Kentucky Politician: God First, Homeland Security Second

A fundamentalist state has ordered that God's name must always be mentioned in its security reports, and that a plaque must be posted on the door of the government's Emergency Operations Center.  Woe be unto the officeholder who does not pay sufficient homage to the His Extreme Beneficence!

Is this some radical Islamofascist nation that requires its ministers to prostrate themselves before Allah?  Nope, it's Kentucky.  Representative Tom Riner (who sidelines as a Southern Baptist minister) added a provision to his state's 2006 Homeland Security legislation mandating that religious duties must come "before all else, including its distribution of millions of dollars in federal grants and its analysis of possible threats."  (Got that?  God before threat analysis!)  But when the head of Kentucky's Homeland Security neglected to Praise The Lord in his agency's October dispatch, the Wrath of Riner was upon him!  From the Lexington Herald Leader:  The 2008 Homeland Security report, issued a month ago, did not credit God, but it did complain about a decline in federal funding from Washington.  ("Anathema!  Death to the Infidel!")  Thomas Preston, (Governor) Beshear's Homeland Security chief, said he isn't interested in stepping into a religious debate, and he hasn't given this part of his duties much thought.  "I will not try to supplant almighty God," Preston said.  "All I do is try to obey the dictates of the Kentucky General Assembly.  I really don't know what their motivation was for this.  They obviously felt strongly about it."  (Obviously.)

Democratic state senator Kathy Stein of Lexington politely takes issue with Riner's prayerful approach to Homeland Security, saying that the agency should focus on public safety threats instead of preaching religious homilies.  She then adds, "It's very sad to me that we do this sort of thing.  It takes away from the seriousness of the public discussion over security, and it clearly hurts the credibility of this office if it's supposed to be depending on God, first and foremost."   Ya think?