Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Democratic Dissidents
Campbell Brown and Kirsten Powers take on the leftist establishment.
Remembering the Life and Honoring the Legacy of Whitney Ball
Death focuses the mind. The recent passing of my dear friend Whitney Ball, who devoted her professional life to making it easier for people to support civil society, inspired this column. Whitney founded Donors Trust, an organization that, as its mission details, "encourages philanthropy and individual giving and responsibility, as opposed to governmental involvement, as an answer to society's needs." Her death comes near the 10th anniversary of the deaths of some 1,833 people as the result of Hurricane Katrina, a tragic event that showcased government failures at every level.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Why the Iran Deal Makes War More Likely
Do you think opposition to the Obama administration's deal with Iran is strictly a partisan issue? Hardly. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York recently joined half a dozen Democrats in the House of Representatives who have voiced doubts about the agreement. Who can blame them? It flunks the most basic litmus test imaginable. After all, what's the point of the deal? It is — or should be — to prevent Iran from building its own nuclear weapon. And by that metric, the deal doesn't begin to measure up.
Censoring the Real Planned Parenthood
After six devastating hidden-camera interviews, the best Planned Parenthood and its top-dollar crisis managers can muster in their defense is to protest that they were "heavily edited." Of course they were. All video is edited. It's why they call it "produced." Without offering evidence of exculpatory evidence withheld, the charge is as meaningless as Planned Parenthood is evil. Something else has been heavily edited, in fact so completely edited that virtually nothing remains.
Straight Outta Solutions
Over the weekend, the hagiographic film "Straight Outta Compton" pulled in $60 million at the box office. The film follows the trials and travails — but not the woman-beating, gay-bashing, violence-promoting activities — of NWA, the iconic rage hip-hop group made most famous by their anthem, "F— Tha Police." The theme of the film, according to reviewers, centers on the evils of the Los Angeles Police Department and white authority. Paul Giamatti, playing Paul Giamatti on steroids, screams at a group of stock-casting cops, "You cannot harass my clients because of what they look like!" He tells the group, "You have a unique voice. The world needs to hear it."
Obama's Toxic Environmental Pollution Agency
Here in my adopted home state of Colorado, orange is the new Animas River thanks to the blithering idiots working under President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency. It's just the latest man-caused disaster from an out-of-control bureaucracy whose primary mission is not the Earth's preservation, but self-preservation. As always, the government cover-up compounds the crime — which is why the agency's promise this week to investigate itself has residents across the Rocky Mountains in stitches. Or tears.
Sanders and Trump: Two Peas in a Pod?
A new chapter in American politics has begun. Millions of Americans on the right and left have lost faith in their political parties, their government and even the economic system. Only 1 in 4 Americans are satisfied with the way things are going. Policy experts will offer various arguments why at least some of these people are wrong to feel this way, but the discontented will not tolerate arguments that amount to "don't believe your lying eyes — or wallets." In politics, feelings are more important than hard numbers.
Make Him Bake Cake
Compelling Participation in Gay Wedding Celebrations Turns the Oppressed Into the Oppressors
Marco Rubio Gets 'Black Lives Matter' Right
I continue to be impressed with the courage and clarity with which Marco Rubio, the conservative young senator from Florida and Republican presidential candidate, takes on the most difficult challenges facing our nation. I love his pro-life clarity and his uncompromising stand to defund Planned Parenthood. I appreciate the clear logic with which he explains the folly of our nation making deals and concessions with tyrannical regimes in Iran and Cuba, in the naive hope that they will change their ways. The other day Rubio appeared on Fox and was asked about the Black Lives Matter movement.
Breaking the Rules
Humans need rules. Rules make life more predictable. But when the rules multiply, the world needs some rule-breakers. The creator of the underground website Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison for creating an online space that allowed people to use bitcoins to buy and sell things. Some used Silk Road (named after Marco Polo's trading route from China) to sell illegal drugs. People do that anyway, even without Silk Road; since the site's closing, numerous similar websites have taken its place.
Democrats' Inconvenient History
For the last few years the promise of electing America's first black president has given way to the reality that race relations have actually taken a turn for the worse. While some of the grievances that have emerged have been legitimate, there is little doubt that the "fundamental transformation of America" demanded by the Left and their media allies requires the elevation of a narrative over America's historical record.
Tennessee Courts Reverse Ban on 'Mother' and 'Father'
The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts reversed a controversial decision to replace the terms "mother" and "father" with "parent 1" and "parent 2." "After receiving feedback regarding a recent change made to the permanent parenting plan form, the AOC has reviewed the procedures and determined that, before making any changes to the form, the AOC should consult with the Domestic Relations Committee of the Tennessee Judicial Conference," the office said in a statement. " We have reverted to the previous form and the Committee has been notified."
Academic Fascism: Part II
Last week's column highlighted college campus absurdities and the ongoing attack on free speech and plain common sense. As parents gear up to fork over $20,000 to $60,000 for college tuition, they might benefit from knowing what greets their youngsters. Deceitful college officials, who visit high schools to recruit students and talk to parents, conceal the worst of their campus practices. Let's expose some of it.
Obama Caves Again, Corker Opposes Deal, Who IS Fringe
Weeks ago, Iran told us that it would refuse to allow U.S. personnel to serve on the international inspection teams responsible for verifying Tehran's compliance with the proposed nuclear deal. That should have been a non-starter for any American administration, but the Obama/Kerry team accepted it. Now the regime is making even more demands. [Monday], Iran's deputy foreign minister claimed that every U.N. inspector must be vetted and approved by Iran's intelligence service.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Left-Right Differences, Part VII
How can we determine what is morally right? The answer to this question — the most important question human beings need to answer — is a major difference between Left and Right. For conservatives, the answer is, and has always been, that there are moral truths — objective moral standards — to which every person is accountable. In America, this has meant accountability to the Creator, the God of the Bible, and to Judeo-Christian values.
Has the Unrepresented Majority Finally Reached Its Boiling Point?
We can acknowledge that Donald Trump's popularity is partially related to his unapologetic defense of himself and his policies, but let's examine why that is particularly appealing to his supporters and others. How did we get to this point? Grass-roots conservatives believe that their policies can make America great again, that they can make Americans more secure and prosperous. Many of them still believe in traditional values, which are now in disrepute. They are appalled at the systematic assault on their ideas in our public schools, our universities, the media and Hollywood. They are horrified by the attacks on their liberties. But they have not surrendered.
The Summer of Our Discontent
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders represent two sides of the same coin. Both men have tapped into a deep anger — a discontent — in the public mood. Little seems to be going right. America appears in decline under a disengaged president. We can't seem to win wars, or know why we are fighting them. People are afraid of losing their jobs or unable to find one. While the treasury takes in record amounts of money from working people, it outspends its income. Sanders and Hillary Clinton want to spend (and borrow) even more.
The Strange Death of the Center-Left
In 1935 George Dangerfield published "The Strange Death of Liberal England, 1910-1914," a vivid account of how Britain's center-left Liberal Party, dominant for a century, collapsed amid conflicts it could not resolve. The Liberal Party had appeared impregnable. Its cabinet in 1910 included Herbert Asquith (in the midst of the longest consecutive prime ministership since the Duke of Liverpool's and until Margaret Thatcher's), and the future wartime leaders David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. But after 1910 the party never won an election again.
Iranian Terror, Server Scandal Update
Critics of President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran have argued that the numerous concessions, including as much as $100 billion in sanctions relief, make the radical Islamic regime stronger and will be used to fund its terrorist activities. The leaders of the regime are confirming those fears. Over the weekend, Ali Akbar Velayati, a key adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, said: "The Islamic Republic of Iran will always support the current (Resistance Front) and of course, with the nuclear agreement, it will have more power to side with its friends in the region." And by "friends in the region," Velayati is referring to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria.
Hillary Clinton Would Make College Even More Expensive
In the days ahead, millions of kids will pack their bags and leave home (hopefully for good) to go to college. For parents experiencing this for the first time: welcome to the biggest financial scam in America. Richard Vedder, an economist at Ohio University and an expert on college costs, puts it very plainly: "Colleges and universities may be the least cost-efficient institutions in the United States. No industry, perhaps other than prostitution, has seen less productivity improvements than higher education."