THE FOUNDATION
"We are teaching the world the great truth that governments do better without kings and nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of government." --James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, 1822
TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Lerner Emails (Really) Gone
How green! The IRS recycled former-IRS official Lois Lerner's computer hard drive, making it impossible to retrieve the lost emails that would undoubtedly be another smoking gun on the Tea Party targeting scandal. An IRS spokesman said, "We believe the standard IRS protocol was followed in 2011 for disposing of the broken hard drive. A bad hard drive, like other broken Information Technology equipment, is sent to a recycler as part of our regular process." Furthermore, the magnetic tapes -- the backup system the IRS uses -- only keeps information for six months before it's written over with new information. In other words, they did a thorough job of "losing" those emails. Meanwhile, ABC and NBC ignored the story while making room for a report that Britain's royal baby, Prince George, was learning how to walk. More...Comment | Share
Obama on the Sidelines
Barack Obama met with the congressional leaders of both parties Wednesday to discuss the ISIL advance in Iraq. There, he told the four legislators he doesn't need Congress to authorize military action in Iraq. After all, the phone 'n pen president is perfectly capable of drawing a red line himself. But then again, why would he ask Congress for permission to do something he promises not to do? After the meeting, Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, "[E]verybody seemed satisfied the president is going to keep us as informed as he can as the process moves forward." Seeing how great communication was over the Bowe Bergdahl trade, we're skeptical. America won't put boots on the ground -- a red line too far, apparently -- and civilians, Iraqi forces and the ISIL are too intermingled for airstrikes. With suggestions Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki should step down and Iran entering the fight, it's a foreign policy game Obama isn't equipped to play. More...Comment | Share
Boston Bomber Change of Venue
Attorneys for one of the alleged terrorists in the Boston Marathon bombing, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, have asked Judge George A. O'Toole Jr. to grant a change of venue because Massachusetts residents feel an "overwhelming presumption of guilt," the defense claims. "It is not much of a leap to conclude that individuals with a close personal connection to the Boston Marathon, and thus to the bombings, will be less able to set aside preconceived notions regarding guilt and punishment," argues lead attorney Judy Clarke, whose team is seeking to have the case heard in Washington, DC, instead. The New York Times notes Clarke is "one of the nation's foremost opponents of the death penalty," and according to Clarke's team's research, "37 percent of people in Boston want him to receive the death penalty, compared with 19 percent in Washington." Apparently they think jihadists will get a much "fairer" hearing in The Swamp. More...Comment | Share
VA Destroyed Evidence
Thanks to the ever-vigilant Judicial Watch, new evidence has emerged that the Department of Veterans Affairs intentionally worked to erase its scandal-plagued paperwork trail. According to JW, "[O]n November 25, 2009, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) was informed that top VA officials had ordered a nationwide purge of 'all outstanding [MRI] imaging orders for studies older than 6 months.' Seven days later, on December 2, 2009, the OIG closed its investigation without taking further action. The documents ... also detail repeated efforts by VA whistleblower Oliver Mitchell ... to persuade the OIG to fully investigate the mass destruction of veterans' medical files and the cancellation of examination requests. The documents, dating back to 2009, reveal that OIG spent barely two months investigating the allegations before closing the case." Meanwhile, the Phoenix office awarded $10 million in bonuses as veterans suffered -- and in some cases, died. More...Comment | Share
Say, ObamaCare's Expensive!
In a surprise to absolutely no one with common sense, the L.A. Times reports ObamaCare subsidies, claimed by 90% of Healthcare.gov enrollees, have greatly skewed cost estimates. "Nearly 9 in 10 Americans who bought health coverage on the federal government's healthcare marketplaces received government assistance to offset their premiums," according to the Times. "That assistance helped lower premiums for consumers who bought health coverage on the federal marketplaces by 76% on average, according to the new report from the Department of Health and Human Services. ... While the generous subsidies helped consumers, they also risk inflating the new health law's price tag in its first year." Ironically, that 76% in consumer "savings" is coming out of taxpayers' wallets. "The report suggests that the federal government is on track to spend at least $11 billion on subsidies for consumers," The Times adds, however this "does not count the additional cost of providing coverage to millions of additional consumers who bought coverage in states that ran their own marketplaces." Some "Affordable" Care Act. More...Comment | Share
For more, visit Right Hooks.
Don't Miss Alexander's Column
Read Middle East Meltdown -- Just Blame Bush!, on how the Left continues to blame the previous president -- no matter what.If you'd like to receive Alexander's Column by email, update your subscription here.
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Every week, we digest digital mounds of news so you don't have to. We provide not "just the facts," but timely and penetrating analysis of the day's issues -- and the truth you won't get from the Leftmedia. Whether it's immigration, the Middle East meltdown or the IRS scandal, we're on it, and we hope you find it beneficial. But because we take no advertising, we need your help to keep it coming.Please make a secure online donation to The Patriot Post's Independence Day Campaign today. If you prefer to support us by mail, please send your check with our printable donation form.
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
Is the President 'Done' Being President?
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A recent article in The Hill raised the question, "Is Obama done with Washington?" The piece pointed to little things like unscheduled forays beyond the Rose Garden to a local Starbucks and burger joint, as well as bigger observations about Obama's increasing frustration with Beltway gridlock. Indeed, last week he once again complained of Washington's inability to "do anything" in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting, and he's frequently stated his willingness to bypass Congress and issue orders fit for a king -- and that's no compliment.
According to former White House spokesperson and long-time Obama staffer Tommy Vietor, Obama is "at a point in his presidency where he's not running for anything ever again and feels very free to speak his mind." Democrat strategist Jamal Simmons agrees, saying of Obama, "I think he finds the pettiness of this place annoying." Yet no one is more petty than Obama. Simmons continued, "People are focused on tactics, not results, and he sees himself as a more results-oriented guy. He's more wiling to do things with a longer lens of history." Of course, his ever-so-long lens of history is blurry as he deems the Constitution optional, Rule of Law an annoyance and the principles of democratic republicanism primitive when compared with his pen and his phone.
In essence, Obama's being "done" with Washington is just another sign of his petulant narcissism and emotional approach to governance. In fact, as The Daily Caller's Jim Treacher points out, if Obama is done being president, "[I]t's not his fault. It's never his fault. It's your fault, America."
You see, Obama wants so-called "results" -- his way or no way. But Thomas Jefferson noted republican government is "slow to move." In Federalist No. 51, James Madison eloquently described a system of checks and balances that lumber along at a pace of half-past-yesterday but would protect freedom through each party's "keeping each other in their proper places." Yet, in Obama's enlightened frustration, he rued three years into his presidency that "our Founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like sometimes."
If there's one consolation we can offer the president, though, it's that if he's tired of being America's president, the feeling is mutual. In fact, the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found Obama's approval rating tied with a previous low of 41%, while 54% said they no longer think Obama "is able to lead the country and get the job done." So, if he prefers sipping lattes at Starbucks to serving as president, let's just say he's free to relinquish the keys to the White House any time.
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Government Giants Sack Redskins
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Read the rest here.
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For more, visit Right Analysis.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Ann Coulter: You Bet This Is Swiftboating
- Victor Davis Hanson: Middle East Holds Few Attractive Options for Obama
- R. Emmett Tyrrell: Kicked From Behind
- Arnold Ahlert: Hope & Change Has Crashed and Burned
- Burt Prelutsky: Can America Be Saved?
OPINION IN BRIEF
Edmund Burke (1729-1797): "People crushed by law have no hope but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws; and those who have much to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous."Historian Victor Davis Hanson: "The Middle East is the Middle East not because America intervenes or does not intervene, or reaches out or stays out, or imports oil or cuts back its purchases. Instead, Middle Eastern violence and instability are homegrown. They result from a complex brew of tribalism, religious fundamentalism and intolerance, sexual apartheid, anti-Semitism, authoritarianism and statism -- all made worse by huge oil revenues and its key strategic location. Americans have a choice. They can learn to keep clear of these quagmires and accept that hundreds of thousands will frequently die in the Middle East -- and occasionally some Americans as well. Or, if we tire of watching the violence and intervene after a 9/11-like attack, we should brace for a bloody mess that will take years of unpopular occupation. So for now we will blame each other for the ensuing savagery and vow to let the Middle East be the Middle East -- at least until the next time Islamic terrorists slaughter our diplomats, blow up an embassy, take down an airplane or topple a New York skyscraper."
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Columnist Burt Prelutsky: "[S]omeone recently sent me what he called a tale of two cities, in which he compared Chicago to Houston. The things they had more or less in common was population (Chicago's 2.7 million to Houston's 2.15 million); median household income ($38,600-$37,000); percentage of blacks (38.9% to 24%); percentage of Hispanics (29.9% to 44%); percentage of Asians (5.5% to 6%); percentage of non-Hispanic whites (28.7% to 26%). The differences were that Chicago doesn't have a concealed carry gun law, Houston does. Chicago doesn't have any gun stores, Houston has 184. In spite of which, Chicago had 1,806 homicides in 2012, Houston had 207. Another difference is that the average January high temperature in Chicago is 31 degrees, 63 in Houston. From all of that, you would think the typical liberal would naturally conclude that, whatever else it does, global warming reduces the murder rate."
Comedian Conan O'Brien: "The Pentagon announced that the United States has captured a leader responsible for the Benghazi attacks. Republicans were ecstatic, and said, 'So they finally got Hillary.'"
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team
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