How Does Kentucky Line Up with the Rest of the States?

Yesterday on my blog, I commented on Jay Leno’s mocking of the Ark Encounter project on his Tonight Show (twice last week), but at the same time, he mocked the state of Kentucky—even implying Kentucky was a backward state educationally. A number of news reporters and other evolutionists have recently mocked the state of Kentucky because of the announcement that the Ark Encounter project—a full-scale Ark, made out of wood, and constructed to the biblical dimensions—was to be built in the state.

So, I think it is time to give you a few facts about Kentucky and some of the notable things associated with the state that I’ve lived in for almost 17 years now:

• Fort Knox—the U.S. gold depository and Army post—is in Kentucky.
• The Corvette Museum and the factory that makes Corvettes sports cars are in Kentucky. Also, there is a huge complex of Toyota factories south of us where Camrys, Siennas, and Avalons are made; in fact, Toyota’s manufacturing headquarters in the U.S. is just a few miles east of our Creation Museum (on the same interstate).
• “The Colonel’s” original Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant is in Kentucky.
• Abraham Lincoln was born in this state. In fact, Lincoln favored Kentucky so much that in the Civil War era, he tried to get Kentucky to side with the North. Kentucky tried to remain neutral but ultimately sent troops to both the North (100,000) and the South (40,000) to fight. Interestingly, the only president of the Southern States (Confederacy) was also from Kentucky, Jefferson Davis. (http://www.kentuckytourism.com/explore/kyfacts/history.aspx)
• Several movies, such as the recent films Seabiscuit and Elizabethtown have been set in Kentucky; one of staff member Renee Looy’s favorite films, Coal Miner’s Daughter, was set here as well. Portions of the first half of the Oscar-winning movie (Best Film of 1988), Rainman, with Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, were filmed near our Creation Museum.
• Kentucky calls itself “the horse capital of the world.” Some beautiful, large horse farms are located just south of where our Ark Encounter will be built. And, of course, the Kentucky Derby, of which the Queen of Great Britain has come to see (only a few other states can say they have hosted that level of foreign royalty in recent years), happens in Kentucky
• Kentucky was frontiersman Daniel Boone’s old stomping ground, and Boonesborough, Kentucky was among the first settlements west of the Appalachians.
• Muhammad Ali, the famous world champion boxer, is from Kentucky. And ABC-TV news anchor Diane Sawyer, who featured our Ark Encounter project last week on her evening newscast, is from the state.
• Louisville Sluggers, the famous baseball bats, are made in Kentucky.
• Believe it or not, bourbon was invented in Kentucky by a Baptist minister named Elijah Craig.
• Oh, before I forget, the world-famous Creation Museum is in Kentucky.
• As I listed above, the upcoming Ark Encounter, now receiving worldwide media attention, will be in Kentucky.
• The large Cincinnati Airport is actually in Kentucky, not Ohio!
• Actors such as George Clooney, Johnny Depp, and Billy Ray Cyrus (a singer as well) hail from Kentucky
• Country and Bluegrass musicians such as The Judds, Crystal Gayle, Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn, Patty Loveless, Ricky Skaggs, and Dwight Yoakum have their roots in Kentucky. (Dr. Tommy Mitchell of our staff would not forgive me if I don’t include the fact that Bluegrass music was pioneered by Bill Monroe.)
• James Bowie, the inventor of the Bowie knife and famous for the Alamo battle in Texas, was from Kentucky.
• Christopher “Kit” Carson, who became a leading frontiersman out west, was born in Kentucky.
• Christian musicians such as Steven Curtis Chapman and the band Bride are from Kentucky.
• NASCAR champions Darrell Waltrip and Michael Waltrip are from Kentucky.
• The largest cave system (yet found) is in our state: Mammoth Caves.
• And . . . in regard to education? Someone better tell Jay Leno and Hollywood in California that according to statistics on education (i.e., which is the smartest state?), Kentucky ranked higher than these following states (and significantly higher than California where Jay Leno lives) based on 21 factors (see http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank.htm):

Kentucky

Arkansas

Washington

Ohio

Illinois

Oklahoma

West Virginia

Utah

Michigan

Oregon

Georgia

Hawaii

New Mexico

Louisiana

Alabama

Alaska

California

Mississippi

Nevada

Arizona

So, be near the Creation Museum and the coming Ark Encounter, and move to Kentucky! :)

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken