op ed review 5/2

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

A new Democracy Corps survey finds the passage of health care reform ‘did not produce even a point rise in the president’s approval rating or affection for the Democratic Congress… Virtually every key tracking measure in April’s poll has remained unchanged, including the Democrats’ continued weakness on handling of the economy.

http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/13169/health-care-reform-did-not-produce-even-point-rise-presidents-approval-rating

A new national poll shows support for repealing President Obama’s health care reform law has not abated in the month since its passage, and actually ticked up.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/64746

Members of Congress face the most anti-incumbent electorate since 1994, with less than a third of all voters saying they are inclined to support their representatives in November, according to a new poll.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/27/AR2010042705324.html?hpid=topnews

The latest Gallup poll shows a marked enthusiasm gap in this year’s electorate. Republicans narrowly lead on the generic ballot, 46 to 45 percent, which is on its own a rare level of success for the GOP. But among voters who say they are “very enthusiastic about voting,” Republicans lead, 57 to 37 percent.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/gallup-enthused-voters-prefer-gop-by-20-points-92240874.html

A new poll has businessman Tim Burns (R) leading in a special election for the seat of the late Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.).

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/polls/95337-special-election-for-murthas-seat-tilting-toward-gop

National Enquirer published a story last night claiming that President Barack Obama was caught having an affair with a former campaign staffer at a Washington hotel, and they might have the tape to prove it.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/obama-sex-scandal-national-enquirer/

As an oil spill the size of Rhode Island approaches the Gulf Coast, President Obama used his weekly address to push for campaign finance reform. The oil spill wasn't even mentioned. Not a single word. As you watch and/or read what the President felt was a national priority this Saturday morning, consider how media members would have responded if he was a Republican

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/05/01/obamas-weekly-address-ignores-oil-spill-calls-campaign-finance-reform#comment-1237316#ixzz0mh81uDKQ

Failure to get control of the relief effort and contain the environmental challenge could pose the same kind of political threat to Mr. Obama's popular standing that the much-criticized handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina did for former President George W. Bush. And unlike Katrina, it is likely the federal government will be the clear lead authority in dealing with the BP spill. (The Left will try to divert blame to the oil industry)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/29/expanding-oil-slick-poses-political-peril-obama/

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a law making it a state crime to be an illegal immigrant, just hours after President Obama criticized the bill and said the federal government would review it to see if it violates civil rights laws.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/23/ariz-governor-signs-tough-immigration-law/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_must-read-stories-today

The chattering class is aghast at Arizona's new immigration law. "Harkens back to apartheid," says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Cynthia Tucker. "Shameful," says the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne. "Terrible…an invitation to abuse," says the New York Times' David Brooks.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/A-carefully-crafted-immigration-law-in-Arizona-92136104.html

The furor grew as opponents used refried beans to smear swastikas on the Arizona state Capitol, civil rights leaders demanded a boycott of the state, and the Obama administration weighed a possible legal challenge.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100426/D9FB0SHO0.html

“Immigration Law: What The Media Fail To Report”

http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/1717-immigration-law-what-the-media-fail-to-report

The law seems to be working already: “Many illegals say they will leave Arizona because of the law.”

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100429/D9FCDCN00.html

And it looks like a majority of Latino citizens in Arizona may support the new law.

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/04/27/rasmussen-majority-of-latinos-in-arizona-support-letting-cops-check-for-immigration-status/

Some Republicans are nervous. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is one of the first prominent national Republicans to speak out against it. "I think it creates unintended consequences,"

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36427.html#ixzz0mKZmqlwp

“They've pushed and pulled, marched on the national Mall and issued demands..and now, immigrant rights groups find they've forced immigration and legalization to the top of the crowded congressional agenda. The next test of their power will come Saturday, when the groups hope to turn out hundreds of thousands of supporters in rallies across the country, all demanding that Congress and Mr. Obama slow interior enforcement and move to legalize illegal immigrants.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/26/pressure-mounting-to-legalize-immigrants/

Here’s how it may play out: “Obama plays race card: rallies blacks, latinos for ’10 upset”

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0410/Obama_seeks_to_reconnectyoung_people_AfricanAmerins_Latinos_and_women_for_2010.html?showall

Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Congress not to mess with the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy -- the ban on gays serving openly in the military. In a strongly worded letter Gates told the House Armed Services Committee that forcing policy changes on the military before it's ready would "send a very damaging message to our men and women in uniform."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/30/pentagon-chief-warns-congress-changing-militarys-gay-ban/

Sarah Palin resumed her role as the anti-Obama at a gathering of conservative activists in Detroit, telling a crowd of around 1,500 that America is looking for a change from the "hopey changey stuff" of the 2008 election. Her formula: Common sense, Conservative values and the Constitution. Along with repealing Obamacare and standing up for American exceptionalism and a robust military.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100501/NEWS15/100501007/1319/Palin-rips-into-Obama-and-Dems-in-Clarkston-speech

Fox News Channel which evokes the ire of liberals across the country has just finished first among cable news channels for the 100th consecutive month.

http://www.aim.org/don-irvine-blog/fox-rolls-along-1-for-100th-consecutive-month/

The Supreme Court has said a federal court went too far in ordering the removal of a congressionally endorsed war memorial cross from its longtime home in California. The ruling was 5-4, with the court's conservatives in the majority. "The Constitution," wrote the majority, "does not oblige government to avoid any public acknowledgment of religion's role in society."

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=992152

President Obama has given a “massive payback” to unions by implementing an executive order that would help them secure billions of dollars in construction contracts on public projects. The executive order encourages federal agencies to use “project labor agreements” or PLAs on their construction projects, which could require any non-union workers to pay into ailing union pension funds and follow work guidelines set out by a union.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/65009

In America’s most liberal city, more than 1 in 3 of San Francisco's nearly 27,000 city workers earned $100,000 or more last year.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/26/MNC51CLUBN.DTL

The recovery is picking up steam, but economists say the government's stimulus package and jobs bill had little to do with the rebound.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/26/news/economy/NABE_survey/

SurveyUSA has a new poll on the Washington Senate race. Dino Rossi has a ten-point lead over Democrat Sen. Patty Murray, 52%-42%. Rossi so far hasn’t decided if he will run.

http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/1707-washington-state-may-hold-key-to-us-senate

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/04/25/democrats-murray-posts-weak-numbers-in-washington-senate-race/

Great moments in socialized medicine: “Thousands of UK doctors and nurses face the sack after the election under devastating cuts being planned by NHS bureaucrats….Last night nursing leaders warned the cuts could see the return of Third World wards and long waits for treatment - and could even threaten the lives of patients.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1268822/Nurses-bear-brunt-NHS-cuts-thousands-face-sack-election.html

No wait, it’s already happened: “A devastated daughter has accused Gordon Brown of betraying the elderly after her mother died 'wallowing in filth' in an NHS hospital . Clara Stokes, 84, who was honored last year by the Prime Minister for her work as a Land Girl during WWII, was left partially paralyzed by a massive stroke in December 2009. Her daughter claims her mother's subsequent care at Luton and Dunstable Hospital was 'inhumane' and 'not fit for dogs'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1269202/Family-Land-Girl-died-left-wallowing-filth-hospital-write-furious-letter-Brown-attacking-Labours-views-health.html

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Alicia Colon 4/30/10

Whenever I’d watch old WWII movies and saw the occupying Nazi soldiers demand papers from French citizens I’d think how lucky we are that here in America we don’t have to be subjected to this treatment. Since the Arizona governor signed an immigration law, Democrats and their fellow alarmists in the MSM are desperately trying to equate it with Nazism and the civil rights abuse of Hispanics. President Obama hinted that the federal government may have to circumvent the law.

As a Hispanic I recognize this ploy for what it is- a desperate attempt to incite militant Hispanic groups into protesting Arizona and liberals into boycotting the state. Why, you may ask? Because if what Arizona did spreads to the entire country, the Democrats are toast. And their media pals know this.

Ironically even some Republicans like Karl Rove and Lindsey Graham are worried that the law allowing police to ask potential illegal immigrants for papers will lead to abuses. Michael Gerson explained the potential civil rights violation in his Townhall column: “The law creates a suspect class, based in part on ethnicity, considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent. It makes it harder for illegal immigrants to live without scrutiny — but it also makes it harder for some American citizens to live without suspicion and humiliation. Americans are not accustomed to the command “Your papers, please,” however politely delivered. The distinctly American response to such a request would be “Go to hell,” and then “See you in court.”

I am an American of Hispanic heritage and I look the part. I can’t count how many times I’ve been asked, “Do you speak English?” According to the rhetoric being showered in the media I’m supposed to be upset at being asked for my “papers.” Oh really?

Ask any American of every ethnicity how often they are asked for picture ID. The answer is it happens on a daily basis- checking into hotels, using credit cards, at job interviews. We should be used to this by now. The only place we don’t have to be documented is at the voting booth. If voters had to prove their eligibility the Democrats would lose their base and their power.

Every attempt to have voters prove their citizenship has been thwarted by the Democrats and with good reason, from their point of view. They rely on minority and suspect voters whom they can truck to the polls en masse with instructions on how they should vote. Would they be able to do this if these voters had to show their eligibility to vote?

They use thuggery to intimidate legitimate citizens and now have a justice department that refuses to address this tactic. At these proposed rallies to protest the Arizona law, who will be the Hispanics protesting? I strongly suspect that if there are any American-born Hispanics, they will be celebrities looking for publicity or militants from leftwing groups. Legal immigrants and U.S. born Hispanics like myself are more concerned with border security than amnesty for illegals.

If the media wants to know who’s to blame for the Arizona immigration bill why not blame the illegals who are raping, stealing, and murdering Arizonans after sneaking over the unsecured border? Once again the Democrats are displaying the Pavlovian response of injecting race into issues that should be looked at instead with common sense. The federal government is not securing the border between Arizona and Mexico, thus allowing criminals to wreak havoc in that state — including murder.

Hispanics are once again being used as political pawns to sustain the Democrat Party’s power in the inner cities. I hope the rest of the country realizes that we Hispanics who are citizens are not in its pocket and will support efforts to insure that only U.S. citizens are eligible to elect our representatives.

http://bigjournalism.com/author/aliciacolon/

MORE GOOD READS:

In my last column, I noted that no society can survive a prolonged infatuation with moral ambiguity. Perhaps no other political issue in America today embraces such ambiguity better than the notion of illegal immigration "reform." Everyone with a brain wave knows the progressive drill: illegal immigrants aren't illegal, they're "undocumented." They do the work "Americans won't do." Because they've lived here illegally for x number of years, they are now entitled to live here. We may as well legalize them, because we can't possibly deport twelve million people. Enforcing border security is akin to "re-building the Berlin Wall" on our southern borders. And last, but not least, my personal favorite regarding an integrally related issue: requiring picture ID for voting is "unfair." Let's whack these odious notions one by one:

http://jewishworldreview.com/0410/ahlert.php3

Listening to the national uproar, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Arizona has marched into the civil rights apocalypse with its new state law cracking down on illegal immigrants…..it'd be nice if the national media provided some context, rather than simply slamming Arizona as a redneck haven filled with nativists and bubbas with a hankering for racial profiling. An estimated 500,000 illegal aliens live in Arizona, and many are decent folks, to be sure. But the border is still wide open, and many more are coming. Last year in Border Patrol's 262-mile-wide Tucson Sector, agents arrested 241,000 illegal aliens, a drop of more than 130,000 from 2007. It sounds great until you understand that gotaways outnumber arrests by three to one…..Here's an important bit of context: This isn't your father's illegal immigration, when polite farm workers offered to do chores in return for some water and a sandwich as they walked north. Today, the drug cartels have taken over the people-smuggling business. They own the trails into the country and dominate the land, the same way urban gangs control neighborhoods. Any group wanting in has to deal with them, and the going rate is $2,500 per person. If you don't have the cash, the cartel coyote will offer to bring you in for free if you carry his dope….”

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/04/the_arizona_uproar.html

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"President Obama called the Arizona [immigration] law misguided. What's misguided, Mr. President, is the federal government's ongoing refusal to enforce the laws that are already on the books. Read the Arizona law. Parts of it are word-for-word the same as the federal statutes which continue to be all but ignored."

-Jack Cafferty

"It is passing strange for federal officials, including the president, to accuse Arizona of irresponsibility while the federal government is refusing to fulfill its responsibility to control the nation's borders. Such control is an essential attribute of national sovereignty. America is the only developed nation that has a 2,000-mile border with a developing nation, and the government's refusal to control that border is why there are an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona and why the nation, sensibly insisting on first things first, resists 'comprehensive' immigration reform."

-George Will

"If a state, or nation, has laws it will not enforce for political reasons, it mocks both the law and politics, to say nothing of the cultural order."

-Cal Thomas

"Being deeply concerned about what your government might do to you or that your representatives in Washington are exercising power in a way that's unmoored from the Constitution does not mean you're ready to resort to violence. It does, however, suggest you're more inclined to agree with George Washington than Bill Clinton."

-Mark Hemingway

"Whenever I see Pelosi's super-sized luxury jet, I'm reminded of those bumper-stickers one occasionally sees around town that announce My Other Car is a Motorcycle or, on a '94 Saturn, My Other Car is a Limousine. Her plane should have a large sticker on its tail that reads: My Other Plane is a Broomstick, and so, come to think of it, should she."

-Burt Prelutsky

"To give you an idea how popular President Obama is around the world -- he's probably the most popular leader in the world -- this is amazing. They opened a nightclub in China named after President Obama. It will be an Obama-themed nightclub. Here's the amazing thing -- it hasn't even opened yet and is already $12 trillion in debt."

-Jay Leno

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BOOKS

The Founding Fathers are made over into racist slaveholders, the settlers of the West into genocidal land-stealers, and the welfare state America’s ultimate triumph. But conservatives have an antidote “The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History” tells you what really happened throughout America’s glorious history -- not what liberals wish had happened.

https://members.humaneventsonline.com/order.php?offer=1869

“Spoken from the Heart” by Laura Bush. “In this brave, beautiful, and deeply personal memoir, Laura Bush, one of our most beloved and private first ladies, tells her own extraordinary story.”

http://www.amazon.com/Spoken-Heart-Laura-Bush/dp/1439155208/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272737380&sr=8-1

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LEFTIST WATCH

In January Cesar Chavez said that using Twitter, the internet and text messaging to criticize his leftist regime was "terrorism." He has now decided to use the social networking tool for his own purposes. "Comandante Chavez is going to open his Twitter account soon to wage the battle online,"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7637168/Hugo-Chavez-to-join-Twitter.html

“The folks at Brandeis assure me it’s all just a big misunderstanding. When they compare the Tea Party movement to neo-Nazis, they mean it in a nice way. And so, if all goes as scheduled, Brandeis will host a symposium tomorrow on “The New Right-Wing Radicalism.” It starts with a discussion of rising neo-Nazism in Europe (“Mein Kampf: A Book Of The Past In The Present”) and ends with an analysis of the Tea Parties in America (“From Tea Parties to Armed Militia”). To make sure everyone got the message, the promotional posters feature swastikas.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view.bg?articleid=1250333&srvc=rss

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NEWS FROM THE ISLAMIC WORLD

No joke. Iran was just given a seat on the “U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.”. No protest from the US.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/30/stayed-mum-iran-vote-womens-commission/

A British Muslim has shown 'no remorse' after desecrating a town's war memorial with extremist Islamic slogans. He will be punished with a hand slap because the graffiti proclaiming future world domination for Islam, glorifying Osama Bin Laden and calling for the assassination of the British Prime Minister, 'was not religiously or racially motivated'. (That’s a relief…)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1270021/British-Muslim-daubs-war-memorial-Islamic-slogansCPS-says-NOT-racially-motivated.html

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GLOBALONEY

What kind of U.N. environmental ambassador builds a 20,000 square-foot home with a six-car garage, an elevator and a lagoon?

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1249847

The author of a new book says Al Gore's mission to "go green" has nothing to do with global warming but everything to do with another green -- the greenback. Former California TV meteorologist Brian Sussman exposes Al Gore's global warming hoax in his newly-released book Climategate. "Al Gore doesn't believe in global warming. He believes in money, and he stands -- along with a number of others -- ...to make billions; [or] as one friend of mine in the Silicon Valley who's a financier told me, maybe a trillion dollars is what these guys can make altogether off of this," the author reports.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=989718

Eco-billionaire Al Gore just purchased an $8,875,000 ocean-view villa on 1.5 acres with a swimming pool, spa and fountains. The Italian-style house has six fireplaces, five bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-hotprop-gore-20100428,0,4103538.story

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ARTICLES

The last few days have seen an extraordinary outburst of criticism of Arizona’s new immigration law. In the nation’s elite media outlets, its most respected commentators are portraying the law as an act of police-state repression. Many, if not all, of the specific criticisms can be refuted simply by reading the law itself, but others are more generalized criticisms of immigration enforcement. In any event, it’s hard to choose the most over-the-top and wrongheaded commentary on the law, but here are ten choices, in no particular order.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/top-10-dumbest-things-said-about-the-arizona-immigration-law-92577964.html

Arizona officially joined the South this month. In other words, it became for our Northeastern media elitists a state dominated by backward, slack-jawed racists……Disagreeing with the left — and more importantly, handing them a political defeat — brings a lot of ugliness these days from the forces of "tolerance." Character assassination is required. A citizen of Arizona cannot be concerned about higher rates of crime and strained government budgets without being Mexican-food-smeared as an adorer of Adolf Hitler. But what's truly outrageous if not surprising is that the same media that visibly quivered with anger that anyone would draw a Hitler moustache on their hero Barack Obama now present these Nazi smears as not an embarrassment to the left, but as a way of augmenting the left. The "furor was growing" over the tough new law, they dutifully report.

http://www.creators.com/conservative/brent-bozell.html

“It is not politically correct, but it has to be said. The impetus to furious objections to the new Arizona law that makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally is primarily an effort by the organized Latino community to expand its political base and thus power. In this intense effort the Hispanic leaders have enlisted the support of elements in the Democrat party that enjoy an expanded and dependable voting bloc, and those in the Republican Party who seek to maintain an ever ready pool of cheap and/or seasonal labor.

http://spectator.org/archives/2010/04/26/the-great-arizona-shootout

The idea of specifically recruiting military veterans to run for marginal House seats was part of Rahm Emanuel's master plan when he ran the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006. The strategy helped Democrats win back the House. Now Republicans are mounting their own effort to run veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars. The number of vets running this year will be double what it was in 2008 -- and most of the 40 who are running are running as Republicans.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471204575210283530139678.html?KEYWORDS=John+Fund

Nowhere has liberalism gone further than in San Francisco. And few, if any, other cities can boast such a well-heeled work force. Is this what "spreading the wealth" is all about? We have seen the future and it works — for certain people. Take San Francisco municipal workers. The San Francisco Chronicle recently detailed just how overpaid the city's employees are. Their average yearly salary is $93,000 before benefits. A third of them made more than $100,000 in 2009. A newly retired deputy police chief (not even the city's top cop) made $516,118. Firefighters in San Francisco have a base salary of $102,648, while even lowly payroll clerks start at $54,314. If you grant for the sake of argument that something as impersonal as a corporation can feel the very human urge to acquire inordinate wealth, there is surely such a thing as "government greed."

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=532030

It is a truly tragic development that in America -- a country founded on the principle of the inviolability of private property -- half of us prey on the substance of our neighbors. A striking 37-second video moment made it to the internet last week. It was taken at a demonstration of public-sector unions in Springfield, Illinois marching in support of the proposed tax increases in that state. The clip features a public school teacher, an African-American lady, who carries a couple of placards while shouting: "Where is the money? Where is the money? ... Give up the bucks! Where is the cash? We need it fast!" The video is an eye-opening illustration of what taxes are ultimately about: Americans helping themselves to the property of other Americans.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/04/it_is_a_truly_tragic_developme.html

Why does it seem that the public is being told that the only demand the Tea Party activists have is that their taxes be lowered? Though the activists would doubtless welcome such an outcome, it is by no means the sole impetus of their objections. In fact, the demand is explicitly absent from their "Contract from America." The contract -- a written expression of the will of those like-minded Americans who would sign it -- serves to convey to U.S. public officials a consensus outcry for a policy agenda of individual liberty, limited government, and economic freedom.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/04/obamas_tea_party_straw_man.html

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Remember November so that we can return America to its founding principles of freedom, personal responsibility and economic liberty. We Remember November so we, our children, and grandchildren can live with the freedoms our founding fathers intended.

http://remembernovember.com/

Must see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3APuNTmqbDY

7 lies in under two minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UErR7i2onW0&feature=channel

The clear and present danger of homegrown Islamist terrorism grows weekly. Plots are coming at New York and America from every which way and at increasing speed. Here is a list that will scare you:

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/05/01/2010-05-01_the_threat_keeps_growing.html

A Penn State climate professor is suing the makers of this satirical video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrd3HYU80Dk

Facts, not fiction on climate change:

http://www.nocapandtrade.com/

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WISE WORDS

"The greater the power the more dangerous the abuse."

-Edmund Burke

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

-Albert Einstein

“You can't put a price tag on the American Dream. That dream is the heart and soul of America; it's the promise that keeps our nation forever good and generous, a model and hope to the world."

-Ronald Reagan