Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Yawning Over the Left's Pizza Bullies
The Old Media loathes the New Media as unreliable, but have no right to pass judgment. Increasingly, they are prone to leap into news stories based on their own liberal social media networks. Look no further than the new Indiana religious freedom law. They could not get enough of those angry tweets from Hillary Clinton and public-policy geniuses like Miley Cyrus. Based on Twitter, they touted a "growing outrage" from coast to coast and obsessed over Indiana's "bigotry" for days. Conservative social media also reacted forcefully to the Hoosier contretemps, but apparently it's too much to expect "objective" journalists to notice much of that. Take Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Ind., a town a few miles southwest of South Bend. Alyssa Marino, a pushy TV reporter from ABC 57, showed up to ask how they would treat a couple seeking catering for a same-sex wedding.
Will Republicans Protect the Lives of 20-Week-Old Human Beings?
Three years ago, the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee approved a bill to prohibit doctors in the District of Columbia from killing unborn children who are 20 weeks old or older unless the procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother. When the bill was brought to the floor on July 31, 2012 -- under a motion to suspend the rules, which required it to get a two-thirds vote -- some pro-abortion Democrats objected that it went so far as to protect the lives of 20-week-old-or-older babies who had been conceived through rape or incest and that it did not include a "health" exception. To them, this was an outrage.
VA Reform: Another Obama 'Success Story'
Eight months ago, President Obama put on a grand show for the troops. Surrounded by new Secretary of Veterans Affairs Bob McDonald, assorted politicians, military leaders and a bevy of TV cameras, the commander in chief signed the "Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act." He's good at inking things. Obama condemned the "inexcusable conduct" at VA hospitals across the country (and under his own watch). He vowed to "do right by all who served under our proud flag." He promised America's veterans new "reform," "resources," "timely care" and an end to the disgraceful disability backlog.
Keep Rand Paul Weird
Will the Libertarian-Leaning Presidential Candidate Shed the Differences That Make Him Interesting?
Iran's Takeover of Yemen
Rebels backed by the Islamic Republic seize the presidential palace.
The Ticket to Prosperity
Gaza is home to Palestinian people, who have suffered injustices and have a history of legitimate grievances against both Israel and Arab governments. If there's one immutable fact of life, it is that history cannot be changed or controlled. What can be changed and controlled is the future. That points to the most tragic aspect of people in poor territories such as Gaza -- focusing attention on the past, which they can do nothing about, and not paying enough attention to the future. In the case of Palestinians, the first order of business is to recognize that they cannot militarily force Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and East Jerusalem and meet other territorial demands. Therefore, they should cease all military and terrorist actions against Israel. If there were peaceful coexistence, there would be reciprocity and accommodation on Israel's behalf. The major accession would be for Israel to end its military blockade of Gaza's port and border. The most important first step for Palestinian people is to recognize that they have been betrayed by their leadership and that their destiny truly lies in their hands.
Guys, Gals & Guns
There is no real way to know how much racism exists in someone's heart. But something that is easy to measure are the consequences facing white versus black racists. For instance, when a white cop emails racist comments, he's fired as soon as it's found out. When a white college student chants a racist ditty, he's expelled. However, when a black person airs his racism, he winds up in the Oval Office, heading up the Justice Department or, like Al Sharpton, wealthy, with his own TV show, a national following and the key to the White House. Then, for good measure, we have to listen to Barack Obama and Eric Holder pretend that the Ferguson Police Department is a greater menace than ISIS and Iran put together, a conclusion based on the fact that the arrests and traffic stops of blacks exceed their statistical presence, while neglecting to acknowledge that blacks commit crimes and driving violations far in excess of their actual numbers.
A Right to Discriminate
Bake me a cake, or go to jail! Sadly, that is the new message from "inclusive" America. If you don't want to cater, photograph, preside over, sell pizza at, sell flowers to or otherwise participate in a gay wedding, you will be punished. If you don't want your business to pay for a kind of birth control that you consider murder, you will pay fines until your business is bankrupt. Personally, I think both birth control and homosexuality are just fine, and gay marriage is as valid as straight marriage. But *forcing* everyone to act as if they think that way is just wrong. We have moved from "inclusion" to totalitarianism. The list of people you must treat carefully keeps getting longer. Protected classes now include sex, race, age, disability, nationality, citizenship status, pregnancy, family status and more. I'm in two of those groups. You better treat me well!
Rolling Stone Ignored Basic Journalism With Bogus UVA Rape Story
Rolling Stone screwed up. In most media scandals, it's unfair to paint with such a broad brush. When Stephen Glass concocted his fables at the New Republic, he went to antiheroic lengths to conceal his deceptions from his colleagues. Janet Cooke, who famously won a Pulitzer for her Washington Post series about an 8-year-old heroin addict, "Jimmy's World," lied to her editors. That's not the case with Rolling Stone's publication of "A Rape on Campus," the story of the brutal gang rape of a student named "Jackie" at the University of Virginia that turned out to be false. Its failure was a group effort, from editor-in-chief Jann Wenner on down.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Christians: Unite Behind Your Economic Clout
Dear Christian Americans, it's cards on the table time. As someone who deeply respects your faith, I feel compelled to offer you some heartfelt advice: That "turn the other cheek" thing isn't working anymore. In America, there's a take-no-prisoners culture war going on, courtesy of an American Left whose definition of tolerance begins and ends with, "You either agree with us, or you're bigots." In the rest of the world, as the latest exclamation point from Kenya reveals, Christians are being *exterminated* with increasing regularity. It's time to wake up, stand up, and be counted -- while there's still time.
The Iran Framework: Devilish Details to Follow
Too bad the "framework" of a nuclear weapons deal with Iran didn't come four days earlier on April Fools' Day. It would have been more appropriate. The United States is being asked to foolishly believe promises by a regime that is religiously motivated to eliminate Israel and ultimately the United States, is the premier sponsor of terrorism in the world, has a record of breaking promises, including past promises about nuclear weapons, and still holds American prisoners, including a Christian minister, a Washington Post reporter, a former Marine and Robert Levinson, a retired DEA agent taken hostage in 2007. Did Secretary of State John Kerry demand they be released as part of the framework? We don't know because the deal that isn't yet a deal has not been formalized and if an agreement is actually reached by the next deadline in June, we still might only know what they tell us, unless Congress holds hearings and asks the right questions. Shades of Rep. Nancy Pelosi's line about the need to pass Obamacare to find out what's in it.
The Iran 'Agreement' Charade
By abandoning virtually all its demands for serious restrictions on Iran's nuclear bomb program, the Obama administration has apparently achieved the semblance of a preliminary introduction to the beginning of a tentative framework for a possible hope of an eventual agreement with Iran. But even this hazy "achievement" may vanish like a mirage. It takes two to agree -- and Iran has already publicly disputed and even mocked what President Obama says is the nature of that framework. Had Iran wholeheartedly agreed with everything the Obama administration said, that agreement would still have been worthless, since Iran has already blocked international inspectors from its nuclear facilities at unpredictable times. The appearance of international control is more dangerous than a frank admission that we don't really know what they are doing.
Rolling Over the Truth
We learn, from a squint-eyed investigation by major functionaries at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, that Rolling Stone magazine's bulging-eyed, 9000-word article, "A Rape on Campus," doesn't wash. A "journalistic failure that was avoidable," the investigators called the article, which purported to tell of a 2012 gang-rape at the University of Virginia, involving fraternity members and a female student. Except, apparently, it didn't happen: or anyway not nearly the way the complainant told the magazine, which with minimal investigation bought her story hook, line and sinker, and commenced to spread it abroad. Guilty as charged, was Rolling Stone's message.
Most U.S. 21st Century Population Growth Came in Just 27 Metro Areas
It's springtime, and the Census Bureau has released its population estimates for counties and metropolitan areas as of July 1, 2014. Initial analysis has focused on year-to-year movements or changes since the 2010 Census -- subjects worthy of attention. But it's also interesting to take a longer look, to see where population has been booming over the 14 years since 2000, one-seventh of the 21st century. The headline here is that growth has been concentrated in relatively few large metropolitan areas. Overall, there are 52 metro areas as currently defined by the government (except that I conflate Los Angeles-Riverside and San Francisco-San Jose, which seem to me to flow together) with populations over 1 million. Four have crossed that mark since 2000 -- Raleigh, Salt Lake City, Grand Rapids and Tucson.
All Politicians Don't Lie Equally, and Lying Does Matter
Far too many people have become unacceptably cynical about the issue of integrity in politics, and it is having disastrous consequences. Only the scofflaws and reprobates benefit from such an unraveling of our ethical sensitivities. I'm sure you won't be surprised to find that I believe this phenomenon is occurring largely on the political left today, and no, I won't violate the very premise of my piece and lazily concede that both sides are equally culpable. It's inevitable that the side that believes in moral relativism and that the end justifies the means would lie far more often. Indeed, the right generally believes in and adheres to higher standards, which is one reason it's always at a disadvantage in the political arena. Test it sometime; challenge someone to a fight using Marquess of Queensberry rules while your opponent is under no constraints.
Getting Religious Freedom Right
The Indiana law was meant to prevent discrimination, not cause it
America's Decay Is Speeding Up
As one who loves America -- not only because I am American, but even more so because I know (not believe, know) that the American experiment in forming a decent society has been the most successful in history -- I write the following words in sadness: With few exceptions, every aspect of American life is in decline. "Decay" is the word. The Decline of the Family: Nearly half (48 percent) of American children are born to a mother who is not married. Forty-three percent of American children live without a father in the home. About 50 percent of Americans over 18 are married, compared to 72 percent in 1960. Americans are having so few children that the fertility rate fell to a record low 62.9 births per 1,000 women in 2013. And in an increasing number of states, there are now more deaths than births.
Monday, April 6, 2015
The Ongoing War Against Christianity
Columnist George Will points out that Apple's openly gay CEO, Tim Cook, "…thinks Indiana is a terrible place. (But) He opened marketing and retail operations in Saudi Arabia two months before a man was sentenced to 450 lashes for being gay." Will was commenting on Cook's recent Washington Post op-ed protesting Indiana's new, now amended, Religious Freedom Restoration Act and similar initiatives around the country. World Magazine reports that Cook has recently been in the United Arab Emirates negotiating on behalf of Apple, where homosexuality is against the law and the penalty is death. Cook's duplicity is not just in deeds, but also in words.
Debunking the News
When State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was asked if the administration still believes the trade of five high-ranking jihadists for one Army deserter was a good deal, her blithe response was that we are still able to monitor their activities. When a follow-up question mentioned that three of the five have already attempted to rejoin their fellow terrorists in order to kill Americans, she actually said that proved that our attempts to monitor their activities have been successful. It was at that point my head exploded. But she is the least of our worries when you realize that even after our ambassador had to beat a hasty retreat out of Yemen and our Marines had to make good their last second getaway on civilian transport, after leaving their weapons behind, Obama continued to call Yemen one of his more notable successes. I suppose it qualifies if one also considers the Titanic, the Hindenburg and ObamaCare, success stories.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
The Great Worker Shortage
The great conundrum of the U.S. economy today is that we have record numbers of working age people out of the labor force at the same time we have businesses desperately trying to find workers. As an example, the American Transportation Research Institute estimates there are 30,000-35,000 trucker jobs that could be filled tomorrow if workers would take these jobs -- a shortage that could rise to 240,000 by 2022. While the jobs market overall remains weak, demand is high for in certain sectors. For skilled and reliable mechanics, welders, engineers, electricians, plumbers, computer technicians, and nurses, jobs are plentiful; one can often find a job in 48 hours. As Bob Funk, the president of Express Services, which matches almost one-half million temporary workers with employers each year, "If you have a useful skill, we can find you a job. But too many are graduating from high school and college without any skills at all."