THE FOUNDATION: NATIONAL DEFENSE

“The circumstances that endanger the safety of nations are infinite, and for this reason no constitutional shackles can wisely be imposed on the power to which the care of it is committed.” —Alexander Hamilton

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“This time it was John F. Kennedy International Airport. Nothing new about big-city airports—seven years ago, Los Angeles International Airport was targeted. Nothing new about New York City, either. The World Trade Center was bombed in 1993, and finally destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. The United Nations complex, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, the FBI’s Lower Manhattan headquarters, the Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central Terminal—they’ve all been on the hit list. Big Western cities, in fact, are the hit list. New York, L.A., Chicago, Washington, London, Paris, Madrid… on it goes. And, of course, there is nothing new about the culprit. The story is always the same: radical Islamic terror. The storyline is the same, too. But an element of Western opinion always wants to obscure it, turning a blind eye to the ideology of hate that motivates these would-be murderers. The root-causes crowd has little interest in that root cause. No, it must be poverty (even when the terrorists turn out to be comfortable, well-educated, and fully employed); or the Palestinian issue (even though organizations like al Qaeda have barely mentioned the Israeli Palestinian dispute, and some terror targets, like Bali, had no rational connection to it); or, it goes without saying, George W. Bush and ‘his’ war in Iraq (no matter how many attacks occurred before his presidency). … But even if the grand design was beyond the cell’s competence, an attempt could well have killed hundreds of people. As with the recent thwarting of a jihadist plot on Fort Dix, this intended atrocity appears to have been prevented by the cooperation of federal and local law enforcement, who managed to infiltrate the conspiracy with an informant—proving, yet again, that if we are to stop terror attacks rather than react to them, there is no substitute for human intelligence. The deepest lesson here, though, is that we are at war with an enemy that hates us, that will stop at nothing—even death—to harm us, and that we must understand in order to defeat. That is the first step in the real battle of ideas.” —National Review

UPRIGHT

“You know that minor deal about catching those guys who wanted to blow up JFK Airport? The New York Times decided it was not worthy of front page coverage in its Sunday editions. Nor the second page, nor the third. The NY Times, in what can only be described as editorializing by placement, put it on page THIRTY, the page after the obituaries and the page before the chess column.” —Rich Galen

“When Democrats say they will bring the troops home, what they are really saying is that they will bring the war home.” —Alan Keyes

“Beware legislative behemoths. Beware ‘comprehensive immigration reform.’ Any bill that is 380 pages long is bound to have nooks and crannies reflecting private deals, quiet paybacks and ad hoc arrangements that you often don’t learn about until it’s too late.” —Charles Krauthammer ++ “How many of the 12-20 million illegal aliens will decide it’s better to keep the status quo than go through the hassles of getting a Z Visa? It will likely be millions.” —Bobby Eberle

“[P]references vividly demonstrate liberalism’s core conviction that government’s duty is not to allow social change but to drive change in the direction the government chooses. Conservatism argues that the essence of constitutional government involves constraining the state in order to allow society ample scope to spontaneously take unplanned paths.” —George Will

“It’s like the American people are waiting for [the GOP]. They’re waiting for us to remember why we’re doing what we’re doing, about the ideas that inspired us, to remember who the leaders were that inspired us.” —Fred Thompson

DEZINFORMATSIA

Conspiracy theories: “The so-called [JFK airport] plot happens to be revealed the day before the second Democratic presidential debate [and was announced] by the police chief of New York City, the father of a correspondent for Fox News Channel…[I]t underscores the need for questions to be asked, and asked continually in this country, questions about what is prudence and what is just fearmongering.” —so-called journalist for MSNBC Keith Olbermann ++ Indignant: “It has been nearly six years since 9/11. Since that time, we have not suffered any terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Just yesterday, the FBI arrested three men for a terror plot at JFK Airport. Could it be that the Bush administration’s effort to thwart terror at home has been a success?” —CNN’s Wolf Blitzer

From the “See B.S. ” Department: “U.S. military officers tell CBS News the troop surge, which has now reached full strength, stands no chance of succeeding by September.” —CBS reporter David Martin

Propagandum Magnum: “Socialized medicine is a right-wing scare trope. None of the Democrats is proposing that. None of them is even proposing a ‘single-payer’ plan, like Canada, where the government collects the premiums and people get to choose private providers. And now that we’re at a point where much of corporate America is hoping for some relief from the burden of providing health insurance, ain’t this kind of red-baiting getting a little old?” —Time magazine’s Joe Klein ++ “A recent ABC News poll showed that 80 percent of Democrats and, get this, two thirds of independent voters, that’s a critical voting block, think universal [healthcare] coverage is more important than keeping taxes down. It’s the issue of the day for Democrats.” —Good Morning America’s Claire Shipman

Newspulper Headlines: Breaking News From 1861: “Bull Run Faces Test” —CNNMoney.com ++ Breaking News From 1898: “US and Spain Clash Over Cuba” —Financial Times ++ Breaking News From 1963: “Informant Plays Key Role in JFK Plot” —Associated Press

‘How He Got Into My Underwear I’ll Never Know’: “Man Wrestles Leopard in His Underwear” —Arutz Sheva (Israel)

Help Wanted: “Police Looking for Bogus ‘Faith Healer”’ —San Francisco Chronicle

Adding Insult to Injury: “Death Camps May Charge Entrance Fee” —Jerusalem Post

Et Leest She Cud Spele ‘Potatoe’: “Clinton Girl Eliminated at National [Spelling] Bee” —Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL) ++ “New Jobs for Tommorrow” —Hillary Clinton campaign slogan (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

THE DEMO-GOGUES

Commies R Us: “I think that we have failed them in our churches, our schools and our government. And I certainly think the free market has failed. We’ve all failed.” —comrade Hilrya Rodhamovich Clintonov on healthcare, energy, young people—you name it

Class warfare: “Well, the definition that I’m using with respect to paying for my healthcare plan is those making over $250,000 a year.” —Barack Obama on his definition of “rich”

This week’s “Theo Lib” Award: “I am very grateful that I had a grounding in faith that gave me the courage and the strength to do what I thought was right, regardless of what the world thought… I’m not sure I would have gotten through [Bill’s affairs] without my faith.” —Hillary Clinton, whose “faith” is her ambition to become president

From the moonbat candidate: “This war has been based on lies. And we could have a productive evening here right now if all of my colleagues on this stage or in the Congress would commit to telling the Democratic leadership not even to offer a funding bill, because that’s really the way to end the war.” —Rep. Dennis Kucinich, rumored to be running for president ++ “This policy in Iraq has failed. It is a civil war. Everyone who has looked at this issue has drawn the conclusion that there is no military solution to it. It seems to me then it’s incumbent upon us—given the fact that we are less safe, less secure, more vulnerable, weaker today, not stronger as a result of this policy—that we ought to try to bring it to a close.” —Sen. Christoper Dodd, also rumored to be running for president ++ The BIG Lie: “Let me tell you straight up the truth. The truth of the matter is, the only one that’s emboldened the enemy has been George Bush by his policies…” —Sen. Joe Biden

VILLAGE IDIOTS

This week’s Purveyor of Classism Award: “When I was president, we were determined to turn around two decades of stagnation and inequality, which had led to the growth of all these ills in our cities. [But under President Bush] we’re now in the sixth year of an economic recovery that’s been great for rich people, while those in the middle and just under lose ground.”—First Lady wannabe Bill Clinton

From the Sociocrat Sycophant Files: “[Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both] would apply enormous energy toward the right goals. Either one would make a great president.”—gazillionaire philanthropist Warren Buffett

From the Glitterati: “The Mormonism thing is really suspect, but [Republicans will] take it at this point. I mean, who else do they have? Crazy [Rudy] Giuliani and [John] McCain, who’s completely insane?”—actor and self-appointed policy expert Ben Affleck

From the Global Village: “Of course I am an absolute, pure democrat. But you know the problem? It’s not even a problem, it’s a real tragedy. The thing is that I am the only one, there just aren’t any others in the world.”—Russian President Vladimir Putin

“We advise [the U.S. ] not to play with the lion’s tail. It is too late to stop the progress of Iran [in nuclear weapons]. Iran has passed the point where they wanted Iran to stop.”—Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad

INSIGHT

“There is no question that we have failed to live up to the dreams of the founding fathers many times and in many places.”—Ronald Reagan

“We have a leader, a real leader, a great Commander in Chief: President Ronald Reagan. And in your hearts, you know he’s right.”—Barry Goldwater

“One reason the Republican Party seems so shallow since the departure of Ronald Reagan is that it has largely abandoned the nationalist impulse… the GOP no longer speaks persuasively about a national destiny.”—David Brooks

“Ronald Reagan had strong convictions. He was committed to the principles that had led to the founding of our nation. And he had the courage to follow his convictions against all odds.”—Ed Meese

“The crisis we are facing today [requires] our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves, and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God’s help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. And after all, why shouldn’t we believe that? We are Americans.”—Ronald Reagan

“Getting shot hurts.”—Ronald Reagan

SHORT CUTS

“There’s a little hustler in every politician. But sometimes there’s a little politician in a hustler. Such is the case with John Edwards.”—Jonah Goldberg

“Al Gore’s new book, The Assault on Reason, has definitively established one fact: Al Gore is still the sorest loser in American politics.”—Brent Bozell

“The announcement… that the White House and a group of senators have reached an agreement on ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ should have the same effect that the word ‘iceberg’ had on the passengers and crew of the Titanic.”—Newt Gingrich ++ “This [immigration] rhetoric reached comic absurdity when CNN interviewed Chuy Arias of Los Angeles. He said on camera that he has been here illegally for 12 years…CNN’s reporter said Arias was eager to ‘come out of the shadows.’ So, Arias can simultaneously be ‘in the shadows’ and discussing his illegal status on worldwide television. Who knew?”—George Will

“During last night’s Democratic debate, all the candidates said if they were elected, they would get rid of the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy for gay soldiers. ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ will be replaced by the new policy, ‘Don’t Tell Me You’re Wearing Those Boots With That Gun’.”—Conan O’Brien

David Letterman: “Top Excuses Of The Tuberculosis Traveler”: Calm down—most of the people I coughed on were foreigners; How was I supposed to know drug-resistant bacteria was a bad thing—who am I, House?; When the doctor told me I had “TB,” I assumed he meant “Terrific Breath”; Of course my judgment was impaired! I had Tuberculosis you moron!; If people with a dangerous communicable disease are not allowed to travel among innocent civilians, then the terrorists have won; Surgical mask made me feel like Spider-Man; Hey it’s still better than flying JetBlue.

Jay Leno: There are three new books out now about Hillary Clinton. One on each of her positions on the Iraq war. … The FDA has approved a pill that stops a woman’s cycle and prevents PMS. This could end of “The View” as we know it. … Paris Hilton got a new cellmate today: Scooter Libby. Prison is not the place to be when your nickname is Scooter. … Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is paying his wife $125,000 a year to help him write his speeches. She’s writing his speeches for him—and you can tell. Like last week, he gave a speech about what awful [women] the first two wives were.

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.)