Note to regular readers:
Sorry for the lateness of this distribution, but I’ve got a good excuse.
First, rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. No, YahooGroups did
not ban me; the Obama Admin didn't target me; nor did my computer crash. Simply
put, I had a heart attack.
Just days after getting the bad news, I underwent a triple by-pass open beating
heart surgery, followed by some hospital rehab. I've still got some out-patient
rehab to get back to full speed. Full recovery is expected to take 6 months.
Rich Martin
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Interesting Items
Alex Gimarc
[email protected]
Monday Feb 6, 2012
Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –
In this issue:
1. Catholics
2. Campaign
3. Sugar
4. Komen
5. West
1. Catholics. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebilius’s new regulations on
contraception, abortion and birth control finally got the attention of the
Catholic Church and blowback is well under way. Under ObamaCare, the democrat
majority in the Reid – Pelosi congress gave the HHS Secretary the ability to
write regulations defining insurance coverage for all providers. As a good
little leftist, Sebilius wrote rules that would force all religious
institutions, religiously affiliated and other faith-based organizations to
provide free abortions, birth control, and contraception regardless of what
their religious beliefs allow them to provide. And she graciously gave the
nation an entire year to set aside their principles and do what she directed
them to do. This would force the Catholic hospitals, churches, homes, etc. to
fund abortions and birth control in violation of Church teaching. By last
weekend, the Catholic hierarchy in the US read letters
of concern in homilies at Mass nationwide. The blowback is significant and
apparently unexpected by the Obama administration. Note that this latest
assault on religious freedom will not only apply to Catholics, but will
ultimately impact every single American who has a religion. Sooner or later,
some rule, some regulation, some diktat from Washington will force us to do
something that our religious beliefs abhor. This will either end with the
American people individually in charge of our lives or the commissars in
Washington in charge of everything we do. To the Catholics now horrified at
the excesses of ObamaCare as passed by the Obama administration and the
democrat majorities in the Reid – Pelosi congresses, I echo the Bruce Willis
line from the first Die Hard movie: “Welcome to the party, pal.” Here’s the
scene.
1. Campaign. Last week, Mitt Romney won the Florida primary with 46%
of the vote. Newt Gingrich was the closest to him with 32% of the vote. The
campaign in Florida was relentlessly negative, with Romney SuperPac ads running
nearly 99% negative against Gingrich. This took Gingrich off his game of going
after Obama or the media and trying to respond directly to the onslaught by
going after Romney on a personal basis. This is not what the voters are
looking for. It is not what Newt did in South Carolina , and he did not fare
well, perhaps removing himself from consideration in future primary states.
The good news is that we do see that Romney is ready, willing and fully capable
of going after his Republican opposition with a relentless negative campaign.
And negative campaigning works – which is why it is used. But there is nothing
out there that tells me that he or his supporters will go after Obama or any
other democrat with the same
vigor, gusto and glee. Indeed, Romney’s history is treating leftists with kid
gloves as he did when he ran against Ted Kennedy in the 1990s. Additionally,
with all the negative trash coming out of the Romney campaign, I have not seen
sufficient reason to vote for him. For example, the morning after the win in
Florida , he was on one of the morning talk shows and went into a spiel about
being concerned about the middle class. The words he used were that he did not
care about the lower class because of the safety net; that he would fix if
there were problems. Not only did this give the Obama campaign a free
anti-Romney campaign ad, but it demonstrated that Romney simply does not get it
regarding conservatism. We conservatives do not think in terms of classes of
people. We believe that the so-called safety net is in reality a tender trap
that has doomed generations of inner city Americans – our neighbors – to a
lifetime of servitude on
the democrat plantation, where as long as they keep putting democrats into
office, they will keep getting the free goodies. The safety net has destroyed
the black family since the 1960s, and it is well on its way to destroying the
Hispanic and white family.
Our job as conservatives is to make conditions so that people can get off the
plantation immediately and stay off it forever. Romney for some reason cannot
articulate that worldview. Gingrich certainly can, but he appears too busy
returning fire against Romney to do so. Romney, when pushed tends to default
to big government positions. After the gaffe the morning after the Florida
primary, he said he would support automatic increases in the federal minimum
wage – something Republicans have fought against for decades. Note that the
federal minimum wage is the single thing keeping the unemployment rate for
teens and young adults in the mid 20%s. All this foolishness leaves the door
wide open for Rick Santorum who has been articulating a positive conservative
message. He appears ready to take advantage of that opportunity. This
campaign is a long way from being over.
3. Sugar. A pair of medical researchers last week published a call for the
government at all levels to regulate and tax sugar like they do tobacco and
drugs. The rationale for this new hit from the Nanny State is that sugar is
complicit in a wide variety of health related maladies, including but not
limited to obesity and diabetes. The state controlled media carried the story
with all the usual clucking approval noises that they carry any other story
that would expand the intrusiveness of the Nanny State in our lives. If sugar
is indeed a problem, perhaps the first thing to do is to simply stop
subsidizing it; second would be to remove limits to its import from other
nations we trade with. If nothing else, the competition ought to move the
price around a bit. Note the stunning success that regulating tobacco has been
over the years. Nationwide usage was unchanged for centuries until the Clinton
administration unleashed the EPA and trial
lawyers on it, driving the percentage of smokers down from the high 40%s to
the low 20%s today. And the loss of liberty by smokers and the tobacco
companies to live their lives as they see fit was stunning; all based upon the
fraudulent notion that second hand smoke is somehow a danger to public health.
Do we really want to go down that road again with sugar?
4. Komen. The Susan B. Komen Foundation is an organization set up to find a
cure for breast cancer. In 2009 – 2010 it had around $400 million in earnings,
most of which went to breast cancer research. Around $47 million went to
breast cancer screening. Part of that total went to Planned Parenthood which
claimed to be doing breast cancer screening in their abortuaries. The problem
is that Planned Parenthood never did any breast cancer screening. All they
have ever done is abortions, and they claimed to refer their clients out to
other providers for mammographies. Komen found this out and the Board voted to
terminate all donations to Planned Parenthood. Unfortunately for Komen,
abortions are the Holy Sacrament of liberalism, and Planned Parenthood is the
keeper of that sacrament. Planned Parenthood turned the leftist Hounds of Hell
loose on Komen and stirred up a tremendous backlash against the decision.
Leftists descended on Komen
like locusts on a field, calling Komen’s decision an assault on women’s
health. Komen was not ready for the onslaught and reportedly reversed their
decision. There were also a couple of high level resignations gleefully
reported by the state run media. Here’s where it gets fuzzy: I have not yet
been able to figure out if Komen reversed its decision, as I have seen at least
one story claiming that while they would continue whatever was paid out this
year, in future years, they would only support organizations that directly
provided mammographies – which would by definition cut Planned Parenthood out
of the funding stream. This episode was a demonstration of the left flexing
its political muscles, going after a foundation that reportedly has done a very
good job working for a cure for breast cancer. And it did not have anything to
do with women’s health; rather it had everything to do with keeping a stream of
money going into Planned
Parenthood.
5. West. Redistricting continues nationwide as states draw boundaries of
congressional and legislative districts. Early last week there was a claim
that the Republican legislature in Florida had redistricted Tea party favorite
Alan West (R, FL) out of congress. As it turns out, West was from a marginal
district, surrounded by democrat majority districts, and the redraw gave
another 4% democrats into the district. It was driven by demographics rather
than a sneak attack on West. Conservatives were briefly and wrongly outraged,
claiming it as an attack on the Tea Party by the Florida establishment. West
announced last week that he was moving into a neighboring congressional
district with an open seat and a majority of conservative voters. He should be
in congress for a while if he does not go native.
More later -
- AG
"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better
than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not
your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your
chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our
countrymen."
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia
State House, August 1, 1776.
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