For the last 10 days, the feminist movement has been up in arms over the supposed reference to the sacred cow that is abortion in the Focus On The Family ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother Pam. Now that the ad has aired (with no references to abortion) the feminist movement is in high dudgeon over the ad because of it's supposed undercurrent of "violence against women".
NOW president Terry O'Neill said it glorified violence against women. "I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it," she said. "That's what comes across to me even more strongly than the anti-abortion message. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, and I don't find it charming. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself."
Honestly Terry, YOU should be ashamed of yourself. If you weren't so blatantly political in your criticisms, you would have (and SHOULD HAVE) talked about THIS ad in your critique.
Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) died earlier today after complications from gallbladder surgery.
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), 77, a Vietnam veteran who staunchly supported military spending and became a master of pork-barrel politics, died today at Virginia Hospital Center following gallbladder surgery last month.
Murtha's career was marred at times by controversy. A retired Marine, he was a vocal opponent of the Global War on Terror who one time accused Marines in Iraq of committing cold blooded murder in Haditha Iraq only to see those Marines, one by one, acquitted of all charges. He was also the center of the Abscam bribery scandal back in 1980. Rep. Murtha was first and foremost an old time, old school political character - one long loved and loathed by friend and foe alike.
The Logical Family sends its thoughts and prayers to the Murtha family in their time of mourning.
For the last two weeks the real anti-choice movement has been in high dudgeon over the thought of the Focus On The Family/Tim Tebow ad. For two weeks progressives like Gloria Alred took to the airwaves calling the ad "divisive" and "offensive to women". Blog commenters like rmwarnick called CBS hypocritical for "reversing" their standards and practices and caving to Focus On The Family. For two weeks the talk was about abortion, whether it was/is legal in the Philipines in 1987 (while technically it is illegal in the Philippines it still happens fairly frequently - usually in the case where the life of the mother is at risk as was the case with Ms. Tebow). The shrieking and mass hysteria on the left was out there for all to see.
A lot was said in the last two weeks about the ad, and in the end, when the ad aired.....
"Angry" Al Franken showed up at yet another Senate closed door meeting. The latest target of Angry Al's ire? Obama advisor David Axelrod. Politico has the story....
Sen. Al Franken ripped into White House senior adviser David Axelrod this week during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats.
Five sources who were in the room tell POLITICO that Franken criticized Axelrod for the administration’s failure to provide clarity or direction on health care and the other big bills it wants Congress to enact.
The sources said Franken was the most outspoken senator in the meeting, which followed President Barack Obama’s question-and-answer session with Senate Democrats at the Newseum on Wednesday. But they also said the Minnesotan wasn’t the only angry Democrat in the room.
Al may have not been the only angry Demcorat in the room, but he is the one that staffers and participants are talking about and with good reason. Angry Al has already garnered a reputation within Senate halls.
Franken — a comedian turned liberal talk show host — vowed to keep a relatively low profile when he arrived in the Senate over the summer after a protracted legal battle with former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman. But he has developed a reputation among his colleagues as one of the more aggressive personalities on the Hill.
Last November, after Tennessee Republican Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander authored an op-ed in a local paper defending their opposition to a Franken amendment, Franken confronted both men on the floor — and grew particularly irritated with Corker.
He lashed out at Corker and a staff member in a follow-up meeting about the matter, several people said. Franken also clashed with South Dakota Sen. John Thune, No. 4 in GOP leadership, last month in a scathing speech during the health care debate, and staffers have reported other run-ins.
Whodathunk it? Angry Al getting clashes with fellow members of the "worlds greatest deliberative body"? I'm shocked to hear it! The only thing more shocking to me is the fact that President Obama (in the words of his own party) done enough to chart a course to get the bill passed.
Democratic senators are frustrated that the White House hasn’t done more to win over the public on health care reform and other aspects of its ambitious agenda — and angry that, in the wake of Scott Brown’s win in the Massachusetts Senate race, the White House hasn’t done more to chart a course for getting a health care bill to the president’s desk.
In his public session with the senators Wednesday, Obama urged them to “finish the job” on health care but did not lay out a path for doing so. That uncertainty appeared to trigger Franken’s anger, and the sources in the room said he laid out his concerns much more directly than any senator did in the earlier public session.
Gee guys - when you picked a guy to lead your party who has a history of voting "present" on the tough issues, did you honestly think that he would suddenly take a strong stand on this (or any issue)? Honestly?????
Then again, did Minnesota expect different from someone who has been known for getting into physical alterations with people who dare to espouse an opinion that does not agree with Angry Al's? Way to go guys!
Well Rep. Jim Matheson sure started off Campaign 2010 on a positive note - for his challenger Morgan Philpot anyway. Yesterday, noted "Blue Dog" Matheson voted in lockstep with his more "progressive" counterparts to raise the amount of money this country could go into debt by a whopping 1.9 trillion dollars!
The U.S. House of Representatives voted largely along party lines Thursday to hike the federal government's borrowing limit by $1.9 trillion, enough to enable the Treasury Dept. to pay its bills through the rest of this year, congressional leaders said. The 217-212 vote was razor-thin, and the exact number required to approve the measure. Thirty-seven Democrats joined all Republicans in opposing the increase. The move brings the total amount the federal government can borrow to $14.3 trillion, the highest mark by a significant measure. It comes just six weeks after Congress approved a $290 billion extension to the debt ceiling to $12.4 trillion.
But, but, but...the Dems defenders sputter - we instituted PAYGO to go with it.
The rule, known as "pay-as-you-go" or "Paygo," was in place during the 1990s, the last time there was a federal budget surplus, and Democrats hope that it will spur a return in that direction. "The passage of statutory Paygo today will help usher out an era of irresponsibility and begin putting the country back on a fiscally sustainable path," President Barack Obama said, in a statement.
Here's the problem with that little delusion kids....if you are TRULY paying as you go there would be no need to go another $1.9 T into debt. Paying as you go means that you only spend what you bring in, not that you go further in to debt. By raising the debt limit you are already PLANNING TO SPEND MORE THAN YOU TAKE IN - it is planned failure.
Since I mentioned a couple of polls in the previous post, it would not hurt to talk about the poll that Markos commissioned. You see, Markos is writing a book about his preconceived notions about the political party he disagrees with. In order to make sure that his "data" about the opposition is correct he commissioned a poll. I'll let Steve Pendlebury of AOL News take over the story from here.
Most Republicans think Barack Obama is a socialist and Sarah Palin is more qualified than him to be president. Most either think Obama wasn't born in the U.S. or aren't sure. Nearly 40 percent want him impeached. Those are a few of the results in a Daily Kos poll that's shaking up the blogosphere.
The liberal Web site commissioned Research 2000 to survey more than 2,000 self-identified Republicans last month. Site founder Markos Moulitsas -- the "Kos" in Daily Kos -- called the results "nothing short of startling."
A few more nuggets from the poll:
21 percent believe the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) stole the 2008 election and 55 percent aren't sure.
31 percent believe Obama is a racist who hates white people and 33 percent aren't sure.
23 percent want their state to secede from the U.S. and 19 percent aren't sure.
Only 26 percent favor letting openly gay Americans serve in the military.
67 percent believe the only way to get to heaven is through Jesus Christ.
A lot of time has been spent navel gazing in light of the special election in Massachusetts. Steve Kornacki , writing for the Daily Beast, wondered if Kristen Gillibrand might be the "next" Martha Coakley.
When a Democratic Senate candidate loses in Ted Kennedy’s backyard, it’s cause for alarm for every Democrat up for reelection—especially those who thought they were insulated by the Democratic bent of their home state. Case in point: Kirsten Gillibrand.
To date, Gillibrand’s political career has been the definition of a charmed ascent, typified first by her campaign for the House in a can’t-miss year for Democrats (2006) against a Republican opponent who had to answer 11th-hour charges of spousal abuse, and then by her gubernatorial appointment to the U.S. Senate two years later.
However there are a couple of things that Mr. Kornacki is not taking into account. First is he assumes that the GOP is going to actually PICK a candidate much less a strong one. What helped Scott Brown win in Massachussetts was in large part the fact that he was a strong and smart candidate. Yes he capitalized on some sensational Coakley blunders but he also had a great ground game and an internet operation that was able to raise over $1million a day in the final week of the campaign! So far we have not seen a candidate like that in New York.
After 8 years of listening to the left cluck "Oh Gawd can you believe how dumb Bush is? He can't even pronounce 'nuclear' right!" you knew this was going to get commented on.....
President Obama, speaking at this year's National Day of Prayer Breakfast proceeded to tell this little anecdote.
"...one such translator was an American of Haitian decent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world, Navy 'Corpse-man' Christian Bouchard...and lying on a gurnee aboard the U.S.N.S. Comfort, a woman asked Christopher(sic) 'where do you come from? What Country? After my operation I will pray for that country.' and in Creole 'Corpse-man' Bouchard responded...the United States of America"
It seems like I have been "bashing" on science of late, which is untrue because I find science to be a fascinating subject. When the scientific process is applied correctly it can help us understand so much about ourselves and our world. So today I thought I would talk about a scientific study that is really going to help medicine in it's treatment of people who are trapped in a persistent vegetative state. Researchers in the UK have determined that PVS patients are aware of their surroundings and can think and (in certain cases) communicate with others.
Experts using brain scans have discovered for the first time that the victims, who show no outward signs of awareness, can not only comprehend what people are saying to them but also answer simple questions.
They were able to give yes or no responses to simple biographical questions
The unlocking of this “inner voice” has astounded doctors and has dramatic implications for thousands of life and death decisions over patients trapped in what is known as a persistent vegetative state (PVS).
It means around one in five PVS patients may be able to communicate.
Emphasis mine. Now this is going to raise more questions than it answers because unless the doctors use a very sophisticated MRI machine, there isn't (yet) a way to know if the patients can communicate or not...
Logical Lady Carol Platt Liebau started an interesting discussion yesterday over at the Townhall.com blog. Her post, titled "Saving Rahm's Job" starts with a simple premise...
If Emmanuel actually wants to stay on (he may leave to run for mayor of Chicago), he should send Governor Palin flowers. Her call for his firing means that no one in the Obama White House is going to do anything about it. After all, no doubt they'd rather die than do anything that could possibly be perceived as handing Palin a political victory (especially after her pithy warnings about "death panels" did so much harm to ObamaCare), or heeding her advice. Her advice to The White House means the chief of staff's job is probably safe, for now.
So, discuss among yourselves: Does Governor Palin actually want Emmanuel to go, or is she a savvy tactician, who knows that by calling for his resignation, she guarantees that he will stay on, and continue to inflict political damage on The White House?
This stems from a report that Chief Of Staff Emmanuel called leftist activists (who were upset at something the White House did) "retarded" a word that is not welcome in the homes of anyone who has ever had a family member with developmental disabilities (Emmanuel has to his credit apologized for his remarks).
I can't tell you how ironic (in that cosmic sort of way) that I would mention abstinence based sex-education (in my previous post) only to have this story hit my inbox within a few minutes of my posting it.
Sex education classes that focus on encouraging children to remain abstinent can convince a significant proportion to delay sexual activity, researchers reported Monday in a landmark study that could have major implications for the nation's embattled efforts to protect young people against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
In the first carefully designed study to evaluate the controversial approach to sex ed, researchers found that only about a third of 6th and 7th graders who went through sessions focused on abstinence started having sex in the next two years. In contrast, nearly half of students who got other classes, including those that included information about contraception, became sexually active.
Emphasis mine. I can't tell you how shocked I am to see this. So I expect all of those who disparaged abstinence in sex education to apologize to us in 5-4-3-2-1....feh what was I thinking. The anti-religious zealots will never apologize for calling us anti-science - even when THEY are the ones (once again) making their decisions in a less than scientific manner.
"I think we've written off abstinence-only education without looking closely at the nature of the evidence," said John B. Jemmott III, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who led the federally funded study. "Our study shows this could be one approach that could be used."
Well Pam Tebow has certainly gotten the real anti-choice people up in arms. You may recall that I recently wrote about a Focus On The Family ad that features Mrs. Tebow, her son Tim (the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback from the University of Florida) and the Super Bowl ad featuring these two and their life story. The real anti-choice crowd has put the full court press on CBS trying to get them to pull the ad. The National Organization of Women calls the ad "offensive to women" and the Womens Media Center has called the ad "divisive". Both of these anti-choice groups were co-signatories (along with 29 others) of a letter to CBS urging them to pull the ad.
Logical Lady Star Parker absolutely nails the reason these anti-choice groups are so up in arms about the ad....it puts a human face on that unviable mass of tissue.....
First, the enabler of human brutality is de-humanization. Pro-abortionists know that our existing legalized abortion regime can only continue as long as we keep the human face off abortion.
It's why ultrasound has revolutionized this world. When young women who have doubts about taking their pregnancy to term see the live child within them, they overwhelming decide to give birth. You don't have to preach. They see that this is life and they know what to do.
I have written in the past that if the personal ultrasound experience could be conveyed to public consciousness, the abortion holocaust would stop.
The Tebow story will put this human face on abortion for the 100 million or so who will watch the Super Bowl. Nothing could be scarier for the culture of death.
When Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin, she put a human face on slavery. When the American public understood that slaves were human beings, the capacity to tolerate slavery was punctured.
This past Saturday a group of Utah activists engaged in one of the most powerful activities a citizen could engage in. They gathered together and picked one of their own to run for political office. So what, you may say - it's that time of year when this happens. Well this group of citizens gathered to take on an entrenched incumbent that they feel does not represent them. Again, nothing new you say - look at what UT3 did 2 years ago. Agreed and in part this group seems to be taking a page from what the citizens in UT3 did in supporting Jason Chaffetz against Chris Cannon.
What is interesting about what this group did is how they went about getting their candidate.....
It started with a Craigslist ad.
"Progressive congressional representative wanted to represent the people of Utah's 2nd District in the United States House of Representatives," the ad stated. "Must have solid moral values and resistance to selling out to corporate interests."
Two months after the ad was posted, more than 100 Salt Lake residents gathered at the Salt Lake Main Library Saturday morning to hear some of those who responded to the ad. Participants voted for John Weis, a scientist and professor at the University of Utah, to run against Jim Matheson, D-Utah, in the upcoming election.
Fresh off of his Friday afternoon confrontation with President Bush, Representative Jason Chaffetz went on Greta Van Susteren to explain why he dared to challenge the President.
President Obama met today with the House GOP Caucus in Baltimore this afternoon. During a Q&A session, Utah's Jason Chaffetz stood up to ask a question.
One of the bad things about "identity politics" is that the purveyors of identity politics love to claim that they are speaking for the entire group. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) engaged in a little identity politics of her own earlier this week.
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) said that both Republican and Democratic women members of Congress understand how to care for relatives and thus want the healthcare system to change.
"We go to the ladies room and the Republican women and the Democratic women and we just roll our eyes," she said. "And the Republican women said when we were fighting over the healthcare bill, if we sent the men home..." at which point she was interrupted by loud applause.
One problem here Ms. Shea-Porter, and I say this as someone who is currently in the process of caring for a sick elderly relative, YOU DO NOT SPEAK FOR ME!
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