Two important local-option votes to expand alcohol sales go before voters this Tuesday. In Boyd County, voters will decide if Sandy Creek Golf Course should be allowed to sell beer to its patrons after a judge on Friday denied an 11th-hour attempt by the Greenup Baptist Association to halt the election on legal grounds. At the same time, voters in Lancaster (Garrard County) will decide whether to allow the legal sale of alcohol.
Click here to read details about the vote in Boyd County. Click here to read details about the vote in Lancaster.
0 Comments
posted by: Site Administrator on August 17th, 2008
The organization,
Right to Life of Louisville, tries to keep track of the number of abortions occurring in Kentucky by monitoring the number of women visiting the EMW Woman's Surgical Center, which performs most of the abortions in the state. This doesn't provide an exact count of all abortions because it does not include abortions performed at area hospitals or take into account that a woman visiting the center might have possibly change her mind about having the procedure. Still, the statistics are sobering if you consider that the number is at least in the ballpark.
For the month of July, that number was
378. The total for the year thus far is
2,392.
Please pray:
- for the women having abortions;
- for our American culture that can tolerate what would be considered an atrocity if these deaths occurred after these children were born;
- four our courts, which seem to have the only real power to bring about change.
0 Comments
posted by: Site Administrator on August 12th, 2008
The
U.S. House of Representatives is poised to take a vote to have tobacco regulated as a drug by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The
Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is supporting the bill and asking Southern Baptists to contact their congressmen to urge passage.
Here's the story from
Baptist Press:
WASHINGTON (BP)--
The House of Representatives is expected to vote soon on a bill that would authorize the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products.
The
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, H.R. 1108, would grant the FDA authority over the manufacture, promotion and sale of such products as cigarettes and chewing tobacco.
The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has worked with other religious organizations for several years in advocating for FDA regulation of tobacco. The ERLC distributed a message July 28 from President Richard Land via e-mail and on its website urging support for the measure.
Saying the House vote may take place the same week, Land wrote, "This common-sense bill would end special treatment of tobacco companies, empowering the FDA to subject the products to similar scrutiny required of foods, drugs and safety devices.
Click here to read the full story.
0 Comments
posted by: Site Administrator on July 29th, 2008
After preaching "let the people decide" throughout this past
Kentucky General Assembly session, gambling proponents are now talking about passing legislation to allow expanded gambling without a constitutional amendment.
Rep. Tom Burch, a Louisville Democrat who regularly puts forth gambling expansion legislation, says he will file a bill in January's legislative session to authorize up to 18,000 slot machines in the state.
Burch's announcement is just the latest of the political moves on behalf of big gambling.
Gov. Steve Beshear is currently on a listening tour around the state during which he continues to tout his support for bringing casinos to the state. Meanwhile,
Rep. Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, who has suggested bringing in slot machines on a "trial" basis, is using the failure of the House to pass a casino bill during the last session as part of his campaign to replace
Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, as House speaker.
Although they know that any attempt to expand gambling without a constitutional amendment will send the issue into the courts, the gambling politicans' calculus on these latest proposals seems to be based on the fact that the current bills do not have to passed by the General Assembly with a three-fifths super majority as constitutional amendments do. After the governor failed to wrangle the needed votes to get the bill out of the House this spring, the strategy seems to be to adjust the math by taking a route that requires fewer votes.
Citizens concerned about the devastating impact that expanding gambling will have on families and our state's economy will need be especially vigilant come January.
Here's the story about Burch's proposal from the
Louisville Courier-Journal:
LOUISVILLE - Rep. Tom Burch said yesterday he will file a bill for next year's legislature to allow up to 18,000 slot machines across the state, including at eight licensed racetracks.
The Buechel Democrat, who in previous years filed bills for video lottery terminals at tracks, said his proposal would not seek to amend Kentucky's constitution.
If it had, the earliest it could be submitted to voters for ratification would be November 2010. Without an amendment, the proposal wouldn't need a statewide vote and could be decided next year by legislators and Gov. Steve Beshear.
Under Burch's proposal, any county could have slot machines if its voters approved it -- including those with racetracks. Counties with racetracks also could have some slot machines off-track.
One third of the slot machines -- 6,000 -- could be available to racetracks, with a minimum of 500 at each and more for some on a pro-rated basis determined by the number of live racing dates. For instance, Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky., with six days of live racing could have 500, while Churchill Downs in Louisville with 78 days could have 1,080.
Click here to read the full story.
0 Comments
posted by: Site Administrator on July 28th, 2008
Should your faith impact your voting? Dwayne Hastings, vice president for the
Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, takes a look at what Americans said about this topic in some recent research.
Here's his opinion column from
Baptist Press :
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--If the results of a recent study are at all accurate, most Americans don't consider the precepts of their faith when they make their decisions on which political candidates to support.
In a recent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey, fewer than one in six respondents (14 percent) mentioned their religious beliefs as having the most influence on their political views. If an individual's faith has an impact, it apparently is indirect and is wrapped up in the amalgamation referred to as "personal experiences" by the pollsters. Most of those who were surveyed (34 percent) said it was those personal, life experiences that most informed their choices. The news media was cited by 19 percent of those who were asked about the primary influence on their political thinking.
Yet the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission's iVoteValues.com initiative holds that not only should an individual's faith drive their Election Day decisions, it should also compel a person to be involved in the nation's civic affairs.
Click here to read his entire piece.
0 Comments
posted by: Site Administrator on July 26th, 2008