THE FOUNDATION
"Foreign influence is truly the Grecian horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its influence." --Alexander Hamilton, Pacificus, No. 6, 1793TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Not at Arlington Cemetery
Barack Obama's comments during the Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery belittled the sacrifice of fallen veterans and were completely out of place. Instead of merely saying a few words to mark the occasion and focus attention on the aftermath of war, Obama played politics from the podium by making false promises to both veterans and their children. He told the children whose parents died in war, "Your country will be there to help you grow up into the young men and woman your parents always knew you would be." Obama continued and brought up the VA Hospital scandal, with its sub-standard care for veterans. "We've been reminded in recent days, we must do more to keep faith with our veterans and their families, and make sure they get the care and benefits and opportunity that they've earned and they deserve. These Americans have done their duty. They ask nothing more than our country does ours -- now and for decades to come." Obama lied, vets died. He's doing it again, but the time and place is unbelievable. More...Comment | Share
Obama Claims VA Health Model
Barack Obama laid out his agenda for the Department of Veterans' Affairs upon first entering the Oval Office. The website Change.gov notes, "Barack Obama and Joe Biden are committed to creating a 21st Century Department of Veterans' Affairs that provides the care and benefits our nation's veterans deserve." Under the Obama-Biden proposal, the administration promised to "[m]ake the VA a leader of national health care reform so that veterans get the best care possible." (Emphasis added.) Remember when Democrats chastised conservatives for warning of wait-lists and death panels under the Left's idea of health reform (government-managed health care)? Turns out they just wanted to use the VA as a prototype. More...Comment | Share
VA Wrongful Deaths
USA Today reports that Veterans Affairs has been well aware of problems with its bureaucratic system for some time. "The Veterans Affairs Medical Center of Cincinnati settled 10 wrongful death claims between 2001-2012 for a total of $1.57 million, including several cases for missed diagnoses and 'faulty care.' The VA, under increased scrutiny for possible falsified wait time information, settled more than 1,000 such cases for more than $200 million nationally." It's a staggering problem that, again, is a flashing warning of what life will be like under ObamaCare. Also contrast the settlements to the $8.8 million in bonuses paid to officials at seven troublemaking VA facilities. It's unconscionable that troubles at the VA were ignored (and rewarded) in service of the administration's political agenda of promoting ObamaCare. More...Comment | Share
Obama's Climate Legacy
If the legacy of Barack Obama's first term is the Affordable Care Act, the legacy of his second term may be the streams of red tape rolling out from the Environmental Protection Agency to "fight" climate change. The EPA will release draft regulations June 2 designed to curb carbon emissions and save America from the Great Evil of global warming. The proposals are expected to cause rising electricity prices, a threat to the nation's electrical grid, a chilling effect on the economy, and so on, while Washington argues that all its destruction is for the greater good. The regulations are so ominous that Democrats facing tough re-elections are asking the EPA to delay the rollout. That should speak at least to the bad politics at play, if not the lousy policy behind the rules. More...Comment | Share
'Duck Dynasty' Rerun
It wasn't that long ago that "Duck Dynasty" patriarch Phil Robertson was under fire for politically incorrect comments about homosexuality. Robertson is back in the news for newly discovered comments he made during an Easter service. He said, "They were mad at me ... because instead of acknowledging their sin like you had better do, they railed against me for giving them the truth about their sin. 'Don't deceive yourself' -- you want the verse? The news media didn't even know it was a verse. They thought I was just mouthing off." He again referenced Paul's remarks in 1 Corinthians 6:9: "I said, 'Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither the sexual immoral, nor the idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor druggards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherent the kingdom of God." Predictably, leftists are up in arms now that his comments have come to light. No comment yet, however, from A&E. More...Comment | Share
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
Knifeman Murders Six
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) lectured, "We must ask ourselves if an individual whose family called police with concerns about mental health, who is receiving therapy and who has had several run-ins with police should be allowed to own multiple firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition." Hindsight is 20/20, but the murderer passed a background check and even talked to police before his rampage -- they found nothing worth acting on. So unless we're going to start arresting people before they commit crimes, the best defense continues to be self-defense.
But that's not Feinstein's point, as even she went on to admit [emphasis added]: "When anyone, no matter their mental health or history, can so easily obtain any gun they want and as many as they want, we must recognize a problem. Unfortunately, the NRA continues to have a stranglehold on Congress, preventing even commonsense measures like universal background checks that have overwhelming support. Until that happens, we will continue to see these devastating attacks. Shame on us for allowing this to continue." In Feinstein's utopia, no one would have access to guns.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who was the face of the gun control push after Sandy Hook happened in his state, absurdly claimed that if Congress had only passed his gun control idiocy last year, we could have "finally" put a "stop the madness" and "end the insanity that has killed too many young people." He added, "I really since hope that this ... unimaginable, unspeakable tragedy will provide an impetus to bring back measures that would keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people who are severely troubled or deranged like this young man was."
As National Review recounts, however, "The bill to which Blumenthal refers would have made it illegal for gun owners to trade their firearms privately without undergoing a background check, prohibited magazines that held over ten rounds, and instituted a new ban on what politicians have termed 'assault weapons' -- that is, standard rifles that boast certain cosmetic features. Blumenthal seems unaware that California not only has all of these rules already -- and many more besides -- but that the shooter, whom we will not name, broke none of them. Local police have confirmed that all of his guns were bought legally from licensed dealers; that he used only ten-round magazines (he purchased and loaded 41 of them); and that he went nowhere near a so-called 'assault weapon,' preferring to use three handguns. Pace Blumenthal, it remains the case that one cannot stop abominations with parchment barriers."
The man's family is reportedly "staunchly against guns" and "supports gun-control laws." In fact, the family's attorney says, "My client's mission in life will be to try to prevent any such tragedies from happening again. This country, this world, needs to address mental illness and the ramifications from not recognizing these illnesses."
In many ways, this latest mass murder belies deep-seated cultural problems. This young man grew up in a culture that trashes men and teaches them to take what gratification they can get (and are due) and move on. He hated women for denying what he thought was his right. If we look anywhere, it certainly shouldn't be to the tools he used to commit his heinous last act; it should be to the cultural rot that created him.
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For more, visit Right Analysis.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Arnold Ahlert: The Race Card Is Still Maxed Out
- Jeff Jacoby: The Vaunted 'Competence' of Barack Obama
- George Will: An Address We'll Never Hear
- Lawrence Kudlow: Blame Socialism, Not Shinseki
- Thomas Sowell: Random Thoughts
OPINION IN BRIEF
The Gipper: "There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation."Economist Lawrence Kudlow: "The VA problem is not Shinseki; it's socialism. The Veterans Affairs health care system is completely government run. It is a pure single-payer program. ... [P]erhaps Democrats and Republicans will get together to sack VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. But that won't change a thing. In fact, it's a distraction. The long waits for treatment, with excessive delays resulting in as many as 40 deaths, are a tragically predictable outcome. This is the result of bureaucratic rationing, price controls, inefficiencies and the inevitable cover-ups. ... So if Congress thinks it can find somebody who can tame the VA bureaucracy, it should go right ahead. But the statist VA health care system, which in so many ways mirrors the government-run health care problems in Britain, Europe and Canada, must be completely changed. ... [A] system of government vouchers which permits veterans to choose their own health care plans, especially private health care plans, would be one giant step toward solving this problem."
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Columnist Arnold Ahlert: "There will never be a perfectly racist-free society -- on either side of the color line -- any more than the fallen creature we call man will ever be perfected. What has always worked for me is a radical idea in comparison to today's standards: do unto others as you would have others do unto you. It has stood me in good stead with anyone and everyone, save those who insist racial relations are more complicated than that. No, they're not. It only seems that way to those with a vested interest in keeping Americans divided. And despite the media- and academic-fueled nonsense that is currently in vogue, I'm betting their time is growing short. Despite our collective fallibilities, Americans remain an overwhelmingly decent people -- of every persuasion. Perhaps I'm prejudiced for saying so, but I can live with it, 'guilt' and all."
Comedian Argus Hamilton: "The National Football League received a letter from fifty U.S. Senators on Thursday asking for a new name for the Washington Redskins. They want a name for the team that doesn't provoke and exploit divisions between Americans. So far the best idea is the Maryland Redskins."
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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