Love what you’ve done with the tent!

 

When Pro-lifers become a significant enough part of the Democratic Party to do what they did this Saturday, we are starting to witness tectonic plates shifting in U.S. politics. The Republican tent is shrinking as they move to further to the wacko fringe and ostracize their own moderate candidates and voters. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is going to have to figure out how pro-choice feminists can learn to play nice with big-government-social-justice-committed pro-lifers. It’s going to be interesting. The Daily Beast observes:

What Pelosi did last weekend has its roots in a rebellion against small-tentism that began in the mid-1980s, when a group of Southern and Western Democrats formed the Democratic Leadership Council, which campaigned inside the party for greater tolerance for cultural conservatives. Ideologically, the DLC incubated Bill Clinton, who spent the 1990s calling abortion a necessary evil and affirmative action a good idea taken too far, and enjoyed modest success in luring some conservative Democrats back. Then, in the Bush years, congressional barons like New York’s Charles Schumer began to aggressively recruit cultural conservatives to run in red states and districts. In Pennsylvania, they muscled a pro-choice candidate out of the way to clear room for anti-abortion Democrat Robert Casey, whose father had famously claimed that party bigwigs prevented him from discussing his opposition to abortion at the 1992 Democratic Convention. Barack Obama went even further, naming pro-lifer Tim Kaine as chairman of the Democratic Party.

Pro-life Victory

The Health Care Reform bill has passed in the House. What put it over? Pro-life Democrats. You heard right. Pro-life Democrats.  Sure, they are as scarce as unicorns and vegans in fur coats, but it was the pro- life Democrat congressmen who inserted a last-minute amendment that got the bill the votes.

The deal was cut verrrrry late last night, so maybe the news hasn’t gotten out everywhere. When Obama arrived on the Hill to rally House Democrats to pass health reform around 11:30 this morning, his motorcade passed anti-abortion activists protesting outside with “Kill the bill!” “Kill the Pelosi bill!” signs. Yet just a few hours earlier, the Democratic leadership decided to allow pro-life Democrat Bart Stupak to offer his abortion amendment for a straight up-or-down vote on the full House floor, a huge concession and perhaps the only way to pave the way to pass health reform in the House.

The Stupak amendment is a full-out ban on abortion coverage in the public exchange. In addition to language barring direct funding of abortion–which was already included in the bill as part of the Capps amendment that passed the committee this summer–Stupak would prevent private insurance plans that cover abortion from receiving subsidies if they participate in the exchange. Supporters of the Stupak amendment argue it simply continues the status quo and they bill it as the Hyde amendment for health reform. But that’s not true. It’s only half of Hyde amendment language, the half that says no funding without the half that allows exceptions for using other funds (like state funds) to cover abortion procedures.

At long last, a conservative President

SNL opened this week’s show with their President Obama trying calm the American people down by explaining that his presidency has accomplished nothing. Andrew Sullivan also argues that Obama is actually a very conservative leader. His foreign policy is far less expansive than the neocon imperialism of  Bush. He is approaching Afghanistan with restraint and deliberation. And his proposed public option will provide coverage for a whopping 5% of the population. Hardly socialism.  By contrast, Sullivan sees people like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin as “populist radicals” who are simply hijacking the conservative movement for their fringe causes. Hard to argue with him there. So, you want a conservative in the White House? Congratulations, you just got your wish.

Lying down with the lions

Depending on who you believe, Obama has either deftly played the Iranians like a violin or he has just let the lying-est country in modern history pull the wool over his limpid, doe eyes. Whatever the long-term results from Geneva’s multilateral talks, one thing we should remember is that Iran has probably never been the giant bogeyman that we have imagined it. Juan Cole elaborates:

Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the U.S.

Reality: Iran has not launched an aggressive war modern history (unlike the U.S. or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of “no first strike.” This is true of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as of Revolutionary Guards commanders.

Belief: Iran is a militarized society bristling with dangerous weapons and a growing threat to world peace.

Reality: Iran’s military budget is a little over $6 billion annually. Sweden, Singapore and Greece all have larger military budgets. Moreover, Iran is a country of 70 million, so that its per capita spending on defense is tiny compared to these others, since they are much smaller countries with regard to population. Iran spends less per capita on its military than any other country in the Persian Gulf region with the exception of the United Arab Emirates.

Belief: Iran has threatened to attack Israel militarily and to “wipe it off the map.”

Reality: No Iranian leader in the executive has threatened an aggressive act of war on Israel, since this would contradict the doctrine of ‘no first strike’ to which the country has adhered. The Iranian president has explicitly said that Iran is not a threat to any country, including Israel.

Belief: But didn’t President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threaten to “wipe Israel off the map?”

Reality: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did quote Ayatollah Khomeini to the effect that “this Occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time”  This was not a pledge to roll tanks and invade or to launch missiles, however. It is the expression of a hope that the regime will collapse, just as the Soviet Union did. It is not a threat to kill anyone at all.

Doing what we do worst

The right wing cries wolf every time the public option is brought up. You don’t want a bureaucratic, option-limiting, send-you-home-to-die Canadian-ish  system, do you? Do you know that Canadians have to wait years to have a procedure until Big Brother says so? Blah. blah, blah. To put such fear mongering perspective, journalist Jonathan Rauch compares the current American health care system with making an airline reservation.

“Hello! Thank you for calling Air Health Care, the airline that works like the health care system. My name is Cynthia. How can I give you travel care today?”

“Hi. My name is Jonathan Rauch. I need to fly from Washington, D.C., to Eugene, Oregon, on October 23.”

“Yes, I’d be happy to assist you with that. It does look like we can get you on a flight on January 23 at 1 p.m. or February 8 at 3 p.m. Which would you prefer?”

“Neither. I need to be in Eugene on October 23. As in, the 23rd of October.”

“I’m sorry, we have nothing open on that date. You might try another carrier.”

“I suppose I’d better. Who has availability?”

“I’m afraid I have no way to know that. I have no way to look into their systems.”

“Who would know?”

“You can call them individually and ask. I’m sure you can find one.”

“Look, I don’t have time to call two dozen airlines. It’s important that I get to Eugene on the 23rd. There must be something you can do.”

Liberals, get a soul

Social pyschologist Jonathan Haidt offers insight into the culture wars. He sees the religious right’s willingness to believe the most preposterous accusations against Obama and health care reform as tied to the soul-less, materialism of the left:

The materialism of the secular left opens it up to charges that it promotes a “culture of death.” Liberals are said to like to kill fetuses and the elderly; they don’t treat anything as sacred. This term has been bandied about on the right for many years, and while it is a gross exaggeration, it is based in a real truth, a real difference on the question of the sacredness of life. So when Palin threw out the term “death panels,” the term struck a chord that had been played many times in recent years. Liberals were flabbergasted, because it’s a blatant lie, but it’s false only in a logical sense, not an emotional one. And once again, logic has little to do with morality. If a pro-life social conservative asks himself whether Obama is secretly plotting to create death panels, he is not asking whether this is likely to be true, he is asking only “can I believe it,” and the answer is usually yes.

Love & Divorce

At least one couple in America love each other so much that they are getting a divorce:

For Mary McCurnin and husband Ron Bednar, money trouble has followed health trouble. In 2003, the couple declared bankruptcy after their insurance covered only 10 percent of treatment costs for her breast cancer and his intestinal bleeding. In 2004, McCurnin’s breast cancer returned, and Bednar underwent open heart surgery.

Now, after repeatedly refinancing their house to pay medical bills and living expenses, they’re broke. To improve their chances of growing old together, they’ve filed for divorce.

“It occurred to me that I could get my first husband’s Social Security,” said McCurnin. Her first husband, to whom she’d been married 20 years, died in 1989. When she turns 60 in November, McCurnin said she will be eligible for $1,200 in monthly survivor’s benefits from the previous marriage. As the Social Security Administration told her, she can’t have the survivor benefit if she’s married to someone else

Change?

You know how there is this crazy tidal wave of dissatisfaction with Obama? Well, according to a Washington Post poll, it is just not the case. Sure, the folks that were against him are still against him. The progressives who hope for Ralph Nader with a tan are dissappointed. But if anything, more people seem to think he is not the neophyte, train wreck of a president they had thought he would be. But it could change.

7 out of 10 doctors recommend…

70% of doctors surveyed are in favor of the public option. This is across blue states and red states. This is across the board with salaried doctors and doctors who own their own practices. If that number surprises you, remember that doctors who routinely deal with Medicare prefer that to the headaches that come with staffing their office with enough clerical help to deal with all the various forms and redtape tied to a wide variety of insurance plans and companies. Many advocate a single payer plan for the same reason.

Bin Laden 2.0

The hunt for Osama Bin Laden is akin to a houndog chasing a car. Once you catch it, then what? The future of terrorism doesn’t instantly dismantle as soon as Bin Laden is caught “dead or alive” (as our old President used to say). So meet the heir apparent:

There is no doubt that when Bin Laden and Zawahiri die or are captured, al Qaeda’s global movement will look to Abu Yahya to seize the reins. He has become the obvious heir apparent. But with Abu Yahya at its helm, al Qaeda is certain to become a far more frightening enemy.

Al Qaeda’s primarily Egyptian senior leadership founded and built the group on principles of elitism and secrecy. The leaders saw themselves as the vanguard, the tip of Islam’s last and only spear. Their doctrine was restrictive and exclusionary. Their bureaucratic structure was stifling and micromanaging. They saw themselves as terrorists’ terrorists, and acted the part.

A lifelong student with an easy smile and a gift for gab, Abu Yahya sees the world quite differently. For him, al Qaeda’s fight is not just about unseating Arab governments or pushing U.S. troops out of the Middle East. In this paradigm, al Qaeda is first and foremost an intellectual and religio-ideological insurgency — not just a terrorist group.

School Daze

Educators in Texas put education ahead of politics.  They are dead set against exposing our impressionable little ones to partisan indoctrination of any party. That’s why the superintendent of Arlington schools, Jerry McCullough, made sure our little darlings didn’t hear President Obama’s radical left wing speech about studying hard and turning off the x-box. He also made sure that a group of Arlington fifth graders will be loaded onto a bus and sent to hear the wisdom and God-sent oratory of a great American patriot. Former President George W. Bush. Ain’t life grand?

Karzai accused of voter fraud

What kind of democracy are those Afghans running? I am shocked! President Karzai is being accused of stealing the election out from under his opponents with the help of his brother from the south. Wait a minute…where have I heard this before? Oh, yeah…

Real America

I never doubted that Sarah Palin represented real America. After all, real America is a real mess. Levi Johnston, Sarah’s almost son-in-law and Bristol Palin’s former live-in boyfriend, talks about life at Chateau Palin:

The Palin house was much different from what many people expect of a normal family, even before she was nominated for vice president. There wasn’t much parenting in that house. Sarah doesn’t cook, Todd doesn’t cook—the kids would do it all themselves: cook, clean, do the laundry, and get ready for school. Most of the time Bristol would help her youngest sister with her homework, and I’d barbecue chicken or steak on the grill.

And that is what’s so tragic about real America. We consist of people who have strong values and weak practices. We believe in family, but we invest in self. We fight the dirty liberals that seek to undermine our children and do little about the dysfunctions and neglect that flow from our own wicked hearts. We want to pray to Jesus at our football games, but we want to ignore Him in our everyday lives. Maybe it’s time real Americans stop throwing rocks and start refurbishing the cracks in our glass houses. Maybe it’s time real Americans listen to real Jesus.

I’ve just met a ditz named Maria

MSNBC’s Maria Bartiromo is so against a government-run health care  option that she hasn’t bothered to read up on Medicare. Like, that it is for old people. Cute. But soooo dumb!