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THE FOUNDATION

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." --Thomas Jefferson

THE DEMO-GOGUES

The Waxman-Malarkey cap and tax bill is bad news

Biggest Big Lie of the Year: "Just last Friday, the House of Representatives came together to pass an extraordinary piece of legislation that will finally open the door to decreasing our dependence on foreign oil, preventing the worst consequences of climate change, and making clean energy the profitable kind of energy. Thanks to members of Congress who were willing to place America's progress before the usual Washington politics, this bill will create new businesses, new industries, and millions of new jobs, all without imposing untenable new burdens on the American people or America's businesses." --President Barack Obama on the cap and tax bill **In January 2008, Obama said, "Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket ... because I'm capping greenhouse gasses, coal power plants, natural gas ... you name it ... whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retro-fit their operations. That will cost money. ...They will pass that money on to the consumers." He was right then.

Patting her own back: "We passed transformational legislation, which will take us into the future. For some it was a very difficult vote because the entrenched agents of the status quo were out there full force, jamming the lines in their districts and here, and they withstood that." --House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on cap and tax

Projecting Demo faults on the GOP: "[Republicans] want to play politics and see if they can keep any achievements from being accomplished that may be beneficial to the Democrats. They're rooting against the country and I think in this case, even rooting against the world because the world needs to get its act together to stop global warming." --Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)

How many politicians does it take to change a light bulb: "The first step we're taking sets new efficiency standards on fluorescent and incandescent lighting. I know light bulbs may not seem sexy, but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all the energy consumed in America is used to light our homes and our businesses. Between 2012 and 2042 these new standards will save consumers up to $4 billion a year. We're going to start here at the White House. Secretary Chu has already started to take a look at our light bulbs and we're going to see what we need to replace them with energy efficient light bulbs." --Barack Obama

Obama's health plan not good enough for his family: "[If] it's my family member, if it's my wife, if it's my children, if it's my grandmother, I always want them to get the very best care." --Barack Obama **"Oopsie! So ObamaCare for thee, but not for me? Hope and change, baby!" --blogger Ed Morrissey

INSIGHT

"No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows; in no way can the success of evil be made surer or quicker." --President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy." --British publisher and writer Ernest Benn (1875-1954)

"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office." --American journalist H. L. Mencken (1880-1856)

UPRIGHT

"The House just passed the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade carbon emissions control act. If it passes the Senate, expect the president -- the bill's pusher-in-chief -- to sign it at first opportunity. I have not read the bill, so I should not comment on it at length. But then, neither has any congressman read the now 1000-pages-and-plus wonder. So they should not have passed it. We are supposed to believe it is a good bill because we must trust the congressional assistants who wrote it. If anything is a testament to 'the power of belief' it's the enthusiasm for a bill that has not been read, much less understood." --columnist Paul Jacob

"This climate bill has nothing to do with saving the planet or the polar bears. The problems that this legislation claims to address do not exist. Regulating our behavior and limiting our freedom will not have any effect on the climate. It is a pure power and money grab..." --radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh

"So why does President Obama so often get history wrong, so often call for utopian schemes he would hardly adopt for himself, and so often distort by misinformation and incomplete disclosure? Partly the culprit is administrative inexperience, partly historical ignorance. But mostly the disconnect comes because Barack Obama believes he is a philosopher-king, whose exalted ends more than justify his mendacious means." --columnist Victor Davis Hanson

"There is a tendency for newly installed presidents, like adolescents suddenly liberated from adult supervision, to do the exact opposite of what their predecessors did. ... Some of it, and especially in the case of Barack Obama, seems to come from an adolescent-like confidence that everything done by those who came before is (insert your own generation's expletive here). ... As parents know, it takes time for an adolescent to grow up." --political analyst Michael Barone

"I once asked evangelist Billy Graham if he experienced temptations of the flesh when he was young. He said, 'of course.' How did he deal with them? With passion he responded, 'I asked God to strike me dead before He ever allowed me to dishonor Him in that way.' That is the kind of seriousness one needs to overcome the temptations of a corrupt culture in which shameful behavior is too often paraded in the streets." --columnist Cal Thomas

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

"It's time for a reminder that one of the enduring strengths of the American political system is its federalism -- keeping accountability and power as close to the people as possible whenever possible. ... Fighting big government is not done only in Washington; focusing on a state-by-state basis allows conservatives a greater opportunity to present solutions that solve problems closest to the people experiencing them. When a solution works, it can be replicated elsewhere. When it doesn't work, other states can learn from the failure. And it's also philosophically consistent: As a problem-solver, big government forces square pegs into round holes. Federalism encourages as many pegs in as many shapes as there are states. Leaders of the tea party movement should keep this fact in mind, too. States solving their own problems make it doubly difficult for Washington politicians to pose as if they alone can save the day while running up multi-trillion dollar deficits. There was a time when the states were routinely viewed as 'laboratories of democracy.' Conservatives in Wisconsin demonstrated that welfare reform could benefit taxpayers and those in need of assistance, and in the process provided the template for what later became the landmark welfare reform legislation of 1996. Similarly, Florida conservatives, led by former Gov. Jeb Bush, implemented school reform that emphasized parental choice and student responsibility. Florida students have since shown marked academic progress. The genius of America is the creativity and energy of a free people, and conservatives must never forget that it is federalism that encourages that genius to flower across the entire country." --Washington Examiner

DEZINFORMATSIA

Climate Nazi: "So the House passed the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill. In political terms, it was a remarkable achievement. But 212 representatives voted no. A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered the bill too weak, but most rejected the bill because they rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases. And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn't help thinking that I was watching a form of treason -- treason against the planet." --New York Times columnist Paul Krugman

A brave new world: "President Obama suggested at a town hall event Wednesday night that one way to shave medical costs is to stop expensive and ultimately futile procedures performed on people who are about to die and don't stand to gain from the extra care.??? --Los Angeles Times columnist Peter Nichols **"But don't worry. A 'panel of experts' (Barney Frank and two executive vice-presidents from ACORN) will make that determination. So relax: You'll be able to 'opt out' of government health care, in a very permanent sense." --columnist Mark Steyn

On discrimination: "New Haven's Mayor said he would respect the [Supreme Court's Ricci] decision but complained the city was obeying 38 years of civil rights law forbidding anything that caused a disparate impact against minorities. ... Civil rights leaders also predicted an era of confusion over when minorities are protected and when they are not." --CBS reporter Wyatt Andrews on the Supreme Court's ruling that 18 white New Haven, Connecticut, firefighters were discriminated against (denied earned promotions) because of race.

From a parallel universe: "What has brought California to such a perilous state? How did its government become so wildly dysfunctional? One obvious cause is the deep recession that has caused tax revenues to plunge for all states. But California's woes have a set of deeper reasons: direct democracy run amok, timid governors, partisan gridlock and a flawed constitution all contribute to budget chaos and people in pain. And at the root of California's misery lies Proposition 13, the antitax measure that ignited the Reagan Revolution and the conservative era. In Washington, the Reagan-Bush era is over. But in California, the conservative legacy lives on." --Time magazine's Kevin O'Leary

Newspulper Headlines:

Obama's Health Care Plan Is Worse Than We Imagined: "Lowell to Get Shot to Treat Ailing Hip" --MLB.com

And May There Be Peace on Earth: "May Incomes Surge, but Savings Outpace Spending" --Associated Press

He Finally Got a Real Job?: "Kerry Becomes a Bridge-Builder" --Boston Globe

The Stock Market, Explained: "Turkey Lands in Manure Truck's Cab, Causing Crash" --Associated Press

Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: "Coleman Concedes; Franken Wins Senate Seat" --CBSNews.com ++ "Approval Ratings for Pelosi Hit a New Low" --Washington Post

Breaking News From 2000: "Al Gore Not Coming to D.C." --Politico.com

News You Can Use: "Watch Out for Rabid Skunks" --Omaha World-Herald

Bottom Stories of the Day: "Swine Flu Hasn't Shown Up at Ky. Summer Camps" --Lexington Herald-Leader

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto)

VILLAGE IDIOTS

A resounding "No!": "If Obama can push health care -- single-pay or whatever he's trying to do -- through, will that alleviate the problem, do you think???? --The View's Joy Behar cheerleading for Obama while not sure of the game plan

Who's he kidding: "Democratic presidents nominate very centrist justices to the Supreme Court. The Republican presidents over the past 10-15 years have nominated very extremely conservative justices and that's why the court has eschewed to the right. ... And the role of the Democratic judges -- justices -- has been to play the middle... And that is, I think, at a larger ideological point, a discussion we should have, because Democratic presidents have been hesitant to put really liberal justices on the court." --former NY governor Eliot Spitzer

Too dumb for Demo-gogues: "Too bad, if a governor had to go missing it couldn't have been the governor of Alaska. You know, Sarah Palin." --Sen. John Kerry (D-Cambodia), who may have a horse's face but acts like another part of a horse's anatomy, on SC Gov. Mark Sanford's strange disappearance last week

Getting stoned: "Nixon always said Reagan was a dumb son of a b**** and, you know, I think that he was. And I think, I really think George W is dumber. ... I do think that by doing the 'W' movie I kind of put all my efforts behind dumbness." --filmmaker Oliver Stone

SHORT CUTS

"Like most good scams, cap and trade as outlined in the Markey-Waxman legislation is simple. The government sets a cap on how much pollution the nation's factories, cars (and flatulent cows) are allowed to expel into the atmosphere. Companies can buy, sell or trade their emissions, or lack thereof. (If the cows must be cited for violations, Al Gore, a onetime tobacco farmer, can measure the barnyard effluvium.) But the most acute pain will be the rising costs of everything as companies pass the effects of the tax on to consumers. Nobody knows this better than Mrs. Pelosi and her merry band of robbers." --Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden

"Socialized medicine redefines the relationship between the citizen and the state in all the wrong ways, and, if you cross that bridge, it's all but impossible to go back. So, if ever there were a season for GOP philanderers not to unpeel their bananas, this summer is it." --columnist Mark Steyn

"I often find myself thinking that if liberals didn't have double standards, they wouldn't have any standards at all." --columnist Burt Prelutsky

"I was never a big fan of Michael Jackson. I don't mean personally. Personally, I think he should have been institutionalized. I mean I was never a huge fan of his music. The last live concert I went to was a reunion of the Limeliters and the Kingston Trio which, I believe, was 'Presented by Depends.' Which is another reason why I never get invited out much." --political analyst Rich Galen

*****

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.)