FRANKFORT, Ky. — In a move sharply criticized by opponents of expanded gambling, Gov. Steve Beshear gave his Democratic Party a chance to gain another state Senate seat by appointing Republican Dan Kelly to a vacant judgeship Monday.

The appointment — made less than a full business day after Kelly was one of three candidates recommended for the position — is effective immediately. Beshear called a special election for Dec. 8 to choose Kelly’s replacement in the 14th Senate District.

If Democrats win the election, the Republican margin in the Senate would slip to 19-18, with one independent who caucuses with the GOP. That could help efforts to push through expanded gambling at racetracks, which has stalled in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Kelly, who until a few weeks ago was the Senate majority leader, said Monday that he appreciated the appointment to the $124,620-a-year job and had no second thoughts about accepting it in light of the fact that his party could lose the seat.

Click here to read the full story.

Exaggeration #1

The first one involves the number of people employed by the horse industry. In 2002, the Gatton School of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky found that there were 31,800 jobs connected with the horse “industry” in Kentucky. (Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, Biennial Report 2004-5, p.5)  In 2005, the American Horse Council commissioned a study by a consulting firm, Deloitte, which found a 51,000 figure for Kentucky. Deloitte also indicated that 45,000 additional people derived part of their pay from workers or owners in the horse community. The Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) has rounded off the 96,000 direct and partially dependent workers to 100,000. But the "partially dependent," includes jobs such as the "waitress" for whom some clients are  horse people. If those employed in the horse enterprise had really grown from 31,899 to 100,000 in the last seven years, the competition from casinos has really been good for Kentucky.

Exaggeration # 2

A second exaggeration relates to the economic impact of the tracks and breeding enterprises. In the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Biennial Report for 2004-05, the economic impact of the horse racing “industry” is placed at $1.77 billion. In the four years since then, the impact has supposedly grown to $4 billion annually. Again, based on these statements, in the face of slots competition the impact has more than doubled in four years. Could there be another “fudge factor” here?

Exaggeration # 3

Horse racing is Kentucky’s signature industry. This is a self-appointed title. For many years horse breeding was the leading agricultural money maker. In August of 2009, The Lane Report indicated that chickens, including broilers and egg production had for the first time surpassed horse breeding. Kentucky’s leading industry is automotive production with Toyota, Ford and Corvette leading the way. That is the signature industry.  

Exaggeration # 4

“We will invest a billion in creating state-of-the-art casinos.”  The tracks haven’t got a billion, or they could put $20 to $100 million into purses and solve the problems. They cannot borrow, in this tight market, a billion dollars. They don’t need a billion to build buildings to house slots, which take less space than table games. Churchill Downs has already built its casino location and wired it for slots and will spend little. The other tracks in more dire straits will spend a few million each if they get slots. This exaggeration gains little for the tracks, except to expose a feeble attempt to sound like they will bring economic development. which they will not do.

Exaggeration # 5

The “industry” is leaving the state. Owners do take their horses to other states to run. They always have. They always will. Owners in other states also bring their horses to Kentucky to race. They always have and they always will. A very few owners and breeders who rent land are moving to other states to rent land and carry on. Horse farm owners cannot just pick up and move and why would they? They do not have to own a farm in Pennsylvania to breed horses to sell. If things go badly in another state because of acts of legislatures there, those who left will be back. The West Virginia purses have dropped because the state took an extra $5 million from each track. The same is threatened in Indiana where the tracks already pay a higher rate than the riverboats, and pay a subsidy to the casino at French Lick. The Pennsylvania Promised Land could become a desert overnight.

Exaggeration # 6

Better purses out-of-state are killing the “industry” here. In 2008, every track in Kentucky except Ellis Park and Turfway paid better purses than the two tracks in West Virginia. Turfway’s purses were within $5,000 per day over approximately 10 races per day compared to Mountaineer Park.  They were within $35,000 per day of Charles Town Races.

These tracks are attracting some owners from the eastern end of the state.  In 2008 for the first time the purses in Indiana at Hoosier Park and Indiana Downs surpassed those at Kentucky’s weakest tracks. Yet both of these tracks are on the verge of bankruptcy, and have lost money each year they have operated. Unless they get tax relief from the legislature they claim they are going under. Instead the legislature is threatening tax increases. Is Indiana just a temporary threat?

Ohio purses would have to triple to become competitive with the weakest tracks in Kentucky. Seldom have casinos more than doubled purses, which by the way, is all that is being proposed here. Three years down the road Maryland may become a threat, but certainly not now. That leaves New York and Pennsylvania. New York has the highest purses in the land. They draw the very best horses, and are competition for Churchill and Keeneland only.

The claim is that New York purses will increase another 28 percent in 2010. If so, they will draw a few of the very best horses from Kentucky. That is sad, but there is no way this poverty ridden state can compete with New York.

For all the promotion of Pennsylvania as a threat, at present it is modest. Purses at Penn National are below Ellis Park, so really only two tracks in Pennsylvania are competitive. These two tracks run $80,000 to $130,000 per day in purses above Ellis Park and Turfway and are definitely hurting them.

For small towns, chance of a big windfall

Washington County in the Florida Panhandle is moist, allowing sales of beer and wine but not liquor. As a result, businesses prefer to locate in surrounding counties “simply because they allow the sale of liquor and alcohol,” said Sheran Whitaker, chairwoman of Citizens for Economic Opportunity, which is seeking a referendum to turn the county wet.

The Rev. Alcus Brock, director of missions for the West Florida Baptist Association, has led a fierce fight against the proposal.

“We feel like, as responsible citizens of the community, that it is our responsibility and that we would be remiss if we did not try to educate the people on the ills of alcohol and some of the things that it would bring to our community,” said Brock, who heads Citizens for Positive Development, which was formed to oppose the effort.

For guidance, voters could look to places like Rockwood, Tenn., a town of 5,700 that opened its first liquor stores this month.

“We’re projecting around $80,000 a year to our budget, and that’s a whole lot for a small community like Rockwood,” said City Council member James L. Watts, who was mayor when the measure was passed by voters late last year.

Mark Green, a lifelong resident of Rockwood, which is in eastern Tennessee between Nashville and Chattanooga, said he had “mixed emotions.”

“I’m a Sunday school teacher, and I’m against drinking,” Green said. But at the same time, “We have felt the effects of the economy. A lot of people have been let go from industry in Rockwood, including myself, and it has hurt Rockwood.”

That’s the debate taking place in numerous communities, like Trigg County, Ky., which will decide whether to go wet in a referendum this week. The county executive, Stan Humphries, said the issue was so divisive that he simply wants the vote to be over.

Voters are similarly divided in Winona, Texas — so much so that when alcohol sales went on the ballot in May, the vote was a 94-94 tie. A revote will take place Nov. 3.

Click here to see the full story.

(CNN) -- Support for abortion rights has fallen sharply in the past year, with Americans now split roughly 50-50 between those who back legal access to abortion and those who oppose it, according to a new survey.

The findings mark a dramatic shift in public opinion, supporters of abortion rights have outnumbered opponents for many years, with one brief exception, studies have shown.

But only 47 percent of Americans now feel abortion should be legal in all or most cases, a drop from 54 percent a year ago, according to the poll.

Meanwhile, 45 percent say it should be illegal in all or most cases. That's up from 41 percent a year ago.

Click here to read the full story.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The dispute over whether a private Baptist college in Southern Kentucky can get millions of dollars in state money for a pharmacy school prompted some tough questions Thursday from state Supreme Court justices.

Several justices appeared skeptical of the 2006 plan for the state to give $10 million to the University of the Cumberlands to build the school. The state also promised to pay $1 million a year for scholarships.

Some of the sharpest questions came from Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., who asked supporters to explain how the funding could possibly be allowed under a section of the state Constitution that bars the use of public money for any “church, sectarian or denominational school.”

Kim Colby, a lawyer with the Washington, D.C.-area Christian Legal Society, which represents the college and 13 lawmakers who support the project, said Cumberlands merely is seeking to improve public health.

“We submit it is a public health and safety measure rather than education,” Colby said.

But Minton appeared unconvinced, saying that to accept that argument “the court would have to agree with you that pharmacy education is not education or it would run afoul of our Constitution.”

Click here to read the full story.

WASHINGTON (BP)--A new analysis of 37 different studies shows abortion entails a "significantly increased risk" of premature birth and low birth weight in a woman's subsequent babies. The report found a greater risk of such results with multiple abortions.

The meta-analysis by Canadian researcher Prakesh Shah found that a woman who had an abortion in the first six months of a pregnancy later had a 35 percent greater risk of a baby with low birth weight and a 36 percent increased risk of a premature baby.

Additionally, the analysis showed a woman with more than one abortion had a 72 percent greater risk for a low-birth weight child and a 93 percent increased risk for a premature baby.

The meta-analysis by Shah, a pediatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, was published Sept. 16 in the BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Shah's research spanned 37 studies from 1965 to 2001.

Click here to read the full story.

WHEREAS, There is a major push to expand casino-style gambling at Kentucky’s racetracks; and

WHEREAS, Many businesses besides the horse industry are facing difficulty in these tough economic times, but expanded gambling primarily for the benefit of one industry is unjust and creates a legalized monopoly; and

WHEREAS, Numerous studies have demonstrated that legalized gambling and casinos have significant negative impacts on surrounding communities, including but not limited, to increases in crime, personal bankruptcy, blight from surrounding closing businesses, proliferation of pawn shops, homelessness, domestic violence, child abuse, suicides and fraud; and

WHEREAS, Casino gambling extracts discretionary dollars from the local economy and hurts existing businesses; and

WHEREAS casino gambling historically preys on the most vulnerable members of our society; and

WHEREAS a certain percentage of the population will develop an addiction to casino gambling; and

WHEREAS families and churches will be bear the greatest burden to care for those caught in the addiction; and

WHEREAS good government should not be party to an activity that leads to the detriment of some members of society

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Graves County Baptist Association opposes any form of gambling expansion in Kentucky and encourages our state representatives and senators to oppose any expansion of gambling or any move that would open the door to such expansion.

Cecilia—A Kentucky Baptist church has found itself in the middle of a church-state debate after a local high school football coach invited his players to revival services where several were baptized.

Franklin Crossroads Baptist Church in Cecilia held revival services Aug. 23-26. Several players from the Breckinridge County High School football team, invited to the church by head coach and Franklin Crossroads member Scott Mooney, accepted Christ and were baptized at the revival.

Last week, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported that the mother of one of the players was upset that her 16-year-old son was baptized, claiming it happened without her knowledge or consent.

Michelle Ammons told the Courier-Journal that Mooney pushed his faith on her son, Robert Coffey, as well as the other players who attended. She claimed they were invited only to have a steak dinner and hear a motivational speaker.

Since the C-J article was published, the incident has taken on a life of its own, raising arguments on both sides of the church-state aisle.

“It’s amazing to me how this ‘non-story’ has become such a story,” Franklin Crossroads Pastor Ron Davis told the Western Recorder.

Davis said he has heard from secular and religious media outlets from all over the world since the story broke. CNN had requested to send a camera crew to Franklin Crossroads last weekend, and he has done interviews with reporters from as far away as Canada and Germany.

Click here to read the full story.

AUGUSTA, Maine (BP)--A ballot measure that would overturn Maine's "gay marriage" law officially qualified for the ballot Wednesday, putting the state on course for a historic November vote.

It will be the first time the issue has been put on the ballot in the liberal Northeast, a region that has largely embraced the "gay rights" movement. Maine either will become the first state to affirm "gay marriage" at the ballot, or the second one -- following California -- to legalize such unions, then reverse course.

The measure is sure to capture the attention of both sides of the debate nationally, particularly being that 2009 is an off-year election with little else on ballots in other states. Several homosexual activist groups in California already have urged their members to donate to Protect Maine Equality, the group working to keep "gay marriage" legal.

Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said Sept. 2 that the measure, called a People's Veto, had qualified for the ballot. Dunlap's office stopped validating signatures after 60,391 -- well more than the 55,087 required -- were considered legal. Stand for Marriage Maine, the official proponent of the measure, turned in roughly 100,000 signatures in late July. Involvement by the state's Protestant and Catholic churches was critical, those in the state said.

The People's Veto, if passed, would reverse a law legalizing "gay marriage signed by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci in May. It has not gone into effect and won't do so until voters have a say. The measure will be known as Question 1 on the ballot. Maine is one of but a handful of states that allow citizens to gather signatures to overturn laws.

Click here to read the full story.

]]> http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dxcomments/Maine-Voters-To-Decide-on-Gay-Marriage http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Maine-Voters-To-Decide-on-Gay-Marriage?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Maine-Voters-To-Decide-on-Gay-Marriage Thu, 3 Sep 2009 17:00:19 -0400 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/KBCPublicAffairs/~3/npiS7nCu89M/Respect-for-Life-Urged-in-Health-Care-Debate Gambling Site Administrator http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Respect-for-Life-Urged-in-Health-Care-Debate?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Respect-for-Life-Urged-in-Health-Care-Debate Emphasizing that it is not taking a position on the issue of health care reform itself, the Kentucky Baptist Convention on Public Affairs is urging Kentucky’s Congressional delegation to respect the sanctity of life in any legislation that is approved.

In its meeting Aug. 27, the committee voted unanimously to write all U.S. House and Senate members from Kentucky as well as the candidates in the race for U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning’s seat to encourage them to work to exclude any language that would allow abortion in a government-funded health care plan or that failed to support life in end-of-life decisions.

Part of the national health care debate has centered on whether the plan being considered would provide abortion coverage. President Obama has said the plan does not change the federal government’s current prohibition on funding abortion but abortion-rights groups are disputing that.

Likewise, the health care discussion has sparked fears among some that a national insurance program might not provide adequate coverage or discourage spending on elderly or terminally-ill patients. The president has called these claims unfounded “myths” that are being used to scare people.

The committee also voted to ask KBC Mission Board staff to provide educational resources on the issue of gambling to churches in parts of the state facing special elections for House and Senate seats.

Although expanded gambling was defeated once again in this summer’s special session, the potential for approval of a future gambling bill took one step closer on Aug. 25 when state Rep. Robin Webb, an expanded gambling supporter, narrowly won a vacant Senate District 18 seat previously held by an expanded gambling opponent.

]]> http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dxcomments/Respect-for-Life-Urged-in-Health-Care-Debate http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Respect-for-Life-Urged-in-Health-Care-Debate?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Respect-for-Life-Urged-in-Health-Care-Debate Tue, 1 Sep 2009 22:21:09 -0400 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/KBCPublicAffairs/~3/MX6G2D8MV8Y/Judge-Says-Kentucky-Cant-Depend-on-God Separation of Church & State Site Administrator http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Judge-Says-Kentucky-Cant-Depend-on-God?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Judge-Says-Kentucky-Cant-Depend-on-God
Rep. Tom Riner, pastor of Christ the King Baptist Church in Louisville, had the language included in the bill that established the office in 2006. The law called for "stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the commonwealth" and affirmed that security "cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God."

Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate ruled Aug. 26, however, that more than a passing reference to God in legal statutes violates the First Amendment's prohibition against government endorsing religion.

Here's the story about the ruling from the Associated Baptist Press:

FRANKFORT, Ky. (ABP) -- A state judge has ruled that Kentucky cannot legally depend on God to keep its citizens safe.

Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate ruled Aug. 26 a 2006 amendment to a law establishing the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security that declared "the safety and security of the commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God" an unconstitutional establishment of religion.

Attorneys for the Commonwealth of Kentucky argued that all three branches of government have acknowledged the role of religion in public life for more than 200 years and that removing them would create "a wholly secular society completely divorced from religion."

Wingate said both the federal and Kentucky constitutions "permit a passing reference to Almighty God nestled in the middle" of legal statutes but the law in question "is more than an ephemeral general reference to God." Rather, he said, the statute "places an affirmative duty to rely on Almighty God for the protection of the Commonwealth."

That, the judge ruled, made the Kentucky law "exceptional among thousands of others" and transgressed the First Amendment's requirement that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

"Even assuming that most of this nation's citizens have historically depended upon God by choice for their protection, this does not give the General Assembly the right to force citizens to do so now," Wingate ruled. "That is the very reason the Establishment Clause was created; to protect the minority from the oppression of the majority."

In the lawsuit challenging the law's constitutionality, American Atheists, Inc., claimed the law constituted an attempt to "establish religion, endorse belief over non-belief, set up a religious test, [and] indoctrinate Kentucky citizens and state employees in theistic religious beliefs."

The group said the law would "diminish the civil rights, privileges or capacities of atheists and others who do not believe in a god, or who believe in a different god or gods than the presumed supernatural entity unconstitutionally endorsed by the legislation."

State Rep. Tom Riner, D-Louisville, a Southern Baptist minister who slipped the "Almighty God" language into a homeland security bill three years ago, told the Lexington Herald-Leader he was unhappy with the judge's ruling.

Riner, pastor of Christ is King Baptist Church in Louisville, said the law did not mandate that Kentuckians depend on God for their safety but simply acknowledged that government without God cannot protect its citizens.

"The decision would have shocked and disappointed Thomas Jefferson, who penned the words that the General Assembly paraphrased in this legislation," Riner said.

Click here for the full story.

]]> http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dxcomments/Judge-Says-Kentucky-Cant-Depend-on-God http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Judge-Says-Kentucky-Cant-Depend-on-God?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Judge-Says-Kentucky-Cant-Depend-on-God Tue, 1 Sep 2009 15:45:52 -0400 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/KBCPublicAffairs/~3/WkjhPp0t6dQ/Appeals-Court-Gives-New-Life-to-Sunrise-Suit Site Administrator http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Appeals-Court-Gives-New-Life-to-Sunrise-Suit?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Appeals-Court-Gives-New-Life-to-Sunrise-Suit A lawsuit that has been dogging Sunrise Children's Services (formerly Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children) for nearly a decade now was given at least a spark of new life Monday when a federal appeals court ruled that a group of plaintiffs had the right to challenge whether the Baptist agency could receive state funding since it is a religious organization. The children's agency has for many years now received partial reimbursement from the state for children in its care who are in the state's custody. The arrangement has been a good one for all involved because the state has been able to place children with an organization that provides high quality care at only a portion of the price it would be forced to pay a provider who demanded full reimbursement.

One positive from the Monday ruling by the U.S. 6th Court of Appeals, however, was that the court upheld the dismissal of claims of employment discrimination from an employee who was dismissed by the children's home after revealing publically that she is a lesbian. The original lawsuit stemmed from this claim.

Sunrise Children's Services is a faith-based non-profit agency that cares for children and youth who have fallen victim to abuse or neglect. Sunrise operates 10 residential treatment facilities and therapeutic foster care homes throughout the state of Kentucky, as well as a crisis stabilization unit in Danville, a youth support center in London, and IMPACT Plus case management and service coordination for Medicaid-eligible children in western and central Kentucky. Through these programs, nearly 400 children are served each day. Adoption services and family counseling are also available.

Here's the story about the court's ruling from the Louisville Courier-Journal:

A federal appeals court has ruled that a group of Kentucky taxpayers may challenge state funding of a Baptist social service agency they say wrongly pushes religion on abused and neglected children it serves.

The ruling, issued Monday by a U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Cincinnati, provides an opening to a group that has been battling Sunrise Children’s Services — formerly Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children — for nearly a decade over state funding for the agency that provides foster care and residential services.

“They have given us the green light to go back and demonstrate with some of the evidence we’ve already presented that there is clearly religious activity that was funded with state money,” said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

But William Smithwick, president of Sunrise, said his agency, which operates children’s services throughout the state, does not promote the Baptist faith among children it serves and will defend itself in federal court.

“We’d like this resolved so we can continue to take care of the kids,” he said. “We think we are doing a good job with that.”

The ruling, which sends the matter back to U.S. District Court in Louisville on the funding dispute, rejected additional claims of employer discrimination by Sunrise for firing a worker in 1998 because she is a lesbian with “an admitted homosexual lifestyle.”

The appeals court ruling upheld Judge Charles G. Simpson, who had dismissed employment discrimination claims by Alicia Pedreira, a therapist who worked at one of its residential centers, as well as the claims of another woman who said she was unable to get a job with Sunrise because she is lesbian.

Click here for the full story.

]]> http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dxcomments/Appeals-Court-Gives-New-Life-to-Sunrise-Suit http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Appeals-Court-Gives-New-Life-to-Sunrise-Suit?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Appeals-Court-Gives-New-Life-to-Sunrise-Suit Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:49:18 -0400 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/KBCPublicAffairs/~3/fT21WhmqnLA/Is-Abortion-In-or-Out-of-Health-Care-Plan Sanctity of Life Site Administrator http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Is-Abortion-In-or-Out-of-Health-Care-Plan?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Is-Abortion-In-or-Out-of-Health-Care-Plan
Confusion abounds just now over whether abortion would be federally funded by President Obama's proposed health care reform plan. The president says he's not changing the ban against federal funding of abortion but abortion groups are insisting that the plan does include avenues for abortion.

The Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is asking the president to clarify by supporting the addition of language that specifically excludes abortion funding.

Here's a story on this latest issue in the health care reform debate from Baptist Press:

WASHINGTON (BP)--President Obama, who denied two days in a row abortion will be federally funded under proposed health care reform, could easily clear up the controversy by endorsing efforts to exclude the procedure from such legislation, says Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land.

In an Aug. 19 webcast call-in organized by left-leaning religious organizations, Obama said abortion would not be underwritten by the government in health care reform. Citing what he described as some "distortion[s]" about health care proposals, the president told listeners, "You've heard that this is all going to mean government funding of abortion. Not true. These are all fabrications...."

The president told supporters Aug. 20 at a health care forum at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, "There are no plans under health reform to revoke" current bans on federal money for abortion.

Major pro-life organizations responded quickly after Obama's Aug. 19 comments, saying the president's denial misrepresented current proposals. The bill (H.R. 3200) working its way through the House of Representatives explicitly permits a public option to fund elective abortions, they pointed out.

The conflict can be easily resolved, said Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).

"There's a very simple way to solve this dilemma -- that is to support language that specifically excludes abortion," Land told Baptist Press. "Pro-life Democrats, in alliance with pro-life Republicans in the House, have tried repeatedly to get such abortion-exclusionary language into the various bills that are in the Congress, and they have been rebuffed every time.

"If, as the president alleges, abortion is not to be considered a covered procedure in any government option, what's the problem with specifically saying so by excluding it in the legislative language? I would encourage President Obama to pick up the phone and call his party's leaders in the House and tell them to drop their opposition to specifically excluding abortion as a covered procedure in any proposed legislation," he said.

Among the pro-life organizations that said Obama misrepresented the abortion impact of proposed health care reform were the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), Family Research Council and Susan B. Anthony List.

Click here to read the full story from Baptist Press.

]]> http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dxcomments/Is-Abortion-In-or-Out-of-Health-Care-Plan http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Is-Abortion-In-or-Out-of-Health-Care-Plan?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Is-Abortion-In-or-Out-of-Health-Care-Plan Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:53:31 -0400 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/KBCPublicAffairs/~3/SqsvwRN1Ixg/Efforts-to-Expand-Alcohol-Sales-Continuing Alcohol Site Administrator http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Efforts-to-Expand-Alcohol-Sales-Continuing?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Efforts-to-Expand-Alcohol-Sales-Continuing Kentucky Ethics League has recently shared several updates on attempts to expand alcohol sales in Kentucky. Here's a rundown:

• Trigg County (Cadiz is the county seat) -- Citizens will be voting on the issue of allowing alcohol sales on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
• Lincoln County (Stanford is the county seat) -- Citizens will vote on the issue of allowing alcohol sales on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
• Estill County (Irvine is the county seat) -- Petitions are being circulated to get signatures in support of alcohol sales.  At present, it does not seem that there is much citizen support for the petition; however, the area ministerial association is taking the lead to oppose alcohol sales in the area.  They are organizing now to inform the citizens on the negative effects of alcohol in hopes that the petition will not gain enough support to get the issue on the ballot.  Their next organizational meeting is set for Monday, Sept. 21.
• City of Stanton (Powell County) -- A recent petition to put a measure on the ballot to allow alcohol sales did not get enough signatures to qualify. Unfortunately, the group that proposed and supports alcohol sales has said it will try again.

]]> http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dxcomments/Efforts-to-Expand-Alcohol-Sales-Continuing http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Efforts-to-Expand-Alcohol-Sales-Continuing?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Efforts-to-Expand-Alcohol-Sales-Continuing Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:57:37 -0400 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/KBCPublicAffairs/~3/FBvKpW-rgl4/Groups-Seek-To-Correct-Campaign-Ad-Error Citizenship Site Administrator http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Groups-Seek-To-Correct-Campaign-Ad-Error?opendocument&comments http://www1.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/BLOG-CPA.nsf/dx/Groups-Seek-To-Correct-Campaign-Ad-Error Two Kentucky organizations are seeking to correct possible misperceptions by voters preparing to cast ballots in the upcoming Senate District 18 special election between Republican Dr. Jack Ditty, Democratic state Rep. Robin Webb and Independent Guy E. Gibbons Jr. The district covers Bracken, Carter, Greenup, Lewis, Mason and Robertson counties.

It seems that ads have been appearing throughout the district from the Webb campaign indicating support from the Family Foundation of Kentucky and Kentucky Right to Life. The Family Foundation does not endorse candidates, however, and Kentucky Right to Life has endorsed Ditty.

Family Foundation Executive Director Kent Ostrander said he discovered the error in the ads when he was in Maysville for a speaking engagement. Both organizations have since asked that the ads be removed and have been working to make citizens aware of the confusion.

The special election is set for Aug. 25. The Senate seat became vacant when Gov. Steve Beshear appointed Republican Sen. Charlie Borders to the Public Service Commission.

Here's a copy of the letter to the editor that Ostrander sent to The Ledger Independent in Maysville.

To the editor:

After speaking in Maysville last week, I read a half-page newspaper ad that appeared in The Ledger Independent on Tuesday, August 11.  To my surprise, the ad stated: “The Family Foundation praised Robin Webb for standing up for Family Values.”

I’ve also received reports that The Family Foundation’s name has been used by that campaign in radio and television ads with similar statements.

Let me be very clear with three important points: #1 Neither The Family Foundation of Kentucky, nor its 501(c)3 affiliate has “praised Robin Webb for standing up for Family Values”; #2 Neither of these groups endorses candidates or has ever endorsed a candidate; and, #3 Neither group, as issue organizations, allow their names to be used in politics.

Both groups have always stood FOR family-friendly issues, but have NEVER stood for any candidate or Party.

I am currently hoping for the best – that these ads were simply a distortion by an over zealous communications director.  I trust it is not the worst – a deliberate deception to somehow promote the candidate in a dishonest way.

The timing on these ads was particularly ironic – I was in Maysville doing an educational presentation regarding the dangers associated with government-sponsored expanded gambling, and Rep. Webb voted for the slot machine bill in the Special Session earlier this summer.

In fairness, and to our purpose, I have contacted the Webb campaign and asked those at the helm to stop all ads with the use of the name “The Family Foundation.”

Thank you for your time. May you have a meaningful election on August 25.

Kent Ostrander
Executive Director
The Family Foundation of Kentucky

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