Think Spring

It is spring time here in Virginia!

Obomination, Abortion and the Vote

Obama is the most pro-abortion candidate ever to seriously have a shot at the Whitehouse. This was amply demonstrated by Terence Jeffery at CNS News and Obama's vote on partial-birth abortion as well as the born-alive infant protection action act. The act passed the US Senate 98-0. Obama voted against it. He also voted against notifying partnes of minor who get out of state abortions. These are extreme positions. Politically, the American public disagrees with these positions by margins as high as 70 and 80%.

What affect will this have in the general election? Depends. Most of the news and chatter have given him a pass on the issue. Obama can talk about hope and change, but that promise has limits. You must be a certain age before his speech goals apply.

I hate to say it, but I doubt the knowledge will have much impact on the black vote: they seem settled to vote for Obama regardless of what he does or what he says which is really sad. However, in the general election, Obama's record could push many Hispanic and rural votes away from his candidancy. Right now Obama rides a black and upper crust wave. Primaries work with a relatively small lefty block. When he tries to hit the mainstream will he have swung too far to the left to ever return? If we want hope and change, let's hope that he has and move to change our America to a more welcoming place.

Banning Saline Abortions: Next Step Toward a Loving Humanity

A Minnesota
pro-life group is supporting a new bill to ban saline abortions in what could
become the next targeted method of abortion now that partial-birth abortions
have been banned nationwide. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life says the
abortion procedure kills unborn children but is also dangerous for women.

Lawmakers introduced House and Senate versions of the bill,
S.F. 3575 and H.F. 3947, this week.

“Saline abortions are one of the most brutal and inhumane
medical procedures performed today,” MCCL legislative associate Jordan Bauer
told LifeNews.com

Let the protection of life proceed.

Abortion: Next Step Toward a Loving Humanity

A Minnesota
pro-life group is supporting a new bill to ban saline abortions in what could
become the next targeted method of abortion now that partial-birth abortions
have been banned nationwide. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life says the
abortion procedure kills unborn children but is also dangerous for women.

Lawmakers introduced House and Senate versions of the bill,
S.F. 3575 and H.F. 3947, this week.

“Saline abortions are one of the most brutal and inhumane
medical procedures performed today,” MCCL legislative associate Jordan Bauer
told LifeNews.com

Let the protection of life proceed.

Capitol Myths

If you have ever taken the United States Capitol tour you have probably heard about the whispering room where John Q. Adams heard all the strategy of his senate opposition across the room because of the unique shape of the building. Well, John Q.'s scoop just never happened.

The Hill explains some more:

Many interns who give tours say they make up stories all the time when
they don’t know answers to questions. Staff have admitted to feeding
outright lies to interns coming in, just to make them look like fools.
Many professional guides in the Capitol Guide Service are appalled,
viewing staff guides as abusers of American history. The Guide Service offers training to staffers and interns, but myths about the Capitol persist. One
of the red-shirted tour guides of the Guide Service who spoke
anonymously recounted in red-hot fury the myths he has heard in his
decade-plus as a tour guide. Guides are not permitted to go on record
to the press. He described another of Trumbull’s paintings
hanging in the rotunda, depicting George Washington’s resignation as
commander of the U.S. Army. He recalled one aide explaining that
Washington apologized to Congress for losing the Revolutionary War. In
Statuary Hall, a likeness of Hawaiian king Kamehameha is striking with
its gold draping. The story goes that the statue of the king arrived at
the Capitol naked, and that the piece was sent back to Hawaii to be
clothed — which is false. The Hawaiian delegation was furious when they
found out about the propagated myth in 2003, calling it “highly
insulting” that Kamehameha was portrayed with so little dignity.
Unfortunately, the story is still told, as interns repeat it day after
day in full historical confidence.Perhaps because Hawaii is so
far from the continent, it’s easy for staffers to mangle its history.
Another subject of myth is a statue of a Hawaiian, Father Damien,
standing on the main hall on the House side. Damien lived and worked in
a leper colony and died of leprosy. As one staffer led her
tour by the statue, she explained, “He had to wear a box under his
clothes so they wouldn’t rub his skin off.” Many others passed by and
said the same thing to nodding listeners. The statue is, yes, boxy due
to the artist’s style, but Damien never wore a box under his clothes. Back
in the Rotunda, a staffer insisted that the rotunda is 340 feet high
(it’s 180). Many say that the Statue of Liberty can fit inside, which
is only technically true if you discount the 150-foot base that the
statue stands on in New York, which makes it 305 feet tall,
significantly larger than the size of the rotunda.

Live Blogging State of the Union

"Families have to balance their budgets so does the government."

Nice talk about earmarks...I hope he follows thru on the cuts.

"Expand consumer choice not government control." Obama was caught thinking about that one. priceless.

On education: NCLB. yawn. eye rolls. And Kennedy didn't clap. The bill he helped write. Wow.

Faith-based more funding for public schools: more money down the drain.

Free-trade: too bad that Ecuador wasn't on the list.

Nuclear power: go boy!

Clean Power: whatever. At least he hasn't tried to say we need to start saving the polar bears from global warming. The plants might not like less CO2 tho. Poor things. Not that great for my sweet corn crop.

Adult Stem-Cell Research: Come on Democrats! Are you crazy! Not supporting funding just because you want to kill young human life.


Judicial Appointments: "Fair up or down vote" Why not fair?

Immigration: "Laws and our highest ideals" Sure need some leadership on this. Need some people to really step up on this one in that building.

Terrorism: Cheney pops up out of his chair so fast....could it have been a point he was making? You can tell how that issue really weighs upon the man. For all the hate, this nation owes that man much more than we will ever know.

Iraq: "Serving with courage and distinction" Pelosi couldn't even look up while Bush was saying that. Sad. Makes you wonder if she deep down wishes she had that same sort of courage.

"De-baathification" wouldn't you call that mud puddle?

"Vital interests in the Persian Gulf" I wonder if he was thinking about oil. "Why not?" I say.

Inspiration to the Young

The 26-year-old speech writer for Barack Obama:

Mr. Favreau, or Favs, as everyone calls him, looks every bit his age,
with a baby face and closely shorn stubble. And he leads a team of two
other young speechwriters: 26-year-old Adam Frankel, who worked with John F. Kennedy’s adviser and speechwriter Theodore C. Sorensen
on his memoirs, and Ben Rhodes, who, at 30, calls himself the “elder
statesman” of the group and who helped write the Iraq Study Group
report as an assistant to Lee H. Hamilton.

I have to say that I was impressed by his Iowa speech for its rhetorical height.

Animals Ethics ahead of Human Ethics

You may be able to thank those lab rats not only for your next drug but also for humane treatment. That is, if the logic is carried through.

EU ethics experts have called for a banning of cloning animals because of the heavy risks involved to the animals according to a London paper.

The ethics group wants safety and welfare conditions on any
decision to accept clone farm food. But they are so strict they could
make it too difficult to farm clones commercially. The report
was triggered after the Daily Mail revealed last January that a clone
farm calf called Dundee Paradise had been born on a Shropshire farm. Cloning breeding stock could create monster pigs and supersize cows.
But the technology means many cloned offspring die just before or soon
after birth. Some have malformed lungs, hearts and kidneys.

If the logic is not carried through it appears that it will soon be advantageous to think of ourselves as animals rather than humans since at least baby animals are protected and cared about an humans are not. Let's at least equalize the field, should we not? Otherwise the logical step would be to test dangerous procedures and drugs on humans before we tried them on animals. You know, your de-wormer for cats, will soon carry this label it seems as required by the FDA: Not tested on cats. Tested on humans and found kitty safe.

Update: Perhaps I shouldn't laugh at the idea. After a search, Europe is already doing just this with human embryonic stem cell research: developing ways to used killed humans to avoid using animals. Sick.

The NH results blow by blow

For all who must know..right away:

NH results precinct by precinct.

Mike Huckabee Iowa Caucus Victory Speech

Huckabee and the Evangelical Vote

Michael Medved says it better than I could:

Predictably enough, most media commentators have totally misinterpreted
the nature of Mike Huckabee’s big win in the Iowa GOP caucuses.
Conventional wisdom says that he swept to victory based on overwhelming
support from Evangelicals, but conventional wisdom is flat-out wrong.
According to the exit polls used by major news networks, a majority of
voters who described themselves as “evangelical” or “born again”
Christians actually voted against Huckabee –with 54% splitting
their support among Romney, McCain, Thompson and Ron Paul. Yes,
Huckabee’s 46% of Evangelicals was a strong showing, but it was
directly comparable to his commanding 40% of women, or 40% of all
voters under the age of 30, or 41% of those earning less than $30,000 a
year. His powerful appeal to females, the young and the poor make him a
different kind of Republican, who connects with voting blocs the GOP
needs to win back. He’s hardly the one-dimensional religious candidate
of media caricature.

The Adventures of Huckabee's Win and Other Stories

So the numbers are in and Huckabee wins big. As did Obama.

Iowa Republican Votes (95% in) /
Democratic Delegate Totals (100% in)

Mike Huckabee	39,814	34%		Barack Obama	940	38%
Mitt Romney	29,405	25%		John Edwards	744	30%
Fred Thompson	15,521	13%		Hillary Clinton	737	29%
John McCain	15,248	13%		Bill Richardson	53	2%
Ron Paul	11,598	10%		Joe Biden	23	1%
Rudy Giuliani	4,013	4%		Chris Dodd	1	0%
Duncan Hunter	515	1%		Dennis Kucinich	0	0%
Alan Keyes	0	na%		Mike Gravel	0	0%

Source: Lifenews.com

So who else won (or lost)?


Losers

Hillary Clinton: By coming in only third in Iowa after spending massive time and effort in the state she is the biggest loser on the Democratic side. Watch for a universal unload of Clinton stock.

Mitt Romney: $7 million is a load of cash. To spend that, and after being ahead for most of the year in Iowa he loses big in Iowa to an upstart. Iowans branded hard the perception that he is the establishment pick without middle America appeal or sincerity.

Rudy Giuliani: Although he never even campaigned here, his 4% showing still hurts his front running status nationally. After all, Iowa as a swing state that went to Bush in 2004 and since the people who go to the caucus are those will be your campaigners in the state, its pretty hard to have only 4% support and believe you can swing the mid-west in a general election.

Fred Thompson: He needed to steal the show. Huckabee has pulled the value voter out from under him.


All others below 4%. See them drop out soon. Now or shortly after NH.

Other Winners

John Edwards: He needed a gold to launch him into serious viable candidate. Again, knocking down Hillary to third boosts him into the winning side. He must win North Carolina to move forward though.

John McCain: He didn't need to win as he has staked it all on New
Hampshire. Romney's defeat however, was as important to him as his own
success. Look for a vulnerable Romney going into NH.

Ron Paul: He wins (for the short term) enough to pull in more internet dough. Proves that the Dean affect still lives: internet buzz does not directly correspond to voter support. Look for Ron Paul to continue to provide intellectual, internet, and libertarian interest for many months to come without any real chance at the Whitehouse. The real question: will Fox News and others let him debate if he beat Giuliani?

Benazir Bhutto: Pro-Life Leader

A leader against terror of the born and the unborn:

"I dream ...of a world where we can commit our social resources to the development of human life and not to its destruction," she told the United Nations panel at the time. Bhutto was one of only two women to address the conference. Bhutto warned conference participants that "this conference must not be viewed by the teeming masses of the world as a universal social charter seeking to impose adultery, abortion...and other such matters on individuals, societies and religions which have their own social ethos."

From Lifenews.com

Benazir Bhutto Last Footage Before Killed!

Last Video of Bhutto:





Ht: Michelle Malkin

Sad, bad news for Pakistan

Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for Bhutto:

A spokesperson for the al-Qaeda terrorist network has claimed
responsibility for the death on Thursday of former Pakistani prime
minister Benazir Bhutto.
“We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to
defeat [the] mujahadeen,” Al-Qaeda’s commander and main spokesperson
Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid told Adnkronos International (AKI) in a phone call
from an unknown location, speaking in faltering English. Al-Yazid is
the main al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan.
It is believed that the decision to kill Bhutto, who is the leader
of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was made by al-Qaeda
No. 2, the Egyptian doctor, Ayman al-Zawahiri in October.
Death squads were allegedly constituted for the mission and
ultimately one cell comprising a defunct Lashkar-i-Jhangvi’s Punjabi
volunteer succeeded in killing Bhutto.
Bhutto had just addressed a pre-election rally on Thursday in the garrison town of Rawalpindi when the bomb went off.

Ht: Jihad Watch

Go to counterterrorismblog for further updates.

Merry Christmas

wRONg Policy

This is why Ron Paul doesn't have a clue on Foreign Policy:

In the
1950s, the CIA installed the Shah in Iran. It was not until the hostage
crisis of the late 1970s that the unintended consequences of this
became apparent. This generated Iranian hatred of America and led
to the takeover by the reactionary Khoumini and the Islamic fundamentalists.
It caused greater regional instability than we anticipated. Our meddling
in the internal affairs of Iran was of no benefit to us and set the
stage for our failed policy in dealing with Iraq.....Although
our puppet dictatorship in Saudi Arabia has lasted for many decades,
it's becoming shakier every day. The Saudi people are not exactly
friendly toward us, and our military presence on their holy soil is
greatly resented. This contributes to the radical fundamentalist hatred
directed toward us.

Radical Muslims will hate us if we are there or not. Period.

Family Blog; Bro in Marines

My Family has a blog. It has some letters from my brother who is in the Marines boot camp right now.

Sample:

Then, after chow, we went to the combat course. It was a course in which a team of 4 ran through with a rifle and flack jacket and helmet. Then you had to crawl under barb wire and use your bayonet. It was a lot of fun. Then, we competed in the thunder dome and did pugle sticks. I won all three matches and our plt. got first in it also. Anyway that was my day.

Quote of the Day

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is
the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."

William Pitt Speech to
Parliament 1783

Edwards and Obama Advocate Tax Funded Abortion, Sex-Ed for Adolesents

Think the Democrats are softening on abortion? Not so.

See what John Edwards says:

"I support public funding of abortion services for low-income women. While in the Senate, I voted against restrictions on funding for abortions for federal employees and District of Columbia residents."

"I oppose any effort to restrict abortion as an option for women who depend on the government for their health care needs."

"I also oppose the Child Custody Protection Act and other measures that unduly burden a young woman's right to choose..."

(The Child Custody Protection Act kept young children from being taken over state lines to avoid parental consent. E.g. the widely publicized 1995 case in which a 12-year-old Pennsylvania girl became pregnant after sexual involvement with an 18-year-old man and the man's mother took the girl for an abortion in New York.)

Crisis Pregnancy Centers: "No, federal tax dollars should not endorse or support programs that
knowingly include medically or scientifically inaccurate information
and that mislead and intimidate women."

And Obama:

Parental Consent:
Q:Does Sen. Obama support adolescents' access to... reproductive health services, without having to seek permission from their parents?
A: "Yes. As the father of two daughters, Senator Obama understands that parents do not want to imagine their teenage child might need to seek counsel on reproductive health."

"Senator Obama believes that reproductive health care is basic health care. His health care plan will create a new public plan, which will provide coverage of all essential medical services. Reproductive health care is an essential service...."

Safe, legal and rare? Not this time. More like tween, no option, universal abortion health care.

Huckabee and Foreign Policy

The old guard of the GOP has often come out swinging in recent days at Huckabee. I can understand their distress. Many had already picked their candidate and it hurts to see them dropping. Just take a look at Hugh Hewitt. Of his last 15 posts on his blog seven have been something negative about Huckabee. Drudge hates him too.They should be ashamed of themselves. Every other word or quote that they get about Huckabee is out of context or self defeating. A good example is the national review article on Huckabee's foreign policy. It says on one hand that Huckabee "has to his credit...spoken forcefully about the threat of Islamic extremism." Then they turn around and criticize his view on pursuing diplomatic options with Iran when Huckabee lays out these issues as being intertwined, part and parcel of the same trouble. They can't have it both ways. It is hard to not understand Iran and understand radical Islam.

Unfortunately most of the criticism has come from cherry-picking out of context quotes with little comprehensive analysis. Sure, a governor doesn't have as much experience as a President, but which President is running for election this year? After reading the criticism I went to Huckabee's own words. Yes, he uses illustrations which can be misunderstood but just as likely to be illuminating. (Ever heard of the "Domino theory" or "garden hoses" being used for foreign policy debates?)

Take a look yourself and see if the man does not only understand but is able to communicate (something I will admit our current administration has failed at) the threats to America.

And my favorites:

Unintentionally, some of our closest allies are producing some of our clearest threats. Because of our special relationship with Britain, and all of our similarities with them, most Americans don’t realize that it’s very different to be a Muslim citizen of Britain than a Muslim citizen of the United States. Therefore, we have sometimes real difficulty in accepting that doctors in Britain could be terrorists, and drive car bombs into an airport terminal.

....

We can’t export democracy as if it were Coca-Cola or KFC, but we can nurture moderate forces in all over these countries where al Qaeda seeks to replace modern evilwith medieval evil. This moderation may not look like, and it may not function exactly like our system; it may be more like a benevolent oligarchy; it may be more tribal than individualistic. But both for us and the people of those countries, it’ll be far better than the dictatorships than they now have or the theocracy that they would have under the radical Islamists.

I Heart Huckabee

Ok Brett and Alex Harris are brilliant on-line communicators. They started the I (heart) Huckabee blog in support of Huckabee for President. They are a wonderful pair. Check them out.

Blimp FEC Campaign Finance Deform Revolution

Ok, so Ron Paul for President supporters have a blimp. Yawn. Next. But wait! It is not the campaign or a 527 or PAC that is supporting this venture. Since it is a private company, there are no limits on the amount that people can give to keep the blimp in the air. If the FEC takes the bait and tries to regulate this sort of campaign contribution things could get interesting in a legal muddle. If they don't take the bait, then we might see a small slice of our political freedom of speech being returned.

Wild Fashion: Emotio-Hankie

This invention is not for everyone. Many would in fact need the precise opposite. That for another time. But for those who have a hard time shedding a tear at the right moment, this could bring about the right measure of demonstrated concern at just the right moment.

So here are the raw facts on the invention: One hankie. Onion juice. Tightly sealed bag.

Here is how it works: You have this bag that contains this onion juice soaked hankie. Then comes the funeral or very sad situation that is extremely sad but just can't bring the tears on naturally. Now you have have the solution! Quietly take out your onion hankie and apply to the nose. Enough syn-propanethial-S-oxide normally escapes so that your tears of sympathy will start to show. Your deep concern, no longer is only superficial but expressed with the most genuine (until now) display of actually heart-felt sorrow.

It seems that even the politicians these days might be in need of this new invention.

Home and the Huckster

ABCNews: Home-Schoolers Help Propel Huckabee.

Noooo. You think they support HIM?

And do you really think I have entertained ANY thoughts about going down to help out in Iowa? *wink*

Oh, yes, and let me know if you want to come too.


Actually, here at PHC there is no unified support for Huckabee. Ron Paul and Fred Thompson also have a vocal if not a large base of support.

Why (not) Huckabee.

The question on everyones mind about presidential politics right now is why Huckabee has risen so quickly and decisively to the top of the Republican contenders. In many ways his rise is the predictable outcome of the past 10 years of presidential politics rather than a diversion. Republicans were looking for two things in their candidate: Solid conservative credentials, and the ability to communicate those ideals. There are few conservatives that have given up on any of the conservative ideas that propelled the republican party to victory in early 2000. Nor have Americans rejected these ideas. Right to life? Just look to the young generation. Values? Why are the Democrats even touting it? Lower taxes and less government are seen as the problem not the solution. Huckabee (while probably the most vulnerable on the limited government front) has a solid social record, so that makes him attractive. But just as importantly, he is seen as an articulate spokesman on behalf of these ideas. He's funny, but even more, he enjoys the media and has effectively outwitted most of their attempts to trip him up (esp. on religion). With the failure that the Bush White House has often had with communication conservatives are ready to find a candidate who will not only share their views but be able to communicate them.

Romney got dumped because he was only a conservative convert. No enthusiasm there. Fred Thompson got a hard look. He took great conservative stands, but failed when it came to the communication front. Enter Huckabee, and the patient voters are liking what they see and for good reason.

All the things caused by global warming

An amazing link. Examples: early marriages, tree beetles attacks, psychosocial disturbances. You get the idea.

It's those Dumb, Stupid, Christians Supporting Huckabee!

People drawn to Huckabee may not have in-depth knowledge of
his positions. Huckabee is the top choice of Republicans who say
immigration is their most important issue, yet his positions are
at odds with the opinions expressed by respondents. For instance,
just 8 percent of Republicans say children of illegal immigrants
should be able to qualify for in-state college tuition discounts.
As governor, Huckabee supported allowing those children to apply
for academic scholarships. (emphasis mine)

You think. Not everyone knows everything about any candidate. Do you think that the average voter would have "in-depth knowledge" of Hillary's trade policy? This was an underhanded way of ridiculing the conservatives who support Huckabee.

Ford Endeavor are hot

I came across this amazing picture by Ford. If read is a certain way it really makes fun of all the global warming hype. The picture came out in an ad campaign in India. If you look carefully you can see some polar bears (the global warming icon) on a little melting ice berg as the Ford Endeavor
breaks the ice.


Of course the whole picture was sacrilege to the human induced CO2 limiting enviro-nuts but a laugh to the polar bears who actually have been doing better in a little bit warmer earth (according to environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg in his book Cool it) and for Wisconsinites who will welcome the longer growing season and shorter winters. Unfortunately at the rate we are warming it will be years before we see much change, and even driving SUV's won't do much to change the climate.

Doing a little math I figured that if I could assume that the enviro-nuts were correct that driving the beast is warming the earth, I would need to drive it 1.04E14 or 1 with 14 zeros after it miles to double the rate of global warming. (This is about this about 4,000 million times around the earth) I'm afraid that is just a bit too far.

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Henry Hyde: The Definition of Eloquence and Statesman, RIP

Henry Hyde will be remembered for two things: his amendment to keep federal Medicaid funds from being used to fund abortions and for his persuasive defense of the rule of law during the impeachment hears of President Clinton for perjury.

I can remember listening to the historic impeachment hearings with a consistent change between the wonder of clarity and the frustration of denial depending on who spoke. Hyde always shone clear. The most memorable was his "catch the falling flag" reminder. In honor of this great man who served as a representative from Illinois for many years passed away today at the age of 84 read the eloquence and persuasion of a man who knew his convictions, knew of the importance of an office and and was willing to speak up for them in the face of opposition.

Mr. Speaker, my colleagues of the people's House, I wish to talk to you
about the rule of law. After months of argument, hours of debate, there
is no need for further complexity. The question before this House is rather
simple. It's not a question of sex. Sexual misconduct and adultery are
private acts and are none of Congress' business.

It's not even a question of lying about sex. The matter before the House
is a question of lying under oath. This is a public act, not a private
act. This is called perjury.

The matter before the House is a question
of the willful, premeditated, deliberate corruption of the nation's system
of justice. Perjury and obstruction of justice cannot be reconciled with
the office of the president of the United States.

The personal fate of the president is not the issue. The political fate
of his party is not the issue. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is not
the issue. The issue is perjury -- lying under oath.

The issue is obstruction
of justice, which the president has sworn the most solemn oath to uphold.

That oath constituted a compact between the president and the American
people. That compact has been broken. The people's trust has been betrayed.
The nation's chief executive has shown himself unwilling or incapable of
enforcing its laws for he has corrupted the rule of law - - the rule of
law -- by his perjury and his obstruction of justice.

....

Listen, it's your country. The president is our flag bearer.

He stands out in front our people when the flag is flowing. Catch the
falling flag as we keep our appointment with history.

I yield back.

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Stupid Statement of the Day

"We have reached a point today where labor-saving devices are good only when they do not throw the worker out of his job."

--Eleanor Roosevelt

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Defend the Good Samaritan

I formally ask Hillary Clinton to apologize for her statement equating the Good Samaritan and Jesus Christ with criminal activity.

Clinton criticized the immigration bill proposed in the last Congress, dominated by Republicans. That legislation would have penalized those who help illegal immigrants. "I said it would have criminalized the good Samaritan. It would have criminalized Jesus Christ," she said.

First, it is already against the law to "help"