Answer to Columnist Ben Shapiro:

DO NOT use Social Security and Medicare as examples of "ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS". The government "MIXED" it altogether AFTER the "FORCED" programs were established. They "FORCED" US, common, God-fearing taxpaying citizens, to pay into this "FORCED SCHEME" and now, we, the "FORCED ONES", are being accused of being involved in an "ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM".

Sorry, it won't work. Pay everybody back with interest, who were "FORCED" into this "SCHEME" and make the program VOLUNTARY.

Anyone who doesn't think this was a "FORCED" program evidently, hasn't tried to "buy and sell" without the SS#.

May God grant America a Divorce and a settlement, from this "FORCED SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEME."

PS - For all those who have "PAID AND TRUSTED" and are now, receiving their "dividends", the government needs to stay good to the "CONTRACT", these folk Trusted their Government to "pay them back". The government for years, had "FORCED" them to PAY.

So, now, we mix "bums with taxpayers" and since the government used the money in the "General Fund", now, the government wants to accuse the "FORCED ONES" who paid into this, into the "Entitlement Crowd." NO WAY, Pay us back with interest and make the Program, VOLUNTARY.

For God & Country

Ruth Ann Wilson

I'm sure this is not an original idea, but why not take away Pelosi's plane, sell it and put funds into Social Security/Medicare or lower the income of the Congress after all those of us on Social Security(like me) stayed status quo this year when Congress got a raise. We could also put those cutbacks into Social Security/Medicare. Also, I admire Senator Bunning standing up for the American people against the Dems. Linda

I do not understand the placement of Bozell's slam (following) on media under "Dezinformatsia". Instead of being leftmedia it was busting the leftmedia, and using Sen Bunning as a good example.

This week's "Leftmedia Buster" Award: "[T]here's a good reason to stay pessimistic about deficits as far as the eye can see. It's called the 'news' media. Legislators who want to get re-elected will clearly want to avoid any spending decision that will create bad national publicity, and our news media, the manufacturers of bad national publicity, will send crying victims down the assembly line at the slightest thought of a social spending cut or freeze. Exhibit A is Sen. Jim Bunning." --L. Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center

Am I that confused?

If you watched the health care summit, Senator Tom Harkins response to why health care could not be done piece meal was like a man drowning 50 feet from shore. It would be like throwing him a rope 20 feet long.That wouldn't work so you throw him a rope 30 feet long.That wouldn't work so you throw a 40 foot long rope. That doesn't work so throw a 50 foot long rope.By the time you throw a 50 feet long rope it would be too late to help him.

My comment is this- that would be true but the help the democrats want to do is throw a 50 foot long rope but it has a 1 trillion pound ($$$) weight on the end of it. Now who will drown!

Jim Kitch

Re: Unemployment benefits extension.

Senator Jim Bunning did what no other Senator would dare do with their job still on the line; demand that congress find, instead of again borrow, the money to pay for benefits extension.

While unemployment benefits can be important for the short-term, interim welfare of a family or individual, in the long-term, they only serve to sedate most others for a “semi-vacation break” from seeking gainful employment.

I have known many people on unemployment, even family members, who have said they will "ride the unemployment benefits out until they are gone and then start looking for a job."

All "indefinite" extensions serve to do is idle those who should otherwise be getting off their behinds and finding any job that they can to support themselves and their families.

But in the Welfare State of America, everyone expects to live off of others hard labor, since they are given free ride without needed industry. How many people ever turn down a free meal!?

Pathetic!

I will let two very wise men speak for me.

I'll just allow two very wise men to speak for me,

"One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. From there, it is a short step to all the rest of socialism."

Ronald Reagan

"The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants."

Albert Camus

Was it Tiny Tim who said; "God bless us one and all"? If I may, I would like to reenterate that statement.

.....and so it goes~~

Mr. Krauthammer's article on pharmaceutical commercials left out one of my favorite side effects for some medicines - "anal leakage". I think I'd almost prefer sudden death - it can only happen just once, and it's not as messy...

Gut buster: "I think no one knows my politics." --ABC News left anchor Diane Sawyer.

No one told me, but I would be willing to bet my life savings and everything I own, She's a liberal.

Senator Bunning is the bravest and wisest man in the U.S. Senate. Shame on all the others, Republican and Democrat alike, who failed to support him. Are unemployment benefits to be extended indefinitely? Where's the incentive? Who's paying for it? What are we to do if we all lose our jobs? Who pays then? When will the clowns figure out that the dole will destroy - is already destroying - the fabric of our society and the strength of this nation? The riots in Greece are happening because the socialist government there (oddly enough) says that their fiscal predicament requires that they 1) raise taxes (no surprise) and 2) reduce government spending and welfare handouts (that's unusual). The people there are so used to getting their gov't check that they are willing to commit violence against their own people in protest at the thought of doing without. This is a scene which may soon be played out in our own streets because our bleeding heart representatives are too willing to spend our tax money and get nothing in return. Don't start the revolution without me!

"That's racist! "The white right is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated... There are Christians praying for God to kill Obama." --Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan"

This sounds to me like a Black racist setting Obama up to be assassinated so he can blaim white Christians for the deed ... then start a race-holy war.

I totally do not agree with Obama, but the last thing I want is for anyone to hurt him.

Why would any government ever try to ban handguns? If you ban them, the law-abiding citizens will not carry, but only the criminals will because they don't adhere to the law anyway. Therefore, more guns in the wrong hands and no guns in the right ones. OH I UNDERSTAND NOW! not.

response to Ben Sharipo remark.after paying into social security for 52 yrs I belive s.s.is an entilement I and many other hard working A mericans have earned.many of us raised our families and paid our bills without gvt assitance while supporting those who "beat the system".would Ben also deny my combat vet entilements? Sir I take exception to your remarks.

When seconds count...the police are just a minute away. The best gun control is a tight group in the 10-ring.

Re: Newspulper Headlines

While their editorial policies are often "vile." They're the Huntsville (AL) Times. Although, now that I've seen it I kind of like the "Huntsvile" Times attribution! :o)

Love the site! Keep it up.

If states and cities are allowed to make laws which negate or infringe upon the Second Amendment, then they could do the same with regard to the rest of the Constitution. How about local laws which limit freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and petition? How about a local law which allows the police to be quartered in your home? How about a local law which allows for slavery?

You gotta love the kraut, way to go Charles for summing things up as only you can do!

Hey Texas Pete! The gubmint wants you to be proficient at waiting for the cops to solve your problem. That way when they come to get you for your individually mandated euthanasia you just stand there dumbly and can't shoot back.

Ben Shapiro forgets that Social Security and unemployment are different from welfare in that the benefits received in the former are derived from monies the recipient pays out over their working life in order to guarantee such benefit. Welfare is not a recoup of your own monies.

Mr O'brien,

Are you from the puget sound region? The commie's running the show here just banned even concealed carry permit holders from carrying in public parks. It's already under legal challenge but htey are real good at making that take years. THIS IS AFTER several armed assaults and robberies around a very popular jogging path in Seattle. Perps responsible for several assaults were armed with GUUUUUUUUEEEEEESSSSSSSS WHAT!!??!! A pistol.

"The white right is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated... There are Christians praying for God to kill Obama." --Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan

Well, actually I pary to Joe Pesci, but for once this freak Farrakhan got something right. TRC

John,

Can you say "Ponzi Scheme"? Your Social Security "contributions" have long since been given away (or robbed from the "trust fund", spent, and replaced with IOUs that can only be repaid by increasing taxes, reducing expenses, or printing money). The government doesn't have your contributions squirreled away in some investment, earning a 10% rate of return over your lifetime, so that they can give you a retirement check. Same for unemployment "insurance". If I lose my job tomorrow, the government's not dipping into the "Mike McGinn" unemployement insurance account that my employers "contributed" to for the past 30 years. They are taxing you...today...to pay me. These two programs are nothing more than welfare with fancy names. It's all about taking, or forcing a "contribution" of money from one person and giving it to another person.

I am most certain that Diane Sawyer is indeed a staunch conservative...a far right type. Her image of leftist views and obama worship is just a ruse.

"In the Democrat leadership, we are not dealing with conventional politicians for whom the goal of being reelected is paramount and will rein in their radicalism. They want socialized medicine and all it entails about government control even more than they want to win elections. After all, if the party of government transforms the relationship between the citizen and the state, its power over our lives will be vast even in those cycles when it is not in the majority. This is about power, and there is more to power than winning elections, especially if you've calculated that your opposition does not have the gumption to dismantle your ballooning welfare state." --columnist Andy McCarthy

Excellent observation. At last, I think I understand the Dems' willingness to jump under the bus for Madame Speaker's sake. This opponent is tough to counter - tough in the same way the kamikaze was difficult to stop, and the jihadi suicide bomber is so asymmetrically challenging. But there is a key to halting this juggernaut, and Andy McCarthy's given it to us right there in the fine print :"...you've calculated that your opposition does not have the gumption to dismantle your ballooning welfare state." Well, there's their Achilles heel. Let's roll!

From the Decatur Daily, UAH shooting suspect shot her brother with a shotgun three times accidentally.

Three shots to the chest and it was an accident. She then accidentally went to a car dealer and accidentally used the shotgun to steal a car, accidentally.

The anti-gun freaks don't seem to realize that a close range shotgun shooting, accidentally is suspect for one shot and for three it is impossible.

On Obama's adding in some token Republican "ideas" to his health care bill before he uses the "nuclear option" to cram it down our throats, and I quote "You can put lipstick on a pig, but...."

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan need not worry about whites wanting to kill Obama. All he needs is to learn the rules of succession in case Obama(as president) dies. It's safer keeping Obama in the presidency and fight his policies than it would be to put Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi into the office.

Could it possible be that if the Drug companies did not spend all they do on advertismentd that the price of their products would be less plus the fact that the Dr's are the one's that prescribe the medicines anyway, so why the ads?

Leave it to Krauthammer to so succintly explain the ads for "new" medicine....he should only have related it to the drone from the Progressives about HEALTHCARE.

With the Post Office threatening to discontinue Saturday delivery and lay off personnel because of their escalating deficits, one can only wonder if it will apply to Health Care as well. The minute they start running a deficit, which will be the day it is enacted, it will be impossible to get care on weekends, partially because of all the lay-offs

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan need not worry about whites wanting to kill Obama. All he needs is to learn the rules of succession in case Obama(as president) dies. It's safer keeping Obama in the presidency and fight his policies than it would be to put Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi into the office.

Which state will run up the Bonnie Blue Flag first? What say ye, Texas?

I have always felt that 'global warming' was too much of a push. Yesterday I read that the earthquake in Chile had moved the earth off it's axis some 3 inches. And the Somalian earthquake in 2004 had moved it at least 7 inches off its axis. Now it did not go into detail about direction or anything, but you cannot make me believe that moving the earth that much off an axis does not affect in some way the weather patterns and such. This old planet of ours is a delicate thing at best and she is not getting any younger. As these violent earthquakes of 8 or more on the Richter definitely make a difference in how our home lives and breathes. Now I am even more convinced that our natural planet has much to do with the changes. Don't get me wrong, I feel that we can do a lot to help her stay healthy. But the 'Green Guys' can do a lot too by telling the truth. Mother Earth is changing daily herself and we need to learn to change with her. But don't blow smoke and call it my fault.

Have to disagree with Ben Shapiro. When you've dutifully paid much of your hard-earned income into social security for 30-some years,receiving your social security benefit SHOULD be an inalienable right...

I have been a follower/supporter of The Patriot for awhile. After Fox News, I learn information here I never find anywhere else. Thank you for that.

Every once in awhile I read something that really ticks me off and today's Ben Shapiro quote about entitlement programs (i.e. Social Security (SS) and Medicare(MED)) did that.

I realize those programs are unsustainable and must be fixed and are absolutely SOCIALISTIC and I abhore them. When I started working in 1960 I found out that in addition to Income Taxes I had a partner named SS. Somewhere along the way I found another partner named MED. These were NOT VOLUNTARY. If you worked; you paid them.

In 2009; after working 49 years I was able to retire and began collecting SS. In May I turned 65 and was eligible for MED. Over the course of 49 years I put in over $80,000 to SS. My employers added a like amount. At $2,000 per month I must live 80 months to break even and without interest. Since I turn 66 this May maybe the government made a real smart wager considering my recent health issues.

Michael Barrone(Monday's Digest) was able to sort out the differences between programs. Welfare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, Unemployment, Cash for Clunkers, Cash for Caulkers, etc. are entitlement programs(some of these I added). SS, MED, Veterans benefits, student loans, etc. are BOUGHT and PAID for by hardworking and in most cases honest citizens.

It appears that now that some of us Baby Boomers have stopped paying into this morass and are now taking OUR money OUT of it; everybody is screaming that it is broken, SOCIALISTIC, etc. blah blah blah. And sadly every so often The Patriot is beating the drum also. You did not write Ben Shapiro's article; but by reprinting it (in it's entirety?) you are endorsing it. This is not the first time. I remember references to Ponzi scheme. Enough already.

The fact The Patriot lumps all the programs together is VERY disturbing and makes me wonder which side of the fence you are on.

You can't change the rules of the game as it nears the end which is what this is about. I argue with my oldest son all the time about this very thing. Only the NHL does that in regular season overtime (OT) issues.

Why doesn't The Patriot write a story about why hardworking citizens continue to have to pay into these broken systems? Huh?

God Bless you, the troops defending this country, and all the other readers.

Frank Quinn

Dallas, Texas

When is one of our good conservative writers going to shut Nancy Pelosie up? How long must we hear her say the majority of Americans want the "public option" with not one shred of proof for her claim? Bad enough we hear her costantly regurgitate, worse that good men are her enablers by not challenging her continual lies!

The Washington Times editorial. The lesson is that freedom and safety go hand in hand. Thus the urgent need to honor and protect the 2nd Amendment.

Senator Bunning showed us once again that Republicans are as spineless as the Democrats are dedicated to ruining this country by driving (pushing) thru their socialistic ideology and policies.

It would be awkward to administer, but if employees were paid 100% of their salaries and then were required to write checks on the spot to Social Security, pension fund, health insurance, etc., and hand these back to the payroll department, they would at least have a better sense of what they are paying to "the system".

I would like to add a comment to Charles Krauthammer's about the "Side Effects" of certain prescription drugs.

One drug when used properly caused a "Decrease in Semen and a Runny nose."

My observation is that the "Semen" begins to back up and comes (Bad choice of wording there) out of your nose.

God forbid you get a bad cold and have a sneezing jag!

What a joy it is to regularly find the devastating logic of Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams stated so precisely.

What a mess we are in. Big Federal Government walking all over the people and the Constitution... Anyone want to guess who said this: "The principal for which we contend is bound to reassert itself though it may be at another time and in another form."

"...drop his George B. McClellan mask and become Ulysses Grant." -- Sam Daonaldson

What mask? Grant ran one of the most corrupt adminstrations in the history of the USA.

I would just like to get one thing straight---Social Security and Medicare are not entitlement programs. We who are in that age bracket paid huge amounts of money over the years for this retirement supplement and for the medical insurance.

I am a 74 year old retired accountant. I started working in 1952. I contributed to Social Security over the years. I calculated the amount of money I would have if my $ and employer's $ were invested in the stock market with a 10% return, which is less than the actual return over the same years.

Upon retirement, I would have had $693,000 in my account. How much do I get? $1,100 a month.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY MONEY? JAN NOBLE

Carrying a gun is just being personally responsible.

Police are only useful AFTER the crime, not for crime prevention,that's your job.

People who don't believe in this must think,"well, whatever happens, happens,"-Sounds like the Muslim "it is the will of allah",that they use for everything. NOT the American way of thinking.

An armed populace is a polite populace, and "gun control" is using both hands.

Great Reagan quote, "Oregon Buzz".Needs to be on billboards!

Agreed. And you'll also notice that most of the drug ads are targeted to women, the weaker sex. Particularly mental problems, solved using drugs. One holdout is man's urine retention problems.

Upon reading the "Upright" section quoting Walter Williams I could not help wondering if he reads C.S. Lewis, who wrote on the same subject many years ago: "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Upon reading the "Upright" section quoting Walter Williams I could not help wondering if he reads C.S. Lewis, who wrote on the same subject many years ago: "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Mr. Quinn,

May I recommend that you thoroughly research the genesis, birth and grotesque morphing of programs such as Social Security. When the SS program started it took a mere 2% of your income (1% from you and 1% from your employeer). The cap on salaries subject to "contributions" was $3,000 (about $46,000 today if adjusted for inflation). An individual was looking at a maximum annual hit on their pocketbook of $30 ($460 today). Over the years it has slowly grown, bit by teeny-tiny bit to 12.4% of up to $106,800 of your salary, or an annual hit of up to $13,243.20!! Why? Because it's a Ponzi Scheme, not an investment. Do you think Americans would have signed up for Social Security if they had been told on day-1 that they'd fork over 12.4% of their income of up to $7,000? NO...they wouldn't have! They would have lynched their congressmen. The Ponzi Scheme of SS is that today's income earner is hit to pay the SS checks of today's retirees. They didn't use the money you contributed to pay your check. Those dollars went to pay yesterday's retirees. If you take away the money being "contributed" today, your retirement check will be gone in a heartbeat. Why? Because your "contributions" were not collected and invested for your future. They were spent, long, long ago. Go research how Bernie Maddoff paid off his investors. You'll find that it is almost exactly the same way SS pays it's retirees.

I knew Charles Krauthammer was brilliant, but I didn't realize he was so funny too!

Obama doesn't need a Secret Service to protect him.If anything would happen to OBAMA look who would Replace him. Heaven forbid| If anything would then happen to Biden who would replace him. Heaven forbid| The Wild Witch of the West.

Social security and medicare are entitlement programs. And don't tell me because you paid in you're entitled. I've been paying in since I was sixteen and now that I'm 50 I know for a fact there won't be sh*t left for me when I turn 67 or 70 or 75 or 80 or whenever the h*ll big brother's death panel decides I'm entitled to die for lack of being a "contributing" member of society.

The earth's axis is tilted to an angle of 22.5 degrees relative to the sun. If it had been altered 3 or 7 degrees because of some earthquake the "climate change" would've been catastrophic. Don't believe the claim. The ocean is a natural counter-ballance to terestrial events. Like wheel weights on a car tire the 75% of this planet covered by water naturally self balances the globe. Consider that most of the land mass resides in the northern hemisphere. Why doesn't the planet wobble uncontrollably as a result? The counterweighting effect of the seas. If you could measure sea level up from the earths core you'd discover that the sea level is deeper in some areas and shallower in others.

I feel that Charles Krauthammer's comments regarding drug company commercials are priceless, recently I viewed a commercial for a drug that could help my runny nose only to discover that one of the possible side effects was "sudden death" I decided to use my hankerchief instead.

I'm sick of Dick Morris.Who is this guy and why has he become a stalwart bastion of conservatism in the last few years.

He was an adviser to BILL CLINTON, and got caught with his pants down and had to resign amid a sex scandal. He buddy-buddied with Clinton and Carvel and all the rest. Suddenly he has conservative credentials? I don't think so.

He is the epitome of a political opportunist. Just how many books has he peddled in the last 4-5 years? He goes where the wind blows, and right now he knows that there is money to be made from conservatives by writing what they want to hear.

Frankly, I am sick of hearing and seeing him.

Dump him and get some real, thoughtful conservatives to provide your insight and commentary.