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Here’s what we are reading today.

• “Report: Fetal stem cells trigger tumors in ill boy,” Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press (February 17, 2009)
• “Evangelical church leaders detained in China,” Associated Press (February 17, 2009)
• “Bad timing for same-sex marriage advocates,” John Wildermuth, The San Francisco Chronicle (February 18, 2009)
• “Abortion foes, supporters, clash over new rule,” Associated Press (February 17, 2009)
• “The Obama Mandate: End Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs,” Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check (February 18, 2009)
• “How to honor religion and science,” Henry G. Brinton, USA Today (February 16, 2009)
• “Government post? Arkansas atheists need not apply,” Lynn Vincent, World Magazine (February 17, 2009)

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In the latest Mapping America, the General Social Survey shows that adults who frequently attended religious services as adolescents and grew up living with both biological parents are less likely to have watched an X-rated movie in the last year.

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Here’s some of the buzz from the blogosphere today.

• “Pelosis on the move,” Fausta’s Blog  Well, it appears that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be making a special trip to the Vatican to visit Pope Benedict XVI. I wish I could be a little fly on the wall to hear this discussion, especially after Pelosi shared her opinions on abortion.
• “A Picture of Dysfunction,” Pejman Yousefzadeh, RedState  The financial strategies that the Department of Treasury were about to implement were changed, because they were too complex and risky. I thought the new Secretary of Treasury was supposed to steer our economy in the right direction, evidently not.
• “A Chicago-Style Census,” Ken Blackwell, Townhall.com   The most disturbing fact is that the White House might soon resume control over the Census from the Department of Commerce. Does anyone smell scandal brewing?

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Senator Judd Gregg’s announcement late Thursday afternoon, revoking his agreement to serve as Secretary of Commerce, badly damages President Barack Obama’s aura of bipartisanship. Gregg clearly concluded that his future effectiveness at Commerce was rapidly deteriorating. Furthermore, he must have been furious at having been politically humiliated by the White House last Thursday when it announced it would wrest control of the Census Bureau from the Commerce Department. Unfortunately, this debacle reflects the true nature and inherent weakness of the highly politicized White House now being created by President Obama.

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Here’s what we are reading this morning.

• “Same-sex marriage movement looks to ‘Obamify’,” Joe Garofoli, The San Francisco Chronicle (February 16, 2009)
• “Obama Won’t End the Culture Wars,” Rod Dreher, RealClearPolitics (February 16, 2009)
• “Signs of Life in Unlikely Places,” Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review (February 16, 2009)
• “Picture Emerging on Genetic Risks of IVF,” Gina Kolata, The New York Times (February 16, 2009)
• “Soap features daytime TV’s first lesbian wedding,” CNN (February 16, 2009)
• “I was nearly an abortion statistic,” Drew Nichter, Baptist Press (February 16, 2009)
• “STDs Increasing In Bay Area, Particularly Among Teens,” Lindsay Peterson, Tampa Bay Online (February 15, 2009)
• “Hawaii House Committee Approves Bills De-Funding Abstinence Education Efforts,” Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com (February 16, 2009)
• “British Pro-Life Group Starts Election Campaign, Focus on Abortion, Euthanasia,” Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com (February 16, 2009)
• “Faith-Based Fudging,” Editorial, The New York Times (February 15, 2009)
• “Christians on Left, Right Push Plan to Aid the Poor,” Stephanie Simon, The Wall Street Journal (February 16, 2009)

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When George Washington died in 1799, the country was shocked. No one expected the apparently hearty 67-year old former President to die so suddenly. We felt orphaned. The outpouring of grief was nearly universal. Even bitter political rivals vied with each other in paying tribute to the “Father of our Country.” General Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee of Virginia eulogized Washington as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

No more. The latest Gallup Poll shows a close race for greatest American President. Ronald Reagan tops the list, with 24 percent citing him as first. John Kennedy ties with Abraham Lincoln at 22 percent. George Washington registers and anemic nine percent. George W. Bush might feel a bit relieved.

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Here’s some of the buzz from the blogosphere today.

• “12 Year Old Speaks out on the Issue of Abortion,” Monastic Moments This entry features a compelling pro-life message from a 12-year old girl.
• “Right and Wrong and Religion,” Gabriel Malor, Ace of Spades
• “Education? MY Way, Or The Highway,” An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings Who would have guessed that a pro-marriage speech would have garnered such a nasty response from a Liberal Professor? Hmmm…
• “Pastor faces jail,” Jill Stanek, jillstanek.com An interesting account about a Pastor in Oakland, CA, possibly facing a jail sentence for holding a sign at an abortion clinic that said, “Jesus loves you and your baby. Can we help?.” It’s upsetting that the City of Oakland is violating this Pastor’s freedom of speech, as well as others, with their “Bubble Law.”

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In the window of the Martin Luther King Library in downtown Washington, D.C., is a sign with a quote from Rev. King, the famous pastor and civil rights leader. It reads, “In the end we will not remember the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”

For too long, women and men who know better have been silent about the negative effects of abortion on the women and babies who undergo the procedure and on their family and friends.  Women in high stress situations of unplanned pregnancies, and the babies they have conceived, have been without the benefit and support of people who could have spoken up about the serious negative after effects of their own abortions or the abortions of women they know. For too long knowledgeable people remained silent while women facing abortion believed the lie that this “product of conception” was just a blob of tissue, only to be told after the abortion that, “It was a boy/girl.”

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Here’s what we are reading today.

• “Groundbreaking Paper Publishes Long Term Results of a Successful Phase I Clinical Trial Using Autologous Neural Stem Cells to Treat Parkinson’s Disease,” The Earth Times (February 16, 2009)
• “Straight Couples in France Are Choosing Civil Unions Meant for Gays,” Edward Cody, The Washington Post (February 14, 2009)
• “Scholars contend Darwin based his theories on humans, not animals,” Laurie Goering, Physorg.org (February 15, 2009)
• “Women rebel over forced abortions,” Michael Sheridan, The Times (UK) (February 15, 2009)
• “I Must Save My Child,” Melissa Fay Greene, Parade Magazine (February 15, 2009)
• “Axelrod: Stem cell order coming soon from Obama,” The Associated Press (February 15, 2009)
• “$10,000,000,000.00 for the National Institutes of Health,” Lila Guterman, ScienceInsider (February 13, 2009)
• “Stemming The Tide Of AIDS,” Investor’s Business Daily (February 12, 2009)
• “Phoenix, kidnap-for-ransom capital,” Sam Quinones, The Los Angeles Times (February 12, 2009)
• “UT Houston launches stem cell study for acute stroke patients,” Physorg.org (February 13, 2009)
• “U.N. committee rejects homosexual group with possible pedophile link,” Catholic News Agency (February 15, 2009)
• “Gay marriage opponents rally in Augusta, Maine,” Associated Press (February 16, 2009)
• “Student sues L.A. City College district over gay-marriage speech,” Gale Holland, The Los Angeles Times (February 16, 2009)
• “New York Governor Favors Tax on Pornographic Downloads,” FOX News (February 15, 2009)

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Keep an eye out for an amazing documentary on CNBC called “House of Cards.”  (It will be showing numerous times this weekend.)  David Faber narrates a two-hour program on the current financial-economic recession and its origins in mortgages, securitized debt instruments, the dishonest or incompetent rating of those instruments, and governmental incompetence.  Greed, fraud, stupidity, and recklessness are all on display.  It is an excellent program that is a nice introduction to what happened to our economy.

To me one person stood out above all the rest: “The Maestro,” Alan Greenspan, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman.  Watching Greenspan make excuses for his non-stop money printing in the early 2000s makes it clear that this guy had no business being in that job.  He essentially admits that he made no effort to control the Fed’s credit expansion because it wasn’t what the political powers in Washington wanted.  This is the problem with having a politician, like Greenspan, as Fed Chief.  The Fed was designed to be insulated from political decision-making; his job was to make the tough choices and control credit.  Instead, he threw up his hands and cranked up the presses.  Disgraceful.

Economists from the Austrian School knew Greenspan’s policies were dangerous.  Read this before-the-crash assessment of his Fed tenure by Stefan Karlsson from the Ludwig von Mises Institute website.  Greenspan’s philosophy was not deregulatory.  No group of economists is more deregulatory than the Austrian School, but they are also committed to price stability and tight money.  Don’t be fooled if someone tells you Greenspan was a conservative; he wasn’t.

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The House passed the Stimulus bill with all Republicans and 7 Democrats voting against it (except for two Republican absences who would have been NO and one Democrat, Rep. Lipinski, (D-Mich.) who voted PRESENT)

The Democrats voting yes (or switching from the last vote):

5 switched NO to YES: Reps. Boyd (D-Fla.), Cooper (D-Tenn.), Ellsworth (D-Ind.), Kanjorski (D-PA) and Kratovil (D-Md.)

6 stayed NO: Rep. Bright (D-Ala.), Griffith (D-Ala.), Minnick (D-Id.), Peterson (D-Minn.), Shuler (D-N.C.) and Taylor D-Miss.)

1 switched YES to NO: DeFazio (D-Or.)

Representative Boehner gave an impassioned speech (no crying though) on the House floor, you can watch it here

Senate update:

The Senate will vote at 5:30 pm tonight on the Stimulus Conference Report. The vote will be on a motion to waive the budget point of order (must achieve 60 votes) and under the order the vote on the motion to waive will count as final passage of the conference report.

Keep in mind this vote will be held open for a bit in order for all Members to have a chance to record their vote.

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On this week’s activity in Washington:

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Here’s some buzz from the blogosphere.

• “An Alternative Stimulus,” Marc Vander Maas, Acton’s Power Blog Today, Congress is voting on the compromised Stimulus Bill, and the Acton Institute sent a staffer out to see if she could come up with a plan. Watch the video to find out more.
• “Requiem for a Republic,” Michael Reagan, Townhall.com Michael Reagan makes a strong point that his father would be rolling in his grave over the travesty of the Stimulus Bill. Throughout the article, Reagan makes such strong points about the excessive and wasteful government spending.
• “Only a wicked, despicable monster would do this,” Voices Carry

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Earlier this week we took a look at Planned Parenthood’s burgeoning abortion industry. While the nation’s overall induced abortion count is declining, Planned Parenthood’s is soaring. The chart below adds two more trend lines, the number of “emergency contraceptive” kits (a.k.a. Plan B, morning after pills) distributed and the number of adoption referrals made each year by all Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide. Plan B distribution is brisk, even soaring, and if abortions are being averted by this lucrative tactic, it has yet to show up in the agency’s own clinical data.

As you can see regarding the adoption referrals, you can hardly see the adoption referrals. The bright yellow line that crawls along the x axis of the graph is Planned Parenthood’s minuscule involvement in this life-giving option. Roughly 120 babies die in their perimeter for every one that gets a chance at adoption placement. Families are unplanned, not formed, through this agency.

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Here’s what we are reading today.

• “Stem-cell transplant wipes out HIV,” Heidi Ledford, Science Magazine (February 11, 2009)
• “Obama Honors President Lincoln on 200th Birthday,” Kane Farabaugh, Voice of America (February 13, 2009)
• “Nation’s schools would get $106 billion from federal economic stimulus package,” Seema Mehta and Jason Song, The Los Angeles Times (February 13, 2009)
• “Women’s real oppressors are those who say abortion doesn’t hurt them,” Naomi Lakritz, The Calgary Herald (February 13, 2009)
• “Just say no,” The Economist (February 12, 2009)
• “Richard Land of SBC: SCHIP legislation advances `socialized medicine’,” The Dallas Morning News (February 10, 2009)
• “How do you mend a broken heart?,” Physorg.org (February 12, 2009)
• “Gov. Perry Announces $5 Million Grant to Texas A&M Health Science Center Institute of Regenerative Medicine,” KBTX (February 12, 2009)

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Washington, D.C.’s regular listeners to Bill Bennett’s “Morning in America” talk show got a rude awakening this week. First, there was nothing but static on AM 570, WTNT. Then, the former cabinet member and former “Drug Czar” was unceremoniously deposed and replaced by the egregious Mancow. Those who follow Bennett online or on XM/SIRIUS, as well as Bennett’s enthusiastic national audience were able yesterday to hear Dr. Scott Teitelbaum-an internationally respected authority on the hazards of drug use. Dr. Teitelbaum warns about the new potency of marijuana. Listeners to Mancow heard him mooing about boycotting Kellogg’s. He’s mad at the cereal giant because they dropped Michael Phelps from their advertising after the Olympic swimmer was caught on camera inhaling from a bong.

Mancow may be more in tune with the temper of these “high times,” it should be noted. “Harm reduction” is the current buzz-word on handling the drug problem. Even PBS travelogues-which used to be a child-safe zone-have been enlisted to soften up public opinion. In a documentary on Switzerland this week, viewers got to see pot-smokers happily sharing parks with hard-working Swiss. Switzerland’s laissez faire approach to drug use was described as “civilized.” Amid views of the beautiful cathedrals and Medieval streets of Bern, we were treated to the sight of drug addicts getting clean needles from openly available vending machines. Men’s rooms-not your usual travel fare on TV-were shown with blue lights. That’s so those who mainline drugs cannot find their veins and will stay out of the loo. What PBS did not show were the pictures brought back to us at FRC over a decade ago, photos that depict the other side of the soft-focus drug-users paradise offered up PBS. In those photos, we could see young men and women, lying on railroad tracks, their eyes turned back in their heads. Unconscious, overdosed, their arms with drug needles still protruding, their life’s blood spattered all over them. It’s not a “Heidi” portrait of the Alpine republic; it’s a vision of hell. Harm reduction is a euphemism for the real message that the Swiss government is sending to its young people tragically addicted to drugs:  ”We don’t care if you drop dead. In fact, we will even help you.”

By replacing Bill Bennett with Mancow, the owners of WTNT are also replacing Bennett’s cerebral “NPR for our side” with a braying know nothing. There are other ways to kill conservative talk radio than federal regulation. You can banish Bennett’s brand of intelligence, candor and goodwill and call it a business decision. Maybe it’s the station owners’ blue light special.

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POSITION: SURGEON GENERAL

NOMINEE: Sanjay Gupta

BIRTH DATE: October 23, 1969 in Novi, MI

EDUCATION:

M.D. 1992, University of Michigan Medical School

B.A. in Medical Sciences, University of Michigan

(Interflex 6-year program, combining pre-medical and medical school, accepted directly from high school)

FAMILY: Married to Rebecca Olson Gupta; two daughters: Sage & Skye

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Here’s some of the buzz from the blogosphere today.

• “Reason and Reproduction,” Joe Carter, The American Spectator Blog
• “16 Things You Might Not Know About Lincoln,” Jean M. Heimann, Catholic Fire If you would like to learn more about our 16th President, then you should check out this great post.
• “Harkin: We need the Fairness Doctrine,” Ed Morrissey, Hot Air First, it was Sen. Stabenow, and now, it is Sen. Tom Harkin trying to bring back the Fairness Doctrine…who will be the next to step up to the plate? Another prime example of the wasteful legislation that the Liberals in Congress are attempting to push through.
• “‘Glamour’ Magazine Delivers One-Sided Pro-Abortion Take,” Colleen Raezler, Newsbusters Why doesn’t this surprise me? If Glamour had to take a stance on a conservative issue, I believe they might cringe.

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POSITION: ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL OCEANIC and ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

NOMINEE: Jane Lubchenco

BIRTH DATE: December 4, 1947 in Denver, CO

EDUCATION:

Ph.D. in Marine Ecology 1975, Harvard

M.S. in Zoology 1971. University of Washington

B.A. in Biology 1969, Colorado College

FAMILY: Husband: Bruce Menge; two sons

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