The Right Lane update 4.26.13

The pursuit of Constitutionally grounded governance, free markets and individual liberty

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington

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Americans Seem to Be Taking Terrorism in Stride   

A Commentary By Scott Rasmussen  

The news from Boston over the past couple of weeks has been the stuff of nightmares.

Homemade bombs killing and injuring innocent people at a high-profile public event were followed by a massive manhunt. People in the surrounding suburbs were ordered to stay inside, businesses closed, and SWAT teams overwhelmed a typically quiet community. The Boston police commissioner warned everyone: "We believe this is a terrorist. We believe this is a man that's come here to kill people."

When it was over, two out of three voters believed the bombing suspects received support, encouragement and training from terrorist organizations. One of the more amazing aspects of the story, however, has been the measured reaction of the American people. There was appropriate shock, grief and concern as the news was first reported, but little panic. Despite the wall-to-wall coverage of a horrific and incomprehensible atrocity, the public kept the situation in perspective.

Shortly after the bombing, Rasmussen Reports found that 54 percent of voters still believe economic concerns are a bigger threat to the nation than terrorist attacks. That's virtually unchanged from the perspective before the Boston Marathon attacks. Following the bombing, 37 percent believe the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror. That's down a few points from before the bombing, but the numbers reflected an ongoing trend rather than a significant change.

That steady perspective is found not because people are ignoring the realities. Seventy-one percent think that another attack is at least somewhat likely in the coming year. Sadly, many have come to accept the fact that there will periodically be similar stories of horror and grief. Only 11 percent think it is possible to make public places completely safe from terrorist attacks like the one in Boston.

These concerns are balanced by a degree of confidence in our nation's ability to respond. Nine out of 10 Americans believe law enforcement did a good job handling the situation. The media didn't fare quite as well, but 55 percent thought reporters did a good job keeping the public informed. Given the general public perceptions of the media, that's practically a ringing endorsement. The public also is generally comfortable with some of the new technologies being used. The value of video surveillance cameras was on display, as TV outlets repeatedly showed images of the brothers identified as suspects. Eighty-seven percent believe these tools help law enforcement officials. By a 2-1 margin, they also think the use of surveillance cameras make public areas safer. So far, the public believes that the value of these tools is appropriately balanced against the threats to individual liberties. In evaluating these trade-offs, 28 percent believe our legal system is too concerned with individual rights; 24 percent say it's too concerned with public safety, and 29 percent believe the balance is about right. It's hard to imagine a more evenly balanced assessment.

Put it all together, and the picture that emerges is a nation that has grown to accept the reality of terrorism and occasional terrorist acts. It's also a nation that is moving forward rather than cowering in fear.

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White House: Clinton’s 'Signature' on Benghazi Docs Doesn't Mean She Knew of Them By Fred Lucas

The White House dismissed the signature of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on documents ignoring security concerns in Benghazi, calling it “protocol” for government official “signatures” to appear on documents they did not sign.  “It is standard protocol that cables originating from the department in Washington go out under the authority of the current Secretary of State with their signature, i.e. their name, typed at the bottom,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday, using his fingers for quote marks when he said “signature.” He continued. “This practice has been in place throughout this administration and across prior administrations, both Democratic and Republican.” A report by five House committees released Tuesday found that Senior State Department officials, including Clinton, approved reductions in security at the facilities in Benghazi, Libya. The report cites an April 19, 2012, cable bearing Clinton's signature acknowledging a March 28, 2012, request from then-U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz for more security, yet allowing further reductions. Yes, when I sign a document it does not mean I read it.  Right!  Then why require the signature?

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Obama: Citizenship ‘Expresses Itself Through Our Government By Fred Lucas

President Barack Obama told donors at a Democratic National Committee fundraising event at a private residence in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday that Americans express their citizenship and obligations to one another “through our government,” among other areas. Spoken like a true Communist.  Do you express your citizenship and obligations to each other through government?  If so how?

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Congress tries to extract itself from Obamacare suicide pact. Hilarity ensues by David Freddoso.

Don’t tell anyone about those secret talks! Politico’s story today on members of Congress desperately trying to exempt themselves and staff from Obamacare is great. But if you missed the earlier piece on the topic, you might think it too focused on the delicate process as members and staff attempt to extract themselves from the suicide pact that is Obamacare. It’s equally important to understand the reasons they’re trying to get out of it.  In brief, this story demonstrates why Obamacare’s insurance exchanges are a lousy deal for most Americans — particularly those who had insurance through an employer before the law passed. Back when Obamacare was still just someone’s bad idea, employers were providing better insurance at lower prices than what Obamacare is going to provide. Now that Obamacare is out there and (in theory anyway) prepared next year to catch the debris that falls out of the employer insurance market, thousands of companies are just going to start dumping people’s health insurance. This is where the whole “if you like your health plan you can keep it” business falls apart. The average family plan costs employers something like $15,000 per year, whereas the penalty for a large company not providing insurance for employees is about $3,000 per worker. Do the math. This isn’t just about greedy corporations, either — Washington State is considering doing this to its employees, and don’t be surprised if a lot of state and municipal governments follow suit. Are you going to stand for this?

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Are We Hearing the Death Rattle of Liberalism?  by Gary DeMar

It seems that liberalism is gaining the upper hand. In fact, it seems that liberalism has the upper hand. Not so fast. Empire-building is a tenuous and risky business. Every empire that has tried to expand its territory eventually collapsed because the center could not hold. Adolf Hitler’s dream of a thousand-year Reich turned to dust in less than 20 years. The supposed inevitability of world Communism did not come about. The image of docked rusty submarines was a fitting image of the inherent hollowness of a planned economy. The Soviet Union would have collapsed sooner if the West had not propped it up with aid. Eastern Europe is no longer in the Soviet Orbit. Who would have thought such a thing was possible? The Berlin Wall came tumbling down.

Peggy Noonan is seeing what she describes as “Obama Fatigue.” The curtain is slowly being pulled away and the people are beginning to realize that there is no Great Wizard of Obama. There’s just some guy who’s been getting away with all types of bad policies and poor decision making because the mainstream media saw him as “the farthest thing from George Bush.” He was their political god. The media elites said so. He was the Second Coming of Abraham Lincoln and FDR. He, too, will fade away. The Fort Hood massacre was covered up by the Administration and the media. There were warning signs, but the pro-Islamic government of Obama chose to ignore them and attributed the murders to “workplace violence.” The American people know better.

I’m convinced that many liberals hold the view that what Nidal Malik Hasan did was deserved. We’re hearing similar sentiment by members of the liberal elite on Boston. The two bombers are “victims” of American Exceptionalism. These are not views that result in empire-building. They are signs of a collapsing edifice. The Boston Marathon massacre was not stopped. It should have been. If the bombings had occurred on GWB’s watch, we know how the media would have reacted. We saw what they did to him after 9/11. As more information comes out about the bombings, the dangerous ineptitude of this administration is being exposed. People are getting restless. They’re beginning to wake up as if from a drug induced coma. They might not be saying it out loud (yet), but they’re asking themselves, “What are we paying these guys for?” The oldest brother was questioned by the FBI. Even Russian security agencies warned us.

The liberal center cannot hold. The media gatekeepers are deserting their posts. The news cannot be controlled. The abortion-’doctor’ story out of Philadelphia shows that the media can no longer suppress news that prove embarrassing to the liberal media and their political gods.  Cultural indicators show that America’s moral base is crumbling. These pockets of degeneracy will self-destruct over time. A preoccupation with entertainment, fashion, sex, drugs, and moral indifference cannot last. While their disintegration takes place, other segments of society are growing families, taking control of their children’s education, reducing debt, and advocating a moral lifestyle as a way to long-term cultural and economic success. A so-called prestigious degree isn’t worth what people are paying for it.

Entrepreneurship is the new Harvard. As a business owner, I never ask a prospective employee where he or she went to college. So while the current worldview becomes more consistent with its bankrupt operating assumptions, we need to counter the disintegration with a counter culture full of optimism, opportunity, self-government, self-reliance, and family and community solidarity. It’s going to be painful for a time, but we’re outbreeding, outthinking, and outworking them. They’re living off borrowed capital. Hang in there. It’s always darkest before the dawn. Keep on, never quit, be resolute!

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Creating a Climate of Moral Darkness by Bradlee Dean

The Supreme Court has been legislating from the bench for the past 50+ years, unlawfully and unconstitutionally stepping outside of their scope of power. This branch has become a treacherous bureaucracy, which grows more corrupt day-by-day, robed in black, and giving the impression that they are a law unto themselves, when in fact they are not! In June 2011, the Supreme Court struck down a California law that would have banned selling “violent” video games to children, stating the games are protected under “free speech.” Some of these games teach kids to kill cops, shoot up schools, and to kill other students while being rewarded in hell for their crimes. There are also games that teach kids to steal cars, rape women, and even shoot John F. Kennedy for a chance to win a $10,000.00 prize. And America wonders why we have such a high crime rate.

“Liberty is the right to do what the law permits,” said Charles Montesquieu. Yet in America today, the present Supreme Court calls it freedom of speech to allow kids to learn how to break the very laws the Court should be enforcing. It is government’s purpose to “restrain men from sin” (transgression of God’s Law; 1 John 3:4), not to encourage it.  Crime should be deterred, not encouraged or advocated. In 1980 the Supreme Court stated the following in Stone v. Graham, “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, … it will be to meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments. This is not a permissible state objective.” What?! The Court doesn’t want children to obey the Ten Commandments, which teaches them not to kill, steal, dishonor their parents, lie, etc.? Parents, who have a moral and natural obligation to be the first line of defense, should not allow their children to play violent video games no matter who said it was okay. If they did so, the Court wouldn’t even consider such a ridiculous notion!

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Obama Sure Is Making Alinsky Proud

President Obama can take credit for Americans’ knowledge of Saul Alinsky.

Too bad the Main Stream Media cared more about electing a black man who espoused their values than they did the truth–we might have known a little bit about Obama and his inspiration. Saul Alinsky was both evil and brilliant. If you have any doubt of Alinsky’s abject nature, consider his quote in the preface of his book, Rules for Radicals:

Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins—or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom—Lucifer.

—SAUL ALINSKY

Consider also that Saul Alinsky was quite open about his embrace of, albeit evolved, Marxism:

Few of us survived the Joe McCarthy holocaust of the early 1950s and of those there were even fewer whose understanding and insights had developed beyond the dialectical materialism of orthodox Marxism.

Yes, Alinsky had the sinister audacity to call the McCarthy trials the “Joe McCarthy holocaust”! Never mind that there was a literal threat within America as the Communist Party was infiltrating universities and, to some degree, entertainment. Naming this time in our history a “holocaust” is to disdain of the real sufferers of the Nazi holocaust and should be repellant to all Americans. Even worse, Obama admonished Israeli college students this year during his visit to their country that Israel “has the wisdom to see the world as it is, but also the courage to see the world as it should be.” In doing so, the president was quoting Saul Alinsky to those young Jews…a subversive and heinous, and obviously intended tactic. A man’s character may be understood by those he strives to emulate: Obama emulates and follows Saul Alinsky, an evil, Marxist, power-hungry radical. Enough said.

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Federal judge whacks Obama; Threatens to overturn 'amnesty' policy for young illegal aliens by Garth Kant

A federal judge has a message for President Obama: Stop bypassing Congress on immigration. Obama issued a directive in June 2012 halting the deportation of many young illegal aliens after Congress refused to pass the DREAM Act, which would have provided conditional permanent residency to young illegal's. A federal judge in Dallas is now threatening to reverse that directive. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor said Tuesday that he will likely rule in favor of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the new policy. He has asked both sides to file additional arguments by May 6. The administration’s policy directs U.S. Immigration and Customs, or ICE, agents to defer deportation for illegal aliens under 30 who entered the country before the age of 16, are in school or have a high school diploma, haven’t been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor or multiple misdemeanors and are not a threat to public safety or national security. The ICE agent union challenged the policy, arguing that the Obama administration is disciplining agents who enforce federal immigration law.  The president of that union, the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, also said the policy is being abused.

In his April 8 testimony, Christopher L. Crane said, “Officers are applying the directive to people detained in jails, not kids in school.” He told the court, “It is now the story in the jails for aliens to use to avoid arrest and deportation.”

Those aliens appear to be taking advantage of the policy with great success. National Review found, “Since the policy took effect in August 2012, the Obama administration has approved 268,361 applications for ‘deferred action’ status, and denied just 1,377 – an approval rate of 99.5 percent.” While critics argue the policy is ineffective in securing the border, Judge O’Connor indicated it’s also illegal for the Obama administration to tell immigration agents not to arrest an illegal alien who is a low priority.  “The court finds that DHS (Department of Homeland Security) does not have discretion to refuse to initiate removal proceedings,” Judge O’Connor wrote.

O’Connor issued a court order stating that Congress, not the president, sets priorities for arresting illegal aliens and that the law requires them to face deportation. A recent analysis by Politico based on U.S. Census and Pew Research Center estimates of illegal alien populations by state brings into question the Democrats’ motivation for what they call comprehensive immigration reform – also dubbed “amnesty” by critics. After crunching the numbers, Politico said the immigration proposal now in Congress would give Democrats a decisive advantage at the polls for a generation or more. It would happen by “pumping as many as 11 million new Hispanic voters into the electorate a decade from now in ways that, if current trends hold, would produce an electoral bonanza for Democrats and cripple Republican prospects in many states they now win easily.” William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, or ALIPAC, told WND the legislation would “completely wipe out the center-right group of people that have governed America for over 200 years. And it would replace true conservatives with illegal immigrants willing to vote for anyone willing to give them more power and control.”

Gheen believes the DHS policy is in response to a drop in illegal immigration after the economy began plummeting into recession in 2008 and states began cracking down on illegal immigration.

“If the ICE agents can win their case and we can stop amnesty, the American public may get one more shot at this in the 2014 election, in which case we could restore the reversal of illegal immigration,” he said.

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"Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country; he should lisp the praise of liberty, and of those illustrious heroes and statesmen, who have wrought a revolution in her favor." --Noah Webster, On the Education of Youth in America, 1788

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