Ohio Right to Life Throws in with Karl Rove: Bush’s Brain to raise money for ORTL

In 2011 Ohio Right to Life sponsored a major fundraising event:  An Evening With Glenn Beck. . Even with years of observing and sometimes writing about ORTL, for some reason I was surprised that it would so outwardly link itself to such a professional poseur.  I covered Beck's performance for the Columbus Free Press filing it under 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Or was that 90 years?

 Since then, ORTL, busy gutting abortion rights in Ohio, has  cut back its public connection to National Disreputables, generally limiting itself to  Ohio legislators-- most recently weird Jim Buchy, sponsor of ORTL's HB 307 quick-and-fast-adoption bill.  Buchy, probably the dumbest lawmaker to hit the State House in 160 years says it's never occurred to him to wonder why a woman might want an abortion. If he can't ruminate that, how can he explain how adopter tax credits will bring more newborns to the adoption block? Answer:  he can't.

 But I digress.

 While checking on something else  tonight (as usual!)   I learned that ORTL has booked an encore to its Beckian Theatre of the Fundraising Absurd.

On February 7, ORTL, its Toledo chapter, and  the Foundation for Life of Northwest Ohio offer a joint production: An Evening with Karl Rove. at the poshy downtown Toledo Club.  I only paid $25,00 to see Beck.  Inflation now demands $250 a seat and $500-$5000 corporate sponsorship for an hour with Bush's Brain, formerly known as Turdblossom; now Fox News talking fat head .   Hor d’oeuvres included.

 No hint of Rove's subject matter, though I don't expect him to gush tears and snot as his predecessor.  According to his agent, the Harry Walker Agency, Rove's speech topics include America's Challenges and  The Next Four Years: How a Second Obama Term Affects Business and America's Economy. Sounds pretty snoozy.  How about My Life as a Dirty Trickster or  Abolish Abortion in Ohio By Jimmying Voting Machines?

 I wish I could attend the event,  is out of my neighborhood in so many ways.

Glen Beck, Vets Memorial, October 27, 2011. Shilling for ORTL. 

  BONUS:  On February 11, ORTL will throw a tele-town hall in Columbus with Marko Rubio.to discuss  "pro-life initiatives, health care, and the future of the nation." Who next? Rush Limbaugh? George Zimmerman?  

Ohio HB 370: Incurious Insanity trumps facts. Ohio Right to Life's quick and cheap adoption bill passes House

Length was getting out of hand so I've divided this entry into two parts. This is Part 1:  

Wednesday, January 29, the Ohio House passed Sub HB 307, the make-adoption-cheap-and-fast bill brought by Ohio Right to Life. I was unable to attend the floor vote or the final hearing due to my work schedule, and have no idea why 307 is a substitute since there were only minor changes from the original. I wrote at length about the bill, Ohio Right to Life's Infant Adoption Reform Bill: Threatens Birthparent Rights; Doles Out Tax Credits in the  December 5, 2013 issue of the Columbus Free Press Weekly. By way of review, the bill:

• decreases the time an adoption after finalization can be challenged  in Ohio from one year to 60 days;
• increases the state tax credit to adopters from $1500 to $10,000  that can be spread over a  5-year period ;
• creates a mechanism for adoption agencies and lawyers to make direct  "birthparent living expense" payments  (rent, mortgage, utilities, medical)  to service providers rather than the current practice of distributing funds collected by paps to "birthparents" to make their own payments;
• authorizes potential Ohio adoptive parents who have passed a home study to advertise for newborns in the state.  Currently only out-of-state paps can advertise here.

and the most controversial change,  the creation of a two-tiered Putative Father Registry:

• post-birth--decreasing  the timeframe  from 30 days to 7 days after the birth of a baby in which a man can file with the already established Ohio Putative Registry  (PFR) to guarantee his right to notice if an adoption is filed
• pre-birth--authorizing adoption agencies and lawyers, but only with the  written consent of the mother, to inform putative father(s) that an adoption is pending, advising him to file with the PRF if he wants notice. In this case, the putative father has 30 days after receiving the letter to file with the PFR.

Although most of the changes were discussed at the hearing, I am focusing here on the testimony and discussion on putative father treatment. PDF's of testimony are linked at the end of this blog.  I am, however, quoting generously from them below. My emphasis is in bold.  

Proponents speak 
HB 307 proponents Nancy Burley, executive director of Adoption Circle and Indiana adoption lawyer bottom feeder, Steve Kirsch, according to their submitted  testimony, waxed orgasmic at the January 15 hearing over how these changes, especially the PFR alterations, "expand the rights of birthparents."  by creating an "incentive" for women  to "inform the putative father(s), early in the process "

 Burley, after using up the entire first page of her testimony crowing her qualifications to be heard,  threw potential putatives under the train, arguing that men already have more than enough time to register since under Ohio law, sexual intercourse with a woman "puts a man on notice" of potential fatherhood. HB 307 "is only making a 23 day change in the current law."

 While Burley merely trivialized the change, Steve Kirsh told the committee that Ohio putative fathers should just shut up and be grateful. they aren't in Indiana: '

Frankly...Ohio is setting the bar fairly low for a a putative father to protect his rights.   Under Indiana law, he has to actually file a paternity action and ask the court to make him legally and financially responsible for the child for the next twenty-one years in  order to preserve his parental rights.  Under House Bill 307, all he needs to do is register with the Ohio Putative Father Registry. In essence, what HB 307 is asking of him to take a tiny step to express a desire to be involved in the adoption process without any legal, financial or emotional commitment.

 Funny thing. Registration in the Putative Father Registry in both states is simply a mechanism by which a man can secure his right to  notice if an adoption of a child he believes he's fathered is filed. Registration does not challenge or stop an adoption. To do that, a man must  file in the PFR   and show in Probate Court that he did not abandon the mother or fail to support the child. (and prove, if challenged that he is the biological father.) To become the legal father, he must file a paternity action in Juvenile Court.  Kirsh failed to note that a man cannot realistically file a paternity action without knowing that a pregnancy has occurred.

Kirsh, Burley, Buchy, and ORTL can't have it both ways. If a man must register without knowing about a pregnancy, then he cannot be required to file a paternity action--a actual law suit-- without knowing about the pregnancy . A  potential child must be known of to sue in court.

 The "birthmother" remains the information gatekeeper.  If she doesn't want the man to know, there's a good chance he won't. And if he does know and files a pre-birth claim under HB 307, the filing puts the woman on notice that the father might seek to stop the adoption, consequently incentivizing her be secretly and consensually be shuffled off to Utah where she can dump her newborn into the L-d-S adoption maw.

Opponents Speak
 A couple of sane heads prevailed at the hearing, though in the end were unsuccessful in stopping this cluster fuck.

Denise St.Clair, director of the Capital University Law School National Center for Adoption Law and Policy supported pre-birth notification, but did not agree with the shortened post-birth timeframe. She pointed out that under current law putative fathers already can file with the PFR anytime before the birth of the child and  up to 30 days after. She explained to the  the committee what PFR registration  in Ohio does and does not do.

 The right (parental rights) is not absolute; the putative father's consent is not required if the court finds that he has not the father of the minor. or that he has willfully abandoned or failed to care for and support the minor ,or that the putative father has willfully abandoned the mother of the minor during her pregnancy and up to the time of her surrender of the minor or the minor's placement in the home of the petitioner. With these limitations and safeguards in place the reduction of time during which a putative father may register appears to be unnecessary and could place a nearly insurmountable barrier to putative fathers who want to and are suitable to parent a child.

 Seeming to take aim at Ohio Right to Life's refusal to accept input from adoption reformers, those directly affected by adoption, and even Quad A (Nancy Burley aside) she testified,:

 We can conceive of no benefit for adoptive children through such a change.  The vast majority of stakeholders with whom we have discussed this issue do not support this process change.  In fact, Section (not listed) does not eliminate the potential that other men who do not receive notice may claim paternity or putative father status to the child and register as provided for notice is not received.  If the goal is to decrease the chance that a potential father may appear late in the game, we are not sure that this provision will have that effect.  Putative or legal fathers who are not so identified will still have the opportunity to take measures to protect their rights--as they should.

The Ohio Judicial Conference agreed, Speaking  for the conference's Probate Law and Procedure Committee, Kenneth J Spicer, Delaware County Probate/Juvenile Court Judge argued that  HB 307 threatened constitutional challenges in two areas: putative father classifications and the decrease in challenge time. Spicer argued that different treatment of similarly situated putative fathers could have "dangerous implications in certain very probable situations" that could give rise to equal protection action. He urged the committee to restore the 30-day registration timeframe for all to avoid legal complications.

Spicer then waved a very large red flag, Citing Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 60(B) which governs the timing for a motion for relief from a final judgement which specifies that a motion must be made within a reasonable time, including one year for specified circumstances. He argued HB 307 could cause confusion between attorneys and courts, and could create a constitutional challenge from a father affected adversely by

create{s} a conflict between the Rules and the {Ohio Revised} Code.  This provision of the bill attempts to modify court procedure... an area that the Ohio Constitution grants to Supreme Court which would be a more proper venue for this kind of change.

In other words,  under Ohio's separation of powers doctrine, the General Assembly has no authority to change court rules which are controlled, under the Ohio constitution, by the Ohio Supreme Court.

Kayla Smith, ORTL lobbyist, sidestepped when questioned about the constitutionally of the 2-tired system. She argued other states already have a  seven day registration-timeframe that has passed judicial scrutiny, but ignored the fact that  those states do not have a two-tiered system--the very constitutional problem Judge Spicer and Denise Sr Clair warned against.. But, hey! ORTL is AOK with the tiers because Ohio Legislative Service, the entity that vets bills, said it was constitutional. If LS were always correct, of course, then no law could ever be challenged successfully.

 Passage in House

Despite the factual testimony of Denise St Clair and Judge Spicer, HB 307 passed out of committee with only John Patrick Carney (D-Columbus--and a friend to bastards) opposing.  When the bill went to the House floor, Carney attempted to add an amendment that would remove all  the bill's changes to the current PRF law .  He was defeated   57-34. .  The final bill passed   77-14.

Although HB 307 has been moved to the Senate for consideration, no hearings are scheduled.  Sen. Shannon Jones (R-Springboro) the original sponsor of HB 307 who either dumped it or was dumped by ORTL after she  raised issues with it, has introduced an alternative bill , SB 250. I haven't read it, yet, but understand it's a milder version of ORTL's monstrosity,  It stresses foster care adoption which ORTL  has studiously ignored throughout HB 307's promotion.  SH 250 may have a better chance of passing.

I'll write about it later. Part 2 will deal with what I see as Ohio Right to Life's agenda and strategy to position itself as an adoption player in the state. I'll also talk some more about  how sponsor Jim Buchy and ORTL has "handled" complaints (even from supporters) that HB 307 does little or nothing  to actually increase adoption of newborns

Links to Testimony

Adoption Circle HB307 Testimony-NBurley001
SKirsh HB307 Testimony001 (1)
ORTL HB307 Testimony-KSmith001
NCALP HB307 Testimony001 OH 
Jud Conf HB307 Testimony-KSpicer001

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This is Not Adoption Reform: Ohio Right to Life Proposes Cheap and Quick Adoptions

Bad news in Ohio.  Ohio Right to Life is ready to launch a new easy adoption  legislative project:  

The bill isn't filed yet, but  it gained traction Monday when the Columbus Dispatch  published:  Abortion foes focus on easing Ohio adoptions

Since the bill isn't up  yet, we can't say what it says exactly, so I'm going by the Dispatch report only.  Here, is a  rundown from Mike Gonidakis,  adoptive father of two and President of Ohio Right to Life:.  .

• Decrease the waiting time for adoption finalization from 1 year to 60 days (Note: this seems to be a mistake.  Under the ORC, adoption finalization can currently take place no less that 6 months after placement.)
• Decrease the eligibility time a man can file with the Ohio Putative Father's Registry (PFR) from 30 days  to 7.
• Require adoption agencies and adoption lawyers to inform fetal fathers (before the birth of the child)  that an adoption plan is being made; thus, giving them more time to file with the PRF (if they can find it)
• Increase the Ohio adoption tax credit from $1500 to $10,000 to be spread out over four years,  substantially offsetting the cost  of the adoption
•  Decrease "birthmother" fraud by requiring adoption agencies and adoption lawyers to make living expense payments provided by paps (prospective adoptive parents) directly to service providers (doctors, landlords, utilities), not to "birthmothers" themselves.  Under current law, these funds go directly from pap to "birthmother".  The  $3000 payment limit would not change.

This proposal has more holes than the proverbial Swiss cheese. Two months is far from enough time for ethical post-placement. follow-up and opens the adoption process to corruption, child abuse, and adoption fraud. even more than it already is.  When I was adopted finalization took approximately a year and  a social worker made at least three unannounced visits to our home between my placement and adoption finalization.. That is not too much to expect today. If you're doing it right, what's the rush? Combined with the PFR   provision (below),  the shortened time frame is no more than a new way to push dads out of the way and hide their children from them..

My other big concern is the PFR.  There is nothing to prevent a woman from claiming she doesn't know the name of the father or giving  a false name and contact information for the father, or just refusing to name him at all, or  naming several men as possible fathers (Hello, Maury!)   It  certainly doesn't require her to tell the putative father that she is even pregnant.   She can just weasel. Moreover, under current law, a man can register with the PFR any time after he has sex with a woman. (according to court rulings when a man has sex  with a woman he's put on notice). Although some men do get snookered, they currently  have plenty of the time to get on the books if they suspect adoption may be afoot. But since the PFR is unadvertised, does it even matter?.  ORTL needs to look at  the current scandals of Baby Veronica and Baby Deserai  among the latest adoption parade of horrors to see  where this will lead. (For more about the the legal situation of putative fathers and the Ohio PFR go to ericksmith.org 

The adoption tax credit sends a very bad message:  adoption welfare.   (What a boon for serial adopters!) What ever happened to  "if you can't afford a child, don't have one?"  bringing up the whole "deserving" issue. 
  
Welfare moms :     Off the dole you go! 
Adoptive parents:   On the dole you go!

I don't have an original source for this quote, but someone said recently in a tweet,  "welfare cuts + adoption tax credits is redistributive wealth." " I couldn't agree more. 

******

There is, in fact,  nothing in this measure, as far as we know, that offers "opportunities" for women to keep their children.  Or for that matter opportunities for  them to turn their newborns in for adoption, unless you factor in the Draconian legislation that ORTL pushed through last session. These   new measures include diverting   state Planned Parenthood  funds to  evangelical "crisis pregnancy centers."   requiring abortion providers to  force clients to listen to  fetal heartbeats, and a ban on state-subsidized rape counselors  making  discussing abortion and making abortion referrals. Today the New York Times published a piece covering the full range of Ohio's  new anti-abortion regulations that explains the climate ORTL believes it has  created for   cheap  and easy newborn adoption.  

This bill is really about opportunities to make adoption cheaper and easier for paps..  Goindakis admits as much.  "“We’re trying to make adoptions better, cheaper and faster,”  he told the Dispatch.   "In Ohio, adoption is too expensive, too bureaucratic, inefficient at best, and there is too much hardship and heartache in the process.”

Hardship and heartache  for whom? 

I'm writing this quickly to get the word out.   I'll be writing more in depth later. I'm trying to get a pre-flie copy of the bill or at least a synopsis today.



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U are a Gift: The commodification of the female body on a very bad webpage. Your value is your unplanned pregnancy

The other day, the ever eagle-eyed Claud D'Arcy found a website, U Are a Gift, that is truly beyond words.  If I didn't now better, I'd think that U Are a Gift, with its bizarre pictures of gift wrapped pregos, is a parody page. After one gets over the trauma of puerile aesthetics (Ad Busters take note!), one can only wonder who would take this site seriously.  The average 12-year old, with no prompting from any of us, should figure out quickly that U Are a Gift is somebody's fantasy in pink.

U Are a Gift is operated by a MILF  named Carol  (no last name) who wears jeans and suffers from grammar, punctuation, and capitalization impairment.  We think she thinks she's cool--a word she uses to describe open adoption (the film Juno is a great model for living-a-happily-ever-after life) ). Carol tells us that before God, or rather, "Jesus, CEO of the Universe," whispered in her pretty ear to set up her page (or mission, or business or whatever it is) she was:

....in the executive search business for 20 years. In my business I have always created opportunities for people and not allowed them to miss out on them because of fear.

U Are a Gift and its paravenu keeper are clearly about abortion and arguments to forgo it. Adoption isn't mandatory, but it's the "unselfish" and "responsible" choice elevating you from emotional trainwreck and poverty  to gift and gift giver.  If Steve Jobs hadn't been adopted, YOU wouldn't have an iPod or an iPad. Do you have the right to deny the world cool communication gizmos?

 The site contains sketchy information about abortion and  links to the anti-abortion "information"site,"  abortionfacts.com operated by  Heritage House, a  Christian fundamentalist promotional merchandiser  that sells  "teaching tools" such as the ever-popular pocket pal--life-size fetal models, in white or brown/Spanish, to use as awesome conversation starters in places like airplanes or supermarket lines where anti-abortion zealots can captivate a captive audience. Heritage House, of course, links to all sorts of "resource pages" owned by its small circle of friends, in this case Catholic anti-abortion enthusiasts.

U Are a Gift through abortionfacts.com, for instance links to the largely unknown -to-the -public but influential   "family-values"  Elliot Institute (or afterabortion.org   or abortion: the unchoice), which advertises itself as "supporting the natural family.." Don't get excited!  It's not what you think.  "Natural family," to the Elliot is the hetero married couple/bio or adopted-childed paradigm that needs legal protection from queers, sluts, their irresponsible paramours, and abortionists. Born again bastards  (that is, those re-imaged by adoption), are welcome.naturally as long as we're not too dodgy and don't demand the return of our stolen identities and birth certificates (aka destroy adoption, the Constitution, Christianity, and The Family.). 

abortionfacts.com  links to dubious adoption resources,  including the wit and wisdom of Ohio  fundamentalist Catholic crackpot and sealed records king of coolness, Dr. John Wlike (and his wife)  who tell us, among other "facts" that Roe v Wade has made it the "in thing" for unmarried women to keep their babies.

Hmm, OK, Jack!

It's also the "in thing" (though Willke doesn't use that  term since bastards should never be "in" anything but a happy yard surrounded by a high white picket fence) for adoptees  to let themselves be brainwashed into thinking they want their OBCs.  The truth according, to the Willkes, is that 'we're just  the pathetic dupes of abortion industry agitprop that's manipulating our ungrateful dysfunctions and spoiled feelings of entitlement, as a cat's paw to murder millions of baybees for fun an profit.  Here's what Willke and the Mrs, who for decades  have headed the opposition to adoptee rights in Ohio, have to say about OBC access and those who advocate it  (my emphasis)

What of open records?

This is different. Today there are groups aggressively seeking to pass laws to unilaterally and retroactively open previously sealed records. Increasingly, pro-life people regard such search groups as pro-abortion and anti-adoption and have opposed such efforts. A high percentage of young mothers, in years past, placed their babies in adoptive homes only because the law guaranteed a seal of confidentiality on that adoption. Today, many of these generous women are terrified that this confidentiality will be stripped away. The fair and compassionate answer is a mutual consent registry.

U Are a Gift's front page carries  a pink header-- "The Big Bang"-- we hope it grows a URL someday -- that refers profanus, to the moment of conception. This artful metaphor relates nicely to Dr. Willke's description, delivered before an Ohio House Health Committee hearing  in 2006,  which I covered for the Columbus Free Press, of conception as "an ant piercing a basketball."

U Are a Gift promotes the Option Line crisis pregnancy hotline, operated jointly by Heartbeat International and CareNet, two of the largest CPC (crisis pregnancy centers)  franchises  in the world. Care Net's former CEO, Rev. Curtis J Young, is the author of the notorious adoption marketing instructional,  The Missing Piece: Adoption Counseling in Pregnancy Resource Centers,  published by the Family Research Council.. When  Bill Pierce was alive the book was promoted by the National Council for Adoption, which seems now to have quietly  and rightly retired it.  The book, appears to inspire Carol's entrepreneurial spirit, (or whatever she is up to), and is available in hard copy for $3.00 on the FRC site and can be downloaded for free from Heartbeat International.

Since  the Option Line phone number is listed on hundreds of CPC sites, it's doubtful that there is any direct connection between Option Line and U Are a Gift.  To be honest, if we were Option  Line we'd  be embarrassed by Gift and demand Carol remove our phone number. Or wonder if Carol were a stealth pro-abort seeking to undermine our anti-abortion mission through satire..We can imagine how the puritanical Dr .Willke would respond to the salacious photo shopped imagine of a gift-wrapped baby bump  (or rather basketball) posted on the U Are a Gift front page.

We still don't  understand the purpose of the U Are a Gift page. There are hundreds of similar pages that don't insult (exactly), and graphically  exploit their target audience-- (lower age) teen women,  the unsophisticated, and uninformed,--the kind who used to show up regularly on Maury Povich.  The site is clearly intended to persuade frightened young women that they are God's chosen vessel,  but "adoption," "resources" and "movement." (whatever that is) tabs are under construction, and so far devoid of information..  This brings up the question of why U Are a Gift  is live when mostly unfinished. We hope Carol  runs  her head  hunter company better than this.

******

After I wrote this log I looked a little deeper into Carol.  I learned that her full name is Carol Brymm and that she lives in Dallas, At least the Gift phone number is in the Dallas area.  She says she currently lives in Austin. . For what it's worth, I'm leaving off some personal information for privacy's sake.

According to Brymm's  public Linked-in profile, which includes the same picture of  her that appears on U Are a Gift,  she operates CB Legal Search, LCC. (no viable webpage, but lots  of aggregates) in Houston.  She describes herself as an "expert at locating unique hard to-find individuals that are at the top of their field for unique positions." According to Texas news outlets, in March 2011 Brymm walked away with (or at least was awarded)  a cool $350,000 and legal fees when a Los Angeles law firm rejected 10 lawyers she recruited for it, then turned around and hired them behind her back without signing her recruiting contract.

Brymm  posts her phone number headed with the awkwardly worded: "If you need to contact you are a gift about stories..."    The main purpose of U Are a Gift is probably to decrease abortion, but Byrmm's self-described skills posted on Linked-in as "an expert in locating unique hard-to-find individuals" for placement sounds perfect for another kind of headhunting and placement.. If you can recruit lawyers and law firms, you can recruit young women and "desperate" paps. Unless things have changed recently, Texas law prohibits adoption facilitation, but oddly, it is not illegal to use an adoption facilitator. I'll leave that one up to the legislature to suss out.

******

Writing this blog has been much ado about nothing, and I can't believe I spent as much time as I did on it.

And as I said at the top, I can't imagine anyone over the age of 12 taking U Are a Gift seriously. The page is silly, and insulting, but also disturbing. I can't remember any adoption related homepage that so commodifies women and girls and preps them for the commercial market. . The woman holding the be-ribboned baby bump, has no head. You =  the female body = pregnancy = child = value =  gift = You.. A false ourborhetorical conceit.  Gift exploits unplanned pregnancy, framing  it as an altruistic, self-fulfilling,  if not  "fun"  experience.  The Gladney Girls hanging out at the pool look downright dour next to Gift's Gift girls.

And where are the dads in all this?.

Just who or what is the gift?  The pregnant woman is told she's a gift, but clearly, she's a transient gift of value only in that she is the conduit for the child she will deliver.  If she surrenders, she is the gift giver and the gift, the sacrificer and the sacrifice, just as the child is in going to its God-intended parents. U Are a Gift, disconnects the pregnant woman seeking help and support, from her body, her intellect, her emotions--and in the case of adoption, her baby.. It pumps her up with false esteem and gratitude of service. And this is very dangerous for her and her child, whether kept or adopted.

Finally, U Are a Gift is a small, and probably unimportant  illustration of the incestuous world of abortion and adoption--formal and informal-- perpetuating the myth that adoption is a reproductive right, when, in fact, it is social policy by statute.

Did Bill Clinton Invent Oral Sex As We Know It Today?

Al Gore may claim to have invented the Internet, but now we've got  Bryan Fischer from the  American Family Association  claiming (almost) that Bill Clinton invented oral sex.  Not only that, but he is personally responsible for an alleged increase if  HPV  "neck and head cancer"  in the US caused by , according to Fischer,  oral sex..

See, an entire generation of "young people"  who had never even thought of sex of any kind, decided to take up oral sex as a hobby after hearing about  the Oval Office diversions of Bill Clinton and his devil in a blue dress, Monica Lewinsky.

If Bryan Fischer thinks that teenagers imitate what the president does, then we hope more than we already do that Newt Gingrich isn't elected in November.

Roe Turns 39: Columbus Protests

This now appears in the Columbus Free Press in a slightly different form.

Monday marked the 39th anniversary of Roe v Wade.  While most  local anti-abortion big shots were doing their annual March for Life in Washington with accompanying photo ops, Greater Columbus Right to Life held down the fort here with a 45 minute rally on the steps of the statehouse.with few photo ops.  Except for me, Channel l0 appeared to be the only local media covering the event, but there's nothing on the station's news site.With Occupy Columbus camped out on the corner of S. High and E State, I imagined interesting possibilities, but the occupiers, unlike the Occupy folks in Washington, DC who disruppted a "youth event" held by Brian Kemper, Patrick Mahoney, Lila Rose, and friends, decided to sit this one out.

I've attended several of these January outdoor events in the last few years.  Usually, within 10 minutes my fingers, even in two pairs of gloves are ready to call it off  This year, however, the temperature was in the lower 50s and the crowd knew it . About 175 adults and a couple dozen small children celebrated  as Grove City State Rep.and keynoter Cheryl Grossman (R H23) ran off a list of  abortion-curbing bills that either passed last year or are now in the hopper.  Ohio ProLife  Actoin's  Heartbeat Bill, (HB 125), which aims to ban virtually all abortion in the state, got special props. While Ohio Right to Life and Ohio ProLife Action  duke it out  over turf in the press and in the lobby,  GCRTL and Grossman, gave big hugs to the state organization and the Ohio ProLife Action break-offs. .No seams showing..

Speaker Denise Salyers  a self-defined "victim of  the abortion industry," following the de riguer line of  "abortion harms women"" described with great detail and occasional tears how  her 1984 abortion ruined her life  with drugs, drinks, and suicidel until she was redeemed  by God 24 years later.

The rally, as usual, embodied ecumenical catharsis. The Protestant element of  Parsley-type exurbanites and parents with neatly turned-out daughters in Modest Apparel jumpers   were joined by three nuns  actually dressed like nuns, and a gaggle of deSales High School jocks and cheerleaders.  But this year, adults ran the show. Unlike past January Roe  events, billed as youth events, there was no throng of girls and boys from Fostoria and Marion comparing Planned Parenthood to Hitler and making  euphemistic prayer huddles;.and no middle school  adoptees  at the podium pimping adoption as a cure for abortion.  Strangely, adoption wasn't mentioned at all.

All photographs by the author

Support Occupy Columbus - January 23, 2012

I dropped by the Occupy Columbus compound for a few minutes today on my way to the Columbus Right to Life rally. .  Due to COTA construction of a much-needed bus shelter in front of the Statehouse, (though it will spoil the view) the occupiers have moved to the far south end of the block, (S High and E State) which strikes me as a more strategic location, at least as far as public interaction is concerned. The bus-waiting wallsitters never seemed very  engaged with OC when they were next to the McKinley Memorial. and the bus stop.  The weather was unseasonably warm, the compound looked well organized, and a small library has been added.When I was there three people work staffing the tent or the sidewalk.   While I thought the proximity of the the compound to the CRTL rally had interesting potential Occupy Columbus decided to stay out of it; probably a sound decision, though it could have been fun....

Please consider stocking the Occupy Columbus larder.  I dropped off a jar of cranberry juice and a box of Earl Grey.  They also need need money and PEOPLE.  After the rally I'd planned to hold a sign  while I waited for the bus, but the bus arrived about on minute after I did.

I took a couple pictures which I'm posting here. 

I'll have a short report on the CRTL rally up later today.

Ohio Right to Life PAC Primary Endorsements

Ohio Right to Life PAC,  has published its list of endorsements for the March 5, 2012 Ohio primary. . The endorsements are for contested seats only. Since endorsement lists sometimes disappear from webpages after elections, I'm posting the list below for the record. .Incumbents are in italics.

1.  Ohio has been redistricted and some incumbents may currently represent a district other than what they are now running in.

2. Some incumbents may be term limited and are now running for the opposite house.

For more than 15 years, Ohio Right to Life has been  the chief opponent of the restoration of the right of all Ohio adoptees to access their own original birth certificates.   



 Ohio Right to Life PAC Endorsements for the March 6, 2012 Primary Election

Ohio Senate Endorsements

• Republican State Representative Randy Gardner - Senate District 2
• Republican State Senator Peggy Lehner (Honor Roll Status) - Senate District 6
• Republican State Representative Joe Uecker (Honor Roll Status) - Senate District 14
• Republican Candidate Paul Hall - Senate District 14
• Republican State Senator Jim Hughes - Senate District 16
• Republican State Senator Tom Patton - Senate District 24

Ohio House of Representatives Endorsements

• Republican State Representative Peter Stautberg - House District 27
• Republican Candidate Mike Wilson - House District 28
• Republican Candidate Lou Blessing, III - House District 29 
• Democratic Candidate Terry Tranter - House District 31
• Democratic Candidate Daniel Troy - House District 60
• Republican Candidate Randy Law - House District 64
• Republican Candidate John Becker - House District 65
• Republican Candidate Doug Green - House District 66
• Republican Candidate Rick Herron- House District 66
• Republican Candidate Nick Owens - House District 66
• Republican State Representative Andrew Brenner - House District 67
• Republican State Representative Margaret Ruhl - House District 68
• Republican Candidate Rick Perales - House District 73
• Republican Candidate Ron Hood - House District 78
• Republican Candidate Monty Lobb - House District 78
• Republican State Representative John Adams - House District 85
• Republican State Representative Jeffrey McClain - House District 87

If you're in House District 78, watch out for Monty Lobb.  A few years ago he was Ken Blackwell's shadowy chief of staff and mini-me.  I wrote about him here: Ohio Christian Alliance: Ohio Asst. Sec. of State Monty Lobb and "Swiftboat" Jerry Corsi to Raise Money for Re-formed Christian Coalition of Ohio.