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The Patriot Post Brief 9-29
From The Federalist Patriot
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____________________________ THE FOUNDATION"The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained." --George Washington
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
CULTURE"Here's what Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in [last] Sunday's New York Times Magazine: 'Frankly I had thought that at the time (Roe v. Wade) was decided,' Ginsburg told her interviewer, Emily Bazelon, 'there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of.' The comment, which bizarrely elicited no follow-up from Bazelon or any further coverage from the New York Times -- or any other major news outlet -- was in the context of Medicaid funding for abortion. Ginsburg was surprised when the Supreme Court in 1980 barred taxpayer support for abortions for poor women. After all, if poverty partly described the population you had 'too many of,' you would want to subsidize it in order to expedite the reduction of unwanted populations. Left unclear is whether Ginsburg endorses the eugenic motivation she ascribed to the passage of Roe v. Wade or whether she was merely objectively describing it. ... In 1992, Ron Weddington, co-counsel in the Roe v. Wade case, wrote a letter to President-elect Clinton, imploring him to rush RU-486 -- a.k.a. 'the abortion pill' -- to market as quickly as possible. 'You can start immediately to eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country,' Weddington insisted. All the president had to do was make abortion cheap and easy for the populations we don't want. 'It's what we all know is true, but we only whisper it. ... Think of all the poverty, crime and misery ... and then add 30 million unwanted babies to the scenario. We lost a lot of ground during the Reagan-Bush religious orgy. We don't have a lot of time left.' Weddington offered a clue about who, in particular, he had in mind: 'For every Jesse Jackson who has fought his way out of the poverty of a large family, there are millions mired in poverty, drugs and crime.' Ah, right. Jesse Jackson. Got it. Unlike Bazelon, I for one would like to know whether Ginsburg believes there were -- or are -- some populations in need of shrinking through abortion and whether she thinks such considerations have any place at the Supreme Court. And while we're at it, it would be interesting to know what Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor thinks about such things." --National Review editor Jonah Goldberg
FAITH AND FAMILY"The New York Times recently warned its readers about a wacky scientist in the Obama administration. But the fish wrap of record let the real nut job off the hook. Reporting last week on the president's choice to head the National Institutes of Health, Times writer Gardiner Harris noted that praise for Dr. Francis S. Collins 'was not universal or entirely enthusiastic.' The geneticist is causing 'unease,' according to the Times, because of 'his very public embrace of religion.' Stomachs are apparently churning over a book Collins wrote describing his conversion to Christianity. It's called -- gasp! -- 'The Language of G0d.' Harris intoned: 'Religion and genetic research have long had a fraught relationship, and some in the field complain about what they see as Dr. Collins' evangelism.' And ... that's it. Yes, the mere profession of Collins' faith is enough to warrant red flags and ominous declamations. A quarter of all Americans identify themselves as evangelical Christians and 'publicly embrace their religion.' But to the Times, Collins' open affiliation with 60 million American believers in Christ is headline news." --columnist Michelle Malkin
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR(To submit reader comments visit our Letters to the Editor page.)
"Thank you so much for Mark Alexander's essay detailing the 'culture of death.' It is one of the finest pieces I've ever read on the topic. You and your staff continue to provide the very best information available on virtually every topic affecting average Americans. I, for one, appreciate your work and I'll be increasing my donation to the Patriot Fund this year. Please keep up the excellent work!" --Acworth, Georgia
"Demagogues are quick to push for terminating the life of the totally innocent unborn; quick to push for the termination of the life of the very elderly, especially if ill or infirm, given any 'acceptable' reason. Yet, when it comes to the vile and despicable elements of our society who murder, molest and torture the weak, demagogues are always at the forefront to demand that the death penalty be removed as a choice of punishment. These creatures must be permitted to live, and if possible, to procreate. What a sick mind must reside in the bodies of such demagogues." --Clinton, North Carolina
"Thank you very much for Thursday's essay. I will forward to my friends. I am a Black woman and it makes my flesh crawl every time I hear a Black person or liberal praise Margaret Sanger. It's kind of like an episode from the 'Twilight Zone' -- the deadliest person to Blacks will be the first Black president, not some Klan or Neo-Nazi group." --San Francisco, California
"I wonder what H.G. Wells' heroine, Margaret Sanger, would have thought about the pregnancy of Obama's mother? A white woman pregnant by a black man from Africa? Obama would have been an undesirable not deserving of birth and entry into society. These liberals are incapable of rational thought." --League City, Texas
"The Socialists, led by Obama, are taking giant steps toward complete government control of medical care. Obama wants to take away our freedom to decide about insurance, doctors, hospitals and treatment. If the government gains control over our own bodies, our rights enumerated in the Constitution will be academic. If the government can forbid me to obtain medical care of my own choosing, then I no longer have the right to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' What we need is less government involvement in medical care, not more. Government is the problem, not the solution. Medicare and Medicaid, along with the heavy hand of federal regulations, have driven up the cost of medical insurance and treatment for most of us. If free enterprise had been allowed to work, we would have higher quality, better access, lower prices, and more insurance and treatment choices." --Maitland, Florida
OPINION IN BRIEF"Every time a Democrat senator has talked during the Senate hearings on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor ... I felt lousy about my country. Not for the usual reasons when a Democrat talks, but because Democrats revel in telling us what a racist country this is. Interestingly, the Democrats' examples of ethnic prejudice did not include Clarence Thomas, whose nomination hearings began with the Democrats saying, 'You may now uncuff the defendant.' Their examples did not include Miguel Estrada, the brilliant Harvard-educated lawyer who was blocked from an appellate court judgeship by Senate Democrats expressly on the grounds that he is a Hispanic -- as stated in Democratic staff memos that became public. No, they had to go back to Roger Taney -- confirmed in 1836 -- who was allegedly attacked for being a Catholic (and who authored the Dred Scott decision), and Louis Brandeis -- confirmed in 1916 -- allegedly a victim of anti-Semitism. ... Alas, today Democrats can't really place Estrada -- James Carville confuses him with that other Hispanic, Alberto Gonzales. On MSNBC they laugh about his obscurity, asking if he was the cop on 'CHiPs.' They also can't recall the name 'Anita Hill.' Nor can anyone remember African-American Janice Rogers Brown or what the Democrats did to her. Only the indignities suffered by Justices Taney and Brandeis still burn in liberal hearts!" --columnist Ann Coulter
