Janet Porter (née Folger)

One of the fascinating things about the Religious Right is the sheer redundancy of so many of their mobilization efforts and the grandstanding that goes along with them as they launch coalitions and issue contracts and declarations in which they declare that they will never, ever abandon their radical agenda.

And so, with an important election coming up, it is no surprise to see that Janet Porter, Aryeh Spero, and others have launched a new effort they are calling the "Decree for America" which people can sign in order to declare that they will never support abortion or gay marriage or any division of Israel:

I. LIFE. We decree that human life possesses intrinsic dignity from the moment of conception until death. We decree that life begins at conception, and a baby in the womb is a living soul. We refute the culture of death established by Roe v. Wade and the expansion of such culture by current laws that legalize abortion on demand, in any stage of pregnancy. We further refute the implication that all Americans be required to invest their tax dollars in the slaughter of unborn children. Furthermore, we refute the ideology that encourages euthanasia, thereby erasing those who have been deemed to have lives “not worth living.” We decree that God has entrusted us as His guardians and agents to protect life.

II. FAMILY. We decree that marriage is between a man and a woman exclusively. We proclaim and decree that marriage laws in America will always adhere to the biblical worldview that marriage is a holy covenant before God between a man and a woman committed to lifelong fidelity and purity. As people of faith, we refute the movement to redefine marriage as simply a romantic relationship between people, and we refute maneuvers to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples. Marriage is a monogamous relationship with a core value of procreation. We support the first commandment in the Bible given to a husband and wife that they should produce fruit through bearing and raising children. We decree that marriage laws in America will not include unions other than those between a man and a woman.

III. AN UNDIVIDED ISRAEL. We decree that the land of Israel shall not be divided. Out of heartfelt conviction we passionately support the Jewish state of Israel and see in it God’s promise and fulfillment of the covenant between the Jewish people and the land itself. We proclaim that Jerusalem has always been the holy and anointed spot of Jewish history, and we declare it will always be the indivisible capital of Israel. We decree that never again shall the Jewish people forfeit their land and their city.

We decree that we cannot support a so-called “right of return” by Arabs into Israel, designed to demographically denude Israel as a Jewish state and culturally and religiously transform it from a free society into one under Sharia and absolutist control. To ensure Jerusalem’s survival we strongly, without equivocation, endorse a policy that leaves Israel in a stronger military position against her manifold surrounding enemies. As with our forebears, we remain biblical Zionists who recognize the merit of being participants of Israel’s ingathering of her exiles and the rebirth of the biblical land.

This decree was necessary, apparently, because the Democratic Party platform was so "radical" in its efforts to "purposely defy the God of heaven, breaking His laws of life and marriage, and furthermore seek to divide His land" that conservative Christians simply must take a stand ... just as Esther did in the Bible:

The book of Esther gives us the answer. An evil ruler named Haman had written down his radical agenda of annihilating all of the Jewish people within his reach, which encompassed 127 provinces in the Persian Empire. He recorded the details of his plot in a decree signed by the king, carrying the force of law. Esther, the king’s wife, was Jewish. Through a series of godly appeals to the king, Esther was given the duty of refuting Haman’s evil plan by writing her own decree. She decreed justice for her people and through the authority of her written words, God delivered the Jews from destruction.

Join individuals, families, and church leaders across the country who will read and affirm this Decree for America on November 4th for the legacy of our generation and generations to come.

And if that wasn't enough to entice you to sign, this decree also has its own theme song and video:

Missouri congressman Todd Akin eked out a win last night over  two rivals in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, adding to a list of Religious Right backed candidates winning competitive primaries, including Richard Mourdock of Indiana and Ted Cruz of Texas. Akin is more than just a dogmatic conservative-- he's a darling of the Religious Right, earning perfect 100% ratings from the Family Research Council, National Right to Life and Concerned Women for America . Akin has also worked Religious Right with activists Tony Perkins, Janet Porter, Rick Scarborough, Tom DeLay and David Barton, who even recorded an ad on his behalf.

Akin gained notoriety after he told Perkins on his radio show that “at the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God,” a remark he refused to apologize for.

The congressman is also a virulent opponent of LGBT rights, pushing a ban on same-sex unions of any form in the military and as Think Progress noted, has co-sponsored nearly every piece of anti-gay legislation in the current House session. He thinks that “the liberal agenda has infiltrated our military” due to the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and tried to overturn Washington, D.C.’s marriage equality law.

He took to the House Floor in 2006 with a warning that “anybody who knows something about the history of the human race knows that there is no civilization which has condoned homosexual marriage widely and openly that has long survived.”

In a documentary for Truth in Action Ministries, he claimed that the left “will snuff out the light of freedom” by “rewriting the history of America,” and warned that the health care reform law is “an unbiblical threat” that violated the Ten Commandments. Akin even believes that Medicare is unconstitutional, wants to eliminate the Departments of Education and Energy and the Environmental Protect Agency, wants to impeach judges for “making decisions not based on the U.S. Constitution,” and likens student loan reform to “stage three cancer.”

Akin said that Thanksgiving should be remembered as a day to renounce “unbiblical” socialism and that the U.S. should use the Pilgrim society as a model because the Pilgrims used the Bible as a “blueprint” for economic, education and government policies.

He consistently pushes anti-choice legislation and even said that legal abortion is the reason for illegal immigration: “If you think about it we’ve aborted however many – 40 million – Americans through abortion. If those Americans had not been aborted, we might have more laborers here. Consequently, America is not reproducing itself in terms of our own internal repopulation of having a bunch of kids.”

Akin thanked God and Mike Huckabee for his primary success in his victory statement:

First, I want to give thanks to God our Creator who has blessed this campaign, heard your prayers, and answered them with victory. Through the months, we have seen frequent instances of His blessing and are reminded that with Him all things are possible!

I also wanted to thank Governor Mike Huckabee, who was with us from the start, stayed by our side, lifted us up in prayer, and tonight celebrates with us in victory. Governor Huckabee – I thank you, my family thanks you, and our volunteers thank you for your dedication to our campaign and devotion to saving the America we love.

From the depths of my heart I want to thank every single volunteer who served in our campaign and brought our winning message to the people of Missouri. Tonight one campaign ends…tomorrow another begins.

Earlier this month, Buster Wilson of the American Family Association weighed boycotting Google because of its new “Legalizing Love” campaign “to decriminalize homosexuality and eliminate homophobia around the world.” Today, Janet Porter of Faith2Action in her radio alert said that “While it may be next to impossible to avoid all of the social media that Google owns,” the “Legalize Love” initiative “is one more good reason to have your e-mail and conduct your searches with someone else.” In fairness, Porter should alert listeners to avoid Google rivals Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo for also favoring gay rights causes.

Promoting homosexual rights around the globe.

That’s the new campaign that Google has recently launched. In a written statement, the search engine giant announced that their new “Legalize Love” initiative seeks to promote human rights and tackle discrimination in countries with “anti-gay laws on the books.”

A spokesman said “we want our employees who are gay or lesbian or transgender to have the same experience outside the office as they do in the office.”

They say that the campaign will not push for the legalization of same-sex marriage, but the company has actively opposed the efforts to ban it in California.

While it may be next to impossible to avoid all of the social media that Google owns, this is one more good reason to have your e-mail and conduct your searches with someone else!

For nearly two years now, Janet Porter has been focused entirely on seeing passage in Ohio of a radical piece of anti-choice legislation known as the "Heartbeat Bill" and been organizing a variety of stunts and promotions designed to pressure Ohio legislators to pass it, including flooding their offices with heart-shaped balloons and teddy bears and even scheduling a fetus to "testify" on behalf of the bill. But last month Senate President Thomas Niehaus finally got fed up with Porter's antics and announced that the Heartbeat Bill was dead.

But Porter had only grown more determined, refusing to give up and instead upping the pressure with more rallies while targeting specific state legislators with postcards and newspaper ads [PDF].

Today, Porter organized yet another press conference where she stood next to a giant inflatable rhinoceros and declared that, if the Ohio Senate failed to pass her legislation before leaving for summer recess, it would be "open season on RINOS," by which she means "Republicans In Name Only, " which is what she is calling Senate Republicans who are refusing to allow a vote on the bill.

Porter has literally done nothing but pressure these legislators to pass this bill for years without success, yet now she is boldly declaring that everything she has done so far "is nothing compared to what we're going to do" if the legislation does not get a vote before recess, as she will be left with no choice but to run ads comparing these Republicans not to RINOS but - the horror! - to Democrats:

Janet Porter of Faith2Action returned to her native Ohio last year to pass the patently unconstitutional “Heartbeat Bill,” which would criminalize abortion in the majority of cases. Despite success in the State House the GOP-controlled State Senate has refused to even put the bill up for a vote, with the Republican Senate President criticizing Faith2Action for making “exaggerated and inflammatory statements.” While it looks like Porter’s Heartbeat Bill won’t make it to the floor of the State Senate, that didn’t stop her from organizing one last rally in the Capitol to push for its passage.

While the last Heartbeat Bill rally featured prominent anti-choice activists such as Lou Engle, Jim Garlow and Wendy Wright, her rally on Saturday included less renowned (but just as extreme) conservatives like Linda Harvey and Timothy Johnson.

Cynthia Dunbar, a former member of the Texas Board of Education who is now a law professor at Liberty University, in her address to the rally made the specious claim that “94% of the quotes of the Founding Fathers contemporaneous to our nation’s founding came either directly or indirectly from the Bible” and maintained that legislators shouldn’t worry about passing the unconstitutional Heartbeat Bill since “Roe v. Wade is not law at all.” “Guess what legislators,” Dunbar said, “you don’t have the freedom to make any laws if they are contrary to what God has said in his Holy Scripture.”

Watch highlights of Dunbar’s speech here:

Porter in a last ditch effort in WorldNetDaily said she is tired of sending teddy bears and flowers to legislators and instead now will send them postcards with a rhinoceros on it, saying Republicans who don’t back her bill are RINO’s:

After 53 co-sponsors out of a 99-member House, multiple rallies, billboards, bumper stickers, yard signs, television, radio and full-page print ads, five 5,000 red heart balloons, heart chocolates, heart cookies, heartbeat teddy bears, 2,200 red roses, an airplane that flew over the statehouse and demonstrating more support than any bill in America, IT’S TIME FOR A VOTE.

There are two basic methods of persuasion: the carrot and the stick. We have given these senators so many carrots, they have spit them out in our face. Perhaps it’s time for another approach.

They didn’t like the teddy bears and roses, so let me introduce a more direct approach, one that will not let them get away with further delay and more excuses. On neon-pink postcards, the 23 Republican members of the Ohio Senate are being asked a very simple question: Are they Republican or Republican In Name Only (RINO)?

…

Why does an Ohio bill affect you? Because when Ohio protects children with beating hearts, other states will follow. Mississippi already has. They already passed a version of Ohio’s Heartbeat Bill through their House, but, unfortunately, their Senate killed it. We can’t let them do it here.

Someone has to break through the wall of Roe to protect unborn children, and there is no one closer than Ohio, who can send the most pro-life law in America to pro-life Gov. John Kasich for his signature with ONE SENATE FLOOR VOTE.

• The Family Research Council needs your help to "stop secular tyranny."
• Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.
• Gary Bauer is the latest to claim that it is really Democrats and the media who are attacking Mitt Romney's Mormon faith.
• Al Mohler defends the Boy Scouts for booting a lesbian den mother.
• Kelly Boggs says he must fight the culture war because the Left has "invaded the living room of society and are pushing to normalize many behaviors that are aberrant."
• Finally, you simply must watch this video in which Janet Porter twice mentions the slogan for her Heartbeat Bill ("If the heartbeat is detected, the baby is protected") but then the AFA President Tim Wildmon suddenly thinks he came up with it out of nowhere and suggests that Porter use it as her slogan:

The Freedom Federation – an anti-Obama amalgam of Religious Right groups, "apostolic" ministries, and the corporate-funded astroturf Americans for Prosperity – is holding its third annual Awakening conference in Orlando, Florida this weekend. Here’s how it describes the event:

Uniting our Voices Around Shared Values: Turning Voices into Votes

A war is raging against our shared values. Our faith and freedom are under attack. Silence in the face of this war is not an option. Decisive action is needed. Join with others who share the core values that make America a great nation. Take a stand for righteousness and justice and be part of a new revolution to take back America. The time has come to turn our voices into votes and to change the course of history.

Outreach to the Hispanic community is a major goal of this year’s Awakening and the theme of Friday’s opening night session.  That marks a continuation of the Freedom Federation’s efforts to re-brand the Religious Right as a multiracial and multigenerational movement, and to re-brand the culture war as a “social justice” movement. Last year’s gathering included a major effort to claim a religious grounding for the anti-tax, anti-government agenda of Grover Norquist and the Tea Party.

This year’s conference features Samuel Rodriguez, the head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, who tries to sell the Religious Right’s culture war to Latinos while trying to get Religious Right leaders to make themselves more palatable to Latinos.  Rodriguez recently said that Latinos are here to “bring panic to the kingdom of darkness” and “make the gospel of Jesus Christ, the church, the most influential institution in America.”  He said God has sent illegal immigrants here to “redeem Christianity” in America.

Also scheduled to address this year’s conference is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a favorite of Tea Party and Religious Right leaders who describe him as the party’s Latino Ronald Reagan. Rubio is reportedly concocting a hollowed-out version of the DREAM Act that will try to help Romney and the GOP fix their well-earned image as hostile to the aspirations of millions of immigrants.

A new feature at this year’s Awakening is Patriot Camp on Saturday for kids ages 5-15.  Organizers promise that kids will learn about “the Christian principles on which America was founded,” which is important since, “As most Christians know, our true American heritage is not taught in schools, especially not in an objective manner.”

Notably for this Obama-bashing group, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sending a video presentation; senior Likud official Moshe Ya'alon, Vice Premier, Minister of Strategic Affairs, is also listed as a speaker.  Also on the list, some of whom might appear by video: Former GOP presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, and Reps. John Mica and Allen West. West has been warming up for the conference by announcing, McCarthy-style, that dozens of progressive members of the House of Representatives are communists.

The list of speakers is a Who’s Who of the Religious Right and conservative legal movements, including characters like spiritual warrior Lou Engle and Cindy “God kills birds when America supports gays” Jacobs, who once haunted the fringes of the far right but have since been welcomed into a movement seeking to build the broadest political base possible.  Among them:

• John Stemberger: head of the Florida Family Policy Council who chaired the 2008 campaign that outlawed marriage equality in Florida. Awakening organizers say he has “a unique understanding" of law and government. You could say that: He has argued that only Christians are capable of creating a free society. As a lawyer he once sued a rental car company when an Irish customer was involved in a fatal crash; he argued that the company should have known that an Irish customer “would have a high propensity to drink alcohol.” (He later apologized.) 

• Rick Scarborough:birther, self-proclaimed “Christocrat,” and Rick Perry backer who said last year that he refused to endorse Romney in the primary because he is a Mormon. At the 2010 Awakening, Scarborough called Obama a “Marxist president.” Scarborough stated a few months ago that AIDS is God’s judgment for engaging in an immoral act. 

• Frank Gaffney: his infamous anti-Muslim bigotry, including charges that fellow conservatives are Islamist sympathizers, is so virulent that he was denounced by the American Conservative Union.  

• Harry Jackson:  point man for the Religious Right’s anti-gay racial wedge strategies, defender of the National Organization for Marriage’s cynical racial wedge politics, and all-around right-wing activist, who recently called for believers to form a “fifth column” to undermine America’s secularist culture from within.  

• Rick Joyner:  a dominionist and self-proclaimed prophet who recently warned people to get out of California because God is going to punish America for not being sufficiently supportive of Israel,  Joyner heads the Oak Initiative.

• Richard Land:  the primary political spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention, Land supports the criminalization of homosexuality and recently told NPR that “The Bible tells us that socialism and neo-socialism never worked. Confiscatory tax rates never work.” Land was recently pushed into apologizing both for racially inflammatory remarks about the Trayvon Martin case and for having plagiarized them from right-wing columnists. 

• Janet (Folger) Porter: an anti-abortion activist who famously brought fetuses to “testify” for Ohio’s “Heartbeat Bill,” declared during the 2008 GOP primary that God had chosen Mike Huckabee to lead the nation. Her radio show was dropped by a Christian radio network unhappy with her political embrace of Christian dominionists. 

• Mat Staver: heads Liberty Counsel, recently called the “homosexual agenda” a “moral iceberg” that threatens religious freedom.  At the 2010 Awakening, Staver agreed with a questioner that the health care reform law had a provision that gave Obama the power to create an army of brownshirts that could take control of communities. 

• Ryan Sorba: made a name for himself as an anti-gay activist by denouncing organizers of the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference for welcoming conservative gay groups; has become a regular at Awakening. 

Should be more fun than Disney World.  Watch for updates.

The Mississippi House passed a bill that would require doctors to detect fetal heartbeats, which in many cases would require a transvaginal ultrasound, on women seeking an abortion and without exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. An amendment that would ban men from having vasectomies failed to pass. The group Personhood Mississippi praised the bill’s passage, and said they will begin collecting signatures to put another personhood amendment on the ballot in 2013 despite its failure last November.

The bill appears to be based on Janet Porter’s Heartbeat Bill, which passed the Ohio State House and bans all abortions after a detectable heartbeat, that has been springing up in other states including Kansas and Nebraska.

During the debate over the legislation, a Republican lawmaker responded to claims that the medically-unnecessary procedure is “state-sanctioned rape” by arguing that women “allow ourselves to be vulnerable to a pregnancy”:

The Mississippi House approved a bill that would require women seeking abortions to acknowledge when unborn children have detectable heartbeats, in some cases necessitating invasive transvaginal ultrasounds.

There is no provision in the House Bill 1196 exempting women who have been victims of rape or incest from the transvaginal ultrasound.

…

Rep. Rita Martinson, R-Madison, rebutted Wooten's statement, specifically addressing her description of the instrument.

"What do we think is used when an abortion is performed?" she asked. "What kind of device goes in and snatches a person from the womb, tears it out, and takes that beating heartbeat and kills it?"

While Hines and Wooten said the bill holds women responsible for an unwanted pregnancy while letting men off the hook, Martinson stressed it should be the woman's responsibility.

"Sometimes it's rape, but most of the time, it's not," she said. "We're the ones who remove our pants, are we not?

"We are the ones who allow ourselves to be vulnerable to a pregnancy," she said.

Janet Porter on her Faith 2 Action radio bulletin today urged listeners to leave the AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, over their “advocacy for same-sex marriage” and “support for homosexual adoption.” She claimed that seniors should leave the organization not only over the group’s endorsement of “special rights for immoral behavior” but also because of their support for the health care reform law, which she says will lead to “more euthanasia and health care rationing for the elderly.”

Special rights for immoral behavior. Advocacy for same-sex marriage. Support for homosexual adoption. These are some of the things that the AARP does with the money from dues that they receive from the millions over the age of 50 that they’re supposed to represent. While many think of it as an organization that’s all about insurance, travel discounts, and group outings with friends, this is the very sad truth about the AARP. And, in spite of the fact that ObamaCare will probably lead to much more euthanasia and health care rationing for the elderly, AARP has been one of the leading supporters. If they don’t represent you, you can quit at members@aarp.com or call 888-687-2277.