Menthol?

From a recent news story -- a panel was established to study the banning of menthol in cigarettes. The study just came out and the panel leans toward a ban. Menthol is a very popular cigarette in the black community, so for some this is an effort to save them from themselves. But this paternalistic attitude was not accepted when Pro-Life forces posted a billboard in New York City which declared that abortion is killing black people disproportionately.

Banning menthol from cigarettes will keep blacks (and others) from killing themselves and banning abortion will keep blacks (and others) from killing their next generation.

I'll go with the menthol ban if they'll go with the abortion ban! Otherwise, let adults make the menthol decision themselves!

P.S. My mom always smoked menthol cigarettes and she was definitely European-American!

Freakonomics and Abortion

Sick at home this morning, I turn on Netflix streaming to pass the time. Not much available, really, but I gave the movie "Freakonomics" a try. Interesting, I guess. Always good to look deeper into the causes of various things. But when the author came up with Roe v. Wade and an increased abortion rate as the cause of a dramatically lower crime rate in the 1990s, I was pretty disgusted. The theory being that less unwanted children would have grown up and been committing crimes in young adulthood in 1990. I know this book is at least five years old, so I'm a little late to this debate. Lifenews.com had a link a couple of years ago to a study which refuted the Freakonomics claim.

Another abortion-related matter came up last week when protesters demanded the removal of a billboard in New York City which used the quote that the most dangerous place in the world for a black person is in the womb due to excessively high abortion rates in the black community. The protesters did not like facing the truth, apparently. Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood founder, believed in a "better world" with eugenics and birth control by reducing the number of undesirable people like, in her mind, black people. See this link originally from a 1992 Citizen magazine article.

I like the billboard but I've got to admit that we conservatives are being a little inconsistent here. The attitude of the billboard is that blacks are the victims, when in fact they are both perpetrators and victims. We conservatives like to believe that all races can raise themselves up with sheer individual effort. The real reason that billboard was offensive to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson is that it put up a mirror for the black people to see what THEY were doing to their own people. They're not victims. They are the active participants in this exercise.

Super Bowl Tim Tebow Ad

Okay, I just watched the Super Bowl (Saints 31 - Colts 17), and where was the Tim Tebow ad that drew so much controversy ahead of time? I watched the whole game, save for a few minutes when I was checking on the pizza and wings in the oven.

I have now learned that the ad did air, and viewed it on YouTube, but look how easy it was to miss the thing. And what a blunder for anti-life groups to protest it before it even aired. All they did was multiply and magnify what was, in the end, an incredibly mild commercial that was totally lost in all the clutter of the other dozens of ads.

As for the content of the ad itself, I felt it was way too timid and did not even address the real issue. It just seemed like Tim Tebow was a sickly child or something. But, because of the NOW types, the publicity has given this ad a context which it never would have had before. Was it effective? Maybe. How many hearts and minds can you really impact in 30 seconds. Would I have authorized the expenditure? No, not unless the ad was a lot more open about the Life issue.

The most offensive ad of the day, of course, was the 20 minute informercial that CBS gave Barack Obama at 4:30!

Washington Post Gets It Right

It was nice to read in Tuesday's Washington Post (2/2/10) some common sense from liberals for a change. Lots of my conservative friends despise the Post for its liberal leanings and they are correct in their appraisal. The Post used a meaningless "macaca" comment by Sen. George Allen to skewer him day after day in the 2006 campaign. But, they do provide a good overall picture of the news of the day. With the downsizing of the Washington Times, it is sadly now the only real choice for us here in the D.C. suburbs. And every now and then they seem to get it right. They just don't wage campaigns against Democrats like they do against Republicans when they find the opportunity.

The Post editorialized in favored of the Iraq war, for example. In 2008, few were surprised when they endorsed inexperienced Democrat Barack Obama for president against John McCain. To me it made little logical sense because Obama's main campaign theme against Hillary Clinton was his opposition to the Iraq War. The Post supported the war. But, despite that, in the end they will side with the Democrat.

The 9/11 attack caused a number of Democrats to rethink their positions on the dangers of terrorism and how we should respond to it. Jewish American Democrats seemed to be particularly attuned to the dangers of terrorism. Leading Democrats like late actor Ron Silver and Senator Joe Lieberman actually supported the Republican Presidential candidate in 2004 and 2008 respectively. Tuesday, it was liberal Richard Cohen who opined "There is almost nothing the Obama administration does regarding terrorism that makes me feel safer." He continues, "more is at stake here than America's image abroad -- namely the security and peace of mind of Americans in America. "

Also, the Sally Jenkins column in Tuesday's Washington Post:"Tebow's 30-second ad hasn't even run yet, but it already has provoked "The National Organization for Women Who Only Think Like Us" to reveal something important about themselves: They aren't actually "pro-choice" so much as they are pro-abortion." And Jenkins herself is Pro-Choice.

I have no hope that Cohen or Jenkins will endorse many conservative ideas but it is clear to me that both the Pro-Life view and an aggressive war on terror are mainstream positions, and the approaches favored by liberals are as far left as a lot of us have been saying for years.

2200 Degrees: Conservative Commentary: Liberals' deadbeat arguments for abortion

I liked the arguments made at the "2200 Degrees" blog:

"It never ceases to amaze me how easily a pro-choice liberal will toss out some deadbeat argument as an excuse for allowing abortion, and will stubbornly cling to their ignorant view of abortion. What are some of the liberal statements that are commonly made to defend abortion?

• Abortion has been around throughout all of documented history.
• We can't go back to the clothes hanger days of abortion.
• It is a woman's body and her right to choose what she does with it.
• The child may suffer from a birth defect or illness all his or her life.
• It is okay in the case of rape or incest or if the mother's life is in danger.

Why are these arguments ignorant and irrelevant?"

See the whole blog post at: 2200 Degrees: Conservative Commentary: Liberals' deadbeat arguments for abortion

The Tebow Super Bowl Ad Controversy

This over the top quote from the leader of a protesting group blew my mind: "An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year -- an event designed to bring Americans together."

Please -- It's a football game. Let's not make it into a religious event "designed to bring Americans together."

When I first heard the news about a woman's group protesting a Super Bowl ad, I assumed it was something like the GoDaddy ad which always pushes the boundaries of good taste. But no, they weren't protesting the sexism of women being treated as sex objects forced into taking multiple showers with various people. They were angry about a real woman talking about her choice of life in 1987 when she was faced with a difficult pregnancy. The result of that pregnancy was Tim Tebow, the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback at the University of Florida.

Nothing makes these people so angry as to hear stories of abortions that did not take place. Sarah Palin's family in 2008 had two opportunities to choose abortion and both times the family chose life. The vitriol toward Palin has less to do with her policies or experience than it has to do with her Pro-Life actions. Keeping a Down Syndrome baby? A pregnant teenager? And Mrs. Tebow continuing with a risky pregnancy?

And these are the "easy choices." Most abortions are performed for the sake of convenience and rarely for the health of the mother or because of potential fetal abnormalities.

It kills these groups when the reality of abortion is revealed . They want there to be no guilt involved in this decision. Just have the "procedure" and move on to the next task in your life. No big deal. Why else would they be so fearful of one 30 second ad?

Why I'm No Longer A Democrat

1) Foreign Policy -- During the Cold War, liberal Democrats (yes, there used to be conservatives in the Democratic Party) continually sought to downplay the harshness of communism and attempted to accommodate rather than confront the Soviet Union.

Today, Democrats again seek to accommodate rather than confront terrorism.  The Ft. Hood shooting was clearly a case of Islamic jihad and yet the President and his supporters strongly resist the obvious.  

Yesterday, a friend on Facebook posted something observing the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Someone commented that the fall of the wall was probably a good thing, but that the "trillionaire" politicians needed to create a "War on Terror" to keep the military industrial complex making money.  Thankfully, my friend could write from real experience in living in Germany in the 1970s that there was terrorism and that the communist countries made their citizens terrified.  

Oh, for the clarity on the war on terror that George W. Bush had!  

2) Economic Policy -- Democrats are insistent that the free market is flawed and must have so many governmental intrusions and regulations for it to function fairly.  The health insurance debate, the "cash for clunkers" program, the $8,000 House Purchase Tax Credit are just three recent examples.

3) Social Policy -- Democrats believe that government should be intruding on most aspects of your life, except when it comes to traditional values like life ("abortion rights") and marriage ("gay marriage").  In those areas, they are eager to let everyone do whatever they want to!

Cars, Abortion, Crime

Big news has happened again over the last three days and I'm realizing that we're just repeating the same stuff again.  

 

1-GM files bankruptcy as the Obama administration asserts ownership of a company.

2-Notorious and unrepentant Kansas abortionist George Tiller murdered on Sunday.

3-14 Year Old suburban boy set upon by thugs and killed in Maryland on Saturday.

GM:  What more can I say about my feelings about government control of a car company?  It's a disturbing trend that would not have happened under Republican leadership.  Hopefully, there is still a philosophical difference in that Republicans would not take ownership of the company.  Maybe we'd bail them out with loans but to assert real control smacks of socialism.  

Abortion.  Tiller's murder was wrong.  That is obvious.  No justification for it.  What motivated the crazed killer to do it?  Was it the fact that Tiller just kept getting away with such depraved behavior (60,000 abortions!) that the crazed killer was so tormented in his mind that he unjustifiably felt it was up to him to put a stop to it?  

Murder in Crofton, Maryland.  Some older kids killed a younger kid who was riding a bike.  Is that the end of it.  Probably, but it would not be if the victim and suspects races were reversed.  As it turns out, the 16 year old being charged as an adult is named Javel.  Enough said.  But if the victim was named Javel, there would be hell to pay from Al Sharpton and the NAACP.  If the press wants to act responsible, then let them NEVER discuss race in these crimes whether the victims and suspects are white or black or Hispanic.  Of course, Hate Crimes laws specifically bring race into the discussion, and the press will always let itself be used by the race baiters in our society.  I don't like to discuss race but one of my purposes in writing this blog is to point out double standards.