FamilyFoundationBlog.com

A lot of conservatives these days talk a lot about our country’s problems and what to do about it. It always comes down to electing winning the battle of ideas by framing the issues and educating the electorate so we can elect the right people and/or getting the people already in to feel the heat. But talk is . . . well . . . you know what they say.

But it doesn’t have to be. Our friends at Arlington-based The Leadership Institute, the leader in training conservatives for careers and activism in campaigns, grassroots organizations, think tanks and public policy organizations (such as The Family Foundation), government, journalism, media (new and old) and all things politics and public policy, has two more Campaign Communication Workshops scheduled in Virginia this summer (yes, summer lasts through September 21). It had such a great turnout of Family Foundation supporters its last field school in August in Arlington, that it has a special offer for Family Foundation supporters who attend either of the next two: In Virginia Beach on September 11 and in Radford on September 18. 

Here’s who should attend and what they will learn at these workshops:

» How to communicate your values and ideas with the public while connecting on a personal level with individual voters. You will learn how to develop and deliver a compelling positive message and how to handle negative information as well.

» Ideal attendees for these Campaign Communications Workshops are volunteers, community activists, elected or party officials, current or future candidates, and campaign managers.

» This half-day session includes the following lectures

• Presenting a Compelling Message

• Direct Voter Contact — Door-to-Door

• Handling Negative Information

» As a bonus, the Radford Workshop will offer additional sessions on Phone Operations and Getting YOUR Vote Out for those attendees who may want a full day of training — at no additional charge.

The workshop instructors are experienced campaign professionals, and among the faculty is Morton Blackwell, one fo the founders of America’s conservative movement (he was the youngest Goldwater delegate at the 1964 Republican National Convention), as well as the founder and president of the Leadership Institute (read more about his legendary career).

Registration for the workshops is $20.00 and includes a light continental breakfast. (Early registration is only $10.00.) To register online, visit www.LeadershipInstitute.org. For further information, contact Christopher Doss at CDoss@LIMail.us or (703) 247-2000.

Now, for that Special Offer to Family Foundation members and supporters. Talk doesn’t have to be cheap and it won’t once you learn the valuable tools, tactics and skills LI’s pros will impart to you in the workshops. But the cost can be, if not cheap, let’s say, less expensive: Use the promo code “liberty”when registering online or when calling or e-mailing. The Leadership Institute will be happy to give you a discount and a very worthwhile session in campaign communications that you will be able to use effectively for a lifetime.

Tickets now are on sale for The Family Foundation’s 25th Anniversary Gala Celebration. By acting now, you will receive the best available seating before thousands of official Gala invitations are mailed, so please reserve your seats or table today by clicking here.

This special event, taking place Saturday, October 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, will look back on our legacy and ahead to future successes. We are delighted to have U.S. Representative Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the chairman of the House Republican Conference, as our keynote speaker for this special celebratory gala. (See this special Mike Pence/Gala video, here.)

Individual tickets are available for $85.00 and couples tickets for $165.00. Sponsorships also are still available. To order your tickets today, click here. You may also register for the Gala by calling John or Dan at The Family Foundation at (804) 343-0010, or e-mail to Gala@FamilyFoundation.org. Act fast, though, as space is limited and this special 25th Anniversary Gala is sure to be a hot ticket.

For out of town guests wishing to stay overnight on October 9, a discounted group rate is available at the Hilton Garden Inn at 501 East Broad Street, located directly across the street from the Convention Center. Call (877) 782-9444 toll free and mention The Family Foundation Annual Gala for more information. The cut-off date for the group rate is September 9.

There is a private sponsors reception at 5:15. Dinner starts at 6:30. The dress is business attire.

President Obama’s top economic adviser, Christina Romer, said in her final speech in that capacity yesterday that “there is widespread agreement that the act (so-called stimulus bill) is broadly on track.” Another Orwellian attempt to make true what is not by saying it is despite the instinctive knowledge by almost all not in denial that it is false. Truly galling, especially to the millions suffering from unemployment or underemployment. They are the ones from personal experience — not the ivory tower — who truly know how off track the president’s policies are.

Here’s how Americans For Prosperity President Tim Phillips expressed his anger in an e-mail today (the president in recent weeks has singled out AFP with vicious attacks): 

Today, the news media reported on the final speech of President Obama’s outgoing economic advisor. What Ms. Romer said helps explain why our economy is so bad. Defending the failed $814 billion stimulus boondoggle, she actually said, “there is widespread agreement that the act (Stimulus bill) is broadly on track.”

What planet is this lady on? Jobless claims are through the roof, unemployment is still almost 10% with 500,000 initial jobless claims, the stock market is plunging again, existing home sales fell 27% in August and new home sales fell 12% (always a key economic indicator), automobile sales fell 25% in August (we knew government run “cash for clunkers” was not genuine prosperity). I could go on.

Is the President’s top economist leaving to go back to business in the private sector? Uh, no. She’s going back to her academic perch at the University of California-Berkley. At least we just figured out the planet.

Reminds me of a famous quote that goes something like this: There are no experts in government. If there were, the private sector would’ve hired them by now. Ms. Romer and the Keystone Cops who comprise the Obama administration are, sadly, fitting that bill.

Although people realize Planned Parenthood is pro-abortion, many might not know what its motivation is and why it is so vehemently against abstinence education. For example, in 2007, despite abstinence-education funding from governors of both parties, then-Governor Tim Kaine, at Planned Parenthood’s urging, abruptly ended Virginia’s matching grant to the federal program for abstinence-centered education, thus disqualifying the commonwealth from federal funds. Why?

Simple. Although Planned Parenthood obstensibly asserts that abstinence education isn’t effective, its motivation likely lies closer to the fact that abstinence education costs it government grants because it teaches “comprehensive sex education” in many states. This form of ”education” encourages sexual activity by blurring the lines of responsible behavior and the lack of consequences of irresponsible behavior (because, you know, you can always use “protection”).

But the big motivation is that abstinence education works, and a decrease in crisis and teen pregnancies, which “comprehensive education” helps foster, means less abortion business for Planned Parenthood. Recent studies have shown that abstinence-centered education, particularly programs in Virginia, have been successful in preventing teen pregnancy and delaying sexual activity. Additionally, polling indicates that parents want their children to be taught abstinence.

So the deck is stacked against Planned Parenthood. That’s why it ferociously fights to protect and advance abortion, uses tactics subtle and loud, and why it is particularly disturbed by Governor Bob McDonnell’s decision this week to apply for federal abstinence education funding and to provide a state matching grant as well to school districts who decide to teach it.

Of course, the irony that Planned Parenthood won’t acknowledge is that the federal funds come from President Barack Obama’s budget and, most shocking, unlike former President George W. Bush’s administration, does not require a state matching grant to qualify for the federal funds. This, undoubtedly, has added to Planned Parenthood’$ frustration and vitriol this week. However, it ha$n’t added to it$ motivation. That’$ alway$ been there and will continue to be.

The reaction to Tuesday’s announcement that Governor Bob McDonnell has applied for federal funds for abstinence-centered education has been intense (see Washinton Post Virginia Politics Blog). As you would suspect, Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia have opened rhetorical fire on the governor, as have several leftist blogs and commentators. If you read the comments at the end of newspaper articles (and unless you have a thick skin I wouldn’t) you would think the decision to help our teenagers delay sexual activity until marriage is a conspiracy to bring back chastity belts.

You may be running into some of the same misinformed rhetoric in your circles, much of it based on false claims or outright deception. Of course, those who profit from risky sexual behavior, Virginia’s abortion industry, are viscerally opposed to the idea that teenagers can control themselves. One legislator who works closely with Planned Parenthood and NARAL carried this message (see Norfolk Virginian-Pilot):

The reality is with teenagers their hormones come into play, and abstinence-only doesn’t always work.

Then again, if they can be taught effective ways of postponing sexual activity it cuts into the abortion industry’s profits.

But the primary argument has been that “abstinence education doesn’t work,” “parents don’t support abstinence education,” or “it’s naive to think that teenagers can be abstinent.” None of those arguments, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, are correct. In fact, this year a study paid for by HHS, and its own recent survey, found that abstinence education is highly effective and widely supported by parents and teenagers (Washington Post).

The HHS survey released late last month (see here) found that 70 percent of parents agreed that it is “against [their] values for [their] adolescents to have sexual intercourse before marriage” and that “having sexual intercourse is something only married people should do.” Adolescent beliefs, according to the survey, were similar.

More interestingly, HHS buried the survey results and was forced to release it to the public only after a deluge of Freedom of Information Act requests (as reported by Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential). Why, one must ask, would HHS not want people to know the results of taxpayer funded research — results that show Americans want and support abstinence before marriage?

Let’s face it, the battle over sex education is indeed a battle of worldviews and a battle for the hearts, minds, and bodies of our children. The fact is that abstinence centered programs do work and they are making a difference — science is showing that. It’s up to us to get the word out.

We hope that if you haven’t already, that you please thank Governor McDonnell for taking this strong stand on abstinence education funding by clicking here to e-mail his office. Abstinence opponents are well-funded and are on the attack. We have to show the governor that the families of Virginia appreciate his action. Please contact him today.

Finally, someone explains with clarity the how the ”stimulus” is creating (or ”saving”) jobs. They are not “Loafing” around, either. It makes as much sense as anything Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says (YouTube). If Abbott and Costello could have only known . . . .

Abbott & Costello perfectly explain how the “stimulus” spending bill works. It’s not their signature ”Who’s On First?” routine, but since no one in the Obama administration knows either . . . .

Who says elections don’t have consequences. It’s taken three long years, but what a difference it makes. From a governor who eliminated funding for a time-tested way of teaching children how to grow up to one who restores it. The ink wasn’t dry on the application forms for the federal grants before Planned Parenthood lobbed a rote response into the debate. Below is our contribution:

STATEMENT BY VICTORIA COBB, PRESIDENT OF THE FAMILY FOUNDATION OF VIRGINIA, CONCERNING GOVERNOR MCDONNELL’S APPLICATION FOR ABSTINENCE EDUCATON FUNDING

We are pleased that Governor McDonnell has applied for funding that will help effective and widely supported abstinence centered programs be available to Virginia’s public schools. Despite the rhetoric from the economic loser in this decision, Planned Parenthood, recent studies have shown that abstinence education effectively helps teens postpone risky sexual behavior.

Polling has shown that parents want their children to be taught abstinence and effective abstinence programs are available. This decision by Governor McDonnell is certainly in the best interest of Virginia’s children and families.

Governor Bob McDonnell has applied for abstinence-only education grants made available by the Obama administration — oddly enough — the same type of grants rejected by his predecessor Tim Kaine, which ended years of funding abstinence education in Virginia  under governors of both parties. However, Governor McDonnell, staying consistent with his position three years ago when he attended a Family Foundation news conference to call on Mr. Kaine to restore the funds, has applied for the $900,000 funding and will submit in his budget a $400,000 state matching grant. (Even more ironic: Previous administrations have made federal abstinence education grants contingent on a matching state grant. This one does not.)

Typically, NARAL and Planned Parenthood, which each have a vested financial interest in ensuring children never learn the word “abstinence,” at first tried to lobby the governor’s office against applying for the grant and then, upon his decision, blasted him (although we hear no harsh words for President Obama). According to Anita Kumar at the Washington Post Virginia Politics Blog, Planned Parenthood’s Jessica Honke issued this statement:

Given Virginia’s economic situation, wasting $400,000 of taxpayer money for an ineffective program is not a good use of the commonwealth’s limited resources. The simple fact is that young people deserve honest information, not political ideology in their health classrooms.

No school district will be forced to adopt this curriculum, but for those that believe it is in the best interest of their communities, the funds will be available. Call it school choice of another kind. But that doesn’t stop the other side from presuming to speak for the majority when, in fact, its position is in the minority (as polls show). It continues to amaze us that pro-abortion groups, which advocate “choice” because they stand to profit by unwanted pregnancies, are against choice in sex education as well as true choice in carrying pregnancies to term (see their opposition to pregnancy resource centers).

But it’s worse than that. These groups continue to perpetuate the myth that abstinence education does not work (studies prove otherwise). Somehow, centuries-old and time tested virtue is “dishonest information” and “political,” even though it creates healthier societies (physically, mentally and financially). But it is perfectly normal and not political to indoctrinate children that doing something for which they are not ready with questionable means of “protection” somehow is a healthy lifestyle.

Here’s a reminder of the two remaining Truth Project training seminars: One is in Fredericksburg on Saturday, September 11 and one in is Newport News on Saturday, November 12. You do not have to live in the immediate areas to attend. In fact, people often travel from out of state for these engaging and intelligent workshops, and there are nearby accommodations if you need to stay overnight. As these will be the last Truth Project seminars anywhere in Virginia for quite some time, we hope you’ll consider attending to the one nearest you, or to the one on the more convenient date.

The seminars are dynamic training sessions that prepare people to lead the Truth Project’s innovative small group curriculum, which imparts a Biblical worldview into the lives of others. It has been called “Dynamic, “Inspiring” and “Transformational.” The events are open to everyone, especially pastors, small group ministers and church leaders.  

For more information, please click here.

Several reports have documented how much of a failure the “Stimulus” bill is. Not only did it borrow and spend $1 trillion in new debt only to see the unemployment rate rise to 9.5 percent (and going higher), the money was spent on projects so ludicrous they wouldn’t make it into a bad Hollywood comedy script. The McCain-Coburn “Summertime Blues” report documented many of them (see list), including $308 million for a joint clean energy venture with . . . BP, $700,000 to study why monkeys respond negatively to inequity, $62 million for a tunnel to nowhere in Pittsburgh, $3.8 million for a “streetscaping” project that  reduced customer traffic and caused a business to layoff two employees, and $193,956 to study voter perceptions of the stimulus.

That voter study didn’t reach enough voters. Our friends at Bankrupting America uncovered yet more incomprehensible spending and produced this ”Real or Fake” test, as in are certain government spending projects real or fake? You couldn’t make this up and be credible anywhere . . . except in Washington, D.C. The answers are sad, but true. At this rate, it won’t be long before we’re finacially bankrupt. We already are bankrupt in leadership.

To tell the truth: The “stimulus” bill put us deeper in debt with nothing to show for it but some humorous, but sad, stories.