Archive for February, 2010
Choke-Proof Hotdogs: What’s Next? Outlawing Grapes?
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010Any mother worth her title knows that grapes are the number one choking hazard. At my kid’s pre-school, they actually make parents cut up grapes due to the risk. No warning on hotdogs, though. Until now:
Nutritionists have long warned of the perils of hot dogs: fat, sodium and preservatives to name a few.
Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics wants foods like hot dogs to come with a warning label — not because of their nutritional risks but because they pose a choking hazard to babies and children.
Better yet, the academy would like to see foods such as hot dogs “redesigned” so their size, shape and texture make them less likely to lodge in a youngster’s throat. More than 10,000 children under 14 go to the emergency room each year after choking on food, and up to 77 die, says the new policy statement, published online today in Pediatrics. About 17% of food-related asphyxiations are caused by hot dogs.
“If you were to take the best engineers in the world and try to design the perfect plug for a child’s airway, it would be a hot dog,” says statement author Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. “I’m a pediatric emergency doctor, and to try to get them out once they’re wedged in, it’s almost impossible.”
Full disclosure: I got yelled at a lot because I didn’t cut up the grapes, so you probably know where I’m going with this.
Could America get any less risk-averse? I mean really.
This is the country that conquered the West, sent a man to the moon and just beat Canada’s ass in hockey and we’re going to re-design a hotdog so kids don’t choke?
What kind of message do we send to our kids when we mitigate against every little risk? We send a message that Americans are WEENIES. Kid-sized weenies and big, overbearing, obsessive parenting weenies.
With all the problems in the world, hotdogs should be relegated to the category of awesome. I do not want to go out to the baseball park and eat a re-engineered hotdog. In the future, however, I shall praise my own courage in buying a foot-long at the park. I ate the whole thing without choking! I could have died!!
Podcast 87: CPAC Post-Mortem With CPAC Organizer Lisa De Pasquale, John Hawkins of Right Wing News And Ali Akbar of Republic Modern
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010CPAC organizer Lisa De Pasquale, John Hawkins, and Ali Akbar talk about CPAC. Straw polls, youth, where was Sarah Palin and Huckabee, the venue and much more.
Scott Brown Votes Yes On Jobs Bill: The Sexy Allure Of Bipartisanship
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010Are Scott Brown voters betrayed with his vote for the Jobs Bill that he helped to get out of cloture yesterday?
Dan Riehl says:
When Scott Brown starts crafting national health care legislation, or sounding like the liberal lion of the Senate, get back to me. Until then, it’s Massachusetts. We’re still a long way ahead on the deal. Winning the seat was more than worth it.
A Twitter friend said that he’s still better than Teddy Kennedy. Well. The only reason for a Republican Senator is to stop any sort of spending bills.
Still, as Allah points out, this isn’t the worst bill in the world. It can also make Republicans look interested in bipartisanship when the legislation is right (even though this bill doesn’t do much of anything). Basically, it’s a purely political vote as the substance isn’t there.
Now, I’m hoping that the next big spending bill that comes along Scott Brown body slams. That’s unlikely to happen before the midterms in November. Even Democrats are worried about big spending bills right now.
John McCain Was Misled? That Presumes He Was Paying Attention
Monday, February 22nd, 2010Oh yes, the hapless John McCain. Wait… He was hapless. When the TARP boondoggle hit DC, Senator McCain heroically charged back to DC and did precisely …nothing. It was embarrassing. It lost him the election.
Senator McCain is getting push back from Tea Partiers on TARP. I cut him and the other who voted for it, because it was a complicated, difficult subject. Ultimately, my own decision was to say “no, it’s wrong” simply on the old adage “when in doubt, don’t.” It was too complex, with too many bad consequences. That’s not to say there wouldn’t have been bad consequences had TARP not passed. I’m pretty sure there would have been.
But for McCain to claim he was deceived? Well, that strains credulity. Here’s what was said:
In response to criticism from opponents seeking to defeat him in the Aug. 24 Republican primary, the four-term senator says he was misled by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. McCain said the pair assured him that the $700 billion Troubled Asset
Relief Program would focus on what was seen as the cause of the financial crisis, the housing meltdown.“Obviously, that didn’t happen,” McCain said in a meeting Thursday with The Republic’s Editorial Board, recounting his decision-making during the critical initial days of the fiscal crisis. “They decided to stabilize the Wall Street
institutions, bail out (insurance giant) AIG, bail out Chrysler, bail out General Motors. . . . What they figured was that if they stabilized Wall Street – I guess it was trickle-down economics – that therefore Main Street would be fine.”Nearly 15 months later, commercial lenders still are in shaky condition and the commercial real-estate industry is in trouble, he said. On Friday, President Barack Obama announced $1.5 billion in funding for new measures to help Arizona and four other states hit hard by the tanked housing market and by joblessness.
But McCain stopped short of calling the TARP a mistake.
The difficulty for all incumbents who voted for this monstrosity is that people still hate it and it still doesn’t look like it’s done anything of value outside of keeping some banks solvent for a short amount of time.
I don’t know the way for a politician to get out of the responsibility of voting for this bill. Everyone hated it then and they hate it now.
Claiming that he was misled won’t fly. The bad part of this vote for McCain, is that it reminds everyone how aimless he looked when he stopped campaigning and went to Washington to “save” the day. Not a good memory.
Michelle Malkin sums up:
He blew it on TARP.
Blew it on the auto bailout.
Blew it on the mortgage entitlement bailout.
Blew it on the AIG bailout.
Blew it on amnesty.
Blew it on campaign finance.
Blew it on global warming.
In short: McCain blows.
McCain is supposed to be a leader in the Republican party. In fact, he is a leader. That’s the problem.
Is Fiorina Trying To Piss Everyone Off?
Monday, February 22nd, 2010Carly Fiorina uses Scott Brown’s image in an ad implying that he’s endorsed her. Good grief. If he has, she should use that. If not, she shouldn’t. It’s disingenuous and just irritates people when they find out the truth.
Newsflash Fiorina: The people who vote in primaries pay attention to these things:
It’s another day, another controversial Web ad from California Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina.
Fiorina, who hopes to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer this fall if she can emerge from a tight three-way Republican primary, has started running a new Web ad that uses the face of newly-elected Sen. Scott Brown. In the ad, a caption accompanying Brown’s image reads: “Thank You Massachusetts. Now on to California. Join the Path to Victory.”
But Fiorina’s GOP rivals – former Rep. Tom Campbell and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore – say the ad falsely implies that Brown has endorsed Fiorina.
All the people playing wink wink behind the scenes in California need to show themselves. Otherwise, just be for something solid and fiscally conservative.
Health Care Reconciliation–AKA Jam The Legislation Through–While Using Republicans As Props
Monday, February 22nd, 2010President Obama has a long history of saying one thing and sounding so reasonable and conciliatory while doing it while taking actions that completely contradict his words.
Enter health care reform.
The President wants to have a photo op with Republicans and an opportunity to lecture then about what bad people they are (you know, the kind of bad people that represent their constituents who HATE this legislation) while simultaneously using a Senate procedure reserved for budget bills to pass the loathsome legislation.
Thankfully, John Boehner is calling the President’s disingenuous actions out.
CATO, the libertarian Think Tank says:
If anything, those price controls make the president’s new plan even more bureaucratic and government-heavy. The Senate bill would take an ill-advised stab at cost-control by imposing a tax on the highest-cost health plans. That president proposes to pare back that excise tax and instead have a panel of federal bureaucrats cap the growth in health insurance premiums for all health plans. Those new government powers could make it even harder for people to obtain the coverage and care that they need.
Well, the Health Care stuff still stinks. The GOP has a great response. Read and sign the petition here. Some of the ideas:
We ask that President Obama and Congressional Democrats join with Republican leaders to start over on health insurance reform.
We ask that they help craft sensible reforms designed to lower costs and expand access without violating individual rights or the integrity of the market.
We ask that they enact medical liability reform and put an end to frivolous lawsuits that drive up the cost of medicine.
We ask that they allow individuals and small businesses to pool together to purchase high-quality affordable health care coverage.
We ask that they allow Americans to shop for health care coverage from coast to coast and purchase insurance policies across state lines.
We ask that they create new incentives to save for current and future health care needs by allowing people to use their health savings accounts funds to pay premiums for high deductible health plans.
We ask that they guarantee individuals with pre-existing conditions or past illnesses access to affordable coverage through the expansion of state-based, high-risk pools, and reinsurance programs.
We reject any attempt by the federal government to force any American to purchase an unwanted insurance plan.
We reject any attempt to implement a government-run insurance program.
We reject individual mandates, rationing, and special deals for any state.
We reject a separate set of rules for government and private sector health insurance purchases.
We oppose any plan that betrays our senior citizens by cutting Medicare coverage, or that allocates taxpayer funds to pay for abortion.
We reject any proposal that authorizes a government takeover of any portion of our health care system.
We ask that Congress and the President above all pledge to ensure the constitutionality of any health insurance reform legislation considered by the federal government.
We implore the President and his allies to listen to the will of the American people and start over on health insurance reform.
Again, go check it out and sign on to the petition. President Obama seems inclined to ram through his ideas, even though they directly contradict the will of the people.
Are the Democrats willing to follow him over the cliff? Seems so.
Newt Might Try To Co-Opt The Tea Party Movement But It Won’t Work
Monday, February 22nd, 2010Donald Douglas has an excellent take-down of the LA Time’s perspective on the Contract FROM America verses Newt Gingrich’s Contract For America back in 1994. Go read the whole thing.
It is clear to me that Newt very badly wants to harness the energy of the Tea Party movement but be let off the hook for his calls for bi-partisanship and his endorsement of DeDe Scozzafava. Not going to happen.
It’s also not going to go over well that he’s trying to co-opt a document put forth by the American people. And what is the not-so-subtle diminishing of the document that has been a work in progress? Is the openly transparent steps going to be held against people? A rough draft of a document is rough because it has flaws to fix. This process has been open to the people every step of the way.
Donald Douglas says of the LA Times and Newt:
See how clever that is? Dick Armey was House Majority Leader under the Newt Gingrich speakership. Since Armey has indeed been one of the original backers of the tea party movement, the Times can piggyback Gingrich into the story to make this link between the GOP takeover in 1994 and the tea parties today. Problem is, the “Contract with America” was a campaign vehicle rather than a real reform manifesto with teeth. By 2000, according to Edward Crane at Cato, “the combined budgets of the 95 major programs that the Contract with America promised to eliminate have increased by 13%. ” And Crane adds something important: “For all of his talent in generating the “revolution,” Newt was never the conservative ideologue the media painted him to be.”
Yeah. Hello.
Remember last October and Newt’s endorsement of Dede Scozzafava over Doug Hoffman in NY-23? See Michelle’s piece on that, “An ACORN-Friendly, Big Labor-Backing, Tax-and-Spend Radical in GOP Clothing.”
Some “establishment” guys, like Dick Armey, have proven themselves to be able servants along side the grassroots. They haven’t taken over, they’ve facilitated.
Some other politicians establishment or newbie seem to want to use the Tea Party movement for personal gain. The problem is that the Tea Party participants know who was there from the beginning. They know who tried to take over. They know who has their best interests at heart.
Newt is making things worse for himself. He needs to stop.
Why Sarah Palin Should Have Been At CPAC; Ditto Huckabee
Monday, February 22nd, 2010If there are over 10,000 of the most dedicated grassroots activists for the conservative cause in one place, why would you miss it? That’s a rhetorical question. You wouldn’t miss it.
CPAC was lit up with the energy not of old establishment types but the young, the restless and the politically active. You know those people who knock on doors and persuade? Yeah, that’s who was at CPAC.
The establishment folks were out in force, too, but I haven’t seen so much enthusiasm and unabashed love for conservative values, well, in a decade. The tide has turned and some notable politicians missed out.
Where was Sarah Palin? She is staking her ground on the Tea Party movement. That’s fine. But you know what? In the poll of about 500 attendees of the panel I moderated (a good sampling of CPAC attendees), probably 90% attended a Tea Party. Nearly every hand went up.
I knew that would be the case beforehand. Tea Partiers are conservatives and libertarians and they want to network and meet and hear the new leaders and start making early choices about who they’ll support. When Palin and Huck and others don’t show up, they suffer in comparison because they’re just not there.
On Twitter Matt Lewis says, “Huck’s criticism of CPAC reminds me of his feud with Club for Growth & his book. Failure to swallow pride is career-limiting for pols…”
Outsized pride is career limiting and character-reavealing all at the same time.
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney was introduced by the adored Scott Brown.
The leaders of the Tea Party movement were at CPAC, Sarah Palin would have received a hero’s welcome. She could have talked about the Contract From America. She could have talked about all the people she connected with across the country.
There is another chance for these leaders to meet and influence voters.
Americans for Prosperity has a RightOnline conference coming up in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Venetian July 23 – 24. People from all over America–dedicated activists–who use modern technology to spread the word will be there.
I suggest that Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee and the other big-name politicians who want to influence the influencers make a point of showing up….and not for pay. Just show up and talk to the people who will influence the grassroots.
The groundwork is being laid now and the people who care enough to fly to DC to pay for a conference to hear all these great, new, fresh faces are very motivated. It isn’t about the established DC insiders who put together these sorts of things, it’s about the people who attend them.
So, there are some key moments when a movement shifts and changes. CPAC was one such time. The RightOnline conference opposite Netroots will be another.
Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee need to be at these events if they hope to win the hearts and minds of those who influence the perspective of others. They should have been at CPAC. It was a golden opportunity.
Being Conservative: When Everyone Hates You, It’s Liberating — UPDATED
Sunday, February 21st, 2010UPDATED AGAIN: Check out the pictures!
Flying back from CPAC (conservative political action conference) in D.C. today, I tried to sum up the general feeling of the gathering. The word that came to mind was exuberance.
Everyone was exuberant.
Are conservatives waaaay out of power? Yes. Is the Democratically controlled everything capable of doing horrendous damage even still? Yes. Is the media still a commie-loving propagandist machine? Yes.
Even still, attendees were exuberant. Why?
For one, even out of power, the legislation that would destroy the country got blunted or stopped. This is heartening. For all the talk to the contrary, it seems America is far more conservative, fiscal and otherwise, than people thought.
For another, being out of power is fun. Chucking lobs from the cheap seats, while watching perpetual children try to govern is emotionally satisfying. For years, a decade even, the Left has had opinions about the complicated issues of our time. Most of them have been idealistic, naive, stupid and juvenile. Guess what? Leading is hard. So, Gitmo is open. Why? Because it MAKES SENSE. Americans are rebelling against civilian trials. Why? Because they are STUPID and resource hogging. The war on terror continues. Why? Because it’s the RIGHT THING TO DO. All the issues the left opined about changing have turned out to be very difficult to change because (shhhhhh) George Bush was right. And not only that, the things that he was wrong about–big spending and expanded government still pisses people off. Ooopsie. That’s just what Democrats had hoped to change. No dice.
Mostly though, it is absolutely liberating to be hated no matter what you do.
Liberals hate conservatives. And because they control the networks, the newspapers, the House, Senate, and White House, Americans are inundated with just how much they’re hated. I say Americans and substitute conservative for Americans because the vast majority of Americans self-identify as conservatives.
We’re hated. We get it.
You think we’re racist, stupid, Bible-thumping, NASCAR-watching, gun-clinging, homophobic, did I mention stupid?, morons.
Guess what? You suck.
And at CPAC, people just didn’t care. They cheered for Cheney. They cheered for The Moustache. They booed the gay-hating kid. They exuberantly expressed themselves because they have nothing whatsoever to lose. What more can be said? Every cliché is hackneyed and wrong and superficial and lame. The sting is lost.
So, CPAC attendees just enjoyed themselves. It’s been a long time I’ve seen conservatives so happy. With sell-out Republicans on the run and leftist libs getting hit with a clue-bat, it’s a great time to be conservative.
There’s nothing more that can be said that hasn’t already been said. The conservative movement is free to be themselves. It was a great weekend to be in the company of like-minded folks.
The narrative may not change, but it will die along with the purveyors of the mean message. Meanwhile, conservatives have embraced the hostility and transformed the energy into something positive and happy.
CPAC was exuberant. A liberated conservative is a happy conservative.
UPDATED:
Jimmie Bise of the Sundries Shack says this:
Here is a case in point. Max Blumenthal wrote a nasty article for the Washington Post-owned Salon.com about James O’Keefe in which almost every important detail, including the accusation that O’Keefe is a racist, was simply wrong. The article was so riddled with dishonesty that Salon retracted it, even though Blumenthal, in his whiny omega-male way, stood behind his charges. You can get a good rundown on the story from Larry O’Connor here. This came to a head at CPAC on Saturday. Sid Blumenthal, son of Max, showed up with a camera crew to do God-alone-knows-what, and Breitbart pounced.
After making Blumenthal shrink off with his tail between his legs, Breitbart fended off yet another serial liar, Daryl Jenkins of the One People’s Project and another Salon “reporter” Mike Madden.
Go read the whole thing and watch Andrew’s video, too.
CPAC High Points So Far
Saturday, February 20th, 20101. Energy is high. People are vibrating with excitement.
2. Democrats are going down in a ball of Fail.
3. Conservative candidates are energized.
4. Everyone predicts a sweep in the House…..even the politicians who don’t predict these things.
5. Speakers who excited the crowd: Cheney, Scott Brown, Chuck Devore, Ann Coulter, John Bolton.
Will detail it more later in my podcasts.
