Hanging with Glenn Beck So You Don't Have To

 A slightly difference version of this article appears in the Columbus Free Press.

Glenn Beck is more dreadful than you think.

Thursday night (October 27)  I attended Glenn Beck's performance piece at Vets Memorial.  His appearance was sponsored by Ohio Right to Life to kick off its annual state conference and fill its operating budget (according to Beck) for next fiscal year.  Just buying a ticket wasn't good enough. In a word of faith moment,  Beck ordered us to pull out the donation envelopes from our programs and hold them tight for the next couple hours as he  inspired us to stuff them with cash, check or credit card number.  From the looks of the beg buckets held by ORTL volunteers standing  beneath the exit signs when it was all over, Beck had indeed miraculously  turned envelopes into cash.

Lying in bed the next morning I wondered just what I could write about Beck.  There must have been something in his 90 minute one man show that was revealing or quotable or enlightening, or entertaining..  Alas!  There is none. For 90 minutes Beck paced the stage, implored, and wept over....well... something, but it's unclear what.

When he was at Fox, Beck had time constrictions.With a live performance, anything goes. Obviously orchestrated and staged with chalkboard, Beck nevertheless gave the appearance of  running on  open-ended  stream of consciousness boosted by a couple hits of Adderall

Beck came out the gate running, telling the crowd of about 2,400 that he is not political.  "I've gone so far beyond  politics," he assured us with evangelical vigor.  The audience responded with excessive applause.

 Beck implored us to "follow where your heart is." To find our "complete life."  Instead of following our hearts, though,  for the next hour and a half we followed  Pilgrim Beck's dark heart through a murky maze of cliches, platitudes, and God talk between monologues on early 20th century progressivism,  collectivism, eugenics, history. and a short apology for his former life as a drunk..

Despite Beck's promise that he's "beyond politics" he vented on everything from the Arab Spring (bad) to Israel (good).  He told us that he'd "dragged"  his wife on three trips to Israel this year. One jaunt included a side trip to Auschwitz.  He gave us his  firsthand but foggy account of gas chambers, ovens, and  a life-changing experience that had something to do with God and the United States.

Beck was  particularly fascinated with the instruments of Nazi human extermination, telling us that "somebody thought it [killing Jews] was such a good idea" that  they put their names on the instruments of annihilation, He failed, however, to tell us whose names.  The audience, familiar with Beckian  verbal prestidigitation didn't need those names or a flowchart, however,  to attach  his allusion to the current  Planned Parenthood and to the historic Margaret Sanger and her unfortunate remarks on "the Negro problem." which he quoted at length later in the show..  The virtually all-white Vets crowd  shook its collective head.in disbelief.  Occasional shouts of  "We love you Glenn" or "God Bless you, Glenn" rang through the hall.. Beck remained modest.

Back at Auschwitz, Beck said he left the camp "outraged at the churches" and drove around the countryside screaming, "Where were you? Where were you?" a common rhetorical trick of  evangelicals to score points against "liberal" denominations especially when they're not around to defend themselves.

Glenn Beck making dead tissue.

Then it came to him.  We  suffer from "self-inflicted blindness." We see only what we want to see.  "People don't want to see pictures of dead tissue."  He used his own snot as an example. I'm not making this up

We also got some history lessons, presumably via Glenn Beck University "historian."  David Barton    ("David Barton's Christory" Free Press hardcopy,  Jan-Feb 2007; Theoconia Jan 4, 2007)  Beck's other staff historians from Hillsdale, who hold real academic credentials, might cringe at this nonsense. Or maybe not.

Beck informed us that presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth ("the Leonardo DeCaprio of his day") "lunged" at Abraham Lincoln shortly before the president delivered his second Inaugural Address.  Booth did, in fact, attend the March 1865 inauguration  as a guest of his fiance, Lucy  "Bessie" Hale, daughter of  US Senator John P. Hale. Although Booth reportedly said later that  he'd missed an excellent opportunity to kill the president,  there is no evidence of any "lunge" or that Booth was even close enough to "lunge " at  Lincoln.  Beck avoided the obvious question of why  Booth would  even consider pulling a "lunge" stunt in front of thousands of  more-or-less friendly people, especially when up to the Fall of Richmond in April 1865, his plan was to kidnap the president, not kill him. The point of this story was...I've either unremembered it or it was never articulated.

Taking another stroll down memory lane, Beck, warned us of the dangers of collectivism (aka  communism, Stalin,  and Occupy Wall Street) and eugenics (eating the rich).  He assured us that "you"  (that is, we in the audience) were probably safe from cannibals in Columbus. Maybe Wall Street derivatives pimps aren't.

As his 90 minutes closed in on him, Beck  proffered God as the solution to all of our our traumas--and  followed with the assurance that he was quite ready to talk for another two hours.  Miraculously,  Beck's proffer turned true. In a  few minutes God, in the form of a contract with Vets, forced Beck to wind up so Vets could tear down.

******

The Beck show was full of  narcissistic spectacle, but had no substance.  Ohio Right to Life and its  friends, though,  had plenty to say., and that's the real story. 

ORTL director Mike Gonidakis, in his opening remarks, listed ORTL's goals for the coming year(s):  defund Planned Parenthood; raise standards for abortion clinics (including prohibition of "telemed abortion."); push Michelle Bachmann's HR 3130 Heartbeat Informed Consent Act, through Congress; and introduce more "pro-life initiatives in the state.  He cited the imminent signing by John Kasich of HB 63, the tightening of "informed consent and 'parental notification"  for the state. ("Informed Consent v Informed Consent," Free Press , Oct 16, 2011; Theoconia, Oct 14, 2011..  Nothing really new there.

I know people who still fail to grasp that ORTL owns the Ohio legislature. For them, especially, here is Mike Gonidakis' list of funders and supporters of  the Beck performance--the creme de la creme of the Ohio Republican Party  with only John Kasich absent--and then in name only.

The anted-up included Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted,  Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Ohio Auditor Dave Yost, Cong. Jim Jordan, Steve Stivers, Pat Tieberi,  Bob Latta,  Steve Austria,  Jim Renacci,  Bob Gibbs,  Steve Chabot, and  Ohio Senator from Columbus,  Jim Hughes. Jordan, Latta, and Yost were among state pols commended for donating blocks of tickets to ORTL local affiliates enabling the less fortunate to attend.  (While waving his envelope around on the stage, Beck comiserated with the less fortunate in the audience declaring he'd be there with them himself some day.)  Gonidakis said 65 state affiliates were represented at the event, and people had come from as far away as Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Colorado to attend.

Absent were Central Ohio's usual suspects, Coach Dave Daubenmire (Pass the Salt ),  Pastor Bill Dunfee,  (New Beginnings Church, Warsaw, OH), Dr. Patrick Johnston  (PersonhoodOhio and Stop Columbus Killing) and Mark Harrington Created Equal).  Harrington has supported ORTL legislation in the past,  but the others consider the organization  weak-kneed, insufficiently Christian, and "pro-abortion,"  floundering  around " in Daubenmire's "evangelifish" tank.

Gonitakis made a special effort to acknowledge National and Ohio Right to Life founder, Dr. Jack Willke.  Willke  who recently walked off the ORTL board in a very loud huff,  taking Cincinnati RTL and others with him, after the board refused to support HB 125,  the Heartbeat bill (not to be confused with the Bachmann's federal proposal) that would virtually outlaw all abortion in Ohio. The  Ohio bill originated with Willke and his protege, former ORTL leg director and evangelical rock star  Janet Folger Porter. (Faith2Action and Ohio ProLife Action.)  The consequences of the the split are yet to be seen.  Several times, Gonidakis  acknowledged support from the Tea Party (however that's defined nowadays), so much so, that I wondered just how much money "the Tea Party" has tossed ORTL's way, and marked it down as something to look into later.

Following Gonidaks' welcome,  we got a few words from David C Forbes, Jr, senior pastor  of the Columbus Christian Center.   He and his Columbus Christian Center Choir were virtually the only African Americans in the  audience that I observed.

Six years ago, Forbes sat on the board of Rod Parsley's Christian domionist Reformation Ohio and spoke at its launch on the statehouse lawn in  November 2005. ("Coup d'etat in Ohio?"  (Free Press, November 15, 2005; Theoconia, July 11, 2006.)  Also on the board was then-Ohio State Rep Linda Reidelbach, now a founding board member of  Willke and Folger Porter's challenge to ORT: leadership, Ohio ProLife Action.

Strategy Group for Media , producers of "effective and engaging political advertising for conservative, pro-life candidates across the nation" was on hand with swag and promo videos of various Ohio politicians pushing ORTL.  SMG's clients include John Kasich, Rand Paul,  John Boozeman, Jim DeMnt, Joe Pitts, and overall, the Ohio Republican Party..  It operates out of several locations, including Delaware, Ohio.

Other  Beck event sponsors:   Kalmbach Feeds (Upper Sandusky),  Home City Ice (Grove City); Graphic Services Group Ltd (Dublin),  Sports Ohio (Dublin);  , S&; K Concrete (Akron),  MDS Communications (Mesa, AZ),  InfoCision, (Akron).  WRFD-AM, (Columbus) and Catholic Speakers Bureau (LA County,.Clients include Alan Keyes, Bay Buchanan, Bobby Schindler, and  Jill Stanek, ). 

Non-profits:  Heartbeat International (home base, Columbus), Teachers Saving Children, Inc, (Ohio Chapter endorsed by Jack Willke),  A Voice for Life (an anti-abortion documentary based  in Mansfield and endorsed by Willke), and  VoteYesOnIssue3.com (Columbus).

******

I've attended numerous evangelical and quasi-evangelical events, some of which I've written about for the Free Press and Theoconia.  These include the 1999 D. James Kennedy's Center for Reclaiming America conference at Coral Ridge Ministries, in Fort Lauderdale;  the 2001 Christian Coalition  Road to Victory Conference in Washington DC   (speeches from dozens of nationally elected officials and rightwing celebrities such as  Tom DeLay, Pat Robertson,  Phyllis Schlafly,  Pat Boone, Ehud Olmert, Alan Keyes, Jim Inhofe, Ernest Istook, Donna Rice Hughes, Lindsey Graham, and a outbreak of tongues  for Israel);  a half dozen Teen Mania stadium events ("Teen mania: Lift the Banner," Free Press, hardcopy July-Sept 2006;   Theoconia, July 27, 2006;  the 2005 Operation Save America invasion of Columbus, and related events (see left sidebar for numerous  links)  and many smaller events and get-togethers in Central Ohio. This, however, was my first ORTL event.

There was little difference between  the spirit, aesthetics, and message of those events and the Glenn Beck one man show, except Glenn lacked the dog and pony that are standard fare with the big boys and girls. .  Praise music and prayer, an American flag as tall as your house, the linking of ORTL's  anti-abortion crusade to the American state, Christian conversion (even if Beck is L-d-S)  all  enabled Ohio Right to Life to slip out of its public quasi- secular costume and slip into its something-a-little more-comfortable Armour of God.

Created Equal: Condom Couture is an outrage to Ohio taxpayers!

Wednesday evening, Mark Harrington and his latest knock off, Created Equal, planned to picket a private fashion show fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of Central Ohio held at  the Shadowbox  Theatre on S. Front Street. .While any excuse to picket Planned Parenthood is a good excuse for Harrington, this event billed as "Condom Couture"--condom-inspired fashion with a cause" has driven the usually grumpy Harrington into the street. (As of this writing, I've been unable to learn if anyone showed up--I'll update when I do).

Maybe it's because this isn't' just some rubber chicken banquet.  It's $ponsored by the marketing research  firm One Point Contact, Continental Real Estate Companies, the Crane Group, and Teva Women's Health. I have no idea who showed up this year, but last years's local luminaries included  Mary and Bob Lazarus,  Howard Sirak, and Channel 10's Andrea Cambern.  Not a rubber chicken in sight.

 I have been unable able to locate a press release about the protest on the Created Equal website or major Christian wire services, but the Dispatch quotes Harrington in two short separate articles:

Condom rage: Despite the fact that the event is a private fundraiser, many taxpayers don't want to support the outrageous funding of sexual promiscuity under the guise of "safe sex."

Condoms on the catwalk:  This is an outrage to Ohio taxpayers and should not be tolerated.

We doubt that taxpayers much care if somebody wants to hang condoms from their hems, but we do know that  Harrington's real outrage is not for the Ohio taxpayer who has nothing to do with the event, but that somebody somewhere is having sex for non-procreative reasons.Marriage license or not. Private donations be damned!

Commenters on  the Dispatch site are treating Harrington like he's an ill-educated lout who opted out of sex-ed,. They  point out that condoms prevent pregnancy, not to mention abortion.  They do.of course, but that's not the point.since our local theocons oppose  birth control on Biblical and moral grounds, something the liberal mind can't phantom, and nine out of ten times clicks into pander mode when confronted by it. Abortion is simply the hook, something to grab the public, which still needs to be "educated" on birth control.. In the longterm, abortion is just one of many secular missteps in need of a Domionist repair. It's just sexier than the others.and gets the blood roiling.

Mark Harrington & Dave Daubenmire at Roy's Rock, Oct 15, 2004

I've covered Mark Harrington and his activities for at least six years. While others in his camp are passionate, hotheaded--even intellectual at times. Harrington has always seemed cynical,  Even in 2004, when I started to pay serious attention to him, Harrington appeared to have gone beyond  Domionists like Coach Dave Daubenmire and Dr. Patrick Johnston.  He struck me as a community organizer gone sour after  looking into the soul of  The People and finding it lacking. Somebody pulling the strings behind a candidate. Somebody who is happy behind a desk plotting it all out, or drawing up a flow-chart. (He's got a degree from OSU in Marketing and Economics.)   Not somebody standing in the street with a dumb sign or arguing with an OSU student over which holocaust is worse. Not that Harrington doesn't do these things.  He just never seems too happy about it. When I covered the Roy's Rock event  (transcript of speeches) for the Free Press in 2004, he was clearly bored and cut the event  short by a couple hours. All the songs were sung,  the last shofar blown, Coach  Daubenmire, Hollis Summers, and Harrington had said their piece, and State Rep Linda Reidellbach and the  president of the Ohio Christian Coalition were no-shows. Even the cops had left. Standing in the rain,  tandem with a rickety wooden trailer and a couple big  shiny rocks wasn't making his day.

Nonetheless Harrington knows an opportunity when he sees it, even if it's only for "the mission." The Dispatch picked up  the story fast enough and now it's all over the wire. He knows the stunt is silly, but he's sucking it up for the "greater good."


Mark Harrington is the long-time director of the Center for BioEthical Reform - Midwest (CBR), under which numerous projects were launched. The two best known are the Genocide Awareness Project  (GAP) which I wrote about in 2006 and truth trucks with their baybee  blender bits pictorials,  which you've probably seen driving around town annoying the mothers of young children.  He also developed Obama Nation/Christians for Social Justice  which posits Barack Obama as "the face of black genocide."

Harrington left CBR earlier this year to open up shop with Created Equal. In his press release announcing the opening,, he says that its name comes from the Declaration of Independence and Martin Luther King's famous I Have a Dream speech,  a quote which he neatly jereryrigged into something King did not say and the casual reader may miss. (italics is actual quote.)

Men should be judged not by the color of their skin" -- nor whether they are born or preborn-- but "by the content of their character." 


Harrington's press release description of Created Equal  fell right in line with my previous thinking about him:  a behind-the-scenes man.

Created Equal's goal is to train the next generation of leaders to take on the culture of death and win."  We will specialize in youth training and outreach at the high school and college level.  (He' is currently holding training sessions on the OSU campus)....

Using new media and cutting edge technology, he says "Our projects will be easily transferable to students all across America so they can win the abortion debate on campus now and into the future."

Dr. Patrick Johnston and Troy Newman, November 2005, Columbus

Created Equal is endorsed by Scott Klusendorf, president of, Life Training Institute; Lila Rose, president Live Action, and notorious  "undercover videographer";  Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life;   Dr. John Willke, co-founder of  National Right to Life, Ohio Right to Life, and founder of the Life Issues Institute;  prominent anti-abortion blogger Jill Stanek;  Troy Newman, director of Operation Rescue, Phil  Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values;  Mike Gonidakis, director of Ohio Right to Life;  and WRFD talk show host, Bob Burney.

 These are not insignificant names.

I have written about some of them hereand for the Free Press. Willke and Buress are board members of Janet Folgler Porter's new Pro Life Action Ohio, which may blow Ohio Right to Life right out of the game.  Jill Stanek and Troy Newman have appeared on the platform with Folger Porter recently and have ties to other Central Ohio Domionists. These supporters drag in a busload of like-minded friends in-state and out.. With the convergence of  so many theoconic forces in Ohio (which I'll be writing about over the next few weeks),  it appears the state is being sent up as a flashpoint.

Leave your guns at home, Bill...Don't take your guns to the CPC

I was down on campus today and saw the sign below declaring the OSU franchise of the anti-abortion Pregnancy Decision "Health" Centers (my quotes) a gun free zone. Being out of the loop for the last few months, Theoconia was unaware of the threat presented to local compulsory pregnancy camps by liberal gun toters.


Here's a handful of pictures, though, taken at the old Capital Care on N High and East Weber (since relocated) of kindly anti-aborts engaged in "peaceful" protest against a none-of-your-business legal medical procedure.

Pastor Bill Dunfee's arrest at the old CapCare at N. High and E. Weber Rd.

Dr. Patrick Johnston's warning:

Patrick with another sign

Mount Vernon science teacher John Freshwater (Minutemen cap) and Minutemen friends in abortion dialogue with passerby

PATRICK JOHNSTON TO DEBATE HEALTHCARE TONIGHT AT ST. JOHN'S CHURCH

Tonight (September 28), well-known Central Ohio Biblical American Dr. Patrick Johnston will debate James Castle, president of the Ohio Hospital Association on what a press release calls, the "helpfulness or harmfulness" of proposals pending in Congress related to national health care legislation. The debate will be held at 7:00 PM at St John's Church, 59 E Mound Street, Columbus

This is their second debate The first was held on September 3 at the Hillard branch of the Franklin County Public Library. I was unable to attend that debate, but will cover tonight's event, and report here later.

The debates are sponsored by the Community Leaders Forum, , The Columbus Free Press, Simply Living, the Humanist Community of Central Ohio, the Society for Humanistic Judaism the OSU Students for Freethought..and believe it or not, Coach Dave Daubenmire's Pass the Salt Ministries. It is free and open to the public.

The Hilliard debate received virtually no coverage outside of an Other Paper hit piece on Daubenmire, Meet your local demagogue, which must have made the reporter feel oh-so clever, but missed the mark by a mile.

Regarding the debate, we learn:

Pass the Salt ministry was among the groups supporting the anti-public health care position during the debate (without Daubenmire)., accorting ([sic] to event organizer Earl Wordlow [sic]. Voicing the cons was Patrick Johnston, an uninsured Zanesville family practitioner, Christian radio host, an active anti-LGBT and Operation Save America activist, and one-time Libertarian candidate for state representative in Ohio’s 94^th District.

Wearing a Ten Commandments pin on his lapel, Johnston countered his opponent’s Power Point presentation on the whats, wheres, and whys of proposed health care bills with an impassioned speech about the road to perdition, down which government health care must necessarily lead.

Johnston and his supporters’ primary concerns with health care reform , as he laid them out, were taxpayer-subsidized reproductive care, specifically abortion, health care “rationing,” health care for illegal immigrants and, naturally, the ever-present threat of Communist infiltration.

“Even if it could be proven that universal health care could save lives, it should be rejected…better to be a cigarette smoker in an SUV than die a slave to a government system,” said Dr. Johnston. “A little candy for a little Communism? No thanks.”

While audience members, like the gray-haired man wearing a “NObama” T-shirt answered Johnston’s rhetoric with “Amen” and spattered applause, other members grew visibly agitated, some issuing groans and speaking out of turn to question the relevance of his position.

I received an email from Johnston over the weekend, which included this quote about the health care--which I prefer to call the health coverage-- debate:

If you break this ethical question down to its lowest common denominator, it comes down to a Garden of Eden question. Who determines right and wrong? Who determines the limits of government? If it is up to a democratic consensus, how can we condemn slavery where it is democratically popular? How can we condemn the execution of gays or the clitorectomies of little girls in Arab lands, where such things occur with a democratic consensus? If it is up to the whims of the leaders, how can we condemn dictatorships who suppress minorities and persecute political dissidents? The question of whether the government should fund universal healthcare, as in all ethical questions, ultimately comes down to a question of morality. What is the basis of right and wrong? I believe that the God who created us has given us a standard that transcends time, national boundaries, and even our opinions. The Holy Bible contains His word to us, and in it He places a limit to the power of the state. The state has no right to take your money and give to a cause that you would not give willingly if you had the free choice. ‘Thou shalt not steal’ applies to princes as well as paupers.

Judging from the above quote, the Other Paper Paper piece, and previous statements from Johnston on gay marriage, it looks like he'll argue tonight that "the greater good" is not necessarily the "greater good" in his moral construction and and under "God's law." Better to die with God than be saved through tax-payer funded medical.

An email to Coach Daubenmire asking about PTS co-sponsorship of the debate wasn't answered. I talked to Earl Wurdlow, organizer of the debates , and he seemed unaware of Johnston's extreme views on abortion (including posting pictures and plate numbers of women using women's clinic services), queers, and Islam and his elationship with Operation Save America, which I have written about elsewhere in Theoconia. Go to the sidebar on the right for links to those pieces.

Selected Patrick Johnston's web sites (there are more)
Stop Killing Columbus
Right Remedy

For those who can't attend tonight's debate here is a video of Dr Johnsto speaking and selling his children at the April 6, 2009 Campapign for Liberty Tea Party in Zanesville.

PATRICK JOHNSTON IN COLORADO

Imagine my surprise when I found an article about Patrick Johnston in the Colorado Independent--with a picture from Theoconia (the one on the left). The article, Colorado Personhood Law Backer Linked to Militant Anti-Abortion Groups, is one of a series on Colorado's proposed Amendment 48--the Human Life Amendment--which if passed would confer constitutional rights to fertilized human eggs. More precisely, it would add the following language to Section 1 of the Colorado State Constitution:

Section 31. Person defined. As used in sections 3, 6, and 25 of Article II of the state constitution, the terms "person" or "persons" shall include any human being from the moment of fertilization.

And who is up to his neck this campaign, but... Patrick Johnston.

I haven't followed the Amendment 48 campaign, so I shall refrain from commenting. I do, however, believe that for people who care about these things, we need to know that what happens in Central Ohio doesn't stay in Central Ohio. Dave Daubenmire and the Minutemen, Mark Harrington and the Center for Bio-ethical Reform, and GAP...and Dr. Patrick Johnson all have legs. And they travel.

The author of the article, Wendy Norris, has done her homework. I actually recognize where she has picked up most of her material. I disagree with her on a couple points, including the existence of the Army of God. It's 's such a treat, however, to find a homegrown theonomist featured in a publication half-way across the country, mucking around in somebody elses' business that I need to pass the word along, no matter what the quibble.

Here is an excerpt:

James Patrick Johnston, D.O., is, by all appearances, a polite country doctor in south-central Ohio, husband and father of six children under the age of 10 with a new baby on the way. A self-avowed "life, liberty, and jobs" guy, he lost his 2007 bid for a seat in the Ohio General Assembly, where he ran on a plank of cutting taxes, expanding homeschooling and "making Ohio the first state in the Union to defy Roe v. Wade with a statewide abortion ban."

Less obvious are his links to some of the most radical elements of the anti-abortion movement — the paramilitary groups Army of God, Christian Gallery and Minutemen United that have been at the forefront of advocating for and celebrating violent clashes between anti-abortion forces and clinics.

The path leading from Johnston's activism in poor Appalachian Ohio to the hotbed of wealthy religious conservatism in Colorado exemplifies the fluid interchange between the more radical anti-abortion movement and those seeking to shield their past associations in order to appear more mainstream.

The whole series is well worth the read. You never know when "theological" weirdness is coming our way.

The articles can also be found at Unbossed.com

PATRICK JOHNSTON: ANOTHER LETTER DEFENDING FRESHWATER

Another letter wailing "Christian persecution from Patrick Johnston, this time in today's Zanesville Times Recorder. "Disgusted by media's comments of teacher"

Here are two excerpts from it:

Why can't the evolutionists handle criticism of their precious little theory? It's as if their taxpayer-subsidized atheism is to be accepted on blind faith, with a mandatory inquisition for all opponents. The recent movie "Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed" reveals how common it is that creationists are persecuted at institutions of higher learning.

and

Evolutionists appeal to a separation of church and state to censor competitive theories of origins, but what we desperately need is a separation of atheism and state. For too long America has believed the myth that governments and public institutions can be legitimately neutral with regard to Christianity and its claims. But Jesus said we are either for Him or against Him, that if we do not gather with Him we scatter abroad. We are either in rebellion or submission to Him. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" but "every nation that forgets God will be turned in hell."

There's also comments.


a

JOHN FRESHWATER: DISPATCHES FROM THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The July 3 edition of the Columbus Dispatch published letters from Dave Daubenmire and Dr. Patrick Johnston in response to its June 26 editorial, About Time, supporting the Mount Vernon School Board’s vote to fire John Freshwater--but asking why it took them 11 years to do it.

The editorial read in part:

He used his classroom to push his religious views by displaying Bible-related posters, calling other faiths false and telling students that homosexuality is a sin. Such proselytizing in a public school violates the constitutional ban on government establishment of religion. But Freshwater went further: He undermined those parts of the approved science curriculum that don't comport with his beliefs. In doing so, he misled his students and failed in his fundamental duty as a science teacher….

...Freshwater declared himself a free-speech martyr, summoned the assistance of religious provocateur Dave Daubenmire and called a press conference. The ensuing hubbub revealed a disturbing degree of support for Freshwater by people who do not understand or value the difference between science and religion. But it also brought out those who appreciate the Constitution's prohibition on state advocacy of religion.


Minutemen United founder Coach Daubenmire's reply, Editorial was unfair to science teacher, reads:

…The Dispatch is out of touch. Millions of Americans are sick and tired of being branded as religious fanatics simply because they question the evolutionary theory of the origin of species. The Dispatch and its henchmen are intent on removing from the public school classroom anyone who worships the God who created Charles Darwin….



Christian dominionist, creationist, and anti-abortion activist Dr. Patrick Johnson, a frequent protester at local abortion clinics, who runs the Stop Columbus Killing website and opposes public funding for schools,complains in Evolutionists practice “religion” in schools of being victimized by “religious bigotry” in college and medical school for his Christian beliefs:

As a physician and creationist, I felt the sting of religious bigotry during my decade in America's universities. Why can't evolutionists even entertain some criticism of their precious little theory? Scientists such as Freshwater can prove atheistic evolution to be false, but evolutionists won't allow the truth in the name of "separation of church and state…. …The newspaper appeals to a separation of church and state, but what we need is a separation of atheism and state.

All photos by the author

THEOCONIA UPDATE: PATRICK JOHNSTON

I've been away from Theoconia for some time,due to other commitments.

But, Theoconia has been getting a substantial number of hits lately due to Patrick Johnston's campaign for the Ohio House seat in the 94th District. The Zanesville Times-Recorder (paid archives) and the Coshocton Times (no longer online) have endorsed Troy Balderson, his opponent in the primary, which has caused a huge and hot "discussion" on both newspaper forums. (Zanesville Times Recorder; and the Coshocton Times.) A new blog has also appeared, No Extremists - Ohio 94th, dedicated to defeating Johnston. which I have linked to at the right.

Most of the hits here have been to my October 18, 2006 posting, "Rescuers of the Pre-Born" to Picket Homes of Abortion Providers. I have , however, written much more about Johnston and his colleagues. Today I tagged all of my posts so that readers coming here can get a fuller view of Johnston's beliefs--though I suspect they are well known by his potential constituents. Click on "Patrick Johnston" under "Labels" at the righthand side of the page. I suggest you also check out my entries on Dave Daubenmire, Minutemen United, and Operation Save America (OSA). For a big picture oppositional view of Johnston and his theocratic friends go to The Answer is No.

I spent quite a bit of time interviewing and hanging out with Johnston, mainly during his CapCare protests in Columbus. I haven't seen or spoken to him since the HB 228 hearing in July 2006, so I'm afraid I have nothing new to add right now. I don't know if I'll have time to work up something before the election, but please check back. I'll try.


All photos by author.

Top: Patrick Johnson and Troy Newman, President, Operation Rescue - West, October 29, 2004, Columbus, Ohio

Bottom: CapCare, March 5, 2005, Columbus, Ohio

"RESCUERS OF THE PRE-BORN" TO PICKET HOMES OF ABORTION PROVIDERS

BOO! Just in time for Halloween, Dr. Patrick Johnston, Minutemen United & Friends plan a very special "outreach" to Central Ohio abortion providers

This was posted by Dr. Patrick Johnston on the Minutnemen United page on October 12:

Group to Visit Abortionists Neighborhood
Posted: Thursday, October 12, 2006

Hello, rescuers of the pre-born! I want to invite you to a scary Halloween outreach! Ha! Scary for the devil, that is, not for you brave warriors for Jesus' kingdom!

We have obtained and confirmed the home addresses of at least two Columbus abortionists. On October 28, we'll kindly inform the residents of this neighborhood of the murderer that lives beside them, and we'll encourage them to "Not hate thy brother in thine heart... (but) rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him." (Lev.19:17). At least one of these neighborhoods has good public sidewalk for ministering, and we'll research the second neighborhood soon.

Our theme will be "The Scariest Neighborhood in Town." I'll have a banner made, and we'll have brief tracts made for the occasion. The tracts will simply inform the residents of the abortionist that resides in their neighborhood, provide a pic of them entering the child-killing facility. There will be a brief message about abortion, and we'll close with a Gospel message about Paul, the murderer, repenting and trusting in Christ and being mightily used of God, and inviting the reader to do the same.

It's a bold outreach, but hey, they're really killing babies! We'll walk around the neighborhood once or twice with banners, distribute our tracts, then head for the next site. We'll go to two neighborhoods, close with prayer, then leave. Let's start at Noon, and I suspect we'll conclude by 2:30 p.m. Please keep this event bathed in prayer. Thank you.

The gates of hell will NOT prevail!
Dr. Patrick Johnston

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For the last 18 months Patrick and his crew of have been documenting the comings of goings of clinic staff and patients at Capital Care and Founders and putting the pictures up on his Stop Columbus Killing webpage.

RESPECT FOR LIFE: BUSH STYLE

In the August 21 edition of the Canton Repository, letter writer John Reinier pointed out the obvious contradiction between George W. Bush’s "respect for life” rhetoric and his very real war in Iraq. The letter is worth a read in its entirety, but I’ll quote a few lines here.

There is no disagreement about war among men who sanctify human life. It’s the last thing on their minds, not the first thing. Unnecessary war never enters their minds. Being bent on waging war sealed the president’s response to the current Middle East crisis, even after it developed into a caldron for sacrificing children. The reality of children bearing the brunt of war didn’t warrant stopping it.

Mr. Rainier’s letter reminded me of a discussion I had in June when I covered the HB 228 hearing at the statehouse. HB 228 is Rep. Tom Brinkman's bill that if passed would ban all abortion in the state for any reason and make it illegal for anyone, including husbands and parents, to transport Ohio women across a state line to get an abortion. It is considered the most Draconian anti-abortion bill introduced in any state legislature. I cut the discussion from my original article for space purposes. It bears telling now.

The hearing room was packed and I got there just before the hearing started (ironically, because I was also covering the anti-war exhibit “Eyes Wide Open: the Human Cost of War," installed on the statehouse lawn--right), so I sat in the overflow in the atrium. Seated next to me was a congenial middle-aged man from Mansfield, a self-described Christian and supporter of the bill who told me he considered abortion murder. He was also gung-ho for Bush and the Iraq War. I asked him how that jibed with his "pro-life" beliefs since hundreds if not thousands of Iraqi babies and children have died and fetuses have been lost through miscarriage or stillbirth due to US "intervention." I also pointed out that some of the ultra-militant anti-abort crowd (such as Dr. Patrick Johnston) oppose the war for several reasons, including the loss of fetuses and "potential life." He didn't even pause to think about it.

"That's different," he told me.…“They're out to kill us all, so we have to kill them first. We can't let them be born."

OSA RETURNS TO CENTRAL OHIO

The fourth annual Pass the Salt/New Beginnings camp meeting, Revival at the River, opened Wednesday at New Beginnings Church in Warsaw. Besides bon fires, horseshoes and worship, the revival features Operation Save America director Flip Benham, OSA operative and Ohio convicted sex offender Scott Heldreth, and of course, Minutemen United founder Coach Dave Daubenmire and New Beginnings pastor, Bill Dunfee. Dr. Patrick Johnston and his wife Elizabeth will lead family worship services on Friday and Saturday. Coach is scheduled to speak Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, and Benham will speak Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday mornings. According to an announcement emailed this morning which included the roster of guests, they will deliver messages "guaranteed to motivate and inspire."

Friday and Saturday the camp meeting will pull up stakes temporarily and converge on Columbus "abortion mills."

Benham arrives in Central Ohio fresh from the OSA'a week-long occupation of Jackson, Mississippi. Dr. Johnston was arrested there for obstructing traffic and protesting without a permit at St. James Episcopal Church during a Sunday morning anti-abortion demonstration.

In 1992 Scott Heldreth, was charged with 1 count of kidnap and 2 counts of criminal rape of at 18-year old woman at the Ohio University golf course. He later pled down to 1 count of sexual battery and was granted shock probation from Pickaway Correctional Institute after only 6 weeks incarceration. He is a registered sex offender in Illinois. The Florida, registery lists him as "released." Heldreth currently lives in North Carolina but is not listed in that state's sex offender registry since North Carolina's law pertains only to convictions after January 1, 1996. (Note: type Heldreth's name in at registry sites to get data.) As far as I know his last visit to Columbus was in July 2004 for OSA's take-over of City Hall Plaza (and here).

Most recently Heldreth was in the news when his oldest son, Joshua, then 10, was arrested at the Good Friday 2005 Terri Schiavo Death Watch in Pinellas Park, Florida when he attempted to take water to Schiavo. Go here for my article on the Heldreths at Pinellas Park.

GOD'S POLITICS AT THE STATEHOUSE; OHIO ABORTION HEARING GOES TO SUNDAY SCHOOL

A slightly different version of this article was published in the July 2, 2006 edition of the Columbus Free Press Online.

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Ohio anti-aborts hauled out their big guns Tuesday (June 13) for the HB 228 show hearing at the Statehouse. It ended not with a bang but with a whimper, when House Health Committee Chair John White (R-Kettering) shut off debate after 6 hours of testimony from four panels--2 supporting and 2 opposing. The abrupt ending left about 60 witnesses on both sides, claiming they’d been promised the podium, fuming.

HB 228, bans all abortion in the state and criminalizes anyone who performs abortions, and individuals (including husbands and parents) who transport Ohio women to other states to procure abortions. A clause in the bill theoretically protects doctors from prosecution who “unintentionally” terminate a pregnancy while trying to save the life of the woman--an exclusion that nobody seems to buy.

Cincinnati-based Life Issues Institute founder and National Right to Life Committee co-founder and past president Dr. John Willke; Ohio Restoration Project director Russell Johnson; former Ohio Right to Life Legislative Director Janet Folger; clergy, doctors, and several self-described “victims” of legal abortion were impaneled to flog the bill. Gary Dougherty, director of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio, Kellie Copeland, Director of NARAL-Pro-Choice, Ohio; Corinna Lohser, from the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, clergy, doctors, and women who have undergone legal and illegal abortions spoke in opposition. About 200 supporters for both sides filled the hearing room and over-flow seating in the statehouse atrium.

FANTASTIC VOYAGE. As the hearing opened, Committee Chair John White, in an unusual move, warned both sides that they would hear testimony they didn’t like. “Appropriate conduct” was expected: no hissing, no unsuitable body language, and no pictures were to be taken. Security guards were posted in the hearing room and atrium to discourage outbursts.

HB 228 primary sponsor Tom Brinkman (R-Cincinnati) kicked off the hearing claiming he just wanted to return the abortion debate back to the state where it belonged. “You don’t have true happiness without life” he told the committee, and then compared Roe v Wade to the Dred Scott decision. He was barely out the gate when committee members asked what would happen to women forced to continue their pregnancies if the bill became law. What kind of support would be available for them? Brinkman replied vaguely that he forsees a 3-4 year "transition" period after HB 228 becomes law. (Later some committee members warned a plan had better be up and running before the law went active). Brinkman said that Christian-based “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs) would need “to be involved,” though he didn’t mention the state, following precedent, would end up pouring millions of taxpayer dollars into evangelical CPC ministeries. Brinkman also suggesgted that adoption needs to be made easiser for PAPs (potential adoptive parents) who, according to him, go to other countries because they "don't want to deal with Ohio bureaucracy." Brinkman failed to explain how making adoption easier for adopters means support for women in coerced pregnancies. Later, an HB 228 support witnesss said that more maternity homes were needed so "women can keep their babies," a peculiar notion since the historic duty of maternity homes has been to hide the pregnancies of middle class daughters and move white newborns into the adoption system.

John Willke followed Brinkman. Willke described himself as a doctor interested in “reproduction and human sexuality.” The fact is Willke hasn’t practiced medicine for years and since the early 1970s has dedicated his energy almost exclusively to eliminating abortion from the Ohio landscape. Willke created the why can't we love them both?" tactic that defines women who have abortions as victims without out agency, exploited by a profit-hungry abortion industry. His politics fall to the right of a good part of rank-and-file abortion opposition. He opposes gay rights, same sex marriage, comprehensive sex education, contraception, and adult adoptee access to their original birth certificates. Janet Folger considers him her mentor.

Spermatic-romantic Dr. Willke took us on a Fantastic Voyage of the female reproductive track, describing in detail the journey of sperm swimming through the uterus and penetrating an egg (which he compared to an ant piercing a basketball). He explained that upon impact, an electrical charge goes off to keep other sperm from entering the egg. “You’re all there with that one cell,” he said, “in your first house, your mother’s womb.” During the question period HB 228 opponents booed Willke when he claimed that pregnancy through rape is rare. In the afternoon session Corinna Lohser said that a little under 5% of sexual assaults--about 32,000 a year-- result in pregnancy.

Willke was followed by former missionary, Dr. Dennis Michael Sullivan, now a professor in the pre-med program at Cedarville University, who testified that humanity is conferred upon conception and does not depend on functional capacity.

Lisa Dudley, a paralegal and traveling witness for the San Antonio-based Justice Foundation’s anti-abortion Operation Outcry project followed Willke. She presented 2000 affidavits from women claiming their abortions were forced or coerced. Rep. Chris Redfern (D-Catawba Island Twn. and head of the Ohio Democratic Party) asked Dudley if she would be surprised to learn that Dr. James Leinginger, a major Justice Foundation funder, opposed contraception and condom use. Dudley acted taken aback by the question and after a pause answered “Yes.” (Leininger has been described as the “paymaster of the Republican religious right in Texas.” Molly Ivins calls him “God’s sugar daddy“).

Operation Outcry’s Ohio director Elizabeth Clyne, Columbus, described her abortion at a clinic in Pensacola, Florida in the 1970s. She alleged she was manhandled by nurses and the doctor and forcibly aborted when she tried to stop the abortion mid-procedure. No one reminded Clyne that no surgery can be simply stopped once it has begun.

The first panel closed with Diane Bailey, Mansfield, who talked about her shame as a Christian when she became pregnant and had an abortion in high school.

STARS AND NAZIS. Evangelical rock star Janet Folger and the Ohio Restoration Project’s Patriot Pastor Russell Johnson brought a sense of celebrity to the second panel.

Folger, the former legislative director and lobbyist for Ohio Right to Life later headed D. James Kennedy’s Center for Reclaiming America at Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort Lauderdale. At ORTL she developed public policy, was a fixture at the statehouse, and a local media darling. She takes credit for Ohio’s “partial birth abortion” ban, the “woman’s right to know law” and other anti-abortion statutes in the state. But she left the state with one regret, she said “We didn’t finish the job.” Supporting ecrementalism was a mistake, “The time is now.”

One of the most influential, though under-publicized, evangelical women in the US today, Folger currently directs anti-abortion, pro-abstinence Faith2Action and is the author of The Criminalization of Christianity. Known for publicity stunts, her affection for Yankee Trader, and sometimes humorous approach to lobbying while at ORTL (just ask Deb Pryce ), she played it straight this time. “The opposition is on the wrong side of women, history, and science,” she testified to the committee and her fans. “NOW knows it. NARAL knows it. This is your moment in history.” Folger drew more boos than Willke when she continued, “Guess what! It turns out there are more of us than there are of them — not to mention the fact that our folks have been having children while the other side has been aborting them.” Folger is unmarried and has no children.

Equating those who do nothing about abortion with Germans who did nothing about Hitler, Folger warned, “We are responsible for what we can do on our watch….This is your watch…This is your job…Stop the killing.”

Patriot Pastor Russell Johnson voiced similar sentiments wrapping his arguments in star spangled nation building. “Our national DNA instinctively protects life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” he testified. According to him, abortion is the cause of tax-base erosion. (He and Redfern went into a tangential discussion on taxes with Johnson concluding that the state tends to be confiscatory and “takes money from hard working people and gives it to liars and thieves.”)

Pushing Brinkman’s Dred Scott and Folger’s Nazis further, Johnson rammed ahead equating slavery and especially the Holocaust with abortion. He compared those who do nothing to stop abortion today to German church-goers 65 years ago whose hymns drowned out the cries of Jews shipped in cattle cars on the way to Auschwitz. Several times Chris Redfern asked Johnson if he was comparing members of the standing committee who refused to act on the issue to Germans who did nothing to stop the Holocaust. Johnson finally replied “God will hold those accountable.” During an afternoon panel, to the cheers of HB 228 opposition, Rabbi Barnett Bricker lashed out at Johnson, whom he called “an evangelical preacher,” for trivializing the Holocaust by comparing it to abortion. Departing from his submitted testimony, Brickner lectured Johnson and Folger. “For Jews, the Holocaust was a theological watershed that raises questions over the inherent nature of the human condition…There is no moral equivalency between abortion and the Holocaust. And it is theologically shallow, and morally reprehensible, to try and link the two.”

Two other panel members spoke briefly. Fr. Martin Fox, St. Boniface Parish in Piqua, said that human dignity is the premise of nearly all laws (and brought up slavery again). Rev. Edward Harvey, Lighthouse Community Church offered that “if we all loved one another our problems would be cleared up.”

WE LOVE OUR CHILDREN, TOO. The luv-fest came to an abrupt halt in the afternoon when opposition panels convened. Gary Dougherty from Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio , Corrina Lohser from the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, Rev. Lois Powell, Chair of the Board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and a United Church of Christ minister (Ohio RCRC here), and Eileen Hammar, a family practice physician in Westerville opened the afternoon session. They stressed facts and “choice” over emotion, myth and moral rectitude--a huge tactical error given the political climate downtown. Outlawing abortion will not decrease the need for abortion or stop it, they argued. Nearly all wore cluelessly cute stickers reading, “Birth Control Not Bans” and recommended the committee support the Ohio Prevention First bill that focuses on preventing unwanted pregnancy, a bill with as much conservative support as HB 228 has liberal. They presented petitions with over 3000 signatures opposed to HB 228

Dougherty, perhaps due to Folger’s comment about “pro-choicers” being busy “aborting their children” felt the need to reassure the committee that his side loves their children. He told the committee, “Laws that criminalize abortion are bad for women's health, bad medicine and bad public policy." NARAL’s Kellie Copeland, a member of the second opposition panel, added later, “Why would the state punish families?” Laurel Murphy, a Columbus public school teacher, also on the second panel, recounted the 2002 therapeutic abortion of her triplets Robert, Tyler, and Ella, after she was given hours to live due to massive bleeding. Without legal abortion she said her new baby Grace Ella would not be alive today--nor would she.

Rev. Powell discussed UCC’s policy on abortion and told her personal story of being date raped at Oberlin College in 1970. With the help of “underground” clergy she was able to get to New York for an abortion, then illegal in Ohio, which she has never regretted. Dr. Hammar was particularly distressed that HB 228 threatened her ability to treat her patients and asked the committee, “Please, please help me help my patients.” Cleveland businessman Branislav Ugrinov related a 1970 incident when a housemate was turned away from 3 Cleveland ERs after collapsing at home from an illegal abortion. Ugrinov said he and his wife, both recently arrived from Yugoslavia where abortion was legal, were astonished that American women could not expect decent reproductive healthcare.

Corinna Lohser addressed rape. She told the committee that her agency serves 10,000-12,000 clients annually, mostly low-income youth. For many women pregnant by rape, she said, “abortion relieves pain and suffering…Rape took away their choice.”

Rabbi Barnett Brickner, Columbus, detailed the Jewish world view. “Life is sacred,” he said, but “the fetus has lesser rights.” Later, at the request of the committee he clarified, citing Old Testament passages and Rabbinical commentaries, and said, “the fetus has no rights.” His own mother, Brickner revealed, was forced to go to Japan to abort a rape pregnancy because she could not get a legal abortion at home. The rabbi said he feared that if HB 228 became law he could become a felon for following Judaic law. The bill, he said, “is a threat to religious expression.”

The most compelling narrative testimony came from, Taba Aleem, Akron, who underwent an abortion in 1968 at the hands of a BF Goodrich factory worker. “He had grease under his nails,” she recalled. She boiled his instruments--a coat hanger and rubber tubing-- in a pot on her stove. He charged her $50 and then forced her to have sex with him “to make me relax.” Later, she suffered serious infection and required emergency treatment. Anti-aborts winced.

ANGELS DANCING ON THE HEAD OF A PIN. Anti-aborts framed the issue and the language, while opposition witnesses pandered to it. No mention of the bedrock principles of the historical pro-abortion movement: self-ownership and autonomy. No critique of over-arching state intrusion into women’s wombs. Instead, opposition witnesses went defensive, spouting consumerist “choice” rhetoric--now completely co-opted by anti-aborts (“Choose Life” license plates) that legitimizes state ownership of women’s body and reproduction. You’d never know from their Hillaryesque“ abortion-legal-but-rare” testimony that 43% of US women have abortions by the age of 45 (Henry J. Kaiser Foundation Abortion Fact Sheet), making abortion an essential and normal part of women’s healthcare. This hen came to the coop when HB 228 co-sponsor Linda Reidelbach (R-Columbus) asked Eileen Hammar why women found abortion a difficult decision to make. Instead of replying that it often isn’t a horribly difficult decision, Dr. Hammar maintained an essentialist view of women, reciting an unhappy laundry list of reasons why women have abortions: poverty, diabetes, too many children already, failed birth control, not the right time, leaving intact the notion that abortion is abnormal. The only quibble seemed to be not when women would be pregnant, but only the timing of the blessed event.

HB 228 co-sponsor, Rep. Michelle Schneider (R-Madeira), tried to discredit witnesses by demanding their opinions on “partial birth abortion,” though there is no such medical term. Instead of deflecting the question as irrelevant to HB 228, witnesses defended “pba,” furnishing new sound bytes for anti-aborts to distribute. Another HB 228 co-sponsor, Rep. Keith Faber (R-Celina), repeatedly demanded to know when, in the witnesses opinion, life begins. Legislators on both side of the aisle freely spouted Bible verses, tuning the session into a Sunday School. The theologically charged day ended in the absurd moment of NARAL’s Kellie Copeland discussing her “faith” with committee members. Abortion without apology went the way of the buggy whip.

REDUX: Tom Brinkman has made no secret that HB 228 is one of many bills introduced in state legislatures nationwide to test Roe. Each bill is a little different, and it’s hoped that one of them will be the trigger to overturn Roe.

HB 228 is a fishing expedition to see how far the statehouse Cavemen can go to eliminate abortion in Ohio. The real battle lays ahead.



According to Brinkman’s legislative aide, Kara Joseph, her boss isn’t too happy with the current HB 228 draft--and neither are other anti-abortion legislators. Rep. Larry Flowers (R-Canal Winchester) has voiced concern over the lack of rape and incest exceptions saying the bill goes “too far.“ Rep. Michael Debose (D-Cleveland) told Janet Folger that the ban on interstate transportation “isn’t fair.” Others believe the ban violates the Constitution’s commerce clause. (Folger hinted that it may be dropped if a new bill is drafted.) HB 228 co-sponsor, Michelle Schneider, suggested that focus be switched to her own HB 239, which prohibits public funding of abortions if Roe is overturned. “My bill has a much better chance,“ she said. “It’s constitutional. Let’s stay with reality, shall we?” Committee Chair and longtime abortion opponent, John White, says he held the hearing only to give the bill a “rich going-over.” In fact, House Speaker Jon Husted and Republican leadership at least publicly ignored the bill from the start and said initially it wouldn‘t even get a hearing. Perhaps the Republicans are afraid of backlash from party moderates at the November polls. Or even worse. Without abortion, as some observers contend, the cow goes dry.

Denise Makura, director of Ohio Right to Life, calls the HB 228 “sloppy drafting” and until things are fixed, her organization remains “neutral.” Testifying as a non-paneled “neutral” at the close of the hearing, she complained that if the bill were passed in its present form and appealed, it could wipe out the state’s “partial birth abortion” ban, parental consent law, and other anti-abortion statutes during appeals. Kara Joseph says that Brinkman was especially concerned that under the current language women could conceivably be criminally prosecuted for undergoing an abortion, which he doesn’t want. Legislative Services, which drafted the bill, disagrees, but anti-aborts want no unintended consequences in such high stake legislation.

As of this writing no more HB 228 hearings are scheduled, according to Tasha Hamilton of the Republican Caucus staff. That could always change. The Center for Bioethical Reform-Midwest and the Genocide Awarness Project director and WRFD-AM “radio activist” talk show host, Mark Harrington, is pushing for a second hearing to accommodate witnesses turned away on Tuesday. Other groups may follow.

More importantly, Kara Joseph says that Brinkman, other legislators and anti-abortion groups, including the Christian Coalition of Ohio, (which has since left the Christian Coalition and reformed as Ohio Christian Alliance), Ohio Right to Life, Cincinnati Right to Life and the Center for Bioethical Reform-Midwest are working on a new bill to clean up technical problems and to clarify intent and scope. Although the sub bill won’t be ready for several months, Harrington has sent out an action alert encouraging abortion opponents to contact Committee Chair White asking him to hold hearings for Sub 228, get it out of committee, and on to the House floor.

Meanwhile, opponents worry that the bill may be used to hustle conservative votes in the November election or passed through the lame duck session should Ken Blackwell win the governorship. In any case, HB 228 will return in some form soon. And this time the Republicans won't be fishing and "choicers" had better stop dancing with the angels.

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RESOURCES:
For more on the right of abortion v "choice":Abortion Without Apology: a radical history of the 1990s

Copies of presented and submitted testimony from both sides can be read at Jews on First!

Dr. Patrick Johnston's summitted testimony in support of HB 228 is at Right Remedy.org. His attack on Right to Life for refusing support the bill as currently written--NRTL: The Judas of the Preborn--was published by Covenant News on July 10, 2006.