THE FOUNDATION: GOD

“May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.” —George Washington

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, 3 MAY 2007

On 6 May 1982, Ronald Reagan offered these words: “Today, prayer is still a powerful force in America, and our faith in God is a mighty source of strength. Our Pledge of Allegiance states that we are ‘one nation under God,’ and our currency bears the motto, ‘In God We Trust.’ The morality and values such faith implies are deeply embedded in our national character. Our country embraces those principles by design, and we abandon them at our peril. Yet in recent years, well-meaning Americans in the name of freedom have taken freedom away. For the sake of religious tolerance, they’ve forbidden religious practice in the classrooms. The law of this land has effectively removed prayer from our classrooms. How can we hope to retain our freedom through the generations if we fail to teach our young that our liberty springs from an abiding faith in our Creator?”

History of the National Day of Prayer

1775 The First Continental Congress called for a National Day of Prayer.

1863 Abraham Lincoln called for such a day.

1952 Congress established NDP as an annual event by a joint resolution, signed into law by President Truman.

1988 The law was amended and signed by President Reagan, to be the first Thursday in May.

The Patriot Post’s National Advisory Board and staff invite you to join us, and millions of Americans in prayer for our nation this Thursday at 1200. Link to the National Day of Prayer website for more information.

The Patriot also offers A Common Prayer for American Patriots for all who would use it.

INSIGHT

“Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.” —Augustine of Hippo ++ “Faith is always at a disadvantage; it is a perpetually defeated thing which survives all conquerors.” —G.K. Chesterton

“The strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.” —Blaise Pascal

“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” —Theodore Roosevelt

UPRIGHT

“The Defeaticrats are being opportunist: They think they can calibrate the precise degree of U.S. defeat in Mesopotamia that will bring victory for them in Ohio and Florida.” —Mark Steyn ++ “For months, Iraq War defeatists led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have provided our enemies with invaluable propaganda.” —Henry Mark Holzer ++ “Senator John McCain, adamantly supporting the current ‘surge’ in Iraq says he would rather lose a presidential campaign than a war. Democrats, all smiles, prefer to lose the war and win the campaign. They’re not alone. In Iraq, Al Qaeda is smiling, too.” —Jeff Jacoby

“Citing polls as proof you’re on the right side of an argument is often a symptom of intellectual cowardice. If the crowd says two plus two equals seven, that’s no reason to invoke the authority of the crowd. But pundits and pols know that if they align themselves with the latest Gallup findings, they don’t have to defend their position on the merits because ‘the people’ are always right.” —Jonah Goldberg

“Conservatives and liberals approach almost every issue with completely different philosophies, underlying assumptions, and methods. That’s why it’s so hard to find genuine compromise between conservatism and liberalism—because not only are liberals almost always wrong, their solutions almost always make things worse.” —John Hawkins

“God hasn’t promised us tomorrow, but he has promised us eternity.” —Tony Snow

DEZINFORMATSIA

Getting it right: “If you just want to look at it in terms of purely American national interest, if U.S. troops leave now, you’re giving Iraq to Iran… and al-Qa’ida. That’s who will own it… You can’t leave, or it’s going to come and blow back on America.” —CNN correspondent Michael Ware recently back from Iraq

This week’s “Theophobe” Award: “Just as Jews, during some traditional Passover feasts, ask God to bring down his wrath on the Gentiles who ‘don’t know him,’ and many Christians believe that hell awaits those who don’t subscribe to their faith, Muslims are led to believe that killing the enemies of Islam can be justified.” —The Los Angeles Times’ Ian Buruma **“’Just as’? Surely there is a difference between believing or hoping that God will punish unbelievers and taking it upon oneself to do it.” —James Taranto

From the gun grabbers: “[H]ow would one disarm the American population? First of all, federal or state laws would need to make it a crime punishable by a $1,000 fine and one year in prison per weapon to possess a firearm. The population would then be given three months to turn in their guns, without penalty.” —former ambassador and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editor Dan Simpson giving the start of his plan

When good news is bad news: “[E]ven as investors are making money in the [stock] market, Anthony Mason reports there are concerns tonight about the rest of the U.S. economy.” —CBS’s Katie Couric “reporting” on the Dow topping 13,000 ++ “While the stock market’s been racing ahead, the economy has been slowing down. Housing is mired in a slump.” —CBS’s Anthony Mason ++ From the Non Compos Mentis Files: “Do you feel like you’re working harder and harder these days just to stay financially afloat while fat cats get richer and richer?” —NBC’s Fat Cat Matt Lauer

Newspulper Headlines: What Would We Do Without Analyses?: “Analysis: Veto Won’t End Iraq Dispute” —Associated Press

Stay Away From My Children, Hillbilly!: “Mother Refuses to Let Hicks See Kids” —Australian

You’d Have to Be Demented to Attack a Mallet-Wielding Dog: “Man With Dementia Attacks Dog With Mallet” —Sheboygan (WI) Press

America Is Falling Behind, and We Blame Bush: “French Said to Outpace Americans in French-Bashing” —Reuters

News You Can Use: “Stop Coming to Work and Save the Planet” —Sunday Telegraph (London) (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

THE DEMO-GOGUES

Defeat America: “I voted for this war, and I was wrong to vote for this war. I should never have voted for this war. I am speaking out with every fiber of my being to get America out of Iraq. We need to be leaving Iraq, and we ought to start today, not two months from now.” —John Edwards ++ “Democrats must have the courage to tell this president, ‘No, Mr. President, not another nickel, not another dime, not another soldier, not this time’.” Rep. Maxine Waters ++ “American troops are dying for no good reason at this point. They are in a situation where they are being sacrificed because people want political comfort in Washington.” —Sen. Russ Feingold

Tax and spend: “What I believe is the starting place [for taxes] is to go back to the Clinton levels.” —John Edwards

From the Purveyors of Classism: “This economy of ours has been great for me and for several of you, but it’s not been such a good deal for a lot of people.” —Bill Clinton ++ “Well, it’s a mixed blessing. When Wal-Mart started, it brought goods into rural areas like rural Arkansas where I was happy to live for 18 years and gave people a chance to stretch their dollar further. As they grew much bigger, though, they have raised serious questions about the responsibility of corporations and how they need to be a leader when it comes to providing health care and having, you know, safe working conditions and not discriminating on the basis of sex or race or any other category…[T]his is all part, though, of how this administration and corporate America today don’t see middle class and working Americans. They are invisible.” —the candidate formerly known as Rodham

VILLAGE IDIOTS

This week’s “Yellow Ribbon” Award: “[President Bush] may have his day on this, but when he signs that veto early next week, he will sign it in blood because he’s just guaranteeing the death of more Americans in Iraq.” —former Senator Max Cleland

The BIG Lie: “Republicans…[are] incapable of defending America, as it’s turned out, because they have not told us the truth.” —DNC Chief Howard Dean

Cindy loo-who: “I want justice for the destruction of the world, and I won’t rest until I get that justice.” —“peace mom” Cindy Sheehan calling for impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney and then President George W. Bush

From the “Moral Innumeracy” Files: “The spectacle of September 11 is a forceful reminder of the potentially destructive power of the three great monotheistic religions [Christianity, Judaism and Islam] that have dominated the world one way or another for nearly 2,000 years.” —British producer and narrator Jonathan Miller in his pro-atheism video screed “A Brief History of Disbelief,” soon to be broadcast on PBS

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“Yesterday’s May Day immigration demonstrations dominated cable TV, but they were more sound than substance. The bigger news is the recent Wall Street Journal report that illegal border crossings have slowed by more than 10% this year. The Bush Administration credits stepped-up enforcement, but our guess is that the cause is mostly labor supply and demand. A slump in the housing market has resulted in fewer jobs in the building trades, which are increasingly filled by Latino immigrants. With fewer jobs available, fewer immigrants are headed north. It’s another example of the market’s ability to determine how much foreign labor our economy needs. It also indicates that immigrants come here primarily to work, not to idle and collect welfare. We’d like to think these economic realities will inform any legislation produced this year… Given that illegal immigration is caused above all by a worker shortage for certain types of jobs in the U.S. , any reform that doesn’t take into account labor-market needs won’t solve the problem and risks making matters worse. Unfortunately, the immigration draft proposal recently circulated by the Bush Administration all but ignores the economic factors that drive illegal immigration. Aside from that, the proposal is unduly restrictive and thus probably unworkable… We hope a compromise is still possible, and we think a realistic guest worker program would make sense both for the U.S. economy and the needs of post-9/11 security. But any policy overhaul that provides little incentive for illegals in the U.S. to acknowledge their status, and then prices legal entry out of reach for most future workers, is likely to increase illegal immigration. Which is to say that any reform failing to recognize labor market realities is worse than no reform at all.” —The Wall Street Journal

SHORT CUTS

“In the Democratic presidential candidates’ debate, Sen. Barack Obama was asked what he personally was doing to save the environment, and replied that his family was ‘working on’ changing their light bulbs. Is this the new version of the old joke? How many senators does it take to ‘work on’ changing a light bulb? One to propose a bipartisan commission. One to threaten to de-fund the light bulbs. One to demand the impeachment of Bush and Cheney for keeping us all in the dark. One to vote to pull out the first of the light bulbs by fall of this year with a view to getting them all pulled out by the end of 2008.” —Mark Steyn

“In an effort to help the environment, Sheryl Crow has proposed using only one square of toilet paper when going to the bathroom. In a related story, don t ever shake hands with Sheryl Crow.” —Conan O’Brien

“Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign office stopped using her maiden name last week and now simply refers to her as Hillary Clinton. She’s completely dropped the name Rodham. It’s a sure sign that one of her brothers is about to get indicted again.” —Argus Hamilton

“It is clear Hillary surrounds herself with fearful sycophants… who don’t have the guts to tell her to put her awful blackface voice in a lockbox and throw away the key. Now, it may be too late. People of every color who hear the cringe-worthy condescension of the increasingly clownish Hillary Clinton are coming to the same conclusion: You be trippin’, girl.” —Michelle Malkin

David Letterman: “Top Reasons Rosie O’Donnell Is Leaving The View”: Couldn’t maintain rigorous one-hour-a-day work schedule; It’s been awkward ever since she threw Joy Behar through a plate glass window; Gearing up for the Kucinich-O’Donnell 2008 campaign; She feels she can get more feuding done by working at home; Can make more money wrasslin’ gators in Florida; Tired of empty gin bottles in Barbara Walters’ office; Tested positive for steroids.

Jay Leno: Today thousands of immigrant students cut class to protest how tough our immigration polices are. If our immigration polices are so tough, how come we have thousands of immigrant students? I don t quite understand how that works.

Senate Majority Harry Reid says his fellow Democrats in Congress will pass a bill to start pulling our troops out of Iraq on October 1st. He said October 1st is the day, but says he won’t say what time of day because he doesn’t want to tip off al-Qa’ida. … People are still talking about the big Democratic debate they had last week. They were originally supposed to have their debate on Fox, but the candidates decided against going on Fox because Fox was unfair. So they chose MSNBC, which is unwatched. So really it was a tough choice—unfair or unwatched. … Eight Democratic presidential candidates squared off in the first presidential debate. Did anybody watch it? Nobody watched it. We need to make it like ‘American Idol.’ Each week we vote another one off. … They were all talking about the environment. Of all the candidates in the debate, not one of them took a commercial flight or even shared a jet to help cut down on fuel and emissions. They each took their own separate jet plane to get there. They said this way the breeze would cool the earth. I’m not buying it. … John Edwards apologized for his $400 haircut. He said it was a mistake, especially in the back, where they didn’t feather enough.

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.)