According to Drudge Report, “ABC is refusing to air paid ads during its White House health care presentation, including a paid-for alternative viewpoint!”

The President will have the opportunity to present his $1 Trillion plan uninterrupted by such trifling things as other ideas or opinions. In his defense, if I were trying to get the American people to swallow another trillion dollars, I’d want them to be as focused as possible. Fortunately for him, the state run American Broadcasting Company has refused to sell air time to Conservatives for Patients Rights. Chairman Rick Scott said,

“It is unfortunate – and unusual – that ABC is refusing to accept paid advertising that would present an alternative viewpoint for the White House health care event. Health care is an issue that touches every American and all potential pieces of legislation have carried a pricetag in excess of $1 trillion of taxpayers’ money. The American people deserve a healthy, robust debate on this issue and ABC’s decision – as of now – to exclude even paid advertisements that present an alternative view does a disservice to the public… ” [emphasis mine]

Barack Obama has been on the campaign trail so long that even obnoxiously liberal “comedian” Bill Maher is sick of seeing him on TV. Obama now has an absolute free reign & unfettered opportunity to sell his product in prime time.

ABC is a disgrace, and they have lost all journalistic credibility. I can’t imagine a logical explanation for how a network “news” outlet would have the stones to proceed as such. Please contact ABC “News” again and tell them how disappointed you are that they would sell out as they have. Then, contact their sponsors and let them know how disappointed you are. Finally, contact Disney (ABC’s parent company) and let them know how disappointed you are in ABC news.

When a pro-choice politician with scientific credibility among his tribe suddenly finds solidarity with the enemy camp, different ears perk up. It’s as if Newt Gingrich suddenly endorsed increasing capital-gains taxes. Or if Sarah Palin issued a moratorium on wolf hunting.

When the “pro-choice politician with scientific credibility among his tribe” is Al Gore, the man who would made the Chad famous, it’s even more head-scratchingly quizzical.

The issue at stake is embryonic stem cell research, and Algore has agreed to join a $20 million venture to research adult stem cells.

“I just think it’s a very important breakthrough that is filled with promise and hope,” said Gore, a partner in the venture-capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which is backing the research.

Awhile back, I touched on embryonic stem cell research when President Obama lifted the ban on funding for new lines. My basic premise, specifically applied, was that if embryonic stem cell research were such a viable option, then the private sector would be all over it. My contention then (and now) is that embryonic stem cell is less about scientific medical research, and more about influencing the way society at large views the embryo. If it is alright to slaughter an embryo in a dish for scientific research, then why isn’t it OK to kill an embryo in utero? If it’s a lump of tissue in a dish (which it isn’t) then it’s a lump of tissue in utero. Embryonic Stem Cell research is a politically expedient way to shape the terms of life favorably, with the hope of long term impact in the pro-abortion debate.

But I digress from the point… the market will seek out profit, especially in medicine with large profit potential, and if embryonic stem cell research has potential for success, private capital will find its way. As the author of the article points out:

“Obviously, Gore isn’t intending to lose money on this proposition. He clearly sees the enormous potential, not just for healing and research, but for the financial gains that could result when the right thing collides with the true thing… Their research will focus on cures for Parkinson’s spinal muscular atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). In Gore’s words: “The trans-Pacific collaboration is likely to dramatically accelerate the drug-discovery process.”

An ardent pro-abortion advocate with significant political clout has thrown his scientific weight and his dollar bills into the adult stem-cell camp. A few more quotes in the article about adult & embryonic stem cells…

 Dr. Ian Wilmut who cloned Dolly the sheep abandoned his license to attempt human cloning, saying that the researchers “…may have achieved what no politician could: an end to the embryonic stem-cell debate.”

Dr. Bernadine Healy, director of the National Institutes of Health under the first President Bush, wrote in U.S. News & World Report that these recent developments “reinforced the notion that embryonic stem cells… are obsolete.”

Perhaps embryonic stem cell research isn’t as much a scientific issue as it is a political issue. Perhaps the debate is less about finding cures for adults, and more about framing the conversation about abortion more favorably. Whatever the case, they say that even blind hogs find acorns every now and then.

There’s* a guy I know, he’s in a band. They’re actually pretty good but no one’s really heard of them… yet, perhaps. Anyway, he and I were talking, real nonchalant like, and he tells me about a show they’re playing near where I went to high school. I was pumped, natch, and even more so when he speculated that they may actually be opening up for a couple of well known conjunto bands, which were, in turn, opening up for Robert Earl Keen!

It was a strange lineup, to be certain, but who was I to complain. REK in a venue close to home, with my boys opening up was was certain to be an evening to remember. So after puttin’ on my show-going clothes, I arrive on the scene… just me and thousands of my closest friends (!!). Since I was close personal friends with the opening act, I had an all access pass to the back stage while the bands jammed on. I don’t remember any of the conjuntadores (or something), but I distinctly recall hearing REK belt out the opening refrain of “Merry Christmas From the Family“.

“Jason,” you may find yourself asking, “why exactly do you so clearly remember “‘Merry Christmas From the Family’?” It’s a perfectly legitimate question, all things considered…

Because at that exact moment, I found myself standing directly next to Paul Newman**. You can imagine my excitement, and let me just tell you… he’s a regular Joe, he posed for phone pics and all.

Nearly giddy with the aforementioned goodness (REK, my buddy and the band, AND Paul Newman? C’mon!), I caught up with Nat and she succeeded in dragging me off the crowded streets into the lobby of the hotel we were passing to check out the ice sculpture ***, where we (of course) ran into Rachel Ray. Natalie was nearly speechless. Me… not in the least. She’s smaller than I would have imagined, and she has braces which I was more than surprised to discover, but after a little charm and a good bit of cajoling, I persuaded her to sing a few bars of “Memories” from the timeless Broadway classic, Cats.

Unfortunately for us, Rach (I call her Rach) had to dash. The kids were restless (it had been a busy day), so Nat took the kiddo’s and put them down (not that kind of ‘put them down.’ Good Grief.) and I was left to stroll the neighborhood streets and ponder the significance surrounding such a celebrity smorgasbord that morning. I was jerked from my navel gazing haze by the sound of rumbling motor thunder from behind, the kind that rolls out from a needlessly oversized Ford Powerstroke Diesel engines that little people in the suburbs always drive, and people on farms and ranches rarely do.  I was really perturbed to find my silence stirred, but when I looked through the window as the truck pulled to a halt next to me…

Kinky Friedman, how the heck are ya? He got out, we chatted, he rented some walkie-talkie radios from the City Hall so he and I could keep in touch around the ‘hood. He was surprisingly soft spoken, and not-surprisingly thoughtful despite his unfortunately severe tendency to lean left. Conversation hit an impasse somewhere between border security and the relative superiority of Dominican cigars to Honduran.

When it was certainly certain that Kinky was once and for all time out of radio range, it was time for this well-heeled country socialite to roll out of bed, step on the scale, and ready myself for another action packed day.

Who knows what the future holds!

* The incidents portrayed in this post seemed real enough at the moment… which probably occurred between 3 and 4:15 in the morning.

** Cool Hand Luke, Paul Newman, not PN in his current… state.

*** Elephants.