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ML: In 1994, you became the first African-American elected to statewide office in Ohio when you became state treasurer.  That same year, HillaryCare helped give us the Republican Revolution.  For a lot of younger folks who don't remember the push for nationalized health care in 1994, what similarities do you see between HillaryCare and ObamaCare?

JKB: Well, Harold Ickes is still one of the principle architects.  You can change the label from HillaryCare to ObamaCare.  The fact is, Obama has the chef's hat on, but he is just the Sous Chef who is really mixing the ingredients on this -- but he has the same (executive) chef that Hillary had -- Harold Ickes and that crowd.  The only thing different this time around is the style and persona.  This much I know -- no matter how smooth the salesman -- sometimes it's just impossible to fool most of the people all of the time.  That was the case with HillaryCare in '93, and I believe history will repeat itself this year.  This is the big government crowd that can't even successfully run the cash for clunkers program.  Now they want our cash for their health care clunker?  It's a retro-fitted proposal. 

ML: You also served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.  As I'm sure you know, Libyan Ambassador Ali Abdessalam Treki won election to become president of the UN General Assembly.   In light of that -- plus Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's upcoming speech to the United Nations -- and the release of that convicted Lockerbie bomber from jail -- should Americans worry about Libya's influence on the UN?

JKB:  This is a problem.  All too often in the UN the people who should be on the dock are on the jury.  Because of the log rolling that goes on, rogue nation states are often getting prominent positions.  Of course, this only hurts the UN's credibility.

President Obamas scheduled live address to Americas school children has been rescheduled to the noon hour on Tuesday, September 8. On the first day of school, this move will have the predictable and practical effect of touching a very small live audience.

Our complete energies must be directed to promoting a productive beginning to the school year for our teachers and children. It is important to support the establishment of new routines and a smooth opening at this pivotal moment.

The Office of the President is to be respected. This is what Americas public schools promote as a basic part of our curriculum. Therefore, rather than showing the speech on the first day of school, the speech will be recorded, instructional materials will be available, and the speech and lessons may be appropriately featured by classrooms electing to use them at a later time. This will allow time for schools to inform parents of existing opt-out procedures.

Portions of the conservative blogosphere are drawing battle lines with the right-wing news and commentary site WorldNetDaily,

One of the writers is also a politician in Canada. Co-author Elizabeth May is the leader of the Green Party of Canada – a Canadian environmental political party. 

Although the Green Party has never won a seat in the Canadian Parliament, its candidates won 6.78 percent of the vote in Canada’s 2008 national election and May was included in televised debates involving major party leaders.

May will be “standing” – i.e. running – for election to Parliament in the next election. Recent polls have shown the Green Party winning as much as 11 percent of the vote in the next election, which could occur as early as this autumn.

May’s “For Dummies” guide suggests that readers use the content of the book to make political decisions.

“Knowing what solutions government can enact empowers you as a voter,” the authors say on page 143. “You can knowledgably select candidates whose climate change plan seems like it’ll be most effective.”

The entire 10th chapter--“Voting for Your Future: What Governments Can Do”--is devoted to politics.
 
One posting on the Green Party Web in February offered “an autographed copy of Global Warming For Dummies (a $23.99 value) when you donate $150 or more to the Green Party of Canada.”

“The book was fairly separate from the political party, though we definitely were happy to have it--to use it for publicity and publicity for her,” said Green Party of Canada communications officer Michael Bernard in an interview with CNSNews.com.

In another passage, the book advocates halting development on the Athabasca tar sands. These sands constitute the world’s second-largest oil patch and their development is a major industry in the Canadian province of Alberta.

“Canada’s decision to keep expanding and developing the tar sands is an example for other nations of what not to do,” says page 66, “while making oil development a top priority, it’s impossible for Canada to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions.”
 
“The mining industry,” it says, “consumes a huge amount of energy in order to produce oil, which primarily the United States buys for cars that don’t have proper energy efficiency standards.”

The Obama administration is going to great pains to deny that abortion is in their health care plan. The President himself says he prefers not to be "distracted" by this question.

As a candidate, Barack Obama went before Planned Parenthood. This evil enterprise annually kills 350,000 unborn children in the U.S. Its international arm gives powerful support to killing more than 50 million unborn children around the world every year.

In seeking Planned Parenthood's support, candidate Obama pledged that "the first thing" he would do is to sign what sponsors call the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). This misnamed legislation is often deceptively described as "codifying Roe v. Wade." That's like saying the Germans overran Luxembourg in World War II. They did that -- but so very much more.

FOCA would strike down every protective bill ever passed in Congress or in the states, every bill that even modestly protects unborn human life. Partial-birth abortion would be de-criminalized. Waiting periods would be struck down. Parental notice would be banned. Funding restrictions would be overturned. Informed consent laws, laws mandating that young mothers be offered -- not forced -- the opportunity to see their unborn child on ultra-sound--all these good, wise, and humane laws would be swept away by FOCA.

Well, we know that as President, Obama has not yet signed FOCA. Congressional liberals have not even pressed hard to pass FOCA.

Instead, the President is giving his best effort to pass ObamaCare, which he assures us does not require taxpayers to support abortion-on-demand.

Back to the dog that didn't bark. So how come Planned Parenthood isn't barking?