By Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Bone

During the legislative session each year there are several organizations that have their meetings in Boise which affords their members a chance to meet and chat with legislators. This week The Farm Bureau had their meetings as did the Idaho Association of Counties. I like these two events because I get a chance to talk to folks from home and hear what is on their minds.

Farm Bureau, of course, has as their focus the needs of rural Idaho and arguably our district is one of the most rural of the state. One of the big issues that was brought up is the Senate bill that would elevate cruelty to animals to a felony. During those discussions it became clear that there is a difference of opinion on the bill even amongst the members. Before this comes before the House, I will be reading the legislation carefully to determine if this is a good idea or not. A couple of years ago when this came up, I was having a conversation in which the person accused all farmers and ranchers of being cruel to their animals. My response was that if farmers abuse their animals, their animals will abuse them back, will not perform well and they are soon out of business.

The counties spent most of the week in Boise for what they call their mid-winter conference. For the most part they are not too visible and we don’t get much of a chance to visit with our local officials. There were a couple of things that stood out this year more than I have seen other years.

I had scheduled a hearing in State Affairs on Wednesday for a bill that would have moved the primary election to August where it resided prior to 1980. I almost chickened out about going ahead with the hearing because I rather suspected that there was not enough support in the committee to get it passed to the floor of the House. And I knew that having all of the county clerks from around the state there, they would more than likely let their wishes be known. But I decided to go ahead knowing that a lot of clerks would have the chance to testify on the bill because they were already in town for their meetings.

When I came into the hearing room I spent some time talking and joking around with the clerks prior to the meeting telling them I hoped they wouldn’t be too rough on me. It was particularly noteworthy that several indicated during their testimony that they had previously not participated in a committee hearing of any kind. Well, at least I was right about one thing, the bill went down in flames.

Later that evening Sen. Tippets, Rep. Gibbs and I met with county elected officials from our district to discuss legislation and rumors of legislation. They wanted to know what the chances were for some matters to pass and wanted us to ease their fears of some of the rumored things they had heard about. I can wholeheartedly recommend these “over a bowl of ice cream” discussions. Come to think of it, when things get a little “hot” around this place maybe we should cool off with a bowl.

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Idaho Chooses Life

Under the guise of extending a “compromise”, Obama has deepened the moral and constitutional problems instigated by his insistence that women deserve free birth control pills, abortifacients and sterilizations.
Rather than force Christian employers to directly finance these morally objectionable drugs, Obama will now force us all to pay for them through higher insurance premiums. Now it is not just church-sponsored organizations which will be compromised, but virtually every American who will be required to finance Obama’s bizarre notion that “contraceptives” are a birth right for any female.

Under his announced “compromise”, insurance companies will now be required to offer “free” contraceptives and abortifacients to any female covered by one of their policies.

But not even Obama can repeal fundamental economic laws. There is no such thing as a “free” drug. Someone will pay. And it won’t be insurance company executives. The costs will simply be buried into the general price of coverage. A little bookkeeping voodoo – and – problem solved. Thus, the Catholic Church and other Christian employers have actually gained nothing except a veneer of respectability, should they choose to accept it.

The grand question is whether the Catholic Bishops will be driven by moral principle or political expediency as they determine a response next week. We should be in prayer for them.

But don’t expect insurance companies to raise much of a fuss over this new edict. The risks are too high. They are now virtual prisoners of the Obama Administration; government-sponsored corporations akin to Fannie Mae. Their management’s loss of soul will cost taxpayers dearly in coming years.

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By Andi Elliott

I have just now finished reading the AP news story of your proposal this morning in Boise. Did you really propose using live animals as bait in order to attract wolves? It is enough that Sheriff Olsen (yes, I know he is your friend) and Rob Dunn have embarrassed our county nationwide several times before over their indifference to the suffering of animals and now this? I specifically wrote that editorial last week praising them for prosecuting the Roberts man for starving his horses hoping (perhaps against hope) that Jefferson County was stepping up to the 21st Century… but I guess I am wrong.

I’ve been to your home/ranch and have seen your dogs…would you use one of them for “live bait”? And why would you gut the animal torture and cock fighting aspects of the legislation? Are you totally inhumane? Both of our religions teach of our role in caring for God’s creatures. I am appalled that you would condone this much less spearhead this effort. I’m sure you’ve read that the character of a nation is judged by their treatment of animals. Do the honorable thing and resign…we need representatives in Boise that don’t use their position to promote their special interests. We need representatives that will protect those who can’t speak for themselves.

Andi Elliott
President of For the Love of Pets Foundation
Hamer

” … Silence in the face of evil is evil itself. God will not
hold us guiltless, not to speak is to speak, not to act is to act.”
Dietrich Boenhoffer, a German pastor who stood against the Nazis.

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Idaho Chooses Life

Boise’s Channel 7 ran a story on Planned Parenthood’s outrage over being dropped by the Komen Foundation. The impression they convey is that all of the Treasure Valley is up in arms because the local abortion clinic will no longer receive money raised under the auspices of “fighting breast cancer”.

Perhaps local donors will no longer be interested in finding a cure.

It has long been a curiosity that Komen got involved with the Abortion Industry in the first place. Setting aside the growing body of research which shows a linkage between abortion and increased risk of breast cancer – the simple truth is that Planned Parenthood does not do mammograms. The money they’ve been getting from Komen is in the form of “pass-through grants”, whatever that is. (There is an informative article on this point now up on LifeNews.Com). The local news “reporter” failed to ask anything about Planned Parenthood’s ability to actually screen for breast cancer. They simply gave Planned Parenthood staff the chance to publicly chastise and threaten Komen.

Channel 7 also failed to contact this organization for a fuller explanation of the upside for Komen. While there may be abortion zealots who are offended about not simultaneously helping kill babies while supporting cancer research – many in the pro-Life movement are energized. In fact, Komen is reporting that its donations have doubled since the announcement. That was, apparently, too much information to share with viewers in Idaho.

In truth, Channel 7 – the “Idaho News Leader” – rarely covers the pro-Life movement, despite the views and values of an overwhelming majority of its audience. How sad.

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Idaho Chooses Life

The pro-Life community is buzzing with the tremendous news that Planned Parenthood has lost the legitimizing cover of the breast cancer lobby. The Komen Foundation’s decision to end its partnership with the Abortion Industry is a huge blessing – on many levels.

There is the money which Komen has transferred from life-loving citizens to those promoting the death of women and babies. Seeing Planned Parenthood lose several millions in charitable support is certainly encouraging.

And we are all excited by the fact that pro-Lifers will no longer have to argue or wince or boycott fundraising efforts designed to end the scourge of breast cancer. In fact, we encourage our readers to at least send the Komen Foundation an email to express our gratitude; a donation in the name of innocent children would be better. Komen deserves sincere praise for protecting the integrity of the effort to treat and cure breast cancer.

But in the long term, the best aspect of this development is that Planned Parenthood can no longer hide its evil behind the skirt of “fighting breast cancer” – as if it were principally concerned about the health or lives of women. Whenever their killing operations have been exposed, they seek to change the subject by pointing to their work with Komen.

That ruse just got a lot harder.

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Idaho Chooses Life

The Board of Idaho Chooses Life has voted to oppose the creation of a state insurance exchange because of the myriad dangers it poses to Idahoans. Implementing ObamaCare, even as we challenge it before the U.S. Supreme Court, just doesn’t make sense. The pending lawsuit provides with a great exit ramp.

But the nation’s best hope is a rejection of Barack Obama at the polls this fall.

We have distributed a “Policy Statement” on the idea of a state exchange to key members of the Legislature and are now meeting to reinforce our message. Rather than voluntarily submit to the edicts of Obama and Secretary Sebelius, Idaho must offer national leadership by choosing a private-sector path to better, cheaper health care.

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Idaho Chooses Life

President Obama issued a public statement this past Sunday honoring the Supreme Court for its heinous act 39 years ago this week:

“We must remember that [Roe v. Wade] not only protects a woman’s health and reproductive freedom, but also affirms a broader principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters.”

That is special. As the present leader of a movement to strip Americans of privacy and their right to pursue happiness and retain the fruits of their labor – the one area Obama would acknowledge “privacy” is in the matter of destroying an innocent life. In his view, the destruction of a defenseless human being should remain a “personal” matter between a mother and her abortionist.

How truly sad it is that the “leader” of the free world has nothing more to offer than legitimizing moral chaos in the name of “freedom”.

We ask that you join us in praying to the Lord Almighty that He would raise up a righteous man to help restore America’s moral grounding by tearing down the high altars of libertinism.

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Idaho Chooses Life

Americans United for Life has released its pro-Life rankings of the states for 2012. They rank Idaho as the 19th “safest” place for preborn children in the country – at least in terms of the legal protections afforded our preborn brothers and sisters. That is an improvement of four spots from the year before, reflecting our strong 2011 legislative session. In 2009, AUL ranked us at 26 among the states.
Leading the list for the past several years has been Louisiana, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

A deeper look at the rankings shows that, generally speaking, the states governed by the ultra-liberal 9th
Circuit are the deadliest. California and Washington have been fighting over dead-last for several years. The average ranking for states in the 9th Circuit – without Idaho and Arizona – is an appalling 45th. Part of that phenomenon reflects the Abortion Lobby’s death grip on the political culture in states like Montana, Washington, Oregon and California. But one cannot discount the deleterious impact of 9th Circuit judges on the pro-Life movements operating within their political orbit.

The rankings from AUL are by no means the last word on the subject, as the organization does come at the question with certain biases. However, it does give us a feel for state of the nation and the great disparity between the states.

It also reminds us of the work we have left to do.

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Idaho Chooses Life

Pro-Lifers will gather once again on Saturday, January 21st to mark the 39th year of our national suffering under the Supreme Court edict legalizing abortion.

In Boise, folks will meet at the Julia Davis band shell at 1 pm. A rally on the steps of the Idaho Statehouse to defend preborn children will follow the march down Capitol Blvd.

Our best estimate is that over 54 million children have lost their lives under the Roe regime. May the Maker of Heaven and Earth reach down and save us from our great national sin.

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By Andi Elliott

What a heartwarming story…Dogged Determination Rescues Pooch! Many thanks to the Clark County Sheriff’s Department for responding to this dog’s misfortune and especially to former neighbor, Chief Deputy Boyd Eddins, and to the SAR folks. Thankfully, Chester had the good fortune to fall into a mine shaft located in Clark County and not in Jefferson where he lives.

I can recall many instances of animals needing help in Jefferson County that were ignored. There was the missing prize Boxer that was left tied to a tree for three days in the cold because the Sheriff would not respond. (I heard that the owners were not happy when they finally found their dog.) Then there was the little Chihuahua puppy that was thrown against the wall resulting in a broken shoulder. Even with veterinarian documentation, the sheriff’s department ignored the cruelty this little one suffered. Then there was the badly starved horse over east of Roberts this past spring.

Just think of the terrific headlines that would have been possible had Sheriff Olsen responded with help for the mother dog with two broken legs left without vet care… “Sympathetic Sheriff Cares for Canine” or “JCSD Cares for Crippled Canine? How about “Owner Charged with Animal Cruelty”?

It’s a wise sheriff who knows the value of positive publicity. Before moving to Jefferson County, I was nominated as the State Public Affairs Officer for the Virginia Wing Civil Air Patrol and I’ll gladly volunteer to help Sheriff Olsen create a positive public image. Good job, CCSD!

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