The Patriot Post Chronicle 1-30-2013

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The Patriot Post Chronicle 1-30-2013
From The Federalist Patriot
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Immigration Reform Requires Caution

January 30, 2013

The Foundation

"Born in other countries, yet believing you could be happy in this, our laws acknowledge, as they should do, your right to join us in society, conforming, as I doubt not you will do, to our established rules." --Thomas Jefferson

Editorial Exegesis

"President Obama has never been known for getting his hands dirty with legislative details, and he certainly didn't with his remarks on Tuesday about immigration. ... One problem is the lack of any mention of a guest-worker program for new migrants, especially low-skilled workers of the kind who arrive in greater numbers when economic times are good. Mr. Obama sounded good when he talked about providing more visas for high-skilled workers, and we support his call to 'staple a green card' to the diplomas of foreign graduates with technical degrees from U.S. universities in engineering, mathematics and the sciences. But the U.S. also needs more legal ways for low-skilled immigrants to enter the country -- not merely to fill labor needs in the likes of agriculture and construction but also to reduce illegal immigration in the future. ... Another red flag is Mr. Obama's apparent refusal to accept enforcement triggers before illegal migrants currently in the country can apply for a green card. We don't think more border enforcement is the main reason illegal immigration is down. Mr. Obama bragged in his speech that 'illegal crossings are down nearly 80% from their peak in 2000.' But that has much less to do with enforcement than with the lousy U.S. economy, especially since 2008. The biggest barrier to more illegal immigration has been Obamanomics. However, the lack of an enforcement trigger is important politically because Republican reformers will need it to convince their conservative rank and file that the U.S. won't be back at the same old stand five years after reform passes. If Mr. Obama wants reform to fail so he can blame Republicans, the fastest way to do it is by pressing for easy green cards for current illegals with too few strings attached. ... It wouldn't hurt if, for once in his Presidency, he tried to understand what can pass with a bipartisan coalition instead of with liberals only." --The Wall Street Journal1

Upright

"Obama has yet to present a major policy proposal geared toward solving specific problems. But he has won elections. And he has done so by implying ... that his opponents are morally deficient. It is truly astonishing just how thin President Barack Obama's playbook is. ... It usually involves children. It always involves moral indignation. It invariably involves urgent calls for action. Action now. Action yesterday. Action overdue. ... In pushing his illegal immigration agenda ... Obama flew out to the failing Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, Nev., to use the school's majority Hispanic population as a backdrop. He didn't care enough about the kids to offer them better educational opportunities. But he then proceeded to explain that those who oppose his agenda are actually closet racists: 'I promise you this: The closer we get, the more emotional this debate is going to become. ... When we talk about (the issue) in the abstract, it's easy sometimes for the discussion to take on a feeling of "us" versus "them."' In other words, oppose Obama, you hate brown people." --columnist Ben Shapiro

"Democrats often seek to inflame our emotions to impede an honest, good-faith discussion on the merits of various issues. Obama demonstrated this in his news conference when he trotted out his 23 executive orders designed to address mass shootings. By using the parents of shooting victims and children as props he intended to imply that unless you support his measures, you oppose protecting children. He did more than imply that in his remarks when he expressed incredulity that anyone who cares about these shootings could possibly oppose his policies." --columnist David Limbaugh

"It's a good thing our federal government is going on a strict spending diet to curb its out-of-control borrowing. Otherwise, the latest piece of spending legislation passed Monday worth more than $50 billion might have been substantial. ... For weeks Obama traveled the country telling anyone who would listen and some who'd rather not that he's so absolutely positively determined to cut America's $16.4 trillion national debt that he did so much to grow. And he was insistent on milking money from the rich to do just that. Well, guess what? That $50.4 billion spending bill for, among other things Hurricane Sandy aid, just ate up every single penny of that tax hike for this year, plus another $10 billion." --Investor's Business Daily

"What's perhaps more stunning [about the fourth quarter GDP drop] is the idea that the so-called recovery in its fourth year still cannot stand on its own legs without massive government stimulus. After all, federal spending has remained at the $3.8 trillion level for four years, with its percentage of GDP around 25%, far above the 20% post-1960s norm. Perhaps that's part of the reason that the economy is still stagnating, rather than a reason to expect recovery." --blogger Ed Morrissey

"We spend so much time on these individual issues like guns and health care, but what we need to take on as a country is the topic of freedom overall. What are rights? What is the purpose of the government? All our arguments are because we disagree on those questions, but that's not usually where the discussion is. If we want to change things, we need people thinking on these fundamental questions." --columnist Frank J. Fleming

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Insight

"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie." --Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924)

"'Trust but verify,' Reagan discovered, applied not only to the Soviets but also to the Democrats in Congress." --political consultant and author Lyn Nofziger (1924-2006)

Demo-gogues

It ain't about hunting: "The only way that we're going to be able to do everything that needs to be done is with cooperation of Congress. That means passing serious laws that restrict the access and availability of assault weapons and magazine clips [sic] that aren't necessary for hunters and sportsmen, those responsible gun owners who are out there." --Barack Obama

"Up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time. Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there. And I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations. And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake. ... Advocates of gun control have to do a little more listening than they do sometimes." --BO

Non Compos Mentis: "It is true that the vast majority of gun deaths in America are not the consequence of the use of an 'assault weapon.' But that begs the question of whether assault weapons have any real utility either in terms of any sporting or self protection needs." --Joe Biden (Because they are NOT generally used in crime, we should ban them. Got it.)

"The NRA is venal. They come after you, they put together large amounts of money to defeat you. They did this in '93 and they intend to continue it." --Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

Fear of responsible training: "The NRA has become an institution of gun manufacturers. This morning, on the front page of The New York Times, I was reading about their program now to provide weapons and training for youngsters, from 8-years-old to 15-years-old. And this is supported by the gun manufacturers. In other words, here is a whole new group of people that we can get these weapons to, they just don't happen to be adults, they're children." --Dianne Feinstein

False distinctions and information: "I will tell you, if you talk to professionals, hunters and certainly sportsmen, they'll tell you [the AR15 is] not the gun to use. A rifle is more accurate. It's certainly easier for a woman to be able to do that." --Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) on why women supposedly don't need AR-15s

Speak for yourself: "Unless you were one of the first Americans, a Native American, you came from someplace else, somebody brought you." --Barack Obama

Power play: "What I do see is that there are certain issues where a judicious use of executive power can move the argument forward or solve problems that are of immediate-enough import that we can't afford not to do it." --BO