THE FOUNDATION
"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories." --Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV, 1781EDITOR'S NOTE
And in advance of the day, we remember the appropriate thoughts of Ronald Reagan:
"I have no illusions about what little I can add now to the silent testimony of those who gave their lives willingly for their country. Words are even more feeble on this Memorial Day, for the sight before us is that of a strong and good nation that stands in silence and remembers those who were loved and who, in return, loved their countrymen enough to die for them. Yet, we must try to honor them -- not for their sakes alone, but for our own. And if words cannot repay the debt we owe these men, surely with our actions we must strive to keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to final sacrifice."
Our profoundest thanks to those who have given the last, full measure in service to our great nation.
TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Jackass and Jenny on the VA
The House passed a bill to make it easier for the VA to fire incompetent managers by a strong bipartisan vote of 390-33. But Barack Obama's water boy, Bernie Sanders, Chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, is running interference for the administration, and has blocked further action on the House bill. Sanders, the only member of that chamber who openly identifies as "Socialist," said, "Some of us are old-fashioned enough to know that maybe folks in the Senate might want to know what is in the bill before we voted on it." Apparently he's more "old fashioned" than then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who infamously said of the ObamaCare legislation, "We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it." Also doing her part this week to deflect responsibility for the VA scandal from Obama to his predecessor, Pelosi declared, "Maybe when we going to war we should be thinking about its consequences and ramifications. You would think that would be a given but maybe it wasn't." The real reason Democrats are stalling on this legislation is to protect their government union constituency.Comment | Share
Rush to Judgment
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said classified State Department emails show the White House quickly contacted YouTube to threaten "ramifications" for letting the video "Innocence of Muslims" stay on the site when it learned of the attack on the Benghazi consulate September 11, 2012 -- not even waiting for the CIA to analyze what had happened. "Innocence of Muslims" was the video that supposedly whipped Muslims into a mob, which swarmed the consulate. Issa said, "The email shows the White House had hurried to settle on a false narrative -- one at odds with the conclusions reached by those on the ground -- before Americans were even out of harm's way or the intelligence community had made an impartial examination of available evidence." Looks like the new Benghazi panel will have some investigating to do. More...Comment | Share
IRS Backs Down
The IRS scrapped its proposed regulatory rewrite for how it handles tax-exempt groups like the Tea Party and Patriot groups it targeted. In February, the IRS unveiled its proposed rules, but instead of fixing the problem, the IRS simply codified the bullying of groups that ideologically disagree with the administration. It was a move nearly everyone opposed -- from the Sierra club to Tea Party groups to the ACLU. The Washington Times reports the IRS gave no timetable for when it will release a new proposal. Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) said, "The American people spoke out loud and clear against it, and hopefully the IRS and the Obama administration will think twice before ever trying to go down this path again." But there is one group that dislikes the IRS's move: Democrats perched on Capitol Hill who want to silence big-time donors like the Koch brothers. With their own base applauding the move, you can see who the statists' real masters are -- themselves. More...Comment | Share
Gun Ownership Not a Disease
Two Democrats want the Centers for Disease Control to study "gun violence" as if it were influenza, treating it like a public health issue. Longtime anti-gun zealot Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) proposed a bill giving the CDC $10 million each year for the study. Markey said, "In America, gun violence kills twice as many children as cancer, and yet political grandstanding has halted funding for public health research to understand this crisis." While many questions about "gun violence" exist, funding coming from one of the co-sponsors of the Clinton era's 1994 "Assault Weapons" Ban will hardly be unbiased. Currently, the Department of Justice has funding to study the issue, and CDC-led research suggests the conclusions they reach will be ways to "fix" current laws, no doubt further infringing upon the people's Second Amendment rights. Imagine the uproar about free speech if the government proposed millions to study the effects of Internet trolling, vitriol blogs and people who stand on the street corner with signs that read "God Hates You" because those things contribute to the mental anguish of the nation. More...Comment | Share
Job Discouragement
Almost half of the unemployed Americans in the United States have slowed down their job search and almost given up. Of a Harris Poll of 1,500 unemployed, 47% agreed with the statement "I have completely given up on looking for a job." Also, 46% say they have not had a job interview in the last month. And for the 20% that receive unemployment compensation, the check "is giving me time to find the right position" (80%), "has allowed me to take time for myself" (62%), and I "haven't had to look for work as hard" (48%). Bob Funk, CEO of temp agency Express Employment and a former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, said the study "demonstrates why the labor force participation rate is so low -- many people have given up looking for a job." Where has America's entrepreneurial spirit gone? For some, they traded it in for a welfare check. More...Comment | Share
For more, visit Right Hooks.
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
Conservatives Offer 'Room to Grow'
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It seems Republicans have been rudderless on the national level during recent election cycles (2010 being a notable exception), and much of the country has come to believe the Leftmedia-reinforced myth that the GOP is a rich white-boys club that has nothing to offer except criticisms of Barack Obama. Too often, instead of offering a roadmap to prosperity, the GOP has stood on the sidelines while Democrats have pushed Big Government on the American people.
The Big Government born in Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" and his "War on Poverty" has been an abject failure. While leftists celebrated the 50th anniversary of LBJ's signature domestic agenda this week, Mark Alexander tracked its progress and found it to be at the heart of many of the problems facing our nation today. Since the passage of the first pieces of legislation in 1964, government control over the private sector has grown enormously. The results aren't pretty: Overall workforce employment has dropped, out-of-wedlock births have skyrocketed, and a permanent minority underclass has been established that Democrats now rely on to remain in power. It's time for some new ideas.
Led by Peter Wehner and Yuval Levin, "Room to Grow" features a number of ideas for attacking the country's domestic problems. The topics addressed are as follows: health care, K-12 and higher education, the middle class tax burden, the retirement safety net, employment, energy, fiscal reform and the family.
"We have to do more than 'Stand athwart history, yelling stop,'" writes Wehner, alluding to William F. Buckley's famous unofficial mission statement for National Review. "Sometimes you have to do that and then try to bend history in a different direction." What Wehner and his fellow conservatives try to do here is open a dialogue for practical reforms that conservatives can use to shape a framework for changing the direction of the country -- a direction that currently pleases only hardcore statists.
It's hard to know whether the Republican Party will pick up the mantle and take the words and ideas of "Room to Grow" to heart. They have become masters at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, mainly because they have clung to Reagan-esque language without the substance behind it, and they offer only knee-jerk opposition to Democrat legislation without providing solid alternatives. The book deserves to be read by all who know that our nation can do better, and who realize what we may become if the Left is left to its own devices.
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Victory Over Al-Qaida? Not Yet
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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
- Charles Krauthammer: Who Made the Pivot to Asia? Putin
- Michelle Malkin: How America Treats Illegal Aliens vs. Veterans
- Jonah Goldberg: Hillary's Dilemma: How to Distance Herself From Obama
- David Harsanyi: Why Conservatives Shouldn't Boycott Chipotle
- Mona Charen: Barbarism Is Set Back -- for Now
OPINION IN BRIEF
Judge Learned Hand (1872-1961): "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no courts to save it."Columnist Charles Krauthammer: "On Wednesday, it finally happened -- the pivot to Asia. No, not the United States. It was Russia that turned East. In Shanghai, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a spectacular energy deal -- $400 billion of Siberian natural gas to be exported to China over 30 years. ... The contrast with President Obama's own vaunted pivot to Asia is embarrassing. He went to Japan last month also seeking a major trade agreement that would symbolize and cement a pivotal strategic alliance. He came home empty-handed. ... His pivot to Asia remains a dead letter. Yet his withdrawal from the Middle East ... is a fait accompli. The retreat is compounded by Obama's proposed major cuts in defense spending ... even as Russia is rearming and China is creating a sophisticated military soon capable of denying America access to the waters of the Pacific Rim. Decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice, Obama's choice. And it's the one area where he is succeeding splendidly."
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Columnist Michelle Malkin: "A government that fails to secure its borders is guilty of dereliction of duty. A government that fails to care for our men and women on the frontlines is guilty of malpractice. A government that puts the needs of illegal aliens above U.S. veterans for political gain should be prosecuted for criminal neglect bordering on treason."
Humorist Frank J. Fleming: "Obama: 'I'm really mad about this -- that's the one with the slanted eyebrows, right? Am I doing that? I'm trying to. Because I'm mad.' ... Obama: 'The American people demonstrated in 2012 that they aren't going to fire for incompetence, and I am honoring that."
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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