____________________________
The Patriot Post Chronicle 9-29
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
____________________________ THE FOUNDATION"How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments of every hostile nation?" --James Madison
EDITORIAL EXEGESIS"President Obama claimed a triumph for spending rectitude [Tuesday] after the Senate stripped out funding for the Air Force's F-22 Raptor fighter. Credit $1.75 billion in savings, or a third of a percentage point of the overall 2010 defense request. Only a couple of trillion more, and Mr. Obama will have a balanced budget. The Senate vote defers to an Administration's assessment of defense priorities. In the budget sent up to the Hill in April, Defense Secretary Robert Gates made hard choices. Among them was his decision to kill the stealthy F-22, bar none the best fighter jet in the skies, and instead to focus resources on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We happen to think the U.S. needs this program to keep its superiority in the air for the next three or so decades. Designed for air-to-air combat and to fly at supersonic speeds without being detected by radar, the F-22 gets dismissed as a 'relic' of the Cold War. But not all conflicts are likely to be against inferior, unconventional enemies. China and Russia are building up their conventional forces, for example. Congress might have challenged Mr. Obama's choices on such strategic grounds. Aside from the F-22, the Administration wants to cut missile defenses, shrink the Navy and over the long-run reduce spending on defense, when the demands on American forces are greater than ever. ... One thing for sure is that the F-22 vote isn't a sign of new fiscal discipline. Congress continues to bust the budget on everything except defense, most especially with its push for government health care for all. Meanwhile, the Air Force will have to live with 187 F-22s when the next adversary arrives." --The Wall Street Journal
INSIGHT"Be extremely subtle, to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate." --Sun-Tzu (c. 544-496 BC)
"The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals, would not only load himself with a most necessary attention, but assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it." --economist Adam Smith (1723-1790)
UPRIGHT"Halfway into 2009, Americans have turned more control of their lives over to government and politicians than ever before in history. This proposed health care reform, through subsidies and expansion of Medicaid, would put tens of millions of new Americans on welfare. The result is predictable. Many more citizens with incentives to stay poor and dependent. The rest of us will transfer a major part of our freedom to manage our own private lives over to bureaucrats." --columnist Star Parker
"The most important thing to understand about the Democrats' domestic agenda is that they care more about establishing government control over our lives than they do about the stated policy goals of their proposals. It's true of their fraudulently named stimulus packages, their cap-and-tax scheme and especially their universal health care plans. With all of these programs and more, their driving aim is not only to acquire power for the sake of acquiring it but also to use government to impose their values on us and, effectively, destroy our personal liberties. The subject of liberty -- the very impetus for the founding of this nation -- is rarely mentioned in the public debate." --columnist David Limbaugh
"Some members of Congress ... intend, as the New York Times puts it, 'to reinvent the nation's health care system.' Let that sink in. A handful of people who probably never even ran a small business actually think they can reinvent the health care system." --columnist John Stossel
"Because 32 'czars' isn't enough, the Democratic plan would add another overlord to the Obama administration. The new 'Health Choices Commissioner' would helm the new 'Health Choices Administration' (section 141 of the bill) -- separate from the already existing Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (formerly the Health Care Financing Administration), the Veterans Health Administration and the Indian Health Service." --columnist Michelle Malkin
"Both Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Ronald W. Reagan implemented the same solution to the recessions they faced. Note that both the Democrat and Republican chose exactly the opposite action that the current administration seems determined to fulfill. Kennedy and Reagan lowered the top marginal tax rates. When they did, small businesses hired more people, expanded the middle class, and brought the U.S. Treasury record revenues the years following the implementation. If President Obama wishes to genuinely solve the joblessness problem, all he has to do is embrace the historically proven solution." --columnist Kevin McCullough
THE DEMO-GOGUESThe BIG Lie: "The [health care] reforms we make will help bring our deficits under control in the long term. Those who oppose reform will also tell you that under our plan you won't get to choose your doctor, that some bureaucrat will choose for you. That's also not true. Michelle and I don't want anyone telling us who our family doctor should be, and no one should decide that for you, either. Under our proposal if you like your doctor, you keep your doctor. If you like your current insurance, you keep that insurance. Period. End of story." --President Barack Obama
The LIE gets BIGGER: "Opponents of health reform warn that this is all some big plot for socialized medicine or government-run health care with long lines and rationed care. That's not true, either. I don't believe that government can or should run health care, but I also don't think insurance companies should have free rein to do as they please." --Barack Marx Obama
If only he really meant it: "Health insurance reform cannot add to our deficit over the next decade and I mean it." --Barack Obama
Deficit disorder: "This is legislation that will not increase the deficit. Half of the funds for the bill will come from savings, others from the revenue stream. I hope that we can change that percentage, that we have much more coming from savings. That I believe that all the costs of the health care reform bill can come from squeezing more savings out of the system." --House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on health care
Paying for "choice": "I think we handled the issue well. We like the idea that people have choices and, indeed, the law of the land permits people to make those choices, and we respect that, and we are going to pursue that. Again, we do not want to discriminate when people have -- they have convictions, moral convictions and religious convictions." --Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) on requiring abortion services to be part of health insurance
Author