Wednesday, April 16, 2014

THE PATRIOT POST 04/16/2014

THE FOUNDATION

"It is a very great mistake to imagine that the object of loyalty is the authority and interest of one individual man, however dignified by the applause or enriched by the success of popular actions." --Samuel Adams, Loyalty and Sedition, essay in The Advertiser, 1748

TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS

Census Changes Uninsured Tally

The Census Bureau is pretty sure that ObamaCare will mean fewer people are uninsured. The trick is in the counting. A new questionnaire the Bureau is planning to use includes a "total revision to health insurance questions" that, in a recent test, counted fewer uninsured. The Census Bureau called it "coincidental and unfortunate timing" that the measurement overhaul will take effect at the same time as the health care law. "Ideally, the redesign would have had at least a few years to gather base line and trend data," the Bureau said. Ideally ObamaCare would never have passed. But hey, the administration specializes in making up numbers, so this Census report will be right at home.
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A Rosier Deficit Outlook

The Congressional Budget Office foresees a narrower federal deficit than previously thought, both near and long term. This year's estimated budget shortfall dropped by $23 billion to $492 billion. Assuming the trend holds, this would be a seven-year low. Unfortunately, the vast majority of this stems from cuts to defense; absent true reforms overhauling entitlements and wasteful spending, any reduction is temporary at best. (Remember, defense spending is one of the few functions federally mandated under the Constitution, yet it's the only area hit by Obama with major budget cuts.) ObamaCare's reduced price tag and Medicare spending cuts lowered the long-term deficit outlook. CBO now predicts $7.6 trillion in more debt over the next decade -- $286 billion less than January's projection. However, CBO's analysis is speculative, and ObamaCare's actual price tag -- like all federal behemoths -- will be far higher than anyone anticipates.
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Obama's Taxes

As many records as Barack Obama has broken as president, the sheer number of his proposed new taxes certainly ranks near the top. According to Americans for Tax Reform, since 2009 he has proposed 442 taxes, which don't include the 20 new taxes actually enacted. For FY 2010 he proposed 79; for 2011, 52; for 2012, 47; for 2013, 34; for 2014, 137; for 2015, 93. In addition to these, he has said he'd like to investigate taxing soda and sugary drinks and that the VAT (value added tax) is an idea we should be exploring. Obviously, were all these enacted, they would bankrupt America, but then he's already doing well on that score.
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Romneys Take Shot at Reid

In 2012, Harry Reid asserted, "The word is out that [Mitt Romney] has not paid any taxes for ten years." That, of course, was a big lie, as tax documents prove. But hey, it made for a good PR distraction -- just like Reid's current obsession over the Koch brothers. Yesterday, Mitt's son, Josh, took a shot at the Senate leader with this epic tweet: "Hey @SenatorReid here's a shot of @MittRomney paying taxes. Does it every year. It's how you get your paycheck." And for the record, much to Reid's chagrin, the Koch brothers pay their taxes too.
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Biden to Boston

Addressing the crowd in Boston gathered Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 200, Joe Biden once again showed why he can't be trusted in public. He lavished praise on tribute organizers before going off script and saying, "[L]et me say to those quote 'survivors,' my God, you have survived and you have soared. It was worth it. I mean this sincerely -- just to hear each of you speak. You're truly, truly inspiring. I've never heard anything so beautiful as what all of you just said." Surely he meant only to compliment the ceremony, but good grief -- many of the survivors of the bombing have gone through life-changing recoveries. Some may even be stronger for it, but we doubt very many of them would say a ceremony is "worth it."
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For more, visit Right Hooks.
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RIGHT ANALYSIS

'No Executive Action on Immigration Coming'

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Barack Obama met with several "faith leaders" about immigration reform Tuesday, and they claim he told them that Congress needs to lead on immigration and that there would be no immediate unilateral executive action on the issue. And by no action, Obama has so far meant no enforcement, which makes all the more laughable the moniker given him by some Hispanic leaders: "Deporter in Chief."
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney spun yesterday's meeting: "I think the president believes that there is an opportunity that still exists for House Republicans to follow the lead of the Senate, including Republicans in the Senate, and take up and pass comprehensive immigration reform. And [Tuesday's] meeting that the president had with faith leaders demonstrates and reinforces the fact that there is a broad, unusually broad, coalition that supports that effort, that supports comprehensive immigration reform and all the benefits that making reform the law would provide to the country, to our security, to our economy, to our businesses. I think it highlights the isolation that House Republicans find themselves in when so many, not just politicians or advocacy leaders, but folks across the country support doing the right thing here and the irony, of course, is that there is a really strong conservative argument to be made on behalf of comprehensive immigration reform."
House Speaker John Boehner has explained on multiple occasions that Obama can't be trusted to enforce the law, and, in light of that, House Republicans have no intention of being suckered into passing reform. Though that doesn't mean they won't actually be suckered into it. Democrats are working on a discharge petition to force their hand.
In truth, we too think immigration reform is needed -- we just don't think any form of amnesty ought to be part of the discussion. Reform should center on border security and the legal entry process. But as Boehner said, it's hard to negotiate with the other side when they're not enforcing existing law. That mistrust is compounded given that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says that illegals have "earned the right to be citizens" and that Joe Biden says they "are already American citizens." How can we then take them seriously?
The real reason Democrats want "reform," of course, is for votes. The Center for Immigration Studies has a new report on the political effect of immigration -- both legal and illegal. Long story short, immigrants vote heavily Democrat. As the study's author, James Gimpel, writes, "Immigrants, particularly Hispanics and Asians, have policy preferences when it comes to the size and scope of government that are more closely aligned with progressives than with conservatives. As a result, survey data show a two-to-one party identification with Democrats over Republicans."
That's yet another reason why Democrats focus on "income inequality" and class warfare. Immigrants tend to be poor, and it makes a difference when the first thing that they hear is that one major party "hates the poor." The answer for immigrants and native-born alike is Liberty, free-enterprise and limited government. The hard part is convincing people that the easy road of government dependence isn't the right road.
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Ukraine Takes Action Against Russian Subversion

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The situation in Ukraine may have reached the boiling point, as its forces make moves in the eastern part of the country to counter Russian-instigated uprisings. "We won't allow Russia to repeat the Crimean scenario in the eastern regions of the country," said acting President Oleksandr Turchynov. But some of Ukraine's forces may actually be working for the other side.
Read the rest of the story here.
For more, visit Right Analysis.

TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS

For more, visit Right Opinion.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Anglo-American economist and philosopher Thomas Cooper (1759-1839): "The law, unfortunately, has always been retained on the side of power; laws have uniformly been enacted for the protection and perpetuation of power."

Columnist Terence Jeffrey: "86,429,000. That is the number of Americans who in 2012 got up every morning and went to work -- in the private sector -- and did it week after week after week. ... The liberal media has not made them famous like the polar bear, but they are truly a threatened species. It is not a rancher with a few hundred head of cattle that is attacking their habitat, nor an energy company developing a fossil fuel. It is big government and its primary weapon -- an ever-expanding welfare state. ... All told ... there were 151,014,000 who 'received benefits from one or more programs' in the fourth quarter of 2011. Subtract the 3,212,000 veterans, who served their country in the most profound way possible, and that leaves 147,802,000 non-veteran benefit takers. ... As more baby boomers retire, and as Obamacare comes fully online ... the number of takers will inevitably expand. And the number of full-time private-sector workers might also contract. Eventually, there will be too few carrying too many, and America will break."
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Columnist Burt Prelutsky: "[I]f Obama weren't black, would so many Americans have ignored his promise in 2008 to destroy the oil and coal industries and to redistribute our wealth in ways reminiscent of Lenin and Stalin? Also, if he weren't black, wouldn't his vow to personally lower the ocean and heal the planet have been viewed as the ravings of a mad man? I grant that not voting for someone simply because he's black is racist. But how is voting for him because he's black not also racist?"
Humorist Frank J. Fleming: "The reason I like a mugger over a tax collector is that a mugger never acts like you're supposed to thank him."
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team
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