Controlling the Birth Control Debate

First the Planned Parenthood-Komen kerfuffle, now contraception?  Who would have thought 1 year ago that we would be battling the culture wars again 9 months before a presidential election when the economy's in the tank.  Well, maybe Obama.  And that's the point.  As Dick Morris said this week:

It's a deliberately calculated move on his part.  The Democrats realized that abortion is no longer a winner for them.  So what they're trying to do now is replace it with contraception.

So far it seems to be working - not only are they distracting from Obama's economic and foreign policy failures, they're trying to wedge moderates against the GOP on social issues.  It astounds me that Obama and liberals have been able to turn the truth of an Obamacare mandate forcing religious objectors to pay for contraception into the hysterical liberal lie that REPUBLICANS WANT TO BAN CONTRACEPTION!!!!11!

[Glenn Reynolds: "It’s as if we passed a law requiring mosques to sell bacon and then, when people objected, responded by saying 'What’s wrong with bacon? You’re trying to ban bacon!!!!'"]

No one is trying to ban contraception or access to it!  They are trying to stop the government from forcing not only religious groups for whom it is a mortal sin but ALL Americans to pay for it (through increased health insurance premiums) to be "free" (no co-pay).

A woman who works for the Catholic church is not "banned" from getting contraception; she has access to it, she just can't get the church to foot the bill.  If she wants contraception she can pay out of pocket. And don't give me the "what if she has to choose between buying birth control pills or eating dog food??!" sob story, there are plenty of pharmacies that offer discounts and free clinic programs that help low income women - she could even go down to her local high school and grab some free condoms from the office basket for all I care!  [Update: 2 recent headlines: California counties get federally-funded teen mail-order condom program and Pa. vending machine dispenses 'morning-after' pill]  Bottom line: with or without this mandate, contraception will remain available and accessible, the only difference is who pays for it, how, and at what price.

There is absolutely no reason for contraception to be universally free on demand for anyone who wants it and certainly no reason - logically or morally - for the government to unilaterally force insurers give it out free.  Granting this kind of power to the federal government is truly troubling - and it should be a concern no matter which ideological end of the spectrum you sit.  Turn about is fair play.

Hey liberals: You know that if the Obamacare law has the power to mandate the right to free birth control, it also has the power to ban it, right?  As Rush Limbaugh said, "Obamacare could ban contraception. Once Obamacare is implemented, the government can make any change unilaterally it wants."  As in, the next president, (oh, let's REALLY give them chills!) maybe Santorum, can not only change that mandate, but replace it with whatever other mandate he wants because the law gives him that power. As they say, "A government big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away."

If the government can force insurers to cover birth control for free, and can force you to buy health care, what CAN'T it force companies and citizens to do?  I am very afraid that if the Supreme Court does not declare Obamacare unconstitutional we will find out.

UPDATE: Last year Jenny Erikson wrote about her experience buying birth control even though (GASP!) her insurance didn't cover it, and she says of the mandate:

This isn’t about helping women obtain contraceptives; this is about exerting control over yet another portion of U.S. business. Women already have access to birth control for little or no money. Medicaid (government-sponsored medical care for those that meet income guidelines) covers contraceptives. Planned Parenthood hands out condoms like they’re candy. Walmart fills birth control pill prescriptions for as little as $9 per month.
...
The only thing this birth control mandate will do is remove the cost of contraceptives from women that can afford it, and shift it to everyone else in the form of their premiums going up. Which means that people barely managing their payments every month will have to scrimp elsewhere, or drop their coverage and get on the government plan. After all, it will soon be illegal to be without health insurance.

UPDATE!!!  I just wrote this follow up:

Part 2: Debunking the Myth that 99% of Women Are Using Birth Control

Part 3: No, Planned Parenthood, Birth Control is NOT "Basic Health Care"

Read it!!!

Pelosi in the Pocket of "Big Alt"

While Nancy Pelosi called House Republicans in the #dontgo movement, (aka Texas Tea Party, aka phantom Congress, aka whatever-you-want,) "the handmaidens of the oil companies," it appears that she herself is a handmaiden to alternative fuels. More specifically: T. Boone Pickens' corp.


It has come to light that she has invested $50,000-$100,000 in the very technology she now attempts to impose on the American people; technology that stands to benefit from high gas prices and which will in turn benefit her. No wonder she refuses to hold a vote on a comprehensive energy plan that includes offshore drilling. Or as she says, it's all in the name of "trying to save the planet."
.

Obama Gaffes - new website list

There is an official Barack Obama Gaffes site run by the GOP that lists all the gaffes that I've featured in my blog as well as many, many others, separated into different categories. Here are just a few:

On May 13, Obama Mistakenly Said That Arabic Translators Deployed To Iraq Were Needed In Afghanistan, When Afghans Don't Even Speak Arabic (They Speak Other Languages Including Pashtu, Dari, And Farsi) And Those Fighters That Do Are Shooting At Our Troops, Not Talking To Them. "Sporting a shiny new American flag pin at an appearance in Rush Limbaugh's hometown, Sen. Barack Obama came up with some novel reasons why the U.S. may be struggling in the war in Afghanistan. 'We don't have enough capacity right now to deal with it -- and it's not just the troops,' Obama, D-Ill., told a crowd in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Obama posited -- incorrectly -- that Arabic translators deployed in Iraq are needed in Afghanistan -- forgetting, momentarily, that Afghans don't speak Arabic. 'We only have a certain number of them and if they are all in Iraq, then its harder for us to use them in Afghanistan,' Obama said. The vast majority of military translators in both war zones are drawn from the local population. Naturally they speak the local language. In Iraq, that's Arabic or Kurdish. In Afghanistan, it's any of a half dozen other languages -- including Pashtu, Dari, and Farsi." (David Wright and Sunlen Miller, "Obama Gaffes On Iraq And Afghanistan," ABC News, 5/13/08)

In March 2008, Obama Falsely Claimed He Won The Michigan Democrat Primary When He Was Not On The Ballot

Obama Claimed He "Won Michigan." NBC's David Gregory: "But Senator, you have not demonstrated that you can decisively put the nomination away. You have also not demonstrated that you can win some of the big states that'll be important in the general election -- California, New York, Ohio." Obama: "Well, David, we've won Michigan and Georgia and Illinois and Missouri." (NBC's, "Today Show," 3/5/08)

In July 2007, Obama Asked An Iowa Crowd "Anybody Gone Into Whole Foods Lately And See What They Charge For Arugula?" Even Though Iowa Does Not Have A Whole Foods. "'Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?' the senator said. 'I mean, they're charging a lot of money for this stuff.' The state of Iowa, for all of its vast food production, does not have a Whole Foods, a leading natural and organic foods market. The closest? Omaha, Minneapolis or Kansas City." (Jeff Zeleny, "Obama's Down On The Farm," The New York Times' "The Caucus" Blog, thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com, 7/27/07)

[Plus, arugula? IS that really the vegetable you want to single out?]

Related posts:

Obama-isms, or gaffes

More Obama Gaffes

Who am I? What committee am I on?

Obama Gaffes

Obama sees dead people

.

More Obama Gaffes

Here's audio of several Obama gaffes put together:

Who am I? What committee am I on?

Not only does he think he's president, he also thinks he's on the Senate Banking Committee:

"This past, uh, this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to, uh, call for divestment from Iran"

Obama is not on the Banking Committee!

Obama incorrectly claims membership of Senate committee

UPDATE: A longer excerpt

"Now, in terms of knowing my commitments [!], you don't have to just look at my words, you can look at my deeds. Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran, as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don't obtain a nuclear weapon."

He clearly doesn't know his commitments if he doesn't know which committees he's on or that he didn't even vote on this bill!

Idiot Pelosi Passes Buck on Energy Mess HER Party Continues to Prolong

Pelosi stands firm against offshore drilling

"The president of the United States, with gas at $4 a gallon because of his failed energy policies, is now trying to say that is because I couldn't drill offshore," Pelosi said in an interview. "That is not the cause, and I am not going to let him get away with it."

Because of HIS failed energy policies? Now that's the pot calling the kettle black! Who's the one raising taxes on productive oil companies, increasing ethanol mandates to the detriment of the world's poor and hungry, micromanaging the energy industry, and blocking oil exploration, Mrs. Pelosi? Which party came into office in 2006 claiming they were going to reduce energy prices and lo and behold, the price of gas went from $2.23/gal. in November 2006 to $4.10/gal. today?!

Drill, drill, drill and oil prices will come down!

Kick the Democrats out of office and they will come down even further!
.

No Guns = Knife Crimes

Taking away guns does not eliminate crime, it leaves innocent civilians with no means to protect themselves. In England, the criminals have merely moved on to knives and knife crime has become an epidemic.

The real truth about knife crime: Home Office claims it is stable but new figures show it up by 35 per cent in some areas

Our new figures show that almost every major city is facing soaring levels of stabbings and knifepoint muggings – casting doubt on Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s reassurances about the safety of our streets.

The data shows the problem is not confined to London – where 53 people have been stabbed to death so far this year – but is a rising concern in most urban areas.

...Six people were murdered by knives within 24 hours last week, four of them in London.

What are they going to do, ban knives? Well, yeah...

'Jail Anyone Who Carries A Knife'

The Conservative Party leadernow says anyone found carrying a knife should be jailed.

Last month the Prime Minister said everyone, from the age of 16 upwards, should be prosecuted for carrying a knife, but there was no mention of an automatic prison sentence.

...And, in an interview with The Sun, he said: "We have to send the strongest possible message that carrying a knife is completely unacceptable in Britain, end of subject."

He went on: "It is not a minor offence. There is no excuse for carrying a knife when you walk out of your door.

"We have a real problem of epidemic proportions. Eighteen kids in London have been stabbed to death this year. If we don't do something now it will go on and on."

First guns, now knives, what's next?

Related posts:
5-4?!
People Kill People

Baby Racists

Claim: Kids who say 'yuck' may be racist

Toddlers who say "yuck" when given flavorful foreign food may be exhibiting racist behavior, a British government-sponsored organization says.

The London-based National Children's Bureau released a 366-page guide counseling adults on recognizing racist behavior in young children, The Telegraph reported Monday.

The guide, titled Young Children and Racial Justice, warns adults that babies must also be included in the effort to eliminate racism because they have the ability to "recognize different people in their lives."

The bureau says to be aware of children who "react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying 'yuck'."

"Racist incidents among children in early years settings tend to be around name-calling, casual thoughtless comments and peer group relationships," the guide says.

Staff members are advised not to ignore racist actions and to condemn them when they occur.

Now babies aren't allowed to express preferences in food?! Is there anything left in this world that is NOT racist?

5-4?!

Are you kidding me?!?! Only 5 out of 9 justices can read an explicit sentence in the Constitution?! This should have been an easy 9-0 decision. If Obama is elected and gets to appoint more justices, I weep for the future.

Supreme Court says Americans have right to guns
Well, the Supreme Court said it so that makes it so, right liberals? Just like "fundamental human right" to abortion and sodomy? Oh, wait, those aren't actually IN the Constitution...

District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty responded with a plan to require residents of the nation's capital to register their handguns. "More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence," Fenty said.

Riiiiight. Because DC is such a violence-free paradise right now without guns. This is mind boggling. It has been established in study after study that more guns = less crime

In a dissent he summarized from the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the majority "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons."

Oh, really, yet, Justice Stevens, you "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate" abortion.

He said such evidence "is nowhere to be found."

Yeah, those Framers really just had so much faith and trust in government, they wanted to give elected officials as many possible tools to regulate civilian activity. Just like their pal King George! IDIOT!

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a separate dissent in which he said, "In my view, there simply is no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas."

Well, how come in your view there IS an untouchable constitutional right guaranteed to abortion - never once even remotely mentioned by the Founders, never mind in the Constitution?!

Who do you think now keeps loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas? Does he honestly think that just because there was a DC gun ban that no one had guns in DC? And that now all of a sudden criminals are going to come out of the woodwork to register their guns so that they can be prosecuted for past and future crimes?!

Chicago mayor Richard Daley said he didn't know how the high court ruling would affect the city, but said that the ruling was "a very frightening decision." He predicted an end to Chicago's handgun ban would spark new violence and force the city to raise taxes to pay for new police.

What's really very frightening is that your city was the country's "Murder Capital" in 2003. Good job, gun ban! Way to sacrifice human victims for the cause!

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a leading gun control advocate in Congress, criticized the ruling. "I believe the people of this great country will be less safe because of it," she said.

The country will only be more safe if they can defend themselves from criminals.

The comments from public officials are astoundingly stupid considering that since at least 2001 the city with the most murders has also "coincidentally" also had a gun ban (or in Philadelphia's case a concealed carry ban) - Detroit, DC, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia.

Just rationally think for a moment about what a gun ban actually does - it takes away guns from law-abiding citizens. Criminals and gangs do not just walk up to police officers and give up their guns. They know exactly how to get guns and they traffic them on the black market. It is pure fantasy to think a gun ban will mean fewer guns will be available for use in the commission of a crime.

And it's not as if no guns = no crime. In other countries where there are gun bans there are mass stabbing incidents. This leads to the shocking revelation that People Kill People

There is really a huge problem when I am 100 times smarter than 4 Supreme Court Justices and most politicians.

UPDATE:

Mayors: Gun ruling won't stop prevention efforts

"There are so many guns on the streets," said Pamela Bosely, a Chicago resident whose 18-year-old son Terrell was fatally shot in 2006. "If you didn't have the guns, we'd still have our children."

You're from CHICAGO! You HAVE a gun ban! And unfortunately it did nothing to protect your son.

Just your friendly neighborhood abortionists

Thank God we don't have those awful unsafe, inhumane "back alley" abortions anymore, huh? Roe v. Wade really cleaned up the abortion business!

Abortion Practitioner's License Suspended in Kentucky, Shuts Down Center

A Kentucky abortion practitioner engaged in such shoddy practices that state officials have temporarily suspended his medical license. The action comes after Hamid Hussain Sheikh pleaded not guilty in November to charges that he wrongly billed the state for abortions at his business.

...
In the course of the investigation, the Kentucky medical licensure board talked with numerous former patients who said he treated them poorly. The agency also found problems at his abortion center.


According to a WHAS-TV report, former patients told Kentucky officials Sheikh didn't perform ultrasounds prior to abortions, did a vaginal exam without sterile equipment, and several reported dirty clothing or saw blood on the equipment.


Most of the 22 patients interviewed say they didn't get pain pills or anesthesia prior to the abortion and 8 patients were not required to wait the 24 hours state law requires after getting information about abortion's risks and alternatives.

The television station reported that one woman complained Sheikh told her to "shut up" after experiencing pain during the abortion so other patients in the waiting room wouldn't hear her screams. The board's inspection of the Lexington abortion business found medications that had expired and bio-hazardous waste that has not been properly disposed in over 12 weeks.

Another Study Suggests Planned Parenthood at Fault in Abortion Drug Deaths

Another study suggests Planned Parenthood is at fault in the deaths of women in the United States from the abortion drug RU 486. The abortion business had been telling women to use the drug in a different way than the FDA guidelines suggested and the study shows it contributed to the deaths.

So far, eight women have died from the use of the abortion drug, including women going to Planned Parenthood abortion centers in California.

Planned Parenthood had been telling women to use the abortion drug vaginally, even though the FDA indicated oral use is safer for women.

It wasn't until four California women all died within a week of using the abortion drug they received from Planned Parenthood abortion businesses that it changed its policy to conform to the FDA protocol.

Abortion Center Owners Officially Charged With Doing Unlicensed Abortions

Two owners of a chain of abortion businesses in southern California were officially charged Friday with 10 felony counts of practicing medicine without a license and grand theft. Bertha Bugarin and her sister Raquel have pleaded not guilty to doing abortions despite not holding a medical license.

The pair face up to nine years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Bertha Pinedo Bugarin stands accused of telling women considering abortions that she was a licensed medical doctor. She also illegally prescribed the women drugs that only a licensed physician can prescribe.

Prosecutors said Bugarin's actions put women at risk and cited one case involving a woman who had to be rushed to the hospital because of a life-threatening medical condition.

"This defendant preyed on women in the Hispanic community," San Diego County Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis said during the Friday hearing, according to the Los Angeles Times. "By passing herself off as a doctor, she put these women's lives in serious danger."

...
She said one woman ultimately gave birth prematurely to a baby who lived for three hours before dying. A second paid $500 for an abortion and had to return a second time because the abortion procedure failed to remove all of the body of the unborn child.

According to the Times, Chula Vista Police Chief Rick Emerson led an investigation over a year into the Bugarins and he said patients "were subjected to pain and risk of great bodily injury because of Bugarin's lack of medical training."

Obama or Die

Barack Obama buzz sweeps through the BET Awards

"If we all register and vote, we will have the first black president in the history of America," Sean "Diddy" Combs told the crowd Tuesday at the Shrine Auditorium before chanting "Obama or Die" - a declarative remix of his neutral "Vote or Die" motto from the 2004 presidential election, when he attempted to boost the youth vote.

Truly, truly frightening

Obama Gaffes

It's time to highlight what is sure to be a running feature: Obama gaffes. As you're watching, close your eyes and imagine it is President Bush saying this stuff. Then imagine what the reaction would be ...

We'll start out with two from one speech over the weekend.

Obama attempts to discuss Iraq:



Obama tries to talk about health care:



Obama has been to 57 states in the US:



Oh, he's so eloquent and inspiring!

Immaculate Conception

You can imagine my reaction to this:

Fathers aren't needed say MPs: Commons decides IVF babies can do without a male role model

Fathers were last night effectively declared an irrelevance in modern Britain.

The requirement for fertility doctors to consider a child's need for a male role model before giving women IVF treatment was scrapped by MPs.

In a free vote, they swept away the rule despite impassioned pleas that the Government plan would "drive another nail into the coffin of the traditional family".

Labour rebels said it would send entirely the wrong signal to society as Britain faces a crisis in responsible parenting. The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, had warned it would remove the father from the heart of the family.

He accused the Government of putting the interests of "consumers" who want to become parents before the welfare of children. ...

Mr Duncan Smith said there is clear evidence that children growing up without fathers are more likely to fail in school, develop drug addiction and alcohol problems.

"This is common sense," he insisted. "All we are saying is, 'Take consideration of the need of a child for a father', not, "If you don't have a father you will never get treatment".'

No social good can come of this decision

I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!

[Parental advisory: bad lanuage]

What is up with all the bullsh*t in the media these days?! I'm going crazy!!!

U.N. racism investigator to visit U.S. from Monday

Bullsh*t! Go investigate the ethnic cleansing going on in Africa and the Middle East!

US soldier refuses to serve in 'illegal Iraq war'

Matthis Chiroux is the kind of young American US military recruiters love.

"I was from a poor, white family from the south, and I did badly in school," the now 24-year-old told AFP.

F*ck you, AFP, for editorializing bullsh*t ideas about people in the military that are demonstrably false! I thought we had debunked this crap when John Kerry fell into this trap!


Appeasement remark backlash puzzles White House

White House counselor Ed Gillespie told reporters aboard Air Force One Friday that he was surprised by the reaction of Democrats to remarks President Bush made at Israel’s Knesset. ...

The White House on Thursday was quick to state that the remarks were not aimed at Obama and Gillespie reiterated that a day after the speech.

“I’m surprised and curious as to the reaction,” he stated, adding, “The fact is that if you look at the words, they’re pretty consistent with what the president has said in the past, and frankly consistent with what many of them have said.”

Gillespie stated that some in the White House thought that the remarks would be interpreted as a rebuke to former president Jimmy Carter, who recently met with Hamas to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

He said the line about Nazi Germany was added to the speech because it was delivered to Israel’s parliament.

Get over yourself, Obama! All this feigned indignation over the President calling out appeasers - unfortunately, you're not the only worthless d*uche bag this applies to.


Opt-out fee for abortion urged

In the past two weeks, Harvard students opened their mailboxes to find a blue “opt-out” card as part of the Abortion Opt-Out Campaign of Harvard Right to Life (HRL). The initiative allows students to request a refund of the part of their Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) health insurance plan that funds elective abortions—one dollar per term. ...

For lots of students, the ability to obtain refunds from insurance due to moral convictions is troubling. Sean P. Mascali ’08, president of Students for Choice, said he thinks that students should not have this right.

How ironic, Students for Choice doesn't think students should have the choice to pay for abortions! The only choice "pro-choicers" ever support is abortion. When it comes to a woman's right to know, parental notification, taxpayer funded abortions, etc. they are against people CHOOSING. F*ck off, blood-thirsty hypocrites!


Ahhhh, I feel much better. Sorry for all the angry foul language!

Have a nice weekend!

Maybe he should have burned it

Idaho student says teacher tossed his Mexican flag in trash [Yeah, so?]

A high school student says he may file a lawsuit against a physical education teacher who took a Mexican flag he had brought for Cinco de Mayo and put it in the garbage.
...
Camelo said he then took the undamaged flag out of the garbage. He said he's been contacted by the American Civil Liberties Union and is considering a lawsuit against Straatman.

Of course, if it was an American flag, the ACLU would be rushing to defend the teacher instead. RIDICULOUS!
.

The Sins of the Mothers

As teenage pregnancies soar, meet the thirtysomething grandmothers

It wasn't the life Tara Bailee had in mind. Pregnant at 20, she had to resign herself to growing up quickly and learning about motherhood.

Then, at 36, she became a grandmother.

Her story may sound surprising, but Miss Bailee's is not an isolated case.

As a result of Britain's high teenage pregnancy rate - the worst in Europe - many women are becoming accustomed to looking after their grandchildren while still in their thirties - and without any sign of a husband.

...She is no longer with Rickeita's father. And Rickeita split with her daughter's father.

Pauline Huntingdon can sympathise. She was 34 when her 15-year-old daughter Leanne became pregnant.

Leanne split up with the father. Having children so young has meant the 38-year-old struggled financially and has never travelled abroad.

The new phenomenon raises questions about the social consequences of generations of children being brought up without fathers.

...Norman Wells, of Family and Youth Concern, said: "In previous generations it was not unusual for girls to marry and start having children in their late teens and early twenties, and for women to become grandparents in their late thirties.

"The key difference now is that most teenage pregnancies occur outside marriage and their children frequently lack the involvement of a committed father."

Ah, the destruction of the family unit. Leftists of the world, celebrate, your dreams are coming true!

But what has the dismantlement of marriage, the traditional family and religion gotten us? Not the progressive utopia that was promised, but children with "depression, anxiety, eating disorders and severe anti-social behaviour" and adults who don't know how to be good parents or set boundaries.

A narcissistic, nanny state, whatever-feels-good-is-right culture has wreaked havoc on the newest generations. And on it goes with no end in sight.

.

Thanks for the Food Crisis, Liberals!

Food prices are going up, people are hungry, riots are starting - all thanks to the liberal environmentalist do-gooders.

NY Sun Food Crisis Starts Eclipsing Climate Change Worries
Gore Ducks, as a Backlash Builds Against Biofuels

The campaign against climate change could be set back by the global food crisis, as foreign populations turn against measures to use foodstuffs as substitutes for fossil fuels.

...One factor being blamed for the price hikes is the use of government subsidies to promote the use of corn for ethanol production. An estimated 30% of America’s corn crop now goes to fuel, not food.

...Ethanol was initially promoted as a vehicle for America to cut back on foreign oil. In recent years, biofuels have also been touted as a way to fight climate change, but the food crisis does not augur well for ethanol’s prospects.

“It takes around 400 pounds of corn to make 25 gallons of ethanol,” Mr. Senauer, also an applied economics professor at Minnesota, said. “It’s not going to be a very good diet but that’s roughly enough to keep an adult person alive for a year.”...

NRO Let Them Eat Ethanol?
Behind the food fight.

It seemed like such a painless solution. It fits on a bumper sticker. In fact, I saw one yesterday: “Don’t burn fuel. Grow it.” The EU adopted a goal of producing 10 percent of its fuel for road transportation from biofuels by 2020. The U.S. government (cheered on by the agriculture industry and environmentalists) adopted a mandate of 36 billion gallons of biofuel production by 2022 — a five-fold increase over 2006 levels amounting to 28 percent of the U.S. grain harvest. Congress and the president joined hands to pass this feel-good legislation just when, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out, new data were demonstrating that biofuels cost more energy than they save. “…When the hidden costs of conversion are included, greenhouse-gas emissions from corn ethanol over the next 30 years will be twice as high as from regular gasoline. In the long term, it will take 167 years before the reduction in carbon emissions from using ethanol ‘pays back’ the carbon released by land-use change.”

Newsweek Sounds Good, But ...
We can't afford to make any more mistakes in how to 'save the planet.' Start by ditching corn ethanol.

...Even hybrid electric cars aren't a clear plus. If your outlet gets its juice from the standard U.S. electricity mix (half of which is generated by burning coal), hybrid electrics emit half the greenhouse gases as standard gasoline cars. But if your utility burns dirty coal inefficiently, hybrid electrics are worse. If you plug in at night, when most people do, you'll also be using more coal-generated electricity. Perhaps the greatest folly, in time lost and dollars wasted, has been the push for ethanol to replace gasoline. In the United States, almost all ethanol comes from corn. When you tote up the carbon emissions caused by clearing land to grow corn, fertilizing it and transporting it, corn ethanol leaves twice the carbon footprint as gasoline.

The greenwashing doesn't end there. Only half of all hybrid vehicles on the U.S. market are more fuel-efficient than their non-hybrid versions, researchers at the Union of Concerned Scientists find: some models pair a big gas-guzzling engine with hybrid technology in a way that enhances only performance, not fuel economy, explains UCS's David Friedman. "Don't assume that because something's a hybrid it's better for the environment," he says (though the Prius is). The Web site fueleconomy.gov sorts out the true greens from the impostors. ...

Thanks for the Student Loan Crisis, DEMOCRATS!

Another disastrous liberal policy based on an inability to understand basic market and economic principles hurts the people it's intended to help while lawmakers scramble to cover their behinds. As predicted by conservatives.

Truly outrageous - a must read!

WSJ: Bailout of the Year

Guess who's asking Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a bailout now? Hint: They are members of an exclusive club who bet wrong on the credit markets last fall. No, it's not a cabal of Wall Streeters, but Democrats in Congress.

We're referring to the "student loan crisis" now appearing in a media outlet near you. In September, Congress vowed to make education more affordable by passing the "College Cost Reduction and Access Act." [Somehow Democrats trying to make things more affordable always ends up making them more expensive] The law reduced the interest rates borrowers pay on federally insured student loans. ...

Convinced that the private lenders who make these loans were reaping too much profit, Congress also cut the yield on each loan. ...But the combination of legislative fiat and fewer investors willing to buy asset-backed securities amid the credit crunch has put the squeeze on lenders.

What's now clear is that Congress didn't merely wring the profits out of student lending. It's blown up the entire student loan market. Market leader Sallie Mae says it now loses money on every new federal education loan. ...

Others can't wait. A third of the nation's top 100 lenders to students in 2007 have temporarily suspended new loan originations or exited the business altogether. Citibank subsidiary Student Loan Corporation cited "unprecedented federal legislation" in announcing its recent withdrawal from much of the market. [Wait, if you take away the profitability of a produce, there is less incentive to provide it? Who'd have guessed!]

Usually, the law of unintended consequences takes so long to reveal itself that no one remembers the culprits. ...

Democrats would thus like to clean up the mess they created before May, when a flood of college-bound seniors will seek loans. But the pols can hardly repeal their autumn blunder mere moments after taking credit for it. No doubt many of them are still sending out taxpayer-financed mail bragging of their "achievement."

The result is that the same man who authored last year's bill to cut lenders' returns has crafted a new bill to subsidize those same lenders. ...

Daniel Akaka, Bob Casey, Tom Carper, Chris Dodd, Tim Johnson, Bob Menendez and Jon Tester are desperately seeking a bureaucrat with a large checkbook to rescue them from their self-made political disaster. ...

The Senators helpfully note in their letter that a virtue of their proposals is that they can be implemented quickly. Indeed, November is just around the corner.

Needless to say, none of this legislative history is appearing in the multiple media sob stories about students who can't get loans. But like airline passengers stranded this month due to panicky inspections, the current student loan "crisis" didn't have to happen. It is entirely a product of Congress.

This PERFECTLY embodies the great Ronald Regan quote:
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

Democrats thought the student lenders were getting "too much profit" (moving), so they regulated it. Now that has severely hurt the industry (stops moving), so Democrats want to subsidize it. How about cutting the crap and letting the market work the way it's supposed to?!

global WARming

I thought this was an excellent response to the current (April 28, 2008) Time magazine cover (pic coming as soon as Blogger fixes the problem with uploading images.) Time cares more about the war on "global warming" (hasn't it been changed to "climate changed" now that it's been proven that temperatures have cooled since 1998?) than the real War on Terror.

Green Politicization of Iwo Jima Photo Condemned by Black Veteran

Washington, D.C. - Kevin L. Martin, a member of the Project 21 black leadership network and a U.S. Navy veteran, is joining fellow veterans in denouncing the Earth Day-related cover art on the April 21 issue of Time magazine.

Time altered the famous flag-raising photo from Iwo Jima is altered to show Marines raising a tree rather than the American flag to highlight an article promoting activism favoring increased regulation to fight perceived man-made global warming.

"For Time to compare the politically-driven hoax about the severity of man-made global warming to one of most pivotal moments in American history is a slap in the face to the brave men who fought their way up Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi to plant our flag and send a clear message that victory in the long war in the Pacific was achievable," said Martin. "To callously use a famous military image so important to our nation's veterans with seemingly no concern for its impact on them shows just how far those promoters of this hoax will go." ...

"It is a shame that Time magazine is belittling the heroism of our World War II veterans to push for policies that may bring back unhappy homefront memories of that era such as food and energy rationing," added Project 21's Martin. "There has yet to be a real scientific debate on the contributions of man to any sort of global warming. The crusade by environmental activists and the willing complicity of media such as Time magazine is resulting in misguided policies. Reducing of production and exploration in the short run is going to raise prices and limit access to resources, while risky long-term schemes such as biofuels will pit stomachs against gas tanks. Is it also lost on Time that the war in the Pacific was based in part on access to energy resources?"

From the Heartland Institute's global warming page:

More than 19,000 basic and applied American scientists, two-thirds with advanced degrees, have signed the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine's Global Warming Petition, which says in part, "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate."

Abortion as art

Original 4/17/08 1:34pm:
This girl is clearly deeply, DEEPLY disturbed and sick.

For senior, abortion a medium for art, political discourse

Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself “as often as possible” while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.

The goal in creating the art exhibition, Shvarts said, was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body. But her project has already provoked more than just debate, inciting, for instance, outcry at a forum for fellow senior art majors held last week. And when told about Shvarts’ project, students on both ends of the abortion debate have expressed shock — saying the project does everything from violate moral code to trivialize abortion.

But Shvarts insists her concept was not designed for “shock value.”

“I hope it inspires some sort of discourse,” Shvarts said. “Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it’s not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone.”
[Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight]

...

Obviously this is a cry for help. This girl is suffering, possibly from a past abortion, and someone from Yale needs to step in and get her professional help instead of attributing this warped behavior to creativity and "art."

(On a side note, whenever I hear of beyond-ridiculous modern art pieces, I am always tempted to quit my job and smear feces on a lit Christmas tree or pour milk in a box, let it curdle and spoil, then submit it to art competitions where I will win numerous awards and sell pieces of shit for millions of dollars. Maybe someday...)

UPDATE 1 - 4/17/08 10:10pm

Yale: Student's Art Project Only 'Creative Fiction'

"Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art," a Yale spokeswoman, Helaine Klaski, said. "She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body."

Ms. Klasky went on to suggest that Yale would not have permitted a project of the sort described in the student newspaper. "Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns."

Phew! My faith in humanity has been restored . . . for now . . .


UPDATE 2 - 4/18/08 11:20am

I am confused

Shvarts, Yale clash over project

...But while Shvarts stood by her project and claimed that administrators had backed her before the planned exhibition attracted national condemnation, the university dismissed it as nothing more than a piece of fiction.

...But in an interview later Thursday afternoon, Shvarts defended her work and called the University’s statement “ultimately inaccurate.” She reiterated that she engaged in the nine-month process she publicized on Wednesday in a press release that was first reported in the News: repeatedly using a needleless syringe to insert semen into herself, then taking abortifacient herbs at the end of her menstrual cycle to induce bleeding. Thursday evening, in a tour of her art studio, she shared with the News video footage she claimed depicted her attempts at self-induced miscarriages.

“No one can say with 100-percent certainty that anything in the piece did or did not happen,” Shvarts said, adding that she does not know whether she was ever pregnant. “The nature of the piece is that it did not consist of certainties.”

Told of Shvarts’ comments, the University fired back. In a statement issued just before midnight on Thursday, Klasky told the News that Shvarts had vowed that if the University revealed her admission, “she would deny it.”

“Her denial is part of her performance,” Klasky wrote in an e-mail message. “We are disappointed that she would deliberately lie to the press in the name of art.”