The Patriot Post Brief 9-10-2012

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The Patriot Post Brief 9-10-2012
From The Federalist Patriot
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Not Getting the Job Done

September 10, 2012

The Foundation

"Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition." --Thomas Jefferson

For the Record

"The nation has now endured 43 months of unemployment officially above 8 percent. The details paint an even bleaker picture. No doubt many of the media outlets determined to get this president re-elected will tout the fact that the unemployment rate dropped from 8.3 percent to 8.1 percent, even as they bury the reason why: 368,000 Americans simply gave up looking for work. That exodus dropped the labor force participation rate to 63.5 percent, a 31-year low. For perspective's sake, if the number of people in the labor force had remained the same as last month, the unemployment rate would be 8.4 percent. If the labor force were as large as it was when Obama took office in 2009, the unemployment rate would be a staggering 11.2 percent. Yet it gets even worse. The previous two month's jobs totals were 'revised.' 41,000 jobs were lopped off the totals for June and July, as reality caught up with the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) overly optimistic 'guesstimates.' ... And when one gets past the 'official' unemployment rate and examines the BLS's U-6 number -- representing Americans who have been out of work for six months, along with those who are involuntarily part-time workers, due to cutbacks in their days or hours -- the under-employment rate has held steady for months at around 15 percent of the workforce. Add those who have given up looking for work and that number jumps to 19 percent." --columnist Arnold Ahlert1

Government

"[Friday's jobs numbers] was not the employment report either American workers or the Obama campaign were hoping for. ... Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 96,000 in August, the Labor Department said, versus expectations of 125,000 jobs or more. The manufacturing sector, much touted by the president in his convention speech, lost 15,000 jobs. Since the start of the year, job growth has averaged 139,000 per month vs. an average monthly gain of 153,000 in 2011. ... While the unemployment rate dropped to 8.1% from 8.3% in July, it was due to a big drop in the labor force participation rate (the share of Americans with a job or looking for one). ... The employment-population ratio is perhaps the broadest measure of the health of the labor market. It just shows how many Americans -- not in the military or in prison -- as a share of the population actually have some sort of a job. That number fell last month to 58.3%, just off its Great Recession lows. ... Again, a terribly anemic report that shows a stagnant economy -- not one ready to boom." --American Enterprise Institute's James Pethokoukis2

Re: The Left

"Now to that 46.7 million number. That's the number of Americans who are now depending on food stamps to feed their families. Bloomberg.com quotes Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack as saying: 'Too many middle-class families who have fallen on hard times are still struggling. Our goal is to get these families the temporary assistance they need so they are able to get through these tough times and back on their feet as soon as possible.' Whoa! Check Please! Too many middle-class families have fallen on hard times? The same middle class families Obama has been focused on for each and every one of the past 1,325 days since his Inaugural (not counting fund-raisers and golf outings)? No one -- with the possible exception of graduate students -- thinks that qualifying for Food Stamps is a good thing. ... The failure to help middle class families lies directly at the feet of Barack Obama. This astonishing 46.7 million number has nothing to do with Republicans wanting to change the tax code. The tax code has been exactly the same during Obama's entire term. Under Obama's guidance about 1.5 million additional middle class families' incomes have slipped to the point that they need Food Stamp assistance. And that's not since January 2009. That's just in the past year. ... Fewer Americans working. More Americans on food stamps. Is it why Obama thinks he deserves to be re-elected?" --columnist Rich Galen3

Culture

"One in seven Americans is on food stamps. According to the left, this high rate of participation is part of what makes America exceptional. So boasts liberal political commentator Alan Colmes in [last] Monday's Wall Street Journal op-ed 'How Democrats Made America Exceptional.' Since the food stamps program began in the 1960s, the participation rate has soared from roughly one in 20 Americans to where it is today. Apparently, this is the liberal idea of progress. And so anxious are they to make even greater strides that the Department of Agriculture was busily working to recruit more participants. ... Removing work requirements from the few welfare programs that contain them seems to be the Obama Administration's method of operation. President Obama's 2009 stimulus suspended the food stamps work requirement through September 2010, and his next two budgets attempted to maintain the suspension. Then, on July 12 his Administration announced it would begin waiving the work requirements that were the heart of the successful 1996 welfare reform law. Personal responsibility and work are key American principles. Food stamps and other welfare programs should promote these principles by requiring all able-bodied recipients to work, prepare for work, or at least look for a job in order to receive assistance." --Heritage Foundation's Rachel Sheffield4

Insight

"Our present financial condition is without a parallel in history. No nation has ever before been embarrassed from too large a surplus in its treasury. This almost necessarily gives birth to extravagant legislation. It produces wild schemes of expenditure and begets a race of speculators and jobbers, whose ingenuity is exerted in contriving and promoting expedients to obtain public money. The purity of official agents, whether rightfully or wrongfully, is suspected, and the character of the government suffers in the estimation of the people. This is in itself a very great evil." --President James Buchanan (1791-1868 )

Eleventh Anniversary of 9/11

Tomorrow we solemnly mark the 11th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, when 2,996 innocents, mostly American citizens, were murdered by Islamic fascists5. In keeping with the presidential proclamation designating Sept. 11 of each year as Patriot Day, all flags should be flown at half-staff in memory of those who lost their lives that day.

We invite you to join us as we offer our prayers for the families of those lost and for our Armed Forces6 now serving on the front lines of the Long War against Jihadistan. As we continue to engage our jihadi foes on battlefronts around the globe, let us never forget why we fight7.

Essential Liberty

"George Washington twice voluntarily surrendered power to return to a peaceful life on his Mount Vernon estate. The ruler he helped vanquish, King George III, called him 'the greatest character of the age.' The capital city he gave his name to is renowned as the defender of freedom and opportunity. As John Adams put it, Washington's example 'will teach wisdom and virtue to magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in future generations, as long as our history shall be read.' More than a century after Washington died, Woodrow Wilson attempted to refound the United States on progressive principles. His experiment is still going on today. That explains why Washington remains so crucial: His guiding principles came from the written Constitution and Declaration of Independence, not some unwritten, 'living' constitution. Let us learn the first President's lessons and move toward a more Washingtonian governance." --Heritage Foundation's Rich Tucker8

The Gipper

"Isn't it once again time to renew our compact of freedom; to pledge to each other all that is best in our lives; all that gives meaning to them -- for the sake of this, our beloved and blessed land? Together, let us make this a new beginning." --Ronald Reagan9

Reader Comments

"The DNC was an 'infatuation fest.'10 Each speaker was greeted with cheers and spoken words were echoed in 'occupier' fashion. The mention of God in the platform was actually booed. You can't make this stuff up. If these delegates are representative of the Democrat party, that party is out of touch and out of the main stream of America." --JWG in Hampton, Georgia

"A good example of the Democrats approach to 'majority rule' was to call for a vote to amend their platform and declare it passed in the affirmative when the voice vote was obviously negative." --Jerry in Muskegon, Michigan

"If the Republicans cannot win this election we all lose. I have never given as many dollars to a candidate as I have Romney and I pray it makes some difference." --Mike in St. Paul, Minnesota

"You do well to encourage Patriots in your Publisher's Note11 to set aside all divisive criticism of the Romney-Ryan ticket and to form a unified front. Do we entrust the future of the nation to a man of impeccable morality or to a mendacious pretender whose failed leadership is totally devoid of any trace of morality?" --Joseph in Houston, Texas