New Ohio bill that would prohibit ‘discomfort’ should make you VERY uncomfortable

Get very worked up

Ohio Sen. Jerry C. Cirino attempted to refute the idea that Senate Bill 83 is anything to get worked up about in his guest column “Ignore ‘hysteria.’ Freedoms attack on Ohio campuses. My bill will protect them” published on Dispatch.com April 4 and in today’s edition.

“The purpose of Senate Bill 83 is quite simple: It ensures free expression on campus and in the classroom at Ohio’s public universities and colleges,” he wrote.

Except it doesn’t.

Buried within its voluminous pages of restrictions is one that states “no state institution shall train any administrator, teacher, staff member, or employee to adopt or believe in…” a list of restricted concepts, some of which could be interpreted as bans on concepts that are commonly part of diversity training.

For example, there is a prohibition against material that would make an individual “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex.”

How could any training possibly discuss how some Americans have experienced — and still experience — discrimination due to their race or sex without anyone feeling any “discomfort?”

No one ought to feel “comfortable” with the discrimination and racial disparities in our country, whether historical or current, regardless of whether or not they are the victim of them. It is a transgression against basic moral values when injustice does NOT result in discomfort.

This is merely one example among many of why this proposed legislation truly is something to get worked up about.

Don’t be fooled.

Opinion: Destructive bill would dismantle cherished Ohio universities, economy

It is more cleverly worded than similar past attempts, but the intent of Senate Bill 83 remains the same: to allow certain types of people to avoid feeling any discomfort with — or any responsibility for fixing — the racial discrimination and disparities in our society.

“Ensuring free expression” is incompatible with using legislative power to silence perspectives one disagrees with.

Story continues

Jared Cutler, Beavercreek

Drinking standards

April is Alcohol Awareness Month and a good opportunity for adults to be thinking about their drinking.  Enjoying a beer, glass of wine or cocktail can be part of a balanced lifestyle for most adults, but moderation is essential.

Moderate drinking is defined as consuming up to one standard drink per day for women, and up to two drinks per day for men. A critical piece of information for practicing moderation is knowing what constitutes a standard drink of alcohol.

According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a standard drink is 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits at 40% alcohol-by-volume (ABV), 5 ounces of wine at 12% ABV, 12 ounces of regular beer at 5% ABV, or 12 ounces of a ready-to-drink canned cocktail at 5% ABV. Each of these drinks has the same amount of alcohol in them and research has shown that the effects on the body are the same regardless of the beverage type.

To learn more, check out StandardDrinks.org, which includes a helpful, easy-to-use calculator that allows consumers to see how their beverage measures up to one standard drink. This April, and throughout the year, remember: when it comes to drinking alcohol, there is no beverage of moderation, only the practice of moderation.

Kathleen Zelman, a nutrition expert and former director of nutrition at WebMD. 

They are desperate to control your body

Section 4731.41 of the Ohio Revised Code states, “No person shall practice medicine and surgery, or any of its branches, without the appropriate license or certificate from the state board in the practice.”

The Ohio Revised Code prescribes strict requirements for those wanting to practice medicine in our state to protect me, you, and every other Ohioan when seeking healthcare. However, the majority in Ohio’s General Assembly think they are above the law.

Our view: Desperate Ohio lawmakers ready to slap voters in the face to stop abortion vote

These lawmakers are slipping into your exam room, telling you and your healthcare team what is best for you regarding family planning.

If you can imagine, it gets worse. As noted by the Columbus Dispatch Editorial Board, those same politicians are so desperate to control your healthcare decisions that they taking undemocratic steps to limit our ability to change our state constitution.

Changes that would prohibit those very same lawmakers from entering your exam room, telling you what healthcare services you can or cannot have.

I urge you to call your state representative and state senator and tell them you refuse to let them inhibit our right to amend our constitution and our right to make our own healthcare decisions.

Dr. Matt Kilboy, The Ohio State University

Lawmakers have no right in your exam room

Will your legislator join your healthcare insurer in the exam room? As a registered nurse, I want the best health outcomes for all my patients, based on decisions they make with their providers.

As Ohio’s infant/maternal mortality rates soar, access to all reproductive healthcare services is threatened.

Thomas Suddes: Power hungry LaRose, Huffman think you are stupid or have amnesia

Let voters decide this November to amend the Ohio Constitution when it comes to “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety.

Maureen Clark, Granville

Christian nationalism is gaining steam

Jesus, whose resurrection Christians celebrate at Easter, called for a radical sort of love and compassion in his Sermon on the Mount.

Sadly, some self-professed Christians haven’t grasped his message.

Why do words ascribed to Jesus not reference abortion?

Perhaps because, as a Jew, he believed life begins with the first breath? Why didn’t Jesus mention homosexuality? Did Jesus exalt Jews above other cultural/religious groups?

Ahrens: Christian nationalism isn’t Christianity. It’s spewing hate in ‘the name of Jesus’

Re-read the account of the Good Samaritan. Jews generally reviled Samaritans, but Jesus called this particular Samaritan a “good neighbor” because he helped an injured man, while religious leaders ignored him. Human beings naturally want to belong – to a family, to a community, to a nation, to a religious group.

We so closely identify with our particular groups that attacks against them can feel like attacks against our “selves.”

We saw this during World War II, when some people placed “Christian nationalism” above Jesus’s message, ignoring or participating in the murder of six million Jews. And now, “Christian nationalism” is gaining steam in our own country.

Regardless of the groups we claim as our own, we need to open our eyes to a more radical and inclusive form of love during this season of rebirth.

Deborah Cooper, Worthington

Medicare for All

In health care, business is not the solution, business is the problem.

Two notable items from the April 2 Dispatch illuminate this sad truth.

The front page story ” Insulin Price Drop a real game changer” elucidates how Eli Lilly and other pharmaceutical manufacturers of  insulin have extorted extreme profits from diabetics for decades. Later a full-page notice from Nationwide Children’s Hospital warns that Anthem Medicaid will no longer pay for children seen at our pre-eminent Children’s hospital.

Guess those kids are abandoned to the amoral invisible hand of the market.

Chief medical officer: Insurer’s actions may force critically ill kids to seek care out of area|

Solution is Ohio’s improved and expanded, compassionate and cost-effective Medicare for All bill, soon to be introduced before the Ohio legislature.

Dr. Brad Cotton, Circleville

Do your homework

Ohio Legislators need to do their homework.

Our elected officials are considering multiple bills (house bills 33 and 11 and Senate Bill 11) that will drain more money from Public Education, where ninety percent of our children attend, to fund vouchers for private/charter schools.

The estimated annual cost to expand vouchers is $536 million.

What would be helpful is finding a solution to fully fund the “Fair School Funding Plan.”

The Ohio Supreme Court declared Ohio’s public school funding plan unconstitutional over 25 years ago yet there are many public schools that are lucky to have a warm, dry and mold-free classroom. This doesn’t make sense.

They say it’s about providing “parent choice.”

What the records have actually shown is that these schools are not always, but often subpar and can refuse students that require additional services or pose difficult behaviors.

Many of these schools are getting away with using “teachers” that don’t have teaching degrees certified by the State of Ohio. Ohio is also having trouble keeping up with auditing the non-public schools they have now.

Outside groups have been hired to audit them and have had inaccurate reporting results. Let’s do something about ECOT which closed in 2018, but still owes Ohio millions of dollars, according to the state auditor’s office.

In February, an Ohio home-schooling group was caught delivering anti-Semitic lessons, and showing neo-Nazi videos. Should we really pour more money into predatory educators. Do your homework.

Deanna Clinger, Groveport

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bill that would prohibit discomfort should make you VERY uncomfortable.