Keeling & Gang

Boy Columnist, aka Larry Keeling, of the Lexington Herald-Leader, opined on 20 August as to whether or not the oil companies are lowering gas prices in an effort to help republicans in the November voting. He has a right to any opinion, but in all honesty should mention that gas prices rose by only 35% from $1.70 in September 2001 until January 2007 (republican administration and congress for nearly 6 years), when the price reached $2.30, and when the democrats took over Congress. Since January 2007, the price under the no-drill democrats had risen to $4.07 a month ago, for an increase under the no-drill democrats of some 77% in just 18 months. The experts attribute the recent decline in prices to $3.72 as the product of significant public lowering of driving (billions of miles), thus easing demand and not by any artificial tampering by the oil companies.

The lead editorial of 20 August was headed Parasitic growth risk to farm fund. Fanfare, please! Waste has been found in the use of public money for "agricultural ventures." This is probably true, but the democrats have ruled the state auditor's office for…well, how long. The blame is Fletcher's, of course, according to the paper, but…just the usual boilerplate. This is the editorial board that keeps pushing for millions in local tax money to be dished out to "farmers" in Fayette County in behalf of bribing them not to "develop" their land, no matter how far from the service area it is and therefore any possibility according to the zoning requirements of doing so for years and years, if ever. One remembers the huge H-L layout last fall picturing the mayor handing out an enormous sum to folks whose land was not remotely developmental. This is the boondoggle that the "insiders" have designed for the great unwashed (taxpayers) to ignorantly ante up. Get ready for another huge H-L layout soon, when another handout should be in the offing. Since this makes no sense, one wonders what the incentives for what amounts to official theft are, as well as to whom or for whom and by whom. Is it another case of raiding deep pockets to "enhance" other pockets of any size?

And so it goes.

Jim Clark