The Patriot Post Chronicle 1-9-2013

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The Patriot Post Chronicle 1-9-2013
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Economic Punishment Agency

January 9, 2013

The Foundation

"I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty." --Thomas Jefferson

Editorial Exegesis

"Georgia Power ... announced this week that it is asking state regulators for permission to shut down 15 electrical generating units -- the closure of four power plants in all. The utility company says new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency -- known as the Utility MACT rule -- will simply make the plants too expensive to run. The regulations in question are intended to reduce the amount of mercury released into the air. But in fact, they have every appearance of being a back-door attempt to regulate carbon emissions -- precisely the kind of scheme that then-Sen. Barack Obama had in mind when he acknowledged in 2008 that 'electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket' under his energy plan. The 15 units that Georgia Power wants to shutter -- all but two of which are fired by coal or oil -- have a combined capacity of 2,061 megawatts, or enough to provide power for roughly 1.5 million homes. The company plans to close 11 of them on April 16, 2015, the exact day the EPA's new mercury regulations are scheduled to take effect. ... The EPA has claimed that its new mercury regulation will produce $140 billion in annual economic benefits. Apparently, those benefits will not be going to the 480 power plant workers in Georgia who now stand to lose their jobs. Then there are the millions of Georgia energy consumers who will soon see higher rates and higher bills. More broadly, the National Association of Manufacturers estimates that this single rule will kill 1.65 million jobs nationwide through 2020.... Even taken at face value, the EPA's claims of economic benefits are highly doubtful. In fact, the reductions to mercury are expected to produce only a tiny sliver of that $140 billion benefit -- just $6 million of it, in fact. But it will cost so much money to comply with these rules and produce this minuscule benefit that many plants will simply be closed instead. ... Obama also said in 2008 that 'if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It's just that it'll bankrupt them.' He seems to be making this come true, even without the carbon cap-and-trade system he once envisioned." --The Washington Examiner1

Upright

"It is Congress's job to oversee economic policy, and the House's in particular. Regardless of whether it is 'good' policy or not, the House of Representatives is wholly within its rights to refuse to raise the debt ceiling if it so wishes. To submit that Congress has the right to raise the debt ceiling but that to refuse to do so would be 'a step too far' is to grant that Congress does not actually enjoy power over the issue at all, but is instead just a bystander armed with a rubber stamp. If this were true, it would undermine the American constitutional order, which is of course exactly what those making asinine (the platinum coin) or downright illegal (Fourteenth Amendment) suggestions wish to do. Their view is that this issue is just too important to leave to our system of government, so the president -- or anyone -- must step in and 'do the right thing.'" --columnist Charles C.W. Cooke

"Americans prefer small government to big government -- in the abstract. But 60 million receive Medicaid benefits, 54 million collect Social Security, 48 million participate with Medicare, 45 million receive Food Stamps, 7 million are in prison, jail, or on parole/probation, more than a million have de facto government jobs working for defense contractors, nearly a million children participate in Head Start and about 40 percent of K-12 students receive free or reduced price meals. There's some overlap in those categories, but it still adds up. ... The average beneficiary will receive far more in Medicare and Social Security benefits than he paid for in taxes. We are, in short, a socialist-style society just like Europe. And Obamacare has yet to kick in. The road to recovery begins with admitting you have a problem." --columnist Mona Charen

"The liberal media have spent 12 years feeling sorry for Al Gore. The Man Who Should Have Won in 2000 has had megatons of positive publicity dumped on him, hailing him as the 'Goracle.' ... So when Gore sold his left-wing cable channel Current TV to Al-Jazeera for $500 million, where were they? ... At about 42,000 viewers during primetime, the nationwide audience [of Current TV] could fit inside the Washington Redskins' Fedex Field and still leave the stadium half-empty. ... But the controversy is not about ratings. It's about one network selling itself to another best known for vicious anti-American propaganda. ... Gore rebuffed an offer from conservative radio/TV personality Glenn Beck to buy Current TV. Beck was told, 'The legacy of who the network goes to is important to us, and we are sensitive to networks not aligned with our point of view.' Beck is not aligned with the Gore viewpoint, and yet Al-Jazeera is? ... None dares express horror that the man who was almost president on 9/11 was allying himself with al-Qaida's video jukebox." --columnist L. Brent Bozell

Insight

"Liberals, it has been said, are generous with other peoples' money, except when it comes to questions of national survival when they prefer to be generous with other people's freedom and security." --American conservative author and commentator William F. Buckley Jr. (1925-2008)

"The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff." --American writer Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

Demo-gogues

The BIG Lie: "We don't have a spending problem." --Barack Obama during cliff negotiations according to House Speaker John Boehner

Class war and blame game, all in one: "The wealthiest individuals and the biggest corporations shouldn't be able to take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren't available to most Americans. And as I said earlier this week, one thing I will not compromise over is whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they've already racked up. If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic." --Barack Obama on raising the debt ceiling

Lookout for more tax increases: "Obviously, there is still more to do when it comes to reducing our debt. And I'm willing to do more, as long as we do it in a balanced way that doesn't put all the burden on seniors or students or middle class families, but also asks the wealthiest Americans to contribute and pay their fair share." --Barack Obama, who is in no way finished in his quest to raise more taxes on "the wealthy"

"The president had said originally he wanted $1.6 trillion in revenue. He took it down to $1.2 as a compromise. In this [fiscal cliff] legislation we had $620 billion, very significant, high-end tax -- changing the high-end tax rate to 39.6 percent. But that is not enough on the revenue side." --House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who apparently wants another $1 trillion in tax hikes

Bless her heart: "There are many members in the Republican caucus who do not believe in government. And bless their hearts, they act upon their beliefs. ... They're anti-government ideologues, and that's what the speaker has to deal with." --Nancy Pelosi

He knows his constituents: "When we had that devastation from [Hurricane] Katrina, we were there within days taking care of Mississippi, Alabama and especially Louisiana -- within days. We are now past two months with the people of New York and New Jersey. The people of New Orleans and that area, they were hurt but nothing in comparison to what happened to the people in New York and New Jersey." --Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) taking a factually incorrect cheap shot at those who suffered through Katrina