some musings from my friend, Joe.

 I am hopeful you will publish this note on your blog, with fair attribution to me since it   is one of my fondist wishes for the coming year.  It is to see our fair city go from being officially known as “Louisville” to “Kentucky.”  “Louisville” is such a burden to pronounce and even write out.  Much is lost with respect to the name.  Kentucky, Kentucky, on the other hand has such a ring to it.  Like New York, New York or Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-- Kentucky-- Kentucky says it all. Hardly anyone I know can name another city in New York or Oklahoma besides those two major cities.  Make it easy for everyone—Kentucky, Kentucky. 

            We shouldn’t be beholden to any dead French king whose name is followed by Roman numerals none of us can determine.  I’m disappointed that Mitch, Rand and Jerry did nothing but let “Louisville” remain on the books, root, branch and all. 

            There’s panache in telling someone from a distant place that you live in Kentucky, Kentucky rather than in Louisville, Kentucky.  When you say Louisville what usually follows is the all to familiar question, “Where is Louisville in the state of Kentucky?”  Forget trying to explain to anyone we are not a “state” but a “commonwealth.”  Kentucky, Kentucky eliminates all that explaining and people can get on with the important parts of a conversation.

            Once we are known far and wide to everyone as Kentucky, Kentucky, we won’t have to suffer confusion with places like Mississippi or Colorado to name just a few states that have cities named Louisville.  How often are we asked when we say we are from Louisville, “Is that Louisville, Mississippi or Louisville, Colorado?”  I can’t count the times.  Plus, we can unload the name on some other town.  Maybe Lebanon Junction will opt to be “New Louisville” or Baghdad, or evenWaddy-Peytonia will want to adopt the name Louisville.  Better yet, the name Louisville is more akin to the area eighty or so miles southeast of here.  Perhaps Fayette County or some town like Paris, Kentucky or Versailles, Kentucky, will be enticed by the name Louisville.   Look what “Oklahoma” and “New York, New York, It’s a Wonderful Town” have done for those places. Our future possibilities are endless!  Let’s get those petitions circulating, folks.

                                                                                    Joe Golden of Prospect for now but in the                                                                                     future, I counting on it being known as                                                                                             Upper East, Kentucky, Kentucky 

LA Times take on McConnell's performance in the debate:

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-an-experts-heroic-factchecking-of-mitch-mcconnell-20141014-column.html

Rick Perry's introspection and Mitch's death tax.

Gov. Rick Perry's recent indictment is curious but his reaction to it is curiouser.  He said that these matters should be settled at the ballot box, not the courthouse.
To me, it shows an amazing lack of introspection-Now, if he really believed that, why did he feel compelled to try and bully the county attorney who had been arrested for DUI into resigning?
To be consistent, he should have just gone to the voters and asked them not to reelect her.  In other words, he should have insisted that the war against her be fought at the ballot box and not the statehouse.

On a different note, I watched a new Mitch McConnell ad where he proclaims to be against the "death tax" because it causes "family farmers" to lose their property upon the death of the parents.  The man is absolutely shameless.
The claim has been rated as "mostly false" by Factchecker, and for good reason.

This from faireconomy.org:

What is the estate tax?

The estate tax is a tax on the transfer of assets at death (inherited wealth). It applies only to large accumulated fortunes.
When someone dies, his or her assets (the "estate") are distributed to heirs. If the total value of the estate is larger than the tax-exempt amount, an estate tax is imposed on the portion above the exemption before the remaining assets are distributed. Any amount given to a spouse or charity is tax exempt.

How large does an estate need to be to be taxed and what are the rates?

Since 2002, the estate tax has been paid only by millionaires. Rates have varied, since the Bush Tax Cuts of 2001 and 2003 resulted in frequent changes to the estate tax exemption and rate.
The individual estate tax exemption—the amount of money an individual can pass to heirs tax free—has been as low as $1 million in 2002 and as high as $5 million in 2011. The exemption is effectively doubled for married couples who engage in basic estate planning.
Rates on the amount above the tax-free exemption have varied from 55 percent to 35 percent. Below you can find a table listing the estate tax exemption and rate since 2002.

Who pays the estate tax?
The estate tax is reserved only for society's wealthiest elite. In 2009, just one-quarter of one percent (0.25 percent) of all estates were expected to owe any estate tax at all.

What about farms and small businesses?

Very few family farms and small businesses are affected by the estate tax. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that with a $2 million exemption, only 123 farms per year in the U.S. would owe any estate tax, and the number of small businesses is similarly small. In 2001, the New York Times reported that American Farm Bureau Federation (who was in favor of repealing the estate tax) could not cite a single case of a family farm lost due to the estate tax.
On average, those few small business and farm estates will owe only 14 percent of the estate, so it is unlikely they will have to sell the business or farm. Plus, they can spread any payments over 14 years. They also benefit from special use valuation, and minority interests and marketability discounts.
Moreover, gutting the estate tax would actually hurt family farms. The estate tax helps make family farms more competitive against mega-scale agriculture, because it moderates ever-larger concentrations of wealth and economic clout. Repeal of the estate tax or exempting farms completely will only encourage further concentration of farm ownership, which reduces competition. An unlimited exemption for farm assets could create a giant loophole from the estate tax because wealthy individuals who expect to owe estate tax could use much or all of their wealth to buy farms before they died.

How much does the estate tax raise every year?

The estate tax raises billions of dollars each year. The estate tax, at 2002-2009 rates and exemptions, raised $15-26 billion per year. The variations are due to the changes in exemption and rates caused by the Bush tax cuts, as well as fluctuations in the overall economy that affect the value of assets like stocks and real estate. The table below summarizes estate tax revenue since 2002, using IRS data and an estimate by the Tax Policy Center.
Why is it important to preserve a strong estate tax?

Weakening the estate tax would mean billions of dollars in tax breaks each year for the exclusive benefit of multi-millionaires. The responsibility of paying taxes for public services will shift from millionaires to low- and middle-income taxpayers. A strong estate tax is one of the best remedies for economic inequality because it reduces dynastic wealth and helps ensure more broadly shared prosperity.

What makes for a good estate tax?

A strong estate tax law will have a graduated rate structure that taxes very large fortunes at a higher rate and an exemption that results in 98 percent of Americans paying no estate tax. A strong estate tax would raise substantial revenue for our government.



The claim that  Mitch is trying to help out Kentucky farmers by repealing the estate tax is beyond reason, but not beyond Mitch.  I'd be surprised if more than one or two Kentucky farms are subject to the tax every year.  No, Mitch is not worried about Kentucky farmers, he's worried about Mitch and Mitch's friends, like that farming family, the Koch brothers.  I wish the Grimes campaign would look into this and address it.

Frazier Glenn Miller is a Dumbass.

The KKK Kansas City shooter who just killed three people at two Jewish Centers is a total nutjob idiot.  First, just hating any group of people due to religion, national origin, whatever is stupid.  Add to that the fact that his hatred is so great that he would kill because of it.
Then top it off with the fact that all three were actually Christians.
How pitiful is all that?