10 GOP endorsements that still matter in 2012’s presidential election

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1. Sarah Palin

It's amazin' how quickly her political influence has faded--but the overheated and overvalued political obsession of 2009 and 2010 still has one trick up her sleeve this election cycle: her primary endorsement. The Palin seal of approval could boost the numbers of any candidate in the field by rallying the conservative populist

base. Significantly, Palin praised Gingrich back in October when he was stuck in the middle of the pack, saying he would "clobber Barack Obama in any debate" and giving high marks for the way "he seems to be above a lot of the bickering that goes on" at the debates. A Palin endorsement would solidify Gingrich's status as a conservative alternative to Romney, while Palin also could play spoiler by choosing another candidate.

2. Jeb Bush

His father and brother won't get into the endorsement game as former presidents, but Jeb has the freedom that comes with being a former swing-state governor and policy leader in the GOP. With Bush family loyalist Karl Rove taking shots at Perry and now Gingrich, it will be interesting to see whether a Bush family member will

throw his weight behind Team Romney. This endorsement would signify the establishment's rallying around Romney, for better or worse. For what it's worth, Jeb's son backed Jon Huntsman early on.

3. Terry Branstad

The popular governor of Iowa represents the center-right of the Republican Party in his state. He's remained mum to date and has only four weeks left to make an impact on the 2012 presidential race. On paper, he'd be a logical Romney fan, but the amiable and mustachioed 2008 Rudy Giuliani supporter has criticized the former

Massachusetts governor for spending so little time in the state before November. Branstad's likely to keep his peace at this stage, but his support still could be a game changer in the Iowa caucuses.

4. Marco Rubio

Everyone's back-of-the-napkin electoral-math favorite VP nominee has resisted endorsements to date, just as he's said he would decline an invitation to join the 2012 ticket. But his endorsement could provide dramatic help in the pivotal primary state of Florida, perhaps even more than Jeb Bush's, though they would be likely to move together

if either got in the fray. This rising Senate star could rally Tea Partiers as well as Hispanics in the Sunshine State, the traditional tiebreaker for the January primaries.

5. Jim DeMint

This is the ultimate two-fer endorsement: a national Tea Party leader and South Carolina senator. More than any one else in the Palmetto State, DeMint could shift momentum if he decides to endorse. A rumor that he would back Romney was quickly swatted down by the senator's staff, and he seems sanguine about supporting

any nominee over Barack Obama. But DeMint is the real power player in S.C. politics, known for corralling the congressional delegation in his direction by any means necessary.

6. John McCain

The former GOP nominee is still widely respected, distrusted though he may be by the talk-radio crowd. His endorsement would give the imprimatur of national leadership as well as resonate with independents in the states with open primaries, most notably New Hampshire, which he won twice. He's one of the few

politicians who has earned the right to be considered a hero based on personal courage. Historically, he's been a leader of the center-right, but Romney didn't win many fans among his GOP primary competitors in the 2008 campaign.

7. Nikki Haley

The South Carolina governor has been courted by conservatives since she moved into the governor's mansion after the 2010 election. On paper, she's a rising star, the second Indian-American Republican governor after Louisiana's Jindal and the first woman to hold the post in South Carolina. In the state, however, her

reputation is a bit more complicated. After weathering a campaign sex scandal and receiving middling reviews from her onetime colleagues in the state legislature, Haley's job-approval ratings are slightly underwater, with 41 percent approving and 43 percent disapproving. Nonetheless, her support would capture headlines and attention all around the Palmetto State, possibly reverberating both right and center.

8. Rudy Giuliani

The former New York City mayor is still one of the most i- demand surrogates in the Republican field, broadly popular with the base while retaining an ability to connect with independents. And of all the candidates who considered getting in the 2012 race, Giuliani was the only one whom polls showed consistently beating

Obama head to head. Giuliani's endorsement—and, yes, I used to work for him—can still back a punch and get voters’ attention, especially in swing states. Crucially, he retains credibility with both establishment and insurgent Republicans. Both Gingrich and Romney would benefit from his endorsement, big-time. In addition, Perry was a supporter of Giuliani's in 2008, and the former mayor values loyalty. Somehow, I don't think Ron Paul is in contention for Giuliani's consideration.

9. Herman Cain

The Herminator will find that his power-broker status declines with every day he's out of the race, but his 8 or so percent diehard supporters can still be directed to another candidate and do them some good, to the extent that standing on the same stage doesn't call up images of Ginger White mentally shopping while in bed.

Endorsing fast will be the best way to keep his relevance intact beyond the memory of the 9-9-9 mantra.

10. Rick Scott

Four years ago, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist was widely courted by the GOP presidential candidates. Scott, who's now governor, has been almost invisible in the 2012 debate, despite Florida's expected status as tiebreaker after New Hampshire and South Carolina. The problem is that Scott is unpopular—awkward,

should-we-be-seen-with-him-in-public unpopular. In the latest polls, only 37 percent of Floridians approve of the Tea Party–backed governor, while 52 percent disprove. In Scott's defense, that's up from 27 percent approval just five months after taking office. Still, in a GOP primary, a Scott endorsement is likely to help slightly more than it will hurt. In the general election, the GOP nominee will be acting like Scott doesn't exist

In battle over reproductive rights, female legislators fight back -- with a bit of humor

20

hours

ago

By NBC's Adam Perez

A group of Democratic women from Georgia, frustrated by recent bills limiting women’s reproductive rights, decided it was time to turn the tables on the men.

Their proposed bill would amend the state’s current abortion law by banning men from getting vasectomies. 

“Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation of vasectomies, said Rep. Yasmin Neal, a Democrat from the Atlanta suburb of Jonesboro, in a
video statement  



on Wednesday. “The day has come where men should face the same pressure and invasion of privacy that women have faced for years.

Neal, who spearheaded the bill, tells NBC News her intention is to “shin[e] light on the double standard women face in the United States.”

The anti-vasectomy bill borrows some language directly from H.B. 954, a recently drafted anti-abortion bill in Georgia that would punish abortions performed after the 20th week of pregnancy with prison sentences between one and 10 years.

But Neal is not the only Democrat trying to use a bit of humor -- or exaggeration –- to combat legislation limiting women’s reproductive rights.

Constance Johnson, a Democratic state senator in Oklahoma, believed a proposed bill  in her state -- which would require women to undergo an ultrasound and listen and see the fetus before an abortion -- went too far.

So she proposed that zygotes should have the same rights as adults, and added: “However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman's vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.”

That means no masturbating. No wet dreaming. No blow jobs or facials or pulling out and coming on your lady’s stomach, dudes. No gay sex, unless a vagina’s around to catch the precious seed. No Boston cream pies.

“My amendment seeks to draw attention to the absurdity, duplicity, lack of balance, and ridiculous sexism inherent in the policies of this state in regard to women,” Johnson wrote in a column for The Guardian. She later willingly withdrew her amendment.


Opponents of abortion rights aren’t laughing.

Georgia State Rep. Doug McKillip (R), who sponsored the anti-abortion bill in the state, says Neal and her supporters are misunderstanding the issue.

McKillip -- who at the time of his interview with NBC News had not read Neal’s bill -- argues that his legislation is intended to protect life.

“This is a serious topic, not one that should be dealt with tongue-in-cheek,” he said.

“She’s making a mockery of the system,” added Genevieve Wilson, co-executive for Georgia Right for Life.

“She’s ignoring the fact that children are being torn limb by limb.”

Neal counters, “We are very serious about proving a point, but also a serious bill was dropped.”

She continues, “I also find it ironic how a bill about men’s rights is ‘funny, tongue and cheek or humorous’ 
but a bill about women is ‘serious’ and needs to be debated, that's not fair.”

To the Republican Presidential Candidates

President Obama talks gas prices, energy policies — and raises lots of cash

Posted on Thursday, 02.23.12

Posted on Thursday, 02.23.12

2012 CAMPAIGN

By Marc Caputo The Miami Herald

President Barack Obama mixed presidential business with campaign fundraising in Florida, where he is attending three fundraisers and defending his energy policies in a speech at the University of Miami.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/23/v-fullstory/2656311/president-obama-to-talk-about.html#storylink=cpy

 

By Marc Caputo

mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com

President Obama stopped in Miami Thursday to refuel his re-election campaign with $4 million in big-donor cash and to bash Republicans for politically “licking their chops” over the high price of fuel at the pump.
“Some politicians always see this as a political opportunity. You’re shocked, I know,” Obama said to a large crowd of University of Miami students.
“Only in politics do people greet bad news so enthusiastically. You pay more, and they’re licking their chops?” Obama asked rhetorically. “And you can bet that since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas.”
Obama’s likely reference was to third-place Republican candidate Newt Gingrich, who has promised $2.50-a-gallon-gas on a “drill-here, drill now” platform.
All the Republican candidates have criticized Obama for not encouraging enough domestic fuel production and for rejecting what’s known as the “Keystone XL Pipeline,” which would deliver oil from Canada to Texas.
Obama never mentioned Keystone, but he did say that “my administration has approved dozens of new pipelines, including from Canada.”
A Pew Research Center poll showed two-thirds of Americans support the pipeline.
But the poll also showed more than half of voters support Obama’s auto bailout, which Republicans opposed and which Obama boasted of later at a Biltmore Hotel fundraiser. Obama’s stimulus program is still slightly less popular than popular, but voters are starting to like it more.
At the Biltmore Hotel fundraiser, Obama took credit for the growth in jobs, but received his loudest applause for giving the go-ahead to kill Osama bin Laden.
Obama didn’t tout his accomplishments during the UM speech, where he got the loudest applause for holding his hands in the schools trademark “U.” During the speech, the president stayed almost exclusively on the topic of oil.
The president also boasted that “under my administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years.”
Unmentioned by Obama: nearly all of that drilling was approved under his predecessor, President Bush.
Obama said, in the old days, he would stay and watch the Miami Heat-New York Knicks basketball matchup, but he had other things to do. Specifically, he has to raise money.
Obama hit up three high-dollar fundraisers: one at the swank Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables (tickets, which started at $500, were doubled to $1,000), another at the Pinecrest home of a top Democratic fundraiser (pictures with the president cost as much as $15,000) and a third at the Orlando home of basketball star Vince Carter (dinner plates cost up to $30,000 each).
About a dozen protesters gathered outside the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, holding homemade signs, including one that read, "Obama Marxist/Muslim Dictator."
The Miami area events fetched nearly $2 million and the Orlando dinner brought in slightly more than that.
Since Obama also spoke publicly, the lion’s share of the Florida trip — which will exceed $1 million — will be paid for by taxpayers.
Pedro Delgado, a 69-year-old retired engineer who came to Miami from Cuba 50 years ago, wore a Rick Santorum button. Delgado said he worries about the country’s education system and about the debt. "They have destroyed the dollar," he said.
The sign he carried read, "The deliberate destruction of our country by Obama and his handlers must be stopped."
Obama’s visit, the second this year, comes as the economy is showing signs of improvement along with his poll numbers. Still, most Florida polls show his approval rating under 50 percent in a state that’s still plagued by high unemployment and home-foreclosure rates.
The Republican National Committee noted that, since last year, the average price for a gallon of regular gas in Miami has risen 82 percent, to about $4 per gallon.
“President Obama promised to be a leader on energy policy when he was campaigning in 2008, but gas prices have skyrocketed since he’s been in office with most Floridians paying well above the national average,” Sharon Day, a Broward Republican and RNC co-chair, said in a written statement.
“It’s clear from President Obama’s focus on campaigning in Florida today — at both fundraising and a photo-op events,” she said, “that he’s more concerned about spending taxpayer dollars on his campaign trips than he is with saving American jobs or reducing prices at the pump.”
Republicans have also blocked some of Obama’s initiatives. Others have been failures, such as Solyndra, the bankrupt California solar firm that’s part of what Republicans call a “crony capitalism” investigation.
Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy and laid off 1,100 workers in September, had received a $535 million taxpayer-backed loan guarantee from the Obama Administration. Republicans have unearthed emails showing that some in the administration were concerned with Solyndra’s finances, but the White House pushed for the loan anyway.
But Solyndra isn’t as big a concern to the average person as the cost of gasoline. Though the economy appears to be improving, high fuel prices threaten to raise the price of groceries and home energy bills.
A national Quinnipiac poll released Thursday morning shows voters believe the economy is improving, but they don’t think Obama should be elected to a second term. Voters say that the economy has begun to recover, 54-43 percent, a 51-point shift in opinion since September 1.
But Obama gets a negative 45-49 percent job approval rating, and 50-45 percent say he does not deserve to be re-elected.
The closer it gets to election time, the worse high gas prices are for Obama, said Brad Coker, pollster with Mason Dixon Polling & Research, which conducts surveys for the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times.
“Right now, it doesn’t matter what the price of gas is today or what the unemployment rate is today for the president,” Coker said. “It’s going to start to matter in the last week of September. That’s when people will really start to pay attention."
Obama’s speech had a defensive tone to it, pointing out that developing nations such as China and India are growing and consuming more fuel. More demand equals higher prices, Obama said, suggesting he wasn’t to blame
“Just think — in five years, the number of cars on the road in China more than tripled. Nearly 10 million were added in 2010 alone,” Obama said. “Ten million cars in one year — think about how much oil that requires. And those numbers will only get bigger over time.”
Obama said he will not “cede” solar-, wind- and battery-power technology to China.
Obama drew a measure of applause for crediting the City of Miami for powering its City Hall since 2008 with alternative fuel.
Unlike in 2008, when he called on Americans to get tune-ups and inflate their tires, Obama stuck to policies that Congress should enact, such as “clean energy tax credits that will lead to more jobs and less dependence on foreign oil green-energy tax credit.”
Obama, however, also subtly raised an issue that could raise fuel prices: Eliminating tax credits for the oil industry.
“Right now, four billion of your tax dollars subsidize the oil industry every year,” he said. “These are the same oil companies that have been making record profits off the money you spend at the pump. And now they deserve another four billion dollars from us? It’s outrageous. It’s inexcusable.”
Obama repeatedly said the “phony-election year promises” were easy to make. But the long-term commitment for alternative energy will eventually make the United States energy independent.
“There are no short-term silver bullets when it comes to gas prices,” he said. “And anyone who says otherwise is just not telling the truth.”
Miami Herald reporter Patricia Mazzei and McClatchy Washington Bureau reporter Erika Bolstad contributed to this report.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/23/v-fullstory/2656311/president-obama-to-talk-about.html#storylink=cpy

Jeb finds “fear” mongering by GOP candidates “a little troubling.” Paging Rick Santorum?

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has watched the 20 Republican debates. And he doesn’t like what he sees. Unlike the candidates and some in the conservative cognescenti, Bush doesn’t seem to be on a blame-the-media jihad. He thinks the candidates have problems in and of themselves.

“I used to be a conservative and I watch these debates and I’m wondering, I don’t think I’ve changed, but it’s a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people’s fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and that’s kind of where we are,” former Florida governor Jeb Bush said after a Thursday Dallas speech, according to Fox News reported. “I think it changes when we get to the general election. I hope.”

Bush didn’t give specifics, though his concern about the GOP’s tone over the immigration debate is longstanding. Bush also didn’t single out any candidates, but his comments tellingly follow the last debate where former Penn. Sen. Rick Santorum essentially dissed Bush’s brother’s singular education reform plan: No Child Left Behind.

More broadly, as the Washington Post points out, Santorum sounded anything but optimistic when he said: “We hear this all time -- so you cut spending, limit the government, everything will be fine. No, everything’s not going to be fine.”

Santorum, who did poorly in the debate, blamed his performance on what he said was a pro-Romney crowd. Earlier in the week, the pro-Romney Drudge Report dredged up a 2008 speech at Catholic Ave Maria University where Santorum said Satan was targeting the United States.

Right now, national polls indicate President Obama would beat any Republican candidate by a slim margin, but Romney matches up best against him. Still, as the primary drags on, Romney’s favorability ratings are slipping.

“I think it’s important for the candidates to recognize they have to appeal to primary voters, and not turn off independent voters that will be part of a winning coalition,” Bush told CBS after the Dallas speech.’

Posted by Marc Caputo at 10:29 AM on Friday, Feb. 24

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/02/jeb-finds-fear-mongering-by-gop-candidates-a-little-troubling-paging-rick-santorum.html#storylink=cpy

More Intrusive Demands by Republicans

Virginia Proposal Mandating Ultrasound Before Abortion Debated

Uploaded by PBSNewsHour on Feb 23, 2012

Amid rising criticism, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell changed his stance on a bill that would require women to have a transvaginal ultrasound before an abortion, noting that an abdominal ultrasound would be more appropriate. Judy Woodruff and guests discuss Virginia's proposed law and nationwide efforts to curb access to abortions.

DeGette Talks War on Women with Reverend Sharpton

Uploaded by RepDianaDeGette on Feb 24, 2012

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) joins Al Sharpton on MSNBC to talk about the GOP assault on women's health. DeGette is co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, and a long-time advocate for a woman's access to affordable health care. She and the Reverend discuss the dangerous personhood amendments being advanced in several states across the country and the all-out assault on comprehensive women's health happening at the federal level.

Virginia's Transvaginal Ultrasound Anti-Abortion Law

Uploaded by TheYoungTurks on Feb 16, 2012

Virginia has proposed legislation on the docket that would make transvaginal ultrasounds required without the woman's consent. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss the proposed law. Like this video if you are pro-choice.

Miami Republican consultant: I talked to President Obama about immigration.

Democratic consultant: You shouldn't be publicizing that conversation.

Two well known Miami political consultants got into a tiff on Spanish-language radio Friday over a conversation one of them had with President Barack Obama when he attended a fundraiser Thursday at the Biltmore Hotel.
Ana Navarro, a Republican, told WQBA-AM (1140) host Bernadette Pardo by phone that she had spoken to Obama for a few minutes Thursday about immigration reform. Navarro, who worked for John McCain in 2008, said Obama appeared relaxed and confident and joked he wanted her vote. She said she asked him why his administration has not advocated more strongly for Congress to change the country's immigration laws.
That prompted Democrat Freddy Balsera, who was on the other line, to accuse Navarro of making it seem as though she was calling out Obama on immigration after "intercepting" him and taking advantage of her relationship with Gene Prescott. Prescott, president of the company that operates the Biltmore, is Navarro's beau. The exchange turned heated, with Navarro and Balsera talking over each other until Pardo, the host, cut them off with a commercial break.

After the break, Pardo let Navarro and then Balsera speak separately about Obama's visit. Navarro said she did not "intercept" the president; the Secret Service had approved her presence (a fact she marveled at, saying in other countries, a vocal critic from the opposing party would likely not be allowed in the same room as the president). And she suggested Balsera was upset because he had not been a part of the conversation.
Balsera, for his part, said he hosted a luncheon for Hispanic donors that Obama attended before his speech at the fundraiser and praised the president's approach on energy, which Obama talked about earlier Thursday at the University of Miami. Balsera, who has advised Obama on Hispanic issues, later told The Miami Herald that Navarro should not have shared her conversation with the president on the radio.
"I think it is highly unethical and highly inappropriate for her to go out and report to the media her private conversation with the president," he said, especially given her party affiliation and relationship to Prescott, he added.
Countered Navarro: "I'm not going to react to Freddy Balsera. He means nothing to me. I would think that the White House would not be unhappy about a Republican like me saying positive things about the president on the radio."

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/02/miami-republican-consultant-i-talked-to-president-obama-about-immigration-democratic-consultant-you-.html#more#storylink=cpy

Senate Republican Agenda

Feb 8, 2012

U.S. Senate | Ohio Clock


Senate Republicans spoke to reporters about their legislative agenda. Much of the briefing was focused on the Obama administration ruling on a provision of the 2010 health care law that requires church-affiliated employers to cover contraceptives and other preventive services in their health insurance plans.

Leave our Vagina's alone....Don't touch !!!!!!

SHAME SHAME SHAME Virginia Legislature

Maddow: Republicans Probing Vaginas As Part Of Full Assault On Women's Reproductive Rights

Uploaded by incitebytes on Feb 18, 2012

Clip from recent Rachel Maddow show where Rachel highlights efforts by Republicans to probe women's vaginas as part of their full assault on women's reproductive rights and health. The Virginia legislature has passed a measure requiring a medically unnecessary, internally invasive ultrasound probe of women's vaginas as a precondition to exercising their Constitutional right to an abortion. Ultra-conservative VA Governor Bob Mcdonnel is expected to sign the bill.

Rachel Maddow GOP now targets Birth control

Uploaded by nelliediddle on Jun 9, 2011

Yep.

From Divinity33372

Uploader Comments (nelliediddle)

So Republican's say they hate big government but they don't mind them being in your bedroom and telling people how to act!! Somehow to these wing nuts healthcare is no business of the governments but birth control is!

Rachel Maddow exposes extreme Republican hypocrisy on abortion (May 19th, 2011)

Uploaded by Panzerfaust04 on May 19, 2011

The Republican party hates big government and hates red tape... except when they're talking about abortion, at which point government should be right in your doctor's office and over-legislation is totally okay. All across America, a woman's right to make decisions about her own body is under attack, and Rachel Maddow isn't letting it slip by under the radar. From the May 19th, 2011 edition of The Rachel Maddow Show.

Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State - Part 2

Uploaded by oversightandreform on Feb 16, 2012

Panel 2

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing entitled, "Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?" on February 16, 2012.

Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State - Part 1

Uploaded by oversightandreform on Feb 16, 2012

Panel 1

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing entitled, "Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?" on February 16, 2012.

2-16-12 "Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?"

Hearing Documents

Hearing Video Panel 1 | Panel 2

Chairman Issa Hearing Preview Statement Americans of all faiths have a right to practice their religion free from the fear of persecution or harassment from their government. Our nation's founders believed this and enshrined religious freedom into the First Amendment to the Constitution. While some Americans may not feel that government mandates forcing them to pay for contraception are an infringement on their religious beliefs, others consider it to be an assault against their freedom of conscience. A government policy that encroaches on the conscientious objections of religious groups concerns all Americans who value the protections of the First Amendment. Today, the committee will hear testimony from leaders of different faiths. They are concerned that government, under this Administration, is encroaching on their First Amendment rights. The Administration's actions have forced us to confront a more fundamental question about the proper role of government in our lives. This hearing is about basic question of religious freedom, and whether or not protection will be afforded to religious institutions who wish to follow their conscience in refusing to pay for products they find morally objectionable. I look forward to hearing from today's witnesses.

Witnesses Panel I The Most Reverend William E. Lori Roman Catholic Bishop of Bridgeport, CT Chairman Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty United States Conference of Catholic Bishops TnT Form The Reverend Dr. Matthew C. Harrison President The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod    C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D. Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy Union University    Rabbi Meir Soloveichik Director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought Yeshiva University Associate Rabbi Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun Craig Mitchell, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Ethics Chair of the Ethics Department Associate Director of the Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Panel II John H. Garvey President The Catholic University of America  Dr. William K. Thierfelder President Belmont Abbey College  Dr. Samuel W. "Dub" Oliver President East Texas Baptist University TnT Form Dr. Allison Dabbs Garrett Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Oklahoma Christian University Laura Champion, M.D. Medical Director Calvin College Health Services Barry W. Lynn, Esq. (invited) Executive Director Americans United for Separation of Church and State