Wednesday DigestTHE FOUNDATION
"No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt." --George Washington
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICSShutdown Showdown Day 9
The federal government's
partial shutdown is now in its ninth day and Republicans and Democrats
are still bickering and seeking political gain. What else is new? The
Republican-controlled House has passed 16 measures to fund parts of the
government, while the Senate has rejected every effort. Senate Leader
Harry Reid (D-NV) is pushing a $1.1 trillion debt ceiling increase
through Dec. 31, 2014 -- after Election Day. It includes no spending
reform whatsoever.
For his part, Barack Obama
trotted out to a press conference yesterday to denounce Republicans,
who he says shouldn't "demand ransom" for funding the government. Just
to drill the point home, he used terms like "hostage-taking," "nuclear
bomb," "extortion" and "economic chaos" to describe GOP tactics.
Aside from this verbal
bludgeoning, he said he was "happy to talk" to Republicans "about
anything" -- provided they pass a continuing resolution and raise the
debt ceiling first. He even dared the House to pass a CR.
Obama is clearly lying about his willingness to negotiate in a pathetic
attempt to portray himself as eminently reasonable. And House Speaker
John Boehner (R-OH) didn't bite: "What the president said today is if
there's unconditional surrender by Republicans, he'll sit down and talk
to us. That's not the way our government works."
Meanwhile, one stat you may have missed on the evening news is that the shutdown affects just 17% of the government. That's right: 83% of the government is up and running. But that hasn't stopped Obama from his singular mission to make people suffer.
He even admitted that the reason for blocking partial funding and
inflicting as much pain as possible is to make sure Republicans feel "political heat."
The latest on that front is that the Pentagon is suspending death
benefits for families of military personnel killed in Afghanistan.
National parks remain Barackaded, though an exception was made for illegal immigration activists at the DC mall.But hey, Obama's "happy to talk" -- though talk is all he ever does. And the nation is getting tired of his constantly petulant, rude and childish rhetoric. Comment | Share NATIONAL SECURITYWarfront With Jihadistan: Al-Qaida's Fate Not Yet Fully SEAL'd
Here's a question: If
al-Qaida has been "decimated" by the liberals' messiah -- that
"decisiveness" term was of course what Barack Obama himself used to
characterize what he had done to the world's most notorious terrorist
group -- how come Africa is now a chaotic rubble of al-Qaida terrorist
bombings that require U.S. Special Forces' retaliation? Frankly, the
only things we view as having been "decimated" lately are Kenyan
shopping malls and the president's reputation as the free world's
leader.
Of course, our strong
support and thanks goes out to the brave members of the Army's Delta
Force and the Navy's SEALs, teams from both of which ran headlong into
harms' way over the past weekend. In Libya's capital, Tripoli, Delta
Force successfully captured al-Qaida leader Abu Anas al Libi, who has
been wanted since 1998 for the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. In
Somalia, Navy SEALs went after leaders of al-Shabaab, al-Qaida's branch
there that's linked to the recent shopping mall bombing in Kenya's
capital, Nairobi. Unfortunately, after encountering considerably greater
resistance and non-combatant presence than anticipated, SEAL Team Six
had to abandon its firefight with al-Shabaab. This, of course, will only
embolden the Somali terrorist group.
However, notwithstanding
our concerns about how Mr. Executive Clown Act got us here in the first
place, we applaud the gutsy decision by the White House to take the
risks inherent in both of these raids: Without boots-on-ground
intervention into these would-be sanctuaries, another 9/11 is not only
possible, but also very likely. Actionable intelligence yielded by such
raids is likewise priceless to securing the U.S. and preventing another
9/11.
From a national security standpoint, however, our real problem with
this administration is its head-in-the-sand approach to dealing with
worldwide terrorism and its Pollyanna-like painting of the world as a peaceful haven of bliss
since Team Chosen arrived on-scene. Nothing of the sort has happened.
In fact, it's exactly the opposite: Al-Qaida networks are expanding, not
contracting; worldwide terrorist acts are rising, not falling; and the
Middle East is virtually on fire, not by any means at peace. What the
nation really needs is not only a leader who acts decisively when crises
reach their boiling points, but also one who does not lay fertile
ground for those crises in the first place, by appearing weak and
unaffected, and by ignoring real threats to national security until they
fester to the point they are impossible to ignore.ECONOMYYellen Tapped to Head Federal Reserve
After months of debate over Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's successor, Barack Obama has chosen Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen to fill the post by February. "If confirmed," reports The Wall Street Journal,
"Ms. Yellen, 67 years old, would become the first female Fed chief in
its 100-year history. She would also be the first Democrat in the
position since Paul Volcker left the Fed in 1987." She's almost certain
to be confirmed, as many Senate Democrats lined up behind her early on.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) praised Yellen's "great experience" and
"great judgment" and said she would make a "terrific" chair. But then,
that's hardly a reassuring endorsement given the source.
What this means is that
the Fed is unlikely to drastically change course from its easy-money and
low-interest policies any time soon. Indeed, Yellen has suggested
near-zero interest rates into 2016. And, of course, "quantitative
easing" -- essentially printing more money -- is one of the primary
methods of keeping the government afloat with its astronomical Obama
debt, and Yellen's job will be covering for her boss. In March, she
said, "I view the balance of risks as still calling for a highly
accommodative monetary policy to support a stronger recovery and
more-rapid growth in employment." That hasn't exactly worked out very
well for the last five years.
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CULTUREHail to the ... No Names?
Across the country over
the last few decades, a number of college sports teams have changed
their nicknames as part of the rush toward political correctness, with
many casting aside Indian-based names in favor of new monikers deemed
less offensive, like Eagles, Redhawks, Red Storm or Crimson Hawks.
Professional teams have
also faced the same pressure, particularly the Atlanta Braves, Chicago
Blackhawks, Cleveland Indians, and most recently and relentlessly the
Washington Redskins. The stakes for a change from the NFL franchise were
raised this week when Barack Obama couldn't resist spouting off
that he would "think about changing" the name if he owned the team. On
the other hand, Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has consistently said he
would never change the name.
Yet there is pressure from other avenues, along with local precedent
for changing team monikers. Former FCC chairman Reed Hundt is trying to
persuade broadcasters to stop using the "Redskins" nickname, and it was
then-Washington Bullets owner Abe Pollin who grew "tired of the
association" between his team's nickname and the violence gripping the
city when the NBA franchise became the Wizards in 1997 after a renaming
contest.
But NFL fans who have
remained steadfast and loyal to their Redskins for nearly 80 years are a
harder group to crack, and, far from being offended, even Indian tribes
are mainly indifferent to the name. It seems the group most offended
are the professionally aggrieved and busybody sportswriters who have
invested barrels of ink trying to change what most people find utterly
banal and unimportant.
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BRIEF OPINIONRe: The LeftEconomist Thomas Sowell: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that he wants a 'clean' bill from the House of Representatives, and some in the media keep repeating the word 'clean' like a mantra. But what is unclean about not giving Harry Reid everything he wants? If Senator Reid and President Obama refuse to accept the money required to run the government, because it leaves out the money they want to run ObamaCare, that is their right. But that is also their responsibility. You cannot blame other people for not giving you everything you want. And it is a fraud to blame them when you refuse to use the money they did vote, even when it is ample to pay for everything else in the government. ... Unless the Republicans get their side of the story out -- and articulation has never been their strong suit -- the lies will win. More important, the whole country will lose."Comment | Share For the Record
Columnist Arnold Ahlert:
"On Saturday, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Trust Act. It
prohibits illegal aliens from being turned over to U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities for possible deportation unless
they have been charged with or convicted of a serious offense. ... The
federal government's priorities are tellingly selective. When the state
of Arizona passed SB 1070, a law that allowed law enforcement officials
to inquire about proof of residence from those detained for other
legitimate reasons, Eric Holder's Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the
state. The DOJ won a partial victory when the Supreme Court ruled that
asking people to produce proof they are in the country legally if they
have been stopped for another legitimate reason is constitutional, but
Justice Anthony Kennedy determined that immigration law per se --
including the decision not to enforce the law -- remains exclusively
under federal jurisdiction. The likelihood that the DOJ will file a
similar lawsuit against California for its decision to openly defy
federal immigration law? Zero."
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Political Futures
Columnist Judi McLeod:
"Used to be that politicians faced off their opponents in the fine art
of debate. There was a time when sacrosanct elected officials met face
to face with angry taxpayers, and at least gave the appearance of trying
to answer some of their questions. Both those ideals jumped down
Alice's rabbit hole when Obama came into power and took over the social media networks.
Why bother with statesmanship and run-ins with those plebes who pay
your salary; why worry about ObamaCare when as a politician you don't
have to sign up; when all you have to do is come up with the right
#hashtag like 'Joe Schmo's an anarchist and an arsonist' and run your
message in the blink of an instant across the worldwide web? Left on
their own for any length of time, politicians will always find the easy
way out, and character assassination by public messaging is the easiest
way out. Nothing ever sticks to them after Tweeting their worst and they
can laugh about it out on the golf links."
For more, visit The Right Opinion.CHRONICLE QUOTESEditorial Exegesis
The Wall Street Journal:
"The Supreme Court ruled in June that a section of the 1965 Voting
Rights Act is no longer justified due to racial progress, but the U.S.
Attorney General has launched a campaign to undo the decision
state-by-state. ... Mr. Holder wants to haul North Carolina and Texas
back into long-term federal supervision through a back door. Under
Section 3 of the Act, states can be required to get federal preclearance
if a court finds that the state has intentionally discriminated against
minorities in its voting laws. That's a high legal bar that the Justice
Department will find hard to prove, especially since many of the two
states' voter ID provisions are widespread in other states. ... All the
evidence suggests that Mr. Holder's real motive here is political.
Portraying voter ID laws as racist helped to drive Democratic voter
turnout among minorities in 2012, and the White House wants a repeat in
2014. Never mind if the suits eventually fail in court. The goal is to
elect more Democrats in the meantime, even if it means needlessly
increasing racial polarization."
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InsightEconomist Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992): "There is all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal."Demo-gogues"Imagine in your private life if you decided that 'I'm not going to pay my mortgage for a month or two.' First of all, you're not saving money by not paying your mortgage. You're just a deadbeat. … What's true for individuals is also true for nations, even the most powerful nation on earth."Comment | Share From the 'Non Compos Mentis' File
White House Press
Secretary Jay Carney: "[Obama's] willing to have negotiations about what
steps we should take to fund our government in a way that allows us to
invest in the future, protect the middle class, attract businesses to
the United States, and reduce our deficit in a responsible and balanced
way. ... But he's not willing to negotiate over Republican demands to
collapse the world economy if they don't do away with affordable health
insurance for the American people."
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Braying JackassHarry Reid: "I just finished a telephonic conversation with Speaker Boehner. My message to him was very simple. We have to stop playing these foolish games that keep coming to us from the other side of the Capitol. This is not about him or me, about scoring points for one side or the other, name-calling, like the villain of villains. It's about doing the right thing for the American people. They expect us to act like adults."Comment | Share DezinformatsiaNPR memo to editors: "'Obamacare' seems to be straddling somewhere between being a politically-charged term and an accepted part of the vernacular. And it seems to be on our air and in our copy a great deal. ... But word choices do leave an impression. Please avoid overusing 'Obamacare.'"Comment | Share The BIG LieHHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius: "[ObamaCare's health exchange marketplace] is simple and user-friendly, and the coverage is affordable. Jan. 1 will be a new day for millions of Americans who have waited a very long time to obtain affordable health insurance."Village IdiotsJimmy Carter: "The disparity between rich people and poor people in America has increased dramatically since when we started. The middle class has become more like poor people than they were 30 years ago. So I don't think it's getting any better."Short Cuts
Comedian Jay Leno:
"President Obama has officially canceled his trip to Asia. He said he
didn't want to be in Indonesia not doing anything to solve the crisis
when he could be in Washington not doing anything to solve it. ...
Actually, it's the perfect time for President Obama to go to Asia. I
mean, what better time to leave Joe Biden in charge of the country than
during a shutdown?"
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team
Join us in daily prayer
for our Patriots in uniform -- Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and
Coast Guardsmen -- standing in harm's way in defense of Liberty, and for
their families.
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