Category Archives: news

Billy Graham Offers His Support to Chick-fil-A

Posted on July 31, 2012 by | Leave a comment

“I want to express my support for my good friends Truett Cathy and his son Dan Cathy, and for their strong stand for the Christian faith. I’ve known their family for many years and have watched them grow Chick-fil-A into one of the best businesses in America while never compromising their values. Chick-fil-A serves each of its customers with excellence, and treats everyone like a neighbor. It’s easy to see why Chick-fil-A has become so popular across America.

Each generation faces different issues and challenges, but our standard must always be measured by God’s word. I appreciate the Cathy family’s public support for God’s definition of marriage.

I also appreciate Governor Mike Huckabee’s leadership and for encouraging Americans to support Chick-fil-A on August 1. As the son of a dairy farmer who milked many a cow, I plan to “Eat Mor Chikin” and show my support by visiting Chick-fil-A on Wednesday.

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Chick-fil-a restuarant locator and menu.

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Strong June Follows a Good May to Move Ohio Private Employment Forward

Posted on July 26, 2012 by | Leave a comment

The June 2012 Ohio by the Numbers report shows continuing positive signs for Ohio’s private economy. Ohio moved up a full four spots to become the 14th fastest growing state since January 2010. It was 18th in May’s report.

While a full recovery of Ohio’s private sector economy to its peak employment numbers of March, 2000 remains in the distance, that distance shrank by three months. Using the “boom” growth rates from the 1990s (nearly 95,000 per year on average), it will take until March of 2017 for Ohio to return to its previous private sector employment peak of 4.85 million last seen in March of 2000. However, that is an improvement over last month when the recovery date was projected to be June, 2017.

Overall highlights from the report:

  • Ohio gained 18,700 private sector jobs in June while losing 300 government jobs;
  • Ohio remains now ranks 14th nationally in terms of private sector job growth since January 2010, growing at a 4.3 percent rate (top ranked North Dakota grew 17.3 and Texas grew at 7.2 percent over the same time span);
  • Ohio currently ranks 46th for private sector job growth since January of 1990, growing at 6.9 percent (top ranked Nevada grew 84.2 percent over the same time span). Massachusetts fell below Ohio over this time frame during the month of June.

    • Within individual industry sectors, only Professional and Business Services and Education and Health Services continue to have more people employed in them today than in either 1990 or 2000. However, Leisure and Hospitality is less than 3,000 jobs away from joining those two sectors.

    The report shows that Forced Union states (which includes Ohio and most of its neighbors with the recent exception of Indiana which became a worker freedom state in February) had a private sector growth rate far below Worker Freedom states. Since 1990, Worker Freedom states’ private sector jobs grew at a 36 percent rate vs. only 13 percent for Forced Union states.

    Even during the decade from 2000-2010, which included the tech bubble burst of 2000 and the “Great Recession” of 2008-2009, Worker Freedom states gained jobs for a minimal growth of around 0.1 percent while Forced Union states lost 5 percent. Since 2010, Worker Freedom states also outperformed Forced Union states, growing at a 4.4 percent rate vs. only 3.7 percent.

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    Posted in economy, news, Ohio

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    Audit the Feds Bill Passes in the US House of Representatives

    Posted on July 25, 2012 by | Leave a comment

    Minutes ago, the U.S. House of Representative voted to pass our Audit the Fed bill by a vote of 327-98!!

    Representatives Steve Austria (Beavercreek) and Mike Turner (Dayton) were among the 238 republicans supporting the bill. There were 89 of 186 voting Democrats–that’s 49 percent.

    You can find out how your representative voted HERE.

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    Who Will Save the Christians in the Gaza Strip?

    Posted on July 25, 2012 by | Leave a comment

    By Khaled Abu Toameh

    “We only hear voices telling us not make too much noise. Today it is happening in the Gaza Strip, tomorrow it will take place in Bethlehem. In a few months, there will be no Christians left in Palestine.” — Christian man, Gaza City

    Are Palestinian Christians living in the Gaza Strip being kidnapped by Muslims who force them to convert to Islam?

    This is a story that is considered taboo among many Palestinians, who prefer to lay all the blame only on Israel.

    According to the Greek Orthodox Church in the Gaza Strip, at least five Christians have been kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam in recent weeks.

    If anyone has good reason to fear for his life it is Archbishop Alexios, head of the Greek Church in the Gaza Strip, who is spearheading the protests against persecution of Christians and forced conversions.

    In the past few days the archbishop has come under sharp criticism from many Palestinians and the Hamas government for daring to speak out about the plight of his community.

    Islamic groups and human rights activists in the Gaza Strip claimed that the Christians converted to Islam of their own free will.

    They even released a videotape of a young Christian man, Ramez al-Amash, 24, in which he declared that he had voluntarily abandoned his faith in favor of Islam.

    The church blamed an unidentified terror group of being behind the forced conversions and called on the international community to intervene to save the Christians.

    Church leaders also accused a prominent Hamas man of being behind the kidnapping and forced conversion of a Christian woman, Huda Abu Daoud, and her three daughters. Shortly after she disappeared, the woman sent a message to her husband’s mobile phone informing him that she and her daughters had converted to Islam.

    In a rare public protest, leaders and members of the 2,000-strong Christian community in the Gaza Strip staged a sit-in strike in the Gaza Strip this week to condemn the abductions and forced conversions in particular, and persecution at the hands of radical Muslims in general.

    The protest has further aggravated tensions between Muslims and Christians in the Gaza Strip, which has been under the control of Hamas since 2007.

    Leaders and members of the Christian community now fear reprisal attacks by Muslim extremists. Some have appealed to the Vatican and Christian groups and churches in the US, Canada and Europe for help.

    But according to Christian families, the world does not seem to care about their plight. “We only hear voices telling us to stay where we are and to stop making too much noise,” said a Christian man living in Gaza City. “If they continue to turn a blind eye to our tragedy, in a few months there will be no Christians left in Palestine. Today it’s happening in the Gaza Strip, tomorrow it will take place in Bethlehem.”

    The public protest by the Christians in the Gaza Strip is a first step in the right direction. This is a move that could finally draw the attention of the international community, including Church leaders across the US, to the real problems and dangers facing Palestinian Christians.

    Radical Islam, and not checkpoints or a security fence, remains the main threat to defenseless Christians not only in the Palestinians territories, but in the entire Middle East as well.

    Khaled Abu Toameh, an Arab Muslim, is a veteran award-winning journalist who has been covering Palestinian affairs for nearly three decades. His article was originally published by Gatestone Institute on July 20, 2012. His articles can be accessed at http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/author/Khaled+Abu+Toameh.

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    Wheaton College Suing Obama Administration Over Abortifacient Mandate

    Posted on July 24, 2012 by | Leave a comment

    By Laurie Higgins

    Wheaton College President Philip Ryken sent a letter to alumni today to share that the Wheaton College Board of Trustees has filed a lawsuit in opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act mandate which “requires the insurance plans of religious institutions (except churches) to cover all government-approved contraceptives,” including abortifacients, or pay significant fines.

    Wheaton College is joining the Catholic University of America in this lawsuit because of its concern for both the sanctity of life and religious liberty.

    President Ryken has also written a letter to the Daily Herald in which he recounts the unresponsiveness of Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to the thousands of comments the HHS has received in opposition to the mandate. Remember this next time the Obama administration claims to be above partisanship or when President Obama claims to be a unifier.

    In his letter to the Daily Herald, President Ryken exposes not only the outrageous threat to religious liberty that the mandate poses but also the inadequacy of the “accommodations” that the Obama administration is offering to religious institutions and the consequences for Wheaton College students and employees.

    President Ryken explained that “penalties ‘would amount to $1.4 million in fines annually for faculty and staff alone.’”

    We should be deeply thankful to President Ryken and the Board of Trustees of Wheaton College and to the other religious institutions that are willing to pursue the onerous and regrettable path of litigation. Let’s hope and pray that other religious institutions follow their lead.

    Laurie Higgins is a Cultural Analyst at the Illinois Family Institute.

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    Posted in health care, news, politics

    Medicare Data Shows Little Change in Hospital Readmissions

    Posted on July 24, 2012 by | Leave a comment

    New Medicare data released yesterday shows that despite concerted efforts in recent years to reduce hospital readmissions, the rate remains nearly unchanged (Source: “Hospitals’ Readmissions Rates Not Budging,” Kaiser Health News, July 20, 2012).

    The Medicare data was released Thursday though the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s Hospital Compare website. The data from July 2008 through the end of June 2011 shows that the percentage of heart attack patients readmitted after 30 days of discharge and the percentage of health failure patients who were readmitted dropped just 0.1 percent over three years and the 30-day readmission rate for pneumonia patients increased by 0.1 percent.

    However, officials from the American Hospital Association contend that the overall numbers are not better because they include 2008 and 2009, when fewer efforts were in place to reduce readmissions. According to the AHA, data from 2011 shows more significant drops in rehospitalizations. “We are seeing precipitous drops in admissions for all three of these conditions, and we suspect it is because the patients who are relatively well are being better managed in the ambulatory setting,” said Nancy Foster of the AHA.

    Eighteen Ohio hospitals, through the Ohio Hospital Association, joined the State Action on Avoidable Rehospitalizations (STAAR) initiative in September, 2010, to address the issue. Of Dayton area hospitals,only Good Samaritan was part of the initiative.

    Source: Ohio Health Policy Review 07/20/2012

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    Posted in health care, news, Ohio

    Jessica Ghawi, Victim in Colorado Shooting, Reminds Us Not to Take One Second of Life for Granted

    Posted on July 23, 2012 by | Leave a comment

    Already, news outlets are broadcasting Jessica’s wise words. Even though she has left this world, her voice carries on. It is reaching us in this moment of confusion and sorrow. Indeed, every moment that we live, we are blessed. Every moment of each life around us is precious and ought to be valued. As Jessica’s words remind us, let us never take life for granted. [Read more…]

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    Governments Fight Back Against CEDAW Committee

    Posted on July 20, 2012 by | Leave a comment

    By Elizabeth Charnowski

    (NEW YORK – C-FAM) Countries are fighting back against the CEDAW Committee’s questioning on abortion and maternal mortality as delegates complain about the inaccurate information the Committee relies on and the ideological rigidity of its experts. Committee experts insist abortion decreases maternal mortality, despite conflicting evidence, in order to push countries to change their abortion laws.

    The 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) kicked off the 53nd session of the Committee in New York last week. The Committee is reviewing reports of Indonesia, Guyana, Mexico, and a few other countries.

    The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) along with other pro-life organizations filed an extensive report to the CEDAW Committee focusing on the false correlations between liberalized abortion laws and maternal mortality. That report was outnumbered by reports filed by pro-abortion advocates.

    Guyana, Indonesia, and Mexico detailed efforts to reduce maternal mortality. Throughout the session, CEDAW experts relied on arguments submitted by abortion advocates, instead of the data in the ADF or country reports.

    Zohra Rasekh, one of the reputed health experts on the committee, questioned Guyana’s Human Services and Social Security Minister Jennifer Webster about reducing maternal mortality. Rasekh was previously an analyst for Population Action International, whose goals include advocating for access to contraception for all women. She stated that Guyana’s high rate of maternal mortality is linked to unsafe abortions, and safe abortions are not available in the country.

    Ms. Webster replied that there is no data showing that maternal mortality is related to abortion laws. Moreover, public hospitals in Guyana must provide abortions, and the public health system is completely free. The Committee seemed taken aback by the challenge.

    The episode made it into the Guyana Times, which reported the delegation complained about the reliance of experts on “alternative sources” for their data, especially when accurate data was available in their report. Guyanese delegates plan to file an official complaint over the CEDAW Committee’s questioning.

    Rasekh questioned the Indonesian delegate on abortion and maternal mortality again relying on inaccurate data. Amnesty International’s report on Indonesia included parallel data, claiming that unsafe abortions account for 5 to 11% of all maternal deaths in the country, and that legalizing abortion would be a “positive step towards combating maternal mortality.”

    After the delegate ignored the abortion questions, Rasekh asked again if Indonesia had any intention of changing its abortion laws, specifically to allow for abortion in the case of incest and for women less than 6 weeks pregnant. The delegate defended the laws of her country where abortion is only allowed when a pregnancy threatens the life of the mother or in the case of rape.

    As much as the CEDAW Committee and NGOs insist the maternal mortality rate is linked to abortion, no evidence supports this claim. The ADF report stated data, including a recent Chilean study, that found legalizing abortion does not contribute to maternal mortality rates. Rather, education, increases in health care quality, and improved medical conditions are key to decreasing maternal mortality.

    Elizabeth Charnowski writes for C-FAM. This article first appeared in the Friday Fax, an internet report published weekly by C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute), a New York and Washington DC-based research institute (http://www.c-fam.org/). This article appears with permission.

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    Planned Parenthood Sued for Medicaid Fraud

    Posted on July 18, 2012 by | Leave a comment

    Planned Parenthood submitted “repeated false, fraudulent, and/or ineligible claims for reimbursements” to Medicaid and failed to meet acceptable standards of medical practice according to a federal lawsuit made public Monday. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing former Planned Parenthood clinic director Sue Thayer filed the lawsuit against the abortion giant’s Iowa affiliate in March 2011.

    “Americans deserve to know if their hard-earned tax money is being funneled to groups that are misusing it,” said Senior Counsel Michael J. Norton, a former United States Attorney. “People may hold different views about abortion, but everyone can agree that Planned Parenthood should play by the same rules as everyone else. It certainly isn’t entitled to any public funds, especially if it is defrauding Medicaid and the American taxpayer.”

    Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed the suit under a federal law that allows “whistleblowers” with inside information to expose fraudulent billing by government contractors. By law, such cases may not be made public until a court unseals them. In March, a federal court unsealed a similar Alliance Defending Freedom lawsuit against a Texas Planned Parenthood affiliate.

    Thayer, former manager of Planned Parenthood’s Storm Lake and LeMars clinics, has sued under both the federal and Iowa False Claims acts. The suit alleges that Planned Parenthood knowingly committed Medicaid fraud from 2002 to 2009 by improperly seeking reimbursements from Iowa Medicaid Enterprise and the Iowa Family Planning Network for products and services not legally reimbursable by those programs.

    The lawsuit alleges that Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa, an affiliate now known as Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, filed nearly one-half million false claims with Medicaid from which Planned Parenthood received and retained nearly $28 million. If Thayer prevails, Planned Parenthood could be ordered to pay the United States and Iowa as much as $5.5 billion in False Claims Act damages and penalties.

    The lawsuit explains that, to enhance revenues, Planned Parenthood implemented a “C-Mail” program that automatically mailed a year’s supply of birth control pills to women who had only been seen once at a Planned Parenthood clinic and usually by personnel who were not qualified health care professionals. After that, Planned Parenthood mailed thousands of unrequested birth control pills to those clients. Planned Parenthood’s cost for a 28-day supply of birth control pills mailed to clients was $2.98, but the Medicaid reimbursement Planned Parenthood received for the pills was $26.32. In some cases, the Postal Service returned the birth control pills to Planned Parenthood. Instead of crediting Medicaid or destroying the returned pills, Planned Parenthood resold the same birth control pills and billed Medicaid twice for the same pills.

    The suit also claims that Planned Parenthood coerced “voluntary donations” for services and then billed Medicaid for them. In effect, the lawsuit explains, Planned Parenthood both falsely billed Medicaid and took money from low-income women by getting them to pay for services Medicaid was intended to cover in full.

    The lawsuit Thayer v. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Des Moines attorney J. Russell Hixson, one of nearly 2,200 allied attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, is assisting with the case.

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    Romney vs Obama on Outscourcing Jobs

    Posted on July 16, 2012 by | Leave a comment

    By Daniel Downs

    The political muck-racking over job outsourcing is a rather mute point,and there a number of reasons for my summary conclusion:

    The Boston Globe found Romney was still CEO, President, Chairman of the Board, and sole stockholder of Bain Capital until 2002. That means he was chief outsourcer of jobs. If true, America is finding out Romney can lie almost as well as Obama.

    However, major news outlets are also exposing Obama as the other chief outsourcer of American jobs. For example, his famous jobs creating stimulus plan funded jobs and manufacturing facilities in Japan, China and elsewhere, according to a CNSNews report. A large portion of Obama’s bailout of General Motors funded jobs in Brazil. Those are only a few examples. Obama’s hand picked Council on Jobs and Competitiveness is packed with experienced corporate job outsourcers, according to a Huffington Post report.

    All this actually proves is that Romney and Bain Capital were at the forefront of the global strategy of multinational corporations and Obama is now helping the same achieve their profitable goals. Obviously, low labor costs is part of the strategic goals.

    Most people know politicians are big habitual fibbers*.

    It’s also true businesses do whatever necessary to maintain growth and increase the bottom-line. Politicians trying to get elected or re-elected do the same.

    Those are some reasons why the job outsourcing rhetoric of Obama and Romney is meaningless and mute.

    * Fibbers is the modern humanist-liberal and politically-correct as well as therapeutic term for liars.

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