THE FOUNDATION

“[T]he people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them.” — Zacharia Johnson

INSIGHT

“Anybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody’s power, that is not easy.” —Aristotle

FAMILY

“How could this great land of plenty produce too few people in the last 30 years? Here is the brutal truth that no one dares to mention: We’re too few because too many of our babies have been killed. Over 45 million since Roe v. Wade in 1973. If those 45 million children had lived, today they would be defending our country, they would be filling our jobs, they would be paying into Social Security. Still, we watch as 3,700 babies are killed every single day in America. It is unbelievable that a nation under God would allow this.” —former Senator Zell Miller

CULTURE

“Our nation’s top military officer, a veteran decorated with no less than forty-eight military awards and a very distinguished career, made a startling revelation [last] week: He has moral conviction… General Peter Pace commented in a wide-ranging interview with the Chicago Tribune, ‘My upbringing is such that I believe that there are certain things, certain types of conduct that are immoral. I believe that military members who sleep with other military members’ wives are immoral in their conduct, and that we should not tolerate that.’ But then Pace went on to tell the Tribune, ‘I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts.’ Well, stop the presses. Of course, all that the radio, news, and television outlets have focused on since General Pace’s comments are his remarks on homosexuality. Never mind that he puts immorality of all kinds on equal footing… We are basically saying that if you are the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, you are not allowed to express your moral or religious views—especially on matters of sexual preference and behavior. This is another sign that we live in an age that no longer believes in objective truth or a moral order. Moral relativism is the rule, and personal preference trumps all. And government is there to ensure that no one place any restraint on the pursuit of our own desires.” —Chuck Colson

LIBERTY

“Not long ago, the United States Senate, by a nigh-unanimous vote, approved the appointment of Lieut. Gen. David Petraeus to command American forces in Iraq. This is the same David Petraeus, Ph.D., who more or less wrote the book on counterinsurgency, having overseen the production of the Army’s new manual on the subject. But even before this general has had a decent chance to put his ideas into effect, the congressional leadership has begun undermining it—by criticizing his request for more troops, setting limits on how much time he’ll be given to show results, and holding back money for the war. Call it Operation Slow Bleed. It’s a gradual process and, if successful, the results won’t be pretty… To quote the president, who must be feeling rather embattled himself these days: ‘This may be the first time in the history of the United States Congress that it has voted to send a new commander into battle and then voted to oppose his plan… to succeed in [that] battle’.” —Paul Greenberg

THE GIPPER

“The specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face is that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and appeasement does not give you a choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender. We are told that the problem is too complex for a simple answer. They are wrong. There is no easy answer, but there is a simple answer. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right, and this policy of accommodation asks us to accept the greatest possible immorality.” —Ronald Reagan

OPINION IN BRIEF

“In the past, personal loyalty has been more a Democratic thing than a Republican one. Democrats used to like politics more than Republicans, so it’s no surprise they’d like its practitioners more. Republicans used to be conservatives; conservatives think politics is a duty, not a joy. Democrats took their leaders more seriously as personalities, as people. They emotionally invested more in them… Republicans used to be a cooler sort. They got excited by the philosophy, by what the guy would do in office. If he pleased them in these areas, they were more than happy to find he’d lived an interesting and inspiring life, and tell you about it in books. For me it’s good to see Republicans who are loyal to ideas, and not to people. Who are faithful to the cause, and not to people with whom you merely have a history. Who have fidelity to principles, not to political figures, no matter how interesting or compelling they are.” —Peggy Noonan

GOVERNMENT

“[The Democrats’ PAYGO] rules require that whenever the House or the Senate legislatively expands mandatory spending—mostly for entitlements—or reduces taxes, the hit to the budget must be offset by a cut in other mandatory spending, or an increase in other taxes… Paygo was deliberately fashioned in order to make opponents of tax hikes into villains for blocking new entitlements; it also makes it harder to avoid tax hikes and trim government spending. And it lets defenders of discretionary spending off the hook—since under the House paygo rule, increases in discretionary spending do not need to be offset at all. Paygo is a way of diverting attention from the wisdom taught by Milton Friedman: The true burden of government is what it spends—not what it takes in taxes.” —Stephen Entin of the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation

RE: THE LEFT

“Democrats have leapt on reports of mold, rats and bureaucratic hurdles at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as further proof of President George Bush’s failed war policies. To the contrary, the problems at Walter Reed are further proof of the Democrats’ failed domestic policies—to wit, the civil service rules that prevent government employees from ever being fired. (A policy that also may account for Robert Byrd’s longevity as a U.S. senator.) Thanks to the Democrats, government employees have the world’s most complicated set of job protection rules outside of the old East Germany. Oddly enough, this has not led to a dynamic workforce in the nation’s capital. Noticeably, the problems at Walter Reed are not with the doctors or medical care. The problems are with basic maintenance at the facility. Unless U.S. Army generals are supposed to be spraying fungicide on the walls and crawling under beds to set rattraps, the slovenly conditions at Walter Reed are not their fault. The military is nominally in charge of Walter Reed, but—because of civil service rules put into place by Democrats—the maintenance crew can’t be fired. If the general ‘in charge’ can’t fire the people not doing their jobs, I don’t know why he is being held responsible for them not doing their jobs. You will find the exact same problems anyplace market forces have been artificially removed by the government and there is a total absence of incentives, competition, effective oversight, cost controls and so on. It’s almost like a cause-and-effect thing.” —Ann Coulter

POLITICAL FUTURES

“From the Iraq war to Hurricane Katrina, to the ‘global warming crisis,’ little if any of the ongoing discussion is being conducted between two parties with honest concerns for the best avenue by which to address the situation. Instead, the Left invents outlandish accusations, which are then incessantly echoed by its media lackeys. Those on the Right attempt to refute and debunk these accusations with facts, but often find their arguments falling on deaf ears. Eventually, the issue at hand becomes entangled in vast concocted webs of conspiracy and malfeasance, all of George Bush’s doing, of course. As a result of this process, no public interest is served. Worse yet, those who have access to the truth, and who really want the conversation to revert back to a discussion of the facts, find themselves increasingly frustrated and marginalized as the contest is diverted from truth to the realm of political horse races.” —Christopher Adamo

FOR THE RECORD

“There’s something about diplomats, no matter how brilliant, that leads them to see a world that never existed, and most likely never will… The past results achieved by the grand master of diplomacy were often disappointing. [Henry] Kissinger attempted to tame the Soviet Empire by constructing ‘detente,’ which probably extended the life of the Communist superstate by a decade or more; it took Ronald Reagan to bring it to an end. Kissinger attempted to negotiate peace between Israel and its enemies, thereby spinning out a grand illusion—the misnamed ‘peace process’ —that has created a cottage industry for negotiators but an expanded war for the citizens of the region… It is eerie to watch Condoleezza Rice evince the same frame of mind today, 28 years later. No matter how much evidence of Iran’s determination to destroy or dominate us, no matter how many times Khamenei or Ahmadinejad leads the chant of ‘Death to America,’ no matter how many American fighters and Iraqi citizens are killed as a result of Iranian support for the terrorists, she and the Kissingers of this world continue to convince themselves that things are getting better, that Iran shares our goals for peace in the region, and that if we only make one more generous offer, the whole unpleasant situation will work out for the best. It is not so. They are not like us, and they do not share our dreams. Diplomacy will not tame them. Only our victory will.” —Michael Ledeen

SELECT READER COMMENTS

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“’Right to carry v. right to know’ was another great essay by The Patriot on the Second Amendment. Owning and carrying a gun is the greatest deterrent to crime there is. Remember: law enforcement usually only responds to a crime that’s already been committed…” —Fort Payne, Alabama

“I have long thought that the true test of an anti-gun activist’s convictions is his willingness to post a large sign on his front door reading, ‘This home is a gun-free zone.’ Apparently Mr. Trejbal chose to post his sign in the newspaper! A brave man, indeed.” —Oakland, California

“I am a loyal reader of The Patriot, and recently retired form active duty with the United States Navy. I gave 26 years to my great country, and might have retired earlier, except I REFUSED to retire while Clinton was still in office. I would have been handed a letter from him at my retirement ceremony, and been forced to tear it up in front of my shipmates. I wanted to retire with dignity, when we had a REAL Commander in Chief. God Bless you and yours, and God Bless the greatest nation on the planet—The United States of America.” —San Diego, California

“I am a conservative Christian and longtime subscriber. However, I take offense at your comments about the Toyota Prius. I am not an environmentalist, but I do care about the environment, as God commands in Genesis 1:28 (and elsewhere). Please do not rush to lump everyone that owns a Prius into the same camp as Gore and Leonardo.” —Provo, Utah

Editor’s Reply: Forgive us if the sweep of criticism was too wide. However, we are always keen to point out the ridiculousness of the environmentalist movement, which worships the creation, rather than the Creator.

“I have not been reading The Patriot for more than a month, but I like what I have read. Being an officer in the U.S. Army, my duty is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Thank you for your efforts in reminding me that I and other soldiers are not alone in protecting this miraculous document that so many take for granted.” —MAJ U.S. Army

THE LAST WORD

“Sure, ‘Scooter’ Libby might go to jail. His career is in tatters, his life a shambles… But really, who is the real victim? Joe and Valerie, of course. ‘The golden couple targeted by White House machine,’ as described by one British paper, have had to put up with so much. There’s no need to dwell on the hardships faced by former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV: that arduous junket to Niger helped along by his wife, Valerie Plame; the endless cups of sweet mint tea he had to drink; the awkwardness that his findings, as briefed to the CIA, supported President Bush’s famous ‘16 words’ although Wilson said the exact opposite on the New York Times Op-Ed page and in 12 trillion television studios. A man of less mettle might grow frustrated with the effrontery of the Washington Post calling him a liar, a blowhard and the real destroyer of his wife’s career. Simply because it’s true hardly justifies stepping on his story line. Don’t they know he’s the author of a book, The Politics of Truth, and a winner of awards for his self-proclaimed courage for ‘speaking truth to power’?… Then there’s our gal Val. Oh, the price she’s paid. Almost every night, the ex-CIA officer has to see file footage of herself in that stunning white gown and those tiresome pictures of her and Joe posing in their Jaguar for Vanity Fair… Plame told Vanity Fair she spilled the beans about her CIA status after her third—or fourth!—makeout session with Joe ‘The Animal’ Wilson. Thank goodness al-Qaida doesn’t read Vanity Fair. Not only would they find out what Plame looks like, they might discover Joe’s remarkable interrogation technique.” —Jonah Goldberg

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who have died in defense of American liberty, while prosecuting the war with Jihadistan.)