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PRESSURE FROM ALL SIDES IS GOOD Yesterday, just down the street from here, a group of African American ministers had a press conference to ask for a better contract for the students with the JCTA.  This has been a long time coming and I am thrilled that these gentlemen are standing up for the students in their communty against what I'm sure is pressure to conform to the norm.  We are working to get Dr. Kevin Cosby on the show this week to discuss it.

MAYOR FISCHER WANTS TO LIMIT SODA PURCHASES WITH FOOD STAMPS At the national mayor's conference, Mayor Bloomberg is busy trying to get everyone to follow his nanny state lead.  Though against nanny state policies for free people, I am not adverse to this one.  There is a group of mayors who would like the ability to prevent people from buying soda with food stamps.  I'm okay with that, because if you are on government assistance, you aren't a free person anyway. 

WHY AREN'T PEOPLE GETTING MARRIED? A new study shows marriage is down 5% and people are waiting longer to get married.  I think there is good and bad in this study but they gloss over one of the main reasons people are not getting married: government aid that dissuades it.  We will discuss in the 10am hour. Oh, and it's all the boomers fault.

A BONUS FOR SCREWING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE! No one likes the IRS.  Except the people who work there who are demanding 70 million dollars in bonuses that should have been cancelled by the sequester.  How was your bonus this year? DI

DIDJA READ THE NEW REPUBLIC ARTICLE ON RAND PAUL? Now some conservatives are questioning why he would engage with such a liberal magazine in the first place.  I think it's a good thing to do.  Especially when you are a man of principles capable of defining those principles.  Even though you make take a few shots, the more you can get your thoughts out to those who otherwise might not be exposed to them, the better chance you have of winning those folks over.  If you never engage, you never reach them.  

HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT AT WORK? A Gallup survey says 7 of 10 of us hate our jobs or have mentally checked out.  This is so very sad to me considering how much time in our lives we spend at work.  Do you fall into the 70% or the very lucky 30%?  Do we expect too much happiness and gratification from our jobs?  Is that realistic? 

ABORTION FOR THE CORNER OFFICE This very honest blog posting will make many of you sick.  The only reason I link to it is so those of you who are earnestly pro life can see the thought processes that exist when it comes to abortion.  A baby simply is an inconvenience to a career path.  At least for this woman, she is able to see now as a working mother, the fallacy in that logic.  Just not soon enough.

RUBIO TOTALLY SERIOUS ABOUT BORDER SECURITY...UH...NEVERMIND My former sweetheart Marco Rubio showed his true stripes again yesterday by voting NO on increased border security before legalization.  Ugh.  

PAGING DR. BEN CARSON, PAGING DR. CARSON Last night at the Corydon Tea Party meeting (and thanks for having me!) someone asked what I thought about Dr. Ben Carson.  So this morning I did a quick look around to see if I could find out what he's doing now, and found this blog posting.  He's still talking about health care reform, which is fantastic.  And he doesn't want to be President, which is even better.  

NANCY'S SYRIAN FLASHBACK I mentioned this yesterday so I went and found it.  Let's not forget Nancy Pelosi, as mere Speaker of the House, going against the wishes the Bush Administration to suck up to President Bashar Assad's government.  She legitimized his government against the wishes of the sitting POTUS.  She's great at foreign policy, don't you think?

THERE'S A NEW CONTRACT BEING NEGOTIATED FOR JCPS AND JCTA And this is the only chance we have to change the contract areas that are unbalanced unfairly in the direction of the Education Labor Union (JCTA).  I am urging you to contact your school board member and NICELY ask them to put kids first by modifying these four provisions:

1.  The transfer clause.  Seniority should be a consideration, but not the overriding consideration in transfers.  Principals should be allowed to hire the teachers they think are going to get the job done, not be forced to hire teachers who've simply been around the longest.

2.  Teacher assignments. Seniority is the #1 consideration currently, and Course Approriateness is 5th of 6 considerations!  That means a highly qualified teacher with experience teaching a certain class could be passed over for a teacher who HASN'T taught that class because of seniority.  This rule currently puts ADULTS first and KIDS fifth!  

3.  Teaching Loads and Duty Hours.  There are LOTS of restrictions on when you can ask teachers to do anything outside the classroom.  Administrators need more flexibility to meet the needs of the STUDENTS.  

4.  Teacher evaluations.  There should be a streamlined process which includes some test scores to evaluate teachers, both for teacher improvement and to also get bad teachers out of the profession.  

You don't have to read this list to your School Board member, just urge them to PUT KIDS FIRST by endorsing a balanced contract that puts KIDS first! 

Find the district map by clicking here! 

And here they are, get calling! And BE NICE! 

GEORGE GILDER IS RESCHEDULED FOR NEXT WEEK Sorry for the switch up, but these things happen.

GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT RAND PAUL FROM AN UNLIKELY SOURCE The New Republic is about as left leaning as you can get.  And they put a photo of Rand Paul on the cover that is less than flattering.  But the article itself is actually very good.  If the mission was to discredit Rand Paul, they did a lousy job. 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS TIF STUFF?  This city has lost it's mind and sold it's collective souls to our local University.  The Mayor is backing the Tax Increment Financing District for the proposed development on the UofL Foundation's Shelbyhurst property.  This is utterly insane.  Isn't this the 2nd stab at a Technology Park?  What about Nucleus?  And to add insult to injury, these is a parcel of land that is completely commercially viable, even as the TIF Fact Sheet clearly states TIF is:

"...designed to channel funding toward the public improvements in distressed or underdeveloped areas where development
would not otherwise occur"

This is not right.  It's a taxpayer giveaway to the UofL Foundation for a project that they will make gobs of money from.  In an area hardly considered blighted.  Why is this right????

UNIONS LOSE AGAIN The National Labor Relations Board, the union and labor loving overreachers, has been smacked down by yet another Appeals Court.  On what?  Their provision that requires an employer to post that Worker's Rights poster.  Two appeals courts have now said the NRLB has overstepped it's bounds.  The question is...do they continue to fight or ask PrezBO to issue an Executive Order? 

WHAT A SURPRISE, A SPECIAL SESSION! SAID NO ONE EVER I know you'll all be shocked to hear that we are going to have a special session at some point this year to pass the redistricting plans that are being hatched in private outside the public eye.  Just like always.

SENATOR RUBIO, PLEASE STOP TALKING PART #2945 Just.  Stop.  You're killing me right now.  John McCain lost the election in 2008, so stop trying to emulate him.  Please. 

WHY AREN'T PEOPLE GETTING MARRIED? Has Love and Marriage, which used to go together like a horse and carriage, going the way of the dodo bird?  The numbers are down and though many blame the recession, I'd like to dig a bit deeper today on why more people are putting off marriage. 

A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL For the people who go into homes destroyed for any reason and loot them.  I am beginning to think looters should be shot on sight.  Period.

THANKFULLY WE WILL CONTINUE THROWING (OUR) GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD The new Energy Secretary is determined to continue pouring more of our tax dollars into propping up solar energy.  Except as long as the government is willing to pour money into this there will be no pressure to make it cost efficient.  But I guess the Energy Secretary is feeling flush. With our money. 

I ALWAYS CALL PROGRESS KENTUCKY A TEA PARTY GROUP Does anyone buy what this dame is selling?  She says the IRS used the term "Tea Party" to describe ANY group engaged in political works.  Sure. Because everyone thinks of MoveOn.org as a Tea Party group.  Sure they do.  Uh huh.  Yep.