Opinion

FRANKFORT ee" As you read this, the 2010 General Assembly Session has convened.

It will be a 60-day session in which our first priority will be developing a budget under serious financial constraints.

We will also be looking at pro-life legislation, legislative retirement reform, government transparency, allowing the people to decide on whether they would like to expand gambling, as well as other issues.

It promises to be a busy session.

We expect a budget shortfall of about $1 billion.

NORTH POLE - A drastic change in the local celebration of this year’s Christmas holiday may occur due to an overwhelming pandemic in the North Pole area.

Over 80 percent of Christmas Village residents have been identified as carriers of the novel H0H0 Reindeer Flu virus.

Santa Claus, gift-giver to millions and Christmas Village spokesperson, said he indeed suffered from a newer strand of the virus, known as H0H0H0.

“I keep sneezing,” he said. “I’ve wiped my nose so red it looks like a cherry.”

The holiday season is at the mid-way point.

Christmas has come and gone and the New Year is quickly approaching.

Since Santa Barr was rooted out of his normal newsprint space by the clever, but windy, Stephen Thomas, there were no “gifts” handed out to local officials.

Instead, it will be New Year Baby Barr who will have to recap the past year and make a few resolutions for the upcoming year.

Most should be taken with a proverbial grain of salt, although there are probably a few pieces of truth in many of them.

FRANKFORT – With families preparing to hit the road for the holidays, Governor Steve Beshear joined Acting Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock today to announce an innovative step toward ensuring the safety of Kentucky drivers.

In response to the growing number of drivers who text-message while driving, Gov. Beshear launched his Eyes on the Road effort - an executive order prohibiting text messaging by state employees who are driving government-owned vehicles

Our first coffee for this year is Saturday at the C & C Restaurant, just off Louisville Road across from Busy Bee.  We’ll be there at 10:00 and continue for an hour or so.  I’ll bring information on bills that have been filed, but we can talk about anything you’d like. These are great meetings, my chance for one-on-one with you. I’ve always encouraged you to call me at home or in Frankfort and I’m sincere about that.

These Saturday gatherings might be even better. The coffee is free, and I hope to see you there.

WASHINGTON, DC ee" Today Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) joined the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau in a press conference to alert consumers to online deceptive marketing practices associated with free trials with a negative option feature.

According to a Visa survey, 29 percent of American consumers have fallen victim to deceptive marketing when unscrupulous e-commerce merchants require them to cancel or opt-out of a recurring charge for future products or services.

BBB is alerting consumers to a holiday email scam that’s popping-up in consumers’ inboxes just in time for the holiday shopping season.

The email appears to be a legitimate email from DHL Services, a parcel shipment company, but it actually contains an attachment that if opened, will infect your computer with a virus.

There should be absolutely no reason not to have one of the fiscal court meetings each month in the evening hours.

The positives for such a change should be overwhelming.

Then, why hasn’t it been done in the past?

Because it has.

Under the John Harper administration, there were several night-time meetings held. Some of those may still be going on.

It is great for candidates to use that as an item to talk with voters. And most voters would have to say that it is a great idea.