Friday, February 7, 2014

THE PATRIOT POST 02/07/2014

THE FOUNDATION

"Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says No, to this question, is an Independant for independency means no more than this, whether we shall make our own laws, or, whether the King, the greatest enemy this continent hath, or can have, shall tell us there shall be no laws but such as I like." --Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS

GOP Pulls Back on Immigration

The House GOP rank-and-file have seemingly succeeded in delaying the leadership's immigration "reform" -- at least for the time being. House Speaker John Boehner explained why reform could be shelved: "There's widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws, and it's going to be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes. ... [We] do not believe that the reform that we're talking about will be implemented as it was intended to be. The president seems to change the health care law on a whim, whenever he likes. Now he's running around the country telling everyone that he's going to keep acting on his own." We're hesitant to ascribe savvy strategic thinking to the GOP, but it's possible that they rolled out a reform proposal only to withdraw it while highlighting Obama's untrustworthiness. Then again, rumor has it Boehner's job was on the line, and maybe that's what gave him strategic perspective.

January Jobs

The U.S. economy added just 113,000 jobs in January, failing for the second straight month to keep up with population growth. The headline unemployment rate fell again to 6.6%, but the better news is that the bigger-picture number, known as the U-6 rate, also fell to 12.7%, the lowest since December 2008. Workforce participation rose slightly but is still at a historic low. Still, the Associated Press called it a "surprisingly weak" jobs report, indicating that the economy is slowing again. In fact, it's not surprising at all. CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf warned this week that "a slower rate of growth of the labor force" -- caused at least in part by ObamaCare -- "is the central factor in slowing economic growth." Slower growth is leftism's central tenet.

'Religion Is Under Threat'

As the saying goes, if it weren't for double standards, the Left wouldn't have any. Barack Obama demonstrated this point to perfection at the annual National Prayer Breakfast where he warned that "freedom of religion is under threat ... around the world." He neglected to mention, however, that organizations like Little Sisters of the Poor and Hobby Lobby are suing his administration because they object to contraceptives mandated under ObamaCare in violation of their religious views. Even more astoundingly, Obama claimed, "We ... believe in the inherent dignity of every human being," and "the killing of the innocent is never fulfilling God's will; in fact, it's the ultimate betrayal of God's will." Remember, this is a man who supports abortion under any and all circumstances, even in its most appalling partial-birth form, and who once told Planned Parenthood "God bless you." The seemingly total lack of self-awareness is beyond shocking.

One Insurer's Bailout

Remember that ObamaCare insurance bailout? Well, the first stats are in for one insurer and it's not pretty. The American Enterprise Institute's Scott Gottlieb writes, "Humana announced that it expects to tap the three risk adjustment mechanisms in ObamaCare for between $250 and $450 million in 2014. This amounts to about 25 percent of the insurer's expected exchange revenue." That's also just one insurer! More will undoubtedly follow. Not only that, but Humana enrolled 202,000 people via the ObamaCare exchanges as of Jan. 31, and some 82% of them were eligible for subsidies. The price of Hope 'n' Change™ just keeps going up.

Debt Limit Reached

The federal government reaches its borrowing limit today, leaving Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to resort to "extraordinary measures" to avoid default. He can hold off until the end of February, he says. Republicans are still trying to figure out what item to demand in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, which doesn't exactly put them in a strong bargaining position. We expect them to just concede to a "clean" hike in order to make a better election issue out of it. Meanwhile, federal spending goes in the same direction it always does: up.
For more, visit Right Hooks.
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RIGHT ANALYSIS

RNC Launches Black History Push

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Liberty is colorblind
The Republican National Committee has launched a Black History Month ad campaign that also honors recipients of this year's Black Republican Trailblazers Awards. The RNC has made minority outreach a priority after the 2012 election, recognizing that Republicans have ceded far too much ground to Democrats when it comes to engaging minority voters. Democrats have won and held the loyalty of black voters over the last several decades by claiming to offer them opportunities while holding them in an endless cycle of government dependency -- the poverty plantation, if you will.
The fact that Democrats hold such an overwhelming majority of black votes year in and year out represents a sad historical irony. The Republican Party was founded in 1856 with an anti-slavery platform, and it was Republican votes that added the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. Jim Crow was a Southern Democratic invention, and for decades it was Democrats who stymied the advancement of civil rights legislation. Yet, leftist propaganda would have us believe that the GOP has a long history of racism. Just the opposite is true. Democrat President Lyndon Johnson may have been behind the push to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but he was also responsible for creating welfare programs that have not done anything to improve the lives of minorities -- and arguably the opposite -- for over 60 years.
Yet the GOP has a lot of work to do to reverse this long-entrenched lie that is perpetuated by the Leftmedia. They can start by communicating the real history of the Republican Party, and explain that the GOP platform is actually in the best interest of everyone, including minorities. Blacks embrace Democrats because they have been led to believe there is no alternative but state dependence. It's up to the GOP to spread the word that opportunity comes from personal responsibility and Liberty, not government subsidies.
Democrats have very successfully politicized race, making it an issue of conflict in electoral politics. But all people deserve freedom of opportunity, and Republicans need to push that message. After all, as Mark Alexander wrote Wednesday, Liberty is colorblind.

Why the Abortion Rate Decline?

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Despite the present make-up of our federal government, new research shows that Americans are becoming more conservative in at least one respect: abortion. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the abortion rate in 2011 was the lowest since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. Guttmacher, the think tank of Planned Parenthood, undoubtedly slants to the left; however, those on both sides of the abortion debate generally consider its research respectable.
While the numbers indicating a decline are not being debated, the reasons for it are. As usual, there are many theories, and few solid answers. Pro-abortion organizations credit the broader and more diligent use of birth control -- including IUD and Plan B -- but it's not that simple. Many conservatives believe that the decline is due in part to what Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto dubs the "Roe Effect": essentially, a political sea change arising from the demographic shifts created by the 56 million abortions performed since Roe.
It seems that technology has a lot to do with the decline as well. Thanks to 3-D sonograms and other advancements, we can prove so much more about the stages of pregnancies, particularly the early stages, before the baby is considered legally "viable." Modern technology's remarkably detailed in utero view of the unborn child has gone a long way toward dissuading women from terminating their pregnancies.
Another factor is pro-life legislation enacted in several states. Pro-abortion organizations, including Guttmacher, claim these laws are ineffective, though the Institute did acknowledge the effectiveness of one piece of legislation. The Hyde Amendment, which banned federal funding for most abortions, is credited with preventing 18% to 35% of such procedures.
Whatever the reasons for the declining rate, we have much work to do, as abortion still snuffs out more than one million innocent lives each year.
For more, visit Right Analysis.

TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS

For more, visit Right Opinion.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Columnist Burt Prelutsky: "Down in Texas, a female legislator is basing her run for the governor's mansion on the fact that she delivered a filibuster in opposition to a bill banning abortions after the 20th week. Frankly, I consider all these arbitrary deadlines to be signs of a depraved society. What if the period of human gestation was only a week instead of nine months? Would the knuckleheads be arguing that an abortion could take place up until 8 a.m. on Wednesday, but not a minute later? And isn't it rather like saying murder is legal until the end of April, but a capital crime after the 1st of May? The abortion advocates use very odd yardsticks."
Columnist Charles Krauthammer: "After 'first, do no harm,' medicine's second great motto should be 'above all, humility.' Even the tried-and-true may not be true. Take the average adult temperature. Everyone knows it's 98.6 F. Except that when some enterprising researchers actually did the measurements -- rather than rely on the original 19th-century German study -- they found that it's actually 98.2. But if that's how dicey biological 'facts' can be, imagine how much more problematic are the handed-down verities about the workings of our staggeringly complex health care system. ... It's not surprising that myths about the workings of the fabulously complex U.S. health care system continue to tantalize -- and confound -- policymakers. After all, Americans so believe in their vitamins/supplements that they swallow $28 billion worth every year."
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988): "You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once."
National Review's Michael Auslin: "Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel is increasingly a textbook example of how far the Democratic party has moved to the left since Bill Clinton's day. Emanuel, who cut his teeth in Clinton's administration, just presided over a $1.9 billion increase in Chicago's debt, only months after Moody's downgraded the city's bond ratings three notches based on its growing and unsustainable spending and debt obligations. ... All told ... the Windy City has $29 billion in long-term debt. ... Old-line Democratic cities, it seems, have learned nothing from Detroit's collapse."
Comedian Jay Leno: "The Olympics start Friday and Russia's implementing the most intensive security in Olympics history. The government will monitor every email. They will monitor every social media message and they will listen in on every phone call. In fact, people are now comparing Russia to the United States. That's how bad it is."
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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