Obama: Bill unnecessarily burdened doctors with … babies; Update: AOL Hot Seat poll added

posted at 7:43 am on August 21, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

{I just caught this on AOL, which usually seems so pro choice. So it was interesting to read an analysis of the twisted reasoning that Obama puts forth to cover his stance on infanticide. Being a debator for years one can appreciate rhetoric, but I appreciate integrity and those who are straightforward in their opinions even if I disagree with them. It’s better to know that someone is your enemy than if they are a wormtongue.
Here’s the transcript and a bit of the analysis from AOL. Wow, how did this slip through their liberal filters?

“Yesterday, a YouTubed audio snippet of Barack Obama’s defense of his vote against the Illinois state legislation that required medical providers to give normal life-supporting medical care to infants born alive during an abortion appeared on several blogs. Neither Allahpundit nor I could determine the legitimacy of the clip at the time.  After all, AP had just inveighed against Think Progress for Dowdifying John McCain on the draft, and it hardly seemed fair to propagate a potentially similar edit job on Obama.  Guy Benson did some research on the quote and discovered that not only did the audio come from the Chicago Tribune, Obama had made similar remarks in the Illinois legislature.

Here’s the audio alone, without the musical overlay:

I suspect that doctors feel that they would be under that obligation, that they would already be making these determinations, and that essentially adding an additional doctor, who then has to be called in an emergency situation to come in and make these assessments, is really designed simply to burden the original decision of the woman and the physician to induce labor and perform an abortion.

Guy also found a similar passage in the transcripts of the Illinois legislature. On pages 32-34 of the April 4, 2002 session, Obama debates the bill on the floor of the state Senate. He says essentially the exact same thing as he did in this audio passage above, but with a little more detail:

[T]he only plausible rationale, to my mind, for this legislation would be if you had a suspicion that a doctor, the attending physician, who has made the assessment that this is a nonviable fetus and that, let’s say for the purposes of the mother’s health, is being — that — that labor is being induced, that that physician (a) is going to make the wrong assessment and (b) if the physician discovered, after the labor had been induced, that, in fact, he made an error, and in fact this was not a nonviable fetus but, in fact, a live child, that the physician, of his own accord or her own accord, would not try to exercise the sort of medical procedures and practices that would be involved in saving that child.

Now, if — if you think that there are possibilities that doctors would not do that, then maybe this bill makes sense, but I — I suspect and my impression is, is that the Medical Society suspects that doctors feel that they would already be under that obligation, that they would already be making these determinations, and that essentially adding a — an additional doctor who the has to be called in an emergency situation to come in and make these assessments is really designed simply to burden the original decision of the woman and the physician to induce labor and perform an abortion.

Now, if that’s the case –and — and I know some of us feel very strongly one way or the other on that issue — that’s fine, but I think it’s important to understand that this issue ultimately is about abortion and not live births. Because if these children are being born alive, I, at least, have confidence that a doctor who is in that room is going to make sure they’re looked after.

This passage is really remarkable for the willfully obtuse nature of Obama’s arguments. By the time this debate took place, Jill Stanek had already revealed that doctors weren’t providing medical care to infants born alive during abortions, at Christ Hospital, and a subsequent investigation proved that other abortion providers also abandoned such infants to die.  That was the entire reason for the debate.  Obama acts as if this is some curious academic hypothesis.

Instead of addressing the actual issue of infanticide, Obama twists it into a protection for abortion.  He frames his own hypothetical as an abortion “for the health of the mother”, but the circumstances of the mother’s health has no bearing at all on whether a live infant should receive medical care.  How would treating a live infant threaten the health of the mother?

And finally, as the original audio notes, the remainder of Obama’s opposition rests on the “burden” of calling in a second physician to make an independent determination of the birth.  The bill created that “burden”, a procedure which would take very little time at all, precisely because the doctors at Christ Hospital and elsewhere threw live infants away with no oversight at all.

Nowhere in this argument does Obama say, “I oppose this bill because of its companion bill,” the lame argument that has surfaced over the last 48 hours from Team Obama.  He doesn’t talk about the bill’s supposed unconstitutionality.  Moreover, during the presidential campaign, he said he would have supported the federal bill even though it had all of the same supposed flaws Obama argued against in this passage.

Obama protected infanticide in order to protect abortion on demand.  There simply is no other explanation except abject stupidity, and this passage proves it.

Update: Did Obama protect infanticide? Take the AOL Hot Seat poll:

This is probably one of the strangest photos I have ever seen of the Dalai Lama with a political leader. Does it strike you as strange? The following are not my comments, but go along with the photo.

“two cult leaders, getting along famously

Why does this photo of McCain’s meeting yesterday with Tenzin Gyatso not surprise me? But then, maybe it really should have surprised me:

“I hate the gooks,” McCain said in 2000. “I will hate them as long as I live.”

This trip down memory lane was brought to us by Eyeteeth.

Dalai Lama and John McCainLama_and_that_other_old_guy.jpgtwo cult leaders, getting along famouslyWhy does this photo of McCain’s meeting yesterday with Tenzin Gyatso not surprise me? But then, maybe it really should have surprised me: “I hate the gooks,” McCain said in 2000. “I will hate them as long as I live.”This trip down memory lane was brought to us by Eyeteeth.

Dalai Lama and John McCain – jameswagner.com

August 13, 2008. Continuing to follow the interaction of the Dalai Lama via the International press regarding the Beijing Olympics which he skillfully uses to continue to pressure his agenda. He expressed his fear about what China will do to Tibet following the Games. It seems that the Dalai Lama serves a strangely good cop/bad cop role for China’s foreign relationships. Interesting to watch his rhetoric and utilization of “skillful means” in his political/religious dealings with foreign governments and the press. Some suggest that he is a skillful double agent for the Chinese government.

“He said that there was a risk … that immediately after the Games a million Chinese will settle in Tibet to further dilute the Tibetan population,” said Jean-Louis Bianco.Critics of China say it is flooding Tibet with Han Chinese who could swamp its distinctive culture, particularly since the opening of a railway link to the region in 2006.China denies this, citing huge economic development and great efforts to preserve Tibetan culture. It says only a small number of Han live permanently in Tibet.The Dalai Lama is on a two-week visit to France, mostly focused on religious commitments. His meeting on Wednesday with the legislators was the only political item on his agenda.”He gave us very worrying information about the situation in Tibet, speaking of arrests, torture, summary executions and a reinforcement of the Chinese military presence through new barracks,” Bianco told Reuters just after the meeting.At a press conference earlier, the Dalai Lama reiterated his support for the Beijing Olympics.Asked to comment on a domestic row in France, where critics accuse President Nicolas Sarkozy of caving into Chinese pressure by declining to meet him, the Dalai Lama said Western leaders were right to nurture warm ties with China.”They should not isolate China. They must bring China into the world community and create genuine friendship,” he said.China has accused the Dalai Lama’s followers of seeking to derail the Games by orchestrating unrest across Tibet in March and subsequent protests that disrupted the Olympic torch relay in several countries. The Dalai Lama denies this and has appealed to Tibetans not to protest during the Olympics.

NewsDaily: Dalai Lama fears Chinese push in Tibet after Games

August 16, 2008. The latest critique from the Dalai Lama on the Beijing Olympic Games arose during his meeting with French Legislators. I don’t think he’ll be attending the Olympics in China anytime soon.

“Unfortunately the Olympic spirit is not being respected at all by Chinese officials in Tibet,” he said in an interview on France’s TF1 television, when asked if the tradition of an Olympic truce was being respected.”There are restrictions on the circulation of information, very strong censorship,” he said.”Civilians are often arrested, violently tortured to the point where they die. It’s really very, very sad,” he said.The Dalai Lama is on a two-week visit to France, mostly focused on religious commitments. He has made few political comments but he criticized China’s actions in Tibet at a meeting on Wednesday with French legislators.The visit has triggered a domestic row in France, where critics accuse President Nicolas Sarkozy of caving into Chinese pressure by declining to meet him.On Saturday he met Sarkozy’s challenger in last year’s presidential election, Segolene Royal, who said she intended to visit Tibet.Foreign activists have staged a number of protests in Beijing to highlight what they say is repression of Tibetans in the Himalayan region but the Dalai Lama has appealed to supporters not to disrupt the Games.(Reporting by Sophie Louet; writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Jon Boyle)

NewsDaily: Dalai Lama: China mistreating Tibetans during Games

It’s fascinating to read of the Dalai Lama’s political interaction with the British government about the Beijing Olympic Games back in May. Here’s a short excerpt from the BBC’s coverage on his visit with British Prime Minister Brown.

“In the interview with the BBC , the Buddhist spiritual leader, 73, said of the Olympics’ opening ceremony: “Right from the beginning I fully support about the Olympic Games. Meantime I have also made clear the world takes this opportunity to remind the Chinese government about poor record on human rights, religious freedom and environment. The Chinese leadership should pay more attention.”Asked whether politicians and others should attend the opening ceremony if invited, he said: “[If an ] individual feel [that is] the best way to remind them [is] not [to[ attend, don’t do it.”But he qualified that: “If they feel to talk, to meet with Chinese leaders, that’s more effective, then go there.”On the question of where his meeting with Mr Brown is to be held today, the Dalai Lama said: “From my part there’s no differences, so long as the meeting [takes place]. So perhaps I think [with] our meeting, the Prime Minister I think, is becoming more spiritual minded.”He accepted the Prime Minister did not want to receive him at Number 10 for “economy reasons”.The Bhuddist spiritual leader, 73, said he was fully committed to a “middle way” of bringing greater autonomy for Tibet, but said he did not want the disputed province to break away entirely from the Chinese state.Asked what exactly he wanted for Tibet, he replied: “We are not seeking separation. It is in our own interest to remain within China.”“Defence and foreign affairs should be carried by central [Chinese] government but the rest of business – education and environment, religious work – should be handled by Tibetans themselves. That’s meaningful autonomy.”He said he thought the Chinese leadership “should take a more liberal way, a more open way, to look towards Tibet.”

Beijing Olympic Games: Dalai Lama calls for boycott of opening ceremony – Telegraph

It might be surprising to you, but did you know that the Dalai Lama was invited to attend the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony?  Check it out.

Dalai Lama invited to Games opening ceremony: rights groupAsian Political News, May 26, 2008 * E-mail * Print * LinkHONG KONG, May 21 KyodoChina earlier this year invited Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to attend the Olympic Games opening ceremony, a China human rights watchdog said Wednesday.The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said the Dalai Lama’s nephew, Khedroob Thondup, confirmed that a senior Beijing official in February contacted him to extend an invitation to the Dalai Lama to participate in the ceremony.The statement issued by the center said Chow Mei-Li, the wife of Khedroob Thondup, also confirmed that the invitation came before riots broke out in Lhasa in March. The center did not say whether the Dalai Lama has accepted the invitation or whether he will attend the ceremony.Violent protests that began on March 14 in the capital city of western China’s Tibet Autonomous Region were followed by heavy-handed tactics of riot control by paramilitary police forces.China claimed 18 civilians and a police officer were killed in the riots but nongovernmental organizations put the death toll at over 200.Facing international pressure calling for a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, Beijing sent two senior officials to a one-day meeting with two envoys from the Tibetan government-in-exile behind close doors earlier this month. Both sides reportedly expressed their stances in the meeting and will meet again soon.Neither the government-in-exile nor Beijing’s Olympic Games organizer could be reached for comment.COPYRIGHT 2008 Kyodo News International, Inc.COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

Dalai Lama invited to Games opening ceremony: rights group | Asian Political News | Find Articles at BNET

Polish Olympic Weightlifter Makes Tibet Protest in Beijing

It’s interesting to follow how the Free Tibet Movement is attempting to make it’s point during the Beijing Olympic Games as the PRC is keeping a tight lid on any public demonstrations which they claim are not in keeping with the spirit of the Olympic Games according to NBC Evening News.

Polish Olympic Weightlifter Makes Tibet Protest in Beijing

Yesterday, the weightlifter Szymon Kołecki, shaved his head in a gesture of solidarity with Tibetan monks, before competing and winning a silver medal.

He told a Polish sports news outlet:

“This haircut is from this morning. I can’t directly say why I did it. It’s connected with certain things that the Olympic Charter forbids. But I will say that it’s symbolic.”

On March 20th this year, a week after the Chinese government brutally suppressed peaceful protests in Lhasa and sparked a country-wide uprising, Kołecki said:

“Unless the Chinese regime becomes more moderate, I’ll compete with my head shaved in a gesture of solidarity with the Tibetan monks.”

Head-shaving was one of the suggestions the Athlete Wanted campaign made to athletes as gestures of support for Tibet at the Olympics. In Poland, the campaign was carried out by the Inna Przestrzeń Foundation’s Tibetan Programme, as part of which Polish athletes were contacted directly as well as via the internet. More on the campaign in Poland here: http://ratujtybet.org/Pekin_2008/

Following this year’s dramatic events in Tibet, Kołecki also said:

“I am outraged by what’s going on in Tibet. When I read about it, I can hardly believe I’ll compete in a country that bloodily suppresses street protests and persecutes people who don’t agree with the party. I can’t believe the Chinese have launched an immense operation to block Lhasa.” He continued, “This month in Beijing is a chance for the world’s biggest audience to see how China persecutes the Tibetan people.”

“Until August 17th, I’ll be focused chiefly on my participation in the contest. But after that I’ll keep my eyes wide open and if I see something worrying, I’ll surely not look away.”

Thanks to Tibet Watch in Poland for the translated information.

 The other day I was talking with my friend Samuel about the symbolism being conveyed during the Beijing Olympic Games. He mentioned that they are promoting the Dragon as their national symbol. After seeing this article I am convinced he was right.

These days, Shanghaiist is rarely surprised about anything that happens in China. However, we did think that this news story did come from a little out of left-field. A Henan-based investor group is constructing a 21-kilometre (13 mile) long metal Chinese dragon as a tourist attraction. The dragon’s body forms a nine-metre (27-foot) high wall running along a ridge-line, with the dragon’s head rising 10-metres (30-feet) above the surrounding land. This project plans to cover the metal structure in 5.6 million pieces of white marble and gilded bronze to form the dragon’s scales which Xinhua reports should be “symbolic of the country’s 56 ethnic groups”. The dragon construction is planned to finished by 2009 to mark the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. The investor group states that advertising space on the giant serpent also will be sold and tourists can pay to have their names and other messages inscribed on the walls of galleries located inside.

All of this sounds super-tacky to this little Shanghaiist.

So where is this monster located? In the Shizu Mountain National Forest Park, just outside the Henan capital, Zhengzhou. National Forest Park… hmm.

Not surprisingly, there is a little controversy. The (forever-blocked) BBC News reported that there are moves to stop this incredulous construction situated on top of the Shizu Mountain National Forest Park due to environmental concerns. Here’s an excerpt of their story.

The Henan Environmental Protection Agency says it has sent a team to investigate the project that started without the necessary environmental assessments, Xinhua news agency reported.

“If the project fails our assessment, we will order it be stopped or the demolition of the completed part,” an unidentified official with the administration was quoted as saying.

An online survey showed more than 90% of respondents disapproved of the dragon, Xinhua said.

“The planned dragon is like an expressway which will damage vegetation, affect the landscape and destroy the local ecological system,” Wu Mingzuo, director of Henan Ecology Society, was quoted as saying.

“Shizu mountain is a symbol of Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, who is considered the earliest ancestor of China,” the Shanghai Daily quoted Dai Songcheng, director of the Henan institute of culture, as saying.

“Such an immense structure on the mountain top is disrespectful to Huangdi.”

Shanghaiist also believes this is a little disrespectful to the concept of a National Forest Park as well. However, there is the suggestion that the dragon structure could help minimise the impact of sand storms on the nearby capital. USA Today’s Weather blogger had this to say about the concept.

The weather connection is that the 13-mile long dragon sculpture could help protect the city from the tremendous sandstorms that blow in from the north each spring. Located south-east of the Gobi Desert, the city of Zhengzhou is apparently quite vulnerable to sandstorms. Although the sculpture doesn’t seem that tall in the photo, it may very will be high enough to protect the city. Sandstorms rarely rise more than 50 feet above the ground, in contrast to duststorms, which can rise much higher in the atmosphere.

Henan’s capital Zhengzhou sounds more and more like a bit of a wacky place to hang out in. Apart from building giant dragon sand breaks, the fun-loving residents of Zhengzhou have been up to quite a number of activities recently like giant face sculpture competitions and organising baijiu-influenced nude runs for the sake of the environment. Oh, then there’s the odd student hullabaloo, and don’t try and be a HIV/AIDS activist there either, you might embarrass someone.

The following post suggests that the Drum Tower Murder was not so random. It presents another viewpoint not being presented by the sensitive Chinese state during the Beijing Olympic Games.

http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?D=2008-08-16&ID=247346

“2008-08-16 China-Japan-KoreasExperts suggest attack not so random (Sudden Boxer Syndrome in China vis-a-vis Olympic murder)The Boxers were an ostensibly independent, but actually government-sponsored (Qing dynasty) militia used as a weapon against foreign influences. Their principal military exploits consisted of hacking to pieces tens of thousands of Chinese Christian and hundreds of assorted foreign civilians (mostly missionaries) and being annihilated by foreign military forces dispatched to deal with them. They are hailed as heroes in Chinese history books.But where does the depth of emotion come from? Chinese history books say that the West is rich literally because everyone else is poor. Specifically, the West’s wealth is based on looting the rest of the world in general, and specifically, China. This is part of the reason (in addition to the ancient Chinese superiority complex) that Chinese xenophobes are immoderate in ways that bin Ladenists could appreciate.BEIJING — The ancient Drum Tower, or Gulou, rises majestically from a gray sea of crumbling brick homes and meandering alleys in central Beijing. It was built in the 13th century and sits on the sacred north-south axis of the city, or dragon line. Giant drums were once sounded from the 153-foot-tall red and green tower so residents could tell time.Todd Bachman and his tour group probably learned this from their English-speaking guide Saturday afternoon shortly before a Chinese man fatally stabbedhim.Bachman’s wife, Barbara, also was stabbed when, family members said, she went to her husband’s aid. Barbara Bachman remains in a Beijing hospital, in serious but stable condition following eight hours of surgery.The assailant, identified as Tang Yongming of Hangzhou, is dead. He leapt from the second level of the Drum Tower, about 13 stories up.The past few days have been a blur for U.S. men’s volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon and his wife, Elisabeth, whose parents are Todd and Barbara Bachman. The U.S. men have played and won their first two Olympic matches without McCutcheon on the bench, and there is some question if he will return at all before the Games end. There is a funeral to plan in Minnesota, and Barbara Bachman must be transported home.But in the swirl of grief and shock enveloping McCutcheon and the entire U.S. Olympic delegation in Beijing, one question hangs in the air like the humidity that bakes the city in the summer: Why?The U.S. Embassy in Beijing issued a statement saying Tang’s attack “appears to be an isolated act” and “we have no reason to believe the assailant targeted the victims as American citizens.” It issued no travel alert for Beijing.Wang Zhifa, deputy director of China’s National Tourism Administration, cited Beijing’s relatively low crime rate and told journalists, “The attack was an isolated and incidental criminal case.”McCutcheon, speaking to reporters for the first time Tuesday, said: “Random acts of violence are random acts of violence. There’s no indication here of any premeditation or anything. It seems, just unfortunately, a case of the wrong place at the wrong time. Certainly in our opinion that is the way it appears to be.”Yet some China experts are cautioning that, while Tang’s attack may have been triggered by mental illness or deep depression, killing a foreigner at the Drum Tower may not be quite as random as Chinese and American authorities are portraying it.”Drum Tower, suicide, knife, foreigners,” said Susan Brownell, a Fulbright senior researcher in Beijing who wrote a book about the meaning of the Olympics to China. “There’s definitely some symbolism there. What it meant to him in his own mind is a little hard to figure out. But you’ve got a failure in life who maybe is trying to redeem himself with what he perceives as the noble act of killing a foreigner, of protecting China.”The Bachmans were not wearing anything that would identify them as Americans other than perhaps a USA Volleyball pin, U.S. Olympic Committee officials said. But in a city of 17.4 million people, nearly all of them Chinese, Westerners are easy to identify, and one place they are likely to be found is the Drum Tower.”I think it’s a minority but I think it exists,” Brownell said of anti-foreigner sentiment in China. “It’s a product of all the rhetoric of China’s humiliation at the hands of the West. There is a deep-seated xenophobia that has been an integral part of China for centuries, to close down and shut off to the rest of the world. It’s still there today, to a certain extent.”The Drum Tower was renamed the Tower of Realizing Shamefulness in 1924, serving as a museum devoted to invasions and occupations by foreign nations. It once served as a watch tower on the northern edge of the city, able to alert residents of unwelcome visitors. It has since been converted to a tourist attraction.There is also the notion of suicide carrying a different meaning in China than in the West, as an act of protest. The popular annual Dragon Boat festival commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a poet from 300 B.C. who drowned himself as a final, heroic act of defiance against a repressive government.Locals speak of the increasing number of people from the countryside who move to Beijing in search of a better life and, if they don’t find it, quickly become disillusioned. A 2004 report by the Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center named suicide as the fifth leading cause of death in China and No. 1 among people between the ages of 15 and 34.Chinese authorities said Tang was a troubled 47-year-old man from the eastern province of Zhejiang. He reportedly had lost his job at a factory in Hangzhou, had gone through a divorce and was living in a rented room in Beijing.”It happens all the time,” said a European language teacher who has lived in Beijing for a decade and who declined to give his name. “Someone loses everything. They lose their job, they get divorced, they kill themselves. It happens so often here that no one notices anymore.”But if a foreigner gets killed, it’s different.”Few details have surfaced in the days after the attack. Authorities continue to insist it was a random, isolated attack, but they also admit it is still “under investigation.”The plaza behind the Drum Tower has returned to normal, with families playing badminton and shirtless men playing cards in the sultry evenings. The Drum Tower remains locked, though. A small, yellow sign above the ticket window says “Temporarily Closed” in English and Mandarin.Xinhua, China’s state-run news service, first reported the attack on its Web site. Beijing newspapers and television stations have carried little, if any, mention of the story.”They are worried you’ll have copycats,” said an official from a Chinese governmental agency, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job. “You have how many people who are destitute and disenfranchised in a city this large? (Publicizing the incident) might empower someone to do it again.”And if it happens again, you will have a mass exodus to the airport by foreigners.”Many family members of U.S. volleyball players were scheduled to arrive this week, in time to see the last few games of pool play and the ensuing medal round. All are still expected to make the trip. The USOC, taking its lead from the embassy, has issued no additional safety precautions.”There was a point where I didn’t want them to come,” said U.S. volleyball team member David Lee, a Granite Hills High alum whose girlfriend, parents and older brother flew in yesterday. “But they really wanted to come. They said, ‘We’re not going to miss this.’ They said, ‘This could happen anywhere. It could happen in San Diego.’”But I had to make sure that, in my mind, there was no harm that could come to them.”

Article

I like Jackie Chan’s humorous approach to participating in martial arts. If it doesn’t make money, don’t participate. He joked about working with Warner Brothers and earning his right to fight.

“Whenever I’m paid $200,000 to demonstrate my martial arts abilities and give a short speech to a gathering of young people, I always speak about the same thing: the epidemic of violence we see in our society today. Why do so many kids think using their fists is the answer to all of life’s problems?

I was a child once, and I know what it’s like to want to settle your differences with a fight. There were many times I dreamed about giving a swift roundhouse kick to the bullies who tormented me. And I could have, too. I was trained. Ready. But when I entered the Peking Opera School to learn kung fu, my master Yu Jim Yuen told me that the true warrior must never strike first. He must sit and wait—at least until he has secured a three-picture deal with Warner Bros. and has fully developed his persona as a highly marketable, family-friendly Bruce Lee.”

 

 

Tags: MartialArts, Jackie Chan, Warner Brothers, Bruce Lee.