GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

News from the Swamp: Endangered bear?

In the Executive Branch: The Department of the Interior decided this week to list the polar bear as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, despite the fact that the number of polar bears has doubled in the last 40 years. Furthermore, the animal is already protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said, “Although the population of bears has grown from a low of about 12,000 in the late 1960s to approximately 25,000 today, our scientists advise me that computer modeling projects a significant population decline by the year 2050. This, in my judgment, makes the polar bear a threatened species—one likely to become in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future.” Are those the same “computer models” Al Gore used to predict that sea levels will rise 20 feet in the near future?

The Bush administration is capitulating completely to environmentalists with this listing, which will likely have no effect on polar bears but could have a very detrimental effect on our economy. For example, Persuading Congress to authorize drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has been difficult enough without adding a false alarm about polar bears to existing roadblocks. Besides, global warming may or may not be happening, and the same may be true of a decline in the population of polar bears, but $200 a barrel for oil may be the price we pay for rash decisions. Meanwhile, look for the Australian jellyfish to be the Gulf of Mexico’s “endangered” animal to stop drilling there too.

On the Hill: Congressional energy options

Congress wants to do anything in its power (and then some) to alleviate pain at the gas pump—except for anything that would actually work, such as domestic drilling and new refinery construction. Liberals, seeing the free market as an obstacle to their growing power, avoid these options at all cost. Instead they keep announcing “new solutions,” ideas that grow more ridiculous with each passing day. First, there was the summer suspension of the federal gas tax, suggested by John McCain. Temporarily lopping 18 cents off what may soon be a $4 gallon of gas is not going to rejuvenate the middle class. Neither is suspending the shipment of 70,000 barrels a day to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which the House and Senate voted to do this week, 385-25 and 97-1, respectively. The SPR, established after the 1970s oil crisis, currently holds 701 million barrels. The suspension would add only six percent to the nation’s domestic supply while endangering the SPR, which was never intended for tampering with the market. Congress is also proposing a tax on so-called windfall profits, which would drill oil companies for 25 percent of their profits and direct that money toward alternative energy such as ethanol (which doesn’t work and has contributed to global food shortages) and wind farms, which no community wants.

The fact of the matter is that there are plenty of energy choices available thanks to advances in technology in recent years, including far cleaner and safer oil exploration and refinement. However, catering to every niche voting bloc that they hold dear, the Democrats controlling Congress have painted themselves into a corner by offering no long-term, effective options that are palatable to their base. The methods they have served up so far are either entirely ineffective or are likely to cost taxpayers even more money than now.

New & notable legislation

The $163-billion war-funding bill fell apart in the House Thursday as 132 Republicans protested Democrat tactics of packing unnecessary domestic spending in the bill by sitting out the vote. The bill, which also included a provision for withdrawing troops by December 2009, failed 149-141. The Senate’s $169-billion version passed the appropriations committee Thursday, with “Republicans” such as Larry Craig (R-Minneapolis Airport Men’s Room) crowing about domestic pork, including $450 million to fight Western wildfires.

The House passed the latest farm bill 318-106 Wednesday, well beyond veto-proof in the face of a veto threat from the White House. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the $289-billion bill increases overall spending by $10 billion, but the administration insists that number is $20 billion. Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle criticized the bill: “Commodities are strong and farmers are finally making money in the marketplace,” he said. “What this bill does is increase the spending above current spending for agricultural programs by almost $20 billion at a time when there is record farm income.” Indeed, prices on key crops have increased by a whopping 281 percent since the last farm bill in 2002. Beyond farming, the bill adds $1 billion for food stamps, school lunches and other social schemes, protection for sugar growers and biofuels, and tax breaks for thoroughbred racehorses. As Investor’s Business Daily notes, President Bush “should veto it anyway, if only to shame those Republicans who join with the Democrat majority in the override.”

Campaign watch: W. Virginia and beyond

Hillary Clinton’s 41-point victory in West Virginia’s Tuesday primary may breathe some life and much needed money into her campaign and none too soon—reports are that she’s $20 million in debt and scraping the bottom of the donor barrel. Unfortunately for Clinton, the win gave her a net gain of only 12 delegates, bringing her total to 1,719 against Barack Obama’s 1,899. Obama also now leads among superdelegates, has picked up John Edwards’ endorsement (no surprise there) and maintains his lead in the popular vote. Depending on which states are counted, Barack leads the popular vote by anywhere from 80,000 to 700,000. His numbers are no doubt helped by the fact that he has campaigned in more states than his rival: “Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states, I think, one left to go.” Oops. Come to think of it, there are 57 Islamic states…

Mathematically, it looks impossible for Clinton to win at this point. The delegate count, even with the delegates from Florida and Michigan, is just not adding up for New York’s junior senator. While Obama has yet to claim victory outright, he seems headed for the nomination unless something big can sway the remaining uncommitted superdelegates against him.

Finally, as for the talk of a joint ticket, one anonymous superdelegate quipped, “If Hillary were the vice president you would have Bill rattling around the West Wing and Obama would need a food taster for four years. No way.” Well said.

Primary trouble for both parties

This primary season has been marked by some questionable actions by officials in both major parties. For example, the Democrats’ disenfranchisement of millions of Florida and Michigan voters has, in our view, improperly skewed the results for both parties. The problems began with an effort by some state parties to end the long held monopoly of Iowa and New Hampshire as lead states in the primary season. The response by leadership of both parties was, shall we say, problematic.

Republicans chose a middle ground, punishing Michigan and Florida for moving their primary dates by cutting delegates from those two states in half. The Democrats, in a completely undemocratic response, left 100 percent of the votes in those two states uncounted. So, Florida Democrats, knowing their votes wouldn’t count in the Democrat primary, might have been tempted to do an end run on the Republicans and try to vote in another liberal… like John McCain. Such a theory is nearly impossible to substantiate, but consider what has since ensued with Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos.” He has asked Republicans in the remaining open-primary states to vote for Hillary in order to keep her campaign alive and the two Demos battering each other.

The situation in Florida and Michigan epitomizes one of the Democrats’ many problems: a central authority (the DNC) telling states exactly what to do, trampling federalism in the election process. It’s exactly their M.O. with government in general.

Wasting money on the census

The federal government’s attempt to rely on modern technology to perform the 2010 Census has not exactly gone according to plan. After two years of development and $600 million wasted, the Commerce Department’s efforts to develop handheld computers for census takers ended in disaster. The computers are too slow and unreliable, so now the Commerce Department has to go hat in hand to Congress and ask for $3 billion more to hire additional canvassers to do the job that government technology can’t handle. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) marveled at the sordid tale: “A $400 iPhone can do twice as much as the $600 handheld. You could buy iPhones and do all of this.” UPS, FedEx and stores such as Wal-Mart have been using handheld computers for years to track packages and control inventory. Why is it so hard to use similar technology to conduct the Census?

NATIONAL SECURITY

Warfront with Jihadistan: Bush on the Left

If the shoe fits: President Bush, in a speech to the Israeli Knesset on Thursday, stated, “Some believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before… We have an obligation to call this what it is—the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.” The president’s remarks were intended as a rebuke to Jimmy Carter for his recent social visit with Hamas, the thugocracy that currently controls Gaza, and President Bush reasserted the administration’s position that such talks could do no good and much harm.

The president’s charge apparently struck a soft spot under Barack Obama’s thin skin, as the freshman senator immediately whined of a false political attack. “George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists.” Hmmm… last time we checked, Iran had successfully defended its Number One ranking in the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, and Obama has stated that he would meet with the Iranians without preconditions.

Nancy Pelosi (D-Featist) also piled on, criticizing the president’s remarks as “beneath the dignity of his office.” Funny, we don’t remember San Fran Nan having any regard for the dignity of office when she flew to Damascus in April 2007 to meet with Bashar Assad and the Syrian regime, Iran’s silent partner and the chief facilitator of foreign fighters entering Iraq. Patriot readers will recall that Pelosi ludicrously claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wanted her to pass on the message that Israel was ready for peace talks with Syria, a claim that the Israeli government immediately rejected.

When Lefties yelp so loudly over a perfectly sensible statement by the president, it’s because they have been stung by the truth. Expect to see this issue in the news again between now and November, and expect John McCain to hammer on it at every opportunity, as he should.

Non Compos Mentis: Obama on translators

“Right now, we don’t have enough troops, and NATO hasn’t provided enough troops [in Afghanistan] because they are still angry about us going into Iraq. So we just don’t have enough capacity right now to deal with—and it’s not just troops, by the way. It’s like Arab—Arab—Arabic interpreters, Arab language speakers, we only have a certain number of them, and if they’re all in Iraq, then it’s harder for us to use them, and—and obviously they may not speak Arabic, but the various dialects that they speak in Afghanistan, oftentimes people who speak Urdu or Pashtun or whatever the languages are, they’re going to be needed in those areas, and a lot of them have ended up being placed elsewhere. So we’ve got to focus on Afghanistan.” —Barack Obama

Memo to the wannabe commander in chief: Afghans speak Dari and Pashto. Pashtun is the name of an ethnic tribe in Afghanistan and Urdu is a language spoken mainly in Pakistan and India. Furthermore, translators don’t have to be on the ground any more than Obama has to be in Afghanistan for the enemy to hear his comments. But remember, this is the guy who says he campaigned in 57 states.

Profiles of valor: USA Spc. Brown

It’s not often that a female serving in the Armed Forces is in a position to display combat valor, but such was the case for Spc. Monica Brown in Afghanistan in April 2007. Brown joined the Army at age 17, and at 18 was serving temporarily as a medic with the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment in Afghanistan. Female medics are a crucial part of missions there because male medics are often prevented from treating women and girls. Brown was on a mission with her unit to track down a bomb-making cell near the Pakistani border when the last vehicle in the convoy struck a roadside bomb. Insurgents began firing at the convoy from a nearby position. Brown and her platoon sergeant ran to the burning truck—all five soldiers inside were wounded. As she began treating the wounded while under fire, the flames began to detonate ammunition in the disabled truck, pinning them between the enemy and the explosions. At several points, Brown lay across wounded men to shield them. She stayed focused on continued treatment. “I wasn’t really focusing on everything that was going on around us,” she said. “I might have been afraid if I had.” The situation did not improve for more than half an hour, and twice the wounded had to be moved out of the line of fire. Finally, however, the wounded were evacuated by helicopter, but not before Brown had exhausted her supplies.

Even though the Pentagon’s official policy is to not allow women to have permanent combat assignments, a temporary role such as the one Brown filled is allowed. And there was no doubt that she had earned a medal that April day. Indeed, Vice President Cheney pinned her with the nation’s third-highest medal for heroism, the Silver Star. Brown is the second woman since World War II to receive that award.

Armed Forces Day 2008

Armed Forces Day is Saturday, 17 May. We remain the proud and the free because these Patriots—American Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen and Coastguardsmen—have stood bravely in harm’s way and remain on post today. For this, we, the American People, offer our heartfelt thanks and prayers for you and your families.

The Patriot is proud to have become one of the nation’s leading advocates for our Armed Forces and their mission—not only by providing countless Americans with the right perspective on that mission and the demanding tasks our military personnel have carried out with pride, but through resources like our Support and Defend pages, Operation Shield of Strength and The Patriot Shop, which carries an extensive collection of official military-insignia products, the proceeds of which support our mission of service to our Armed Forces.

Immigration front: AZ money diverted

Arizona Democrat Gov. Janet Napolitano determined this week that the state would not renew a $1.6-million contract with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to pick up illegal aliens in order to save money for tracking down felons. The contract ends on 17 May. The Arizona Republic reports, “The state funding was part of a March 2007 agreement through which the Sheriff’s Office provided 15 personnel to a state gang task force aimed at illegal immigration and human smuggling. For the effort, state police agreed to reimburse the Sheriff’s Office for 85 percent of its deputies’ salaries and other costs, including overtime.” Arpaio has been conducting raids in Phoenix and nearby Guadalupe in the face of numerous protests from so-called civil liberties advocates and other assorted leftists. The Sheriff nabbed nearly 1,000 illegals, including 150 coyotes.

The funding pull will not necessarily stop the immigration raids, but Gov. Napolitano said, “To the extent that the sheriff was using state money to fund sweeps that were causing trepidation in the immigration community, that state money will no longer be available.” (The “immigration community”?) Instead, she said, it will be used to serve nearly 60,000 warrants in the state.

A REAL failure

The REAL ID Act was supposed to take full effect this week, three years after Congress passed the law with no formal debate. But all 50 states and the District of Columbia have been granted compliance extensions by the Department of Homeland Security, and 17 of those states have passed resolutions saying they have no intention of ever implementing REAL ID. Moreover, a bipartisan effort to repeal the REAL ID Act is gaining momentum in the Senate, and since it’s a political maxim that one doesn’t create controversy in an election year, it will fall to the next occupant of the White House to revisit the issue of a national identification database.

The failure of REAL ID can be attributed to many things, but the biggest problem for state officials is always funding. The original estimated cost of REAL ID was a hopelessly optimistic $100 million, but the Department of Homeland Security now estimates that implementation will cost $3.9 billion, and the federal government has offered only $79.8 million in grants for a law that it imposed on states. Those states were never consulted about REAL ID (the act was slipped into a “must pass” Iraq War funding bill), and it has become one of Washington’s most maligned programs.

Even more important are the privacy concerns that REAL ID creates. Groups such as the Cato Institute and Electronic Frontier Foundation point out that a national database containing the Social Security number, driver’s license and birth certificate of everyone in the United States would become a prime target for hackers, identity thieves and terrorists. The state of Utah even went so far as to declare correctly that REAL ID is “in opposition to the Jeffersonian principles of individual liberty, free markets and limited government.” While REAL ID isn’t completely dead yet, it’s safe to say that the states have won this round. We hope the civil disobedience continues and that federalism will prevail.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

What the trade gap means

Lately, there have been joyful reports in the news about our declining trade deficit. Compared to last year, March exports rose 15.5 percent, while imports increased 7.9 percent—and much of that was due to oil. The deficit is regularly trotted out as an example of an economic woe resulting from free trade. The U.S. imports more than it exports, and most folks assume that that’s a bad thing. The truth is that it isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, a shrinking deficit can itself be a bad sign, indicating a weakening dollar or protectionist practices at home.

A deficit simply means that the U.S. is sending more dollars elsewhere while importing more capital. That capital is a good thing, supplying jobs and fueling investment here in the states. The only way really to shrink the deficit would be to avoid such foreign trade and shrink the economy as a whole. This seems to be what the Leftists want, as they regularly propose all manner of taxes and protectionist measures intended to curb the trade deficit. Better to let Americans decide whose goods they want to buy. If the deficit shrinks because Americans choose to save more, that’s great. Otherwise, it’s much ado about nothing—simply another excuse for the government to meddle in the economy.

A tale of tort reform

Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, “A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.” Well, in two states, the kitties’ feast has finally ended. Missouri and Mississippi, both one-time playgrounds for trial lawyers, have closed the door on free rides.

Missouri’s transformation began three years ago, when the legislature limited punitive damages in liability cases to $500,000 or to five times the net amount of the plaintiff’s award, whichever proved greater. The legislation also capped non-economic damages at $350,000. Since then, medical-malpractice claims have plunged by 61 percent, and fewer doctors are leaving the state.

Travel south to Mississippi, and the results are similar. Since that state’s tort reform four years ago, which capped awards for non-economic damages and banned trial attorneys from shopping around for a sympathetic judge, jobs are up by approximately 60,000. In addition, unemployment is down from nine percent to six percent, out-of-state business investment is up and medical-malpractice lawsuits are down by almost 90 percent, resulting in a 30-45 percent reduction in malpractice insurance. Furthermore, more students are now considering studying business and fewer are studying law.

While there is reason to celebrate, don’t hold your breath. Outside of unions, trial lawyers are the biggest Democrat donors on the list. And while cats will often bite the hand that feeds them, Democrats won’t.

From the states: CA budget lottery

California RINO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to close the state’s estimated $20-billion budget shortfall by gambling on the lottery. Schwarzenegger wants to raise $15 billion over three years by selling bonds based on anticipated lottery revenue and use a third of that to help with the deficit, leaving $10 billion in a reserve fund that will be part of his budget reform. Both proposals will be on the ballot in November, a place where the governor’s ideas have not seen much success in the past. Notably, the lottery brought in only $3.3 billion last year, a problem Schwarzenegger plans to remedy by allowing bigger prizes in order to attract more revenue.

If he fails at the ballot box again, the backup plan is—drum roll please—a one-cent sales-tax increase. It would be temporary (of course) lasting only three years. Then again, “temporary” and “tax increase” rarely end up staying in the same sentence.

CULTURE

From the Leftjudiciary: CA supremes

The Supreme Court of California ruled 4-3 Thursday that the statute banning same-sex “marriage” approved by more than 60 percent of California voters in 2000 is unconstitutional. Writing the majority opinion, “moderate” Republican Chief Justice Ronald George said, “[T]he California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all individuals and couples, without regard to their sexual orientation.” The court’s activist ruling may spread chaos across the nation, as California is the largest state. Indeed, dozens more lawsuits are likely to come as a result of this decision as homosexual couples flock to California to get “married” and then go back to their home states. Of course, it may have a similar effect to that of the 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling—energizing the conservative base. Meanwhile, the ruling doesn’t take effect for 30 days, and conservative groups are asking for a stay of the ruling until voters can have their say once again in November on a state constitutional amendment.

One of the fundamental reasons why the court ruled that the state’s marriage statute was unconstitutional is that the state had already enacted a Domestic Partnership statute. Thus homosexual activists made the argument this was akin to schoolhouse segregation. As we have said before, any accommodation of the homosexual agenda is a “give an inch, take a mile” proposal and will be used to accomplish their ultimate goal, which is not just same-sex “marriage,” but the destruction of the institution of marriage.

Village Academic Curriculum: Fired for free speech

Speaking of gender-disorientation pathology, the University of Toledo made headlines this week after an administrative employee was fired for an op-ed piece she wrote in rebuttal to a Toledo Free Press article that depicted homosexuality as a civil rights issue. Crystal Dixon, former associate vice president of human resources at the university, wrote, “[I take] great umbrage at the notion that those choosing the homosexual lifestyle are ‘civil rights victims’.” She added that she was writing as “a Black woman who happens to be an alumnus of the University of Toledo’s Graduate School, an employee and a business owner.” Furthermore, she took care to mention that she was not writing on behalf of her employer.

“I cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a Black woman,” Dixon wrote, challenging the claim that homosexuality is a genetic trait. “I am genetically and biologically a Black woman, and very pleased to be so, as my Creator intended. Daily, thousands of homosexuals make a life decision to leave the gay lifestyle evidenced by the growing population of PFOX (Parents and friends of Ex-Gays) and Exodus International, just to name a few.”

After the op-ed was published, Dixon was suspended with pay, and the University’s President Lloyd Jacobs issued a statement saying that Dixon’s views “do not accord with the values of the University of Toledo…” Shortly after the suspension, Dixon was offered a job in another department. When she refused, her job was terminated. She is considering taking the case to court and remind the University about something in our Constitution called “free speech.”

Faith and Family: Planned Parenthood and mothers

Hallmark wasn’t the only corporation making money on Mother’s Day—so was the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. Obviously, the irony escapes Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) president Cecile Richards, who in a recent PPFA email blast included a piece written in praise of herself by her own daughter.

Richards also took Mother’s Day as an opportunity to ask “friends” to battle a campaign, led by the pro-life Family Research Council, to stop the federal government from granting PPFA with more than $300 million a year under the Title X family-planning program. “The extreme right-wing Family Research Council (FRC) will deliver petitions to the White House with the express goal of totally defunding groups like Planned Parenthood’,” Richards opined. “What’s worse… the Bush administration… will be inside to receive them with open arms.”

FRC President Perkins had plenty to say in rebuttal. He pointed out that PPFA has bigger problems than pro-lifers, including reports of statutory rape cover-ups, “clinical deficiencies” and documented evidence of racism at state branches. “Perhaps,” Perkins said, “Richards [should] stop and reflect on what Mother’s Day truly means to millions of would-be moms who, because of her clinics, will never hold the child whose life ended inside the clinic walls.” Perkins may be overly optimistic about a woman who shamelessly uses Mother’s Day to pander for money.

BB versus Buckshot

A robbery attempt last week in West Fort Worth, Texas, ended badly for the culprit. Shortly after midnight on 9 May, Fort Worth resident and convicted felon Richard Lane tried to steal a car owned by Happy Donuts shop owner Chong “Angel” Randle. Randle was inside the shop preparing donuts with her mother when she saw Lane trying to steal her car. Randle rushed outside to stop the robbery, but Lane forced her back inside and attacked her with a BB rifle that apparently looked real. Lane threatened to kill Randle, who said, “If you shoot me, I will go to heaven… You go to jail.” Randle was able to free herself from Lane and run across the street. Lane gave chase and struck Randle on the back of the head, knocking her down.

Randle’s neighbor, Stanley Livingston, was awakened by the woman’s screams for help and grabbed his shotgun. When Livingston went outside to confront Lane, the criminal turned his BB rifle on him. In response, Livingston fired one round of 12-gauge buckshot, which struck Lane in the chest just as a police cruiser was passing. Lane died immediately, while Randle suffered minor injuries. As is standard practice, the incident will be turned over to a grand jury for review, but Livingston is not likely to be charged. Randle expressed appreciation for Livingston’s actions, saying, “I’m so glad that I got a good neighbor, so he help me very much. He care about us, watch out for us always.” Indeed, that is the spirit and motivation of gun-owning patriots.

And last…

The price of oil and gas is causing panic and chaos in American streets as thousands riot and burn cars… No, not really. That would only happen in France. But gas prices are causing nausea and other side effects across the fruited plain. One such problem is that many so-called “mom-and-pop” service stations have older gas pumps that can’t count beyond $3.999 for a gallon of gas, or $99.99 for a total sale. In some cases, stations are selling a half-gallon of gas and then doubling the price. Others are covering up the price and settling up with a calculator. It’s estimated that more than 8,000 such pumps exist nationwide. Replacing the old pumps is often out of the question for storeowners, however, as new pumps cost anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 apiece. For about $650, pumps can be fitted with mechanical meters that reach $4.999 or higher, but those can sometimes malfunction. That got us to thinking: All of this trouble may just present a solution. Democrats are adamant that oil companies simply charge too much for gas, so the obvious fix is to take their current policy to its logical conclusion and make all gas stations install old pumps that stop at $3.999. That should do the trick!

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)