265. In support of Senate Bill 3 sponsored by the Senator from Burkesville

It would be easy to write about Interstate 265 for the 265th entry, just as I wrote about Interstate 264 for Entry #264. I-265, known as the Gene Snyder Freeway (or to some as the Jefferson Freeway, its former name) is the outer circular highway around the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606, as opposed to the Henry Watterson Expressway (I-264) which is the inner circle, written about earlier in the day. But I've written about both the Snyder Freeway and former Congressman Snyder himself in the past and that wasn't reason enough to draw me back to the blogosphere.

What was reason enough was a comment I made in today's earlier entry about filing deadlines for state legislators and my ardent prayer that they should be later in the year, sometime after the legislators have begun casting about with their Yeas and Nays to the chagrin of many who then say "If I had known she (or he) was going to vote like that I would have filed against them."

But, just as in Jesus' Parable of the Friend at Midnight, the Lord has said (in the Gospel of Saint Luke, Chapter 11) "Keep asking - you will get an answer." Little did I know the Lord would work through Kentucky State Senator David Williams (yes, their David Williams, not ours) in granting my request.


The much maligned and deservedly so senator has a bill in this year's Kentucky General Assembly, Senate Bill 3, which would do at least one of the major things (there are others) I think need to be done if Kentucky and her people are to be properly served by our elected legislators. Briefly, it moves the filing deadline to April and the Primary to mid-August, a few weeks after the soirees at Fancy Farm and Gilbertsville on the first Saturday in August.

I would print the bill in full but it runs 63 pages when taken from the LRC website. Most of those pages are unchanged from the previous wording. The gist of all of the pages is to move the candidate filing deadline from the last Tuesday in January to the last Tuesday in April and the Primary to the first Tuesday after the third Monday in August. As an added feature, it would also eliminate the gubernatorial runoff primary, the one which was avoided this year because the Democratic nominee, now-Governor Steve Beshear, just barely did eke out a 40% vote against Bruce Lunsford, the second place finisher. On the other side, former governor Ernie Fletcher did far more than 40% in beating Anne Northup, the woman who said she would rather be governor than congresswoman but may be changing her mind now that she is neither, in their Primary, so he too avoided the costly runoff. If it were to pass, which is highly unlikely, it would take effect upon being signed into law by the Governor.

There will not be many occassions where I praise the legislative work of the Senator from Burkesville (or perhaps Russell Springs, in another county next door to his, which is also in another senatorial district). So take heed. If you, like me, think a change is needed, call your legislator and say so. The telephone number for all the legislators in Frankfort is 502-564-8100.

In case you haven't been reading your New Testament lately, or your memory of the Friend at Midnight escapes you, here it is below.

He said to them, "Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,’ and he from within will answer and say, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give it to you’? I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs. "I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won’t give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he asks for an egg, he won’t give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"