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THE FOUNDATION

"The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families. ... How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their Mothers?" --John Adams

FAITH AND FAMILY

Father's Day is Sunday, June 21

"In a time when many homes are marked by absentee fathers, the last thing we need to be beating up on fatherhood in general. Yet, 'dad' seems to be the only person in modern society who it is acceptable to belittle. To what extent does such treatment pervert our son's developing attitudes about the men they are expected to become? And why would we teach our daughters that there's no real hope or need to marry a strong, reliable man of character? Timeless messages about the wisdom of fathers in shows like 'Father Knows Best' have disappeared. They just aren't 'politically correct.' As a wife and mother of two young men who are being raised in an anti-male culture that spews the mantra of radical feminism, I'd like to say a few words to America's dads: We need you. Loving fathers are critical to the development of children. And the truth is that every woman is a better person when she has a good man to rely on. Dads are not an 'optional' family accessory to be tossed in the corner like dirty socks or trampled on like a door mat. We should reject the attitudes of both women who treat them that way and of any man who has bought the lie and started assuming the loser role. And we need to let our boys know that one of the greatest contributions they can make as adults is to be strong fathers who are committed to their families. ... To good husbands and dads everywhere, thank you for what you contribute to your families and to society. And to wives and mothers, let's make sure we affirm the men in our lives and teach our children to respect them too. A good man is a priceless blessing from God. Let's remember to treat them like the treasures they are." --columnist Rebecca Hagelin

THE GIPPER

"'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it,' Solomon tells us. Clearly, the future is in the care of our parents. Such is the responsibility, promise and hope of fatherhood. Such is the gift that our fathers give us. Our fathers bear an awesome responsibility -- one that they shoulder willingly and fulfill with a love that asks no recompense. By turns both gentle and firm, our fathers guide us along the path from infancy to adulthood. We embody their joy, pain and sacrifice, and inherit memories more cherished than any possession. On Father's Day each year, we express formally a love and gratitude whose roots go deeper than conscious memory can recite. It is only fitting that we have this special day to pay tribute to those men -- our natural fathers, adoptive fathers and foster fathers -- who deserve our deepest respect and devotion. It is equally fitting, as we recall the ancient and loving command to honor our fathers, that we resolve to do so by becoming ourselves parents and citizens who are worthy of honor." --Ronald Reagan

CULTURE

"For years, mainstream liberalism and other outposts of paranoid Bush hatred have portrayed neoconservatives -- usually code for conservative Jews and other supporters of Israel -- as an alien, pernicious cabal. 'They have penetrated the culture at nearly every level from the halls of academia to the halls of the Pentagon,' observed the New York Times. '...They've accumulated the wherewithal financially (and) professionally to broadcast what they think over the airwaves to the masses or over cocktails to those at the highest levels of government.' NBC's Chris Matthews routinely used the word 'neocon' as if it was code for 'traitor.' He asked one guest whether White House neocons are 'loyal to the Kristol neoconservative movement, or to the president?' [Holocaust Museum shooter James] Von Brunn may have wondered the same thing, which is why he reportedly had the offices of Bill Kristol's 'Weekly Standard' on his hit list. Unhinged Bush-hater Andrew Sullivan insists that, 'The closer you examine it, the clearer it is that neoconservatism, in large part, is simply about enabling the most irredentist elements in Israel and sustaining a permanent war against anyone or any country who disagrees with the Israeli right.' Leading liberal intellectual Michael Lind warned about the alarming fact that 'the foreign policy of the world's only global power is being made by a small clique' of neoconservative plotters. Even with Bush out of the picture, some see the problem emerging again. Just this week, Jeremiah Wright, the president's longtime mentor and pastor, whined that, 'Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me.' Maniacs like von Brunn connect dots that aren't there because that's what paranoid anti-Semites do. What's the left's excuse?" --National Review editor Jonah Goldberg

OPINION IN BRIEF

"The Senate is considering a so-called 'Cash for Clunkers' program. The idea behind the legislation ... is that if you trade in your older car or SUV, the government will provide you with a voucher up to $4,500 to purchase a new car or SUV that is more fuel efficient. Supposedly this would boost new car sales and help the beleaguered auto industry while also reducing global warming. In reality, it's a big government idea with many startling, unintended consequences. Meanwhile, even the intended consequences are bad for taxpayers, because this legislation is estimated to cost between $3 and $4 billion. One unintended consequence of this bill is that it would further hurt the poor. That may seem counterintuitive. Yet the best way for a family to qualify for the program is for it to purchase an overpriced hybrid vehicle. If a family is struggling to put food on the table, even a $4,500 voucher doesn't make such a car affordable. The only way for a low-income family to participate is to incur more debt. If you own a 'clunker,' you would be harmed by this legislation, because it would remove old cars, and old car parts, from the market, making older cars even more expensive to buy and to fix. Because the government plans to destroy the 'clunkers' traded in -- even if they are perfectly good vehicles -- the supply of used cars will dwindle and both used -- and new-car prices will increase. Environmentalists don't see this as a problem, nor do automakers, because they want to use the power of the state to drive new car sales. But conservatives should be wary. As we have seen repeatedly over the past year, when special interests win, the ordinary American loses." --Heritage Foundation director of U.S. Senate Relations Brian Darling

LIBERTY

"Many Americans want money they don't personally own to be used for what they see as good causes such as handouts to farmers, poor people, college students, senior citizens and businesses. If they privately took someone's earnings to give to a farmer, college student or senior citizen, they would be hunted down as thieves and carted off to jail. However, they get Congress to do the identical thing, through its taxing power, and they are seen as compassionate and caring. In other words, people love government because government, while having neither moral nor constitutional authority, has the legal and physical might to take the property of one American and give it to another. The unanticipated problem with this agenda is that as Congress uses its might to take what belongs to one American to give to another, what President Obama calls 'spreading the wealth around,' more and more Americans will want to participate in the looting. It will ultimately produce something none of us wants: absolute control over our lives." --George Mason University economist Walter E. Williams

GOVERNMENT

"Big government depends, in large part, in going around the country stirring up apathy -- creating the sense that problems are so big, so complex, so intractable that even attempting to think about them for yourself gives you such a splitting headache it's easier to shrug and accept as given the proposition that only government can deal with them. ... I get a lot of mail each week arguing that, when folks see the price tag attached to Obama's plans, they'll get angry. Maybe. But, if Europe's a guide, at least as many people will retreat into apathy. Once big government's in place, it's very hard to go back." --columnist Mark Steyn

RE: THE LEFT

"'Saved or created' has become the signature phrase for Barack Obama as he describes what his stimulus is doing for American jobs. His latest invocation came [last week], when the president declared that the stimulus had already saved or created at least 150,000 American jobs -- and announced he was ramping up some of the stimulus spending so he could 'save or create' an additional 600,000 jobs this summer. These numbers come in the context of an earlier Obama promise that his recovery plan will 'save or create three to four million jobs over the next two years.' ... In the months since Congress approved the stimulus, our economy has lost nearly 1.6 million jobs and unemployment has hit 9.4%. Invoke the magic words, however, and -- presto! -- you have the president claiming he has 'saved or created' 150,000 jobs. It all makes for a much nicer spin, and helps you forget this is the same team that only a few months ago promised us that passing the stimulus would prevent unemployment from rising over 8%. ... Now, something's wrong when the president invokes a formula that makes it impossible for him to be wrong and it goes largely unchallenged. It's true that almost any government spending will create some jobs and save others. But as Milton Friedman once pointed out, that doesn't tell you much: The government, after all, can create jobs by hiring people to dig holes and fill them in. If the 'saved or created' formula looks brilliant, it's only because Mr. Obama and his team are not being called on their claims." --columnist William McGurn

POLITICAL FUTURES

"At issue is whether America will continue to have a largely free-market-oriented health-care system or a government-run system where politicians and bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., make the most fundamental decisions about how we enter life, how we leave it and how we are cared for when we are ill. If Obama prevails, people who have so little respect for human life and private property that they approve of tax-funded abortion and tax-funded killing of human embryos will be empowered to decide who gets what tax-funded medical care and when. Our health care will belong to the government just as surely as General Motors does. ... If Obama and congressional liberals have their way, two of the three elements of a fully socialized health care system will be locked into law before Thanksgiving. The government will own a health-insurance company, and the government will require you to buy health insurance. The only thing Obama and congressional liberals won't formally require -- this year -- is that you buy your government-mandated insurance from the government-owned company. ... Socialized medicine must be stopped this summer -- or not at all." --columnist Terence Jeffrey

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

(To submit reader comments visit our Letters to the Editor page.)

"I completely agree with Mark Alexander's analysis that Republicans have lost their way. Quite unfortunately, with a Republican majority in Congress and a Republican president, the party proved that it was without moral principles and went on a spending spree like the country has never known. Now we suffer under a left-wing president and a Democratic majority in the Congress. This is clearly dangerous for our republic! However, if the Republicans were unable to hold to Reagan standards, they can blame their own behavior for the Obama victory. Unfortunately, few Republicans have illustrated the principles necessary to regain control of the mantle of government." --Barcelona, Spain

"I may have to print and distribute the whole 85-page 1984 Platform at the next Tea Party. It should become our manifesto and the working document for our eventual 'resurgence to reason.' I will be sure to send in my annual contribution early. Never have I so deeply felt the need to continue my sponsorship of your fine work. Please know that it continually enriches my spirit and steels my resolve." --Springboro, Ohio

"Has anyone noticed that the BLUE states were those who supported Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and that somehow it got switched so that Republican states are now RED? When did this happen, and why haven't the Republicans taken the BLUE back? After all, RED stands for leftism, Communism, Socialism and Fascism, and there can't be any argument that that is not what the Democrats have become. BLUE, simply enough, stands for patriotism." --Rock Rapids, Iowa

"In last Wednesday's Chronicle, you quoted Newsweek's Evan Thomas saying, 'I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above -- above the world, he's sort of God.' Acts 12:21-23 reads, 'On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!" Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.' Maybe Obama should heed this warning." --Mankato, Minnesota

THE LAST WORD

"What do Obama and God have in common? Neither has a birth certificate. How do they differ? God does not think he's Obama. And there's another difference between God and Obama, and that is that liberals love Obama. We have some more differences for you here between President Obama and God. God asks for only 10 percent of your money. God gives you freedom to live your life as you choose. God's plan to save us is actually written down for people to read." --radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh

*****

Veritas vos Liberabit -- Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot's editors and staff.

(Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm's way around the world, and for their families -- especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)