The Patriot Post Brief 9-16 !

[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Brief 9-16
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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THE FOUNDATION

"Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness." --Samuel Adams

Who's declining?

CULTURE

"Newsweek greeted the coming of Easter with a black cover, and the headline 'The Decline and Fall of Christian America,' spelled out in red in the shape of a cross. Inside, it was more declarative: 'The End of Christian America.' Why? Because they found that the percentage of self-identified Christians had fallen 10 points since 1990. Okay, then let's compare. How much has Newsweek's circulation fallen since 1990? Just since 2007, their announced circulation has dropped by 52 percent. It would be more plausible to state 'The End of Newsweek.' At the end of 2007, Newsweek reduced its 'base rate' (or circulation guaranteed to advertisers) from 3.1 million to 2.6 million, a 16 percent drop. ... Newsweek's strategy in the midst of all its financial decline is to double and triple the amount of editorializing, cast aside all semblance of 'news' in favor of long, liberal essays by self-impressed Newsweek editor Jon Meacham and his international editor Fareed Zakaria. Is that really a business solution, or is it the captains performing violin solos on the deck of the Titanic? Christianity, in contrast to Newsweek, is in decent demographic shape. The American Religious Identification Survey that Newsweek touted -- from Trinity College in Connecticut -- estimated there are now 173.4 million self-identified Christians in America, up from 151.2 million in 1990. The percentage declined, but the actual number increased. ...The top minds at Newsweek think they are the wisest of men, the definers of trends and the shepherds of public opinion. So why is everyone abandoning their advice? Why are the captains of a magazine that's lost half its circulation telling the rest of us where the mainstream lies?" --Media Research Center president L. Brent Bozell

FAITH AND FAMILY

"How many in-your-face radical leftist appointments must Obama make before some realize this apparently conciliatory man is indeed a polarizing radical? Let's just look at the [Harry] Knox appointment [to his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships]. ... Knox is the militant homosexual activist who, just last month, called Pope Benedict XVI and certain Catholic bishops 'discredited leaders' for opposing same-sex marriage. He said the Knights of Columbus are 'foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression' because they supported California's Proposition 8 ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. ... Knox also denounced the teachings of the apostle Paul as 'not true.' 'Paul,' said Knox, 'did not have any idea of the kind of love that I feel for a partner when I am partnered. ... The straight man, the heterosexual man who got the privilege of writing the book, the educated, rich heterosexual man, Paul ... didn't think it was natural because for him it must not have been.' When appointed, Knox said the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community 'will support the president in living up to his promise that government has no place in funding bigotry against any group of people.' Sounds harmless enough on its face until you understand that Knox and the LGBT community consider the failure to support the judiciary's thwarting of the people's democratic will to define marriage as heterosexual in character to be bigotry." --columnist David Limbaugh

INSIGHT

"So low and hopeless are the finances of the United States, that, the year before last Congress was obliged to borrow money even, to pay the interest of the principal which we had borrowed before. This wretched resource of turning interest into principal, is the most humiliating and disgraceful measure that a nation could take, and approximates with rapidity to absolute ruin: Yet it is the inevitable and certain consequence of such a system as the existing Confederation." --North Carolina delegate to the Constitutional Convention William Richardson Davie (1756-1820)

THE GIPPER

"The choice before us is clear. I strongly feel that the great majority of Americans believe that nothing would better encourage economic growth than leaving more money in the hands of the people who earn it. It's time to stop stripping bare the productive citizens of America and funneling their hard-earned income into the Federal bureaucracy. ... Americans have always been prepared to pay their fair share, but today they should make it clear to all elected officials that government has gone beyond its bounds and that the people will not tolerate [an] ever-increasing tax burden." --Ronald Reagan

LIBERTY

"In addition to an abhorrence of democracy, and the recognition that government posed the gravest threat to liberty, our founders harbored a deep distrust and suspicion of Congress. This suspicion and distrust is exemplified by the phraseology used throughout the Constitution, particularly our Bill of Rights, containing phrases such as Congress shall not: abridge, infringe, deny, disparage or violate. Today's Americans think Congress has the constitutional authority to do anything upon which they can get a majority vote. We think whether a particular measure is a good idea or bad idea should determine passage as opposed to whether that measure lies within the enumerated powers granted Congress by the Constitution. Unfortunately, for the future of our nation, Congress has successfully exploited American constitutional ignorance or contempt." --George Mason University economics professor Walter E. Williams

OPINION IN BRIEF

"President Obama proclaims no more of George W. Bush's 'War on Terror,' even as he silently keeps most of it in place. The result is as confusing as it soon will be dangerous. In these first 100 days of his presidency, Barack Obama has promised that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility will be closed within a year. He has assured us wiretapping and overseas rendition are under re-examination. The Obama administration has also been busy tweaking terminology in an effort to put a kinder, gentler face to the war. There is no longer a 'Global War on Terror': It has been replaced by 'overseas contingency operations.' ... According to Janet Napolitano, the new secretary of Homeland Security, there is not even 'terrorism' but 'man-caused disasters.' ... Despite American apologies and softer language, radical Islamists still think we are at war -- and that they can defeat us. In short, we are in a new, surreal, and dangerous phase of the old war, doing enough killing to enrage our enemies even as we act sometimes as if we are not. ... Fighting a clear war against enemies is dangerous. Clearly not fighting a war against enemies may be more dangerous. But sort of fighting a war, while acting as if we are sort of not, may be the most dangerous thing of all." --Hoover Institution historian Victor Davis Hanson

RE: THE LEFT

"Actions do deter; words are much less effective. Regimes like those in North Korea and Iran are not likely to be deterred from becoming nuclear powers -- aggressive nuclear powers -- by just words, however smooth this president's. John Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations and current prophet without honor in his own country, noted that President Obama had said North Korea's firing its (misguided) missile would be a 'provocative' act. Yet when it did, that regime suffered no repercussions except more empty words of censure. Just a few days before the missile launch, this country's special envoy for North Korea, one Stephen Bosworth, announced that he was ready to reward Pyongyang with a visit -- and resumption of six-power talks once the 'dust from the missile settles.' To quote a stunned John Bolton, 'It is no wonder the North Koreans fired away.' Iran's mullahs doubtless were watching the American cave-in carefully, and drawing the correct conclusions: With this president in the White House, they face no serious obstacle to the development of their own nuclear-tipped missiles, at least not from this country. The Israelis, as always, may be another matter. If and when they do act, what then? The world may find that it has drifted into catastrophe. And once again it will have been demonstrated that not taking action has consequences, too." --Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editor Paul Greenberg

[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Brief 9-16
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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FOR THE RECORD

"Some of our biggest political fallacies come from accepting words as evidence of realities. ...[For example,] 'gun control' laws do not control guns. The District of Columbia's very strong laws against gun ownership have done nothing to stop the high murder rate in Washington. New York had very strong gun control laws decades before London did. But the murder rate in New York has been some multiple of that in London for more than two centuries, regardless of which city had the stronger gun control laws at a given time. Back in 1954, when there were no restrictions on owning shotguns in England and there were far more owners of pistols then than there were decades later, there were only 12 cases of armed robbery in London. By the 1990s, after stringent gun controls laws were imposed, there were well over a thousand armed robberies a year in London. In the late 1990s, after an almost total ban on handguns in England, gun crimes went up another ten percent. The reason -- too obvious to be accepted by the intelligentsia -- is that law-abiding people became more defenseless against criminals who ignored the law and kept their guns." --Hoover Institution economist Thomas Sowell

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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

"CNN reporter Susan Roesgen interviewed tea-party protesters and then called their activities 'anti-government.' We all know Obama has the majority of the national news organizations in his pocket, he controls large national banks, he and his minions run many of our country's large organizations, and he is stealing and reallocating our monies at lightning speed. Now 'motherland' security's calculated rhetoric about right-wing extremist's tea-party members puts many on notice? Sound anything like Germany a half century or so ago?" --Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania

"The Boston Tea Party occurred 16 months before the start of the American Revolution. Communications at the time were by horseback and sailing ship; that's why it took so long between the two events. In our modern era of communications, those in Congress better start reading their history books and making appropriate adjustments." --Rushford, New York

"I'm always thankful for your service which is appreciated around the globe (I am a testimony to that!). I'm honored to contribute to your worthy cause." --Sydney, Australia

Correction: In the 17 April Digest, we incorrectly identified Sen. Mike Enzi as being from Wisconsin; he is from Wyoming. We apologize to the residents of Wisconsin for the typo.

POLITICAL FUTURES

"The point of the tea parties is to note the fact that the Democrats' modus operandi is to lead voters to believe they are no more likely to raise taxes than Republicans, get elected and immediately raise taxes. Apparently, the people who actually pay taxes consider this a bad idea. Obama's biggest shortcoming is that he believes the things believed by all Democrats, which have had devastating consequences every time they are put into effect. Among these is the Democrats' admiration for raising taxes on the productive. All Democrats for the last 30 years have tried to stimulate the economy by giving 'tax cuts' to people who don't pay taxes. Evidently, offering to expand welfare payments isn't a big vote-getter. Even Bush had a 'stimulus' bill that sent government checks to lots of people last year. Guess what happened? It didn't stimulate the economy. Obama's stimulus bill is the mother of all pork bills for friends of O and of Congressional Democrats. ... And all that government spending on the Democrats' constituents will be paid for by raising taxes on the productive. Raise taxes and the productive will work less, adopt tax shelters, barter instead of sell, turn to an underground economy -- and the government will get less money. ... The lie at the heart of liberals' mantra on taxes -- 'tax increases only for the rich' -- is the ineluctable fact that unless taxes are raised across the board, the government won't get its money to fund layers and layers of useless government bureaucrats, none of whom can possibly be laid off." --columnist Ann Coulter

THE LAST WORD

"The idea that American 'hate groups' are right-wing and bristling with vets got new life with JFK's assassination at the hands of a disgruntled vet named Lee Harvey Oswald. Everybody knew right away that Oswald was an agent of 'hate' -- and hate was code for right-wing and racist. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren summed up the instantaneous conventional wisdom when he blamed the 'climate of hatred' for Kennedy's death. Everybody knew that the right was involved. There was just one inconvenient truth: Oswald was a communist who, according to the Warren report, had 'an extreme dislike of the rightwing' and had actually tried to murder a right-wing former Army general. When Hollywood filmed the Tom Clancy novel 'The Sum of All Fears,' it changed the real villains from Jihadi terrorists to a bunch of European CEOs who were secret Nazis. Because 'everybody knows' that's where the real threat lies. Sen. John Kerry belonged to an organization of vets that considered assassinating American politicians. (Kerry denied participating in those meetings.) Barack Obama was friends with, and a colleague of, a domestic terrorist whose organization plotted to murder soldiers and their wives at a social at Fort Dix. A young Hillary Clinton sympathized with the Black Panthers, a paramilitary gang of racist murders and cop killers. Bring that up and you're a paranoid nutcase out of 'Dr. Strangelove.' But if you're terrified of a bunch of citizens who throw tea in the water and demand lower taxes and less government spending, well, that's just a sign of political seriousness. Because everyone knows who the real threat to the country is." --National Review editor Jonah Goldberg

*****

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.)