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Jack Conway... a Democrat? lmaorofl

Kentucky's State Flower Should Be...

About Jack Conway:

Jack Conway went to Duke University, and became a Trial Lawyer. Then he became a politician. One can't be Attorney General until they've been lawyering for at least 8 years.

Jack Conway is a trial lawyer politician Duke University graduate.

Jack Conway has some troubling positions on many major issues. In this report, I find out that Jack Conway is:

Pro-Perpetual Empire
Anti-Capping Emissions
Pro-Iraq War
Pro-Patriot Act
Pro-Mountaintop Removal
Pro-Bush Tax Cuts
Pro-Cuts to Social Security, or raising the retirement age
Anti-Free Speech
Pro-Death Penalty; signed death warrant for Ralph Baze, who killed in self-defense; Kentucky's spent $100 million on death penalty system
Anti-Democracy
Anti Civil Liberties
Pro-Gay Marriage (after 10 Years of Prosecuting Gay Marriage)
Pro-Abortion, but won't include the procedure in health insurances offered
Anti-Single Payer Healthcare
Anti-Marijuana
Anti-Medical Marijuana
Anti-Hemp
Pro-racist Nixon and Reagan's War on Drugs; $19 Million spent by KY yearly on marijuana possession only; 6 times more Blacks are arrested in Kentucky for possession of marijuana than whites; In Kentucky, Blacks represent 8.2% of the total population, but disproportionately, Black folks represent 35.6% of the marijuana possession arrests. That's a difference of 27.3%. Kenton County, Kentucky is arresting 10 Black folks to 1 White for marijuana possession arrests.
Anti-Immigration; wants more border patrols to stop the 3% Hispanic population in Kentucky from getting any bigger

The Dream Act?

Jack Conway was blindly in favor of the authorization to declare war on Iraq. Jack Conway is to the right of Rand Paul on this issue.

On the Iraq War, Jack Conway said, very confidently, “I trust the President on Iraq. I trust our commander in chief on foreign affairs... I would have been among the 40% of the Democrats who voted for the resolution on Iraq.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-13-7Aj2ks Jack Conway said that he was “glad” about the “process” for the decision to go to war with Iraq. Conway promoted Bush’s foreign policy without hesitation in 2002. In 2010, Conway would eventually admit that he was wrong on Iraq, 7 years later. He followed his Savior George W. Bush blindly. Without question. Not a shred of independent thought, or doubt in his mind. In 2008, Jack Conway blindly supported Barack Obama’s imperial foreign policy in 2008 without hesitation. Jack Conway is in favor of perpetual warfare and Empire.

As a response to the death penalty, Geoff Young says: “When Dick Cheney and George W. Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, they committed the crime of international aggression. They destroyed Iraq as a country, and it looks like it will never recover. Approximately a million Iraqi civilians were killed as a result between 2003 and today. If the American people are unwilling to execute Cheney and Bush for committing the worst crime it is possible to commit—and I know for certain we're not — then no one else should ever be executed by the government either. Bush, Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld should have been sent to The Hague for war crimes trials.”

Jack Conway is wrong on mountaintop removal. From an October 2010 article, we learn that “there have been 20,000 violations of the federal Clean Water Act in three mines in just two years. Those [are] the accusations of environmental activists in eastern Kentucky. The groups, lead by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., say the violations are by companies who practice mountain top removal mining. They come at the same time that the E.P.A. blocked 11 Kentucky mining permits because of water pollution issues. The E.P.A’s sanctions could also cause mining permits to become a federal government issue instead of a local one.” http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2010/10/jack-conway-supports-mountaintop-removal-in-kentucky-210596.html

Here's a youtube video of Jack Conway in support of mountaintop removal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47_4jsEq2Ec

Jack Conway doesn't care for property rights. If Mountaintop Removal leaves our creeks, and streams polluted, they can't do that. Yes you have a right to do what you want to do in your yard, but you can't pollute my yard while you're doing it. And there's folks in hollers who drink out of the streams and creeks. You aren't only destroying the land, but you're also poisoning the water supply.

Jack Conway has been caught flip-flopping on mountaintop removal, and the Bush tax cuts. Kentucky! Jack Conway seems to say whatever it is he thinks you want him to say.

Jack Conway was pro-Bush Tax Cuts for nearly a decade. In 2002, while running for the U.S. House of Representatives, Conway outright supported the Bush tax cuts. During the 2010 primary for the U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky, Conway told the editorial board of The Courier-Journal that most of the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to expire, indicating one flip flop. THEN, Conway goes on in early August 2010, Conway told CN|2 Politics, “I don't think that a recession is any time to raise taxes. So I think the Bush tax cuts ought to be extended for some period of time, especially the individual taxes, the estate tax provisions, keeping the capital gains tax at 15 percent. I think they ought to be extended”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Conway_(politician)#Jobs_and_the_economy

Jack Conway flip-flopped on the Bush Tax Cuts, Mountaintop Removal, and on Social Security.

Conway's ideas on Social Security seem to parallel Rand Paul's and Mitch McConnell's. On Social Security, in his 2002 run for Congress, Conway stated that he believed that raising the retirement age of Seniors looking to get benefits should be lowered, and that we may have to cut benefit levels in order “to save Social Security” to be considered, but later on, Conway retracted these comments by November 2002.

With all the flip-flopping Conway does, can we even trust this man? How can we tell what Conway stands for, when he's for one thing one day, and something else the next day?

Jack Conway was for the Bush tax cuts! The Bush Tax Cuts! We gave the wealthy a check while our nation was squandering the American People's treasure in Iraq, the Iraq War, of which, Jack was also in favor of. Nowadays, Warren Buffet is virtually begging the American people to raise his taxes, so that the country doesn't collapse, like the Roman Empire. Being for the Bush Tax cuts, we see that Jack Conway favors the rich! Jack Conway is in bed with the 1%! Conway vows that he'll be independent of Obama, and of course he will be: it's because he's a Republican! Conway is pro-Patriot Act, pro-Iraq War, pro-Prohibition, and pro-Bush Tax cuts. That's not a Democrat! That's a Republican. Jack Conway is a Republican at most, and Republican-lite corporatist at least. Jack Conway will blindly do all of George W. Bush's bidding, without hesitation, or question. Jack Conway is the biggest, most corrupt lawyer in the bluegrass police state. A Kingfish. Conway is a corporate empty shell of a man.

Jack Conway's views on Kentucky's Civil Liberties isn't anything to be proud of either. The NSA spying on us makes me want to secede out of this Union.

Jack Conway was Pro-Patriot Act, though later, Conway would fine tune his initial position, as we've seen several times already, and say that he was glad they eased the restrictions on tapping our phones and emails. Not that the Patriot Act was repealed, but only that it was scaled back in scope. Rand Paul says the NSA has been watching, listening, reading to everything we say, type, and view. Jack Conway fine-tuned his position in regards to the Patriot Act, because Conway is still in favor with the Patriot Act. Warrantless wiretaps. In America?

Contrast Jack Conway with Rand Paul on the Patriot Act. On the Senate floor, Rand Paul filibustered the Patriot Act for 7+ hours. http://realignment.csnbbs.com/thread-498193.html Jack Conway would have never have done that. He doesn't have the know-how, nor the fortitude to oppose Executive branches like this.

On the Patriot Act, Jack Conway is to the right of Rand Paul.

This isn't a defense of Rand Paul. Rand Paul has his own issues. He didn't even know about Bloody Harlan, and the coal mining strikes in Kentucky. Rand Paul isn't a Union guy. Harlan County had 2 periods of Bloody Harlan, in 1932, where the United Mine Workers fought a war with the gunthugs, and in the 1970s, with that Barbarba Kopple film documents.

Jack Conway's attacks on Topix.com, the scourge of small towns everywhere, shows that he's not in favor of Freedom of Speech. Conway attacks on Topix.com shows how Jack Conway doesn't believe in the sacred American tradition of the Freedom of Speech. By denying speech we do not like, we are saying that we do not value Freedom of Speech at all, as a society, as a culture. By depriving one to speak does harm to that individual, and for the rest, because a good idea is a good idea no matter whose mouth it comes out of.

Freedom of Speech is one of our first rights as Americans. It's the second American right listed in the first Amendment. While 90% of Topix.com is gossip, and absurd, mean, vindictive commentary, there's lots of good to Topix.com too. Topix.com shows the outer threshold we have as a society for free speech, in the same way South Park, Hip-hop, and Bill Maher do, and we as Americans should be allowed to freely express ourselves.

The Reggio-Emilia approach to teaching says that all people are intoned with 100 different languages, and therefore, Topix.com is just one of those vehicles for expression.

Topix.com is a platform, based out of California, that allows anybody to write in anybody's name they want to write in, and to write virtually whatever they want to write. Sometimes, the posts are so outrageous that Topix.com takes them down on their own, but most of the insanity stays up, for all time, for all of the people to read, all over the world... unless one of the victims pays to have it removed. Threats on people's lives is criminal, and false accusations against others are despicable. I can't stand direct orders, especially fascist orders that are backed with an implied threat of violence, or name-calling. Name-calling is an ad-hominem fallacy. It only seeks to destroy the individual's character, instead of attacking the argument. None of these restrictions should be tolerated, but given the choice of freedom or censorship, as a starry-eyed idealist, I'm in the favor of freedom-fighters, and freedom speech means we accept all speech, most especially speech we do not like, or hate.

A differing opinion doesn't negate your opinion unless your opinion had no reasons behind it. In a democracy, we tolerate other people's viewpoints, we talk about the issues, about politics, we say what we believe, and then we back up what we believe with reasons and evidence. In a democracy, the minority get their say, and the majority get their way. Does Conway, the Republican-lite corporatist, understand this basic democratic principle?

Topix.com is good for several reasons. Topix.com allows regular folks access to a public forum they don't have. Topix.com allows folks to anonymously post anything, including, sometimes, the truth. For whistleblowers on corrupt government, banks, politicians, police, Topix.com gives them an outlet to speak the truth, and to conceal their identity. That's a good use. Kentucky is the most corrupt state in the US, with high legal and ilegal corruption. The corrupt rich and powerful hate Topix.com mostly, not because of the filth and gossip, but because they hate you, the people, the rabble, the plebians, the plebes, the serfs, the peasants, the wage slaves, and they don't want you lowlifes to ever question their authority, or to know the truth. To be threatened by just an opinion shows how the whole system is really just a house of cards, and the vitriol that some folks express, such as Jack Conway, to eliminate that vent, that outlet, only shows how frail and desperate he is.

There was a hit and run in Ghent, Kentucky, in 2011, or so, a few years back, and the brother of the deceased victim started calling out to the world to find the man who murdered his brother on Topix.com. He typed, “They ran over my brother. They killed him. And they didn't even stop.” There were many emotional posts, and calls for the electric chair for the perpetrator. Eventually, the people of Ghent, Kentucky caught the man who murdered the brother, and he was thrown in jail, handling judiciously. That was one good use of Topix.com.

Jack Conway is in favor of our current big brother surveillance state. I wonder how he feels about Bradley/Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden. Since he's in favor of the Patriot Act, and seems comfortable with it, he's probably also in favor of NDAA, and the NSA's 4th Amendment-destroying-and spying-wiretaps. Ben Franklin said that those who give up freedom in the name of security deserve neither.

Jack Conway's record on Civil Liberties is despicable. Conway is wrong on the Patriot Act, on the Freedom of Speech, and on Gay Marriage

On Gay Marriage

It took Jack Conway 10 years before he got it right on Gay Marriage. In an interview, Jack Conway refused to say how he voted on the 2004 state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in Kentucky. Why would he refuse to answer that question? Did Conway vote for discrimination? 2004... this was when Jack Conway was proudly in favor of George Bush's Iraq War, Patriot Act, and the Bush Tax cuts... could he have also loved Karl Rove's Kentucky's 2004 Anti-Gay Amendment?

Side note: Did Alison vote for McCain?

In a 2007 debate on Kentucky Educational Television during his campaign for attorney general, Conway said he agreed with the ruling by then-Attorney General Greg Stumbo that state universities offering same-sex partner benefits were violating the Kentucky Constitution. “The way the universities were offering the benefits was in violation of the 2004 marriage amendment,” Jack Conway said. Jack Conway said during a debate that he believes marriage is ONLY between a man and a woman. It was just March 2014, less than a year ago, after what seems like the inevitable acceptance that gay marriage has won, and is well on it's way to finally be decided by the Supreme Court, after several states has legalized it... then, and only then, that's when Jack Conway steps away from his opposition to gay marriage. Finally Conway gets it right... after 10 years.

Jack Conway didn't have the moral clarity we need in a Chief Executive for George Bush's Iraq War, Patriot Act, the Bush Tax cuts, and on Gay Marriage.

On Abortion:

Jack Conway says he's in favor of abortion, but he opposed government payments to groups that perform abortions, even if those funds don't pay for the procedure itself. http://archive.courier-journal.com/article/20100710/NEWS0106/7110333/Democratic-U-S-Senate-candidate-Jack-Conway-leans-left-not-all-issues That's a weird caveat. Abortion should be rare, safe, and legal, but the government isn't going to allow health insurance to cover them. Is that really pro-choice?

Jack Conway is against single-payer healthcare. Conway said he liked Obamacare best with insurance exchanges, and not single-payer, not the public option, in an interview with the Courier-Journal.

On Immigration:

Jack Conway is stereotypically racist on this front. Nixon's Southern Strategy doesn't seem to hurt politicians in Kentucky. Conway is in favor of racial profiling, tougher immigration laws, for more border patrols. If Mitch is for amnesty, then Jack Conway is already to the right of Mitch McConnell on this issue. Hispanics represent 3% of Kentucky's population. Mexicans are being scapegoated and all they are doing is working for pennies for some poor tobacco farmers needing folks willing to do hard farm labor that many whites won't do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr1q2GcXvDw

I wonder if Jack Conway is in favor of the Dream Act?

Jack Conway hasn't been a true Progressive on gay marriage, and just flat out gets it wrong on the death penalty, on single-payer healthcare, and abortion. Conway doesn't have the moral clarity that it takes to be Governor. He got it wrong on mountaintop removal, on the Patriot Act, on the Iraq War, and on Gay Marriage. One needs moral clarity to be Chief Executive.

On Democracy:

Turnout rate in Kentucky has been abysmal for decades. Politicians who inspire hope and change can turn that around.

Conway has avoided a debate with Geoffrey M. Young for a month, so far, and his campaign seems to be intent on pretending like there is no opposition in this race for the entire duration. Big surprise, an immoral, unethical, destructive, despicable politician playing politics. That's McConnelling. Addison Mitchell made his entire 30 year livelihood on attack politics. That's the tone Conway has set for this campaign. If you aren't a part of their little conservative, borderline Republican clique, then you aren't a “Democrat”? Please. Americans need to become Americans again, and Democrats need to learn to become Democrats again.

Neither Alison, nor Mitch debated their primary competition, because they too, have a disdain for democracy. Alison had 2 primary opponents, and Mitch had 4 primary opponents. Kentuckians never got to meet these candidates, and the media helped the frontrunners. When Mitch said him being recorded was Nixonian, Curtis Morrison, a regular citizen, was lambasted by Kentucky's media.

Kentucky's media lambasted Gatewood every year he ran for higher office. Kentucky has perennial problems, and Kentucky's corporate media rags are one of them. Many television news stations and newspapers in Kentucky reported that Jack Conway was in favor of Cap n' Trade when he was adamantly opposed to it. We've seen Rand Paul and Trey Grayson shut John Stephenson and Gurley Martin out of the Republican Debates, and Guy Martin was the only one of the Republican candidates who released his birth certificate. http://www.c-span.org/video/?293425-7/kentucky-republican-senate-race

Gatewood Galbraith was constantly hounded by the media, and taken for a joke, even though his speeches roused the most enthusiasm, and achieved the loudest applause. Gatewood was lambasted in the media, and would go on to win single digits in the election. Now there's a Gatewood Galbraigth Medical Marijuana Bill in Frankfort, and there's articles being written about Gatewood and how his ideas were genius. http://modernfarmer.com/2015/01/man-brought-hemp-kentucky/ But now it's too late. Gatewood's dead, and he's never coming back. When we censor others, we aren't just offending the speaker, but also the listeners, from hearing a good idea.

“I have a novel solution for many of Kentucky's problems. Instead of bringing dogs into our schools to sniff our children, instead of having helicopters hover over our fields and gardens like we are an occupied territory, instead of the Land of the Brave and Home of the Free, instead of trying to regulate everybody's lives from the cradle to the grave, let's try the Solution of More Freedom to the People!” ~Gatewood Galbraith, pg. 198, The Last Free Man in America (2004)

Jack Conway is Pro-Iraq War, Pro-Patriot Act, Pro-Bush Tax Cuts, and Pro-Death Penalty.

On the Death Penalty:

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty nationwide, ruling it unconstitutional, and adding it was applied in ways that were arbitrary, discriminatory, and capricious. Kentucky’s ban on capital punishment didn’t last long, however, as then-Gov. Julian Carroll signed the law that re-enacted the state’s death penalty in December 1976.

Since then the state has executed three people. The cost? No one knows for sure, but in 2009, Kentucky Public Advocate Ed Monahan estimated that since 1976 the state has spent at least $100 million on its death penalty system. To shed more light on the issue, Kentucky legislators have introduced concurrent resolutions that would create a task force to examine the exact costs of the state’s death penalty system. The resolutions — SCR 11 and HCR 30 — were filed by Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, and Rep. David Floyd, R-Bardstown. http://insiderlouisville.com/metro/two-kentucky-legislators-want-price-states-death-penalty-system/

Jack Conway signed a death warrant for Ralph Baze, and two others in 2009. Speaking from the Castle on the Cumberland at Eddyville, Kentucky, Ralph Baze says he's through apologizing for gunning down Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe on January 30, 1992 because Ralph Baze did so in self-defense. A telling dissent was written by Judge Guy Cole of the 6th Circuit: http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/04a0173p-06.pdf

Here's two paragraphs from Guy Cole's dissent:

“No matter how many defense witnesses were able to utter the words “family feud,” the most relevant and dramatic details—those involving the Highleys bringing the police into the fray to put [Ralph] Baze in danger of physical harm—were nowhere to be found. The jury was prevented from hearing evidence—including the testimony of a police officer—that on a prior occasion, the Highleys falsely told the police that [Ralph] Baze was driving drunk, had nearly run someone off the road, was armed and dangerous, and was a fugitive with out-of-state warrants. According to the excluded testimony, this false information from the Highleys led police officers to stop Baze’s car, aim their guns at him, and threaten to shoot him if he moved. Further, both Baze and the police officer would have expressed their beliefs that it was the Highleys’ allegations that instigated the stop.”

“Baze’s prior experience with the police was relevant not only to show the general link in his mind between the Highleys harassment and police action, but also because one of the prior fabrications by the Highleys involved out-of-state warrants—the initial basis for Baze’s arrest on the day of the shootings. During the previous Highley-instigated traffic stop, the officers had checked for out-of-state warrants and had told Baze that the law-enforcement computer disclosed no outstanding charges. This information would certainly have made Baze more likely to believe that his impending arrest on outstanding charges was a lawless act of familial score-settling rather than a legitimate exercise of police authority, and thereby contributed to the inflammation of his passions upon Briscoe’s arrival. To the contrary, Baze was allowed to testify only to his general belief that there were no out-of-state warrants against him. Again, evidence that this information came from the same police department now seeking to arrest him would have bolstered the believability of Baze’s perception and the reasonableness of the resulting distress.”

Jack Conway has been Attorney General for 7 years. It's a very powerful position. He's the top cop and the top lawyer in Kentucky. Conway is the Sheriff, and Beshear is the County-Judge. Conway can arrest Beshear, and should do so, for his discrimination against gay folks. Conway should also look into the dealings of the KKK HQ in Beshear's hometown of Dawson Springs.

Jack Conway became Attorney General in January 2008. Jack Conway has been in government, as Attorney General, the highest lawyer in Kentucky, for 7 years now. Conway is friends with Governor Steve Beshear... Conway could have got whatever legislation he wanted passed, with just the tiniest bit of effort with lobbying the legislature, and with the Executive Branch, which he's a part of.

Kentucky's Governor's chair has incredible amounts of power, from controlling the domestic armed forces, to being able to use the bully pulpit of being the Chief of Kentucky, the Man, to being the face for Kentucky, to being able to hire folks to lucractive jobs and the many departments in the State Government through the power of appointment. Kentucky's Governor is a “strong Governor”, meaning Kentucky citizens really must trust their Governor, because virtually every time, absolute power corrupt absolutely.

Jack Conway is in favor of Nixon and Reagan's racist War on Drugs. Jack Conway was with Baby Bush on the authorization to declare war with Iraq, the Patriot Act, the Bush Tax Cuts, and now, Conway has been consistently been in favor of the Republican failed War on Drugs. It's one of the few convictions Jack Conway has. He's against hemp, and medical marijuana too.

In fact, Jack Conway is to the right of Rand Paul's position on Nixon and Reagan's racist War on Drugs. Jack Conway hit Rand Paul on the marijuana issue during his US Senate campaign with his Aqua Buddha television ad.

Jack Conway is 100% against Marijuana, Kentucky's #1 cash crop. Conway even wanted to keep Hemp illegal so as to help the police's attack on Marijuana. When asked if he was in favor of hemp farming for Kentucky, Conway replied:

“It's a law enforcement issue. The problem with hemp is, when you're trying to eradicate marijuana, which is a major law enforcement issue in Kentucky, I know how difficult it can be for law enforcement to make the distinction, and so I think we need to leave that issue to those in law enforcement who are advising us on it. If there's a difficulty in distinguishing between hemp and marijuana then we shouldn't have hemp farming in Kentucky, because it's more of a law enforcement issue about making certain we don't let a gateway drug get into the marketplace.”

The side effects of Marijuana are hungry, happy, sleepy. That's it. Even the side effects of Marijuana have medicinal properties. Alcohol is a much worse drug. Plus, as free people, we're supposed to have a right to our own bodies. When did we lose the right to our own bodies? Why don't we own our own bodies?

Jack Conway started his war on drugs as soon as he got into office. Conway has been attacking the drug problem in Kentucky with Operation UNITE, an anti-drug initiative in Kentucky that receives the majority of its funding at the federal level. For Rand Paul, the “federal solution” to the war on drugs wasn't working.

Conway indicated in a 2002 Project Vote Smart survey that he does not support decriminalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Conway has been on the wrong side of history when it comes to the War on Drugs since at least 2002.

In Economics, there is only supply and demand. Conway has attacked the supply side, and he hasn't solved the problem. For nearly 8 years, Conway has attacked drugs, and still, Kentucky has a drug problem. It doesn't matter if it's pills, meth, crack, heroin, or alcohol. Kentuckians want their drugs. Kentuckians have an insatiable demand for drugs.

There's many ways to attack the war on drugs from the demand side. We can educate the population on what the effects of drugs are. I appreciated DARE at CMZ in Grand County, Kentucky, when I was in elementary school, and learned much from it. Many Kentucky folks are reaching out for drugs because their lives are miserable, so we need to help them fix their lives. Nobody can force anybody to do anything, but we can bring about a set of conditions that can help the person lift themselves up. With a robust economy, with an economy with plenty of jobs, we will help the drug problem in Kentucky.

For Marijuana, and perhaps for all drugs, Legalization is the only rightful solution. Kentucky's drug problem isn't a criminal issue; it's a public health issue. We need to handle these cases with love and compassion, not hatred and violence.

Jack Conway is in favor of mandatory sentences for drug dealers, aka pharmaceutical redistributers. We have pharmacies all over the place. They're called drug stores, and there's one on every corner in America. Alcohol is sold in abundance. A drug dealer is just a small business man, regular working class folks, usually raising a family, with wife and kids, and their occupation was the same as the pharmacy, or a retail store that sells alcohol. They're businessmen. They're businesswomen. They're establishing small corporate start-ups. Drug dealers are slinging drugs because they can profit lots off of it, and they can profit handsomely since it's illegal. Making anything illegal increases the prices of that good without doing anything to the demand.

You can't get rid of the most evolved plant in the world, a wild plant that comes out of God's green Earth. The Prohibition on Marijuana has been conducted for over 100 years... have we gotten rid of Marijuana? Then why do we still do it?

Any State or nation that tries an alternative to the war on drugs has seen ample amounts of success, and everywhere the war on drugs has been a disastrous failure. So when the current policy is a failure, and all other alternatives make things better, we should try any one of those alternatives, to turn Kentucky around, and set Kentucky right side up.

Marijuana possession accounted for 76.5% of all Marijuana related arrests in Kentucky. 8,546 were arrested on marijuana related charges, and 6,540 were arrested specifically for possession. There were 20,560 total arrests for drugs in general in Kentucky 2010, and out of all drug charges, 6,540 of them were for marijuana possession. Marijuana possession represents 32% of all drug charges in Kentucky. Nearly 1 in 3. Kentucky spends $6 - $33 Million on the failed War on Drugs.

The war on drugs is also inherently racist.

In Kentucky, in 2010, 687 Blacks were arrested for every 117 white folks for the possession of marijuana out of 100,000 folks. Blacks are 5.95 more times to arrested than whites for the possession of marijuana, in Kentucky, and whites are more likely to have the drugs. https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/1114413-mj-report-rfs-rel1.pdf Clearly, Blacks are being arrested at a higher rate than whites for marijuana possession, a victimless crime... a victimless crime means it's a non-crime.

In Kentucky, Blacks represent 8.2% of the total population, but disproportionately, Black folks represent 35.6% of the marijuana possession arrests. That's a difference of 27.3%.

36% is 4 times the rate of the total population of Black folks in the State of Kentucky. Out of 25 Kentucky folks, only 2 of them will be Black, but if we look at the arrests, out of every 25 arrests, Black folks make up 9.

If they only represent 2 out of 25, then how come 9 out of 25 are being arrested?

Black folks are 6 more times liked to be arrested for the simple act of possessing marijuana than white folks in Kentucky. That's disproportionate, and on the surface, that's racist. Kentucky, with Jack Conway being the top cop, the top lawman, the Attorney General, at the least has institutional racism, and at the most, de jure racism in Kentucky's criminal justice system, and in marijuana arrests. Both de jure and de facto racism needs to be wiped out and eradicated.

In 2001, Kentucky's Black to White arrest ratio was that Blacks were 2.4 times more liked to be arrested than whites. In 2010, that rate increased to being 6 times more likely of being arrested, just based only on the color of one's skin. That's a 146% increase, on an already biased and disproportionate disparity, nearly 10 years ago. 146% increase! Not even our GDP is growing that fast.

In 2010, Kentucky arrested a total of 6,540 folks for marijuana possession. 4,195 of those arrests were white folks, and 2,327 were Black folks.

Kenton County, Kentucky is arresting 10 Black folks to 1 White for marijuana possession arrests.

The total cost for the arrests on Marijuana possession in Kentucky for 2010 was $19 million dollars. $19 million dollars, gone, down the drain, never to be seen again. Every year, Kentucky flushes $19 million dollars down the toilet, for their own debasement and criminality.

Out of that $19 million dollars, the police received $7.6 Million, the Judge, Courts, and Lawyers received $9.5 Million, and the jails received $2.4 Million.

It's not just immoral and unethical to ruin people's lives over drugs. It's downright criminal. It makes no sense. The solution to people ruining their own lives, is to further ruin their lives? How does that help anybody? If there's no victim, then there's no crime. The point of the law is to prevent one person from injuring another person, and if there's no victim, then there's no crime. It's more ridiculous than the seat belt law.

How many innocents have been thrown in jail over this ridiculously unAmerican war? How many are in jail for victimless crimes? Conway has criminally assaulted many folks in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and penned them up like pigs in a old barn stall, throwing charges on them, jailing and harassing them, bullying them, ruining their names, making it difficult for them to get jobs, and fining them. Throwing victimless “criminals” into jail should be criminal. Assault, suspending habeas corpus, is Jack Conway's mantra.

Conway is hopelessly addicted to his racist personal vendetta on the war on drugs. All of the other candidates for Kentucky Governor, including Drew Curtis and James Comer, have said absolutely nothing about supporting the legalization of marijuana. Hal Heiner. Drew Curtis. Will T. Scott. Matt Bevin. James Comer. All of these candidates will keep the Marijuana Prohibition alive and well. While Jack Conway, once again, agrees with the Republicans on a major policy issue, it turns out that all of the candidates for Kentucky Governor, except for Geoffrey M. Young, are to the right of Kim Jung-Un, when it comes to North Korea's liberal policy of decriminalizing marijuana. Conway has been against marijuana for quite some time. It seems to be his lifelong passion.

CONCLUSION:

James Comer, the Republican agriculture commissioner, and GOP candidate for Governor, has repeatedly said he is focused on helping Republicans retake the state House after almost a century of Democratic control. We don't just need a candidate who shakes our hands, and tries to appear “human” by smoozing with the voters. We actually need a true blue leader for the Democratic Party. We need to be focused on bringing in new Democrats into the party, as well as strengthening our current Democratic parties throughout the State. Geoff will do that, but Jack will not.

Conway is running to the right, already. Right now. I wonder, how long before it takes Conway before he starts running racist anti-immigration advertisements, and being in favor of the Keystone Pipeline, and fracking. He's already thrown Obama under the bus. Sure he voted for him, but guess what Kentucky!?! He's already suing him!

Jack has admitted in the past that he's made mistakes, and he's corrected those mistakes. Perhaps he can correct this racist Republican War on Drugs mistake. Doubtful, but anything's possible.

For this campaign, all Jack Conway would have to do, to take Geoffrey M. Young's votes, would be to adopt the most popular planks into his platform. This will make Conway progressive on many issues he needs to be more progressive on, and by keeping Conway progressive, he'll have a better chance at winning the Gubernatorial election. If Conway stands up, and runs on progressive values, instead of playing political games, by being fake and “inauthentic”, and pretending to be a Republican-lite corporatist, which it already seems very well that he is, then he will win. With Conway standing up for Progressive values, and taking his licks for his Progressive stances, he will appeal to the average Kentucky voter, by being real, by being authentic, and Conway will beat the Republicans. Democrats need to learn to be themselves. You're more liberal than conservative. Good! We need that. We need some balance. In Kentucky, there's only conservatives, and Geoff Young is the last Progressive left standing.

If Conway tries to out Republican the Republicans, and starts running to the right, as he's doing right now, then he'll lose the election to the Republicans, just like Alison and Hillary both lost their respective races in Kentucky before him.

Geoff Young lost to Elizabeth Jensen in a congressional race by a few points. He had $600 on hand. If Geoff had double the money, then he'd have double the votes. Instead of 40%, he would have won with 80%, if Geoff had $1200. [$600 is what Joe Gerth reported... Geoff actually spent $26,000 of his own money on his Congressional campaign] The entire world is watching Kentucky's Gubernatorial Election. Obama beat Hillary because he was more Progressive than her. Obama beat Hillary by attacking her from the left. Alison did the exact opposite. Alison went running to the right of Mitch McConnell, and she lost. Jensen lost for the same reason. The traditional beltway wisdom of politics is changing, quickly. Instead of watching Jack Conway sell Democrats down the river during this campaign, we have a true blue Progressive Democrat. One who believes in Kentucky's middle, working, and poor class. Kentucky's 99%. It would seem bad politics to ignore the 99%.

How we can know for sure, if Jack Conway is progressive if he doesn't tell us his thoughts regarding these important policies which honest Democrats care about. We know that Conway is a well-connected political insider. We know that Conway denies being liberal or progressive. Conway snubbed Joe Biden when he came to Kentucky. Conway says that he will always distance himself from the Obama administration. Conway is for perpetual Empire, and:

Anti-Capping Emissions
Pro-Iraq War
Pro-Patriot Act
Pro-Mountaintop Removal
Pro-Bush Tax Cuts
Pro-Cuts to Social Security, or raising the retirement age
Anti-Free Speech
Pro-Death Penalty; signed death warrant for Ralph Baze, who killed in self-defense; Kentucky's spent $100 million on death penalty system
Anti-Democracy
Anti Civil Liberties
Pro-Gay Marriage, after 10 Years of Prosecuting Gay Marriage
Pro-Abortion, but won't include the procedure in health insurances offered
Anti-Single Payer Healthcare
Anti-Marijuana
Anti-Medical Marijuana
Anti-Hemp
Pro-racist Nixon and Reagan's War on Drugs; $19 Million spent yearly; 6 times more Blacks are arrested in Kentucky for possession of marijuana than whites; In Kentucky, Blacks represent 8.2% of the total population, but disproportionately, Black folks represent 35.6% of the marijuana possession arrests. That's a difference of 27.3%. Kenton County, Kentucky is arresting 10 Black folks to 1 White for marijuana possession arrests.
Anti-Immigration; wants more border patrols to stop the 3% Hispanic population in Kentucky from getting any bigger; Conway's views on immigration are to the right of Mitch McConnell.

Jack Conway will blow it, just like most Democrats do. Democrats are namby-pamby wimps. They are spineless immoral corporate Republican-lite automatons. They do not stand for anything, which is why they fall for anything. They haven't got any moral convictions. They don't have a moral compass. They are wicked in the inside, and they are fake. They are plastic. They are empty suits, empty hollowed-out zombie husks.

Take for example, the Employee Free Choice Act. For right now, Jack Conway is in favor of it. But if Conway runs to the right during this whole race, it's only a matter of time before he starts compromising EFCA. We can't be sure what he actually believes. In past races, he's ran as a conservative, while winking at everybody whose liberal, as if we're supposed to be in on his little game. Don't blame games. Be honest with me. Be upfront with me. I want to know what you think about important policy issues. Talk to me, like a person, like you care if I believe what you believe, and consider what I say.

The Republican Class War will not be stopped by Jack Conway. The 4 Republicans will discuss every idea under the Sun. The Republican primary will be exciting, especially if they can maintain cordiality. And Republicans are good at endorsing the primary choice for Governor. They rally and unify after the heated primaries. If they can get their shit together.

The Democrats can lead by example, with Lincoln-Douglass debates all throughout Kentucky.

But Jack Conway won't do that. He'll be unseasoned, and undefined, just as the Democratic pundits want him to be.

Kentucky has a ton of corruption, and Jack Conway is at the heart of Kentucky's dysfunction. Jack Conway is the heart of the establishment, and the establishment has already declared him the victor of the Democratic primary. Frankfort can be the solution, but it's not; it's the problem, and there's nobody more Frankfort than Jack Conway. Jack Conway is as Frankfort as Frankfort can get.

Geoff Young is the Fred Tuttle of Kentucky. He's an average Kentuckian. A regular ole Geoff. And that's his best quality. A true statesman. A quiet distinguished humble intelligent radical, who cares.

We keep electing these two-faced politicians, who speak out of both sides of their mouth, who is slimy and untrustworthy, who take millions in donations from the wealthy, and expect their politics not to be compromised?

Guys... (exhale)

A good honest regular citizen should lead Kentucky. Of course that's true. We need to start electing ourselves, the middle, working, poor classes of Kentucky, and start occupying government seats.

The best thing about being Geoff Young's running mate in his run for Governor is that I get to watch as Geoff Young crafts the Democratic Platform for Kentucky Democrats for decades to come.

At the very least, Geoff Young sets the agenda for the Democrats for years to come. At the very most, Kentucky becomes rich and green under a Young Administration.

Kentucky. It's time to go rich, and to go green. Democrats vote Geoff Young 4 Governor, May 19, 2015.


Thank you  

Jack is not a Progressive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ItzShWYc4k
Rachel Maddow on Jack Conway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj0YS9RS3Lk

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