Janet Porter (née Folger)

Janet Porter is pulling out all the stops to pass her anti-choice Heartbeat Bill in Ohio, using children with teddy bears, fetus testimony, prayer rallies and planes to urge the State Senate to vote on her bill, which has already passed the State House. But so far, her only accomplishment appears to be dividing anti-choice activists and irritating Republican lawmakers.

To show popular support for her legislation, Porter’s group Faith 2 Action commissioned a poll which showed a that whopping “64 percent of Ohioans agreed with the Heartbeat Bill while only 20 percent disagreed with it—more than a three to one margin.” The group used Wenzel Strategies, a polling company that claims Sarah Palin had a good chance at becoming the Democratic nominee for president, which also found that pluralities of Democrats, independents and Republicans alike all backed the Heartbeat bill. According to Porter, the legislation’s broad support is reason to give to put it up for a vote in the State Senate:

"Two-thirds of Ohioans, 8 out of 10 Republicans, 7 out of 10 Independents, and Democrats by a 5-3 margin favor the Heartbeat Bill (H.B. 125) becoming law," said Janet Porter, president of Faith2Action. "The people have spoken across the board: It's time to bring the Heartbeat Bill to a committee and to a vote."

Fritz Wenzel, president of Wenzel Strategies stated, “Given today’s deeply divided political climate, it is unusual and remarkable when a public opinion survey finds a huge majority supporting one side of a political issue, but that’s exactly what we have in these results regarding the Heartbeat Bill in Ohio. The popularity of this measure crosses all political, gender, age, and regional boundaries in Ohio, and is indicative of deep support for this issue...

"Election history teaches us that leaders who ignore such strong public opinion do so at their own political peril. The fact that more likely voting Democrats, Republicans, and independents support the bill than oppose it, and the fact that the intensity of support in favor of this issue far outstrips the intensity of those who oppose it is a strong indication there are many more reasons for Ohio state senators to support it than to oppose it,” added Wenzel.

Contrast those striking findings with the poll released today by Quinnipiac University, which found that not only do “fifty percent of Ohio voters say abortion should be legal in all or most cases” but that forty-six percent of voters oppose the Heartbeat bill, while forty-five percent favor it.

While the Quinnipiac poll, which Porter derided as “biased,” still shows a statistical tie on the public’s view of the legislation, it completely undermines Porter’s claim that “the people have spoken across the board”:

Ohio voters are divided 45 - 46 percent in their support for a bill before the State Legislature that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Republicans support the measure 63 - 31 percent, while Democrats are opposed by a mirror-image 62 - 30 percent, with independent voters split 47 - 46 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. There is no gender or age gap.

…

"Abortion remains perhaps the most divisive issue in the nation and there is an almost even split among Ohio voters over the fetal heartbeat bill," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Despite a partisan split over the issue, where Republicans support the measure 2-1 while Democrats oppose it 2-1, lower income voters, who tend to be Democrats, support the bill while high-income voters, who tend to be Republican, oppose it."

Fifty percent of Ohio voters say abortion should be legal in all or most cases while 44 percent say it should be illegal in all or most cases.

Janet Porter has pulled out all the stops in her effort to pass her radical anti-choice "Heartbeat Bill" in Ohio.  Over the last year, she has filled the Ohio House with heart-shaped red balloons, re-written the lyrics to an 80's pop tune, brought in prophets and apostles to push for passage, and even had multiple fetuses "testify" in favor of the legislation.

But still her bill remains stuck in the Ohio Senate, which is why she held another press conference yesterday to push for its passage; this one featuring children with teddy bears advocating on its behalf:

Christian Harrington didn't mince words during his moment at the Statehouse Tuesday.

The 8-year-old wants the Ohio Senate to take action on the Heartbeat Bill, legislation that would ban abortions within weeks of conception.

"I'm here to save babies with beating hearts," Christian, barely tall enough to peer over a podium, told a packed committee hearing room. "And I want to tell the senators to pass the Heartbeat Bill right now. And when I mean right now, I mean right now."

The youngster was one of more than 50 children who were in Columbus Tuesday as part of the latest attempt by backers of the Heartbeat Bill to convince lawmakers to pass the legislation.

They had a press conference with reporters, held a faux committee hearing showing lawmakers how to vote in favor of the bill and delivered Teddy bears, complete with real heartbeat sound chip, to all 33 Ohio senators.

"Do not believe the stuff the people tell you at the abortion clinic," said 11-year-old Sydney McCauley. "The just say it's a blob of tissue, and that is not the truth. That blob of tissue is actually forming into a baby."

Porter posted video of the event on her website yesterday where she explained that legislators had already heard from babies, national and local anti-abortion leaders, and the residents of Ohio ... so now it was time to hear from the children, like Noah who Porter held up to the microphone so he could explain that "I am 4 and I have a heartbeat":

• William Kristol refuses to apologize for sending an extreme anti-gay email to Weekly Standard subscribers.

• The political world waits with bated breath for Herman Cain’s “unconventional endorsement.”

• Gary Bauer in a new ad calls on Republicans to reject “conspiratorial” Ron Paul.

• Brent Bozell thinks the media and Obama were terrified of “Palin, Bachman, Cain, Perry and Gingrich,” yet another reason to doubt anything Bozell has to say.

• After botching the first round of Senate hearings, Janet Porter is now demanding the Senate to reconsider her anti-choice Heartbeat Bill.

• As with his newsletters, Ron Paul will probably deny writing the “controversial” parts of his own books.

• David Barton’s deputy at WallBuilders, Rick Green, has endorsed Rick Perry while admitting that his debate appearances were “literally painful to watch” and that he “nearly wept for the man.” Green’s decision represents another defection for the Bachmann camp, as Green campaigned for her at the Iowa Straw Poll.

• Meanwhile, more Iowa pastors are calling on Michele Bachmann to drop out of the race.

• Matt Romney goes birther.

• National Organization for Marriage seems ecstatic about Rick Santorum.

• Lastly, Janet Porter’s Year End Rhyme.

• The Tea Party, right-wing activists, and corporate interests are positively thrilled with the administration of Gov. Sam Brownback.
• Looks like Ken Ham's Noah's Ark theme park is running into a bit of financial trouble.
• The next Oak Initiative Summit will feature Rick Joyner, Cindy Jacobs, Jerry Boykin, Janet Porter, Lance Wallnau, and others.
• Bill Dononhue says that "secularists cannot survive without parasitically feeding off Christmas [and are] thus giving us Christians a back-handed compliment."
• Finally, the AFA 's Tim Wildmon defends Christmas by asserting that "if Jesus Christ had never been born, there would be no United States of America."

A little over a year ago, our first YouTube channel was shut down and we resigned ourselves to living without several great videos we had gathered over the years and used for previous posts. 

But today we received news that our account had been reinstated and reactivated and so, to celebrate, we are going to post a few of our favorite videos that we thought we'd never see again:

• This 2007 "700 Club" segment on how the I-35 corridor was shutting down porn shops and strip clubs and freeing gays from homosexuality was the first recorded appearance of Cindy Jacobs here on RWW.
• The opening number from the 2007 "Values Voter Debate" in which a choir re-worked the words to "God Bless America" to reflect the Religious Right's agenda, renaming it "Why Should God Bless America?"
• Miss USA Runner-Up Carrie Prejean speaking at the Values Voter Summit in 2009, explaining that though "even though I didn't win the crown that night, I know that the Lord has so much of a bigger crown in Heaven for me."
• Randall Terry hosting a press conference following the murder of Dr. George Tiller in which he says that Tiller "reaped what he sowed" ... and then asked if anyone in the press wanted to buy him lunch.
• Janet Porter speaking at the Generals International's "Convergence 2010: A Cry to Awaken A Nation" in which she prayed for God to give Christians control over the media.

We are going to continue to post new videos on our RWWBlog account on YouTube, but are thrilled to have recovered the hundreds of older videos from our original account that we thought he had lost and just wanted to celebrate.

• You know what you don't see very often?  A defense of Japanese internment.
• Christine O'Donnelll has endorsed Mitt Romney.
• Bill Dononhue, of all people, blasts Lowe's for pulling its advertising from "All-American Muslim."
• I can think of nothing less interesting then listening to Timothy Goeglein explain what makes him tick.
• Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life says "legal abortion itself institutionalizes in the law the discrimination based on age."
• Finally, it looks like Janet Porter's "Heartbeat Bill" effort in Ohio has hit another snag.

When Janet Porter returned to her native Ohio to push her extreme Heartbeat Bill, which would effectively ban abortion in the vast majority of cases, she couldn’t muster the support of her former employer, the Ohio Right to Life Society. Porter, who leads Faith 2 Action, helped launch a group called Ohio ProLife Action that is dedicated to passing the radical legislation, which already passed in the State House and will soon have a hearing in the State Senate. While the fate of the Heartbeat Bill is still up in the air, it has already created huge divides among anti-choice activists in Ohio.

The Warren County and Geauga County affiliates of the Ohio Right to Life Society have disaffiliated and joined Ohio ProLife Action, and yesterday the Greater Cincinnati chapter, which claims to be “Ohio’s largest Right to Life chapter and birthplace of the Right to Life movement,” announced that is also leaving to join Porter’s new group. While Ohio Right to Life Society has argued that the Heartbeat Bill is unconstitutional, Porter has claimed that it is the best attempt to overturn Roe and return God’s blessings to America.

The Greater Cincinnati chapter said in a statement [pdf]:

Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati—Ohio’s largest Right to Life chapter and birthplace of the Right to Life movement—is formally joining the newly created state group Ohio ProLife Action, established to support House Bill 125, Ohio’s Heartbeat Bill. It is reluctantly disaffiliating from the Ohio Right to Life Society at this time.

…

Along with two thirds of Ohio’s Right to Life chapters, Cincinnati Right to Life has been dismayed that Ohio Right to Life has chosen to oppose and undermine the efforts to pass this landmark bill.

…

Cincinnati Right to Life extends its full support to Ohio ProLife Action, and all state legislators who courageously stand for life and support House Bill 125. Cincinnati Right to Life also, again, extends the invitation to our colleagues at Ohio Right to Life to join in this unprecedented step toward ending abortion in Ohio and beyond.

According to The Greely Gazette, when local pastor Paul Blair spoke out in opposition to an Oklahoma City proposal to add sexual orientation to the city’s anti-discrimination policy, he and his church received death and bomb threats.  But Blair refuses to be intimidated by such threats and has decided, instead, to take a stand by running for state office: 

Paul Blair, Pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Oklahoma told the council that the law was unnecessary and would create an unfair burden on employers and could allow men to use women’s restrooms and locker rooms.

Following his remarks, Blair and the church have been threatened with violence.

...

Blair said it was amazing that the threats against his church and himself have been largely ignored by the national media.

“If I would have left these types of threats on the voicemail of the local ‘gay’ alliance, I would have been in jail before sundown. It would have been on the front page of the New York Times and the lead story on CNN.”

The threats have motivated Blair to further action. “On Sunday, I announced to members of the church I was going to be running for the Oklahoma State Senate. I received a standing ovation.”

This might all be more believable if Blair was not already a rabidly anti-gay Religious Right activist  - that is him, second from the right, with Tony Perkins and Janet Porter at the Dominionist-infused May Day for America prayer rally in 2010:

Blair is also a close ally of Rep. Sally Kern and spoke at the "Rally for Sally" to show support for her after she said gays represent a bigger threat to America than terrorism. 

He is also the head of the reborn Reclaiming America For Christ organization and was a participant in the self-aggrandizing anti-hate crimes "Rally for Religious Freedom" where various anti-gay activists vowed never to stop preaching against homosexuality and challenged the Justice Department to prosecute them.

In fact, Blair and his organization produced this ten minute video called "The Criminalization of Christianity" which warned that hate crimes legislation - which Blair called the "Pedophile Protection Act" - would "make it possible for a pastor to be prosecuted for doing nothing more than preaching a Biblical sermon on Sunday":

So Blair is not just some local pastor mobilized to run for office because of supposed threats from gay activists; he's a full-blown anti-gay Religious Right activist who is now seeking to turn his radical agenda into state law.