The Patriot Post Chronicle 5-11-2011

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The Patriot Post Chronicle 5-11-2011
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Foundation

"There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism." --Alexander Hamilton

Upright

"It took nine years, seven months and 21 days to pinpoint the man who plotted, paid for and perpetrated the terror attacks of 9-11-01. When a U.S. Navy SEAL team finally found Osama bin Laden in the third-floor bedroom of a comfortable house in a suburb of Islamabad, Pakistan, they killed him. Last Sunday's complex and highly successful operation validates Ronald Reagan's maxim for terrorists after U.S. Navy SEALs captured the murderous hijackers of the Achille Lauro in October 1985: 'You can run, but you can't hide.' Afterward, one of the participants penned a corollary: 'Don't bother to run -- you will only die tired.'" --columnist Oliver North

"Whence came the intelligence that led to Abbottabad? Many places, including from secret prisons in Romania and Poland; from terrorists seized and kidnapped, then subjected to interrogations, sometimes 'harsh' or 'enhanced'; from Gitmo detainees; from a huge bureaucratic apparatus of surveillance and eavesdropping. In other words, from a Global War on Terror infrastructure that critics, including Barack Obama himself, deplored as a tragic detour from American rectitude." --columnist Charles Krauthammer

"If you think I'm being unfair to liberals, let me remind you that when Obama's predecessor was in office, not a day went by when the MSM didn't let us know how many American soldiers were dying in Bush's wars. Garry Trudeau even devoted Sunday editions of Doonesbury to listing the names of the fallen. Anyone find it odd that now that Obama is in charge, you don't get a daily, weekly or even monthly, update of numbers and names? Well, just for the record, nearly 1,500 American warriors have died in Afghanistan over the past 10 years, with two-thirds of the fatalities occurring since it became Obama's war in 2009!" --columnist Burt Prelutsky

"When the federal deficit is mentioned, so many people suggest we pay for it by raising taxes on the working rich. How perverse is that? Look at how we got the huge deficit in the first place -- entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. Were these instituted for the benefit of the working rich? Of course not, so why should the people who already benefited this country by producing jobs and our awesome consumer goods have to pay for it? In what bizarro, bearded-Spock universe is that fair?" --columnist Frank J. Fleming

The Demo-gogues

Even thought I opposed it the entire time... "The reason that I concluded [that the mission to kill Osama bin Laden] was worth it was that we have devoted enormous blood and treasure in fighting back against al-Qa'ida ever since 2001. I said to myself that if we have a good chance of not completely defeating but badly disabling al-Qa'ida, then it was worth both the political risks, as well as the risks to our men." --Barack Obama

Security theater: "Anyone, even a member of al-Qa'ida, could purchase a train ticket and board an Amtrak train without so much as a question asked. So that's why I'm calling for the creation of an Amtrak no-ride list. That would take the secure flight program and apply it to Amtrak trains." --Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calling for an excuse to get the TSA involved in molesting and/or radiating train passengers

Nothing to worry about: "Some in our country see China's progress as a threat to the United States; some in China worry that America seeks to constrain China's growth. We reject both those views. We both have much more to gain from cooperation than from conflict." --Hillary Clinton

Victimitis: "Republicans voted unanimously on an extremist anti-choice bill that would deny millions of women access to reproductive health care. For the first time ever, restrictions would be placed on how women with private insurance choose to spend their private dollars on health insurance. We cannot sit silent in the face of this extremist agenda." --House Minority Leader Nanny Pelosi (D-CA) calling Republicans "extremist" for preventing taxpayer dollars from being commingled to pay for abortions

Editorial Exegesis

"President Obama either doesn't realize a debt crisis is looming, or he just doesn't care. [On Sunday], he dispatched his transportation chief, Ray LaHood, to herald the expenditure of another $2 billion on 'high-speed' rail. This reckless profligacy has the country on a one-way track to the poorhouse. On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the federal budget deficit is up 9 percent for the year. Despite impressive rhetoric about 'tough choices' and 'deep cuts,' the administration has, so far, spent $181 billion more -- not less -- this year than it did last year. The government is spending more now than it ever has. ... As evidence of the demand, Mr. LaHood said he received more than $10 billion in requests from cities and states looking to get their hands on a big slice of the $2 billion in federal largesse. So the demand isn't actually from the public; it's coming from politicians. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, for example, put out a pair of press releases Monday triumphantly announcing the millions headed to his state. With Mr. LaHood standing behind him, the New York Democrat also insisted that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) boost its involvement in train security with a 'no ride' list that would, in theory, keep terrorists off the tracks. Although this idea was presented as a response to evidence of a potential locomotive plot found on Osama bin Laden's captured computer, TSA has long been looking to expand its role. ... Such schemes won't make anyone safer. Nor does it make sense to create transportation 'alternatives' that encourage Americans to abandon their automobiles so they can be packed into the confined space of a vulnerable train or trolley. Spiking the president's railroad boondoggle is the right thing to do not just for the country's fiscal health, but for homeland security as well." --The Washington Times1

Insight

"Without education we are in the horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously." --English writer G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

"I profoundly believe it takes a lot of practice to become a moral slob." --American author and commentator William F. Buckley (1925-2008 )

Dezinformatsia

Nothing like ignoring the real reasons: "Why haven't the media reported as many plots and terror alerts under the Obama administration? It can't be that we're suddenly that much safer. ... But is it also possible that the Bush administration, for political reasons, chose to play up the war on terror in a way that the Obama administration has chosen not to?" --CNN's Howard Kurtz

Drool on the chin: "Meanwhile along comes Barack Obama. No military experience. Never even pretended to be a duck hunter. And yet he shows the kind of quiet strength that doesn't need to prove itself, except in the act of doing what needs to be done. No gloating or boasting (think of that silent visit to Ground Zero). Just taking responsibility, while giving the credit to those who risked the most. In other words, the cowboy way. Funny how truly modern that turned out to be." --Business Insider's Spencer Critchley (Remember when the Leftmedia mocked Bush as a "cowboy"?)