RU 486 Approval

You may recall that right after President Clinton was inaugurated, he announced that one of his goals would be to have this pill approved for marketing – and quickly. His appointee as commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration was Dr. David Kessler. We use a term to describe him that I don’t recall that we’ve really used for anyone else…He is a political prostitute. He announced, contrary to everything that’s ever come out of the FDA, that, when the drug application was submitted, he would see that it would be approved within six months.

Understand, now, that the minimum time any life-saving drug has been approved in recent years was 19 months, and, typically, other drugs take three to five years. This is not a life-saving drug – it is a life-taking drug – but all rules are out the window when the pro-abortion Clinton administration wants something. And this drug-approval process has been politicized in an outrageous fashion.

politics, political correctness, liberalism, left wing, abortion, news, government, abuse, scandal, regulation, health care

Lawmakers Bill Taxpayers For TVs, Cameras, Lexus
May 30, 2009 by LOUISE RADNOFSKY and T.W. FARNAM

WASHINGTON — Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings spent $24,730 in taxpayer money last year to lease a 2008 luxury Lexus hybrid sedan. Ohio Rep. Michael Turner expensed a $1,435 digital camera. Eni Faleomavaega, the House delegate from American Samoa, bought two 46-inch Sony TVs.

The expenditures were legal, properly accounted for and drawn from allowances the U.S. government grants to lawmakers. Equipment purchased with office expense accounts must be returned to the House or the federal General Services Administration when a lawmaker leaves office.

If lawmakers don’t seek reimbursement for all of their allowance money for the year, the remainder doesn’t roll over to the next year, but stays with the Treasury. The review showed that the increased year-end spending went not only toward equipment but also to fund year-end “bonuses” to aides. The average House aide earned 17% more in the fourth quarter of the year, when the bonuses were paid, than in previous quarters, according to an earlier Journal analysis. Payments ranged from a few hundred dollars to $14,000.

politics, hypocrisy, government, congress, scandal, spending

10,000 penpushers a year are hired by councils
May 29, 2009 by Steve Doughty (hat tip to Political Correctness Watch)

Town halls have hired more than 30,000 extra staff over the past three years, figures revealed yesterday.

The workers, mostly penpushers and bureaucrats, were also given higher pay rises than teachers, policemen or firemen.

government, bureaucracy, political correctness, news

Woman to fight fine for not holding Montreal subway handrail
May 19, 2009 by Jan Ravensbergen (hat tip to Political Correctness Watch)

MONTREAL – The Montreal woman who was handcuffed and fined $420 for not holding a subway station escalator handrail is planning to fight the tickets, saying she was treated like a “criminal” for trying to avoid germs.

political correctness, criminal, bureaucracy, government, oppression, regulation

Gates: Tougher sanctions against NKorea needed
May 30, 2009 by LARA JAKES and VIJAY JOSHI

SINGAPORE (AP) – The U.S. defense chief urged Asian allies Saturday to consider tougher sanctions against North Korea, noting that past efforts to cajole the reclusive regime into scrapping its nuclear weapons program have only emboldened it.

North Korea’s yearslong use of scare tactics as a bargaining chip to secure aid and other concessions — only to later renege on promises — has worn thin the patience of five nations negotiating with Pyongyang, said U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

news, foreign affairs, diplomacy, wmd

Left-Wing Smear Machine Takes Fight to Sen. Sessions Home Turf in SCOTUS Battle
May 28, 2009 by Jeff Poor

You’d expect to see this in the liberal blogosphere or possibly some of the national mainstream media outlets with an obvious agenda. But now some of the preemptive strikes against Republican senators leading up to the Senate confirmation hearings and eventual vote to confirm President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, are finding their way into local newspapers.

politics, judiciary, news media, bias

ABC Offers Skeptical Take on Obama’s Stimulus Claims; CBS, NBC Uncritical
May 29, 2009 by Scott Whitlock

Watch out Jake, you might lose your job for doing real journalism.

On Friday’s “Good Morning America,” ABC White House correspondent Jake Tapper provided a skeptical, challenging analysis of the Obama administration’s claims about the economic stimulus bill. NBC’s “Today” and CBS’s “Early Show” on Thursday simply regurgitated White House statements that the “economy is looking much healthier these days” and that the President is “taking credit for writing the prescription.”

politics, judiciary, news media, bias, left wing, liberalism, stimulus, crisis, bailout, recession, government, spending

NYT: Sonia Sotomayor Has a ‘Compelling Life Story’ — Clarence Thomas Didn’t?
May 28, 2009 by Clay Waters

Judge Sonia Sotomayor and Judge Clarence Thomas both had compelling life stories when they were nominated for the Supreme Court. But only Sotomayor’s story has been celebrated that way by the New York Times.

politics, news media, bias, left wing, liberalism, Democrats, judiciary

White House to Sonia Sotomayor critics: Be ‘careful’
May 27, 2009 by ALEXANDER BURNS & JOSH GERSTEIN

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs issued a pointed warning to opponents of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court
nomination Wednesday, urging critics to measure their words carefully during a politically charged confirmation debate.

Yes, this has the appearance of a threat to those to oppose Sotomayor, but read these articles anyway.

‘Empathy’ in Action
May 27, 2009 by Thomas Sowell

A poisonous doctrine for any judge, much less a justice of the Supreme Court.

The Original Borking
August 24, 2005 by MANUEL MIRANDA

Reagan announced Judge Bork’s nomination on July 1. Forty-five minutes later, Sen. (Ted) Kennedy took to the Senate floor to slander the nominee: “Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back alley abortions, blacks would sit in segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids . . .”

The Battle of Princeton
January 13, 2006 by DANIEL HENNINGER

politics, news, judiciary, nominations, Democrats, hate speech, bigotry, intolerance

S. Korea, US troops on alert after North’s threats
May 28, 2009 by ERIC TALMADGE

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korean and U.S. troops raised their alert Thursday to the highest level since 2006 after North Korea renounced its truce with the allied forces and threatened to strike any ships trying to intercept its vessels.

The move was a sign of heightened tensions on the peninsula following the North’s underground nuclear test and its firing of a series of short-range missiles earlier this week.

In response, Seoul decided to join more than 90 nations that have agreed to stop and inspect vessels suspected of transporting banned weapons.

news, wmd, foreign affairs, diplomacy