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| Brief · May 23, 2011 The Foundation"Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all." --George Washington Re: The Left"[O]n one issue Obama took the old State Department line. 'The status quo' between Israel and the Palestinians, he said, 'is unsustainable.' The United States needs to pressure Israel into making concessions. He emphasized this issue even though it's obvious that it's not a priority or even of much interest to the 'Arab Spring protestors.' And even though, as he mentioned in his speech, the merger of Fatah and Hamas means that Israel does not have a negotiating partner willing to recognize its right to exist. He continued to press his demand, made by no previous president, that Israel stop all 'settlements,' even in Jerusalem. Of course, he failed to note that that demand derailed any possible negotiations, since no Israeli leader will ever agree and since, once Obama made it, Palestinian leaders had to insist on it, too. And he asserted -- also a first for an American president -- that an agreement 'should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.' Previous presidents have said that adjustments should recognize changes that have occurred in the last 44 years. Obama did not, and he added that all Israeli troops should be withdrawn from Palestinian territory, undercutting any Israeli demand to leave a defensive force along the Jordan River. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sitting next to Obama in the Oval Office after their meeting Friday, said flatly that the 1967 (actually 1949-67) lines were unacceptable and that asking Israel to negotiate with Hamas is like asking the United States to negotiate with al-Qaida. Obama deserves credit for going to the State Department to renounce State Department policy on the Middle East. Unfortunately, he didn't follow through on that on Israel and the Palestinians." --political analyst Michael Barone Faith and Family"What's missing in all the talk about the 'Arab Spring' and 'democracy' is any examination of what democracy means and whether it necessarily makes things better. ... Authoritarian regimes or strong democracies enforcing the rule of law, can offer these minorities some protection against the anger of the mob. Remove all authority, however, and the result is often violence. That's what Middle Eastern Christians are afraid of. Their fears aren't helped by the fact that most westerners don't seem to understand that it takes more than elections to create a good or democratic government. ... The institutions we take for granted in the West, the ones that help safeguard the rights of minorities, are rare and they are next-to-non-existent in places like Syria and Egypt. Without them, you get democratic tyranny, mob rule by the majority. This is why Christians, who believe that man is a fallen creature, have always supported democracy underpinned by checks and balances and the rule of law. That's why we call it a 'Republican form of government.' And that is why we must be wary of what some people call 'democracy,' particularly for its effect on religious minorities." --commentator Chuck Colson Opinion in Brief"Nearly two weeks ago, Fatah, the U.S.-backed Palestinian National Liberation Movement, signed an agreement to form a unity government with Hamas, a U.S.-listed foreign terror organization. ... Hamas's own foreign minister has stated that Hamas 'believe[s] that negotiations with the Israeli enemy are in vain.' The Hamas Charter calls for Islam to 'abolish' Israel and for Muslims to 'fight the Jews and kill them.' It further proclaims, 'There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except jihad.' ... Where would U.S. dollars go in this new unity government? Hamas isn't hiding their intentions for these funds. In touting the new unity government, Hamas foreign minister Mahmoud al-Zahhar announced, 'We believe in armed struggle, in addition to responsible governing, as well as making the government's resources available to the resistance,' i.e. terrorism. ... Israel has already cut off tax funds that it routinely collects for the Palestinian Authority. The United States should follow this example, suspend all funds to the Palestinians until Fatah withdraws from the agreement, and make it clear that if the agreement is honored, there will be no more U.S. dollars for the Palestinian Authority. The fact that we even have to debate this question is absurd." --Jordan Sekulow, Director of policy and international operation for American Center for Law and Justice Government"We can get spending under control, balance the budget, and shrink our debt. We can limit the size of government and set free once again the unlimited genius of Americans to create wealth and jobs. We can turn the tide and change our nation's course. To get our fiscal house in order, we must address Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the three so-called entitlement programs which together account for 43 percent of federal spending today. ... We also need to encourage Americans to become more fiscally responsible themselves. We can do this by redesigning our tax system into an expenditure tax with a single flat rate. ... We have to substantially reduce the size and scope of the federal government, fundamentally increase the role of the states in choosing their own practices, and bring decision-making closer to the people, not to unelected administrators. These steps are crucial to getting our nation on a path of fiscal, political and constitutional responsibility." --Heritage Foundation president Edwin J. Feulner For the Record"In case you weren't paying attention (and too few are) the United States officially reached the debt ceiling [last] Monday. Treasury Secretary Tim ('I forgot to pay my taxes') Geithner informed Congress of difficult decisions he was forced to make to keep the country solvent, which is a joke. ... Among Geithner's sleights of hand to keep America from 'defaulting' on its loans is his suspension of payments to federal retirement funding investments until Aug. 2. Whoa, there's a brave move! Geithner doesn't suggest spending cutbacks. That's because with Democrats, especially, federal spending is considered more sacred than money dropped in a church offering plate. Once it's in, it would be a sacrilege to take it out. The public -- or at least the half of us who pay our tax bills so that the other half can take it and so politicians can keep themselves in office -- ought to be awake to this scam. It makes convicted Ponzi scheme practitioner Bernie Madoff look like a piker." --columnist Cal Thomas Liberty"On May 13, the Obama administration announced the approval of 204 new waivers from compliance with the PPAA (Obamacare). That brings to 1,372 the number of waivers HHS has granted in the 14 months since the law's passage. ... The world of Obamacare is no place for the little guy. The danger of waiver power is that it will be used differentially, giving one private entity a competitive advantage over another. The company denied a waiver can bring suit -- but litigation is expensive and slow. ... Because there are so few avenues of recourse when we live under a government by waiver, we are forced, as [Professor Richard] Epstein warns, to trust in the good judgment of bureaucrats and elected officials: 'The fate of our rights and liberties is left to the wisdom and discretion of individuals; we are therefore governed by men, not by laws.'" --columnist Mona Charen The Gipper"There are many well-meaning people today who work at placing an economic floor beneath all of us so that no one shall exist below a certain level or standard of living, and certainly we don't quarrel with this. But look more closely and you may find that all too often these well-meaning people are building a ceiling above which no one shall be permitted to climb and between the two are pressing us all into conformity, into a mold of standardized mediocrity." --Ronald Reagan Political Futures"Even when the president offered some sensible proposals about illegal aliens paying fines, applying formally for citizenship and learning English, he was still disingenuous. Obama deliberately floated these proposals to his partisan audience without any details of enforcement, since to do so would likely turn off the cheering crowd. ... The enforcement of existing federal immigration law has become a joke. Drug violence in Mexico is destabilizing an entire country and spilling over the border. Jobs are scarce, with unemployment here still at 9 percent. Many billions of dollars in remittances to Mexico leave the American Southwest, often from illegal aliens who rely on American social services to make up the difference. These are serious issues that deserve more from a president than re-election pandering at the border and bad jokes about alligators and moats." --historian Victor Davis Hanson
Culture"All of our ruling-class institutions -- academia, courts, government, media and entertainment industries -- are teeming with closed-minded, hard-Left ideologues who seek to 'fundamentally transform America.' Consider that, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, self-identified liberals outweigh their conservative counterparts in the mainstream media by a 5-1 margin. Likewise, a 1999 North American Academic Study Survey (NAASS) of students, faculty and administrators in colleges and universities throughout the United States determined that five times as many college faculty members vote Democratic as Republican. ... Still, liberals -- or 'progressives,' as they prefer to be called -- persist in laboring under an embarrassing misconception: They honestly believe they remain the nonconformists. It's precious. In fact, today's liberals are nothing of the sort. They compliantly conform -- like little windup, patchouli-daubed lemmings -- to a carnival-prize caricature of what they imagine nonconformity to look like. You know, the usual stuff: neo-Marxism, environmentalist activism, sexual relativism, big-government nanny statism, an actions-without-consequences rendering of reproductive rights, and other such populist nonsense. Simply put, today's progressive nonconformist conforms." --columnist J. Matt Barber Insight"For what is meant by saying that a government ought to educate the people? Why should they be educated? What is the education for? Clearly, to fit the people for social life -- to make them good citizens. And who is to say what are good citizens? The government: there is no other judge. And who is to say how these good citizens may be made? The government: there is no other judge. Hence the proposition is convertible into this -- a government ought to mold children into good citizens, using its own discretion in settling what a good citizen is and how the child may be molded into one." --British author, economist and philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) Reader Comments"As the mother of 8 and a teacher, I almost cried reading Mark Alexander's article on 'education.' It's all true, Mark, every single sentence you wrote. I now only substitute because I'm not trusted to teach the doctrine of the state. They kill a love of learning and then replace it with indoctrination and too many parents don't seem to notice or care. God help us. Keep preachin' it Mark, some are listening and waking up." --Barbara "Thank you, Mr. Alexander, for recognizing those of us in academia who are still holding on and fighting the 'good fight.' We are few, but an important, vocal touch-point against 'run-away' government education. It's refreshing to be acknowledged in an environment where we are usually lumped in with the leftist-socialist-communists (take your pick). Thanks, again." --Matthew "Re: Friday's Digest, if Newt is the best that the GOP has to offer, then like 2008, I will have nobody to vote for in 2012. They better find someone quick, because I hate throwing my vote away by voting for Mickey Mouse." --Harold "Newt Gingrich can perform the most important political of his formerly distinguished career by withdrawing his name from seeking the presidency now. His withdrawal will free up his current supporters to put their efforts and their money behind a more viable candidate. It is my opinion that he is trying to firmly establish himself as a middle of the road candidate. We have had too many of those of late." --Rodney "The CDC has pages of information on how to prepare for zombie infestation and other disasters, but neglects to mention the absolute necessity of rifles, shotguns, pistols and sufficient ammunition. Something very wrong there." --Michael
The Last Word"A day after he announced it, Willie Nelson has withdrawn his presidential endorsement of the monotonous libertarian extremist Gary Johnson, RawStory.com reports (apparently quoting Nelson's email verbatim): 'Yesterday, both the Teapot Party and Gary Johnson 2012 sent out press releases announcing the endorsement,' wrote Teapot Party member Steve Bloom Thursday.... 'My position is it too early for me to endorse anyone,' he wrote in an email to Bloom. 'And I think every one should vote their own conscience.' Willie went on: 'I think I will wait and see where he stands on other things. My bad. Sorry. I still think he is a good guy but so Is Dennis [Kucinich] and if he decided to run I would personally vote for him. If it came down to either him or Gary I'm already committed to Dennis. They both have said they support legal pot.' We're glad he cleared that up. But wait. What if it's Newt Gingrich vs. Russ Feingold -- how does Willie vote then? An anxious world holds its breath. An anxious world exhales. An anxious world suddenly feels more mellow. A mellow world scarfs down an entire bag of Doritos. Dude, what was this item about again?" --Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis! Patriot News Review
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