THE FOUNDATION

“There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily.” — George Washington

INSIGHT

“A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people.” —Walter Bagehot

“All our talents increase in the using, and every faculty, both good and bad, strengthens by exercise.” —Anne Bronte

“We love justice greatly, and just men but little.” —Joseph Roux

“The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.” —C.S. Lewis

“All people are born alike—except Republicans and Democrats.” —Groucho Marx

UPRIGHT

“The Muslims bring fervor and conviction to the struggle; we don’t. The Muslims are self-assured in the rightness of their cause; we answer with self-denigration and self-debasement. Muslims prize loyalty and discipline; we prize politically correct multiculturalism.” —Suzanne Fields ++ “[P]eacefully and without much notice, Islamists are trying to use our laws of tolerance against us to carve out exceptions for themselves. The radical Islamist faction that has infiltrated and intimidated Europe has found a home in our polite denial. ” —Kathleen Parker

“Of course, the president has every right to fire any political appointee in his administration for any reason, political or otherwise. In hindsight, it would have been far better if the administration had just said so from the beginning instead of wrongly implying that the [eight U.S.] attorneys were fired for cause.” —Bruce Bartlett

“When Democrats are criticized, they counter-attack. When Republicans are criticized, they apparently believe in ‘the soft answer which turneth away wrath.’ In politics, however, a soft answer is like blood in the water that provokes piranhas to more vicious attacks.” —Thomas Sowell

“[A]side from Osama bin Laden and his crew of merciless killers, the people most dedicated to seeing the United States defeated in a battle for the future of the world are the liberal Democrats now feebly trying to run the Congress. You really have to hate America and its people to lust after the defeat of your own country.” —Michael Reagan

“[The Founders] made the Second Amendment second only to the First, which protects the freedoms of speech, press, assembly and worship. They did that because individual dignity and self-respect, which are essential to self-government, are related to a readiness for self-defense—the public’s involvement in public safety.” —George Will

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“When all was said and done, the least preposterous sight at Friday’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing [on Valerie Plame] could be found in the audience: namely, the woman dressed in hot pink who kept standing up behind Plame during her testimony to show the television viewers her ‘Impeach Bush’ T-shirt. That woman was a lot more honest about what was taking place than Mrs. Joseph Wilson, who looked like the cat who ate the canary when Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland asked her whether she and her husband are Democrats. After giving her husband’s Republican family background, she said: ‘I would say he’s a Democrat.’ As for herself, she conceded: ‘Yes… I am a Democrat.’ As if we all didn’t know.” —Investor’s Business Daily

DEZINFORMATSIA

That’s the spirit!: “As the [Iraq] war enters its fifth year, America is shell-shocked, the casualties staggering, the price tag in the hundreds of billions. Is the war worth it? And is there still a chance for victory?” —NBC’s Matt Lauer ++ “And so four weary and blood-soaked years on, the so-called coalition of the willing has become the coalition of those who are stuck with it.” —CBS’s Allen Pizzey

World’s smallest violin: “[Valerie Plame told] Members of Congress that her career as a CIA undercover officer was brought to an end when Bush administration officials revealed her true identity.” —NBC’s Campbell Brown

Partisan hype: “If there is one federal agency that should always be squeaky clean, it is the Justice Department. But under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales—the nation’s chief law enforcement officer—an embarrassing stench has arisen in the department because of the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.” —Helen Thomas ++ “Back in 1993, the media had a different sense of ‘crisis.’ Clinton fired 93 U.S. Attorneys, and ABC and CBS never mentioned it. CNN and NBC mentioned it in passing. (FNC didn’t exist yet.) The media do not merely arrive at the scene of a ‘crisis.’ They are the manufacturers of ‘crisis’.” —Tim Graham

Stranger than fiction: “[I]t’s clear that [Barack] Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination—the ‘Magic Negro.’ The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture… there to assuage white ‘guilt’ over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history… Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes.” —David Ehrenstein, LA Times

This week’s “Yellow Ribbon” Award: “I think a draft produces a better army than the one we would have with all volunteers…[I]f it’s an all volunteer army, you get people who join up because of some problem in their own lives. They don’t have anything else to do, they don’t have a job, or they can’t find what they want to do, so they join the Army. And it doesn’t produce the best army.” —CBS’s Andy Rooney

Newspulper Headlines: ‘You Take Him!’ ‘No, You Take Him!’: “Belgian Ministers Quarrel Over Al Gore” —BrusselsJournal.com

Maybe Because a Lot of Them Don’t Have Jobs?: “An economic mystery: Why do the poor seem to have more free time than the rich?” —Slate

And He’s Polling Just Behind Edwards in Iowa: “Fidel Castro Fit to Run in 2008, Official Says” —FoxNews.com

News You Can Use: “Money Counts in Access to Health Care” —HealthDay.com

Bottom Stories of the Day: “Irish Organization Names Hillary Clinton ‘Person of the Year”’ —Star-Gazette (Elmira, NY) ++ “Democrats Plan More Money for Agencies” —Associated Press (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

THE DEMO-GOGUES

This week’s “Quid Pro Homo” Awards: “I do not think homosexuality is immoral.” —Hillary Clinton ++ “I do not agree with General Pace that homosexuality is immoral.” —Barack Obama *“Actually, Obama’s and Mrs. Clinton’s answers weren’t exactly pro-gay, but anti-antigay. Using the double negative and saying homosexuality is ‘not immoral’ is a little like telling a woman (or John Edwards) that she is ‘not unattractive.”’ —James Taranto

Be afraid. Be very afraid: “[Global warming] is an emergency… It’s a frightening thing. It’ll make world war look like heaven.” —John Edwards

Why don’t they like us?: “I am trying to build relationships with other governments in preparation for a Democratic takeover. I want to make clear that there is an opposition in America and that we are ready to take power and that when we do, we are going to have much better relationships with them.” —Howard Dean, overreaching the job description of a party chairman

Inspiring toughness: “I turn off a light and say, ‘Take that, Iran,’ and ‘Take that, Venezuela.’ We should not be sending our money to people who are not going to support our values.” —Hillary Clinton on “conserving energy” as president

Love and marriage: “I now have met all the best people in our generation, and you [Hillary] are the best. And I feel more strongly about that today than I did when I said it 35 years ago. That’s why she should be president… You’ll never find anybody who will do a better job of it than she will.” —Bill on Hillary

VILLAGE IDIOTS

Mixed message: “As we listen to the announcement of the district attorney, it falls short of what we would want. Clearly in our judgment all five officers should have been shot—should have been charged. Let me be clear. All five officers shot. All five officers shot. We do not endorse their being shot.” —Al Sharpton on the three officers charged in a New York City shooting

Conspiracy theories: “They are studying this model of natural disasters, dispersing the community and changing the electoral process in that community.” —New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on the nebulous “they” who are trying to undo the “chocolate city” by keeping blacks out

From the “Village Glitterati” files: “We have a President right now who lies constantly and gets away with it apparently.” —actor Richard Gere

From the annals of the politically challenged: “[America is] ready for a retarded president; why wouldn’t it be ready for an African-American president?” —comedian Chris Rock, presumably mocking President Bush

Sympathy for terrorists: “I think [Khalid Sheikh Mohammad] has been in custody of the American government, in secret CIA torture prisons in Guantanamo Bay, where torture is accepted and allowed, and he finally is the guy who admits to doing everything. They finally found the guy. It’s not that guy bin Laden. It’s this guy they’ve had since ‘93. And look, this is the picture they released of him. Doesn’t, he look healthy?” —Rosie O’Donnell, who also looks “healthy”

“Both Israel and the U.S. seem frozen in their unwillingness to negotiate with a Palestinian Authority that includes Hamas. The sticking-point is Hamas’s unwillingness to recognise the existence of Israel…” —George Soros *Well, other than that…!

SHORT CUTS

“Remember the Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore global-warming pitch at the Academy Awards? Before they spoke, the screen at the back of the stage flashed not-so-subliminal messages about how to save the planet. My personal favorite was ‘Ride mass transit.’ This to a conclave of Hollywood plutocrats who have not seen the inside of a subway since the moon landing and for whom mass transit means a stretch limo seating no fewer than 10.” —Charles Krauthammer

“In these dark days when freedom of speech is curtailed at every turn, it’s comforting to see debate stifled for the right reasons. Yes, a blow for truth has been struck: The Democrats, bowing to the wishes of their online constituents, have withdrawn from a presidential candidate debate sponsored by Fox News, aka Satan’s Blowhole.” —James Lileks

“Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum announced that a new location will open in Washington DC. It will present likenesses of lawmakers and presidents at work. The idea is to show that you can put a wax dummy in those chairs and the government will run better.” —Argus Hamilton

“Fox’s biggest critics don’t appreciate why Fox News exists in the first place… Air America, has been a giant failure, and maybe that explains part of the left’s mounting frustration with Fox. It just seems so unfair that viewers like Fox but don’t really want to watch Al Franken whine about Dick Cheney all day.” —Jonah Goldberg

“The California legislature announced that they have moved their state’s presidential primary from June to February. When asked why, a California lawmaker said, ‘Because it’s really fun to hear Governor Schwarzenegger try to say ‘February’.” —Conan O’Brien

David Letterman: “Top Things Overheard At Osama bin Laden’s 50th Birthday Party”: “Who’s up for ‘Pin the turban on the bind Sheik?”’; “Death to these novelty candles that light again after you blow them out!”; “Mullah Omar’s running late—he forgot to change his clocks”; “To fool United States Special Forces, we had the bakery personalize the cake ‘Happy Birthday Debbie”’; “For he’s a jolly good fellow, which the infidels will deny”; “I hope you don’t already have season one of ‘Who’s The Boss?’ on DVD”; “No cake for Osama—he’s ballooned to 102 pounds!”

Jay Leno: President Bush is back from his tour of Latin America. He said it really opened his eyes. He said, “It’s amazing. We thought we had a lot of illegal aliens here. They’re all over the place down there!” … According to a recent poll, anti-American sentiment is running high in Mexico. Half of Mexico’s population say they have a negative view of the United States and the other half are already here. … It’s chilly here [in L.A.]. But it’s terrible weather back East. Another massive snowstorm has hit the Northeast. Or, as environmentalists call it, a “temporary global warming hiatus.” … An elite military unit made up of Native American Indians is now being used to track down terrorists in the Middle East, including Osama bin Laden. They’re over in Afghanistan right now. They haven’t found bin Laden yet, but they did open 13 casinos. … Al-Qa’ida’s number three man, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has confessed to being the mastermind behind September 11, and said he planned 29 other attacks, including to kill Bill Clinton. To which Hillary Clinton said, “You too?” … In a speech in Iowa, Barack Obama described John Edwards as cute and good looking. How does this make Hillary feel? … You know what’s interesting about this election? Several of the candidates are men who have been divorced more than once. See, we have to expect this from politicians now. It’s not like the old days when a politician would stay married to the same woman his entire life—you know, like Bill and Hillary. … Hillary Clinton announced that the vast right-wing conspiracy is back. You know what that means: Bill must be dating again.

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.)