THE PATRIOT POST 09/25/2013

Wednesday Digest

September 25, 2013   

THE FOUNDATION

"If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people … must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence justify." --Federalist No. 33 (1787)

Editor's Note

Ahead of the Senate showdown on ObamaCare today, be sure to read Mark Alexander's summary of the Republican strategy (yes there is one, even if GOP "leadership" is trying to catch up with the rank and file).

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

American v German Democrat Voters

Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel, Germany's first female chancellor, won re-election Sunday by an overwhelming margin -- the largest since Helmut Kohl's post-reunification victory of 1990. Merkel's right-leaning Christian Democrats defeated the opposition Social Democrat candidate, Peer Steinbrueck. The Christian Democrats, however, fell five seats short of winning an absolute majority in the 630-seat Bundestag -- Germany's lower parliament house -- leaving them in need of a coalition partner, which most likely will be the Social Democrats. Serving another four-year term means Merkel will eclipse Margaret Thatcher as Europe's longest-serving female head of state.

What led to Merkel's victory? Well, economic austerity measures, which have left Germany, Europe's largest economy, with the lowest unemployment rate in almost two-decades, and the virtual elimination of the nation's budget deficit.
So how are American and German voters different? A majority of American voters re-elected a candidate whose policies have failed miserably, leaving the nation with record debt and real unemployment, and a stagnant economy.
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NATIONAL SECURITY

Shot Down, Twice

Shot down over Laos in 1969, the bodies of two MIA Vietnam era Air Force aviators were recovered and returned home for burial at Arlington National Cemetery this week. Major James Sizemore and his navigator Major Howard Andre were buried at Arlington National Cemetery, laid to rest side by side, just the way they flew.
However, the Air Force refused the traditional ceremonial flyover to honor these men. Captain Rose Richardson noted, "The Air Force is unable to support the flyover request for Major Sizemore due to limited flying hours and budget constraints." In other words, this is the latest entry in Obama's "blame the Republican sequester" charade. However, volunteer pilots with the Warrior Flight Team stepped into the gap and provided a flyover, including a Douglas A26 Invader of the type Sizemore and Andre were flying when they were shot down 44 years ago. The Invader was joined by P51 Mustangs off its wings.
The Patriot Post has now written about Obama's moratorium on honor flights several times since his sequestration cuts began, and each time we have noted that, while these flights have been denied, Barack Obama continues to use Air Force One and its entire contingent of additional Air Force aircraft and support crews to commute to political fundraisers, stump speeches and vacations. It is not that we think Obama should book his flights on Expedia, but the fact that the Commander in Chief continues to use this most costly Air Force asset for purely political or pleasure trips, while denying honor flights, should be called out by the national media. Even the conservative Beltway media have not seen fit to mention this unmitigated hypocrisy once.
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Kenya Be Any More PC?

Apparently, the U.S. now has another "Overseas Contingency Operation" (OCO) available, in the wake of a terrorist attack in Kenya, with all fingers pointing to al-Shabaab, Somalia's closely-tied version of al-Qaida. With the "War on Terror" now over -- thanks to the politically correct (PC) handiwork of Team Yes-We-Can -- it's good to know the world can now rest easy.
Read more and comment here.

ECONOMY

Sliding Farther Down the Freedom Scale

It's becoming an annual lament: Once the United States was among the most economically free nations on the planet, but now we barely crack the top 20. According to the 2013 Economic Freedom of the World report, now co-published by the Cato and Fraser Institutes, we rank not only behind the usual leaders Hong Kong and Singapore, but Jordan and the United Kingdom as well. Jordan? Are you kidding us?

Apparently they're serious, and a key reason for the decline is the ever-growing role of our government in shaping the economy. At the turn of the century, the United States was generally just behind Hong Kong and Singapore atop the rankings, but that was before the size and scope of government grew thanks to the 9/11 terrorist attack and its resulting "enhanced" security measures, new and exploding entitlement programs, and -- particularly in the last five years -- a new regulatory state in response to economic crisis. "I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system," said George W. Bush in 2008, and with that our economic freedom continued its plunge.

One piece of good news, if any can be found, is that the U.S. has stabilized its ranking at 19th after plunging eight spots from 10th to 18th between 2009 and 2010 -- the current edition of Economic Freedom of the World is based on 2011 data, which is the latest available. The value assigned by the study showed we actually improved our lot from a 7.70 score (out of a possible 10) in last year's report to 7.74 this time. But that's a long way from the 8.65 rating we attained in the year 2000, and it may be at least a half-decade before we claw our way back over the 8-point barrier.
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CULTURE

Village Academic Curriculum: Failing Schools

"Philadelphia's schools," notes The Wall Street Journal, "are a textbook case of chronic, systemic failure." Why? Well, just 40% of Philadelphia's students tested proficient or better in reading. Paradoxically, 99.5% of teachers have a satisfactory rating. On top of that, the average teacher at a traditional school in Philadelphia earns $110,000 in salary and benefits. Last year, the district borrowed $300 million to cover a budget deficit and this year closed more than 20 schools and laid off 3,000 employees to cover another $300 million hole, all while union benefits remain lavish. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, is working to get some concessions from the union, but, as usual, they're putting the kids, er, their bottom line first.

While Philadelphia's schools crumble, a New York teacher fired earlier this year for possessing a stash of heroin could get his job back after a judge found his firing to be "unduly harsh."
And then there's the story of the Virginia seventh graders who were suspended and could be expelled for firing airsoft guns on private property. They allegedly violated their school's "zero tolerance" policy while waiting for the bus. We'd say it's time the U.S. education system displayed "zero tolerance" for mindless leftists.

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BRIEF OPINION

Re: The Left

Columnist Mark Steyn: "'This is the United States of America,' declared President Obama to the burghers of Liberty, Missouri, on Friday. 'We're not some banana republic.' He was talking about the Annual Raising of the Debt Ceiling, which glorious American tradition seems to come round earlier every year. ... As Obama explained in another of his recent speeches, 'Raising the debt ceiling, which has been done over a hundred times, does not increase our debt.' I won't even pretend to know what he and his speechwriters meant by that one, but the fact that raising the debt ceiling 'has been done over a hundred times' does suggest that spending more than it takes in is now a permanent feature of American government. And no one has plans to do anything about it. Which is certainly banana republic-esque."

Political Futures

Blogger John Hinderaker: "[Y]ou would think that Republicans will sweep in 2014 -- increase their hold on the House, and take the Senate. But that isn't what voters have in mind. Rasmussen ... finds that currently, Democrats lead Republicans in the generic Congressional preference poll by 40%-37%. It's a paradox: voters prefer Republicans on the issues, but still lean toward voting for Democrats. One could speculate about why that is true; I think it is obvious that the press's ceaseless attacks on Republicans are part of the explanation. That is a longstanding problem, but the numbers suggest that Republicans will do best if they keep pounding away on the issues, especially the ones where voters are predisposed to favor them."

Essential Liberty

Columnist John Stossel: "Invent something and the first thing that goes through some people's minds -- especially politicians' minds -- is what might go wrong. 3D printers now allow you to mold objects right in your living room, using patterns you find online. ... But what critics see is: guns! ... On TV, Rachel Maddow sneered about 'a well-armed anarchist utopia, where everybody fends for themselves with stupid-looking plastic guns. … It's a political effort to try to do away with government.' Do away with government? If only we could do away with some! Big-government politicians and their cheerleaders in the media focus on threats posed by innovation because they fear loss of control. They move to ban things. ... In a free market, a symphony of desires comes together, and they're met by people who constantly rack their brains to provide better services and invent solutions to our desires. It's not a few people desiring guns that I fear. It's government getting in the way of all those new possibilities."
For more, visit The Right Opinion.

CHRONICLE QUOTES

Editorial Exegesis

The Wall Street Journal: "A not-so-fond farewell to IRS doyenne Lois Lerner, who resigned Monday as the agency's director of Exempt Organizations. Since announcing in May that the IRS had singled out conservative groups applying for tax exempt status for additional scrutiny during an election season, Ms. Lerner has been on paid administrative leave. Not a bad deal, getting paid not to work -- so why resign now? One answer is that this gets ahead of a recently completed but still not released IRS personnel review that we hear criticizes her job performance and recommends she be fired. By resigning now, she will collect her full pension and benefits, though she still refuses to answer questions from Congress. ... Ms. Lerner's resignation under duress reflects the IRS's acknowledgment that her actions profoundly discredited the agency. Let's hope the rest of the reckoning isn't as long in coming."
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Insight

Economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973): "The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office."
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Dezinformatsia

MSNBC's Krystal Ball: "Now, I want you to think about this: the GOP is saying to young people, 'We would like to have the government stick an unnecessary trans-vaginal probe in you if you want an abortion, but when it comes to health insurance, don't take any government help. ... And if you die an agonizing and unnecessary death, one that could have been prevented by the health insurance reform that bears the president's name, at least you know your death will not have been in vain."

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Demo-gogues

Barack Obama: "[W]e're seeing an extreme faction of these [Republicans] convincing their leadership to threaten to shut down the government if we don't shut down the Affordable Care Act. ... It is not going to happen. We have come too far. We've overcome far darker threats than those. ... We're not going to allow anyone to inflict economic pain on millions of our own people just to make an ideological point."

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From the 'Non Compos Mentis' File

Rep. Chris Van Hollen: "[Republicans] have been running around the country demagoguing, scaremongering on this [ObamaCare] issue. They're not afraid that it's going to be unsuccessful, they're afraid it's going to be successful and all of that misinformation will be shown to be a fraud."
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The BIG Lie

Harry Reid: "Are Republicans so intent on undermining both President Obama and his signature health care law that they're willing to inflict severe damage to our economy in the process? ... This 'Thelma and Louise' style just isn't getting the attention of the American people in a positive tone. If Democrats don't bow to every demand [Tea Party Republicans] have, they want to go right over the cliff. Well, we're not going to go with them."

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Braying Jackass

Rep. Charlie Rangel: "Jesus said that you're going straight to Hell if you didn't treat the lesser of His brothers and sisters. And what did He say? He said he was hungry, you didn't give him food stamps; He was thirsty, you didn't purify the water; that he [was] naked, and you didn't give him Social Security."

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Village Idiots

Ted Turner: "I came up with the idea at least 20 years ago that we needed more women in politics. ... And I suggested that men be barred from political office. They could do everything else, be president of universities, business leaders, but they just couldn't serve in any elected position for 100 years. I think we'd have a lot more emphasis on education and health care and a lot less on Army and the Navy and the Marine Corps."

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Short Cuts

Humorist Frank J. Fleming: "To defund Obamacare, can't we just distract Obama for a month so he forgets to pay the bill?"

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team

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