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Opinion
EPA goes medieval on Kentucky coal
Roman legions? Horrific crucifixions? Sacking dissenters and making examples out of their deaths? These may sound like some of the gruesome tactics used by military commanders of the ancient world, but according to Al Armendariz, who, until recently, was regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, it¹s much more relevant to modern America than w’¹d care to believe. Shockingly, these are all tactics Armendariz used to d...
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A flax tax lesson from Mexico
With tax season finally behind us, now’s an ideal time for policymakers to reform America’s tax code. With the absurd complexity of the U.S. tax system is still fresh in everyone’s mind, there’s certainly political will for such a move. One of the most popular ideas is the flat tax — a uniform rate applied to all income, without exemptions, deductions, or special favors. The flat-tax approach could apply to individual incomes taxes as well ...
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Obama plays politics with grads
Senate Democrats on Tuesday are due to hold a vote that’s in keeping with their election-year strategy to use the Senate not to solve problems but to produce campaign material. Rather than prevent an increase in student loan rates, they want to check a political box. Few groups today are struggling more under the Obama economy than recent college graduates. More than half either can’t find work or can’t find work to match their skills, acco...
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Projects spurn projects
Getting ready for a project and cleaning up afterward often require more time and effort than completing the project itself. I needed to paint a flowerpot on the patio. The plant that I had purchased had been sitting alongside for several days. A fresh coat of paint on the flowerpot would better show off the future-blooming plant and applying the paint before the pot was filled with dirt made sense. As I observed the plant beginning to dr...
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Edelen takes the farm for government transparency
Actor Ed Norton warned: “Fame is very corrosive and you have to guard very strictly against it.” Unfortunately for Richie Farmer, star guard for the 1992 University of Kentucky Wildcats, a new report by State Auditor Adam Edelen indicates he did not guard very well against fame’s corrosive nature ­ at least not during his eight-year stint as the commonwealth’s agriculture commissioner. Edelen’s audit of the Department of Agriculture under...
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The Class of 2012’s Choice
Millions of college graduates will soon walk across the stage to accept their diplomas. Given the harsh reality of today’s economy, here’s the commencement speech I’d like to deliver to the class of 2012: Congratulations on your degrees. And sorry about all those student loans. Nearly half of you will soon find jobs that will launch you on your careers. The rest will probably spend the coming years as baristas, sommeliers, maitre d’s, and...
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Senate goes back to work
With just a three-day break after the final adjournment of the 2012 Regular Session, we were back to work in Frankfort again on Monday, April 16. On the last day of the Regular Session, we approved a combination two- and six-year Road Plan for the State. It included many important road projects in counties across the Commonwealth, as well as the vital Louisville bridges work and improvements to a busy and deadly section of I-65 in Western K...
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Wrapping up the regular session in state legislature
The 2012 Regular Session ended on Thursday as we pushed through a long day to finalize legislation. While we ended up passing fewer bills than usual this year, I think several good, strong pieces of legislation made it through the process and will benefit Kentuckians in the years to come. Bills sent to the Governor’s desk on our final working day included what has been deemed the ‘career-pathways’ bill. Intended to reach students at risk fo...
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Thank God Almighty, (tax) freedom at last!
April 9 was Tax Freedom Day in the Bluegrass State ­ the day Kentuckians finally earned enough to pay off this year’s tax burden and quit greasing the palms of the Nanny State. That means we worked 99 days ­ from January 1 through April 9 ­ to satisfy the demands of Washington, Frankfort and City Hall before we had fully paid the tax man. Not only is 99 a lot of bottles of beer on the wall, it’s another indication of the high cost of big ...
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