Erick Erickson's Blog, page 185

Morning Briefing for February 9, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing

For February 9, 2011

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

1. The Climes They Are A-Changin'

2. Reciprocal Courtesy On a Bridge Too Far

3. The Obamacare comic book!

4. "Right Now, Not Next Year, But Now"

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1. The Climes They Are A-Changin'

I'm old enough to remember some pretty darn extreme weather, like Hurricane Camille, a monster Cat 5 storm that devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1969. There was the Super Tornado Outbreak of April, 1974: a complex of 148 twisters that spun across hundreds of mile of the Midwest, killing 148, injuring 5,300, and wiping the town of Xenia, OH off the map. And lest we forget the record cold winter of 1977-78, when natural gas supplies ran low.

Many of our impressions of current extreme weather conditions have to do with the fact that 1) they're fresh in our memories; 2) we have better communications and 3) higher population densities than in times past.

Complaining about extreme weather is part of the human condition. Let's take a stroll down memory lane with The New York Times, all the way back to 1888.

Note from Erick: Folks, this is the best piece on climate change you are goin got read. You really need to check out the whole thing.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Reciprocal Courtesy On a Bridge Too Far

The cool kids on twitter, the ones who think as long as they proclaim their openmindedness to ideas that have never had a place within conservatism they won't be considered troglodytes, are all a twitter (pun intended) over GOProud going to CPAC. Most are willing to admit the group is Republican and intellectually libertarian — not conservative. But they want them to have a seat at the table. That's all well and fine.

In fact, GOProud has largely said the same thing. It just wants a seat at the table as a team player. The cool kids on twitter and GOProud are upset and horrified that any conservative could look at the conservative political action conference and wonder how an organization like GOProud got to be a participating organization. Yes Virginia, there remains a difference between Republican and conservative.

In any event, your mileage can vary on where you stand on whether they should be or should not be at CPAC (I'd rather GOProud than the Muslim Brotherhood), but on the issue of GOProud and Tim Pawlenty, your mileage can't really vary if we're going to uphold one standard and some basic reciprocity.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. The Obamacare comic book!

Excuse me: the Obamacare graphic novel. What's the difference between a comic book and a graphic novel? The same difference as the one between dolls and action figures, but never mind that right now. What's important is that there's somebody out there who feels that the ideas behind a 2,400 page monstrosity of a health bill that nobody understands and even its defenders secretly hate can be explained by literally drawing some pictures.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. "Right Now, Not Next Year, But Now"

Congressional Republicans are breaking their pledge to cut spending "right now, not next year, but now."

Yet, the editors of National Review today, while swooning over the latest budget proposal of Paul Ryan (R-WI), lauded the House GOP for an "actual honest-to-God reduction in federal outlays of $32 billion."

How about we take a look at this with an honest-to-God perspective and the ability to check blind hope for supposed "conservative heroes" at the door?

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Really Grover? Losers?

As you will note from my posting over the past several weeks, I have declined to write about CPAC and the related controversy. RedState is assisting FreedomWorks in sponsoring Bloggers Row, but I have personally done my best to keep my head down and mouth shut. I'll be speaking Friday at noon to the Young America's Foundation luncheon. I'm happy to do so.

Nonetheless, I'm rapidly loosening up my jaw on this despite having done my best to be silent and nod politely at both sides. I just . . . um . . . only see one side slinging mud.

Chris Barron of GOProud went on MSNBC to lump Jim DeMint with the birthers for DeMint not going to CPAC. GOProud does, however, appear in the same category here as the Birchers.

Now Chris Barron is attacking Tim Pawlenty for Pawlenty speaking in favor of Don't Ask - Don't Tell.

And for icing on the cake, now Grover Norquist is out referring to the Heritage Foundation, the Media Research Center, the Family Research Council, Sen. Jim DeMint, Rep. Jim Jordan, etc. as "loser organizations" and "losers" generally.

I don't recall Heritage, DeMint, etc. deciding to attack CPAC. They've just opted out. Perhaps those wishing Tim Pawlenty, Jim DeMint, etc. would shut up should take their own advice.

Do I really need to pull out the Susan Ralston email?

I'll stop here and suggest we, by which I mean largely they, might want to consider a cease fire.

Reciprocal Courtesy On a Bridge Too Far

Maybe had the libertarians done a better job of preventing their party from being overrun with libertines — a group of people who couldn't care less about the size and scope of government as long as their desires for one night stands with a bag of weed and a tranny from 7th and Broadway are unimpeded by government — we wouldn't be having these issues within the conservative movement.

The conservative movement, of course, is that part of the center-right coalition that joins libertarians in the desire for smaller government, but actually believes there must be some bit of morality in government. It is, despite the preference of some, separate and distinct from both libertarians and, more so, Republicans.

Nonetheless, we are having these debates over what it means to be a conservative. The cool kids on twitter, the ones who think as long as they proclaim their openmindedness to ideas that have never had a place within conservatism they won't be considered troglodytes, are all a twitter (pun intended) over GOProud going to CPAC. Most are willing to admit the group is Republican and intellectually libertarian — not conservative. But they want them to have a seat at the table. That's all well and fine.

In fact, GOProud has largely said the same thing. It just wants a seat at the table as a team player. The cool kids on twitter and GOProud are upset and horrified that any conservative could look at the conservative political action conference and wonder how an organization like GOProud got to be a participating organization. Yes Virginia, there remains a difference between Republican and conservative.

In any event, your mileage can vary on where you stand on whether they should be or should not be at CPAC (I'd rather GOProud than the Muslim Brotherhood), but on the issue of GOProud and Tim Pawlenty, your mileage can't really vary if we're going to uphold one standard and some basic reciprocity.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has endorsed the long standing and conservative position of Don't Ask-Don't Tell — a position long advocated at CPAC no less. In response, Chris Barron of GOProud is attacking Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty, by the way, is not "boycotting" CPAC because of GOProud's presence. He'll be there.

I understand that Pawlenty is trying hard to get people to pay attention to his campaign. Its certainly a challenge for someone with such little stature in the conservative movement to compete with high profile conservative leaders like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, etc. Unfortunately for Pawlenty, comments like this simply show how totally out-of-touch he is with the issues that rank and file conservatives care about. If he wants to show he is a committed social conservative he would be much better served talking about the need to defund Planned Parenthood, end federal funding for abortion, reign in an out of control judiciary and support for a parents rigths amendment to protect home-schoolers.

Interestingly enough, GOProud's statement got its traction at the far left Americablog. This is much in the same way Chris Barron went on MSNBC to attack conservative Jim DeMint for not going to CPAC. He went so far as to claim DeMint was joining "birthers" in a boycott, which is a lot of hooey.

If Chris Barron wants GOProud to be taken seriously as a right-of-center group, perhaps he should be willing to extend the same courtesy to those on the right who disagree with him and, oddly enough, maintain extremely long standing conservative positions GOProud works in opposition to.

As my friend Drew Ryun noted yesterday, GOProud doesn't have as much to show for its conservative bona fides as either Tim Pawlenty or Jim DeMint do — both of whom have been attacked by GOProud.

GOProud is against traditional marriage while pushing for pro-gay marriage laws at state level. See, for example, its 2011 Agenda.

GOProud Opposes any anti-gay federal marriage amendment. According to GOProud, marriage should be a question for the states. A federal constitutional amendment on marriage would be an unprecedented federal power grab from the states. They endorsed DC Gay Marriage and oppose Rep. Chaffetz's efforts to overturn it.

"Look, marriage is important to me," says Barron, 36, chairman of GOProud, an advocacy group for gay conservatives. "I support marriage equality. But it's a state issue, and states ought to be able to work through this process. And we're winning. The left seems hellbent on pulling defeat from the jaws of victory by focusing on this courts-only strategy. It's a complete and total turnoff to a huge segment of the voting population." (source)

GOProud is for repeal of DADT: "GOProud is thankful to every Senator, regardless of party affiliation, who voted for repeal," said Jimmy LaSalvia, GOProud's Executive Director. "GOProud is particularly thankful and proud of the votes of Senators Scott Brown (R-MA) and Mark Kirk (R-IL). GOProud was the only gay organization who endorsed and supported both Senator Brown and Senator Kirk in their respective elections." (source)

GOProud joined the AFL-CIO and Human Rights Campaign in endorsing liberal Democrat legislation to give health benefits to gay couples

We can also put GOProud to the test in another way. While they have spoken up forcefully in favor of a liberal social agenda and against traditional values, they say they are serious fiscal and national security conservatives (not just Republican, but deeply conservative on these issues) — and nevermind that the word "libertarian" might just be more apt.

Lets look at issues where GOP and conservatives have taken different approaches on fiscal and national security issues. Did GOProud weigh in on the side of conservatives?

Earmarks: silent.

START Renewal: silent.

Unions: silent.

In other words, before GOProud starts declaring itself the standard bearer for conservatism able to then write people out of the movement or demand they shut up instead of advocating long held conservative positions, perhaps GOProud needs to actually get into the conservative movement.

Or, maybe it should just go on and admit it is Republican with a libertarian worldview.

I'm fine with that. But let's not soil the word "conservative" the way the libertines did to "libertarian".

Morning Briefing for February 7, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing

For February 8, 2011

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

1. Hey Barack, Resign Now, and Now Means Yesterday

2. House Republicans Attempt to Extend "Stimulus" Trade Benefits

3. How Obama Can Double His Budget Cuts By Doing His Job

4. The Muslim Brotherhood and the ACU

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1. Hey Barack, Resign Now, and Now Means Yesterday

While our nation languishes amidst record food and energy prices, unprecedented underemployment (including those excluded from the workforce) and economic stagnation, crippling regulations, and an administration in contempt of two court decisions, the media would rather distract us with the Islamist uprising in Egypt. It is imperative that we keep up the pressure on Obama and the Democrats by denying them the opportunity to preclude our attention from more relevant and ominous domestic problems. On the other hand, there is one salient question that we should excogitate from Obama's handling of the Egyptian insurgency. If Obama is willing to listen to the protesters of a foreign country due to their grievances from high food and energy prices and an unresponsive government, shouldn't he accede to the similar demands of his own citizens and resign immediately?

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. House Republicans Attempt to Extend "Stimulus" Trade Benefits

Can someone please tell me which party is in control of the House of Representatives? Because I cannot tell from looking at tomorrow's floor schedule.

House Republicans have placed on the "suspension" calendar (typically reserved for noncontroversial matters) a bill to extend expanded Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) benefits until the end of June. The TAA program give generous benefits to individuals who lose their job as a result of a free trade, even though 99 weeks of unemployment is already available for all laid-off workers. The Obama "stimulus" bill dramatically expanded the program in scope and duration so that now TAA benefits costs taxpayers roughly $2.4 billion each year.

Say what you will about unemployment benefits (and I'm not a big fan of them), but at least they're equitable. If you lose your job, you are eligible for benefits. Not so with TAA benefits, which discriminate in favor of those who have lost their job as a result of trade.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. How Obama Can Double His Budget Cuts By Doing His Job

Barack Obama has proposed a monumental *cough* $775 Million budget cut. This figure struck me as an interesting one when compared with a certain report the Obama Administration has been dodging since November — Ernst & Young's comprehensive examination of the Dept. of Health and Human Services' budgetary lapses.

According to the 3 MB report available for download at Health Care News, the accounting firm found that HHS could not identify where nearly $800 Million had gone!

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. The Muslim Brotherhood and the ACU

At 1:00 pm on Friday at CPAC in the Jackson Room, there will be a panel discussion called The Importance of Faith & Religious Liberty in the U.S. & Abroad. It is sponsored by a group called Muslims for America which was founded by the Hasan Family Foundation and runs a blog at muslimsforamerica.us.

It's at this blog that Muslims for America co-founder Muhammad Ali Hasan, a self-proclaimed "proud democrat" and supporter of the DREAM Act, described the controversy around Park51 Muslim Community Center otherwise known as the Ground Zero Mosque:

"Anyone who opposed the Mosque/Islamic Center was clearly being a bigot. These people have not cared for the last 9 years what was happening at Ground Zero."

Elsewhere in the editorial, the writer says this:

"The religion of Islam had nothing to do with 9/11. As far as I am concerned, people say the hijackers were Muslim but I don't believe that."

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Media Matters Helps Prove the CDC Did Cover Up Abortion Data

It was certainly not intentional, but the leftwing interest group Media Matters for America has uncovered an internal memo from the CDC proving the CDC did in fact cover up and suppress abortion data until RedState revealed the coverup.

On Thursday, I reported that the Centers for Disease Control was covering up abortion data. Each year since 1969, the Centers for Disease Control has published its "Abortion Surveillance System" the week after Thanksgiving in its professional journal, The Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report ("MMWR").

Two weeks ago, RedState contacted the CDC to inquire if and when the data would be released. We were told by their press office — direct quotes — that the CDC "will not have stats available at any time in the near future" and there "are no plans for them to come out any time soon."

On Friday, the CDC reversed its position and claimed that the data would come out in February. Later that day the CDC said the data would be out February 25th.

Now Media Matters has released a memo that gives away the game. And it may be time for a congressional hearing into what happened.

Let us just be clear about the CDC's last minute story to us. The hold up, according to the CDC, was its need to get population data. This ignores the fact that the CDC's 2010 report will use data from 2007, including population data from 2007, readily available to anyone with an internet connection since . . . well . . . 2007, courtesy of the Census Bureau — another organization that, like the CDC, just so happens to be part of something called the federal government.

In other words, two weeks ago the CDC said it "will not have stats available at any time in the near future" and there "are no plans for them to come out any time soon." Last week, after we documented this, the CDC reversed and said "the population data needed to develop rate/ratio statistics was not available at the time we normally prepare the ASR" and the CDC would release it "tentatively" in February. The CDC also noted the MMWR's editorial calendar is booked 'well in advance.'

Today, our "friends" at Media Matters confirm for us the CDC did cover up the abortion data and try to avoid publishing it. Media Matters obtained an internal CDC memo showing "that the report was submitted for review and editing on November 12."

That would be exactly when one would expect the report to go for editing with a publication date the week after Thanskgiving.

Again, the CDC first told us that it had no plans of releasing the report. Then the CDC told us it was awaiting data. Thanks to Media Matters, we now know the report was actually done and submitted on November 12, 2010, completely contrary to everything the CDC has said both to RedState and publicly in response to our story.

What this means is that someone at the CDC received the report to review and edit, and caused it not to be released on its usual schedule, with no publicly stated reason why and no apparent interest in releasing it until we publicized the issue. The question that now needs to be answered - perhaps ultimately to Congress - is who made that decision, who told them to make that decision, and why. With Media Matters' help, Congress will now know where to start asking those questions.

Morning Briefing for February 7, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing

For February 7, 2011

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

1. Media Matters Helps Prove the CDC Did Cover Up Abortion Data

2. TSA Director Decides Unions Get Right to Bargain & Take Dues From Airport Gropers

3. The True Cost of Rationing Health Care

4. The DNC's 2012 Union Convention: The Devil's Always in the Details

5. Matt Yglesias: The One Man Mistake Factory . . . Or "I Laugh at the Inferior Intellect"

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1. Media Matters Helps Prove the CDC Did Cover Up Abortion Data

It was certainly not intentional, but the leftwing interest group Media Matters for America has uncovered an internal memo from the CDC proving the CDC did in fact cover up and suppress abortion data until RedState revealed the coverup.

On Thursday, I reported that the Centers for Disease Control was covering up abortion data. Each year since 1969, the Centers for Disease Control has published its "Abortion Surveillance System" the week after Thanksgiving in its professional journal, The Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report ("MMWR").

Two weeks ago, RedState contacted the CDC to inquire if and when the data would be released. We were told by their press office — direct quotes — that the CDC "will not have stats available at any time in the near future" and there "are no plans for them to come out any time soon."

On Friday, the CDC reversed its position and claimed that the data would come out in February. Later that day the CDC said the data would be out February 25th.

Now Media Matters has released a memo that gives away the game. And it may be time for a congressional hearing into what happened.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. TSA Director Decides Unions Get Right to Bargain & Take Dues From Airport Gropers

Not that there was ever any doubt where this would be heading, but John Pistole has decided to grant unions the right to negotiate and collect more than $27 million per year in union dues from the roughly 45,000 staffers at the Transportation Safety Administration.

Back in November, TSA boss John Pistole granted the TSA employees the right to unionize, but had publicly deferred making a decision whether or not a union would have the right to bargain. Friday, the right to bargain was granted.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. The True Cost of Rationing Health Care

For more than six months, breast cancer patients have been stuck in a horrible limbo, being forced to wait and watch the rationing battle over Avastin play out in a debate between government bureaucrats with little concern for their well being at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There has been an ongoing battle between victims rights groups, families of cancer victims and the FDA specific to the drug, and other life saving drugs. The stakes could not be higher when you are talking about a debate over a drug that has proven to extend the life of cancer patients. Expect this debate to expand to other drugs and services if ObamaCare is allowed to continue to exist.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. The DNC's 2012 Union Convention: The Devil's Always in the Details

The good citizens of Charlotte, NC are probably still feeling euphoric over besting Cleveland, Minneapolis and St Louis as the chosen city for the 2012 DNC Convention. However, as the giddiness subsides and people begin to take stock of what they just bit off, it may serve them well to check the fine print of the contract(s) they've obligated themselves to. If they do, they may find that being a host isn't always what it's cracked up to be, especially if your guests turn around and leave your house a mess.

What many North Carolinians are about to find out real soon is this: If you want to play with the Chicago Democrats, y'all are going to have to play by their rules and be expected to pay a hefty price for them too. This includes their union rules.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Matt Yglesias: The One Man Mistake Factory . . . Or "I Laugh at the Inferior Intellect"

The Blogosphere, and social media are to be celebrated for giving as many people as possible a microphone and a platform with which to express their opinions, but while the lack of barriers to entry means that punditry power is not concentrated in the hands of a select few, it also means that consumers of information had better proceed with special caution when it comes to deciding which particular sources of information to pay attention to, and which to ignore.

I am here to try to make it easy on those navigating their way through the thickets of the Internet. Here is an easy rule to live by: Matt Yglesias is not worth your time.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

The Erick Erickson Show

I'm filling in for Sean Hannity on WSB (only on WSB) in Atlanta for the last hour of his show and then the Erick Erickson show will kick off at 7pm ET tonight.

You can listen live at http://wsbradio.com and call in to the show at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

The CDC Coverup Now Turns to Bureaucratic Panic

"The CDC told us last week there were 'no plans' to release the data. The CDC now says it is scheduled for 'this month'. Did the CDC just not bother looking at the editorial calendar it now tells us is booked 'well in advance'?"

It's never the action, it's the cover up.

Yesterday RedState broke a significant story which points to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation's premier public health organization, making a conscious decision to stop publishing the only federal report on abortion.

To briefly recap, for 40 years the CDC has published the Abortion Surveillance Report. For 40 years that report has appeared in the last November or first December issue of CDC's journal, the Morbidity and Mortality Report Weekly Report. This year it didn't. A RedState tradition has been to use this report for our annual retrospective on abortion. When it didn't appear in November… or December… or in January we decided to ask why.

That inquiry and its response led to our article yesterday.

The internet is an amazing thing. After weeks of checking and phone calls and emails … no report. Then one blog post at RedState later, and suddenly the CDC is falling over themselves to produce something. Funny how that works. Two hours and six minutes after the post went live we had an official response from CDC. The full response is posted below the fold.

According to the CDC we should move along because there is nothing to see here. Really? We're not so sure.

One thing the government does well is routine. If you have any doubt witness the difference between how the government reacts to an emergency and how it delivers Social Security checks or collects taxes. A low intensity statistical report that has been produced at the same time for the past 40 years would strike most of us as the epitome of routine. "Wait," says their reply, "it isn't that simple". Here is their "explanation". (Full text of statement below the fold):

My understanding is the population data needed to develop rate/ratio statistics was not available at the time we normally prepare the ASR. It is these data that are often desired by many to track trends and changes in a most precise way possible.

Possible. But is it likely? Another key fact is that the report in question covers abortions conducted in the United States in 2007. So the population data has been extant for at least two years because the Census Bureau - which has done routine real well for, oh, 200 years - had that particular data aggregated on July 1, 2008. That's pretty "available" by our standards.

But let's just pretend for a moment the data was somehow not "available" to the CDC. Why? It was available to the Census. Indeed, it was available to anyone with internet access. But somehow the CDC was out of the loop? A more likely and obvious reason the data weren't available is that a decision had been made to not acquire the data.

Now we're assured that the 2007 Abortion Surveillance Report is "tentatively" – CDC's response has this word in bold so we're assuming the real context is "not going to happen but we're counting on you guys forgetting about it" – scheduled to be published this month. By "this month" they are saying that it will appear in one of the next three issues of the MMWR.

But wait. The response also says the editorial calendar is booked "well in advance." Most of us would assume "well in advance" is more than three weeks, especially as the report in question will have to proceed through various levels of clearance from the authors through final approval at the Department of Health and Human Services. So if it isn't on the calendar… which is implied by the CDC response… and the calendar is locked in well in advance … how do we make the trip from there to here?

The short answer is that now CDC is about to do the other thing bureaucracies do frequently but not well: panic.

After all, the CDC told us last week there were 'no plans' to release the data. The CDC now says (at least as of late yesterday) it is scheduled for 'this month'. Did the CDC just not bother looking at the editorial calendar it now tells us is booked 'well in advance'?

We have very little doubt what happened it this case. An inconvenient report was quietly killed. The interview we had with the CDC press office confirmed that not only had the report not been written but that there were no plans to do so. This was confirmed by the CDC. The person who confirmed it was not confused. She did not misunderstand. She answered that the report hadn't been produced, that she didn't know why, and that she would find out. She then later called back to confirm that it was not an oversight, and that the report would not be forthcoming.

The distance between that response and the current position of it being ready to go to press at seemingly a moment's notice is difficult to bridge without a skyhook.

The CDC did not run the report. They confirmed that they were not going to run the report. Only after we brought attention to it have they begun scrambling to appear as if they were going to do it all along. At RedState, we're reminded of the guy who trips on a curb and, embarassed, explains, "totally meant to do that."

Full text of CDC response:

Our office prepares the Abortion Surveillance Report (ASR). The next report (for calendar year 2007) is tentatively scheduled for release this month, pending no problems with the publishing schedule for CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Report (MMWR).

The ASR is published annually as a MMWR Surveillance Summary. My understanding is the population data needed to develop rate/ratio statistics was not available at the time we normally prepare the ASR. It is these data that are often desired by many to track trends and changes in a most precise way possible. This created a change in the schedule for MMWR Summary release as the "editorial calendar" is booked well in advance.

Also, please know the ASR is compiled from aggregate data reported by several states and reporting areas. We do take great pains to be sure the data reported is as accurate as possible. Our website presents general information about the ASR – and perhaps might be helpful in the future. www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/Data_S... is the "launch page" for information about this topic.

I apologize for any misunderstanding about the report's release.

Morning Briefing for February 4, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing

For February 4, 2011

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

1. Obama Administration Covering Up Abortion Data

2. Congress Responds to CDC's Decision to Deep-Six Abortion Surveillance Report

3. 74 or 35 or More of the Same. The Pledge to Nowhere Comes Back to Bite the GOP on the Bottom.

4. Just Cut It Already

5. EPA Issues First Waiver For New Greenhouse Gas Regulations

6. No Truces, No Trucers

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1. Obama Administration Covering Up Abortion Data

RedState has uncovered evidence - confirmed by the CDC's own press office - that the Obama administration is deliberately playing "hide the ball" on nationwide abortion statistics. For apparently the first time in 40 years, the CDC's annual "Abortion Surveillance Report" was not published, and there are "no plans" for the data to be produced at this time.

Beginning in 1969 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected data on legal abortions carried out in the United States through its Abortion Surveillance System. The report based on this data ordinarily appeared as an article in CDC's professional journal, The Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (MMWR) the week after Thanksgiving. The report lagged the data by three years, i.e., the 2006 data were printed in 2009.

Last year, contrary to the long-established practice, November came and went with no report posted on the CDC's website. Over the following weeks, multiple visits to the site proved fruitless. The possibility the report was not merely delayed, but had in fact been axed from higher up, had to be considered.

Last week, RedState began investigating by calling those in DC who might have some answers. After several attempts, we finally received confirmation from Rhonda Smith at the CDC's press office in Atlanta that the report has been buried indefinitely.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Congress Responds to CDC's Decision to Deep-Six Abortion Surveillance Report

Members of Congress have been weighing in on the apparently deep-sixed CDC report, and they are not pleased.

RedState has also obtained a copy of a letter written by Senator Tom Coburn. In it, Coburn demands a response from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as to the CDC's future plans regarding the report, and any internal documents touching on the decision to stop producing the report.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. 74 or 35 or More of the Same. The Pledge to Nowhere Comes Back to Bite the GOP on the Bottom.

I was roundly attacked for calling the Republicans' "Pledge to Nowhere" a lot of pablum.

Guess what? I was right. The Republicans wasted a bunch of ink and paper to put up a paper tiger of a sham and, channelling Jeremiah Wright, their chickens are coming home to roost.

The Republicans are championing cutting federal spending by $74 billion. There's just one problem — they promised $100 billion in the first year. They did not, at the time, pro-rate it, but now they are.

There is a further problem too. The Republicans are cutting $74 billion from fiction.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Just Cut It Already

They promised to save $100 billion in spending in the first year. But suddenly, they're debating what the definition of the word "year" is, and whether we should "annualize" the cuts or consider them pro-rated. They are talking about how much to save under a Continuing Resolution vs. what they meant under the Obama budget. Now, the "leadership" says, they are going to let the conservatives cut more by offering amendments. One news story is saying the leadership is going to cut $32 billion. A post over at National Review slobbers over conservative-genius-and-savior-in-waiting, Paul Ryan and his proposal that supposedly gets us $74 billion in non-defense cuts (which Dan Holler points out is actually $42 billion short here).

Only in Washington.

Just cut $100 billion. Just cut it. Do it. Really… just do it.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. EPA Issues First Waiver For New Greenhouse Gas Regulations

Guess who it went to? That's right. Jeffrey Immelt.

Let's do a quick recap. As National Review points out, back in 2009, Obama awarded GE $24.9 million in stimulus funds, and "roughly $20 billion more slated for health care record modernization of the kind that GE specializes in — 'with a direct request to do so from GE's CEO Jeffrey Immelt.'" Then last month, the President appointed Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, to his Head Council of Competitiveness and Jobs.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

6. No Truces, No Trucers

The word truce is defined as "a suspension of hostilities for a specified period of time by mutual agreement of the warring parties; cease-fire; armistice." In recent months, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has turned this word "truce" into a rallying cry for libertarians and a curse word for social conservatives by calling for the next president to forge a "truce" with social conservatives on the pursuit of social issues.

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The Erick Erickson Show — Prime Time

Folks, the time has come for me to move to evening drive time and prime time on the radio.

Starting now, you can listen live every weeknight from 7pm to 10pm ET on http://wsbradio.com and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

Tonight, we're taking on the GOP being the stupid party, talking Egypt, and more. I'm following #EERS on twitter during the show.

Consider this an open thread.