Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Catholics, Muslims and Sex-Abuse Double Standards
They call it "bacha bazi," translated as "boy play" — Afghan militia men throwing boys into sexual slavery. What's worse yet, the U.S. military has turned a blind eye to this obscene practice. The front page of The New York Times carried the headline "US Soldiers Told to Ignore Sexual Abuse of Boys by Afghan Allies." Soldiers who tried to stop this abuse act have been punished by the U.S. military. A photo caption read: "Dan Quinn was relieved of his Special Forces command after a fight with a U.S.-backed militia leader who had a boy as a sex slave chained to his bed." Quinn beat up the abuser.
'Clock Boy' and America's Suicidal PC Tendencies
Last week, Muslim 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed made national news after being detained by police for bringing a deconstructed clock to his Texas school. The clock, to inexpert eyes, looked like a bomb. Ahmed's English teacher thought so and called the police; when they questioned Mohamed, he reportedly stonewalled them. They released him after realizing that the device posed no threat and was not meant as a hoax explosive. But this being Barack Obama's America, that didn't end the story.
CR Fails, but Fight for Life Continues
[Thursday] morning, in a historic moment, Pope Francis of the Holy See addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress. "The Golden Rule," Pope Francis said, "... reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development." We could not agree more. The fight for the lives of the unborn in America has been raging stronger than ever, as the curtain has been pulled back and America has seen the realities of what happens at Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the nation.
The Fashionable Pope
Pope Francis has enjoyed a high-spirited welcome in the United States. The infectiously likable pope kissed babies along his parade route in Washington, D.C., and performed a soaringly beautiful mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine there. He is an endearingly charismatic figure, but judging by his highly anticipated speech before a joint session of Congress, not exactly an orator. His wording was stilted. The pope talked about entering "into dialogue" — with workers, with the elderly, with young people — and said he wanted "to do so through the historical memory of your people." The most memorable line of the entire address was the concluding "God bless America!" — an obligatory sentiment that gains much more heft coming from the bishop of Rome.
In Address to Congress, Pope Defends Dignity of Politics, Work, Life, Family, and Freedom
Before a joint session of Congress this morning, Pope Francis delivered a rousing address calling upon Americans to live up to the highest of our nation's ideals. Pointing to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton, Francis praised Americans for their commitments to "liberty," "liberty in plurality and non-exclusion," "social justice and the rights of persons," and "the capacity for dialogue and openness to God."
Walker Withdrawal Shows Changes in Republican Contest
Scott Walker's abrupt withdrawal from the Republican presidential race Monday afternoon shows how different, in ways noticed and unnoticed, this campaign cycle is from those of recent years. One obvious difference is the size of the Republican field — 17, before Walker's withdrawal and Rick Perry's withdrawal 10 days before. That has made debates unwieldy and has placed a premium on somehow emerging from the scrum. Walker didn't. He spoke for just seven minutes in the two-hour Fox News debate on Aug. 6 and the three-hour CNN debate (in which he was asked just three questions) on Sept. 16. It was not a format that favored Midwestern reticence.
Double Suicide: The Presidential Campaign of 2015
For the GOP, this has all been a godsend, an opportunity to amplify the case being made every day by the Democrats themselves against their own stewardship. Instead, the Republicans spent the summer attacking each other — the festival of ad hominems interrupted only by spectacular attempts to alienate major parts of the citizenry. The latest example is Ben Carson, the mild-mannered, highly personable neurosurgeon and one of two highest-polling GOP candidates. He said on Sunday that a Muslim should not be president of the United States.
The Clock, the Pope and Totalitarian Apologists
In Irving, Texas, a few days after the anniversary of September 11, a 14-year-old boy named Ahmed Mohamed took a clock to school that he had assembled inside a pencil case. He claimed he wanted to show it to his science teacher. Afterward, the clock started beeping in another class, and Ahmed got in trouble. We know he was arrested for disrupting school. We know he was not very cooperative. But beyond that, we do not know much more than the public relations spin his family and the Council on American Islamic Relations have put out.
A Solution to the Government's VA Problem
There is only one guaranteed way to get fired from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Falsifying records won't do it. Prescribing obsolete drugs won't do it. Cutting all manner of corners on health and safety is, at worst, going to get you a reprimand. No, the only sure-fire way to get canned at the VA is to report any of these matters to authorities who might do something about it. That, at least, is what the U.S. Office of Special Counsel recently reported to the president of the United States. The Special Counsel's office is the agency to which government whistleblowers go to report wrongdoing.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
It's the Pope, Mr. Obama, Where Are Your Manners?
President Obama threw a big shin-dig for Pope Francis and the guest list caused all sorts of controversy. A gaggle of gay activists were invited to scarf down cocktail weenies at the White House — along with an openly gay Episcopal bishop and some pro-abortion Catholics. Catholic Online accused the president of setting up an LGBT ambush.
The Pope's Problem
I've been a Roman Catholic since 1954. I have great respect for Pope Francis. When it comes to matters of faith and morals, what he says, goes. But when it comes to politics and economics, the pope is about as far from infallible as anyone can get. For example, he was in Cuba earlier this week, meeting informally with Fidel Castro and touring the island to say Masses and meet with priests.
Mandatory Muslim Immigration in the EU
On Tuesday, national sovereignty gave way to mandatory multiculturalism in the European Union. A plan to relocate an additional 120,000 Middle Eastern migrants was imposed by EU ministers over the objections four Eastern European countries adamantly opposed to the plan. Slovakia's Robert Fico illuminated the resistance. "As long as I am prime minister, mandatory quotas will not be implemented on Slovak territory," he declared in Bratislava. Slovakia was joined by the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary. Finland abstained from the vote. Yet despite the quartet's disapproval, the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, led by France and Germany, pushed through the plan proposed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker during his annual State of the Union address in Strasbourg earlier this month. The plan called for 160,000 migrants to be forcibly redistributed from Italy, Greece and Hungary to all other member states, save Britain, Ireland and Denmark, who remain exempt from EU treaties. In addition, Junker called for a review of the "Dublin system" that determines which EU nation is responsible for asylum claims.
Remembering Yogi Berra, Baseball Player Extraordinaire … and Economic Philosopher
The word "icon" is overused these days, but it surely applies to Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra, who passed away [Tuesday] at age 90. His playing career was iconic, and he transitioned into a cultural icon in his role as amateur philosopher and author of droll malapropisms. Yogi was a key part of the New York Yankees dynasty that dominated Major League Baseball in the 1950s and early 1960s. On a personality rich team that included fellow Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford, Berra was the most colorful and arguably the most accomplished, having won three American League Most Valuable Player awards (compared to two each for Mantle and Roger Maris), an all-time record of 10 world championship rings as a player (he won three more as a coach), and the distinction of having caught the only perfect game in World Series history — Don Larsen's gem in 1957.
Continuing on Protection for Life
If you want to hear absurd statements, ask pro-abortion politicians to defend their views on the unborn. [Tuesday], CNS News asked House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) whether "an unborn baby with a human liver and a human heart is a human being." He refused to take a position on what he called a "very, very controversial and very tough issue." CNS countered, "If it's not of the human species, what species is it?" Whip Hoyer's response? "I'm done. I'm done here." Vice President Joe Biden was questioned about his pro-abortion status conflicting with his Catholic faith. Echoing Barack Obama during his presidential race in 2008, Biden said that having a theological discussion about when life begins is "above my paygrade." He admitted that while he agrees with the Catholic Church's belief in life at conception, "I'm not prepared to say that to other God-fearing, non-God fearing people that have a different view." But supporting unrestricted abortion isn't above his pay-grade?
Shout Your Abortion?
Pope Francis is in Washington, D.C., today. He has made headlines recently for encouraging people to have mercy toward those who have committed what the church teaches is a sin — abortion. I have visited many crisis pregnancy centers, and often it is women who have had abortions who are the most articulate and passionate defenders of life. But our increasingly secular society has created a culture in which some women, instead of seeking mercy, are proud of their abortions and want to shout it from the rooftops. Pro-abortion activists have started a social media campaign called "#ShoutYourAbortion," because they are upset about the idea that abortion is a sad or negative event.
When Did Calling Obama a Muslim Become a Slur?
During Q&A at a Donald Trump town hall event in New Hampshire, a man called Obama a "Muslim." When Trump failed to "correct" him, David Goodfriend, a Democratic strategist and ex-President Bill Clinton staffer, appeared on Newsmax TV calling Trump "a racist bastard." Memo to the strategist: Islam is a religion, not a race. But Democratic standard operating procedure is as follows: Whenever possible, convert any issue someway, somehow, into an accusation that Republicans are "racist." The tepid economic recovery continues, most Americans believe our foreign policy is on the wrong track and only 21 percent of Americans support Obama's Iran deal. But hey, Republicans are racist.
The Sleeping Dogs of Europe
The bailed-out Greeks are still broke. Now their islands are flooded with a horde of migrants from the Middle East and Africa. Spain, Portugal and Italy are almost in the same boat. Their shared Mediterranean traditions — and vulnerabilities — are far different from those of northern Europe's more affluent nations. Given the triad of history, geography and culture, it is no accident that Europe on the Mediterranean is being hit first by Third World immigration heading northward. Southern Europe always seems to owe money to the north.
Yogi Berra, an American Story
The 18-year-old U.S. Navy enlistee, thinking it sounded less boring than the dull training he was doing in 1944, volunteered for service on what he thought an officer had called "rocket ships." Actually, they were small, slow, vulnerable boats used as launching pads for rockets to give close-in support for troops assaulting beaches. The service on those boats certainly was not boring. At dawn on June 6, 1944, that sailor was a few hundred yards off Omaha Beach. Lawrence Peter Berra, who died Tuesday at 90, had a knack for being where the action was.
A Bully on the Congressional Playground
Merriam-Webster's definition of a bully is: "a blustering browbeating person; especially one habitually cruel to others who are weaker." Sound familiar, Congress? That's because this is what General Electric's Jeffrey Immelt has been doing to you for months, first by threatening to leave the country and withhold contributions and now by threatening to move jobs overseas as retaliation for the end of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. In June, a revolt against the unhealthy marriage between the government and large corporations put the mother of all crony programs, the Ex-Im Bank, in liquidation. Being the second-largest beneficiary of the bank's largesse and one of the 10 mega-corporations collecting 64 percent of its overall activities, GE is upset. It wasted millions of dollars in lobbying, yet Congress still cut off its access to cheap loans.
Ben Carson's Warning
"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:15-16) Major newspaper editorials and some columnists have their knickers in a twist over remarks by Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson. Appearing last Sunday on "Meet the Press," Carson was asked by host Chuck Todd whether he believes Islam is consistent with the Constitution. "No, I don't," he said. "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation." Asked whether he could vote for a Muslim for Congress, Carson said Congress is a different story, but that it "depends on who that Muslim is and what their policies are."