Deal W. Hudson

Heavy Betting on Fred Thompson

Deal Hudson

I am hearing from very connected GOP sources that the entry of Thompson has the potential of sweeping the boards.

As it was put to me today, "There's a ton of uncommitted money out there, and most of it will go to Thompson."

I still have my doubts, all of which are being kicked around by various commentators. 

But there is one thing to keep in mind: New challenges can make people rise to the occasion.  When Thompson gets in the race we will see whether a presidential campaign has any impact on his effort of his  performance. 

Bob Novak writes today that he was favorably impressed by Thompson at a recent dinner in D.C. 

Let me tell you, Bob Novak is a hard guy to impress -- if he sees something in Thompson that is presidential, then you can take that to the bank.

Still, it's way too early to be counting anyone else out because of the Thompson factor.  You never know who or what is going to pop out of the box.

Talking about Tilt

Marjorie Campbell, marjorie@marjoriecampbell.com

At least 200,000 of Darfur's people have already been killed and more than 2.5 million have been driven from their homes. More diplomatic dawdling, without strengthened economic and military pressure, would condemn the survivors to the same fate.

So sounds the continuing cry on behalf of victims of genocide in Darfur - a human travesty that I've heard blamed on President Bush, along with global warming, world violence and my friend's problem with her mother-in-law.  I'm waiting for the line of T-shirts and bumper stickers that read "Just Blame Bush".  So it's of no surprise that the op editor in IHT can't bring his unidentified self to utter a single word of praise for President Bush's determined efforts to step up solutions in Darfur.  If you read carefully between the lines, you can just glimpse a reluctant approval of Bush's pushing China, Russian and South Africa toward the table of human decency.  Or was that disappointment that it is President Bush - everybody's favorite fall guy - who may yet prove to be Darfur's hero?

New Spin on 5-4 Supreme Court Decisions

Deal Hudson

I could help but be struck by the opening line of this morning's Washington Post article on yesterday's Supreme Court decision:

"A Supreme Court once again split by the thinnest of margins ruled yesterday that workers may not sue their employers over unequal pay caused by discrimination alleged to have occurred years earlier." (Italics added.)

I may have a faulty memory but I don't recall previous 5-4 decisions, when they were settled by Sandra Day O'Connor, being described as "the thinnest of margins." 

Now that the new Court is ruling against the sacred cows of feminism the journalist spin has changed -- Ruth Bader Ginzberg is now the "lone voice," etc, etc, etc.

Look for Ginzberg to be elevated to sacred martyr status. 

At MySpace, too

Marjorie Campbell, marjorie@marjoriecampbell.com

When you are done at YouTube, you can visit Mr. Thompson in his official place at MySpace, where his 4056 friends are making much ado over their 6'6", Leo, "straight" candidate.  Campaigning has never been such fun.  I can't wait to see what comes when Mr. Thompson is actually running.   

Here Comes Fred Thompson, and Fast!

Deal Hudson

In an earlier post, I wondered aloud if Fred Thompson was going to make a big move into the presidential arena. The answer came today, and it is "yes."

The story by Mike Allen in Politico says "several million" has already been raised, a committee will be formed by June 4, and staffers will be on the ground later in the month. 

That sounds serious to me.  Thompson is in a game of catch-up and he knows it....impressive.

The old political hands I've talked to don't think Thompson can pull off being the "consistent conservative," given his early support for McCain-Feingold.  He also supported McCain over Bush 2000, which won't go unnoticed. 

His pro-life bona fides are good and with two young children and an attractive, savvy wife he will appeal to social conservatives. 

What I will be looking for is whether or not he tries to run as a better-looking Bob Dole, OR he makes some bold statements such as Gov. Huckabee did recently when he said he would replace the income tax with a consumption tax.  That's what Bush, in my opinion, should have taken on at the beginning of the 2nd term, not Social Security.)

The Thompson style will very likely be gleaned from advisors and staff he selects -- we will all be watching.

Hard Not To Chuckle

Marjorie Campbell, marjorie@marjoriecampbell.com

Deal, it's hard not to chuckle sometimes, even when I try.  I hope this is not "too-female-humor" for you!

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Historic Survey Indicates Pro-Life Physicians Have Fewer Malpractice Claims

The Window for May 29, 2007

Historic Survey Indicates Pro-Life Physicians Have Fewer Malpractice Claims

Deal W. Hudson

An historic survey is underway to study the medical malpractice rates of pro-life physicians.

If those physicians prove to have a lower level of malpractice claims and losses it could lead to lower insurance costs making it easier for pro-life obstetricians to stay in business.

Many physicians are leaving the practice of high risk medical specializations, such as OB-GYN, because they cannot afford to pay their malpractice insurance premiums.

It also means that pro-life physicians could provide a set of best practices for use in hospitals and healthcare systems everywhere.

K&B Underwriters, experts in eldercare and medical malpractice insurance in Reston, Virginia are testing the hypothesis that physicians who practice medicine within a “Culture of Life” framework have fewer medical malpractice claims than their colleagues.

To test this premise they initiated a survey on their website www.kbunderwriters.com. Thus far over 400 physicians from 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have completed the survey. The respondents represent 85 specialties and sub-specialties of medicine. Completed surveys are continuing to come in, and so far the results firmly attest to lower malpractice losses among pro-life physicians.

The initial results are stunning. Pro-life physicians taking the survey have an average loss rate of 20 cents per dollar of premiums collected compared with an average of 81.4 cents in losses per dollar of premiums collected from all physicians. These results are from a 2007 report by the A.M. Best Co.

That’s more than a 75 % difference in malpractice losses!

K&B Underwriters is hoping that the pro-life community will encourage more physicians to participate. If enough data can be collected and the present results hold steady then insurance companies may consider lowering medical malpractice premiums for these physicians. Lower costs could then be passed along to patients with the result that an industry struggling to hold down expenses will have found an answer in the moral practices of its practitioners.

Bryan Baird, founder and president of K&B Underwriters explains: “Medical malpractice premiums for physicians are calculated based on the statistical likelihood that physicians, in general, will have lawsuits filed against them. Unfortunately, accidents happen to the best doctors. We believe, however, that physicians who respect human life from conception to natural death are more likely to bring a positive outcome out of a bad situation. If proven true, we will have found a way to establish a new standard of medical care that supports the Hippocratic Oath ‘to do no harm.’”

The industry is beginning to take note of the impact of religious belief on medical practices. Recent reports in the Archives of Internal Medicine (Apr. 9, 2007) and the New England Journal of Medicine (Feb. 8, 2007) have noted a high percentage of physicians practice their profession according to religious beliefs. The Archives of Internal Medicine reported that 88% of respondents to a recent survey are religiously affiliated, and 85% of respondents are influenced by religion. (Those numbers indicate that physicians as a group are more religious than the population in general.)

More information can be found in the “Culture of Life White Paper” at www.kbunderwriters.com. Physicians who believe in respecting human life from conception to natural death are encouraged to take the online survey.

Cindy Sheehan Leaves the Public Stage

Deal Hudson

I don't know what I would do if a child of mine died.  It's the blackest nightmare that a parent can imagine.  Cindy Sheehan reacted with outrage against the war that took her son's life.

Now she is calling it quits.

Her actions did not make it safer for the other sons and daughters in Iraq -- she helped to divide the nation against the war and, thus, embolden the enemy. 

Since her mantra has been taken up by the Democratic leadership, her voice is no longer needed. Now Pelosi, Reid, Clinton, Obama, Kennedy et al are busy making it more dangerous for our men and women at arms.

You've got to admire McCain for staying behind the troops, as he has done.

Return of the Tridentine Mass

Deal Hudson

Many Catholics do not realize there are two Latin Masses, one is the new Latin Mass, the Novus Ordo, and the other is the older Tridentine Mass, which was the object of liturgical reforms at Vatican II.

It looks as if Benedict XVI is planning on loosening restrictions on celebrating the Tridentine Mass, much to the consternation of theCatholic left.

Most U.S. dioceses allow the old Latin Mass to be celebrated, but there are some bishops who, supposedly fearing schism, will not allow it. 

In my view, the Church needs to allow us greater opportunity to experience the mysterium tremendum of the ancient Mass. There is nothing to be lost and everything to be gained. 

No, perhaps I am wrong on that point -- those who find themselves by mistake at a Tridentine Mass may suddenly realize their Bermuda shorts and t-shirts don't really fit in.  Californians take note!

Sons Who Never Went to War

Deal Hudson

Marjorie, you write, "Sons of such men, no doubt, must wonder how they can ever measure up - each compromise with emotion that their father would not have made taxing their measure of manliness."

Exactly!  This was the struggle for me, for many years.  I suppose the trauma of WWII has been passed on to the second generation, and will make its way to the third, and as the Scripture says about sin, to the fourth before it runs its course. 

But I got some help understanding my father from an unexpected place only a few years ago.  My mother -- who enjoys amazing health -- lives in a retirement facility in Houston.  She became very good friends with a man named Paul Merriman, a WWII veteran of Iwo Jima. Merriman was interviewed for Flags of Our Fathers, the account of the battle that Clint Eastwood made into the film.

I've had the opportunity to talk with Paul at length about his experience hitting the beach of Iwo Jima at age 18.  He helped me understand where the courage comes from, how ordinary young men overcome the fear to cut and run.  "You do it for your buddies, the guys on either side of you.  You can't leave them out there alone." 

He told me that I, or anyone who wondered how they would react under fire, would do the same. 

That's what my father did; he protected the lives of his men, and he was proud of that most of all, I could tell. 

Even when his plane was shot down in Yugoslavia he got them out alive, after spending the night hiding his crew in haystacks.  In the morning a plane landed in the field and took all of them back to safety.

In 1997 my father and I were playing golf in Virginia with an older friend of mine from the area, another former WWII captain and pilot.  Coming up the the 18th green I looked back to see them talking in the middle of the fairway 100 yards behind me.  I wondered what they could be talking about. 

When they got to the green, my father's face was beaming: He had just thanked the pilot of the plane that rescued him in 1944!