links for 2009-05-17

It’s worth noting that, by most if not all of her multiple accounts, Nancy Pelosi is as guilty of torture as anybody else. That’s not an airy rhetorical flourish but a statement of law. Once Speaker Pelosi was informed that waterboarding was part of the plan and that it was actually being used, she was in on the conspiracy, and as up to her neck in it as whoever it was who was actually sticking it to poor old Abu Zubaydah and the other blameless lads.
It’s the Miss USA standard of political integrity: Carrie Prejean and Barack Obama have the same publicly stated views on gay marriage. But the politically correct enforcers know that Barack doesn’t mean it, so that’s okay, whereas Carrie does, so that’s a hate crime. In the torture debate, Pelosi is Obama and Dick Cheney is Carrie Prejean. Dick means it, because to him this is an issue of national security. Nancy doesn’t, because to her it’s about the shifting breezes of political viability.

If President Obama nominates Judge Diane P. Wood to the Supreme Court, conservatives plan to attack her as an “outspoken” supporter of “abortion, including partial-birth abortion.”
If he nominates Judge Sonia Sotomayor, they plan to accuse her of being “willing to expand constitutional rights beyond the text of the Constitution.”

And if he nominates Kathleen M. Sullivan, a law professor at Stanford, they plan to denounce her as a “prominent supporter of homosexual marriage.”

Preparing to oppose the confirmation of Mr. Obama’s eventual choice to succeed Justice David H. Souter, who is retiring, conservative groups are working together to stockpile ammunition. Ten memorandums summarizing their research, obtained by The New York Times, provide a window onto how they hope to frame the coming debate.

The appointment of Huntsman is thus, politically, a slam dunk. When GOP primary voters inevitably reject Romney once again in the 2012 primaries and caucuses outside of the Mountain West, the resentment – already boiling after last year's adventures in presidential politics – among rank-and-file Mormons that the party to whom they've given so much still doesn't really want them in the Master's house rather than the servant's quarters, will sting. Meanwhile, another of their prominent citizens will likely still be Obama's man in Beijing, proof that somebody in American politics isn't dissing the LDS and its members. And in key swing states like Nevada and Colorado, LDS members are legion.

Some said Obama was crazy, back in 2007 and 2008, to reach out to what conventional wisdom thought was an impenetrable GOP base… Crazy, like a fox.
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It is about Romney and Obama wants to clear Huntsman out of the way for his re-election. Huntsman could beat Obama while Romney never will.

I am not ordering anybody to follow this checklist. I’m not even going to nag about it. I am merely suggesting that you consider answering the questions on them before you go off on how the party isn’t listening to you.

* What is the name of your local GOP group, on the county / district level?
* Who is the chair?
* When do they meet?
* What was discussed at the last meeting?
* What happened at that meeting that you disagreed with the most?
* How did they address your concerns?
* When does the group or sub-group that would best resolve your concerns meet?
* Who else in that group or sub-group would you say is your best ally in resolving that concern?
* Who in your area is running for state, county, and local office?
* What did they say that they needed the most help with?
* Who is the greatest obstructionist in your group, and how do you get around him or her?

The U.S. Congress passed House Resolution 204 congratulating the American Dental Association for its 150 years of service May 13 during the Washington Leadership Conference.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), one of two dentists currently serving in Congress, sponsored the resolution. The House of Representatives passed it unanimously.

Speaking on the House floor May 12, Rep. Simpson commended the Association as a leader advocating for improved health care access for underprivileged Americans, its activity in cutting-edge dental research and the ADA Give Kids A Smile program.

A proposal to restrict mobile dental clinics in public schools won approval Tuesday from the Louisiana House Committee on Health and Welfare.

Authored by Rep. Kevin Pearson, R-Slidell, the legislation moves to the full House for consideration.

The Louisiana Dental Association is advocating that children have long-term care in a "dental home – a permanent, fixed dentist office" instead of a for-profit, mobile dental clinic.