THE FOUNDATION

“A universal peace, it is to be feared, is in the catalogue of events, which will never exist but in the imaginations of visionary philosophers, or in the breasts of benevolent enthusiasts.” –James Madison

NATIONAL SECURITY

Leading From Behind in Syria

Turning another page in his Lead-From-Behind World Tour, President Seven-Iron dithered enough that he perfected U.S. security strategy regarding Syria: Wait so long that no matter what side we help, we’re on the wrong side. Case in point: Intervening on Bashar al-Assad’s behalf seats us next to a chemical-weapon-using mass murder and madman; on the opposite side, we’re with a coalition of people who hate and want to destroy the U.S.

The good news is that Mr. Nobel-Peace-Prize-Laureate will no doubt reach deep into his usual bag of tricks – ignoring the Constitution, abusing his executive authority and failing to run any of his plan by Congress even for tacit approval – to drag America into yet another war.

Expect a predictable, Clinton-esque fusillade of cruise missiles, but no actual boots on the ground to ensure no more chemical weapons are used – it’s too close to mid-term elections for that. Preparation for such attacks is already underway, notwithstanding the fact that despite the ill-advised artificial “red lines” drawn in the sand by our Dear Leader, no vital U.S. interests – even with confirmed chemical attacks – are at stake. Yes, Syria is a hotbed; yes, it could potentially become a threat to vital U.S. security interests; and yes, we want it to end. But none of that yet justifies one boot on the ground, one missile in the air, or one U.S. service member in harm’s way.

A few more nagging questions: What, exactly, would be the objective if we did use military force, how would we know when we had achieved it, and how would we get out once we got into such a mess?

Finally, a parting thought from Joe Biden: “[T]he president has no constitutional authority … to take this nation to war … unless we’re attacked or unless there is proof we are about to be attacked. And if he does, I would move to impeach him.” Of course, that was 2007…

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Immigration Front: He Has a DREAM

Continuing his pattern of rule by fiat, Barack Obama directed his administration to ignore another law by taking steps toward granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. His most recent breach is a directive issued by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement ordering the now ironically named agency to avoid enforcing immigration law if it might “disrupt the parental rights” of illegally present parents or guardians of minors. “In other words,” The Washington Examiner points out, “as long as an illegal immigrant can show they have a child in the United States, they can stay.”

Bypassing the law is nothing new for this president, whose Oval Office would more aptly be named the Star Chamber. Unable to get his DREAM Act through Congress, in 2012 Obama ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to consider “deferred action” for illegal immigrants meeting certain criteria – criteria established, of course, by the president. Taking seriously its role of checks and balances, the House Judiciary Committee recently approved legislation requiring a review of the administration’s “abuse of prosecutorial discretion.” Even were such a bill to reach Obama’s desk, though, we’re sure he’d be too busy trying to erase the Constitution to sign something that actually agrees with it.

ECONOMY

Regulatory Commissars: Big Corn

The Renewable Fuel Standard signed into law by President George. W. Bush has rightly been chastised by the oil industry, which requires refineries to add (or blend) massive quantities of biofuels into gasoline. The predictable results have been disastrous. Consider just a few of the consequences: The ethanol mandate means that nearly 50% of the country’s corn harvest goes toward biofuels, which artificially drives up inflation in the food market. Additionally, a lackluster 5% of autos are under warranty for concentrations of ethanol higher than 10%, leaving “Big Oil” to buy ethanol it can’t blend into gasoline just to meet EPA requirements. In short, the fantasies that ecofascists dreamed up while expanding the law over the years have devolved into failed expectations – but at least it makes them feel good about “saving the planet.”

Given the odious effects of the mandate, legislators on both sides of the isle have taken steps toward repealing the law. And Big Ethanol isn’t happy about the interest in shutting it down. Growth Energy, a corn ethanol group, is launching an advertising campaign set to air on major networks, blasting Big Oil. “While Big Oil may be one of the largest and well-funded industries on the planet,” the group said in a statement, “they are not entitled to use their influence to control Congress to maintain unbridled control over the transportation fuels marketplace.” Cute, considering that’s exactly what these hypocrites have done to implement draconian biofuel mandates.

It’s a stretch to expect the law’s repeal, but that won’t stop environmentalists from demonizing Big Oil. If it weren’t for double standards…

CULTURE

Second Amendment: Gun Use Doesn’t Fit Narrative

In January, Barack Obama was leading the charge for federal gun control measures, standing on the caskets of the children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in December. He asked the Centers for Disease Control to “research the causes and prevention of gun violence.” His objective, of course, was to reinforce the leftist narrative that guns were to blame for acts of evil. Instead of blaming the perpetrator, the Left focuses on the implement.

The CDC passed the job to the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, which completed the study in June. But because it didn’t follow BO’s preferred BS storyline, it’s only now seeing the light of day. One inconvenient truth for the Left is that guns save lives. According to the report, “Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals.” Indeed, while there were “about 300,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2008,” most by gang bangers on the Democrats’ inner city poverty plantations, defensive gun use incidents ranged “from about 500,000 to more than 3 million per year.”

The study elaborated on the benefits of defensive gun use: “Studies that directly assessed the effect of actual defensive uses of guns have found consistently lower injury rates among gun-using crime victims compared with victims who used other self-protective strategies.” On the other hand, gun buy-backs, a favorite of leftists to reduce “gun violence,” were found to be “ineffective.” Obviously, in a culture as debased as ours has become, guns will be used for evil purposes. But that makes it all the more important for the good guys to have them.

BRIEF OPINION

Essential Liberty

Former Heritage Foundation president Ed Feulner: “The Constitution doesn’t grant us freedoms; it prohibits government from taking them. Nearly all of us, at one time or another, refer to our ‘constitutional right to free speech.’ While this common phrase may seem harmless, it points to a larger misunderstanding of where our rights come from – a misunderstanding that undermines many of our most fundamental policy debates. The fact is, the U.S. Constitution protects our God-given rights from government. The government does not (as the phrase above implies) grant those rights to us as citizens. This is perhaps the most widely misunderstood aspect of our system of government.”

For the Record

Washington Examiner’s Timothy P. Carney: “While Obama won’t admit it, federal student-loan subsidies have driven up tuitions and helped create a near-crisis of recent graduates drowning in debt, after getting educations that don’t justify the expense. Here’s the analogy to the crack dealer: If you lobby for and receive federal subsidies, the money comes at first with no strings, or few strings attached. But over time, politicians and bureaucrats will recognize that you’re hooked on the taxpayer dole, and they’ll start imposing conditions on you. And they’ll be justified: He who pays the piper calls the tune. Colleges shouldn’t be surprised by this turn of events, because this is exactly what happened to student lenders. … Manufacturers, energy companies, drug companies, and all businesses currently seeking federal handouts should take to heart the lesson that student lenders learned in 2009 and colleges are learning today: if you enter into a deal with the devil, you’re the junior partner.”

Faith and Family

Columnist John Hayward: “Viewers of the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night were treated to a bizarre dance routine from former Disney child actress Miley Cyrus…. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, ‘twerking’ is a dance move that dispenses with all the other subtleties of dance to deliver pelvic thrusts and butt wiggles. … Sexualizing young people is an important mission of the Left. They want little girls to jump right from teddy bears to Planned Parenthood. That helps dissolve the bonds of family, which is a fading bastion of independence and self-reliance against collective power. … Children are powerfully influenced by popular culture. They yearn for guidance and inspiration from the adult world. They receive the lesson transmitted by crap like the MTV Video Music Awards. Kids a bit younger than Miley Cyrus remember what she used to be, and they see what she is now. They see the road stretching between those points, and they follow it.

For more, visit The Right Opinion.

CHRONICLE QUOTES

Upright

Columnist Dennis Prager: "I cannot count the number of times I heard liberal professors and liberal writers quote the phrase: ‘When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.’ The phrase is brilliant. There is actually no threat to America of fascism coming from the right. The essence of the American right, after all, is less government; and fascism, by definition, demands ever larger government. Therefore, if there is a real fascist threat to America, it comes from the left, whose appetite for state power is essentially unlimited.”

Insight

Martin Luther King Jr., 50 years ago today: “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

This Week’s ‘Alpha Jackass’ Award

As Barack Obama prepares to make a speech on the anniversary of King’s “Dream” speech, here’s what he had to say:

“It won’t be as good as the speech 50 years ago.”

You don’t say.

Dezinformatsia

MNSBC’s Ed Schultz: “[Republicans] have spent their summer running around the country at town halls lying about ObamaCare. I’m not going to let them off the hook. … This is the most positive thing that this country has done since the civil rights legislation that was passed back in the ‘60s. And, of course, we know they’re trying to go after that, too.”

Demo-gogues

Barack Obama: “Today is a special day for Joe and me because five years ago … I announced … that Joe Biden was going to be my running mate. And it was the best decision that I ever made politically because I love this guy and he’s got heart and he cares about people and he’s willing to fight for what he believes in.”

From the 'Non Compos Mentis’ File

350 Action petition: “As scientific evidence shows that climate change is creating increasingly frequent and devastating storms, and with climate scientists declaring these extreme weather events as the new normal, we propose a new naming system. A system that names extreme storms caused by climate change, after the policy makers who deny climate change and obstruct climate policy.”

The BIG Lie

Barack Obama: “We were just talking with some folks earlier about the fact that, for a lot of people, [ObamaCare] will be cheaper than your cell phone bill.”

Village Idiots

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius: “Well, the [ObamaCare] bill is crafted in such a way that those who are undocumented will not have access to the tax credits or shopping in the [insurance] marketplace. That has been limited, which is, frankly, why – another very keen reason why we need comprehensive immigration reform.”

Short Cuts

Columnist Mark Steyn: “A New Jersey group called ‘American Atheists’ is threatening to sue the town of Princeton over a 9/11 memorial that includes a beam recovered from the World Trade Center with a cross cut into it. It would be ‘grossly offensive and alienating,’ says attorney Bruce Affran. So they want it moved to a designated interfaith ‘free speech zone’ where Buddhists and Wiccans and whatnot could put up their own exhibits. Or maybe it would be cheaper to hire the Muslim Brotherhood to go seriously interfaith and burn the whole thing down.”

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