Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Hillary: You're So Yesterday
In her reintroduction speech on Roosevelt Island in New York last Saturday, Hillary Clinton hit all the boilerplate liberal Democrat notes: The New Deal, big government, soak the rich, evil Wall Street ... you know the song because the music is from a familiar score. Speaking of songs, Hillary Clinton made reference to The Beatles' "Yesterday" and tied it to the seemingly outdated ideas of the Republican Party. In light of what the country is facing, yesterday is looking increasingly better, particularly if one considers the foreign and domestic policies of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush (minus some of the tax increases). While Hillary Clinton wants to channel The Beatles, there is another song called "Yesterday" that may not be as familiar, but better describes her failed policies, as well as those of President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, who appear committed to an unverifiable nuclear deal with Iran.
Expecting the Export-Import Bank to Expire
On June 30, the Export-Import Bank of the United States — an agency that mostly extends loans and loan guarantees to large foreign companies to buy U.S. products — will most likely see its charter expire for the first time in 81 years. This state of affairs is nothing short of remarkable, considering that for years, Ex-Im's charter has been reauthorized by Congress without any debates or even formal votes. The change is the result of an intense fight between the people who oppose corporate welfare and those who will support it at any cost. However, it would be a mistake to see this battle against Ex-Im as an end in and of itself. It is not. The battle is better-understood in the context of a broader rejection of government-funded privileges for a handful of connected actors. Indeed, everywhere we look, big business is teaming up with big government, and that's causing big problems. People know this, and they're sick of it.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
The Death of the Neighborhood
No neighborhood in America will be safe from federal enforcers thanks to new Obama mandates.
The Young and Investment-Less
Recent polling shows a big majority of Americans think it will be more difficult for this generation of millennials to achieve the American Dream of climbing the economic ladder. That's probably way too much pessimism, but what is troubling is the early indicators of how young people are faring in the economy and what they are doing with their money. The first bad sign is that fewer young people between 18 and 24 are working. The labor force participation rate for this age group is now near a 50-year low, at 65 percent. If you're 22 and not working, you are dependent, not independent. Just over half of 18- to 23-year-olds live with their parents. Will they ever leave home?
The Clintons' Disdain for the Second Amendment
'You Can't Have a Bunch of People Walking Around With Guns'
75: Average Age of Current Justices Before Next Presidential Term Ends
According to the birthdates listed on the Supreme Court website, the court's nine current justices will have an average age of 75 by the time the next presidential term ends on Jan. 20, 2021. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the oldest justice, was born on March 15, 1933. She is now 82. When the next presidential term ends she will be 87 years and 10 months old — or 87.8 years old. Antonin Scalia, the second oldest justice, was born on March 11, 1936. He is now 79. When the next presidential term ends, he will be 84 years and 10 months — or 84.8 years old. Anthony Kennedy, the third oldest justice, was born on July 23, 1936. He is now 78. When the next presidential term ends, he will be 84 years and 5 months — or 84.4 years old.
A Call to Lead
As the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting began [Tuesday] in Columbus, Ohio, SBC President Dr. Ronnie Floyd, who also serves as pastor of Cross Church in Springdale, Arkansas, issued a clarion call for pastors, Southern Baptists and followers of Jesus Christ to lead in this day of growing chaos and confusion. "Now is the time to lead," he said, "and the time to stand." Dr. Floyd began by citing Christian persecution around the world and noting that within our own country, social crises abound. Using data reflected in FRC's Marriage and Religion Research Institute, Dr. Floyd emphasized that less than 50 percent of American children reach 18 in a home with both biological parents. He reminded delegates of the evil of racism and abortion, noting that 57 million unborn children have lost their lives since 1973's Roe decision, and warning that "when we devalue human life from the womb to the tomb, we deprive God of His glory."
Jake Tapper vs. Sputtering Bill Clinton
CNN's Jake Tapper kicked off his new hosting gig on the Sunday news show "State of the Union" featuring an interview with Bill Clinton, arranged through his Clinton Global Initiative. It's a big name, but a tough start for a serious journalist. With the exception of his infamous snorting, knee-jabbing performance with Chris Wallace in 2006, the former president has negotiated a succession of journalistic foot-rubs surrounding his tightly scripted Global shindigs. On that sycophantic curve, Tapper did well. He never prompted Clinton into a squinting, pointing rage, but make no mistake: He asked some tough questions. Regarding the Clinton foundation, Tapper channeled "a lot of people," who suggest it's not realistic to say "these companies, these wealthy individuals, these governments, none of them sought anything? I mean, some of them did have business before the State Department."
The Audacity of Jeb Bush
In 1992, South Central Los Angeles exploded into riots after a jury acquitted four police officers standing trial about possible excessive use of force in apprehending a black man named Rodney King. Videotape showed the officers brutally beating King. The riots destroyed my publishing business there because businesses that were my advertisers were wrecked. I started becoming vocal about what had driven me to start this business to begin with. My eyes had opened to the destructiveness of welfare that had been destroying my own life and was destroying the minority urban communities around me. My Christian conversion gave me the faith and power to walk away from it all, get my bachelor's degree and start my business.
Every Breath She Takes
Fifteen years ago this week, my beautiful daughter Veronica entered the world. She didn't make a sound. As I stretched out my arms to hold her in the delivery room, furrow-browed doctors and nurses instead whisked her away. I shouted after them in panic: "Is she all right? Is she going to be OK?!" Slightly underweight and jaundiced, she remained in the hospital for several days before we got the all-clear. My husband and I counted our blessings. But it wouldn't be the last time we felt the pangs of parental helplessness when it came to her health.
Culture and Social Pathology
A civilized society's first line of defense is not the law, police and courts but customs, traditions, rules of etiquette and moral values. These behavioral norms — mostly transmitted by example, word of mouth and religious teachings — represent a body of wisdom distilled over the ages through experience and trial and error. They include important thou-shalt-nots, such as thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal and thou shalt not cheat. They also include all those courtesies that have traditionally been associated with ladylike and gentlemanly conduct. The failure to fully transmit these values and traditions to subsequent generations represents one of the failings of what journalist Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation." People in this so-called great generation, who lived during the trauma of the Great Depression and fought World War II, not only failed to transmit the moral values of their parents but also are responsible for government programs that will deliver economic chaos.
Why Are We Ignoring a Cyber Pearl Harbor?
What if a team of Chinese agents had broken into the Pentagon or — less box office but just as bad — the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and carted out classified documents? The next day, the newspapers and morning TV shows would show pictures of the broken locks and rummaged filing cabinets. And if we caught the Chinese spies in the act, perp-walking them for the world to see? Boy howdy. My hunch is that the airwaves would be full of people talking about how "this was an act of war." And I have no doubt that if the situation were reversed and we had sent our team to Beijing, the Chinese would definitely see it as an act of war.
Yes, Rachel Dolezal Is Black
This week, Rachel Dolezal, the former local head of the Spokane NAACP, a lecturer in Africana studies at Eastern Washington University, and a proud black woman, was revealed to be a non-proud white woman. She lied about her personal history: She said her parents whipped her when they lived in South Africa, that she underwent rape and physical abuse, that the KKK targeted her with swastikas and nooses. No evidence exists to support any of this. Her parents point out that Dolezal has no black ancestry, and grew up in a Montana home as the child of two white parents. Nonetheless, Dolezal insists she is black. "I was drawing self-portraits with the brown crayon instead of the peach crayon, and black curly hair," she said to Today. "It's a little more complex than me identifying as black or answering a question of, are you black or white?"
The Anti-Science Left
This year is the 10th anniversary of a book called "The Republican War on Science." I could just as easily write a book called "The Democratic War on Science." The conflict conservatives have with science is mostly caused by religion. Some religious conservatives reject evolution, and some oppose stem cell research. But neither belief has a big impact on our day-to-day lives. Species continue to evolve regardless of what conservatives believe, and if conservatives ban government funding of stem cell research, private investors will continue the work. By contrast, the left's bad ideas about science do more harm.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
The Fantasy That ObamaCare 'Is Working'
Sometimes it seems President Obama lives in a parallel universe where facts are floating around to be plucked out of suspended animation. Never more so than on the effects of the Affordable Care Act. So let's see whether anything he says on the new law, including that it "is working," comports with the facts: • No "adverse effect on people who already had health insurance." In 2013, as Obamacare's policies were phasing in, nearly 5 million policyholders across 31 states and the District of Columbia were notified that their current coverage was being discontinued. This doesn't include nearly 20 states that weren't tracking these numbers so the total could have been several million more. In California alone, 1.1 million policies were canceled.
For Leftists, It's Open Season on Christians
If you doubt that Christians are fair game for ridicule by the cultural left, take a look at the hit piece on Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia by Jeffrey Tayler for Salon. I can't decide which is worse, the title or the subtitle. The title: "Antonin Scalia is unfit to serve: A justice who rejects science and the law for religion is of unsound mind." The subtitle: "The justice claims to be an originalist, but his real loyalty is to religion and a phony man in the sky." The writer is trying to be cute, but don't conclude that any part of his thesis is intended to be tongue-in-cheek. He opens by telling us that "faith-derangement syndrome" has now infected the Supreme Court as it has the executive branch.
China's Big Hack Attack
Upon hearing of the massive data breach of employee information from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — allegedly by hackers working for the Chinese government — Kay Coles James, the former director of OPM under George W. Bush, told me she was "aghast," adding, "I can't think about the national security implications of a foreign government knowing every single federal employee, where they work, where they live, all of their significant data. Think about what that information can do in the hands of people who want to do us harm." Joel Brenner, a former top counterintelligence official for the U.S. government, has thought about it. He called the hack attack "potentially devastating." Brenner told The Washington Post that personnel files "contain decades of personal information about people with (security) clearances ... which makes them easier to recruit for foreign espionage on behalf of a foreign country."
Micro-Totalitarianism
The political left has come up with a new buzzword: "micro-aggression." Professors at the University of California at Berkeley have been officially warned against saying such things as "America is the land of opportunity." Why? Because this is considered to be an act of "micro-aggression" against minorities and women. Supposedly it shows that you don't take their grievances seriously and are therefore guilty of being aggressive toward them, even if only on a micro scale. You might think that this is just another crazy idea from Berkeley. But the same concept appears in a report from the flagship campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana. If you just sit in a room where all the people are white, you are considered to be guilty of "micro-aggression" against people who are not white, who will supposedly feel uncomfortable when they enter such a room.
Obama Fails to Pass Trade Bill Backed by Majorities in Both Houses
Lyndon Johnson used to say that some of his colleagues were so politically inept they couldn't find their posteriors — actually, he used a coarser word — with both hands. Last week Barack Obama showed that, as a legislative strategist, he belongs in that category. It's a given that he can't achieve most of his legislative goals with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. But on trade promotion authority — legislation to require up-or-down approval without amendments of trade agreements — he has fumbled even though, as demonstrated on roll calls, his position is supported by a supermajority in the Senate and a majority in the House. TPA is necessary for successful completion of Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations now skillfully conducted by U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. Other nations won't reach agreement if Congress can pass amendments requiring further concessions.