... Ed Whelan, is an American lawyer and a prominent conservative legal analyst. He currently serves as President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank ...
From the About page at the Ethics and Public Policy Center:
... the Ethics and Public Policy Center is Washington, D.C.'s premier institute dedicated to applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of public policy.
Did you know it's in the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to out pseudonymous bloggers?
Well, it is.
And they also assert:
... EPPC and its scholars have consistently sought to defend the great Western ethical imperatives -- respect for the inherent dignity of the human person ...
You probably have read by now that legal-intellectual-powerhouse Ed Whelan has outed Publius.
I don't like outing anybody for any reason whatsoever. I disapprove the outing of gay Republicans who publicly denounce homosexuality or push for laws that diminish their rights, which puts me at odds with some liberal blogs (cf. AMERICAblog).
If privacy is to have any value whatsoever, it includes the option to hide from view certain activities: Going to the racetrack to bet on the ponies. Purchasing Hustler magazine. Attending a church of a marginal religion. Etc.
Outing is part of a Puritan mindset that insists that everything be done on the public stage. Everything. So that the crowd can weigh in on this-or-that personal quirk or unpopular viewpoint that the subject exhibits. It's actually a primitive (and juvenile) social phenomenon that we can do without.
UPDATE: Rick Moran of Right Wing Nut House: (emp add)
Someday, someone is going to make a million by writing a book on what so far is largely unwritten; the rules and etiquette of blogging.
When that happens, we won’t have internet ignorant philistines like Ed Whelan running around destroying the anonymity of bloggers who choose to remain unknown. Or maybe we will, if they prove as unable to control their anger as Mr. Whelan has demonstrated. ...
Responding point by point to Publius’s piquing of Whelan’s demonstrably thin skin, the President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center couldn’t leave it at that. Instead, he decided to act rather unethically and dig unto Publius’s personal life in order to discover who this mosquito nibbling on his backside might be. ...
Whelan obviously doesn’t get out much. Or read the news. He is certainly an ignoramus about blogging if he hasn’t read about the dozens of cases of people who have lost jobs, been stalked and threatened, or forced to give up writing by employers all due to their passion for blogging. ...
... there are a lot of good reasons for bloggers to remain anonymous and Ed Whalen has no right to decide differently just because he got steamed about someone’s response to his analysis. Did Publius commit a crime? Was he slandering Whalen? If not, Whalen’s fit of personal pique looks low, tawdry, childish, and vengeful. ...
So, through Whelan’s towering ignorance, he has outed someone for no good reason save his own sense of payback with still unknown consequences to a man he doesn’t know, who never did him any personal harm, and couldn’t affect his reputation one way or another even if that was his intent.
Yeah - way to go Ed. ...
I would recommend that Mr. Whelan familiarize himself with blogs and the nature of the beast before going off half cocked and making himself appear a vengeful, spiteful, small minded man. I lost far more respect for Whelan through his outing of Hilzoy than anything the blogger has written about him.
Two leading voices of the Republican Party's evangelical wing visited Rock Church on Friday for a forum aimed at recapturing some of the movement's political momentum.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee urged Christians to get involved in politics to preserve the presence of religion in American life.
"I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history," Gingrich said. "We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism."
They and other speakers warned about the continuing availability of abortion, the spread of gay rights, and attempts to remove religion from American public life and school history books.
Newt is now a leading voice of the Republican Party's evangelical wing?
The Tennessee House of Representatives has voted to override Gov. Phil Bredesen's veto on the controversial "guns in restaurants" bill. The State Senate is expected to follow suit. ...
Last week, Bredesen – flanked by more than 50 law enforcement officials from across the state – vetoed the legislation, calling it "reckless" and saying it "defied common sense." ...
Prior to today's vote, former Speaker of the House Jimmy Naifeh gave a brief but impassioned speech against the bill, citing law enforcement officials' objections and the concerns of the Tennessee Restaurant Association. ...
State Rep. Glen Casada (R-Franklin) rose to rebut Naifeh and said that "an armed citizen is a safe citizen." He added that the "bad guys" are already bringing guns into bars and restaurants and people who have gone through the mandatory eight hours of training to have a carry permit can now protect him and his family. ...
Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker issued this reaction to the veto override:
"Governor Bredesen said last week when he vetoed this bill that he expected an override. He's disappointed with this action but that doesn't change his belief that we can exercise our second amendment rights and common sense at the same time. He believes guns and bars simply don't mix, and this legislation doesn't provide the proper safeguards to ensure public safety. Governor Bredesen stands by his decision to veto the bill."
Re "an armed citizen is a safe citizen": A drunk armed citizen is not a safe citizen.
Most Republican reforms involve shifting away from employer-based health insurance -- replacing the massive tax breaks for companies with subsidies to individuals and families to purchase coverage on their own.
In other words,
Healthcare will cost less when you disband pooling of risk and bargaining power and instead have people deal with large insurance companies on an individual basis.
That is the Republican fantasy which posits that markets are perfect. That all markets operate as if there are many suppliers and many buyers of a standard product. And that such "ideal pricing" must be borne by the individual even if it is unaffordable for certain (random) health conditions.
Roeder apparently kept track of the state prosecution against Tiller through a senior member of Operation Rescue, the anti-abortion organization.
At the time of Roeder’s arrest Sunday afternoon along Interstate 35 in Johnson County, a television station captured the vehicle on video. There on the dashboard was a note that read “Cheryl” and “Op Rescue” with a phone number.
Cheryl Sullenger, senior policy adviser for Operation Rescue out of Wichita, said Tuesday that she has spoken to Roeder in the past, but she said he would initiate the contact. She said she hasn’t had any recent contact with him.
Sullenger served about two years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to bomb an abortion clinic in California in 1988. She has since renounced violent action.
The House Republican leadership upped the ante Thursday in the ongoing debate over the size and scope of the federal budget, unveiling a proposal to cut spending by $375 billion over the next five years.
Then comments:
It turns out, however, that there’s no real proposal here. Instead, “The bulk of the GOP’s proposed savings would come from capping non-defense discretionary spending at the level of inflation.”
A blanket cap in spending is not a good idea. For one thing, it’s incredibly indiscriminate. For another thing, it’s oddly un-inclusive. If we’re just going to reduce outlays in an arbitrary, across-the-board way, why should defense and Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid be left off the table?
Why is Social Security part of any discussion about the federal budget? It has it's own revenue stream, it's own savings (special treasury bonds), and it's own payment trajectory - at least until 2041 or so.
A Kentucky pastor is inviting his flock to bring guns to church to celebrate the Fourth of July and the Second Amendment.
New Bethel Church is welcoming "responsible handgun owners" to wear their firearms inside the church June 27, a Saturday. An ad says there will be a handgun raffle, patriotic music and information on gun safety.
"We're just going to celebrate the upcoming theme of the birth of our nation," said pastor Ken Pagano. "And we're not ashamed to say that there was a strong belief in God and firearms — without that this country wouldn't be here."
The guns must be unloaded and private security will check visitors at the door, Pagano said.
How lame. The only way to really celebrate is to bring in loaded guns.
Having just read Obama’s Cairo speech, my reaction is: Not bad.
Power Line's Paul Mirengoff:
I've read the version of President Obama's Cairo speech released by the White House. I don't have time for a detailed commentary right now, nor have I done more than a first read. But it seems to me, on first read at least, that it's a rather good speech.
Of course, "real Republicans" like Limbaugh, everybody at Fox, and the Weekly Standard don't like the speech. Obama will have to try a little harder to get those folks to agree with him.
A mother talks to Anderson Cooper about her decision to give birth to her daughter even after the baby was diagnosed with Trisomy 18 during the fifth month of her pregnancy.
Infants born with Edwards syndrome may have some or all of the following characteristics: kidney malformations, structural heart defects at birth (i.e., ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus), intestines protruding outside the body (omphalocele), esophageal atresia, mental retardation, developmental delays, growth deficiency, feeding difficulties, breathing difficulties, and arthrogryposis (a muscle disorder that causes multiple joint contractures at birth).
Some physical malformations associated with Edwards syndrome include: a small head (microcephaly) accompanied by a prominent back portion of the head (occiput), low-set, malformed ears, abnormally small jaw (micrognathia), cleft lip/cleft palate, upturned nose, narrow eyelid folds (palpebral fissures), widely-spaced eyes (ocular hypertelorism), drooping of the upper eyelids (ptosis), a short breast bone, clenched hands, underdeveloped thumbs and or nails, absent radius, webbing of the second and third toes, clubfoot or Rocker bottom feet, and undescended testicles in males.
Yesterday Rush Limbaugh was on Sean Hannity's Fox television show. That's a little unusual since they are competitors, but ever since about one year ago conservative commentators (Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, Hugh Hewitt, Sean Hannity, Dennis Prager) have been on each other's shows to a degree that I've not seen in years past. And it's not just Fox-heads fluffing each other.
Is this some sort of cross-promotion because of shrinking audiences? Is it a kind of morale-boosting effort for themselves and their audiences? Is it because they can't book decent guests?
[Republican operative] Manuel Miranda [said] that Mitch McConnell should “consider resigning” as Senate minority leader if he can’t take a harder line on President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee.
Miranda accused McConnell of being “limp-wristed” and “a little bit tone deaf” when it comes to judicial nominees.
Miranda is implying that McConnell is pathetic. Or does he really mean pathic?
What's next?
Will Miranda go after Senator Lindsay "light in the loafers" Graham, Representative David "three dollar bill" Dreier, and Charlie "I look better with a beard" Crist?
What did Miranda learn during the years when the RNC was chaired by a man "who enjoys his privacy", Ken Melhman?
Will he issue flamboyant charges through the Internet megaphone held by Matt "cruising" Drudge?
In any event, such euphemisms have no place in decent society and will not be tolerated on this blog.
Conan O'Brien made TV history Monday night when he took over The Tonight Show, and Rockford [Illinois, place of origin of the band Cheap Trick] was part of the moment, practically from the start.
The show opened with Conan preparing to host his first Tonight Show, and then realizing he never moved to L.A. So he runs from New York to California. The whole time he's running, Cheap Trick's "Surrender" is his soundtrack. Cheap Trick guitarist, Rick Nielsen, says he knew Conan wanted to use one of the band's songs, but he wasn't sure what, if anything, Conan would do on the show.
Conan called Rick the next day.
"'Rick I wanted it to be a surprise for you,'" Nielsen remembers. "He says, 'This was just the greatest song. I tried to think of what would be the best song for doing this thing...going across country. Surrender.'
"Surrender" is a single by Cheap Trick released in June 1978 from the album Heaven Tonight. It was the first Cheap Trick single to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 62. It is a late 1970s teen anthem, describing the relations between the baby boomer narrator and his G.I. generation parents. The narrator describes how his parents are weirder and hipper than many children would believe. For example, the narrator describes how he discovers his parents "rolling on the couch" and listening to his Kiss records late at night. It is ranked #465 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
It's my firm belief that starting in the (late?) 1980's with rap and later grunge, pop music suffered a significant decline. Much fewer melodies and harmony. Thankfully, that now appears to be changing.
