Trump Hits Back

Donald Trump doesn't hold anything back in his response to New York Times columnist Gail Collins, who criticized Trump over his possible campaign run for President and recent focus on Obama's seeming lack of a U.S. birth certificate:

Even before Gail Collins was with the New York Times, she has written nasty and derogatory articles about me. Actually, I have great respect for Ms. Collins in that she has survived so long with so little talent. Her storytelling ability and word usage (coming from me, who has written many bestsellers), is not at a very high level. More importantly, her facts are wrong!

As far as her comments on the so-called “birther” issue, I don't need Ms. Collins's advice. There is a very large segment of our society who believe that Barack Obama, indeed, was not born in the United States. His grandmother from Kenya stated, on tape, that he was born in Kenya and she was there to watch the birth. His family in Honolulu is fighting over which hospital in Hawaii he was born in-they just don't know.

I'm not entirely certain Trump has the temperament to be an effective President, but he might make an entertaining Press Secretary. If the incorrigibly left-wing Helen Thomas was still in the press pool, I can only imagine what sort of exchange Trunp would have with her.

It Depends On How You Define "Services"

So the latest argument against those, like myself, who oppose taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood is that abortion only makes up 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's offered services. As you might be able to see in the table graphic I've embedded (click it for a larger view) of all the services offered by Planned Parenthood, 70 percent are allegedly directed toward providing contraception and screening for sexually transmitted diseases. These figures are from 2009 and were generated by Planned Parenthood.

In taking a closer look at the table, however, one notices a couple of curious and questionable things. Unlike the other listed categories like "Contraception" and "STI/STD Testing and Treatment," the abortion category contains only one activity. Also, I'm willing to bet the activity of abortion does not include the distribution of abortifacients, like RU-486.

It's also unclear what exactly Planned Parenthood means by "Reversible Contraception Clients." Does it mean the number of visits by individuals seeking contraception, or just the individuals? If a woman goes to Planned Parenthood and obtains birth control pills and condoms during the same visit, is she counted as just a female Reversible Contraception Client?

So even if it's true that only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's activities involves abortion services, the claim is, at best, misleading. The claim ignores the fact that in 2009, Planned Parenthood performed over 330,000 abortions nationwide, a disproportionate number of which probably involved American Blacks, and that abortion services alone were responsible for approximately 40 percent of Planned Parenthood's income revenue. For an activity that's allegedly just 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's offered "services," that's pretty significant. Indeed, one would be justified in concluding that abortion is Planned Parenthood's proverbial bread and butter.