THE FOUNDATION
"It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard M. Johnson, 1808TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
800,000 Leave Workforce
The Department of Labor released jobs numbers for April and, as usual, the headline number is being touted as great news. The economy added 288,000 jobs, lowering the unemployment rate nearly half a percentage point to 6.3%. This is certainly an improvement, but -- how many times have we added that disclaimer? -- when we dig deeper, the news isn't quite as rosy. Another 806,000 workers left the labor force, lowering the participation rate to 62.8% -- a 36-year low. In other words, 92,594,000 Americans are now out of the work force. Of those, 55,116,000 are women with a participation rate of 56.9%. These rates had actually improved slightly in recent months. So much for that. Bottom line: Americans continue to be stifled in Obama's economy.Comment | Share
Obama's 'Wicked Regulations'
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson spoke for the National Day of Prayer, and he lit into Barack Obama, describing him as the "abortion president." Focus recently won a court battle over the ObamaCare contraceptive mandate, which Dobson said Obama has used to make it so that "every American will have to pay toward the support of abortion." And Dobson's having none of it. "I believe in the rule of law," he said, but "I will not pay the surcharge for abortion services. ... To pay one cent for the killing of babies is egregious to me, and I will do all I can to correct a government that lies to me about its intentions and then tries to coerce my acquiescence with extortion." So, he concluded, "come and get me if you must, Mr. President. I will not bow before your wicked regulation." We'd call that throwing down the gauntlet.Comment | Share
EPA Chief Hits Warming Skeptics
EPA Chief Gina McCarthy has declared that the science behind global warming is settled. "It's worrisome that our science seems to be under constant assault by a small -- but vocal -- group of critics," McCarthy said. "I bet when those same critics get sick, they run to doctors and hospitals that rely on science from -- guess who -- Harvard University and the American Cancer Society," McCarthy continued, going off on a litany of ways the nanny state protects us from every ill. "People and businesses around the world look to EPA and other federal agencies because our science is reliable, and our scientists are credible," she insisted. And the kicker: "Climate change is not the product of conspiracies or political agendas." On the contrary, climate change has everything to do with the political agenda of those who want to empower government. It's no coincidence that McCarthy's EPA is the agency that has usurped the most regulatory authority in this area. But shut up, she explained.Comment | Share
Reporters on Obama Transparency
According to a new Politico survey of 61 members of the presidential press corps, reporters don't think much of White House claims of being the "most transparent administration in history." In fact, just 5% think the Obama administration is more forthcoming with information than the Bush administration. On the other hand, 41% thought George W. Bush was more transparent. Some 42% said the Obama White House is the "most secretive" they have ever covered, while half say an administration official has lied to them. And these are the president's allies.Comment | Share
Train Derailment and Oil Transport
A train transporting crude oil derailed in Lynchburg, Virginia, this week dumping 50,000 gallons of oil. It's the latest in a string of similar train wrecks. "This is another national wake-up call," said Jim Hall, a former NTSB chairman said. "We have these oil trains moving all across the United States through communities and the growth and distribution of this has all occurred, unfortunately, while the federal regulators have been asleep." We doubt this is a case of too little regulation. What it truly highlights once again is the need for the Keystone pipeline and others like it. Pipelines are far safer than trains for transporting oil, and despite leftists' political weaponization of conservation, stewardship of the environment is a very conservative thing to do.Comment | Share
For more, visit Right Hooks.
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
Why Are We Still Talking About Benghazi? Concerned Democrats Want to Know
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Commentator Charles Krauthammer says this is critical, and he likened it to the only scandal ever to take down a president: Watergate. "[I]t's the equivalent of what was discovered with the Nixon tapes," he said, which is to say that it's hard to argue that Barack Obama didn't know about the cover-up.
Not that the White House won't try to downplay it. In fact, White House Propaganda Minister Jay Carney tried to say that the Benghazi emails "were not about Benghazi. They were about the general situation in the Muslim world." Sometimes even we're amazed by the brazenness of their lies.
Meanwhile, former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor says none of this is a big deal and we should move on. "Dude," he said to Fox News' Bret Baier Thursday, "this was two years ago. We're still talking about the most mundane thing." He wasn't exactly referring to the murder of a U.S. ambassador when he said that, but that is, after all, what matters, and it's hardly "mundane."
Other Democrats are likewise trying to move focus away from the scandal. "Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi," that's all the media want to talk about, complained House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). "Why aren't we talking about something else?" Because the 9/11 terrorist attack at Benghazi and the White House's botched response and subsequent cover-up is one of the biggest political scandals in decades, that's why. Well, she added, "If you all want to sit around and talk about Benghazi you can sit around and talk about Benghazi." Addressing the subject later, she said, "I don't think there's anything new there." Just keep repeating that BIG Lie.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) seems to grasp the importance of the new revelations, saying the administration "saw Benghazi as a political problem seven weeks before the election and they formed a political answer." To do that, he said, "The White House created a narrative completely different from the intelligence. ... The answer given about Benghazi by Susan Rice was a political answer and disconnected from the facts. ... They were more worried about the president's re-election than they were about telling the American people the truth. They did not give a damn about the intelligence. ... When Susan Rice said, 'I have no regrets, I gave the American people the best evidence available,' that's a bald-faced lie."
Unfortunately, the Republican leadership questions about Benghazi, with a few exceptions, have been so disjointed that most folks listening to them have probably yet to understand the gravity of the lies and cover-up. It's so bad that Democrats may actually want Republicans to keep the Benghazi issue going because it's a good distraction from the Obama economy and the ObamaCare fiasco.
It's time to put this case into the hands of either a joint congressional select committee or special prosecutor who can investigate this White House deception professionally.
Perhaps something good will come of the fact that House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has subpoenaed Secretary of State John Kerry "to answer questions about your agency's response to the congressional investigation of the Benghazi attack." Issa also noted, "The State Department's response ... has shown a disturbing disregard for the Department's legal obligations to Congress." Disturbing disregard definitely gets to the heart of the problem.
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The Economy Has a Pulse, but Only Barely
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Read the rest of the story here.
Supreme Court Approves EPA Power Play
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Read the rest of the story here.
For more, visit Right Analysis.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Joe Bastardi: Major Arctic Sea Ice Story Lurking, but Is Anyone Watching?
- David Harsanyi: The Real Problem With Kerry's 'Apartheid' Myth
- Charles Krauthammer: A Foreign Policy of Self-Delusion
- Linda Chavez: Selective Outrage When It Comes to Racism
- Burt Prelutsky: No-Brainers
OPINION IN BRIEF
Author Aldous Huxley (1894-1963): "That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history."FRC president Tony Perkins: "Wednesday, [Joe Biden] hinted at another executive order to accomplish what liberals in Congress couldn't: special homosexual workplace protections. ... Under the measure ... 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' ... would be the most important factor in any hiring, firing, or promotion decision. What people do in the bedroom would suddenly translate to the board room, as executives would be forced to give homosexuals and transgenders a professional edge over their coworkers. The vast majority of employers wouldn't consider an employee's sexual orientation relevant -- or even want to know. But in ENDA's case, those same businesses could be hit by costly lawsuits from disgruntled workers suing for 'discrimination' over a characteristic which isn't visible. If liberals are serious about ENDA, they should call it what it is: a club to beat small business and Christian employers into submission on homosexuality."
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Columnist Burt Prelutsky: "It would make for a nice change if the Republican challengers didn't spend four months supplying the enemy with eight months of ammo. Wouldn't it be great if the candidates would stick to telling us why we should vote for them instead of giving us all the reasons to hate the other guys? If only they could grasp the simple truth that we already know those reasons only too well. Mainly, there are two. The first of these is that they're all politicians, and therefore not to be trusted with your money or your women. The second is that they are certifiably insane, proven by the fact that each of them is convinced that in a nation of 320 million people, he alone should be the anointed one."
Fred Thompson: "Some critics are complaining that Hillary Clinton would be 'too old' to run for president in 2016. Yes, and she just keeps getting older. Unlike some people who were at the Benghazi consulate."
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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