Associated Press:
"We work for the people," Ken Mehlman, the outgoing chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a speech to a meeting of GOP governors. He reminded the crowd that "good policy makes good politics - and, for Republicans, this must be a time for self-examination when it comes to our policy."
[...]
"Our nation is stronger and better when Republicans are the party running the government. But, ladies and gentleman, our party should never be the party of government, of Washington, of earmarks, of bureaucracy," Mehlman said, implying that's what the GOP had become at times - or at least what voters perceived on Nov. 7.
The rest of the party seems to have told Mehlman, "Thanks for the advice, now screw off." The party of small government wants to be only small enough to get inside your pants.
All Headline News:
Lame duck Republicans might push legislation defining a 20-week-old fetus as a "pain-capable unborn child." Scientists find that particular threshold age controversial while anti-abortion activists support that benchmark and pro-abortion activists reject it.
Last year, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco reviewed dozens of studies and medical reports on fetal pain. They concluded that it was unlikely that fetuses were capable of feeling pain until they were 28-weeks-old, which is around the seventh month of pregnancy.
The bill by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., also requires the Health and Human Service Department to develop a brochure stating "that there is substantial evidence that the process of being killed in an abortion will cause the unborn child pain," AP reported Thursday.
"Next year, the leadership of the House will be hardcore pro-abortion loyalists," Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee told the AP. "They will block votes on even modest pro-life measures like this one."
Well, so much for not being the party of government or bureaucracy. Smith, of course, is flinging bullshit. While he says that there's "substantial evidence that the process of being killed in an abortion will cause the unborn child pain," we have to conclude that evidence is in his butt -- because that's where he's pulling this from. If a fetus is incapable of feeling pain until the 28th week, then he must assume that most abortions are performed after that. They're not.
Most abortions are performed (88%) are performed in the first trimester. Only about 2% occur after 21 weeks. So his bill would be effective for less than 2% of all abortions.
So why's Chris pushing his bill? Because he wants to remind the religious right that the GOP is still willing to bend over for them. That it offers one more chance for govt. to get women to feel guilty about abortion is just gravy.
Tags: news politics health republican religious right women's rights abortion congress
