THE FOUNDATION:

“Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.” —George Washington

RE: THE LEFT

“The new epitome for turning lemons into lemonade goes to talk show giant Rush Limbaugh. In the frothy wake of the perpetual acrimonious partisan spitting match between left and right, Limbaugh has eviscerated his petty mean spirited critics AND gifted a worthy charity with a financial windfall. The New Jersey-based Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, a charity that gives scholarship money to the children of service members killed in war or in public duty, will receive $4.2 million… The record setting e-Bay sale of a two-page letter (plus two additional pages of autographs) from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to Clear Channel Communications CEO Mark Mays ripping Limbaugh, was bought by DC philanthropist Betty Brown Casey for $2.1 million and was matched in kind by Limbaugh… Forty-one myopic partisan Democratic senators signed the letter (which they knew was a lie), demonstrating both their picayune pettiness and massive mob myopia. Rush said, ‘It got this kind of money because it represents one of the most outrageous abuses of federal power in modern American history, and that is what makes it a collector’s item. This letter that Senator Reid wrote will forever memorialize him as a demagogue.’… Contrast Congress with Betty Brown Casey and Rush Limbaugh and the variance is significant. Rush gets an ‘Attaboy’… Dingy Harry and his mean spirited minions get a wilted raspberry. More importantly, The Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation gets $4.2-Million.” —Geoff Metcalf

FROM THE LEFT

“When I spoke to Mark May [sic—Mays], he and I thought this probably wouldn’t make much money—a letter, written by Democrat Senators, complaining about something…[T]he [final] bid [was] more than two million for this… Never did we think that this letter would bring money of this nature… I don’t know what we could do more important than helping to ensure that children of our fallen soldiers and police officers who have fallen in the line of duty have the opportunity for their children to have a good education.” —Sen. Harry Reid taking credit for raising the money

INSIGHT

“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your objective. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

OPINION IN BRIEF

“If rising costs, declining quality, administrative hassles, and coverage gaps aren’t reasons enough to reform American health care, here’s one more: conscience concerns. Consider this: 46 percent of American workers participate in employer-sponsored health-care plans that subsidize abortion. That means many Americans praying on Sunday for the protection of unborn children are paying on Monday with their insurance dollars for others to abort them. Freedom of conscience for physicians and pharmacists is a familiar concept. Now it’s time for patients to have a conscience option when it comes to choosing health coverage. Freedom of conscience—for both provider and patient—should be the rule in health care, one of the most sensitive areas of human life.” —Jennifer Marshall

FAMILY

“And that gets me to my more philosophical or principled reason for being pro-life: I just don’t know. I confess that I lack passion about debates over RU-486, Plan B and other measures that terminate a pregnancy in the first few hours or days after conception, because that’s when I’m least sure that a life is at stake. But when it comes to, say, partial-birth abortion, I am adamantly pro-life. I don’t know if a fertilized egg has rights. But I am convinced that a baby minutes, days or weeks before full term is, simply, a baby. And despite what you constantly hear, Roe v. Wade doesn’t recognize that fact. In death penalty cases, ‘reasonable doubt’ goes to the accused because unless we’re certain, we must not risk an innocent’s life. This logic goes out the window when it comes to abortion, unless you are 100 percent sure that babies only become human beings after the umbilical cord is cut. I don’t see how you can be that sure, which is why I’m pro-life—not because I’m certain, but because I’m not.” —Jonah Goldberg

LIBERTY

“Big Brother’s ideas about what and how children should be taught are not always those of mom and dad. Americans differ on same-sex marriage and evolution, on the importance of sports and the value of phonics, on the right to bear arms and the reverence due the Confederate flag. Some parents are committed secularists; others are devout believers… Americans hold disparate opinions on everything from the truth of the Bible to the meaning of the First Amendment… With parents so often in boisterous disagreement, why should children be locked into a one-size-fits-all, government-knows-best model of education? Nobody would want the government to run 90 percent of the nation’s entertainment industry. Nobody thinks that 90 percent of all housing should be owned by the state… Yet the government’s control of 90 percent of the nation’s schools leaves most Americans strangely unconcerned… In a society founded on political and economic liberty, government schools should have no place… Education is too important to be left to the government.” —Jeff Jacoby

CULTURE

“On CNN the other night Anderson Cooper was worrying about the homicide rate in Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love is the murder capital of the nation, and CNN had dispatched a reporter to interview the grieving mother of a young black boy killed while riding his bicycle in the street. Apparently, a couple of cars had got backed up behind him, and an impatient passenger in one of them pulled out a gun and shot the kid. Anderson Cooper then went to commercials and, when he returned, introduced a report on how easy it is to buy guns in Philadelphia and how local politicians are reluctant to do anything about it. This is, again, an argument only the expert class could make. In the 1990s, the number of guns in America went up by 40 million, but the murder rate fell dramatically. If firearms availability were the determining factor, Vermont and Switzerland would have high murder rates. Yet in Montpelier or Geneva the solution to a boy carelessly bicycling in front of you down a city street when you’re in a hurry is not to grab your gun and blow him away. It’s the culture, not the technology.” —Mark Steyn

THE GIPPER

“[T]he American people are beginning to fit it all together. They’re beginning to realize that under the leadership of the liberals, that once-proud Democratic Party, a party of hope and affirmation, has become a party of negativism, a party whose leadership has changed it from the party of ‘yes’ to the party of ‘no’ —’no’ to the balanced budget amendment and the line-item veto, ‘no’ to holding down taxes and spending, ‘no’ to the death penalty and the school prayer amendment, ‘no’ to adequate defense spending and a Strategic Defense Initiative. The American people are beginning to understand that in all these ways the liberal leadership has been saying no to them… The public is beginning to realize that this election is a referendum on liberalism.” —Ronald Reagan

GOVERNMENT

“Tyrannical taxation, and excessive government spending and borrowing, are not only threats to our economy—they erode the resource base of our freedom and our moral responsibility. The income tax is a 20th-century socialist experiment that has failed. Before the income tax was imposed on us just 85 years ago, government had no claim to our income. Only sales, excise and tariff taxes were allowed. We need to return to the Constitution of economic liberty that our Founders intended to be a permanent bulwark of our political liberty. The income tax in effect makes us vassals of the government—the politicians decide how much income we can keep. No mere ‘reform’ of this slave tax, such as flattening the rate, can correct its fundamental denial of control over our own money.” —Alan Keyes

POLITICAL FUTURES

“Some time back I said [Hillary Clinton] doesn’t have to prove she is a man, she has to prove she is a woman. Her problem is not her sex, as she and her campaign pretend. That she is a woman is a boon to her, a source of latent power. But to make it work, she has to seem like a woman. No one doubts Mrs. Clinton’s ability to make war. No close or longtime observer has ever been quoted as saying that she may be too soft for the job. Instead one worries about what has always seemed her characterological bellicosity. She invented the War Room, listened in on the wiretaps, brought into the White House the man who got the private FBI files of the Clintons’ perceived enemies. This is not a woman who has to prove she’s tough enough and mean enough; she is more like a bulldozer who has to prove she won’t always be in high gear and ready to flatten you… I think after a year on the trail she’s learned how to not be herself, how to comfortably adopt a skin and play a part… Her grin is broad and fixed. She is the smile on the Halloween pumpkin that knows the harvest is coming. She’s even putting a light inside.” —Peggy Noonan

FOR THE RECORD

“Al Gore, the latest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, is a poor choice, one likely not to stand the test of time. Leaving aside the school-marmish, preachy, superior attitude that makes him such a magnet for parody, Gore is a phony. On the basis of his actions and writings over many years my guess is that Gore suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The criteria for this diagnosis, as described in the psychiatrist’s bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, include a ‘pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy… a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)… a preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love; believes that he or she is special and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions), and… shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.’ People who suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder are tough to be around. They make terrible bosses, unbearable in-laws and insufferable neighbors. That’s why I don’t want Al Gore to be president—or to live next door to me.” —Hoover Institution fellow Dr. Henry Miller (As Mark Alexander notes in his essay, “Pathology of the Left,” “As a Tennessean, not only do I not want Al Gore as a neighbor, I would be content if he never returned to my state. In fact, as an American, I would prefer he pack up and leave the continent altogether.”)

SELECT READER COMMENTS

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“The Patriot’s essay, ’Global Warming: Fact, Fiction and Political Endgame’, is the best summary I have read concerning the facts about climate change. I have earned degrees in Earth and Planetary Science from M.I.T., and few things irk me more than the current non-scientific, eco-theological hysteria being perpetrated on the world by agenda-driven socialists like ’Ignoble Laureate’ Albert Gore.” —Gurley, Alabama

“Frankly, the Nobel Peace Prize has been a joke for years. The award to Algore simply confirms the downward spiral to nothingness of this once prestigious award.” —Cypress, Texas

“Thanks for The Patriot’s third-quarter update. You noted, ‘Despite these somewhat demoralizing times for conservatives, you have offered unwavering support…’ A point of clarification: These are demoralizing times for Republicans who have forgotten whom they represent. As conservatives, we are preparing for renewal and reformation. Fortunately, The Patriot is NOT an instrument of the Republican Party, but a timeless touchstone for conservatives—a constant link to our great heritage of liberty. Keep up the great work!” —Spokane, Washington

THE LAST WORD

“Before reviewing Gore’s various inanities that won him the Nobel, it is worth taking a look at one of his related projects: carbon offsets. As chairman and founder of Generation Investment Management, a firm that purchases carbon dioxide offsets, Gore stands to profit further from what he sees as mankind’s misery—which is OK by me. I’m glad to see he finally has developed the capitalist instinct (like his dad did with Occidental Petroleum and Armand Hammer). But carbon offsets are a rather strange concept. Let me use a simple metaphor to explain it: Let’s suppose that Al Gore goes to an Italian restaurant and eats a loaf of garlic bread, a plate of lasagna, a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs, an extra-large pizza with seven toppings, a couple bottles of Chianti and a large assortment of pastries. As a result, he puts on 10 pounds. But he is deeply concerned that mankind is getting too fat. So he pays 10 peasants in Asia $10 each to eat nothing for a week. Although they are already thin, by starving themselves for a week, they each lose a pound. As a result, after a week, mankind is weight neutral. Al Gore weighs 10 pounds more, 10 Asians weigh 10 pounds less—and Al Gore is given another Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in keeping mankind’s waistline in check.” —Tony Blankley

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.)