SwiftVets.com

[Guest]

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THE FOUNDATION

"An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation." --John Marshall

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INSIGHT

"Three years ago, our country was ruthlessly attacked, and more than 3,000 innocent people lost their lives. We will always remember the victims: sons and daughters, husbands and wives, dads and moms, family members, co-workers, and friends. And we will always be inspired by the heroism and decency of our fellow citizens on that day. ... Since September 11th, America has fought a relentless war on terror around the world. We are staying on the offensive in this war -- striking the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home. We pray that God watch over our brave men and women in uniform and all who are waging this war and working to keep America safe. And we pray for their families. In the face of danger, America is showing its character. Three years after the attack on our country, Americans remain strong and resolute, patient in a just cause, and confident of the victory to come." --George W. Bush

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IChThUS IMPRIMIS

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible." --St. Thomas Aquinas

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FAMILY

"'Family values,' it seems clear to me, requires that the nation set an example for the world just as parents set an example for their children. Saddam systematically crippled Iraqi women, depriving half the population of the most basic human right, the right to dignity. That's an abuse of a family value. The latest conventional political wisdom of the chattering class is that John Kerry can retrieve his sagging poll numbers if he moves away from a focus on foreign policy and concentrates on domestic policy. But the two can no longer be separated. International terrorism is the number one domestic issue. We must keep our children safe from vile men (and women) who use terror to target innocents by targeting terrorists wherever they are. The survival of families is the ultimate family value." --Suzanne Fields

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CULTURE

"Members of the liberal media elite have become rather choosy when it comes to advocating stem-cell cures for degenerative medical conditions. To these commentators, cures using adult stem cells just aren't the 'right' cures. For stem-cell therapy to really count, it has to come from embryos. Indeed, even the most astonishing research advances using adult cells are ignored by these arbiters of public policy as if they never happened. And since liberal elites dominate public discourse in the stem-cell debate, the American people remain generally unaware of these astonishing scientific advances. ... Media opponents of President Bush's stem-cell policy often accuse the president of deciding science questions based on religious beliefs. But they are the ones whose ideological predilections and personal antipathy for political opponents are making them incapable of appreciating the evidence. As the old saying goes, none are so blind as those who will not see." --Wesley Smith

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LIBERTY

"This young century will be liberty's century. By promoting liberty abroad, we will build a safer world. By encouraging liberty at home, we will build a more hopeful America. Like generations before us, we have a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom." --President George W. Bush

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THE GIPPER

"It is the responsibility of the President of the United States...to ensure that the safety of our people cannot be successfully threatened by a hostile foreign power." --Ronald Reagan

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OPINION IN BRIEF

"The third anniversary of Sept. 11 is upon us. We remain at war -- and the media remain in denial. How any times have you picked up a newspaper and read about terrorist attacks perpetrated not by Muslim terrorists, but by generic 'militants' or 'guerrillas' or 'rebels' or, as Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes noted the Pakistan Times called them, 'activists'? Contrast the media whitewashing of our Islamo-fascist enemies with the press coverage of the Waco, Texas, siege in 1993 -- which constantly reminded us that David Koresh and his Branch Davidian followers were members of a 'peculiar religious sect' (New York Times, March 3, 1993) and 'a group of religious zealots with a known propensity for violence' (Washington Post, March 2, 1993) who were steeped in a 'culture of Christian extremism' (San Francisco Chronicle, April 20, 1993). A Nexis search of the terms 'Branch Davidian' and 'religious' and 'cult' in The New York Times for the year 1993 yielded 151 hits. The vast majority of these references were in headlines and news articles, as opposed to editorials, letters or book reviews. A Nexis search of the terms 'al-Qa'ida' and 'religious' and 'cult' in The New York Times for the year 2004 yielded just one article -- a magazine piece in March. The mainstream media pounded President Bush for trying to explain that the War on Terror is unwinnable in a conventional sense. The mainstream press itself proves the president's point every time its reporters disguise the deadly fanatical nature of our opponents in this global war. How are we to win a war against blood-spattered enemies whom our own free press continues to protect through politically correct sanitization? It wasn't no-name militants or wayward guerrillas who have butchered, beheaded and slaughtered thousands of innocents over the last three years alone." --Michelle Malkin

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GOVERNMENT

"People vote -- or at least should vote -- based upon the kind of country they want their kids to live in. And that means they vote on more issues than narrow economic interest, however defined. Most people -- liberals and conservatives -- don't see the government as the source of a welfare check and therefore don't vote for the party that promises to put the most zeros on that check. Most see government more as a protector than a nanny. And some people see the government as a reflection of, and influence on, the society in general. And so asking them to subsidize soaking Jesus in urine offends them not because they're 'hicks' but because they don't think that's the sort of society they want to raise kids in." --Jonah Goldberg

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BUSH CAMPAIGN JOURNAL

"Defying conventional political wisdom that cautions against raising complex, risk-taking issues in the midst of a tight election, Mr. Bush has thrown into the campaign mix Social Security privatization and reforming the nation's federal tax code to make the system fairer and maybe flatter. Signaling he wants to make sweeping economic and fiscal reforms in a second term, Mr. Bush added both of these proposals to his acceptance speech last week. Together, they showed the president's agenda is based on bold, even visionary ideas that would change our economy for generations to come. ... It's almost impossible to exaggerate the positive effect these proposals would have on our country. Elections, it is often said, are about the future. Mr. Bush's two big ideas, if enacted in a second term, would boost the U.S. economy to far more growth and prosperity than we have ever known." --Donald Lambro

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JFK DEMO-LITION DERBY

"[W]e don't know which John Kerry is running for president. The one who opposes war with Iraq or the one who supports it? The one who opposes the Patriot Act or the one who voted for it? The one who wants to work with the allies, or the one who ridicules them when they support America? The only way Kerry's constantly changing positions on little matters like war would seem rational is if we found out he was using a Ouija board to determine his positions -- much as he's using a crystal ball to predict when we should start removing U.S. troops from Iraq. Six months -- whoops, no, four years. Stupid crystal balls -- they never work! ... While waiting for the Ouija board to give us Kerry's final answer on the Iraq war, perhaps we could get an answer on something simpler -- like whether or not Kerry owns an SUV." --Ann Coulter

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RE: THE LEFT

"Twice married to heiresses, his mansions scattered about America and Europe, windsurfing off fashionable Nantucket, riding a $5,000 bicycle, speeding around in a six-figure or higher racing boat, flying his hairdresser cross country for a trim, served by a butler -- John Kerry might have been able to pull off the role of aristocratic military officer on a white horse. But he surely doesn't look like the kind of demagogue who could turn a 5.4 percent unemployment rate into a cause for rebellion. What he looks like is someone who, two months from now, will have many sneering words to say to his filthy rich liberal hangers-on about a benighted electorate that didn't even have the common sense to elect him president." --Tony Blankley

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POLITICAL FUTURES

"Now say someone comes to you looking for a job. Right off the bat, you notice something strange about his rèsumè: It goes on for page after page about a job he held for four months, more than 35 years ago, but makes only the barest mention of anything he's done since. You have him in for an interview, and he can't give you a straight answer to any question about what he plans to do in the job if you hire him. ... Still, you decide to check out his references. (John Edwards: "If you have any question about what John Kerry is made of, just spend three minutes with the men who served with him.") Some sing his praises quite extravagantly, but a greater number describe him harshly as a man of dubious character, and some accuse him of lying on his rèsumè. He acknowledges a few embellishments but refuses to provide you with documents that would shed light on the other accusations. Would you hire this man? And would you fire an employee of four years' standing in order to create an opening for him?" --James Taranto

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FOR THE RECORD

"Here's the reality: Though clearly a devout Christian, Bush is no more outwardly religious than the vast majority of this nation's presidents, including the most recent. I researched the Presidential Documents -- the official collection of every public presidential statement. An examination of the mentions of Jesus Christ by George W. Bush and Bill Clinton showed that through 2003, Bush cited Jesus, or Jesus Christ, or Christ in 14 separate statements, compared to 41 by Clinton during his eight years in office. On average, Clinton mentioned Christ in 5.1 statements per year, which exceeded Bush's 4.7. Bush's biggest year was 2001, when he mentioned Christ in seven statements. This was the year of September 11; he was especially introspective, and often looked upward for strength. In 2002, he cited Christ in five statements. Most interesting, in all of 2003, the Presidential Documents displayed only two statements in which Bush mentioned his Savior: the Easter and Christmas messages. It may be reasonable to conclude that the hostile press reaction to Bush's mention of Jesus has pressured him into silence. Such pressure was never placed on Bush's Democrat predecessor. President Bill Clinton's top year for Christ remarks was 1996 -- the year of his reelection campaign -- when he spoke of Christ in nine separate statements. Clinton mentioned Christ almost twice as much in election years." --Dr. Paul Kengor

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SELECT READER COMMENTS

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"The Patriot's Shields of Strength tags arrived yesterday, and they are a huge hit. They are made well and when our Marines find out about them, they track me down and ask for one. Thank you Federalist Patriots for funding the production and distribution of these tags for our men and women out here in the heat of the battle. Thank you for supporting Operation SoS [ http://federalist.com/news/sos.asp ]." --Chaplain, Al Asad, Iraq.

"The terrorist attack in Russia last week could never happen here thanks to Feinstein, Schumer, Kennedy, etc. They passed the 'Gun Free School Zone' bill. The terrorists would never dream of breaking such a law. In reality, why not follow the example of Israel where administrators, teachers, parents, grandparents and older students are armed and trained. This has prevented bloodshed in their schools." --Butte, Montana

"I saw a campaign slogan this morning that read 'Kerry for a Stronger America.' We know what Kerry's 1971 congressional testimony did; how it empowered the enemy to continue the fight, how his testimony was used to further torture the POWs in captivity. What is John Kerry's current rhetoric, that Iraq is the 'wrong war,' doing for the morale of the troops stationed in or returning to Iraq? Is it emboldening the insurgents in Fallujah or Najaf? How does this help strengthen America? Kerry undermined and endangered his brothers in arms in 1971 and he is doing so now." --Collierville, Tennessee

"It is a shame that The Patriot isn't circulated to the general public through some type of mass media. Liberals should have access to this information as well as us conservatives. We agree with what is written. Please get The Patriot perspective in front of the Left!" --Hinton, WV
Editor's Reply: We have enormous outreach to the dark side! For example, have you not heard of our Collegiate Patriot project [http://CollegiatePatriot.US/] -- getting The Patriot into the hands of college and university students all across America? We frequently hear from those who have traded up for conservative candidates after becoming regular readers of The Patriot.

"Every time I open The Federalist Patriot's three-times weekly posts I get so excited reading and forwarding to all my friends who I have not yet gotten to subscribe. You cover so much great info in such a small amount of space. I have been subscribing to The Federalist since some time in late 1990s-not sure what year. I wish I had the money to pay all your bills as its the best online or in print." --Boston, Massachusetts

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THE LAST WORD

"Zell Miller can't understand how someone who aspires to be commander-in-chief can vote for a war, and then oppose the appropriations to fund it at the moment of truth -- no matter how John Kerry tries to explain away that vote as just a matter of parliamentary procedure, a misunderstanding because, after all, he voted for the appropriations before he voted against them. Ol' Zell can't see how a responsible wartime leader could think, and vote, like that. Not when American troops are committed and in the field. Neither can I." --Paul Greenberg