April 14, 2011

Free Botox | Hill staffers line up for free 'government shutdown' Botox injections | The Daily Caller : 

"More than a dozen Hill staffers got Botox injections this week after D.C.-area plastic surgeon Dr. Navin Singh offered the free treatment last Friday to the first 50 government employees who make an appointment as part of a “government shutdown” special. Singh kept the offer open even though Republicans and Democrats reached an agreement in the 11th hour to keep the government running. By Tuesday, Singh had already injected 15 staffers with the skin-smoothing chemical free of charge, with more appointments lining up."

Isn't it great to know our government is hard at work for the American people?  At least they'll look good for all their TV appearances. 

~~~~~

Santorum Announces Presidential Exploratory Committee | The Blaze: 

"Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum announced Wednesday night that he will explore a run for the Republican presidential nomination, making him the second GOP contender in as many days to make his intentions official.

“It’s time for America to be America again — an America that rewards innovation and hard work, that stands by our allies instead of our enemies, that protects even the most vulnerable of our society, and an America that says every life is to be cherished,” he said. “That is what I believe in, and that’s why I’m taking this next step in a possible run for president.”

The announcement does not come as a surprise. Santorum has spent the past few months visiting early primary states and has committed to several GOP primary debates, including one in South Carolina on May 5.

Santorum, a favorite of social conservatives, is a staunch opponent of abortion rights and stem-cell research. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1995-2007, and was defeated for a third term by Democrat Bob Casey."

Santorum made his announcement on Fox News to Greta Van Susteren, who had an interesting exchange with him about a comment he supposedly made on a radio interview in New Hampshire.  The Huffington Post reported (I hesitate to use that word) that Santorum blames abortion for Social Security's insolvency.  Something like that.  When question about it by Greta,  Santorum said that a caller had actually made the statement that we have aborted so many children that we do not have enough people to support the baby boomers who are reaching retirement age.  Santorum agreed with the caller, saying it's a simple economic fact. He went on to say, however,  that he does not make that argument as the reason abortion should be outlawed - that it is not an economic "issue." 


What I thought was interesting about the exchange was that Santorum was able to dominate the interview and get his point across.  Greta said several times that she thought Santorum's comment was "odd."  Santorum kept at it and didn't stop until he had said his piece.  I've seen him exhibit this tenacity several times in the past few months, most notably in a debate on abortion with Al Sharpton.  Santorum was polite and rather pleasant, but he had the determination and grit of a bulldog.   I think he could do very well in a GOP debate and he would probably be smart to take every opportunity to engage in verbal sparring - but in a reasonable way.  People are flocking to Trump because he's a straight-talker and not afraid to confront the president and his destructive policies.  If Santorum could do the same thing without all the Trump weirdness, we might just have a candidate. 

~~~~~

Carrie Lukas: There Is No Male-Female Wage Gap - WSJ.com: 

"The unemployment rate is consistently higher among men than among women. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 9.3% of men over the age of 16 are currently out of work. The figure for women is 8.3%....

...Men have been hit harder by this recession because they tend to work in fields like construction, manufacturing and trucking, which are disproportionately affected by bad economic conditions. Women cluster in more insulated occupations, such as teaching, health care and service industries....

...The Department of Labor's Time Use survey shows that full-time working women spend an average of 8.01 hours per day on the job, compared to 8.75 hours for full-time working men. One would expect that someone who works 9% more would also earn more. This one fact alone accounts for more than a third of the wage gap....

...In a 2010 study of single, childless urban workers between the ages of 22 and 30, the research firm Reach Advisors found that women earned an average of 8% more than their male counterparts. Given that women are outpacing men in educational attainment, and that our economy is increasingly geared toward knowledge-based jobs, it makes sense that women's earnings are going up compared to men's."

~~~~~ 

Baptist Press - Chinese church won't stop meeting, despite demands - News with a Christian Perspective: 

"The Beijing church that saw more than 160 of its members arrested April 10 for meeting illegally says it will continue to hold services outdoors in spite of the Chinese government's demands that it stop.

Shouwang Church, one of the thousands of illegal unregistered churches across China, has found itself in the spotlight as the world debates China's limits on religious freedom. Churches in China are legal only if they registered with the government, which then often puts limits on their ability to grow and evangelize. The government also has blocked attempts by Shouwang to meet indoors.

The church, which reportedly has around 1,000 members, saw its pastor, pastor's wife and other members arrested in broad daylight Sunday morning, April 10, when it attempted to hold an outdoor worship service on a public space in Beijing. The members were put on buses and taken to a local elementary school, where police took their personal information. Much of the incident was captured on video. It was one of the largest crackdowns in recent history, observers say, with upwards of 1,000 police involved....

...As of April 11, most of the members were released but Pastor Li Xiaobai and his wife were still being detained.

'The position of the church remains the same. We will persist in holding outdoor gatherings until the Lord finds a way out for us,' the church said in a statement posted on the website of ChinaAid, a group that monitors religious freedom in the country. '... We don't know how long the fight before us will last. We can only beg God to have mercy on our weakness. We call on brothers and sisters, whether from Shouwang Church or from churches throughout China and even from the rest of the world, to go before God with fervent prayers that He lift up His church.'...

...The statement also released new details about the arrests. Police, the church said, had sealed off the area with police tape the morning of the service.

'Police officers were deployed everywhere, and police vehicles were parked at many intersections,' the church said. 'Just before 8:30 a.m., the time set by the church, several dozen brothers and sisters at the southwestern side of the square tried to start their worship service, but they were quickly surrounded by a large number of police officers who put them on waiting buses that took them to the nearby Caihefang Elementary School. At the school, they were divided into groups according to their home addresses and the groups were put into different classrooms where they were interrogated and their personal details taken down.'...

..."We believe the church is Christ's church, and Christ is the head of the church. The church ought to honor only our Lord Jehovah as God. There is no other god besides Him. Therefore, the church will never be controlled or manipulated by any external forces; she belongs only to our Lord. What this outdoor worship expressed was our uncompromising position with regard to (the practice of) our faith. Furthermore, we believe that holding on to this faith position is itself a form of worship. Therefore, we believe our outdoor worship is pleasing to the Lord.'"

Pray for our brothers and sisters in China.  

~~~~~

Donald L. Luskin: Remembering the Real Ayn Rand - WSJ.com: 

"Tomorrow's release of the movie version of 'Atlas Shrugged' is focusing attention on Ayn Rand's 1957 opus and the free-market ideas it espouses. Book sales for 'Atlas' have always been brisk—and all the more so in the past few years, as actual events have mirrored Rand's nightmare vision of economic collapse amid massive government expansion. Conservatives are now hailing Rand as a tea party Nostradamus, hence the timing of the movie's premiere on tax day....

Today, Rand is celebrated among conservatives: Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) insists that all his staffers read 'Atlas Shrugged.' It wasn't always this way. During Rand's lifetime—she died in 1982—she was loathed by the mainstream conservative movement.

Rand was a devout atheist, which set her against the movement's Christian bent. She got off on the wrong foot with the movement's founder, William F. Buckley Jr., when she introduced herself to him in her thick Russian accent, saying 'You are too intelligent to believe in God!' The subsequent review of 'Atlas Shrugged' by Whittaker Chambers in Buckley's 'National Review' was nothing short of a smear, and it set the tone for her relationship with the movement ever since—at least until now.

Rand rankled conservatives by living her life as an exemplary feminist, even as she denied it by calling herself a 'male chauvinist.' She was the breadwinner throughout her lifelong marriage. The most sharply drawn hero in 'Atlas' is the extraordinarily capable female railroad executive Dagny Taggart, who is set in contrast with her boss, her incompetent brother James. She's the woman who deserves the man's job but doesn't have it; he's the man who has the job but doesn't deserve it.

Rand was strongly pro-choice, speaking out for abortion rights even before Roe v. Wade. In late middle age, she became enamored of a much younger man and made up her mind to have an affair with him, having duly informed her husband and the younger man's wife in advance. Conservatives don't do things like that—or at least they say they don't."

~~~~~ 

Oh yes he did.....during the president's big 'let's raise taxes on the rich' speech yesterday:

What he was thinking?  Turns out it was this:

7am, waking up in the morning
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal
Seein’ everything, the time is goin’
Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’
Gotta get down to the bus train stop
Gotta catch my bus, train I see my friends (My friends)

Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?

It’s Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin’ down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend

[Has anyone asked why Rebecca Black is singing about getting to the bus stop and then she gets into a convertible after debating about whether to get into the front or back seat? Something fishy going on there.]