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« on: June 19, 2015, 06:23:08 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 6-19-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest
Jun. 19, 2015
THE FOUNDATION
“Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.” —Samuel Adams, essay in The Public Advertiser, 1749
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
Maybe It’s Not a ‘Gun Problem’1
It took Barack Obama just 12 hours to classify the senseless killings in Charleston as a “gun problem2,” exploiting the blood of innocents3 as political fodder to advance his gun control agenda. In a press conference Thursday, Obama asserted, “At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.” Unless you count all the “mass violence … in other advanced countries” like the recent Charlie Hebdo attack in France, where eleven were murdered. Oh wait, the Paris hate crime was perpetrated by Islamists — Obama doesn’t count those (see Ft. Hood attack). But it was a nice sound bite. Moreover, other countries have not deliberately institutionalized urban poverty plantations4, which have become mass breeding grounds for such violence. That is the inconvenient truth Obama will never mention. Alveda King, NAACP member, Christian civil rights activist and niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., acutely observes, “To politicize this by calling for gun control — we already know that gun control is not going to stop the violence. Only a change of heart is going to do that.”
GOP Must Decide ObamaCare Policy Before SCOTUS Rules5
The Supreme Court could issue a ruling as early as Monday in King v. Burwell, the case regarding whether the federal government overstepped its authority in paying out subsidies to those purchasing health insurance on the federal ObamaCare exchange. The GOP has been preparing for this moment for awhile now. If the Court strikes down the subsidies, a legislative fix will be needed, and proposals6 have been coming in from all sides of the conservative spectrum. Sen. Ron Johnson proposed extending the subsidies to 2017, as a Republican administration may occupy the White House then. The Heritage Foundation suggested repealing the subsidies. And Rep. Paul Gosar unveiled his Premium Reduction and Insurance Market Reform Act, a bill that would end subsidies and also end regulations like the age rating restriction. Now it is up to the Republican leadership in Congress to plot a policy and strategy to enact a conservative reform to ObamaCare. Chief Executive for Heritage Action for America Michael Needham said, “A continuation of illegal subsidies will simply cover up the law’s costs while giving the impression Republicans believe subsidies are necessary for Americans to afford health insurance.” But that option is tempting GOP leadership7, as Barack Obama and the Left will make a King v. Burwell fallout politically fraught8.
Texas to Take Back $1 Billion in Gold From the Fed9
Texas no longer trusts our nation’s central bank to safely store its gold in New York City. For years, the Lone Star State has kept its $1 billion in gold in the hands of the Federal Reserve Bank, which has safeguarded the bullion of the U.S. government, foreign governments and other major organizations. But now, the state is setting up its own bullion depository and will soon withdraw its gold from Fed control. “Today I signed HB 483 to provide a secure facility for the State of Texas, state agencies and Texas citizens to store gold bullion and other precious metals,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott10 said in a statement June 12. “With the passage of this bill, the Texas Bullion Depository will become the first state-level facility of its kind in the nation, increasing the security and stability of our gold reserves and keeping taxpayer funds from leaving Texas to pay for fees to store gold in facilities outside our state.” The move could be as simple as Texas stepping up and taking responsibility for its own assets, as well as providing a place for Texas citizens to store gold. Or, as CBS notes11, it could be a step toward establishing a currency if Texas were to secede from the union. Regardless, it’s a Texas two-step toward greater autonomy.
FATHER’S DAY
Sunday is Father’s Day, a fitting day to consider four contexts for “father” — God the Father, our own earthly fathers, the role of men as father to their children, and the legacy of our forefathers. They combine to create a rich and abiding sense of what fatherhood means, as well as what it should look and feel like in heart and practice.
But for tens of millions of Americans from broken homes, the consequences of failed fatherhood are the enormous obstacles their children must endeavor to overcome in relationships with their Creator, with their own spouses and children, and in their ability to honor their forefathers' legacy.
Patriot fathers, if you want to extend the Legacy of Liberty to the next generation, there is no better place to start than in your own home.
In the words of the Father of our Nation, George Washington, “May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.” (1790)
For more, read Mark Alexander’s essay, Fathers and Freedom: Irrevocably Linked12.
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
The Pope’s Encyclical Isn’t That Revolutionary13
By Lewis Morris
Pope Francis released his much-discussed 184-page papal encyclical14 on climate change Thursday and the Leftmedia have already distilled the message down to a one sentence quote: “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.”
Liberals embrace the Pope, or any aspect of religion in general for that matter, when it suits them. The rhetoric surrounding this encyclical is no different.
An encyclical15, for those of us who are not Catholic, is an open letter written by a pope. They are not considered infallible. Think of it as an opinion piece written by the pope.
The document, entitled “Laudato Si” (Praise Be to You), states, “Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”
Francis blames the problem on consumerism, corporate greed, overreliance on technology and the poisonous political atmosphere in and among many nations. He called for a radial change in how people conduct their political and economic affairs and suggested that the time has come for each of us to alter our individual lifestyles in response to climate issues.
The encyclical was leaked earlier this week by the Italian magazine L'Espresso, which set off half-baked opinions and speculation16 about what the document was going to say, with liberals pre-embracing Francis' message and conservatives expressing concern about the injection of the Vatican into a debate that is far from settled, despite what environmentalists would have us believe.
It is interesting how liberals, who have always rejected religion in favor of worship of the state, have embraced Francis since his ascension in Rome. Francis, who comes from Argentina, is the first pope from the developing world, and, coming from a poor nation as he does, his worldview is shaped accordingly. He has frequently spoken on issues of poverty and inequality, often excoriating capitalism and calling on Western democracies to do more for the world’s poor.
This message of taking from the rich and giving to the poor combined with his latest writings on climate change fall right into line with the liberal narrative, and they have fallen over themselves to praise the pope’s latest message.
Of course, the liberal media has been quite selective in its adoration for Francis, choosing to promote his words that match their ideology, but somehow failing to report on other parts of the pope’s message17 that don’t swing with the liberal dogma.
Here are a few excerpts from “Laudato Si” that are unlikely to make the front page of the major daily newspapers:
“A spirituality which forgets God as all-powerful and Creator is not acceptable.”
“When media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously.”
“Concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion … It is troubling that, when some ecological movements defend the integrity of the environment, rightly demanding that certain limits be imposed on scientific research, they sometimes fail to apply those same principles to human life.”
“Helping the poor financially must always be a provisional solution in the face of pressing needs. The broader objective should always be to allow them a dignified life through work.” |
