ACLU of Kentucky

By:  Kate Fischer, ACLU of Kentucky intern

Senator Rand Paul is no novice when it comes to frequent flyer miles. But by some standards, he may now be an expert on the invasive TSA policies and procedures for screening passengers. In an interview with FOX news, Paul explained that “This morning I went through the screener, and the machine said there was a hot spot near my knee. So I showed them my knee and pulled my sock down and felt that would be sufficient. But they wanted to do a pat-down exam. I said I would walk back to the screener. They said no, you either get a pat-down or you don't fly."

Senator Paul was escorted to a cubicle where he made a cell phone call to his office informing them that he would miss his speaking engagement. TSA officials then told him that because he used his cellphone he would be getting a full pat-down.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky Foundation (ACLU-KY) seeks a Development Director to manage and significantly expand the fund development program for the ACLU and strengthen the links between the ACLU and its supporters.  Working closely with the Executive Director, the Development Director is responsible for planning, supervising and executing the ACLU of Kentucky’s fundraising strategies.  The Development Director provides leadership to the staff and Board of Directors to reach our annual and long-range fundraising goals and reports to the Executive Director.

With an annual combined budget of $500,000, the ACLU of Kentucky and its Foundation operate jointly as private, non-profit organizations.  We are the state affiliate of the nation’s oldest and largest organization devoted to the protection and advancement of civil rights and civil liberties.  The development program supports the ACLU’s legislative, public education, and legal programs on a broad range of constitutional issues including but not limited to voting rights, abolition of the death penalty, immigrants’ rights, free speech, religious freedom, reproductive rights, and the rights of gay, lesbian bisexual and transgender individuals.

Founded in 1955, the ACLU-KY is located in downtown Louisville but works statewide through volunteer and member engagement.  The ACLU-KY has approximately 3,000 members and supporters.  Our current staff consists of five full-time members.  We are currently undergoing a long-range planning process with designs on organizational expansion to increase our overall impact within Kentucky.  The Development Director position is a crucial link in securing and maintaining significant resources to sustain such an expansion.

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This letter to the editor appeared in the October 31st edition of the Courier-Journal

On October 19^th, the Louisville Metro Board of Public Health held a panel discussion about the hospital merger, which gave University of Louisville Hospital, Jewish/St. Mary Hospital System and Catholic Health Care Initiatives a chance to answer the community’s questions.  It is commendable that these three merger partners gave the community a chance to answer questions; however this dialogue needed to start months ago and not after the deal is seemingly done. 

With that being said we did find out a few answers about what health care will be like under after the merger at the University of Louisville Hospital.  The first is that according to University Medical Center president James Taylor, the hospital is “doing just fine”.  In fact, a Business First article from July 2010, reported that the UMC posted a $15.3 million profit in 2009.  After the merger where will those profits go?  Will they go back to the University, for more care, or will those profits go back to CHI’s Denver headquarters?  Without access to the contracts, the public will never know.

We also learned that University of Louisville Hospital would no longer dispense birth control.  The panel said that would not dispense birth control prescriptions that are written at the hospital, but that women would be free to have the prescription filled at the pharmacy of their choice.  What they failed to state is that for most women, the pharmacy of choice would be the one at the University of Louisville Hospital.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Civil rights lawyer, professor and author Michelle Alexander will talk about what she describes as the “mass incarceration” of African Americans during the fifth annual Anne Braden Memorial Lecture Nov. 10 at the University of Louisville.

Her free, public talk is titled "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," which also is the title of her 2010 book. Alexander's lecture will begin at 6 p.m. in the Speed Art Museum, 2035 S. Third St. Parking is available for $4 in the adjacent garage.

UofL's Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research sponsors the lecture; both are named for a Louisvillian active in the civil rights movement for nearly six decades.