Friday Digest November 22, 2013  THE FOUNDATION "A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired." --Alexander Hamilton GOVERNMENT & POLITICS 'If You Like the Rules, You Can Keep the Rules' Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) dropped a bomb on the Senate this week by "going nuclear" and changing the rules for filibustering Barack Obama's nominees. Appellate court and executive nominees now can be confirmed with an up or down majority vote. The surprise move is just another in a long line of Obama's rule-changing, cheating and lying to pass his agenda. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) got it right: "[Reid] might just as well have said, 'If you like the rules of the Senate, you can keep them!'" Maybe he's just regretting that Republicans didn't do this 10 years ago. The Senate's nuclear option is the latest of Obama's autocratic power grabs -- this time to stack the courts with far-Left judges before the 2014 election. He is principally concerned with packing the DC Circuit Court, which will hear most challenges to ObamaCare. While some suggest this rule change was done to distract from the ObamaCare mess, we think ObamaCare's ubiquitous failure will actually serve as cover for this maneuver. In two days, Senate rules will be off the radar. Now for some history. The filibuster was rarely used to block nominations until Democrats lost the Senate in 2002 and decided to torpedo as many of George W. Bush's nominations as they could. When Republicans considered ways to do something about that, Democrats threw a hissy fit about the "tradition of the Senate." In 2005, then-Sen. Barack Obama argued, "The talk of the 'nuclear option' is more about power than about fairness." Then-Sen. Joe Biden declared, "The nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power." Harry Reid warned that changing the rules was "un-American" and "illegal," and in 2008 promised never to bring it up for a vote. This week, however, Reid finally pulled the trigger and changed the rules. Obama also changed his tune: "I support the step a majority of senators today took to change the way that Washington is doing business. Today's pattern of obstruction it just isn't normal. It's not what our Founders envisioned -- a deliberate and determined effort to obstruct everything no matter what the merits just to fight the results of an election." For Obama to invoke "what our Founders envisioned" is laughable. Actually, our Founders set forth clear protections to keep majority rule in line with our Constitution -- protections which were clearly explained in Federalist Papers No. 64-66. Meanwhile, file this disgraceful episode with Obama's other lying, cheating and stealing. We now know that ahead of the 2012 election, in order to ensure his re-election, Obama repeatedly lied about ObamaCare, lied about Benghazi so as not to detract from his "al-Qaida conquerer image," his administration surrogates used the IRS to disable political opponents, and manipulated critical jobs numbers so as not to undermine the facade that his economic policies were succeeding. If the leftist agenda is so great, why the dishonest tactics? Liberty Depends on You The part we play in the ongoing battle for Liberty is significant. And we don't mean just the editors, staff and Advisory Board of The Patriot Post, but, more important, YOU, our faithful readers. Without you, what we do would be impossible, as would keeping the flame of Liberty burning bright. Unlike our government, we won't shut down, our website actually works and we don't change rules, lie, cheat or steal. But we depend on you to ensure that remains the case, and we humbly ask that you consider giving a gift to The Patriot Post. Like many mission-based organizations, we typically raise most of our budget in the last two months of each year. To keep these great resources coming to your inbox, we still must raise $237,408 before year's end. Please keep in mind that, once again, we did not increase our budget this year. Please, if you have the ability, take a moment to support us online today by making a contribution. If you prefer to support us by mail, please send your donation with our printable donor form. CULTURE, SCIENCE & FAITH Military Oath Alteration Update Barack Obama's administrators are constantly endeavoring to drive wedges between Liberty and its inherent foundational endowment. Most notably, he has done this in those spheres where he can exercise autocratic regulatory power without legislative and judicial interference -- such as in the Department of Defense. As commander in chief, Obama has certainly succeeded in suppressing religious expression by uniformed Patriots in our military service branches. However, his subversion of their freedom to express faith is not going without objection. Last year, The Patriot Post uncovered what appeared to be a legal setup by Obama's DoD civilian administrators and their surrogates -- a setup that has the potential to force the removal of "so help me God" from all military oaths. That strategic ploy starts with the 2011 removal of those words from the officer, enlisted and cadet oaths in the Air Force Academy's official handbook. Three weeks ago, we published a detailed followup of that strategy after one of Obama's surrogates issued a formal challenge to remove "so help me God" from the Cadet Honor Oath. This week, in response to that column, 28 members of Congress issued an official letter of inquiry to the Superintendent of the Air Force Academy asking for "a detailed explanation as to why [they omitted] 'so help me God' from these oaths, despite the fact that the phrase is used in the very statutory language of the United States Code, and was part of the military oath drafted by the Founders themselves." A Fox News report notes the AFA's Public Affairs Office claims that the alterations were "an editorial oversight." That is possible, but given the Obama administration's aggressive faith suppression agenda in our military ranks, an "oversight" is questionable -- especially since the omission was perpetuated in the 2012 and 2013 AFA handbooks. Moreover, when Mark Alexander first inquired about the oath alterations in 2012, the Air Force Public Affairs Office refused to comment and said any further information about this issue would require a Freedom of Information Act request. Now that the congressional inquiry is underway, an FOIA request is being filed today in an effort to determine if anyone outside the AFA had a hand in the oath alterations. NATIONAL SECURITY Warfront With Jihadistan: Troops in Afghanistan  | | Kerry and Karzai | The U.S. and the Afghan government appear close to agreement on a joint security pact that will keep American troops in Afghanistan for the next decade. The deal is still subject to approval by the Afghan Loya Jirga, the large governing body made up of tribal leaders. However, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told that body he won't sign the deal until after elections next April. The White House insists on a year-end deadline. The agreement, which has been evolving through negotiations since 2013, sets a framework for the presence of American troops and their continued role in conjunction with Afghan security forces. Details are still fluid, but what is known is that approximately 15,000 American soldiers will remain in the country to train and assist in the continued fight against al-Qaida and Taliban forces. The White House has kept the agreement quiet, most likely because it's an about-face from Barack Obama's previous desire to wash his hands of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. He perhaps was compelled to change his mind, however, after watching Iraq fall apart following the unilateral U.S. withdrawal in 2010. Al-Qaida has surged once again and spread to Syria and elsewhere. If we hope to have any chance of holding on to gains made in Afghanistan, we have no choice but to maintain a strong presence there. The real concern at this point is if 15,000 troops will be enough, and whether the Afghanistan National Security Force will develop its intelligence and equipment capabilities to a point where it will be able to handle the country's defense on its own. The history of the conflict to this point doesn't offer much to be confident about in either case. ECONOMY, REGS & TAXES House Votes on Energy Bills The House passed three bills this week, largely along party lines, to ease restrictions on oil and gas drilling. The first bill aimed to streamline the permitting process by setting a 60-day deadline for drilling applications on federal lands. It passed 228-192 with 10 Democrats supporting the measure. The second, which passed 235-187 with a similar number of Democrats, would block the Interior Department from enforcing rules on hydraulic fracturing in states that already have their own regulations in place. The third bill, which passed with the help of 26 Democrats, would tighten the deadlines for rulings on natural gas pipeline projects. These bills collectively seek to encourage an oil and gas boom that would boost the economy. As we noted Wednesday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) recently announced that by 2015, the U.S. will top Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world's leading oil producer and, in the next 20 years, will near energy independence. But that all makes it a primary candidate for Barack Obama to oppose. Indeed, the White House issued a veto threat and the legislation stands little chance of reaching a Senate vote. Obama continues to hold fast to his claim that the federal government is helping the energy industry even though regulations continue to stymie any opportunities for effective development of America's natural resources. BRIEF OPINION Essential Liberty Columnist John Stossel: "Some regulation is useful. But when we passively accept government regulation of everything, thinking we're protecting people from evil corporations run amok, we're really making life harder for ordinary people. Every profession, from cab driving to floral arrangement, is now burdened with complex rules. ... Jeff Rowes, an attorney at the Institute for Justice, a civil liberties group that defends many people caught up in regulatory cases, says, 'America was conceived as a sea of liberty with islands of government power. We're now a sea of government power with ever-shrinking islands of liberty.' The little guys don't have an army of lawyers to defend those islands of liberty one regulatory battle at a time. We should get rid of most of these regulations -- and sail back, together, to a free country." For the Record Columnist Larry Elder: "Democrats flat-out despise insurance companies. They've been called 'immoral villains' (Pelosi), 'deceptive and dishonest' (President Barack Obama), 'fly-by-night' (former Gov. and DNC chair Howard Dean), 'rapacious' (Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.) and 'greedy' (Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.). Are health insurance companies any greedier than any other for-profit sector of the economy? In 2009, before Obamacare, profit margins for the network and communications equipment industry averaged 20.4 percent; Internet services and retailing was 19.4 percent; pharmaceuticals averaged 19.3 percent; railroads 12.6 percent; gas and electric utilities 8.7 percent; and food consumer products 6.7 percent. Health insurance and managed care companies? They averaged 2.2 percent." Re: The Left Historian Victor Davis Hanson: "The Obama administration once gave us 'man-caused disasters' for acts of terrorism and 'workplace violence' for the Fort Hood shootings. Now it has trumped those past linguistic contortions by changing words to mask the Obamacare disaster. ... The newly canceled health plans are suddenly rebranded by the administration as 'subpar.' Only in autumn 2013 is the supposedly unaware public told that, years ago, 'bad apple' insurance companies sold them 'substandard' plans. ... From the very beginning, Obamacare defied the laws of common sense and basic logic. Providing more coverage for more people cannot result in radical reductions in costs, as promised -- unless a shopper normally can buy more and better groceries for cheaper prices. How logical was expecting indebted young people to voluntarily pay more for insurance they would rarely use in order to pay for others to use it a lot?" For more, visit The Right Opinion. CHRONICLE QUOTES The Demo-gogues Barack Obama: "It's no secret that the American people have probably never been more frustrated with Washington. And one of the reasons why that is, is that over the past five years, we've seen an unprecedented pattern of obstruction in Congress that's prevented too much of the American people's business from getting done. ... At a time when millions of Americans have desperately searched for work, repeated abuse of these tactics have blocked legislation that might create jobs. ... [T]oday's pattern of obstruction, it just isn't normal. It's not what our Founders envisioned. ... [Republicans have blocked my nominees] simply because they opposed the policies that the American people voted for in the last election. ... [T]his isn't obstruction on substance, on qualification, it's just to gum up the works. ... The American people's business is far too important to keep falling prey day after day to Washington politics. ... It's rather used as a reckless and relentless tool to grind all business to a halt. And that's not what our Founders intended. ... The American people deserve better than politicians who run for election telling them how terrible government is, and then devoting their time in elected office to trying to make government not work as often as possible. ... And as long as I have the privilege of being in this office, I'll keep working as hard as I know how to make sure that the economy's growing and we're creating good jobs and we're widening prosperity and opportunity for everybody." Non Compos Mentis Part I: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: "The [insurance] cancellation notice[s] was not the truth. It should have been: 'We intend to or expect to modify your insurance.' [Cancellations happen] when you don't pay your premium, or something has happened in the bad old days. A cancellation notice was the inappropriate document to send without notice. All they had to do is [say] that, 'This is a notice to say that we're going to improve your insurance, not, in essence, eliminate your insurance.'" Part II: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: "Did I ever tell my constituents that if they liked their plan they could keep it? I would have if I'd ever met anybody who liked his or her plan. But that was not my experience." Dezinformatsia Political "analyst" Juan Williams: "[S]enior officials at the White House ... are in full fight mode over the Affordable Care Act right now. What you hear from these senior officials is, you know, they're concerned about what happened with insurance companies. They wish the insurance companies hadn't sent out the cancellation notices and if they had, that they simply call them renewals. ... They feel they have to turn that around, as the first step in trying to repair the damage that's been done to this president." How about repairing the damage done to the American people? The BIG Lie Michelle Obama: "We don't believe in handouts. We don't think anyone should get a free ride." Village Idiots Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons: "Yes, we initially wanted single-payer, and we had to compromise back in 2009 for the Affordable Care Act. But, it is a da-- good piece of legislation that has already saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives." Braying Jackass Actor Richard Dreyfus: "For about 100 years one of the political parties has always tried to get a safety net under people. And the other party hasn't. ... I love to remind people that all of our national endeavors started out badly. World War II did not start well, or the Highway Act, or Social Security, or the Hoover Dam. And what happens is they get fixed by a Congress of both parties. And that's what should happen now. And if one party says no, then they should anticipate having the sick and the dying and the dead on their lawns." Short Cuts Comedian Jay Leno: "The ratings for Al Jazeera America has now dipped even lower than Al Gore's Current TV, which it replaced. That's how you know you're boring, OK? When Al Gore is considered more entertaining to people than what you have." Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team 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. 
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