The Patriot Post Digest 08-24

[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 08-24

From The Federalist Patriot
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THE FOUNDATION

“And as to the Cares, they are chiefly what attend the bringing up of Children; and I would ask any Man who has experienced it, if they are not the most delightful Cares in the World.”  - Benjamin Franklin

PATRIOT PERSPECTIVE
You can’t outsource fatherhood!

By Mark Alexander

“It is the duty of parents to maintain their children decently, and according to their circumstances; to protect them according to the dictates of prudence; and to educate them according to the suggestions of a judicious and zealous regard for their usefulness, their respectability and happiness.”  - James Wilson (1791)

Just after the turn of the millennium, I was reviewing family social data from 1950-2000. Looking at historical trends pertaining to economics, crime and incarcerations, drug abuse, education, physical and emotional health, premarital sex, pregnancy out of wedlock, child abuse and generational patterns of divorce, I was not surprised to find that there was one grid that highly correlated with all the others.

Of course, I’m referring to the corollary between fathers in the home and the welfare of their children. Turns out that children greatly benefit from the love, affirmation, discipline and protection of both their mother and father - preferably under the same roof.

Indeed, social data since 2000 continues to confirm that correlation.

Father’s Day has been observed for a century, and its inspiration, Mother’s Day, has been celebrated in one form or another since the 16th century. But perhaps these should be combined into a “Children’s Day,” because as any devoted parent can attest, there is no greater responsibility or privilege than parenting, and no greater reward than the blessing of children.

The good news is that there is a resurgence of men who are honoring their wives and children as responsible husbands and fathers. Unfortunately, many men still abdicate their responsibility as fathers.

Marriage is the foundation for the family, which in turn, serves as the foundation for society. In 295 BC, Mencius wrote, “The root of the kingdom is in the state. The root of the state is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its head.”

Broken marriages lead to broken families, which lead to broken societies. The most successful fathering is rooted in a healthy marriage. Thus, to be good fathers, we must first be good husbands.

Marital infidelity and the consequences for children were a concern for our Founders: John Adams wrote in his diary on 2 June 1778, “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?”

One of my mentors, Dr. Jim Lee, director of Living Free ministries, writes that the Christian marriage paradigm is built on a foundation of five principles: “First, God is the creator of the marriage relationship; second, heterosexuality is God’s pattern for marriage; third, monogamy is God’s design for marriage; fourth, God’s plan for marriage is for physical and spiritual unity; and fifth, marriage was designed to be permanent.”

When this paradigm is broken, the exemplar for children is broken, and the consequences are staggering. One of the greatest affronts to the Body of Christ, then, is also the most common injury to the family of man - marital infidelity and divorce.

Divorce, which typically results in the absence of fathers from their headship role within the family, is the single most significant common denominator among all categories of social and cultural entropy.

However, more than 50 percent of children born to married parents will suffer through their parents’ divorce by age 18.

Currently, almost 60 percent of black children, 32 percent of Hispanic children and 21 percent of white children are living in single-parent homes. And the consequences?
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[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 08-24

From The Federalist Patriot
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Consider these sobering statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services and the Bureau of the Census: Children who live apart from their fathers will account for 40 percent of incarcerated adults, 63 percent of teen suicides, 70 percent of juveniles in state-operated institutions, 71 percent of high-school dropouts, 75 percent of children in chemical-abuse centers, 80 percent of rapists, 85 percent of youths in prison, 85 percent of children who exhibit behavioral disorders, and 90 percent of homeless and runaway children.

About eight percent of children in married-couple homes live at or below poverty level, while almost 40 percent of children in homes without fathers live below poverty level. The latter group risks a much higher incidence of serious child abuse or neglect.

Notably, the most common and severe wounds inflicted upon children are not necessarily physical. Children internalize emotional abuse and rejection - particularly rejection by their family of origin - parental separation or divorce, or dissociation from a chemically dependent or emotionally disabled parent.

Internalization occurs when children, in defiance of adult logic, believe they are somehow responsible for the harm that came to them, whether it was circumstantial, accidental or intended. In the case of divorce, children often believe they must have caused parental dissolution, or were deserving of it.

This internalized rejection often manifests in a condition known as Arrested Emotional Development (AED) - emotional development impeded during childhood and resulting in emotional disabilities carried into adulthood.

It is no small irony that divorced parents were, in all likelihood, themselves the child-victims of generational patterns of familial dissociation and dissolution. Daughters bear a particularly difficult burden in the absence of fathers. A broken father-daughter trust bond can disable the formation of a trust bond with a husband in later life.

Indeed, the sins of our fathers are visited upon generations that follow.

There is also a sobering financial component to all this: Beyond the private-sector costs associated with absentee fathers is a taxpayer assessment of well over $100 billion annually for social-welfare services to families without fathers.

On this Father’s Day, then, may we not only count the blessings of fatherhood, but also commit to honoring those attendant obligations every day. May we also examine the job we are doing as husbands first, and then as fathers.

Additional information about fatherhood can be obtained from Focus on the Family, the National Center for Fathering, the National Fatherhood Initiative and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

If you are interested in community-based marriage and parenting initiatives, the gold standard is the template designed by First Things First under the expert guidance of my friend, Julie Baumgardner.

(Editor’s Note: To all those fathers who have been forcibly separated from their children, this call for fathers to honor their obligations, starting with marriage, does not discount the fact that there are many women who live in constant infidelity to their husbands, and women who subordinate the needs of their marriage and family life to their own desires - careers, social relationships and activities, substance abuse, media immersion, etc. Predictably, the vast majority of those women are, themselves, the victims of marital dissolution, or dissociation from a chemically dependent or emotionally disabled father.)
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[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 08-24

From The Federalist Patriot
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Quote of the week

“Maturity does not come with age, but with the accepting of responsibility for one’s actions. The lack of effective, functioning fathers is the root cause of America’s social, economic and spiritual crises.”  - Dr. Edwin Cole

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
Campaign watch: Clinton at the end of the line

If a year ago we had told any number of average Americans that Hillary Clinton would lose the Democrat presidential nomination to a barely known one-term senator whose voting record is the most liberal in the Senate, they would have asked what we were smoking. Even many conservatives believed that another Clinton presidency was a fait accompli, and they were miserably resigned to the bitter fact. But Barack Obama stole her thunder and clinched enough delegates to win the Democrat nomination, leaving her so shocked that it took her five days to concede defeat.

Clinton gave her concession speech last Saturday in the same building where she and her husband danced in inaugural balls in 1993 and 1997 - a bitter reminder for the legion of Clintonistas finally forced to accept reality. Clinton talked about how her campaign was a milestone for women in America, and she also pledged to support Obama in his quest for the presidency. The first point received a rousing ovation from the crowd; the second fell a bit flat. In fact, in the coming weeks, it will be interesting to see just how much help Clinton and her supporters do throw behind Obama. She may not stand in his way, but it is unlikely he will receive the full-throated support she half-heartedly proclaimed to give on Saturday. Furthermore, we cannot fail to note that she has not yet released her delegates to Obama. Then again, if she is asked to join the bottom of the ticket, we think she will come around.

In another campaign concession, RON PAUL (apparently the way one has to type his name) has officially ended his efforts to secure the Republican nomination. Paul’s announcement was merely a formality, as John McCain claimed the requisite number of GOP delegates in March. We do cheer Paul’s call to shrink government and to tell the UN to take a hike, but his protectionist trade policies and unrealistic foreign policy always stood in the way of selecting him to be commander in chief of a nation at war.

From the Left: Obama’s ties still in knots

Barack Obama continues to be dogged by the company he keeps. The latest unsavory character is Jim Johnson, former chairman of Fannie Mae and Beltway insider since the Carter administration, who was to take part in the search for Obama’s running mate. Johnson also vetted for John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984. Unfortunately for Obama, however, his judgment failed him once again. Johnson has been accused of receiving mortgage deals at below-market rates for three homes totaling more than $2 million from the CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp., which is under federal investigation over the subprime fiasco. According to The Washington Post, “Johnson left the company before it was swept up in an accounting scandal that tarred its reputation, but even during the years of scandal, Johnson was reaping hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees and other compensation, $3.3 million in all between 2001 and 2006.” Obama has criticized Countrywide for “predatory” lending in previous months, but apparently he was willing to overlook Johnson’s association. Can Obama be trusted to make any nomination or appointment? The answer is all too obvious.

As scrutiny of his shady dealings began to escalate this week, Johnson resigned from Obama’s VP committee. Obama said, “Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice-presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept.” We’re guessing this means that Jim Johnson, like Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Father Michael Pfleger, isn’t the man Obama knew.
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[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 08-24

From The Federalist Patriot
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This week’s ‘Braying Jackass’ award

“Now look, the, the, ah, ah, I mean the, uh, first of all, uh I, I, I am not vetting my VP search committee for their mortgages, so you’re going have to d-direct... Well, nah I mean it becomes sort of a... um... I mean this is a game that can be played. Everybody... you know, who is tangentially related to our campaign, I think, is going to have a whole host of relationships. I would have to hire the vetter to, uh, vet the vetter.”  - Barack Obama, channeling Ted Turner and wondering what happened to his teleprompter with his prepared stump speech about “change”

News from the Swamp: McClellan’s book tour

Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) is so enamored with former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s story-telling that he has invited McClellan to testify before the committee about a story that has long since died: the Valerie Plame identity crisis. Although Karl Rove escaped the clutches of Conyers and his lynch mob, the hope remains among the anti-Bushies that they can still bring down the president. This time, their weapon is McClellan’s book, which completely contradicts all his words and actions as press secretary and has, like Plame, slipped far from the front pages of the nation’s newspapers. Only in Washington can two such banal stories as a non-leak of a non-secret agent and the release of yet another administration tall-tale tell-all book intersect.

New & notable legislation

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College, saying, “It’s time for Congress to really give Americans the power of one-person, one-vote, instead of the political machinery selecting candidates and electing our president.” He of course cited the 2000 election as Exhibit A. At least Nelson had the sense to admit the Constitution prescribes the Electoral College as the method of election in our republic, and that it will take a constitutional amendment to change it.

The House passed a $15-billion, five-year subsidy for Amtrak by a vote of 311-104. The bill also authorizes $1.5 billion over 10 years for DC’s Metro system, provided that the District, Maryland and Virginia provide matching funds.

Speaking of pork-barrel spending, The Hill newspaper reports, “Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) has asked to have his name removed from a facility he created because he’s tired of being criticized for building a ‘monument to me’.” In 2003, Doyle used a $1.5-million earmark to build the Doyle Center for Manufacturing Technology in Pennsylvania. Doyle complained, “We were getting a lot of heat solely because it had my name on it. I’m not abandoning my work for the center. Those people down there are doing great work.” So it’s not that it’s a waste of taxpayer money, he’s just embarrassed when people point out that his name is attached.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Mars) introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush this week after failing last year to have Vice President Dick Cheney impeached. In the words of the immortal political analyst Forrest Gump, that’s all we have to say about that.

Sign of the times for GOP

Democrats and Republicans have finally found something they agree on: It’s going to be a tough year for House Republicans. Much of the problem comes down to money. As of April, the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee had $45 million to spend on races, while the National Republican Congressional Committee was left with a paltry $6.7 million.

But the GOP has another problem that may surpass even its financial concerns: loyalty. According to pollsters, President Bush’s dismal approval rating is hurting the GOP’s chances for congressional victories. Apparently, many Republicans who disagree with this administration are willing to flee the party altogether. The GOP’s Democrat impersonations in Congress don’t help either.

Loyalty, albeit of a different kind, is also an issue in the race for New York Rep. Vito Fossella’s soon-to-be-vacated seat. Fossella recently announced, upon the heels of an infidelity and drunk-driving scandal, that he will not seek re-election. This prompted the GOP to search for a candidate to fill the seat it has held for 28 years - currently the only Republican-held seat in New York City. In the absence of a well-known politician, they chose Francis H. Powers, a retired Wall Street executive and long-time fundraiser for Staten Island Republicans.

In another sign of the times for the GOP, however, Powers’ son, carpenter and musician Francis M. Powers, is vying for the chance to run against his father on the Libertarian ticket. When asked how he feels about his father, young Powers commented: “I go see him at Christmas and I give him a Christmas card, a Father’s Day and a birthday card. I like my father... [But] this seat is too important to be in the Republican Party’s hands.”

Happy Father’s Day, Francis.
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[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 08-24

From The Federalist Patriot
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NATIONAL SECURITY
Warfront with Jihadistan: Intelligence report

For approximately half of the U.S. population, it is an article of faith that “Bush lied, people died.” The tired clichè was making the rounds again this week after the Select Committee on Intelligence published a new report titled, “Intelligence Activities Relating to Iraq.” The report was formally released by the committee’s chairman, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), who said it was further proof that President Bush and his administration had “repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when it was unsubstantiated, contradicted or even nonexistent.”

The report that Sen. Rockefeller is interpreting for the American people, however, disagrees with the senator. On the subject of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program, the report says that the president’s statements were “generally substantiated by intelligence community estimates.” On the subject of biological and chemical weapons, the president’s statements were “substantiated by intelligence information.” On weapons of mass destruction in general, statements were “generally substantiated by intelligence information.” On ballistic missiles capable of delivering WMDs, claims were “generally substantiated by intelligence information.” Even on the issue of Saddam Hussein’s ties to terrorism, the Bush administration’s claims were “substantiated by intelligence estimates.” Indeed, we can’t find the part where “Bush lied!” It seems that the only person who misrepresented a report was Mr. Rockefeller himself.

If moonbats had ears, we would remind them that in the run-up to the Iraq War, Congress was reading the same intelligence reports as President Bush, a fact that nobody understands better than the Intelligence Committee Chairman himself. In 2002, Rockefeller said, “There has been some debate over how ‘imminent’ a threat Iraq poses. I do believe Iraq poses an imminent threat. I also believe after September 11, that question is increasingly outdated... To insist on further evidence could put some of our fellow Americans at risk. Can we afford to take that chance? I do not think we can.” Having made the right choice then, Rockefeller is trying to disown it now by pinning the “blame” on the Bush administration just as victory in Iraq is a near possibility. It doesn’t make much sense to us, but then, Democrats rarely do.

When one considers that it is official documents like the one in question - not New York Times editorials - that historians will use to chronicle and judge President Bush’s actions, it seems likely that posterity will judge George W. Bush more kindly than his contemporaries have, and that Democrats will once again find themselves on the wrong side of history.

Judicial Benchmarks: Gitmo and the Constitution

From the Leftjudiciary: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Thursday that, under the U.S. Constitution, foreign terrorism suspects have the right to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts. In other words, foreign terrorists such as 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed now have the same constitutional right of habeas corpus as American citizens - during a time of war. The usual suspects composed the majority in the ruling: Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter and John Paul Stevens. In his dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts chastised the judicial despots for striking down what were already “the most generous set of procedural protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants.” He also wrote that the American people have lost “a bit more control over the conduct of this Nation’s foreign policy to unelected, politically unaccountable judges.” Justice Antonin Scalia, in typical fashion, was less mild, writing that the decision “will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.” He concluded, “The Nation will live to regret what the Court has done today. I dissent.”

The Bush administration tried to set up military tribunals for detainees, first sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2002, but was rebuffed in 2004. Congress then passed the Military Commissions Act in December 2006 to provide for such tribunals. Now, the Court has effectively overturned that law as well. What next, just set them all free?

Department of Military Correctness: ‘Don’t Ask’

Shortly after Congress codified the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, the homosexual lobby unsuccessfully challenged the statute’s constitutionality. However, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in Lawrence vs. Texas invalidated Texas’ ban on sodomy and breathed new life into the homosexual lobby’s efforts. A new wave of federal suits was launched. As we reported on 23 May, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco gave these suits a boost when it ruled that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy did, indeed, infringe on a constitutionally protected right and was therefore subject to increased constitutional scrutiny. The Ninth Circuit remanded the case to the trial court to determine whether the ban on homosexuals in the military “significantly” furthers the government’s interest and whether there are less intrusive means to achieve these goals. In other words, it opened the door to judicial second-guessing of the military.
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[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 08-24

From The Federalist Patriot
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On 9 June, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston refused to follow the Ninth Circuit’s lead. Noting that the courts have a long history of giving great deference to Congress and the president in military matters, the court acknowledged that “it is difficult to conceive of an area of governmental activity in which the courts have less competence.” Consequently, the court found that “judicial intrusion is simply not warranted.”

While we applaud the First Circuit’s decision, we note that the split in the Circuits makes it more likely that the issue will go the Supreme Court. This clearly shows the importance of this election. After all, is there any doubt how an Obama-appointed Supreme Court justice would rule on this issue?

Department of Military Readiness: USAF changes

In spite of the fact that only seven months remain in President Bush’s term, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had to do some bold, high-level housekeeping for the Air Force. Last week, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff General T. Michael “Buzz” Moseley “resigned” after military investigators determined there were serious problems with the security of the nation’s nuclear-weapons stockpile, as recent incidents demonstrated. In 2007, an Air Force bomber wing lost track of some nuclear warheads and flew them unknowingly between North Dakota and Louisiana. Also recently, the Air Force and the Defense Logistics Agency sent secret nuclear nosecone fuses to Taiwan by mistake. Additionally, the Air Force has had several contracting scandals, including the rigging of a contract for the Thunderbirds air show to favor a retired general and a civilian crony with ties to top Air Force officials.

Replacing Wynne and Moseley will be Michael Donley as Secretary of the Air Force and General Norton Schwartz as the Air Force Chief of Staff. The selection of Schwartz was a surprise and a clear indication that Secretary Gates wants to take the Air Force in a new direction. General Schwartz is the head of the U.S. Transportation Command, which coordinates the Pentagon’s transportation operations and military logistics. Assuming he is confirmed, General Schwartz would be the first non-fighter or bomber pilot to lead the service. Some think that this move could lead the service to give more emphasis to ground-support missions, critical in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, over more traditional roles such as air dogfights.

Iran: Terrorists will get bomb

Last week, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a speech in which he predicted that terrorists would obtain nuclear weapons and “take away security from all the tyrants of the world.” He later made it clear that by “tyrants” he meant the United States. The statement is darkly ironic, since Iran is the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism, and the pariah state is almost certainly in pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Khamenei was quick to add that Iran could never possess or use nuclear weapons since they are against “Islamic beliefs,” but Iran’s Islamic government has never been known for being straightforward, and the supreme leader urged his listeners to continue exporting the Islamic revolution. If anything, Khamenei’s statement could be interpreted as a warning that Iran’s nuclear weapons will not be used by the country’s military, but rather by proxy terrorist groups. Meanwhile, the international “community” finds itself incapable of taking any real action against Iran thanks to strong opposition from China and Russia, making it likely that whoever challenges Iran militarily will do so alone.

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz seems willing to take that chance. Mofaz recently announced his candidacy to succeed Ehud Olmert as Israel’s leader, and should he win, he intends to deal with Iran using whatever means necessary. “If Iran continues its nuclear weapons program, we will attack it,” Mofaz said last week. “Other options are disappearing. The sanctions are not effective. There will be no alternative but to attack Iran in order to stop the Iranian nuclear program.” Given Israel’s expertise in destroying such programs (Osirak, Iraq in 1981 and al-Kibar, Syria in 2007), Iran would do well to heed Mr. Mofaz’s warning.
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[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 08-24

From The Federalist Patriot
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U.S. Army birthday and Flag Day 2008

Saturday is the 233rd birthday of the United States Army, born of the desire to defend liberty and spread its flame. As the U.S. Army now leads the way in the Long War, let us not forget to pray for these brave Patriots standing in harm’s way and their families awaiting their safe return.

Saturday is also Flag Day. Our Flag is a beacon for liberty, a symbol of hope for all people who “hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed - that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it...”

Our flag flies over a federal government, which, at its foundation, was predicated on the premise that it be concerned with what can be done FOR its citizens, not on what can be done TO its citizens.

On this Flag Day 2008, we American Patriots display and pay homage to our National Flag.

For further information on the history of our flag, as well as proper etiquette and protocol, take advantage of The Patriot’s resources on our Historic Documents’ Flag page.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Regulatory Commissars: Gas-price blame

Finally, Republicans in the House have gone on the offensive and attempted to place blame for the skyrocketing price of gasoline where it belongs - on the misguided policies of congressional Democrats. Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner blasted what he called a “Do-Nothing Democratic Congress” and pointed out, “On their watch, gas prices have soared to new heights, and by refusing to schedule a vote on a plan to increase American-made energy to help lower gas prices, congressional Democrats are complicit in this unprecedented surge in fuel costs.”

While congressional Democrats deride the GOP proposals as a “drill and veto” energy policy, the fact is that Democrats have brought us both the mandate for ethanol that has increased food prices with little (good) impact at the pump, and the environmental policies that have placed a majority of the nation’s oil- and natural gas-producing potential out of bounds to exploration. Instead, Democrats propose measures such as a 25-percent tax on the “windfall profits” of oil companies, while repealing the current tax breaks. Fortunately, Republican senators blocked that effort this week.

In related news, Republicans will be trying to sell their newly released economic agenda. The GOP campaign strategy includes market-based energy solutions, stops the tax hike pushed by Democrats, advocates free trade with countries such as Colombia and cracks down on pork. Furthermore, the plan calls for a two-tier flat tax and the elimination of the insidious Alternative Minimum Tax. As good as all this sounds, it will be a difficult sell because even when the White House and both houses of Congress were in their control, the GOP behaved like Democrats. After that performance, especially during George W. Bush’s second term, their promises ring hollow. Still, it’s a start.
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[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 08-24

From The Federalist Patriot
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This week’s ‘Alpha Jackass’ awards

“The five largest oil companies in this country have made $600 billion in profits since George W. Bush became president. Do we need a windfall profits tax? You bet we do.”  - Sen. Bernie Sanders (S-VT)

“The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much profit they can take in this economy.”  - Sen. Dick Durbin (S-IL)

Unemployment rises, but why?

The mainstream media dusted off its copy of Casablanca this week and offered its best imitation of Claude Rains to declare, “We’re shocked - shocked! Unemployment has increased 10 percent!” Really? Well, it did increase from 5.0 percent in April to 5.5 percent in May, the month that offers scores of freshly minted high-school and college graduates seeking full-time employment. The media that pride themselves on understanding nuance are shocked that May unemployment has increased relative to April?

However, there is more to unemployment numbers than the arrival of new grads - specifically the 40-percent increase in the minimum wage - $5.15 per hour to $7.25 - that Congress passed in 2007. To minimize accountability for their actions, however, Congress delayed implementation until 2008. Businesses, being consumers of labor, responded to the increased cost just as consumers have responded to the increased price of gas - by reducing their consumption. In the case of the motorist, reduction means combining trips and shopping closer to home. For business, it is reduced payrolls and increased work loads for remaining employees.

The elasticity of demand for entry-level labor is far greater than that of gasoline, but in either model, increasing unit cost results in a decreased demand. As always, Congress further lent a helping hand this week by passing an extension of unemployment benefits for another 13 weeks.

Casinos v. racetracks

If the Illinois horse racing industry emerges from its dire financial straits, it will have the state’s casino industry to thank. Well, actually, it will have Karl Marx to thank - or, yet more precisely, Marxist socialism as implemented by the Illinois state legislature and state Supreme Court. From 1992-2005, racetrack bets dropped from $835 million per year to $482 million. In response, the legislature passed a bill in 2006 that would require the state’s four largest and most profitable riverboat-casino companies to give three percent of their earnings to the tracks - not a bet but a bailout.

Recognizing the ludicrousness of this law, the casinos took the legislature to task and the ruling to court, where a refreshingly sane judge sided with the casinos. Unfortunately, it seems the state’s legal sanity extends only so far, and when the decision was appealed, the state’s Supreme Court unanimously overturned the judge’s ruling. Now the four casinos unlucky enough to be profitable will have to cede $79 million, 40 percent of which will go to Illinois’ five horse-racing tracks and the remaining 60 percent of which will be divvied up among the winning horses to “subsidize horse-breeding and training.” We hope the racing industry doesn’t look this gift horse in the mouth.

CULTURE
From the court jesters: Judge’s Web site

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles is currently hearing a case against a peddler of particularly obscene material such as bestiality. The question at hand is just what, exactly, does “obscene” mean? In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a work is not legally obscene if it has “literary, artistic, political or scientific value.” That seems to rule out pornography in general, but some still think it is constitutionally protected free speech. Oddly enough, the trial was suspended this week after prosecutors requested time to investigate “a potential conflict of interest concerning the court having a... sexually explicit website with similar material to what is on trial here.” The site in question is that of Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the Ninth Circuit, who was presiding over the trial. We’ll spare readers the details of the smut Kozinski posted on the site, but he defends himself by saying that he thought the site was for private storage and would not be seen by the public (it was), that he did not use court computers to maintain the site, and that he didn’t think any of the material would qualify as obscene anyway. He also blames his adult son for posting some content. Nothing like personal responsibility.
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[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 08-24

From The Federalist Patriot
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The real story about AIDS

In what should have been a groundbreaking news story, a lead researcher with the World Health Organization (WHO) reports what everyone else already knew: The AIDS virus is not a pandemic threat among heterosexuals outside of Africa, and the global alarmism about heterosexual spread of the virus was perhaps “misguided.” Worldwide high-risk groups still include homosexual males, sex workers and drug addicts who use needles. “It is astonishing how badly we have done with men who have sex with men. It is something that is going to have to be discussed much more rigorously,” said Dr. Kevin de Cock, head of WHO’s Aid’s department. “It is very unlikely there will be a heterosexual epidemic in other countries. Ten years ago a lot of people were saying there would be a generalized epidemic in Asia - China was the big worry with its huge population. That doesn’t look likely,” de Cock said. While we don’t recommend that readers Google the doctor’s name to look for his research, we would point out that this is another politically incorrect problem for the gender-disorientation movement - hence the lack of media coverage.

Frontiers of Science: Amazing surgery

Fifteen-week-old Macie McCartney is far too young to know her doctors’ names, but the medical community certainly knows her. Four months into mother Keri’s pregnancy, doctors identified a rare tumor growing on Macie’s tailbone, and as it was siphoning blood from her and weakening her heart, it threatened to be fatal.

In a delicate prenatal operation performed at just 25 weeks, surgeons at the Texas Children’s Fetal Center incised Keri’s abdomen, took out her entire uterus, cut into it, removed Macie halfway, and then expertly removed the non-cancerous tumor, which was the size of a grapefruit. Surgeons then tucked little Macie back inside the safe haven of her mother’s womb, where, with no further complications, she grew for another 10 weeks before entering the world... a second time.

The condition Macie survived affects one in 35,000 babies, but the type of surgery preformed on Macie has been successfully completed fewer than 20 times. Yet, while some would have used this apparent death sentence to justify a different - and horrific - procedure, Chad and Keri McCartney refused to give up. And today, they are blessed with a healthy new daughter, Macie Hope McCartney.

And last...

According to The Wall Street Journal’s John Fund, Democrats have promised to go militantly green for their August convention in Denver. Individual plastic liquid containers will be banned at all 22 convention-hosted events, all plates must be reusable or compostable, much of the food is to be locally or organically grown and nothing can be fried. It sounds more like an Earth Day gala than a convention to nominate the next president of the United States. We don’t know just how much money will be wasted meeting these ridiculous demands, and we can only imagine what the Democrats have in store for the country should they triumph in November.

With that in mind, there is a rumor afloat among protestors planning to disrupt the Democrat Convention that a dangerous new crowd-control weapon may be employed against them. Known as “Brown Note,” the device, according to Fox News, “is believed to be an infrasound frequency that debilitates individuals by making them defecate involuntarily.” That’s why it’s also known as the “crap cannon,” although the device’s effects apparently are largely myth. In fact, it may merely cause nausea and disorientation, which, come to think of it, would render this weapon indistinguishable from Democrat policies in general.

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.)