Marion County Line

Would Not Feel So All Alone

2011-04-02T08:39:00.001-04:00

Most states with medical marijuana were successful in passing those initiatives because their states allow for voter referenda in their constitutions.

Conventional wisdom holds that in states without access to ballot-box referenda -- that is, states where laws must only be passed through legislative action -- that the concept of passing medical marijuana is a far-fetched dream. Will never happen, they say -- but then, one looks at the polling.

The Harris Poll finds (via the Sacramento Bee):

When asked if Americans would support legalizing marijuana in their state, three quarters of Americans say they support legalization of marijuana for medical treatment (74%) with almost half saying they strongly support it (48%). Significantly fewer Americans say they oppose the legalization of medical marijuana in their state (18%), and even less are not sure (7%) or decline to answer (1%).

So, the nationwide average is 74%, but that can't hold up in a Southern state like Kentucky, right? It's true, the South has a lower percentage of folks in favor of legalized marijuana use -- merely more than two-thirds:

Southerners are least supportive of both medical marijuana legalization (69%) and marijuana legalized for recreational use (34%).

Grain of salt: this was a Harris Interactive Poll conducted online. A phone poll to landlines would likely skew the opposite direction.

But don't make the mistake that advocates for marijuana law reform are all idealistic, young, liberal Democrats. That might have been true once upon a time, but the Tea Party's hatred for the federal government has begun to spill over into the War on Marijuana.

For instance, supporters of Phil Moffett, Tea Party candidate for governor, had their business raided while they were attending a fundraiser for Moffett in Washington, DC (via Lex H-L):

Lexington police on Feb. 10 raided The Botany Bay at 932 Winchester Road and seized a variety of illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia, several thousand dollars in cash and two loaded guns, according to court records. Police arrested six people in connection with the raid, including store employees, who face pending felony and misdemeanor drug charges.

Police later charged store owners Ginny and Scott Saville, who were not present, with misdemeanor counts of trafficking in synthetic marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. They have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to appear next month in Fayette District Court.

Ginny Saville helped organize a Dec. 7 fund-raiser for Moffett and, with her husband, donated $2,000 to him. A large Moffett campaign poster hung in the store’s window Friday. When the raid happened, she and her husband were with the Moffett campaign at the Conservative Action Political Conference in Washington, D.C., according to Adams.

See that? Getting in trouble for marijuana isn't just for the left-wing fringe any more -- it's for the right-wing fringe as well, and 69 to 74% of the middle, depending on where you're from.

Catholics for Muslims

2011-03-31T20:20:00.000-04:00

In dark days of endless bad news for the Catholic Church, it's always refreshing to see it do the right thing. In this case, the former archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, testified before Congress in defense of Muslims (via the USCCB):

"We remain firmly committed to the defense of religious liberty for all—not just for Catholics—because our commitment is to the dignity of each and every human person,” the Cardinal said, testifying on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights hearing on “Protecting the Civil Rights of American Muslims.”

“As a community that has been the target of religious discrimination, we understand the need today to bring attention to protecting the civil rights of our Muslim brothers and sisters,” Cardinal McCarrick said. “We see religious freedom as an essential foundation for our life together in our own nation and across the globe.”

How did this testimony go over with Kentucky's self-appointed chief Muslim-hating Catholic, Lisa Graas? Five shades of crazy. This woman converted to Catholicism and then basically asserts that the entire US Council of Catholic Bishops is some sort of Manchurian Candidate for jihadists:

As a faithful Catholic, it is difficult for me personally to imagine that our bishops would intentionally facilitate the stealth jihad of ISNA, but considering that I made their Wahhabist ideology clear way back in September, it is becoming more and more difficult for me to believe that the bishops have their heads on straight or their hearts in the right place.

Why would you join a faith, only to attack the entire Church leadership? No clue.

Conway Could Still Win This

2011-03-25T11:31:00.000-04:00

The below photo, taken in Marion County FIVE MONTHS after Rand Paul's resounding ass kicking of Jack Conway, illustrates either a) total denial that Conway lost; or b) total disrespect for him.

Either way, would someone please go fetch this sign? Marion County readers will know exactly where this is.

The Once-Great Courier Journal

2011-03-25T10:25:00.001-04:00

Here is a full-color example of why the Courier-Journal was once considered to be one of the great newspapers. When Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977, the Courier-Journal Magazine printed this 16-page special edition with several full-color pages and zero advertising:

Now here is a full-color example as to why the Courier-Journal is a shell of its former being. As a reward for starving the Courier-Journal and other newspapers of its reporting work hours through layoffs and furloughs, Gannett has awarded its CEO, Craig Dubow, a $1.9 million cash bonus, in addition to his 2010 salary of $9.4 million -- doubling his 2009 salary. More:

Chief operating officer Gracia Martore was paid $8.2 million, with a cash bonus of $1.25 million. The bonuses were awarded partly on the basis of cost-cutting that included layoffs, unpaid furloughs and other austerity measures, according to a shareholders proxy report filed on Thursday...
Chief Financal Officer Paul Saleh: $2.9 million; includes a $225,000 bonus, after joining GCI last November.

U.S. newspapers president Bob Dickey: $3.4 million, including $600,000 bonus. (His total 2009 pay: $1.9 million.)

USA Today Publisher Dave Hunke: $2.5 million, including $375,000 bonus. (Total 2009: $1.9 million.)

Broadcasting President Dave Lougee: $2.2 million, including $450,000 bonus. (Total 2009: $1.3 million.)

We now live in a world where an absentee landlord executive directly benefits by cutting hours and jobs in Louisville's newsroom. No glossy, full-color Elvis special editions for you!

Herald Leader FAIL

2011-03-17T09:30:00.000-04:00

From today's Lexington Herald Leader, Muhammad "Last Name Here" Ali, apparently does something to bore the pants off the H-L's copy editing staff:

Come on people. He's the greatest (proofreading error) in the world.

What Louisville Needs

2011-03-16T17:24:00.000-04:00

On her show this morning, Mandy Connell discussed Louisville's identity crisis, which we are all too familiar with... but since she's only been around for a year, her fresh perspective caused MCL to make a mental list of all the things wrong with Louisville, which we will share with you now:

Manufacturing -- After a generation of decline, there seems to be some green shoots. GE's return to Beuchel with the assembly of the hybrid water heater and energy efficient front-load laundry products combined with Ford's recent announcement of $900 million investment in its two Louisville plants to build, among other things, the new Ford Escape in hybrid and plug-in hybrid varieties means that Louisville could re-brand itself as a magnet for green collar jobs, and it should.
Bridges -- Louisville won't reach its full potential as a full size city until it fully incorporates its Indiana suburbs. Why isn't passenger rail a part of the bridges discussion?
Pro ball team -- Other cities will never take Louisville seriously until Louisville beats that city's pro team at home. Until Louisville invests in professional sports, the nationwide subconscious opinion of Louisville will be that of a second-class city that is important for two minutes a year.
Public transit -- Louisville can't take full advantage of its greatest attribute -- its restaurant, bar and drinking culture -- without reliable mass transit that is popular to use. A light rail train bridge over the Ohio River that drops Indiana pedestrians into downtown Louisville would do wonders to invigorate downtown street life while making our roads safer.
School busing -- People who move to Louisville with families either pay for private schools or settle in Oldham County, where there is no forced busing. The Louisville busing plan was a solution to the problems of 1970, but it has become the problem of today. Also, charter schools.

Am I missing anything?

Medicaid #Fail in Frankfort

2011-03-09T09:08:00.000-05:00

Who has won the Great Medicaid Budget Shortfall Standoff of 2011? Judging from the body language of last night's Fox41 coverage, Williams wins by a lap:

Judge for yourself, but to me, the Senate President appears cool, calm and collected while the Governor, with his tie loosened as he threatens to close rural hospitals, seems totally rattled.

The Allahfather: The Corleones of the Muslim World

2011-03-08T21:37:00.000-05:00

Foreign Policy ran an interview this week with a former associate of Saif Qaddafi, who described the Colonel's son in the context we can all understand -- the Hollywood gangster movie:

If you want a sort of trivial, but useful analogy, it's Michael Corleone, the good son in The Godfather. The war hero, the civilian, the son who's not going to be part of the Sicilian mafia. And then you know they attacked the Godfather. And Michael comes to his father's defense, throws away his reputation and the good works he's done to distance himself from the family, and becomes, you know, one and the same. Blood over chosen identity.

A good analogy, and one we have seen recently elsewhere. Here is a comparison of Iranian dissident leader Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to the Godfather in response to the Wikileaks revelation that Rafsanjani was telling US diplomats in August 2009 that "Supreme Leader [Ali] Khamenei has terminal leukemia and is expected to die in months." From PBS Frontline's Tehran Bureau:

As for the "leukemia" cable, it fits comfortably within the family pattern. A "businessman" visits a diplomatic contact to share some information. To explain the Godfather's plan. To suggest that even Mousavi is playing by Rafsanjani's rules. Many who have monitored the family can tell you how its members have used the press and former politicians and businesspeople to construct a particular image of the Godfather as a powerful figure that never fades, despite all that Khamenei has done to take him out. We should probably understand the cable's substance as Rafsanjani communicating to the Americans that he is still politically potent and well positioned to be the next Supreme Leader. That said, this strikes me as more wish than fact.

If this Iranian "Godfather" reference seems too facile, how about this Wikileaked cable from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, which describes its president, Ilham Aliyev, as "MICHAEL (Corleone) ON THE OUTSIDE, SONNY ON THE INSIDE" -- how's that for film history nuance? From the cable:

This divergence of approaches, combined with his father's continuing omnipresence, has led some observers to compare the Aliyevs with the fictional "Corleones" of Godfather fame, with the current president described alternately as a mix of "Michael" and "Sonny." Either way, this Michael/Sonny dichotomy complicates our approach to Baku and has the unfortunate effect of framing what should be a strategically valuable relationship as a choice between U.S. interests and U.S. values.

Ironically, the Sicilian town of Corleone is much less Godfather-ish these days than Tehran, Tripoli or Baku. From another Wikileaks cable:

Not all of Sicily's politicians are embroiled in controversy, and some have publicly stood up to the Mafia... Antonino Iannazzo, the PDL mayor of Corleone, a town whose name is synonymous with the Mafia, is also working to eradicate the scourge of organized crime. He told us that law enforcement authorities have had tremendous success in recent years against the infamous Corleonese mob, to the astonishment of older residents who had insisted that change was impossible.

When do we take Fredo fishing?

Rand Paul on The Daily Show

2011-03-08T07:45:00.002-05:00

Here's the juiciest nugget of the long-anticipated interview, from Part 3 below -- but the whole thing is worth watching:

PAUL: You do not have the right to pollute your neighbor's property, your neighbor's stream, your neighbor's air... But we need to acknowledge that the air is much cleaner than it was 30 years ago.

STEWART: But that's the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.

PAUL: Some of it is that, yes. But now it's a balancing act... .

STEWART: Corporations... have the privileges of people but not the responsibilities. I can't imagine that they would have stopped polluting in rivers if the government hadn't stopped them...

PAUL: The government does have a role in it. We all want clean air, but we also want electricity. You know what I mean? Coal is much cleaner than it was 30 years ago...

STEWART: I think you just made my point!

Part 1:

The Daily Show - Exclusive - Rand Paul Extended Interview Pt. 1
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Part 2:

The Daily Show - Exclusive - Rand Paul Extended Interview Pt. 2
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Part 3:

The Daily Show - Exclusive - Rand Paul Extended Interview Pt. 3
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

KFC and Global Revolution, or زار ميدان التحرير

2011-03-07T22:24:00.000-05:00

This Arabic phrase -- زار ميدان التحرير -- translates as "Kentucky Tahrir Square" and can be found on numerous postings on YouTube as the KFC in the heart of Cairo became a centerpiece for the people-powered peaceful revolution that toppled Egypt's decades-long authoritarian rule.

During the revolution, Tahrir Square's KFC became a makeshift medical clinic, as seen here in a BBC photograph:

KFC became such a focal point during Egypt's uprising that before Pres. Mubarak stepped down, Egyptian state television attempted a propaganda campaign against the Tahrir Square protesters, claiming that Hezbollah, Qatar and Iran were bribing protesters with "Kentucky meals" and 100 euros per day to protest against Mubarak:

This story would end here in Tahrir Square, but it doesn't. In the same month, protesters in China attempted a more subtle "Jasmine revolution" -- but those efforts were crushed by a massive state security apparatus -- surrounding, among other places, Kentucky Fried Chicken.

From the Mainichi Daily News, "Something Fishy with China's 'Jasmine' Movement":

In Beijing, people gathered outside a McDonald's restaurant in the Wangfujing shopping district. In the cities of Shenzhen, Chengdu and Chongqing it was the same. Shengyang protesters gathered in front of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. The second protest in Beijing was also outside a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, while in Guangzhou, protesters formed outside a Starbucks chain.

[...]

Around the same time a high ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party in charge of public security said that the protests were a "western hostile force provocation." Is this what authorities were looking to say from the start, resulting in traps being laid outside McDonalds, Kentucky and Starbucks restaurants? One could be forgiven for thinking so.

Perhaps KFC's prominence in these revolutions around the globe is pure coincidence. A KFC outlet just happened to be in the square where Egyptian protesters congregated; and in China, protesters organized around several American restaurant chains, not just KFC.

But then, there's this odd nugget in this week's New York Times Magazine, a profile of a Tahrir Square apartment belonging to a larger than life Egyptian man (emphasis added):

The owner, a 50-year-old bohemian named Pierre Sioufi, threw it open after the demonstrations began, giving refuge to protesters not out of any political conviction but because he was afraid there would be a massacre and he wanted to protect the kids.

Pierre is a bearded man with a pear-shaped, 300-pound body and gray shoulder-length hair that soars in every direction. He sat at a huge cluttered desk by the door, welcoming visitors, giggling and chain-smoking Marlboros. He wore a faintly Dada T-shirt with the Kentucky Fried Chicken logo of Colonel Sanders on it, and below it the words, in Arabic, “May your grandfather rest in peace.”

[...]

The next morning... Pierre was at his desk, still wearing the Colonel Sanders T-shirt.

From a balcony over-looking Tahrir Square, the fall of Hosny Mubarak's 30-year reign was witnessed by Col. Sanders on the front of an Arabic t-shirt while on street level, medics treated the wounded inside Tahrir Square's KFC.

In China, KFC is just another Western storefront where the secret police rounds up hapless protesters; in Egypt, Colonel Sanders has become a symbol of freedom and liberty.

De Facto Decriminalization Passes Senate: UPDATED

2011-03-01T00:20:00.004-05:00

While the Kentucky criminal code reform bill, HB 463, clearly states that possession of marijuana will remain a crime as a class B misdemeanor, a different provision of the bill says that police officers should not arrest people for misdemeanors -- with a few notable exceptions.

Confused? I was, and so was the LRC person who walked me through the bill after its 92-1 passage in the House. Here's how Jack Brammer reported today's Senate vote for the Herald-Leader:

Changes made to the bill in the Senate include dropping from 4 to 2 grams the weight of heroin that would trigger heavier drug trafficking charges and adding more exemptions to a rule that would limit when police officers can arrest people — rather than issue citations to them — after officers see people committing misdemeanors.

Originally, the bill exempted crimes involving sex, violence and weapons. The Senate added drunken driving, incidents in which people pose a physical threat and incidents in which people refuse to comply with an officer's instructions.

Catch that? Possession of marijuana will remain a misdemeanor, but the police won't arrest people for misdemeanors, unless they also have a weapon, are physically threatening, driving drunk or having sex.

This bill passed the Senate today 38 to zero.

Senate President David Williams called the bill "historic," and reminded us this bill was a "legislative solution" with "bipartisan, bicameral support."

Sen. Gerald Neal called the bill an "important first step."

It appears that when this bill becomes law, no one will get arrested for smoking pot in public in Kentucky any more -- as long as you keep your pants on.

UPDATE: Here is the language from the Senate committee substitute bill that does the trick:

(1) (a) KRS 431.005 to the contrary notwithstanding, and except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subsection, a peace officer shall may issue a citation instead of making an arrest for a misdemeanor committed in his or her presence, if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person being cited will appear to answer the charge. The citation shall provide that the defendant shall appear within a designated time.

(b) A peace officer may make an arrest instead of issuing a citation for a misdemeanor committed in his or her presence if the misdemeanor is:

1. A violation of KRS Chapter 508 (assault, terroristic threatening, stalking, etc.), 510 (sex abuse, sodomy, indecent exposure, etc.), or 527 (weapons charges), or KRS 189A.010 (DUI);
2. An offense in which the defendant poses a risk of danger to himself, herself, or another person; or
3. An offense in which the defendant refuses to follow the peace officer's reasonable instructions.

UPDATE 2: Regarding the DUI provision... Will driving while smoking pot trigger an exception to the new law and result in an arrest? Looks like the answer is no:

"A peace officer may make an arrest ... if the violation is: ... KRS 189A.010," which states:

(1) A person shall not operate or be in physical control of a motor vehicle anywhere in this state: ...

(d) While the presence of a controlled substance listed in subsection (12) of this section is detected in the blood...

(12) The substances applicable to a prosecution under subsection (1)(d) of this section are:
(a) Any Schedule I controlled substance except marijuana;

That means there is no backdoor ability to arrest pot possessors if police find contraband in one's automobile.

The Catholic Church's Beauty and Horror

2011-02-27T00:56:00.001-05:00

Last week's passing of Fr. Matthew Kelty -- the last living connection between Thomas Merton and today's Abbey of Gethsemani. Over the years, Fr. Matthew's role grew into the most public face of the Trappists as the chaplain to the those on retreats at the monastery and as the leader of evening sermons that always began with the recitation of a poem, delivered with the joy of an English professor.

Fr. Matthew publicly acknowledged his homosexuality while dismissing its significance, saying that his same-sex attraction was no more important to his self-image than his color-blindness.

Father Matthew Kelty will be dearly missed. Luckily, friend of MCL -- James Spragens -- was on retreat at Gethsemani the week of Fr. Matthew's funeral and took the below photo, which I snatched from his Facebook page:

Photo: James Spragens

In tradition of the simplicity of the Trappists, the monks bury their dead without a coffin -- just a body covered in dirt.

Once, when discussing the untimely passing of his colleague Thomas Merton, Fr. Matthew said Merton's death was surprising but not sad. Death and reunion with his Creator was what Merton had been seeking his whole life, Fr. Matthew said.

To the monks, death is just another birthday -- a beautiful way to consider death until one is confronted with one as tragic as the recent suicide of a self-proclaimed survivor of clerical sexual abuse in the parking lot of his former church in Owensboro, Kentucky (h/t PageOne, via Lex H-L):

An Owensboro man who shot and killed himself Thursday morning in the parking lot of Blessed Mother Catholic Church made a post on his Facebook page earlier in the day about the "pain and torment" he experienced because of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

[...]

The Most Rev. William F. Medley, bishop of the Diocese of Owensboro, issued a statement Friday afternoon saying, "In light of the information that has surfaced in his Facebook posting, the Diocese has begun an investigation in accord with diocesan policy."

Bishop Medley, a Marion County native, could learn a lot from the teachings of Fr. Matthew Kelty. David Jarboe's untimely death hardly feels like a birthday, but if it ends his pain and brings attention to the tragedy that caused him to shorten his own life -- then his death won't have been in vain.

Rand Paul and the Constitution

2011-02-23T14:08:00.000-05:00

Rand Paul has made being a "Constitutional conservative" his bread and butter, so it is noteworthy that he chose to speak before the Kentucky State Senate in an effort to call a nationwide Constitutional Convention in order to draft the first amendment to the Constitution since restricting Congressional pay nearly 20 years ago.

Sen. Paul wants a balanced budget, and seeing no appetite for it in the US Senate, he hopes to put pressure on Washington by using a method proscribed within the text of the Constitution -- if 2/3 of the states call for a Constitutional convention, then Washington must convene one.

Chances of 33 states calling for a convention are not high -- the current number stands at 22 -- but Sen. Paul's goal is to call attention for the need for a balanced budget and to pressure Washington to address it seriously.

US Sen. Paul and Ky. Sen. President David Williams address the press after the Senate voted in favor of the Paul-backed resolution. Photo: MCL.

In his speech to the full Senate, Rand Paul spoke of the need to re-assert the power Tenth Amendment, if nothing else then for "philosophic reasons."

"We will spend $10 billion today," Paul said, "of which $4 billion will be borrowed." Returning to his stump speech on the campaign trail, Paul reminded the Senate that the US owes China $800 billion and Japan $700 billion. "Spending money you don't have ultimately leads to repercussions," he said.

When discussing the budget, Sen. Paul chose not to take the standard partisan attack of blaming the President, although he did criticize the President's budget. But in the next breath, he said that the GOP-controlled House was just as bad, saying that, "deficits in DC are a bipartisan problem."

Paul said that past efforts to control spending have not been effective, claiming that the Pay-as-You-Go law was neutered by the "emergency clause" being invoked "700 times."

"You make better decisions in Frankfort," Paul told the 36-member chamber, then included himself in his chastisement of federal spending: "In Washington, we know no restraint," and, "We have proven ourselves to be untrustworthy." The use of first-person plural pronouns, "we" and "ourselves," is a noteworthy shift from his campaign speeches -- now he includes himself as part of the problem.

"If we do nothing, I fear the consequences," he said at the end of his short speech, concluding, "I hope you assert your power to show the federal government there is another way."

Sen. Paul will likely remain afraid of the consequences of deficit spending because the chance that the Dem-controlled House passes a similar resolution is next to zero.

In all, Sen. Paul's event was cordial and came across as moderate and well-meaning, with none of the vitriol and shouting associated with the Tea Party, which carried him to victory twice last year.

In fact, the news coming out of the press conference following the event was that Sen. President David Williams revised the language of the resolution to allay concerns that a called Constitutional Convention would only be called to address a balanced budget issue, and would not go back and tamper with the text of any other Amendments that currently exist.

This new language left reporters asking Williams and Paul if that meant that this resolution would then be the 23rd state to call for a convention, or the first to call for a convention with a limited scope. Paul and Williams didn't have an answer for that one.

Justin Bieber speaks his mind: UPDATED

2011-02-18T11:29:00.002-05:00

From his interview with Rolling Stone, Canadian-born teen pop star (and web traffic magnet) Justin Bieber speaks his mind -- in favor of socialistic health care:

The Canadian-born Bieber never plans on becoming an American citizen. "You guys are evil," he jokes. "Canada's the best country in the world." He adds, "We go to the doctor and we don't need to worry about paying him, but here, your whole life, you're broke because of medical bills. My bodyguard's baby was premature, and now he has to pay for it. In Canada, if your baby's premature, he stays in the hospital as long as he needs to, and then you go home."

So, Bieber is a pinko commie librul? Not so fast. Few liberals would agree Bieber's stance on abortion rights:

"I really don't believe in abortion," Bieber says. "It's like killing a baby." How about in cases of rape? "Um. Well, I think that's really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I don't know how that would be a reason. I guess I haven't been in that position, so I wouldn't be able to judge that."

Just goes to show that political opinions in their natural state don't easily conform to the twisted narratives that get woven by politics still largely driven by unconscious, unspoken impulses.

So besides Bieber, how many people out there are pro-universal health care and pro-life?

UPDATE: Bieber was also in the NBA Celebrity All-Star game, which seemed like a joke until the kid started crossing over, dribbling behind his back and sinking threes. However, he did get stuffed in the face by Scotty Pippen.

In case you're wondering, this post is an unapologetic attempt to get some Bieber-based web traffic.

Dear Democrats

2011-02-16T12:53:00.000-05:00

MCL's open letter to Democrats in the Kentucky General Assembly:

SB41, the bill that would allow registered independents to vote in primary elections, is good for the Kentucky Democratic Party. I know this is not the conventional wisdom, so allow me to explain:

It is my understanding that one of the major reasons that a semi-open primary frightens the Democratic Party establishment is that opening the primaries would lead to a decrease in registered Democrats, as many Kentuckians are registered with the party in order to vote for local elections in May.

I agree that opening the primaries would reduce the total number of voters registered in both parties, but this is not a bad thing, especially for Democrats, for this reason --

The Democratic Party currently enjoys a sizable registered voter advantage over Republicans in Kentucky, but that hardly translates into state-wide victory for Democratic candidates (see: Rand Paul). Why?

Put simply, many thousands of your registered Democrats are not reliable Democratic voters.

During the crunch time of a heated election, when getting out the vote is critical, Kentucky Democrats are hamstrung by the fact that no one has any clue whether a "D" next to a voter's name means that voter will vote for the Democratic candidate. In contrast, an "R" next to a voter's name virtually assures a reliable Republican voter.

Therefore, Democrats must be spending valuable phone bank time calling Dems In Name Only and reminding them to vote... for the other candidate -- a model of inefficiency.

By passing SB41, you will release the pressure valve on KDP voter registration. While that likely will decrease the overall number of registered Democrats in Kentucky, it will allow you to better target reliable Democratic voters in tight, state-wide elections.

So, please allow SB41 out of committee for a full floor vote.

yours,

MCL

Ky Penal Code Reform Bill Introduced

2011-02-15T17:19:00.000-05:00

Fighting for air in a jam-packed 30-day legislative session, the bill that would reform Kentucky's penal code and dramatically reduce the criminal exposure from low-level marijuana crimes has been introduced as HB 463.

How close was it? HB 463 is the only bill of the many sent to the House Judiciary Committee to be listed as "returned," as in, resurrected from the dead.

House Judiciary Committee members have its hands full this session, evaluating bills related to human remains; the display of human remains; the continuing and quixotic attempt to ban anonymous comments from the Internet; and the inclusion of sexual orientation and identity into Kentucky's anti-discrimination laws, among dozens of others -- some of them important and complicated, others of them just plain silly.

In the current draft of HB 463, possession of marijuana would be reduced from a Class A to a Class B misdemeanor with a maximum of 45 days in jail when normally a Class B misdemeanor would allow 90 days in jail.

It makes more sense to reduce possession to a simple infraction, like a traffic ticket, as they do in Mississippi -- and thereby turn a drain on scarce state resources into a revenue stream at $150 per ticket.

During Prohibition, possession of alcohol in any form was never a crime, only its manufacture, transportation or sale.

Also, as measurement thresholds have yet to be established in the bill, it would be best to raise the felony threshold of number of plants being grown from the current level of five to 25, as is the current threshold in Sarah Palin's Alaska.

John Yarmuth, Rand Paul and the USA PATRIOT Act

2011-02-15T16:46:00.001-05:00

Remember 2006?

It's the year when lefties were required to criticize American adventurism in Iraq and the PATRIOT Act; it was the year Democrats took control of Congress, the year Louisville lefty John Yarmuth beat five-term Bushie Anne Northup.

George W. Bush did not campaign for Northup in 2006 (at her request), but he appeared just across the river in Sellersburg, Indiana in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue GOP stalwart Mike Sodrel from Democratic upstart Baron Hill. In a crowded Hoosier gymnasium, Bush gave this fiery pep talk to his base, as reported by the Courier-Journal (no link, from archives):

[W]ith the crowd chanting "USA, USA," Bush found strong support for his policies in Iraq, the war against terrorism and the Patriot Act.

"Do you want your government to listen in on the terrorists?" Bush asked. The crowd roared, "Yes! "

"Do you want your government to detain the terrorists?" He asked. "Yes! " the crowd said, then again and again to more questions.

"And so when Republicans ask for your vote on Nov. 7, what is your answer?" he asked. "Yes! " they cried.

This is the backdrop against which we project contemporary anti-Bush, pro-Obama liberalism -- with the Patriot Act being one of the crown jewels of Bush's big-government conservative agenda.

So when a bunch of liberal Democrats, who were once against the Patriot Act, line up to vote for its extension... well, that raises a bunch of questions. It's not news when Kentucky's four Republican House members and conservative Democrat Ben Chandler vote for extending the Patriot Act, as they just did, but when liberal John Yarmuth joins them, that's another matter.

What exactly did Yarmuth say about the Patriot Act in 2006? Does it contradict his voting on the subject now that we have a different president?

Here's an excerpt from an interview with Yarmuth from a week after his 2006 victory, conducted by Andy Wolfson of the Courier-Journal (no link, from archives):

Q. Would you vote to rescind or change the Patriot Act, if it came up again, and changes, what would they be?

YARMUTH: Most of the more offensive and intrusive elements have already been corrected, but I do have serious problems with the Military Tribunals Acts that they just passed into law, which eliminated the right of habeas corpus and changed the Bill of Rights.

So, Yarmuth isn't a hypocrite. He simply appears to believe that the government looking at your library records without a warrant isn't "offensive and intrusive." MCL has requested comment from Yarmuth on the matter.

The extension applies to three provisions in the Patriot Act: roving wiretaps; the library provision, which also extends to the ability of the government to examine business and gun records without probable cause; and the surveillance of "lone wolf" terrorism suspects, which according to the NY Times, is a provision that has never been used.

The Patriot Act extension now heads to the Senate, where Rand Paul stands ready to fight it. From Sen. Paul's open letter to his colleagues [pdf]:

My main objection to the PATRIOT Act is that searches that should require a judge's warrant are performed by a letter from an FBI agent -- a National Security Letter ("NSL")...

As February 28th approaches, with three provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act set to expire, it is time to re-consider this question: Do the many provisions of this bill, which were enacted in such haste after 9/11, have an actual basis in our Constitution, and are they even necessary to achieve valid law-enforcement goals?

National Security Letters is not one of the provisions up for renewal, but Sen. Paul is using the renewal of the three provisions that just passed the House as a means to call attention to the most egregious aspects of the Bush-era counter-terrorism law in the age of Obama.

If Sen. Paul's goal was getting attention, he has succeeded: from The Atlantic:

The Senate has found a new leading critic of the PATRIOT Act: Kentucky's Rand Paul...

Six days ago, Paul released a web video outlining his constitutional opposition to the entire law, comparing PATRIOT Act authorities to violations of property rights in the Colonies. Paul is the only senator publicly advocating this stance...

Ironically, Paul has taken up the mantle left behind by a Democrat: Sen. Russ Feingold (Wisc.), a staunch supporter of civil liberties, was defeated in November by Sen. Ron Johnson (R), a tea partier who hails from the movement that also helped elect Paul.

Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Pat Leahy (D-VT), has introduced a bill that would, among other safeguards, phase out National Security Letters, but not until the end of 2013.

Can Rand Paul find enough common ground with Leahy and other heavy hitters in the Democratic caucus to rebuke the House and the White House on the otherwise unquestioning extension of the Bush/Cheney Patriot Act?

With Feingold out, Paul remains the only senator vocally opposed to the law. Sen. Paul's video message on the USA PATRIOT Act, which as we all remember, stands for the clever acronym: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, is here:

Health Care Repeal is a Trap! UPDATED

2011-02-11T12:13:00.002-05:00

Earlier this week in the Kentucky Legislature, conservative Republican Jim DeCesare of Bowling Green introduced a concurring resolution calling on the US Congress to repeal the Individual Mandate of the Health Care Reform law:

House Concurrent Resolution 45 urges Congress to repeal the individual health insurance mandate... It also asks Congress to cease and desist enacting mandates that are beyond the scope of its powers as spelled out by the U.S. Constitution.

“Yesterday’s ruling by a Federal judge in Florida that the entire health care reform bill is unconstitutional only serves to reinforce our rights as individuals to make our own choices,” said Rep. DeCesare [in a press release].

So, does Rep. DeCesare believes that indiviuals have the right to possess and smoke marijuana if they choose? Not yet, he doesn't.

But to argue against the Constitutionality of the health care mandate puts DeCesare and any conservative using a Constitutional argument against ObamaCare on a runaway train aimed directly at the flawed justification for federal marijuana laws.

Rand Paul spent much of his time on the Senate campaign trial demonizing President Obama, so it's easy to understand how many conservatives think they had a lot in common with Kentucky's newest US Senator -- but when everyone fell in line with the argument that "ObamaCare" isn't just policy they disagreed with but also fundamentally unconstitutional because of the Individual Mandate vis-a-vis the Commerce Clause -- well, then they fell into a trap.

It's a trap for conservatives because they have relied upon a robust interpretation of the Commerce Clause for decades to carry out their favorite authoritarian policy -- the prohibition on marijuana.

Why is it a federal crime for a Kentuckian to grow a marijuana patch in Kentucky to be sold to Kentuckians without ever crossing a state line? Because of the Commerce Clause as interpreted by the Supreme Court as recently as 2005 in Gonzales v. Raich, which ruled that Congress can criminalize home-grown marijuana, even in states with legal medical marijuana laws, because of.... [drum roll]... the Commerce Clause.

Gonzales was a strange decision that found Justice Scalia siding with a big-government interpretation of the Commerce Cause and a rare split between Scalia and Justice Thomas, who sided with Justice O'Connor and Renquist against it. Clarence Thomas in his dissent [emphasis added]:

If the Federal Government can regulate growing a half-dozen cannabis plants for personal consumption... then Congress' Article I powers -- as expanded by the Necessary and Proper Clause -- have no meaningful limits. ... If the majority is to be taken seriously, the Federal Government may now regulate quilting bees, clothes drives, and potluck suppers throughout the 50 States.

The underlying precedent of Gonzales v. Raich is a Roosevelt-era Court case called Wickard v. Filburn. Haven't heard of it? Well, Sen. Rand Paul has, and he just lambasted it in his CPAC speech earlier this week (h/t Freeman in KY):

Sen. PAUL: Barry Goldwater mentions one Supreme Court case in that book, Wickard v. Filburn. Many of you know it. There's a farmer in California wants to grow 20 acres of wheat. The government says you can only grow 10 acres of wheat. The farmer says, "By what authority do you tell me this?" And they say, "The Commerce Clause." He says, "Well, I'm not even going to sell the wheat. I'm going to feed it to my cattle." And they tell him, "By your inactivity, by not doing anything, you can indirectly [affect interstate commerce]." That was in the 40's. For 60 and 70 years now, we've been working with this notion that the Commerce Clause says that our government can do anything... Until ObamaCare.

Quick fact check: Roscoe Filburn was from Ohio, not California, and he grew 23 acres of wheat when his federal allotment was 11 acres, not 20 and 10.

Here's the trap: When regular conservatives like Rep. DeCesare embrace Sen. Paul's liberatarian interpretation of the Constitution for tactical political purposes against President Obama's health care reform law, it erodes the entire foundation of the Drug War as established by Presidents Nixon and Reagan.

But don't take MCL's word for it; just wait and see. In 2012, as Obama's re-election campaign heats up against a challenger to-be-determined, arguments will be heard before the US Supreme Court on the Constitutionality of the individual mandate of "ObamaCare."

The conservative argument to the Court must be that Gonzales and Wickard were incorrectly decided -- that wheat and marijuana, if grown privately for personal use, cannot be regulated by the federal government, and therefore neither should the purchase of health insurance be regulated by Washington.

To be clear, Rep. DeCesare doesn't yet see it this way. He spoke with MCL this week in Frankfort and gave us this quote:

“This has nothing to do with the 2005 decision by the Supreme Court. What my resolution seeks to do is to encourage Congress to repeal the legislation commonly known as the Federal Health Care Reform bill.”

Fair enough. Rep. DeCesare's resolution calls for a legislative, not a judicial, remedy to the Health Care Reform law. However, the judicial challenge to "ObamaCare" has left the station... and either you're on board that the federal government does not has the right to regulate health care, wheat and marijuana, or you find a way to split hairs.

Rand Paul isn't splitting hairs.

UPDATE: A contrarian attorney from out-of-state emails his point of view:

The Commerce Clause doesn't matter because we are going to make laws and uphold laws that the prevailing majority wants. End of story.

The words in the Constitution and the case law are basically meaningless and can be used one way or another without much effort. The commerce clause from 1887 to 1937 was really narrow, the narrowest ever, because the Supreme Court was very fiscally conservative... Yet at that time, the Court never invalidated morality laws--because they were socially conservative. ...

The mandate to buy insurance under the ACA and growing pot for intrastate use only are not comparable.

In the drug example, you have a better argument (Wickard aside) as there is no "commerce among the states." I won't get into a discussion of Wickard here, because it is beside the point. But of course, Wickard is still the law, and just because one person is growing pot for intrastate use, or private use, doesn't mean that it is not part of the the overall commercial structure or that it does not have interstate economic impacts.

As for the mandate in the ACA, there is no way to say that people not buying health insurance are not part the stream of commerce and do not have a major impact on an industry that is 20% of our economy. The argument that not buying insurance isn't commerce because you are not engaging in an activity is total bullshit. If you get sick and have chosen to not buy insurance that you could afford, you are still going to be treated, as our laws require that, and if you cannot pay, the cost is shifted to everyone else. End of story. You are still part of the system, you just haven't paid into it. The two are completely different.

This realpolitik interpretation of the Constitution and case law has a lot of truth in it.

Early Derby Watch

2011-02-03T15:36:00.000-05:00

Ordinarily, it would be much too early to be talking about horses for this year's Kentucky Derby --

But horses don't ordinarily come from 15 lengths back to win by a length and a half like Nick Zito's horse Dialed In just did last weekend at the Holy Bull Stakes:

Sen. Paul sets a marker

2011-02-01T12:16:00.000-05:00

After the State of the Union address, Sen. Rand Paul was asked if Washington had co-opted the Tea Party. Paul responded that the Tea Party was in the process of co-opting Washington, pointing to the President's pledge to veto any bill with earmarks as proof.

Then, Sen. Paul released his long-awaited spending plan that cut $500 billion from the federal budget -- including slashing the State Department's budget by 71% -- and Paul's critics reflexively guffawed.

When CNN's Wolf Blitzer grilled Sen. Paul on his plan to end all foreign aid, including to Israel, Paul's response was quite prescient:

PAUL: Well, I think what you have to do is you have to look. When you send foreign aid, you actually [send] quite a bit to Israel’s enemies. Islamic nations around Israel get quite a bit of foreign aid, too.

You have to ask yourself, are we funding an arms race on both sides? I have a lot of sympathy and respect for Israel as a democratic nation, as a, you know, a fountain of peace and a fountain of democracy within the Middle East.

BLITZER: End all foreign aid including the foreign aid to Israel as well. Is that right?

PAUL: Yes.

This was days before NBC News's chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel reported to MSNBC viewers that the tear gas canisters being fired at Egyptian demonstrators on the streets of Cairo were made in America (emphasis added):

ENGEL: If you can see in my hands this is one of the tear gas canisters and very clearly written in English on it, it says "Made in the USA by Combined Tactical Systems from Jamestown, Pennsylvania." And they say this is the kind of support that the United States has been giving to the Egyptian government and bears some responsibility, although today it it trying to say that it never backed Mubarak so much, it has been calling for reforms for a long time, Egyptians don't see it that way.

By setting a marker at an extreme end of the budget fight, Sen. Paul has positioned himself to truly affect a re-examination of America's foreign aid philosophy.

If Sen. Paul introduced a bill that would end all foreign aid to countries controlled by dictators, who would object today?

Pill Mill Bill

2011-01-30T17:06:00.001-05:00

MCL has the reputation of being for in favor of drug legalization; but it's not that simple. While MCL's position is that the state and federal government are too deeply involved in the marijuana prohibition -- see MCL's coverage of the fugitivehood of Johnny Boone -- MCL also advocates for greater government oversight over cash-only pain pill clinics.

If government oversight is zero-sum, if we "cut as we go" as we "pay as we go," our marijuana enforcement resources ought to be directed towards fighting Oxycontin addiction.

Sen. Jimmy Higdon does not share many of MCL's libertarian views on marijuana, but we agree that something must be done to better regulate prescription pill distribution -- as MCL's reporting on the subject shows.

When Ohio passes stricter regulations on pain pill clinics, it's going to make Kentucky's pill problem even worse if we also don't address the issue head-on in a timely fashion.

That's why MCL supports Sen. Higdon's SB 47: From the H-L:

[S]tate Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, plans to push a measure in this year's legislative session, Senate Bill 47, that would bring greater regulation of pain-management clinics.

Higdon became concerned about the issue after doctors opened a clinic in Lebanon last year but advertised for customers in Eastern Kentucky, more than 150 miles away.
The operation later closed, but illustrated a potential problem.

"There's just not a lot of regulation" for such clinics, he said.

Let's get this done. And let's see who stands against it.

Today in Obamajuana

2011-01-28T15:31:00.000-05:00

In his annual YouTube question-answer session, President Obama seemed to thaw his position on marijuana prohibition.

In the video, Obama answers a drug policy question from Mackenzie Allen, a member of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition).

Allen: “Do you think there will, or should, come a time for us to discuss the possibility of legalization, regulation and control of all drugs thereby doing away with the violent criminal market as well as a major source of funding for international terrorism?”

Obama quickly pointed out he is “not in favor of legalization,” but the president broke news when he deemed Allen’s question a “legitimate topic for debate,” adding, “I am a strong believer that we have to think more about drugs as a public health problem.”

Via High Times:

The President likened drug use to “other damaging activities in our society” such as “smoking, drunk driving, making sure you’re wearing seatbelts.” He pointed out that we’ve made strides with such issues by “changing people’s attitudes” but when it comes to drugs, we’re “so focused on arrests, incarceration, interdiction, that we don’t spend as much time thinking about how do we shrink demand.”

Mr. Obama concluded his answer by stating that we need to “look at what we’re doing when we have non-violent, first time drug offenders. Are there ways that we can make sure that we’re steering them into the straight and narrow without automatically resorting to incarceration – drug courts, mechanisms like that – these are all issues that are worth exploring and worth a serious debate.”

Cornbread Mafia news

2011-01-26T13:23:00.001-05:00

Dear MCL readers,

In case you didn't see it when I broke the news on Twitter yesterday, the book that I have been working on since 2006 about the Cornbread Mafia will be published by Lyons Press, an imprint of Globe/Pequot, a mid-size New England press based in New Haven, Connecticut.

Projected release date is April 20, 2012 -- so long as I deliver a completed manuscript by July 1.

So if anyone out there has been holding back on some good Cornbread-related anecdotes, now is the time to get in touch with me.

This is a tentative announcement, as I have yet to sign any contracts with my new publisher, and I still have an outstanding issue with my previous publisher, so I'm not out of the woods yet, as they say.

However, my agent -- Dan Conaway of Writers House in New York -- assures me that it's OK for me to make the deal public as it is more-or-less official.

The book will tell the story of Marion County's evolution from the first foothold of the Catholic Church and Catholic distilling culture west of the Appalachian Mountains; its growth to nine active distilleries at the dawn of Prohibition in 1919; the explosion of criminal activity associated with moonshining and bootlegging for the 13 years of Prohibition and the generation to follow; the justification of the local culture of certain "criminal" acts by distinguishing between God's Law and Man's Law; the birth of Marion County's marijuana culture during the Vietnam War; the growth of the Cornbread Mafia during the 1970s; the fall of the Cornbread Mafia during the Reagan Administration -- resulting in what the federal government called the biggest domestic marijuana bust in American history when 70 Catholic men from Marion, Washington and Nelson counties were arrested on 29 farms in 10 states with 182 tons of marijuana. Of the 70 men, zero agreed to testify against the others in exchange for a lesser sentence.

The book will also include the current fugitivehood of Johnny Boone; and the story of how I was swept up in the federal government's manhunt of Boone by becoming the first journalist subpoenaed by the Obama administration in January 2009, and how I beat that subpoena while facing a possible 18 month sentence in federal prison for contempt of court for protecting my sources and keeping my mouth shut.

My biggest problem now, it seems, is keeping my manuscript under 100,000 words.

My final reporting phase for the book starts now. If you want to make sure your name doesn't appear in the book, you should get in touch with me.

Mafia Nicknames

2011-01-21T16:04:00.000-05:00

As you probably know, earlier this week the Obama DOJ executed the largest roundup of Italian organized crime -- aka The Mafia aka La Cosa Nostra -- in American history.

While Marion County's Cornbread Mafia has a better track record than its Italian counterpart in terms of keeping its secrets -- the Italians are miles ahead of their fellow Catholic outlaws in terms of nicknaming their associates.

Here's the Village Voice's rundown of some of its favorite Mafia nicknames from this week's historic Mob bust:

GIOVANNI VELLA, A.K.A. "Mousey"

STEPHEN DEPIRO, A.K.A. "Beach"

ANTHONY CAVEZZA, A.K.A. "Tony Bagels"

JOHN BRANCACCIO, A.K.A.  "Johnny Bandana"

ANTHINO RUSSO, A.K.A. "Hootie"

FRANK BELLANTONI, A.K.A.  "Meatball"

CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS, A.K.A. "Burger"

VINCENZO FROGIERO, A.K.A. "Vinny Carwash"

JOSEPH CARNA, A.K.A.  "Junior Lollipops"

LUIGI MANOCCHIO, A.K.A. "Baby Shacks"

ANTHONY DURSO, A.K.A.  "Baby Fat Larry"

VINCENT FEBBRARO, A.K.A.  "Jimmy Gooch"

BENJAMIN CASTELLAZZO, A.K.A. "Benji," "The Claw" and "the Fang"

and JOHN HARTMANN, A.K.A.  "Lumpy," "Fatty" and "Fats"

Rep. Akbar: "It's a trap!"

2011-01-21T14:40:00.000-05:00

Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) doesn't like the idea of Dems and GOP'ers sitting together at the State of the Union (via Political Correction):

BROUN: ... If you wanna sit with the Democrats, you can. If you wanna sit with Republicans, that you can. ... I already believe very firmly that it is a trap and a ruse that Democrats are proposing.

They don't want civility. They want silence from the Republicans. And the sitting together being kissy-kissy is just another way to try to silence Republicans, and also to show — to keep the American people from seeing how few of them there are in the U.S. House now.

Then when people stand up to — what the Democrats are going to be doing when Barack Obama spews out all his venom, then, um, if they're scattered throughout all the Republicans, then it won't be as noticeable as if we're sitting apart.

So it is a ruse and I'm not in favor of it and I'm talking about it and I hope other members of the Republican conference in the House will not take the bait.