The Patriot Post

Behind the Phony Jobs Numbers

Arnold Ahlert — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

As most Americans are probably aware, president Barack Obama's re-election chances are largely dependent on the success of the economy between now and next November. Thus, last week's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report that the unemployment rate had dropped to 8.3 percent, and total non-farm payroll employment rose by 243,000 was great news for the administration. Yet to put it as charitably as possible, the BLS has done a rather remarkable job of "massaging" the numbers. In short, any unemployment rate can be lowered when the number of people counted as unemployed is dramatically reduced.

The Time Is Now: Defend Religious Liberty for All

Chuck Colson — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Folks, we have reached the point where Christians may be called to actively defy the government of the United States. This is a shocking and sobering statement, but I'm sorry to say it's true.

If you've read the Manhattan Declaration--and I pray you have read it and signed it -- you'll know that we predicted this time would come. We just had no idea it would come so soon.

Ganging Up on Ginsburg – Way Too Quickly

Jeff Jacoby — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

During a visit to Cairo last week, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked whether she would advise Egyptians drafting a constitution for the post-Mubarak era to look to other countries' basic charters as a model.

Chronicle

Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Investor's Business Daily: "A study to be published in June in the New York University Law Review finds that our Constitution 'appears to be losing its appeal as a model for constitutional drafters elsewhere.' 'Among the world's democracies,' writes David Law of Washington University in St. Louis and Mila Versteeg of the University of Virginia, 'constitutional similarity to the United States has clearly gone into free fall...' The Constitution doesn't seem to be of much use to Barack Obama, either."

101st Anniversary: We Salute the BSA!

Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

The Boys Scouts of America was incorporated Feb. 8, 1910. Sir Robert Baden-Powell began the movement in England two years prior. A hero of the South African Boer Wars, Sir Baden-Powell's troops were besieged 200 days by an overwhelming army, but thanks to his resourcefulness, his men were saved. The Boy Scouts are now the largest voluntary youth movement in the world, with membership over 25 million. In the 1917 pamphlet "Scouting & Christianity," Baden-Powell wrote: "Scouting is nothing less than applied Christianity."

Economic Chaos Ahead

Walter E. Williams — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Let's think about the kind of mess that we're in. Federal 2010 Medicare and Medicaid expenditures totaled $800 billion. The projected annual growth of both programs is about 7 percent. Social Security expenditures are more than $700 billion a year. According to the 2009 Social Security and Medicare trustees reports, by 2030, 49 percent of federal revenues will go for Social Security and Medicare payments. The unfunded liability of both programs is already $106 trillion.

Is the Constitution for Everybody?

Ben Shapiro — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

According to The New York Times, the American Constitution is losing popularity with people around the world. "The Constitution," writes Adam Liptak, "has seen better days ... its influence is waning." Liptak points out that in 1987, over 160 of the 170 countries on Earth had cribbed from the Constitution -- but today, few countries do. Why? Liptak suggests, quoting Professor David Law of Washington University in St. Louis, that our Constitution is "Windows 3.1." It's difficult to amend, and it doesn't guarantee so-called "positive rights," such as healthcare, housing and education. Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia said that he relies more on the legal framework of India, South Africa and New Zealand than on that of the United States.

Did Mass. Constitution Authorize Romney to Mandate Health Insurance?

Terence Jeffrey — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

You can now divide Americans into two groups: Those who believe government rightfully has the power to force people to purchase goods and services they do not want and those who don't.

Among the former are two subgroups: Those who believe only state governments have this coercive power and those who believe the federal government has it, too.

President Barack Obama is in the latter subgroup. He signed a health care law that forces Americans to purchase health insurance.

Super PAC-Men: Obama Bundlers Gone Wild!

Michelle Malkin — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

The White House didn't blow a dog whistle for deep-pocketed liberal donors on Monday. No, the administration whipped out a supersized vuvuzela. Blaring message: Let loose the campaign finance-bundling hounds of super PAC war!

President Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, who served as White House deputy chief of staff for operations before assuming 2012 re-election duties, announced the super PAC super-flip-flop in a mass e-mail to supporters and a blog post published on the left-wing Huffington Post website. In a related conference call to major campaign finance bundlers, Messina encouraged these high-dollar donors to start funding Priorities USA Action. That's the Democratic super PAC founded by former White House staffers Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney.

Bogus Busts: New York City Continues Its Illegal Crackdown on Pot Smokers

Jacob Sullum — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Thirty-five years ago, New York's legislature decriminalized marijuana possession. Numbers released last week show the New York Police Department continues to flagrantly flout that policy, wasting resources on a pointless, unjust and illegal crusade against pot smokers.

Under the Marijuana Reform Act of 1977, possessing up to 25 grams of cannabis (about nine-tenths of an ounce) is a citable offense similar to a traffic violation, punishable by a maximum fine of $100. But if the marijuana is "burning or open to public view," that's a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to three months in jail. An officer who uses intimidation or coercion to convert the former offense into the latter, thereby providing a pretext for an arrest, is breaking the law.

Government Can't Make Us Happy

John Stossel — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson called the pursuit of happiness an unalienable right. This was a radical idea. For most of history, most people didn't think much about pursuing happiness. They were too busy just trying to survive.

Then came the liberal revolution based on the idea of individual freedom. Only then did they start thinking that happiness might be possible on earth.

A U.N. – but for Good Guys

Jonah Goldberg — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

The governments in Russia and China very much want to uphold the principle that every now and then the state must crush people who want freedom. That is why they worked together to veto a fairly toothless United Nations resolution condemning the regime in Syria and calling for President Bashar Assad, the lipless murderer who runs the place, to step down.

Founder's Quote Daily

Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

"Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?"

–James Madison, Federalist No. 51, 1788

The '1 Percent' Exodus

Arnold Ahlert — Tue, 7 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

James Cameron, director of mega-hits such as Titanic and Avatar, is moving to New Zealand. His plans were revealed late last week when New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office showed Cameron was granted permission to purchase two separate properties, totaling 2,634 acres, in a region called Wairarapa, northwest of Wellington. "I grew up working on my grandfather's farm in Canada and my wife Suzy's family own a farm in Oklahoma," said Cameron. "We want to raise our kids with the values we had when we were growing up, close to the land and with a strong work ethic." Some posit the director's departure "fits the trend of wealthy Americans pulling their money out of the country and reinvesting it to buy land in the southern hemisphere, escaping spiraling tax rates and protecting themselves against the potential for widespread social dislocation." Is such an assessment a conspiracy theory, or is there any truth to it?

Strike, Israel! Strike Now

Ken Blackwell — Tue, 7 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

The recent high-level comings and goings between Jerusalem and Washington remind us of nothing so much as all those "consultations" between top-level officials of two other democratic allies seventy-six years ago. In 1936, everyone wanted to stop the German army coming into the de-militarized Rhineland, but no one was willing to use force to prevent it. Hitler sensed this weak resolve in the Americans and the British. The Americans were still in the throes of isolationism in 1936. Britain wanted to talk about Hitler's move into the Rhineland, but it did not want to use force, or even allow the threat of force.

A Defining Moment

Thomas Sowell — Tue, 7 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Governor Mitt Romney's statement about not worrying about the poor has been treated as a gaffe in much of the media, and those in the Republican establishment who have been rushing toward endorsing his coronation as the GOP's nominee for president -- with 90 percent of the delegates still not yet chosen -- have been trying to sweep his statement under the rug.

But Romney's statement about not worrying about the poor -- because they "have a very ample safety net" -- was followed by a statement that was not just a slip of the tongue, and should be a defining moment in telling us about this man's qualifications as a conservative and, more important, as a potential President of the United States.

The President's 'Social Gospel'

Cal Thomas — Tue, 7 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

For 60 years the National Prayer Breakfast has been a nonpolitical event where speakers put aside their earthly biases and focus on a Higher Authority. Last Thursday, President Obama departed from that tradition to claim the endorsement of Jesus for raising taxes. It beat the endorsement of Mitt Romney by Donald Trump.

Removing Planned Parenthood's Fig Leaf

Mona Charen — Tue, 7 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Planned Parenthood would appear to have won this latest skirmish in the abortion wars. The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation having first decided to withdraw future grants to the world's largest abortion provider, quickly retreated under a barrage of accusations, complaints and threats.

No fewer than 26 Democratic senators signed a letter to Komen saying, in part that, "It would be tragic if any woman --let alone thousands of women -- lost access to these potentially life-saving screenings because of a politically motivated attack. We earnestly hope that you will put women's health before partisan politics and reconsider this decision . . ."

Obama Says He Deserves a Second Term; Let's Consider

David Limbaugh — Tue, 7 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

President Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer in an interview Sunday, "I deserve a second term." Well, let's see.

He had the courage to tell the Supreme Court off for daring to defy him in its campaign finance law ruling. And he did it during his State of the Union speech, when they weren't in a position to object, showing just what a marvelous tactician he is.

Planned Parenthood's Grand Delusion

William Murchison — Tue, 7 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Go the website PlannedParenthood.org.

You know, Planned Parenthood, around whose rippling banner enlightened opinion rallied last week when news broke that Susan G. Komen for the Cure would, in the near future, cease granting it money. PP -- just a big-hearted service organization for women, fighting breast cancer and other female afflictions with might and main. One could buy into that sales pitch on the basis of the Category 5 hurricane that PP caused to sweep across the landscape.

Founder's Quote Daily

Tue, 7 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

"There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism."

–Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 1775

What's So Good About a Long GOP Primary Fight?

Jeff Jacoby — Mon, 6 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

"46 STATES To Go."

That was the sign on Newt Gingrich's podium in an Orlando ballroom last Tuesday, when the former House speaker faced supporters after losing the Florida primary and defiantly conceded nothing.

"We are going to contest every place, and we are going to win," Gingrich said, "and we will be in Tampa as the nominee in August."

Komen Caves: An Object Lesson for All of Us

Chuck Colson — Mon, 6 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

No doubt you've been watching the unfolding drama of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation's decision to de-fund Planned Parenthood -- and then its stunning reversal.

What you saw last week was a concerted, intentional effort by an ideological minority -- the radical pro-abortion forces -- not just to make their case in public, but to destroy the opposition. Using incendiary language, accusing Komen of endangering the lives of women, they made no pretense to pursue civil discourse.

Stories That Make a Man Walk Straight

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Brief

Mon, 6 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Focus on the Family CEO Jim Daly: "The Susan G. Komen foundation succumbed [Friday] to a relentless barrage of political bullying, a fact that is not only sad news for those who cherish the sanctity and dignity of all life, but also for all of us who believe that a private philanthropic organization shouldn't be subjected to such harassment. That the Komen foundation apologized for its decision to halt contributions to Planned Parenthood is another illustration that political correctness is running amok."