THE PATRIOT POST 02/25/2014

Daily Digest for Tuesday

February 25, 2014   

THE FOUNDATION

"[J]udges ... should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man, or body of men." --John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS

Cheney Slams Military Cuts

Dick Cheney responded Monday to Barack Obama's proposed military cuts saying they will do "enormous long-term damage to our military." He said the administration simply has the wrong view of defense. "They act as though it is like highway spending and you can turn it on and off. The fact of the matter is he is having a huge impact on the ability of future presidents to deal with future crises that are bound to arise." The U.S. is less respected and less trusted in the world, and these cuts are bound to exacerbate that problem. But Cheney really hit the nail on the head when he said of Obama, "He would much rather spend the money on food stamps than he would on a strong military or support for our troops."
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Hillary's Univision

It's no secret that the Leftmedia is desperate for another Democrat in the White House come 2016, or that many outlets want that Democrat to be Hillary Clinton. But few have given the unmistakable and direct endorsement that Haim Saban, owner of Univision, gave to Clinton. "Seeing her in the White House is a big dream of mine," he said. And USA Today reports, "Univision, the country's top Spanish-language network [and fifth largest network overall], has entered into a multiyear deal with Hillary Clinton to promote the health, education and well-being of young children." Out on a limb here, but that seems problematic. One might even think it amounts to in-kind campaign contributions. Yet other media outlets aren't making a peep.
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Rice Doubles Down

On Sunday's "Meet the Press," National Security Advisor Susan Rice defended her post-Benghazi talking points at the scene of the original lie. "What I said to you that morning, and what I did every day since, was to share the best information that we had at the time," she said. "That information turned out, in some respects, not to be 100% correct, but the notion that somehow I or anybody else in the administration misled the American people is patently false. And I think that that's been amply demonstrated." What has been amply demonstrated is that she and her administration cohorts did lie about the attack in order to cover for Barack Obama's campaign story about decimating al-Qaida. She may have no regrets, but that doesn't change the facts.
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Another Democrat Retirement

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) became the longest serving member of Congress in history on June 7, 2013, passing the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV). On Monday, however, the 87-year-old Dingell announced his retirement at the end of this term, his 29th full one. Dingell replaced his father 58 years ago, and now his wife Debbie says she'll run for his seat. "I'm not going to be carried out feet first," Dingell said. "I don't want people to say I stayed too long." He's a few terms too late for that one, especially considering he was a primary author of ObamaCare. Evidently, however, the people of Detroit are slow learners. Democrat one-party rule, corresponding with Dingell's terms in office, has crippled that once great city.
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SCOTUS Declines 2A Cases

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined, without comment, to hear three petitions on the Second Amendment. At issue are separate appeals court cases concerning the scope of the right to keep and bear arms, outside the home for example. To oversimplify, we think the Amendment's language regarding the right "to bear" arms clearly indicates a right to, well, bear arms. But some courts have ruled that isn't the case, with -- surprisingly -- the Ninth Circuit as well as the Seventh Circuit adhering to the Constitution's plain language. Evidently, SCOTUS is unwilling at this point to address the confusion, so it will remain an unsettled issue for now.
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For more, visit Right Hooks.

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RIGHT ANALYSIS

High Court Considers High Carbon Regulation

On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, an examination of the Environmental Protection Agency's air pollution regulation and standards. The agency, with Barack Obama's full blessing, has been aggressive in the extreme in labeling and regulating carbon dioxide as a "pollutant," and now its power to regulate CO2 emissions could stretch beyond automobiles to all levels of industry. Not just power plants, but hospitals, farms, office buildings, and even large homes could become subject to a form of regulation known as stationary source permitting. The negative impact this would have on the economy could be severe, all while any positive affect it will have on the air is negligible.
The high court's 2007 ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA allowed the EPA to declare carbon a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, which it promptly moved to regulate once Obama took office. The problem here is that the Clean Air Act did not account for regulating CO2 as a pollutant, and now the EPA is using its own arbitrary standards to judge CO2 levels based on unrelated portions of a law that was written 44 years ago and amended only sporadically since.
The question now becomes just how much power should an executive branch agency have to unilaterally rewrite or reshape a law to fulfill its duties. One would think that such power would be severely limited, if not nonexistent. However, the environmental lobby and supporters of a broader EPA mandate believe that because Congress has "failed" to act in updating the law, it becomes the responsibility of the agency to act on its own. It's a vivid example of Obama's kept promise to act without Congress if they refuse to do what he wants, like pass "cap and trade" or various other draconian environmental regulations.
But who's to say that Congress has failed to act? Certainly, air quality in this country is better now than it was when the Clean Air Act was passed. Just because Obama and militant environmentalists weren't able to sway Capitol Hill with their unproven doomsday climate scenarios doesn't mean nothing has been done. If the EPA is allowed to unilaterally regulate CO2 now as it sees fit, there is no telling how it, or some other agency, will arbitrarily interpret the statute in the future.
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A New Hope in Ukraine

Putin plans next move.

After months of simmering unrest reached a boil last week in the Ukraine, with 82 killed in the capital city of Kiev, protesters gained the upper hand as Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich fled the city. Yanukovich was rebuffed, though, in his efforts to fly across the border from the outpost town of Donetsk on the Russian border. Reports indicate Yanukovich finally arrived in Balaklava on the Crimean Sea before again attempting to escape via automobile, though his whereabouts remain unknown. A warrant has been issued for his arrest for "mass murder of peaceful civilians." And while Yanukovich called his ouster a "coup d'etat," U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice said it was a reaction to "flouting the will of the Ukrainian people." With Yanukovich absent, the nation's Parliament took control, installed interim leader Oleksandr Turchinov, and set new elections for May 25.
In many respects, though, the Ukrainians were the beneficiaries of a stroke of luck. As the Ukrainian people wished to embrace the European Union in its effort to bolster a wobbly economy, their leadership was negotiating with the Russians for $15 billion in economic aid. For the average citizen, it was a classic case of fearing the Russian bear, but with the Olympics ongoing in Sochi Russian strongman Vladimir Putin couldn't pull the trigger on aggressive action to keep Ukraine under control. Opposition leaders admitted that "we knew it was better to act while Russia was hosting the Olympics and had to abide by international norms." Meanwhile, Rice warned Putin it would be "a grave mistake" for Russia to involve itself militarily.
But now that the Sochi games are history, the war games may begin. Unfortunately, the current U.S. administration is more known for setting and ignoring red lines or for phony resets than for aggressive action to protect its allies. For example, Barack Obama abdicated his responsibilities in Syria, placating the demands of Putin that the corrupt Syrian regime stay in place. Obama doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. As onetime world chess champion Garry Kasparov put it, "if Barack Obama had been president [in the 1980s] instead of Ronald Reagan, I'd still be a Soviet citizen."
It wasn't all that long ago that Ukraine was just another satellite in the Soviet orbit, and it appears the people of the nation haven't forgotten what it was like.
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For more, visit Right Analysis.

TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS

• Arnold Ahlert: Gutting the Army
• Dennis Prager: Bryan Stow and a Justice System That's Criminal
• Mona Charen: Facing Reality on Carbon Dioxide
• David Limbaugh: A Chilling Proposal
• Thomas Sowell: The 'Fairness' Fraud

For more, visit Right Opinion.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Columnist Arnold Ahlert: "It is no accident that proposed cuts in mandatory spending are often referred to as dealing with 'third rail' issues, in that they inevitably engender massive, and possibly career-ending resistance from a dependency-addicted nation. Such resistance is aided and abetted by a Democratic Party that derives much of its power from promoting and maintaining that dependency. In short, when cuts become inevitable, the military is vulnerable, while entitlement programs remain virtually sacrosanct. ... The Constitution requires the federal government to provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare of the nation. Democrats and Obama have it exactly backwards. ... [A]bsent national security, everything else is irrelevant."
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Columnist Mona Charen: "[T]he president had absolutely nothing to do with the energy renaissance that is reshaping our economy and can do more. Neither did Big Oil. Small businesses, most with fewer than 15 employees, are responsible for 75 percent of America's energy production. 'Fracking' is only part of the story. The boom in on-shore energy production is the result of American technological prowess wedded to entrepreneurial genius. ... Democrats can sneer at so-called [global warming] deniers all they like, but they themselves are denying a hard reality: Hydrocarbons will continue to power the world for the foreseeable future. There is no other fuel that can put planes in the air, for example. ... In the interim, the energy boom in the U.S. is a job creator, a boon to our friends (like Canada, Britain and Israel -- also poised to exploit the new technologies) and a setback for our adversaries."
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Justice Tom C. Clark (1899-1977): "Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence."
Columnist Cal Thomas: "There is a reason America's Founders selected only one profession -- the press -- for special protection in the Bill of Rights. As expressed by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to John Jay in 1786: 'Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it.'"
Humorist Frank J. Fleming: "Never really got what was Piers Morgan's qualification other than that he has a British accent. ... American liberals have enough trouble understanding conservatives. Seems extra to then bring in a foreign liberal."
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team
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