The Foundation

“It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.” –James Madison, Federalist No. 62

Editorial Exegesis

“Regardless of their respective positions on immigration reform, legislators on both the dovish and hawkish sides of the debate should agree on one fundamental principle: The Nancy Pelosi approach to lawmaking – pass the bill to find out what’s in it – is no way to go about repairing our defective immigration system. Supporters of so-called comprehensive immigration reform are positioned to rush through legislation in the Senate … and have been critical of Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions and others who have called for a more thorough (and necessarily more time-consuming) examination of the issues in question. … ‘But we’ve been debating these issues for decades,’ the argument goes. True enough. But we have not been debating the specific legislation under consideration for decades, years, weeks, days, hours, minutes, or milliseconds: As of this writing, the text of the bill has not even been finalized, much less made public, and still less been subject to rigorous debate. The distinction is important. Senator Sessions and others are not calling for delay for the sake of delay. They are asking for time to examine thoroughly the specifics of the legislation. … A right-here-right-now legislative process is an invitation for Republicans to set themselves up for getting rolled by the Obama administration and its congressional enablers. … Further, there is no reason to conclude that every aspect of immigration reform must be lumped into a single bill: Border security, to take the most obvious example, is worth doing on its own, regardless of independent issues such as the ongoing status of illegal immigrants. The mania for legislative gigantism leads to bad law. … Congressional Republicans, and Americans at large, should be highly skeptical of the Democrats’ attempt to rush through this legislation – legislation that remains, at the moment, literally a sight unseen.” –National Review

Upright

“Last Friday, the so-called ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ effort received a boost when U.S. Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donohue and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka reportedly came to an agreement regarding a guest-worker program. … The deal creates a new ‘W’ visa category aimed at low-skill workers. It would allow immigrants to earn the same wages paid to Americans, or an industry’s prevailing wages, whichever is higher. Since such wages can vary from city to city, the Labor Department would determine the prevailing wage. The proposal also includes the additional promises of border security, a crackdown on employers who hire illegals, and a 13-year pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal aliens currently in the country. It’s the oh-so-familiar promises that ought to infuriate Americans well aware that the exact same promises about border control and a crackdown on businesses were made when the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed into law.” –columnist Arnold Ahlert

“On Tuesday, the Associated Press announced that it is banishing the phrase ‘illegal immigrant’ from its famous stylebook. … AP explains that it wants to stop labeling people. Hah. This is the same organization that employs journalists who have repeatedly shown naked bias against tea party members, gun owners and pro-life activists. … I propose that we banish the term ‘journalist’ when referring to members of mainstream news organizations who pose as neutral news-gathers while carrying out a blatantly ideological agenda.” –columnist Michelle Malkin

“Soft-minded and sloppy-thinking academics, lawyers and judges harbor the silly notion that but for the fact of discrimination, we’d be proportionately distributed by race across incomes, education, occupations and other outcomes. There is absolutely no evidence anywhere, at any time, that proportionality is the norm anywhere on earth; however, much of our thinking, many of our laws and much of our public policy are based upon proportionality’s being the norm. Maybe this vision is held because people believe that equality in fact is necessary for equality before the law. But the only requirement for equality before the law is that one is a human being.” –economist Walter E. Williams

“Most of the social liberalism comes with quite a price tag. The most reliable constituency for Big Government is single women, for whom the state is a girl’s best friend, the sugar daddy whose checks never bounce. A society in which a majority of births are out of wedlock cannot be other than a Big Government welfare society. Ruining a nation’s finances is one thing; debauching its human capital is far harder to fix.” –columnist Mark Steyn

Essential Liberty

“I know that as a Patriot, you will do all within your power to ensure that our society will take back the reins from Big Government. I know that you believe in the enduring truth of our ideas of limited government, free enterprise, and individual freedom, and that they will eventually win the day. Freedom is man’s natural state; whenever he’s enslaved, all he thinks about is how to become free once again.” –Ed Feulner, in a final note as president of Heritage Foundation

Insight

“It is the mark of an educated man to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” –Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC)

“Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.” –French economist Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850)

Demo-gogues

No, shame on Obama for standing on the caskets of children: “The notion that two months or three months after something as horrific as what happened in Newtown happens and we’ve moved on to other things, that’s not who we are. … Less than 100 days ago that happened, and the entire country was shocked. And the entire country pledged we would do something about it and that this time would be different. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten. I haven’t forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten.” –Barack Obama

“Tears aren’t enough. Expressions of sympathy aren’t enough. Speeches aren’t enough. We’ve cried enough. We’ve known enough heartbreak. What we’re proposing is not radical. It’s not taking away anybody’s gun rights. It’s something that, if we are serious, we will do.” –Barack Obama

Just the beginning: “[T]he Assault Weapons ban and the limitation on the size of magazines, let me say this as clearly as I can: This is just the beginning. We believe that weapons of war have no place on our streets. That’s the message that the retired admirals and generals have spoken to us about. The comment one of them used was: ‘If you want to learn how to use a semi-automatic weapon, join the United States military, but these are weapons of war.’ And we believe there’s no rational reason why someone would need a clip that can hold 15, 20, 30, 100 bullets, 100 rounds. We have to do more and we will do more.” –Joe Biden

April Fools? “I call upon all Americans to observe this month with programs and activities to improve their understanding of financial principles and practices. My Administration is dedicated to helping people make sound decisions in the marketplace. My Administration continues to encourage responsibility at all levels of our financial system.” –Barack Obama, in a declaration designating April “National Financial Capability Month” (Since taking office in 2009, Obama has increased the national debt by 60 percent, or $53,377 per household.)

The BIG Lie: “You have a responsibility to honor the Constitution. In fact, we take an oath to do just that, and that is the oath that President Obama is upholding. We weigh equities. Congress passes a bill. It’s questionable in terms of constitutionality. There’s no question about your oath to the Constitution of the United States…. I think we would all say we’re honoring, as the president does, the Constitution.” –House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Dezinformatsia

Left-theology: “Now, I’m not suggesting that John and Jesus were getting it on, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if John was gay and not acting sexual [towards Jesus] but just being affectionate, and Jesus was fine with that. Jesus did not say, ‘John, get off my chest. Get your head away from me. I’m not gonna sit here with a guy with his head on my chest through an entire meal. I’m a homophobe, I’m scared, I’m…’ No, Jesus didn’t say that. Jesus just continued to hang out with John.” –radio talk-show host Thom Hartmann

Ignorance: “Easter is the celebration of the resurrection into heaven of Jesus, three days after he was crucified, the premise for the Christian belief in an everlasting life.” –New York Times reporter Elisabetta Povoledo (Following the embarrassing gaffe, the Times issued the following correction: “An earlier version of this article mischaracterized the Christian holiday of Easter. It is the celebration of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead, not his resurrection into heaven.”)

Support the troops: “Bear in mind that most veterans did nothing heroic. They served, and that’s laudable, but it hardly seems necessary to provide them all with military honors after they have died. In fact, it seems generous enough to provide veterans and their spouses with free space and headstones at a national cemetery.” –St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Bill McClellan

Denial: “I think [if] people watch [CNN] more critically and not just listen to what other people say about it – I won’t mention names – they’ll see that it [isn’t a liberal news network], and I think one of the things we fix is make sure we have the right balance of voices on CNN. That we have good conservatives, good liberals, experts in all areas. It’s a serious news network.” –Turner Broadcasting CEO Phil Kent

Newspulper Headlines:

So Much for the Assault Weapons Ban: “Senators Beat Devils in Shootout” –The New York Times

Out on a Limb: “However Court Rules, Gay Marriage Debate Won’t End” –Associated Press

Longest Books Ever Written: “Why Liberals Are Way, Way Too Obsessed With Income Inequality” –AEI-Ideas.org

Shortest Books Ever Written: “What Michelle Obama Can Teach Us About Modern Womanhood” –Globe and Mail (Toronto)

We Blame Global Warming: “Melt May Explain Antarctica’s Sea Ice Expansion” –BBC website

We Blame George W. Bush: “Don’t Blame Climate Change for Heavy Rain” –The-American-Interest.com

Bottom Story of the Day: “Dem Budget Targets Rich” –New York Post

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

Village Idiots

Another BIG Lie: “As an absolute matter of fact in my view, and I think many other constitutional experts, there’s not a single measure in this package of proposals the president has put forward that in any way violates the Constitution. In fact, they reflect the president’s commitment to our Second Amendment rights.” –White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

Made up stats: “There are still thousands of Americans that are being murdered every single day.” –Newark Mayor Cory Booker (Booker then followed up on Twitter with multiple corrections: “Just caught myself miss-speaking on ABC. It’s hundreds being killed everyday not thousands. Sorry about that.” Moments later: “Sorry again, officially it is approximately 30 people murdered every day due to gun violence.” You know, whatever.)

Blame game: “I come from the city of Chicago. We know we have had a violence problem there. A lot of it has to do with straw buyers arming street gangs. There is no doubt and every law enforcement person will tell you that stronger trafficking laws combined with universal background checks would make a real difference. People are afraid of the NRA and they’re trading their jobs for young lives in places like Chicago. And it’s a terrible blight.” –David Axelrod

Hollywood hypocrite: “For those who say I’m a hypocrite because I have an armed bodyguard, lets [sic] make one thing clear: No one in my employ is allowed to carry a large magazine and NO ONE IS ASKING ANYONE TO GIVE UP THEIR RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS…. And to the bullies who will try to marginalize and discredit me by saying, ‘Shut up, you’re just an actor,’ while they brag about what a great president the ACTOR Ronald Reagan was, who threaten me with the demise of my acting career and much worse, I say SO BE IT!” –actor Jim Carrey

Irreverent “worship”: “It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling people back, never forward, forgetting that we are called to be a pilgrim’s people. … The captains of the religious right are always calling us back, back, back. For blacks to be back in the back of the bus, for women to be back in the kitchen, for gays to be in the closet and for immigrants to be on their side of the border.” –Rev. Luis Leon’s Easter “sermon” for the Obama klan at St. John’s Episcopal Church (Somebody get a hold of the IRS and revoke St. John’s non-profit status!)

Revisionist history: “If Jesus were alive today, he would be more inclined to say, ‘You know, I didn’t know it all.’” –Rev. Oliver White on why Jesus was wrong about same-sex “marriage”

Short Cuts

“So the president of the United States chose a preacher this Easter whose sermon was devoted to claiming that Republicans want to force blacks to ride at the back of the bus again. The Obamas were probably flashing back to the old Reverend Wright days and thinking, ‘Man, it’s good to be home.’” –radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh

“A new report shows that PETA killed 90% of the dogs & cats placed in its animal shelter. President Obama, though, was quick to praise the organization because at least they didn’t waterboard.” –Fred Thompson

“The Weekly Standard cited the Obamas for taking a vacation a month since the year started. They went to Hawaii in January, then he went to Florida while Michelle went to Aspen in February, now she’s back in Aspen and the daughters are in the Bahamas. It turns out they cancelled the White House tours so that no one would see that the house is empty.” –comedian Argus Hamilton

“In a groundbreaking move, the Associated Press, the largest news gathering outlet in the world, will no longer use the term ‘illegal immigrant.’ That is out. No longer ‘illegal immigrant.’ They will now use the phrase ‘undocumented Democrat.’” –comedian Jay Leno

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