Under the Dome: Feb 27-March 3

MONDAY, February 27, 2006

Missourians Against Human Cloning officially kicked off their campaign on Monday with a series of press conferences. The organization made four stops over the course of the day, St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Jefferson City. Executive Director Jaci Winship gave opening introductions, as well as delivering an overview of the organization. Accompanying Jaci were three board members; Barbara Quigley, Executive Director for the St. Louis Center for Bioethics and Culture, Robert Dunn, M.D., retired Neuro Surgeon, and Robert F. Onder, M.D., J.D., Washington University School of Medicine. The panel fielded questions from the press about the ballot initiative and its misleading summary question that will appear on the ballot, as well as questions about the cloning process. The organization was also joined by State Representative Jim Lembke, and radio visionaries Dick and Richard Bott (Bott Radio Network). At their Jefferson City stop, about twenty Missouri State Representatives stood in support of the organization.

This vital group will lead the charge in the battle against human cloning research (which they refer to as SCNT). This battle is raging over the hearts and minds of the people of Missouri. It is not just a philosophical or moral debate, it’s also about something much more basic… money. These groups seek to make a financial gamble with thousands and thousands of tiny innocent babies. Proof that this is a gamble; is the fact that they want to use your money, not theirs!

Senator Wheeler presented SB 1012 to the Senate committee on Monday evening. SB 1012 changes the law regarding the designation of the next-of-kin for a decedent’s body. This bill has long been toted by the homosexual community, as a way for same sex ‘partners’ to trump family rights with regards to funeral arrangements. Senators will need to be cautious as they tread on this issue!

TUESDAY, February 28, 2006

The Missouri Secretary of State’s Office was swamped. Candidate filing for the 2006 primary and general elections opened first thing in the morning. For the next month many more citizens will come to Jefferson City and pay the 50$ filing fee to run for House and Senate seats as well as many benches in the state’s judicial system. On Monday over two hundred people filed. By the end of the business day on March 28, 2006 (final day for candidate filing) several hundreds of candidates will be registered.

Missouri Family Network will work throughout the summer and fall months to assist Missouri Families in discerning the character and qualities of these folks. We will do our best to help you see clearly through the fog of political rhetoric and campaign propaganda that will dominate the media and public square venues.

WEDNESDAY, March 1, 2006

The House Children and Families Committee voted SCS HB 1075 ‘due pass’ on Wednesday morning. This legislation prohibits ‘condoms-in-the-classroom’ and would prohibit abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood from being in charge of sex education in Missouri’s 534 school districts!

It took nearly two hours of debate to shoot down eight of the liberal amendments which would have gutted the bill. It may seem a little frustrating that it would take so long just to vote on a bill, but we must all abide by the same legislative process. Please write a note, or make a phone call to O’Fallon, MO republican Representative Cynthia Davis in support of her efforts. Newspapers around the state have been blasting her and everyone involved.

Representative Cathy Chinn presented HB 1474 in the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee. The Founding Documents Protection Act (carried by Senator Chuck Gross in the Senate) is a major step in protecting the integrity of the foundational documents of our country in public school classrooms.

NOTE: These bills highlight the culture war which rages in our state. At the same time on the same day, just down the hall from one another, two state legislative committees focus on our children and grandchildren’s education. One trying to stop the abortion industry from shaping student’s attitudes regarding premarital/extramarital sexual behaviors – the other struggling to address the censorship of our state and nation’s Christian heritage with politically correct revisionists’ history.

My personal favorite capitol inscription remains: “Lord God of Hosts, be with us – Yet lest we forget” prominently carved into the marble stone on the first floor of the capitol rotunda, even though (after twenty years of asking) no one can remember who or why the inscription was commissioned!

Missouri Family Network (Kerry & Abram Messer) stood with Governor Matt Blunt in the afternoon as he signed SB 578. Passage of this legislation now makes it a crime to interfere with a funeral in Missouri by protesting during an actual service, along the procession route, or at the grave site during a burial program.

With protesters picketing right outside the capital; Governor Blunt signed the funeral protest bill into law. There have been a number of incidents that proved the need for legislation like this. No parent should have to look across the graveyard at banners proclaiming that their son or daughter is burning in hell because they were killed in Iraq. No one should be put in the position to explain to a child why these people are yelling at them, and holding signs that say things like “Thank God for roadside bombs”. And no one, absolutely no one should be allowed to profane the “last full measure of devotion” of our American heroes.

The talk of the town (and the radio, and the newspaper, and the TV), was Senator Jason Crowell’s introduction of Senate Joint Resolution seeking a ban on all abortions in the state of Missouri. The language in Crowell’s bill is very similar to the abortion ban that South Dakota passed a few weeks ago.

THURSDAY, March 2, 2006

Abram Messer ‘held down the fort’ as Kerry Messer traveled to Washington University School of Medicine to debate Planned Parenthood. Dr. Diane Merritt decided to present the issues of sex education in public schools and its impact on public health and abortions by inviting both sides to the lecture hall. The audience was full of about 120 first and second year med students (most all of them recently out of high school). Needless to say, the crowd was predisposed to support the arguments of Planned Parenthood. But – by the end of the session, several students offered their thanks to Missouri Family Network for helping them understand several perspectives to the debate they had never been exposed to! (Makes one wonder; what has PP and their public schools been exposing them to?)

Pray for your local schools and the students filling them every day.

Attend your local school board meetings. Ask questions. Get involved.

Remember the full scope of your stewardship with regard to

the education of your children and grandchildren!