I have come to the conclusion that all abortion, legal or illegal, is a back-alley business. Yesterday, I saw a liberal decrying regulations on abortion clinics. You know, outrageous things like medical care for the mother and cleanliness in the operating room.

Today, research (a rigorous meta-analysis) confirms the self-evident: Women who have abortions have worse psychological outcomes than women who have their babies. LifeNews has the story:

A new study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry by leading American researcher Dr. Priscilla Coleman of Bowling Green State University finds women who have an abortion face almost double the risk of mental health problems as women who have their baby.

Coleman’s study is based on an analysis of 22 separate studies which, in total, examine the pregnancy experiences of 877,000 women, with 163,831 women having an abortion. The study also indicated abortion accounts for one in ten of every adverse mental health issue women face as a whole.

“Results indicate quite consistently that abortion is associated with moderate to highly increased risks of psychological problems subsequent to the procedure,” the study says. “Overall, the results revealed that women who had undergone an abortion experienced an 81 percent increased risk of mental health problems, and nearly 10 percent of the incidence of mental health problems were shown to be directly attributable to abortion.”

The peer-reviewed study indicated abortion was linked with a 34 percent chance of anxiety disorders, and 37 percent higher possibility of depression, a more than double risk of alcohol abuse (110 percent), a three times greater risk of marijuana use (220 percent), and 155 percent greater risk of trying to commit suicide.

When compared to unintended pregnancy delivered women had a 55% increased risk of experiencing any mental health problem.

Dr. Coleman said she conducted the study “to produce an unbiased analysis of the best available evidence addressing abortion as one risk factor among many others that may increase the likelihood of mental health problems. There are in fact some real risks associated with abortion that should be shared with women as they are counseled prior to an abortion.”

What I have seen in practice would confirm this theory. The death of a baby causes a woman much grief. The death of a baby at her own hands? Well.

Abortion advocates don’t like to talk about how women are victimized by abortions. They talk about the woman’s mental health as one of the reasons to have an abortion–the assumption being that the mother experiences great relief from being out from under, as President Obama calls babies, the burden.

The truth is usually quite the opposite. Because of this willful disregard for women, women often find themselves stricken and alone after an abortion. They are trapped by their own guilt. Often, they are trapped by the man or family member who forced her to have the abortion.

But don’t talk about this.

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I’m seeing so much biased bullcrap coming out of Politico these days, I thought it might be useful to revisit Journolist — the listserve of liberal journalists and leftist thinkers who work together to form a narrative and push it into the mainstream media. The ultimate goals: 1) Make conservatives look stupid and 2) help President Obama or the liberal du jour look fabulous. Read background here.

If you think their coordinated efforts are a thing of the past, think again. On Twitter, it’s very easy to follow the Genesis of a liberal meme and to see that coordination is necessary to elevate it. For example, when Markos Moulitas and Matthew Yglesias, and then, dull-witted useful idiot David Frum, pushed forth the outrageous and malignant idea that Sarah Palin was responsible for the Arizona shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, it caught like wildfire throughout the same old group of lefties. They were none too subtle.

Other talking points are coordinated. You’ll see the same phrases, probably focused grouped by the White House, in every piece about a topic. The current issue the White House is pushing: Green jobs. Expect all sorts of lavish praise for them.

The current negative issue: Get rid of Rick Perry. So, while Obama has made repeated promises about transparency and failed, you’ll be reading lots of pieces from different folks on Rick Perry’s transparency. The “transparency meme” takes the place of the old leftist meme about how Texas jobs aren’t real jobs, etc. And that story took the place of crazy religion wingerdoodles and creationism and, you get the idea.

The leftist press just doesn’t stop. You may be left scratching your head wondering why you even like these accomplished conservatives. That would be the point.

Meanwhile, what you won’t be hearing about: 9.1% unemployment, Obama’s horrible poll numbers, how Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, the double-dip recession, how consumer confidence has bottomed out, how President Obama would rather play golf or fundraise than lead, how manufacturing is leaving America, how the Obama administration is targeting political enemies, how it’s helping political friends. You won’t hear much of anything about these topics.

The goal is to Protect Obama At All Costs.

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Most of my conservative compatriots are hanging with conservative politicians in South Carolina right now. I have family commitments keeping me away from the shindig but my mind is in Charleston–for a few moments anyway.

The conservative movement and the interrelated Tea Party Movement have been doing serious grunt work searching for, grooming, training and supporting mostly Republican candidates with strong economic and fiscally conservative credentials.

There’s no time to get tired.

Everyone from Moody’s to the Chinese know that America needs to cut back it’s profligate spending. Big government Republicans, and even many Tea Party Republicans have trouble with this concept when the rubber meets the road.

Exhibit “A”: Texas. Governor Perry had to threaten vetos and actually veto, a Texas Congress that is overwhelmingly Republican. Even some Tea Party candidates folded like cheap suits when the pressure of big interest groups or party leadership came to bear. It was a monumental struggle to get a super majority to NOT raid the rainy-day fund and NOT increase taxes. In Texas. That should send shivers down the spines of every fiscal conservative nationwide.

This happened in Arkansas, too. Two Arkansas Republicans (ostensible Tea Party types), Rep. Lane Jean of Magnolia and Rep. Matthew Shepherd of El Dorado, want to run nationally for the U.S. Congress to fill Blue Dog Democrat Mike Ross’ vacated positions. Both of these state representatives raised taxes. It’s convenient to be against increasing taxes when one runs for office. Tougher, when faced with an actual budget with other people’s money.

Just a thought: If you can’t take the political pressure at the state level, you’re going to be a big ole pushover at the national level.

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The night of the New Hampshire debate after being harassed by my Twitter friends, I broke down my priorities for the GOP candidate. Surely, you’ve decided who you want already, people said. Well, not so much.

So I explained my criteria for the Republican nominee and I offer it to you here, now, before this debate.

1. Anybody but Obama.
I will support a roasted red turnip who claims the Republican mantle over Barack Obama. A root vegetable would know more about foreign and economic policy. People ask, “Even Ron Paul?!” Yes, even him.

2. Executive Experience.
The “executive experience” requirement eliminates some folks, but oh well. I want our next President to know his or her way around the bottom line. He or she should be ok making decisions. A Governor has to be elected by a broad base of folks. A Governor has to stay true to principles but be more pragmatic. A good Governor leads.

So that means no to Cain, Bachmann, Newt, Thad McCotter, Ron Paul, Santorum etc.

That winnows the list to: Romney, Perry, Palin, Pawlenty, Huntsman (ahem) and Johnson (cough).

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There’s been much ink spilled by leftists trying to explain President Obama’s failure as leader. Maureen Dowd concludes her latest attempt to explain Obama:

But as Drew Westen, a liberal psychology professor at Emory University wrote in The Times on Sunday, puzzling about what has happened to his former hero’s passion, the president never identifies the villains who cause our epic problems.

It’s unclear, Westen wrote, whether that reflects his aversion to conflict or a fear of offending donors, or both.

Obama’s assumption that you can rise above ascribing villainous motives has caused him to waste huge chunks of his first term seeking bipartisanship from Republicans who were playing him for a dupe. And it has led to Americans regarding the nation’s capital as a place of all villains and no heroes.

First, I disagree with her premise: that Obama hasn’t sought villains. He indeed has. He’s made blaming Bush a high art form. He blames Bush, that is, when he isn’t blaming Tea Partiers or the rich or jet owners or whatever focus-grouped catch-phrase or sliver of the populace deserves demonizing this week (don’t forget those evil SUV owners with big families!). He’s spoken of bipartisanship but has poisoned every well with his villain du jour.

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Yesterday on Greta’s show, Greta asked Karl Rove about Sarah Palin’s bus tour. He seemed sort of bemused. He listed the ways she wasn’t doing things normally: no big fundraisers and donor meetings, no focusing on New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, and using social media to message.

Sarah Palin is breaking the mould.

Will it work? Who knows? Here’s her video announcing her bus tour:

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Deep in the numbers by Rasmussen today you’ll find this gem:

Among all Likely U.S. Voters, 20% believe Republicans in Congress have done a good job representing the party’s values over the last several years, while 63% think they’ve lost touch with the party voter base.

Democrats, meanwhile, feel their party is representing them.

Being perceived as disconnected from their own party has been a chronic problem for the national Republicans. Heck, it’s been a problem in states, too. The New York GOP is the latest example of the GOP being out-of-touch with their voters with the Corwin loss in a +6 Republican district. The problem exists in Nevada, California, and Delaware, to name a few places.

The Republican base is peeved. And the Republicans in charge are doing little to change the perception.

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Jane Corwin, a good Republican candidate for the NY-26 district, might lose today because a former Democrat claimed the Tea Party mantle syphoning votes away. So. A solid Republican district gets lost to a Democrat due to shenanigans. It’s nowhere near done yet, so if you’re in that district in New York, please, go vote!

Democrats have tried to co-opt the Tea Party name in Nevada and Michigan. Both times, they’ve been stopped either by public shaming, legal means, or both.

This time, a dude with a lot of money, Jack Davis, has succeeded where others have failed. Will he win the race in NY-26? No. But that’s not the point. The point is to get a Democrat a win by any means necessary. That might happen in NY-26.

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Charges that President Obama was the taller, suaver, better-looking version of the bitter, shrunken commie-sympathizing Jimmy Carter seemed a bit of a stretch. President Obama’s Middle East speech changed all that.

It’s official: President Obama is Jimmy Carter II.

I live-tweeted the President’s speech and found myself irritated with the easy-to-misinterpret double speak. He’s like a guy who just doesn’t want to go home so drives slow, rambles out of the lines and goes down dead ends only to turn around. He eventually gets home, but he’s taken twice as long. And then he’s surly when he gets there.

Where’s home? Home is Israel. President Obama doesn’t want to go there.

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Modern technology brings diagnoses earlier–even in the womb. In the U.S., that means that 90% of children with Down’s Syndrom are aborted thanks to amniocentesis. In this UK example, a child diagnosed via ultrasound with Spina Bifida was aborted [WARNING: this is very disturbing]. His mother’s experience is what follows:

Yet if making that choice was hard, the physical ordeal was only just beginning. At 18 weeks pregnant, I was too far gone for a surgical termination and would have to go through a labour and delivery, under the care of midwives at our local hospital.

The first step was to take the drug Mifepristone to block progesterone, a hormone vital to pregnancy. I swallowed the pill in a side room on the labour ward — the same room where I’d given birth to our younger daughter two years previously.

Over the two days that followed, I fought the urge to put my hands on my stomach when I felt the baby move. Knowing that he was slowly dying inside me was the very definition of hell.

After two days, I returned to the same room to take a second drug to induce labour.

What followed were the worst 16 hours of my life. They passed in a morphine-induced haze, but there was no dulling what was happening.

My baby was being forced into the world long before he could survive in it, and it felt unnatural — completely at odds with my instincts as a mother. My body seemed to be doing all it could to hold onto him, and the labour went on and on.

At one point, in the grips of what felt like a panic attack, I became hysterical. Gasping for breath and screaming, I demanded that Andrew tell me why we were doing this and why it was the right thing for our son.

What follows is her husband’s, her doctor’s, her family’s rationalization for aborting a baby that would have a difficult life.

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