The Foundation

“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” –Thomas Jefferson

Editorial Exegesis

“[N]ew federal data show the rate of business startups continues to fall in this recovery. According to the Census Bureau, the startup rate, measured as a share of all firms, has plunged to 7% from 9% in 2008 and from 11% in 2006. The pace, moreover, is almost half the 1980s’ peak of 13%. Of all the negative trends tracking this administration, this may be the most disturbing. As startups have hit an all-time low, we’ve seen an accompanying decline in job creation from startups, which explains the jobless recovery. The data, which go back to the early ‘80s, show that the share of new job creation from startups has fallen from over 40% in that decade, when business formation exploded and the economy saw huge gains in payroll employment, to under 30% today. The difference is incentives: President Reagan slashed taxes and unshackled entrepreneurs from burdensome government rules, while Obama strangles them with new red tape and threats of tax hikes. … A separate study, prepared by the OECD, reveals that the U.S. has fallen behind most of its global competitors in promoting entrepreneurship. Based on a ranking of regulations, it’s now easier to start a business in Slovenia, Estonia and Hungary – three former Iron Curtain countries – than in America. Canada, our liberal northern neighbor, is now head and shoulders above America in entrepreneurial friendliness. It requires the least number of procedures to start a business of any of the OECD nations. … It’s plain from federal data that startups are critical to job creation. And their alarming dearth under Obama helps explain why this recovery is so anemic. If the president really wants to get America working again, he’d stop blaming state budget cuts and congressional Republicans and adopt Reagan’s pro-entrepreneurial policies. Unfortunately, he’s a rigid leftist ideologue who’d rather stand in the way of new business formation and jobs.” –Investor’s Business Daily

Upright

“What President Obama has been pushing for, and moving toward, is more insidious [than socialism]: government control of the economy, while leaving ownership in private hands. … Thus the Obama administration can arbitrarily force insurance companies to cover the children of their customers until the children are 26 years old. Obviously, this creates favorable publicity for President Obama. But if this and other government edicts cause insurance premiums to rise, then that is something that can be blamed on the 'greed’ of the insurance companies. … What socialism, fascism and other ideologies of the left have in common is an assumption that some very wise people – like themselves – need to take decisions out of the hands of lesser people, like the rest of us, and impose those decisions by government fiat.” –economist Thomas Sowell

“Everybody is talking about how Obama had a bad week last week. Really? He didn’t ever have to explain his membership in the New Party. He wasn’t asked a single question about Fast and Furious or Eric Holder’s corrupt Justice Department, he wasn’t asked to explain his political cowardice when he refused to go to Wisconsin, stand shoulder to shoulder with his union buddies. He played golf. He was compared favorably to the Kardashians. There’s not gonna be a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the national security leaks. All this talk about what a bad week Obama had? Maybe, but, then again, you could see where it maybe wasn’t.” –radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh

“Pity the poor Obama administration leakers. They impart their much-cherished secrets to make their man look good and then, at the first chirp of criticism, are ordered to confess their (possible) crimes by the very same president they were seeking to please. In this, they are a bit like the male praying mantis. He does as asked and then the female bites his head off. … All administrations leak what they want when they want. Occasionally, some killjoy screams something about national security, but the republic somehow survives and the secret is usually only a secret to the American people, not to the enemy. This is undoubtedly the case with the recent disclosure regarding the use of a computer worm to wreak havoc with the Iranian nuclear program. … The leak that troubles me concerns the killing of suspected or actual terrorists. The triumphalist tone of the leaks … not only is in poor taste but shreds a long-standing convention that, in these matters, the president has deniability. The president of the United States is not The Godfather.” –columnist Richard Cohen

Essential Liberty

“[U]nlike American states, European countries lack a common bond. There are different languages, different histories (Colorado, for example, never invaded Nebraska) and different religions, including for six decades, atheism imposed by communist dictators in Eastern Europe. … Living within one’s means was a lesson forgotten by individuals and governments, whose main preoccupation – in Europe and America – has been giving people what they want in hopes they’ll re-elect the politicians who dispensed the goodies. That formula has contributed to an unemployment rate in Spain approaching 25 percent. Spain last weekend was approved for a bailout of up to $125 billion from the eurozone, the fourth country to ask for a loan since Europe’s debt crisis began. … [Prime Minister Margaret] Thatcher warned, ‘We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels.’ That is precisely the seductive siren call the ‘conservative’ British government now hears. … Today’s politicians can’t pretend they were not warned.” –columnist Cal Thomas

U.S. Army Birthday and Flag Day 2012

Tomorrow is the 237th birthday of the United States Army, born of the desire to defend liberty and spread its flame. As the U.S. Army continues to lead the way in the Long War, let us not forget to pray for these brave Patriots standing in harm’s way and their families awaiting their safe return.

Tomorrow is also Flag Day. Our flag is a beacon of liberty, a symbol of hope for all people who “hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed – that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it….” On this Flag Day, we American Patriots display and pay homage to our national flag.

To purchase the highest quality American-made U.S. flags available, please visit The Patriot Post Shop. We also have information on etiquette and protocol.

Insight

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” –Ronald Reagan, 25 years ago yesterday

“A socialist is somebody who doesn’t have anything, and is ready to divide it up equally among everybody.” –Irish comic dramatist George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“The difference between death and taxes is death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” –American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935)

The Demo-gogues

The BIG Lie: “The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we’ve created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone. The private sector is doing fine. Where we’re seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government. ” –Barack Obama

Backpedaling: “Listen. Uhhh, it is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine. That’s the reason I had the press conference. That’s why I spent yesterday – the day before yesterday, this past week, this past month, and this past year – talking about how we can make the economy stronger. The economy’s not doing fine.” –Barack Obama

End run: “You’d have to say that the last year and a half of tea party dominance in the House has been a very unproductive period, and they’ve been unwilling to take and even consider some of these issues [such as the DREAM Act], so I can understand the frustration of many people on the outside and the dilemma facing the White House. … The president needs to consider taking action by executive order when Congress will not respond to a major national challenge.” –Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL)

“Republicans have made a decision that they would rather do anything they can to stop jobs from being created, hoping it will help them with the elections come November. Too often in this Congress, the Republican strategy has been to kill job-creating bills in the hopes of harming the economy and hurting President Obama.” –Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Blather: “Here’s the thing: the American Affordable Care Act stands there with Social Security, Medicare, health care for all Americans as a right, not a privilege.” –House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Just like ObamaCare: “One of the lessons learned [in Wisconsin’s recall] is it’s better to try make [decisions] with people as opposed to against people.” –Barack Obama

Excuses: “As president of the United States, I’ve got a lot of responsibilities.” –Barack Obama on why he didn’t campaign in Wisconsin before the governor recall (His responsibilities included 13 fundraisers in the two weeks prior to that election.)

Dezinformatsia

Convoluted: “As many economists have pointed out, America is currently suffering from a classic case of debt deflation: all across the economy people are trying to pay down debt by slashing spending, but, in so doing, they are causing a depression that makes their debt problems even worse. … The point, then, is that we’d be in much better shape if we were following Reagan-style Keynesianism. Reagan may have preached small government, but in practice he presided over a lot of spending growth – and right now that’s exactly what America needs.” –New York Times “economist” Paul Krugman

Speaking of disconnect: “There’s some disconnect here that I think Union membership in this country has to get at the war table and figure out what’s the problem. Wait a minute! Wait a second. That’s right – President Obama brought this up years ago on the campaign trail when he said ‘folks in rural areas cling to their guns and their religion.’ And he was criticized for it – example A, [Scott Walker].” –MSNBC’s Ed Schultz

Dumb questions: “I would ask [Mitt Romney] plenty of questions about – is he planning to endorse the Ryan budget? And I think that would be a terrible mistake. I don’t want to see people on the streets begging for food, thank you. And why does he hate Planned Parenthood? You know, he didn’t used to hate Planned Parenthood. I want to ask him about all the flip-flopping he’s been doing. That’s why he doesn’t want to come on, because he’s afraid of the questions.” –Joy Behar, newest employee at Al Gore’s CurrentTV

Newspulper Headlines:

Longest Books Ever Written: “Obama’s Love Affair With Government” –Washington Post website

We Cooled on Obama Before Cooling on Obama Was Cool: “Jackson Browne Cools on Obama” –Politico.com

So Much for the War on Drugs: “NPR: Criticism of President Coming From ‘GOP Dope’” –TheWeeklyStandard.com

Under His Predecessor, the Free Market Is Toast: “Romney Toasts Free Market in Missouri” –MSNBC.com

Out on a Limb: “Michael Bloomberg’s Soda Ban Won’t Solve the Obesity Problem” –U.S. News & World Report website

Questions Nobody Is Asking: “What Does Our Obsession With Zombie Stories Tell Us About Our Politics?” –AlterNet.org

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

Village Idiots

Distortions: “Mitt Romney’s solution of how to strengthen the economy: fire more people. He believes that if we fire more teachers, more firefighters, more policemen, we’re actually gonna grow this economy.” –Stephanie Cutter, Obama deputy campaign manager

Race bait: “I think that a lot of what the president has experienced is because he’s black. … There’s an ad talking about [how] the president is too cool, [asking] is he too cool? … And to me it was just very racially charged. [Republicans] weren’t asking if Bush was too cool, but, yet, people say that that’s the number one person they’d love to have a beer with. So, if that’s not cool I don’t know what is.” –Angela Rye, Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus

Silver linings: “First of all, we look at Wisconsin as a win. We – which was not reported in the mainstream media – we picked up a Senate seat which denies Scott Walker a majority in the Senate. So we put the brakes on him, at least until the next election season.” –former DNC chief Howard “I Have a Scream” Dean (Democrats won back a seat to regain a majority in the Senate, but the chamber is adjourned for the summer and won’t be back in session before next November’s election, when Republicans have a chance to regain the majority.)

Delusional: “Today, 48 million Americans rely on Medicare]. And thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Medicare is stronger than ever. Before the law passed, there were gaps in Medicare coverage. … Today, thanks to the health care law, we’re closing these longstanding gaps in care.” –Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

Arrogance: “I’ve enjoyed my time as attorney general. It’s been a tough job. It is one that takes a lot out of you. Some raised concerns as to whether I was tough enough for this job. I think that people will hopefully see that I’ve done this job in a way that is consistent with our values. I stuck by my guns.” –Attorney General Eric Holder’s rebuttal to possible contempt charges regarding the flawed gun-running sting “Fast & Furious”

Short Cuts

“Watching Bill Clinton act as Barack Obama’s ‘No. 1 surrogate,’ in the words of NPR, is as exquisitely painful as watching a runaway monkey with a paintball gun at a museum.” –columnist Jonah Goldberg

“President Obama said he needs a second term in order to re-write his health care reform law if the Supreme Court strikes it down. It’s only right. In America we’re taught that everyone deserves a second chance whose first chance was ruled unconstitutional.” –comedian Argus Hamilton

“In an event celebrating her 25th anniversary of being elected to Congress, Nancy Pelosi revealed that the ghost of past feminist leaders spoke to her at her first White House meeting as speaker. In a related story, doctors now say, ‘Yes, Botox can cause hallucinations.’” –comedian Jay Leno

“The Obama campaign said it’s ‘just beginning’ to roll out attacks against Mitt Romney over his career as an executive at Bain Capital. Well, Republicans would do the same. If Obama HAD a career as an executive.” –Fred Thompson

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team