Pastor and Church Protection Act HB 36

From the Ohio Christian Alliance :

Call to Action!
Pastor and Church Protection Act HB 36

Call and leave your message to your State Senator, urging them to vote for the Ohio Pastor and Church Protection Act, H.B. 36. Pastor came from around the state to testify in support of H.B. 36, the Ohio Pastor and Church Protection Act in the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 28th. H.B. 36 was scheduled for a vote this past Wednesday, December 5th, but was pulled from the schedule. YOUR CALLS ARE NEEDED TODAY TO MOVE THE BILL. Leave a message on their Senate office voicemail. Use the list below to make your calls TODAY.

ACTION:

Leave a message for these Republican State Senators to pass the Pastor Protection Act.


Sen. Dist. 1 - Rob McColley - (614)-466-8150
Sen. Dist. 2 - Randy Gardner - (614)-466-8060
Sen. Dist. 3 - Kevin Bacon - (614)-466-8064
Sen. Dist. 4 - Bill Coley - (614)-466-8072
Sen. Dist. 5 - Bill Beagle - (614)-466-6247
Sen. Dist. 6 - Peggy Lehner - (614)-466- 4538
Sen. Dist. 7 - Steve Wilson - (614)-466-9737
Sen. Dist. 8 - Lou Terhar - (614)-466-8068
Sen. Dist. 10 - Bob Hackett - (614)-466-3780
Sen. Dist. 12 - Matt Huffman - (614)-466-7584
Sen. Dist. 13 - Gayle Manning - (614)-644-7613
Sen. Dist. 14 - Joe Uecker - (614)-466-8082
Sen. Dist. 16 - Stephanie Kunze - (614)-466-5981
Sen. Dist. 17 - Bob Peterson - (614)-466-8156
Sen. Dist. 18 - John Eklund - (614)-644-7718
Sen. Dist. 19 - Kris Jordan - (614)-466-8086
Sen. Dist. 22 - Sen. Pres. Larry Obhof - (614)-466-7505
Sen. Dist. 24 - Matt Dolan - (614)-466-8056
Sen. Dist. 26 - Dave Burke - (614)-466-8049
Sen. Dist. 27 - Frank LaRose - (614)-466-4823
Sen. Dist. 29 - Scott Oelslager - (614)-466-0626
Sen. Dist. 30 - Frank Hoagland - (614)-466-6508
Sen. Dist. 31 - Jay Hottinger - (614)-466-5838

Calls needed - Common Core Safe Harbor Bill

An important message from Heidi Huber of Ohioans Against Common Core: 

House Moves to Offer Safe Harbor from PARCC for Ohio Students

January 29th - HB7 filed by Representative Jim Buchy

This bill will protect your child from repercussions of opting out of the 2014-2015 state achievement tests and EOC exams.  

1. Prohibits 2014-2015 PARCC scores from being utilized for promotion or retention now, or at any point in a child's education career.
2. Provides option to take the End-of-Course exams (currently PARCC & AIR) at any time within the student's high school career, or opting to never take EOC exams, instead choosing one of the other options to earn their high school diploma; e.g., a remediation free ACT/SAT score, passage of an approved job skills assessment, or earning an Honors diploma.

Protect your children and their data!

• Get opt-out forms and information here.
• Call your representative and ask him or her to support HB7 by signing on as a co-sponsor.
• If your Rep has committed to being a co-sponsor, use your call to thank him or her.
• Don't know your State Representative's name? Look-up by Zip Code HERE.
• Call the House switchboard at this number: 800-282-0253.

Excerpts from HB7:

"To amend section 3302.036 and to enact section 3301.0728 of the Revised Code to prohibit individual student scores from certain elementary and secondary achievement assessments administered for the 2014-2015 school year from being used to determine promotion or retention or to grant course credit, to make changes regarding the administration of high school end-of-course examinations, and to declare an emergency."

"This act is hereby declared to be an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety. The reason for the necessity is that immediate action is needed in order to address in a timely manner issues related to the administration of state elementary and secondary achievement assessments for the 2014-2015 school year." 

Click here to view this message on Ohioans Against Common Core's website.

In Liberty, 

Ted Stevenot
President
Ohio Rising, Inc.
ohiorising.org 

Supreme Court Rules 9-0 for Susan B. Anthony List

Supreme Court Rules 9-0 for Susan B. Anthony List in Case Arising from Ohio 'False' Speech Law

by Damon Root Jun. 16, 2014 11:00 am

http://reason.com/blog/2014/06/16/supreme-court-rules-9-0-for-susan-b-anth

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously today in favor of the conservative anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List, allowing the group to proceed with a First Amendment challenge against an Ohio law criminalizing "false" political speech.
The case of Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus arose during the 2010 congressional elections when the Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) announced its intention to oppose the reelection campaign of Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio) by purchasing billboard and radio ads describing Driehaus' vote for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as tantamount to supporting "tax-payer funded abortion."
In response, Driehaus filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission charging SBA List with seeking to spread political lies about him. Driehaus' lawyer also sent a letter to the billboard company, threatening a similar complaint. The company promptly refused to run the SBA List ads.
In the meantime, SBA List was hauled before the Ohio Elections Commission, which ruled against it on a party-line vote. By this point, with the congressional election impending, SBA List's political speech had been effectively suppressed by the state of Ohio.
So SBA List filed suit in federal court, charging the Ohio speech law with violating its First Amendment rights. In a surprise twist, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled in favor of the state, holding that SBA List did not have standing to file suit because it could not demonstrate "an imminent threat of future prosecution."
Today, by a vote of 9-0, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled that decision and held that Susan B. Anthony List must be allowed its day in federal court. "The threat of future enforcement of the false statement statute is substantial," declared the unanimous majority opinion of Justice Clarence Thomas. What's more, Thomas wrote, "the specter of enforcement is so substantial that the owner of the billboard refused to display SBA's message after receiving a letter threatening Commission proceedings. On these facts, the prospect of future enforcement is far from 'imaginary or speculative.'"
The decision in Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus is available here.

Read my earlier post about the SBA List ad here.

Ohio's Religious Freedom Restoration Act Withdrawn From Consideration - H.B. 376

From the Ohio Christian Alliance:

In a matter of hours after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed Arizona's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, S.B. 1062, sponsors of Ohio's Religious Freedom Restoration Act H.B. 376, withdrew it from consideration. Co-sponsors of the legislation were not notified of the motion to withdraw until they read it in the papers this morning. H.B. 376 had enjoyed bipartisan support and had 43 co-sponsors. The bill's sponsors, Rep. Timothy Derickson (R-53) and Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10), withdrew the bill from consideration with the following statement,

"The intent of HB 376 was to ensure Ohioans' religious freedom by protecting their ability to freely worship and preventing any laws from burdening the free exercise of religion."

"However, with the controversy that is occurring in Arizona, we feel that it is in the best interest of Ohioans that there be no further consideration of this legislation," the statement says. "Protecting people's personal liberties – religious or otherwise – is of the upmost importance to members of the Ohio House, and we want to ensure that no law that we pass in this chamber is misconstrued to be discriminatory in any way."

The statement says the bill "stemmed from a well-meaning place," but that they don't want to allow for "confusion" around the issue.

"Discrimination of any kind was never the intent of this legislation. While our commitment to religious freedom remains constant, it is in the best interest of all Ohioans that no further consideration be given to HB 376."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Butler (R-Dayton) said in a statement, "I respect the sponsors' wishes on this matter, and as such, no future consideration will be given to HB 376."

Members of the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to "indefinitely postpone" consideration of the bill later Wednesday.

After the committee meeting, Butler told Hannah News that indefinitely postponing the bill "effectively kills it."

OCA President Chris Long made the following statement, "The Ohio Christian Alliance, along with Citizens for Community Values, is dismayed by the actions of the legislators to so quickly scuttle this legislation that would assure people of faith in Ohio that they would not face discrimination by practicing their religious faith and convictions."

"As Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, in an interview with Megyn Kelly, stated 'Where do Christians now go to receive protection under the law?"' Mr. Perkins had referenced in his interview Christian bakers and photographers who were targeted with lawsuits as a result of exercising their religious right of conscience. State entities have actually injoined lawsuits against individuals who declined to participate in homosexual weddings by either baking and serving the cake or by being the wedding photography coordinator."

Long continued, " The action by Governor Jan Brewer and the action by some Ohio legislators does not end the issue. Our First Amendment rights of freedom of religion are far too important and fundamental to all rights of individuals under the Constitution. To so lightly toss them aside with little regard is a crime against the ideals of freedom itself. This issue is sounding the alarm for all freedom-loving Americans. If religious people can be compelled against their will to perform acts and services against their conscience, where does the tyranny end?"

Common Core Repeal Bill Introduced

Please write to your Ohio representative and tell them to support the bill to repeal Common Core.  Here is a sample letter:

I urge you to consider cosponsoring HB 237 which is a bill to repeal the Common Core initiative for Ohio. Common Core is a program which dumbs down children, teaches them to rebel against their parents and to be selfish and argumentative. It is not at all about real education, but behavior modification.

John Kasich: God wants Ohio to expand Obamacare

In response to the above statement, Ted Stevenot of the Ohio Liberty Coalition really point an exclamation on this point when he said:

I am fully prepared to meet St. Peter and tell him I sought to help the poor (and all other Ohioans) by advocating for policies that would increase prosperity and help create more jobs in our state.  What’s more, as a liberty-minded American believing in fiscal responsibility, free market capitalism, and Constitutionally limited government, I wouldn’t need to steal one penny from future generations to do so. My guess is St. Peter, tired of so often being robbed to pay Paul, will be very glad to hear it.

Sex Parade Sponsors

http://www.ccv.org/sex-parade-sponsors/

Kroger, P&G, Fifth Third Bank, PNC Bank, US Bank and others are sponsoring the Homosexual Activists Sex Parade in Cincinnati scheduled for June 19, 2013. Express your disappointment with these businesses by clicking on their names above. We encourage you to search and follow your own conscience as to whether you will support businesses that support anti-family and anti-marriage policies.

Homosexual activists are pushing for a new special rights law in Ohio that will eliminate some of your Religious freedom.Click here to view real life occurrences that have happened in other states as a result of passing similar laws.  These stories will blow your mind! It is amazing that these businesses would support a group that want to limit your Religious freedom. The two new laws are HB-163 and SB-125.

As for CCV and the Burress family, we will no longer do business with any of these sponsors.

Since CCV’s founding in 1983, we have conducted our business through PNC Bank. This year PNC is a sponsor of the sex parade and we have decided to close all of our accounts and move to a bank that stays out of controversial issues like same-sex marriage and special rights laws. I personally have banked with PNC (formerly Provident Bank) for more than 40 years but I have begun the process of canceling my accounts and will switch to a bank that is more interested in banking than trying to force homosexuality on me and my family.

Instead of shopping at Kroger, we recommend Meijer, Jungle Jims, Remke or Walmart. Instead of P&G, use SC Johnson or other products. Check the label to make sure P&G does not make the product before you make the purchase. Instead of Fifth Third, PNC or US Bank, we recommend LCNB National Bank. There are also many local banks that do not support the homosexual agenda and you will need to check the policies of the bank before switching.

Where you shop says a lot! Support Family Friendly businesses.

Stop Special Rights Legislation

I got this from CCV...

Here we go again!
 
A dangerous bill has been introduced into the Ohio House and Senate. The bill, under the guise of discrimination, will eliminate some Religious freedoms. The proposed law is titled the Equal Housing and Employment Act. If passed, the bill seeks to add “sexual orientation and “gender identity” to the protected list of gender, race, age, religion, that are punishable on the basis of discrimination. It is estimated that seventeen Ohio cities have passed these so-called anti-discrimination ordinances. However, we can not find one documented case where discrimination has actually been proven. If mass discrimination is not occurring then why do they want to pass this bill? 
 
Answer: Like Obamacare, it’s what comes after they pass this Bill that matters. We now know, after twenty years, that these discrimination laws are a disguised Trojan horse. For example, once homosexual activists get discrimination laws on the books, they will then move to the next level and force businesses to include anti-discrimination polices or will disallow them from doing business with the city or state. Another example was this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Cincinnati. Homosexual activists were told they could not participate in the parade and cried discrimination as the reason. Cincinnati passed an anti-discrimination ordinance and a second ordinance has now been introduced. Building upon the first anti-discrimination ordinance, the new ordinance says it’s discriminatory to not allow homosexual activists into any parade if the City pays any of the fees, such as cleaning up after the parade. They call it equality – we call it bullying and an attack on Religious freedoms.
 
On November 25, 1992 Cincinnati City Council passed a similar ordinance claiming homosexual activists were just like African Americans and deserved to be treated as a minority class. An organization associated with CCV, called Equal Rights not Special Rights, led the effort to collect 20,000 signatures and the issue was placed on the ballot. The people of Cincinnati voted in 1993 to change Article XII of the City Charter from allowing the City Council to pass any laws based on sexual orientation. The voters approved the change by a 62%-38% majority. The vote proved that the choice of someone’s bed partner does not classify them as a minority class entitled to preferential treatment or special rights. This disproves the popular idea being spread today that equates the push of homosexual activists to that of African Americans and the civil rights fight in the 1960’s. The change to the City Charter was then challenged in the Federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals by homosexual activists. The Federal Court ruled not once, but twice unanimously, that the people of Cincinnati had the right to not allow preferential treatment based on an individual’s sex partner or sexual orientation.
 
Because homosexuality is not a suspect class or quasi-suspect class, and “divested no one of any fundamental right” the court upheld the right of the voters to tell Cincinnati City Council they can not pass special rights laws.

Here is an excerpt from the 6^th Circuit Court of Appeals:

“Accordingly, because the Cincinnati Charter Amendment targeted no suspect class or quasi-suspect class, and divested no one of any fundamental right, it was not subject to either form of heightened constitutional scrutiny (namely "strict scrutiny" or "intermediate scrutiny"). ....”this court observed that the Cincinnati Charter Amendment advanced a variety of valid community interests, including enhanced associational liberty for its citizenry, conservation of public resources, and augmentation of individual autonomy imbedded in personal conscience and morality. Thus, Article XII satisfied minimal constitutional requirements”.
For the full court decision go to: http://www.ccv.org/issues/homosexuality/special-rights-legislation/u-s-6th-circuit-court-of-appeals-equality-foundation-v-cincinnati/
 
The people of Cincinnati later repealed Article XII of the City Charter. The 2004 vote to repeal Article XII was titled Issue 3.

However, the 6^th Circuit Court of Appeals case still stands as case law in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan that allows cities in those four states to prohibit Special Rights laws based on sexual orientation. 
 
Click on the picture to view the attached TV ad by Civil Rights leader Pastor Fred Shuttlesworth, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy. They were called The Big Three in the fight for Civil Rights. When the attempt was made to repeal the City Charter language, Pastor Shuttlesworth opposed the change.  CCV asked Pastor Fred Shuttlesworth to respond to the claims of homosexual activists who said they were being discriminated against. Be sure to click on the photo to hear what the expert on discrimination had to say about discrimination. The photo attached with Dr. Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy and Pastor Fred Shuttlesworth was given to CCV to use by Pastor Shuttlesworth.
 
Contact your Ohio House Member and Ohio Senator Member and stop this unfair and unjust bill that will strip Religious Freedom and irrationally compare homosexual behavior to the plight of African Americans. Homosexual activists have the right to have sex with whom they want but they do not have the right to force acceptance of their behavior on Ohioans, our businesses or our children. Go towww.ccv.org and click on “Contact Elected Officials” to send a message to your Ohio Senator and House member objecting to this unjust law. In the Senate, the Bill number is SB-125 and in the House, the Bill number is HB-163. 

Gambling Bets Again on Ohio

Video Slot Machines Coming to Ohio?

An on-line Cleveland Plain Dealer article asks if the recently passed legislation in the Ohio Senate, “Is a bill allowing instant horse-racing machines at Ohio's tracks a back-door expansion of gambling or just a faster way to get a bet down on the ponies?” I think it is the former rather than the latter.

One thing you can say about the gambling industry, it is persistent. It never gives up; there is a lot of money to be made in Ohio apparently. What color is greed? The gambling trade offer a lot of pretenses of “saving the horse race industry” and “financing Ohio’s “under funded” schools”, but these too are lies. They want a piece of the action, plain and simple. They don’t care that gambling leads to addiction, causes personal bankruptcy, is a big factor in destroying families, is a magnet for crime and is a potential source for bribing government and law enforcement officials.

According to a Columbus Dispatch article this past Thursday, the citizens of Ohio had rejected slot machine proposals in 1990, 1996 and last November. Isn’t it bad enough that we have the state-sponsored lottery, bingo parlors and horse racing? We need more gambling in any form or fashion as we need higher gasoline prices. Let Ohio be a safe haven of sort for its citizens. Who cares that Ohio losses some cash by people leaving Ohio to gamble in surrounding states. Because everyone else is doing it does not make something right.

The front-page Columbus Dispatch article said that some supporting senators call SB 125 the “horse bill”. Those who support the bill say that it would help save the horse racing industry which contributes $700 million to Ohio’s economy. One opponent of the measure, Senator Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, compared Senate Bill 125 to bottom feeding carp in the state’s economic development fund. I agree with Senator Amstutz. Let this predatory horse racing industry die if the market will not sustain its viability. The horse track, the horse racing industry has cost society more in terms of social woes, than it has ever contributed economically or otherwise.

From what I understand the “racing devices” are merely a repackaged form of slot machines. I like the quote i read made by Senate Keith Faber in the Cleveland Plain Dealer article, “"If it looks like a slot machine, rings like a slot machine, pays like a slot machine, it just may be a slot machine."

I will be urging my state representative to vote NO in the Ohio House on Sub SB 125!