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Title: The Patriot Post Digest 12-03-2010 Post by: nChrist on December 03, 2010, 01:52:26 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 12-03-2010 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://link.patriotpost.us/?136-160-160-217154-660) ________________________________________ The Foundation "The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex." --James Madison, Federalist No. 48 Government & Politics Our 'Representatives' Tackle the Hard Stuff Our intrepid Congress returned from its Thanksgiving break Monday to take on several important items facing the nation, such as the looming tax increase for all Americans, fixes for some provisions of ObamaCare, the nuclear weapons treaty known as START and funding for the federal government itself. But before our elected representatives could tackle those important chores, they turned their attention to school lunches, a food "safety" bill and regulating volume for television commercials. Ain't our republic grand? First Lady Michelle Obama has made it her cause to fight childhood obesity. A fine goal, but not if it includes the $4.5 billion child nutrition bill headed to her husband's desk. The legislation will supposedly improve the nutritional value of school lunches and take sugary snacks and drinks out of vending machines in schools. To pay for it, future funding for food stamps will take a hit. We're sure that money will never actually be cut, but it looks good on paper. The Senate, meanwhile, passed the Food Safety Bill, which would merely saddle the nation's 2.2 million farms and 28,000 food producers with even more regulations and taxes. As The Wall Street Journal1 aptly put it, "maybe the bill won the votes of 13 Republicans because there was hardly any public controversy. These days, the government needs to take over entire industries to get anyone to notice." However, House Democrats may block the bill -- because it violates the Constitution. The legislation includes fees (a.k.a. taxes), and according to Article I, Section 7, "All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." Don't be fooled, though. House Democrats aren't concerned for the Constitution per se, only their own power to get this ball rolling. Democrats are also set to vote on the quaintly named Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation, or CALM, Act, which will regulate the volume of ads on TV. The FCC received tens of thousands of complaints about blaring ads in the first quarter alone this year, but to those who say, "There oughta be a law," be careful what you wish for -- Congress is always willing to oblige. In the meantime, a massive tax increase awaits all Americans if action isn't taken to preserve current rates that expire on Dec. 31. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) engineered a rule-making vote that prevents Republicans from offering amendments to stop all of the Democrats' tax increases from kicking in, and the House voted to extend rates for those earning less than $250,000 a year. Those earning more, i.e. small businesses, will be saddled with a job-killing tax hike. The White House and congressional Republicans are still trying to make a deal. Senate Republicans have vowed to block legislation of any kind until bills dealing with taxes and funding the government are passed. It's likely that a temporary extension of all tax rates will garner enough support from both parties to pass, but that merely kicks the can down the road. Rates should be lowered again and permanently, not raised, even if the economy improves. Congress should be focused on reducing taxes and cutting spending, not monkeying around in the school lunchroom. New & Notable Legislation The Senate rejected an attempt to repeal a part of ObamaCare that will require nearly 40 million businesses to file tax forms in 2012 for every vendor that sells them $600 or more in goods. That mountain of paperwork will cost businesses -- especially small ones -- greatly, but it will raise an estimated $19 billion in tax revenue on underreported income over 10 years. Democrats couldn't figure out how to make up that revenue, and they thus defeated the repeal effort. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) introduced legislation that would allow states to gain exemption from ObamaCare -- but only states that create standards at least as stringent as the federal ones. Brown, of course, hails from Massachusetts, where a universal health care law was enacted by then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican. Furthermore, Brown's bill merely moves up the start date for waivers from 2017 to 2014. We're all for allowing the states to be the laboratories of democracy, but this bill is far from a solution. Sen. "Is He Really a Republican" Brown also introduced an extension of unemployment benefits, which expired Dec. 1 for roughly two million Americans. The bill "pays" for the extension by using other unspent federal funds, thus avoiding adding to the deficit. The federal government spent $160 billion on unemployment benefits in 2010, and the year-long extension would cost about $56 billion. The Senate, ignoring the overwhelming sentiment from November voters on federal spending, voted 39-56 to reject a ban on earmarks in the chamber. The Hill4 reports, "Eight GOP senators voted to preserve earmark spending, including Thad Cochran (Miss.), Susan Collins (Maine), James Inhofe (Okla.), Dick Lugar (Ind.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Richard Shelby (Ala.). Retiring Sen. George Voinovich (Ohio) and defeated Sen. Bob Bennett (Utah) also voted against it." Inhofe defends earmarks, saying that they are part of Congress's power of the purse, which shouldn't be left to Executive Branch bureaucracies to determine. In reality, earmarks are used to grease the skids on all manner of legislation and are the gateway drug to profligate spending. News From the Swamp: Deficit Commission Report Stay tuned later today for the announced vote from Barack Obama's deficit commission, headed by former Clinton chief of staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson. The problem they're facing is twofold: First, revenue fell due to the recession to less than 15 percent of GDP from historic levels of roughly 18 percent. Second, Democrats doubled, tripled and quadrupled spending, which is now at a record high 25 percent of GDP. The commission's fundamental error is allowing the baseline for spending to be these new record highs. The co-chairmen are having trouble finding 14 votes out of 18 members, given that six members are relatively conservative Republicans. Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) oppose the final report, and for good reason. While it makes many necessary cuts, it doesn't go nearly far enough (and Congress is likely to avoid going even as far as the report does), and it calls for massive tax increases totaling $1.13 trillion. For every $1 in cuts there are $2 in tax increases. "Sorry we spent too much, but now we're going to need you to pay up" probably won't be a winning message with voters. Update: The commission's report received 11 out of 18 votes today, short of the 14 needed to formally recommend the proposal to Congress. Still, Erskine Bowles cheered the "adult conversation" that took place. DeLay Convicted of 'Money Laundering' Former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was convicted in a Texas court last week of illegally funneling corporate donations to Texas Republican candidates in 2002. DeLay had been battling these charges for years, and he was squarely in the crosshairs of Democrats seeking to topple the once-powerful politician. His conviction comes as the latest in a series of political money scandals that have included Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, Charles Rangel, Maxine Waters and others. This time around, however, the "corruption" reflects a desperate attempt on the part of DeLay's political enemies to abuse campaign finance law. Charging DeLay with money laundering seems terribly out of step with what actually took place. DeLay collected $190,000 from corporate donors in 2002 for Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), an organization that DeLay ran. TRMPAC then donated $190,000 to the Republican National State Elections Committee, which then donated the same amount to Republican candidates for the Texas House. The conviction claims that this exercise was money laundering, and therefore illegal. However, laundered money comes, by definition, from an illicit source, and the source of this money was legal. How it was processed was part of longstanding procedures that both Republicans and Democrats followed. Dick DeGuerin, DeLay's lawyer, is confident that he will fare better on appeal, and he may be right. The appellate court in Austin previously struck down the first indictment against DeLay, and they may more clearly see the facts of the case than the jury this time around, as well. Title: The Patriot Post Digest 12-03-2010 Post by: nChrist on December 03, 2010, 01:53:40 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 12-03-2010 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://link.patriotpost.us/?136-160-160-217154-660) ________________________________________ From the Left: Democrat Corruption Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has been railing against the House ethics committee to get her trial started before the session ends later this month. The ethics trial, which was to begin this week, will weigh the charge of Waters' illegal use of the powers of her office to aid a minority owned bank in which her husband owned $350,000 in stock. The bank, OneUnited, was foundering in 2008 due to its connection with Fannie Mae and ended up receiving $12 million in TARP funds. Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren postponed the trial due to the discovery of new evidence, and no new date has been set. Waters claims that's because the committee has no case and they're trying to back their way out. "I want this issue resolved immediately," Waters said this week, "and I want my constituents to know the person they re-elected with about 80 percent of the vote on November 2nd is doing exactly what they sent her here to do, and that is fight for them." Her outspoken pronouncements against the committee and insisting on her own innocence will be put to the test sooner or later, even if it's not necessarily at her convenience. In related news, the House voted 333-79 Thursday to censure Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) for various ethics violations, including misreporting income. Censure is rare -- Rangel's was the first since 1983, and only the 23rd in history. He stood before the House while the speaker condemned his behavior, but he remained defiant. "I know in my heart that I'm not going to be judged by this Congress," he orated, but "by my life, my activities [and] my contributions to society." After his speech, some of his fellow Democrats gave him a standing ovation5. Pentagon Releases 'Don't Ask' Report Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has long been a priority for the Obama administration's national defense team. In this week's skewed and biased report from the Pentagon on the effect of repeal, the administration trumpets its assertion that it "just doesn't matter." The report is filled with highly subjective responses to questionable scenarios that have little if any relation to the reality of the impact on national defense. For example, when asked if DADT is repealed, how would your job performance be affected by repeal, 72 percent gave a neutral response, while 15 percent thought it would be negative. Just 3 percent thought repeal would be positive. Among those performing combat duties, 60 percent said repeal would negatively affect their unit. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says those concerns "do not present an insurmountable barrier to a successful repeal," but is that an acceptable risk to accomplish what is clearly nothing more than a sociopolitical goal? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) insists, "Our Defense Department supports repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'" Actually, though the SecDef supports that repeal, keeping in step with his boss, Barack Obama, the Service Chiefs, Air Force Association, Association of the U.S. Navy, American Legion, National Military Family Association, National Association for Uniformed Services, Reserve Officers Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and a majority of military service personnel do not support repeal. But what do they know? In that light, perhaps we also need to address the "Don't Ask" mentality in a matter that really counts. Several ideas have been floated recently about ways to cut costs for military spending, including asking for increases to TRICARE for service members and retirees. What's more, outgoing House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) floated the idea of a military pay freeze to go with the civilian one announced this week. Clearly, Democrats "support our troops." Yes, budget cuts must come because we cannot continue along this path of fiscal irresponsibility. However, in the words of Norbert R. Ryan Jr., a retired vice admiral and president of the Military Officers Association of America, "Don't ask the folks who have done so much more for this country, who have been called to act since 9/11, to be the first in line to give some more." National Security Another WikiLeaks Firestorm Last Sunday's WikiLeaks release continues to roil the world's governments, although in reality, the documents seem to be generating more heat than light. As with previous WikiLeaks releases, there doesn't appear to be any earth-shattering information contained in this file dump. Nope, it's no surprise that some countries are considered unreliable allies, that Arab countries fear a nuclear Iran, that China has severe concerns about an unstable North Korea, or that diplomats spy on other diplomats or hold unflattering opinions about them. If anything, perhaps the most surprising conclusion to be drawn from the documents is that the Left's "lollipops and sunshine" view of the world is, in fact, delusional, and that Barack Obama's can't-we-all-get-along-if-I-keep-talking foreign policy is an utter failure. The memos confirm that the world continued to be a dangerous place even after Obama came down to us from Olympus, that Iran and North Korea have remained members of the Axis of Evil, and that all countries will look out for themselves first, regardless of Obama's blather. Nevertheless, several tough questions are raised by these WikiLeaks incidents. For example, why does the U.S. government feel that it must lie to the American people about so many international events and foreign relations, when the real world demonstrates an obvious and opposite truth? Second, whatever happened to "need-to-know," wherein no one is allowed access to classified information unless they have a need for it? How does Pfc. Bradley Manning, a poster child for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell,"6 have "need-to-know" access to, literally, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of documents covering who-knows-how-many topics? And why do (alleged) American news outlets such as The New York Times treasonously support WikiLeaks and undermine U.S. interests? (Oddly enough, the Times chose not to run the Climategate emails last year.) Earlier this year, The Patriot Post broke a story about a Fort Knox security exercise7 that listed "Tea Party protesters" as terrorist threats. We also posted information critical to establishing the authenticity of our story, but when the Fort Knox command contacted us and said that our posting could compromise their security, we removed it. Genuine American journalists have no obligation to regurgitate everything that is put before them. Unfortunately, few genuine American journalists remain. The War of Northern Aggression North Korea recently committed its second act of war against South Korea in the last eight months, killing four people and wounding 18, when it shelled a South Korean island with artillery. This action follows North Korea's torpedo attack on a South Korean warship in March that sank the ship and killed 46 of her 104-member crew. Almost anywhere else in the world this kind of provocation would have led to open war, but apparently it's just business as usual for this lunatic communist dictatorship. South Korea's response to both events has been diplomatic outrage and military posturing. U.S. military forces have just completed joint exercises with our South Korean allies and will begin exercises with our Japanese allies on Dec. 3. Such has been the extent of U.S. reaction. What led to this latest round of NoKo violence? Well, as usual it's linked to North Korea's nuclear program and Pyongyang's desire to create negotiating leverage. A new industrial-scale North Korean uranium-enrichment facility came to light recently following a guided visit by Stanford professor and nuclear expert Siegfried Hecker in early November. Hecker described being "stunned" by the size and modernity of the new enrichment plant. A new light-water reactor is apparently also under construction in North Korea. So, following its proven playbook, the North obviously wanted to create a crisis prior to any talks regarding its nuclear program, during which it could then demand concessions in exchange for moderating its behavior. Diabolical, but who can blame them, considering it's worked every time? Title: The Patriot Post Digest 12-03-2010 Post by: nChrist on December 03, 2010, 01:54:47 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 12-03-2010 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://link.patriotpost.us/?136-160-160-217154-660) ________________________________________ Bomb Plot Foiled in Oregon Last Friday, federal agents foiled yet another terrorist plot -- the attempted bombing of a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a 19-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Somalia, told FBI agents that his goal was to kill Americans as they celebrated the holidays. He believed he would be successful, he said, because no one would expect an attack in Oregon. Mohamud first appeared on the anti-terror radar after exchanging emails with an "unindicted associate" in northwest Pakistan, a known terrorist breeding ground. After expressing his desire to engage in "violent jihad," Mohamud was approached by FBI agents posing as terrorists. Over the next several months, Mohamud plotted with them, even mailing them materials from which they were to assemble the bomb. Recorded conversations show that Mohamud was given more than one chance to back out, but he refused, saying that he had been planning this since he was 15 and that "it's gonna be fireworks ... a spectacular show." On the day of the ceremony, Mohamud parked a van loaded with what he believed to be explosives at the site and then went to a nearby train station, where he twice attempted to detonate the device with a mobile phone. As agents surrounded him, Mohamud kicked them, screaming "Allahu Akbar" (Allah is great). He's been charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Despite the incredible work of our law enforcement agencies, we are often merely putting out fires instead of dealing with the larger issue. On the same day as the thwarted attack, U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis released evidence that three major Islamic organizations are -- surprise! -- fronts for the terrorist group Hamas. Solis' 20-page ruling in the 2008 Holy Land Terror trial, which had been sealed until last week, reveals that the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have direct financial ties to suicide bombers working for Hamas. The ISNA, NAIT and CAIR maintain offices around the U.S., lobby Congress on Muslim-related issues, and are considered charitable organizations (and therefore tax exempt) by the IRS. Business & Economy Financial Crisis Response Extended Much Farther Than Thought "The financial crisis stretched even farther across the economy than many had realized," reports The Washington Post8, "as new disclosures show the Federal Reserve rushed trillions of dollars in emergency aid not just to Wall Street but also to motorcycle makers, telecom firms and foreign-owned banks in 2008 and 2009." Apparently, "too big to fail" extended to General Electric, Caterpillar, Toyota, Harley-Davidson and Verizon, as well as, inevitably, foreign banks with U.S. subsidiaries. Of course, some of the world's biggest banks, such as Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Swiss-based UBS and Britain's Barclays received aid, with Goldman cashing in for an astonishing $600 billion. According to the Post, "The data reveal banks turning to the Fed for help almost daily in the fall of 2008 as the central bank lowered lending standards and extended relief to all kinds of institutions it had never assisted before." Total aid reached $3.3 trillion, though the Fed is saying it hasn't (yet) lost any money on its lending. You know things are bad when we agree with self-proclaimed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who insisted that this disclosure requirement be included in the Frank-Dodd financial regulatory bill. "The American people are finally learning the incredible and jaw-dropping details of the Fed's multi-trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street and corporate America," Sanders said. "Perhaps most surprising is the huge sum that went to bail out foreign private banks and corporations. As a result of this disclosure, other members of Congress and I will be taking a very extensive look at all aspects of how the Federal Reserve functions." Thomas Jefferson certainly had a point when he wrote to Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin in 1802, "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies." Next up, bailing out the European Union9 through the International Monetary Fund, in which the U.S. is the largest "shareholder." Around the World: China and Russia Abandon Dollar With little fanfare, China and Russia last week announced their intent to drop the U.S. dollar as their currency of choice for bilateral trade and instead use their own currencies. "About trade settlement," said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at a joint news conference with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, "we have decided to use our own currencies." China Daily reports10 that Chinese experts think the decision "reflected closer relations between Beijing and Moscow and is not aimed at challenging the dollar, but to protect their domestic economies." While experts seem quick to assure that no challenge to the dollar is in the offing, they point to the "faults of a dollar-dominated world financial system" and the "risks the dollar represents." There is no doubt that the financial crisis played no small part in the Russian-Chinese decision. The duo's departure from the dollar should hardly come as a surprise. After all, it's the consequence of our piling on astronomical debt -- and then piling on still more. The U.S. is no longer the stable trading partner it has always been. Although Russia and China may not be declaring war on the dollar just yet, when the world's largest Communist gulags realize that their currencies are more stable than ours, it threatens the dollar's reserve currency status. Those Obama deficits are taking his intended toll. Regulatory Commissars: Keep That Drilling Ban Going Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Wednesday that the administration has rescinded its decision to allow offshore oil drilling to expand into the eastern Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic Coast. Instead, the current moratorium on said drilling will continue for another seven years, until more safety and environmental regulations can be devised and implemented. This action keeps millions of acres and potentially billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas off limits. So much for Democrats' pledge of "energy independence." The move is supposedly a response to the Deepwater Horizon spill in April. "As a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, we learned a number of lessons," Salazar announced, "most importantly that we need to proceed with caution and focus on creating a more stringent regulatory regime." Ah, never let a crisis go to waste. In reality, this drilling ban has nothing to do with safety or the environment, but it does stop the creation of tens of thousands of jobs, just as the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent. It's also just another example of Barack Obama's efforts to break the back of free enterprise11 before he leaves office. Income Redistribution: Gore Admits Ethanol Subsidies a 'Mistake' After long lauding the virtues of ethanol -- and casting the tie-breaking vote as vice president to subsidize ethanol producers -- Al Gore, the populist potentate of eco-theology, has conceded that his support was a "mistake." "One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee," Gore stated, "and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president." Struck by ballot-box blindness, Gore voted to impose an ethanol subsidy that, as columnist Debra Saunders notes12, added nearly $5 billion to the federal deficit last year alone. Conveniently, now that the physical and political infrastructure is ensconced, he's suddenly realized ethanol's benefits are "trivial" and concluded, "It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol." Seemingly sharing talking points, this week Energy Secretary Stephen Chu announced, "Ethanol is not an ideal transportation fuel," and he said it should not be part of the future of transportation fuels. It remains to be seen, though, whether Congress will extend the ethanol subsidy, which is set to expire on Dec. 31. As Al "Captain Obvious" Gore noted, "It's hard once such a program is put in place to deal with the lobbies [not to mention the politicians] that keep it going." We're wondering who scratched Al's back to lead him to such a conclusion. On a related note, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) turns 40 this week. Launched by Richard Nixon in 1970 "to protect and enhance the environment," the EPA has morphed into a regulatory behemoth, sacrificing jobs, economic growth and individual liberty on the altar of environmental protection. The phrase "over the hill" never sounded so appropriate. Title: The Patriot Post Digest 12-03-2010 Post by: nChrist on December 03, 2010, 01:55:52 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 12-03-2010 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://link.patriotpost.us/?136-160-160-217154-660) ________________________________________ Culture & Policy Judicial Benchmarks: ObamaCare Challenge Tossed U.S. District Judge Norman Moon, a Clinton appointee, tossed out a challenge to ObamaCare in Virginia this week. This is the second victory for the Obama administration in a wave of lawsuits. Liberty University, the plaintiff in the case, has already decided to appeal in hopes of eclipsing Moon's decision. "Congress does not have the authority to force every American to purchase a particular kind of health insurance product," said Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty's School of Law and an attorney on the case. Liberty argued that the law abuses the Commerce Clause of the Constitution in an attempt to provide the government strict control over the health care market. Their constitutional exegesis is completely sound, but Moon was blinded to that reality. According to Moon, the law requiring individuals and employers to purchase health insurance falls legally under the Commerce Clause because the lack of the law would drive up costs, "precisely the harms that Congress sought to address with the Act's regulatory measures." To this we would ask, if the Commerce Clause can be melded to the whims of the backers of ObamaCare, what powers doesn't Congress have to continue to shackle the American people? Climate Change This Week: A Warm Meeting A recent Investor's Business Daily editorial13 calls it "the ultimate form of taxation without representation": the continuing attempts by eco-fascists to force wealth redistribution upon the United States and other "rich" countries. This is all under the guise, of course, of saving the world from the scourge of global warming. After its abysmal failure in wintry Copenhagen last year, the UN is holding another climate change conference in balmy Cancun, Mexico. There, surrounded by sun and sand, it will once again attempt to convince delegates from 193 countries that, a) the world is in peril and therefore we must drastically reduce emissions; and b) the U.S. and other developed nations must pay poor countries billions of dollars in retribution for the "damage" they caused in becoming, well, developed. The conference will feature the usual fanfare, including 250 presentations about the effects of climate change and proclamations that 2010 is tied for the hottest year since we began keeping records 131 years ago. This is all smoke and mirrors. German economist Ottmar Edenhofer, who also serves as the pretentiously titled Co-chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group III on Mitigation of Climate Change, has openly admitted that "climate change policy is redistributing the world's wealth." This would be accomplished in the U.S. with cap-n-trade policies being pushed by Obama and his "progressive" pals in Congress. Despite the sunny weather, the climate at this conference probably won't be any friendlier than it was in Denmark. Even before the Republican landslide in last month's elections, many lawmakers were leery of saddling Americans with more taxes during the recession, especially given the fact that China -- the world's biggest polluter -- refuses to make any binding promises about emissions. In addition, in the wake of the Climategate scandal, emerging studies have shot more holes in climate change "science" than in Swiss cheese. Only time will tell, but it looks as if leftists will have to find another way to siphon America's wealth to other nations. In related news, House Republicans are set to eliminate the climate change committee created by soon-to-be-ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In Congress at least, the climate has changed. Second Amendment: Gun-Grabbing Fox Picked to Head ATF Henhouse In another example of the "Chicago Way," last week Barack Obama tabbed Andrew Traver, currently special agent in charge of the Chicago division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (better known by the ATF acronym), as the bureau's permanent head. "You might as well put an arsonist in charge of the fire department," quipped NRA spokesman Chris Cox. While the gun grabbers at the Brady Center applaud the choice, Second Amendment advocates are predictably aghast. They criticize Traver because of his ties to the gun-control advocating Joyce Foundation and work during a 2007 conference on reducing gun violence sponsored by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, another fervently anti-gun organization. The IACP report includes a call for legislation to allow federal health and safety oversight of the firearms industry. What Second Amendment? Others question Traver's lack of senior-level executive experience, but when has that ever stopped anyone in Washington? The Senate may get a chance to question and confirm Traver, who would take over an agency laboring under acting leaders since 2006, unless Obama decides to use him as yet another recess appointment. Certainly Traver would fit right in with the rest of Executive Branch Washington in an era where the president relies on regulation, as opposed to legislation, to enact his agenda. Federal Money for Ground Zero Mosque? The developers for the Ground Zero Mosque14, now called Park51, have apparently run out of money. On top of that, they owe more than $200,000 in back taxes. But not to worry. They're applying for a $5 million federal grant. Read more here15. And Last... The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is due out in 2013. Psychiatrists use the manual to diagnose mental illness. Among the changes in this edition will be the exclusion of five of the 10 personality disorders listed in the current edition. One of those five is narcissistic personality disorder. According to The New York Times16, "The central requirement for N.P.D. is a special kind of self-absorption: a grandiose sense of self, a serious miscalculation of one's abilities and potential that is often accompanied by fantasies of greatness." Many psychiatrists aren't happy about the change. Dr. John Gunderson of Harvard calls the removal "unenlightened" and says, "They have little appreciation for the damage they could be doing." But for some N.P.D. sufferers, the change brings hope. In two short years, for example, one particular occupant of a majestic white house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will likely be seeking new employment and new living quarters. Better, then, that he's free to do so without the stigma of this dreadful disorder. (Please pray for our 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.) Links 1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704594804575649121695684294.html 2. https://patriotpost.us/donate/ 3. https://patriotpost.us/donate/mail/ 4. http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/appropriations/131093-earmark-ban-voted-down-in-the-senate 5. http://michellemalkin.com/2010/12/02/undrained-swamp-things/ 6. http://patriotpost.us/opinion/ann-coulter/2010/12/02/bradley-manning-poster-boy-for-dont-ask-dont-tell/ 7. http://patriotpost.us/alexander/2010/04/29/army-preps-for-tea-party-terrorists/ 8. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120106870.html 9. http://www.cnbc.com/id/40454469 10. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-11/24/content_11599087.htm 11. http://patriotpost.us/alexander/2010/07/08/barackracy-part-1/ 12. http://patriotpost.us/opinion/debra-saunders/2010/11/30/you-can-stop-paying-for-al-gores-mistake/ 13. http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/ArticlePrint.aspx?id=554439 14. http://patriotpost.us/edition/2010/08/20/digest/ 15. http://patriotpost.us/perspective/2010/11/23/federal-money-for-ground-zero-mosque/ 16. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/health/views/30mind.html |