Did the White House Try to Get a Conservative Columnist Canned?

According to Dr. Milton Wolf, the answer is “yes.” And he should know, because the columnist was him.

Milton Wolf is a physician practicing in Kansas City, and he’s also President Barack Obama’s second cousin. During the health care debates of 2010, Dr. Wolf began speaking out against the ObamaCare proposal. Because he is an articulate, knowledgeable, passionate conservative, he began getting national attention, appearing on outlets including PJTV and Fox News. He also became a regular columnist for the Washington Times.

During the 5/14/2013 White House press conference, Dr. Wolf tweeted:

The same year the #IRS held up my tax refund for months w/o ever saying why, the WH urged the @WashTimes to drop me.

I asked him for more details. He explained what happened back in 2010 (quoted with his permission):

They called my editor and feigned concern that the Washington Times was taking advantage of me… by publishing my op-eds critical of Barack Obama. Around the same time the IRS put a hold on our tax refund that required an arbitrator and several months to resolve. We finally received our refund (and interest) but never an explanation. The local IRS office and the arbitrator seemed genuinely confused by the ordeal using terms like “very strange” and “unusual” but never could explain why it happened. One wonders.

With respect to the IRS issue, he noted:

I wondered at the time if the White House could possibly be behind it but I just couldn’t make that leap. It seemed so stupid and hamhanded. But what before seemed implausible today seems possible.

Of course, he may never know the full truth. Another interesting observation from Wolf:

[I]t wasn’t just a politician complaining about a particular column or supposedly incorrect facts. They weren’t requesting a correction or even an opportunity to respond. They wanted someone canned.

Fortunately, the Washington Times stood by Dr. Wolf. He’s now written over 80 pieces for them in the past three years (which is pretty damned impressive for someone with a full-time job in a busy medical practice).

At Tuesday’s press conference, White House press secretary Jay Carney repeatedly claimed that President Obama was deeply committed to freedom of the press and “unfettered” media scrutiny of his administration. Trying to get a conservative columnist canned from a newspaper sure is a funny way of showing it.

Also read: 

Add Me to the List of IRS Targets

The War On Men: Embryo Edition

The idea of a “war on women” is now a liberal cliche. But a recent article in Slate describes a much less publicized “war on men” by American women engaging in sex-selection of embryos.

From the article, “Women Are Paying Huge Sums To Have a Daughter Rather Than a Son”:

The conventional wisdom has always been this: Given a choice, couples would prefer sons. That has certainly been the case in places like China and India, where couples have used pregnancy screening to abort female fetuses. But in the United States, a different kind of sex selection is taking place: Mothers like Simpson are using expensive reproductive procedures so they can select girls…

For Jennifer Merrill Thompson, the reasons were simple. “I’m not into sports. I’m not into violent games. I’m not into a lot of things boys represent and boys do,” she said. Thompson is the author of Chasing the Gender Dream, a self-published book that documents her use of gender-selection technology to conceive her daughter.

Interviews with several women from the forums at in-gender.com and genderdreaming.com yielded the same stories: a yearning for female bonding. Relationships with their own mothers that defined what kind of mother they wanted to be to a daughter. A desire to engage in stereotypical female activities that they thought would be impossible with a baby boy.

Imagine the outrage if fathers were selecting baby boys over girls, citing reasons like:

I’m not into dollhouses and tea parties. I’m not into a lot of things girls represent and girls do. I’d like to be able play catch with my son just like I did with my old man. And we all know that girls can’t throw. I yearn for some male bonding with a son that would be impossible with a baby girl…

I guess gender stereotyping is ok if it’s done by affluent American women.

Why Should Government Pay For What Goes On Inside The Bedroom?

At the August 8, 2012 rally in Denver featuring Sandra Fluke and President Obama, many women came out to hear Obama’s support for government-mandated birth control coverage.

Caleb Bonham interviewed a few attendees, asking the question: “Why should government pay for what goes on inside the bedroom?”

Some of the answers are shocking and hilarious.

Here’s one typical exchange (starting at 0:33):

Woman: I’m, like, all for abortion and I’m all for birth control.

Bonham: So you don’t think the government should be involved in what goes on inside the bedroom, correct?

Woman: Oh, exactly.  Not even close.

Bonham: So then why do you expect the government to pay for what goes on inside the bedroom?

Woman: [Long pause] Uh, because….

Welcome to Flukonomics!

(Note: Even though I support abortion rights, I oppose government funding of birth control or abortion.)

H/T: Ari Armstrong.

Will More Doctors ‘Go Galt’ Because of Obamacare?

At the June 29, 2012 anti-Obamacare rally hosted by American For Prosperity, blogger Ari Armstrong captured this short video of Dr. Jill Vecchio explaining how Obamacare will force her to practice substandard medicine.

Pay close attention to her words, starting at 1:00:

According to the government, I can only recommend a screening mammogram for women over 50 every other year until 74, then never again. That violates the American Cancer Society guidelines … The American Cancer Society says every year after the age of 40 until the woman no longer wants to have a mammogram.

Screening mammography has been proven to decrease the number of women who die by breast cancer by 30-40% — just screening mammography. These government rules that I will have to abide by will cause me to violate my Hippocratic Oath. And I won’t do it. I will violate their guidelines every day, many times a day. As a result of that … I will be fined, I won’t be paid …

I will not be practicing medicine when this law takes effect. Neither will thousands of other physicians.

Dr. Vecchio also alluded to possible jail sentences, which could be imposed for failing to follow guidelines on the use of mandatory electronic medical records.

Watch:

Obamacare will force doctors to choose between their patients and their government paymasters. If Obamacare is not repealed, many doctors will “go Galt” and quit medicine, rather than violate their medical consciences and betray their patients’ trust.

Ask yourself: When the doctors who are willing to practice in their patients’ best interests quit medicine, what kind of doctors will remain?

And will you want them taking care of you?