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nChrist
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« on: March 28, 2011, 02:13:56 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Brief 3-28-2011
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Foundation
"When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground." --Thomas Jefferson
For the Record
"Economic lunacy abounds, and often the most learned, including Nobel Laureates, are its primary victims. The most recent example of economic lunacy is found in a Huffington Post article titled 'The Silver Lining of Japan's Quake' written by Nathan Gardels, editor of New Perspectives Quarterly.... Mr. Gardels says, 'No one ... would minimize the grief, suffering and disruption caused by Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami. But if one can look past the devastation, there is a silver lining. The need to rebuild a large swath of Japan will create huge opportunities for domestic economic growth, particularly in energy-efficient technologies, while also stimulating global demand and hastening the integration of East Asia. ... By taking Japan's mature economy down a notch, Mother Nature has accomplished what fiscal policy and the central bank could not.' ... It's not just disasters in Japan. After Florida's devastating 2004 hurricane, newspapers carried headlines such as 'Storms create lucrative times.' and 'Economic growth from hurricanes could outweigh costs.' ... Why might Japan's and Florida's devastation be seen as 'pluses'? French economist Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) explained it in his pamphlet 'What is Seen and What is Not Seen,' saying, 'There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen.' ... Do a simple smell test on these examples of economic lunacy. Would the Japanese economy face even greater opportunities for economic growth had the earthquake and tsunami also struck Tokyo, Hiroshima, Yokohama and other major cities? Would the 9-11 terrorists have done us an even bigger economic favor had they destroyed buildings in other cities? The belief that society benefits from destruction is lunacy." --economist Walter E. Williams1
Government
"Gas is well over $4 a gallon in most places in California -- and soaring elsewhere as well. But are such high energy prices good or bad? That should be a stupid question. Yet it is not when the Obama administration has stopped new domestic offshore oil exploration in many American waters, curbed oil leases in the West, and keeps oil-rich areas of Alaska exempt from drilling. ... Consider the logic of the president's Orwellian declaration: The United States in the last two years has restricted oil exploration of the sort Brazil is now rushing to embrace. We have run up more than $4 trillion in consecutive budget deficits during the Obama administration and are near federal insolvency. Therefore, the United States should be happy to borrow more money to purchase the sort of 'new stable sources of energy' from Brazil's offshore wells that we most certainly will not develop off our own coasts. It seems as if paying lots more for electricity and gas, in European fashion, was originally part of the president's new green agenda." --columnist Victor Davis Hanson2
Re: The Left
"I cannot for the life of me see how an American president can launch a serious military action without a full and formal national address in which he explains to the American people why he is doing what he is doing, why it is right, and why it is very much in the national interest. He referred to his aims in parts of speeches and appearances when he was in South America, but now he's home. More is needed, more is warranted, and more is deserved. He has to sit at that big desk and explain his thinking, put forward the facts as he sees them, and try to garner public support. He has to make a case for his own actions. It's what presidents do! And this is particularly important now, because there are reasons to fear the current involvement will either escalate and produce a lengthy conflict or collapse and produce humiliation. Without a formal and extended statement, the air of weirdness, uncertainty and confusion that surrounds this endeavor will only deepen. ... America has been though a difficult 10 years, and the burden of proof on the need for U.S. action would be with those who supported intervention. Chief among them, of course, is the president, who made the decision as commander in chief. He needs to sit down and tell the American people how this thing can possibly turn out well. He needs to tell them why it isn't mad." --columnist Peggy Noonan3
Liberty
"Prognostication is a skill few journalists, politicians, diplomats, and intelligence officials have demonstrated consistently over time. So while it's clear that the Muslim world is in the throes of a major transformation, let's not pretend we know how this story ends. It's possible we're seeing an Arab spring, a democratic awakening -- uprisings that will bring freedom to societies that have known only oppression. But it's equally possible that one form of oppression will simply replace another. ... It's comforting to believe there is a 'right side to history.' But if history demonstrates anything it is that history has no preferences. History includes wars and interludes of peace, dark ages and enlightenments, cities rising and cities razed. Sometimes history marches from one age to the next. More often, it stumbles. Though the future cannot be predicted, its course may be altered. ... The lessons here are not hard to grasp yet few journalists, politicians, diplomats and intelligence officials seem to have grasped them." --Cliff May4, President of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
The Gipper
"Our party must be based on the kind of leadership that grows and takes its strength from the people. Any organization is in actuality only the lengthened shadow of its members. A political party is a mechanical structure created to further a cause. The cause, not the mechanism, brings and holds the members together. And our cause must be to rediscover, reassert and reapply America's spiritual heritage to our national affairs. Then with God's help we shall indeed be as a city upon a hill with the eyes of all people upon us." --Ronald Reagan5 |
