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On today's date in The Beacon archives, we published:
•ALL Diebold, ALL the Time: It’s the New Hampshire Primary (2008)•VA Tech Shooter Cover-Up? (2008)
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 JANUARY 11 WOMEN’S MIDWINTER RETREAT 1:30 - 5 pm - Presented by: The Center Within Sisters of Charity Motherhouse, Mt. St. Joseph, situated on the hillside overlooking the Ohio River, offers us the beauty of winter. Winter is a time when the tree roots are growing in quiet hibernation, encouraging us as well to take time for prayer and inner reflection on the goodness and beauty of life within us. Come, join the circle of women on the journey of life during this midwinter season. We will together create sacred space, which includes: Song and Guided Prayer/ Reflection - Quiet Reflective time for Listening Within - Sharing our Stories (if you wish) - Celebrating our Lives Together in Ritual Led by: Kathleen Hartman Blackburn, Donna Steffen, SC, Mary Ann Humbert Held at: Rose Room at Sisters of Charity Motherhouse, 5900 Delhi Road, Mt. St. Joseph, OH 45051 - From River Road (50 West), turn Right onto Fairbanks, which becomes Delhi. Stay on Delhi until it deadends at the entrance to the Sisters of Charity Motherhouse. A parking lot is found just past the buildings. Use main entrance! Fee: $25. ($30. after Jan.3 (Mail Registration Below. Keep time, info, and directions. ) Checks/ Registration to: The Center Within, PO Box 6027, Cincinnati, OH 45206 Information: 513-751-3358, 513-681-8881, , http://www.TheCenterWithin.org |
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Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Is Ken Blackwell (Republican Candidate for Ohio’s Governor) A Gothardite?
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
In this recent story, we showed you the connections between the secular front of the Bill Gothard movement and President George W. Bush. In the hotly contested election in 2004, Ohio was a battleground state—and election experts like Bob Fitrakis have books documenting Ohio’s stolen election. Well, it turns out that J. Kenneth Blackwell, Secretary of State and candidate for Ohio Governor, just so happens to have connections to these conniving Gothardites. (And you thought mixing politics with mega-churches was weird!)
Is the growing character cult trying to hand elections over to Republicans who have sipped on their Kool-Aid?
The 2004 Character First! newsletter announces that J. Kenneth Blackwell will be the keynote speaker at the 2004 International Association of Character Cities Convention, while also giving general praise to Blackwell’s efforts:
Communities, Candidates, Colleges, and Character
The state of Ohio has made great strides towards fulfilling the state General Assembly’s Joint Resolution that designated Ohio as a “character-building state.”
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has championed the cause throughout Ohio, sponsoring the Ohio Center for Civic Character. The OCCC is a state-wide project designed to help leaders improve their communities. Blackwell and the OCCC have developed the Candidates of Character Project that encourages candidates for public office to make a written commitment to exemplify and encourage good character.
In order to define good character and provide a common vocabulary, the Ohio Secretary of State’s office published Uncommon Sense, a document outlining how individuals can demonstrate good character in their own lives and in their relationships with others. “Noble visions, worthy missions and guiding values all require and are validated by character ethics,” Blackwell says on his website. “Thus, a strong character foundation is and always will be the key predictor of true personal health, interpersonal vitality, and organizational success.”
OCCC also supports the Ohio Collegiate Alliance for Character. This group of higher education institutions cooperates to define broad character-based standards and develop specific programs to teach and reward good character among administrators, faculty, staff, and students.
“No matter how technologically advanced we get, it will always be about relationships,” said Ohio Assistant Secretary of State Monty Lobb. “We feel like from a citizenship perspective that character is the cornerstone of what it means to be a good citizen, and citizenship is the foundation for healthy, vibrant communities.”
Blackwell will speak at the 2004 International Building Cities of Character Conference to be held September 22-24 in Oklahoma City.
So who’s that Assistant Secretary of State Monty Lobb? Locals might remember him as the old president of CCV (Citizens for Community Values) who worked to shut down the Mapplethorpe exhibit (due to the presence of images like the ones pictured here.) He has also been spotted more recently, giving speeches like this one, where he talks about how everyone in the SOS office wears “character lapel pins.”
In an article rather like Silja Talvi’s ”Cult of Character” (which exposed the Gothardites for the sexist and child abusive beliefs), Katherine Yurica has one called ”Blackwell’s Un-American Scheme.” Here are some relevant excerpts. Please pardon the lengthy quotation, but all of the material is significant:
J. Kenneth Blackwell has stepped to the forefront of the American culture wars. Standing with his feet securely rooted in a form of Orwellian “Double-Think,” he has posted his official endorsement of a 20-point religious moral code claimed to be “a shared vocabulary of character-building ethics” on Ohio’s official Secretary of State web site. Blackwell wrote, “Character is the cornerstone of American citizenship. And good citizenship is the foundation of community. It is also the foundation of both good business and good government.” (Note that he places business before government.)
The 20-Rules to “good” character is titled ”UncommonSense“[10] which Blackwell recommends “as a character ethics model for Ohio’s business and government leaders.” Blackwell invites candidates for office to join him in launching “a revolution of character-building in our great state.”
Blackwell speaks candidly. It is a revolution in a deceptively pretty package. Hidden in its paragraphs are concepts of submission, obedience, inspection of the personal lives of people, and the loss of personal rights and freedom that would make America’s founding fathers stand on their heads in their graves. In short it is a Dominionist document: a religious treatise in secular terms, but dominionist to the core. It’s a brilliant little package to get millions of evangelical Christians and their friends to accept authoritarian government without even a whisper of protest.
It’s so deceptively written that people of other faiths or avowed atheists won’t know they are accepting religious tenets—that in fact it is a rational interpretation of some Christian ethics and as such it’s nothing less than a concise theological document in drag. Christians, however, will “know” it’s “Christian” because the unknown authors of the little tract[11] have salted the mine with recognizable terms and barely disguised Bible verses.
There is a strategic reason the authors wanted Christians to believe it is a “Christian” document—the authors had to send signals over the heads of most of America’s citizens in order to reach the faithful evangelicals —so they would feel comfortable in embracing it. But the authors also had to walk a fine line—they could not present a religious document from the State of Ohio to its citizens without violating the Constitution of the United States of America. Hence the subterfuge.
What I intend to show you is that J. Kenneth Blackwell and many of the GOP leaders from Ohio and many others in Congress, necessarily know the truth about the religious moral code titled UncommonSense, and how civic renewal has been used and diverted from its original intent. They know that it is a covert way to impose certain religious beliefs upon American citizens using governmental powers. They know that they are in the process of religionizing America and also dominating it. They know it just as they know the sound and rhythm of familiar Bible verses. They know it like they know the prickly feeling on the back of their necks when they hear strains of down-home Gospel singing hitting their ears and hearts. They know it because they planned it.
Just piece together the evidence, everyone. It’s plain as day. George W. Bush is affiliated with Gothard. J. Kenneth Blackwell is affiliated with Gothard. Ohio is a battleground state. According to elections experts like Bob Fitrakis, Blackwell hands Ohio to Bush. By the way, let’s not forget that Blackwell is still holding out on counting Fitrakis’s petitions to run as a Green candidate for Ohio governor.
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06 Jun 2006 at 11:13 pm | #
I hope he’s not a HERMAPHODITE, too!
07 Jun 2006 at 05:56 am | #
Blue Gill,
You wanta get close enough to tell? I wonder what some of these people “really” are since they can’t be politicians!!! We already know about some of their past because there are some of us that remember the Badlands days, that they were hoping we were too drunk to remember! But what are they? I got it the Aliens from Men in Black!
07 Jun 2006 at 06:13 am | #
No, these are people who are caught up in power and control. They associate with organizations and institutions that can forward their political careers. That’s what the Gothard stuff is about (and that’s why some experts liken them to a cult)—it’s about controlling people. It’s a fundamental similarity between religion and government, so this “secular” character movement is just an attempt to infuse religious engineering into the political process.
On the surface, there is nothing wrong with “character.” But one need look no farther than Gothardite prayer closets (where child get physically and emotionally abused), or the Victorian attitude towards gender roles, to understand that these ideals move quickly into something other than “punctuality” or “honesty.”
07 Jun 2006 at 08:30 am | #
Yes, but what does Henrietta think about all of this. Wait a minute....where is Henretta????? The last time she weighed in on a topic she was contradicting the Dean about some inane detail. Dean what have you done with Henrietta???? The Cincinnati Beacon/ Henrietta disappearance conspiracy. Is Andrew somehow involved? This is getting deeper and deeper.
I’ll follow the money trail. Wait… there is no money.
07 Jun 2006 at 09:00 am | #
Henretta has not gone anywhere. She got mad at me for some posts about Mormons.
You can make jokes to distract from the point if you like, but we all see what you are trying to do. The facts on the Blacwell-Gothard connection are clear.
07 Jun 2006 at 12:54 pm | #
I wasn’t trying to distract anyone from anything- I haven’t read your post yet. I’ll do that now. You don’t bash mormons in it -do you?
07 Jun 2006 at 03:18 pm | #
Blackwell got a well-deserved drubbing today from the NY Times.
07 Jun 2006 at 05:24 pm | #
Oooooo! You “Beacon Bitches” in heat are embarassing. I’m moving abroad. You kiss the boss’s ass like everyone else does.
07 Jun 2006 at 08:36 pm | #
Good Riddance Ghost Town,
Your smug posts are just rambling tirades. You criticize others posts but contribute NOTHING yourself. Go have sex with yourself.
07 Jun 2006 at 08:51 pm | #
here’s a link that describes the 14 charcteristics of a facist state. Blackwell is a facist.
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html
08 Jun 2006 at 07:08 am | #
The “In These Times” artical is interesting, a very good read. I dislike Heimlich or Blackwell and would prefer that they not be in office. Taking that into account I will immediately latch on to the artical and agree with it, find it frightening, right wing christian, big brother bullshit etc. If I consider the facts, dispassionately, is it more a matter of me trying to find fault with any Republican for any reason or is it a valid issue. Have I done an honest appraisal of this or is this my knee jerk reaction.
The New York Times artical is great. Thanks for the link anon.
08 Jun 2006 at 07:10 am | #
Does anyone know if Character First! is connected with Life Success? I couldn’t find a connection on-line but one never knows
08 Jun 2006 at 07:25 am | #
Matt: Thanks for the link anon.
You’re welcome.
Does anyone know if Character First! is connected with Life Success?
I did a quick Google and there are a number of organizations using variations of that name. Please direct me to the “Life Success” you’re referrring to. Got links?
08 Jun 2006 at 09:52 am | #
You people are just muddling through allegations of fascism?? Seems like you’re already convinced. Step two is to stop writing your own eulogies and do whatever it takes to survive. And that doesn’t mean come home from your 8-5 and start blogging. Fascism isn’t the latest trend. This is the problem. How can all of these concerned adults stand up and lead our communities to a better way of life when they have no depth perception of the magnitude in which they’re acting?
Hey anonymous: Give peace a chance. Sounds to me you’re the sadomasochist. Good luck w/ that. You have several like-minded men (and probably women) on here to consult with. I can’t say that I’m not angry like you, because I am. However, the difference is that I am TROUBLED by the blindness and tough talk. You’re just angry at everything.
08 Jun 2006 at 11:21 am | #
Ghost Town;
You talk a lot, just like those you criticise.
Point blank question: What are you doing about anything, beside blogging?
RVGIV
08 Jun 2006 at 11:45 am | #
“...And that doesn’t mean come home from your 8-5 and start blogging”
I don’t know about the rest of you but I do this between 8 and 5 while at work.
Anon, I’ll check for a link. They all sound strangly similiar. There is a Life Success building in fairfield- pretty large building and property which is part of a nationwide business. It has a culty nature to it, but then again so does everything.
08 Jun 2006 at 11:45 am | #
RVGIV,
YOU, sir, have been pointed out as the Godfather of people like anonymous, on several occasions here. Everyone knows this. I, like most, am staying away from you!
08 Jun 2006 at 11:47 am | #
Matt, most people do not and you that.
08 Jun 2006 at 01:11 pm | #
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08 Jun 2006 at 01:30 pm | #
Good question Ghost Towne, what are you doing that the rest of us aren’t besides blogging?
08 Jun 2006 at 03:21 pm | #
It’s between 8 and 5 and you have been reading and responding to this blog all day. By the way, what are you doing besides blogging?
08 Jun 2006 at 03:57 pm | #
I think I’ve gotten a nice bit accomplished for “just blogging,” thank you very much.
That’s why I call myself a “media activist” and not a “political activist.”
08 Jun 2006 at 08:42 pm | #
Ghost Town doesn’t do anything. He sits in his jammies and blogs all day. He hasn’t been exposed to any sunlight in months, and the vitamin deficiency has caused him to go quite mad. Hence his posts.
08 Jun 2006 at 09:52 pm | #
I understand the sad state of affairs we are all in. I’m scared for all of us. Keep chopping people down like butchers, ‘Jim Meeker.’ Keep chopping, that’s all we know. We enjoy calling each other ‘mad.’ When does one become tired of the silliness? This is terrible.
08 Jun 2006 at 10:16 pm | #
Hey brother, your the one making these posts about how nobodies doing anything but blogging...8-5...kissing the bosses ass...blah blah blah. But what exactly are you doing that’s any different? Anything?? Come on, several people have asked you this, and we really want to know. If you have a good plan please share it with us, this is all about sharing information with like minded souls (blue gill & the racist white asshole excepted). come on and share with the group!
08 Jun 2006 at 11:25 pm | #
The truth is that blogging is doing something. There is no question that it is impacting elections and if you don’t believe me, just ask David Pepper. Of course I’m not talking about the kind of bloggin Ghost Brain, White Idiot and Blew Gill are doing. The Dean does real reporting (just read City Beat before you start your BS) and gives an outlet that no other media outlets will. That’s why Portune, Bortz and many others are posting and reading here. Keep up the political activism Dean, you do your community a great service. Much more than anybody else on here has done.
09 Jun 2006 at 10:08 am | #
It IS about “doing” - blogging included. But none of it matters if you can’t see that the system is broke! I don’t care who reads responds or reacts to this investigator activism. In fact this blog could surpass the influence of the top newspapers in the area, it would still not matter! You’d still have the same defective system because you’d still have recalcitrant sycophants to work with (whatever political stripe). Do you want recalcitrant sycophants in your body politic? I don’t. Not when I have to BEG, SCRATCH, AND CLAW with every inch of my body and what comes of it are quid pro quo deals hyped up as revolutionary change for the middle class! As it is now, collectively, we’ll continue to do whatever we possibly can to just push out of the way political dead weight like we do everything else that is sickly, impoverished and unfamiliar. Are humans really shackled to such bizarre blunders? I would hope that most of us who try to be activists would not work with recalcitrant sycophants! Why do we think it’s acceptable for our progressive leadership to deal with these cancers? What positive value are they contributing? The media is the buffer as our “progressive” representatives act for reform and attempt to restore decent government. Another way of describing this is that the media’s ubiquitous nature keeps all the wheels greased so it looks like there’s this complicated and controversial divide amongst us. What we need to “do” before anything else is to channel the courage and dignity to stand up and alone if that’s what it takes and voice a very different viewpoint. We need to firmly reject all of these media manipulations and sound bites people use to justify their arguments. NOBODY in the media gets it because their employers and their employers, employers bound them to the orgy of opinion that is the modern media. Until we understand this, MSNBC, Progressive TALK 1530, or any other pundit in the electronic media will appear to be working towards change when in reality they’re simply walled off as any substantive catalyze for healing a lost America back to health. Otherwise, we need to be the change and stop relying on miracles. But we have to organize and do it together. Let’s do it! What do you think?
09 Jun 2006 at 12:59 pm | #
It’s time to up someones medication.
09 Jun 2006 at 02:17 pm | #
So thoughtful, Matthew. You can be one of those who keep their 8-5. I’m sure you’ll be quite content.
09 Jun 2006 at 02:51 pm | #
I don’t know how thoughtful it was meant to be. My point is you are on some manic rage. This particular post alone you are all over the place. See the following examples.
You “Beacon Bitches” in heat are embarassing
Give peace a chance
Keep chopping people down like butchers, ‘Jim Meeker.’ Keep chopping, that’s all we know.
But we have to organize and do it together. Let’s do it! What do you think?
And that doesn’t mean come home from your 8-5 and start blogging.
It IS about “doing” - blogging included.
You don’t sound stable- you sound manic as hell and you ought to get that checked out.
I’m certain I’m not the first to suggest that to you.
09 Jun 2006 at 04:48 pm | #
Matt,
My ideas have not changed and your “examples” are no diagnosis. What you call manic, I call articulate rage. I just have to laugh at you, I’m sorry. I actually feel a little sorry for you because I know a lot of people like yourself, more women but a few really angry and nervous type guys too. Pretty good people really, but just a little too “perturbed” with most things in life. It’s clear you’re still a rather young man, Matt. Boy would I like to know your story and the journey you’ve had becoming educated on the social ills of today. I wish I could give you some advice, but I sense that the kind of blind resentment you harbor runs too deep. Moreover, you never remark about one’s “stability” in such a cavalier manner, son. It’s just not polite. Wouldn’t mind spending a little bit more time on this subject with you, Matt. However, I don’t think it’s in you right now to go there. And, to your accusations: I’ve been down, way down, sure. Can’t say that I’ve ever had anyone tell me that I was seriously “manic” or anything close to that, i.e. like I had just smoked crack or that my eyes looked like that woman who left her fiancé at the alter. I don’t have much expertise with these types of people. I’m not a neurologist, Matt, so I’m not positive, but I believe a manic/depressive wouldn’t have the presence of mind or the patience to clearly state a response like the one I’ve just given to you. I would advise you on one thing. It would be in your best interest to keep the pointless comments and loose attacks to yourself.
09 Jun 2006 at 10:33 pm | #
Ghost Town,
I’m not trying to be a smart ass, but I cannot fallow what you are saying. Your posts are rambling and don’t make sense. Can clear these up for us?
10 Jun 2006 at 12:27 am | #
This just in from democracynow.org
Ohio Sec. of State Accused of Disenfranchising Voters
In Ohio, the state’s top electoral official is being accused of trying to fix the upcoming November elections. Democrats and voter-registration groups charge Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has drafted draconian rules that could easily lead to penalties against people who register voters. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now – known as ACORN—says the rules are so vague the group has cut back its voter-registration efforts while lawyers review the new guidelines. Democrats say Blackwell is attempting to prevent black, low-income and Democratic voters from voting in his upcoming gubernatorial race against Democratic Congressmember Ted Strickland
Looks like the uncle Tom is at it again. This asshole should be behind bars, if not six feet under. This is TREASON and you won’t hear Ann Coulter say a word about it.
10 Jun 2006 at 12:51 am | #
Talk about buying influence! This just in from WTOL in Toledo:
Diebold Lobbyist Donates $10,000 to Blackwell Campaign
http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=5012724
COLUMBUS (AP)—Forty-nine of the 85 people who this year have given Ohio secretary of state Kenneth Blackwell the maximum $10,000 allowed an individual donor have done so since May 2. Members of Cincinnati financier Carl Lindner’s family led the way by combining for $90,000. The maximum-donor list also includes Mitch Given, who is a registered lobbyist for Diebold Election Systems, one of the vendors of voting machines for election boards in Ohio.
Blackwell’s office approved Diebold’s selection as a vendor and negotiated the price for the machines, although the counties chose the machines.
Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said the May 15 contribution came well after Diebold signed a contract with the state to provide the machines in February 2004 after bids were submitted by the vendors. LoParo also pointed out that Given lobbies for other companies and is a frequent contributor to GOP campaigns. Given also donated $10,000 to Betty Montgomery’s campaign a week after she dropped out of the governor’s race to run for attorney general.
“It’s important to note that he did not contribute to Secretary Blackwell during the bidding process,” LoParo said.
Messages seeking comment were left at Given’s office and home.
When Blackwell discovered in April that his investment firm had acquired stock in Diebold, he ordered it sold immediately. He said his portfolio is operated like a blind trust, and that he only found out about the Diebold stock when his ethics disclosure statement was filed.
Forty-nine of the 85 people who this year have given Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell the maximum $10,000 allowed an individual donor have done so since May 2. Members of Cincinnati financier Carl Lindner’s family led the way by combining for $90,000.
Blackwell got $430,000 from the Ohio Republican Party on the day of the primary. Ohio GOP chairman Bob Bennett, who didn’t take sides in the primary, said he held back until he was certain Blackwell would win. The last-minute donation also means the party can give a similar amount for the general election, Bennett said.
Despite the considerable donations Blackwell by Republican heavy-hitters since he won the May 2 primary, he trails Democratic nominee Ted Strickland 2-1 in cash available for the November election, finance reports filed Friday showed.
Strickland raised $2 million during the April 12 to June 2 reporting period and had $2.6 million on hand. Blackwell, who spent more than $1.2 million late in his primary fight against Jim Petro, raised $2.2 million and had $1.3 million in his account with five months to go in the campaign. Petro raised $255,000 and spent $572,000 down the stretch.
Strickland, a U.S. House member from Lisbon, trounced little-known former state Rep. Bryan Flannery in the primary. Strickland received $365,000 from the Ohio Democratic Party on the day of the primary.
Twenty-six of the 91 donations of $10,000 Strickland has received have come since May 2. Maximum donors to his campaign included Peter Lewis of Cleveland, president of Progressive Corp., the nation’s third-largest car insurer.
Strickland is seen as the Democrats’ best hope for the office they haven’t held since 1991, when former Gov. Richard Celeste finished his second term. Democrats expect to be more competitive this year because of an investment scandal that has tainted Republican Gov. Bob Taft’s administration and a lobbying scandal in Washington.
Posted by PJS
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
10 Jun 2006 at 10:56 am | #
"Democrats expect to be more competitive this year because of an investment scandal that has tainted Republican Gov. Bob Taft’s administration and a lobbying scandal in Washington.”
This is sad but true. Ohio has had to have been the “Vatican” for Republican politics over the last 50 years. It’s the only state that would allow the Repubs to get away with so much folly and still be competitive in election after election. Why do we accept this? It’s embarassing.