Foreign Aid

A lot of my friends oppose foreign aid, and there are plenty of reasons to feel that way. Not resonate with me, however, is the complaint that we should spend it here instead of there; God knows we spend too much here on swollen entitlement programs as it is, and we have so much plenty that we can afford to give some there.

So I just want to register my sense of pride as President Bush tours Africa to create political support for his President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funding request of $30 billion. The Dems don’t like the requirement that a third be spent on abstinence education and are threatening to hold up the funds.

Why? What harm would a bit more abstinence to for Africa? What complaints are there that there aren’t enough condoms and medications in the $30 billion? And in this aid there is a lesson in Democracy and good governance that Africa desperately needs. As Bush told a crowd in Tanzania:

“I’ll just put it bluntly, America doesn’t want to spend money on people who steal the money from the people. We like dealing with honest people, and compassionate people. We want our money to go to help human condition and to lift human lives as well as fighting corruption in marketplace economies.” (AP)

China is spending billions to woo Africa, but they’re not showing compassion at this fundamental level that turns human hearts. Bush’s proposal is for money that would be well spent, strategically and compassionately.

Friends Of Barack

The new FOB’s — socialists? Steve Bartin at Newsalert conjures up this passage, from pages 100-101 of Obama’s Dreams of My Father:

To avoid being mistaken for a sellout,I chose my friends carefully.The more politically active black students.The foreign students.The Chicanos.The Marxist Professors and the structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets.At night,in the dorms,we discussed neocolonialism,Franz Fanon,Eurocentrism,and patriarchy.When we ground out our cigarettes in the hallway carpet or set our stereos so loud that the walls began to shake,we were resisting bourgeois society’s stifling constraints.We weren’t indifferent or careless or insecure.We were alienated.

Funny, I don’t hear “bourgeois” very often in his speeches nowadays.

San Diego Tax Dollars At Work

If you saw city fire fighters on a city fire truck in a gay pride parade, would it ever cross your mind that they were straight, on-duty and required by the city to ride in the parade to represent the city’s position, not theirs?

It’s true. In San Diego, a group of straight fire fighters is suing the city under sexual harassment laws for requiring them to ride in a Gay Pride parade. San Diego Union Trib columnist Gerry Braun writes,

I’ve read a few sexual-harassment suits in my time, and I find this one credible. The remarks directed at the firefighters – “You’re making me hot!” “You can put out my fire!” “Show me your fire hose!” “I can’t breathe, give me mouth to mouth!” “Pull out your hose!” – have been confirmed even by their critics.

How is the gay community, concerned as they are that we all be tolerant, responding to the lawsuit? If you guessed intolerantly, you’d be right. Braun:

An editorial in the Gay & Lesbian Times called the firefighters “sissies” and “wimps” before laying it on thick: “As far as we can tell, you are weak-wristed, unstable, unsuited, incapable little mama’s boys.”

Caution: If you think that makes it OK to call a gay a sissy, wimp, weak-wristed or a mama’s boy … prepare to be sued.

Movie Break

Just watched a movie with Incredible Wife … Saving Sarah Cain. It was a bit Lifetime-ish, but still a nice turn on the Amish in the city story, made by Michael Landon Jr. and other people with deep faith.

Red Hot And Green

Myself, I don’t even want to know, but in case you’re losing … er, sleep … over whether your sexual activity is appropriately green, you’ll find ways to green-up your red hot sessions here. Here’s an excerpt:

Sure, you love that hot-pink plastic [sex toy], but have you ever thought about what is in it? That item you’re hiding in the nightstand might contain phthalates, a chemical used to soften rigid plastics. Though nobody knows for certain if phthalates are harmful to human health, studies have linked … blah, blah blah.

Greenies … they can take the fun out of anything.

Extreme Bad Taste Case OK’d

Close to home, some good news: A judge is allowing the family of Nikki Catsouras to move forward with their lawsuit against a California Highway Patrol dispatcher who made gory photos from Nikki’s fatal car crash public.

Attorneys for CHP dispatch supervisor Thomas O’Donnell, accused of releasing the photos, argued that it was his first amendment right to release the photos. As if.

What happened to the Catsouras family is a case of the worst sort of bad taste that grows out of the anonymity of the Internet, as photos of their beloved daughter’s and sister’s decapitated body appeared on numerous Web sites with insulting comments.

The Catsouras family has been able to shame many of the sites into removing the photos, but their only possible legal action is against O’Donnell for his scummy (alleged) action of releasing the photos.

One Web site I won’t link to that includes links to the photos also includes a reader poll with these results:

Do the parents deserve to win their lawsuit? Yes, 57%, no 43%.

Should Web sites be allowed to show the graphic photos of Nikki Catsouras? Yes, 33%, no 32%

Obviously, people who visit these sites are a schitzy bunch: Rooting for the parents, while a significant amount of them root against them, too.

A Big ‘Heh!’ On Biofuels

What’s wrong with me? Why do I get such glee from environmentalism gone bad? Especially when environmentalism and Congressional eagerness to score greenie points — and get votes — coincide?

With corn and soy prices both at or near record highs, the article tries to handicap which crop farmers will plant more of in the coming growing season. Impossible to tell, it concludes. Nevertheless:

Fertilizer producers benefit either way. Corn demands more fertilizer than soy or wheat. But price competition among the grains, stoked largely by federal supports for ethanol production, has bled generously into fertilizer markets.

That’s boilerplate. Anyone who’s checked out the stock chart of Mosaic — the fertilizer giant, two-thirds owned by agribiz behemoth Cargill, recently profiled here — knows that the fertilizer industry has been essentially printing money. (source)

Fertilizer, of course, is hated by the greens … it’s a chemical, for cryin’ out loud, and its production produces gasp! greenhouse gases!

And every gallon of biofuels produced drives up fertilizer sales.

If anyone who says there are easy solutions to global warming that won’t wreck our economy and negatively impact our health and well-being, their heads are full of greenhouse gases.

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Whatever has happened to the GOP? How could a law like this ever be authored by a man who calls himself a Republican?

An act to prohibit certain food establishments from serving food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the state department of health; to direct the department to prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese and to provide those materials to the food establishments; to direct the department to monitor the food establishments for compliance with the provisions of this act; and for related purposes.

And if a restaurant fails to go along with this and serves someone who, in the opinon of the state of Mississippi is obese — even if the meal served is a cup of non-fat cottage cheese with some fresh sliced peaches on top — watch out for section 1(3) of the bill!

The State Department of Health shall monitor the food establishments to which this section applies for compliance with the provisions of this section, and may revoke the permit of any food establishment that repeatedly violates the provisions of this section.

The bill was drafted by Mississippi state legislator W.T. Mayhall, Jr., who has the initial R after his name. Blogger Sandy at Junkfood Science decided to give Mayhall a call to see if the bill was a joke or was for real:

I called lead author, Rep. Mayhall, and asked if this was serious legislation or tongue-in-cheek to make a point. He kindly took a moment to answer my question while the legislature was in session. He said that while, regrettably, he doesn’t believe his bill will pass, this is serious. He wrote it, he said, because of the “urgency of the obesity crisis and need for government action.” He hopes it will “call attention to the serious problem of obesity and what it is costing the Medicare system.”

Since when have Republicans put governmental know-it-all-ism ahead of personal choice and freedom?

Mississippi readers, how about you and your friends get together over a nice slice of pecan pie, and initiate the recall of Mayhall and his Republican co-author on the bill, John Reed? Remind them what the Republican Party is supposed to stand for.

Thanks to Jim for the reminder.

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All The News That Causes A Fit

Speaking hypothetically, if a conservative major MSM outlet (see why we have to be speaking hypothetically?) hired a liberal columnist, would anyone even peep? Well, peeping they are about the NYT’s hiring of the Weekly Standard’s William Kristol as a columnist.

As the picture shows, Libs aren’t too keen on letting Kristol speak his piece, so it’ll be nice that NYT readers will now have a weekly wincing and grinding of teeth, as we do on reading any number of their far left “thinkers.”

And it’s beyond nice to read this in the NYT:

Mr. Kristol, 55, has been a fierce critic of The Times. In 2006, he said that the government should consider prosecuting The Times for disclosing a secret government program to track international banking transactions.

In a 2003 column on the turmoil within The Times that led to the downfall of the top two editors, he wrote that it was not “a first-rate newspaper of record,” adding, “The Times is irredeemable.”

Is redemption at hand? Nah, not by a long shot.

“Considering?!”

If you’re planning to become a parent someday, clip and file this one under “What not to do:”

GARLAND, Texas – An essay that won a 6-year-old Texas girl four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert began with the powerful line: “My daddy died this year in Iraq.”

While gripping, it was not true …. Her mom acknowledged to contest organizers the claim was made up specifically to win the contest. …

The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig, as well as the grand prize: airfare for four to Albany, N.Y., and four tickets to the sold-out concert on Jan. 9.

The mother had told company officials that the girl’s father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq.

“We did the essay and that’s what we did to win,” Priscilla Ceballos, the mother, said in an interview with Dallas TV station KDFW. “We did whatever we could do to win.”

Winning, Ceballos taught her daughter, is more important than honesty or integrity.

Ceballos and offspring were busted when the Dept. of Defense confirmed that the alleged father, one Sgt. Jonathon Menjivar, did not exist.

Support our fighting men! Kill them fictionally for concert tickets!

Most amazingly, contest organizers, instead of immediately pressing criminal charges against Ceballos so her unfortunate daughter might finally learn a civics lesson, are “considering” taking away the girl’s tickets.

Healthy Christian Skepticism

While some famous Christians are hopping on the global warming bandwagon, George Pell, the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, isn’t so sure. In a year-end column, Pell said:

The Bali summit on the Kyoto Protocol and climate change was a public relations triumph, although I’m hopeful the new government will not impose major costs on the people for dubious versions of climate goals.

We need rigorous cost-benefit analysis of every proposal and healthy scepticism of all semi-religious rhetoric about the climate and, especially, about computer models for the future. It is difficult to predict what the weather will be like next week, let alone in 10, 20 or 100 years.

“Semi-religious?” Pell is being diplomatic, since great faith is required to accept Warmism lock, stock and barrel. (hat-tip: Greenie Watch)


Ron Paul’s Medal Mettle

Consistency, blogs Josh Nelson at The Seminal, “is one of Ron Paul’s strongest points in his presidential campaign.” Put Paul loses his mettle when it comes to Congressional medals.

Nelson points out that Paul voted against awarding custom-made, $30,000 solid gold Congressional Gold Medals to American luminaries, asking “Why should taxpayers pay for these medals?”
Why, then, did Paul earlier submit a bill (which, like all of his bills, went absolutely nowhere) calling for a military metal for everyone who served in the armed forces during the Cold War, from September 2, 1945 to December 26, 1991?

DoD fought the bill. Why? Well, think of the weapons you could buy or salaries you could pay for the loony concept’s price tag: $240 million.

More damning than the flip-flop (“I was for costly Congressional medals before I was against them”), is that the supposedly anti-government, pro-individualism Paul was saying in this bill that it didn’t matter whether recipients served well, stood out, or accomplished anything during their service; everyone gets a medal.

I’ve thought many things of Ron Paul, but I’ve never thought him to be a “trophy for everyone who plays” sort. (Art: Neoperspectives)

The Debate Is Over!

We’ve heard that one before. Not just global warming, mind you. The debate has long been over on vegetables. Eat ‘em raw for max nutritional value; cook ‘em and lose some benefit.

Right? Everyone says so! Just like global warming! Think again:

ScienceDaily (Dec. 30, 2007) — In a finding that defies conventional culinary wisdom, researchers in Italy report that cooking vegetables can preserve or even boost their nutritional value in comparison to their raw counterparts, depending on the cooking method used.

Specifics? You want specifics? We got ‘em:

In the new study, the researchers evaluated the effects of three commonly-used Italian cooking practices — boiling, steaming, and frying — on the nutritional content of carrots, zucchini and broccoli. Boiling and steaming maintained the antioxidant compounds of the vegetables, whereas frying caused a significantly higher loss of antioxidants in comparison to the water-based cooking methods, they say. For broccoli, steaming actually increased its content of glucosinolates, a group of plant compounds touted for their cancer-fighting abilities. The findings suggest that it may be possible to select a cooking method for each vegetable that can best preserve or improve its nutritional quality, the researchers say.

The lesson: Beware of false algore-ithms.

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It’s a story Michael Creighton would love:

Scientists, ostensibly driven by pure motives to cure disease but darkened by ambition and the dream of making it rich, identify parcels of ancient viruses within the human genome — viruses that once plagued humanity before they died out or we became immune — and decide to bring them back to life.

Such paleoviruses could hold the key to curing virus-caused diseases like H.I.V., but at what risk? Creighton, who’s thrilled us with remanufactured dinosaurs and nano-particles, could certainly think up some fine mayhem for these long-dead killers.

Frighteningly, it is happening:

Thanks to steady advances in computing power and DNA technology, a talented undergraduate with a decent laptop and access to any university biology lab can assemble a virus with ease. Five years ago, as if to prove that point, researchers from the State University of New York at Stony Brook “built” a polio virus, using widely available information and DNA they bought through the mail. To test their “polio recipe,” they injected the virus into mice. The animals first became paralyzed and then died. (“The reason we did it was to prove that it can be done,’’ Eckard Wimmer, who led the team, said at the time. “Progress in biomedical research has its benefits and it has its downside.’’)

Do we really want to trust paleo-plagues to undergrads?

I learned of this from a fascinating New Yorker article by Michael Specter, Darwin’s Surprise.

It is a fascinating read, touching on the irrepressible curiosity of Man, the scariness of the blinding drive for knowledge, the potential for cures to dangerous diseases, and evolution. The article makes the case that without viruses, humans would still be laying eggs, all because of the presence of particles of retroviruses found in mammalian placenta.

Of course the complexity of all that happening requires a leap of faith an didn’t stop my faith in a Creator one bit, but it was another thought-provoking section of an article that makes a good read.

I suggest you read it now, before the paleo-virus death strikes us all.

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Speaking of lead from China (see below), how about this little story of our trusted governmental protectors hard at work?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -About 56,000 lunch boxes distributed by California in an effort to promote healthful eating may contain lead, and state officials Thursday urged consumers not to use them.

Tests found elevated levels of lead in three of the boxes, which were made in China [China?! Whodda thunkit?!] and given out at health fairs and other events, said officials of the state Department of Public Health. They carried a logo saying, “Eat fruits and vegetables and be active.”

“Certainly it’s unfortunate that an item we’re using to hopefully promote healthy behavior is then discovered to be a potential health hazard,” the department’s director, Mark Horton, told reporters in a conference call.

A test by the Sacramento County Health Department in July indicated the boxes contained lead, he said. Several weeks of more sophisticated testing confirmed the presence of lead “in multiple parts of the box,” including the logo, he said.

Asked why it took so long to issue a warning to the public, Horton said: “I think we took the appropriate steps based on the information available to us at the time.” (AP via Forbes)

Democrats, please note: The dirty, greedy capitalists you hate so withdrew the products immediately, while the Governmental Guardians you love so hemmed and hawed and developed strategies to cover their asses while your children were exposed to the lead-laced lunch boxes.

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Add vaccines to the list of goods you don’t want to buy from China:

More than 9,000 ducks that died in a suspected outbreak of bird flu in southern China had been vaccinated against the disease, a report said Monday.

China’s agriculture ministry said on Saturday that 9,830 ducks had died in a village outside the southern city of Guangzhou between September 5 and 13.

Samples were being tested for the H5N1 bird flu virus and a further 30,000 ducks had been culled by officials since the outbreak.

Yu Yedong, director of the Guangdong Animal Epidemic Prevention Centre, told the Standard, a Hong Kong newspaper, that the ducks had been vaccinated against the virus. (AFP)

A second round of vaccines had been planned to create a higher degree of effectiveness, but the ducks started croaking before they had a chance to feel a little prick.

Any way you cut this story, it’s more bad news for China and more bad news on the bird flu front.

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A week ago last night, a friend drank an energy drink — Red Line, manufactured by VPX Sports — and spent the next 24 hours so sick that we were monitoring her carefully in anticipation of having to take her to the emergency room.

Her symptoms, which came on about two and a half hours after she drank a can of the brew, included chills, sweating, diarrhea and vomiting, vomiting, vomiting with deep, racking convulsions that were quite frightening to watch. Fortunately, they died down and she eventually returned to her normal, healthy self.

She is hardly alone in her reaction to this foul concoction. Here’s Lynn commenting on HealthBoard message boards:

I dont recommend it to anyone. Seriously, I am not a light weight when it comes to things that amp you. But this one, no, no, no! It made me immediately ill, shaky, chest pain beyond belief, I thought I was going to die. (sweating and chills, through [sic] up 3 times). Outrageous, I wonder how they were able to actually sell it to anybody.

And, 10.5 hrs later???? Still sick and heart pounding out of control.

And here’s the quick-typing Sleepy commenting on Tell Him Fred:

I have a porblem with redlineenergy drink. i drank the whole can yesterday, after i drank the can about 4 hours later i started getting shakey, then i started to throw up, i couldnt keep food down, rapid heart rate followed, extreme sweating from my body getting overheated, then my left side muscles started to go cold and hurt, I was awake a good part of the night and it was worse than any illegal drug i have ever tried and I’ve been around. Do NOT drink this drink it is bad news and shouldn’t be legal

And, if you want some “expert” opinion, here’s a review from Energy Drink Reviews:

Wow, this drink is some serious stuff. I mean about half the bottle is the warning label, and it is serious, this drink is INSANE. It says that you should not drink it unless you are over 18, which I would say is a good warning. This is the first drink that was to much for me. The bottle says warning potent, but I have had every energy drink I could find without a problem. This Redline, made me feel like I was tweaking out hard core, I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. I seriously mean I wasn’t enjoying the quick happy buzz that you get from most energy drinks. This was a scary my body is going out of control hot and cold sweats, tweaked out. I had the drink at two in the afternoon and I couldn’t sleep until 4 am in the morning.

That’s from someone who obviously has a lot of experience with these drinks, and considerable resistance to them.

My friend did not follow directions, drinking an entire can — but what’s with putting two “doses” in one can? Every other energy drink comes in a one-serving can.

And what’s in the can? Caffeine, Green Tea, Yerba Mate, 5-HTP (5 hydroxy-1-tryptophan), cAMP, Yohimbe, Evodiamine, and Vinpocetine. And a few other things.

I’ve thought for some time that it’s ironic that people like my friend, who are concerned about their health, eating organic foods and shunning tap water, would ever get close to this stuff.

5-HTP? That’s an amino acid that’s a precursor to the neurotransmitter seratonin. It’s in Red Line because of its alleged appetite suppressant characteristics but it also seems to definitely affect the brain chemistry involving mood and depression — perhaps enhancing feelings — but what is a compound that messes with brain chemistry doing in an over-the-counter drink?

Plus, it and Vinpocetine can both cause intestinal upset and rapid heartbeat.

Here’s some of what Wikipedia has to say about cAMP:

Role of cAMP in human carcinoma

Some research has suggested that a deregulation of cAMP pathways and an aberrant activation of cAMP-controlled genes is linked to the growth of some cancers.^[1][2][3]

[edit] Role of cAMP in Prefrontal Cortex Disorders

Recent research may indicate that cAMP affects the function of higher order thinking in the prefrontal cortex through its regulation of ion channels called hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (HCN). When cAMP stimulates the HCN, these gates open, rendering the brain cell closed to communication, thus interfering with prefrontal cortex function. This research is of interest to scientists studying the brain, especially the degradation of higher cognitive function in ADHD and aging.^[4]

Again, what’s a chemical that messes with brain chemistry doing in an over-the-counter energy drink?

Red Line’s attorneys appear to be well aware of the risks of this product. After their intervention, here’s the warning label:

WARNING: NOT FOR USE BY INDIVIDUALS UNDER THE AGE OF 18 YEARS. DO NOT USE IF PREGNANT OR NURSING. Consult a physician or licensed qualified health care professional before using this product if you have, or have a family history of, heart disease, thyroid disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression or other psychiatric condition, glaucoma, difficulty in urinating, prostate enlargement, or seizure disorder, or if you are using a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) or any other dietary supplement, prescription drug, or over-the-counter drug containing ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine (ingredients found in certain allergy, asthma, cough or cold, and weight control products). Do not exceed recommended serving. Exceeding recommended serving may cause adverse health effects. Discontinue use and call a physician or licensed qualified health care professional immediately if you experience rapid heartbeat, dizziness, severe headache, shortness of breath, or other similar symptoms. The consumer assumes total liability if this product is used in a manner inconsistent with label guidelines. Do not use for weight reduction. KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN.

I wrote VPX sports early in the week asking them to explain why they make this product, and why they pack two doses in a can. They have not responded.

I wrote Seven-11 Stores, which is one of the few retail chains that stocks it, and which sold it to my friend, asking them not to stock the drink any more. They have not responded.

Update: VPX called me on 9/18, following up on my email to Seven-11, not my email to them. The man on the phone, while very friendly, defended the drink as appealing to a small market that wanted a substitute for ephedrine, which has been pulled from the market. His reason for calling was because he was required to under FDA regulations, and spend nearly the entire time asking me questions so he could fill out his questionnaire. He did tell me that to his knowledge, no one has died from the drink.

In all the research I’ve done on this product, including a Nexis media search, I’ve found no MSM stories on the threat Red Line presents, although I found one story about a similar drink named Spike sent several Denver and Boulder sent several kids to the hospital.

There’s something definitely wrong here. VPX is not taking responsibility for its product and is getting away with it. Seven-11 is not taking responsibility for the products it sells and is also getting away with it.

Please pass this along with a warning. Energy drink drinkers, think about going back to good old coffee or black tea and stay away from this junk.

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Starbucks’ “The Way I See It” cups are occasionally thoughtful, occasionally infuriating (here, here, here, here, here) and from time to time quite funny, like cup number 255, which was wrapped around my grande nonfat chai latte today:

We will end poverty and stop HIV/AIDS within our generation when guided by African principles such as ubuntu that underscore our interconnectedness.

The speaker is (natch) from the UN, Cedza Dlamini of the UN Millenium Development Goals.

Cedza, if your African prinicples of ubuntu are such problem solvers, why is HIV/AIDS ravaging Africa? Could it be because of too much interconnectedness? A little less connecting could really help, don’t you think?

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Give Hillary a minute and she’s launch into just how wonderful she will be for our kids. Sez her Web site:

America is ready for a president who fights for our children. Hillary has spent her lifetime as an effective advocate for parents and children.

From her first job out of law school at the Children’s Defense Fund to her time as First Lady of Arkansas and of the United States to her service in the Senate, helping children has been at the center of Hillary’s public life.

Why then, if she’s so concerned about the tykes, has she not slapped down her hubby, for all the damage he’s done to them?

Incredible Wife, upon hearing excerpts from a Hillary screech speech on Hugh Hewitt‘s show last week became incensed; paraphrasing:

How can we give her control of America if she can’t even control her husband?

Let’s put it another way: If the wife of a male candidate were caught sleeping around, would we find him particularly presidential?

Incredible Wife’s anger goes back … way back:

“Is oral sex performed on you within that definition as you understood it?” Clinton was asked during his August 17 testimony, viewed by the public for the first time Monday.

“As I understood it, it was not, no,” the president answered. (source)

That testimony that oral sex does not constitute sex, from President Clinton’s testimony before the grand jury, was almost nine years ago, but I still remember vividly Incredible Wife’s immediate reaction:

Kids are going to hear that, and when they do, they’re going to start believing that oral sex isn’t sex because the president said so.

I was skeptical. First, because I didn’t believe much of anything Clinton said. But more importantly, in my teen years, oral sex was hyper-sex. In our wildest dreams, my friends and I thought we might get some sex … but oral sex? That was the stuff of legend, and the thought that it wasn’t sex was ridiculous.

Then, five years after Clinton’s testimony, came this:

A high school newspaper article that claims 40 percent of the students have had oral sex has stirred controversy in Montrose, Colo. The Montrose High School Chieftain published the story in its April 30 edition.

The article, written by MHS student Katherine Smith, questions whether experts and students consider oral sex as “having sex.” The school paper published the column, story and information box on the subject.

The story begins by citing a “survey” of Montrose high school students which determined that 60 percent of the students do not consider oral sex to be “sex.”

My wife gave me that “told you so” look and I re-read the story, awe-struck in a disgusted sort of way.

At that point, Bill Clinton should have gone on MTV and told the kids he was wrong, he was lying, of course oral sex is real sex. But of course he didn’t, and for all we hear, oral sex is still entrenched as a suitable short-of-sex sexual act among kids.

Fast forward to last week, when Incredible Wife was enjoying a deep gum cleaning at our local DDS. The dental hygienist told her,

You wouldn’t believe the amount of disease we’re seeing now … STDs from oral sex, and even worse. Cancers! And we’re seeing this with the younger patients.

Incredible Wife responded,

Es aw eaus uh ill in-un!

Yes, it’s all because of Bill Clinton. But can we trust our local hygienist on a subject as tricky as oral sex?

You betcha.

Syphillis: “Transmission of the organism occurs during vaginal, anal, or oral sex.” (CDC)

Chlamydia: “Chlamydia can be transmitted during vaginal, anal, or oral sex.” (CDC)

HIV/AIDS: “Yes, it is possible for either partner to become infected with HIV through performing or receiving oral sex. ” (CDC)

If it’s not sex, Bill, how come it spreads sexually transmitted disease? If you love kids so much, Hil, why don’t you call your husband on his lie and actually protect the children?

The answer, of course, is because they’re Clintons, and nothing is more important to the Clintons than … the Clintons.

Before we finish this, recall that the dental hygienist mentioned cancer, too. And she was right about that, as well:

MONDAY, Aug. 27, 2007 (HealthDay News) — Human papillomavirus (HPV), which is believed to be responsible for most cervical cancers, may also be at the root of many cancers of the mouth and throat, new research suggests.

Although the rate of most head and neck cancers has been declining over the past 30 years because more people have stopped smoking, the rate of certain cancers in the throat and mouth hasn’t dropped, according to research published in the Aug. 27 online issue of Cancer.

“Smoking prevalence has dropped dramatically, and, likewise, most head and neck cancers have declined in incidence. Cancers at the base of the tongue and tonsil are increasing or have remained stagnant. We’re not seeing the reduction in incidence that we would have expected,” said study author Dr. Erich Sturgis, an associate professor of head and neck surgery and epidemiology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.

The study authors suspect the reason may be orally transmitted HPV infections.

“Just as cervical cancer is the outcome of a sexually transmitted disease, as are most anal and penile cancers, people need to be aware that they can get throat or tongue cancer as the consequence of a sexually transmitted disease,” said Sturgis. “Oral sex can’t be considered safe sex.”

“Oral sex cannot be considered safe sex.” How does that ring with Hil and Bill, who are letting it stand that oral sex isn’t even sex?

From now on, whenever Hil claims her great love of children, think of children with syphilis, chlamydia, HIV/AIDS or tongue or mouth cancer and ask her in your mind, “Do you really stand for children, or do you just stand by that cancer on America named Bill Clinton?”

Photo: Free Republic

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