Conservative Culture

Note: Guest column by State Sen. Jim Jordan. Actually I received permission to post his news column from his office. It is appreciated and his columns are interesting. So welcome our guest blogger of moment. It should also be said that the Senator’s views are conservative, but his column here doesn’t indicate that he agrees with my views on topics covered in this blog.

On March 1, 1803, Ohio became the 17th state in the Union. Today, 203 years later, we are the 7th largest state in population and 7th in the size of our economy.

Ohio has had a great influence upon the White House. Eight Ohioans have reached our nation’s highest office. This distinction has earned the Buckeye State the title “The Mother of Presidents.” Only the Commonwealth of Virginia has sent as many Presidents to the White House.

Ohio is also a state of many “firsts.” According to the Ohio Department of Development, Ohio is ranked 1st in the nation for production of steel products, 1st in the nation for research and development of plastic products, and 1st in the nation for production of rubber products.

Additionally, many Ohioans achieved things unknown before their times. Neil Armstrong from Wapakoneta was the first man to walk on the moon and John Glenn of New Concord was the first man to orbit the Earth. Thomas Edison of Milan invented the light bulb, the phonograph, and the early motion picture camera. Paul Lauterbur of Sidney invented the MRI. Willard Harrison Bennett of Findlay invented the radio-frequency mass spectrometer, which measures the mass of atoms. Roy Plunkett of New Carlisle invented Teflon. George Bartholomew of Bellefontaine invented cement pavement, which lead to the first cement roadway in 1891. John Lambert of Ohio City gave America its first automobile when he manufactured his three-wheel buggy. And, of course, the famous Wright Brothers of Dayton invented flight.

The Buckeye State is home to the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and along with it, its research capacity. We are also the home of several nationally-acclaimed academic programs, including the education schools at Bowling Green State University and Ohio State University, the College of Polymer Science at the University of Akron, the School of Journalism at Ohio University, the medical program at Ohio State University, and many other programs. Oberlin University was also the first interracial coeducation college in the United States.

The rest of the world has been inspired by the work of many of our state’s famous actors and musicians, including Phyllis Diller of Lima, Clark Gable of Cadiz, Dean Martin of Steubenville, Devo of Akron, Rascal Flatts of Columbus, and Roy Rogers of Cincinnati. Hallie Berry and Drew Carey both hail from Cleveland. John Legend, the talented singer/songwriter from Springfield, was nominated for eight Grammy Awards this year.

I am very proud to be an Ohioan and I hope you share my pride for our state as we celebrate our state’s 203rd birthday.

As always, I appreciate hearing the concerns and comments of my constituents. If you have any questions or problems related to state government, please contact my office by writing an e-mail to jjordan@mailr.sen.state.oh.us; or by calling 614-466-7584, or by writing to Senator Jim Jordan, Ohio Senate, Statehouse, Columbus, OH 43215.

Tags: Conservative, Ohio

IT has been some time in coming. The attempt by the pro-death of ‘innocents’ camp to bring racketeering charges against pro-lifers is over.

The Supreme Court dealt a setback Tuesday to abortion clinics in a two-decade-old legal fight over abortion protests, ruling that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used to ban demonstrations.

Anti-abortion groups brought the appeal after the 7th Circuit had asked a trial judge to determine whether a nationwide injunction could be supported by charges that protesters had made threats of violence absent a connection with robbery or extortion.

The 8-0 decision ends a case that the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had kept alive despite a 2003 decision by the high court that lifted a nationwide injunction on anti-abortion groups led by Joseph Scheidler and others.

Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen Breyer said Congress did not intend to create “a freestanding physical violence offense” in the federal extortion law known as the Hobbs Act.

It is portrayed by the pro-death camp as bullies stopping women from their right to kill. But the real reason is that it was hurting their bottom dollar. Every abortion is money in the bank for this billion dollar business.

Others that cover this:
Michelle Malkin
Generations for Life

Tags: Pro-Life

An Anti-Islamism Manifesto has been issued by 12 authors. They appear to be mostly (former) Muslims as well as some French philosophers. You can find information about the authors here. Since many are covering it you can find the manifesto here, here, here and here with pictures.

Certainly it is a bold document and elements with which I would agree on. However, I appreciate Paul Belien’s (Brussels Journal) approach to the document and what he sees as flaws in the manifesto. Whether you agree or not, bear with the discussion.

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and StStalin-ism the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism. We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash ofcivilizationss nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Belien’s sees this as the fundamental flaw and frankly I would have to agree.

The above paragraphs clearly display the manifesto???s defects. While Islamism can be considered the perversion of religion, the three scourges of the 20th century ??? Fascism, Nazism (National-Socialism) and Stalin-ism ??? were secular ideologies. Neither Adolf Hitler nor Joseph Stalin were theocrats. It takes ???French intellectuals??? to use mankind???s experience with National-Socialism and Stalinism as motivation for a rallying cry to oppose ???religious totalitarianism??? and a call for ???secular values,??? which they hold to be ???universal values.???

A call to secular values is a foreign concept to the United States Declaration of Independence which found that universal values or rights were extended to the creation by its creator.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ???That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

Where do secular values acknowledge rights and values that come apart from themselves if not the government? Unalienable rights are granted to the people by a power separate and greater than the state.

Belien also asks and answers the next question.

Is Islam dangerous because it is a religion? Do Muslim values differ from European values because the latter are rooted in Christianity or because they are secular? These questions are at the heart of the debate in Europe today.

In our opinion, man is a religious being. Secularism destroyed the Christian roots of Europe and, in doing so, created the religious vacuum that is now being filled by Islam. The manifesto warns against

Islam isn’t dangerous because it’s religious. Secular values as demonstrated in Nazism and Stalin-ism were just as dangerous. It is at this point that Belien draws all the elements together in his final statement.

The Islamists and the secularists (including the priests and bishops among them) have more in common than the Islamists and the Christians (including the agnostics among them), because the latter acknowledge that at the heart of Christianity is the individual with his individual responsibility before God. Without Christianity, individual responsibility would not have become the centre of European civilization. It was the French Revolution that jeopardized this tradition and that became the root of collectivism, with its socialist, fascist, national-socialist and communist excesses. From this perspective even Jihad-ism is more a child of secularism than of religion.

Europe, once filled with active Christian churches has been gutted and refitted with the liberals’ version of Christianity, gutted and/or neutered. Europe is the model which the liberals’ in America wish the US would become. In the end the void would be filled with some ‘religious’ and most likely it would be a radically dangerous one like Islamic Jihad-ism.

The writers of the Constitution and Declaration were written to avoid both religious jihadists and the secularists who see religion as the problem.

Others Blogs:
Political Pit Bull

Captain’s Quarters
Small Town Veteran

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The 12th ???Carnival of Ohio Politics??? is now posted at Newshound. Conservative Culture is included in the carnival.

Tags: Conservative, Ohio

What would life have been like if the ACLU would have been around during the American Revolution and the formation of the Constitution. Oh, its not hard to imagine. It would most likely feature the following type of headlines.

“General George Washington Pulled For Praying.” The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the coalition government for encouraging prayer among the troops. Due to stretched resources due to the prolonged war, they axed the commander-in-chief rather than face the legal costs.

“Washington Issues Painting In Violation of Court Order.” - A painting of the fired commander-in-chief has been released. The opposition party has asked an investigation be launched to discover just how much Washington might have received for posing for this painting. Apparently he never declared the income. On the same note, the ALCU has taken the case, saying his involvement while holding a government office violates the separation of church and state.

“Declaration Ruled Out of Order” - In other news, the newly released “Declaration of Independence” is being take to court after several citizens complained about the language. Apparently a radical right wing conspiracy is attempting to impose their values. ACLU lawyers argued that if this occurs it will destroy the fledgling nation before it ever begins.

Yes, what a wonderful nation it would have been if they had only been there to save us from ourselves. Pass the bread comrade but make sure you don’t pray over it.

Thanks to Stop the ACLU for the inspiration in his article “Christians Need Not Apply.”

Open trackback: Right Wing Nation
Cao’s Blog

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After he was released so he could attend the last months of his Senior year, help for this young man seems to coming his way.

A resolution was sent to Congress on behalf of Manuel Bartsch. Immigration authorities want to deport the Ohio high school student because of a paperwork mix-up.

He was arrested when his American grandfather and custodian left for Germany and left Bartsch to finish high school. Bartsch has been here 9 years (came as a 4th grader) and sought help because he needed paperwork. Instead of help they arrested him. Local mayors and city mangers are behind this young man. In fact law officials were a little upset that they can’t get help with jailed illegals they want deported and here they nail a young kid looking for help.

Needless to say someone interceded on his behalf and if all goes well he will be able to stay if he chooses. Currently, if he leaves now he will be unable to return for 3 years. We will be watching for more updates.

Tags: Ohio