From around Kentucky

Christmastreeaphobics still angry over Beshear reversal: Over at Barefoot and Progressive, they are under the impression that I have "worked myself up into a phony lather" about Gov. Grinch's replacement of the state Christmas tree with a "Holiday tree." We must have done a pretty good job of hiding our amusement. Why would it make us mad to see Beshear politically shoot himself in the foot?

Former proponents of letting the people decide on expanded gambling but who changed their mind for political convenience can't spell: Must be too much to drink at the casino. Blue Bluegrass can't seem to spell State Sen. Thayer's name right. Its "Damon," folks, not "Damien." But go ahead and read about why we should not let the people decide on the gambling issue from the people who elected a man who said exactly the opposite.

Rich horse tracks find another excuse to expand gambling: Ohio is allowing expanded gambling, therefore we should have it too. Let's hope they don't legalize drugs and prostitution.

State universities want more of your money: The Kentucky Council of Postsecondary Education will consider larger tuition increases than it said it was going to allow. Some state universities, already swimming in taxpayer cash because they won't control their spending, may be asking for more. Oh, and anyone notice that higher education has already implemented many of the ideas Congress wants to try on health care and that costs are even more out of control there than in the health care industry?

State universities wanting even more money. Not only tuition, but state money. They're insatiable.

State K-12 Schools having to actually get serious about school accountability: For years, state school officials have been telling everyone how serious they are about holding school accountable. Then, when they get pressure to implement charter schools from the federal government--which would result in real accountability--they oppose it. But the loss in federal money Kentucky could incur because of their intransigence may be too much for them.

Evolutionists reasoning badly: Kenneth Miller, a professor of genetics at Brown University spoke at the University of Kentucky on Oct. 21, making an impressive case for the compatibility between the belief in evolution and religion, but makes a big logical error unbefitting an upstanding member of the human species we will discuss next week.