Monday, May 31, 2010

Today's Elections

Remember November! Today is another big day for conservative victory in 2010. Alabama, Mississippi and New Mexico all hold June 1 primaries this year. Keep an eye on these elections:

In Mississippi's 1st district, Republican voters face a hotly contested primary between three candidates: state Sen. Alan Nunnelee; former Eupora Mayor Henry Ross; and former Fox News analyst Angela McGlowan.

In New Mexico, Susana Martinez seems to have the momentum headed into the GOP gubernatorial primary. She was endorsed by Sarah Palin, and she was ahead last week in two statewide polls.

Conservative Tea Party favorites in Alabama include Rick Barber (AL-2), and Les Philip (AL-5).

Good luck to all principled conservatives!


More


Mississippi Primaries: Voters choose June 1

Alabama's Secretary of State is predicting just 35% to 38% voter turnout for the primary.

The Justice Department will monitor primary elections in New Mexico to ensure compliance with minority language requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Remembrance...


The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.

— George Washington


More


Nugent: Every Day Is Memorial Day

At Arlington, each soldier has a special lady

Enemies, foreign and domestic

2010 On Track to Be Deadliest Year for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan War


The Boy Behind an Iconic Photo

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Fired From Government Job for Speaking at Tea Parties


Democratic official punishes tea partier for speaking about the Constitution:

"KrisAnne Hall, assistant state attorney in Live Oak, Florida, was fired after she refused to stop speaking to tea party and other similar groups. KrisAnne asked a federal judge for an injunction which would allow her to continue speaking and to prevent her from being fired by her boss, State Attorney Skip Jarvis. Mr. Jarvis fired KrisAnne Hall on Monday, May 24th shortly after receiving a copy of her federal complaint."


"[Jarvis] called [Hall] a good prosecutor, who crossed an ethical line with her speeches and radio appearances.

“'You can’t take a job advocating for the state and go out and take a position against the state,' Jarvis said. 'I advised her from my first learning of her activity that she was free to say and do whatever she desired within the law, but she could not do so while assistant counsel for the state.'”


"[Jarvis] said he felt bad for letting her go since she was 'the only breadwinner in her household' but had 'no other choice...'

"'She was speaking at some political events, some things were anti-state and anti-government,' Jarvis said by phone Tuesday morning. 'I emailed her and said look you can't do that as an assistant state attorney...'

"Jarvis said he knew Hall was speaking at certain gatherings and 'turned a blind eye to it' but when he received a complaint last month that Hall was speaking at gatherings that were 'discussing a desire for less government and smaller budgets,' he said he had to take action."

Less government? Smaller budgets? Shut the front door!

Take Dan Riehl's advice and stay till the end of this video when "the State Attorney says he'd love to have his old assistant back, the one 'before she decided she wanted to be the next Sarah Palin.'"

So if you do your job well, but you offend a sadistic government megalomaniac by reminding him of Sarah Palin, he's free to fire you? I don't think so.

I see the point this disgusting little pissant is trying to make. Democrats think that if you believe in smaller government, constrained by the Constitution, you're a hypocrite to benefit from government in any way.

No job for you!


More


Speech by KrisAnne Hall

Prosecutor Fired for Tea Party Ties Speaks Out on PJTV


Another Skip Jarvis controversy


Updates:

Lieutenant governor and attorney general support KrisAnne Hall

Kottkamp: What's the difference in what Jarvis did in 2006 and what Hall did in 2010?

B-Cast Interviews Florida Attorney Fired for Speaking at Tea Party Event


Robert L “Skip” Jarvis Jr. (Democrat)

Suwannee County
100 Court Street SE
Live Oak, FL 32064
Phone: (386) 362-2320
Fax: (386) 362-5370

2008 General Election Campaign Contributions:

Friday, May 28, 2010

The Face of the Tea Party


George Will has found the ultimate Tea Partier: a man from Wisconsin who is putting everything on the line in an effort to unseat an entrenched incumbent...in DIY mode:

Johnson can fund himself. Asked how much of his wealth he will spend, if necessary, his answer is as simple as it is swift: "All of it."

The theme of his campaign, the genesis of which was an invitation to address a Tea Party rally, is: "First of all, freedom."

Johnson has the right ideas and the right priorities. He won the Wisconsin GOP's U.S. Senate nod in a landslide in last weekend's convention, and Rasmussen has him in a statistical tie with incumbent Senator Russ.

Keep an eye on this guy. Wonks and prognosticators say Russ Feingold can expect a comfortable win, but as George Will puts it, this is "a year in which incumbency is considered a character flaw."

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Obama Administration Defends Islamic Extremists and "Holy" War


The Ground Zero House of Evil has been approved in New York City, seditious Arizona state legislators have teamed up with Mexican counterparts to challenge Arizona immigration law in international court, and now the Obama administration is defending jihad, a.k.a. war waged on behalf of Islam.

It's been a good week for those who hate America:

The president's top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a "legitimate tenet of Islam," arguing that the term "jihadists" should not be used to describe America's enemies.


During a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, John Brennan described violent extremists as victims of "political, economic and social forces," but said that those plotting attacks on the United States should not be described in "religious terms."

Obama's terrorism czar went on to explain that Islamic terrorists are "victims."

I think it's time to resume plans to move to New Zealand.


FYI, from Merriam-Webster:

ji·had : a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty

Because Law-Breakers Don't Hurt People; Drugs and Guns Do


Are you petty criminal from Mexico looking for better opportunities in the United States? Are you a sadistic human trafficker? Are you worried that an active tuberculosis infection might interfere with your plans to start working in America immediately?

Are you concerned that troops being sent to the Mexican border will lead to an outbreak of law and order?

Here's some good news for you: US troops will be careful not to get in your way!

US National Guard troops being sent to the Mexican border will be used to stem the flow of guns and drugs across the frontier and not to enforce US immigration laws, the State Department said Wednesday.

The clarification came after the Mexican government urged Washington not to use the additional troops to go after illegal immigrants.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday authorized the deployment of up to 1,200 additional troops to border areas but State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters, "It's not about immigration."

...because criminal aliens don't hurt people; drugs and guns do!


More


Children Kidnapped for Sex Trafficking
"These children have been raped repeatedly more than 30 times a day. The more use they get out of a child, the more profit," he tells us. "They are using these children. The younger the better for the human trafficker."

Pacific couple sentenced for human smuggling crimes

US Fights Human Slavery in Major Cities

The real problem with the Arizona law is that it threatens to make immigration enforcement a reality.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

13 States in 8 Days

Fourteen states will hold primary elections in June. The first two Tuesdays of the month will be the busiest; Alabama, Mississippi and New Mexico hold elections on June 1; California, Iowa, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Virgina hold primaries on June 8. Utah wraps up the month on the 22nd.

Here's a little sample of what's cooking...

As HotAir has chronicled, ads for Alabama primaries have set the internets on fire:

There was the Tim James “speak English” spot, the attack on Bradley Byrne for kinda sorta supporting evolution, the Young Boozer clip, the instantly immortal Dale Peterson man on a horsehomage, and now this.

Check this out: the angry Tea Partier ad might be most intense one of them all.

Last but not least from the Yellowhammer state, National Review Online serves up some red meat from my friend from Twitter, Les Phillip (AL-5).

Over in California, conservatives are hoping for a victory for Chuck DeVore on June 8th. If DeVore can beat billionaire Carly "Demon Sheep" Fiorina and establishment RINO Tom Campbell, he'll go on to face Ma'am Boxer in the general election. How's DeVore doing? Depends on who you ask.

South Carolina might have been a snoozer had it not been for week's sexual "revelation" from a sleazy blogger. Does everyone close to Jenny Sanford get caught up in a tawdry scandal? Y'all know I'm with Jenny and Sarah...vote for and support Nikki Haley.

On June 22, Tea Party favorite Mike Lee hopes to become the man to replace RINO Bob Bennett. Mike Lee had earned Jim DeMint's endorsement, so it should be no surprise that he's earned the RightKlik seal of approval as well.

June promises to be a fascinating month for Conservative Tea Party politics. Stay tuned. And please support your favorite conservative candidates.

Friday, May 14, 2010

If Elena Kagan Isn't a Radical Socialist, Jeremiah Wright Isn't a Race-Baiting Conspiracy Theorist


As Media Matters persuasively explains, Elena Kagan walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, but she is clearly not a duck:

Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck have falsely suggested Elena Kagan's college thesis shows she is a socialist or radical. In fact, Kagan's thesis did not express support for socialism or radicalism...

Rather, she explored the historical question of why socialism did not become a major political movement in the United States as it had elsewhere in the world. Specifically, Kagan discussed rise and fall of socialism in New York City in the early 20th century, with a particular emphasis on why the movement collapsed.

I report, you decide. Here's the conclusion of Kagan's 130-page thesis:

Why, in a society by no means perfect, has a radical party never attained the status of a major political force?

...Through its own internal feuding, then, the [Socialist Party] exhausted itself forever and further reduced labor radicalism in New York to the position of marginality and insignificance from which it has never recovered. The story is a sad but also a chastening one for those who, more than half a century after socialism's decline, still wish to change America. Radicals have often succumbed to the devastating bane of sectarianism; it is easier, after all, to fight one's fellows than it is to battle an entrenched and powerful foe. Yet if the history of Local New York shows anything, it is that American radicals cannot afford to become their own worst enemies. In unity lies their only hope.

You see...she's not a supporter, she's just a cheerleader.

In a crude thought experiment, let's change a few words in Kagan's statement, and let's imagine that these are the words of a Supreme Court appointee, nominated by a GOP president:

Why, in a society by no means racially pure, has a radical White supremacist group never attained the status of a major political force?

...Through its own internal feuding, then, the KKK exhausted itself forever and further reduced racism in West Virginia to the position of marginality and insignificance from which it has never recovered. The story is a sad but also a chastening one for those who, more than half a century after the Klan's decline, still wish to change America. White supremacists have often succumbed to the devastating bane of sectarianism; it is easier, after all, to fight one's fellows than it is to battle an entrenched and powerful foe. Yet if the history of the Klan shows anything, it is that American racists cannot afford to become their own worst enemies. In unity lies their only hope.

I think the left-wing statist media would conclude that these words are not those of a dangerous radical white supremacist, don't you?

Count me among those who believe that Lindsay isn't a milkaholic, that Jeremiah isn't a racist, that Barney doesn't have a boyfriend, and that Elena "is about the furthest thing from a socialist. Period. And always had been. Period."

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Intrade: GOP gains 35 seats in the House


Via the AP:

House Republican leader John Boehner recently said the GOP could pick up 100 seats this November. Now, the Republican National Committee's political director says the party has its eye on 130.

"Our scoring as of today has us looking at about 130 House seats as potentially competitive," Gentry Collins said Tuesday. He hastened to add: "Just to be clear, I'm making no claim that we are going to pick up 130 House seats."

Republicans see the potential for significant gains this November as support for President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats slide. The GOP needs to win 40 seats to reclaim control of the House. Currently, Democrats hold 254 seats and Republicans 177 with four vacancies.


The chart above depicts a prediction of the outcome of the 2010 US Congressional races based on betting data from Intrade.com

Each bar represents an individual Intrade contract in which wagers are placed on the likelihood that the Republican party will pick up that number of seats.

Current prediction: Republican gain 35 seats (Updated 5-12-2010)

Contracts which are trading below the 50/50 mark are shaded a lighter red. Contracts above that mark are shaded dark red. This shading helps visualize the threshold between events that are not forecasted to happen and events that are. Historically the party in power loses seats during mid-term elections, and 2010 looks to be no exception. Intrade is in concurrence with major polls which forecast a Republican gain in seats ― but in a prediction market, traders aren't just answering a pollster's questions; they are putting their money where their mouth is.

The Senate...


The map above depicts a prediction of the outcome of the 2010 US Senate Races based on betting data from Intrade.com

States where there is no 2010 Senate race are colored gray. States where the Democrat is leading the Republican are colored blue, and red states indicate a Republican lead.

Net pickup: +8 (R)


Primary Elections in May

Monday, May 10, 2010

Pediatricians Advocate for Ritual Female Genital Mutilation (UPDATED)

mu·ti·late: To make imperfect by excising or altering parts.

According to the World Health Organization, ritual female genital mutilation "has no health benefits, and it harms girls and women in many ways."

But American pediatricians are calling for an expansion of the practice of female genital mutilation. In negotiating with immigrants who want their daughters' genitals mutilated, they believe that they've found a reasonable compromise that honors atavistic cultural traditions while "protecting" female anatomy and sexual function.

Why should a physician slice into female genitalia when there's no medical benefit to be gained...not even a small or hypothetical one? In a policy statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (lead author Dena S. Davis, J.D., Ph.D.), the AAP tries to make a case for ritual female genital nicking

:

Most forms of FGC [female genital cutting] are decidedly harmful, and pediatricians should decline to perform them, even in the absence of any legal constraints. However, the ritual nick suggested by some pediatricians is not physically harmful and is much less extensive than routine newborn male genital cutting. There is reason to believe that offering such a compromise may build trust between hospitals and immigrant communities, save some girls from undergoing disfiguring and life threatening procedures in their native countries, and play a role in the eventual eradication of FGC. It might be more effective if federal and state laws enabled pediatricians to reach out to families by offering a ritual nick as a possible compromise to avoid greater harm.

Greater harm, lesser harm...mutilation, cutting, nicking, pricking, piercing, incising, scraping...call it what you like; it doesn't sound like modern science or evidence-based medicine to me.


Those who support this policy insist the AAP's ritual nick is clearly not the same as thing as your grandmother's old-fashioned genital mutilation. But in their policy statement published online Apr 26, 2010, the AAP did not describe the "ritual nick" procedure or the medical benefits that a ritual nick might hypothetically provide. The AAP also failed to describe the training processes through which physicians might become qualified to perform "rituals."

Furthermore, the AAP failed to provide any evidence to support the assertion that the ritual nick may "build trust" or save some girls from undergoing life threatening procedures.

How far will pediatricians have to go in order to satisfy dangerous cultural preferences? Dr. Lainie Friedman Ross, a member of the academy’s bioethics committee admits, “If you medicalize [female genital cutting] and say it’s permissible, is there a possibility that some people will misunderstand it and go beyond a nick? Yes.”

Georganne Chapin, executive director of an advocacy group called Intact America, said she was “astonished that a group of intelligent people did not see the utter slippery slope that we put physicians on” with the new policy statement. “How much blood will parents be satisfied with?”

She added: “There are countries in the world that allow wife beating, slavery and child abuse, but we don’t allow people to practice those customs in this country. We don’t let people have slavery a little bit because they’re going to do it anyway, or beat their wives a little bit because they’re going to do it anyway.”

Why give a backward and brutal cultural phenomenon medical and legal credibility in a developed nation?


The lead author of the AAP policy statement, wrote this in 2003:

In the United States, many state laws, as well as a federal law, criminalize any 'nonmedical' surgery on the genitals of a female minor. The federal law explicitly states that the 'ritual' or 'cultural' beliefs of anyone involved in the procedure are not a defense...

Ethically, such bias shows a real lack of respect for the cultural and religious beliefs that ground parental decisions about female genital surgeries. By refusing to engage in any sort of compromise, such attitudes also show a lack of respect for parental motivations, which often include concern about the ability of surgically unaltered girls to marry within the community. This lack of openness to any form of female genital surgery is especially startling when framed by the American laissez-faire attitude toward male circumcision.

[emphasis added]


The AAP policy statement repeatedly hints at a perception of irrational Western hypocrisy and bigotry, and provides as reference a paper written by Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh:

It could be legitimate to perform either male or female circumcision, as any other surgery, for specific, extremely rare, medical reasons on specific individuals. But to arbitrarily mutilate children, boys or girls, under the pretext that it is for their own good, shows an influence of cynicism and fanaticism...

Female circumcision will never stop as long as male circumcision is going on. How do you expect to convince an African father to leave his daughter uncircumcised as long as you let him do it to his son?

Male circumcision remains a controversial issue, but as recently as last year, male circumcision was found to provide real and important benefits for some:


"In addition to decreasing the incidence of HIV infection, male circumcision significantly reduced the incidence of HSV-2 infection and the prevalence of HPV infection, findings that underscore the potential public health benefits of the procedure."

The question of when and whether males should be circumcised is a subject much debate...but it is debate that is based on scientific evidence. Ritual female genital mutilation, on the other hand, isn't supported by any kind of evidence, and it hasn't been shown to prevent anything harmful or inconvenient...except female orgasms.

Pascale Hammond Lane, a pediatric urologist, provides sage conclusions:

Other cultures permit “honor killings;” would we tolerate these in this country just to be culturally sensitive? I know we do not! When you choose to immigrate, you choose to make changes in your life. Eliminating [female genital cutting/mutilation] is one change that must be made.


Exit Question: If the female anatomy is somehow preserved after subjecting a girl to ritual nicking, how will you have satisfied those who object to "surgically unaltered" girls?



More


The Kindest Cut: In Colorado, a surgeon helps restore feeling—and so much more—to victims of female genital mutilation.

Dr. Pascale Hammond Lane: Culture Clashes and the AAP

Cultural Bias in Responses to Male and Female Genital Surgeries

From an article in the Seattle Times: "Anyone who thinks this is wrong or weird is not respecting my culture or my religion or who I am," she says, "and they should be educated."

“Girls get only a little heinous physical and psychological trauma, and their guardians get to practice their violent misogyny, just in a slightly less violent way. Yay for compromise!”


Dena Davis
Office Phone: 216-687-2312
e-mail: dena.davis@law.csuohio.edu


Updates

1. A perfect storm of multiculturalism and idiotic moral equivalence: An interview with Dena Davis in which Davis attempts to construct a rationale for her deliberately provocative publicity stunt (5.14.10)

2. The AAP has retracted support for female genital mutilation (5.17.10):

"The AAP does not endorse the practice of offering a 'clitoral nick.' This minimal pinprick is forbidden under federal law and the AAP does not recommend it to its members."

[emphasis added]

A stronger statement would have been encouraging.

Whether it's legal or illegal (and whether it's minimal or maximal) the AAP should not be endorsing ritual nicking, pricking, slicing, cutting or mutilation.

Physicians should not perform procedures that have no medical purpose...especially on children...especially on their genitals...especially when it's part of an atavistic ritual.

3. S.F. Circumcision Ban: Anti-Semitic?