____________________________
The Patriot Post Brief 9-32
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
____________________________ INSIGHT"The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy." --economist Milton Friedman (1912-2006)
OPINION IN BRIEF"The New York Times had an amazing front page story [Thursday] which I would have thought would have jumped to the top of every cable news cycle except for the Senate's confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The headline of the story was: 'White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost' by David Kirkpatrick. I want you to read the lead paragraph very slowly: 'Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion.' Whoa! Check Please! How can the words 'industry lobbyists' and 'White House' be in the same sentence? We have been told -- to the point of needing Compazine (an anti-nausea drug) -- that this administration was, is, and will always be a lobbyist-free zone. Yet, here it is; in the newspaper of record. The White House had reached a secret deal with the pharmaceutical industry to put a ceiling on the amount of money the government could save by negotiating for lower drug prices. In the words of the NY Times, the White House 'had committed to protect drug makers from bearing further costs in the [health care] overhaul' but 'had never spelled out the details of the agreement.' Oh, here we are in graf seven: 'The new attention to the agreement could prove embarrassing to the White House, which has sought to keep lobbyists at a distance, including by refusing to hire them to work in the administration.' Embarrassing? Ya think...? It turns out that there is a quid pro quo for keeping the drug companies out of the rough and tumble world of free markets. Again, from Mr. Kirkpatrick's piece: 'Failing to publicly confirm [the drug lobby's] descriptions of the deal risked alienating a powerful industry ally currently helping to bankroll millions in television commercials in favor of Mr. Obama's reforms. [emphasis mine] So... let me walk through this. In strange world in which Obamaville is located, lobbyists are bad only if and until the White House needs them to do things like run ads in favor of nationalized health care and then lobbyists are good. So, what if the previously dreadful, greedy, self-serving oil companies sent their lobbyists in to cut a deal with Obama to support a cap-and-trade bill though heavy advertising? Might they trade for removing any caps on their profits? I think I'm beginning to get how this works. It works like ... Chicago!" --political analyst Rich Galen
FAITH AND FAMILY"Our teenagers are more sexually active than any generation of youth before them. They also are consuming more pornography and compromising basic moral standards more often. It seems that many of them have lost not only their innocence, but their conscience, too. The plethora of negative and immoral behaviors glorified by a media world that's gone stark raving mad -- combined with graphic, non-judgmental sex education and a highly sexualized culture in general -- causes many of them to lose understanding of what is wrong and what is right. When a young child's sensibilities are constantly violated, and he begins to ignore the natural pangs of guilt after yielding to cultural pressures, he can end up being miserable, and begins to develop a hard heart and weak spirit. If we as parents blindly turn our own hearts away from them because we're scared of confrontation, or because we're too lazy to do 'the hard stuff' like fight for their integrity, we have a hand in dooming their young spirits to inner torment. And, ultimately, if the pattern continues, to the loss of basic decency and sensitivity to evil. ... It's critical as a parent to take control and do everything in your power to make certain that the culture does not molest your child's young mind. Setting standards for media consumption can help avoid a lot of regrets, especially when it comes to the evil of pornography. But since we are all sinners, we also need to learn to recognize when our children might be feeling uncomfortable and guilty -- and offer them hope and a way out of their despair." --columnist Rebecca Hagelin
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR(To submit reader comments visit our Letters to the Editor page.)
"I am frustrated by the fact that the media have not been asking why our elected officials are once again pushing government controlled health care for our country and they themselves are being exempted from the program. I think the question that should be posed to all of our government employees and elected officials is 'If the proposed government takeover of health care is such a good idea, why are you exempting yourself from the program?' If this question was asked by the media repeatedly, I'm certain that the reform of our medical coverage as proposed by the administration would die a quick death." --Frankfort, Illinois
"In Friday's Digest, The Patriot quoted the White House Web site: 'These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House, we're asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.' Well, there seems to me to be a pretty simple solution to this proposal: Send every single thing you hear Obama or the House Democrats say to the site to flag as 'seem[ing] fishy.' If they don't get the point, at least its likely to flood and crash that server!" --Lexington, Kentucky
THE LAST WORD"'The right-wing extremist Republican base is back!' warns the Democratic National Committee. These right-wing extremists have been given their marching orders by their masters: They've been directed to show up at 'thousands of events,' told to 'organize,' 'knock on doors' ... No, wait. My mistake. That's the e-mail I got from Mitch Stewart, Director of 'Organizing for America' at BarackObama.com. But that's the good kind of 'organizing.' Obama's a community organizer. We're the community. He organizes us. What part of that don't you get? When the community starts organizing against the organizer, the whole rigmarole goes to hell. ... Decrying the snarling, angry protesters, liberal talk-show host Bill Press ... says that 'Americans want serious discussion' on health care. If only we'd stuck to the President's August timetable and passed a gazillion-page health care reform entirely unread by the House of Representatives or the Senate (the world's greatest deliberative body) in nothing flat, we'd now have all the time in the world to sit around having a 'serious discussion' and 'real debate' on whatever it was we just did to one-sixth of the economy. But a sick, deranged, un-American mob has put an end to all that moderate and reasonable steamrollering by showing up and yelling insane, out-of-control questions like, 'Awfully sorry to bother you, your Most Excellent Senatorial Eminence, but I was wondering if you could tell me why you don't read any of the laws you make before you make them into law?' The community is restless. The firm hand of greater organization is needed." --columnist Mark Steyn
*****
Veritas vos Liberabit -- Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot's editors and staff.
(Please pray for our 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.)
