Patriot Update - A Free Press for the Conservative Revolution

Politics:

Palin Criticized for Praying to God, Obama Given a Pass for Playing God

When Sarah Palin recently cited the legendary C.S. Lewis and the phrase “divine inspiration” in the same sentence during a Barbara Walters interview, liberal talking heads went apoplectic. MSNBC’s Richard Wolffe thought there were a lot of things Palin could have read besides C.S. Lewis if “divine inspiration” was the goal, and The View’s Joy Behar mocked her for reading books that were (supposedly) written for children. Such desperate and unprofessional commentary from Wolffe and Behar is undone by the fact that millions upon millions of people have read Lewis for divine inspiration throughout the years. Moreover, those reading him for such inspiration are adults, not children. (Sure, children do enjoy Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia,” but his eye-opening works like “Mere Christianity,” “The Great Divorce,” and “The Abolition of Man,” to name but a few, are so in depth that an adult must read them time and again to grasp everything that Lewis is saying.)

Source: http://bigjournalism.com/awrhawkins/2010/12/13/palin-critici...

Politics:

Obama: 'I'm itching for a fight'

As fellow Democrats accuse him of caving in to Republicans on the tax cut deal, President Obama is repeatedly promising them that he will fight the GOP aggressively when it takes over the U.S. House and adds senators next month. "I will be happy to see the Republicans test whether or not I'm itching for a fight on a whole range of issues," Obama said last week. "I suspect they will find I am. And I think the American people will be on my side on a whole bunch of these fights."

Source: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/12...

Politics:

Tax Cuts Package Poised to Pass in Senate

The tax package negotiated by President Barack Obama and GOP lawmakers is headed toward passage in the Senate even as House Democrats consider changes to the estate tax. The bill could be passed and sent to the House by Tuesday. The Senate voted 83-15 Monday evening to advance the package, which would provide a two-year reprieve from tax increases scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1 at all income levels. "This proves that both parties can in fact work together to grow our economy and look out for the American people," Obama said. "I recognize that folks on both sides of the political spectrum are unhappy with certain parts of the package and I understand those concerns. I share some of them. But that's the nature of compromise."

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/14/tax-cut-package-p...

Politics:

A Voluntary Earmark Ban is Only Half the Battle

“There will be no earmarks in the 112th Congress. Period.” That is what House Majority Leader-elect Eric Cantor (R-VA) tweeted in response to a Politico article last week reporting that some GOP House members were contemplating breaking their no-earmark pledge. Good for Cantor. Ending earmarking is an essential step toward cutting Washington spending. Unfortunately some of Cantor’s caucus need an education about the unnecessary harm earmarks cause. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) told Politico

Source: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/12/13/a-voluntary-earmark-ban-...

Politics:

Judge Rules Obamacare Mandate Goes Beyond Letter and Spirit of the Constitution

In the most significant decision to date involving the numerous challenges to Obamacare, a district court today ruled in favor of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s challenge, and declared the individual mandate portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. The fact that the decision is based upon cross motions for summary judgment means among other things, in simple English, that the parties have had two major hearings and two sets of merit briefs before the Court, which has now issued its second major opinion (and this is leaving aside a slew of motions decided by the court). The decision, accordingly, is the most well-developed of any court yet to address the matter, and therefore should cause quite a bit of indigestion for defenders of Obamacare.

Source: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/12/13/judge-rules-obamacare-ma...

Politics:

Unions That Won’t Take ‘No’ for an Answer

Part of living in a democracy involves accepting election results. Americans know to move on when their side loses. Neither Republicans nor Democrats would suggest redoing the vote until their side won. Someone should tell that to the union movement. The Obama Administration recently made it easier to organize Delta airlines. Delta’s employees nonetheless voted the union down. Instead of accepting defeat, the union movement is now asking for a re-vote. They will not take “no” for an answer. The saga began when non-union Delta acquired unionized Northwest airlines in 2008. The International Association of Machinists, the Association of Flight Attendants, and other unions launched a campaign to organize the newly merged workforce.

Source: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/12/13/unions-that-won%e2%80%99...

Politics:

Rolling Back Overcriminalizaiton

Between 2000 and 2007, the United States Congress created 452 entirely new crimes, a rate of over one new crime every week. By the end of 2007, the U.S. Code included more than 4,450 federal crimes, with an estimated tens of thousands more located in the federal regulatory code. Worse, a joint study released this May by The Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), found that more than half of the bills that would have added or modified non-violent, non-drug criminal offenses in 109th Congress (2005-2006) Congress were not even referred to their respective judiciary President Ronald Reagan’s Attorney General Ed Meese writes at NRO about a House rules change that could be a first step toward a solution

Source: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/12/13/rolling-back-overcrimina...

Politics:

Look who's now getting special travel privileges

In a further indication that the "North American Union" agenda is quietly proceeding under what remains of the Security and Prosperity Partnership initiative in the Obama administration, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano signed an agreement in Mexico with little fanfare that would extend special "trusted traveler" access to the U.S. to an estimated 84 million Mexicans. "In Mexico City, Secretary Napolitano and Mexican Ministry of the Interior Secretary José Francisco Blake Mora signed an agreement expressing their intent to develop a Global Entry international trusted traveler pilot program between the United States and Mexico – leveraging the success of the United States' Global Entry program to facilitate secure, legitimate travel between the two nations," announced a DHS statement Nov. 30.

Source: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=239401

Politics:

Follow the Money to the Root of the No Labels Moderate Movement

No Labels. I first heard of this from some friends last week or the week before, and it is a bunch of people who just can't seem to find a home either on the left or on the right. That's who it really is, but there's another aspect to this, too, because here are the founders. No Labels, and it is what it sounds like. It's a bunch of people who don't want to be called conservative, who don't want to be called liberal. It's basically a bunch of gutless wonders among the true believers. Not the founders. The founders have a different game going here. But the true believers are going, "Yeah, yeah, count me in, count me in." It's a bunch of wusses, like on our side, the Frums, et al. who just can't find a home on the conservative right, they've been drummed out of it or they've drummed themselves out of it.

Source: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_121310/content/0...