GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

News from the Swamp: Countrywide scandal

Congressional Democrats have a scandal brewing, and two top senators are caught up in it. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Kent Conrad (D-ND), Chairman of the Budget Committee and member of the Finance Committee, have both received highly favorable loans from Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest mortgage lender and a hot target for blame in the whole sub-prime mess. Both senators claimed not to know that they received loans much more favorable than those granted to average customers, which means they are either horrible liars or they are stupendously ill-equipped to be running their respective committees.

Both senators received their juicy home loans from Countrywide honcho Angelo Mozilo, as did Jim Johnson, a top Demo operative who was slated to handle Barack Obama’s vice-presidential search committee until his relationship with Mozilo became public. Other friends of the toxic Mozilo include Alphonso Jackson, the former HUD secretary who resigned in April, and Donna Shalala, former HHS secretary under Bill Clinton.

Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) called for an investigation into the sweet deals given to Dodd and Conrad, but his fellow Republicans are loath to leap at the opportunity, signaling that this scandal could spread beyond just one party. Why else pass up a great opportunity to expose the Democrats’ hypocrisy in an election year? Democrats had been hoping to plow a mortgage bailout through Congress before this whole mess gets exposed, but President George W. Bush has threatened a veto because of the overly generous terms for Countrywide and similar lenders. Now we will have to wait and see if Republicans have the courage to take this issue to the bank, as it were, and call the Demos out before the story gets swept away.

New & notable legislation

The House passed a $162-billion bill Thursday providing funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, in the parlance of the swamp, “war bill” includes completely unrelated domestic spending, such as extending unemployment benefits for another 13 weeks and increased education benefits for veterans. Democrats claimed victory over the president, who gave up his threats to veto the bill over the unemployment benefits. “He is reversing three distinct veto threats and signing them into law. If that ain’t a victory, I don’t know what is,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL).

After months of negotiations, the White House and congressional leaders reached a deal Thursday on a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. intelligence-surveillance laws. The main compromise in the bill is that telecommunications companies potentially will receive immunity for cooperation with terrorist surveillance if a U.S. district court approves on a case-by-case basis. The House will take up the legislation Friday, followed by the Senate next week.

Campaign watch: GOP cash situation deteriorates

Congressional Republicans can’t seem to keep pace in the race for cash this election cycle. Their inability to get a grasp on earmark spending, their failure to support President Bush’s veto of the multi-billion-dollar agricultural bill, and their utter lack of an agenda for the fall have brought them more angry letters than checks. Recent high-profile losses in special elections in districts once considered safe have led many donors to believe that Republicans don’t have what it takes to regain the majority this November. As a consequence, people are keeping their checkbooks shut and starving the GOP of campaign cash. So far this election cycle, the National Republican Congressional Committee has brought in only $27 million of the $58 million it projected. What’s worse, they have only $6 million on hand, compared to nearly $45 million on hand reported by congressional Democrats. Things have gotten so bad that the GOP is bribing donors with stuffed elephant toys if they donate $35 or more, saying “Sam” will be the “hit of your July Fourth Party.” That might be the case if Sam is stuffed with fireworks and set afire in the driveway.

You want a VP slot? I’ll give you a VP slot!

Barack Obama, who this week broke his word and became the first candidate to opt out of public financing since it began more than 30 years ago, may have put to bed rumors that he’s holding out for Hillary Clinton to take the bottom slot on his presidential ticket. Obama’s campaign hired Patti Solis Doyle as chief of staff to his yet-to-be-named vice-presidential running mate. Doyle, you may recall, was Clinton’s campaign manager until she was fired in February. She has not spoken with Clinton since, and many of Hillary’s acolytes still blame Doyle for losing the nomination, though that might be just a bit of a stretch. Many political pundits around Washington are calling the move Obama’s middle-finger salute to the Clinton camp. It does seem more spiteful than smooth. After all, it’s a bit presumptuous to hire a chief of staff for a position that has not yet been filled. Might not Obama’s future running mate have his or her own team to bring into the fold?

As for Clinton, she’s taking a month off from her Senate duties to recover from her failed campaign, which, ironically, took her away from those same Senate duties for about 18 months. In fact, we had nearly forgotten she is a senator.

From the Left: Convention money

In other news from the Left, Denver received a $50-million federal grant for security for the August 25-28 Democrat National Convention. That’s close to the price tag of the convention itself, courtesy of the American taxpayer. The police are using some of the funds to stock up on pepper-spray-like projectiles that will be used should the thousands of expected protestors get unruly. Last week, we noted the armory will include the dreaded crap cannon as well. Other crowd control measures as yet undisclosed will also be deployed, but the good old ACLU has filed a civil lawsuit to find out just what Denver police have in store because they can’t wait two months to find out.

Race hustler Sharpton owes back taxes

The “Reverend” Al Sharpton, professional race hustler, is under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service for owing nearly $1 million in federal taxes and $365,000 in New York City taxes. On top of that, Sharpton’s National Action Network owes $1.9 million in payroll taxes and penalties. Several companies that have been subjected to the Sharpton shakedown, including Anheuser-Busch, have received subpoenas for records of charitable donations to his Network. The beer maker gave between $100,000 and $500,000 to his charity last year. Predictably, Sharpton played the victim, saying the subpoenas were part of a “fishing expedition.” That’s what he gets for being such a large mouth, er, bass.

Tim Russert, 1950-2008

As the nation mourns TV news giant Tim Russert after his sudden death from a heart attack last Friday at age 58, NBC is scrambling to find a replacement for the longtime “Meet the Press” host. The general consensus is that whoever NBC chooses will have some big shoes to fill and many hats to wear.

In addition to hosting the Sunday morning staple “Meet the Press,” the tireless Russert also served as chief of NBC’s Washington Bureau, holding the responsibility of its day-to-day operations. He also provided political commentary on the network’s other programs, including the “NBC Nightly News,” the “Today” show, and others.

Russert was known by both Republicans and Democrats as a top-notch journalist who, although a Democrat, was more concerned with presenting an in-depth analysis of the facts than giving his own opinion. He was known for grilling politicians on both sides of the aisle with equal, well informed veracity. As Senator John McCain quipped after a 2006 interview, “I haven’t had this much fun since my last interrogation.”

The same cannot be said for a potential Russert replacement, “Hardball” host Chris Matthews. Matthews’ name has become synonymous with the Leftmedia’s fawning obsequiousness over Democrat presidential candidate Senator Barak Obama. Indeed, Matthews recently made news when he blurted out just after an Obama speech, “I felt this thrill going up my leg.” We kid you not.

As NBC considers its options, it must also rethink its entire plan for election coverage. Russert was to have been a daily presence in the network’s coverage of both parties’ national conventions. May this humble and good-natured son of Buffalo rest in peace.

On cross-examination

“I’m all for hiring women in the newsroom and minorities in the newsroom—I’m all for it. It opens up our eyes and gives us a different perspective. But just as well, let’s have people with military experience. Let’s have people from all walks of life. People from the top echelon schools, but people from junior colleges and the so-called middling schools—that’s the rich pageantry of America. I’m a great believer in racial diversity and gender diversity, but you need cultural diversity, you need ideological diversity.” —the late Tim Russert

Holding the line

“Thanks to The Patriot for your considerable efforts to hold back the ‘Clintonistas’ while I was in the Senate. The Patriot’s message provides a critical touchstone for those inside the Beltway who have forgotten whom they serve.” —former senator Fred Thompson

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I thank you for the honor and privilege of serving you as editor and publisher of The Patriot. On behalf of your Patriot staff and National Advisory Committee, thank you and may God bless you and your family.

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis!

Mark Alexander

Publisher, PatriotPost.US

NATIONAL SECURITY

Warfront with Jihadistan: Khan affair

In January 2004, Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan confessed to being the ringleader of a clandestine nuclear proliferation network that provided sensitive uranium enrichment technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Khan’s admission was the result of a decade of surveillance by American and British intelligence, though these agencies stopped short of claiming that Khan’s network provided actual designs for nuclear weapons to rogue states. After the dissolution of the Khan network, the Central Intelligence Agency and Secret Intelligence Service continued to investigate leads while the Pakistani government placed Khan under house arrest and declared “the A. Q. Khan affair to be over.”

Not quite. The story of the Khan network took a sinister turn this week when David Albright, a prominent expert on nuclear weapons, published a report saying that designs for an advanced, compact nuclear warhead were found on computers owned by Swiss businessmen who were members of Khan’s smuggling ring. “To many of these countries, it’s all about size and weight,” Albright said in an interview. “They need to be able to fit the device on the missiles they have.” The warhead depicted in the blueprints is of Pakistani origin and is small enough that it could easily be mounted on a medium-range ballistic missile.

U.S. intelligence officials, along with the UN’s nuclear “watchdog,” the IAEA, oversaw the destruction of more than a terabyte of seized data, including the blueprints in question. However, none of the Western intelligence services have any idea how many times the digital blueprints were copied and distributed. If Iran or North Korea received copies of the design, there is no question that their nuclear weapons programs have made a giant leap in a very short period of time. Just a month ago, nuclear proliferation experts were taking comfort in the fact that Iran would not be able to design a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on its Shahab III ballistic missile anytime in the near future. That assumption has been obliterated by the latest revelations about the Khan network.

Of course, the CIA will not comment on the report, citing ongoing national security issues, but former CIA director George Tenet acknowledged in 2007 that the agency had sources in the Khan network for at least a decade. For more on how the CIA short-circuited Khan’s connections, read our 2004 analysis, “On the trail of nuclear terror.”

This week’s ‘Alpha Jackass’ award

“Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security.” —Richard Danzig, Barack Obama’s choice for National Security Adviser, should Obama be elected president

Military Readiness: More charges dropped

Seven down, one to go. The case of the “Iraq My Lai Massacre,” in which U.S. Marines were accused of illegally gunning down Iraqi civilians in Haditha, continued unraveling this week. For the seventh time, charges against one of the eight Marines accused in the incident were dismissed, leaving just one case left. Military judge Colonel Steven Folsom dismissed charges without prejudice against Lt. Colonel Jeffrey Chessani after finding that a general who was overseeing the Haditha investigation was improperly influenced by one of his investigators. “Unlawful command influence is the mortal enemy of military justice. In order to restore the public confidence, we need to take it back. We need to turn the clock back,” Colonel Folsom said in a not-too-subtle rebuke of the Haditha investigation. Colonel Folsom also barred the Marine Forces Central Command from future involvement in the case, another indication of his obvious displeasure with how the case was handled. This leaves only Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich to face charges of voluntary manslaughter. Given the prosecution’s 0-for-seven record thus far, chances are probably good that these charges will be dismissed as well.

Here we would point out once again that Rep. “Fightin”’ John Murtha (D-Haditha), who said at the time that our Marines “killed innocent civilians in cold blood,” has had no comment on the dismissals. And the Leftmedia, which wanted another My Lai so badly that they rushed to condemn our Marines before the facts were known, have been shamelessly silent about how the case has turned out. Apparently, being treasonous means never having to say you’re sorry.

Profiles of valor: USA Major Ford

Major Sheffield Ford III was leading a U.S. Army Special Forces unit in Afghanistan in June 2006 when Taliban fighters overwhelmed their position. The 16 Americans and 46 Afghan Army soldiers under Ford’s command, working to re-establish order in a village, were surrounded by Taliban. As darkness fell, the attack began. The terrorist fighters directed machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades at the American and Afghan allies from three directions. During the night, however, the Taliban fighters withdrew, so the next day, Ford ordered a team into the suspected hideout. More than 200 jihadis quickly poured out, splitting the allies in two. Despite the odds, Ford organized a rescue mission for two wounded Americans and the accompanying troops that were split from the main group. Combat was at times so close that the Taliban were beckoning the Afghan fighters to lay down their arms, saying, “We can forgive you; just put your weapons down and walk away. We want the Americans alive.” Ford rallied the men, however, and they answered his call by continuing the fight. Ford was able to lead an evacuation, including the wounded, under cover from Apache helicopters. His unit had more than 120 confirmed kills, while losing only two Americans and three Afghan soldiers. For his accomplishments, Major Ford received the Silver Star.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Oil, oil, oil

As oil prices continue their climb to new heights, the only remaining OPEC country able to increase production is feeling political and economic pressure to do so—although not in the way expected by Congress. Saudi Arabia will add another 500,000 barrels of daily output to raise its production to the kingdom’s highest level in 25 years, in an attempt to allay unrest and to continue its client countries’ economic growth so they will continue to purchase additional oil.

Left unsaid by the Saudis is that current oil prices have rekindled alternative-energy efforts, which eventually would destroy their oil market altogether. The major auto manufacturers are well along in their development of hydrogen and electric vehicles, and the cost of producing oil from shale located in the United States is about half the current cost of a barrel of oil. Some projections say that the U.S. has enough oil shale to meet its current needs for the next 400 years.

Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil is unloading its 800 company-owned gas stations in addition to 1,400 dealer-operated locations. While in 2007 American oil companies turned in an 8.3 percent profit (which is seven-tenths of a percent below the average for all U.S. manufacturing), Exxon’s divesture is unlikely to affect oil and gas prices as the largest American oil and gas companies produce only three percent of global oil production and six percent of global refining capacity. Selling marginally unprofitable retail outlets will carry nowhere near the same price impact as drilling for more oil (such as in ANWR, which happens to be located merely 60 miles from the 15 billion barrels of oil already sent by Alaska through the pipeline in Prudhoe Bay).

The price of gas even has GOP presidential nominee John McCain reversing his stance on offshore drilling. Both he and President Bush have called on Congress to allow such drilling. (President Bush could start by rescinding his father’s executive order reinforcing the offshore drilling ban.) Unfortunately, this is the same Congress controlled by Democrats who are on record calling for the nationalization of oil companies and refineries. First it was Maxine Waters (S-CA), and now it’s Maurice Hinchey (S-NY): “We [the government] should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.”

Speaking of refineries, the first such facility built in the U.S. since the 1970s is in the works in South Dakota. The refinery would process about 400,000 barrels per day of Canadian oil, meeting the combined demands of South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska.

This week’s ‘Braying Jackass’ award

“[O]pening our coastlines to offshore drilling would take at least a decade to produce any oil at all, and the effect on gasoline prices would be negligible at best since America only has three percent of the world’s oil. It’s another example of short-term political posturing from Washington, not the long-term leadership we need to solve our dependence on oil.” —Barack Obama, kowtowing to his party’s environmental extremists at the expense of average Americans

Floods will raise food prices

Consumers worldwide can expect to pay more for staples—particularly corn—due to the recent devastating floods in the Midwest. This week, corn prices rose above $8 a bushel, reaching a new record high—and no immediate relief is in sight. Experts estimate that, in Iowa alone, floodwaters have destroyed over a million acres of corn and two million acres of soybean for total grain loss of 20 percent of the state’s production. Throughout the entire flooded area, as many as five million acres may be un-farmable.

While President Bush has promised to send federal dollars to the flood-stricken zone, and the House of Representatives has added $2 billion in aid to a spending bill for consideration, we’re wondering when the Democrats are going to propose a windfall-profits tax on farmers. After all, if such a tax on oil companies would result in lower gas prices, as the Democrats fantasize, wouldn’t the same be true for farmers and food prices?

Perhaps, in the end, even the Democrats don’t believe their own propaganda. More likely, however, they realize that targeting America’s hardworking farmers simply doesn’t have the same political appeal as beating down “Big Oil.”

Cheer up—it’s not that bad

Even The Washington Post can admit that the economy is not as bad as some would lead us to believe: “Ask Americans how the economy is doing, and their answer is stark: It’s not just bad, it’s run-for-the-hills terrible. Consumer confidence is at its lowest level in almost 30 years. Only 12 percent of Americans think the economy is in good shape. On the Internet, comparisons to the Great Depression are widespread. But the reality is different. According to most broad measures of how the economy is doing, it’s not all that grim.”

There are numerous reasons that Americans view the economy through dingy, tinted glasses, not least of which is the incessant drone of Leftmedia doomsaying. Additionally, it’s an election year in which Democrats threaten to win the White House and significantly increase their control of Congress, always a cause for depression. One obvious economic reason, however, is gas prices. As economist Michael Feroli points out, “If the unemployment rate goes from five to seven percent, that affects two percent of the population. If gas prices go up, almost 100 percent of the population feels terrible.” Keep in mind that the unemployment rate is 5.5 percent (five percent is considered full employment) and inflation is at 4.2 percent. Both are much lower than during other times of economic hardship in our history. Thus, in our view, the economic glass is half full.

CULTURE

Around the nation: Ohio judicial activism

Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge of Ohio has ruled that the state must change the way criminals are executed, after determining that the three-chemical cocktail used in prior executions might cause discomfort. However, the Supreme Court ruled in April that similar methods of lethal injection are constitutional. Burge merely ignored the ruling and prescribed the use of a single massive dose of barbiturate—a legal first and with no small resemblance to animal euthanasia. “Lethal injection procedure doesn’t provide the quick and painless death required by Ohio law,” he said.

The case resulting in Burge’s soft-hearted decision was brought by Ruben Rivera, charged with murdering a man during a drug-related robbery, and Ronald McCloud, charged with the 2005 rape and murder of a 57-year-old woman in a church bathroom. Neither man has yet been tried. Although we disagree with the notion that those criminals deemed unfit to live should suffer no pain at the end, there is some small comfort in knowing that Ohio’s most cold-blooded murderers will now die like dogs.

As a side note, Burge’s office features prominent posters of murderous commie thug Che Guevara and uber-Leftist presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama side by side. Which got us to thinking: If Burge idolizes a murderer like Guevara, why would he want to execute two others?

Defend the Second Amendment

Fellow Patriots,

On 30 May, I sent you a request to sign an important petition—“The Right of the People… shall not be infringed,” a citizen petition affirming the Second Amendment’s individual “right of the People to keep and bear arms.”

I urge you to sign this petition today—right now, please. We need more than 100,000 signatures in order for this petition to be given the attention it deserves from national leaders.

To sign this petition online, link to— http://PatriotPetitions.US/second/

You can also sign this petition by sending a blank e-mail to:

Please forward this invitation to Patriot family members, friends and associates.

Thank you!

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!

Mark Alexander

Publisher, PatriotPost.US

Faith and Family: CA same-sex ‘marriages’ begin

Homosexuals began “marrying” this week in California after all efforts to stay the state Supreme Court’s May ruling failed. Fighting this judicial despotism, citizens successfully qualified a ballot initiative for November’s election to amend California’s constitution so that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” The bad news is that the Golden State does not have a residence requirement, so homosexuals from all around the country are flocking there to marry, with plans to return to their home states and demand recognition. All aboard for lawyerpalooza.

In Rhode Island, for example, a judge recently threw out a request for a homosexual couple married in Massachusetts to be granted a divorce in Rhode Island. One of the women moved back to Massachusetts in order to obtain a divorce, the “solution” we suggested months ago. Massachusetts is just several minutes from Providence, where the women moved with the intention of spreading same-sex marriage to Rhode Island. A bird’s eye view of the whole situation reveals that degrading marriage to include same-sex couples will lead to many foreseeable negative consequences. Children, as usual, suffer most from liberal schemes. The number of unstable homes will rise more sharply while same-sex couples demand that they not be denied the right to be “parents,” increasing the number of kids who have to start life in a demanding world without the benefit of two parents. In the end, the damage to our civilization will be incalculable, since it is founded on the rock of the nuclear family. Religious liberty will take a hit as well, when homosexual activists demand recognition for their “marriages.”

Climate change this week: Al’s Big House

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR) reported this week, “In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%.” TCPR noted Al’s hypocritical use of energy before, and Gore shortly thereafter “scurried to make his home more energy-efficient.” Ironically, however, “Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the ‘green’ overhaul.” What are the numbers? Gore’s mansion used 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in the last year. That’s roughly enough to power 232 average U.S. homes for one month. The 17,768 kWh per month Gore uses now is 1,638 kWh more than before the renovations. The average home uses only 11,040 kWh per year. In the meantime, Big Al has made some big bucks—TCPR notes that his wealth has grown by some $100 million because of speaking fees and global-warming investments. Just remember: Do as he says not as he does.

And last…

Some criminals just aren’t very bright. Such was the case with an Indiana man who was apparently so hard up for cash that he knocked off a lemonade stand. “The guy came up and was, like, ‘Give me your money’,” said one of the girls running the stand. The crook’s haul wasn’t exactly a big one—he took $17.50 and started running. What he didn’t expect was that one of the girls would give chase. “I was shocked,” she said later. “It was just my immediate reaction to chase after him.” When the thief courageously ducked inside a nearby home, the girl called police, who then spent nearly an hour talking the man out of the house. He eventually surrendered and was charged with felony robbery. Our guess is that his fellow inmates are going to make a habit of taking his lemonade money at lunchtime.

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.)