Daily Digest
December 15, 2014
THE FOUNDATION"I ... place economy among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared." --Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Plumer, 1816TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKSGOP Senators Let Down Voters to Get Home for ChristmasThe one conservative senator who tried to defund Barack Obama's executive amnesty was abandoned by his party, and the rest of the Senate was upset they had to miss holiday parties and the Army-Navy football game to do actual work. In a 56-40 vote, the Senate approved a $1.1 trillion spending bill Saturday night. But during the proceedings, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) made a point-of-order objection: The spending bill was unconstitutional, he argued, because it funded Obama's amnesty. In the ensuing vote on Cruz's objection, only 22 lawmakers agreed with the senator. "Forcing a vote on the constitutionality of Obama's amnesty is important for two reasons," Cruz said in a statement. "First, since President Obama enacted his unilateral amnesty after the elections, Democrats have never been made to answer for it. Tonight, they will and they will show America whether they stand with a lawless President, who is defying the will of the voters or the millions of Americans who want a safe and legal immigration system. Second, it allows Republicans to also show they are committed to ending Obama's amnesty once and for all in the next Congress." The GOP went so far as to attack Cruz, something Democrats didn't do to their progressive firebrand Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who also opposed the spending bill for her own reasons. More...Comment | Share Newtown Families Remember Shooting by Suing Gun MakerWhile the town of Newtown held no public ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre (the town's churches, however, held ceremonies and rang bells), the families of the victims filed suit against gun manufacturer Bushmaster for making the AR-15 that the psychopath used to murder 20 young children and six teachers. Bill Sherlach, whose wife was among those killed, said in a statement, "In business, measuring risk prior to producing, marketing, and selling a product or service is standard procedure. For far too long the gun industry has been given legislative safe harbor from this standard business practice. These companies assume no responsibility for marketing and selling a product to the general population who are not trained to use it nor even understand the power of it." Because the families did not sue the manufacturer that made the .22 rifle the shooter used to kill his mother or the Glock he used to kill himself, the families are probably treading on shaky legal ground, using nothing but an emotional argument that AR-15s are scary. It's akin to fat people suing the makers of high-capacity spoons. More...Comment | Share Cheney: Torture Is What Terrorists Did on 9/11Former Vice President Dick Cheney once again defended the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday. "Torture to me is an American citizen on his cell phone making a last call to his four young daughters shortly before he burns to death in the upper levels of the [World Trade Center] on 9/11," Cheney said. "There's this notion that there's moral equivalence between what the terrorists did and what we do, and that's absolutely not true. We were very careful to stop short of torture." In fact, he added, "I'd do it again in a minute." Cheney also responded to news that the United Nations' Ben Emmerson is pushing for "criminal charges" against those responsible: "I have little respect for the United Nations, or for this individual who doesn't have a clue and had absolutely no responsibility for safeguarding this nation and going after the bastards that killed 3,000 Americans on 9/11." His view extends in some ways to Democrats, who are "trashing a very, very good program that worked, that saved lives, that kept us from another attack" -- even as we're in a time of war with "terrorists out there today."Comment | Share FBI Murder Stats Show Black Lives Do MatterMembers of black communities who say black lives matter may want to look to reform their communities before blaming "racist" law enforcement. While police officers kill about 200 blacks per year, newly released FBI murder statistics for 2012 show that whites murdered 193 blacks, and blacks killed 431 whites. Most of the murderers killed those of their own race, with 2,614 whites killing fellow whites, and 2,412 blacks killing fellow blacks. The statistics are far from perfect, as the FBI combines Caucasian with Hispanic murder rates. Furthermore, there are many reported murders in which the race of the victim or perpetrator is unknown. As Heather MacDonald writes in National Review, "There are thousands of law-abiding inner-city blacks who live by bourgeois values and who need protection from criminals. Only the police are willing to provide that protection. Their mantra could be 'black lives matter.'" More...Comment | Share Green on the Outside, Red in the MiddleBolivian President Evo Morales is a socialist, and, unlike American Democrats, doesn't need to hide his true colors. Speaking at the United Nations' Lima Climate Change Conference -- the one with the biggest carbon footprint yet -- Morales said, "The deep causes of global warming are not being dealt with here. The origin of global warming lies in capitalism. If we could end capitalism then we would have a solution." We'll admit his honesty is somewhat refreshing, if disconcerting all the same. Morales continued, "After 30 years of negotiations, global warming is still going on. So many people and countries do not act responsibly. They are only thinking about profits, luxuries and markets. They are not thinking about life, but only of money and how to accumulate more capital." That capital has lifted millions out of poverty, lengthened life spans and provided technology and comforts. But socialists like him would rather spread the poverty and explain it away as saving the planet.Comment | Share For more, visit Right Hooks. 
RIGHT ANALYSISTreating Progressivism Like the Religion It Is
"They are very concerned," said Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a non-profit legal organization assisting outraged parents to whom he referred. "Planned Parenthood is not exactly the best when it comes to putting young people first. They get more grants from the promiscuity of children. The material they have provided was material that mirrored their agenda." The most pernicious piece of that material is a chart depicting the so-called "Genderbred Person," which comes from a book entitled, "The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender," written by comedian and social justice advocate Sam Killerman. It is an effort to sow as much sexual confusion as possible in the minds of children by challenging the notion that one's identity should not be reduced to male or female. Instead, students are told they can mentally identify themselves as "woman, man, two-spirit, genderqueer or genderless," sexually express themselves as "butch, femme, androgynous, gender neutral, or hyper-masculine," and biologically identify themselves as "male, female, intersex, female self ID, or male self ID." It gets worse. Students were also given a leaflet entitled "Sex Check! Are You Ready for Sex?" It asks students whether they are "ready for sex" and includes a checklist of materials such as condoms and water-based lubricants, and it also prompts them to consider whether they are capable of handling infections or pregnancy. Another worksheet prepares them for giving and getting consent for sex, posing questions such as "Do you want to go back to my place?" and "Is it OK if I take my pants off?" According to PJI, parents began raising concerns following student reports of disturbing behavior during a sex-ed class. In a press release, the institute said, "Students reported that instructors threw a model of female reproductive organs at a student and that the instruction left them feeling pressured to have sex." The school defended its actions, characterizing the instruction as "age appropriate using objective and medically accurate information." It further defended the worksheet as something that will "set the stage for age appropriate student thought, reflection and discussion regarding the complexity of the decision," while arguing the Genderbred Person is used "to prompt student thought and engage students in discussion regarding the components of sexual identity." Baloney. Last year the American Life League (ALL) submitted ads to The New York Times and The Washington Post to raise public awareness about Planned Parenthood's sex education curriculum. Those ads featured actual images from that curriculum for children as young as 10. Both papers rejected the images as "too graphic" and "shocking" for adult readers. Too shocking for adults but OK for young teens? Dacus spells out the implications. "What is happening in Lafayette should be a wake-up call to parents about what Planned Parenthood and some school districts want to teach our kids," he contends. "I would challenge anyone to read some of these materials and try to defend their use with 13- and 14-year-olds." Parents collected 100 signatures on a petition in an effort raise community awareness about what is going on at AHS, and PJL sent AHS a letter expressing "serious concerns" about the legality of the program. "We firmly believe some of this program is illegal," Dacus added, "and the district has a lot more explaining to do." What is occurring in this case is an integral part of the leftist agenda that has reached the apex of insanity in the Golden State. In 2013, Gov. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown signed AB1266, allowing transgender students "to participate in sex-segregated programs, activities and facilities" based on their self-perception and regardless of their birth gender. Hence, one is whoever one wants to be, regardless of biological reality. Keep this all in mind as we consider the story of Chaplain Joseph Lawhorn, an Army chaplain punished for including religious materials and quoting from the Bible during a suicide-prevention training session with the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion. "You provided a two-sided handout that listed Army resources on one side and a biblical approach to handling depression on the other side," Col. David Fivecoat, the commander of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade at Ft. Benning, Georgia, wrote in an official Letter of Concern. Fivecoat warned Lawhorn to be "careful to avoid any perception you are advocating one system of beliefs over another." Now, back to the state of California and AHS, we add to the mix Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry. Writing for The Wall Street Journal, McHugh contends that sex change is "biologically impossible," and "policy makers and the media are doing no favors either to the public or the transgendered by treating their confusions as a right in need of defending rather than as a mental disorder that deserves understanding, treatment and prevention." Some people believe McHugh is spot on. Others believe the Genderbred Person, which posits a diametrically opposed viewpoint, is accurate. Furthermore, according to the Intersex Society of North America, transgendered people are those "who are born with typical male or female anatomies [emphasis added] but feel as though they've been born into the 'wrong body.'" In other words, believing one is transgender requires an act of faith. Faith is an integral part of religion -- and the endorsement of religion is prohibited in public schools. It is time the leftist indoctrination of children that includes a highly debatable tenet of sexuality -- along with a host of other propaganda passed along as irrefutable fact -- be given the same scrutiny and be subject to the same limitations as leftists subject Christianity. The alternative is what we have now: a viewpoint labeled "secular humanism" completely protected from rebuttal by opposing viewpoints. That's not education. That's brainwashing, and it's time Americans recognized it as such -- and put a stop to it. Comment | Share Painting the Picture of Male Unemployment
Seriously. Yes, they did. Painted on the debate canvas is a recognizable face -- the unemployed male during his prime working years. The Times' piece declared, "Working, in America, is in decline. The share of prime-age men -- those 25 to 54 years old -- who are not working has more than tripled since the late 1960s, to 16 percent." Perhaps the most important sentence in the report, however, is this: "Many men, in particular, have decided that low-wage work will not improve their lives, in part because deep changes in American society have made it easier for them to live without working." Welcome to Barack Obama's America. The palette of metaphorical colors used by the Left to cast this grim, but real, image ranged from the gray of "foreign" competition and "technological advances," to the pale pink of a massive list of government programs that include safety-net welfare and job training, to the cyanotic blue of men avoiding marriage and fatherhood. The pronouncement that "foreign competition" harms the workforce -- in this case, unemployed males, 85% of whom were without a college degree -- is spot on. Hence, the absurdity of allowing Obama's amnesty to stand. His action will permit five million illegal immigrants to compete in the already flooded low-skilled labor market. The ones hurt most are young blacks, but blacks are such dependable Democrat constituents that Obama knows he can get away with it. As for that 85% of those surveyed who don't hold a four-year degree, the availability of job training and educational attainment is vast. In 2011, the Government Accountability Office estimated that nine federal agencies housed 47 separate job training and educational programs. The obvious question has to be asked: Which is easier to get, 99 weeks (just five weeks short of two years) of unemployment checks, or to enroll in an education program to obtain a certificate in training and finish a four-year degree? An individual must stay competitive in a tightening labor market. Refining and advancing education and skills is no longer a K-12 proposition. Frankly, individuals can't even expect a four-year degree to keep them competitive absent some special circumstance or highly specialized field. There are ample options to obtain the training and education necessary to grow into technologically driven occupations. Parents, guidance counselors, existing employers and the government must be consistent in message -- be a lifetime learner to stay employed. But that's not the easy road; unemployment and food stamps are. The New York Times observed other societal changes, such as that "the decline of marriage ... means fewer men provide for children." The traditional family places worth on the roles of a father as spiritual leader, model in his work ethic and character, and his responsibility to meet the needs of his family. But with so-called "progressive" change in the definition of marriage, the American male is ... liberated. Finally, there's an element the NYT didn't mention: shame. Reach back into records and appreciate that in the 1903 annual report of the U.S. Bureau of Labor an able-bodied adult who was not working was documented as "Idle." Further, this "idleness" was categorized "by causes." Drunkenness, accident, strike, unable to get work, slack work, and bad weather were among 64 identifiers that captured the reasons for unemployment. Today, it's not your fault if you drop out of high school or college; it's not your fault if you miss the opportunity to get additional education and training offered at work; it's not your fault you never save a penny, but have the latest electronics available. You see, when you're a victim of the big-bad system, there is no shame. The Left -- and some of the "moderate middle" -- offers a life portrait of just under two years of unemployment checks, an opportunity to join the almost 50 million on food stamps, with hope that the government will increase the minimum wage on occasion to assist in one's embrace as a member of the underclass. Mediocrity is the message for the masses. By contrast, the Right paints a picture of innovation and competition with individuals who pursue skills training and education, who embrace technology and competition. The painting frequently includes a spouse and family to strengthen and support, and a male head-of-household who has the ability to dream and imagine a better day for his family. Yet, that portrait is only completed by the individual, not by the nanny state. It's a picture of Liberty. Now, you pick your palette: pale pastels or bold colors. Comment | Share For more, visit Right Analysis.
TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
 OPINION IN BRIEFThe Gipper: "They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right."Columnist Jeff Jacoby: "Speaking last month at the International Press Freedom Awards, Univision’s influential news anchor [Jorge Ramos] told his audience that while he has 'nothing against objectivity,' journalism is meant to be wielded as 'a weapon for a higher purpose: justice.' To be sure, he said, it is important to get the facts right -- five deaths should be reported as five, not six or seven. But 'the best of journalism happens when we, purposely, stop pretending that we are neutral and recognize that we have a moral obligation to tell truth to power.' As it happens, Ramos delivered those remarks soon after the publication of Sabrina Erdely’s 9,000-word [faux] story in Rolling Stone vividly describing the alleged gang rape of a freshman named Jackie at a University of Virginia fraternity party. ... 'Maybe [Erdely] was too credulous,' suggests longtime media critic Howard Kurtz in a piece on Rolling Stone’s journalistic train wreck. ... Or maybe this is what happens when newsrooms and journalism schools decide, like Jorge Ramos, that although they have 'nothing against objectivity,' their real aspiration is to use journalism 'as a weapon for a higher purpose.'" Comment | Share Economist Stephen Moore: "Here is the biggest worry about an $18 trillion debt: What happens if/when interest rates start to drift back upward? Answer: This is the economic equivalent of the nuclear option. Each 1-percentage-point rise in interest rates causes the U.S. deficit to rise by more than $1 trillion over ten years. So a 300-basis-point rise in rates -- nothing more than a return to normalcy -- would mean about $5 trillion in federal deficits. If that happens, the debt-servicing costs grow astronomically and interest payments would become the biggest expense item in the budget. We start to pay more and more taxes just to finance past borrowing. This is what happened in Detroit; look at how that turned out." Comment | Share
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. |
Monday, December 15, 2014
THE PATRIOT POST 12/15/2014
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment