The Patriot Post Chronicle 5-5-2010

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The Patriot Post Chronicle 5-5-2010
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Foundation

"Perfection falls not to the share of mortals." --George Washington

Editorial Exegesis
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig before the explosion

"The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico threatens to do as much damage to U.S. energy policy as it has to the environment. Obama's weeks-old executive order allowing for limited coastal exploration -- which we never considered a sure thing -- has been stayed and will probably be rescinded. ... Oil remains the most cost-effective source of transportation fuel we have; as long as our economy is thriving, we will need to produce or import a lot of it. Global-warming alarmists and zealous proponents of alternative energy have already made the BP spill the new Exhibit A in their case against fossil fuels. In evaluating their claims, we should be mindful of the economic and environmental costs of the spill relative to those associated with their preferred alternatives. Consider the cost of cap-and-trade legislation, for instance. It's hard to know what the economic damages of this spill will be, but even if they exceed the estimated $7 billion that it cost to clean up the Exxon Valdez spill, that would still be a far cry from the estimated $161 billion annual hit to GDP that would result from enactment of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill. ... As for the administration's now-it's-lifted, now-it's-not drilling ban, most of the exploration and drilling that would take place if Obama actually followed through would be located in shallower coastal waters. The safety record of shallow-water drilling remains very impressive, and this deep-water calamity neither tarnishes that record nor indicates that it couldn't be duplicated if Obama opened more of the coastline to exploration. In any case, the president's moratorium on new drilling is a self-defeating proposition: New rigs will take years to construct and to begin production; their safeguards will incorporate whatever lessons we learn from the investigation of this catastrophe. ... 'Drill, baby, drill,' has lost whatever usefulness it may have had as a slogan, but offshore drilling remains a crucial source of energy -- and clearing obstacles to future exploration is still part of the right policy mix." --National Review

National Day of Prayer, May 6, 2010

On May 6, 1982, Ronald Reagan offered these words: "Today, prayer is still a powerful force in America, and our faith in God is a mighty source of strength. Our Pledge of Allegiance states that we are 'one nation under God,' and our currency bears the motto, 'In God We Trust.' The morality and values such faith implies are deeply embedded in our national character. Our country embraces those principles by design, and we abandon them at our peril. Yet in recent years, well-meaning Americans in the name of freedom have taken freedom away. For the sake of religious tolerance, they've forbidden religious practice in the classrooms. The law of this land has effectively removed prayer from our classrooms. How can we hope to retain our freedom through the generations if we fail to teach our young that our liberty springs from an abiding faith in our Creator?"

History of the National Day of Prayer

1775 The First Continental Congress called for a National Day of Prayer.
1863 Abraham Lincoln called for such a day.
1952 Congress established NDP as an annual event by a joint resolution, signed into law by President Truman.
1988 The law was amended and signed by President Reagan, to be the first Thursday in May.
2010 U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb ruled that the National Day of Prayer is "unconstitutional."

Despite that recent court ruling, The Patriot Post's National Advisory Board and staff invite you to join us, and millions of Americans in prayer for our nation this Thursday at 12:00 p.m. local time. Visit the National Day of Prayer Web site for more information.

Upright

"Very few Americans ... are inherently opposed to immigration. For the most part, the controversy we face isn't about immigration at all. It's about the systematic failure of federal government to enforce the law or offer rational policy. There's a difference." --columnist Daniel Harsanyi

"Imagine you are tasked with finding the perpetrator [in the Times Square bombing attempt]. Where do you start your investigation? Do you start with: (A) a right-winger opposed to the health bill; (B) a Swedish grandmother upset at losing the ticket lottery for 'Next to Normal'; or (C) a radical Muslim trying to kill Americans?" --columnist Ben Shapiro

"We have a commander-in-chief who presumes to know when you have earned 'enough,' who believes that only those who provide what he deems 'good' products and services should 'keep on making it,' and who has determined that the role of American entrepreneurs is not to pursue their own self-interest, but to fulfill their 'core' responsibility as dutiful growers of the collective economy. That famous mock-up poster of Obama as the creepy socialist Joker never seemed more apt." --columnist Michelle Malkin

"The Dodd bill -- and the Democrats' narrative -- completely omits the role of government in the financial debacle. Neither Fannie Mae nor Freddie Mac is mentioned in the legislation. But the incentives created by government, specifically the sustained push through law and regulation to provide mortgages to more and more uncreditworthy borrowers, created the conditions for the housing bubble and for its eventual crash. The wizards of Wall Street may have concocted exotic ways to make money by betting on the fortunes of the real estate market, but it was the politicians who first destabilized that market." --columnist Mona Charen

"The recently purchased Gore second mansion at Montecito, in Oprah country, is of some national interest. Why would Gore purchase a second energy-guzzling estate, replete with several fireplaces, fountains and bathrooms, when he was stung so badly about his hypocritically profligate energy use in his Tennessee compound, his houseboat, and his private-jet junketeering? Does he understand that his newest mansion is a sort of volcanic ash-cloud that has now overwhelmed Earth in the Balance, Inc? ... We can call this malady Gorism -- living not merely at odds with your zealotry, but living entirely against your zealotry." --historian Victor Davis Hanson

Dezinformatsia

World's Smallest Violin: "Hundreds of thousands of [illegal immigrants] now live in Arizona but ... many no longer feel welcome." --CBS anchor Katie Couric

Some Leftmedia reporters, you mean: "Some people would contend that this law in Arizona is racist in nature. Some have equated it even with Jews having to carry identification during Nazi Germany." --CBS "Early Show" co-host Harry Smith

Pointing fingers: "What I think is really important to notice here is the hypocrisy, the intellectual hypocrisy because we have ... a lot of the same people who are very exercised right now ... about big government and pointing out the American tradition of liberty, of individual rights, are also the people who are on the side of allowing the government to intrude much more into individuals' lives on immigration." --Reuters' Chrystia Freeland

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The Patriot Post Chronicle 5-5-2010
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Bummer, man: "I get frustrated and there was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country" --MSNBC host Contessa Brewer on the Times Square attempted bomber

Don't wanna help: "What is our appetite as Americans to want to help out Louisiana again? What's our appetite for all of those Southern states that are Republican? Yeah, those are all drill baby drill representatives. Those are all drill baby drill senators." --MSNBC's Ed Schultz

Newspulper Headlines:

We Blame Global Warming: "Golf Weather: OK ... Probably" --Charlotte Observer

Questions Nobody Is Asking: "Has Al Gore Given Up on Global Warming?" --PajamasMedia.com

When Will They Do Something for Children in Our 40s?: "Obama Administration Issues IRS Ruling to Speed Up Coverage for Children in Their 20s" --Associated Press

News You Can Use: "First Lady: Math, Science Important to Nation" --Associated Press

Bottom Stories of the Day: "Obama Uses Teleprompters at Commencement Address" --RealClearPolitics.com

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto)

The Demo-gogues

Excerpts from Obama's University of Michigan commencement address: "What troubles me is when I hear people say that all of government is inherently bad. ... We have held fast to the belief that government doesn't have all the answers, and we have cherished and fiercely defended our individual freedom. ... We know that too much government can stifle competition, deprive us of choice, and burden us with debt. But we've also clearly seen the dangers of too little government -- like when a lack of accountability on Wall Street nearly leads to the collapse of our entire economy." --Barack Obama, who believes government is inherently good and the answer to all our problems, who is the opponent of individual liberty and the creator of deficits beyond our worst nightmares, and who ignores that government is largely to blame for the economic collapse

Panacea: "Government can build the infrastructure that allows products and services to reach customers. Government can create incentives and clean energy, for example, that promote innovation and exports. These things are public goods that no business, no individual, is gonna provide on their own. But they create a favorable environment in which everybody, companies across the country, can open and expand." --Barack Obama, bringer of government

Blame Bush: "After 9/11, even though the ball had been dropped, even though 9/11 could have been avoided if everyone had done what they should have, Democrats and Republicans came together and said 'OK, let's make it better so this doesn't happen again.'" --Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on the Times Square bombing attempt

Blame the Tea Party: "Somebody home-grown, maybe a mentally deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything." --New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the Times Square would-be bomber

Don't drill: "I will make it short and to the point: The president's proposal for offshore drilling is dead on arrival. If offshore drilling off of the coast of the continental United States is part of it, this legislation is not going anywhere." --Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) using the Deep Water Horizon disaster as political fodder

Representing who? "Si se puede." --Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) chanting the Spanish version of Obama's "Yes We Can" before getting arrested for protesting outside the White House

Village Idiots

Nothing gets by her: "We're treating it as if it could be a potential terrorist attack." --Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on the Times Square bombing attempt

Expert opinion: "I do not want this offshore drilling. I do not want it, and this thing that just happened in the Gulf should put the nail in the coffin of all those ideas." --Joy Behar of ABC's "The View"

Non Compos Mentis: "Government intrusion, government power is something that really bothers conservatives, unless it's directed toward people who aren't white, you know, I mean it does seem like there's some of that going on there. ... I would never say, and I have never said because it's not true, that Republicans, all Republicans are racist. That would be silly and wrong. But nowadays, if you are racist you're probably a Republican." --HBO's Bill Maher

Ditto: "It's not unprecedented having to carry around your papers. It's the same thing that freed black people had to do in 1863." --"Comedy" Central's Jon Stewart

Advice from the other side: "What effect does the Tea Party have on the Republican Party? ... They've driven another moderate out of the Republican Party. Charlie Crist is the kind of Republican we badly need in the United States Senate so we can actually get something done there ... and yet the Republicans actually pushed him out of the race. ... There just apparently is no place in the Republican Party for moderate, thoughtful people anymore." --Howard Dean

Short Cuts

"Al Sharpton promised to lead protest marches in Phoenix and Tucson Thursday to support the rights of illegal aliens to work in farm and service jobs in the United States. It's come to this. Civil rights leaders are marching in support of slave labor." --comedian Argus Hamilton

"At San Francisco's City Hall, where bottled water is banned as the drink of climate denialists, Mayor Gavin Newsom is boycotting for real: All official visits to Arizona have been canceled indefinitely. You couldn't get sanctions like these imposed at the UN Security Council, but then, unlike Arizona, Iran is not a universally reviled pariah. Will a full-scale economic embargo devastate the Copper State? Who knows? It's not clear to me what San Francisco imports from Arizona. Chaps?" --columnist Mark Steyn

"Those who shower the most praise on our public education system are those least likely to ever expose their own kids to it. I refer to the pinheads who hold public office. In fact, the only time a president or first lady ever wanders into a public school in Washington, D.C., is for an election year photo op, after having made certain that their Secret Service detail is operating at full strength that day. It's not a school system, it's a penal colony with report cards." --columnist Burt Prelutsky

"The Administration is not slick enough to cover its lack of concern at the front end of the BP oil leak. With apologies to Oscar Hammerstein, 'When do you spell an oil spill like Katrina?'" --political analyst Rich Galen

(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.)