THE FOUNDATION

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." --James Madison

THE DEMO-GOGUES

Hope 'n' change: "The number one goal of my plan ... is to create three million new jobs, more than 80 percent of them in the private sector." --Barack Obama on creating 600,000 new government jobs

"Potentially we've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on at this point. We're going to have to stop talking about budget reform. We're going to have to totally embrace it. It's an absolute necessity." --Barack Obama on "budget reform," by which he means slashing national defense spending

The Democrats finally have the country where they want it: "The economy is in much worse shape than we thought it was in. There is no short run other than keeping the economy from absolutely tanking. That's the only short run." --Joe Biden

Life's rough: "I can't go to my own barbershop now. I've got to have my barber come to some undisclosed location to cut my hair." --Barack Obama

Everybody's innocent: "I'm here to tell you right off the bat that I am not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing, that I intend to stay on the job, and I will fight this thing every step of the way. ... As governor I am required to make this appointment." --Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on appointing professional narcissist Roland Burris to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat

Power play: "[T]here's clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to. This goes back for generations. ...[There is] a cloud over anyone that comes from the state of Illinois being appointed by [Gov.] Blagojevich." --Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Hurt feelings: "[Rick] Warren compared same-sex couples to incest. I found that deeply offensive and unfair. If [Barack Obama] was inviting the Rev. Warren to participate in a forum and to make a speech, that would be a good thing, but being singled out to give the prayer at the inauguration is a high honor. It has traditionally given as a mark of great respect. And, yes, I think it was wrong to single him out for this mark of respect." --Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)

UPRIGHT

"According to a just published report (from the Pew Research Center), more Americans today call themselves conservative than liberal, and the relative percentages in each category has hardly changed since George W. Bush was elected to his first term in 2000. Thirty-eight percent of Americans self-identify as conservative, 21 percent as liberal, and 36 percent as moderate." --columnist Star Parker

"From the dawn of the Progressive Era, politicians have sought to minimize the Constitution whenever it got in the way. When the Supreme Court rejected President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs, he threatened to expand and pack the court with more progressive minds. Suddenly, what was previously unconstitutional became constitutional. After seventy years of emasculating the Constitution, it is time for politicians to respect it rather than roll it out as a media prop." --columnist Matt Mayer

"Republicans can be successful by having better ideas than Pelosi, Reid and the Democrats in the House and Senate, not by just being opposed to what the majority is proposing." --Rich Galen

"Bernard Madoff, who stands accused of bilking sophisticated investors out of $50 billion, is reported to have told two of his executives that his business was 'a giant Ponzi scheme.' Politicians go on and on about Wall Street 'greed' and 'irresponsibility.' But Madoff's scam was small compared to Ponzi schemes the government itself runs: Social Security and Medicare. In reality, our money, rather than being invested and kept in an actual 'trust fund,' is immediately given to current retirees in Social Security benefits or to their healthcare providers in Medicare benefits. The government's promise to pay for your retirement pension and medical care is just a promise. And a lie." --John Stossel

"It's often pointed out that Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist. It's more than that. Hamas, with Iran's backing, is committed to Israel's violent destruction." --columnist Mona Charen

INSIGHT

"A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt dangerous." --Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

"Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor." --American Poet Robert Frost (1874-1963)

"Life is not holding a good hand; Life is playing a poor hand well." --Danish proverb

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

"Many of those who voted for [Barack Obama] either dismiss the terrorist threat, or believe none exists. Still worse, some think we should placate our enemies, not vanquish them. That's why a new report from Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff is more than a little disquieting. It suggests that the U.S. faces a real prospect of a serious terror attack sometime in the next five years, particularly from a biological weapon of some sort. 'The threat of terrorism and the threat of extremism has not abated,' Chertoff recently said. And that's not just rhetoric. The Homeland Security Threat Assessment for 2008-2013, leaked to the Associated Press late last week, predicts that terrorists will try some sort of biological weapon on the U.S. in the next five years -- an attack that could overwhelm our health care system, leading to devastating consequences for our economy. The report goes on to warn of outside terror groups such as al-Qaida using our porous borders and poor controls to place terrorist cells inside the United States. Sound unlikely? Recall that just two days before Christmas, five Muslim immigrants were convicted for plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J. It's already here. ... The worst thing that could happen, we fear, is that Obama comes in with a mandate to spend upward of $1 trillion on a stimulus package and then decides to at least partly finance it by cutting defense and anti-terror measures to the bone. There are already warning signs in Obama considering abandoning missile defense and other advanced defense systems, while our potential foes plunge full speed ahead. And his aides suggested the Pentagon's request for 30,000 more troops might be rejected. With Russia boosting its defense outlays by 40% while it builds its nuclear arsenal, China intent on having a blue-water navy to challenge the U.S., and the terrorist threat unabated, it wouldn't be wise to cut back on defense or anti-terrorist efforts right now." --Investor's Business Daily

DEZINFORMATSIA

Gag reflex kicking in: "The sun glinted off chiseled pectorals sculpted during four weightlifting sessions each week, and a body toned by regular treadmill runs and basketball games." --Washington Post reporter Eli Zaslow on Barack Obama's workout habits

Like, dude, he's so awesome: "We're actually talking about how a lot of people think that President-elect Barack Obama is the epitome of cool. Look at that guy. Everything, I mean, even in a baseball cap. Don't you think?" --CBS's "Early Show" co-host Tracy Smith

You asked for it, you got it: "Obama has spent most of his vacation secluded in his oceanfront rental home, some days emerging only to get in that daily workout, where he always draws crowds. In an interview with 60 Minutes just after his election, Obama was already lamenting the loss of the simple things." --NBC correspondent Savannah Guthrie

Wouldn't want to "distract": "Obama's coming into office with a very ambitious agenda, and if you add together what's going on with [Bill] Richardson right now with the [Rod] Blagojevich scandal, is that going to be a distraction in the key early days?" --ABC anchor Dan Harris

Sad commentary: "Quietly, as the United States presidential election and its aftermath have dominated the news, America's three broadcast network news divisions have stopped sending full-time correspondents to Iraq." --The New York Times

Newspulper Headlines:

Our New Year's Resolution: Watch More Television: "Reading Raises Property Taxes 5 Percent" --Reading (PA) Eagle

We Blame Global Warming: "Twin Cities Streets an Icy Mess; Who's to Blame?" --Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Not to Mention Guns and Religion: "In Tough Times, Americans Cling to Christmas Trees" --Reuters

Wow, That Is Turbulent!: "Oil Rises on Quiet Trading to Cap Turbulent Year" --Associated Press, Dec. 31 ++ "Oil Falls on Quiet Trading to Cap Turbulent Year" --Associated Press, Dec. 31

News You Can Use: "Forget the Economy: Killer Asteroids Could Pose Real Danger" --McClatchy Newspapers

Bottom Stories of the Day: "Obama-Inspired Hope Goes Only So Far in Kenya" --Los Angeles Times

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto)

VILLAGE IDIOTS

Days of Our Lives -- Minnesota: "After 62 days of careful and painstaking hand-inspection of nearly 3 million ballots, after hours and hours of hard work by election officials and volunteers around the state, I am proud to stand before you as the next senator from Minnesota." --wannabe comedian Al Franken

As the World Turns -- Illinois: "I am a United States senator. They can't stop me from doing my senatorial duties." --Illinois Senator-appointee Roland Burris with reference to the Senate Democrat leadership unwilling to allow him to be seated ++ "We are hoping and praying that they will not be able to deny what the Lord has ordained. I am not hesitating. I am now the junior Senator from the state of Illinois. Some people may want to question that and that is their prerogative." --Roland Burris

Young and the Restless -- New York: "I'm really coming into this as somebody who isn't, you know, part of the system, who obviously, you know, stands for the values of, you know, the Democratic Party. ... I know how important it is to, you know, to be my own person. ... It's really, you know, it's not about just the Kennedy name. It's about my own work and what I've done with those values." --Caroline Kennedy, who is almost as eloquent as Barack Obama, on seeking Hillary Clinton's Senate seat **Kennedy used the words "you know" an astounding 168 times in this interview.

Strange comparisons: "I don't think it's appropriate. It's like putting, you know, [Dick] Cheney in charge of gun control. It's wrong ... it's just wrong." --co-host of "The View" Joy Behar on Barack Obama's choice of pastor Rick Warren for the invocation at his inauguration

"The destruction of the Jews in Israel has been assured with this inhuman attack on civilians in Gaza. Exactly as its Nazi mentors did to the Jews of Warsaw, Israel now bombs innocent civilians who have been imprisoned in concentration camps in Gaza! ... The Zionists look German! The Palestinians look like the Jews of Poland!" --"comedienne" Roseanne Barr

SHORT CUTS

"Observes a perceptive author of a letter to the editor of the New York Times: 'It's amusing that Andrew M. Cuomo, who owes his whole career to his dad, may not get the Senate seat of Hillary Rodham Clinton (who owes her whole career to her husband) because David A. Paterson (who owes his whole career to his dad) may give it to Caroline Kennedy (who owes her whole career to her dad). You would think a state as large as New York could find someone who deserves something on his or her own." --Washington Times editor Wesley Pruden

"[I]n the past few years, we have seen any number of rather obnoxious individuals called to our nation's capitol so that members of the House and Senate could grill them in front of the TV cameras. And while I would normally enjoy watching tobacco, oil and car company CEOs, along with steroid-using baseball cheats, publicly embarrassed, that's not how it's worked out. Instead, because the politicians are so disgustingly arrogant and self-righteous, it's hard not to view their victims in a sympathetic light. All I know is if I were ever guilty or even suspected of a crime, I would certainly want to be attacked by the likes of Christopher Dodd, Charles Schumer and Barney Frank." --columnist Burt Prelutsky

"A question for you in the Drive-By Media. Why do you think Israel would attack Gaza? Is it for their national treasure? Is it because they want all of the scientific discoveries that are being made by Hamas intellectuals?" --radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh

"Barack Obama's Hawaii vacation compound was ringed Monday by Palestinians who are angry about his support for Israel. You can imagine their disappointment. Not only is he the first black president, he's the first guy named Hussein to back Israel." --comedian Argus Hamilton

Jay Leno:

For the next two weeks, President-elect Barack Obama will be living full-time at a hotel right across the street from the White House. This is historic because this is the first time a Democrat has checked into a Washington hotel room under his own name.

Bernie Madoff has been charged with swindling people out of $50 billion. I don't want to say he's unpopular, but [over Christmas] as he was walking in New York, he passed a manger scene and Joseph threw a sandal at him.

Congress says they're looking into the Bernie Madoff scandal. So the guy who made $50 billion disappear, is being investigated by the people who made $750 billion disappear.

In an interview with The Washington Times, Vice President Dick Cheney said he is not a big fan of rap music. I was stunned by that. He gets driven around in a limo; he's surrounded by bodyguards; he shot a guy in the face -- he is a rap star!

*****

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.)

THE FOUNDATION

"How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments of every hostile nation?" --James Madison, Federalist No. 41

LIBERTY

"There's only one grievance and Hamas is open about it. Israel's very existence. Nor does Hamas conceal its strategy. Provoke conflict. Wait for the inevitable civilian casualties. Bring down the world's opprobrium on Israel. Force it into an untenable cease-fire -- exactly as happened in Lebanon. Then, as in Lebanon, rearm, rebuild and mobilize for the next round. Perpetual war. Since its raison d'etre is the eradication of Israel, there are only two possible outcomes: the defeat of Hamas or the extinction of Israel. Israel's only response is to try to do what it failed to do after the Gaza withdrawal. The unpardonable strategic error of its architect, Ariel Sharon, was not the withdrawal itself but the failure to immediately establish a deterrence regime under which no violence would be tolerated after the removal of any and all Israeli presence -- the ostensible justification for previous Palestinian attacks. Instead, Israel allowed unceasing rocket fire, implicitly acquiescing to a state of active war and indiscriminate terror. Hamas's rejection of an extension of its often-violated six-month cease-fire (during which the rockets never stopped, just were less frequent) gave Israel a rare opportunity to establish the norm it should have insisted upon three years ago: no rockets, no mortar fire, no kidnapping, no acts of war. As the U.S. government has officially stated: a sustainable and enduring cease-fire. If this fighting ends with anything less than that, Israel will have lost yet another war. The question is whether Israel still retains the nerve -- and the moral self-assurance -- to win." --columnist Charles Krauthammer

CULTURE

"Hamas and its terrorist cousins know how to play the public relations game. Most recently we saw it in Lebanon with Hezbollah, as we have seen it in so many other places. The terrorists operate within civilian areas so that when Israel strikes and unintentionally kills civilians, the bodies are paraded before Western media. In some cases, in order to embellish the drama, bodies have been planted in rubble, along with a child's toy. Most of the big media don't focus on the occasional rocket attacks inside Israel; only on Israel's attempts to stop them. So much of Western thinking continues along the delusional line that only 'adjustments' by Israel have a chance of bringing peace by diminishing the passions of her enemies. If that were so, given all of Israel's concessions, shouldn't those passions have diminished by now and serious negotiations begun? Instead, the more Israel concedes, the more violence it gets. At some point you might think people would say, 'this isn't working' and try another approach, such as striking back in a manner that would not simply stop the present threat, but persuade Hamas and the others that there is no benefit in their continued aggression. ... Israel's goal should be peace through strength. The U.S. should commit to building up Israel, militarily and diplomatically, as a deterrent to Israel's enemies, many of whom also hate and wish to destroy America." --columnist Cal Thomas

OPINION IN BRIEF

"In 1993, near the height of America's anger over out-of-control crime, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote a seminal article for the American Scholar on 'defining deviancy down.' Moynihan argued that crime had gotten so out of control, Americans responded by simply defining deviancy down until many crimes seemed normal. ... One response to the crime epidemic was to redefine violent crime as a 'public health issue.' Traditional law enforcement was simply incapable of dealing with the 'social pathologies' and 'root causes' of the wave of gun violence and the like. Fortunately, this approach, while far from dead, was relegated to the back burner by the successes of anti-crime initiatives in places like Rudy Giuliani's New York. The solution, it largely turned out, wasn't to become more tolerant of criminality by recasting it as a cultural or lifestyle choice or by invoking root causes (as The New York Times often did), but to become less tolerant of crime. In New York, turnstile jumpers, graffiti artists, even the infamous 'squeegee men' were treated as the lawbreakers they were. One heartening moral of the story is that sometimes deviancy can be defined back up. We learned a similar moral after 9/11. For years ... policymakers in both parties debated how to define terrorism. Is it a law-and-order issue or a military threat? If it's a military threat, how do we define a 'proportionate response' -- this legalistic phrase entered the national-security lexicon back then, too. By the end of the 1990s, the best and the brightest of the Clinton administration found the answer in a lawerly kind of proportionality, blowing up empty office buildings as a way to 'send a message' in response to attacks on America and her interests. After 9/11, the gloves were off. The far left beseeched the government to retaliate with, at most, a proportionate response, but no one cared. We toppled the Taliban as a warm-up act. Terrorists weren't criminals anymore, they were enemy combatants, ineligible for the Geneva Conventions. But the war in Iraq and reports of American zeal in the war on terror have left a sour taste in our mouths. That there have been no terrorist attacks on our soil only bolsters the sense that terrorism is manageable, even banal. Barack Obama leads a counteroffensive from a legal establishment that wants to treat terrorists like any other criminals. Terrorists in Mumbai or Jeddah are little more than the squeegee men of the New World Order." --National Review Editor Jonah Goldberg

RE: THE LEFT

"As he stands on the sidelines, seemingly oblivious to what's going on in the world, President-elect Barack Obama opts out of the game by proclaiming that there's only one president at a time. That's another way of saying, 'Let George do it,' when the Middle East erupts in violence, the economy continues to slump, and the governor of his state defies demands that he step down. His almost nonchalant approach to the turmoil around him has thus far protected him from adverse reactions from his real base -- the media -- but that immunity from harsh criticism has not extended to his political base, the far left. They are after him hammer and tongs. Barack Obama will not become president until January 20, but the far left of his party is already blaming him for all sorts of alleged omissions. He seems to have violated the liberal's major shibboleth, 'No enemies to the left.' He's suddenly acquired a whole slew of them. He may have chosen a few bomb throwers to serve in his Cabinet or the White House, but that hasn't satisfied the more dainty of the lefties who are appalled at his selection of Pastor Rick Warren, who committed the unpardonable sin of not only opposing gay marriage, but actually promoted Proposition 8, which banned the aberration in California. ... They simply don't buy his only-one-president-at-a-time alibi. They want him to start acting presidential now, and all he's been doing in Hawaii is physical exercise (when he's not showing off his pecs to the gaga media)." --radio talk show host Michael Reagan

OBAMAPHILES

"From the Albuquerque Journal: 'Gov. Bill Richardson has withdrawn from his nomination as U.S. commerce secretary, citing concerns about the timing of a federal grand jury investigation involving his administration in New Mexico.' Note the waffle: 'citing concerns about the TIMING of a federal grand jury investigation.' Not the FACT that there is a federal grand jury investigating Richardson's operation. According to the Journal, this all has to do with a California financial firm, CDR Financial Programs of Beverly Hills 'which received $1.4 million for its work' on a bond issue. 'The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office want to know how' a California financial firm, CDR Financial Programs of Beverly Hills, 'got hired in 2004 to work on the $1.6 billion bond issue used to fund highway projects and the Rail Runner commuter train.' What they think happened was the chief executive of the California firm made two contributions totaling [at least] $85,000 to political organizations attached to Richardson. Here's why it raised the eyebrows of the feds: 'The first came six days after CDR was hired as a special adviser on the bond deal; the second was four days before Finance Authority staff recommended the company get the no-bid deal to manage the escrow account.' Whoa! Check, please (literally)! ... President-elect Barack Obama announced the nomination of Peso Bill on December 3. The Journal published the existence of the investigation in August -- some four months before Obama tapped Richardson. The question, then, is: What did Peso Bill tell Obama about the status of that investigation and what his connection might be? Are no-bid-no-contract million dollar deals in return for campaign donations so pervasive among Obama's political cronies that he and Richardson had a good laugh about it and walked out onto the stage in Chicago to announce the nomination?" --political analyst Rich Galen

POLITICAL FUTURES

"After their dismal performance in November, conservatives are taking stock. ... Indeed, while sorting out their errors and considering their options, conservatives of all stripes would be well advised to concentrate their attention on the constitutional order and the principles that undergird it, because maintaining them should be their paramount political priority. A constitutional conservatism puts liberty first and teaches the indispensableness of moderation in securing, preserving and extending its blessings. The constitution it seeks to conserve carefully defines government's proper responsibilities while providing it with the incentives and tools to perform them effectively; draws legitimacy from democratic consent while protecting individual rights from invasion by popular majorities; assumes the primacy of self-interest but also the capacity on occasion to rise above it through the exercise of virtue; reflects, and at the same time refines, popular will through a complex scheme of representation; and disperses and blends power among three distinct branches of government as well as among federal and state governments the better to check and balance it. The Constitution and the nation that has prospered under it for 220 years demonstrate that conserving and enlarging freedom and democracy depends on weaving together rival interests and competing goods." --Stanford University's Hoover Institution senior fellow Peter Berkowitz

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Patriots, 2008 has been a difficult year for many of us and our families, as indeed it has been for our great nation. In no year during my lifetime has there been such a dearth in leadership -- the conservative leadership necessary to guide our nation through its darkest periods by returning to our Patriot origins, the tried and true paths of our national heritage and Founders' legacy.

Twenty-five years ago (like yesterday on the scale of history), Ronald Reagan won 49 of 50 states campaigning on that popular heritage and legacy, but now, fewer than half of the members of Congress who identifying themselves as "Republican" can articulate, much less act on, our Founders' timeless vision for individual liberty rooted in constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, unfettered enterprise, limited taxation, a strong national defense and traditional American values.

However, The Patriot remains steadfast in our dedication and advocacy for that vision, which embodies all that has been good and right about America for all her generations. Since our inception, that vision has been our mission.

A week ago, I sent you a message with a brief introduction of some of our key staff members. Many of our readers who have lived through more difficult times, wrote us that they were heartened to learn that our mission is in the hands of a younger generation. In fact, many of our staff are in their twenties and thirties -- I am the old guy in this organization. We have a vigorous and committed staff and we are always seeking new avenues to reach a younger audience, and will make new strides in that direction in the months ahead.

This new year will present all of us with various challenges, and accordingly, opportunities. I am looking forward to both and hope you are as well. We are indebted to you for standing with us.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness -- indeed.

Happy New Year!

Mark Alexander
Publisher, PatriotPost.US

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

(To submit a comment visit our Letters to the Editor page.)

"We are so encouraged to see these younger Patriot Managers, and it does my heart good to know that our nation's legacy of liberty is being advanced by the next generation of Patriots. You have your work cut out for you. You folks produce an amazing scholarly yet entertaining newsletter. God bless and God help!" --Birmingham, Alabama

"I have been meaning to say this for a long time, and your Christmas edition really struck a chord. Simply put, you saved my life. You see, I grew up in a Christian home, but when I entered my young adult life, I ventured out on my own, and my faith faltered. I engulfed myself in the material world for nearly 30 years. After 9/11, I somehow came across The Patriot, and you reminded me not only of the patriotic things that matter, but it was through reading The Patriot that I found my way back to my spiritual center as well. I cannot express the gratitude that I feel to you because mere words are not enough. Today the times are rough, and I do what I can to help financially, but I look forward to the day that I can show you the proper appreciation for what you have done for me. You have changed my life and moved my spirit and awakened something in me that had long lain dormant. You are Patriots, true Christians and I cannot find enough positive things to say about you." --Tracy, California

"I had donated to The Patriot a couple of weeks ago and truthfully due to higher-than-normal contributions to other worthy causes, I had felt that I had given as much as I could to The Patriot. However, due to the receipt of the 'Meet Your Patriot Managers' emailing, I could not help but to donate once again! I would hate to know that The Patriot lost any of these valuable people due to a lack of the minimum funds necessary to keep you-all (is that some 'southern lingo'?) there! God bless you and the work you do!" --Albany, New York

Editor's Reply: Many thanks to all who supported us in the last year! As it stands this morning, we are at about 97 percent of our 2008 Patriot Annual Fund budget, but still have to account for some mail as it comes in.

THE GIPPER

"The deficit doctors have their scalpels out all right, but they're not poised over the budget. That's as fat as ever and getting fatter. What they're ready to operate on is your wallet." --Ronald Reagan

THE LAST WORD

"Unemployment is at its highest level in 15 years. Housing prices won't stop falling. The stock market has suffered its most punishing collapse since 1931, and shareholders have lost $7 trillion in wealth. Millions of workers have lost their jobs; millions more are worried about losing theirs. IRAs and 401k accounts have been decimated, and companies are halting their contributions to retirement plans. Retail sales are dragging, the credit markets have seized up, and worse is expected in 2009. The government has gone to unprecedented lengths to improve the economy, yet the economy keeps getting worse. The federal budget deficit is headed for a trillion dollars, and the national debt is well over $10 trillion and climbing. ... So what do you do now? Well, if you're a member of Congress, you give yourself a raise. Beginning this week, US representatives and senators will be paid $174,000 a year. That represents an increase of $4,700 and the 10th time since 1998 that congressional pay has been given a boost. As has become routine, this salary hike is taking place automatically -- there were no hearings, no vote, no debate. No members of Congress stepped before the microphones to explain why their performance over the past year entitles them to a fatter paycheck. Or to make the case for helping themselves to more money at a time when so many Americans are out of work, the economy is in recession, and financial distress is spreading. Or to shed light on the curious fact that people who are chronically late when it comes to passing appropriations bills or confirming judges never seem to miss a beat when it comes to pocketing more money for themselves. ... You'd think members of Congress would be ashamed to take more of the public's money at a time when public approval of Congress is lower than ever. Then again, if they were capable of shame, they wouldn't be in Congress." --columnist Jeff Jacoby

THE FOUNDATION

"Religion in a Family is at once its brightest Ornament and its best Security." --Samuel Adams

PATRIOT PERSPECTIVE

Christ's Mass 2008: Our Guiding Light

By Mark Alexander

For my family, Christmas is much more than a day, a season or a collection of memories and rituals. Christmas is a lens through which we endeavor to view all things -- the universe of our Creator and His purpose for us -- every day.

However, it can be difficult at times to comprehend God's plan for us -- after all, how are we to discern our minuscule role in the enormity of His creation? In fact, in our home, we can become so distracted by the daily challenges, demands and routines that we sometimes neglect to seek His purpose for us.

On top of our efforts to maintain a strong marriage and manage our home, Ann and I are raising three children, ages 10, 13 and 15, who have three very distinct personalities, attend three different schools, and are off in three different directions most of their waking hours. (We have friends who have more children and greater challenges, and remain in awe of their ability to manage, and even thrive.)

Recently, my 15-year old son, a faithful and bright young Patriot, came to me with a heavy heart. He told me that sometimes he loses his bearing, feels disconnected from God, and that separation causes him distress.

I acknowledge to him that, similarly, there have been days in my life when I have felt detached from God, and in those times I also struggle with questions about meaning and purpose.

What I have learned (at considerable personal cost) about being disconnected from God is that this division is always the result of my looking to the world for purpose rather than our Creator. Inevitably, after some consternation, I awaken to the reality that our cultural compasses are perpetually disorienting.

Contemporary culture relentlessly encourages us, even seduces us, to irrevocably link our identity to its trappings -- what we do, what we have, who we're with, and the like. But all of these connections are temporal. In the end, if we take our bearings from the culture around us, we are destined to experience emptiness, which it then offers to fill with various distractions and forms of sedation.

I told my son that through my life's trials, I have learned we must look up before we look out -- that we must look to God in order to understand His purpose for us in the world. Indeed, if we define our purpose in cultural terms, or worse, if we try to understand Him through the world's lens, we are destined to remain astray.

"But how do we know God is there?" he asked.

The New Testament's epistle to the Hebrews (11:1) notes, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

However, I would offer that in those times when we sense our Creator's absence, that sense is itself a strong affirmation of His presence. God has built into us a desire to know and to be in unity with Him. When we are not (and have not filled that void with cultural clutter), the emptiness we feel is ample confirmation of His presence.

My son and I talked further about a good metaphor for God's presence on even the bleakest of days.

We both enjoy flying -- it's in our genes. My son is training for his first solo, and this time of year there is a lot of inclement weather. However, even in the worst weather with virtually no visibility at ground level, a few minutes after takeoff you climb out above the cloud cover into clear skies and endless visibility. This emergence into the blue from dense rough weather is awe-inspiring.

Sometimes in winter, our Tennessee mountaintop is shrouded in clouds that settle in for days and even weeks. This absence of sun and blue sky can take its toll on the spirit. But it is a source of comfort to remember that above the clouds, the sun and stars always shine bright. Eventually the weather will break and light from the heavens will avail itself again.

Likewise, God is always there, even if temporarily obscured from our vision.

We talked about explorers who crossed vast oceans in tiny vessels, setting their course by the North Star for places yet to be revealed.

When we make God our North Star, we are guided precisely along the path He has prepared for us, even though we do not know where it leads. However, as was the case with those early mariners, when we lose sight of our North Star, we must hold steady our direction until we find His guiding light again, correct our course and carry on.

Light overtakes darkness, but only if we open our eyes.

"We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead." (Isaiah 59:9-10)

And when we do open the eyes of our heart, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." (Isaiah 9:2)

Indeed, "Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart." (Psalm 97:11)

It is no small irony that a Christmas star guided wise men from the East to the Christ Child in Jerusalem: "After they had heard [Herod], they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed." (Matthew 2:9-10)

The birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies of ages, and foretold in His time: "The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world." (John 1:9)

Jesus described himself in terms of light: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)

And to those who follow him, he instructed: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16)

But I told my son that even on the brightest of days with my eyes wide open, there is so much about God that remains a mystery to me. These unknowns cause me no trepidation -- long ago I discovered that I couldn't hope to fully comprehend our Creator, whose wisdom is infinite.

My conversation with my son about knowing God and understanding His purpose for us will continue throughout our lives together, and I am grateful for his permission to share this slice of it with you, because I think it speaks to the heart of a universal desire to know our Creator.

In the midst of all the daily activities in our home, we make a point to have supper together as a family. When returning thanks for God's provision, we always pray for "grateful hearts and joyful spirits," that we would be grateful in heart to our Provider, and joyful in spirit as a reflection of that gratitude.

This prayer, I believe, draws upon the essence of Christmas, upon the essence of God's gift to us.

In those moments when we feel apart from God and seem to have lost our way, if we ask ourselves, "Who or what am I serving?" the answer will inevitably be some master in the culture around us, which should awaken us to once again open our eyes and see the One True Light.

As always, on behalf of our staff and National Advisory Committee, I am humbled to stand with you among the ranks of our Patriot countrymen. We wish peace and God's blessing upon you and your family.

Merry Christmas!

Veritas vos Liberabit

Mark Alexander

(Regarding our Christmas edition, we take leave from the rigors of research and analysis of contemporaneous news, policy and opinion in order to focus on an eternal message, indeed a Christian message. To our Patriot readers of faiths other than Christianity, we hope this edition serves to deepen your understanding of our faith -- the faith of our Founders and the faith upon which our nation's Declaration and Constitution were founded.)

We will send you a final update on the Patriot Fund next week and the first edition of 2009 will be published the first Monday in January. If you have not already done so, please take a moment to support The Patriot's 2008 Annual Fund today by making a contribution -- however large or small. (If you prefer to support us by mail, please use our printable donor form.)

The Good News

"And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!' So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.' And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying, which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things, which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them." (Luke 2:1-20)

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THE FOUNDATION

"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary." --Thomas Paine

PATRIOT PERSPECTIVE

One reflection of America

By Mark Alexander

Back in 1992, a seasoned New York Times political satirist said he was concerned that if Bill Clinton got elected, humorists wouldn't have much to work with -- until, that is, Clinton was asked about drug use and replied, "I experimented with marijuana [but] I didn't inhale."

Satirists are again expressing similar concerns about Barack Obama, who radiates Clinton's penchant for smugness, but unlike Clinton, frequently seems somber if not depressed.

Obama and Clinton have similar histories of shattered childhoods, of tragedy piled on misfortune, but Barack had the forethought to pre-empt some questions about his life by framing it in a couple of biographies. For example, the issue of his drug abuse: in "Dreams From My Father," an early biographical sketch of his broken family, he described himself as a "Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man. ... I got high [to] push questions of who I was out of my mind. ... We were always playing on the white man's court."

More specifically, he wrote, "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though."

So, are we to gather that Obama, truly a victim of circumstances for which he deserves our compassion, inhaled, but exercised enough self-restraint to refrain from smack (heroin)?

I know plenty of folks of all colors and stripes that were subject to appalling abuse as children, but who, by the grace of God, rose above those circumstances. But Barack Obama is still mired in the chaos of his youth.

The tragedy of Obama's childhood and adolescence now characterize his foray into adulthood. He would lead us to believe that his anomalous years concluded with his graduation from Harvard and move to Chicago, where, with a little help from his friends, his star has risen faster than any political neophyte in history.

However, as was the case with Clinton, pathological narcissism is the engine propelling Obama's success, including his willingness to associate with very unsavory characters in order to ensure his advance. Obama's compulsion to succeed may induce him to fake right while running left; but to underestimate the influence of those who have mentored him, those who "brung him to the dance," is imprudent, to put it mildly.

A few years ago when visiting Kenya, home of the birth father who abandoned him at age two, Obama spoke of corruption and how it undermines the integrity of government: "My own city of Chicago has been the home of some of the most corrupt politics in American history. Corruption is a problem we all share."

Now, after having soaked in Chicago's political cesspool for almost two decades, Obama has emerged looking like a rose, if not so much smelling like one. But, like he says, you can put lipstick on a pig...

Given Obama's recent endeavor to distance himself from one of his political benefactors, the current kingpin of Chicago corruption, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, I'm certain that he and his ilk will provide plenty of fodder for critics and satirists alike. Whether any of his adoring media toadies would dare to use such material against The One is another issue altogether. Perhaps that chore will be left to an earnest prosecutor.

As I wrote recently in "Team Obamavich", surely Barack possesses enough political savvy to have insulated his involvement in Blagojevich's racket with cutouts, disposable emissaries who can take one for the team if necessary -- possibly even someone as close to Obama as, say, Rahm Emanuel.

However, could not the president-elect express just a bit of outrage about the explicit and startling corruption charges against his audacious old buddy, Blago, who spent the last month panhandling for big favors in return for the appointment of Obama's Senate successor?

On the subject of favors, in a September interview, talkinghead Katie Couric tossed Obama one of many softballs: "What is your favorite movie of all time?"

His answer may provide some insight into his own psyche and current "Chicago problem": "The Godfather," said Obama, adding that his favorite scene "has to be, the opening where the caretaker comes in and, you know, Marlon Brando is sitting there and he's saying 'you disrespected me.' You know, 'and now you want a favor.' It sets the tone for the whole movie. I mean there's this combination of old world gentility and ritual, with this savagery underneath. It's all about family, so it's a great movie."

Ah yes, it's all about "family, and the savagery underneath."

Is it possible that the president-elect has been battered and fried in corruption for so long that he doesn't have the moral authority or fortitude to condemn Blagojevich? Or is it that Obama has enough residual virtue left to sense that denouncing Blago would constitute an act of hypocrisy greater than even he could stomach?

During his tenure in office, none of Clinton's corrupt past stuck -- not Whitewater, not Travelgate, not Filegate, not what his staff called "Bimbo Eruptions" like credible rape charges and the abuse of a young White House intern. Slick Willie, indeed -- the Teflon pres -- as the producer of that product notes, "it is best known for its slipperiness, which is useful where non-stick features are important ... making cleanup a breeze."

However, given Barack Obama's ability rinse clean from a life of antisocial behavior, his association with miscreants, his close affiliation with corrupt politicos, etc., he has discovered something better than Teflon.

The fact is Obama's political rise is not the result of slick deception and evasion. His ascent to power can be attributed to something much more subtle and, potentially, sinister, with far more ominous implications for the liberty embodied in that august old document, our Constitution.

Some 67 million Americans identify with Obama. They see some part of themselves reflected in his brokenness, his dysfunctional childhood, his victimization, and his search for salvation and his father, in the authority of the state.

The implications of this distorted and perverted mass identity are grave.

History is littered with examples of tragic eras when economic and political upheaval led weaker men to anoint a savior from among their ranks. The tyranny and suffering that inevitably followed cost them, and succeeding generations, far more than their original misfortunes.

We began this week by commemorating the 217th anniversary of the adoption of our Bill of Rights, the first Ten Amendments to our Constitution, as ratified in 1791. Let us pray, then, and let us assume whatever additional burdens are necessary to ensure that we can still recognize those precious rights on their 218th anniversary and beyond.

Quote of the week

"For the more historically minded, it's a time for nostalgia. The past comes alive as Chicago's grand tradition of corruption is sustained for another generation. As the Chicago Tribune once wrote, 'corruption has been as much a part of the landscape as corn, soybeans and skyscrapers.' According to the Chicago Sun-Times, as of 2006, when Blago's predecessor, George Ryan, was sent to prison for racketeering, 79 elected officials had been convicted of corruption in the past 30 years. ... The New York Times -- which, according to Wall Street analysts, is weeks from holding editorial board meetings in a refrigerator box -- created the journalistic equivalent of CSI-Wasilla to study every follicle and fiber in Sarah Palin's background, all the while treating Obama's Chicago like one of those fairy-tale lands depicted in posters that adorn little girls' bedroom walls. See there, Suzie? That's a Pegasus. That's a pink unicorn. And that's a beautiful sunflower giving birth to a fully grown Barack Obama, the greatest president ever and the only man in history to be able to pick up manure from the clean end." --National Review editor Jonah Goldberg

Open query

"In the final analysis, we, the people, are responsible for the corruption of our leaders by failing to demand a higher standard of conduct from our politicians. Increasingly, Americans have grown accustomed to a culture characterized by moral relativism and individualism. We have mocked Judeo-Christian values -- humility, virtue, honor -- and in the process, eroded restraints on social conduct. The results have become painfully obvious in the business arena and are becoming increasingly obvious in the political arena. When we do not demand honor, virtue, and accountability from ourselves, can we really expect more from our leaders? Have we merely gotten the leaders we deserve?" --Ken Connor, Chairman of the Center for a Just Society

Final call

As of this morning, we have raised almost 85 percent of our 2008 Annual Fund budget.

There are only 12 days until year-end left in this critical campaign, and we still must raise $116,685 in order to meet our budget.

Our mission and operations budget is a small fraction of other influential conservative organization budgets. We are able to do this in large part because our dedicated staff members are motivated by mission, not the modest wages they receive.

If you have not already done so, please take a moment to support The Patriot's 2008 Annual Fund today by making a contribution -- however large or small. (If you prefer to support us by mail, please use our printable donor form.)

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 God bless you and your family.

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis!
Mark Alexander
Publisher

(Note: The Patriot is not sustained by any political, special interest or parent organization, nor do we accept any third-party online or e-mail advertising. Our mission and operations budgets are funded by -- and depend entirely upon -- the voluntary financial support of American Patriots like YOU!)

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

From the Left: Blagojevich saga continues

The Illinois state legislature officially launched an impeachment inquiry into the shenanigans of Democrat Governor Rod Blagojevich this week. Several weeks of hearings into Blagojevich's pay-to-play schemes and other questionable acts are set to take place, perhaps leading to a full scale impeachment trial that may remove him from office. It is not, however, an open-and-shut case, which may explain why Blagojevich has no intention of stepping down quietly from his post. In fact, he has been reporting for duty as if nothing has changed, even signing into law a bill involving the same casino and horse-racing industries that he allegedly used to squeeze campaign contributions in exchange for his signature.

It turns out that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was not able to catch the sale of Obama's Senate seat on tape, which would have greatly solidified his case. He was rushed into arresting Blagojevich because the Chicago Tribune was no longer interested in holding onto the story without publishing it. Great moments in American journalism, indeed.

Whether Blagojevich walks or pays the price for his corruption remains to be seen, but right now, all eyes are on Obama's Senate seat. Illinois Democrats want Blagojevich out the door, but they are not interested in stripping him of his power to appoint Obama's replacement. Still, Blagojevich's lawyer says the governor will not make an appointment. Such a move would likely lead to a special election for the Senate seat that a Republican could win if the voters make Chicago's crooked Democrat Party pay for playing. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has vowed that the nation's senators will not welcome a Blagojevich appointment to Washington. But if that appointment came from Illinois's Democrat Lt. Governor? Well, that's a different story.

Meanwhile, Team Obama has officially cleared itself of any wrongdoing in the scandal by releasing the following statement: "At the direction of the president-elect, a review of transition staff contacts with Governor Blagojevich and his office has been conducted and completed and is ready for release. That review affirmed the public statements of the president-elect that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that the president-elect's staff was not involved in inappropriate discussions with the governor or his staff over the selection of his successor as U.S. senator." Let's move on folks, nothing to see here.

Ponzi scheme benefits Democrats

Speaking of corruption, Bernard Madoff, founder of Manhattan-based Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, was arrested and charged with securities fraud this week in what may be history's largest Ponzi scheme. Investors in Madoff's hedge funds may have lost anywhere from $17 billion to $50 billion. Investment details aside, Madoff was a major player in Washington politics -- for the Democrats. Since 1993, the Madoff clan has donated more than $380,000 to individual politicians and political action committees, including $100,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In particular, DSCC head Sen. Chuck Schumer (the other senator from New York) received money from Madoff -- $39,000 for his 1998 and 2004 races. One will search in vain for such details in Leftmedia stories about Madoff, however. Apparently, it isn't worth a mention.

Hope 'n' Change: Obama's education secretary

At first glance, Arne Duncan, Chicago's top public school official, appeared to be a safe pick as Obama's education secretary. Naturally, however, Duncan's record doesn't seem to merit his elevation. In America's third-largest school district, Duncan did manage to improve graduation rates, but other statistics are disturbing, such as the fact that only 17 percent of eighth graders can read at grade level, and only 25 percent of all Chicago students scored above the national average in math. Duncan was also instrumental in the proposal of a homosexual high school in Chicago. Furthermore, Duncan is tied to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Bill Ayers' brainchild for radicalizing, rather than educating, Chicago's youth. Now Bill Ayers can influence all publicly educated American children. Finally, we find it curious that Obama thinks Duncan is worthy to be education secretary for his work in Chicago, even while the Obamas didn't dare put their children into the public school system Duncan oversees.

In other Obama news, the president-elect has asked Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration on 20 January, a move that has created more anger on the Angry Left, if such a thing is possible. Obamaphiles are upset mainly because Warren led conservative support for California's Proposition 8, which sought to re-ban same-sex marriage. Kevin Naff, editor of the homosexual rag the Washington Blade, called the choice a "slap in the faces" of homosexual voters. "We have just endured eight years of endless assaults on our dignity and equality from a president beholden to bigoted conservative Christians. The election was supposed to have ended that era. It appears otherwise." On the other hand, we're not convinced Obama has truly seen the light.

Clinton reveals donors

Bill Clinton released the list of 205,000 donors to the Clinton Foundation Thursday as part of the deal with Barack Obama for Hillary Clinton's spot in the cabinet as secretary of state. The donors include members of the Saudi royal family and other Middle Eastern leaders, and total foreign donations total more than $140 million. Though Clinton released donation amounts only in ranges and not exact amounts, we now know that Saudi Arabia gave at least $10 million and the ruling Zayed family of the United Arab Emirates donated between $1 million and $5 million. The governments of Oman, Qatar and Kuwait gave more than $1 million each, as did those of Australia, the Dominican Republic, Norway, Brunei and Taiwan. To put it mildly, considering U.S. interests around the world and in the Middle East in particular, these donations create an interesting dilemma for Hillary. The Clintons' practices, which show how small time Gov. Blagojevich really was, should also provide some fodder for Republican senators interested in challenging her nomination.

News from the Swamp: Federal deficit skyrockets

Federal spending grew 25 percent in 2008 according to a joint White House-Treasury Department report released this week. Taxpayers will end up more than $1 trillion in the hole thanks to this steep rise, which is accounted for mostly by significant growth in veterans' benefits and tax revenues that have remained static due to a yearlong recession. The scary part is that this trillion-dollar red mark comes before Uncle Sam's bailout escapades are taken into account. President-elect Obama's plan for another stimulus package early next year will only increase the federal deficit, which went from $162.8 billion in fiscal 2008 to $454.8 billion just one year later. But never fear, members of Congress are set to receive a pay raise of $4,700 a year beginning in January.

This "damn-the-torpedoes" strategy of not worrying about the deficit during times of economic strain will one day sink the American economy. This year, the federal government will spend $450 billion on just the interest on the national debt. That interest payment ranks fourth in total government outlays, behind Medicare-Medicaid, Social Security and defense. In 30 years, the government's current tax revenue will cover only half of what it owes. We're soon going to be looking for change, all right.

GOP House cleaning

After their devastating defeat in the November elections, Republicans are cleaning House in an attempt to reinvent the party and regain voter confidence. For starters, they have followed the scent of pork to the state of Alaska, where Rep. Don Young is the latest casualty in a purge that took down former Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski in 2006 and, more recently, Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. But unlike Murkowski, who was given the heave-ho by voters in favor of Sarah Palin, and Stevens, who was found guilty of accepting improper gifts, Young is being booted by Republican leadership in an effort to avoid another full-blown scandal.

Already associated with the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," Young is now rumored to be under criminal investigation for allegedly earmarking funds for a Florida freeway interchange (yes, 5,000 miles from home) that would have enriched a friend. At the time, Young was serving as chairman of the Transportation Committee.

Young's descent began with his recent removal from the Republican Steering Committee, and his effective exclusion thereafter from party decision-making in Alaska, from having a role in setting the GOP agenda; it continued last week, when House Republican leader John Boehner informed Young that he will no longer be the Republican top dog of the Natural Resources Committee. Young has held a seat on the committee for many years, and served as its chair in the 1990s.

Still, Young will retain his office, his seniority, and his committee memberships, including the Natural Resources Committee. He continues to deny any wrongdoing and has expressed his confidence that he will be vindicated and will regain his post.

Palin's Alaska church burned

"Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's home church was badly damaged by arson, leading the governor to apologize Saturday if the fire was connected to 'undeserved negative attention' from her campaign as the Republican vice presidential nominee," The Washington Post reports. "Damage to the Wasilla Bible Church was estimated at $1 million, authorities said." An investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives discovered that an accelerant had been poured around the exterior of the church. The fire was set at the main entrance while a small group, including two children, was inside, though no one was hurt. Members of the church had an optimistic outlook after what can only be described in today's parlance as a hate crime. "Whatever the motives of the arsonist, the governor has faith in the scriptural passage that what was intended for evil will in some way be used for good," said Palin's spokesman Bill McAllister.

Paul Weyrich, 1942-2008

Conservative activist and commentator Paul Weyrich died this week. He was 66. Weyrich was the co-founder and first president of the Heritage Foundation, and he coined the term "moral majority." He also was a colleague and fellow member of the Council for National Policy with our publisher, Mark Alexander. At the time of his death, Weyrich was serving as chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank. Lee Edwards, a friend and Heritage Foundation scholar, said, "He was a dedicated conservative and patriot, an excellent strategist." Indeed, in his last commentary, posted with Thursday's date, Weyrich wrote of conservatism's "serious agenda for the future." Always thinking forward...

NATIONAL SECURITY

Department of Military Readiness: Our aging nuclear stockpile

Much ink (or bandwidth, as the case may be) already has been expended in speculation about Barack Obama's domestic agenda; much less has been expended on his national security priorities (except for Iraq). However, there is one issue on which the incoming Obama administration has the potential to alter the United States' national security fundamentally, and on which little has so far been written: his policy on the nation's stockpile of nuclear weapons. While it may be dismissed as campaign rhetoric, Obama's stated position is that the elimination of all nuclear weapons will be "a central element in our nuclear policy."

There may have been no more passionately held goal, nor a more wrong-headed one, than the Left's attempts starting nearly 40 years ago for unilateral disarmament of nuclear weapons. While the Reagan and Bush 41 administrations did much to stave off the lefties of their day, today the U.S. nuclear stockpile is in a truly dangerous state. Our last nuclear test was conducted in 1992, and many of our weapons date from the 1960s.

Existing U.S. nukes are becoming less reliable by the year due to the lack of testing, and the refusal of the Democrat-controlled Congress to approve the Reliable Replacement Warhead Program effectively prevents the United States from restocking its nuclear arsenal. The end result may be an arsenal that has reached the point that it cannot be considered reliable, and has no new replacement warheads -- in other words, nuclear disarmament by default.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates clearly understands this problem: "Currently, the United States is the only declared nuclear power that is neither modernizing its nuclear arsenal nor has the capability to produce a new nuclear warhead. To be blunt, there is absolutely no way we can maintain a credible deterrent and reduce the number of weapons in our stockpile without either resorting to testing our stockpile or pursuing a modernization program." The unfortunate thing is, we don't think Gates' future boss has the same outlook.

Russians visit Cuba

The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! The Russians are... Zzzz. Fortunately for the world, Russia on the move isn't what it used to be. For the first time since World War II, Russian warships have been taking a tropical cruise through Panama and visiting Venezuela, and are now on their way to visit the Communist paradise of Cuba. Although it appears that the Russians are trying to jerk America's chain and reignite some Cold War passions, the Pentagon is taking a decidedly ho-hum approach to the whole thing. Admiral James Stavridis, head of the U.S. Southern Command, said there is no reason to be concerned about the Russian navy's activity, deadpanning in an email to the media, "They pose no military threat to the U.S."

For their part, the Russians, unhappy with several recent U.S. moves that include sending an American warship into the Black Sea in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Georgia, pushing to admit Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, and deploying missile defense systems in Poland, apparently think linking up with the likes of Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro will bring some of that old-time Soviet magic back. It doesn't appear to have done so, and, given the state of Russian and Venezuelan finances in the wake of crumbling oil prices, it won't in the near future, either. Maybe it's just that December in the Caribbean is better than in Moscow.

Profiles of valor: U.S. Army 1st Lt. Neil Prakash

On 24 June 2004, 1st Lt. Neil Prakash of the United States Army had been on patrol from midnight until 7 a.m. He returned to Forward Operating Base Scunion only to be sent back out onto the Blue Babe Highway because of reports of 25 to 30 jihadis setting improvised explosive devices on the roadside. Three hours later, Prakash's platoon headed to Boqouba to alleviate a siege with his tank in the lead. They received a report of small groups of insurgents prepared to fight on the way, and soon got confirmation of the warning. A rocket-propelled grenade fired from a nearby house hit his tank, followed by six more hits from as close as 30 meters, as well as multiple IED blasts. One hit took out the navigation, and another damaged the turret, making it impossible to rotate. Prakash maneuvered the entire vehicle to direct .50-caliber machine-gun fire at the enemy. After returning to FOB Scunion for more ammo and quick repairs, Prakash went back into action. His tank destroyed eight enemy positions, one resupply vehicle and multiple enemy fighters that day. "He was incredible," said Spc. John Langford, Prakash's loader in the battle. "He kept us in line and kept us calm. I couldn't have chosen a better tank commander or platoon leader for what we experienced that day." For his actions, Lt. Prakash received the Silver Star.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Auto bailout approved by Bush administration

President George W. Bush announced Friday morning that the White House will include General Motors and Chrysler in the Treasury Department's fiscal bailout plan. The automakers will receive $13,4 billion in emergency loans now, plus another $4 billion in February contingent on the companies undertaking reorganization dictated by the federal government. Among the conditions is Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker's proposal that the automakers negotiate wage and benefit cuts with the United Auto Workers to better align them with competition from foreign companies making autos here in the United States, but that requirement is non-binding. GM and Chrysler must also limit executive pay and eliminate their corporate jets. On 30 March, GM and Chrysler will be made to give account of their condition.

"These are not ordinary circumstances, in the midst of a financial crisis and a recession allowing the US auto industry to collapse is not a responsible action," the president said, adding, "Chapter 11 is unlikely to work for the American automakers at this time." Fair-weather capitalism is also unlikely to work at any time.

The Fed cuts interest rates again

The Federal Reserve cut its target interest rate Tuesday to historic lows between zero and a quarter percentage point and said it could expand a program of unorthodox lending and securities purchases," reports The Wall Street Journal. The discount rate of half a percentage point is the lowest since the 1940s, and the rate on three-month Treasury bills is near zero, the lowest since the 1930s. The Fed was expected to cut rates again, but these cuts were more than anticipated. In the last 16 months, the Fed has cut rates by more than five percentage points. Unfortunately, the longer-term effect of such rate cutting is that when recovery comes (and it will come) high inflation is likely. Think Jimmy Carter, 1979, malaise.

"We are running out of the traditional ammunition that's used in a recession, which is to lower interest rates. They're getting to be about as low as they can go," said Captain Obvious, er, President-elect Obama. Determined to carry on the Carter mantel, Obama released plans for a "stimulus" package of up to $850 billion, to include new roads, green energy projects and other government schemes.

Meanwhile, the Fed is, as The Journal put it, "taking away with one hand what it gives with the other" by imposing "what amount to federal price controls on credit cards." The result of such controls will be tightening of consumer credit at a time when the object is ostensibly to keep credit markets liquid. Credit card companies will also likely raise rates for everyone and cut benefits for reward cards.

Income Redistribution: New York's tax proposal

New York's Gov. David Paterson has proposed a tax package that adds $4 billion to the state's already overburdened taxpayers. We suppose they get what they vote for. Paterson's aim is to close a budget deficit of $15 billion, and liberals naturally gravitate toward tax hikes rather than spending cuts. Funny how taxpayers don't get to apply the same principles to their own budgets...

Paterson's tax plan calls for 88 new fees and taxes, including a clothing tax, radio tax, cable TV tax, movie theater tax, sporting event tax, taxi tax, bus tax, limo tax, iPod tax, beer tax, cigar tax, massage tax, and even an 18-percent tax hike on soda and other sugary drinks containing less than 70 percent real fruit juice. Fees at state parks and the Department of Motor Vehicles also will be raised. The only tax that didn't see an increase, it seems, was the income tax. "We're going to have to take some extreme measures," Paterson said of the plan. "This is where we are," Paterson added. "Maybe we should have thought about this when we were depending on what we thought was inexhaustive collections of taxes from Wall Street -- and now those taxes have fallen off a cliff." Our nation's Founders fought a war over excessive taxes, declaring "no taxation without representation." Well, taxation with representation ain't so hot, either.

Corporate America moving to greener pastures

Foreshadowing the mobility of capital, American corporations are fleeing the country in response to the hostility of the increased incoming Democrat majorities in Congress. Since Democrats took control of Congress in 2007, liberal lawmakers, bent on forcing companies to conform to their notions of "patriotic" corporate behavior, have treated the country to a series of corporate inquisitions over business practices. The U.S. is also saddled with the second highest taxation rate in the world.

The results have been a spectacular display of congressional economic illiteracy punctuated by an epic economic meltdown originally triggered by malfeasance in Congress' oversight of the home mortgage industry. Coupled with promises of further investigations, more burdensome regulations, and even higher taxes, it is little wonder that domestic corporations are moving overseas to escape an increasingly harsh American business climate. As expressed by the oil company Weatherford International in choosing to move to the more favorable business environment of Switzerland, the U.S. is merely one market making itself too difficult in which to conduct business. Consequently, the high-paying jobs associated with their corporate headquarters will also be shifted away from America. Foreign capital will likewise be sure to flow to better business environments than the one being created by Congress.

Speaking of oil, OPEC ministers anticipate they will again cut production by the unprecedented amount of 2.2 million barrels a day to combat falling oil prices following the first reduction in demand in decades. Oddly enough, after OPEC's announcement, oil dropped below $40 a barrel for the first time since 2004.

CULTURE & POLICY

Village Academic Curriculum: Georgia segregation continues

And we thought that the election of Barack Obama would end racial politics. We learned otherwise in Georgia, however, as a state senator's trial balloon of merging primarily white colleges with primarily black ones in two Georgia cities met with fierce resistance from alumni and educators at the larger black schools. Under the suggestion from the Chair of the State Senate Higher Education Committee, Seth Harp, Armstrong Atlantic State University would merge with Savannah State University and Darton College would be combined with Albany State University. Harp's reasoning was pure economics -- merging the schools would help Georgia close the gap on its $2 billion budget deficit. And yet opponents called this effort at desegregation "racism." Who knew? While the historically black institutions would maintain their names, those who study the role of these colleges fretted that educational opportunities would be decreased for minority students, pointing out that these schools have a graduation rate comparable to mainly white colleges despite taking in students considered less qualified. As Dwayne Ashley, president of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and merger opponent, noted, "Historically black institutions play a vital role in the community, the state and the nation. They provide educations to a number of young men and women who might not otherwise attend college."

Harp countered that the cities involved weren't necessarily large enough to support two colleges, and that, "[w]e really need to close the chapter of segregated schools and create a unified system." While Senator Harp's merger proposal is "not really on the radar screen" as a spokesman for the Georgia Board of Regents claims, apparently "separate but equal" still has some proponents in Georgia.

Climate change this week: World ends, but Obama can still save it

"Obama left with little time to curb global warming," headlined the Associated Press in a propaganda piece about climate change. "We're out of time," Stanford University biologist Terry Root said in the piece. "Things are going extinct." The article continued, "[Al] Gore called the situation 'the equivalent of a five-alarm fire that has to be addressed immediately.'" And that's the good news. "Scientists [who shall remain nameless] fear that what's happening with Arctic ice melt will be amplified so that ominous sea level rise will occur sooner than they expected. They predict Arctic waters could be ice-free in summers, perhaps by 2013, decades earlier than they thought only a few years ago."

AP op-ed contributor Seth Borenstein really hit a home run in his closing paragraph, saying that even though 2008 has been much cooler -- note the snowfall in Las Vegas and Malibu this week -- that really points to global warming. "The average global temperature in 2008 is likely to wind up slightly under 57.9 degrees Fahrenheit, about a tenth of a degree cooler than last year. When Clinton was inaugurated, 57.9 easily would have been the warmest year on record. Now, that temperature would qualify as the ninth warmest year." With all this disastrous information, we're beginning to fear that the Onion's recent satirical story on the "massive hurriphoonado" caused by global warming is bound to come true.

Hollywood blacklists are back

McCarthy rides again in Hollywood, but this time, commies are safe. Instead, anyone who supported California's Proposition 8, which opposed same-sex marriage, is blacklisted. Consider, for example, that protestors forced California Musical Theater Artistic Director Scott Eckern to resign following his $1,000 donation to the "Yes on 8" campaign, and L.A. Film Festival Director Richard Raddon committed an apparently unpardonable sin when he gave $1,500 to the campaign, a move that resulted in many members of the festival's board pressuring him into resignation.

Even L.A. cuisine must bow to the homosexual agenda. After Marjorie Christoffersen, the manager of the city's famed El Coyote restaurant -- who, incidentally, has been praised for her kindness to homosexual employees -- gave $100 to "Yes on 8," activists spent a month protesting and boycotting the restaurant, bullying Christoffersen into ending her 26-year tenure there. Never fear, though. El Coyote's managers took a stand -- on the side of the protestors, that is -- giving $10,000 to homosexual activist groups to "make up" for Christoffersen's $100 donation.

No word yet on any plans for a Hollywood documentary denouncing the blacklisting of Prop 8 supporters.

Christmas endures another year of bah, humbug

Each Christmas, the Scrooges of the world come out to fight the real meaning of the holiday. Naturally, this means lawsuits of one sort or another, this year including one by the Freedom From Religion Foundation against Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, for a crèche displayed on government property.

Others, however, are more creative in their disdain. Washington's Democrat Governor Christine Gregoire this year sanctioned the public display of a "winter solstice" sign at the state capitol sponsored by the atheistic Freedom from Religion Foundation. The sign declares that religion is "myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds" and concludes, "may reason prevail."

Meanwhile, some sick souls simply vandalize nativity scenes. In Paw Paw, Michigan, police are searching for a stolen baby Jesus figurine. Authorities in Kingsport, Tennessee, are looking for vandals who decapitated one of the shepherds in a nativity display at Church Circle. And finally, two Josephs and two Marys populate a Netherlands nativity scene erected by a Dutch homosexual group as part of its "Pink Christmas" festival. Hardly surprising, as the manipulation of facts is part and parcel to their unholy crusade.

'Tis the season for reason, indeed.

And last...

What's in a name? In some cases, a lot of bad history. Such is the misfortune of one three-year-old boy in Holland Township, New Jersey, whose parents saddled him with the baggage of being named for the infamous Adolf Hitler. The least of the boy's troubles is that a local supermarket refused to make a birthday cake with his name on it. Nor would the same supermarket make a cake for his sister, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation, who will be two in February. Aside from the obvious psychological problems suffered by Adolf's parents, an insightful Allentown psychologist suggested that the names would cause problems for the children later in life. This led The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto to quip, "Boy, you don't say! What if the Campbell boy grows up and wants to be president one day? He'll never get elected once people realize his middle name was also the name of a brutal dictator!"

THE FOUNDATION

"[T]here is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust." --James Madison

UPRIGHT

"Whether you're running for office, holding a public trust or simply voting -- politics are all about conscience. Being guided by it, protecting it and understanding it." --columnist Kathryn Jean Lopez

"Is there any system of governance or economics that can withstand rampant corruption or self-entitlement? ... Has the astounding success of American capitalism spawned people who consider themselves completely removed from the ethical guidelines that govern mere mortals? Has the wholesale abandonment of religion for secularism produced a moral vacuum? ... No system can survive when its prime movers and shakers are fundamentally corrupt -- most especially when they don't consider themselves to be so." --columnist Arnold Ahlert

"So, do the rest of you now have some idea of the depth of corruption in Chicago and Illinois, and why some of us were so concerned about electing a president who emerges from this cesspool? ... Brazen, appalling, unbelievable, they say. But for those of us who have spent a lifetime covering the news here, it's how it works." --Chicago columnist Dennis Byrne

"Reality check: The chances of House Democrats opening an ethics investigation into either [the junior Jesse] Jackson's or [Rahm] Emanuel's involvement [in the "Blago" scandal] is exactly zero. Ethics. Democrats. Say that three times fast." --columnist Rich Galen

"The automakers' contention that they pay workers $73 an hour takes into account the cost of pensions and health insurance for retirees. Still, no one disputes that Detroit's unionized active workers cost a good $10 an hour more than the nonunionized work forces that build Toyotas, Hondas and BMW's in the largely nonunionized South." --columnist William Murchison

"[Illinois Gov. Rod] Blagojevich allegedly assumed someone would be willing to pay dearly to be a U.S. senator. I'm sure he was right. But if government were less important in our lives, politicians would have fewer goodies to trade. In return, we'd have more money and more freedom. That's one more reason to limit government power." --ABC News' "20/20" anchor John Stossel

"It looks as if we are going to have to relive all of the mistakes of the 20th century one more time -- let's hope it is one last time -- before we relearn the big lesson of that century: the moral and material superiority of capitalism and the disastrous consequences of socialism in all its forms." --columnist Robert Tracinski

INSIGHT

"We shall return to proven ways -- not because they are old, but because they are true." --Barry Goldwater

"Never assume the obvious is true." --William Safire

"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others." --Groucho Marx

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

"A charismatic Democratic President takes office promising to extend health insurance to all Americans. His party enjoys majorities in Congress, and the GOP is at sea. The press corps finds policy a bore and instead files stories that draw facile analogies to the heyday of FDR... Any taxpayer commitment this large ought to require a social consensus reflected in large majorities, but Democrats are determined to plow ahead anyway. They know that a health-care entitlement for the middle class will never be removed once it is in place; and that government will then dominate American health-care choices for decades to come. That's all the more reason for the recumbent GOP to get its act together." --The Wall Street Journal

DEZINFORMATSIA

Historical revisionism: "Noting the date, Dec. 7, which marks the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, [Jeremiah] Wright instead chose to focus on the thousands of Japanese civilians who died four years later when the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima." --Chicago Tribune "journalist" Manya Brachear on Wright's remark, "Today is December 7th, the day that this government killed over 80,000 Japanese civilians at Hiroshima in 1941, two days before killing an additional 64,000 Japanese civilians at Nagasaki by dropping nuclear bombs on innocent people."

Victimitis: "The Windy City is a political stew of characters, a cast of players that even Hollywood would envy. Governor Rod Blagojevich is just the latest squeaky wheel in Chicago's political machine. Although he promised to be different, he fell victim, prosecutors allege, to history." --NBC's Lee Cowan

Untainted?: "I should also highlight ... that [Barack Obama has] also set down a marker for transparency. He promised a transparent government ... and he has revealed now much more than we usually hear in these kind of investigations scandals from a politician." --CNN's Jessica Yellin

Can't wait another minute: "If I had my druthers right now, we would convene a special session of Congress, amend the Constitution and move up the inauguration from Jan. 20 to Thanksgiving Day. ... Just get me a Supreme Court justice and a Bible, and let’s swear in Barack Obama right now -- by choice -- with the same haste we did -- by necessity -- with L.B.J. in the back of Air Force One." --New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman

Putting the hype in hyperbole: "And coming up here on the show, with wildfires, droughts and storms getting worse, Barack Obama is about to announce his team to take on what has been described as humanity's greatest problem." --ABC's Dan Harris teeing up for Leftmedia propagandizing about how Obama is going to lower the global seas and heal the planet

Said with a straight face: "Mother Nature, of course, is oblivious to the federal government's machinations. Ironically, 2008 is on pace to be a slightly cooler year in a steadily rising temperature trend line. Experts say it's thanks to a La Nina weather variation. While skeptics are already using it as evidence of some kind of cooling trend, it actually illustrates how fast the world is warming." --AP writer Seth Borenstein

Newspulper Headlines:

Too Much Information: "Obama: I Probed Myself and I'm Clean" --NewsMax.com

The Timid Ones Remain Under Suspicion: "Obama Says Confident Staff Clear in Ill. Scandal" --Associated Press

'Let Them Eat Cake': "State Asks Powerless to Remain Patient" --WBUR-AM/FM Web site

Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: Giant Black Hole Found at Heart of Milky Way" --FoxNews.com ++ "Big Cat Bites Santa During Photo Shoot at NJ Store" --Associated Press

News You Can Use: "Lesson 1: Don't Drive Into Parked Police Car" --San Francisco Chronicle

Bottom Stories of the Day: "Canadian Productivity Continues to Lag" --Canwest News Service ++ "Gore Urges Quick Action on Climate Change" --Associated Press

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto)

WE DEPEND ON YOU!

Former Senator Fred Thompson reads The Patriot Post: "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 who they serve."

Fellow Patriots, our 2008 Annual Fund campaign is drawing to a close. As of this morning, we have raised almost 85 percent of our 2008 Annual Fund budget.

We have only 14 days left to raise the remaining $119,235 in order to meet budget. As you know, The Patriot is not sustained by any political, special interest or parent organization. Nor do we accept any third-party online or e-mail advertising. Our operations and mission are funded by -- and depend entirely upon -- the voluntary financial support of American Patriots like YOU!

The Patriot Post is distributed without a subscription fee so that thousands of our military, collegiate and mission field readers can receive The Patriot at no charge.

"As a veteran Marine, I'm sickened at what the Marxist 'useful idiots' have done to my country. The Patriotis a great rallying point, and I know you are awakening the Patriot spirit in many of our countrymen. But beware friends -- the Left is targeting you and your band of brothers. Keep up the good work. Semper Fi!" --San Diego, California

If you have not already done so, please take a moment to support The Patriot's 2008 Annual Fund today by making a contribution -- however large or small. (If you prefer to support us by mail, please use our printable donor form.)

Every dollar you contribute provides a free subscription for someone serving our nation, or a young person who will fill a family, community and national leadership role in the next generation.

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 God bless you and your family.

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis!
Mark Alexander
Publisher

THE DEMO-GOGUES

Political bailout: "The auto executives undeniably made many misguided decisions that brought us to this point, but our battered economy can hardly afford the risks of these companies going bankrupt, adding to rising unemployment and plunging us further into recession." --auto industry expert Harry Reid (D-NV) ++ "It is unacceptable for this un-American, frankly, behavior of these U.S. Senators to cause this country to go from a recession into a depression." --Michigan Demo Gov. Jennifer Granholm objecting to the defeat of the "bridge loan" bailout of U.S. auto companies

Belly Laugh of the Week: "But the other point I would make is this: The purpose of this is to be able to get the federal government the he** out of it. They need us for now. But the federal government is there to try to make the federal role unnecessary within a few years." --Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) on the bailouts

Promises, promises: "We will keep our promise to drain the swamp that is Washington, DC, to let sunshine disinfect the Congress." --House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Sure: "I reject and denounce 'pay-to-play' politics... I thought I deserved to be the senator because I earned it." --Jesse Jackson Jr., a.k.a. "Senate Candidate #5" in the Rod Blagojevich scandal

Global warming alarmism: "The time for delay is over; the time for denial is over. We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now that this is a matter of urgency and national security and it has to be dealt with in a serious way." --Barack Obama on global warming

VILLAGE IDIOTS

How unions saved America: "Unions ... have been the vehicle for economic growth, economic equity and the American Dream. ... The Republican attack on the auto workers is an attack on the American Dream for all workers." --Chris Chafe, executive director of Obama-linked Leftist political agitator group Change to Win

Way off base: "In fact the UAW has given concession after concession.... But even doing all that wasn't enough to satisfy the bastard Republicans. These Senate vampires wanted blood. Blue collar blood. You see, they weren't opposed to the bailout because they believed in the free market or capitalism. No, they were opposed to the bailout because they're opposed to workers making a decent wage. In their rage, they were driven to destroy the backbone of this country." --Leftist filmmaker Michael Moore

More global warmisim: "We're out of time. Things are going extinct." --Stanford University biologist Terry Root on "global warming" ++ "The equivalent of a five-alarm fire that has to be addressed immediately." --Algore on well, you know

From the gun grabbers: "We don't do enough in this country to keep dangerous people from getting dangerous weapons. A murderer came very close to getting a concealed carry permit. ... But it raises the alarm that people who are dangerous are getting concealed carry permits and endangering our families and communities." --Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, using the fact that convicted murderer Andrew Golden was prevented from receiving a concealed carry permit -- even after changing his name -- to argue that "dangerous people are getting concealed carry permits"

The annual Christmas capers: "At this season of THE WINTER SOLSTICE, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds. Placed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation on behalf of its Washington State Members." --an atheist sign in Olympia, Washington, set up next to a nativity scene

SHORT CUTS

"I didn't know what the guy said, but I saw his sole." --President George W. Bush on the Iraqi reporter who threw two shoes at him

"Congress has insisted that auto company executives achieve performance standards or be financially penalized. The CEOs of Chrysler, Ford and GM are all working for $1 per year. Shouldn't congressional pay be adjusted the same way?" --columnist Oliver North

"Government officials are said to be concerned at the risk that the collapse of Santa Claus could pose to the nation's intricately related system of holiday happiness. Though a failure by Santa Claus poses the largest systemic risk, the government is also prepared to step in to bail out Christmas trees, caroling parties and mistletoe producers. ... Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson personally concluded, however, that 'Santa Claus is too big to fail.'" --columnist Daniel Henninger

"But Mr. Obama, eager to get where it is he may be going, is surely the first president to arrive with fresh scandal. New presidents usually get to unpack their suitcases and learn the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night before they have to explain why what the rest of us see is not really there." --Washington Times editor Wesley Pruden

"There are so many things to love about the Rod Blagojevich scandal it's hard to know where to begin. Wait. That's not right. There are so many bleeping things to love about this bleeping-bleep Blagojevich scandal it's hard to know where to begin." --Jonah Goldberg

Jay Leno:

As you know, [over the weekend] in Iraq, President Bush was attacked by a "shoe-icide" bomber.

You got to admit, whatever you think of the guy, he's got good reflexes. Even Bill Clinton was impressed. You know, Clinton's an expert at ducking shoes, ashtrays, lamps. Everything.

The journalist who threw the shoe was immediately arrested, and then offered his own show on MSNBC.

Now, here's my question, and no offense here, but where was the Secret Service? I mean, shouldn't they at least have jumped in front of the second shoe? I mean, you know what I'm saying? Come on. Seriously. Aren't these guys supposed to take a bullet for the president?

Well, here's my favorite part. Cable news just over-thinks this. On CNN, they brought in an expert on Iraqi culture and he said, "Let me clarify what happened here." He said, "In the Arab world, throwing your shoes at someone's head is considered an insult." Oh, really? As opposed to here in America, where it's a huge compliment.

THE FOUNDATION

"In disquisitions of every kind there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasoning must depend." --Alexander Hamilton

POLITICAL FUTURES

"Anyone who relies solely on MSM outlets ... may not even know that Obama has, to this day, not authorized the state of Hawaii to release his Certificate of Live Birth -- the 'long form' -- to prove that he is a 'natural born citizen' (NBC), a Constitutional requirement of all presidents. Instead, We, the People, have online access to an Obama document known as a Certification of Live Birth, which, as Randall Hoven explains at American Thinker blog, is a computer-generated short form that is not even accepted by the Hawaii Department of Home Lands as adequate verification of Hawaiian identity. ... Further dimming the online document's Holy Grail aspects, it has been altered -- the ce rtificate's number has been redacted -- which, according to a statement printed on the document, actually invalidates it. But that's not all. Back on Oct. 31, Hawaii's director of health, along with the registrar of Vital Statistics, released a statement verifying that the Hawaii's Department of Health has Obama's 'original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.' Well, that's just great. But no matter how many times this statement from 'Hawaiian authorities' is cited as the NBC clincher, it doesn't prove a thing. It turns out, as Hoven reports, that Hawaii issues birth certificates even for babies born elsewhere, so simply having an original Hawaiian birth certificate 'on record' doesn't answer the key questions. Namely: What exactly does this original birth certificate say? And why doesn't Obama simply authorize the document's release and be done with the question? ... I think it is nothing less than good citizenship to seek to verify that Obama is a 'natural born citizen' since our elites, which include the major political parties and the MSM, failed to bring the matter to its extremely simple resolution long ago. But while important, this isn't just a story about whether we as Americans are right or wrong to ask our president-elect the question about his original birth certificate. It is about whether our president-elect is right or wrong not to answer it." --columnist Diana West

CULTURE

"In the final analysis, we, the people, are responsible for the corruption of our leaders by failing to demand a higher standard of conduct from our politicians. Increasingly, Americans have grown accustomed to a culture characterized by moral relativism and individualism. We have mocked Judeo-Christian values -- humility, virtue, honor -- and in the process, eroded restraints on social conduct. The results have become painfully obvious in the business arena and are becoming increasingly obvious in the political arena. When we do not demand honor, virtue, and accountability from ourselves, can we really expect more from our leaders? Have we merely gotten the leaders we deserve? The path to reform in the political arena runs straight through the people. We, the people, must first find a renewed appreciation for virtue, honesty, and humility in ourselves and our fellow man. If private virtue is reestablished in society, it will eventually become public and inevitably find its way back to the halls of government. Quite simply, it is up to us." --author Ken Connor

BILL OF RIGHTS ANNIVERSARY

Today, 15 December, is the 217th anniversary of the adoption of the Bill of Rights, the first Ten Amendments to our Constitution, as ratified in 1791.

The Bill of Rights was inspired by three remarkable documents: John Locke's 1689 thesis, Two Treatises of Government, regarding the protection of "property" (in the Latin context, proprius, or one's own "life, liberty and estate"); in part from the Virginia Declaration of Rights authored by George Mason in 1776 as part of that state's Constitution; and, of course, in part from our Declaration of Independence authored by Thomas Jefferson.

Read in context, the Bill of Rights is both an affirmation of innate individual rights and a clear delineation on constraints upon the central government. As oft trampled and abused as the Bill of Rights is, Patriots should remain vigilant in the fight for our rights.

CALLING ALL PATRIOTS

American Spectator Editor in Chief R. Emmett Tyrrell reads The Patriot Post: "The Patriot is an indispensable resource for sound conservative opinion."

As of this morning, we have raised almost 80 percent of our 2008 Annual Fund budget.

There are only 16 days left in this critical campaign, and we have only $137,856 to raise in order to meet budget.

The Patriot Post is donor-supported so that countless thousands of our military, mission field and collegiate readers can receive The Patriot at no charge. But The Patriot is also indispensible to Americans in all walks of life -- from school teachers to businessmen to retirees to stay-at-home moms.

Our mission and operations budget is a small fraction of other influential conservative organization budgets. (View our expense graphic here.) We are able to do this in large part because our dedicated staff members are motivated by mission, not the modest wages they receive.

If you have not already done so, please take a moment to support The Patriot's 2008 Annual Fund today by making a contribution -- however large or small. (If you prefer to support us by mail, please use our printable donor form.)

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 God bless you and your family.

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis!
Mark Alexander
Publisher

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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"I want to personally thank each and everyone of you for your work at The Patriot Post. I have learned more and gotten more enjoyment from this great read than you will ever know. I just donated to your Annual Fund, though it was not much. It was the best I could do at this time. However, I forward each edition to many friends and family, and suggest they do the same. Once again thank you!" --Hurricane, West Virginia

"Thank you for the wonderful work that you do. I sent in my donation though I wish I could send more. If I were lucky enough to win a lottery, I would probably send money to all the people that request it in larger donations. I guess I would have to play the lottery in order for that to happen." --Mobile, Alabama

FAITH AND FAMILY

"The annual Christmas assault -- In Olympia Washington, an atheist group named the Freedom From Religion Foundation has placed an anti-religious placard next to a nativity scene and 'holiday' tree in the capitol building. The message: 'At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.' Since the United States Constitution guarantees freedom OF religion as opposed to freedom FROM it, one might be forgiven for wondering exactly whose hearts are 'hardened' and whose minds are 'enslaved.'" --columnist Arnold Ahlert

LIBERTY

"How much congressional involvement do we want with the Big Three auto companies? I'd say none. Congressmen and federal bureaucrats, including those at the Federal Reserve Board, don't know anymore about the automobile business than they know about the banking and financial businesses that they've turned into a mess. Just look at the idiotic focus of congressmen when the three auto company chief executives appeared before them. They questioned whether the executives should have driven to Congress rather than flown in on corporate jets. They focused on executive pay, which is a tiny fraction of costs compared to $73 hourly compensation to 250,000 autoworkers. The belief that Congress poses the major threat to our liberty and well-being is why the Founders gave them limited enumerated powers. To our detriment, today's Americans have given them unlimited powers." --George Mason University economics professor Walter E. Williams

THE GIPPER

"The most dangerous myth is the demagoguery that business can be made to pay a larger share, thus relieving the individual. Politicians preaching this are either deliberately dishonest, or economically illiterate, and either one should scare us. Business doesn't pay taxes, and who better than business to make this message known? Only people pay taxes, and people pay as consumers every tax that is assessed against a business. Begin with the food and fiber raised in the farm, to the ore drilled in a mine, to the oil and gas from out of the ground, whatever it may be -- through the processing, through the manufacturing, on out to the retailer's license. If the tax cannot be included in the price of the product, no one along that line can stay in business." --Ronald Reagan

GOVERNMENT

"The 20th century experimented with every possible variant of socialism. We had democratic socialism in Western Europe, totalitarian socialism in Eastern Europe, and fascist socialism in South America. We had atheistic socialism and we had 'liberation theology.' We had the 'scientific socialism' of the Soviet central planners and the chaotic jungle socialism of the Khmer Rouge, who executed anyone with an education. We had 'socialism with Chinese characteristics' and socialism with African characteristics and socialism with Hindu characteristics. We tried it all, and every time it led to poverty and oppression. Those results have been proven with scientific thoroughness. There is no excuse for trying it all again." --Intellectual Activist editor Robert Tracinski

RE: THE LEFT

"The nation's economy is causing great anxiety, and no corner seems untouched by the blight of layoffs, or the fear of further stock-market erosion. It probably should come as no surprise that in this crisis, the journalists who have hailed Barack Obama for two years as the Messiah would want their savior's arrival to be accelerated. They've broken out in cold sweats, displaying a bad case of Inauguration Impatience Syndrome. You can't reason with them and suggest that several months of transition are necessary to build a new administration, and for Obama it's not different. They certainly aren't showing the slightest sign of remembering 2000, when the Left, with the news media cheering them on, dragged the election results out 35 days trying to install Al Gore. Obama's inauguration needs to happen immediately if not sooner, and George W. Bush should be tossed out like spoiling Thanksgiving leftovers. ... Would we be surprised if they all demanded that Obama's too important to be rushed out of office when his departure time comes, and can't the whole swearing-in thing be delayed until March?" --Media Research Center president L. Brent Bozell

FOR THE RECORD

"[New York Times columnist Paul] Krugman and others suggest that since the New Deal ran moderate deficits and the Depression persisted, then Roosevelt should have run bigger multiyear deficits -- and so should Obama. '[I]t's basically money we owe to ourselves. ... The best course of action, both for today's workers and for their children, is to do whatever it takes to get this economy on the road to recovery,' Krugman wrote. This is the wrong lesson to learn from the 1930s. The New Deal didn't fail because its deficits were too small. As Amity Shlaes shows in 'The Forgotten Man,' the New Deal failed because it interfered with the market's natural regenerative processes. By raising taxes, hamstringing producers with arbitrary regulations and creating uncertainly about what the government would do next, business people were unwilling to invest and hire workers. Uncertainty about taxes, regulation and government policy similarly threaten recovery today. Obama must realize that government has no wealth of its own and that commandeering scarce resources from the private sector only stifles the economy. Deficit spending does this two ways. When the Treasury borrows money, it outbids private borrowers who would have put the money to productive use. When the Fed creates money, it depreciates the dollar, shifts purchasing power from the people to special interests, and -- by tampering with the price signals -- creates an unsustainable recovery that will collapse and throw people out of work when the inflation stops. The 2009 deficit is projected to be $438 billion. Obama's 'stimulus' could take it up to a trillion and beyond. That's just the beginning since the Democratic Congress's spending wish list and Medicare's $35 trillion unfunded liability loom. We should all worry about the deficit." --ABC "20/20" co-anchor John Stossel

THE LAST WORD

"For the more historically minded, it's a time for nostalgia. The past comes alive as Chicago's grand tradition of corruption is sustained for another generation. As the Chicago Tribune once wrote, 'corruption has been as much a part of the landscape as corn, soybeans and skyscrapers.' According to the Chicago Sun-Times, as of 2006, when Blago's predecessor, George Ryan, was sent to prison for racketeering, 79 elected officials had been convicted of corruption in the past 30 years. Among the perps: 27 aldermen, 19 judges, 15 state legislators, three governors, two congressmen, one mayor, two turtledoves and a partridge in a stolen pear tree. Especially in this holiday season, it's so very important to keep traditions alive for the kids. In a sense, Blago did it for the children. For partisans, there's the schadenfreude that comes with watching the Democrats -- self-proclaimed anti-corruption zealots in recent years -- explain why Blagojevich shouldn't be lumped in with Congressmen Charlie Rangel (cut himself sweetheart deals), William Jefferson ($90,000 in his freezer) and Tim Mahoney (tried to bribe an aide he was sleeping with not to sue him; and you thought romance was dead) as part of a new Democratic 'culture of corruption' storyline. There's the enormous I-should-have-had-a-V8! moment as the mainstream press collectively thwacks itself in the forehead, realizing it blew it again. The New York Times -- which, according to Wall Street analysts, is weeks from holding editorial board meetings in a refrigerator box -- created the journalistic equivalent of CSI-Wasilla to study every follicle and fiber in Sarah Palin's background, all the while treating Obama's Chicago like one of those fairy-tale lands depicted in posters that adorn little girls' bedroom walls. See there, Suzie? That's a Pegasus. That's a pink unicorn. And that's a beautiful sunflower giving birth to a fully grown Barack Obama, the greatest president ever and the only man in history to be able to pick up manure from the clean end." --National Review editor Jonah Goldberg

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." --John Adams

PATRIOT PERSPECTIVE

Team Obamavich

By Mark Alexander

This has been a bad week for Team Obama. Since Election Day, these characters have been desperately trying to recast themselves as "centrist," and distance their captain from the cadre of unsavory characters which gave him rise.

The big news was the arrest of one of the team's former coaches, Illinois Gov. Milorad "Rod" Blah-goy-ah-vich, in what is arguably the most impressive case of public corruption since the Clintonistas were in the White House.

I am shocked -- SHOCKED -- to report that Barry Obama's hometown of Chicago is a cesspool of political corruption. At least Bill and Hillary had a chance to hang the White House drapes before their patrons and benefactors began to collect indictments. But then, Obama did promise "change you can believe in."

Before we get to Obama's political patron, Blagojevich, there were also a few "players" on Team Obama, previously benched for bad manners, who were making news this week.

For starters, last Saturday William Ayers, one of Obama's neighbors and key socialist political mentors, re-emerged from his rat hole with another New York Times opinion piece. As you recall, Ayers helped launch Obama's political career from his home near Obama's Hyde Park mansion in Southside Chicago. In addition, he provided the job that Obama later identified as the "primary qualification" for his Illinois State Senate campaign.

Ayers, who on the very morning of 11 September 2001, opined in The Times, "I don't regret setting bombs; I feel we didn't do enough," and would later insist that Americans deserved the attack, now insists, "I was cast in the 'unrepentant terrorist' roll," adding, "Now that the election is over, I want to say as plainly as I can that the character invented to serve this drama wasn't me, not even close."

He admitted, "I co-founded the Weather Underground [which] crossed lines of legality, of propriety and perhaps even of common sense. We did carry out symbolic acts of extreme vandalism directed at monuments to war and racism... But it was not terrorism."

So, blowing up government buildings as a means of protest is not terrorism? Perhaps Ayers should have been called as a character witness for Timothy McVeigh in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Second up, Obama's spiritual mentor, Jeremiah Wright, was back in the pulpit last Sunday.

Obama describes Wright as a father figure "who I have known for 20 years [who] led me to Christ ... a biblical scholar and well regarded preacher who is known for talking about the social gospel." In other words, a peddler of black supremacist doctrine and the gospel of Marx.

Wright was benched by Team Obama last summer after a video of one of his "social gospel" sermons surfaced, in which he proclaimed, "The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government gives [black people] drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strikes law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, g*d d*** America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. G*d d*** America for treating our citizens as less than human. G*d d*** America for as long as she acts like she is god and she is supreme."

On the Sunday after 9/11, the Obama family was in church listening to Wright sermonize about how we deserved to be attacked: "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

Last year, Wright awarded anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan his church's highest honor, saying Farrakhan is a man who "truly epitomiz