Sunday School: Every Sperm Is Sacred?

Our good friend The Other McCain draws our attention to a persuasive article by Kathryn Lopez in which Lopez discusses the war between conservative Republicans and Planned Parenthood. This is the heart of her message:

We've come to expect less for and from ourselves, and for and from one another. In part, it's the fruit of the contraceptive pill. New York magazine recently observed in a cover feature: "The pill is so ingrained in our culture today that girls go on it in college, even high school, and stay on it for five, 10, 15, even 20 years." That, of course, has had all kinds of fallout: a false sense of freedom, security. And it has ravaged women's fertility, as it seeks to mute exactly what women's reproductive power is all about.

That's why I want to turn back the clock -- to a time when we valued love and marriage and didn't expect, support and even encourage promiscuity. Life and history don't work that way, obviously, there is no actual rewind. But we do have opportunities to learn from our mistakes.

Kathryn Lopez makes several good points in her Town Hall piece on contraception, so go read the rest.

The Other McCain takes K-Lo's argument a big step further:

The very name Planned Parenthood expresses the idea that they are offering something somehow superior to unplanned parenthood, that there is something wrong and inferior about letting nature take its course in matters of reproduction or — as Christians would say — recognizing God’s sovereignty as the Author of Life.

If God’s will is involved from the beginning in our lives, if God has known us even in the womb, as the Psalmist says, then at some level we must acknowledge that contraception involves a rejection of God.

This, to me, is not persuasive.

Sexuality blossoms very early in life these days. Am I thwarting the will of God if I don't marry off my daughter at puberty so that she can let nature take its course?

I'm not sure how one can fully "recognize God’s sovereignty" and avoid "a rejection of God" by McCain's standard without marrying during childhood so as to capture every moment of sexuality within the context of holy matrimony.

If two fertile high school kids "fall in love" and decide to remain perfectly chaste outside of marriage and decide that they will delay marriage until they can afford to have sex without contraception, have they chosen to prevent nature from taking its course?

Getting the the heart of the matter with rhetorical questions: Isn't abstinence a form of contraception? As the only form of contraception that is 100% effective, is post-pubertal sexual abstinence the most complete rejection of God's sovereignty?

Memeorandum thread

*Update: This post underwent minor changes for purposes of clarity.

X-posted

Rule 5 Video: Electro Hip-Hop Tyranny Remix

Colonel Qaddafi tears it up:

Noy Alooshe, 31, an Israeli journalist, musician and Internet buff, said he saw Colonel Qaddafi’s televised speech last Tuesday in which the Libyan leader vowed to hunt down protesters “inch by inch, house by house, home by home, alleyway by alleyway,” and immediately identified it as a “classic.”

“He was dressed strangely, and he raised his arms” like at a trance party, Mr. Alooshe said Sunday in a telephone interview, referring to the gatherings that feature electronic dance music. Then there were Colonel Qaddafi’s words with their natural beat.

Mr. Alooshe spent a few hours at the computer, using pitch corrector technology to set the speech to the music of “Hey Baby,” a song by the American rapper Pitbull, featuring another artist, T-Pain. Mr. Alooshe titled it “Zenga-Zenga,” echoing Colonel Qaddafi’s repetition of the word zanqa, Arabic for alleyway.

By the early hours of Wednesday morning, Mr. Alooshe had uploaded the electro hip-hop remix to YouTube, and he began promoting it on Twitter and Facebook, sending the link to the pages of young Arab revolutionaries. By Sunday night, the original clip had received nearly 500,000 hits and had gone viral.

Memeorandum discussion

X-posted

America The Conservative

Today Gallup released new poll results that show that America is still overwhelmingly conservative. A summary of Gallup's findings:

• In the nation as a whole, Americans are about twice as likely to identify as conservative as they are to identify as liberal...
• Conservatives outnumber liberals in every U.S. state.
• Only in the District of Columbia do liberal identifiers exceed conservative identifiers.

And yet...

Our liberal president, formerly the most liberal member of the Senate, is lurching to the statist left, again.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is now at the top the list of the U.S. Senate's most liberal senators.

And the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives is one of the most liberal congresscritters in the land.

Democrats do not flinch in their quest to acquire undiluted statist power for the liberal left.

But Republicans are reluctant to respond to the demands of the voters by offering a clear alternative. Rather than diminish the size and scope of the state, many of the darlings of the Republican establishment and their admirers in the GOP punditry would prefer to water down the conservative movement.

Republican good ol' boys shy away from the conservative label and call for compromise even before negotiations begin. They call for a self-imposed unilateral truce on difficult issues. They offer to help their self-declared enemies. They praise the opposition.

They want a clear and easy path to power.

The unmitigated liberal statism of our federal government is not a reflection of the values of the citizens of this country, but of the power-greedy ruling class of both parties and the cowardice of the Republican party.

Discussion: Memeorandum

X-posted

I am Mitch Daniels, Hear Me Purr!

I've been warning folks about Mitch Daniels. Warning, warning, warning. Fortunately for those of us who have been ringing the alarms, Mitch Daniels has essentially committed political suicide. Hopefully it will now be a bit easier to persuade fellow conservatives that Mitch is not our man.

Yesterday, Mitch Daniels opened the door to a presidential bid...

During an interview at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association here over the weekend, Daniels said he has now been persuaded to keep open the door to a possible candidacy.

...and then he promptly slammed that door shut after throwing Scott Walker under the bus:

Democrats went into a behind-closed-doors meeting Monday, refusing to return to the floor. Today, sources told The Indianapolis Star that Democrat lawmakers have left the state.

Daniels, a Republican, supported their right to deny Republicans a quorum to do business and the rights of labor unions to protest at the Statehouse.

“The activities of today are perfectly legitimate part of the process,” he said. “Even the smallest minority, and that’s what we’ve heard from in the last couple days, has every right to express the strength of its views and I salute those who did.”

Mitch is so desperate to be "liked" by Democrats that he's willing to salute the fleebaggers? What a wuss!

...right at the moment when Scott Walker is being treated like a conquering hero by conservatives across the country for standing up to the unions and the Democratic fleebaggers, Mitch Daniels is faced with the exact same situation and he's choosing to give in. To find someone who was routed as clearly as Daniels was here, you have to go all the way back to France in WW2.

Even Jim Geraghty (once a starry-eyed Mitch Daniels apologist) is finally seeing the light.

Color me extremely disappointed with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels right now...

...a concession to Democrats on major reforms like these will spur a lot of talk about Daniels’ toughness, or whether he’s too conciliatory to an opposition that has gone completely off the rails, or more accurately, out of the state….

I hope George Will (a Scott Walker admirer) will soon see the light too.

Headlines:

The Other Mccain: Mitch Daniels Boomlet Ends

Hot Air: Apparently, Mitch Daniels not running for president.

Say Anything: Mitch Daniels Caves

More:

Right Wing News: The End Of Mitch Daniels’ Presidential Aspirations

The Roughblog: Mitch Daniels is a Coward

Mark Levin: "Mr. Daniels, you get a little ‘x.’ You’re too weak."

Memeorandum discussion

X-posted

Update: David Brooks, known for his "bromance" with Barack Obama, lurves him some Mitch.

Organized Medical Fraud at Wisconsin Protests

Elizabeth Kvach, MD

Many of the protesters at the Capitol in Wisconsin have been cheating their students by playing hooky, shafting their coworkers by skipping out, and defrauding the taxpayers by malingering. They did this so that they could attempt to overturn last November's elections while evading some of the consequences of abandoning their professional responsibilities.

Foolishly putting their medical licenses at risk, several left-wing physician activists were on site at the Capitol, perpetrating and facilitating fraud by indiscriminately handing out doctor's work excuses by the boxful.

This fraudulent political operation was apparently organized by faculty and medical residents at the University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine. All of the perpetrators postitively identified thus far (including the residency program director in Madision!) have been linked directly with UW DFM.

Here is the UW DFM Hall of Shame:

Kathy Oriel, MD

(video, bio/contact info)

James H Shropshire, MD

(video, bio/contact info)

Lou Sanner, MD, MSPH

(video, bio/contact info)

Hannah Keevil, MD

(note, bio/contact info)

Patrick McKenna, MD

(video, photo, bio/contact info)

Elizabeth Kvach, MD

(video, bio/contact info)

Stay tuned for updates as additional statist quacks are identified.

As an important side note, I'll point out that Dr. Hannah Keevil is a radical left-wing PNHP supporter (Physicians for a National Health Program).

I'd like to paraphrase the lefties at PNHP who scolded Congressman Andy Harris for making a smart rhetorical point about federally-funded health care coverage...

Our medical school admissions committees need to set the bar higher. All applicants accepted should meet the standard of possessing common decency. Too bad Oriel, Shropshire, Sanner, Keevil, McKenna and Kvach snuck through.

What these physicians have perpetrated is tantamount to a stain on their profession. It undermines the legitimacy of the confidential patient-doctor relationship. They probably violated a slew of HIPAA laws and regulations.

If I were one of their patients, I'd be wondering just how many ethical boundaries my doctor would be willing to trample. If I were a physician in training at the UW DFM, I'd be wondering if my supervising physician would be willing to trample ethical boundaries in order to make me pay for my unwillingness to toe the liberal line.

Update I: Radical quacks face investigation by Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing

Update II: UW Health says "[t]hese charges are very serious and in response, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, the UW Health entities that employ the physicians, have immediately launched an investigation of the reported behavior."

Update III: Organized Medical Fraud and the physicians' hall of shame discussed in theWashington Times (via Dr. Milton Wolf).

Update IV:

Six months after some UW Health doctors wrote questionable sick notes for protesters rallying against Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to limit public sector collective bargaining, UW-Madison hasn't finished disciplining the doctors.

The UW School of Medicine and Public Health has denied the State Journal's April 27 request for records of its investigation into the matter, saying a disciplinary hearing for one of the doctors hasn't occurred.

The medical school reviewed 22 UW Health doctors said to have been involved in giving medical excuses to protesters at the Capitol Feb. 19 for their absences from work or school. The Wisconsin Medical Society criticized the doctors' actions, saying they threatened the public's trust in the medical profession.

The medical school said April 26 that "several" of the doctors reviewed were found not to have participated, but their identities and those of the remaining doctors under investigation have not been disclosed.

Brian Vaughan, a university attorney, said last week that at least a dozen doctors received disciplinary action in late April or early May. He said he wasn't able to provide an exact tally...

In a separate investigation, the state Department of Safety and Professional Services reviewed 11 doctors said to have written sick notes and launched formal investigations into eight of them, the department announced on April 20.

Safety and Professional Services spokesman John Murray said last week that the investigations will be presented to the Medical Examining Board in October. If the board takes disciplinary action, the cases will be made public, Murray said.

(August 28, 2011)

More

Everyone's favorite legal beagle, Instapundit and everyone's favorite Ivy League legal professor, William Jacobson weigh in.

X-posted

Hacks and Quacks

Dr. Zero*

Here's a taste of what we can expect from the leftist medical hacks who will shape and control Obama's brave new health care world:

This is wrong on many levels. These physicians are a disgrace to their profession.

MacIver News Service provides this report:

As tens of thousands of public employees skipped work this week to attend protest rallies outside the Wisconsin State Capitol, many wondered if they would face any disciplinary action for unexcused absences.

On Saturday, a group of men and women in lab coats purporting to be doctors were handing out medical excuse notes, without examining the ‘patients.’

“I asked this doctor what he was doing and he told me they were handing out excuses to people who were feeling sick due to emotional, mental or financial distress,” said Christian Hartsock. “They never performed an exam–he asked me how I was feeling today and I said I’m from California and I’m not used to the cold, so he handed me a note.”

Another woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said they were handing out excuses like they were leaflets...

Based on an examination of the signature and medical license number provided, one of the men handing out these notes was purporting to be James H Shropshire MD, a Clinical Associate Professor at the University Wisconsin Madison.

The gap-toothed quack in the video surely looks like this James Shropshire to me:

Office phone: (608) 222-8779

Email: james.shropshire@uwmf.wisc.edu

Here are some off-the-record reactions from physicians who think integrity matters...

"If they are real MD/DOs, they should lose their license. If they are medical students, they should be expelled. If they are impersonating doctors, they should be charged with practicing without a license."

"I hope someone goes after these 'doctors'. Whether you agree with the teachers or not, this is giving all doctors a bad name..."

"I actually think we should show integrity no matter what. I would not condone faking [a note] for any reason. On a personal opinion note.... I say to hell with the stupid pension system. I am a burdened taxpayer."

"I think the Obamamessiah shot himself in the foot coming out so strongly for the unions. It may keep his unions pals happy, but I don't think independents will be very impressed with the [lawlessness] and deceit that the dems have shown in this situation."

"If true, it would not surprise me as [Shropshire] is a university doc. An interesting poll would be the political mindset split between university and private practice and smaller group physicians."

*Addendum:

James Shropshire's bio:

Dr. Shropshire is an Associate Clinical Professor in the UW Department of Family Medicine, and has been practicing at the UW Health-Monona clinic for over 15 years. He grew up in Monona, went to undergrad at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN, Medical School here at the UW, and then returned to St. Paul for Residency with the University of Minnesota. He practices a full range of family medicine, including hospital work, obstetrics, office surgeries and family-centered primary care with special interest in Sports Medicine and prevention. He is fluent in Spanish and coordinates an international health rotation in Belize. Dr. Shropshire also teaches medical students, acting as director of one semester of the Patient Doctor and Society (PDS) Course. He also works closely with medical students as a mentor in the Academic and Careers Advising Program (ACAP) in the Medical School. He loves music, playing guitar and saxophone in a local band, Leeding Zeros, and has a wife and two children that also keep him very busy outside the practice.

[Emphasis added]

Commentary from everyone's favorite conservative legal beagle, Instapundit:

If the doctor involved is actually signing these, he should be brought before the medical licensing board. I would imagine that criminal prosecution is possible, too. And if his name is being forged, then somebody else is a criminal. Either way, if teachers turn in excuses signed by Dr. Shropshire, further inquiry is merited . . .

I think we're looking at a very small "if" in this case.

Memeorandum thread

X-posted

Update:

Commentary from the Happy Hospitalist...

Now I hear doctors are writing fake medical excuse notes to give rally protesters protection from employers (such as the government supported with tax dollars) who don't find it acceptable for their employees to go spend valuable company/government time protesting their political views. What a flagrant abuse of power by doctors who hide behind their cloak of doctor-patient confidentiality in the name of political motivation...

To make matters even worse, what we have here is theft of state taxpayers' money. Every protester who doesn't show up for work but brings back a sick note is stealing money from the government. In fact, the 14 Democrats who left state lines on the clock could even be considered felons for stealing their salaries and crossing state lines.

(h/t Pundit Press)

Update II:

Another Wisconsin quack, Patrick McKenna, D.O. (video here, picture here, bio here)

Update II:

Introducing yet another Wisconsin quack, Kathy Oriel, M.D. (video, bio) h/t: the Right Sphere

Update III:

Another inductee into the fake doctor's note hall of shame: Hannah Keevil, M.D. (note, bio). Dr. Hannah Keevil is a radical left-wing PNHP physician (Physicians for a National Health Program).

I'd like to paraphrase the lefties at PNHP who scolded Congressman Andy Harris for making a smart rhetorical point about federally-funded health care coverage...

Our medical school admissions committees need to set the bar higher. All applicants accepted should meet the standard of possessing common decency. Too bad James Shropshire, Patrick McKenna, Kathy Oriel, and Hannah Keevil snuck through.

Rhetorical exit question... Do these dishonest doctors have medical malpractice insurance that covers "street medicine"?

Update IV:

Hall of Shame

You can take the community organizer out of the community, but you can't take the community organization out of the community organizer

by the Left Coast Rebel

Isn't it amazing to see the same guy who has constantly railed against the banksters, business and Wall Street, now standing 100% behind groups across the nation that fleece local, state and federal taxpayers on a 1000x magnified scale? Yes, I'm talking about America's unions and it makes me think something of our Leader:

You can take the community organizer out of the community, but you can't take the community organization agitation out of the community organizer.

The spread-the-wealth cavalry has arrived in Madison and Obama and co. sent 'em.

Washington Post:

President Obama thrust himself and his political operation this week into Wisconsin's broiling budget battle, mobilizing opposition Thursday to a Republican bill that would curb public-worker benefits while planning similar action in other state capitals.

Obama accused Scott Walker, the state's new Republican governor, of unleashing an "assault" on unions in pushing emergency legislation that would nullify collective-bargaining agreements that affect most public employees, including teachers.

The president's political machine worked in close coordination Thursday with state and national union officials to mobilize thousands of protesters to gather in Madison and to plan similar demonstrations in other state capitals....

By the end of the day, Democratic Party officials were working to organize additional demonstrations in Ohio and Indiana, where an effort is underway to trim benefits for public workers. Some union activists predicted similar protests in Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania....

The White House political operation, Organizing for America, got involved Monday, after Democratic National Committee Chairman Timothy M. Kaine, a former Virginia governor, spoke to union leaders in Madison, a party official said.

The group made phone calls, distributed messages via Twitter and Facebook, and sent e-mails to its state and national lists to try to build crowds for rallies Wednesday and Thursday, a party official said.

Need a briefing on the basics of this story? David Boaz at Cato has a great summation of the goings-on in Madison, Wisconsin, (emphasis mine):

Newly elected Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has introduced what he calls a "budget repair" plan that would, among other things, require state employees to pay about 5.8% toward their pension (about the private sector national average) and about 12% of their healthcare benefits (about half the private sector national average) and restrict the collective bargaining powers of government-employee unions. In response, as many as 25,000 state workers and their supporters have been protesting in and around the state Capitol.

Wow, that sure sounds revolutionary, doesn't it? God forbid that state employees in Wisconsin pay 5% toward their pensions and half the national average toward their health care benefits! Talk about greed and selfishness, to think that the unions would not being willing to "pay their fair share" and do their part for the "common good" as our nation suffers from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

Professor William Jacobson calls it correctly, "Obama acted stupidly in picking sides against taxpayers." I think that Americans are not in the mood to entertain union-thug demands and as the nation wakes from a deep, pre-bankruptcy slumber, the fury directed toward nefarious, taxpayer-fleecing public unions will be swift and just.

America stands by Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin and the good people of the Badger State that have drawn a line in the sand.

Cross posted to LCR.

Herman Cain Moved Them To Tears

Herman Cain made such an indelible mark at CPAC, I'm compelled to post his speech in its entirety with some of the reactions from the internets. First, the speech with a brief intro from Ed Morrissey:

"If you watch one speech in its entirety, this may be the one to choose. Herman Cain, so far the only declared candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, stole the show yesterday with his speech in the late afternoon. People left the ballroom saying that he moved them to tears..."

WATCH THIS:

Wondering why Cain was showing his sleeves? His explaination via his twitter feed is, "I told y'all I don't have any tricks up my sleeve. No TelePrompter required..."

Roughly two hours before businessman Herman Cain is scheduled to take the stage at CPAC, he still doesn't know exactly what he's going to say.

Cain told Hotline on Call that he prefers when giving major speeches to let the audience dictate his message, a free-wheeling style that's practically unheard of among presidential hopefuls.

"I have some idea of what I'm going to say, of course," Cain said, laughing. "My outline is in my mind. I already know the first 80 percent of what I'm gonna talk about, but that last 20 percent I don't figure out until after I get in front of the audience. I like to get a feel for the audience and read their reaction to certain things, and based upon their reaction I'll decide where to go next."

Cain's speech rocked the crowd. Predictably, the paranoid, race-obsessed left wing is wetting their pants:

Let’s consider the routine. First, Cain enters the stage to Motown music. Then Cain feigns swimming after rolling up his sleeves to show them his black skin and how he is a hardworking negro (not like those other ones). Cain bellows in a preacher affected voice and channels the folksy negro down home accent of his late grandpappy. In the money shot, Cain gives the obligatory “black folks who are not Republicans are on the plantation” speech to the joyous applause of his White benefactors. And he doubles down by legitimating any opposition to President Barack Obama as virtuous and patriotic regardless of the bigoted well-springs from which it may flow.

Meanwhile, the daft punks at Politico pretend to be nonplussed:

He had one or two memorable lines, such as: “Stupid people are ruining America.” But one or two middling zingers do not a credible candidate make. Given his flat performance, Cain’s going to have to work extra-hard going forward to win a place in the 2012 process.

I marvel at the lengths to which white liberals will go to abuse and discredit their black conservative enemies. They rarely treat white conservatives in the same demeaning fashion.

Unlike the Democratic activists who write for Politico, John Hayward actually witnessed the speech:

He was a formidable presence when he took the stage on Friday.

Other people talk or shout from the stage, but Cain sings. He doesn’t deliver lines to them like Mitt Romney, or feed off their energy like Donald Trump. He belts out the music of his vision, and invites the audience to sing along, or at least tap their feet to his rhythm...

He mentioned he has lived on this Earth for 65 years, but when he sings of America, he loses fifteen years in the blink of an eye.

More reactions to Herman Cain's CPAC speech:

The Boston Herald: "...Riveting."

The Right Scoop: "Herman Cain gave an electric speech..."

"Herman Cain Rocks CPAC"

Nice Deb: "...Herman Cain is my pick for 2012. Listen to this, and tell me if don’t agree."

Finally, more hate-filled trepidation from the left.

Vintage footage: Herman Cain vs. Bill Clinton...

X-postedMore Discussion

Stupid People Are Ruining America

Highlights from Herman Cain's CPAC speech:

UPDATE: Don't miss the rest of this great speech!

Reactions to Romney at CPAC

Mixed reactions to Mitt Romney's CPAC speech via Twitter:

Dozens of CPAC kids more interested in a fake Palin than a real Romney: http://politi.co/exv3Xk ~ jmartpolitico

Romney looks and sounds presidential, but *IS* he presidential? ~ sistertoldjah

• No, he's RINO ~ tatt2d

Hi. I'm Mitt "Individual Mandate" Romney. Watch me lose tens of millions of dollars in a pointless effort to become president! ~ jpodhoretz

Romney wants the presidency so bad, I'm almost inclined to vote for the poor guy. Like a four year pity date or something. ~ resnikoff

I really, really like Romney, I voted for him in '08. I just can't get past MassCare. ~ CraigR3521

The best part about Romney getting the nomination in 2012 is that he'll lose & we'll finally be rid of him. ~ BrentTeichman

Romney CPAC cheat sheet: Good things--America, federalism, free enterprise, founders. Bad things--Europe, organic food, Chicago, apologies ~ khennessey

ROMNEY trying to re-create himself into a Conservative from a RINO. Don't believe it. Remember ROMNEYCARE. ~ SueDinNY

Funny to hear Romney talk about Obama reinventing himself ~ GarrettQuinn

• Best joke in the speech so far! ~ LizMair

Mitt Romney will never apologize for America. Will he apologize for Mitt Romney versions 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0? ~ MattCover

Mitt Romney will never apologize for America. Okay, but will he apologize for the individual mandate idea? ~ stackiii

I wonder why Romney didn't tout his highly successful health care reforms at CPAC11 ~ imillhiser

Why isn't Mitt Romney talking about the abject failure of government-run health care? Does he want me to? I will... #handsoff ~ stackiii

Romney: These job fairs and unemployment lines are president Obama’s Hoovervilles and they’ve got to end. ~ jnsmall

CPAC Romney: Limited government is the answer! Hmmm... RomneyCare = Limited government? ~ RightKlik

Romney hasn't figured out how to explain Mass.' Romneycare (quite similar to ObamaCare). Never mentioned it in CPAC speech. ~ CTuckerAJC

Romney slams Obama's "they get, we give diplomacy" at CPAC ~ TobyHarnden

Romney hasnt officially announced. His speech uses conditional tense in ref to presidential run. #GrammarNerd ~ ProLifePolitics

VOTE FOR MITT! The man who couldn't beat the man who couldn't beat Obama! ~ RichardMcenroe

Hard to believe Mitt Romney is 63 ~ JimGeraghty

• Even harder to believe he's a Republican! ~ ironelbow

Mitt Romney just shook my hand and I asked him how I can get my hair like his. He said, "Your hair is just as great." ~ RyanRMiner

Donald Trump needs to ask Mitt Romney who makes his hair. ~ sarahbellumd

X-posted

I Found RINO Droppings at CPAC

I'm here at CPAC, where everyone is [supposedly] conservative. But apparently, some RINOs have wandered into the herd of 11,000:

I cannot attest to whether David Frum and his supporters are sane, but conservative they are not. NTTAWWT, but this is the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Addendum:

How do you explain this? A CPAC straw poll:

Five percent is 5% too much!

Perhaps not coincidentally, I did spot Eleanor Clift lurking in the shadows earlier today.

X-posted

CPAC Theater: Iranium

I had the opportunity to view a screening of Iranium today at CPAC. Iranium is a well-crafted movie that presents a chilling perspective on the challenges presented by the apocalyptic extremists who run Iran. The film can be viewed online for free for a limited time:

View the trailer here.

The film's director, Alex Traiman, led a question and answer session after the screening.

Take home points:

1. Failure to address the threat posed by a nuclear Iran is not an option.

2. Containment is not a viable strategy.

This is a movie that deserves to go viral. You can by a DVD copy here.

Synopsis:

Iran's nuclear program presents a threat to international stability. Yet successive American administrations-Republican and Democratic alike-have misread the intentions and actions of the Iranian regime.

How dangerous is a nuclear Iran, even if it never detonates a weapon? What are the guiding principles of the Iranian leadership? To what lengths would the regime go to carry out its agenda? How far have Iran's leaders already gone to fund the world's most powerful terrorist organizations? And why have American leaders failed to gain the upper hand in relations with Iran during the past 30 years?

In approximately 60 minutes, Iranium powerfully reports on the many aspects of the threat America and the world now faces using rarely-before seen footage of Iranian leaders, and interviews with 25 leading politicians, Iranian dissidents, and experts on: Middle East policy, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation.

Iranium documents the development of Iran's nuclear threat, beginning with the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the ideology installed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

Iranium tracks Iran's use of terror as a tool of policy, beginning with the 444 day seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, through Iran's insurgent actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iranium details the brutal nature of the Iranian regime to its own citizens, and the Iranian people's desire to rejoin the international community.

Iranium outlines the various scenarios the greater Middle East and the Western world may face should Iran cross the nuclear threshold.

CPAC Theater Shedule

X-posted

Repeal ― or Make a Deal?

Wherein Mitch Daniels proposes a "truce" on ObamaCare in the Wall Street Journal:

Many of us governors are hoping for either a judicial or legislative rescue from this impending disaster, and recent court decisions suggest there's a chance of that. But we can't count on a miracle—that's only permitted in Washington policy making. We have no choice but to prepare for the very real possibility that the law takes effect in 2014...

If there's to be a train wreck, we governors would rather be spectators than conductors. But if the federal government is willing to reroute the train to a different, more productive track, we are here to help.

[emphasis added]

I'm not encouraged by Daniels' use of the word "miracle" to describe repeal of Obamacare. Does Daniels think that repeal of Obamacare would be a miracle because he thinks a Republican is unlikley to win the White House in 2012? Does he think Republicans would somehow fail to repeal Obamacare if Americans entrust the GOP with opportunity to do so?

I understand there's a need for a "Plan B," but I see no reason to suggest that a repeal of Obamacare would be miraculous, even if the courts don't make it especially easy for us. And speaking of miracles, I see no reason to think that Obama and the Democrats would ever agree to the truce that Daniels has proposed.

Pointing to some red meat in Daniels' article, Jim Geraghty assures us that Daniels' proposal to reform the reform is not an "acquiescence to the permanence of Obamacare."

I hope Jim is right. But Mitch Daniels has not earned a reputation for an appreciation for smaller government:

“He’s kind of a more of a ‘trains run on time’ kind of guy, like a balanced budget kind of guy. He wants the government to be efficient but he doesn’t necessarily want it to be smaller... I get a sense from some of the things he’s done that his political instincts aren’t quite where they should be in a terms of limited government point of view. ”

Unfortunately, this new truce proposal from Mitch Daniels seems to comport with his reputation.

While conservatives are working night and day to derail the ObamaCare express before it derails our economy and our freedom, Mitch Daniels is thinking of ways to ensure that the train shows up on time, telling the Obama administration that he's "here to help."

I don't like that.

PS: Remember, this isn't Daniels' first time calling for a unilateral truce.

Update: Good questions from Protein Wisdom...

Is this the GOP trial balloon for “principled” compromise?

And if so, is this the kind of conservative-friendly usurpation of liberties that the Republicans believe they can sell to country at large?

Update II: I should hasten to add that anyone running for the GOP nomination for POTUS should seriously be considering the options relating to defunding Obamacare.

Update III: Mark Levin: I can’t vote for Mitch Daniels (2-14-11)

Update IV: Mitch Daniels’s Obamacare Problem: "Why is Governor Daniels extending the hand of peace . . . when Obamacare has been mortally wounded in the courts and the U.S. House of Representatives?"

Memeorandum thread

X-posted

Butter, Guns AND Corporate Welfare

via WSJ

Skeptics in the statist democrat media (and even some RINOs) say tea partyers can't be serious about tackling the federal budget deficit unless they're prepared to commit political suicide by decimating Social Security and Medicare immediately. Senator Rand Paul begs to differ:

My proposal would first roll back almost all federal spending to 2008 levels, then initiate reductions at various levels nearly across the board. Cuts to the Departments of Agriculture and Transportation would create over $42 billion in savings each, while cuts to the Departments of Energy and Housing and Urban Development would save about $50 billion each. Removing education from the federal government's jurisdiction would create almost $80 billion in savings alone. Add to that my proposed reductions in international aid, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and other federal agencies, and we arrive at over $500 billion.

My proposal, not surprisingly, has been greeted skeptically in Washington, where serious spending cuts are a rarity. But it is a modest proposal when measured against the size of our mounting debt. It would keep 85% of our government funding in place and not touch Social Security or Medicare.

Rand is prepared to slash spending in the Defense Department:

My proposal would also cut wasteful spending in the Defense Department. Since 2001, our annual defense budget has increased nearly 120%. Even subtracting the costs of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, spending is up 67%. These levels of spending are unjustifiable and unsustainable.

It's time to end corporate welfare:

Consistently labeled for elimination, specifically by House Republicans during the 1990s, one of Commerce's main functions is delivering corporate welfare to American firms that can compete without it. My proposal would scale back the Commerce Department's spending by 54% and eliminate corporate welfare.

We have two choices. Get serious about big cuts or make the kids work as indentured servants for the Chinese:

First, if you believe a particular program should be exempt from these cuts, I challenge you to find another place in the budget where the same amount can feasibly be cut and we can replace it.

Second, consider this: Is any particular program, whatever its merits, worth borrowing billions of dollars from foreign nations to finance programs that could be administered better at the state and local level, or even taken over by the private sector?

So will we do this or should we tell the kids to start learning Chinese?

Memeorandum thread

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The President Who Stood By Our Side

From No Sheeples Here:

The Enemy in the White House: Treachery Alert

Remember when Barack Hussein promised "ruthless pragmatism"? Here's what that looks like:

The latest revelation from Wikileaks is the most damaging so far to the Anglo-American Special Relationship. The disclosure in The Telegraph today that the Obama Administration “secretly agreed to give the Russians sensitive information on Britain’s nuclear deterrent to persuade them to sign a key treaty” points to an astonishing betrayal of America’s closest friend and ally, that may have significant implications for the relationship between David Cameron and Barack Obama...

The matter is serious enough to merit Congressional hearings in Washington as well as parliamentary hearings in London. It is easy to see why the Obama team refused to allow the US Senate access to the negotiating documents for New START, as they would have sparked outrage on both sides of the Atlantic that would almost certainly have killed the Treaty. The Telegraph report clearly contradicts repeated claims by the Obama negotiating team that no side deals were struck with their Russian counterparts. Not for the first time, the current US administration has been eager to appease America’s enemies while shamelessly undercutting her allies.

When Obama asks for permission, he's not really asking:

According to the Telegraph’s report on the cables, the Obama administration asked permission of the British government to share the details of their nuclear program, and were refused. The Obama administration agreed to do it anyway without letting the UK know.

Obama's every move weakens America and diminishes the freedom of individual Americans. We have an enemy in the White House.

Reactions from the conservasphere...

Nice Deb: "Holy crap."

Ed Morrissey: "Congress should immediately investigate this, and if possible the Senate should revoke its ratification of START."

Gateway Pundit: "The state-run media won’t touch this."

William Teach: "One thing we can expect is that the UK media will surely stop giving Obama and preferential treatment..." Let's hope so!

Thanks a lot, Corker! Have you started looking for your next job yet?

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Rule 5 Video: Name That Band

Can you name this band? The image above is a hint. Another hint after the video...

This is a rare full-length version of this music video. I found a portion of the video on Dailymotion, but the Dailymotion clip only contains the first half. After I searched for about two hours, I found the video in its entirety on the director's website.

In celebration of the oft-forgotten MEGO clause of Rule 5:

B. Mind the MEGO factor -- All politics all the time gets boring after a while. Observant readers will notice that the headlines at Hot Air often feature silly celebrity tabloid stuff and News Of The Weird. Even a stone political junkie cannot subsist on a 24/7 diet of politics...it's a safety valve to make sure we don't become humorless right-wing clones of those Democratic Underground moonbats.

*Hint 2: This band was featured on the soundtrack of this movie:

Three Cheers for Judicial Deactivism

Time to coin some new terms...

Unless you've been under a rock for the past 24 hours, you know that Federal Judge Roger Vinson ruled against Obamacare in its entirety. The Marxist left, including the White House, has accused Judge Vinson of extreme "judicial activism" and of "legislating from the bench."

Hilarious!

Do lefties have any idea what the words "activism" and "legislating" mean?

In essence, Judge Vinson deactivated unconstitutional legislation.

Perhaps we should call that judicial deactivation. Alternatively, you might say that Vinson wasunlegislating from the bench.

I say it's GOOD NEWS.