The Patriot Post Chronicle 3-16-2011

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The Patriot Post Chronicle 3-16-2011
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Foundation

"Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue ... presents a new harvest to those who watch the change and can trace its consequences; a harvest reared not by themselves but by the toils and cares of the great body of their fellow citizens. This is a state of things in which it may be said with some truth that laws are made for the few not for the many." --James Madison

Editorial Exegesis

"After a once-in-300-years earthquake, the Japanese have been keeping cool amid the chaos, organizing an enormous relief and rescue operation, and generally earning the world's admiration. We wish we could say the same for the reaction in the U.S., where the troubles at Japan's nuclear reactors have produced an overreaction about the risks of modern life and technology. ... We have no special brief for nuclear power over any other energy source. Our view is that it should compete with other sources on a market basis, without subsidies or government loan guarantees. Every energy source has risks and economic externalities, whether they are noise and bird kills (wind), huge land requirements (solar), rig explosions and tanker spills (oil), or mining accidents (coal). But more than other energy sources, nuclear plants have had their costs increased by artificial political obstacles and delay. The U.S. hasn't built a new nuclear plant since 1979, after the Three Mile Island meltdown, even as older nuclear plants continue to provide 20% of the nation's electricity. The Tennessee Valley Authority is a couple of years away from completing a reactor at Watts Bar after years of effort. Proposals for 20 new reactors to be built over the next 15 to 20 years are in various stages of review in the multiyear approval process at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with two each in Georgia and South Carolina at the front of the line. But the much-ballyhooed 'nuclear renaissance' is a long way off, and it will be longer after events in Japan. Our larger point is less about nuclear power than how we react as a society to inevitable disasters, both natural and man-made. Because a plane crashes, we don't stop flying. Because an oil rig explodes in the Gulf, we don't (or at least we shouldn't) stop drilling for oil. ... We should learn from the Japanese nuclear crisis, not let it feed a political panic over nuclear power in general." --The Wall Street Journal1

Insight

"Scientists can tell you just to the minute when something is going to happy 10 million miles away and none of them has ever been smart enough to tell you what day to put on your heavy underwear." --American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935)

"Let therefore every man, that, appealing to his own heart, feels the least spark of virtue or freedom there, think that it is an honor which he owes himself, and a duty which he owes his country, to bear arms." --British colonial statesman Thomas Pownhall (1722-1805)

Upright

"Consider the Senate Democrats' most recent proposal for budget cuts to avert a government shutdown. Senate Republicans, following the House plan, proposed $61 billion in cuts for the current year, while Senate Democrats proposed a paltry $6.5 billion. (The Congressional Budget Office says it's actually only $4.7 billion.) Though Obama seems to be hiding in the bushes on this one, he is said to support the Democratic plan. Did you hear that: $6.5/$4.7 billion? This is nothing. It's an outrage. This from the clowns who say the Republican cuts, which themselves wouldn't be enough, are 'Draconian.' No, it's their attitude that is Draconian -- to the republic." --columnist David Limbaugh

"As Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew wrote in USA Today just a few weeks ago, the [Social Security] trust fund is solvent until 2037. Therefore, Social Security is now off the table in debt-reduction talks. This claim is a breathtaking fraud. The pretense is that a flush trust fund will pay retirees for the next 26 years. Lovely, except for one thing: The Social Security trust fund is a fiction. If you don't believe me, listen to the OMB's own explanation (in the Clinton administration budget for fiscal 2000 under then-Director Jack Lew, the very same). The OMB explained that these trust fund 'balances' are nothing more than a 'bookkeeping' device. 'They do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits.' In other words, the Social Security trust fund contains -- nothing." --columnist Charles Krauthammer

"There's never been a better opportunity to rid public broadcasting of its dependence on public welfare to spread its left-wing bias and propaganda, if only the Republican leadership can screw up the courage to lead the way. Public broadcasting could have leavened the bias years ago and saved itself by easing up on the mockery and ridicule of the things most Americans hold dear. We can be glad it didn't; government radio is the norm in Pyongyang and Havana and Tehran, but never here. All things considered, the left and the liberals should pay for their own entertainment. The rest of us do." --Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden

"The outraged reaction to New York Rep. Peter King's hearings into the radicalization of the domestic Muslim community was so mindless it bordered on a collective self-lobotomy. The late conservative intellectual James Burnham once wrote that 'liberalism permits Western civilization to be reconciled to its dissolution.' If the congressional committee devoted to homeland security ... can't examine why some Muslims born and raised in the United States wage war on their own country, we might as well turn off the lights on our common culture." --National Review editor Rich Lowry

Dezinformatsia

Loving adoration: "Well what was interesting to me was, the way the President noted his personal connection to Japanese culture, having been raised in Hawaii, which has a heavy influence of, of Japanese culture, he's familiar with it. I think it affected him personally. And so, in terms of the, the humanitarian response of trying to help Japanese I think he has been as fast and, and correct as you could possibly be." --Washington Post's Eugene Robinson

Non Compos Mentis: "Was this [earthquake and tsunami in Japan] sort of a good opportunity for the president to remind everybody that he grew up in the United States and Hawaii?" --MSNBC's Chris Matthews with video of the tsunami playing in the background (Matthews also accidentally called Obama "President Carter" this week. Some slips are a bit too true.)

New civility: "Wisconsin's Governor Wins, but Is He Now Dead Man Walker?" --Time Magazine headline

Give us a break: "There is a reason that we are the only news organization, other than Fox, with a growing audience. It is because of our product which is straight-shooting, factual, and spends an enormous amount of money gathering news from all over the country and the world. Judge us by our product." --NPR's Nina Totenberg, who once wished AIDS on then-GOP Sen. Jesse Helms and his grandchildren in an apparent example of straight-shooting analysis

"Let's put aside Peter King's seemingly strange obsession with Islam and Islamists, or whatever you want to call it. I don't quite understand how when you put an -ist at the end of it, it changes the subject. But let's just say, putting that aside, should Muslims be looking more carefully at themselves? Is there something that law-abiding American Muslims should be doing ... to satisfy this call to action that Peter King has put out? ... My concern is the radicalization of people in all faith groups. I think we have to be very careful when we single out one group. Certainly, when are you in charge of Homeland Security, you are worried about terrorism. We're all worried about terrorism. But how are we going to end this stigma of 'Muslim equals terrorist'?" --CNN's Ali Velshi (Perhaps when Muslims decide to stop being terrorists?)