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Fantasy Sports Gambling Will Become Legal if Illinois Lawmakers Have Their Way

Attorneys General in 11 states, including Illinois, have said that Daily Fantasy Sports is illegal gambling.  With HB 4323, it will become legal.

HB 4323 would be a massive expansion of gambling into every home, dorm room and office. Under HB 4323, fantasy sports gambling would be easy from a smart phone, computer or any electronic device from home, an office, or dorm room 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

According to a MarketWatch.com article, underage gambling is of great concern, as sports gambling apps target users as young as 13. Then consider that research shows that the earlier people begin to gamble, the more likely they are to become addicted. This may be a corrupting combination for a good many young people. And while HB 4323 prohibits Fantasy Sports companies from advertising on school, college, or university campuses, children and college students can easily obtain access to the ads from their smart phones, computers, tablets or television sets.

Illinois State Representative Ron Sandack recently wrote in an op-ed in opposition to HB 4323, “Contrary to their propaganda, the fantasy sports industry does not have a record of trustworthiness and does not have the best interests of Illinois families at heart.”

The fact that the gambling industry is actively opposing this legislation is a clear indication that they see the “fantasy sports” industry as competition and a threat to existing gambling outlets.

Lawmakers need to hear from you!

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send your state representative an email or fax urging him/her to vote NO on HB 4323 and to stop expanding gambling which only increases divorce, suicide, bankruptcy, poverty, crime, embezzlement, and exploitation of the poor.

You can also call via the Capitol switchboard, by calling (217) 782-2000. If you don’t know who your state representative is, CLICK HERE. He/she will be the last one listed under ‘Your State Officials.’ Click on their name for their contact information.

“[Gambling] has more of a history of
corruption than any other industry.”

~Former Illinois U.S. Senator Paul Simon




Illinois House Resolution Calls for Planned Parenthood Investigation

As a result of three videos from the Center for Medical Progress that have exposed the dark, sickening underbelly of Planned Parenthood, 31 Republicans and 1 Democrat have filed a resolution (HR 671) urging “the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois Executive Inspector General, the Illinois Attorney General, and the Illinois Depart of Revenue to investigate Planned Parenthood’s procedures for abortions, obtaining informed consent, and sale of donation of human fetal tissues across the state.”

Moreover, the resolution urges these same government bodies to “investigate which organizations across the state are involved in purchasing or accepting human tissue from Planned Parenthood.”

The chief sponsor of the bill is one of Illinois’ finest and most courageous lawmakers, Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), who explained to IFI her reasons for pursuing this resolution:

Recent videos reveal the callous way Planned Parenthood treats human life and the women about whom it purports to care. I ask my colleagues in the General Assembly  who are concerned about the rule of law, women’s health, or human decency, to support state investigations into Planned Parenthood in Illinois. Planned Parenthood facilities in Illinois are intentionally unlicensed through a legal loophole, have not been inspected in 15 years, and have put women at risk. In one of the videos from the Center for Medical Progress, Cook County’s Stroger Hospital was suggested as a place to obtain baby parts. Taxpayers need verifiable assurances through the investigative authorities of the state to ensure no federal or state laws are being subverted and especially to ensure that women are not at being put at risk from abortionists who use more invasive surgical procedures in order to increase profits. 

So far, Representative Ives has been joined by the following co-sponsors:

Patricia R. Bellock (R-Westmont), Barbara Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake), Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield), Thomas Morrison (R-Palatine), Margo McDermed (R-Mokena), Terri Bryant (R-Mount Vernon), Keith Wheeler (R-North Aurora), Robert Pritchard (R-Sycamore), David Reis (R-Olney), John Cavaletto (R-Salem), Brian Stewart (R-Freeport), Tom Demmer (R-Rochelle), Reginald Phillips (R-Charleston), Randy Frese (R-Quincy), Donald Moffitt (R-Galesburg), Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove), Dwight Kay (R-Glen Carbon), Charles Meier (R-Highland), Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford), David Harris (R-Arlington Heights), David McSweeney (R-Cary), Steven Andersson (R-Geneva), Tim Butler (R-Springfield), Dan Brady (R-Normal), Norine Hammond (R-Macomb), John Cabello (R-Loves Park), Ed Sullivan (R-Mundelein), Adam Brown (R-Champaign), C.D. Davidsmeyer (R-Jacksonville), Jerry Costello II (D-Red Bud)*, Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) and Sheri Jesiel (R-Gurnee).

Please take a moment to thank these men and women for their effort to ascertain the truth about the activities of Planned Parenthood, an organization that has long demonstrated its abhorrent lack of ethics through its eager willingness to crush and dismember babies in the womb.

And if you do not see your representative on this list, you know what to do.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to urge your state representative to sponsor and pass this resolution.

**An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified State Representative Jerry Costello as a Republican. IFI regrets the error.**


Join us at our annual banquet and our two special guests: Prof. Anthony Esolen and Pastor Doug Wilson!   They will offer their witness and wisdom, helping us all become better equipped to shape our culture in God-honoring ways.  Your attendance and support is essential to our success!

Illinois Family Institute
Faith, Family and Freedom Banquet

Friday, September 18 , 2015
The Stongate – Hoffman Estates, IL

Secure your tickets now – click here or call (708) 781-9328.




Ultrasound Opportunity Act in Springfield

IFI is working with other Illinois pro-life groups in advocating for an important pro-life bill sponsored by State Representative Barbara Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake).  If passed, HB 2701 would require abortion providers to simply offer an ultrasound picture to women considering abortion.  The choice of whether or not to view the ultrasound picture is still hers.  Research has proven that between 80 and 90 percent of “abortion minded” women who see images of their unborn children choose life.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send an email or a fax to your state representative to ask him/her to support HB 2701.  Informed consent for women in a crisis pregnancy is vital.  HB 2701 is a reasonable reform to offer Illinois women true choice.

This legislation already has fourteen co-sponsors:  Representatives Jerry Costello (D- Red Bud), Terri Bryant (R-Mt. Vernon), Sue Scherer (D-Decatur), Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove), Brandon Phelps (D-Harrisburg), Peter Breen (R-Lombard), Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford), Patricia Bellock (R-Westmont), David McSweeny (R-Cary), Daniel Beiser (D-Alton), David Reis (R-Olney), Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville), and Michael Unes (R-Pekin).

Background

The backers of commercialized abortion like to say their guiding principle is “choice,” but women considering abortion are truly not in a position to make an informed choice without having sufficient, objective information.  Such complete and accurate information on the reality and status of her pregnancy and of the unborn child she is carrying is essential to her psychological and physical well-being and to her free exercise of autonomy.

We are living in the 21st century, with medical technology which offers pregnant mothers the opportunity for such information via ultrasonography.  Yet few if any abortion doctors offer ultrasound imaging to their patients. That is the reason HB 2701 is a needed and compassionate approach to informed consent.

Of course, the bill also offers a measure of protection for the unborn child.

An exception is provided where a medical emergency would necessitate skipping this stage in the informed consent process.

We commend the bi-partisan group of state representatives for their sponsorship of this common sense piece of legislation.

Please contact your state representative today to encourage him/her to support HB 2701.


You make our work for pro-family values possible – Donate today!  To make a credit card donation over the phone, call the IFI office at (708) 781-9328.  You can also send a gift to:

Illinois Family Institute
P.O. Box 88848
Carol Stream, IL  60188




Marriage: The Real Fight Has Just Begun

Written by Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr.

Marriage is very important to me. Personally, it is a covenant that I made with my wife of over 35 years. It is a sacred trust between the two of us but it is more than that. Marriage plays a significant part in the health of our society and the future of our children. This is why I have fought so hard to preserve the traditional definition of marriage.

In November, Illinois became the sixteenth state (including the District of Columbia) to change its definition of marriage to include homosexual relationships. You probably didn’t hear too much about the fight in Illinois, which dragged on for several months longer than homosexual “marriage” activists had intended. Why did it take so long for an overwhelmingly Democratic state legislature to approve what homosexual activists promise us is an inevitable part of our future?

The answer is that, for quite a while, the efforts of key black clergy members preserved the traditional definition of marriage in Illinois. Their courageous stand—which included placing relentless pressure on black Democratic legislators—had the opposition gnashing its teeth in frustration. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on their activity in May, noting, “stubborn resistance within the House Black Caucus, a 20-member bloc of African-American lawmakers who have faced a withering lobbying blitz against the plan [to redefine marriage] from black ministers, has helped keep Harris’ legislation [to redefine marriage] in check, with several House members still undecided.”

In the end, however, the well-funded and aggressive campaign to redefine marriage succeeded. It is worth noting that the margin in the House was razor thin. The measure would not have passed without the three Republicans who supported it: Representatives Tom Cross, Ed Sullivan, and Ron Sandack.

As the Associated Press explained, after the bill failed in May, “Proponents then launched another aggressive campaign with help from labor, the former head of the Illinois Republican Party and the ACLU… [Illinois Governor] Quinn and House Speaker Michael Madigan also persuade[d] lawmakers in the final days.” Shortly after Illinois’ decision, New Mexico’s State Supreme Court ruled homosexual “marriage” a constitutional right.

Homosexual activists have been hailing these victories as an unstoppable tide of change sweeping the nation. They rarely mention the fact that 31 states have already passed amendments to their state constitutions clarifying that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Even with the Supreme Court striking down key parts of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in June, the tide may in fact be turning.

From now on, advocates for homosexual “marriage” face a very different landscape. Only one of the remaining states (which have not redefined marriage) has a Democrat-controlled state legislature. That state is West Virginia, where recent polls suggest that less than 20 percent of the population supports redefining marriage to include homosexual couples.

Thus far, homosexual activists have relied on bullying and on two major deceptions. The first is that all they want out of the redefinition of marriage is rights for loving, committed couples. The second is that homosexual marriage is so incredibly popular that its universal acceptance is inevitable. To be on the “right side of history,” we are told we must get on board now.

The first lie is being exposed before our eyes. Illinois had already legalized civil unions. But as a brief “Civil Unions are not Enough: Six Key Reasons Why” from Lambda Legal explains, “Regardless of whether civil unions and marriage offer the same benefits and obligations on paper, when the government relegates same-sex couples to civil unions rather than marriage…those couples lose the respect and dignity that they deserve for their commitment…” What homosexual activists want, and have always wanted, is mandatory public approval of their lifestyle.

The widespread support for traditional marriage in the black community has been very difficult for radical homosexual activists to understand. After all, if we are to believe their narrative, blacks should be nothing but grateful for all our gains in civil liberties since slavery. They believe that our own experience with oppression should impel us to go along with whatever homosexual activists tell us to believe.

But those who feel this way completely misunderstand what the Civil Rights Movement was all about. It was not about radically restructuring society. We appealed to the rights given to us by our Creator, who created not only mankind, but placed us in families. The family was the one institution that held the black community together through slavery and segregation. And it is the black community that has suffered most acutely as marriage has been devalued and the family has begun to fall apart.

Homosexual activists would have us believe that the fight is nearly over and that their victory is inevitable. Yet barring action from United States Supreme Court, it seems most likely that the real fight is only beginning. The battle will be waged state by state, and it will test the patience and perseverance of all. Several of the black Democrats in Illinois who voted to redefine marriage are facing primary challengers, as are all three Republicans. Will they face consequences for their decisions? Only time will tell.


This article was originally posted at the Townhall.com blog.




Marriage Redefinition Passes in the House

How did they vote?

Sixty-one state representatives in the Illinois House cave in to pressure from Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and the LGBTQ lobby.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Illinois House of Representatives recklessly voted 61-54 in favor of genderless marriage (SB 10) with 2 representatives voting present and 1 not voting.
 
The debate raged for over two hours with SB 10 with supporters of the bill filling the time with a constant stream of emotion, personal testimony, and accusations of discrimination. Those who spoke out in favor of natural marriage included State Representatives Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), David Reis (R-Olney), Rep. Dwight Kay (R-Edwardsville), Tom Morrison (R-Palatine), Mary Flowers (D-Chicago), and David Harris (R-Mount Prospect).
 
Former House minority leader Rep. Tom Cross joined two other Republicans, Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) and Ed Sullivan (R-Mundelein)  in breaking with the party platform and supporting this radical liberal bill.
 
Responding to the many references to the Civil Rights movement, Rep. Flowers stated, “When I was discriminated against, it is not because of who I love, but because of the color of my skin…Homosexuality has nothing to do with race.” Flowers continued, “Even if the legal definition of marriage was changed, those two people will never be married in God’s eyes.”
 
Rep. Kay declared, “I’ve heard nothing today about the Scriptures. The only thing I’ve heard is about human rights. So I guess we’ve backed away from our heritage in this nation which we seem to do quite regularly for the expediency of what we wish to do at the moment. And ladies and gentlemen, that’s pride. That’s a belief that you’re better than the very foundation…which we find in the Scriptures.”
 
The vote came less than two weeks after an estimated 4,000 people descended upon Springfield supporting the definition of marriage as being between one man and woman on October 23rd.

SB 10 will go to the desk of Governor Pat Quinn who has publicly expressed his eagerness to sign the bill.
 
How Did Your Representative Vote?

CLICK HERE for the roll call.

 

To see the full video or separate segments of the debate, CLICK HERE.