Free Republic

**SNIP** The Hershbergers say assigning a guardian to have the final say robbed them of their constitutional rights. They're appealing under the Ohio Health Care Freedom Amendment that voters approved in 2011. The amendment prohibits any law from forcing Ohioans to participate in "a health care system." **SNIP** "Allowing an uninterested third-party, one that has never even met the family or the child, to assert an interest in an exceedingly important parental decision will completely undermine the parent-child relationship," Thompson said in a filing with the Ohio Supreme Court.

COLUMBUS -- Opponents of the federal health-care law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court cannot use the Ohio Constitution to stand in the way of its implementation here, the state's top lawyer said on Thursday. Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine, who joined the multistate challenge to the law after taking office last year, said a state constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved by voters last year cannot trump federal law. "You certainly cannot override what the United States Supreme Court did today," he said. Maurice Thompson, director of the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, wrote the state constitutional amendment that generally prohibits...

In our county that’s exactly the question we are pondering – and now researching – after the Knox County 912 Patriots recently hosted an information session on an upcoming November Knox County health levy. The featured speakers at the information session were the Knox County Health Department (KCHD) Commissioner and Public Information Officer (PIO). In 2011, according to a handout from the KCHD, the department spent nearly $3 million ($2,983,295 to be exact) and took in just over $2.9 million ($2,908,269) for a shortfall of approximately $75 thousand. Sounds like they need to make a some cuts, right? Oh no,...