Democrats nominate tax delinquent with bad grammar for General Assembly

Talibdin El-Amin, a Democrat, plead guilty in September to federal bribery charges and resigned his seat in the Missouri House of Representatives.  (Link to prior post here.)

Wouldn't you think that the Democrat power-brokers in the City of St. Louis who met yesterday to pick a replacement candidate would choose somebody without baggage?

Instead, they nominated Hope Whitehead, who had to rush to City Hall on Friday "to pay hundreds of dollars in outstanding taxes."  (Link to Jake Wagman's story in the Post-Dispatch here.)  Apparently, she was delinquent in paying her personal $1,155 in property taxes and only paid because tax delinquents are not eligible for election ballots in Missouri.

Whitehead acknowledged that since she'll be in the public eye she needs to do a better of paying her taxes.  She's quoted as saying "I've got to do that different now."  First of all, note that she's only going to bother paying her taxes when they're due because she's "got to" and, second, instead of doing it "different," shouldn't she be doing it "differently?"

My kingdom for a grammarian.

Jim Talent on Ethical Vaccines

SLC is a busy man.  And, I have to admit that I'm not always good about reading my e-mails.  Tonight I checked and found that one of Jim Talent's staffers had noted my prior posts concerning the video that he and Bob Graham put out asking why we still grow vaccines in chicken eggs (Link to #1, #2, and #3) and brought them to the Senator's attention.  Here is Jim Talent's response to my concerns:

I am Vice Chairman of the Commission on Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Terrorism and Proliferation. I know that's a mouthful. Basically, our Commission is the follow on to the 9-11 Commission. Our job is to assess the threat that terrorists will get and use weapons of mass destruction and recommend ways of preventing an attack. Our view -- and this is sobering -- is that the chance of an attack is growing, that it will reach the level of probability within five years, and that it will most likely be a bio-attack that could kill hundreds of thousands of people. 

The good news is that the danger can be reduced. One way to do that is to develop and stockpile vaccines and therapeutics to help reduce the impact of an attack with anthrax, eboli, or plague -- the three most likely bioweapons. 

That's why we launched our Faster Vaccines campaign. We are highlighting the need for new technologies for producing vaccines so that America can defend itself against an attack. The issue you raise is an important one, and I want to assure you that the new technologies we advocate in the video are developed through animal cells, not human cells.

I'm glad to hear that Talent has not sold out his Pro-Life credentials.  Thank you, Senator, for the clarification.  Keep up the good work.

The Future of America?

Thanks to Barack Obama and the inevitable result of Socialist policies.  (Link here.)

Veterans Day

Thank you to all who have served.

Carnahan takes a position on Obamacare - or not.

As November 2010 approaches, Robin Carnahan's silence on issues is, thankfully, being forced to an end.  Today, was asked to take a position on the House version of Obamacare.  (Link to Associated Press story here.)

Does she support it?  Well, she's "excited."

Or does she oppose it?  Well, she's "concerned."

It seems that this woman went to the Barack Obama School of Decision-making.  

Carnahan ducked the issue of abortion funding as well.  When asked about the Stupak Amendment, she called the issue a "distraction."  The healthcare reform debate, she said, shouldn't turn into "a debate over abortion."

But abortion coverage was in the healthcare bill - and now it isn't.  The issue isn't a "distraction."  It is a part of the legislative debate.

Carnahan's 2010 opponent, Roy Blunt, voted for the Stupak Amendment to prohibit federal funding of abortion and against Nancy Pelosi's Obamacare bill.  Russ Carnahan, on the other hand, voted against the amendment and for the bill.

Who do you want the U.S. Senate?  Roy Blunt or Russ Carnahan's little sister?

Obama makes decision on Afghanistan . . . whoops . . . not so fast. White House says Obama still indecisive.

CBS News reported today (link here) that President Barack Obama had made a decision - finally - to heed the advice of General Stanley McChrystal (given in September) and send about 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

McChrystal, and the boots on the ground, must have been pleased.

But the feeling was short-lived.  This evening the White House issued a response saying, "reports that President Obama has made a decision about Afghanistan are absolutely false."  (See previous link.)

Nope.  No decision yet.  Isn't it about time that this guy learned to be a decider?

Or is this decision, like so many others, above Barack Obama's pay grade?

In a not-so-shocking development, Democrat elected to Congress turns out to have lied during campaign

Democrat Bill Owens was elected to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.  During his campaign, Owens opposed a public option in Obamacare, Medicare cuts, taxes on healthcare benefits, and increasing taxes on the middle class "in any way."  But Owens has already changed his mind on all of those things and announced his support for Nancy Pelosi's healthcare bill.  As a local newspaper from Owens' district headlined . . . "Owens Breaks 4 Campaign Promises in first hour in Congress."

Keep that in mind the next time that you hear a Democrat make a campaign promise.

220-215 . . . Pelosi's version of Obamacare passed the House. Abortion funding removed.

In case any of you, like me tried to spend as much time outdoors enjoying the warm weather this weekend as possible, here's a healthcare "reform" update . . . Speaker Nancy Pelosi's version passed the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday on a mostly party-line vote, 220-215.  (Link to story here.)  That's the bad news.  

The good news is that before passage, Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) forced a vote on his amendment to include a prohibition on federal funding of abortion and, thankfully, the amendment passed.  (Link to Stupak's press release here.)

A few observations . . .

The fight is not over, it is on to the Senate, where the battle was headed all along.

Anh Cao (RINO-Louisiana) should be ashamed of himself.

Passage of the Stupak Amendment, unfortunately, brings socialized medicine closer to reality.

And, a swing of three votes (JUST THREE!!) could have stopped this fiasco in its tracks.  For those of you who don't think 2010 matters - think again.

Pelosicare includes public funding for abortion

The devil, maybe literally this time, is in the details.  

And kudos to John Boehner (R-Ohio) for this post that shows us exactly where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's version of Obamacare includes public funding for abortion and a required monthly premium for all enrollees in the "public option" to cover abortion.

Fight on Judge Dierker, Fight on!

Somebody needs to fight the good fight against the blatantly unconstitutional red light cameras that serve as intrusive cash cows for municipalities around the country.  That somebody is St. Louis City Circuit Judge Robert H. Dierker, Jr.  

Today, as reported here by the St. Louis Beacon, Judge Dierker expectedly lost the first round of his fight.  Another circuit judge held that the red light cameras in the City of St. Louis were constitutional.  The case will go on.

But, I'm nearly certain, Dierker hoped to lose at the trial court level and hopes to be convicted of such a violation just to have the chance to move the issue up the appellate ladder.  And that's where the fun will be.

This judge is smart, curmudgeonly, precise, thorough, and maybe most importantly, self-assured.  Friends of freedom could not have a better advocate in this cause than Robert Dierker.

Keep up the fight Judge.  

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Referendum!

Networks have called both governor's races in the country for Republicans.

Bob McDonnell will be the next governor of Virginia.

And Chris Christie has been elected in deep blue New Jersey.

Stay tuned for the 23rd Congressional District in New York.  Could be a conservative sweep.

RINO Hunting?

Interesting article from Janet Hook tomorrow's Chicago Tribune . . . link here.

(Disclaimer . . . Memo to any idiot reading this blog, I am not advocating physical violence toward any human being, no matter what their political persuasion.)

"I can't do this anymore"

The former director of Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas, Abby Johnson resigned in October after realizing what she was doing was wrong.  (Link to original story here or follow-up story here.)

"For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him."

May Abby Johnson be one of many from Planned Parenthood to return unto him.

Shades of Gray

It was easy then to tell truth from lies

Selling out from compromise

. . . 

But today, there is no day or night

Today, there is no dark or light

Today, there is no black or white

Only shades of gray

Thursday, I posted a video from former Senators Bob Graham and Jim Talent pressing for research into new ways to develop vaccines.  It seemed to ask a good question . . . why is America using old technology instead of developing new methods?  

That video lists four specific methods of vaccine development.  Those are cell-culture production, recombinant antigen, virus-like particles, and DNA vaccines.

Questions were raised about whether I had lost my mind posting this video, which was said to stand in support of technology using aborted fetal cell lines.  The question was legitimate and, frankly, I didn't know enough about the specifics to take a position on it one way or the other.

Do the methods listed involve aborted fetal tissue, cell lines of such origin, or fetal stem cells?

At the suggestion of a good friend, I raised that question to Children of God for Life (an excellent site with a great cause, link here).  Here's the response:

This is a yes and no answer I am afraid because all of the above methods COULD involve aborted fetal cell lines - or they could be done using completely moral sources.  To give you an example, there are H1N1 and regular flu vaccines in development that are not yet FDA approved using cell culture.  Some manufacturers like [redacted by SLC] are using aborted fetal cell line PER C6 taken from an 18 week gestation baby's retinal tissue.  Others are developing theirs using canine kidney, monkey kidney and even caterpillar cells as their cell culture method.

Anytime DNA or recombinant DNA or VLPs are used there is always a chance it involves immoral sources for the virus growth or delivery method - but it could be done morally as well.

So, it seems that it is possible to develop a better, faster, and more modern method for vaccine development without sacrificing morality, or children.  But aborted tissue can be used in these methods as well.

At this point I'm going to have to admit that I'm out of my element.  It would seem to make sense to research new and better ways to develop vaccines.  But only so long as fetal tissue is not used.

So here I am, pro-science, pro-technology, but more importantly and standing before either of those . . . I am Pro-Life.

What came first, the chicken egg or the Pro-Life blogger sticking his foot in his mouth?

Thursday night, after a small, very small, bit of research into why vaccines are still produced using chicken eggs, I posted a video featuring Bob Graham and Jim Talent who, entertainingly and persuasively, called for action on research to develop new and better ways to produce vaccines.  

I assumed, because of Jim Talent's involvement, that the new and better ways to be researched would be ethical.  I would not and could not support ANY method of vaccine development that rested on the killing of unborn children.  No fetal tissue.  No fetal stem cells.  No cell lines grown from fetal tissue.

The video posted touts four specific improved methods for vaccine production.  Those are cell-culture production, recombinant antigen, virus-like particles, and DNA vaccines.  I am trying to find out from a trustworthy source whether or not those methods rest on abortion.  Until I know, I've pulled the video from my blog.  

If the methods touted do rely on abortion, I'll pull the previous post and replace it with an apology and a serious question to Jim Talent.  If not, I'll re-post the video and add an apology to Sen. Talent.

Vote "Yes" on Tuesday in St. Louis County

I've never met a tax increase I liked.  Trust me on that one.  Generally, I would prefer that people keep and spend their money as they see fit . . . but some things can't be done privately.  One such thing is emergency response.

And, right now, emergency responders in St. Louis County aren't being given modern tools to do their jobs.  Instead, they're working with antique communications equipment and if disaster strikes, lives will likely be lost because of it.

But passing Proposition E-911 on Tuesday's County ballot will provide a modern communications system for radio communication, give emergency call centers the ability to trace the location of cellular calls to 911, and add or repair tornado warning sirens across the area.  These upgrades would be paid for by a 1/10 of 1 cent sales tax (that's 1 dollar on every thousand spent) on purchases in St. Louis County.

For more detail, check out Nancy Larson's article in the St. Louis Beacon.  (Link here.)

It is worth it.  I'm voting "yes" on E-911.  I hope you will too.

What's Jim Talent up to these days?

If you're looking for this post, please see this one for an explanation of why it isn't here.

The Big Fat Who Cares Department is Back . . . and a link the greatest celebrity endorsement speech in American history, as relevant as ever

A music writer at the Associated Press gives us this Gordon Sumner gem . . . "Sting isn't a religious man but he says President Barack Obama might be a divine answer to the world's problems.  'In many ways, he's sent from God,' [Sting] joked in an interview, 'because the world's a mess.'  But Sting is serious in his belief that Obama is the best leader to navigate the world's problems.  In an interview on Wednesday, the former Police frontman said that he spend some time with Obama and 'found him to be very genuine, very present, clearly super-smart, and exactly what we need in the world.'"  (Link to full story here.)

So Sting - a musician - is now throwing his celebrity-weight behind Obama.  He thinks he's great.  There's no policy analysis here, just Sting saying, essentially, "I met him and, gosh, he's really neat."

Whoopty-flipping-do!  WHO CARES!

Not me, of course.  Celebrities coming out and expecting us to listen to them on issues because of their celebrity status really annoy me.

Don't get me wrong.  Celebrities have the right to an opinion, and the right to express it.  And if they can back up the opinion with reason and logic, that's wonderful.  The best example of that in American history is Ronald Reagan's speech entitled "A Time for Choosing," which was delivered 45 years ago yesterday in support of Barry Goldwater for president.  If you want to recharge your conservative batteries - and see the type of celebrity support that we should all care about - link here.

Unnatural Selection

Scientists at Stanford University have "successfully" created sperm cells and eggs from embryonic stem cells in the hopes of creating a cure for infertility.  (Link to story here.)

To put it bluntly, these scientists have chosen to kill one human being in order to potentially create, through unnatural and artificial means, another.

We are, right now, eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.