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| Digest · July 22, 2011
The Foundation"Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one." --Thomas Paine Government & PoliticsTo Deal, or Not to DealAfter weeks of intense debate, the White House and Congress may be nearing a deal to raise the debt ceiling, conditional on spending cuts and a tax overhaul. Details are sketchy and both Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) are adamantly denying a "grand bargain" just yet, but if early rumors are true, the deal might actually be acceptable. Knock on wood, anyway. The White House also signaled that if a deal were close, Obama would go along with a stopgap measure. But Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-NV) is threatening to cast his spell over the deal. According to The New York Times, "the new revenue tied to the looming agreement to increase the debt limit by Aug. 2 would be produced in 2012 through a tax code rewrite that would lower individual and corporate rates, close loopholes, end tax breaks and make other adjustments to produce revenue gains." Some proposals have been floated to lower the individual and corporate tax rates below 30 percent, while eliminating some deductions. Obama's own debt commission recommended a similar formula for economic growth in December. After ignoring them in his proposed budget, and after being shaken by a steady stream of dismal economic news, Obama has apparently decided to stop ignoring them. There have been so many competing plans and visions that it's hard to know which end is up. CNN, of all places, has a decent breakdown. Apparently, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is among those who don't know what's going on. "I'm at a point where I'm saying we need to hear from the House of Representatives," Reid said from the Senate floor Wednesday. "We have a plan to go forward over here. But until we hear from the House of Representatives, really our -- all of our work here would be for naught. I await the word from the speaker." On Thursday, Reid berated the House for planning the weekend off. The House, of course, passed the Paul Ryan budget plan earlier this year, which failed in the Senate 40-57. The House also passed its "Cut, Cap and Balance" proposal, which would cut and cap spending combined with a Balanced Budget Amendment. The Senate under Reid's leadership hasn't bothered to pass a budget in more than 800 days, and it has yet to pass -- or even propose on paper -- any debt-ceiling deal. The Senate will vote today on a "motion to table" Cut, Cap and Balance, which would effectively kill it, after Reid called it "perhaps some of the worst legislation in the history of this country." Apparently, controlling spending is right up there with the Indian Removal Act (1830), the Fugitive Slave Act (1850), the Volstead Act (prohibition) (1919), and countless other terrible pieces of legislation (see: ObamaCare). A final note: All of the ideas are coming from Republicans, while Democrats continue to demagogue and drag their feet. It's almost as if they want to hang a government shutdown on Republicans again. Surely, as deathly serious as Democrats keep reminding us the situation is -- that it all ends on Aug. 2 -- they wouldn't do that which shall not be named and play hollow politics with the nation's future, would they? The Blame GameObama deals out blame for the debt crisis. Of course in his world, none of it belongs to him for his spending binge, but, hey, he's the "adult in the room." First, he blamed George W. Bush: "I think the vast majority of people understand that this is something that we inherited and that when I came into office we'd already lost four million jobs and the few months after I got sworn in we lost another four million." Then, he blamed ideology -- that of conservatives anyway: "This is actually a self-created crisis in some ways. It has to do with folks who are digging into set positions rather than saying how do we solve a problem." Blame throwing: 2. Proposed solutions: 0. This Week's 'Braying Jackass' AwardsYou know an idea must be good for America when two of the Senate's most liberal stalwarts are attacking it. After the House vote on Cut, Cap and Balance, Sen. Barbara Mikulski protested, "What a sham. What a scam. I'd be tempted to just blow it off if it were not so cruel, stupid and dangerous. ... It could cut, cap and kill the future of our country." Sen. Tom Harkin followed, "The sad reality is that America no longer has a two-party system. One of our two parties has morphed into a kind of a cult driven by a singular fixation and obsession -- preserving and expanding tax breaks for the wealthy at all costs. This so-called balanced budget amendment would make it all but impossible to raise [taxes] in the future." Essential Liberty"$438 billion was the record-breaking federal deficit in 2008. That's all of three years ago. In 2011, it's getting on four times as big. ... Obama did that. The Democrats did that. 'Trillion' is their word. They mainstreamed it, and very effectively, in nothing flat. But it's not a fact of life. It's a fact of their life, and they should be on the defensive about it. What do we have to show for the trillionization of government? The dead-parrot economy, the underwater property market, the flatline jobs market. But lots more bureaucracy and regulation. Obama wants to demonize 'millionaires'? Who's he kidding?" --columnist Mark Steyn From the 'Non Compos Mentis' FileWhile the debt debate rages on in Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered praise for ... Greece. "We stand by the people and government of Greece as you put your country back on a path to economic stability and prosperity," Clinton said Sunday. "Committing to bring down the deficit and passing the medium-term fiscal strategy were vital first steps. We know these were not easy decisions. They were acts of leadership." "Leadership"? The only thing Greece is leading in is getting bailouts for its reckless spending and $329 billion in debts it can't repay. Clinton was praising the pan-handling Mediterranean nation for its recently passed austerity measures, which it adopted in exchange for a $145 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund -- largely funded by the U.S. On Thursday, Eurozone nations agreed to a $155 billion bailout package for Greece. The reason the U.S. faces its own crisis is because of all-too-similar "leadership." Video of the WeekJimmy Carter and Barack Obama read from the same teleprompter about the malaise facing our nation. Listen here. Hope 'n' Change: Still More WaiversThe Department of Health and Human Services issued 39 new ObamaCare waivers in June, bringing the total number to just short of 1,500. We reported a short time back that the White House and HHS will bring an end to the monthly waiver application process in September, but the system itself will still continue under another method. Applicants looking to duck immediate participation in ObamaCare will have until Sept. 22 to apply for a block waiver that will be good until 2014. Those who already have waivers will be able to renew for the same amount of time, rather than yearly, as was previously the case. This will be convenient for Barack Obama, since it will take the story off the front pages before his re-election campaign heats up in 2012. Rep. John Barrasso (R-WY) has introduced his own plan, which would allow all Americans the opportunity to apply for an ObamaCare waiver. He notes, "If the law worked well, companies and unions would not demand a way out of its expensive mandates. It's not fair that a particular group of Americans ... don't have to abide by the law. Millions of other Americans across the country deserve the same freedom." It's unlikely that Barrasso's plan will pass the Democrat-controlled Senate, but it certainly reinforces the point that ObamaCare is a sham. On the Campaign Trail: Bachmann's HeadacheNow that Michele Bachmann has emerged as a top Republican presidential candidate, the time has come for the Left (and sometimes the Right) to start picking her apart. The big-ticket item this week is that the Minnesota representative suffers from migraines. A group of anonymous "former aides and staffers" claimed that Bachmann's condition has landed her in the hospital on at least three occasions, impacting her work on Capitol Hill. Bachmann was forced to respond that she has been able to control her infrequent attacks with medication, and she even supplied a doctor's note certifying that she's in "good general health." That didn't stopped rampant media speculation she may be unfit to be president. Never mind the host of ailments and health issues that have plagued former presidents and presidential candidates in the past. Lefties believe that Franklin D. Roosevelt was perfectly fit to be president despite being paralyzed by polio, and John F. Kennedy was considered a virile chief executive despite having a debilitating back problem as well as Addison's Disease. On second thought, maybe those aren't the best presidential models, but we don't think Bachmann's rare migraines render her unfit for office. For our part, we're with Michelle Malkin, who said, "My two cents: I would much rather have a migraine sufferer in the White House than the current migraine INDUCER-in-chief." If that weren't enough, a few Leftists are advancing the rumor that Bachmann's husband is homosexual. They have no proof, but since he works with people with deep-seated psychological issues including homosexuality, the twisted logic goes, he must be homosexual too. Leftists vigorously support homosexuals but apparently only if they're leftists. All the same, it's laughable to think that Marcus Bachmann is homosexual. Around the Nation: State Budgets Provide LessonThe longest state government shutdown in over a decade came to end this week, when the Minnesota state legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton came to a budget agreement. Dayton, a Democrat, initially sought a 5 percent tax increase to help "fix" the state's budget woes, but the Republican-controlled legislature held firm to a plan that would focus instead on spending cuts rather than tax increases. For two weeks, the two sides were in a stalemate while state services went dark, but Dayton finally agreed to Republican demands, albeit with "serious reservations." Regardless of Dayton's reservations, we hope that our elected officials in Washington learn the lesson that played out in Minnesota. Across the country several states are enjoying budget surpluses while the federal government faces a historic fiscal nightmare. Indiana, Ohio, Maine and South Carolina are among the states that ended their fiscal years in the black. Higher than expected tax revenue and significant spending cuts are the reason behind these success stories. It may be mere coincidence that all the aforementioned states -- and several others that also met their numbers -- have Republican governors and/or legislatures, but we thought it worth a mention.
National SecuritySpace Shuttle Returns From Final MissionThe space shuttle Atlantis touched down at Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Thursday morning, marking the end of the three-decade-long shuttle era. As the shuttle rolled to a stop, a NASA television announcer bid farewell: "Having fired the imagination of a generation, a ship like no other, its place in history secured, the space shuttle pulls into port for the last time." Atlantis lifted off two weeks ago to resupply the International Space Station. It was the 135th mission of the shuttle program, which experienced both the high of human achievement and the depths of catastrophe. Some doubted that the shuttle program would survive the Challenger disaster in 1986 that claimed the lives of seven astronauts, or the breakup of the Columbia in 2003 that took another seven, but over 30 years, the shuttles continued, launch after launch. The future of the American space program is uncertain, but, according to Atlantis Commander Chris Ferguson, "one thing is indisputable -- America is not going to stop exploring." NASA intends to focus on unmanned exploration, and will use a private-sector space-taxi service to man and supply the space station, though that won't be ready until at least 2016. Until then, we must rely on the Russians to take American astronauts into orbit. NASA purchased 46 such seats (at up to $63 million per seat) for our crews through 2016. We suppose that's a bargain, given that shuttle launches averaged some $1.5 billion. Yet going from putting a man on the moon to "Hey, can we catch a ride?" in little more than a generation is rather uninspiring. DHS Reports on Jihadis and White GuysThe Department of Homeland Security issued a new intelligence report Tuesday, titled "Insider Threat to Utilities," outlining the possibility of terrorist attacks in the form of internal sabotage at a major utility facility. We know that al-Qa'ida is aiming to hit the U.S. again on the coming tenth anniversary of 9/11, and an attack on our infrastructure is high on their list. According to DHS, "violent extremists have, in fact, obtained insider positions," and "outsiders have attempted to solicit utility-sector employees" to carry out damaging physical and cyber attacks. Furthermore, the DHS report says, "Based on the reliable reporting of previous incidents, we have high confidence in our judgment that insiders and their actions pose a significant threat to the infrastructure and information systems of U.S. facilities. Past events and reporting also provide high confidence in our judgment that insider information on sites, infrastructure, networks, and personnel is valuable to our adversaries and may increase the impact of any attack on the utilities infrastructure." DHS officials may be aware of this threat and working to thwart it, but they are also appallingly politically correct. A recent training video depicts suspected terrorists as average, middle-aged white men. In fact, as the narrator makes clear, ethnicity, age and religion should play no role in judging acts of terrorism. DHS already vilified conservatives in 2009 with its report, "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment." So which is it? Is DHS battling Islamist jihadis or merely smearing "rightwing" Americans? TSA Body Scans Ruled 'Constitutional'In the wake of last weekend's arrest of a Tennessee woman at the airport after she refused TSA whole-body-imaging scans for her children out of privacy concerns, the Despotic Branch showed its stuff when the Fourth Circuit Court in DC ruled that "naked scans" of air travelers or the aggressive alternative of pat down searches do not violate Americans' Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable administrative searches. The court did, however, rule that the TSA violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to have a notice-and-comment rulemaking before rolling out the machines. As for privacy concerns, the Court said that it was relevant that the primary goal of the intrusive searching was to protect the public from a terrorist attack rather than to determine whether a passenger committed a crime. Following this logic, warrantless scanning of homes and vehicles will be similarly permissible upon the pretext of preventing a terrorist attack rather than to determine if the occupant committed a crime. Meanwhile, despite the court ruling, TSA announced that it would begin using new technology that will make the image of a person's body less graphic. Profiles of Valor: U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Dakota MeyerDakota Meyer, who left active-duty service in the U.S. Marine Corps in June 2010, will receive the Medal of Honor for his actions in Afghanistan. The former corporal will be the third living service member to receive the Medal for actions in Afghanistan or Iraq, and the first living Marine to receive it in 41 years. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta personally accepted the Medal in November 2010, and Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry did so just last week. On Sept. 8, 2009, Meyer and his unit came under attack from jihadis who outnumbered them four to one. Urgent calls for artillery support were refused, leading to letters of reprimand for some of the officers heading the operation. When helicopter pilots couldn't help retrieve four missing service members due to fierce enemy fire, the Marine Times reports, "[Meyer] charged into a kill zone on foot and alone to find three missing Marines and a Navy corpsman, who had been pinned down under intense enemy fire in Ganjgal, a remote village near the Pakistan border in violent Kunar province. Already wounded by shrapnel, Meyer found them dead and stripped of their gear and weapons, and helped carry them from the kill zone." Meyer said that he feels like "the furthest thing from a hero" because he didn't recover his comrades alive. Our hearts go out to the families of the fallen Marines and Navy corpsman, as well as Meyer. His selfless heroism is worthy of honor.
Business & EconomyBusinessmen Against ObamaThese days, it seems casino magnate Steve Wynn would rather tempt his luck at the card table than take his chances investing in the economy, thanks to Barack Obama's anti-business policies. Earlier this week, Wynn -- CEO of Wynn Resorts and a Democrat and Harry Reid supporter -- called this administration "the greatest wet blanket to business, and progress and job creation in my lifetime." Wynn blamed the president for the fear pervading the marketplace. "I could spend the next three hours giving you examples of all of us in this market place that are frightened to death about all the new regulations, our health care costs escalate, regulations coming from left and right." In fact, according to a new Heritage Foundation report, within two months of the president's signing ObamaCare into law, improvement in net private-sector job creation went from an average of 67,000 jobs per month to just 6,400 jobs per month. Correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation, as Heritage admits, but many business owners cite ObamaCare as one of their top barriers to new hiring. Regulation wasn't Wynn's only concern. Obama, he said, "keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest, they're holding too much money. We haven't heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists." Coming from a Harry Reid Democrat, these words are pretty powerful. Wynn wasn't alone in his critique, either. Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, said that the single biggest impediment to job growth is "the U.S. government. Having built a small business into a big one, I can tell you that today the impediments that the government imposes are impossible to deal with. Home Depot would never have succeeded if we'd tried to start it today. Every day you see rules and regulations from a group of Washington bureaucrats who know nothing about running a business. And I mean every day. It's become stifling." As for Obama, Marcus says, "His speeches are wonderful. His output is absolutely, incredibly bad. As he speaks about cutting out regulations, they are now producing thousands of pages of new ones. With just ObamaCare by itself, you have a 2,000 page bill that's probably going to end up being 150,000 pages of regulations." Is it any wonder, then, that the economy is struggling? Income Redistribution: AP Misleads on Tax CutsIt's an old canard, but apparently the Associated Press is counting on readers to have short memories as they regurgitate the same old line that the 2001/2003 Bush tax cuts are to blame for the skyrocketing national debt. Unfortunately for the AP, their assertion is easily disproved -- and has been repeatedly. A glance at federal records shows that tax receipts slipped to $1.782 trillion in FY2003, yet once the Bush tax cuts were fully implemented, revenues rebounded to a peak of $2.568 trillion in FY2007 -- the highest on record. So how did rising revenue contribute to the deficit? On the other hand, spending crept over the $2 trillion mark with Bush's first budget for FY2002 and surpassed $3 trillion in his final budget (FY2009). It's nearly $4 trillion per year now -- and that's what caused the rapidly increasing shortfall. So why would the AP mislead us? Obviously they're cheerleading for a "deficit reduction" plan that includes soaking the rich with higher taxes. Never mind that such an approach won't work. More important, however, it stokes the fires of class envy that Obama and the Democrats desperately need for re-election. The idea of "spreading the wealth around" through government-sponsored redistribution doesn't work when other people's money runs out, but a scapegoat can certainly placate the masses until the Democrats get through the next election. To Be American and PoorThink of a person living in poverty, and chances are you conjure up the image of a homeless person scrounging through garbage bins looking for something to eat. While it is a shame that there are Americans who live under those conditions, they're actually a tiny minority of what the federal government considers "poor." In fact, someone of the lowest economic class is far more likely to have a livable home with amenities such as multiple televisions, a DVD player, washer and dryer, air conditioning, and at least one car, according to government statistics. An American considered poor still lives in a larger dwelling than the average European. Yet to hear advocates for more wealth redistribution, one could be forgiven for believing that the poor lived in mud huts or under a bridge. Simply put, America's poor are often far better off than those of other nations, or even those of previous generations here in America.
Culture & PolicyClimate Change This Week: Of Polar Bears and 'Green Helmets'Over the past few years, numerous studies have emerged debunking man-made climate change as more junk science than settled science. Moreover, the Climategate Scandal showed just how far certain environmentally focused "progressives" are willing to go to get their way. Now, facing extinction themselves, the envirofascists have begun a new campaign to silence those who disagree with them. The campaign begins, of course, with a new heart-tugging study. From 2004-2009, the World Wildlife Fund studied the swimming habits of polar bears, concentrating specifically on those that swim long distances. Operating on the assumption that these bears have to swim farther because climate change is melting the ice, the study found that the mortality rate for polar bear cubs is 2.5 times higher than those who spend less time in the water. The article features a picture of a polar bear appearing to be tossed about helplessly in rough seas. There are two questions they didn't answer, however. First, is the ice really melting by the mile, making these swims that much more treacherous? Second, what should we make of the increasing polar bear population over the last generation? In the meantime, BBC has announced that it will restrict the airtime given to climate-change skeptics. Despite much evidence to the contrary, the Beeb considers climate science to be "settled" and believes that it is therefore under no obligation to present views to the contrary. Someone should remind the BBC that once upon a time it was "settled" that the world was flat. If that's not ludicrous enough, the United Nations Security Council is considering adding climate change to its roster of duties. This on behalf of several small island states who claim that security forces are needed to help them deal with "climate change-related conflicts." Several other countries, however, such as China and Germany, oppose the plan. Chinese officials have stated that we should leave climate change to the "experts," while Germany wants to see a plan as to how the UN "green helmets" would actually, well, accomplish anything. "Repainting blue helmets into green might be a strong signal," said German UN Ambassador Peter Wittig, "but would dealing with the consequences of climate change -- say in precarious regions -- be really very different from the tasks the blue helmets already perform today?" Second Amendment: Congressman Fights Off Home InvaderThanks to a gun, a home invasion in Iowa that could have turned deadly ended peacefully. Of course, the prevailing media narrative is that such incidents end badly, but Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA) and his family are proof to the contrary. He tussled with an armed home invader who attacked his daughter at Boswell's rural farm, giving his grandson time to grab a gun from another room and point it at the intruder, who then fled. Boswell, who served in Vietnam, knew he had to "do something" when he saw his daughter in peril. With the assistance of an available weapon and someone who knew what to do with it, his family escaped unscathed. Thankfully, with an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association, it's clear the congressman is not a hypocrite who would take guns from the rest of us while exempting himself from the law. We commend him for employing his Second Amendment right to self-protection, and we advise more members of Congress and the judiciary to respect that right for everyone. Patriot News ReviewWe value your time. As a service to you, our editorial team evaluates hundreds of reputable news sources each day for headlines that are relevant to our mission -- the advancement of Liberty. We post links to the most notable news by 0800 ET, weekdays, and throughout the day. This page is also updated over the weekend. Don't waste time surfing news sites. Visit the Patriot News Review.
And Last...Florida representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) and Allen West (R) have been verbally duking it out this week, and the results have been entertaining. The basics: After West, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, left the House floor, Wasserman Schultz, who simultaneously serves as chair of the Democratic National Committee, took to the floor to criticize his support of "Cut, Cap and Balance." West represents seniors in Florida, and Wasserman Schultz continues to charge that Republicans are attacking seniors with the plan. This isn't the first tussle between the two, so West sent her a personal email saying, "Let me make myself perfectly clear, you want a personal fight, I am happy to oblige. You are the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. You have proven repeatedly that you are not a Lady, therefore, shall not be afforded due respect from me!" Ever the fundraiser, Wasserman Schultz released the email to the public, believing it would fire up her base and help the DNC make a quick buck. Leftists responded by calling for West to apologize for his "sexist" remarks. Ironically, West is black, which if he were a Democrat would make him immune from criticism. Furthermore, West served in Iraq, fighting against jihadis that don't exactly treat women like, well, ladies. He refuses to apologize, but we hope that he has learned his lesson. Calling Wasserman Schultz "vile, unprofessional, and despicable" is one thing, but don't dare use the word "lady" when talking to a Democrat. Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis! Patriot News Review
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