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Conservative Louie Gohmert to challenge moderate John Boehner for House Speaker

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The Daily Signal reports:

In announcing his bid today for speaker of the House of Representative, Rep. Louie Gohmert promised to be the engine of change that conservatives have been calling for in their rebellion against the establishment wing of the Republican Party.

“It is time for a change; it really is time for a change,” Gohmert said on “Fox & Friends” while announcing his campaign to unseat incumbent Speaker John Boehner.

Gohmert, R-Texas, criticized Boehner, R-Ohio, for a “number of years of broken promises,” and specifically challenged the speaker’s decision to pass the “CRomnibus” spending bill in December without blocking President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

If elected speaker, Gohmert said he will “fight amnesty tooth and nail.”

He said his agenda would also include defunding Obamacare and having “positive solutions that will return power back to the people.”

House members are set to vote for their next speaker on Tuesday.

Gohmert is definitely one of the conservative members of the House of Representatives. I hear him all the time on the Family Research Council podcasts. He is not just a fiscal conservative, he is a social conservative, as well. I would take him as Speaker over Boehner in a heartbeat. Let’s hope and pray that Gohmert is the new Speaker.

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Indiana legislators working on mandatory civics exam for high schoolers

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Indiana is one of my favorite states, and here is some great news about Indiana.

Excerpt:

Hoosier lawmakers have joined a growing number of states that want your kid to take another exam. To graduate high school, students would have to pass an exam similar to the naturalization test required for immigrants to become U.S. citizens.

Still a work in progress, the bill will come up for debate during the upcoming legislative session and is being championed by Indiana Senate Education Chairman Dennis Kruse, a Republican of Auburn.

Kruse told The Daily Signal that he’s eager to see Indiana students rise to the same standard as individuals applying for American citizenship.

“I don’t know why our own young people—who are born citizens here, who go through our regular school system—shouldn’t know the same information,” Kruse said.

This is interesting:

The naturalization exam administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services requires a candidate to verbally answer 6 of 10 questions concerning American history and government. On average, 91 percent of candidates passon their first try.

The test requires citizenship candidates to answer basic questions like “What is the supreme law of the land?” and “What is the name of the president of the United States now?”

Hoosier high-school students would take a similar exam but with a few important differences. Required to answer 60 percent correctly, students would take a written, multiple choice, 100-question test.

So many people are focused on elections that they don’t know how to do anything about the culture. Well, I think this policy is going to have a good effect on the culture. If people can understand more about why the United States is organized the way it is, then maybe they will not be in such a hurry to undo it so we can be more like France (or even Greece, judging from the debt). Even making a requirement to teach basic economics and business administration would be good insulation for children against the fact-free, math-free world of leftism.

By the way, according to a report (PDF) by the Center for Education Reform web site, Indiana is number one for school choice in the USA:

The Hoosier State leads the country, with a universal voucher program open to all students across the state and no limit on the number of vouchers that can be awarded. The state has taken a varied approach to income-eligibility requirements, with the lowest-in-the-nation threshold for typical students, only increasing that threshold for special needs and failing-school students. The state is the second-worst in the country on infringing on private school autonomy, mandating such things as course content and insisting on allowing government observation of classes. With just a bit of reform in these two areas, Indiana would come close to reaching the maximum score possible.

Ohio and Wisconsin are right behind Indiana. Three of my favorite states.

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Washington D.C. city council repeals protections for religious schools

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From the Washington Times.

Excerpt:

The D.C. Council has stripped religious schools of legal protection against certain discrimination lawsuits, voting unanimously to repeal an exemption that had been in place for decades.

Under city rules, it is an “unlawful discriminatory practice” for a school to limit any use of facilities, services, or programs to someone based on “sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.”

However, an amendment inserted by Congress in a federal appropriations bill 25 years ago offered an exemption for religiously affiliated schools or schools “closely associated with the tenets of a religious organization,” allowing them to restrict funds, facilities and endorsements based on their religious convictions regarding homosexuality.

This provision, dubbed the “Armstrong Amendment,” came after Georgetown University refused to recognize a pro-gay student group, explained Michael Scott of the D.C. Catholic Conference.

Sen. William Armstrong authored the exemption, called the Nation’s Capital Religious Liberty and Academic Freedom Act, which allowed religiously affiliated schools in D.C. to withhold funds, facilities and approval from people and groups “that are organized for, or engaged in, promoting, encouraging, or condoning any homosexual act, lifestyle, orientation, or belief.”

But that exemption is now gone, thanks to a Dec. 2 vote by the council to overturn that provision. The council voted “unanimously without comment or changes” to pass the Human Rights Amendment of 2014, which included the repeal of the code, Mr. Scott explained.

Washington, D.C. is one of the most Democrat-dominated cities in the United States. So if you are wondering who pushes through an anti-Christian agenda like this one, it’s no mystery.