THE FOUNDATION
"It should be your care,
therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt
their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to
excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of
injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity,
faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in
infancy, they will grovel all their lives." --John Adams, Dissertation
on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756
TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Russia's 'Pivotal Experiment'
It's bad enough that the Olympic opening ceremonies in Russia proudly featured the hammer and sickle,
but even worse, our own Leftmedia joined in praising Communism. During
NBC's coverage, "Game of Thrones" actor Peter Dinklage waxed eloquent:
"The towering presence, the empire that ascended to affirm a colossal
footprint. The revolution that birthed one of modern history's pivotal
experiments." The Bolshevik Revolution resulted in tens of millions of
deaths and a nation (not to mention nearly 20 other nations) enslaved to
Communism for more than 70 years. That's not a "pivotal experiment."
Ronald Reagan didn't stand at the Berlin Wall, erected by the Soviets to
keep people in, to tell Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this pivotal experiment." NBC ought to be ashamed.
Schumer's Immigration Plan
Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer really wants to help his Republican pals pass immigration reform.
"There's a simple solution," he said. "Let's enact the law this year,
but simply not let it actually start until 2017, after President Obama's
term is over. ... Let's say to our Republican colleagues: 'You don't trust Obama,
enact the law now, but put it into effect in 2017, and we can get
something real done for America.'" Here's our own advice for the GOP:
When Schumer starts "helping" you, it's time to double your guard.
The GOP Is Racist
Former Secretary of State and nominal Republican Colin Powell chimed in on immigration reform, offering MSNBC his take on the real
trouble for the GOP. "There are certain elements of the [Republican]
Party who go out of their way to demonize people who don't look like the
way they'd like them to look like or came from some other place," said
Powell. "I think the party has to deal with this." In other words, some
in the party reject amnesty, therefore they're clearly racist. Powell
should stick to retirement and leave his shameless race-baiting to the hosts on MSNBC.
Another ObamaCare Change?
According to Aetna CEO Mark
Bertolini and Avalere Health CEO Dan Mendelson, the White House is
getting ready to once again unilaterally altar a major ObamaCare
requirement. The change would grant an extension for individual health
policies dubbed "substandard" by HHS. As with Obama's other alterations,
"To put it bluntly, this is illegal," notes National Review's Charles
Cooke. "'Prosecutorial discretion' is one thing; completely ignoring a
part of what the Left is awfully fond of describing as 'the law of the
land' is quite another." Then again, disregarding the Rule of Law is
what this administration does best.
Michelle Says 'Shake Them'
Michelle Obama is desperate
to save ObamaCare. She knows the whole thing will fall apart if the
young and healthy don't sign up, leaving only the old and sick on the
plans, and she wants anybody and everybody to sign up. "[W]e have to get
our folks signed up for insurance," she said. And if physical violence
is needed, so be it: "[If] there's somebody in your life, a young person
in particular, who thinks 'Nah, I don't need it, I don't want to spend
that money,' you got to shake them and make them understand that this
isn't a joke." Unfortunately, it's not a joke.
For more, visit Right Hooks.
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
Jobs Numbers Remain Frozen
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Friday's jobs report
was another mile marker on the long, sad road to "recovery" in the
Obama economy. Every sign of good news is counterbalanced by bad news.
The U.S. economy added 113,000 jobs in January, but for the second
straight month that increase failed to keep up with population growth.
The headline unemployment rate fell again to 6.6%, but black
unemployment rose to 12.1% -- the same as December 2008. The labor force
grew slightly, but as the Heritage Foundation's Salim Furth observed,
"participation remains mired in a historic slump." The U-6 unemployment
-- a more accurate measure -- dropped to 12.7%, but there are 1.1
million fewer Americans working today than in January 2008.
Meanwhile, another report indicates
that one in six men in their prime working age don't have jobs. And one
interesting subplot is that the fewest health care jobs -- 204,000 --
were added in 2013 since 1999.
The Associated Press called
January's numbers "surprisingly weak," indicating that the economy is
slowing again. Of course, for those who see Democrat policies for what
they are, the slowing is not surprising at all. CBO Director Douglas
Elmendorf warned last week
that "a slower rate of growth of the labor force" -- caused at least in
part by ObamaCare -- "is the central factor in slowing economic
growth." Worse, that slowdown is by design.
Recall Elmendorf's analysis that "by providing heavily subsidized
health insurance to people with very low income and then withdrawing
those subsidies as income rises, the [UnAffordable Care] Act creates a
disincentive for people to work." Or, as the Obama administration might
say, they've been "liberated" from work. White House Press Secretary Jay
Carney helpfully explained that now families can "make a decision about
how they will work, and if they will work." All while the people who do work subsidize those who choose not to. Ain't socialism grand?IRS Arrogance and Apologies
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| Lois Lerner |
There was "not even a smidgen of corruption"
at the IRS, Barack Obama tells us. Obama blamed the targeting on rules
that were "difficult" to interpret and that caused "bureaucratic"
mistakes, but the rules have been in place since 1959 and until 2010
there didn't seem to be a problem implementing them, nor was there any
targeting of disfavored political groups. We know Obama's lying partly
because his lips were moving, but it was made clearer in the latest
congressional hearing on the political targeting perpetrated by the IRS
on Obama's opponents.
House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) revealed a June 2012
email from Treasury attorney Ruth Madrigal to IRS officials, including
Lois "Plead the Fifth" Lerner, regarding the political activity of
tax-exempt groups and how the IRS could more easily keep tabs on those
groups "off-plan," which Camp noted means "hidden from the public." No
wonder Lerner refused to testify before Congress.
The email reveals that the
proposed new rules published in the Federal Register in November 2013
were actually being ironed out at least by 2012, and other evidence
suggests it was as early as 2011. That means the IRS's targeting was
clearly intentional and officials wanted to codify such tactics.
Furthermore, the political targeting wasn't, as Obama claimed, the
result of "confusion" over the old rules. Indeed, IRS officials seemed
to believe the Supreme Court had erred in its Citizens United decision
on campaign finance reform, and they sought to rectify that via
regulation.
Even the ACLU -- no friend
of conservatives -- warned of its "serious concerns" with the proposed
IRS regulations, saying that the IRS "threatens to discourage or
sterilize an enormous amount of political discourse in America." Indeed,
the First Amendment was written to protect political discourse
precisely of the kind coming from the Tea Party.
Nevertheless, new IRS Commissioner John Koskinen did the unthinkable
at the hearing: He apologized for his agency's targeting of Tea Party
groups. It's "intolerable," he said, and "It won't happen going
forward." Furthermore, "to the extent that people suffered accordingly, I
apologize for that." His apology is all fine and good, but it doesn't
fix the problem or stop the proposed new rules from codifying the abuse.
It also doesn't hold anyone accountable for effectively silencing the
Tea Party in an election year. (In fact, IRS officials just received $62.5 million in bonuses.)
Given what we know so far, the very legitimacy of Barack Obama's
re-election can be called into question because of a serious and
scandalous abuse of power that went far beyond some "bureaucratic"
mistakes in a Cincinnati office.For more, visit Right Analysis.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Arnold Ahlert: A Liberating Dependency
- Jeff Jacoby: Political Values Aren't Coded in Skin Color
- Burt Prelutsky: 'And the Winners of This Year's Razzies Are...'
- John C. Goodman: Why We Lost the War on Poverty
- Peggy Noonan: America's Power Is Under Threat
OPINION IN BRIEF
Columnist Arnold Ahlert:
"I'm guessing there are legions of Americans who have little concern
about being liberated from the increasingly anachronistic concepts known
as decency, dignity, integrity, morality and hard work. There was a
time within my lifetime when the idea that going on the dole was a
liberating event would have been treated as the ridiculous -- and
pernicious -- garbage it truly is. And those promoting it would have
been treated like the pariahs they are. Nowadays? Not so much. Or maybe
not at all. As one who observes the trajectory of our culture, I wonder
if there's any kind of behavior short of murder or child
molestation that has any stigma whatsoever attached to it any more. ...
One thing is certain: the 'fundamental transformation' of our nation
into the Slacker States of America has a limited shelf life. Here's
hoping that the political party promoting such a poisonous ideology has
even more limited shelf life."
Columnist Burt Prelutsky:
"I don't know why it is so difficult for so many on our side to
recognize that in certain states, a Ronald Reagan or Ted Cruz is never
going to win an election. But if you sit home because you refuse to vote
for those you demean as RINOs, thus allowing a liberal to win, you are
aiding and abetting Obama, Pelosi and Reid. And that makes you a far
bigger villain than John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Scott
Brown or any other Republican on your personal hate list. However you
feel about moderates, unlike Democrats, they are on the right side every
once in a while. If you disagree, how do you explain that every single
Republican in Congress voted against the Affordable Care Act? As William
F. Buckley once said, 'Vote for the most conservative candidate on the
ballot ... who can win.'"
Ronald Reagan: "Some
people, even in my own country, look at the riot of experiment that is
the free market and see only waste. What of all the entrepreneurs that
fail? Well, many do, particularly the successful ones. Often several
times. And if you ask them the secret of their success, they'll tell you
it's all that they learned in their struggles along the way -- yes,
it's what they learned from failing. Like an athlete in competition, or a
scholar in pursuit of the truth, experience is the greatest teacher."
Columnist George Will:
"Many of the words and numbers bandied by Obama and his administration
may reflect an honest belief that the world is whatever
well-intentioned people like them say about it. So, Obama's critics
should reconsider their assumption that he is cynical. It is his
sincerity that is scary."
Comedian Jay Leno: "The worst thing about losing this job [is] I'm no longer covered at NBC. I have to sign up for ObamaCare."
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team
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