Friday, December 31, 2010

Big trouble - Soon come: Happy New Year 2011 Edition

"So let's drink to Kentucky, way out in the east, where a woman's ass and a whiskey glass made a horse's ass of me.”

Governor Beshear
Tonight is "amateur night" at parties and bar rooms all over Louisville. Places like the venerable Phoenix Hill Tavern will, at the stroke of midnight, have its restrooms coated with vomit by the uninitiated.

It takes years of practice to learn how to celebrate appropriately on New Year's Eve and by the time one is old enough to actually do so, the whole idea of going out has lost its luster.

I have not been out in years. Mostly because of the constant threat of police roadblocks and mass arrests on the streets. But there was a time at a place in Louisville called The Toy Tiger, and I was there and in proper form.

That is a story for another time.

My current New Year's Eve ritual began a couple of years ago. In a lasting fit of boredom, I checked out the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission's website and read the "prefiled bills" to be considered for the upcoming session of the General Assembly. It has become a tradition among some of my friends to make bets on which bills will get out of committee, and this year's collection contains some real gems.

- Making over the counter medicines like Sudafed require a prescription. [BR12]

- Forcing school districts to implement "wellness programs" and mandating physical activity time. [BR13]

- Creating a behemoth, regional MSD-type agency for Bullit, Hardin, Jefferson, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, and Spencer Counties [BR19]

- The Kentucky Firearms Freedom Act. [BR92]

- Amending the state constitution to extend the terms of State Representatives from two to four years and State Senators from four to six years. [BR249]

There are many more examples of disturbing behavior emanating from Frankfort, but we can save those for the New Year. Chew on these prefiled bills for a while, then place your bets. And avoid the Jägermeister.

In 2011, four blessings upon you:

Older whiskey.
Younger women.
Faster horses.
Smarter government.

Happy New Year.

5 comments:

  1. The regional sewer agency deserves consideration.

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  2. Missed on this list is Rick Nelson's BR 344 An act relating to informational technology, the use of post anonymously on blogs. Let's see how this pig flies.

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  3. Yes, the "anonymous blog commenter" law makes the short list of "stupid ideas most likely to become law in a place like Kentucky", and it will put us all, along with the state, out of business.

    And the regional sewer agency deserves CONSIDERATION. Too bad it won't get any. It is already a done deal. It will just end up being an agency full of back-scratching appointees that can set its own rates.

    Again...where are the teabaggers? Hello?

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  4. Back scratching appointees, that sounds a lot like the Louisville Metro Council and the rest of their lackeys in SW Louisville. Might as well have a one party state in Louisville with the same good old boys running it. Same works for Shively where there were no real elections and the same people end up running the show. Now tell me how the teabaggers had anything to do with the single party election in Shively where all Democrats were elected with no opposition. But then again, Democrats always did favor communistic sorts of behavior.

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  5. I don't see any teabaggers anywhere. They were all over the place recently, bitching and whining about "We the People". WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Where are they when an idiot in the state legislature wants to criminalize anonymous blog comments? Doesn't that somehow fall under the "freedom" thing? Or are the appearances only reserved for when a black family needs food stamps?

    And I don't see any teabaggers getting riled about the regional sewer agency, in which an appointed board will create new taxes and set tax rates. Or the Sudafed prescriptions.

    And the people that run Shively, once the richest city in Kentucky, are obviously doing something right. They can't even find a wingnut or a teabagger to run against any of them. That's pretty impressive if you ask me....that there isn't ONE person with enough BALLS to file to run against anyone on the council or the mayor? I think that speaks volumes...and speaks to what kind of ideas always win in the end. GOOD ONES.

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