The Patriot Post Vol. 07 No. 22 Digest | 01 June 2007

[nChrist]

The Patriot Post

Patriot Vol. 07 No. 22 Digest | 01 June 2007

From The Federalist Patriot

FREE E-mail Subscription: http://FederalistPatriot.US/subscribe/

THE FOUNDATION

"It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers, to pretend to watch over the economy of private people..."  — Adam Smith

PATRIOT PERSPECTIVE

Hilrya Rodhamovich Clintonov's economic plan

Demo-gogue presidential candidate Hillary Clinton http://PatriotPost.US/election/2008/clinton.asp  gave a little-noticed stump speech this week that should've sent up countless red flags.

By now, all of us know about Clinton's re-warmed plans for socializing medicine, regulating healthcare services and providers and centralizing government control of about ten percent of the U.S. economy.

This week, however, Clinton went national with her classist "it takes a village" model, claiming that free-enterprise Capitalism is the root of all evil.

In a speech on "shared prosperity," she proclaimed that it's time to replace the conservative notion of an "ownership society" and economy with one based on communal responsibility and prosperity, alleging that the current system is really an "on your own" society that increases the income gap between "poor" and "rich" Americans.

Now, if Clinton is implying that individual initiative, self-reliance, responsibility and ingenuity — the very foundation of free enterprise — are the keys to creating wealth, then she is right. If she is implying that dependence upon the state and redistribution of income creates poverty, then she is right here, too — but that was not her message.

"I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society," she went on. "I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none."

In a quintessential example of Clintonista doublespeak, Hillary outlined her economic fairness doctrine: "There is no greater force for economic growth than free markets, but markets work best with rules that promote our values, protect our workers and give all people a chance to succeed. Fairness doesn't just happen. It requires the right government policies."

So, according to Ms. Clinton, free markets work best when they're constrained by the right government policies. In other words, free markets work best when they're not free.

Apparently Hillary has also been smoking Fidel's hand-rolled cigars. How else are we to account for her failure to recall that centralized economies, like that of the former Soviet Union, are doomed to fail and have cost millions of lives along the way?

Of course, Clinton's allusion to "rules" is Demo-code for taxation http://archive.PatriotPost.US/humor/?cartoonid=687 , which, as we know, is often the forcible transfer of wealth from one group to another. This taxation, in turn, creates reliable political constituencies for Democrats. As George Bernard Shaw once noted, "A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend upon the support of Paul."

Clinton's economic plan is nothing more than a contemporary remake of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's class-warfare proclamation: "Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle."

In fact, Roosevelt's "principle" was no more American than Clinton's. It was a paraphrase of Karl Marx's Communist maxim, "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev said of Roosevelt's "New Deal" paradigm shift, "We can't expect the American people to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."

[nChrist]

The Patriot Post

Patriot Vol. 07 No. 22 Digest | 01 June 2007

From The Federalist Patriot

FREE E-mail Subscription: http://FederalistPatriot.US/subscribe/

Echoing that sentiment was perennial Socialist Party presidential candidate Norman Thomas (the grandfather, incidentally, of Newsweek http://PatriotPost.US/alexander/edition.asp?id=514  Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas): "The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."

No irony was spared in another interview this week, when Hillary Clinton was asked about the enormous wealth that she and Bill have amassed since their co-presidency. Clinton replied, "My husband and I never had any money. Now suddenly we're rich. I have nothing against rich people."

"Never had any money"? Spare me. She and Bill were long ago cashing in on commodity futures and real-estate deals. Still, the wealth they have accumulated in recent years must make those good ol' days seem Spartan by comparison.

Hillary claims that if elected, she will "hit the restart button on the 21st century and redo it the right way." I checked, and the Clintons were in the White House the first year of the 21st Century. Did they push the wrong button then?

Only when the Clintons voluntarily surrender for redistribution all their assets to the U.S. Treasury will I then consider her economic views with at least the sincerity afforded one who is not a complete hypocrite. In the eternal interim, her Socialist "we're all in it together" claptrap should be considered a perilous hazard to prosperity for all.

Quote of the week

"I am not robbed by people who have more money than I. I am robbed by a government that wants to penalize my industry and give increasing portions of what I earn to people who do not emulate my principles, morals and ethics... We once taught our young people the virtues of hard work, saving, personal responsibility and accountability for one's actions, chastity before and fidelity and commitment in marriage, honesty, integrity and virtue — not to mention the Ten Commandments (especially the one about not coveting that which belongs to your neighbor). We now teach them entitlement, victimhood, class envy and rights to other people's money."  — Cal Thomas

http://PatriotPost.US/opinion/entrylist.asp?source_id=54

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

White House explores Iraq drawdown

The Bush administration, fresh from political victory over Democrats looking to end America's military involvement in Iraq unilaterally, made it public this week that they are looking at plans to cut U.S. forces there by as much as one third sometime in 2008. At the heart of this change in strategy is reorganization of the mission to one of training and support of Iraqi troops while drawing down U.S. forces from the current 148,000 to 100,000. Administration officials have indicated that a smaller long-term presence http://PatriotPost.US/alexander/edition.asp?id=323  would spur Iraqis to take greater ownership of the war and earn the White House some breathing room politically with congressional Republicans, many of whom have lost their nerve concerning the President's Iraq-war policy.

No commitments have been made about drawing down forces, and there is no indication that President Bush seeks to bring an early end to the troop increase that has loosened the jihadi hold on Baghdad and Anbar province. However, no one has yet thought to ask for input from Gen. David Petraeus or Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top commanders in Iraq whose job it has been to oversee the troop surge that was intended to continue through April 2008. Ordierno has stated that any rollback of U.S. forces would reverse the security gains that have been made and that current troop levels must be maintained through 2007 "at a minimum," though encouraging news came yesterday — Ordierno said U.S. military commanders are talking cease-fires with the enemy.

[nChrist]

The Patriot Post

Patriot Vol. 07 No. 22 Digest | 01 June 2007

From The Federalist Patriot

FREE E-mail Subscription: http://FederalistPatriot.US/subscribe/

The larger plan has always been to stand down as the Iraqis stepped up, but it is still too early to entrust the Iraqi army fully with that nation's security. We must be wary not to make the same mistakes made in 2006 when American troops fell back to the Green Zone, leaving Baghdad security to the Iraqis and allowing militants to turn the city into a cauldron of terrorist violence. If that happens again, the trend may be militarily and politically irreversible. Then again, what is good for America has yet to stop antiwar Democrats from pursuing a strategy of defeat, especially with the kooks at MoveOn breathing down their necks.

The BIG lie

"I'm not going to cut American troops' funding right now — they're in harm's way. I am not for imposing a date-certain withdrawal date."  — Hillary Clinton in January

But then... "Bush is more than happy to send our young men and women into harm's way..."  — Clinton, who says she joined 13 other Democrats voting to de-fund our military forces in Iraq because "Bush plans to pull the troops out anyway."
Turning up the heat on Sudan

President Bush announced fresh sanctions this week against Sudan in an effort to halt the genocide in the Darfur region, which has resulted in 400,000 deaths and the displacement of 2.5 million people since 2003. The new economic sanctions will add 30 more companies owned or controlled by the Sudanese government to the list of 100 that are already barred from making transactions within the U.S. financial system. Senior Sudanese officials Ahmad Haroun and Awad ibn Auf and rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim have also been singled out for economic penalties.

President Bush directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to pursue United Nations resolutions to impose an arms embargo on Sudan. The White House has been prepared to implement this move for months but held off its announcement at the behest of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon who, in the kumbaya fashion so befitting the world body, first wanted to re-exercise all the diplomatic options that have gone nowhere for three bloody years.

However, China has been holding out against international sanctions because of its significant investment in Sudan's oil industry, which pumps some 500,000 barrels a day — likely enough to keep the country from feeling the sting of U.S. economic sanctions, and more than enough to jack up world oil prices if the flow were to stop. Furthermore, China will veto any move against Sudan in the UNSC.

Another impediment to success in Darfur lies with conflict-averse Europeansm, who have been dragging their feet for years, joining homegrown liberals in expending a lot of hot air over the tragedy but coming up short on the best course of action. Too busy accusing President Bush of war crimes for freeing Iraqis from the murderous clutches of Saddam Hussein, Europeans refuse to acknowledge that he is the only world leader to date who has taken any significant action to bring an end to the tragedy in Sudan.

New & notable legislation

RSC Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Rep. John Campbell (R-CA) re-introduced the Family Budget Protection Act (H.R. 2084), an effort to put a cap on federal spending and make the federal budget simpler and enforceable.

Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE) will introduce the Real Access to College Education Act, which would provide an above-the-line tax deduction to students for the actual cost of tuition, room, board and other qualified educational expenses, up to $13,150.

Travels with Nancy: Greenland edition

Nancy Pelosi jetted with seven other House members to Greenland last week to meet with European scientists and politicians to discuss global warming. Much like her pilgrimage for peace to Syria earlier this year, Pelosi's latest trip was an opportunity to present the Demos' "alternative foreign policy" on climate change, which she claims has affected the lives of people in Greenland. Note to San Fran Nan: There is less snow in Greenland now than there was in January because of an insidious weather phenomenon called summer.

Since taking the Speaker's gavel, Pelosi has pushed environmental issues as part of the overall Democrat agenda. She created the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, which has no legislative power but looks great on camera. Stressing the need for a broad international solution to global warming, Pelosi and her ilk want the United States to cut carbon emissions regardless of its impact on the economy, while turning a blind eye to China and India, which will soon surpass the U.S. as the world's largest carbon emitters. Her trip took place just weeks before President Bush heads to Germany for a multinational meeting on climate change. On the agenda will be a debate over what should follow the Kyoto Protocol, which is set to expire in 2012. Europe has scolded the U.S. for not joining Kyoto, even though many European countries have failed to meet the emission standards it set in 1997.

This week's 'Braying Jenny' award:

"We saw firsthand evidence that climate change is a reality; there is just no denying it. It wasn't caused by the people of Greenland — it was caused by the behavior of the rest of the world."  — Nancy Pelosi

From the campaign trail: Thompson is in... maybe

Former Senator Fred Thompson said in an interview Thursday that he is planning to run for the U.S. presidency. "I can't remember exactly the point I said, 'I'm going to do this. But when I did, the thing that occurred to me: 'I'm going to tell people that I am thinking about it and see what kind of reaction I get to it'." We'd say the reaction has been pretty good.

[nChrist]

The Patriot Post

Patriot Vol. 07 No. 22 Digest | 01 June 2007

From The Federalist Patriot

FREE E-mail Subscription: http://FederalistPatriot.US/subscribe/

According to unnamed advisors, Thompson will make a formal announcement over the July 4 holiday. Thompson met via a conference call with donors this week to discuss fundraising matters, and an informal exploratory committee and campaign staff will reportedly begin work by the first week of June. "His mind is made up to run if interest continues to be as intense as it is," said Thompson's friend and political advisor, Tom Ingram. Run, Fred, run.

On the Democrats' side, we expect Al Gore will announce his candidacy before long. Movie, book, Peace Prize... He has a platform and is a more viable candidate than Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. There are only 249 days to Super Duper Tuesday (5 February), the day on which more than half of voters will choose their parties' presidential candidates.

NATIONAL SECURITY

Warfront with Jihadistan: Al-Qa'ida's American allies

The Gray Lady is again aiding and abetting the enemy abroad and undermining morale at home. When great news came out of Iraq this week — U.S. forces freeing 42 al-Qa'ida prisoners, some held for four months and one of whom was only 13 years old — The New York Times ran an article about low morale in the Army. Instead of success, The Times trumpeted disillusionment among the enlisted ranks. Where did The Times actually discuss the 42 freed prisoners? Buried deep in paragraphs 11-13 of an article headlined "2 More GIs Killed in Roadside Bombing." Wow. Way to give the home team an even break.

As for the freed prisoners, some had been hung from the ceiling, had broken bones and showed other signs of torture. With the al-Qa'ida torture manual recently released — complete with how to use electricity, clothes irons, drills and blowtorches to torture — we can only imagine what these captives went through. Amnesty International, busy protesting the suicide at Guantanamo this week, was not available for comment.

Speaking of our enemies' allies, American al-Qa'ida member Adam Gadahn released a video this week making several demands of the U.S. If they are not met, the California-born convert to Islam threatened that we will "experience things which will make [us] forget about the horrors of September 11th, Afghanistan and Iraq, and Virginia Tech." At least two of his demands put him right in line with the Democratic Party: Remove all U.S. troops from Muslim lands and release all Muslim prisoners. Ending support for Israel was another demand, also a position of a significant minority on the Left.

Embedded reporters actually like our troops

While the MSM may not want you to know of the victories the U.S. Armed Forces achieve in Iraq, embedded reporters, whose lives depend on the professional talent and experience of our elite combat forces, have more than a mere inkling of the sacrifices our men and women in uniform make to keep The Long War http://PatriotPost.US/papers/primer03.asp  off American soil. The trust that necessarily develops between these reporters and those charged with their protection breaks down otherwise insurmountable worldview barriers between these two groups. Naysayers decry these arrangements, believing them to be simply propaganda tactics to co-opt reporters into acting as mouthpieces for the U.S. military, but experience has shown these claims to be without merit.

Embedded reporters have front-row seats to the good, the bad and the ugly. What the reporters see is what they get. The human face of combat weighs heavy in their minds every moment they are with their units, who treat them like one of their own. For example, David Beriain, a Spanish reporter, remarked, "In Spain, it is embarrassing — our soldiers are ashamed to be in the army. These young men... are so proud of what they do, and do it so well, even though it is dangerous and they could very easily be killed." An early opponent of the war, Beriain eventually admitted, "I love those guys." In another case, U.S. troops saved the life of a disdainful antiwar Greek reporter, putting his life above their own. He could only repeat, "They saved my life, they saved my life... These are great men; they are heroes."

These experiences give lie to the phrase, "We support our troops, but we don't support the war in Iraq." Support for efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan is precisely the support the troops need most. Take a moment and thank God for the heroes who defend our homeland daily.

Profiles of valor: Army Maj. Ryan Worthan

Early one morning at Shkin Fire Base in Afghanistan, four miles from Pakistan's border, a platoon of American forces encountered heavy enemy fire from the surrounding mountains. While the base took random gunfire almost daily, this attack was well-planned and relentless; it would last 12 hours, with insurgents using AK-47s, RPGs and mortars.

[nChrist]

The Patriot Post

Patriot Vol. 07 No. 22 Digest | 01 June 2007

From The Federalist Patriot

FREE E-mail Subscription: http://FederalistPatriot.US/subscribe/

When the targeted platoon began taking casualties, then-Capt. Ryan L. Worthan, serving with the 10th Mountain Division, left the safety of the base where he had been providing fire support and went to the front lines. On the front he was able to orchestrate the evacuation of casualties while coordinating the continued counterattack against the insurgents with both air and ground fire.

Worthan's courageous actions led to the elimination of more than 20 al-Qa'ida and Taliban guerillas. For his actions that day, Worthan was awarded the Silver Star and most recently, the Alexander E. Nininger Award for Valor at Arms by the U.S. Military Academy's association of graduates.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Another warrior from the "Greatest Generation" departed with honors this week. Mitchell Forrest Simmons was 89. He was born and raised in South Carolina. Upon graduating from Clemson, he joined the Marine Corps and attained the rank of Major, after leading assaults at historic battles on Guadalcanal, Peleliu and Okinawa. Mitch conducted his life as an offering, indebted to his Creator, rather than living life as if it were owed to him. He lived to go, not to stay. He fought the good fight and he kept the faith. I knew Mitch since I was a child. He was a great American and will be missed by many, especially his wife, Fran, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

On the immigration front: Bush v. conservatives

President Bush gave conservative opponents of the Senate's immigration bill http://PatriotPost.US/alexander/edition.asp?id=534  a piece of his mind this week in an unusual attack on his own base. In Georgia, he told thousands of Border Patrol trainees, "You can pick out one little aspect out of [the bill and]...you can use it to frighten people." Like essential amnesty for 12 million illegals? The President also decried critics' "empty political rhetoric" and accused opponents of worrying that the bill "might make somebody else look good." Who, Ted Kennedy? The White House has fumbled the immigration issue so badly that they have now resorted to name-calling — of what used to be their conservative base. One ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), even said, "We're gonna tell the bigots to shut up." Spirited debate, indeed.

Brian Darling of the Heritage Foundation fired back, saying, "Most conservatives have very strong feelings that this bill contains amnesty... and no yelling and screaming by the administration is going to change our minds." Perhaps the President might also consider that, historically speaking, amnesty followed by lax enforcement is indeed a frightening proposition. Conservatives have every right to be angry.

In the House, it appears that some conservatives are poised to derail the bill when it passes the Senate. An amendment in the bill that requires illegal aliens to pay back taxes before being eligible for a "Z" visa means it could be thrown out on procedural grounds, as all revenue-related bills must originate in the House.

Pact Ice in Russia

Lately, relations between the U.S. and our Russian friends have undergone a somewhat nostalgic chill. For instance, Russia has made no small point of stressing its discontent with U.S. plans to deploy components of its ballistic-missile defense shield in Poland. The latest iteration of this angst occurred this week in Cold War trappings, namely, the successful test of the RS-24. This ten-warhead-laden ICBM is specifically designed to defeat "all known anti-missile defense systems" (read: any system the U.S. might field). Indeed, Putin criticized the U.S. for making Europe into a "powder keg" and said the missile launch was a response to U.S. "imperialism." Of course, the rationale behind our missile defense shield should be a move Russia gets behind: preventing a rogue nation (Iran, Syria, North Korea) from delivering Hell-on-Earth to the "Infidels," a very exclusive group which happens to include Russians.

President Putin is also less than sanguine about an independent Kosovo, another measure the U.S. supports because of its potential for providing a democratic venue for the long-oppressed ethnic Albanians, who happen to be Kosovo's majority population. Naturally, neither Russia nor Serbia is overjoyed with the idea of independence for Kosovo. In an effort to thaw a potential Big Chill over these events, President Bush has invited Putin to Kennebunkport, Maine, for mano-a-mano discussions to settle disagreements. This invitation certainly lands not a moment too soon, as Putin has already hinted at withdrawal from the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, the most momentous post-Cold War conventional arms pact in history. Cold War Part Deux, anyone?

[nChrist]

The Patriot Post

Patriot Vol. 07 No. 22 Digest | 01 June 2007

From The Federalist Patriot

FREE E-mail Subscription: http://FederalistPatriot.US/subscribe/

Talks with Iran result in more of the same

Following the first direct, officially sanctioned talks in nearly 30 years between the governments of the United States and Iran this week in Baghdad, both sides made the usual noises about "productive discussion" while saying nothing of substance — in other words, politics as usual. U.S. diplomat Ryan Crocker indicated that the United States wants a change in Iran's lethal support to Iraqi insurgent groups, while Iran yet again denied that any such support is being provided. Iran's representative, Hassan Qomi, used the standard party line: "Allegations that Iran is supplying insurgents with weapons... have been denied by Iran on numerous occasions and don't prove anything." Predictably, Iran portrayed the talks as the U.S. coming to Iran hat in hand, begging for help in extricating us from the "quagmire" in Iraq.

Iran has recently added new fuel to the diplomatic fire by taking hostage several Americans of Iranian descent, some with dual American-Iranian citizenship. Charges of espionage have been lodged against several of these hostages, including 67-year-old Haleh Esfandiari, a noted Middle East scholar from the Woodrow Wilson Center. While patently absurd, these charges will be used to detain these individuals as markers against the day when the United States and our allies finally settle accounts with Iran.

We can talk with Iran until we're blue in the face, and nothing will come of it as long as Iranian weapons, money, training and operatives continue to flow into Iraq with the goal of killing Americans and our Iraqi allies — with no penalty after three years and counting. Until the United States holds Iran directly accountable for dead Americans, why would we expect Iran to change its behavior? Why bother talking to Iran about "support for a secure, stable, democratic, federal Iraq" if we can't even get Iran to stop killing Americans? Chalk it up to Foggy Bottom Syndrome and the Baker-Hamilton Commission.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Regulatory Commissars: Having it both ways

In the race to prevent global warming — or rather, to reduce dependence on foreign oil — the Demos are finding it difficult to have it both ways. Senate committees are currently considering five bills that would institute a cap-and-trade system for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. This is a system in which the government establishes an overall limit for emissions (the "cap") and companies receive an allocation of permits, contributing to the cap. Companies then sell or "trade" their permits among themselves. Corporations can save money by buying permits rather than reducing their own emissions.

While the left hand of the Democrat-controlled legislature hopes to use gas reduction to fight "global warming," the right hand — or rather, the other left hand — stands poised to dole out billions in taxpayer dollars to subsidize coal-to-liquid production plants. Naturally, this has the usually even-keeled environmentalists (think Al Gore) in a dither, claiming that coal-based fuels could actually emit nearly twice the greenhouse gases as their petroleum kin. Coal-to-liquid proponents disagree and cite the ability both to harness emitted gas and to utilize renewable fuels as part of the process, although neither tactic has yet been done on large-scale levels.

Either way, Democrats find themselves faced with the choice between reducing dependence on foreign oil and slowing global warming, between coal-industry lobbyists and environmentalists — and, ironically, between Democrats and Democrats.

Income Redistribution File: Internet taxes?

With Democrats in control of Congress, it was only a matter of time before taxes on Internet commerce, broadband connections and even e-mail became a subject of debate. For years, some brave lawmakers have been able to hold at bay the irresistible urge to tax the Internet, especially with the persistent rise in commercial transactions and the high percentage of American individuals and companies using the Web for business and pleasure. Many states and localities have been lobbying Congress to let the temporary ban on Internet taxes expire in November, so that they can take advantage of the untapped revenue stream. If that happens, we can expect to see Internet taxes and surcharges such as those we already have on telephones and cable service.

[nChrist]

The Patriot Post

Patriot Vol. 07 No. 22 Digest | 01 June 2007

From The Federalist Patriot

FREE E-mail Subscription: http://FederalistPatriot.US/subscribe/

Bush taps Zoellick for World Bank

In the wake of the ethics flap involving resigned World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, President Bush has named Robert Zoellick, a former deputy secretary of state and U.S. trade representative, to take the post at the end of June, pending approval from the Bank's executive board. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Jr. , who supervised the replacement search, said, "[Zoellick] has a proven record of working with counterparts around the world to get positive results." Many European board members are nervous about the transition and some had advocated a non-American for the job, most likely because the Bank is comfortable in its corruption and they don't wish to see the anti-corruption crusade continue. Zoellick has brokered several successful free-trade deals as both trade envoy from 2001-05 and vice chairman for international affairs at Goldman Sachs during the past year. It will be interesting to see if Zoellick is able to continue the reform-and-results path blazed by Wolfowitz during his tenure.

On the other hand, we are not surprised that the Bush administration could look no further than its own to fill the post. Given the propensity for playing "musical chairs" among Bush loyalists, we might look for Wolfowitz to show up again before 2009.

Tainted imports from China

China's export standards gained the media spotlight in recent days after pet food containing poisonous substances killed many American pets. However, FDA inspections show that such instances are not limited to Rover's dog food. Just last week, the FDA found that the same antifreeze chemical used in Chinese cough syrup that killed several people in Panama was being used in Chinese toothpaste imported into the U.S.

Due to sheer volume, the FDA inspects less than one percent of food imports. Thus, it's not hard to imagine that other contaminated items make it past inspectors on a daily basis. The United States does not allow imports of meat from China, since the country has not met U.S. safety requirements; this creates a black market for meat imports. The USDA has reportedly found "hundreds of thousands of pounds" of illegal meat imports over the last year, shipped in containers that were falsely labeled. As noted in Alexander's essay "The Port of Public Opinion," http://PatriotPost.US/alexander/edition.asp?id=466  U.S. seaports constitute one of many big holes in our border security and there is no guarantee that WMD won't be smuggled into the U.S. in one of the thousands of cargo containers that land on our shores every day.

Socialist healthcare marches on

Recently, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama each unveiled portions of their healthcare final solutions. Both plans favor ending taxpayer reimbursement for some uninsured medical care, so they can replace it with taxpayer reimbursement for medical care and a federal bureaucracy. As expected, both plans feature heavy federal regulation and massive transfers of wealth and power to the federal government. Hillary claims her plan will wrest $120 billion in savings from insurers, drug manufacturers and other evil actors in the healthcare system. Obama wants to terminate the Bush tax cuts to fund his program, which is projected to cost $65 billion a year, but it manages to cover only a similar percentage of the population as is currently covered today. None of these purported billions in savings are quantifiable or substantiated, but experts predict actual program costs may be double or triple those admitted by the candidates.

Under Hillary Care, Mrs. Clinton would prevent insurers from saving tens of billions per year solely by figuring out how to deny coverage (i.e., by following their contracts). Obama plans on ending expensive emergency-room care for the uninsured when they get sick to save $2,500 a year for the paying customers. Both plan on stripping health-insurance regulatory powers from state governments and adding costly layers to the federal bureaucracy to accomplish the same regulatory oversight now provided by the states, not to mention example after example of failed universal healthcare around the world.

[nChrist]

The Patriot Post

Patriot Vol. 07 No. 22 Digest | 01 June 2007

From The Federalist Patriot

FREE E-mail Subscription: http://FederalistPatriot.US/subscribe/

CULTURE

From the Left: Michael Moore lies about healthcare

Filmmaker Michael Moore is patting himself on the back for the praise being heaped on his controversial documentary "Sicko" that premiered recently at the Cannes Film Festival. "'Sicko' presents an emotional portrait of an array of people, including volunteer rescue heroes of the September 11th attack, who are denied needed care — despite the fact that most are insured," said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association and the National Nurses Organizing Committee. The source of the crises is "a profit-driven insurance industry whose biggest accomplishment is buying our U.S. Congress to prevent real reform," DeMoro claims.

Moore advocates for "free, universal healthcare" and claims that Canada's health system is failing "because their leaders have been trying to push for more American-style health care." Perhaps Moore should do a bit more research: According to the Canadian Medical Association journal, Canadians must wait an average of 10-28 weeks for an MRI but are now able to have the same procedure at Olympic Memorial Hospital in Port Angeles, Washington, with only a two-day wait time.

Meanwhile, CBS ran a two-part assault on private health insurance to further the cause using misleading statistics and anti-industry "experts" to imply universal care is needed.

Cindy Sheehan packs up and goes home

In a move cited as the culmination of a year of meditation, Cindy Sheehan has relinquished her position as the "face" of the Anti-War Movement. Nearly two years after launching her protest movement, Sheehan wrote on the leftist DailyKos blog that her crusade had cost her marriage, left her nearly penniless and negatively affected her relationship with her children. Ironically, Sheehan lays the blame for her cession largely at the feet of the Democrats, who called her "the darling of the... left" while she bashed President Bush and the Republicans but then rebuked her once her attacks turned leftward.

Sheehan's "resignation letter" stated that in her crusade she had been threatened many times and "called every despicable name that small minds can think of." What to Sheehan is cause for complaint, to our soldiers is daily fare. No Patriot will mourn Sheehan's retreat, but we do strongly reject her conclusion that her son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, "die[d] for nothing... killed by his own country." Casey sacrificed his life to protect our freedom, and although hardship meant retreat for Ms. Sheehan, thankfully the same is not true of our American soldiers, and we do continue to offer the misguided Ms. Sheehan our deepest condolence for her loss.

Move America Forward, a group of troop supporters, is planning to buy Sheehan's Crawford, Texas, acreage on which to build a monument to the troops.

Frontiers of Junk Science: Endangered species at the UN

Endangered species are becoming extinct at an "unprecedented rate," according to a statement issued by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on 22 May as part of the UN-sanctioned "International Day for Biological Diversity." Despite failing to offer any evidence to substantiate this purported loss of biodiversity, Ban cites climate change compounded by "land clearance for farms or cities, pollution and rising human populations" as the root cause. How did we know mankind was the culprit? Although the exact phrase is never used, it is abundantly clear that another heaping helping of global-warming fear mongering is being dished out by UN science stooges.

"We are indeed experiencing the greatest wave of extinctions since the disappearance of the dinosaurs," chimed Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. "Extinction rates are rising by a factor of up to 1,000 above natural rates." This translates into three species extinctions every single hour. However, the World Conservation Union puts the estimate at only 784 species driven to extinction in the last 500 years. That would be 0.00018 per hour. Seems the UN is slightly off. Their answer to fight this supposed dearth of animal deaths? "More determination at all levels — global, national and local." Whatever that means. Think happy thoughts, kids.

And last...

Donations are down at the Republican National Committee leading to the firing of all 65 telephone solicitors this week. The RNC claims that donations are not down, but several of the fired employees note that people they contact are angry about immigration policy. Really? We had no idea. "Every donor in 50 states we reached has been angry, especially in the last month and a half, and for 99 percent of them immigration is the number one issue," said one fired employee. We've heard rumors that RNC contributors are withholding donations over the immigration issue and this story lends a little credence to that claim. Another clever idea has surfaced to make the fix-the-border point — sending pesos instead of dollars.

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 have died in defense of American liberty, while prosecuting the war with Jihadistan.)