THE FOUNDATION
"Let us by wise and constitutional measures promote intelligence among the people as the best means of preserving our liberties." --James Monroe, First Inaugural Address, 1817TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Obama Ties His Boat Anchor to Democrats
CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett highlights a serious problem for Democrats: “President Obama is not on the ballot this December, but to the dismay of some Democrats he’s talking like he is.” Of incumbent Democrats in tight races, Obama said, "These are all folks who vote with me -- they have supported my agenda in Congress." That was days after he declared, "Make no mistake: '[My] policies are on the ballot." Then again, CBS's Scott Pelley noted that Obama has been conspicuously "absent from the campaign trail" because Democrats "want him for the fundraisers but not on the stump." Obama is toxic for Democrats right now, but, as The Weekly Standard's Steve Hayes observed, "He's such a narcissist that even when it would be advantageous for him to not have it be all about him, he has to make it all about him because that's the way that he is." Indeed, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told Democrats that if they don't like Obama's comments there's more where that came from: “The success of many of these Democratic candidates will depend on their own success in motivating voters that strongly supported the president in 2012." Here's a boat anchor necklace -- hope you like it.Comment | Share
The Kinda, Sorta Ebola Travel Ban
Barack Obama explained recently that while he didn't have a "philosophical objection, necessarily, to a travel ban" to slow the spread of Ebola, he thought such a measure would be counterproductive. In other words, it wasn't yet politically expedient -- especially given his immigration policies. Well, now it is -- sort of. National Journal reports, "Travelers flying between West African nations affected by Ebola and the United States will now be subject to additional screenings and 'protective measures' to help prevent the disease from spreading into the U.S., the Homeland Security Department announced Tuesday. All passengers flying from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea into the U.S. will be required to enter the country through five major airports: Dulles International Airport in Virginia; John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York; Newark Liberty International Airport; Chicago O'Hare International Airport; and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport." It's really not so much a travel ban as enhanced screening, which in previous iterations has been known to the Left as racial profiling. More...Comment | Share
Ebola's Caused by What?
Did you know human activity is linked to the worst Ebola outbreak in history? At least, that's one theory the federal government is promoting. "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service posted on its website an article that claims Ebola is a 'direct consequence' of manmade climate change," CNSNews.com reports. Specifically, the article pegs "deforestation and human disturbance" as Ebola's main drivers: "Outbreaks are linked to long dry seasons ... during which there is scarcity of food in the forest and all the animals, including fruit bats, feed on the same remaining fruit trees, usually fig trees. Human development, including logging and mining, road construction and agriculture, is increasingly cutting back on forest habitat and bringing animals and humans in closer contact, which can facilitate disease transfer." Why stop there? Might as well add malaria and HIV/AIDS to the growing list of global warming causes. In truth, Africa would benefit by embracing capitalism and modern day technologies that help control and prevent pandemics. More...Comment | Share
$25 Billion in Tax Dollars Funded Waste
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) wants you to know how the government spent -- no, wasted -- $25 billion. The senator, who will leave office after this term because of a self-imposed term limit, released his final Wastebook detailing the top 100 ways the government burned through taxpayer money. "With no one watching over the vast bureaucracy," Coburn said, "the problem is not just what Washington isn't doing, but what it is doing. Only someone with too much of someone else's money and not enough accountability for how it was being spent could come up some of these projects." The most egregious source of waste? The government placed badly behaving bureaucrats on administrative leave, essentially a paid vacation, which accumulated a bill of $19 million. Moreover, while most of us were earning our dollars, the feds were watching grass grow ($10,000), destroying $16 billion worth of unused ammo for $1 billion (we would have done it for free) and giving rabbits Swedish massages ($387,000). More...Comment | Share
ObamaCare? What's That?
The Kaiser Family Foundation polled uninsured Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 and found that the majority of them are (still) taking little notice of ObamaCare. Eighty-nine percent said they did "not know that open enrollment begins in November"; 66% "know 'only a little' or 'nothing at all' about the health insurance marketplace"; and 53% "do not know that the health reform law provides financial help to low- and moderate-income Americans." Nancy Pelosi said that Congress needed to pass the law so that low-info voters could find out what's in it. Well, they did, and now that the vast majority of Americans discovered the "Affordable" Care Act really wasn't "free" -- the only thing they cared about -- and is, in fact, unaffordable, they really aren't putting much effort into getting enrolled nor staying informed. More...Comment | Share
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
A Polarized Press for a Free People
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Ben Bradlee, the Washington Post editor who directed young reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to ferret out the crooked deeds of Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, has died. He was 93.
He was a man who helped The Washington Post topple a president, as well as to pick up 17 Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure, according to his obituary. But Bradlee's Washington Post is gone and, with it, the old ways of doing news.
Along came the Internet, and now newspapers are used consistently only for parakeet cages and misbehaving dogs. The legacy media, with its cameras and web presses, pandered to power far too many times. It became the bullhorn of the Left and its monopoly on the ear of the American people shattered. Today, the media is filled with organizations to the Left and Right. They range from one-man blogs to media giants like CNN. It's one of the best times to be a consumer of political news and yet it's one of the darkest times in this country for press freedom.
Journalism matters for a free society. If it weren't for coffee-guzzling scribblers, how else would we know about the Bowe Bergdhal trade, Congress' stubborn inability to pass a budget and the latest celebrity gossip? Though if we depended solely on the Leftmedia, Operation Fast and Furious may never have come to light.
Sure, tons of journalism is click-bait. And some days, it feels that only people with half a brain go into journalism. But as James Madison once wrote, "To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression."
In short, a free people, in order to remain free, need a free press.
Which brings us to a new Pew Research Center study on the media habits of an American public sharply divided by politics.
Typically, "Consistent Conservatives" distrust 24 of the 36 news organizations Pew asked its respondents to rate. And conservatives flock to one media outlet -- Fox News. Nearly 47% said Fox was the place they go for political and government news. The study went on to say the average respondent consumed 5.1 sources for news in the last week.
Madison would be one of the first to agree that the press -- unfortunately -- is run by fallible people. The newsroom is sometimes filled with the same bureaucracy and politics as it's trying to cover in government. That's why the strength of the press is in its diversity.
Pew also found that a liberal is often more trusting of media, giving the benefit of the doubt to 28 of the 36 organizations Pew asked about -- but they distrust Glenn Beck, the Drudge Report and, if Pew had asked, probably The Patriot Post.
On a side note: Liberals are more likely to de-friend or block someone on Facebook for expressing a view contrary to their own. So much for tolerance.
But while the news consumer has a plethora of information at his or her fingertips, the Obama administration is challenging the freedom to gather the news. The bureau chief for the Associated Press in Washington, Sally Buzbee, enumerated eight ways Obama's "most transparent administration in history" is anything but. While Obama gave lip service to closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, at least George W. Bush released information on the hunger strikes and assaults on prison guards. That information is classified secret, according to the Obama administration. And Obama's merry war against ISIL sees little coverage, as journalists can't cover the airstrikes from the air bases launching them. More disturbingly, the Obama administration has sought to erode the Freedom of Information Act, the law that allows private citizens access to government documents. Judicial Watch used this act to peer into the inner workings of the IRS after the Tea Party scandal.
Such stonewalling only benefits the crooked in power. As Obama himself once said, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
In 1996, The Patriot Post -- then called The Federalist -- started to cut through the political doublespeak and provide news analysis on the Internet through the lens of Essential Liberty. We were one of the first organizations to use this new medium, and now, a publication would be foolish not to spread its work online.
Perhaps the Watergate scandal would have played out differently in the Internet age. Maybe it wouldn't have taken two journalists from the premier publication of the day, but rather a blogger armed with only a laptop could light brushfires of freedom with his or her words. One thing is certain -- the Leftmedia has lost its monopoly, and that's something to celebrate.
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Federal Fiscal Policy Is Ruining State Budgets, Too
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Four governors, all Republicans, earned "A’s": North Carolina’s Pat McCrory, Kansas' Sam Brownback, Maine’s Paul LePage and Indiana’s Mike Pence. Meanwhile, eight Democrat governors received an “F,” including our favorite, California's Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown.
Recent economic growth has taken pressure off state budgets for now, but the future poses extremely challenging problems states ignore to everyone's peril. These include unfunded liabilities due to underfunded public employees pensions, the "Affordable" Care Act -- an airborne, economic Ebola -- and, worst of all, Medicaid.
Reforms to the pension systems must begin immediately. Fortunately, some states have begun doing so, but “some” isn't enough. The underfunding of most states’ systems remains an urgent problem -- Illinois’ shortfall is a whopping 60%. We've already seen cities going bankrupt over public pensions. A few states may be next.
More Baby Boomers file for Medicare everyday, and they make up the largest demographic group in the nation. Trillions of dollars will be spent as they age, and with people living longer, the outlook is worrisome to say the least. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was the last politician who made a serious attempt to slightly reform Medicare in 1995. Democrat demagogues and their Leftmedia lapdogs, as well as the AARP, crucified him, and the Left succeeded in heading off reform.
Democrats assured the nation in 1965 that 30 years after its inception Medicare Part A would cost only $10 billion. In 1995, it cost $165 billion. It must be reformed, or it will simply collapse. And we're reasonably sure the Left will blame Republicans for that, too.
Far worse than Medicare, though, is Medicaid, another gift to us from Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society." Medicaid pays for health care and long-term care for 66 million people, and it's the largest component of state budgets, accounting for 24% of total spending.
After years of rapid expansion, Medicaid was expanded even further by ObamaCare. Individual states can choose whether or not to implement the expanded coverage, but Congress bribed most by paying 100% of the costs of expansion through 2016 -- aid that declines annually afterwards. That rewards politicians now for decisions that won't be ruinous for years after they can be held accountable.
ObamaCare will put a huge burden on the states. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates Medicaid expansion under the ACA will cost the federal government $792 billion and states $46 billion over the next 10 years. Congress is almost certain to slash the federal share because of federal deficits. As the population ages, states’ Medicaid spending will rise inexorably. The entitlement's large and powerful constituency will demand its benefits. Ultimately, the choice will become funding Medicaid as it's currently designed, or making changes so that other bills demanding attention, such as the pensions, can be paid, even if only partially.
As we approach the election that might return the Senate to Republicans, we can only pray they demonstrate the courage needed to stop this runaway freight train. Unfortunately, the last Republican majority Congress was an example of political cowardice and hypocrisy. But, as the poet says, “Hope springs eternal within the human breast.” Conservatives must work to make that hope a reality.
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For more, visit Right Analysis.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Scott Powell: How Washington Widens Gap Between the Rich and Poor
- Arnold Ahlert: Krugman Uncovers a Right-Wing Conspiracy at Amazon.com
- John Stossel: Federal Persecutors
- Jacob Sullum: Ebola and the CDC's Dangerous Mission Drift
- Ken Blackwell: Houston’s Mayor: Endangering Civil Rights
OPINION IN BRIEF
American educator Francis W. Parker (1838-1902): "The end and aim of all education is the development of character."Columnist Scott Powell: "Washington’s current trajectory of regulatory and monetary policies has crimped economic growth and widened the gap between rich and poor. While hidden, the costs of federal government regulations are now estimated at about $1.9 trillion annually -- more than 11% of GDP and more than 50% of federal government spending. Which is to say that the real cost of the U.S. federal government is half again as much of the $3.6 trillion it actually spends, or almost a third of the nation’s $17 trillion GDP. ... The enormous hidden costs of regulation have been studied by John W. Dawson and John J. Seater in the Journal of Economic Growth. Their examination of the escalation of regulations, as documented in Federal Register since 1949, suggests that economic growth in the U.S. may have been reduced by as much as 2% annually. Without that drag, the U.S. could be producing over $50 trillion in goods and services instead of its current $17 trillion, and average household monthly income could be four to six times its current $4,400."
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Economist Walter E. Williams: "There are economists ... who suggest that the law of demand applies to everything except labor prices (wages) of low-skilled workers. ... During the 1940s and ‘50s, there were very few self-serve gasoline stations. There were also theater ushers to show patrons to their seats. In 1900, 41 percent of the U.S. labor force was employed in agriculture. Now most gas stations are self-serve. Theater ushers disappeared. And only 2 percent of today’s labor force works in agricultural jobs. There are many other examples of buyers of labor services seeking and ultimately finding substitutes when labor prices rise. It’s economic malpractice for economists to suggest that they don’t."
Comedian Conan O'Brien: "Over the weekend President Obama told Americans not to panic about Ebola. Then when asked about the Democrats' chances in the upcoming midterm elections, Obama said, 'Man, that Ebola sure is scary.'"
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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