Poet at the edge

“The collection of taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. The wise and correct course to follow in taxation is not to destroy those who have already secured success, but to create conditions under which everyone will have a better chance to be successful.” –President Calvin Coolidge (1873-1933)

“Didn’t the President, with a straight face, promise to reduce the deficit by half in five years? The Congressional Budget Office forecasts government spending over the next 10 years will quadruple the annual deficit of Bush’s presidency. The CBO expects the nation’s debt to double in five years and triple in 10. But according to The Heritage Foundation, Obama’s claim of ‘$2 trillion in savings over the next decade’ is ’simply not true. His budget increases spending by $1 trillion over the next decade, which he attempts to offset by reclassifying as “savings” $1.4 trillion in tax increases and $1.5 trillion in reduced spending in Iraq.’ First he describes tax increases as ’savings.’ Then he falsely projects spending on the war in Iraq to remain high. By manipulating ‘future spending,’ Obama can then ‘reduce it’ and pronounce it ’savings.’” –columnist Larry Elder

“President Obama has said that the science of global warming is ‘beyond dispute,’ and therefore settled. This is the justification for the imposition of a carbon cap-and-trade system that will cost $2 trillion. But Obama does not understand science. ‘Settled science’ is an oxymoron, and anyone who characterizes science as ’settled’ or ‘indisputable’ is ignorant not only of science, but also history and philosophy. Aristotle, who lived and wrote in the fourth century B.C., was one of the greatest geniuses the world has ever known. He invented the discipline of logic, and founded the sciences of ecology and biology. Aristotle’s physics were accepted as correct for nearly two thousand years. … Aristotle taught that heavy objects fall faster than light ones. Over the centuries, a few unreasonable persons expressed skeptical concerns. But the consensus was that the physics of motion were described by Aristotle’s dicta. The science was settled. Around the year 1591, an irascible young instructor at the University of Pisa demonstrated that Aristotle was wrong. He climbed to the top of the tower of Pisa and dropped cannonballs of unequal weight that hit the ground simultaneously. Aristotelean professors on the faculty were embarrassed. The university administration responded by not renewing Galileo’s contract, thus ridding themselves of a troublemaker who challenged the accepted consensus. … President Obama, a lawyer and politician, would now have us believe that the process of history has stopped. For the first time, scientific knowledge is not provisional and subject to revision, but final and settled. Skepticism, which has been the spur to all innovation and human progress, is unacceptable and must be condemned. But in fact, it is our awareness of what we do not know that determines our scientific level. … Knowledge begins with skepticism and ends with conceit.” –University of Oklahoma geologist David Deming

“The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations. … The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institution may be abused by human depravity. … It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.” –George Washington

“In some sense, the Obama administration will bring a new honesty to European-American relations. For the last eight years, Europeans have had it both ways. Bush took out Saddam Hussein, removed the Taliban from power, hunted terrorists, offered firm security guarantees to the Europeans in their squabbles with the Russians, tried to box in Iran, and ran trade deficits with his free and open trade policies. For his efforts, he was caricatured as a cowboy buffoon by European sophisticates.

But now after welcoming Obama, the Europeans are beginning to discover that they must contend with a new administration to the left of themselves. And as we saw with Obama’s recent cavalier treatment of visiting British Prime Gordon Brown — he was given a packet of DVDs, unviewable in Europe, as a going-away gift — Obama doesn’t seem convinced of any special relationship with Europe. His interests and priorities lie more in Asia, Latin America and Africa — places that have also been the great sources of immigration to America the last half-century.

…Given Obama’s plans to emulate Europe’s expensive socialist entitlement system, there may be less money for defense. Ironically, that would mean less American protection abroad of a disarmed socialist Europe — a continent sandwiched between North Africa, the Middle East and Russia, with millions of unassimilated Muslim immigrants at home.

In matters of foreign policy, Obama likewise has outflanked the Europeans. His calls for talks without restriction with the Iranians; his offer to pour hundreds of millions into Gaza; his outreach to the Syrians; and his popular resonance in South America, the Middle East and Africa suggest that a leftist America now has more in common with some of these former European colonies than do the centrist Europeans.

It was once easy to slur Bush’s war on terror as typical American overkill. But now Europeans better worry that someone in the Obama administration will notice that the renditions, preventative detentions, wiretapping and summary deportations practiced in parts of Europe were often as authoritarian as anything Bush embraced.

…The trans-Atlantic alliance we’ve taken for granted for so many years, of course, won’t come to an end overnight. But how ironic will it be if its eventual downfall is someday traced not to a loud George Bush bang but to a Barack Obama whimper.” – Victor Davis Hanson

“In fact, columnist William Tate conducted a review of federally required campaign donation disclosures, and determined that those who identify their occupation as media contributed $315,533 to Democrat presidential candidates, but only $3,150 to John McCain. Tate did not have to use a calculator to conclude that’s “a ratio of 100-to-1. No bias there.”" – Mark Alexander, Patriot Post, July 25, 2008

THANKS TO THE PATRIOT POST for continually pressing the truth in the midst of today’s contrived Camelot, which truly looks more like Spam-a-lot!