Category Archives: family

What the School Bond Issue 28 Teaches Xenia Children

Posted on October 30, 2009 by | 3 comments

By Daniel Downs

One question rarely asked during elections is what children learn. Having spent a lot of time studying education, this is probably the most neglected issue about election campaigns. That is why this article addresses what children will likely learn from one particular campaign: the campaign to pass a 2.7 mill bond issue and 0.5 mill levy for rebuilding five elementary schools in Xenia.

After comparing the text of the bond issue with advertisements and statements made by school officials and supporters, I have come to the conclusion that one thing children may learn is that dishonesty pays. The text of Bond Issue 28 repeatedly states $34.57 million is for “renovating, improving, and constructing additions to existing facilities.” Yet, school officials, the Xenia Education Association, and supporters claim the state will only fund 5 new schools. If state rules prohibits the use of its money for renovations our schools, the state would not have approved the text of Issue 28.

So what buildings do school official plan to repair or renovate? The central office building? Warner Middle School? Xenia High School?

One thing is certain, Spring Hill Elementary will not be one of them. School officials claim state geologists tested the land on which Spring and found springs of water underground. Those springs are the reasons for flooding in the school’s basement. Therefore, the state determined the current site is unfit for building a new school.

School officials expect voters to believe soil sampling was neither performed 50 years ago nor were officials aware of those springs back then. Because they say so, voters are also to believe underground water seeping through unrepaired cracks in the basement makes the site unfit to build a new school. Didn’t anyone suggest building a new school without a basement. Buildings are probably built over supposed high water tables and springs often.

Another thing Issue 28 will likely teach children is government extortion is okay. Extortion is defined as obtaining money by using force, threats, or some other unacceptable means.” Isn’t getting taxpayers hard earn income by deceitful means unacceptable? So was the means states employed to get $200 billion from tobacco companies, of which Ohio got $10 billion.

According to the Cato Institute, tobacco companies were not held responsible for tobacco-related illnesses for over 40 years. In 1994, states began suing tobacco companies to recover medical expenses due to smoking. In the meantime, states changed laws making it possible to win their law suits based on charges that the companies were violating racketeering law. Congress helped the state by crafting master settlement legislation that forced tobacco companies to pay the states for tobacco-related medical expenses indefinitely. Yet, everyone knows smokers choose to smoke knowing the health risks. The money extorted by the governments was to fund medical costs, programs to reduce youth smoking, and programs to prevent tobacco related disease.

How then does building schools help youth quit smoking or prevent cancer?

I image some children will catch the message that government extortion is regarded by many as a good thing. So why we not regard cheating on tests, theft at work, and a host of similar behaviors as good too?

Issue 28 is an object lesson of how the rule of law has been made a bad joke. Rule of law is not whatever politicians say is law. It is not whether a majority agree with an idea, a plan, a party platform, or legislation that violates just laws. The rule of law is the supreme law. It is above all and is applicable to all, even elected and unelected politicians. Federal and state constitutions are the supreme law, not unjust legislation.

Just as states extorting money from tobacco companies violates the rule of law, so does Issue 28. The consolidation of elementary schools and the future middle schools violates the Ohio Revised Code. As I wrote in previous articles, Ohio law requires the building of small schools. I also referred to studies that proved the optimal size of an elementary school less than 350 students. Yet, school officials claim the Ohio School Facilities Commission refuses to fund construction of schools with less than 350 students. Either OSFC does not know Ohio law or doesn’t care. The consolidation plan further demonstrates that the rule of law is a huge farce.

The unlawful and unethical practices of public officials demonstrate that schooling has become the justification for all kinds of vices, corrupt, and illegal practices. Our children are nothing more than pawns in their political strategies.

And what Bond Issue 28 teaches the children of Xenia is that dishonesty and law breaking pays.

Previous posts on the proposed bond issue:

Xenia Community Schools Rebuilding Plan : What I Learned at the Forum, October 21, 2008

Xenia Community Schools Rebuilding Plan : Why Small Schools are Best, October 22, 2009

Xenia Community Schools Rebuilding Plan : Its All About the Money, October 23, 2008

Xenia Deserves Better Schools Than Proposed by Issue 20, November 3, 2008

Comparing City and School Revenues and Their Respective Tax Issues, January 31, 2009

May 5 Xenia Community Schools Bond Issue Text, April 30, 2009

Maintaining the Status Quo in Education, August 13, 2009

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Culture War Reignited!

Posted on August 19, 2009 by | Leave a comment

With the nation’s attention riveted on unfolding drama over healthcare reform, two issues of tremendous concern to millions of Americans have re-emerged: same-sex “marriage” and religious liberty. As is almost always the case, the Left is re-igniting the culture war by attempting to impose its values on the rest of society through the most undemocratic means possible – the courts.

There are several lawsuits pending in federal court seeking to strike down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In legal briefs filed today, the Administration begrudgingly acknowledged that it was obligated to defend federal laws, including DOMA, but it is doing so in this case only half-heartedly. With a wink and a nod to sympathetic judicial activists, Justice Department attorneys told the court, “The administration believes the Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and should be repealed.”

Obama’s Administration is begging the court to strike down the only federal law that protects the citizens of 30 states who have voted to protect the traditional meaning of marriage. The media told us that this would be a new era of “hope and change.” The nation would be united, political divides would be bridged, old wounds would be healed. The culture wars would be over. Instead, the radical Left insists on redefining marriage and is attempting to send Christians to jail for praying. That’s certainly change, but not much hope for the millions of Americans who cherish the values of faith, family and freedom.

Source: American Values/LFF.

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Children’s Summer Theater Workshop and Play

Posted on July 19, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Xenia Area Community Theater will present “Without Strings,” a childrens’ production. “Without Strings” is an adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s classic Pinocchio by Patrick Rainville Dorn.

Children’s Summer Theater Workshop

This isn’t Disney’s Pinocchio. Though with similar characters “Without Strings” finds a boy who becomes a puppet who becomes a boy. His journey encounters many crazy creatures. But his journey to understand the importance of telling the truth is a lesson for all.

The play is for children ages 8 to 14.

Classes and rehersals begin on August 10 and continue daily through August 14. A second series of classes and rehearsals start on August 17 and continue through August 20. All classes and rehearsals start at 10am and last until 3 pm. BYOL (Bring your own lunch)

Cathy Bengson and other X*ACT volunteers will host and teach.

Participating children will learn and work backstage and onstage. They will also learn the principles and practices of lighting, makeup, costuming, and stage props and scenery.

Performance date is August 21, 2009
On-site registration is August 10, 2009

Registration is free. Pre-registration forms are available at the theater located at 45 E. Second St., Xenia

Call Orion Monroe 372-0516 with questions. Parent volunteers are also welcome and appreciated.

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Spanking is now a criminal act according to the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child

Posted on July 18, 2009 by | 2 comments

Parents spanking their own children for breaking the rules and for other harmful behaviors may soon become illegal. According to the Parental Rights organization, [t]he United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which was adopted by the UN in 1989. Since then, only two members nations, the United States and Somalia, have yet to ratify the treaty. This treaty is interpreted to mean parents’ corrective spanking of their children for bad behavior is a form of torture and abuse that must end. The result is that the Committee on the Rights of the Child – a panel of 18 UN “experts” gathered in Geneva, Switzerland – decided on their own that they should tell the entire world how to raise their kids. The CRC’s prohibition of spanking in the home will become the Supreme Law of the Land if Americans allow the U.S. Senate to ratify it. If ratified, spanking will be considered a criminal act. Every parent, who still practices the biblical injunction ‘to spare the rod spoils the child,” will become a criminal. Good parents will lose the freedom to raise their children as they deem best and they will loose their children. (Go to Parental Rights website to learn more.)

It is true other forms of punishment can be effective in correcting children’s bad behavior. Taking away the freedom to play, eat favorite foods, watch favorite programs, communicating with friends, using the car, and the like can be effective in enforcing the rules and moral laws. Those methods do not always work. And, the younger the child is the less likely they will be.

Spanking, in fact, produces more long-term benefits to both the child and society. Spanking is a form of punishment usually intended to teach children that bad behavior has painful consequences. People whose behavior lands them in prison know the meaning of painful consequences. Living in a society condoning bad behavior also results in painful consequences of at least two types. One is the result from doing wrongful behaviors. Bodily injuries, disease, guilt or shame, rejection or alienation, and the like are consequences of doing wrong in a permissive culture. Another is the reciprocation of others, which compounds the consequences. A recent example of this is the murder of the late term abortion practitioner George Tiller. The ultimate consequence of moral crimes (sin, unethical behavior, etc.), however, is death. Death is the separation of individuals from a mutually beneficial working relationship. A long healthy marriage exemplifies such relationships. Divorce is a form of death. Abortion often results in the death of unborn child and parent. Ultimately, as prison is hell on earth so is life after death for those whose moral crimes end in the eternal punishment biblical religion calls hell. Many a revived clinically dead patient have told practicing doctors about going beyond barred gates into a place the Bible calls hell.

I have heard men honor their fathers for what seemed at the time very cruel punishment. The benefits of those harsh spankings produced the fruit of self-discipline hat made it possible for them to achieve their goals and enjoy their lives. This simply means that the Biblical injunction is true: Withholding painful punishment for wrongs done spoils the child so he or she may never enjoy the benefits of a moral and productive life. It also supports the widely known problem with leaders of the UN and their legal conventions–moral corruption. Evil doing brats often grow up to be evil doing adults.

That is another reason why America does not need the secular left’s God and Christianity hating wisdom. Nor does America need them dictating to us about how to raise children, how to live, how to practice religion, or how to make and spend our money. As a matter of fact, America would be much better off without them attempting to spend all of our hard earned income on their global imperial agendas like universal health care, education, or economic development. They have ruined enough of the American culture and economy; we do not need them to destroy the family too.

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Bogus Complaint of Ohio ACLU Against Proposed Pledge of Allegiance Law

Posted on June 23, 2009 by | Leave a comment

The Port Clinton News Herald published the following report about a proposed change in Ohio school law that would “strip Ohio School Boards of the authority to decide whether students should says the Pledge of Allegiance.” The law gives teachers sole authority to “decide if students in their classrooms will say the pledge.” Individual students would still be “allowed not to recite the pledge, but the proposal would prohibit anyone from altering it, such as adding or removing words.”

So, what is so bad about that?

“Christine Link, executive director of the ACLU in Ohio, said the proposed law violates free speech rights. School boards should retain the authority to decide if the pledge is appropriate.”

Whose free speech rights does this proposed law threaten? It is not students for they still have the right not to say the Pledge. It is not teachers who will gain greater discretionary authority in the classroom. That leaves those local school district officials who have decided students will not say the Pledge of Allegiance at school. Seeing the state already dictates school policy anyway, the loss of discretionary authority at the district level is almost meaningless.

The real problem is this: It “is a transparent attempt to force all school districts into mandating the pledge to be recited in all classrooms,” according to Link.

In other words, the proposed law threatens the ACLU’s socialist control over speech in the public domain.

Let’s evaluate this issue further. Children attend school to learn how to be good citizens of the United States of America. Engendering loyalty towards their national homeland is one of the original goals of public education. Who would grow up even to consider defending their nation if they did not highly value it? Stating the Pledge of Allegiance is instrumental in accomplishing that goal.

It must be acknowledged that the religion of some families forbid such acts. The flag could be viewed as object of idolatry, and a pledge could be compared to a religious oath. I cannot imagine any other reason for not pledging allegiance to their nations and the values it represents.

I almost forgot that the few atheists like those in the ACLU justify editing out of our nation’s historic Pledge those offending words like God through a secular interpretation of free speech rights.

Is it possible to edit out the same offending words and their synonyms from our nation’s founding documents? Even the second Constitution included the word Lord, which meant God not King Charles. It must be terribly offensive from them to read the multiple volumes of the Constitutional Convention debates. That is assuming they have actually read them. God was not left out. Then there are those federal building in which us etched scriptural references and even the Ten Commandments in the Supreme Court chambers.

Over the edge are statements written into the Constitution of Ohio. For example, the Preamble states:

We, the people of the State of Ohio, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare, do establish this
Constitution.

Article 1 Section 7 of the Bill of Rights states:

Religion, morality, and knowledge, however, being essential to good government, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to pass suitable laws, to protect every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship, and to encourage schools and the means of instruction.

Ohio public schools are government institutions whose purpose is the inculcation of good citizenship in its citizens. It is the Constitutional responsibility of schools to teach children what a good government is, the essentials being religion, morality, and knowledge.

Requiring children to say the Pledge of Allegiance is not a violation of free speech whereas forbidding it is a violation of Constitutional law. When religion conflicts with offending practices, the Ohio Bill of Rights accommodates freedom of conscience. Even children of atheist parents have a right not to say the Pledge.

The intention of the proposed law is to eliminate politically incorrect censorship or denial of the Pledge in a nation under God.

Sources: Port Clinton News Herald, June 13, 2009.
                  The Ohio Constitution.

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The FDA, Plan B, and Parental Rights

Posted on June 9, 2009 by | Leave a comment

A U.S. District Court Judge in March made news by ordering the FDA to make Plan B, dubbed “the Morning After Pill”, available without a prescription to minors. Citing “political considerations, delays, and implausible justifications for decision-making” on the part of the FDA, the judge ordered that the age at which the drug is available over the counter be lowered from 18 to 17 years. In a decision not to appeal the ruling, the FDA issued the required authorization to Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Montvale, NJ, which markets the drug.

Several news stories at the time of the late-March ruling, and again when the FDA announced its authorization in late-April, addressed the debate over whether the pill promotes sexual promiscuity among teens, whether it amounts to early abortion, whether it protects a young woman’s reproductive rights, and so on.

What no one took into account, however, was the issue of parental rights. Prior to the ruling, the drug was available over the counter to women 18 and older, while those under 18 first had to first obtain a prescription. Although the court reversed this ruling based on data that the drug’s physical effects on 17-year-olds was no different than on adults, neither the judge nor the news reports seemed to consider the emotional vulnerability of minors, nor the role of parents in protecting them, when faced with so consequential a decision.

Even the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which we oppose for legal reasons, recognizes that persons under 18 should be accorded additional protections under the law. To make so controversial and significant a product available to minors without requiring medical or parental consent is a tremendous legal step that ought not to be ignored.

The decision over whether or not a minor should access such a drug is one which should include parents. We regret that the dialog regarding the FDA’s decision lacked this important consideration.

The proposed Parental Rights Amendment will uphold current state and federal laws which protect the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children in medical and other health-related areas. The Amendment is not expected to impact this court ruling in any way, but will continue to protect the ability of parents to speak into such major decisions in the lives of their teenaged daughters.

–by ParentalRights.org, March 28, 2009

SOURCES:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/WellnessNews/Story?id=7404420
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/WireStory?id=7151963
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090423/ap_on_he_me/us_morning_after_pill

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A Challenge to Fatherhood

Posted on June 6, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Fathers have the high privilege and solemn duty to raise their children to know and love God. While all parents desire that their grown children embrace their faith freely and enthusiastically, when children are young, it falls to parents to make decisions regarding their children’s religious upbringing, including:

* How often does your family attend your place of worship?
* What congregation have you chosen to attend?
* Can you teach your children that your religious views are absolutely true?
 

However, your freedom to determine the answers to these three questions will be undermined if the United States Senate ratifies the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

For example:

A Washington state court ruled that parents could not require their 13-yearold son to attend church with them on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. The judge said that unless the family limited the boy’s church attendance to Sunday morning, he would remove custody. This Washington law (which has since changed) paralleled the UN children’s treaty.

The Scottish government, in an official publication produced to help their youth understand their rights under the UN treaty, says: “You have the right to choose your own religion and beliefs.” The role of parents? They “help you think about this.”

The American Bar Association, a strong supporter of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, acknowledges that religious schools that teach that Jesus is the only way to God “fly in the face” of the treaty. Thus, any who teach children that their religion is the truth are likewise in violation.

Under Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, all ratified treaties are superior to state constitutions and laws. Hence, this treaty will override virtually all current American laws on parents and children that conflict with it.

What can we do? Only a U.S. constitutional amendment will stop international law from interfering with parental rights. Over 90 members
of the U.S. House are co-sponsors of the Parental Rights Amendment. You can make a difference! Sign up as a supporter of American parental rights at www. parentalrights.org.

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The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC)

Posted on June 6, 2009 by | Leave a comment

THE STRUCTURE:

1. The CRC is a treaty that creates binding rules of law. It is no mere statement of altruism.

2. This treaty would automatically override almost all family law in America due to Article VI of the United States Constitution.

3. Congress would have the power to directly legislate on all subjects necessary to comply with the treaty. This would constitute the most massive shift of power from the states to the federal government in American history.

4. American courts would have the power to directly enforce the self-executing provisions of the treaty.

5. A committee of 18 experts from other nations, sitting in Geneva, has the authority to issue official interpretations of the treaty which would be entitled to binding weight in American courts and legislatures. This would effectively transfer ultimate authority for all policies in this area to this foreign committee.

THE SUBSTANCE:

1. Parents would no longer be able to administer reasonable spankings to their children.

2. Children would have the ability to choose their own religion while parents would only have the authority to give their children advice about religion.

3. The best interest of the child principle would give the government the ability to override every decision made by every parent if a government worker disagreed with the parent’s decision.

4. Children would have the right to reproductive health information and services, including abortions, without parental knowledge or consent.

5. Religious schools that refuse to teach “alternative worldviews” and teach that theirs is the only true religion “fly in the face of article 29” of the treaty, says the American Bar Association.

THE SOLUTION: THE PARENTAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT

Section 1
The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right.

Section 2
Neither the United States nor any State shall infringe upon this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served.

Section 3
No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article.

Sign the petition at ParentalRights.org

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Parental Rights Amendment

Posted on April 17, 2009 by | Leave a comment

The Parental Rights Amendment (H.J.Res. 42) today has 73 sponsors in the House and 2 in the Senate. Is your members of Congress among them? The short answer is no. Either they are not aware of this amendment or helping business make money is more important.

The question is whether parents deserve Constitutional protection of their rights and authority over their own children. Many believe American families should be governed by secular U.N. law. That is what Pres. Obama, Hilary Clinton, and most other socialist Democrats believe is best for us all. Maybe you don’t agree with them. The Parental Rights.org certainly doesn’t. The following is the argument not only against the Democrat socialists but also showing the need for the Parental Rights Amendment.

“Eighty years ago the Supreme Court declared that “the child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.” Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925).

Thirty years ago the Court continued this line of reasoning with the pronouncement that the “primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition.” Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972).

Yet in 2000, when the State of Washington gave any person the ability to override a good parent’s decision about visitation by simply claiming that it would be “best” for children to allow the third-party to have visitation rights, in the Supreme Court:

There were six separate opinions and none reached a five-vote majority:

  • Justice Thomas was the only Justice to clearly state that parental rights receive the same high legal standard of protection as other fundamental rights
  • Justice Scalia held that parents have no constitutionally protected rights whatsoever
  • Support for a high-view of parental rights has been seriously undermined by the current Court.

As a consequence, numerous lower federal courts refuse to treat parental rights as deserving of protection as a fundamental right.

At the same time, America is poised to adopt the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. President Obama supports this treaty. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been a leading advocate of this treaty for over twenty years. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has “promised” that this treaty will be ratified during this term of Congress.

If this treaty is ratified:

  • The laws of all 50 states on children and parents would be superseded by this international law by virtue of a specific provision of the US Constitution which expressly declares treaties to be supreme over state law. Virtually all law on children and parents is state law.
  • Good parents would no longer be entitled to the legal presumption that they act in the best interests of their children. Instead, the government would have the authority to overrule all parents on any decision concerning the child if the government believed it could make a better decision.
  • Parents could no longer spank their children.
  • Children would have the legal right to choose their own religion.
    Parents would be permitted only to give advice.
  • America would be under a binding legal obligation to massively increase its federal spending on children’s programs.

The only kind of law that can override a treaty is the Constitution of the United States. State laws or state constitutions cannot override treaties. There is no guarantee that federal statutes could override treaties—moreover, we enter a binding legal promise to obey a treaty when we ratify it. America should not promise to obey a treaty and then claim it is appropriate to obey the treaty only when we want to. America of all nations must respect the rule of law.

There is only one possible solution for the eroding support for parental rights in the Supreme Court that can also stop the encroachment of international law.

We need to place the time-honored test of parental rights, as recognized by the Supreme Court for over seventy years, into the explicit text of the Constitution.

We cannot wait until our rights are formally demolished. We must act now to stop international law and protect these two key principles:

  • Fit parents should be allowed to direct the upbringing of their children.
  • American legislators, not international tribunals, should make the public policy for America on families and children.

Asking your Representatives and Senators to support this amendment is one way parents and friends of parents can help the cause.

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Best and Worst Developments Affecting the Family in 2008

Posted on January 10, 2009 by | Leave a comment

In the January 2009 issue of World Congress of Families News, the World Congress of Families has released a list of the “Best And Worst Developments Affecting The Family In 2008”

Worldwide the most encouraging pro-family trends are:

1. Sarah Palin, Pro-life Woman Is Vice Presidential Nominee
2. Vatican Panel Issues Instructions on Bioethics
3. Lithuania Bill Would Protect Minors From Homosexual Agitation
4. Honduran Family-Perspective Law
5. Proposition 8 Passes In California
6. Greater Awareness of Demographic Winter
7. UN Study Links Abstinence and Delayed Rates of AIDS/HIV in Africa
8. British Psychiatrists’ Group Says Abortion Can Cause Mental Problems
9. Family Advocate Becomes Senior Advisor to Canadian Prime Minister
10. Anti-Human Trafficking Law Passed

And the most troubling trends for the family are:

1. The Election of Barack Obama
2. Mexican Supreme Court Backs Mexico City Abortion Law
3. Luxembourg and Washington State Legalize Assisted Suicide
4. German Persecution of Home-Schooling Families
5. OAS Passes ‘Sexual-Orientation” Resolution
6. Brazilian President Calls Opposition to Homosexuality A “Perverse Disease”
7. UNFPA Nigeria meeting Pushes Abortion In The Guise of Women’s Health
8. In France, Most Births Out-of-Wedlock
9. Australian Prof. Proposes Baby Tax
10. Queen’s Representative In Canada Celebrates Androgyny

Go to www.worldcongress.org for an explanation of “The Best And Worst Developments Affecting The Family In 2008.”

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