Democrats’ Negotiating style: “Heads I WIN, Tails you LOSE”

I’ve linked to Guy Benson’s blog a number of times, and enjoy it when he fills in for Hugh Hewitt occasionally. Smart, quick, and rather self-deprecating, Benson covers the political scene in DC as well as anyone, and easily better than most.

This post came out yesterday at Townhall.com, where he serves as the political editor. 

If you don’t normally read his column, or do so only occasionally, I’d politely suggest you make it a habit. You’ll be far better informed as a result, I promise…

–JTR

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“Negotiating,” …Democrat-Style

   –by Guy Benson; Political Editor, Townhall.com

The White House has been hyping its #My2K Twitter hashtag in an attempt to galvanize supporters to contact their Congressional representatives to demand action to avert the fiscal cliff.  The administration estimates that unless Congress moves, the average family’s tax bill will jump by more than $2,000, starting on the first of January.

The implication, of course, is that Republicans are once again standing in the way of resolving this problem.  Show of hands — as the media breathlessly follows every minor twist and turn of these negotiations, how many of you have seen this fact reported?

The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP): a preview of Obamacare

Want to know what Obamacare will look like?  It’s gonna look like THIS…

Politicaljunkie Mom

So says Dr Laura de Rooy, a consultant neonatologist at St George’s Hospital NHS Trust in London writing in response to an article published in the British Medical Journal of the placement of disabled infants on the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP).

The LCP was developed to help push those clinging for life off the cliff, so to speak. The elderly and terminally ill. It defines the “care” for patients no longer deemed fit for life in the much-vaunted free NHS. Free for those healthy enough to survive it, maybe. But I digress.

Severely disabled infants have been placed on the LCP. Starving a baby to death. Brings new meaning to the term “care protocol,” no? More:

Earlier this month, an un-named doctor wrote of the agony of watching the protracted deaths of babies. The doctor described one case of a baby born with ‘a lengthy list of unexpected congenital anomalies’…

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Charlie Brown, the War on Christmas, and what it means for the culture-at-large

Just saw my first “War on Christmas” story for 2012, from a group called ‘Arkansas Society of Freethinkers‘ doing the annual secularist freak-out.

But as you read this, remember: the repeated refrain we hear in the media is that there IS no such ‘war’, and that it’s a contrived creation of the “Christian right” and Fox News.

From Statepress.com:

“This isn’t about Charlie Brown or Christmas, it’s about the separation of church and state,” Anne Orsi, the vice president The Arkansas Society of Freethinkers, said in her statement voicing opposition to the actions taken by the Terry Elementary School in Little Rock, Ark.

The school took students to a [stage] performance of “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown,” reinvigorating a debate between the pious and secular.

The school should not have taken the children to see this play, regardless of giving the option to attend. Not because it violates the Constitution or breaks freedom of religion, but because the state should not have any say in the spiritual or religious education of our children…

Wait a sec: now we shouldn’t have guns that merely LOOK like assault weapons?

I’m in the middle of writing something that’s going waaaay too long right now, and need time to cut it down to size. So, here’s a very short video that I was saving for just such an occasion.

It’s courtesy of Chuck Woolery and covers the recent headlines on gun bans and our 2nd Amendment rights, all with Chuck’s trademark humor and logic (**video AFTER the jump).

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Bill Whittle – at the David Horowitz dinner

There are few people in the public eye today who articulate the Conservative message as ably & as passionately as Bill Whittle. He says what most of us are thinking, …only much, much better.  

This particular speech is the political equivalent of ‘Braveheart‘ and ‘Remember the Titans‘, combined.

Turn up the volume and Enjoy….  

 

tannngl

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‘And Then There Were None’ …a Unique Strategy for Ending Abortion

There are a number of issues which divide American society right now, but probably none is so passionately contested on both sides as abortion.

In the battle for Life, there are many strategies:

• — legislative campaigns, which have made some headway on the state level;
• — clinic-based ministries which reach pregnant young women;
•  — media-based information campaigns on billboards, in magazines and newspapers, in direct mailings.

But now there is an effort being made to reach into the abortion industry in a whole new way, by communicating directly with the abortion workers, many of whom are just as conflicted as anyone else on this issue.  And Then There Were None (ATTWN), which grew out of the 40 Days For Life ministry, was founded by former abortion clinic worker Abby Johnson, who left the industry in 2009.

ATTWN appeals to the consciences of these workers (overwhelmingly women), counselling and encouraging them in the sometimes difficult decision to quit their jobs in the industry.   Although only a little over a year old, ATTWN has helped 38 workers to leave the abortion business and secure other work.

If YOU can say these words: “I’d rather go on Unemployment”, then YOU are the problem

There is a scene in the movie ‘Cinderella Man‘ which never fails to get me misty-eyed. It’s when Russell Crowe’s character, James J. Braddock, begins his inexplicable comeback from penniless dock-worker to Heavyweight champion:

Then, he took on Art Lasky, who had won all but one of
his last 15 fights—yet Braddock dispatched him, too, in a thrilling 15-rounder. 

With these remarkable wins, Braddock’s spirit became renewed. Remarkably, one of the first things he did with his earnings was to pay back his Public Relief debt to the government. 

Braddock had sacrificed everything for his family: his career, his house, even his pride…attempting to feed and shelter them. He eventually needed help, just a little, to keep going. And as soon as he was able, he repaid that help, in full.

So…., ‘Remarkable’? Is it “remarkable” to pay back a loan he wasn’t “forced” to repay, just because it was the right thing to do? And (especially) judging by today’s standards?

Yeah, it was. Definitely. Because now, our nation doesn’t perceive Government Assistance the same way. It’s now not just for absolute, dire emergencies; it’s for everyone, anytime.

Want proof?

The reason that scene came flooding back to me was a report I heard on the news last night, where some of the Hostess bakers were being interviewed:

Caveat Spectator (Let the Viewer Beware)

by: Godsbooklover

“That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.  And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message.

They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.  As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.”  (Acts 17:10-12, NLT)

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One of several films I’m looking forward to seeing soon, Spielberg’s Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, was reviewed recently by R.J. Moeller over at Acculturated.com .

Here’s an excerpt which highlights what was, to me, a very interesting insight: