Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Voters Tired of a Halfway House
Let's hope Congress got plenty of rest in August, because it looks like they're going to need it! With just 12 legislative days to handle a bushel basket of crises, members won't have the luxury of easing back into their routines. [Today's] first GOP conference of September will likely be a long one, as conservatives try to hash out their strategies over two critical issues. On the foreign policy front, members will be tackling the President's deeply flawed Iran deal, while on the domestic side, Congress is mulling a budgetary response to the abominable Planned Parenthood. Before the House and Senate recessed, most Republicans left little doubt as to where they stood on the issues. But where they stand and how they respond are two very different questions for this leadership team.
Kim Davis Has No Right to Impose Her View of Marriage on Others
The Defiant Clerk's Defenders Dangerously Blur the Distinction Between Private Action and State Action
Young Black Men in Crisis
Why does it surprise anyone when chaos reigns in America's inner cities when it just reflects the chaos now reigning in our whole country? I open my dictionary to the word "civilize" and I read: "1. to bring out of a condition of savagery or barbarism; to instruct in the ways of an advanced society. 2. to better the habits or manners of; refine." Somehow it's lost in today's liberal-controlled America that a civilized society does not emerge spontaneously from individuals giving maximum vent to their impulses. Civilization is the product of living by truths and rules, received through tradition, that control and direct our primitive impulses, lifting us to our highest potentials.
Wasn't Always This Way
Academics and public intellectuals, who should know better, attempt to explain the highly visible and publicized pathology witnessed in cities such as Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, Ferguson and others as a legacy of slavery. The argument is made that the problems encountered by many black Americans are rooted in white racism, greed and income inequality. They are able to get away with these untruths because most people believe that what is seen today has always been. A bit of history would belie such a vision. It would be foolhardy to argue that slavery has had no effect or that racial discrimination, greed and income inequality are nonexistent. The relevant question is: How much of what we see today can be explained by slavery, discrimination, greed and income inequality? The answer to this question is vital for public policy and resource allocation, a matter that I shall return to later.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Anyone Still Remember the Arab Spring?
Has there ever been an American president more spectacularly wrong than Barack Hussein Obama, along with the gaggle of equally clueless officials in his administration?
The Past and Future of the Refugee Crisis
The refugee crisis in Europe is one of those human tragedies for which there are no real solutions, despite how many shrill voices in the media may denounce those who fail to come up with a solution. Some options may be better than others, but there is nothing that can honestly be called a solution. Nevertheless many countries, including the United States, could do a lot better. The immediate problems are the masses of desperate men, women and children, fleeing from the wars and terrorism of the Middle East, who are flooding into Europe. But the present crisis cannot be dealt with as if it had no past and no future.
Black Lives Matter's Agenda Is Costing Black Lives
I've seen this movie before. And for the last 25 years, I thought I'd never have to watch it again. But now it's playing, not in theaters, but all over mainstream media, with something like rave reviews from the president and his administration. The theme of the movie is that there is an epidemic of racist white policemen, gunning down innocent black people. The movie's message, implicit but unambiguous, is that the police must be restrained from vigorous enforcement of the law. That was the message of the Black Power movement half a century ago, and it is the message of the Black Lives Matter movement today.
The Point of No Return
In aviation it's called the point of no return. That point in a flight when catastrophe strikes and the airplane, because of low fuel or mechanical impairment, cannot make it safely back to its take-off point. That's where we are with the dangerous Iran nuclear deal, the theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran and the 34 shameless Senate Democrats who bowed to pressure and announced their support for the flawed pact, thereby guaranteeing that the president's veto of any measure of disapproval cannot be overridden. While that still leaves, as of now, 66 senators opposed to the deal and a large majority in the House likely opposed to it as well, the way things work, or don't work in Washington, the Iran Nuke Deal will likely stand.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Jimmy Carter's Profile in Courage
"Power of Prayer, and a president." It's not often you read that kind of headline on the front page of the Washington Post. But the story — a powerful one of crushing political defeat and personal spiritual redemption — is what commanded our attention a couple of weeks ago. The news of former President Jimmy Carter's very somber cancer diagnosis took all of Washington by surprise. Carter, at 90, seems a hardy perennial. He maintains an energetic schedule that would leave men half his age panting. We make no secret of the fact we questioned a lot of what Jimmy Carter did in the White House.
Strike Down the Supreme Court's 'Buffer Zone'
What made Harold Hodge Jr. believe he was entitled to peacefully stand with a protest sign on the outdoor plaza of the US Supreme Court? A 1949 federal statute makes it illegal to assemble or demonstrate on the Supreme Court grounds, or to display there any "flag, banner, or device" expressing a public message. Hodge, a Maryland college student, violated that law four years ago by standing in front of the court building wearing a placard around his neck that read: "The U.S. Gov. Allows Police To Illegally Murder And Brutalize African Americans and Hispanic People." Hodge was ordered three times to leave the plaza and then arrested, but he claims he had a First Amendment right to be there with his sign.
Trust, but Don't Verify
The nuclear deal with Iran sounded terrible from the start. But then, against all odds, it just kept getting worse. As if it wasn't bad enough that Obama and Kerry were willing to pay Iran $150 billion in exchange for merely signing the agreement, it has now come to light that in one of the side arrangements, we have agreed to allow Iran to monitor itself. I'm old enough to remember the scandal in 1976 when a large number of cadets at West Point were discovered to be cheating on tests. And unlike the Ayatollah and his cronies both in Tehran and Washington, D.C., West Pointers tend to be men of honor.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Navy Exonerates Chaplain Accused of Being Anti-Gay
A Navy chaplain accused of failing to show "tolerance and respect" toward gay sailors has been cleared of all wrongdoing and will not be removed from the military. "I am relieved the Navy sided with me," Lt. Cmdr. Wes Modder told me. Modder, a highly decorated veteran who once ministered to an elite Navy SEAL unit, had been given a "detachment for cause" letter in February. He was removed from his job after his commander accused him of being intolerant and unable to "function in the diverse and pluralistic environment" of the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Goose Creek, S.C.
Out With 'Redskins' — and Everything Else!
Autumn, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, also is the time for The Washington Post and other sensitivity auditors to get back on — if they will pardon the expression — the warpath against the name of the Washington Redskins. The niceness police at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have won court approval of their decision that the team's name "may disparage" Native Americans. We have a new national passion for moral and historical hygiene, a determination to scrub away remembrances of unpleasant things, such as the name Oklahoma, which is a compound of two Choctaw words meaning "red" and "people."
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Bicycles Don't Belong on Busy City Streets
The Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain is more than a renowned horticultural jewel; it is also a splendid venue for cyclists, with miles of meandering paths and gorgeous views of Boston. The Charles River Esplanade is another bikers' oasis, part of an 18-mile loop along the river that separates Boston from Cambridge. For commuters, the Southwest Corridor Park that stretches from Back Bay to Forest Hills is a marvel of urban design that offers terrific biking in the heart of the city. If you want to ride a bicycle in Boston, you've got plenty of great places to do it.
Kentucky Judge Does With a Gavel What Bull Connor Did With Dogs and Fire Hoses
Pastor Rick Warren once told me the fight for religious liberty would become the civil rights issue of our generation. On Thursday Pastor Warren's prophetic words were fulfilled at the hands of the United States Government. It happened in the Commonwealth of Kentucky where Judge David Bunning ordered U.S. Marshalls to arrest Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky. Mrs. Davis is a devout Christian who refused to issue gay marriage licenses. She claimed that doing so would violate her religious beliefs.
Resting Place of a Humble Man
William P. Clark died two years ago last month. When he passed, I wrote a tribute at The American Spectator, aptly titled "Bill Clark's Divine Plan." For those unfamiliar with Judge Clark, he was, simply put, Ronald Reagan's architect for the takedown of the Soviet empire during a crucial stint (1982-83) as national security adviser. He had been Reagan's trusted aide dating back to the Sacramento years, where he was Governor Reagan's chief of staff. It is hard to overstate Clark's kinship with Reagan and his role, though no one sought to understate the role more than Clark himself.
Uncivil Servants
As you may have heard, the EPA dumped three million gallons of toxic acid and arsenic-contaminated mining sludge into the Animas River near Durango, Colorado. At first, it seemed to be an unfortunate accident caused by someone on a tractor with a claw that punched a hole in a dam containing the waste in a mining holding pond. But, now it seems there may be evidence that the agency did it intentionally in order to federalize the area, shut down the mines and prevent future development from taking place. They might consider a name change to the River Styx.
Friday, September 4, 2015
Ben Carson, a Superior Outsider
While Jeb Bush feuds with Donald Trump and others kowtow to him, only one candidate is seriously gaining on him. Ben Carson is now tied with Trump in one Iowa poll and is close in others. His rise suggests that it's possible to catch the populist wave roiling Republican politics and yet not be an obnoxious braggart. Ben Carson is a superior outsider to Donald Trump.
Hillary Clinton: National Security Disaster
How Hillary's contempt for protocols has endangered the entire nation.
An Arsenal of Smoking Guns in Clinton Email Scandal
Every time the State Department pulls out a new fistful of Hillary Clinton emails like Richard Dreyfuss yanking a license plate out of a shark's belly in "Jaws," someone declares that there's "no smoking gun!" I've written before about how shouting "there's no smoking gun!" is a non-denial denial. Ask a cop. When a murder suspect immediately exclaims, "You have no indisputable evidence I murdered my boss!" instead of, "I didn't do it!" it's a good sign that the suspect thinks he covered his tracks, not that he's innocent.