Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Ruinous 'Compassion'
It is fascinating to see brilliant people belatedly discover the obvious -- and to see an even larger number of brilliant people never discover the obvious. A recent story in a San Francisco newspaper says that some restaurants and grocery stores in Oakland's Chinatown have closed after the city's minimum wage was raised. Other small businesses there are not sure they are going to survive, since many depend on a thin profit margin and a high volume of sales. At an angry meeting between local small business owners and city officials, the local organization that had campaigned for the higher minimum wage was absent. They were probably some place congratulating themselves on having passed a humane "living wage" law. The group most affected was also absent -- inexperienced and unskilled young people, who need a job to get some experience, even more than they need the money.
Selma and Voting Rights Triumph
March 7th was the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," the first attempt by black protesters to march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery to demand voting rights. Their march was brutally halted by Alabama state troopers acting under the orders of Gov. George Wallace. The protesters weren't deterred. On March 25, 1965, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led thousands to the completion of the 54-mile pilgrimage from Selma to Montgomery. Dr. King rightfully described the protest as "a shining moment in the conscience of man." The march solidified support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Prior to 1965, there might have been three black mayors nationally. In 2003, the National Conference of Black Mayors put the total number of black mayors at over 500. During the 1960s, there were fewer than 10 black U.S. representatives. Today there are 43. Since 1965, there have been three black state governors. Nationwide there are over 10,000 black elected officials. There is no question that blacks have been successful in the political arena, recently capping off that success with the election of a black president. It shouldn't be left out that since the '60s, there has been a major transformation among whites. Much of black political success could not have been achieved without white votes.
The Inconvenient Truths in Tom Cotton's Letter to Iran
It has been an Iranian tradition since 1979 to end Friday prayers with chants of "Death to America!" In a purely rational world, that would be all one needed to know that Iran is not a reliable negotiating partner. Alas, we do not live in such a world. But there's more evidence. Iran, according to our State Department, has been the chief exporter of terrorism for the last three decades. It has worked closely with al-Qaida, facilitating its attacks on America and our allies. Most of the Sept. 11 hijackers traveled through Iran with the help of the Iranian government. U.S. judges have ruled that Iran was an accomplice in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa and the Sept. 11 attacks. During the Iraq war, Iran was responsible for numerous American deaths. And it's not like any of this is ancient history. Indeed, in 2012, the Treasury Department designated the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security as a major promoter of terrorism and violator of human rights.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Marginal Leadership Leads to 'Marginal' Military
The Constitution focuses primarily on limiting the power of the federal government. The founders knew that most things can be done more effectively and efficiently at the state level, or simply by the people themselves. But one of the few powers they gave Washington is the responsibility to provide for the security of the United States. It takes the federal government to effectively defend our nation and our vital national interests abroad. Unfortunately, as of 2015, Washington appears disturbingly cavalier about meeting this responsibility. America's military grapples with shrinking force size, rocketing costs, and outdated equipment.
Trashing the Academic Mission
Maybe the question is, who'd want a degree from a university whose administration, on learning of a frat-boy incident on a bus, behaves as though God had personally dispatched the whole academic bureaucracy to wreak revenge. "P-o-o-o-o-or Okies," as we Texas Longhorns used to chant from the Cotton Bowl stands. I mean, what else do they do at Oklahoma University besides act as though the future of civilization depended on humiliating a couple of undergrad pranksters on account of a racist song they sang; closing down SAE's local chapter, even unto removing the Greek letters from the house and driving non-participants into the highways and byways? Does OU actually educate anyone? Or is extermination for incorrect viewpoint the school's idea of modern education?
Why UC Students Voted to Remove American Flag
Two weeks ago, a group of students at the University of California at Irvine removed a U.S. flag from a common area of the student government suite. Shortly afterwards, six undergraduate members of the Associated Students Council of UCI passed a resolution banning the display of the flags of any nation in the office lobby. The resolution was authored by student Matthew Guevara of the School of Social Ecology. Among the reasons the legislative council objected to the American flag were...
Two Warnings
When Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress on March 3rd, it was the third time he had done so. The only other person to address a joint session of Congress three times was the legendary British prime minister Winston Churchill. The parallels between the two leaders do not end there. Both warned the world of mortal dangers that others ignored, in hopes that those dangers would go away. In the years leading up to World War II, Churchill tried to warn the British, and the democratic nations in general, of what a monstrous threat Hitler was.
Meddle Detectors: Senate Probes WH Influence in Israeli Election
Two weeks ago, President Obama said he didn't want to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu because he didn't want to influence Israel's elections. But sources close to the administration are accusing him of doing exactly that -- and with taxpayer dollars! Senators from both parties are digging deeper on possible State Department ties to the Prime Minister's opposition -- a bombshell accusation that could put the White House in even more of a precarious situation with our most important ally in the Middle East. A Senate committee of Republicans and Democrats officially launched an investigation into the DOS's involvement in efforts to oust Netanyahu and what knowledge or involvement the President may have had. Fox News broke the story that the administration may have been quietly interfering in the elections, which take place [today] across Israel.
The Power of Forgiveness
Turn on the news and you expect to see people of different races and politics denouncing each other. That's why what happened last week on "The Kelly File," Megyn Kelly's Fox News program, was so remarkable. Following the expulsion of Parker Rice and Levi Pettit, two Sigma Alpha Epsilon members at the University of Oklahoma, upon the video release of a racist sing-a-long they led, Isaac Hill, the president of the university's Black Student Association, told Kelly the students should be forgiven. Kelly, who is normally in complete control, was stunned and nearly speechless. It was not what she -- or any of us -- expected. Judgment, retribution, rioting, censorship, shaming, loss of job and prestige are the norm, not forgiveness, especially when the offending students, at the time, hadn't asked for it.
Obama's Immigration Nightmare: Exponential Executive Lawlessness
I wonder whether most people truly understand the scope and import of Obama's lawless order to halt deportations and allow work permits for up to 5 million immigrants living illegally in the United States. Do they understand that he doesn't have the constitutional authority to do this? Do they understand that he admitted not having the constitutional authority to do this? Do they understand that Congress considered and rejected such action when it declined to pass the DREAM Act? Do they understand that under Obama's rule, these immigrants will be eligible for Social Security payments and even receive credit, in some instances, for sums they paid into the Social Security system while using fraudulent Social Security numbers?
Some Enemy Lists Are More Equal Than Others
Anyone still remember the left's apoplexy when they discovered Richard Nixon had an enemies list? Last week, I named three people I suspected might be on Barack Obama's equally contemptible equivalent. They were Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One week later that educated guess is looking like a stone cold winner. Let's begin with Hillary and the email scandal that threatens to derail her presidential ambitions. The reliably useful idiot James Carville is once again manning the ramparts. Fresh off last last week's assertion that Hillary was the victim of a press corps that has swallowed "right-wing talking points," Carville is promoting the laughable nonsense the same press corps "has one standard for covering everyone else in public life, and another standard for the Clintons." No doubt it's pure coincidence that Carville's spew has been published by Media Matters, whose founder David Brock not only assured us it was Republicans who "try to breathe new life into an old scandal," but that the Clintons "are held to a double standard when it comes to media scrutiny." That coincidence has one more twist to consider: Brock has hired Carville as a regular columnist. Apparently the noble effort of repeating a lie often enough it becomes the truth is a job that requires more than one propagandist.
47 Senators State the Obvious: Obama-Iran Deal May Not Last
In her brief press conference at the United Nations, Hillary Clinton led off with a denunciation of the letter to Iranian leaders signed by 47 of the 54 Republican senators. This was in line with Democratic talking points -- a sign that the former secretary of state was, perhaps a bit nervously, taking care to curry favor with the Obama administration. Clinton's criticism was more muted than that of many Democrats, administration spokesmen and the president himself. Democrats encouraged supporters around the country to sign an online petition calling the letter "treason." The letter in question, spearheaded by freshman Tom Cotton, simply pointed out that any agreement signed by President Obama but not approved by Congress would not be binding on the next president.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Black Pastors Protest Gay Speaker at Historically Black College
The course of history changes at special moments when courageous individuals step up to take a stand, often at personal risk, on issues burning in controversy. One of those moments was just celebrated with the commemoration of the historic civil rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in March 1965. Another such moment is unfolding before us today. A group of some 150 black pastors, the National Baptist Fellowship of Concerned Pastors, is standing in protest against an invitation from the American Baptist College, in Nashville, Tennessee, to Bishop Yvette Flunder to speak at the college's annual Garnett-Nabrit Lecture Series, March 15-18.
Stop and Go Trafficking
Apparently, Senate Democrats would rather yield to human trafficking than put a stop to taxpayer-funded abortion! Two weeks after passing a unanimously out of committee, Democrats are suddenly picking a fight on language that's been in the measure since day one. This time, Rep. Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) party didn't pass the bill to find out what's in it -- but they got close. Obviously, a number of Democrats still think reading legislation is overrated, even at a manageable 68 pages. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who like a growing number of leaders, wants to end one of the greatest human rights crises of our time, was stunned earlier [last] week when his colleagues on the other side of the aisle suddenly -- and vehemently -- objected to the proposal's text.
Campaign Contributions and Double Standards
What does Massachusetts have against the First Amendment? A lawsuit filed in Superior Court by two family-owned companies -- 1A Auto Inc., an auto-parts vendor in Pepperell, and 126 Self Storage Inc., a storage-unit rental firm in Ashland -- challenges state campaign-finance rules so crazily lopsided they should be equipped with grab bars. Massachusetts law has long banned businesses from contributing to political candidates or parties, but under rules dating back to the 1980s, labor unions are free to spend up to $15,000 per year in direct political contributions with no disclosure required. Labor unions can also set up PACs -- political action committees -- to funnel money to candidates and parties they support. Businesses in Massachusetts aren't allowed to do that either.
America's Suicide Note
Anyone who's lived a while has had friends and relatives die, and knows the grief that can overwhelm the survivors. It's further compounded when the death is a suicide. At such times, you can't help thinking about what you might have said or done that could have prevented it. That's how I now feel about America. I suppose each of us must determine for himself if the crime taking place is suicide by means of a slow-acting poison or murder that can be laid at the feet of homicidal liberals, but I don't think there can be any question that America is not long for this world. America's most precious possession, the Constitution, has been dragged through the mud by those whose egotism is so great that they seem to believe that their whims -- whether motivated by honest conviction or for strictly partisan reasons -- trumps what a bunch of divinely-inspired, long dead white guys, came up with a couple of hundred years ago.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
The Prescience of Daniel Patrick Moynihan
In the mid-1960s, a social scientist noted something ominous that came to be called "Moynihan's Scissors": Two lines on a graph crossed, replicating a scissors' blades. The descending line charted the decline in the minority male unemployment rate. The ascending line charted the simultaneous rise of new welfare cases. The broken correlation of improvements in unemployment and decreased welfare dependency shattered confidence in social salvation through economic growth and reduced barriers to individual striving. Perhaps the decisive factors in combating poverty and enabling upward mobility were not economic but cultural -- the habits, mores and dispositions that equip individuals to take advantage of opportunities.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
King Dollar Naysayer Nonsense
Despite the conventional criticisms of the financial commentariat, both theory and evidence argue for a strong, stable and reliable currency as a crucial channel to prosperity. Just think of the reverse: If you could devalue your way into prosperity, Argentina would be the center of the world economy. But lately, a loud and growing chorus is blaming the rising U.S. greenback for just about everything. "Multinational profits will suffer." "Imports and trade deficits will hammer the economy." "Stocks will fall." "Recession looms." Wall Street insists that King Dollar is bad. It is wrong. This falsehood is a near cousin to the idea that falling energy prices will wreck the economy. Also wrong. Energy will slow, but the rest of the economy will benefit.
Paging Charles Darwin
Even though Bernie Goldberg has elected for perfectly rational reasons to stop posting my articles, we continue to exchange friendly email. I like Bernie and I think he's a smart guy, but occasionally I think he goes out of his way to poke Evangelicals, possibly to appear fair and balanced when attacking Islamic jihadists. Although Bernie is not a liberal, it is the sort of moral equivalence in which those on the Left are often engaged. It's not unlike Obama's comparing those who are lopping off heads and setting people on fire today to the Crusades, which took place a thousand years ago and were conducted in retaliation to Islamic barbarism. Recently, after Scott Walker refused to answer an English reporter's question about Evolution, Bernie took him to task and, by extension, those Christians who are convinced that the earth is only 6,000 years old.