The Patriot Post Monday Digest 10-14-2013

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The Patriot Post Monday Digest 10-14-2013
From The Federalist Patriot
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THE FOUNDATION

“Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?” –Thomas Jefferson

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Spending Deal Swamped by Senate

No one can accuse Senate Democrats of merely rejecting House proposals for restarting the government. The government will reach its debt limit Thursday, and for some reason Democrats think that’s a good reason to increase spending. Over the weekend, they demanded that debt ceiling negotiations begin at pre-sequester funding levels. But the Senate couldn’t even pass a bipartisan proposal from not-exactly-Tea-Party-extremist Susan Collins to maintain current spending levels until March with a debt limit increase good through January. House Republicans, meanwhile, weren’t at all pleased that Senate Republicans were trying to cut them out of a deal, but they also backed off many of their demands, especially regarding ObamaCare, only to have Barack Obama reject a deal.

Of course, the end game for Obama and Senate Leader Harry Reid isn’t to avert “default” or end the shutdown – it’s to hang blame around Republicans' necks.

As for “default,” Senate Democrat Whip Dick Durbin warned, “For the United States to default on its national debt for the first time in history would be catastrophic.” But according to The Wall Street Journal1, “The Treasury says that on Thursday it will be left with $30 billion in cash to pay the government’s bills, an amount that could run out in a week or two.” Moody’s Investors Service2, one of the nation’s most watched credit raters, says that Democrat rhetoric about the U.S. credit rating collapsing is hyperbole. If Congress fails to lift the debt ceiling, Moody’s indicates that the Treasury Department would most certainly continue to pay interest on the U.S. debt. All government revenue – of which there is still a large amount – should be first allocated for debt service, but with Obama in charge of what checks are written, all bets are off.

As the Senate produced nothing during its Sunday session, Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, along with 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, joined a crowd of veterans and others to remove the Barackades at the World War II Memorial and take them to the White House3. Unfortunately, the White House wasted no time in returning them to the Memorial.

ECONOMY
Regulatory Commissars: EPA to Scale Back Ethanol Mandate?

Last Friday, we reported4 that two senators are seeking to more strictly enforce the ethanol mandate, part of the Renewable Fuel Standard. But that doesn’t mean all is going according to plan. In fact, Reuters reports5, “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering a proposal that would set next year’s target for use of renewable fuels at 15.21 billion gallons, less than the 18.15-billion gallon 2014 target established in the law.” Scaling back on a federal regulation? Paint us gold and call us Oscar.

Indeed, the EPA has gone so far as to punish oil companies for failing to use biofuels that weren’t even available6. But as Hot Air’s Erika Johnsen writes7, “The EPA has been heretofore undeterred in continually raising the requirements, but I suppose it must be getting harder to ignore that nobody but nobody except agribusiness and their associated Big Ethanol lobbyists are fans of ethanol – not oil companies, not environmentalists (and how often do those two groups unite?!), and certainly not American consumers paying higher food and gasoline prices as a consequence.”

About those Big Ethanol lobbyists: They’re not going to go quietly. The EPA reassured them that nothing is final and it’s only a “draft proposal.” But Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, called for “an immediate investigation by the Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to determine if this was an attempt to manipulate markets such as corn futures, ethanol futures and/or RINS markets.” In other words, despite all the damage ethanol does to engines and food markets, the ethanol lobby isn’t about to let their sweet deal run out of gas.

NATIONAL SECURITY
Immigration Front: California Makes Its Own Rules

California Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown signed a series of bills that will make his state a haven for illegal aliens. The so-called “Trust Act” will ban state law enforcement from transferring detained illegals into federal custody for deportation unless the detainees have committed serious crimes. California law enforcement has long since given up arresting illegals based on their residency status, so the only reason they would be arrested in the first place is because they committed another crime. Just how serious that crime has to be for Governor Moonbeam to allow federal officials to do their job remains unclear.

Other laws Brown signed include allowing illegals to obtain driver’s licenses. Activists say this is a first step toward “equality” for illegal aliens, but it would appear that they’ve already won “equality” since Brown also signed a law that allows illegals to practice law in California. That law grew from a court case in which an illegal Mexican immigrant who came to the U.S. as a baby went on to obtain a law degree in the state. It’s interesting that in all those years specializing in law he never found time to pursue citizenship or even legal status.

Sadly, Brown’s work to make California a sanctuary state for illegals may not have been necessary. The National Border Patrol Council has revealed that agents from San Diego to the Rio Grande were ordered to stand down and not pursue human traffickers, drug runners or other potential security threats. This news comes as a recent Pew Research Center survey found that the recession-induced decline in illegal immigration has ceased and illegals are once again streaming across the border. Pew believes the uptick is related to the increasing availability of low-income jobs, but the perks being given by California surely sweeten the pot.

Happy Birthday to the U.S. Navy

On Oct. 13, 1775, the U.S. Navy was born. Be sure to wish our sailors well here8.

CULTURE
Village Academic Curriculum: Sex on Campus

Given the astronomical inflation precipitating the tremendous cost of higher education, you would think the majority of students casting themselves into long-term debt would want to max out the value of their investment. The issue, of course, is what students define to be valuable, as colleges are seemingly more focused on sex education than, say, preparing pupils for a career focused on hard work.

Take for instance the University of Maryland, host of “Sex Week.” “The event features a local D.C. sex shop called ‘The Garden’ whose mission according to its website is ‘commitment to body safe and eco-friendly products,’” reports9 CNS News' Tim Graham. In other words, it’s no ordinary sex shop – it’s eco-friendly. It’s a telling example when progressives are far more concerned with “saving” the planet than even acknowledging an issue of cultural degradation.

Nor is this the only example of such raunchy escapades. At Brown University, Nude Week featured10 an assortment of events geared toward “confronting stigmas about the naked body,” National Review’s Alec Torres explains. Evidently, “tolerance” has no bounds – and any arguments to the contrary are now characterized as “stigmas.” And at the State University of New York, “A sex lecturer paid for by required student activities fees at a public university will teach college kids gotcha21 techniques and give away sex toys,” reports11 The Washington Free Beacon’s Mary Lou Byrd. The keynote speaker at the forum was Megan Andelloux, a former Planned Parenthood employee.

All the while, progressives promote “equality” and “tolerance,” and the breakdown of the family and educational norms continues.

BRIEF OPINION
For the Record

National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke12: “There have been 17 shutdowns before this one, and a host of debt-ceiling fights to boot. Some of these happened during periods of divided government; others happened during periods of unified government. All told, they are a bipartisan game, although it seems that Democrats prefer to shut down things more than Republicans do. Fifteen of America’s previous funding gaps occurred when Democrats controlled the House, and five of them came to pass while Democrats ran every single branch of government.”