Pass It, Get Over It, and Get Back to Work

On the Hill, the House and Senate are having a tough time reconciling the future of the Patriot Act.

Having been in limbo since December, key elements of America's domestic protections in the campaign against our enemies are in danger of expiring if agreement can't be reached in the conference committee.

Items in question are the heightened powers that allow federal agents to tap phones, obtain library records, view bank accounts and search homes of terrorist suspects.

Any law that puts more power into the hands of the government for any reason must be closely scrutinized and revisited on a regular basis.

However, in this instance, it appears that partisanship is a greater danger than individual rights—unless someone on the Left can point us to a single instance of a citizen's rights being violated AS A DIRECT RESULT OF the Patriot Act since it became law more than four years ago.

I wonder what this person's family thinks is more important: protecting "civil liberties" or actually capturing the persons responsible for their loved one's death. . . . . . .

CAUGHT RED-HANDED!!!

In another shocking development from scandal-ridden Washington, a new picture has been released by the Democratic National Committee.

After unearthing a photo of President Bush with indicted lobbyist Jack Abramhoff, the DNC has scored what will probably be the coup-de-grace in their bid to impeach the President.

Shown here below is a picture of President Bush with a KNOWN SEX OFFENDER:

(Editor's note: I hate it when I can't find the "sarcasm off" button!)

Did You Hear What They Said?

That's right, True Believers! It's time for another edition of:

Remember, it's not a partisan attack. . . . . .they actually said it.

A WORD FROM OUR FOUNDERS

"We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times." —George Washington

"The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws."--Noah Webster

ECONOMY

"The robust American economy is the great under appreciated story of 2005. Like the purloined letter in Edgar Allan Poe's story, our superb economy is hidden in plain view, mostly ignored by a media that prefer to accentuate the negative and a Democrat Party that, for understandable partisan reasons, is loath to admit that anything could possibly be right in George Bush's America." —Rich Lowry

"There are two reasons that cutting taxes makes sense. The first reason is because you and I are over taxed... The second is that tax cuts help create jobs. Like Ronald Reagan, I believe the federal government's problem is not that it taxes too little, but that it spends too much." —Rep. Sam Graves

THE SO-CALLED SPY SCANDAL

"The circumstances that endanger the safety of nations are infinite, and for this reason no constitutional shackles can wisely be imposed on the power to which the care of it is committed." —Alexander Hamilton

"President Bush's post-Sept. 11, 2001, authorization to the National Security Agency to carry out electronic surveillance into private phone calls and e-mails is consistent with court decisions and with the positions of the Justice Department under prior presidents."--Former Clinton associate Attorney General John Schmidt

"As we enter another year of extreme international danger, the one threat that solely is within America's power to reduce or eliminate is our lack of national unity... As the President and other national politicians have failed to make that case, it is time for convinced members of the public (including prominent figures) to organize at a much higher level than exists a broad-based, well-financed operation to try to move the better part of the American public to a unity of purpose in the face of the present danger. Any takers?" —Tony Blankley

"The Democrat Party has decided to express indignation at the idea that an American citizen who happens to be a member of al-Qa'ida is not allowed to have a private conversation with Osama bin Laden. If they run on that in 2008, it could be the first time in history a Republican president takes even the District of Columbia." —Ann Coulter

IRAQ

"We are not where we should be at the start of yet another year of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our troops and the American people would be better served if the President understood this and put forth a real plan for success." —House Demo Leader Nancy Pelosi

(We'd be better served if she could provide proof that we're losing....)

"Iraq isn't Vietnam, but it would be if we left. Mass death, tyranny, death to imperfect democracy and a grievous blow to American interests. The first three, however unfortunate, are the price the isolationist Left is always willing to pay, especially if the corpse of the '60s is reanimated, complete with Joan Baez soundtracks... Besides, if al-Zarqawi takes over and slaughters his foes and imposes al-Qa'ida control over oil-rich Iraq, it's not like we're powerless. We can always march and call him names." —James Lileks

"I worry about a slow withdrawal from Iraq which makes it look like there's a victory..." —Rep. John Murtha

(Contrast that with the following quote)

"The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life." —Theodore Roosevelt

POLITCAL MYOPIA

"Senator Kennedy gets a six-year contract renewed every six years by the people of Massachusetts. They have passed on his integrity for 42 years, and it is beyond question." —Paul Begala

"Yes, I'm a liberal, and I'm sick of it being a bad word. I don't know at what time in history liberals have stood on the wrong side of social issues." —actor George Clooney

(Welcome to 2006, George.)

CONGRESS

"So many of the talking heads seem to miss the point: the current scandal is less about lobbyists than it is about members of Congress and other people in high government positions. If members all refused to take bribes, there would be no bribery." —Lynn Woolley

"Congress is hardly a weak institution. It is composed of the only legitimate federal lawmakers in our system of government, 535 accomplished men and women who also happen to be the most skilled camera-hogging gasbags this side of professional wrestling." —Mac Johnson

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!

SOCIALIST SPLAT!!!

Talk show host and commentator Mark Levin nailed it with the following entry at National Review Online :


First there was John Roberts. Now there's Sam Alito. The left-wing battle plan honed since 1987 during Bob Bork's confirmation hearings is flopping badly. And there are several reasons for this.

Today Americans have a much more sophisticated understanding of the proper role of judges. First and foremost, the judiciary has so exceeded the bounds of its legitimate authority that the public has taken notice of, and interest in, its egregious abuses of power.

From upholding the seizure of homes and barring a display of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, to conferring rights on terrorists and benefits on illegal immigrants, the accumulation of these policy decisions are troubling not just to conservative intellectuals, but wide swaths of American society which are affected directly by these rulings.

Conservatives have also done a superior job in explaining their case against judicial activism by way of the new media. Long before these hearings, Rush and Sean, among others, have been educating millions about the framers' intended limits on the judiciary, and have exposed the underlying hostility for representative government motivating the judicial supremacists.

The Left is now forced to defend the idea that the dictates of nine lawyers in black robes should set national policy, while conservatives are defending popular sovereignty and the founding principles. The liberal senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee look frustrated and sound incoherent because, well, they are.

Their problem is that when you don't have fidelity to the written Constitution, your judicial philosophy, such as it is, consists of nothing more than strained and often contradictory arguments made for the purpose of advancing a political and policy agenda. Hence, we hear Dianne Feinstein demand from Alito adherence to judicial precedent respecting Roe v. Wade (Arlen Specter refers to is as super-precedent), and in the next breath acceptance of something called a living and breathing Constitution.

As for Borking — the smearing of conservative Supreme Court nominees through blatant dissembling about their character and thinking — it falls flat today because the American people have become largely immune to the strategy. It has been unleashed with such frequency and fury during the last 20 years that even a casual observer understands that every conservative nominee cannot possibly be a racist, sexist, and unethical pervert.

And the left-wing groups that serve this poison, such as Hollywood's People for the (Un)American Way and the radical Alliance for (In)Justice, have lost what little credibility they once may have had with the public. Sam Alito will be confirmed. The only question is how much more damage the Democrats will inflict on themselves during the course of these hearings.

Then there's the Socialist Spin on this from Buzzflash.com:

"As BuzzFlash Predicted, the Dems in the Senate are Once Again Getting Rolled Because They Lacked the Courage to Take on Alito Before "The Big Show." NYT Headline: "Judge Alito Proves a Powerful Match for Senate Questioners." Our Constitution and Democracy are at Stake and the Dems Think a Staged Performance Means Something."

It links to a NY Times article detailing the pimp-slapping that Judge Alito dished out during the Judiciary Hearings.

Too funny.

Did You Hear What They Said? New Year's Edition

Happy New Year, True Believers!

Yes, I know 2006 has already begun, but around here, it gets BUSY right after Christmas!

Life Happens.

Now that things have momentarily settled down, let's ring in the New Year right with another edition of:




Remember, it's not a hit-piece. . .they ACTUALLY SAID IT!!!


AMERICAN CULTURE

"Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... [W]e have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." —Theodore Roosevelt

"America is, essentially, a conservative nation on most issues. Liberalism is an attempt to change the nation's culture more than an attempt to accurately represent it." —Mac Johnson

"Congress can no more repeal the law of supply and demand than physicists can repeal the law of gravity. If you restrict the profits you can make for something, you'll get less of that something. If you restrict prices, you'll get less conservation." —Jerry Taylor

"The States can best govern our home concerns and the generalgovernment our foreign ones. I wish, therefore...never to seeall offices transferred to Washington, where, further withdrawnfrom the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold at market."
-- Thomas Jefferson (letter to Judge William Johnson, 12 June 1823)

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened." -- Norman Thomas, six-time Socialist Party presidential candidate and one of the founders of the ACLU

IRAQ

"In recent weeks most Democrats seem to have concluded that the war effort is a sinking ship, the American people have already jumped overboard, and if Democrat politicians follow them off the side, the people will reward them by putting them in charge of the life rafts." —James Taranto

"American leftists want 'peace,' without realizing that peace is a byproduct of defeating evil. The left also wants to use the war for partisan political gain and will seek to deprive President Bush of any credit for victory because it could benefit him politically. How sick is that?" —Cal Thomas

"We cannot win this militarily. Our tactics themselves keep us from winning,"--Rep. John Murtha

"It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge he'll be commander-in-chief for three more years. We undermine the president's credibility at our nation's peril."--Sen. Joe Lieberman

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." —Thomas Paine

"Nancy Pelosi said Democrats will produce an issue agenda for the 2006 elections but it will not include a position on Iraq…"--The Washington Post (12/16/05)

HOWARD DEAN

''The idea that the United States is going to win the war in Iraq is just plain wrong,"--Howard Dean

"Dean's take on Iraq makes even less sense than the scream in Iowa: Both are uninformed and unhelpful."--Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA)

"I think Howard Dean...represents himself when he speaks. He does not represent me."--Rep.Ellen Tauscher (D-CA)

ABORTION

"I do think abortion is murder—of a very special and necessary sort. What else would one call the deliberate stilling of a life? And no physician involved with the procedure ever kids himself about that...legalistic distinctions among 'homicide,' 'justified homicide,' 'self-defense,' and 'murder' appear to me a semantic game. What difference does it make what we call it? Those who do it and those who witness its doing know that abortion is the stilling of a life."-- Dr. Magda Denes, abortion advocate, clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, "Performing Abortions," Commentary Magazine 10/1976

ECONOMY

"The prosperity of commerce is now perceived and acknowledged byall enlightened statesmen to be the most useful as well as themost productive source of national wealth, and has accordinglybecome a primary object of its political cares."
-- Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 12, 27 November 1787)

"Economic ignorance, misconceptions and superstition drive us toward totalitarianism because they make us more willing to hand over greater control of our lives to politicians."--Walter Williams

"For tax reform to galvanize the voters and to overcome the special interests, the plan needs to be pure, simple and revolutionary." —Dick Armey

And now for our MULTIPLE CHOICE Question:

This is from Thursday, March 20, 2003

Who issued the following statement in response to the commencement of military strikes in Iraq:

“It appears that with the deadline for exile come and gone, Saddam Hussein has chosen to make military force the ultimate weapons inspections enforcement mechanism. If so, the only exit strategy is victory, this is our common mission and the world’s cause. We're in this together."


A) George W. Bush
B) Tony Blair
C) John Kerry
D) Hillary Clinton


Scroll down for the answer (no cheating!!)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
C) John Kerry (source http://kerry.senate.gov/high/record.cfm?id=191582 )

Have a great day!!!