THE FOUNDATION
"[I]nstituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good ... would be also a power to do whatever evil they please. ... [The Constitution] was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect." --Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on a National Bank, 1791TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Obama Tells UN How Great He Is While Tweaking America
Last year, Barack Obama took a victory lap at the UN, announcing, "Today, all of our troops have left Iraq. Next year, an international coalition will end its war in Afghanistan, having achieved its mission of dismantling the core of al-Qaida that attacked us on 9/11." This year, as the U.S. conducts airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, Obama told the same body, "I have made it clear that America will not base our entire foreign policy on reacting to terrorism. Instead we have waged a focused campaign on al-Qaida and its associated forces." On the subject of Islam he stated, "And when it comes to America and Islam, there is no us and them, there is only us -- because millions of Muslim Americans are part of the fabric of our country." Astoundingly, Obama said he understands why other nations criticize America for calling them out on violence because of violence within our own borders. He said, "In a summer marked by instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I know the world also took notice of the small American city of Ferguson, Missouri -- where a young man was killed, and a community was divided. So, yes, we have our own racial and ethnic tensions." Does anyone besides Obama believe that the shooting of a violent black man in Ferguson (currently the subject of a DoJ investigation), is tantamount to the violence being committed by ISIL? This president is an embarrassment to his country.Comment | Share
Airstrikes in Syria, Day Two
U.S. airstrikes continued in Syria Wednesday, as our combat-booted airmen bombed ISIL targets. According to CNN, the U.S. was "targeting what a Pentagon official described as mobile oil refineries being used by the so-called Islamic State terror group to help finance its operations." Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said, "We are very confident we hit what we were aiming at, and we caused the damage we wanted." Meanwhile, reports The Washington Post, "U.S. missile strikes against an obscure al-Qaeda cell in Syria killed at least one of the group’s leaders, delivering what U.S. officials described as a significant but not decisive blow to a terrorist group accused of plotting attacks against Europe and the United States." However, Barack Obama points to Yemen as his model for success. Today, Yemen is in the midst of a civil war and is a hardly worth repeating.Comment | Share
Scalise to Obama: Don't Wait for the Election on Immigration
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) challenged Barack Obama to release his immigration plan before the election. "If it was a good plan that he was thinking of doing, why would he wait until right after the election?" Scalise asked. "It really raises a lot of red flags and it makes you wonder just how bad is the president's approach going to be on immigration, if he wants to shield it, hide it from the voters until after the election." It's critical that there be a plan, Scalise added, because of the current terrorist threat. "It's not only about immigration, this is a national-security issue," he said. "You don't want to have a porous border where anybody can just come across and nobody knows who is coming in." Worse, there are Americans fighting within the ranks of ISIL who won't need to cross the Rio Grande to get here.Comment | Share
IRS Also Targeted Teachers of the Constitution
The IRS's targeting of conservative groups is just the tip of the iceberg. According to Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz of The Volokh Conspiracy, "What is less well known, but perhaps even more scandalous, is that the IRS also targeted those who would educate their fellow citizens about the United States Constitution." The information was revealed through an investigation by the inspector general. In late January 2012, the agency's "BOLO ['be on the lookout'] criteria were again updated," the IG report found, to expand the targeting to "political action type organizations involved in … educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights." At least three organizations -- Linchpins of Liberty, the Spirit of Freedom Institute and the Constitutional Organization of Liberty -- claim to have been victimized. "There may have been many more," says Rosenkranz, adding, "It is chilling to think that these same officials who are suspicious of the tea party are equally suspicious of the Constitution itself." It's conservatives' belief in the Constitution and Rule of Law that prompted the targeting in the first place. More...Comment | Share
Propaganda Minister Defends Obama's 'Latte Salute'
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
World Leaders Agree: Climate Change Must Happen Now
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The United Nations held a one-day summit on climate change Sept. 23, which the world's politicians filled with empty rhetoric, boasting and schemes for another international treaty.
This exercise is one in human power and pride. By arrogantly assuming that mankind can alter earth's climate, governments claim they have the power and duty to intervene into the lives of the common man. In the case of the United States, the Constitution stands in the way of such intrusion. But Obama is once again circumventing the document to leave his mark with climate change policy.
In December 2015, world leaders will gather in Paris to hammer out a treaty many hope will be legally binding. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon told the nations at the summit to present plans to fight climate change. Obama came and announced a binder of executive actions -- in addition to the EPA regulations announced earlier this year -- because that's all he could offer politically at the moment. The House and Senate are blocking him, and while he can help forge this treaty on global warming regulation that other nations will sign, the Senate won't drum up the two-thirds majority to enact it.
On the world stage, Obama said, "America is pursuing ambitious reductions in our carbon emissions, and we’ve increased our investments in clean energy. We will do our part, and help developing nations do theirs. But the Science™ tells us we can only succeed in combating climate change if we are joined in this effort by every other nation, by every major power. That’s how we can protect this planet for our children and our grandchildren."
While Obama’s remarks took 30 minutes to deliver, his thoughts were echoed from delegation to delegation.
Zhang Gaoli, Vice Premier of the State Council of China, said his country would act on climate change because it is a "responsible major country." In his address, however, Gaoli dodged what exactly his country would do to fight climate change, despite the disproportionate threat supposedly rising oceans present to his people.
"We will announce post-2020 actions on climate change as soon as we can," Gaoli said, "which will bring about marked progress in reducing carbon intensity, increasing the share of non-fossil fuels and raising the forest stock, as well as the peaking of total CO2 emissions as early as possible."
From an ecofascist's perspective, the problem with an international treaty should be that large countries like China and India would not contribute, and thus render meaningless the work and sacrifice of countries like Switzerland, Germany and the United States. In that sense, Obama is exactly right -- unless every nation joins, it's useless. Better to scrap the whole thing.
Not only did the large countries of the world come, but so did the smallest, including Ebola-plagued Liberia. Its president couldn't attend, with tens of thousands of her people dying from the virus, but Minister of Foreign Affairs for Liberia Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan said the country would put in its two pence by protecting its coastline from erosion and promising not to use its forests. Ngafuan told the UN that small, developing nations have the most to lose from global warming and said it supported the message of its fellow small nation, Bolivia.
The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales Ayma, said this is an opportunity not only to fight global warming (that he says is "violating their human rights") but an opportunity to re-order the world's economies.
"Progress must be made on real and responsible solutions to the climate crisis by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases," he said, "but mainly by changing the development models that are orientated toward consumerism, capital and markets." He let the cat out of the bag -- anti-capitalism is at the center of climate activism.
The Vatican was equally optimistic about the opportunity the crisis of global warming offered the nations. The Holy See's Secretary of State Pietro Cardinal Parolin declared the Catholic Church views the issue of global warming as a question of justice, respect and equality. He said, "Confronting seriously the problem of global warming requires not only strengthening, deepening and consolidating the political process on a global level, but also intensifying our commitment to a profound cultural renewal and a rediscovery of the fundamental values upon which a better future for the entire human family can be built."
And there you have it. The entire struggle against global warming is man versus nature. In order to conquer nature, we're told, man must give up his rights, his Liberty.
The advocates of a statist response to global warming have made the debate clear: It's the free market against a crony market where the Keystone pipeline dies and Solyndra lives -- but only for a short, very expensive time. And all for something that hasn't even been happening for the last 18 years.
No doubt, many of the delegates hopped in their jets to return to their home countries, but this fight for freedom, here and abroad, has just begun. It's a fight that might be decided in Paris.
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Uncle Sam Picks Pockets, Sets New Rules Against Avoiding It
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Determined to halt such economic un-patriotism by whatever means possible, constitutional or not, the administration this week announced a series of new tax regulations. According to The Wall Street Journal, the rules would “make it harder for companies that invert to use cash accumulating abroad -- a big draw in recent deals,” as well as make it “more difficult to complete these overseas mergers.” The president’s dicta took effect immediately and will impact any inversions currently in the works.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew insists, “Inversion transactions erode our corporate tax base.” And, of course, since the primary purpose of government is to squeeze as much tax revenue as possible out of the American people (Article 1, Section something, we’re sure...), this is simply unacceptable. Or perhaps what’s truly unacceptable to Lew is the falsity of his claim. As the Journal notes in a separate editorial, “Corporate income tax revenues have roughly doubled since the recession. Such receipts surged in fiscal year 2013 to $274 billion, up from $138 billion in 2009. Even the White House budget office is expecting corporate income tax revenues for fiscal 2014 to rise above $332 billion and to hit $502 billion by 2016.” So, if the corporate tax base isn’t suffering, what is?
Well, reinvestment into the U.S. economy, for one thing. The new regulations make it more difficult for companies earning money overseas to reinvest in the U.S. economy. As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce notes, “Many U.S. companies earn profits overseas and want to invest those profits in America. However, by having the world’s highest corporate tax rate and a worldwide system of taxing overseas profits, the United States discourages that. ... Treasury’s proposed guidence [sic] will only further complicate our antiquated tax code.”
Indeed, this gets to the crux of the problem and the reason companies are pursuing inversions to begin with: The U.S. corporate tax rate is the highest in the developed world. Even former President Bill Clinton, the very one who signed the bill to raise corporate taxes, admitted the detrimental effect those rates have. “Like it or not, this inversion, this is their money,” he explained, adding that publicly traded companies in particular “feel duty bound to pay the lowest taxes they can pay.” No doubt to the ire of the Obama administration, Clinton continued, “We have the highest overall corporate tax rates in the world, and we are now the only OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] country that also taxes overseas earnings. A lot of these executives -- even if they wanted to bring the money home, they think this is crazy.”
Yes, crazy is precisely the correct word for it. To levy a nearly 40% tax on corporations and then accuse them of unpatriotic behavior for wanting a lower tax bill and to reinvest in America, well, yes, that is just crazy.
The sane solution is to lower corporate tax rates and create an environment that actually incentivizes business to keep a U.S. mailing address. What a thought.
The problem was never that people wanted to leave. That was only the symptom. The problem was an utter lack of an environment in which people wanted to -- or could -- stay. And that’s something no burdensome regulations will ever create.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Victor Davis Hanson: Old and in the Way?
- Arnold Ahlert: Democrats Prioritize Global Warming 'Threat'
- Stephen Moore: The Enduring Myth of FDR and the New Deal
- Cal Thomas: Use Mercenaries to Fight ISIL?
- Ann Coulter: GOP Bordering on Victory
OPINION IN BRIEF
German-American Socialist editor Oscar Ameringer (1870-1943): "Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other."Historian Victor Davis Hanson: "Normally, no one would care that ... 57-year-old Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel argued that living to be 75 years old was long enough for anyone. ... But Emanuel is no garden-variety crackpot. Nor is he a wannabe science-fiction writer dreaming of a centrally planned planet of robust youthful humanoids. Unfortunately, he was one of the chief architects of the troubled Affordable Care Act and a key medical advisor to the Obama administration. ... Age is no absolute barometer. We all know those who at 75 are far more vigorous than others who are couch potatoes at 40. If Emanuel’s point is that living beyond 75 is unwise given the odds that society will reap less achievement per resources invested, then that frightening anti-humanist argument can be extended to almost any category. ... [T]he greatest tragedy in my life was the far too early death of my mother at 67 -- at precisely the point when our family most needed her omnipresence, caring and sage counsel. Who knows -- had Dr. Emanuel been asked to help draft an Affordable Care Act in his mid-70s, we might not have had to collectively suffer from his youthful inexperience."
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Columnist Arnold Ahlert: "A staggering 68 percent of Democrats consider global climate change a greater threat to the United States than either Al Qaeda at 67 percent, or ISIS at 65 percent. ... One is left to wonder whether Democrat 'true believers,' who view global climate change as a greater threat than Islamic terror, are swayed by the possibility of 'imminent' domestic terror attacks. Perhaps they need reminding that 9/11 was a 'two-fer,' as in a terrorist attack that also precipitated an environmental disaster in Lower Manhattan. Nor does it take much of an imagination to envision the 'environmental impact' of a 'dirty' bomb, or outright nuke, detonated in an American city. It takes even less of an imagination to know how a majority of Americans would view the warped priories of Democrats if Islamic terrorists make good on any of their murderous designs. Perhaps that majority should remember those priorities in November."
Comedian Seth Meyers: "According to a new estimate, Congress has had a full work week just 14 percent of the time since 1978. Congress said they planned to address the report next week."
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
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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