We covet the prayers of our Christian brothers and sisters for God’s healing and the quick recovery of the Institute For Principled Policy’s chairman, Dr. Mark Hamilton.
Mark, a professor of philosophy at Ashland University, is currently seriously ill in the Cleveland Clinic. Please pass this request along to your prayer chains.
Please join us as we petition the Lord in prayer for his quick recovery.
He’s shocked-SHOCKED, to find gambling going on in the establishments! Croupier with a stack of money muttering “Here are your winnings, sir” brushed aside.
OK, OK! We know. It’s a famous scene from Casablanca. Inspector Louis Renault, looking for a diversionary reason to close down Rick’s Cafe Americain after being ordered to “find an excuse” by Major Strosser, his Nazi puppet master, utters this infamous phrase. And no, we aren’t accusing the Attorney General of accepting bribes. Campaign contributions from gambling interests, perhaps. Bribes, no.
The bottom line is that Marc Dann has made a sudden and complete u-turn in his agency’s policy on gambling devices. Trying desperately to repair the sizable hole he shot into his own foot just two short months ago (see our blog articles and the attached news stories here and here), Dann has issued a letter to more than 700 gambling device operators ordering them to cease operating them, according to the Columbus Dispatch on August 22, 2007.
The letters sent by Dann are based on an executive order signed by Governor Strickland which, according to the Dispatch article at least (the monetary payout amount is not stated in the executive order), defines gaming devices that payout more than $10 per win as gambling machines. Why $10 and not $1, $5, $50 or $500? Who knows? The governor may have a reason for setting a $10 limit but it looks completely arbitrary from our vantage point. Former AG Jim Petro, no enemy of gambling interests but aware that Ohioans don’t want gambling, agreed last June saying that the allowance of any payout was an open door for the future. Dann’s bungling of the issue followed by Strickland’s usurpation of the authority to allow gambling payouts props the door open for the possibility of a later upward change in the limit, also by executive order rather than legislative action, after the 2008 election pressure has been relieved. Stay tuned.
As stated earlier, the shot to the foot was fired by by Dann, himself. He toyed with the idea of defining certain electronic gambling devices as “games of skill” if an arbitrarily defined level of “50% skill” were involved in winning the game. Thus, the AG opened the door, and the gambling industry bull has rushed into the china shop. The result has been a nearly overnight proliferation of gaming devices. the number doubling from an already incredible 20,000 to more than 40,000 in three months.
So far, Governor Strickland’s quick political thinking (he is well aware that Ohio voters recently electorally shellacked an attempt by gambling interests to defraud Ohio voters into allowing slot machines at horse race tracks by promising “free college tuition”) has saved Dann from kissing the third rail of casino-style gambling. But the Governor’s quick thinking has not stopped the Attorney General from creating serious credibility problems for himself and consequently damaging the team.
Possibly the most telling and ironic part of the story is a quote from the Dispatch article from the same AG Dann who had declared only last June that these same devices were really games of skill. “In a nutshell, a machine cannot be an amusement machine if it’s also a gambling machine,†Dann said. “It’s as simple as that.â€
No kidding.
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When it’s only 3% more than the minimum required number of valid signatures for a ballot initiative. The duplicitously named Citizens For Community Standards (CCS) is making sure everybody knows that they have exceeded their goal of 241,366 signatures on a referendum petition designed to bring the recently passed Community Defense Act (CDA) to the ballot for a yes or no vote in the November election. Media outlets are dutifully (and some joyfully) reporting that the Dancers For Democracy, a front group for the strip club and sex equipment and book shop owners, have achieved their goal and even exceeded it.
Left out of many of the major media stories, however, is the fact that 3% over the total necessary for the initiative will yield nothing close to the required number of valid signatures, unless a miracle of Biblical proportions occurs in the 88 county boards of election in Ohio. So what is a valid signature anyway? A valid signature is the legal signature of an Ohio citizen of majority age (18) who is registered to vote in Ohio or will be registered by the time the petitions are being validated. Very importantly, and virtually ignored by the media outlets is that in order for the signatures to be valid, the signers must have something approaching a true understanding of what they’re signing.
As we have blogged in the past there appears to be rampant fraud in gathering signatures for the petitions. Two of the previously blogged stories from Ohio Public Radio’s Bill Cohen contained recordings of the actual fraudulent pitches being made. In a follow up report on August 3, 2007 Cohen again reports that the fraudulent pitches are still being made and that unsuspecting Ohioans are being conned into signing petitions that will stop the implementation of a law that the signers actually want to take effect. This audio report is also accompanied by recordings of signature gatherers engaging in fraud. In one case the petitioner has told a signer that he is signing a petition to “…help kids in schools…” In another follow up report on August 9, 2007, Bill Cohen reports that CCS is making efforts to “stop the fraud” and have fired 10 petitioners and claim to have thrown out their petitions (with 4 fired in the Toledo area earlier with no promises of thrown out petitions). But, when aggregating the Columbus Dispatch and Bill Cohen’s reports, at least four separate examples of fraud perpetrated by different petition gatherers in central Ohio alone are identified, this effort appears to be a token release of the offenders who got caught. CCS would have you believe that all responsibility for what is being signed lies with the signer. And that’s true as far as it goes. But they forget to mention that the petition carriers have a responsibility to provide an accurate description of what is being signed, not a purposeful con job. Additionally, potential signers have the right to request a visual inspection of the petition and a right to read the full text of the proposal before signing.
This may seem like nit-picking to the casual observer, but it is becoming apparent that CCS chose its name to deliberately confuse the electorate into believing it is the same group (Citizens For Community Values or CCV) that helped push through the CDA into law in the first place. Why would this be the case?
You see, Ohio is a pivotal state for the adult business industry. Ohio has the dubious distinction of ranking number 5 in the states with the largest number of strip clubs. On top of this fact is the ugly reality that Ohio is a major hub for human trafficking activities, thanks to its proximity to legal and illegal ports of entry (Buffalo, Cleveland, Lake Erie, Detroit) and easy access to travel routes to end destinations (I-80-90, I-75, I-71, etc). The adult business industry, specifically the businesses regulated by the CDA- strip clubs, massage parlors, pornography, etc. are all recognized as entry portals into human trafficking.
What happens here in Ohio often leads the rest of the country. The CDA regulations, once they take effect, could act as a model for other states. Therefore, a little deception to delay or repeal the implementation of the law is no big deal to the sexually oriented business industry. The longer the adult business moguls can hold off the implementation of this law the better for their profits, and conversely, the worse for the victims of human trafficking. A review of the first PAC filing of this industry group reveals that nearly half of the $125,000 raised so far came from pornography production and distribution companies in California. Hmmmm, what was that about “community standards” that the porn and stripper groups are trying to hide behind?
And that’s the missing element in the debate over CDA. The sex trade isn’t just a libertarian lark where women do “what they please” with their bodies and no one gets hurt. When Ohio State Senator Steve Stivers (R) pulled a “John Kerry” and voted for the CDA before he signed a petition to stop its implementation (yes, he did sign one and he knew what it was for) he exhibited a deep lack of understanding or a callousness to the human trafficking issues lurking underneath the sleek libertarian exterior of “freedom of expression” arguments put forward by the sex trade. In either case he has proven himself unworthy to represent his district on this issue, much less to become the leader of the “upper chamber” of the Ohio legislature, the Ohio Senate.
The same can be said of State Senator Teresa Fedor (D) whom we have blogged about earlier on this issue. Her blatant hypocrisy is a stunning self-expose, or would be if major media would take the time and effort to connect the dots. Fedor ignored the true realities of the nature of the sex industry and voted against the CDA, then actually appeared with the “Dancers For Democracy” (a lobbying group of strippers) and spoke at their press conference as they were trying to kill the bill as it was being deliberated on in the Ohio House.
Later, Fedor fulminated with mock “outrage” and “embarassment” at Lucas County Democratic Party officials over that party’s golf outing fundraiser, where strippers from a local establishment “refreshed” party regulars at beverage stops on the course. Guess Fedor is OK with lap dances, but not with foursome flashing. Now Fedor is reportedly preparing legislation to address the human trafficking issue. Hmmm, wonder if the Dancers for Democracy will be invited to that press conference?
The bottom line is that the “Dancers For Democracy” (in reality, Ecdysiasts For Anarchy is a better fit) have about 20 days to get an additional 140,000 or so (and realistically probably more like 200,000) signatures, in order to overcome the fake names, fraud challenges, invalid signatures, forgeries, etc. that plague petition drives, especially this one. The noise the strippers are making now is to soften the public toward the inevitable legal clash over ballot access in the fall and potential federal lawsuits to kill the law should they fail in tricking voters into voting against their own best interests. The federal lawsuit is probably inevitable, because in truth, this referendum is looking at a likely 65-35% drubbing if it reaches the ballot, according to recent polls on the issue.
The strippers will try to spin the campaign as being the “only hope for the poor helpless moms who have to strip to survive.” Thus, they will face-slap the thousands of women who work at hard, honest labor to finish school or support their children after being abandoned by husbands driven by unrealistic sexual expectations formed in the culture created in large part by the sex-traffickers. This strategy will backfire, as it did when the CDA was being debated in the Ohio Legislature- where our laws are made. Enough is enough.
No, enough really is enough.
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In order to be clear up front we are letting you know the following;
If you favor the implementation of the Community Defense Act, the law which forces strip clubs with liquor licenses to close at midnight and makes it a crime for a non-family member to touch a nude dancer while she is working, then DO NOT SIGN ANY PETITIONS BEING CIRCULATED. Despite what you are being told, THE PETITIONS ARE NOT TO REGULATE STRIP CLUBS THEY ARE TO STOP THE REGULATION OF STRIP CLUBS!
At least two major news outlets are reporting that petitioners collecting signatures for a referendum which would stop the implementation of SB 16, the Community Defense Act (CDA) are lying to voters to obtain their signatures. A front group formed by strip club owners calling itself Citizens For Community Standards began the petition drive shortly after the CDA was passed and allowed to go into law without Governor Strickland’s signature. The CDA is a bill which regulates the operating hours of strip clubs with liquor licenses and creates a “no-touch” zone around nude dancers which effectively prohibits so-called “lap dances.”
Ohio Public Radio reporter Bill Cohen broke the story and filed 2 reports which include audio of the fraudulent collection presentation by petitioners. The first report is Some on petitions to change new strip club rules may be surprised at what they’ve signed. This first report is a review of what the petition drive is all about. Most importantly, it is damning evidence of outright fraud through misrepresenting the purpose of the petition in getting signatures by petitioners. It is clear from the interviews that petition signers do not understand that they have signed a petition which causes the law to not go into effect until a referendum is held.
The second is Strip club owners, “values voters” group react to petition drive to change new rules on clubs. In this report you will hear spokesman for Citizens For Community Standards, Sandy Theis, attempt to explain away the fraud by saying that the issue is “inherently confusing” and that they didn’t “hire lawyers” to take signatures.
The Columbus Dispatch has also run a story titled Strip-club law: Petition collectors deceptive, some say in which they also document clear fraud by petitioners, in which potential signers were told that petitions were to “close strip clubs at midnight.” The article contains another quote from Sandy Theis who says circulators are “not intentionally misleading anybody. We’ve trained and retrained the circulators.” Really? What would you call telling a deliberate lie to get a signature, Ms. Theis? An inoperative statement, perhaps? A serial misunderstanding being repeated throughout the state? What script were the circulators trained on and is it possible that having been promised $15-20 per hour the circulators were finding out that the only way to actually meet those figures was to lie to the public because the other approach got them turned down too often? And what does this say for the prospects of passing this referendum if, by some miracle, the Citizens For Community Standards succeed in defrauding enough registered voters to get the required number of valid signatures? You can’t get that done by asking 14 year-olds to sign, as the circulator in the Dispatch story did.
These questions are only the beginning of what smart journalists should be asking. Why are news outlets treating the cease and desist trademark infringement letter from Citizens For Community Values (CCV, the family values group which got the CDA through the legislature) to Citizens For Community Standards (CCS) as if it’s inconsequential? The Dispatch‘s coverage is typical. They’re calling it the “name game.” But why hasn’t this raised questions in journalist’s minds? In the light of the clear fraud being perpetrated by the petitioners shouldn’t they be at least thinking about why a name so close to CCV’s would have been chosen? Wouldn’t a reasonable person, in the light of CCS activities in collecting signatures, at least consider the possibility that the name was chosen in order to deceive voters into thinking they were signing petitions being circulated by CCV, a group which has a proven track record in successful referendum and ballot issue drives in the recent past?
Another question, in light of the tacit admission by the individual circulators that sufficient signatures cannot be gathered ethically, is why CCS is going through with this dog-and-pony show of continuing to take signatures? Is it possible that is merely a delaying tactic? When insufficient valid signatures are turned in, is it not possible that CCS is counting on using the maximum allowable time before the ballot access deadline for a fall referendum, and that then they plan to drop an injunction stopping the implementation of the law anyway, when the effort is finally ruled to have fallen short by the Ohio Secretary of State? Keep in mind that this tactics could stretch actual implementation of the law into next year! Where is journalistic curiosity in this matter?
Since CCS has stated that there will eventually be legal action taken, it is important that as much evidence of fraud be collected as possible. If you’ve been approached by a petition circulator in the last few weeks and asked to sign a petition that would close strip clubs at midnight, regulate strip clubs, make it illegal to touch dancers, etc. we would like to hear about it. Please let the Institute For Principled Policy know at this email address. There’s no shame in being deceived or lied to. We just need to know.
A recent commentary in the Columbus Dispatch is a nearly textbook illustration of the biblical warning that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). In this case the man is a woman, the context of the passage making clear that man is the generic “mankind” rather than the specific gender identifier. The commenter is Ann Fisher and the article is entitled Protest billboards with power of the dollar.
First let us congratulate Ms. Fisher for being right on in some of her analysis. The core of the commentary is about the billboards posted all over Columbus advertising a local radio station with a picture of an abundantly endowed female chest in a sleeveless t-shirt which advises us to listen to their station and “pray for rain”, thus making it a wet t-shirt. Aside from the clear dilemma presented by this advice (asking God to make this woman’s t-shirt wet so that men can act lustfully towards her really doesn’t square with the biblical idea that we should all treat the opposite sex with the respect he or she deserves as the image bearer of the Creator) there is the clear appeal to the prurient interests of travelers which has the potential of creating a serious traffic hazard (if you have seen this billboard then you understand).
Ms. Fisher correctly draws a connection between these billboards and the rather cavalier attitude allegedly exhibited by some Columbus Police officers who are accused of using the billboard as an example for a young woman trying to keep her boyfriend from being arrested. She accuses them of coercing her to expose her chest to them in exchange for letting him go, which she alleges she did, and that they honored her action (after defiling her body and making photographic evidence against themselves with a camera phone). Fisher also calls for a boycott of the station’s sponsors saying that the consumers have the power to make them stop the billboard campaign. More on this later.
But now we come to the rather obvious problems with Ms. Fisher’s addled analysis of the larger picture (so to speak). She says that the billboards and the accused policeman’s activities makes Columbus seem “unsophisticated.” It would be interesting to know how Ms. Fisher defines “sophistication.” She displays a very liberal “sophistication” in contradicting the head of the Lucas county YWCA, Lisa McDuffie who called attention to the plight of local strippers while rejecting the money from strip clubs that the Lucas county Democrats collected from the fundraiser. Fisher writes that “Those women don’t want or need our pity. They were just doing their jobs…” One wonders how “sophisticated” Ms. Fisher’s view would be if it were to be suggested to her that drug dealers and cigarette company executives were “only doing their jobs’ and that it is really those despicable addicts who buy the products that are the real problem. We can presume that the answer would be “not very.” Fisher is also apparently oblivious to the fact that the Lucas county YWCA chief is only too aware of the sad side effects of the sex trade and its connections with human trafficking, a serious problem that the Toledo area is very familiar with. McDuffie was right to refuse the strip club donation profits and she was right to call for Lucas county Democratic leadership to become enlightened as to the reasons why.
It is at this point that Ms. Fisher seems to realize that she is walking a high-wire over a yawning chasm with no net. She sighs aloud that the radio station owners “…correctly wrap themselves in the free-speech portion of the U.S. Constitution…” Correctly? While it is a very “sophisticated” interpretation of the first amendment which says that obscenity (and while the billboards may not meet the technical definition the average viewer will probably consider them to be obscene) is “protected speech.” The framers never intended it to protect pornography, soft, hard or otherwise, vile language or public lewdness. It was designed to foster and protect public debate of political issues. The expansion of “free-speech and expression” protections to lewd behavior and obscenity date back only to the early 1960’s. Why point this out and what makes Ms. Fisher’s call for boycotts of radio stations (media competitors) while creating a convenient artificial shield in the Constitution hypocritical? Because her employer, the Columbus Dispatch, collects money by the virtual wheelbarrow full every year from strip (“gentlemen’s”) clubs, massage parlors, adult toy and book shops, escort services, S/M dungeons, by-the-hour motels, prostitutes, etc. in both column and classified ads. Some preliminary analyses indicate that the Dispatch’s various revenues from the sex trade approach or exceed $1 million yearly. Thus, it’s clear that the donkey is calling the pig “long ears” at the top of its voice. Quite sophisticated, indeed.
Ms. Fisher digs this hole even deeper in attempting to make a hero of Democratic State Party Chairman and State Representative Chris Redfern in the recent Lucas county dust up involving the Lucas county Democratic party golf fund raiser where local strip clubs made party donations and provided strippers as “cart girls.” Again, we see the same pretzel logic with the strippers as demonstrated previously. They are merely plying their trade. It’s the customers who should be the target of our disgust. Everyone involved either denied that the strippers engaged in their trade or expressed outrage that they did so, thus exposing the disingenuousness of the deniers. The Toledo Blade has run a very informative series of stories on this, drudging up a great deal of information and eclipsing other state papers’ dismal coverage of an important story. You can click the links below for details.
Democratic Party treasurer teed off over golf outing’s strippers
Resignation of party boss sought for having strippers at golf fund-raiser
McNamara, Irish spar over strippers
Democrats’ scandal over strippers spills into city committee meeting
Council candidate rejects strip club’s $50 donation
Dems still squabbling over stripper scandal
Party hit by fallout from golf scandal
Lucas County Democratic chief resists calls to resign over stripper
Irish resigns as chairman of Democrats over scandal involving strippers
Lucas County Dems’ new leader slams party rivals
But what makes this part of the story so interesting is the lionization of Redfern for threatening to cut off funding for the Lucas county party leadership who allowed the strippers to attend the event when both he and Toledo area State Senator Teresa Fedor voted against SB 16, the Community Defense Act (CDA), a law which regulates strip clubs. Senator Fedor went so far as to stand in support of a group of professional strippers calling themselves the Dancers For Democracy, giving a speech in their support at their press conference. On the floor of the Senate she stood in opposition to portions of the bill that would prohibit customers having physical contact with dancers, the so-called lap dance prohibition. Probably the most laughable quote, one which exposes the utter hypocrisy of Senator Fedor is in the article Lucas County Democratic chief resists calls to resign over stripper wherein Fedor is quoted as having said “…the reported activity of a woman baring her body to some golfers was the last straw for her” followed by a letter to the Lucas county Democratic Party Chairman in which she wrote “Your egregious decision in staffing the golf outing is disrespectful to all women, to Democrats, to Toledo, and to the state of Ohio…” And what of your decision to vote against a bill that would regulate the behavior you pretend to abhor and to stand with women who allow their bodies to be exploited for profit, Senator Fedor?
Apparently both Redfern and Fedor oppose local governments being able to regulate adult business activities but have vowed to enforce a much stricter standard at Democratic party events. This hypocritical demonstration of political logrolling in the guise of mock outrage (read the last 3 articles on the list and you’ll find that the Lucas county Democratic Party ballet is more about control of the party than the strippers at a party event, about which Redfern and Fedor couldn’t really care less if their Ohio House and Senate votes mean anything) show the intricate dance amongst the cow patties that politicians are willing to perform in order to cover their duplicity. And also to what lengths members of the press are willing to go to make the same politicians look like defenders of the Constitution. Especially when they profit from the trade the politicians are working to protect.
By the way Republicans, you shouldn’t feel too superior based on this incident. There are plenty of GOP legislative peccadilloes connected with the passage of the CDA. Had Republicans including leadership in the Ohio Senate not bowed to the tremendous pressure applied by the strip club owners in the 2006 legislative session, the (CDA) would not have required a petition drive aimed at a referendum to force the legislative replacement of the enforcement “teeth” removed by that body.
Finally, Fisher ends her cognitive dissonance tour de force with the following logically sound appeal which she carefully and self-servingly applies only to the radio station billboards but which could just as conveniently apply to the adult business advertising in the Dispatch; “…If they bother you, forget the city, forget the station managers. Go to the sponsors. They aren’t emotionally attached to smarmy, sexist and degrading crap, but they speak profit margin fluently. That’s the American way.” We couldn’t agree more. Thanks to the editorial staff of the Columbus Dispatch for making it crystal clear what needs to be done to solve a growing problem.
At the Summer 2007 Camp American Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center gave an excellent presentation on property rights and the pivotal role they play in our personal liberties.
In light of recent attempts to rein in the states’ power of eminent domain in light of the US Supreme Court’s failure to enforce the 5th amendment guarantee against the unreasonable seizure of private property, we thought this recording would be an excellent review of the issue. Let us know what you think. Leave a comment below.
Senator Tim Grendel’s bill designed to muzzle the rabid eminent domain dog has passed by both houses of the Ohio legislature but has changed drastically by all accounts. We will be analyzing the passed version for changes but we suspect that local governments and developers have prevailed and gutted the bill of all meaningful protections for individual property rights.
Why do we suspect this, you may be asking? Because there was a House version of this bill as well which was essentially a paper tiger. It provided only minimal protection to the homeowner and unlike the Senate version contained no penalties for governments which attempted to strong arm property owners into selling property or outright seizing property that the government entity might want for such things as revenue enhancement and other vastly expanded seizures allowances for “public uses” which the Supreme Courts’s Kelo decision allowed. The Senate version passed there and went to the House where it was essentially mutilated in committee and passed on the House floor. It was sent back to the Senate for approval and passed in its greatly altered form without hardly a whimper of protest. All done very quickly with nearly no time for property rights activists to analyze the changes. It looks as though the “wheels were greased” by Senate leadership to make local governments happy. Not a good sign.
Very sad, if true. Watch for updates.
The blog has been a little quiet lately. Don’t worry, there is a lot going on and we hope to be able to tell you some details early next week. The reason that it has been quiet is that two of the principles of the Institute have been busy teaching classes at Camp American. Next year we hope to entice more of our board to teach at camp.
Camp American is a one-week Christian worldview camp for ages 12 and up. The biblical basis of American government, history and economics are the focus of the camp curriculum. This is an excellent match for the Institute For Principled Policy since some of our stated aims is to effect public policy through scholarship, research and public speaking and engagement (see the About Us page for more about the Institute). Ninety-nine people- 59 campers and 40 counselors, speakers and staff were in attendance. For the third year the core curriculum was the Institute On The Constitution’s 12 part DVD based class with Dr. John Eidsmoe presenting the providential history, Christian faith and philosophy and nuts-and-bolts workings of the United States and the Constitution. These classes were taught by Chuck Michaelis, the Vice-chairman of the Institute For Principled Policy, and Barry Sheets the Director of the Institute. These two worked either in tandem or individually while the other performed other duties.
For more experienced campers a break-out set of advanced classes were taught. Barry Sheets taught five of these classes, including 2 classes on persuasive writing, one class on public policy analysis, one class on effective public policy lobbying and a class on the biblical requirements for civil authorities. Other advanced classes included discussions on effects of public policy on our liberties throughout the history of the US, especially the 20th century.
Measurement of how well the students absorbed what they had learned about the Constitution was accomplished by dividing the students up into groups of cabin-mates. These groups were then quizzed on specific constitutional situations which require that the students recite the applicable article and section of the Constitution in answer to the questions. This is the Constitution Game, developed by Chuck Michaelis as a learning tool and played for cumulative “cabin points” in cabin competitions. The game is moderated by the mysterious Constitution Man, who is known for his sudden appearance with the correct answer to the problem at the slightest hint of a constitutional crisis. Yes, this sounds a little silly, and it can be at times. But the questions asked are difficult and, as a teacher of the basis and workings of American government, there is no more satisfying feeling than to see more than 70 people carefully searching our governing documents for answers to complex constitutional questions. Nothing, that is, except when they find the correct answer. And this year’s students did very well in the Constitution Game.
By the way, one of the reasons Camp American uses the Institution On The Constitution (IOTC) materials is that the students have repeatedly demonstrated that they absorb the material presented much better with IOTC than any other way it has been taught.
They also demonstrated that they absorbed and understood what was learned in advanced classes by effective lobbying, both in writing and in person, for the changing of the scheduled classes to add an additional break-out advanced class from Barry Sheets, who was more than happy to pull together and teach another class on very short notice.
Other instructors of note included Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center, Dr. Charles Rice Professor Emeritus of Notre Dame Law School and Charlie Smith.
Tom DeWeese taught classes on the North American Union, property rights and using co-belligerency with even liberal groups to achieve common goals. Dr. Rice taught on the philosophical basis of a Christian worldview and also on just war. Charlie Smith taught on strategy to capture seats in Congress to effect change at the federal level and also the effects of policies on individual liberties.
This was a very positive and encouraging experience. The young men and women who attended Camp American made us and the Institute optimistic that God is raising a remnant and equipping them to be engaged in making Christian public policy in the coming years, even long after our generation has passed.
In an article in today’s Columbus Dispatch (June 20, 2007), Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted called for legislation to ban so-called “games of skill,” reiterating his opinion that “…just because a game is 51% skill does not make it a game of skill…” and also that the move to re-label the games is merely a backdoor incremental approach to legalize the devices. Governor Ted Strickland and Attorney General Mark Dann have called for limiting payouts but Husted isn’t swayed by the arguments for this. He says limiting payouts will not limit losses, which is the bottom line for the gambling device manufacturers, distributors and operators who rely on the long odds for their considerable profit margins.
We can only speculate what effect this will have on attempts to expand gambling through Video Lottery Terminals (VLT’s) modified to show archived horse races that are represented in HB 118 and SB 125, currently before the Ohio Legislature.
We applaud Speaker Husted’s stand on principle. Thank you, sir!
Come back for updates. Tell us what you think with a comment.