The Patriot Post Chronicle 4-18-2012

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Chronicle 4-18-2012
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

The Foundation

"The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice. Every shilling which they overburden the inferior number is a shilling saved to their own pockets." --James Madison

Upright

"The Tax Foundation reports that because of higher federal income and corporate tax collections, Tax Freedom Day came four days later this year than last. And the bad news is that unless Washington takes action, it will take working Americans 11 more days to meet next year's tax burden. That's all due to Taxmageddon -- a slew of expiring tax cuts and new tax increases that will hit Americans on January 1, 2013, amounting to a $494 billion tax hike. Heritage's Curtis Dubay reports that American households can expect to face an average tax increase of $3,800 and that 70 percent of Taxmageddon's impact will fall directly on low-income and middle-income families, leaving them with $346 billion less to spend. ... Instead of dealing with Taxmageddon, President Obama wants to change the subject with a gimmicky policy like the 'Buffett Tax.' ... Stopping a $494 billion tax increase shouldn't be a contentious partisan issue." --Heritage Foundation's Mike Brownfield

"When he's not talking up his buddy Warren [Buffet], [Obama] has been staggering around demonizing Paul Ryan's plan, which would lead, he says, to the end of the weather service, air traffic control, national parks, law enforcement, and drinkable water. Given what's at stake, you might think then that the president would have an alternative plan. But he has none, save for his proposal to pay off the 2011 federal deficit by the year 2526. The Obama No-Plan plan means the end of everything. That really ought to be the only slogan the Republicans need this fall: What's your plan?" --columnist Mark Steyn

"There is nothing the president is saying now that he has not said many times over. ... The Obama campaign brain trust may have concluded that the only path to victory is by pandering to a collection of ethnic groups and interests. Hence, the class warfare theme to activate the left-wing base, the offhand comments about the Trayvon Martin case to show blacks he is with them, the lawsuits against Arizona to please Hispanic voters, and the delay in the Keystone pipeline to keep the environmental lobby and contributors happy." --columnist Richard A. Baehr

"The simple fact is that Obama is the stay-the-course candidate stuck with a team, a record and an economy ill-suited for a stay-the-course strategy. That's what gives poignancy to Obama's recently renewed love affair with Ronald Reagan, whom Obama invokes these days as a model of reasonableness and bipartisanship. ... Even before he got the nomination in 2008, Obama said he wanted to be a 'transformative' president like Reagan had been. ... There were two key elements to Obama's man-crush. The first was the simple hope that history -- or at least the business cycle -- would repeat itself. ... The other reason the White House admired the Reagan White House? According to Time: 'Both relied heavily on the power of oratory.' Then-Press Secretary Robert Gibbs added, 'Our hope is the story ends the same way.' And there's the problem for Obama. He's sticking to his rhetorical guns on the assumption that he's the great orator his fans have always claimed." --columnist Jonah Goldberg

What do you think of Obama's oratory skills?1

Editorial Exegesis

"The Republican House of Representatives may soon follow the Democratic Senate and give the IRS the power to confiscate your passport on mere suspicion of owing taxes. ... Contained within the suspiciously titled 'Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act,' or 'MAP 21,' is a provision that gives the Internal Revenue Service the power to keep U.S. citizens from leaving the country if it finds that they owe $50,000 or more in unpaid taxes -- no court ruling necessary. It is hard to imagine any law more reminiscent of the Soviet Union that America toppled, or its Eastern Bloc slave satellites. ... As Reuters reported Monday, overtaxation has led to close to 1,800 Americans living abroad renouncing their U.S. citizenship last year or turning in their green cards -- many of them with broken hearts because of their love for this nation. The record number of former U.S. citizens is nearly eight times more than those who renounced U.S. citizenship in 2008, and it exceeded 2007, 2008 and 2009 combined. They did it because of the nightmare the U.S. government puts them -- and non-American spouses -- through, sniffing over any and all of their finances. ... If House Republicans pass this assault on our Constitution, their credibility will be in tatters. And if it is passed and then signed into law, look for constitutional challenges in federal courts throughout the land. They should begin the next day." --Investor's Business Daily3

Insight

"To tax the community for the advantage of a class is not protection: it is plunder." --British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)

"[Extending] the bounds of what may be called moral police, until it encroaches on the most unquestionably legitimate liberty of the individual, is one of the most universal of all human propensities." --British philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

The Demo-gogues

Disingenuous: "Some years ago, one of my predecessors traveled across the country pushing for the same concept. He gave a speech where he talked about a letter he had received from a wealthy executive who paid lower tax rates than his secretary, and wanted to come to Washington and tell Congress why that was wrong. So this president gave another speech where he said it was 'crazy' ... that certain tax loopholes make it possible for multimillionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying 10 percent of his salary. That wild-eyed, socialist, tax-hiking class warrior was Ronald Reagan." --Barack Obama

In spite of his best efforts: "There are politicians who say that if we just drilled more, then gas prices would just come down right away. What they don't say is that we have been drilling more. Under my administration America is producing more oil than at any time in the last eight years." --Barack Obama, trying to take credit for drilling on private land

Yay government: "I believe in investing in basic research and science because I understand that all these extraordinary companies that are these enormous wealth-generators -- many of them would have never been there. Google [and] Facebook would not exist had it not been for investments that we made as a country in basic science and research. I understand that makes us all better off." --Barack Obama

Iron Man: "I think most folks understand how hard I work and how hard this administration's working on behalf of the American people." --Barack Obama when pressed on his disturbing number of vacations

Meanwhile: "I want to thank President Santos and the people of Colombia for the extraordinary hospitality in the beautiful city of Cartagena. We're having a wonderful time. And usually when I take these summit trips, part of my job is to scout out where I may want to bring Michelle back later for vacation." --Barack Obama during his trip to the Summit of the Americas

Class war: "For the middle class, the Ryan/Romney Republican budget for the rich is not the path to prosperity. For the 99 percent, the Ryan budget is really the road to hell and we're here to say 'hell no, we won't go!'" --Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL)