Bluegrass Beacon
From FreedomKentucky
The Bluegrass Beacon is a weekly newspaper column written by Bluegrass Institute vice president of communications, Jim Waters. The column discusses current and relevant topics for Kentuckians.
2012
September
- Who gets to decide what’s ‘fair?’
- Government health exchanges: What's the rush?
- Emergency surgery needed on metastasizing pension liability
August
- Warning: Beware of education data ‘snow jobs’
- A better response to drug abuse: ‘Scalpel, please’
- ‘Audit’ is not a dirty word
- Beshear blows more smoke than a corn cob pipe
- Opening the blinds on pension secrecy
July
- EPA foils aluminum in Kentucky
- A closed door by any other name …
- Government health exchanges: Exchanging freedom for ‘fairness’?
- Education key to keeping America free, prosperous
June
- Three strikes and you’re out, EPA! (6/28/2012)
- There’s gold in them thar’ pensions!
- Ignore the Newspeak: ‘Obamacare’ is pushing us in the wrong direction
- Somebody’s gotta pay for the EPA, might as well be you
May
- Europe’s economic tremors offer useful lesson for Kentucky (6/1/2012)
- Some barbershop wisdom for government regulators (05/17/12)
- EPA goes medieval on Kentucky coal (05/10/12)
- Edelen takes the farm for government transparency
April
- Stop the digging: Confiscate Frankfort’s shovels
- Party on, tea-partier dudes!
- Thank God Almighty, (tax) freedom at last!
- What happens in coal country should stay in coal country
- One public-TV camera doth not transparency make
March
- Chiropractors want lawmakers to manipulate reimbursement rates
- UK making some slam-dunk moves off the court, too
- Needed: Constitutional, not situational, restraint
- Coal bashers between ‘black rock’ and a hard place
February
- Fighting about public schools … and what to do about it
- Frogs and taxpayers in hot water
- ‘Trust, but verify’ saves lives, shrinks government
- Redistricting ruling offers collateral benefits for voters, taxpayers
January
- Payphone-era regulations in the wireless age
- Cherry picking and charter schools
- Twisted logic leads to loony meth legislation, false claims
- Pension gravy could ooze all over other vital services
2011
December
- ‘Smurfers’ beware: Proposal punishes meth makers, not soccer moms
- Making a list, fact-checking it twice
- A learning-challenged mind is a terrible thing to waste
- Fudging results with jobs at stake is no laughing matter
November
- Penn-gate and pension payouts
- Man in the mirror: Change your ways
- Defense wins championships, not jobs
- ‘Smurfers’ beware: Proposal punishes meth makers, not soccer moms
October
- Counterfeit capitalism: Trick or treat?
- Declaring war on class warfare
- ‘Occupy Public Pension Feeding Troughs’
September
- Imitating Oregon offers wrong ‘fix’ for Kentucky’s meth problem
- Let’s lead horses to water, not faucets
- Secret success in the digital age
August
- Signatures dissed could mean opportunity missed
- Don’t count your energy sources before they ‘hatch’
- Don’t like the message? Blame the messenger
- Big gains in the ‘Big Easy’
July
- PLAs: Neither fair nor balanced
- Mr. Bureaucrat, tear down this privacy fence!
- Fish tales can’t keep Kentucky’s economy from drifting down river
- The Colonel’s not-so-secret recipe to restore common sense in government
June
- A Tea Party plan to put ‘Big Government’ on a diet
- A cloud of fear mongering mushrooms after Japan’s tsunami
- AT&T/T-Mobile merger is good for rural Kentucky
- Medicaid needs a strong dose of competition
- Whitfield’s vote tilts playing field toward union contractors
May
- If the engine runs too fast, adjust the ‘regulator’
- Governor’s ‘Pride’ cannot polish dull school performance
- Taking up the cause of freedom starts with a simple vote
- Of false prophets, Noah’s Ark and taxpayers
April
- Governor's dropout proposal falls short of graduating
- Lawmakers get credit — for bad credit ratings
- EPA's 'strangulation by regulation' approach leaves Kentuckians out in the cold
- Education bureaucrats crying ‘poor’ when they fail is really rich
March
- Beshear's 'Bad-Aid' replaced with some serious stitches
- SEEK and ye shall find Medicaid money
- Governor gets cranky, and Medicaid session gets nowhere
- UAW's King: The Godfather of 'Sole'
- Border states have a 'Dragnet' for Kentuckians and their money
February
- The Medicaid malady: What’s up, Doc?
- ‘Commerce clause’: Americans are getting the business
- 'Super' evalutations ignore the facts about Kentucky schools
- Is a ‘con con’ needed to end the federal budget ‘con’ game
January
- Big-government addicts can't solve the meth problem
- 'Ask and ye shall receive' verse lost on state leaders
- Democratic lawmakers living in a vacuum need to suck it up
- Clear constitutional language baffles big-government backers
2010
December
- Earmarks extraordinaire gets keys to the Treasury
- Socialist Sanders is dying to re-enact the 'death tax'
- One-man band plays the same tired tune
- Tax breaks to build an ark? 'Noah' way, brother
November
- KERA: Chartering a way to unfulfilled promises
- Saying 'no' to pork one vote at a time: The story of recovering earmark addicts
- Thinking outside the ballot 'box' gets us nowhere
- Talk of 'symbolic' votes casts real doubt on economic recovery
October
- Blind trust leads to a 'fall' for America
- Simon says: Our rights are 'slip slidin' away'
- Taxpayers tap out trying to get water-rate relief
- Students can find a Web of opportunity at KVHS
September
- Local PLAs bite the hand feeding the beast
- Rewards for entrepreneur's hard work could dissolve 'overnight'
- Childlike behavior ignores realities of insurance for kids
- 'One way' streets won't lead to better schools
- Sweet TEA sours liberal left
August
- Superintendent 'molds' his legacy by ignoring a school's success
- Better test scores 'Easier' done than said
- Educational Whack-A-Mole a losing game for Kentucky kids
- If the dots add up, an 'education' campaign could win
July
- County 'Dons' keep selling smoke-free agenda
- Courage abounds in face of pessimistic polls
- Subsidies provide cash crop America can't afford
- Legislature's bright idea leaves public in the dark
- Time to flip the switch on government giveaways
June
- Politicians 'Neal' at the altar of hollow civil rights rhetoric
- Climate council's plot will thicken environmental myths
- Public-sector workers enjoy windfall profits
- 'Card check' or paychecks: You decide
May
- The adages, like the pension deficit, really add up
- Good government, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder
- Fishing for a way to save money and get politicians off the hook
- Even a bumbling agent can uncover shady business in the schools
April
- Dreaming of a genie who fights for freedom
- Big-spending budgeters were 'California Dreamin' during session
- State government should ‘bare’ all to make the grade
- Money talks but Beshear might still walk
- Unions provide ‘anchor’ leg in ‘Race to the Top’
March
- Give power to the people with nuclear energy option
- Stumbo’s road rage paved with bad intentions
- Voters need to ‘rock’ the world of tax-and-spenders
- Facts on trade tax the common sense of politicians
February
- The 'assembly' line can re-build America's freedom
- Feds have their Toyota bashing pedal to the metal
- KFC’s colonel, President Madison and the Beatles’ Lennon got it right
- 'Reciprocal' re-run puts students on losing continuous loop
January
- Text message to Jody: R U 4 real?
- Bogus graduation rates plus brittle bill equal failure
- Awaking from a dream to face an education nightmare
- Political leaders in Kentucky fall into the 'gap'
2009
December
- Government and the gallows: History repeats itself, again
- Politicians' stocking stuffer a lump of coal for taxpayers
- A better 'tale' than Tiger's
- 'Comparison' shopping for insurance is a trick
November
- 'Coincidences' adding up to a costly mistake
- Cosmetology on a pig should provide the public a poke
- 'Tis the season to be free
- Read the fine print: There's more than one way to skin this cat
October
- Guv's education task force nothing to cheer about
- Trips to Far East don't keep economy from heading south
- Does Washington's cash mean charter schools for Kentucky?
- A little 'TRAIN' that needs more lawmakers aboard
- A mother's story sends message for school choice
September
- Yo, youse guys, how was that free trip to Philly?
- Gag me with a spoon — full of health care reform
- KACo: Right the ship or mothball it?
- Island mentality won't help the economy
August
- Chandler avoids town halls, tough questions
- If parents could choose, the bureaucrats would lose
- School choice would bring quality — and accountability
- Out of 'site,' out of mind?
July
- Don't let the party end after tea is served
- Freedom cuts through the fog
- KLC smells like KFC: The original recipe for government payola
- Latest education report not exactly a 'Thriller'
- Smoke clears for students, not for nicotine nannies
June
- Harvey's message would lead to a 'Good Day' for America
- Bunning should 'balk' at earmarks, along with others
- Governor rode a dead horse
- Kentucky Forward needs to shift tax policies into reverse
May
- Bennett's tune: A golden oldie worth keeping
- Racing to conclusions on gambling, school choice and higher wages
- Try Madison — James, not Wisconsin — to get your head straight
- NASCAR plan: Inept driving in the race for jobs
April
- Smoking out socialist smack on cigarettes
- For freedom fighters, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste
- School board bandits make off with parents' choice
- Temporary economic insanity, long-term damage
- Needed: A capitalism vaccine to stave off the disease of socialism
March
- Promise breakers and Kool-Aid drinkers
- 'Mental bailout' costly for needy children
- Politicians, bureaucrats worship at 'Ag Mahal'
- 'Busy' hands create a devil's workshop in Frankfort
February
- A butt and a beer save lawmakers from trying austere
- Pigs on parade to the public trough
- Call '911' - Lawmaker stealing access in progress
- No figurin' why we need secret audit police
January
- Two pigs and a poke in the eye of big spenders
- 'Cherry' picking the paltry pension reforms
- Kentucky losing math numbers game
- 'Butt out' of Kentucky's business
- Power scorned and power lost reveals the best side of Kentucky
2008
December
- Pointing the finger at loony laws and lawmakers
- The guv: A barker in a budget carnival's midway game
- 'Coach' Beshear needs new game plan
- Taxes dance like sugarplums in the heads of politicians
November
- Hang this idea in effigy
- Fudging numbers sweetens the call for tax increases
- Regulation without representation 'a dereliction of duty'
- Automaker crash ahead - yield to taxpayers
October
- Great news: Americans trust capitalism, not politicians
- The 'depressing' truth about economic myths
- Governor plays a bad hand when gambling with our freedom
- Redeeming qualities offer Kentuckians some freedom
- The 'blindsided' leading the blind
September
- Imagine a Kentucky with leaders like this
- Frankfort's education song an 'oldie' but not 'goodie'
- No 'roads' scholar needed to figure out the problem
- Economic naiveté in Frankfort could worsen pain at the pump
August
- Wal-Mart myths come cheaper than its prices
- Secret ballots become an open target for Chandler
- Prevailing on taxpayers a labor of love for this Guv
- When it comes to closed government, 'It's Miller time!'
July
- It doesn't take an alchemist to turn angst to anger
- Comical education standards prompt movie memories
- Hide-and-seek game played on taxpayers needs to end
- The ideas of this 'Uncle Miltie' were no laughing matter
- Hurricane flooded lawmakers with some common sense
June
- America: Conceived in liberty derived from our maker
- Politicians trade allegiances when it comes to what's fair
- Input from the people would offer a breath of fresh air
- Squeeze sweet success out of life's lemons
May
- Pudgy politicians shout, 'Supersize that budget!'
- Oklahoma-like land grab should come later than 'sooner'
- Looking for a backbone stronger than butter
- State parks need a new sheriff to tee off on waste
- Fight cigarette taxes and you fight terrorism
April
- Why not let the taxers support their cause?
- The outbreak of a 'Rasche' of common sense?
- This little piggy went to market
- A little division leads to a multiplication of freedom
March
- If only lawmakers took an 'interest' in common sense
- Bogus bills trick cash-strapped Kentuckians
- Frankfort's secret society sucks the life out of liberty
- Friend or foe? You need to know
February
- The chilling impact of big government
- Education fat cats start coughing up hairballs
- March 6 rally can stop 'Monopoly' players from passing 'Go'
- Taxpayers hear ringing in their ears
January
- Putting priorities above the pork in politics
- A rotting slab of Davis-Bacon drives prevailing-wage policy
- Grim fairy tales shouldn't fool Kentuckians
- Seeing through the 'Web' of secret spending
- Lawmakers should 'charter' a flight to better education
2007
December
- The axis of health-care evil
- 'Be-shear' you know what you're getting before you buy
- Chamber should 'butt' out of smoking-ban issue
- Taking a 'commission' on selling bad ideas
November
- School board's pillow talk punishes parents and students
- Commish Search II: The Sequel
- Leaner government? Treasure the thought
- Mine eyes have not seen the glory, but I've heard about it
- The good faces of education shouldn't get a nose job
October
- What the devil does the doctor mean?
- Is this the best we can do?
- Give ‘NC-LBJ’ an ‘F’
- The people, not government, need to sort out the truth
September
- ‘Tourocrats’ tax logic, shaft taxpayers when mining for money
- Blood-sucking bad ideas reappear in rearview mirror
- Let’s bag Big Brother, smoke out rights stealers and stay fat and happy
- Stomach grumbling? It’s time for a change, not a pill
August
- Sticking it to Kentucky’s private school student-athletes
- Beauty and the gambling beast
- Partisans of freedom
- Who you gonna' call? Myth-busters
- Should we laugh or cry when Leno goes 'Jaywalking'?
July
- She’s worth more than a ‘Penney’ for her thoughts
- Addicted to compulsion
- Needed: More statesmanship, less showmanship
- Political pandering precipitates pension problem
June
- There’s no skating around the value of personal accountability
- A recipe for success leads to great sausage
- Education commissioner missed lesson on telling the truth
- Incentives for coal liquification won’t relieve gas pains
May
- Not all fiddling requires a Stradivarius
- A five-finger discount worth the risk
- Endorse liberty: Cast your vote
- Put money in the bank by eliminating Treasurer’s Office
- Great strides in the wrong direction
April
- Special sessions: The good, the bad and the ugly
- ‘Calculating’ candidates offer bad math on teacher salaries
- Frankfort: Capital of the State of Denial
- Hell-bent against school choice
March
- Huffing and puffing against lighting up, smoking bans
- Let the debates begin
- ‘Engineered to last’ beyond its time?
- We have nothing to fear but fearmongers themselves
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