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« on: May 23, 2011, 06:12:45 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Brief 5-23-2011
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Foundation
"Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all." --George Washington
Re: The Left
"On one issue Obama took the old State Department line. 'The status quo' between Israel and the Palestinians, he said, 'is unsustainable.' The United States needs to pressure Israel into making concessions. He emphasized this issue even though it's obvious that it's not a priority or even of much interest to the 'Arab Spring protestors.' And even though, as he mentioned in his speech, the merger of Fatah and Hamas means that Israel does not have a negotiating partner willing to recognize its right to exist. He continued to press his demand, made by no previous president, that Israel stop all 'settlements,' even in Jerusalem. Of course, he failed to note that that demand derailed any possible negotiations, since no Israeli leader will ever agree and since, once Obama made it, Palestinian leaders had to insist on it, too. And he asserted -- also a first for an American president -- that an agreement 'should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.' Previous presidents have said that adjustments should recognize changes that have occurred in the last 44 years. Obama did not, and he added that all Israeli troops should be withdrawn from Palestinian territory, undercutting any Israeli demand to leave a defensive force along the Jordan River. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sitting next to Obama in the Oval Office after their meeting Friday, said flatly that the 1967 (actually 1949-67) lines were unacceptable and that asking Israel to negotiate with Hamas is like asking the United States to negotiate with al-Qaida. Obama deserves credit for going to the State Department to renounce State Department policy on the Middle East. Unfortunately, he didn't follow through on that on Israel and the Palestinians." --political analyst Michael Barone1
Faith and Family
"What's missing in all the talk about the 'Arab Spring' and 'democracy' is any examination of what democracy means and whether it necessarily makes things better. ... Authoritarian regimes or strong democracies enforcing the rule of law, can offer these minorities some protection against the anger of the mob. Remove all authority, however, and the result is often violence. That's what Middle Eastern Christians are afraid of. Their fears aren't helped by the fact that most westerners don't seem to understand that it takes more than elections to create a good or democratic government. ... The institutions we take for granted in the West, the ones that help safeguard the rights of minorities, are rare and they are next-to-non-existent in places like Syria and Egypt. Without them, you get democratic tyranny, mob rule by the majority. This is why Christians, who believe that man is a fallen creature, have always supported democracy underpinned by checks and balances and the rule of law. That's why we call it a 'Republican form of government.' And that is why we must be wary of what some people call 'democracy,' particularly for its effect on religious minorities." --commentator Chuck Colson2
Opinion in Brief
"Nearly two weeks ago, Fatah, the U.S.-backed Palestinian National Liberation Movement, signed an agreement to form a unity government with Hamas, a U.S.-listed foreign terror organization. ... Hamas's own foreign minister has stated that Hamas 'believes that negotiations with the Israeli enemy are in vain.' The Hamas Charter calls for Islam to 'abolish' Israel and for Muslims to 'fight the Jews and kill them.' It further proclaims, 'There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except jihad.' ... Where would U.S. dollars go in this new unity government? Hamas isn't hiding their intentions for these funds. In touting the new unity government, Hamas foreign minister Mahmoud al-Zahhar announced, 'We believe in armed struggle, in addition to responsible governing, as well as making the government's resources available to the resistance,' i.e. terrorism. ... Israel has already cut off tax funds that it routinely collects for the Palestinian Authority. The United States should follow this example, suspend all funds to the Palestinians until Fatah withdraws from the agreement, and make it clear that if the agreement is honored, there will be no more U.S. dollars for the Palestinian Authority. The fact that we even have to debate this question is absurd." --Jordan Sekulow3, Director of policy and international operation for American Center for Law and Justice
Government
"We can get spending under control, balance the budget, and shrink our debt. We can limit the size of government and set free once again the unlimited genius of Americans to create wealth and jobs. We can turn the tide and change our nation's course. To get our fiscal house in order, we must address Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the three so-called entitlement programs which together account for 43 percent of federal spending today. ... We also need to encourage Americans to become more fiscally responsible themselves. We can do this by redesigning our tax system into an expenditure tax with a single flat rate. ... We have to substantially reduce the size and scope of the federal government, fundamentally increase the role of the states in choosing their own practices, and bring decision-making closer to the people, not to unelected administrators. These steps are crucial to getting our nation on a path of fiscal, political and constitutional responsibility." --Heritage Foundation president Edwin J. Feulner4
For the Record
"In case you weren't paying attention (and too few are) the United States officially reached the debt ceiling [last] Monday. Treasury Secretary Tim ('I forgot to pay my taxes') Geithner informed Congress of difficult decisions he was forced to make to keep the country solvent, which is a joke. ... Among Geithner's sleights of hand to keep America from 'defaulting' on its loans is his suspension of payments to federal retirement funding investments until Aug. 2. Whoa, there's a brave move! Geithner doesn't suggest spending cutbacks. That's because with Democrats, especially, federal spending is considered more sacred than money dropped in a church offering plate. Once it's in, it would be a sacrilege to take it out. The public -- or at least the half of us who pay our tax bills so that the other half can take it and so politicians can keep themselves in office -- ought to be awake to this scam. It makes convicted Ponzi scheme practitioner Bernie Madoff look like a piker." --columnist Cal Thomas5
Liberty
"On May 13, the Obama administration announced the approval of 204 new waivers from compliance with the PPAA (Obamacare). That brings to 1,372 the number of waivers HHS has granted in the 14 months since the law's passage. ... The world of Obamacare is no place for the little guy. The danger of waiver power is that it will be used differentially, giving one private entity a competitive advantage over another. The company denied a waiver can bring suit -- but litigation is expensive and slow. ... Because there are so few avenues of recourse when we live under a government by waiver, we are forced, as [Professor Richard] Epstein warns, to trust in the good judgment of bureaucrats and elected officials: 'The fate of our rights and liberties is left to the wisdom and discretion of individuals; we are therefore governed by men, not by laws.'" --columnist Mona Charen6
The Gipper
"There are many well-meaning people today who work at placing an economic floor beneath all of us so that no one shall exist below a certain level or standard of living, and certainly we don't quarrel with this. But look more closely and you may find that all too often these well-meaning people are building a ceiling above which no one shall be permitted to climb and between the two are pressing us all into conformity, into a mold of standardized mediocrity." --Ronald Reagan7 |
