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I have put it off as long as I could. I must address the 14 proposed Constitutional Amendments that will be on the ballot next week. I can’t justify voting all yea or all nay, just to avoid having to figure out the amendments. So here goes. I will share how I have decided to vote. I hope my thought processes will help you, even if it’s just to show  you what NOT to do. Remember you can get much more detail in the PAR guide or from guidance put out by many partisan groups. Amendment One: Give constitutional protection to provisions in the Louisiana Medical Assistance Trust Fund and set a baseline compensation rate for nursing homes and certain other healthcare providers that pay a provider fee. YES. Louisiana and 43 other states use this procedure to get matching federal funds. Fees are assessed against nursing homes and certain other healthcare facilities. The feds match these funds. In the past this money has been diverted from the providers who pay the fees to other health care needs. That’s just not right. I understand that more money you protect from diversion, the less available to handle problems that come up. […]

  This morning I read 10 Things That The People Who Love Their Lives Are Doing Differently. How can you not read an article with a title like that? It appeared on-line in Elite Daily – The Voice of Generation Y.  I wondered if following Jesus would produce the same, perhaps even better, results.  Hudson observes, “It’s the way that you live your life that largely decides whether or not you will live happily.” It’s hard to argue with that. Christ followers certainly believe that happiness, and more importantly joy, comes from what you do. Let’s look at these 10 things and compare. They don’t bother trying to make others like them — mainly because they don’t care if they’re liked. Followers would certainly give a big Amen here. Jesus told us if we follow him don’t expect to be liked, in fact, expect to be hated and despised. Hudson says, “They like themselves and they are the only people they ever answer to.” Well, here’s where Christians differ. We answer to Jesus. We don’t care what others think of us. We, too don’t answer to others, but we also don’t consider ourselves the final authority. We answer to Jesus. They […]

Constitutional Confusion It seems that every election we face Constitutional Amendments. I am an attorney. I got good grades in Con Law, yet trying to understand these amendments always gives me a headache. I acknowledge that my mind has slipped since my law school days, but shouldn’t everything on the ballot be understandable? I challenge you to read the 14 amendments and then explain even one of them to someone else. That might make for a great reality show. It should not be so, but it is. The Nature of Constitutions Constitutions contain the fundamentals of governments, and the rights of the citizens. They should contain permanent basics. Since 1974, the Louisiana Constitution has been amended 175 times. The U. S. Constitution has only been amended 27 times since 1789. The first ten amendments, The Bill of Rights, were adopted almost immediately. Many voters, recognizing that amendments should be rare and deal only with serious matters, are tough to convince that an amendment is worth approving. They vote against every amendment unless convinced otherwise. The Nature of Politics On the other hand, once an amendment to the Louisiana Constitution is presented to the voters at least two-thirds of both the Senate and […]

The lines on November 4th in Louisiana, may not be like these, but we will be standing in line. We will face a complicated ballot with several important races and the dreaded Constitutional Amendments. Better have a plan. Know where to vote You won’t have to stand in line if you can’t find the right line to stand in. If you’re not sure where to vote, find out here. https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/Mobile/Main.html Get a sample ballot Don’ go into the voting booth with no idea about the decisions you will have to make. You don’t want to be a victim of “vote rage” which may occur if you face the ballot for the first time with a long line behind you. You can get a ballot for your precinct here:  https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/Mobile/AddressSearch.html By inserting your address, you can get a sample ballot unique to your precinct. Your homework is to get a sample ballot. After the surprises, you might be motivated to have a plan. Next time: The dreaded and usually unexpected Constitutional Amendments.

Only informed citizens should vote. You won’t be informed if you: Trust the media. Media outlets are businesses that need to make money.  They will run any ad and stir up any mess to get audience. They tend to fail to separate news from opinion from advertising. Count signs. Signs don’t vote. Do you really want to vote for the guy or gal with the most signs? Even if signs represented votes, would you really want to vote based on what the most think? Trust what a candidate says about his opponent. If you want to know what a jerk I am talk to my enemies. If you want to know what a saint I am talk to my acquaintances. If you want to know the truth, talk to my wife. It might be informative to talk to spouses of the candidates. Rely on the opinion of others. Really. Can’t you think for yourself. Be particularly careful about ads put out by groups not associated with the candidate. They may or many not express the views of the person seeking office.   Between now and election day I will provide information about how to be informed. I won’t try […]

Only informed citizens should vote. You won’t be informed if you: Trust the media. Media outlets are businesses that need to make money.  They will run any ad and stir up any mess to get audience. They tend to fail to separate news from opinion from advertising. Count signs. Signs don’t vote. Do you really want to vote for the guy or gal with the most signs? Even if signs represented votes, would you really want to vote based on what the most think? Trust what a candidate says about his opponent. If you want to know what a jerk I am talk to my enemies. If you want to know what a saint I am talk to my acquaintances. If you want to know the truth, talk to my wife. It might be informative to talk to spouses of the candidates. Rely on the opinion of others. Really. Can’t you think for yourself. Be particularly careful about ads put out by groups not associated with the candidate. They may or many not express the views of the person seeking office. So what can we do? If you get a chance to see, meet, or hear the candidate in […]

Today’s church is already wired, and if your parish isn’t taking full advantage of all of these ways of touching people throughout the week, it is becoming increasingly irrelevant. http://www.nicksigur.com/why-i-post-and-tweet/

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24 Sin – Let’s Talk I’ve heard complaints that we don’t talk enough about sin anymore. If that is said about me, I don’t want it to be justified. So I’m going to talk about sin. Get ready. Everyone reading this is a sinner. I don’t mean once was a sinner. I mean a sinner today. I include Mother Theresa, the Apostle Paul, Barrack Obama, and Rush Limbaugh. Okay, so those guys probably aren’t reading this, but I hope you get the point. Sorry if you feel insulted, but you are a sinner. I don’t care what prayer you might have said or if you had water sprinkled on  you or you got dumped in it. You are still a sinner. Those events were, no doubt, of great significance in your spiritual journey, and mandated by Jesus, but they didn’t make you a non-sinner. Saved and Sinning Perhaps you are confusing being a sinner and being saved from your sin. The death of the sinless one, Jesus, makes it possible (not […]