn't work the first time and we now have Rand Paul in the US Senate, working hard to restrain the growth of government and curtail deficit spending, instead of another establishment RINO who simply talks about these conservative values when running for office and then falls into lock step with the Big Government Machine in DC once elected.

Kentucky voters are seeing through this charade.

"Fool me once... shame on... shame on you....  Fool me, can't get fooled again."
                                                 George W. Bush

Sure, there are some people who will believe the desperate lying attacks of Gary Moore, but most voters see through his attempt to detract from Thomas Massie's well earned TEA Party support.

The election math is fairly simple.

Gary Moore is counting on his establishment support, so all he needs to do is peel off some votes from the large and growing electorate that leans toward the TEA party.

However, his attacks are so obviously untrue, so desperate, and so vicious that they lose all credibility, even among casual observers.

These desperate and baseless attacks are actually good news for Thomas Massie.  When everyone is ganging up on him with attacks that are completely without substance, it's obvious that they're desperate and running scared.  It's also obvious that they have no factual attacks or they'd be using those instead.  They must have internal polling that shows Thomas Massie in the lead, and probably with the momentum advantage.

Thomas Massie has been THE choice of the TEA Party from the start.  Trying to convince people that he's not is a fool's mission, and frankly, quite lame.  As shameful as it is for candidate Gary Moore, it's even more shameful for 4th district Republican Chairman Kevin Sell.  I thought the district chairman was supposed to remain neutral throughout the primary?  The Republican establishment brought back Sell to fill that position when Alecia Webb-Edgington vacated it to run for Congress.  To outsiders, this might be seen as an attempt at fairness and impartiality, but it's now clear that the only reason to do this would be to generate more credibility when Kevin Sell was stumping for Webb-Edgington than she could ever garner campaigning for herself as a party official.

The Liberty For All Super PAC dropping over half a million dollars into advertising for Thomas Massie was huge, and really took the establishment by surprise.  They don't know what to do, so they lash out in fear and frustration.  Sucks to be outspent five to one, doesn't it?  The shoe is on the other foot this time and the establishment is crying like a baby.

Rand Paul Is Endorsing Thomas Massie

Most hardcore TEA partiers already knew that Rand unofficially endorses Thomas Massie in the KY-4 congressional race, but now it's going to be official.

Rand had avoided endorsing, preferring to stay out of Republican primary races so the candidates can communicate their values directly to the voters and run on their own merits.  Rand has avoided endorsing in many other primary races, but is now weighing in on this race.

Paul said an official endorsement of Massie would come soon. “It’s not that I dislike the other candidates. And I probably wouldn’t have gotten involved, but other people got involved endorsing one of the other candidates and so I felt, to level the playing field, I’m going to get involved,” he said.

It's also worth noting that Rand seems to be taking the attitude of "in for a penny, in for a pound".  He has made a TV ad and is recording a robocall.

It's good to have friends.

There was a lot of speculation in the TEA/liberty camps that Bunning and Davis endorsing Alecia Webb-Edgington might persuade Rand to endorse Thomas, and there was a bit of disappointment when that didn't happen immediately, but good things come to those who wait, and the timing of this endorsement is very good.  It could have been buried a bit in the news of the other endorsements.  Now, it should enjoy a full news cycle as its own unique story.

As if there was any doubt, now it's obvious to everyone that this race is...

ESTABLISHMENT  VS  TEA PARTY

TEA Party for the win!

There are a lot of Kentucky voters who don't claim TEA Party affiliation because they didn't attend any rallies, but really, other than Warren Buffett, who isn't Taxed Enough Already?  A significant percentage of Kentuckians are closet TEA partiers, and this endorsement will convey a strong message to them... both in the primary, and in the general election as the conservative Democrats and independents flock to Thomas Massie.  He'll be unbeatable in November.

It also doesn't hurt that the Liberty For All Super PAC is spending well over half a million dollars in advertising (30 second video) to promote Thomas.  That's more than the reported campaign donations from every candidate in this race.

Political Fashion News:  If this liberty fashion trend continues, I may need to get a perm.  I'm not blessed with naturally curly liberty locks.

Moore Lies & Moore Deception

 

I called my 80 year old mom on Wednesday night and she told me that she had received one of those political mail pieces from Thomas Massie and it didn't make any sense.  She read a few fragments and I quickly realized what it was, and she confirmed it when she read, "Paid for by Moore for Congress."  It was the mail version of the same lies that Gary Moore's campaign has been airing on cable TV ads. 

The televised ads were so inaccurate that cn|2 Pure Politics, the news channel of Insight Communications where the Moore ads were being aired ran a news story entitled, "New Gary Moore Ad Takes On Thomas Massie Over County Budget - But Is The Claim Accurate?"  In short, the cn|2 Pure Politics article exposed the cherry picked data that led to the ad's false conclusion.

This is Kentucky.  We expect campaign ads to torture and abuse the truth, and distort it to fit their mud slinging message, but the Moore campaign's attacks on Thomas Massie have crossed the line into utter fabrication without a tincture of truth.  The Moore campaign is desperately trying to confuse my 80 year old mom and others like her.  It's so shameful that I feel ashamed for them, because apparently they're all so steeped in politics that they're incapable of feeling shame or remorse.  They only know what is politically advantageous.  Haven't we had way too many of these creeps in Congress?  In fact, doesn't that DEFINE what is wrong with Congress?

A couple of weeks ago, I thought the Republican establishment had chosen Alecia Webb-Edgington and would force Gary Moore to exit the race to avoid having these two candidates split the non-TEA Party vote.  Instead, they took the low road.  Gary Moore stayed in as their attack dog.  He slings all of the muck he can at Thomas Massie.  There's not a scintilla of truth to the vicious lies, but if you chuck a stick of dynamite into the outhouse, there's gonna be a big stink.

Moore's negative liar ads essentially tear down Gary Moore and Thomas Massie, leaving Webb-Edgington to sail by unsullied.  It's so diabolically evil that I wonder if the strategy wasn't hatched by Karl Rove.

Rand Paul had to endure similar unfounded attacks by the establishment that wants nothing more than to appoint another one of their RINO stooges to deliver more of the big government tonic that's killing our country.  Fortunately, Rand had the money to respond to those baseless attacks and set the record straight.  Hopefully, Thomas Massie will be able to respond to the lies with truth as well, with a loud enough voice that the voters understand how they're being conned into maintaining the politics-as-usual status quo - in short, voting against their own interests.

The TEA Party needs to punish not only the liars, but the entire establishment that's running this crooked game.

Senator Dick Lugar was soundly tromped in the Indiana Republican primary this week by TEA Party candidate Richard Mourdock.  Not unexpectedly, Lugar gave a whiny cry baby concession speech and lashed out at the Republican who had bested him in the primary despite the advantages afforded to Lugar by his 35 year tenure in the US Senate.  As fellow neocon Bob Bennett can attest, we've entered into a TEA Party political climate where being a career politician is more of a liability than an asset.  It's about time!

The TEA Party in Kentucky is the vocal minority but most Kentucky voters are leaning heavily in the same direction.  As big government run by the Two Parties That Are One fails us to an ever larger degree, We the People are waking up and realizing that voting for the party's anointed candidate or voting for the candidate endorsed by another career politician is not the answer we need.

In Kentucky, we need to send Thomas Massie to represent us in DC.  He's not doing it for the money or the power.  He's not participating in the lucrative congressional pension plan, nor is he taking advantage of the generous congressional health care plan which is vastly better than the ObamaCare they're trying to foist off on us.  Thomas wants to go to Congress for all of the right reasons.  They're the same reasons that compelled him to run for Lewis County judge executive.  They're reasons that We the People can understand.  He wants to fix the problems by ending the waste and corruption.

Such worthy candidates are rare and the TEA Party needs to support them if we'll have any hope of restoring our once great republic.  Speak out to your family, friends, and coworkers.  Educate them.  Make sure they know the truth about these candidates so they can vote accordingly.  Your endorsement will count a lot more with your mom than anything that any politician could say, or any lying ad that may be shamelessly run on TV or mailed to easily confused little old ladies.

We still have a week and a half to go.  It's limbo time.  How low can they go?  What other shameful tactics can we anticipate?

Richie Farmer - Lessons Applied To National Elections

The Republican Party of Kentucky neocon establishment told you to vote for Williams & Farmer in last year's gubernatorial race.  Their establishment candidates lost the general election by a humiliating 21%, and Richie Farmer is now under investigation for numerous felonies stemming from outrageous abuses by an elected official that are egregious even by the standards of corrupt Kentucky politics.  Now these same people are telling us that we must vote for Mitt Romney, even though there is no substantive difference between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.  In case that news is so shocking that your mind is reluctant to accept it, let me do the math for you.

ROMNEY = OBAMA

Still don't believe me?  Hear both candidates in their own words.

There's no real chance that Romney will win if the inevitable economic calamity can be forestalled past November, just as we were never in any danger of Williams and Farmer winning.  The danger lies in allowing the GOP oligarchy to pick one candidate and the Democratic oligarchy to pick another candidate in their Two Parties That Are One race to the bottom to see who can pick the worst candidate, as we all go to the ballot box and once again are forced to choose between the lesser of their two evils.

There is no chance that the Democrats are going to nominate anyone but Barack Obama, so the only chance is for the Republicans to nominate a much better candidate.  In Kentucky, We the People need to stand up on our hind legs and tell the Republican Party of Kentucky that we have "Massachusetts moderates" here in Kentucky.  We call them "Democrats".  Pick a fiscal conservative instead of a flip flopping neocon... or we'll all lose again.

Kentucky Proud?

I still haven't read the entire 187 page audit describing some of the countless wrongdoings of Richie Farmer as Kentucky's Commissioner of Agriculture, but I've read a significant portion of it - all that I could stomach - and I must say that the impact is actually much worse than the brief highlights presented in various news articles.  When all of these abuses of power are read in consecutive order, there is a cumulative effect.  The details paint a picture that makes it clear that there were not a few isolated lapses in judgment.  There was a persistent pattern of entitlement and malfeasance.  Farmer seemed to believe that he was special and was above the law, and the world should bend to provide anything he wants just because he's so awesome.

I'm particularly interested in the stolen rifles.  The BATFE 4473 forms showed 13 Remington 770 rifles in a variety of popular hunting calibers transferred to Richie Farmer on June 4th, 2008, and there were good pictures of the seven rifles that he returned on January 17th, 2012, including a closeup of the Department of Agriculture's "Kentucky Proud" logo engraved into the receiver.  Yeah.  Irony.

The audit describes 25 rifles purchased even though only 16 would have been needed for the officials from other states who were attending the 2008 SASDA conference.  The rifles cost the taxpayer $11,225 and the rifle cases cost $2,124.  Including $250 to have a licensed gun dealer attend the SASDA event and transfer the rifles to the out-of-state recipients, Kentucky taxpayers spent $13,599 on the rifles.  One of the .300 magnum rifles was specifically ordered to be engraved "#32", which was Richie Farmer's jersey number when he played basketball at UK.

A maximum of 16 rifles were needed as gifts if all commissioners attended, yet Farmer ordered 25 rifles in a variety of popular hunting calibers.  Only 12 commissioners attended the event, each received a rifle, and Farmer kept the other 13 rifles, which he later picked up at the gun store, where he completed the federal forms to transfer the rifles into his name.  That can't be an accident.  Richie Farmer knew the Kentucky taxpayers bought these 13 rifles, scopes and cases.  There is federal paperwork proving that Farmer deliberately took possession of them.  His signature is on the transfer forms.  He couldn't order a state employee to steal firearms for him by proxy.  He's since returned 6 rifles, leaving 7 rifles still missing and unaccounted.

Farmer also spent $4,678 of our tax money on Case knives.  17 of them were engraved "SASDA" and were apparently distributed at the conference.  The other 35 knives were engraved "Compliments of Richie Farmer" and were delivered to Richie Farmer's house.

There is an unbelievably long string of similar abuses detailed in the audit, with the Kentucky taxpayer buying stuff that Farmer wanted, and the theft from Kentuckians was clearly premeditated.

There is at least $53,000 in state employee salaries that could be directly traced to personal errands and personal work done for Richie Farmer, and probably a lot more that can't be accounted years afterward.

If you voted for the basketball player and you think you might do something like that again, I urge you to please read as much of the actual audit as you can tolerate before the bile starts backing up in your throat.  If this doesn't offend you, then you are one of the few sociopaths who has what it takes to be a weasel career politician.

If you campaigned for Richie Farmer as late as his doomed 2011 lieutenant governor's race... please stop.  You're killing our country and making our state the butt of a lot of stupid corrupt hillbilly jokes.

Please think about this audit the next time you go into a voting booth and are reaching for the straight party lever.  Don't you dare pretend you did your civic duty when you are the problem.  Mindless voting is more harmful to our society than drunk driving.

Et tu, Canada?

Canadians were told that Canadian banks didn't need extensive bailouts as American and European banks needed, and only received some short term liquidity support.  Now, Canadians learn that their banks were completely under water, and in some cases, the bailouts that weren't bailouts were more money than would have been needed to buy the banks outright.  In other words, their banks were bankrupt.  Their bailouts WERE bailouts, and they lasted for years, not months.  A large part of the Canadian bank bailouts came from the US Federal Reserve.

http://www.canada.com/business/Canadian+banks+received+secret+bailout+Think+tank/6540917/story.html

These are not sound banking practices or monetary policies.  These huge emergency bailouts are global phenomena, and they're indicative of serious underlying problems.  Papering over these problems by printing money out of thin air and giving it or loaning it to the banks at below market interest rates is not a long term strategy for success.  In fact, it's more of what caused the problems, and it'll only lead to an even bigger crash in three... two... one....

We Told You So

It wasn't that long ago that a lot of us were trying to elect Phil Moffett as our next governor.  We tried to convince many establishment Republicans to forgo David Williams and Richie Farmer because they were unelectable.  For those Republican Party insiders who put party before principle, we abandoned all of the good reasons and just addressed the issue of electability.  If you want a Republican governor and lieutenant governor, choose Moffet and Harmon, because Williams and Farmer is THE losing ticket... guaranteed.

Of course, they didn't listen, and the results of that election are history.  Steve Beshear was not a popular governor and was a weak candidate, and his running mate Jerry Abramson wasn't popular across the state.  But the Williams/Farmer ticket managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the general election.  They flamed out in grand style, losing by a whopping 21 percent, largely because some of Richie Farmer's misdeeds as our Commissioner of Agriculture started coming to light during the election.  The 150 page audit results have now been announced, and there is much shame for Richie Farmer, and one would think, for the establishment Republican party members who kept insisting that Richie Farmer was a great guy who was worthy of our political support.

The audit describes an over-the-top culture of elitist abuse and self appointed privilege, and a mountain of malfeasance with our tax dollars.  We had already heard about the fleet of SUVs, lavish junkets, disappearing refrigerators and laptop PCs and high end big screen TVs.  Now we're hearing some of the details.  The TVs were purchased and parts were expedited so Richie Farmer could watch the NCAA championships.  Farmer's ex-wife was using one of the refrigerators at her place of business.  The auditor recovered that fridge.  Farmer had several laptop PCs for his own personal use, and didn't return all of them.  Farmer had state employees build a basketball court in his back yard and the state paid them to do it.  State employees were used to chauffeur Richie's dog.

Farmer spent $96,000 on a conference that was to have about 200 attendees, including the purchase of some fairly lavish gifts such as mall shopping cards, cigar boxes, watches, rifles, and rifle cases.  Farmer took most of those redneck shopping spree gifts home after the conference, including 13 rifles!  Transferring a new rifle requires a federal BATFE form 4473 to verify that the recipient can legally own the firearm.  Stealing rifles purchased with tax dollars is different from stealing dorm fridges or PCs.  It's uncertain how the firearms were transferred and whether the federal paperwork was completed as required.  Farmer has since returned seven of the 13 rifles.  Where are the other six rifles?  Did any of these firearms transfers constitute a straw purchase?

Farmer had a state employee drive him, in his state provided SUV, to go hunting.  Farmer shot a deer from the vehicle, which is illegal in Kentucky.  Farmer had the employee field dress the deer for him while the employee was on the clock.

The audit took longer than expected because of the large number of improprieties and illegalities.  All in all, there is a very long string of abuses, excesses and violations of state laws and possibly federal laws.

I'm not holding my breath for anyone from the RPK establishment to admit that Phil Moffett and Mike Harmon would have been much better candidates than David Williams and the running mate that he chose, Richie Farmer.

 

What are the odds they'll listen when we respectfully suggest a congressional candidate, or a presidential candidate?

ONE Good Thing Frankfort Did This Session

As many of my followers and readers know, I'm not a part of the fringe movement of the "R" party that loves sitting back and throwing bombs. I am at my core about getting the current government to stop and think about the fiscal ramifications that their so called "it's the right thing to do" bills under control. In doing so, I have had the wonderful opportunity to be a vital part of a very important bill that was passed and signed into law just this past week.

About 7 months ago I started to look at an issue that came very front and center in the national news which started right here in Kentucky. 12 Amish men were arrested for not adhering to the state laws that required them to place an orange triangle symbol on their horse driven buggies.

I immediately took notice of this national media frenzy highlighting my state and our very intolerant religious freedom laws. I went to work researching these underlining laws that restricted law abiding citizens of their rights to freedom of religion. During my research I found that this particular Amish sect was not objective to the safety requirements but more to the issue of the "very loud color orange" of the triangle symbol. I also found that the triangle symbol itself was viewed from this group as a symbolic image of the "trinity." Many Christian organizations refer to the Trinity as representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This particular Amish group do not recognize the Trinity in their religion.

Whether you agree or disagree with their religious beliefs is irrelevant. I am a pastor's kid and have grown up under a Christian theology that I still adhere to today. My beliefs within my biblical teachings are founded on the truth that all religion are of a true understanding with absolutely no coercion. Therefore, I as a Christian will forever do what I can to be a proponent of any and all religious beliefs. I do not think that the God that I serve would muster the ever-ending push for those to believe in Him.

With all that said, I am very proud of my work with the ACLU and Take Back KY and the Catholic Conference and Republican and Democrat legislators alike on getting this very simple but very important legislation passed.

Thanks to Sen. Ken Winters and Sen. Damon Thayer for taking a lead on this much needed legislation.

Gov. Steve Beshear signed the bill into law last week and I was very proud to be a part of the bill signing ceremony.

rEVOLution Profiles: Thomas Massie by Jack Hunter

Great profile and endorsement for candidate Thomas Massie. Congratulations!

My favorite part of this is when Jack calls out Alecia Webb-Edgington for declaring that the Republican party doesn't need any more "socialists, communists, or libertarians" in the party.

Judge Nap on The Patriot Act and Natural Rights

Farewell Leland Conway!

"You tell 'em I'm coming and Hell's coming with me."- Leland Conway

Today, my dearest friend Leland Conway will be hosting his last show of The Pulse of Lexington on Newsradio 630am WLAP at 3:00. Please tune in and wish him well. He is moving on to bigger and better things and we wish him the best at his new gig in Virginia. As his producer Josh would say... Leland's Pulse Stops Today!

As his loyal listeners for the past 5 years, we thought it would be nice of us to warn, I mean advise Leland's new VA listeners of some of Leland's... shall we say quirks? So we compiled a few tips that may be useful to them that we have titled "Leland Conway's Survival Guide."

Here are some noteworthy things about Leland his new listeners should know:

• Leland has his own recipe for 4oz steaks and loves to be asked about it
• He is a huge greeny and loves Earth Day so much that he holds his own annual event called the Freedom 500
• Has a tendency to steal co-workers cars
• Sometimes can be found sitting on an empty trolley riding around the city for no reason on company time
• Loves Pork Rinds and has a weird thing about sending them to his favorite Congressman
• Sometimes will randomly shout out "FEAR THIS!" (It's okay, just means he's off his meds)
• Has an obsession with cats that he has his own cat room in his house
• Can sometimes be found in the downtown area video taping city trash cans
• Loves Christmas music and will want it played 2 months in advance
• Has a tendency to make fun of US Congressmen's "balls" or lack therof
• Likes to take Mayors to clean up the city's plaques
• Gets a weekly mani-pedi (he's a little sensitive about this one)
• And most of all- Leland is a die hard DUKE fan!
   

Besides these, he's a pretty cool guy! We will miss you Leland!

Signed,

Your Loyal Lexington Listeners

Readers: I'm sure I missed a couple dozen more of Leland's quirks so please feel free to add to this list in the comment section. 

*Disclaimer: Half of these are true and half for fun. (I had to include this for my own safety's sake for fear of retribution for that last one.)

Louisville Tea Party April 19th

LOUISVILLE TEA PARTY of KY
www.thelouisvilleteaparty.com

“Now More Than Ever” Rally

Thursday, April 19th, 6-8pm

@ The Grand Belle Room

Ramada Plaza Hurstbourne

The Louisville Tea Party is excited to announce that the program for its 4th annual tax season event will be headlined by author, TEA-Party activist and proud conservative, Kevin Jackson. Many of you may remember that Kevin was featured at the Rally at the State Capitol in Frankfort, in July 2010. Kevin is a dynamic speaker whose fresh, entertaining style mixes humor and truth with an uncommonly energetic personality. He is one of several reasons why this event should not be missed.

The April 19th Rally’s Theme:
The TEA Party: Needed Now More Than Ever.

The program, being finalized at press time, will also feature:

• Jim Coyle (105.1 FM, WLRS, Master of Ceremonies)
• Mandy Connell (Talk Show Host, 84 WHAS-AM)
• Bobby Alexander (Sgt. Major Ret. US Army)
• Sarah Durand (President, Louisville Tea Party)
• Dan Blanchard (“My Declaration of Independence”)
• Ryan George (Attorney)
• Rand Paul (US Senator, R-KY, tentative)
• Music by The Over-Reactors and Water’s Edge
• And…YOU! Lovers of Liberty in Louisville! 

More details to come. Mark your calendar. And set aside your Thursday evening, April 19th to be informed, inspired and energized to make a difference in this all-too-important year in our nation’s history.