The Foundation

“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one.” –James Madison

Government & Politics

Hope ‘n’ Change Tramples Constitution

Now that Barack Obama’s mission of controlling your health care has been accomplished, the question American Patriots are asking is: what next? You can start by signing the Patriot Declaration, which reaffirms Constitutional Rule of Law. And take heart – you’re not alone.

Seven minutes after the president used 22 different pens to put his left-handed signature on ObamanationCare, 13 attorneys general filed suit on behalf of their states in federal court. Virginia filed suit separately, as other states are considering doing. Led by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, the larger suit claims, correctly in our view, that Congress does not have constitutional authority to force individuals to purchase health insurance. The “individual mandate” is the method so-called compassionate leftists used to “extend” health care to all Americans.

As with so many unconstitutional power grabs, Democrats point to the Commerce Clause to justify the mandate. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), taking a slightly different tack, pointed to the “Good and Welfare Clause.” That one must come right after the “Non Compos Mentis Clause” of the “living constitution.”

According to the White House and other “experts” (i.e., leftist “constitutional” law professors), the lawsuit is unlikely to succeed. Based on precedent, they’re probably right. No entitlement law has ever been overturned. Of course, finding in favor of the law would simply prove (again) that judicial despots, too, have abdicated their oaths to support and defend the Constitution.

In Congress, many Republicans are pushing for repeal. Obama taunted them and told them to “go for it.” Very presidential. “I think House Republicans are determined to stand for both repealing and replacing ObamaCare with an approach that gives Americans more choices instead of more government,” said Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN). Unfortunately, that may be an even longer shot than defeating it in the courts. First, Republicans must be far more than the minority party they are today, but even should they take control of Congress, when was the last time a majority party repealed an entitlement? Indeed, Republicans created the largest one in almost 40 years with the 2003 prescription drug program.

In other news, Democrats are complaining about racial insults and physical threats from crazed right-wingers. Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) immediately blamed all conservatives, declaring, “If [you] participate in [these threats], either from the balcony or on the floor of the House, you are aiding and abetting this kind of, uh, terrorism, really.” He added, “Silence gives consent.” Proof, you ask? Don’t worry about it – Democrats would never exaggerate, lie, or flat-out stage these events, even if such tactics are straight out of community organizer Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” playbook.

Regardless, if Democrats are now cowering before an angry public, maybe they should have listened to their constituents instead of ramming through an illegitimate bill that puts the government in charge of 17 percent of the U.S. economy and the IRS in charge of enforcement.

But who are we to object? None other than Cuban communist dictator Fidel Castro has endorsed the “miracle” of ObamaCare. If that island’s system is any example, we’re in for a real treat.

Quote of the Week

“[T]his hour of liberal political victory is a good time to adapt the ‘Pottery Barn’ rule that Colin Powell once invoked on Iraq: You break it, you own it. This week’s votes don’t end our health-care debates. By making medical care a subsidiary of Washington, they guarantee such debates will never end. And by ramming the vote through Congress on a narrow partisan majority, and against so much popular opposition, Democrats have taken responsibility for what comes next – to insurance premiums, government spending, doctor shortages and the quality of care. They are now the rulers of American medicine.” –The Wall Street Journal

On Cross-Examination – From the Left

“[T]he American public overwhelmingly voted for socialism when they elected President Obama. Let’s not act as though the president didn’t tell the American people – the president offered the American people health reform when he ran. He was overwhelmingly elected running on that and he has delivered what he promised. … They voted for President Obama who said this was going to be one of the first things he would do…. This was not some concept the president introduced after he won.” –the “Reverend” Al Sharpton

Sharpton actually gets it partly right – we were warned. However, the “overwhelming” 53 percent of the vote that Obama received was hardly “for socialism,” though a good 10-20 percent of the voting populace does appear to want it. The independents who provided Obama his winning margin voted for flashy, feel-good, substance-free “hope ‘n’ change.”

The BIG Lie

“We clearly believe that the bill’s provisions are, in fact, constitutional and will be so held.” –House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

And you are clearly wrong about the constitutionality.

This Week’s ‘Braying Jackass’ Award

“This is a big f—ing deal.” –the ever-classy, ever-eloquent, ever-obsequious Joe Biden to Barack Obama after introducing him at Tuesday’s White House signing ceremony. Biden had just finished telling his boss in front of the assembled minions, “You’re the reason we’re here.”

Stupak’s 30 Pieces of Silver

One Democrat feeling the heat is Rep. Bart Stupak, the supposed “stalwart” pro-lifer from Michigan. Stupak led a small but seemingly determined band of Democrat congressmen opposed to the Senate bill’s permissiveness concerning abortion funding. As it turns out, it was all a show.

Stupak caved after Barack Obama promised an executive order banning the use of federal funds for abortions. Tellingly, even Planned Parenthood didn’t object because, first, the executive order isn’t legally binding; second, it can be revoked easily; and third, it said nothing that the bill didn’t already say. It changed nothing – federal funds will be used for abortions.

In truth, Stupak was always going to vote for the bill – he just wanted his 15 minutes of fame. In October, he said, “If everything I want [is] in the final bill, I like everything in the bill except you have public funding for abortion – and we had a chance to run our amendment and we lost. Okay, I voted my conscience, stayed true to my principles, stayed true to the beliefs of this district. Could I vote for health care? Yes, I still could.” His only “principle” was party loyalty and passing ObamaCare.

By the way, just two days before the vote, the Obama administration awarded $726,409 in grants to three airports in Stupak’s district. At least those 30 pieces of silver won’t be spent in one place.

Demo-gogues on ObamaCare

“If you’re making over $200,000 a year, you’re going to pay slightly more in taxes. It’s the cost, I think, of having the kind of America that we want to have.” –Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who by “we” means “congressional Democrats”

“Well, the drug companies will have their profits reduced by close to $90 billion over the lifetime of this bill. That’s part of the strategy moving forward.” –job-killing, innovation-crushing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

“The harsh fact of the matter is when you’re going to pass legislation that will cover 300 American people in different ways it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people.” –Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) caught on tape letting the Freudian goal of ObamaCare slip

“When the deal goes down, uhh, this talk about uhh, rules, we make them up, as we go along…” – Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL), a former federal judge impeached for corruption and perjury, thus, in the small minds of rule-of-men-types, qualifying him to serve as a representative and member of the House Rules Committee, on the sausage factory recipe used to pass ObamaCare

News From the Swamp: Obama Employment Service

A few weeks ago, we reported on the White House payola scheme of offering plum government jobs to Pennsylvania Demo Rep. Joe Sestak and Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff in exchange for their bowing out of primary challenges to weak Democrat Senators Arlen Specter and Michael Bennet, respectively. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has repeatedly dodged the allegations, despite Sestak’s public assertion (and re-assertion) that the offer was made.

We can only imagine what similar deals were struck last week to garner just enough votes to ram ObamaCare through the House. Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), made it known before the vote that any House member who sold a “yes” vote in exchange for a post-congressional federal job will have a difficult time clearing the Senate, where Coburn, like all senators, has the power to block nominations to federal positions. Coburn has never been shy about exercising this power, and he stated it clearly: “If you voted ‘no’ and you vote ‘yes,’ and you lose your election, and you think [your nomination] to a federal position isn’t going to be held in the Senate, I’ve got news for you – it’s going to be held.”

While union lobbyists weren’t shy about threatening to withhold campaign funds to any House members who didn’t vote for the bill, there is no solid proof (yet) that the White House offered to help ObamaCare supporters find new jobs if (read: when) they are voted out of office. But pay to play has been the Chicago Way for a long time.

New & Notable Legislation

Included in the health care bill was a plan to revamp student-loan programs. The bill cut off federal subsidies and guaranteed backing for commercial banks such as Sallie Mae and Nelnet. Rep. George Miller (D-CA) complained, “Why are we paying people to lend the government’s money and then the government guarantees the loan and the government takes back the loan?” Certainly, that doesn’t make sense. But the Democrats’ solution was, naturally, to takeover student lending, too.

House Democrats passed another so-called “jobs” bill Wednesday by a vote of 246-178. The bill grants $13.2 billion to local governments for construction projects and welfare programs. Seems like we’ve heard that song and dance before. Or as Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) aptly put it, “Another week, another stimulus.”

After “fixing” health care and the rest of the economy, Democrats are turning their attention to another insidious problem: school lunches. A majority of Democrats feel that it’s a good idea to further regulate your child’s life by allowing the “Agriculture Department to create uniform standards for all foods in schools, including vending machine items, to give students healthier meal options,” the Associated Press reports. Whatever happened to “get your laws off my body”?

National Security

Department of Military Readiness: START Replacement

The White House is expected to announce later today that an agreement has been reached with Russia to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expired in December. The new treaty, to be signed next month in Prague, will reduce by a quarter the nuclear missiles and delivery systems available to each country. Obama has long advocated a nuclear-free world, which should work just about as well as “gun-free” zones.

This desire is one reason Obama so quickly caved to Russia’s ultimatum on the Eastern European missile defense system that George W. Bush had set in place. As the Heritage Foundation notes, the “Russians took President Obama’s easy and early capitulation on missile defense as a sign of naiveté and weakness and concluded that the Obama administration was far more desperate for a new nuclear treaty than they were and, as The Los Angeles Times reports, ‘used that fact in negotiations.’” Furthermore, the administration is backing away from numerous tough measures against Iran in an effort to placate the Russians.

Details have not yet been released, but early indicators are that it will lack three key national security safeguards: verification of Russia’s actions (“trust but verify”), nuclear modernization of our rapidly deteriorating arsenal and missile defense.

Snubbing Israel

Two weeks ago, the Obama administration panicked over Israeli plans to – gasp – build homes in Jerusalem. This would completely disrupt the peace process, the White House argued, apparently believing that any breakdown is always Israel’s fault. Does any serious person actually believe that not building a few houses in Jerusalem would in any way placate Hamas or Hezbollah? Both of these Iranian-backed terrorist organizations simply want dead Jews.

Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the White House to meet with Barack Obama, in part over the settlement. Obama was angry about the timing of the announced settlement construction, which came while Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel. However, news of the settlement was leaked by Peace Now, an Israeli group columnist Leo Rennert describes as “heavily financed by European governments to advance the Palestinian agenda against Israel.” As usual, facts don’t matter to the Left, and Obama responded by snubbing Netanyahu at the White House, leaving him to dine alone. In the Israelis’ view, such treatment was humiliating. Apparently, the president was too busy prostrating himself before the Russians to treat a valuable ally with respect.

Warfront With Jihadistan: New bin Laden Threats

Osama bin Laden’s latest taped message, broadcast on Al-Jazeera Thursday, threatened retaliation against any captured Americans if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any other al-Qa'ida thugs are put to death. The message, believed to be authentic, means that bin Laden is probably still alive. It also proves that he and the senior leadership of al-Qa'ida are virtually out of options for blackmailing or threatening the free world. Threatening to kill Americans? With a statement like that, bin Laden once again joins his Democrat brethren in being even more stupid than they think that we are. What else has he been trying to do for the last eight years? Holed up somewhere in the hinterlands of northwest Pakistan, unable to move or communicate openly, unable to achieve another spectacular attack since 9/11, seeing democracy slowly but inexorably growing in Iraq and Afghanistan, and watching as even Pakistan takes the fight to his followers, bin Laden has been reduced to this kind of toothless, sputtering nonsense.

In another setback for the forces of darkness this week, Saudi authorities arrested 101 terror suspects who were planning attacks against Saudi oil infrastructure. The arrested suspects were described as 47 Saudis, 51 Yemenis, one Somali, one Bangladeshi and one Eritrean. Following vigorous interrogation (that might even include waterboarding), these suspects will likely provide information leading to even more arrests, setting back al-Qa'ida plans for attacks against the Saudi government.

Department of Military Correctness: ‘Don’t Ask’ Guidelines Changed

Defense Secretary Robert Gates issued revised “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” guidelines this week that will make it more difficult to discharge homosexuals from the military. The Pentagon has called for a yearlong review of the law, which bans homosexuals from making their proclivities known while serving. The new guidelines are meant as a stopgap until Congress determines whether it will follow Barack Obama’s call for a repeal of the 1993 law. “I believe these changes represent an important improvement in the way the current law” is applied, Gates said, adding that they will provide “a greater measure of common sense and common decency” on a sensitive issue.

Specifically, the Associated Press reports, “The changes raise the level of officer authorized to initiate a fact-finding inquiry into a case, the level of officer who can conduct an inquiry and of the one that can authorize a dismissal.” Furthermore, evidence given by third parties must be given under oath, and confidential information, such as that given to medical professionals and clergy, will not be permissible evidence. The Pentagon estimates that 13,000 service members have been discharged under the policy, but proponents of the repeal have been mostly silent on the all-important subjects of unit esprit, cohesion and battlefield effectiveness.

Chinese Academic Paper Sparks U.S. Worries

A curious incident involving a graduate student in China has highlighted American cyber-security concerns, as well as exposing the serious vulnerability of America’s infrastructure. Last spring, Wang Jianwei, a graduate engineering student in Liaoning, China, and his professor published a paper entitled “Cascade-Based Attack Vulnerability on the U.S. Power Grid” in the international journal “Safety Science.” The paper is a generic engineering exercise, examining ways to enhance the security of power grids by exploring possible cyber-attacks that would cause cascading power failures. Jianwei said he chose the U.S. grid because it was easy to obtain data, as China does not publish data on its power grids but the U.S. does.

Needless to say, the paper aroused concern in the U.S. security community. On March 10, China specialist Larry Wortzel told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that “Chinese researchers at the Institute of Systems Engineering of Dalian University of Technology published a paper on how to attack a small U.S. power grid sub-network in a way that would cause a cascading failure of the entire U.S.” Jianwei explained that he was only trying to find ways to protect, not attack, power grids by exploring their cyber vulnerabilities – a reasonable conclusion given that the paper was actually published.

Regardless of Jianwei’s intent, however, China’s recent dust-ups with Google over Internet censorship and cyber-attacks suspected of originating in China should be reason enough to compel U.S. security experts to keep China high on their list of potential cyber-adversaries. Perhaps we shouldn’t make our own infrastructure information so accessible, either.

Business & Economy

Transparent TARP

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals forced actual transparency upon the Obama administration when it affirmed a district court’s ruling that the Federal Reserve Board must disclose documents identifying financial firms that received TARP funds to prevent their collapse. The Federal Reserve Board argued against disclosure, suggesting the documents threaten to stigmatize borrowers and cause them “severe and irreparable competitive injury” as well as discouraging other distressed banks from seeking help. The courts held the Freedom of Information Act does not prevent disclosure of such information when taxpayer dollars are being appropriated.

While the dubious constitutionality of TARP was not raised, clearly the Obama administration felt that furtive circumvention of transparency outweighed vague suggestions of stigmatism and discouragement.

Nevertheless, the Obama administration insists that the bailed-out institutions must disclose executive compensation information to the federal government even though the government has no authority over this. TARP funds, after all, have little to do with executive compensation. Evidently, Obama continues to believe his administration can have its cake and eat it too.

Around the Nation: EPA Sued Over Emissions

Fifteen states have filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency to prevent the mammoth bureaucracy from issuing regulations controlling greenhouse gas emissions. “Florida, Indiana, South Carolina and at least nine other states filed the petitions in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. on Thursday,” Reuters reports, joining “petitions filed last month by Virginia, Texas and Alabama.” The EPA is set to issue harsh new rules in the coming weeks that will regulate energy efficiency in certain models of automobiles and, later, power plants and industrial manufacturers. Despite the dire economic threat of these job-killing regulations, 16 states, including debt-ridden California and debt-ridden New York, support the EPA.

In the suit, the states are demanding a stay on the rules until a re-examination of its scientific findings is carried out. As we have noted repeatedly, the EPA based its “endangerment finding” on “scientific evidence” from the disgraced UN climate scientists who doctored reports and withheld evidence in order to promote their fraudulent theory of global warming. The EPA has since fallen back to the Algorian refrain that all this is “settled science.” Obviously, it’s not.

Post Office Aims for Five-Day Delivery

In a bid to cut costs, the gubmint-run United States Postal Service took its first formal step this week toward reducing mail service by cutting Saturday delivery. However, Post offices now open on Saturdays would remain open and Express Mail delivery service would continue seven days a week. The Postal Service, which lost $3.8 billion last year and is forecasting $7 billion in losses this year, expects this move to save more than $3 billion annually. Before enacting the plan, the USPS needs approval from the independent Postal Regulatory Commission and from Congress. Call it foreshadowing, because it won’t be long before such cost-cutting rationing will also be necessary for ObamaCare.

Culture & Policy

ACORN Is Dead (But So Was ObamaCare, Once)

ACORN made it official this week that its national organization will cease to operate as of, ironically, April 1. Alas, the community organization never recovered from the blow inflicted by undercover filmmakers James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, whose acting job as pimp and prostitute may not have been Oscar-worthy but was certainly good enough to incriminate workers at several different ACORN field offices.

While their remaining employees whined about “right-wing activists,” “partisan operatives” and attacks “unprecedented since the McCarthy era,” the reality is that many of the key local operations have already re-formed under new names – sleeper cells, if you will. “I don’t think it’s really dying,” said Matthew Vadum of the Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank. “It’s just retreating for the time being until it thinks it’s safe to resurface.” Kind of like rats and cockroaches do.

The “demise” of ACORN comes at a time when one of its main goals, registering voters in so-called under-served areas (which coincidentally run rampant with voters targeted by Democrats), could be called into play as Congress takes up yet another amnesty program later this year. As Investor’s Business Daily points out, “There’s still $4 billion at stake in federal government funding for ‘neighborhood stabilization activities’ out there. By changing its name, the former Acorn can continue its business as usual without any legal sanctions.” Hope ‘n’ change, baby.

Faith and Family: ECUSA to Ordain Lesbian Bishop

On May 15, against the wishes of the global Anglican Communion, the Los Angeles Diocese of the Episcopalian Church (the Communion’s American branch) will ordain its second openly homosexual bishop. This time, it’s 56-year-old lesbian Mary Glasspool. The Church ordained Vicky Gene Robinson in 2003, causing an international uproar that threatened a permanent split. The ECUSA then backed off, declaring a moratorium on such ordinations while Anglican leadership tried to repair the damage. This moratorium, however, was lifted in 2009.

Glasspool herself displayed typically leftist arrogance toward the decision: “While I understand that not everyone rejoices, I don’t understand what will functionally be different tomorrow than today with respect to our relationships around the world.” Glasspool believes that the Communion will “fall in line,” though clearly she is ignoring both biblical teaching on the matter and the Episcopalians who are deeply distressed by the church’s decision. Indeed, many conservative members have left the Church in recent years, some to create the Anglican Church of North America, others to worship with other denominations.

Ignoring founding documents and the will of the people seems to be a common refrain for leftists these days. Whether in religion or politics, they seek to erode (from the inside) every institution known to man. Not content with improvement, they are bent only on destroying foundations – sort of like termites. It often seems irrelevant what that institution is, as long as these leftists are successful in bending it to their will. Indeed, they bask in the glow of “change” without ever mourning the damage they have wrought.

Climate Change This Week: Deniers Lack ‘Cognitive’ Brain Function

Call it a brain freeze. According to George Lakoff, University of California-Ber-serk-ely professor and author of “The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist’s Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics,” conservatives who disbelieve the threat of global warming are victims of their “cognitive” brain functions. Lakoff told CNSNews.com that bodily experience-based perception “relates directly [to global warming] because conservatives tend to feel that the free market should be unregulated and [that] environmental regulations are immoral and wrong.” Therefore, conservatives “try to … show that the science is wrong and that the argument is wrong, based on the science. So when it comes back to science, they try to debunk the science.” Liberals, of course, are not equally plagued. Their cognitive process permits their famed “open-mindedness.” Then again, as Fr. John Corapi said, “Don’t be so open minded that your brains fall out!”

Ironically, from unsubstantiated research claims to (whoops!) “miscalculations,” global warming alarmists are doing a fine job of self-immolating without the help of conservatives.

Still, Lakoff parrots the “imminent” crisis mantra, calling the conservative view “deadly,” painting it as “a place where a certain moral world view comes into conflict with scientific fact in a way that is harmful to the Earth.” He further argues, laughably, that “99.999 percent of the science [on global warming] is final.” Did Lakoff not get the memo on Climategate? Perhaps he was too busy dissecting the brain functions of conservatives.

In other news, don’t forget that “Earth Hour” is Saturday night. If you don’t remember what the means, it’s when treehuggers turn out the lights for an hour and pat themselves on the back for saving the planet.

To Keep and Bear Arms

An 82-year-old woman was approached by a man in Sierra Vista, Arizona, in a Walmart parking lot when he began to threaten her. “This is your day,” the man told her. “You are too old to be alive anyway.” He then took her cane away and began beating her with it. However, he was unaware that she was carrying her handgun, which she quickly pulled from her purse and began firing at the suspect. Witnesses nearby were alerted by the gunshots and came to help the elderly woman. The suspect was taken into custody by police shortly afterward. Impending charges include attempted murder. The courageous woman later told the media, “If I go naturally or to a sickness or something, fine. I’m ready to go, but I’m not ready to let some idiot like that take me out.”

Editor’s Note

We’re pleased to announce the arrival of yet another baby Patriot. Little Samuel Edward was born to The Patriot’s Creative Director, Ron Locke, and his wife Alison last Friday. Mother and son are doing great, and Sam’s three older siblings are thrilled with their new toy.

And Last…

The annual White House Easter Egg Roll is coming up, and readers will be glad to know that it’ll be environmentally friendly. The White House announced that the eggs are made from paperboard that doesn’t contain wood fibers from endangered forests. The eggs are also recyclable and feature vegetable-oil inks and water-based coating. No word yet on whether whether the eggs will take on traditional pastels, or be blood-red with a yellow hammer and sickle.

Meanwhile, there are 3,000 tickets reserved for students at DC-area public and charter schools only. That’s right – private and parochial school children have been, er, left behind. This, of course, left us wondering whether the privately schooled Obama daughters would miss out on all the fun, though perhaps the president has promised the Easter Bunny a nice federal job if he’ll look the other way.