THE FOUNDATION: FEDERALISM

“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that ‘all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.’ To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition.” —Thomas Jefferson

INSIGHT

“A man slandered is doubly injured—first by him who utters the calumny, and then by him who believes it.” —Herodotus

“You should punish in the same manner those who commit crimes with those who accuse falsely.” —Thucydides

“[S]ilence supports the accuser’s charge?” —Sophocles

“You should not honor men more than truth.” —Plato

“Every day you meet a delegation going to some convention to try and change the way of somebody else’s life.” —Will Rogers

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“Hillary’s presidential campaign knew since at least June that there were serious questions about China-born [Norman] Hsu, her own top fundraiser now behind bars. Yet she agreed to return the $860,000 he bundled for her from mostly Asian donors only after the scandal broke in the press. Even so, she’s declined to publicly identify the 260 donors, and may ask for some of the funds back. Now as [in 1996, former deputy White House chief of staff Harold] Ickes is involved, this time as an adviser to her campaign. And the same guy who courted all the shady Asian donors in last decade’s Clinton campaigns is heading Hillary’s fundraising now. His name: Terry McAuliffe. Seems they’re up to their old tricks. Hillary claims she had no reason to vet big Asian donors to her presidential campaign, no reason to be suspicious of them. She suggests critics who think she should have been more suspect are racist… But the Ickes notes clearly show Hillary had every reason to check out Hsu, with whom she and Bill snapped photos and whom she let fete her campaign manager in all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas. Even though she was first lady at the time, Hillary was a key point person for her husband’s fundraising activities and had close ties to [Yah Lin ‘Charlie’] Trie and other shady Chinese donors. These included Johnny Chung, who delivered a $50,000 check to her in the White House—money that came from leaders of China’s military… Hsu is cut from the same cloth as the other ethnic-Chinese hustlers and bagmen with whom Hillary rubbed elbows last decade. She should have known better than to look the other way as he raised more money for her than anybody.” —Investor’s Business Daily

UPRIGHT

“Clinton defenders suggest that those who make comparisons between the sloppy vetting of Mrs. Clinton’s 2008 campaign and her husband’s 1996 [election-law violations] scandal are bigots because of the presence of Asian names in both cases… Nonsense. It shows that Team Clinton seems to have a recurring problem vetting its donors. It seems to have learned nothing from its 1996 experience, and just may be repeating it.” —John Fund

“I want to know: Where exactly in the Constitution does it say that Mrs. Clinton has the power to dictate healthcare for all Americans? It’s going to be a long battle, folks, because they’re back, and they’re going to go about it in a very stealth-like fashion this time rather than a comprehensive, do-it-all-at-once program like they tried last time.” —Rush Limbaugh

“Power as an end in itself—power because it’s neat and makes people want to be around you and give you money and beg favors of you—is the great temptation, the overpowering seducer of good men and good women.” —William Murchison

“MoveOn has been a cancer within the Democratic Party for years now, and not one leading Dem has had the guts to recommend surgery. Indeed, Democrats are terrified of the group’s much-exaggerated power—but, then, it’s always been the illusion of power, the bravado, that put totalitarian minorities over the top.” —Ralph Peters

“In the days following Sept. 11, I realized we were in for a test of our strength, will and capacity to persist for decades in a harrowing task. But I never imagined that six years into the ordeal, we would remain so utterly divided in the face of a unique and little understood enemy.” —Tony Blankley

THE DEMO-GOGUES

“I know my Republican opponents will try to equate healthcare for all Americans with government-run healthcare. Don’t let them fool us again. This is not government-run.” —Hillary Clinton on her $110-billion-a-year, government-run HillaryCare 2.0 proposal ++ “[M]y universal-healthcare plan would go further in reducing the punishing cost of healthcare than any other proposal that’s been offered in this campaign.” —Barack Obama in response ++ “The mismanagement of the effort [by Hillary Clinton] in 1993 and 1994 has set back our ability to move toward universal healthcare immeasurably. We’ve known what the problems have been for nearly 15 years, and what the solutions could be.” —Chris Dodd

Don’t argue with me: “I believe the President’s rhetoric and the rhetoric of those who talk about surrender and talk about the Democrats choosing to lose is insulting and incorrect. We’re choosing to win for America.” —Surrender Monkey John Kerry

The ultimate blame shift: “Many have threatened that there will be chaos, a bloodbath, when the United States redeploys from Iraq, and this in fact may be the case. If they continue to choose to spill blood, it will not be on the conscience of the United States.” —Rep. John Murtha ++ “People are frustrated, but you’re going to see a big Democratic increase. I think we’ll pick up 40 [to] 50 seats [in 2008].” —John Murtha

Non Compos Mentis: “The President has been allowed to spy on Americans without a warrant, and our U.S. Senate is letting it continue. You know something is wrong when the New England Patriots face stiffer penalties for spying on innocent Americans than Dick Cheney and George Bush.” —Bill Richardson

Don’t let the door hit you…: “It’s not my party anymore.” —former RINO Sen. Lincoln Chafee on leaving the GOP

DEZINFORMATSIA

Everybody else is doing it: “Every industrialized country in this world that is successful with healthcare… has a partnership between government and the private sector.” —ABC’s medical doctor, Tim Johnson ++ Pollaganda: “Clinton doesn’t remind reminding people of her past painful experience in healthcare reform [because] in the latest CBS News poll, 66 percent of registered voters say her healthcare experience will help her.” —CBS’s Jim Axelrod

Twisting words: “[O]ne of the most respected figures in Washington says the Bush administration went to war in Iraq because of oil.” —ABC anchor Dan Harris on former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s book ++ Braying Jackass: “Are we fighting for the American oil companies, for Mobil and Exxon? They are making these enormous profits because of access to oil over there… Should we put Exxon signs up over Arlington Cemetery and Mobil signs up there, like they have at baseball stadiums?” —MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Matthews should operate in front of a MoveOn.org sign.

Retreat!: “The President has drawn the line, and he’s saying, ‘No matter a majority of Congress, or a majority of the American people want to disengage, I have decided there will be U.S. military involvement in Iraq this year, next year, and well after I leave the presidency. Democrats, your move’.” —NBC’s Tim Russert

“[Ted Kennedy] has served in the Senate since 1962, emerging as a leading legislator and voice of liberalism while enduring the deaths of his brothers, the breakup of his first marriage and numerous other personal trials.” —Associated Press on Kennedy’s possible book on his career *“One trial, though, he managed to avoid by pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment.” —James Taranto

Newspulper Headlines: Breaking News From 1993: “Clinton Readies Her U.S. Health Plan as Pitfalls Loom” —Bloomberg

Life Imitates The Onion: “Maybe We Should Try Coddling the Terrorists” —The Onion, Sept. 12 ++ “Talking to al Qaeda? Don’t Rule It Out, Some Say” —Reuters, Sept. 13

News You Can Use: “Today’s Lesson in Anger Management: No Fighting” —Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN) ++ “Earth Might Survive Sun’s Explosion [In Five Billion Years]” —The New York Times

Bottom Story of the Day: “Katie Couric Hits Another Low in Ratings” —Reuters ++ “Chafee Quietly Quits the GOP” —Providence (RI) Journal (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

VILLAGE IDIOTS

From the Glitterati: “It’s this surreal experience of going from this intense environment where you’re just trying to stay alive and you’re asked to kill children and women in order to stay alive. And then you come back into this world that has no idea what’s been going on over there.” —actress Susan Sarandon with her bit of “compassion” for returning Iraqi vets

This week’s “Theo-Lib” Award: “A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Suck it, Jesus. This award is my god now.” —“comedian” Kathy Griffin at the creative arts Emmy Awards *At least she’s honest. ++ More potty mouth award acceptance: “Let’s face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no Gd****d wars in the first place.” —Sally Field

Don’t argue with me II: “I think this administration is so retarded in its views [on the environment] and arrogantly so that they aren’t interested [in discussion].” —actor Robert Redford

Please don’t make me argue: “I strongly disagree with [Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s conservative] views. I think she’s dangerous and offensive. I will not be on the same stage as her.” —singer Barry Manilow, refusing to be on “The View”

This week’s “Quid Pro Homo” Award: “It comes as no shock that anti-gay ‘researchers’ [would produce a study claiming] you can pray away the gay. I suppose their next study will provide support for Pat Robertson’s theory that homosexuality causes meteors and hurricanes.” —Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, a homosexual advocacy group, on new research indicating that gender disorientation can be changed

U.S. AIR FORCE BIRTHDAY

18 September marks the 60th birthday of the United States Air Force, born of the desire to defend liberty and spread its flame. The Air Force began life as the Army Air Corps, but became a separate Armed Services Branch when the Department of the Air Force was created by the National Security Act of 1947. On 18 September 1947, W. Stuart Symington became first Secretary of the Air Force. The U.S. Air Force has a critical role in “The Long War” against Jihadistan. We ask that you pray for these brave Patriots standing in harm’s way and their families awaiting their safe return.

SHORT CUTS

“’I don’t feel no ways tired. I come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me that the road would be easy. I don’t believe He brought me this far,’ drawled presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton, mimicking black voice to a black audience, at the First Baptist Church of Selma, Alabama. I’m wondering if Mrs. Clinton visits an Indian reservation she might cozy up to them saying, ‘How! Me not tired. Me come heap long way. Road mighty rough. Sky Spirit no bring me this far.’ Or, seeking the Asian vote she might say, ‘I no wray tired. Come too far I started flum. Road berry clooked. Number one Dragon King take me far’.” —Walter Williams

“How do go from an also-ran to a contender? Follow the [Mike] Huckabee model. How do you go from a contender back to an also-ran? Follow the Huckabee model’s second step: Call for a nation-wide smoking ban. Just because you’ve gotten healthy doesn’t mean the nation, especially Republican primary voters, want to elect Richard Simmons.” —Jason Wright

“Bill Clinton is promoting his new book. In an interview, Former President Bill Clinton says although most people don’t know it, Hillary has the best laugh. Bill added, ‘I get to hear it every time she pushes me down the stairs’.” —Conan O’Brien

“[Bill Clinton is] promoting a book called ‘Giving.’ So far he’s collected over $250 million.” —Argus Hamilton ++ “Hillary Clinton’s campaign… hired more people to do criminal background checks on people who are tied to the campaign. So far the only criminals they’ve been able to identify are the candidate and her husband.” —Argus Hamilton

David Letterman: “Top Surprises in General Petraeus’s Report to Congress”: Opens with a forward from Jerry Stiller; Kurds and Sunnis are contemplating joining forces under the new name, “Kurnis”; Addressed some congressman as “Mommy”; An entire section devoted to his famous ham salad recipe; Most of his solutions were based on old episodes of “MacGyver”; Said more needs to be done about senators with wide restroom stances.

Jay Leno: General Petraeus [testified] before Congress and a number of senators accused General Petraeus of lying. You’ve gotta understand why they’re upset. If you are going to deceive the American people, you do it the right way: You run for Congress. … Vice President Dick Cheney is very upset about the way Gen. Petraeus has been treated by the Democrats. Cheney said it’s horrible the way people mock and treat a soldier. I’ll be sure to pass that on to John Kerry when I see him. … A New Orleans prostitute has come forward and said she has had sex with married Louisiana Senator David Vitter two or three times a week over a four-month period. This is actually good news for the Republicans. Finally a sex scandal involving a woman. … Senator Vitter is denying this woman’s allegations. Who are you gonna believe, a U.S. senator or a hooker? I’ve gotta go with the hooker. … Prison officials in New Jersey, this week, had to use tear gas to break up a prison riot. You know what they call tear gas in New Jersey? Air freshener.

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 granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)