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10 OCTOBER 2008 PATRIOTPOST.US VOL. 08 NO. 41

THE FOUNDATION
“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the
candidate—look to his character.” —Noah Webster

PATRIOT PERSPECTIVE of self-sacrifice or self-indulgence; habits of duty and

Presidential Character honor and integrity—or dishonor and shame.”

By Mark Alexander For the first and final word on the necessary char-
acter traits the next president should possess, let’s
Observing the so-called “debates” between candi- return to our foundation, our Founders, those who
dates John Sydney McCain and Barack Hussein risked all to proclaim our individual rights and re-
Obama, I was struck by the fact that, though these sponsibilities as ordained by God, and outlined them
summits were short on substance, it was obvious that in our Declaration of Independence and its subordi-
only one of these candidates possesses the high qual- nate exposition, our Republic’s Constitution.
ities of a statesman, and the prerequisite moral and
civic virtues for an American president. Our Founders wrote at length about character, both
of those who seek high office (or, rather, those that
If you are not sure to which candidate I am referring, high office seeks), and those who elect them. Here
please read on. are but a few excerpts in their own words.

Every four years, at the peak of every presidential John Adams: “Children should be educated and in-
election cycle, we’re told by the talkingheads and the structed in the principles of freedom... If we suffer
party hacks that “this election is the most important [the minds of young people] to grovel and creep in
in our lifetimes.” This time, however, they may be infancy, they will grovel all their lives... We have no
right. These are indeed perilous times. Our nation government armed with power capable of contend-
is facing crises on several fronts, the resolution of ing with human passions unbridled by morality and
which will require the steady hand of a statesman in religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry,
possession of outstanding character—character that would break the strongest cords of our Constitution
has been honed over his lifetime. as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution
was made only for a moral and religious people. It is
Ronald Reagan wrote, “The character that takes wholly inadequate to the government of any other...
command in moments of crucial choices has already We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever
been determined by a thousand other choices made lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything
earlier in seemingly unimportant moments. It has partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our
been determined by all the ‘little’ choices of years free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections.”
past—by all those times when the voice of conscience
was at war with the voice of temptation, [which was] Samuel Adams: “The public cannot be too curious
whispering the lie that ‘it really doesn’t matter.’ It concerning the characters of public men... Noth-
has been determined by all the day-to-day decisions ing is more essential to the establishment of man-
made when life seemed easy and crises seemed far ners in a State than that all persons employed in
away—the decision that, piece by piece, bit by bit, places of power and trust must be men of unexcep-
developed habits of discipline or of laziness; habits
 VOL.08
tionable characters... If men of wisdom and knowl-
edge, of moderation and temperance, of patience,
fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and true re-
publican simplicity of manners, of zeal for the honour
of the Supreme Being and the welfare of the com-
monwealth; if men possessed of these other excellent
qualities are chosen to fill the seats of government, we
may expect that our affairs will rest on a solid and
permanent foundation... [N]either the wisest con-
stitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty
and happiness of a people whose manners are uni-
versally corrupt... No people will tamely surrender
their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when
knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On
the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant,
and debauched in their Manners, they will sink un-
der their own weight without the Aid of foreign In-
vaders... Let each citizen remember at the moment
he is offering his vote that he is not making a present
or a compliment to please an individual—or at least
that he ought not so to do; but that he is execut-
ing one of the most solemn trusts in human society
for which he is accountable to God and his country...
Religion and good morals are the only solid founda-
tion of public liberty and happiness.”
Thomas Jefferson: “It is the manners and spirit of a
people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degener-
acy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart
of its laws and constitution... If a nation expects
to be ignorant—and free—in a state of civilization,
it expects what never was and never will be... The
whole art of government consists in the art of be-
ing honest. Only aim to do your duty, and mankind
will give you credit where you fail... An honest man
can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his
fellow citizens.”
George Washington: “No compact among men... can
be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I
may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that
no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand
against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition
on the one side, aided by the sapping current of cor-
rupted morals on the other...[A] good moral char-
acter is the first essential in a man, and that the
habits contracted [early in life] are generally indeli-
ble, and your conduct here may stamp your char-
acter through life. It is therefore highly important
NO.41 PG.2
that you should endeavor not only to be learned but
virtuous... The foundations of our national policy
will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of
private morality, and the preeminence of free govern-
ment be exemplified by all the attributes which can
win the affections of its citizens, and command the
respect of the world...[W]here is the security for prop-
erty, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious
obligation deserts the oaths...? Of all the disposi-
tions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In
vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism
who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of
human happiness—these firmest props of the duties
of men and citizens.”
At the end of the Revolution, when our Founders
were endeavoring “to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, pro-
vide for the common defense, promote the general
Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to our-
selves and our Posterity,” Founding brothers Alexan-
der Hamilton and John Jay and our Constitution’s
author, James Madison, wrote The Federalist Pa-
pers, its most authentic and comprehensive explica-
tion.
In Federalist No. 1, Hamilton warned, “Of those
men who have overturned the liberties of republics,
the greatest number have begun their career by pay-
ing an obsequious court to the people, commencing
demagogues and ending tyrants.”
Sound familiar?
In No. 10, Madison cautions, “Enlightened states-
men will not always be at the helm,” and insisted
in No. 57, “The aim of every political Constitution
is or ought to be first to obtain for rulers, men who
possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to
pursue the common good of the society; and in the
next place, to take the most effectual precautions for
keeping them virtuous, whilst they continue to hold
their public trust.”
Madison’s Supreme Court nominee, Justice Joseph
Story, wrote, “Republics are created by the virtue,
public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They
fall, when the wise are banished from the public
 VOL.08
councils, because they dare to be honest, and the
profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the peo-
ple, in order to betray them.”
The Founders thus warned of the perils posed by the
candidate who lacks political courage; the candidate
who tells us everything we want to hear.
In November 1800, John Adams, in his fourth year as
president, wrote to his wife Abigail, “I Pray Heaven
to bestow the best of blessing on this house, and on
ALL that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but
honest and wise men ever rule under this roof!”
We should all pray likewise, now, today, this minute.
As Adams understood, “A Constitution of Govern-
ment once changed from Freedom, can never be re-
stored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”
Almost two centuries later, Ronald Reagan reiter-
ated, “Freedom is... never more than one generation
away from extinction. Every generation has to learn
how to protect and defend it, or it’s gone and gone
for a long, long time.”
So, what of the current generation of voters, and the
two presidential candidates?
On 4 November, a majority of voters will elect one
of those candidates. This vote is much more than
an election; it is a referendum on the ability of the
majority of Americans to discern between one can-
didate who possesses the character and integrity of
a statesman, which the office of president requires,
and one who does not.
At this pivotal moment in our nation’s history, it is
without reservation that we endorse the candidacy
of John McCain.
Quote of the week
“It’s time we asked ourselves if we still know the
freedoms intended for us by the Founding Fathers.
James Madison said, ‘We base all our experiments on
the capacity of mankind for self-government.’ This
idea that government was beholden to the people,
that it had no other source of power, is still the
NO.41 PG.3
newest, most unique idea in all the long history of
man’s relation to man. This is the issue of this elec-
tion: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-
government or whether we abandon the American
Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite
in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better
than we can plan them ourselves.” —Ronald Reagan
(27 October 1964)
On cross-examination
“Much has been said over the years about the di-
versity of the American people and the vitality and
resilience of the American character. Well, that
character isn’t centered around any one religious
denomination—for in our country there are many re-
ligions; everyone has a right to worship God as he or
she chooses. It isn’t based on any one ethnic group or
race—for our people come in all shades and shapes,
and we remain dedicated to the proposition that all
of them are created equal... But our national char-
acter is based on a common identity with a single
ideal, a shared value that overcomes our differences
and unites us as a people. What has made us a na-
tion is our love of liberty and our realization that
we’re part of a great historic venture, an experiment
in freedom to test the ability of people to live to-
gether in freedom, respecting the rights of others and
expecting that their rights, in turn, will be respected.
I’ve said... that God must have placed this land here
between the oceans to be found by a certain kind of
people and a kind only in one thing: that whatever
corner of the world they came from, they had the
courage—and the desire for freedom that went with
it...” —Ronald Reagan (18 May 1982)
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
Campaign watch: Debate number two
More than 60 million Americans tuned in Tuesday
night to watch the second presidential debate be-
tween two long-winded senators in Nashville, Ten-
nessee. As already noted, only one candidate exuded
confidence in and love for America, and that candi-
date was John McCain.
That said, early in the debate, McCain got off on
the wrong foot with most conservatives with his pro-
posal to “order the secretary of the Treasury to im-
 VOL.08
mediately buy up the bad... mortgages in America
and renegotiate at the... diminished value of those
homes and let people be able to make those... pay-
ments and stay in their homes.” He didn’t put a price
tag on this proposal during the debate, but his cam-
paign says it would run about $300 billion—money
already authorized as part of the $700 billion. As
The Wall Street Journal indicates, McCain’s diag-
nosis is correct, but his prescription is not necessar-
ily the best. The main problem, says the Journal,
is “[t]he taxpayer—not the lender or homeowner—
absorbs the losses on loans that exceed the value
of the home.” Worse, McCain credits Rep. Bar-
ney Frank (D-MA) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) for
some of the particulars. Frank and Dodd bear much
of the responsibility for the current mess.
McCain redeemed himself on healthcare, however,
with his proposal for tax credits and interstate shop-
ping. He clearly distinguished himself from his
Democrat opponent, one who “starts talking about
government” whenever healthcare comes up. Barack
Obama declared healthcare a “right,” while McCain
called it a responsibility. Their opposing views de-
scribe a fundamentally different view of the role of
government for anyone who needs an illustration.
Sen. McCain must do more of this in the next three
weeks if he is to win the election. Wall Street Jour-
nal columnist Brendan Miniter wrote, “To win back
the old Reagan Democrats while also reassembling
the Republican coalition that has kept the GOP in
power for decades, Mr. McCain needs a coherent
set of principles that guide his actions and that vot-
ers can rally behind—such as shrinking government,
flattening the tax burden and reforming the federal
policies that have contributed to America’s health
care and housing woes.”
Questions about Obama fundraising
Barack Obama has raised more money than any
other presidential candidate in American history
($454 million). He has more donors than any
other candidate could ever brag about (2.5 mil-
lion). He has broken, established and re-established
monthly fundraising records throughout the primary
and general campaign seasons. If all these campaign
fundraising benchmarks sound too good to be true
NO.41 PG.4
for a man who didn’t yet register on the national
radar until four years ago, then they probably are
too good to be true. And as it turns out, they may
be too good to be legal.
The RNC has called on the Federal Election Com-
mission to examine the Obama campaign’s records to
see if donors have contributed more than the $2,300
maximum amount allowed by law. Since there are
no stipulations for recording donors who contribute
small amounts such as $25 or $30, there is no way
of knowing if these small contributors have donated
aggregate sums over the legal limit. Newsweek, of
all rags, reported that two donors each gave Obama
more than $11,000 in increments of $10 and $25.
Also of interest are donations from folks like “Good
Will,” who works at “Loving” and lists “You” as his
occupation on the donor form. “Dahsudhu Hdusahfd
of Df, Hawaii,” employed by “CZXVC/ZXVZXV”
and “Uadhshgu Hduadh of Dhff, Fla.,” who works
for “DASADA/SAFASE” also contributed.
Obama also appears to have a large number of for-
eign donors: 11,500 of them have contributed some
$34 million to his campaign according to some ac-
counts. It is against the law for any candidate to
accept campaign contributions from foreign nation-
als, and if Obama’s campaign were found guilty, they
would face stiff fines and perhaps the approbation of
enough voters to change the course of the election.
Unfortunately, due to the slow pace at which these
legal matters travel through the courts, the election
will have long since come and gone by the time it is
determined whether the Obama campaign played by
the rules.
As for spending those dollars, the Obama camp is
negotiating the purchase of 30 minutes of primetime
network airwaves on 29 October at 8 p.m. Eastern.
The purchase with CBS is already complete. Obama
may address the charges regarding his alliances with
Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko and Jeremiah Wright without
anyone to challenge him.
News from the Swamp: Attorney firing redux
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit de-
clined to order current and former Bush administra-
 VOL.08
tion staff to testify before a House Committee in-
vestigating the firings of nine U.S. attorneys. Now
it will be up to the next Congress to decide how to
proceed, if at all. The case has been delayed pending
an appeal by Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten, two for-
mer White House staffers currently in the crosshairs
of the Democrats’ vendetta against the Bush admin-
istration. Democrats still maintain that some sort of
law was broken and that the U.S. attorneys were fired
for political reasons. All this ignores the fact that the
attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, and
the fact that Bill Clinton fired all 93 U.S. attorneys
at Justice shortly after taking office in 1993. House
Judiciary Chairman John Conyers vows to get to the
bottom of whatever he is ultimately digging for, but
it is more likely that once President George W. Bush
leaves Washington, so will the witch-hunt to politi-
cally embarrass him.
New & notable legislation
The Senate last week passed a bill 86-13 to open nu-
clear trade with India for the first time since that
country’s nuclear tests more than 30 years ago. The
agreement acknowledges India as a legitimate nu-
clear power, despite its never having signed the Non-
Proliferation Treaty. President Bush has pushed the
deal since early in his second term, saying it will
bring India’s nuclear industry under international
observation. The House previously approved the bill
298-117.
The House extended unemployment benefits for
seven weeks last Friday in the wake of news that
159,000 jobs were lost in September. After five years
of steady job creation, a trend of shedding jobs be-
gan in January—less than a year after Democrats
took control of both houses of Congress. The Sen-
ate, on the other hand, appears unlikely to take up
the measure this year.
Palin email hacker indicted
David Kernell, a student at the University of Ten-
nessee and the son of Democrat state representa-
tive Michael Kernell of Memphis, was indicted this
week on one count of breaking into Republican vice-
presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s Yahoo! e-mail ac-
count. “According to the indictment, Kernell, who
NO.41 PG.5
used the nicknames ‘rubico’ and ‘rubico 10’ on the
Internet, allegedly reset Palin’s e-mail password to
‘popcorn’ using Yahoo’s password-recovery tool on
Sept. 16 by ‘researching and correctly answering a
series of personal security questions’,” Fox News re-
ports. “After changing the password, the indictment
alleges he made screenshots of her e-mail directory, e-
mail messages and other personal information before
posting them to a public Web site. He also posted
the reset password.” Kernell turned himself in but
pleaded not guilty. The trial is set for 16 December.
He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000
fine.
Rep. Jefferson in good shape
Sometimes, corruption does pay. Or at least it
doesn’t punish. Two years ago, Rep. William Jef-
ferson (D-LA) was caught with $90,000 in bribe
money in his freezer, and he was later indicted on
16 corruption-related charges. Yet, somehow, the
Louisiana Democrat came out on top in an eight-
candidate race for his House seat. He is expected to
win the runoff on 4 November and move on to beat
his Republican opponent on 6 December to lock up
his 10th term in Congress.
Thanks to gerrymandering, Jefferson’s district in
New Orleans remains majority black and two-thirds
Democrat, which makes it extremely difficult for a
Republican or a white Democrat to unseat him. Jef-
ferson easily won his first eight terms but was forced
into a runoff for the first time two years ago after the
corruption charges emerged. In this race, his oppo-
nents raised the combined sum of $1.5 million to his
$200,000, but his closest competitor, Helena Moreno,
30, a local TV reporter, only managed to finish five
points behind him on Saturday and is not expected
to overtake him in November. Seems like not much
has changed in New Orleans.
Mayor Bloomberg ignores the will of the people
Michael Bloomberg was limited to two four-year
terms as mayor of New York City, and up until
a couple of weeks ago he seemed happy with the
fact that he would have to find some other way to
spend his time after 1 January 2010. The recent
financial crisis, however, has brought on a change
 VOL.08
of heart in the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-
Independent. Despite two voter referendums in 1993
and 1996 in which the public clearly and unequivo-
cally supported a law that limited Big Apple elected
officials to two terms in office, Bloomberg wants a
third term as mayor. He believes that no one is
better suited than he to shepherd the city through
the current financial crisis. This is an arguable
point, and it is reminiscent of 2001 when it was sug-
gested that two-term Republican Mayor Rudy Giu-
liani should stick around at least temporarily to lead
the city out of the horror of September 11th. Giu-
liani chose to accept the will of the voters and step
aside, believing that our government and our society
are bigger than any one person’s desire or ability to
lead.
Ron Lauder, a close friend of Bloomberg and the
man who bankrolled the original voter referendum
on term limits, still thinks that the limits are a
good idea, but he has ultimately decided to side with
the mayor in this particular situation. City Council
Speaker Christine Quinn, a militant liberal and po-
tential mayoral candidate for 2009, is torn, like many
of her colleagues in the overwhelmingly Democrat
City Council. A repeal of term limits means they
don’t have to leave public office and get real jobs,
but allowing Bloomberg to stay in office squelches
Quinn’s designs on higher office at least for the time
being. It is interesting to note that in 2001 The
New York Times editorial board was against Giu-
liani’s sticking around, but in 2008 they think that
Bloomberg’s shirking the voters’ intent is a good
idea.
Over Bloomberg’s long career in the private sector
and in public service, it has been rare that he has
not gotten his way. In a city with one of the most
liberal and opportunistic governments in the country,
it is hard to believe that he will be rebuffed this time,
either.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Warfront with Jihadistan: Studying withdrawal
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) may be out of the
Senate while undergoing treatment for a brain tu-
mor, but that hasn’t slowed his effort to force
the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. With
NO.41 PG.6
the help of fellow anti-war Democrat Sen. Robert
Byrd of West Virginia, Kennedy inserted a $2.4-
million earmark into the 2009 defense-spending bill
for an independent study on the impact of with-
drawing troops from Iraq. The RAND Corpora-
tion is authorized to conduct the study, called a
“phased redeployment study” —redeployment be-
ing the favorite Democrat buzz word for surren-
der. “RAND is a federally and state-funded re-
search and development center and is often con-
sidered an independent research arm of the Pen-
tagon,” reports The Hill. “The outcome of the
study would not be binding, but could serve as am-
munition for Democrats...” Indeed, it will likely
result in a recommendation for drastic troop re-
ductions. There are currently 146,000 U.S. troops
in Iraq, a number that is close to pre-surge lev-
els.
GOP presidential candidate John McCain has cor-
rectly warned that pulling troops out too quickly
would result in lost gains made with the troop surge.
Violence is down and the country is stabilizing. CNS
News reports, “U.S. monthly combat casualties are
down 86 percent from where they were a year ago for
September, making it one of the least deadly months
since the war began.”
NASA to rely on... Russia?
After dazzling the world with American technical
prowess over the past 50 years, NASA celebrates its
Golden Anniversary this month in a much weakened
state. U.S. manned access to the high ground of
space may soon be dependent upon, of all nations,
Russia, whom we long ago vanquished in the Space
Race. After the loss of space shuttle Columbia in
February 2003, the Bush administration decided to
shut down the shuttle program in 2010, while devel-
opment of a new crew-rated vehicle continued. The
new ship will launch U.S. astronauts to the Interna-
tional Space Station (ISS) and, eventually, back to
the moon and Mars. Unfortunately, it now appears
there is going to be at least a five-year gap, maybe
more, between the shuttle’s retirement and launch-
ing the new Orion crew vehicle. That will leave the
United States with only one option for getting our
astronauts to the ISS—via the Russian Soyuz vehi-
cle.
 VOL.08
Given the frosty state of the U.S./Russian relation-
ship, this situation is unacceptable. Further deteri-
oration in relations with Russia could result in U.S.
manned access to space being cut off entirely. Our
national security is highly dependent on continued
access to the ultimate high ground, and never more
so than now with a more aggressive Russia, a Chinese
space program that is rapidly closing the technology
gap, and radical states such as Iran on the verge of
becoming space powers.
Regrettably, options for correcting the situation are
limited. The shuttle program cannot easily be ex-
tended. Some production lines have already been
shut down. Likewise, significantly speeding up de-
velopment of the Orion vehicle would be difficult.
Profiles of valor: USA Sgt. Gainey
United States Army Staff Sergeant Michael Gainey
was manning the gunner’s turret in his Humvee as
part of a three-vehicle patrol in Baghdad in October
2007 when insurgents attacked the convoy. The en-
emy focused on Sgt. Gainey and his M240B machine
gun, wounding him in the neck and hand. Gainey re-
fused medical treatment, however, and continued to
assist in coordinating the counterattack from his van-
tage point, taking out several insurgents with sup-
pressive fire. The vehicle commander noticed that
other American troops were in danger not far ahead
and ordered the vehicle forward. Gainey directed
progress from the turret while aiming a hail of gunfire
at the enemy and eventually repelling the ambush.
Because of his steadfastness under fire and effective
coordination of the counterattack while wounded,
Gainey was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat
V for Valor.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Income Redistribution: Bailout implemented
The systemic corruption of mortgage giants Fan-
nie Mae and Freddie Mac was aided and abetted
by the very congressional creators of these quasi-
government entities who allowed them to aban-
don sound financial practices in favor of high-
risk mortgaging practices to unqualified consumers.
All this caused markets around the globe to be-
gin wildly fluctuating and left our once-solid fi-
NO.41 PG.7
nancial system severely damaged. Instead of al-
lowing Fannie, Freddie and other corrupt and in-
efficient institutions to file for bankruptcy and
clean up the mess quickly by selling their bad as-
sets at bargain prices, the federal government es-
sentially socialized much of our banking system.
And the mainstream media failed to report this
critical correlation: Stock markets plunged with
each announcement of major government interven-
tion, but each day the government did not inter-
vene, markets rebounded. In the first four days
of trading after the bailout was signed last Fri-
day, the Dow lost nearly 1,800 points, or 20 per-
cent.
Additionally, the media failed to report the connec-
tion between greater federal regulation and bankrupt
institutions. Before the calamity spilled over to other
enterprises, the only entities that needed a bailout
were the institutions most heavily regulated by the
federal government.
Nevertheless, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thinks the
$700-billion bailout is not enough—she is floating an-
other $150 billion “stimulus” package similar to the
one enacted in May. Pelosi said, “We may have to go
back into session before the next Congress” to make
it happen. And why not? The budget deficit only
hit a record $438 billion last year.
Stunningly, even though America is much worse off
since the Democrats took control of Congress, and
Congress is the keeper of the federal checkbook, it
appears that voters may hand the Democrats an even
larger majority. (For one of the most realistic looks
at who is responsible for the mess—and it’s not of-
ten we would recommend the show—see this recent
“Saturday Night Live” skit.)
Sadly, there is more. The Associated Press reports,
“The economy isn’t the only thing that’s sagging—
so are faces, breasts and bellies as would-be cosmetic
surgery patients increasingly opt against costly nips
and tucks because of tough financial times.” Horrors.
But all is not lost. Reuters reports, “A slowdown in
the world economy may give the planet a breather
from the excessively high carbon dioxide (CO2) emis-
sions responsible for climate change.” Boy, are we
relieved.
 VOL.08
AIG retreats after bailout
Executives for American International Group (AIG)
are justly under fire this week for spending $440,000
on a retreat to a California resort. The tab included
more than $23,000 in spa treatments. If the name
AIG sounds familiar, it should. The federal govern-
ment stepped in last month to bail the insurance
giant out of trouble with $85 billion. AIG execu-
tives defended the lavish spending by saying that no
one from the financial products division, which is
most responsible for recent financial woes, went on
the retreat. It was for independent contractors and
only a handful of actual AIG executives. Well, then,
no problem. And really, what’s $440,000 compared
to $85 billion? After several congressmen and the
White House upbraided AIG, the Federal Reserve
decided to offer another $38 billion in federal loans
to the company. That’ll teach ‘em.
Bailout it’s not just for banks anymore
Having just created over $800 billion out of whole
cloth to “rescue” the financial system (along with ar-
row manufacturers, citizens of American Samoa and
employees who ride bicycles to work, among others),
Congress now finds state governments next in line.
This week, California Governor Arnold Schwarzeneg-
ger (R-INO) had his hand out for $7 billion from the
federal coffers to cover school funding. A spokesper-
son for the state noted that a “perfect storm” of cir-
cumstances including lower-than-expected revenues
and a late budget has led to the state’s fiscal crisis.
Schwarzenegger subsequently modified his request,
saying, California may not need the money after all,
because the federal bailout “appear[s] to be improv-
ing liquidity.”
Similarly, Massachusetts State Treasurer Timothy
Cahill came begging for the same deal that Congress
gave to banks in an effort to put his state’s financial
house in order. Once again, sagging tax revenues are
blamed for the state’s cash shortage.
While other states aren’t public about it (yet), the
majority of them are staring at budget deficits for
the next fiscal year because collections from sales
and property taxes aren’t keeping up with the states’
NO.41 PG.8
appetite for spending. With federal supplements al-
ready making up a large share of state budgets, bean
counters look to the one entity that can print money
for their salvation. In what may be seen by future
historians as the “Era of the Bailout,” states reluc-
tant to make unpopular budget cuts are seeking their
place at the bailout trough.
CULTURE
Judicial Benchmarks: Guns in New Orleans
In the halls of justice on the right... The Second
Amendment Foundation (SAF) reached an agree-
ment with the City of New Orleans in a federal law-
suit filed by the SAF and the NRA after the city
confiscated legally owned firearms following Hurri-
cane Katrina in 2005. Under the agreement, which
awaits the seal of a judge, the city would return the
guns to their rightful owners and submit to a per-
manent injunction requiring New Orleans officials to
renounce ever again taking lawfully owned firearms
from residents.
Apparently, that June Supreme Court decision af-
firming that the Second Amendment means what it
says about “the right of the people to keep and bear
arms shall not be infringed” finally persuaded New
Orleans officials that they could no longer sustain
their thievery and their disarmament of residents.
“While we are delighted that this case is now set-
tled,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, “it should
never have been necessary. When a disaster strikes,
no government entity or official should arbitrarily
decide that citizens must be disarmed and left de-
fenseless, and that is what happened in New Or-
leans. These gun seizures were conducted without
legal authority, under color of law and often at gun-
point, and that must never be allowed to happen
again anywhere on American soil.”
Frontiers of Junk Science: Carbon offsets
One might say it is a commentary on American in-
novation that, just as Wall Street is on the verge of
economic panic, others are making piles of money
selling peace of mind in the nebulous form of “car-
bon offsets.” In order to assuage their environmental
guilt, corporations and individuals are paying ven-
 VOL.08
dors across the country big bucks to erase their car-
bon footprints.
Erasing one’s carbon footprint is apparently quite
easy. First, the guilty party tallies up their harm-
ful emissions; these are accumulated by engaging in
driving, flying and other environmentally threaten-
ing activities. Then the transgressor pays a vendor
to offset that footprint by funding projects that pre-
vent or remove harmful emissions, such as mass tree
plantings.
Many corporations are using these purchases to en-
hance their “green” image. They are also preparing
for the possibility that the government may regulate
their emissions and require them to pay for their pol-
lution.
It is unclear whether these offsets are actually mak-
ing a difference. The results are often hard to cal-
culate, with funds regularly going to projects that
would have been undertaken anyway. For example,
one Virginia landfill has embarked on a project that
reduces the harmful effects of methane by burning it
in an orange flare. In a few short months, the land-
fill’s operators have made $43,000 selling offsets on
the Chicago Climate Exchange. According to the re-
gional authority that runs the landfill, however, they
would have done this even if there were no such thing
as carbon offsets. The money “is gravy to us right
now,” said Alan Cummins, the authority’s executive
director. “Even without it, we would always continue
to flare.”
From the ‘Non Compos Mentis’ File
“Comedienne” Sandra Bernhard is now denying her
incendiary comments that have caused a national
outrage. During a recent performance at a Wash-
ington, DC, theater, Bernhard was quoted as say-
ing that Sarah Palin “would be gang-raped by my
big black brothers” if she steps foot in Manhattan.
After the comments became public, Rosie’s Place,
a Boston women’s shelter, cancelled Bernhard’s en-
gagement at their upcoming fundraiser—not surpris-
ing, as the shelter’s mission is to protect women from
violence.
NO.41 PG.9
Bernhard, who could not seem to remember her ex-
act words, is saying she did not use the words “gang”
or “rape.” When the New York Daily News called
to confirm the statement, however, she did not deny
it; instead, she sought to justify it as part of a witty
commentary on racism, women’s rights and “the ex-
treme views of Governor Sarah Palin.” Oh, now it’s
funny!
In explaining why she had not earlier denied the re-
marks, Bernhard claimed she normally does not re-
spond to “ill-informed critics” who comment on her
lack of taste and talent. She attributes her recent de-
nial to her concern for Rosie’s Place, saying, “Once
this caused collateral damage to an innocent charity
which does great work, I needed to correct things for
the record.” The only collateral damage Bernhard is
really worried about is that which she caused to her
own career. Or what’s left of it.
And last...
“A man told today how he was shot three times
in a London street for wearing a Barack Obama T-
shirt,” reports the Daily Mail of London. Sounds like
the American presidential election is causing fairly
heated exchanges even in Europe. Let’s read on. The
man “was buying a mobile telephone top-up card
in [a local shop] when the gunman confronted him
and glared at [his shirt], which carries an image of
the Democrat US presidential candidate underneath
the legend ‘Believe’.” The perturbed man left the
store, but the encounter soon took a horrifying twist.
When the Obama supporter emerged from the store,
“the attacker was waiting for him in broad daylight
with a threatening-looking dog and holding a gun
behind his back. Realising what had sparked the in-
creasingly violent assault, the terrified [man] zipped
up his jacket to cover the image of Mr Obama and
walked to his car.” But the angry white man fol-
lowed him. “The attacker then fired the gas-powered
ball-bearing pistol three times, hitting the civil ser-
vant in the face, hand and shoulder.” Wait a minute.
“Gas-powered ball-bearing pistol”? Here in America,
we’re not so pretentious—it’s a BB gun. The story
was accompanied by a photo of the wounded man
with a Band-Aid on his hand. What’s worse, the
Mail didn’t stop, alleging, “The potentially lethal
weapons are often converted by criminals to fire real
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tus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The of American liberty.)

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