Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
From The Comedy Store
Harrison Ford was reported in good shape in an L.A. hospital after he successfully crash-landed is private plane at the Penmar Golf Club in L.A. It made worldwide news. Fifteen minutes after the plane crash, Obama called the pro shop to make sure the golf course would pull through.
Friday, March 13, 2015
School Rejects Censorship as a Matter of Principal
Texas is known for a lot of things -- but pushovers aren't one of them. The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) learned that the hard way when it picked a fight with White Oak High School. Using its small-town playbook, the atheist activists fired off a warning to the district complaining about a principal that reads a scripture as part of his morning announcements. Dan Noll's "Thoughts of the Day" had never been controversial before, so when a student recorded the audio and sent it to the Left's attack dogs, it caused quite a stir. But if FFRF thought a little letter would scare Superintendent Michael Gilbert, they had another thing coming. In a response that should bring a smile to the face of every Christian conservative in America, Gilbert took it to the Left's bullies with this fiery response.
Hollywood Targets the Catholic Priest
TV and movie producers rarely focus on Catholic priests in their plots, let alone use them as central characters, as in "The Father Dowling Mysteries" or "Father Murphy" in the 1980s. Maybe that's a good thing, because when Catholic priests are part of the plot these days, there is an unmistakable odor of aggression -- mocking, vilifying, and disparaging not just Catholic priests, but the priesthood itself. On March 4, on the nation's most religion-mocking channel, Comedy Central, the late-night game show "@Midnight" featured the comedian Neal Brennan. Host Chris Hardwick asked a question about confession, to which Brennan responded, "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned, I went to Catholic school growing up. While I was never molested, I did f---- a few priests."
America-phobic Bullies Target Old Glory
Some wonder why conservatives get the impression that many leftists are not patriotic. Well, how about their belief that the ideas of nationalism and patriotism are noxious? We told you! As you've probably heard by now, Associated Students of the University of California, Irvine voted to ban the American flag from an "inclusive" space on campus. Don't you just love loaded liberal words, such as "inclusive," which mean the opposite of what they imply? Is the American flag includable there? The language of the bill, passed by a vote of 6-4, with two abstentions (some real courage there), asserts that flags "construct cultural mythologies and narratives that in turn charge nationalistic sentiments" and that "flags construct paradigms of conformity and sets (sic) homogenized standards for others to obtain which in this country typically are idolized as freedom, equality, and democracy."
Jeb Bush Isn't the GOP's Ideal 'Change' Candidate
Let us now make the case for Jeb skepticism. Jeb Bush is a fine man. He's a conservative. He was a highly effective conservative governor. He would probably make a fine president. And, if he were the Republican nominee, there would be precious few good arguments -- from a conservative perspective -- for sitting out the election, never mind voting for the Democratic nominee (whoever she may be). If the choice comes down to Bush versus Clinton, the conservative cause would be advanced by another Bush presidency far more than it would be advanced by another Clinton presidency. That's just my opinion, but I consider it as obvious as noting that water is wet.
Why Won't Anyone Challenge Hillary?
Though it's unsettling to imagine such a scenario, both the republic and the Democratic Party would likely survive if Hillary Clinton were not to become president. Now, if the Clintons have proved anything over the years, it's that they are resilient in the face of scandal. So in all likelihood, Hillary hangs tight on the State Department email fiasco and waits for Democrats to rally behind her. And judging from the trial balloons -- "if you were a man today, would all this fuss being made be made?" -- I imagine it ends with liberals generating a political melodrama that casts Hillary as the victim of the hyper-partisan He-Man Women Haters Club. It's nearly unthinkable that after all this time, work and scheming, Hillary would simply abandon her quest -- unless some unforeseen wrongdoing emerges that makes her unpalatable for Democrats. But if we suspend our disbelief for a moment and imagine that unethical behavior could catch up with her, the result would hardly be the tragedy many liberals would envision or the boon many conservatives would anticipate.
Obama's Policies Leave Democrats Weak Candidates in 2016, Except -- Maybe -- Hillary Clinton
The controversy over Hillary Clinton's emails and her unconvincing press conference at the United Nations have gotten many Democrats and others thinking the unthinkable: Clinton may not be the Democrats' 2016 nominee for president. And it has many asking the question -- scary for Democrats -- of who else could be. It's not a strong field. Vice President Joe Biden is 72 and has low poll ratings. Elizabeth Warren inspires the Democratic left, but says she's not running -- perhaps for fear of exposure of her dubious claim, when seeking prestigious law school jobs, of Cherokee ancestry. Others are even less likely. Bernie Sanders, age 73, is a self-described socialist. The interesting Jim Webb is out of sync with an increasingly leftist party. Martin O'Malley couldn't get his lieutenant governor elected to succeed him in a 62 percent Obama state.
A Legacy of Racial Grievance
Another shooting has taken place in Ferguson, Missouri -- and this time, two police officers were the victims. The violence should not come as a surprise, given the ugly tone set by the nation's top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Eric Holder. The most divisive attorney general since Richard Nixon's John Mitchell, Holder has fanned the flames of racial grievance for much of his tenure. In his early days in office, he called America "a nation of cowards" on racial issues. Last week, his target was the Ferguson Police Department. Holder promised, "We are prepared to use all the power that we have ... to ensure that the situation changes there." No, he didn't intend for someone to try to kill two police officers by shooting them in the face. But by portraying the police department as racist to the core, he contributed to the culture of vengeance that led to the shooting.
The GOP's Stupid Letter
There we go again, Republicans. We keep shooting ourselves in the feet — and at the worst possible times. Things were going pretty well for the GOP until Monday. President Obama was getting major grief from Republicans (and even some Democrats) for preparing to sign America on to a horrible nuclear arms deal with the Iranians. Hillary Clinton was ensnared in an email-deleting scandal of her own making that was so obviously unlawful and politically devious that even the liberal media were attacking her.
It's Not Just Iran You Can't Trust
"Traitors!" screamed the headline of the New York Daily News. "Beneath the dignity of the institution I revere," huffed Vice President Joe Biden. "Dangerous and irresponsible," opined The Washington Post's David Ignatius. President Obama offered that it was "ironic" that the senators were on the same side as supposed "hardliners" in Iran. The occasion for all of this snorting and pawing of earth was the letter signed by 47 Senate Republicans explaining to Iran's leadership that an "executive agreement" is only valid for the term of the executive. Obama mentioned irony. Here's the one he doesn't see: He is hardly in a position to rebuke another branch for exceeding its constitutional authority.
Early Onset Clinton Fatigue
She burned the tapes. Had Richard Nixon burned his tapes, he would have survived Watergate. Sure, there would have been a major firestorm, but no smoking gun. Hillary Rodham was a young staffer on the House Judiciary Committee investigating Nixon. She saw. She learned. Today you don't burn tapes. You delete emails. Hillary Clinton deleted 30,000, dismissing their destruction with the brilliantly casual: "I didn't see any reason to keep them." After all, they were private and personal, she assured everyone. How do we know that? She says so. Were, say, Clinton Foundation contributions considered personal? No one asked. It's unlikely we'll ever know. We have to trust her.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Barack Obama: A Man for the Ages!
Everyone says President Obama is a feckless commander, weak in statecraft, especially compared to the great leaders of the Western world, such as Reagan and Churchill. I believe this does Obama a great injustice. It's so easy to react the way a great leader would. Sure, Obama could have left a small contingent of American troops in Iraq, preserved America's victory, and prevented the entire region from collapsing into chaos and terror. He could have refrained from issuing empty "red line" threats to Syria. He could call ISIS "Islamic." But anybody could do that -- even ISIS calls *itself* "Islamic." (Note for scholars: That's what the first "I" stands for.) These are the obvious answers. Obama could do it, too. But let me hasten to add: Those guys -- unlike Obama -- never won a Nobel Peace Prize. The genius of Obama is that he takes a much more nuanced view of the world.
Freedom Not to Choose
My first job as a teenager back in 1976 was working as a blue-suited Andy Frain usher at sporting events at places like Wrigley Field in Chicago. When I took the job, I was required to join the local union and pay dues. My co-workers and I used to endlessly complain that the union was snatching money from our paychecks even though we were only paid the minimum wage. "What has this union ever done for us?" we all raged. I think about that unpleasant experience a lot in the context of the debate raging in a handful of states over whether to adopt right-to-work (RTW) legislation. On Friday, the Wisconsin State Assembly passed the legislation and will become the 25th state with a right-to-work law when Gov. Scott Walker signs the bill as promised. Wisconsin will join Michigan and Indiana as recent Midwestern, blue-collar states that have adopted this employee rights law.
Cotton Gins Up Outrage on Iran
President Obama would like nothing better than to shake himself of that pesky institution known as the U.S. Congress. And for six years, he's done an admirable job -- shirking their authority on everything from health care to immigration. But when a matter of national security -- or, in this case, national survival -- hangs in the balance, conservatives refuse to sit on their hands and watch the White House negotiate away America's future with Iran. To the Left's outrage, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a member of the Armed Services Committee and veteran, is demanding some accountability from the President in his talks with one of the world's largest state sponsors of terrorism. In a letter with 46 other GOP senators, Sen. Cotton fired off a rare letter to Iranian leaders explaining that the Senate will have to approve any deal the President strikes with their country.
Hillary Against the World
Regarding last week's string of stories about Hillary Clinton conducting her State Department business between 2009 and 2013 exclusively on a private email account, the heat -- as we say here in Washington -- is on in the kitchen. Her account was completely controlled by her. Even the server was controlled by her. She apparently had no State Department account when she was secretary of state, and no one thought to ask about it until late in 2014 when a Congressional committee inquiring into the bloody assault on our complexes in Benghazi sought her emails. Yet now the heat is on in the kitchen and the Episodic Apologists are turning it up. Yesterday's press conference was an attempt to calm them with the blessed emollient of Clintonian confusion. We shall see how it works.
Hillary's Matter of Convenience
Hillary Clinton finally met with reporters at the UN Tuesday to explain why she used a personal email account for the vast majority of her communications as secretary of state. The problem for any public figure attempting to testify to their innocence is that one's believability is directly tied to the public's perception of one's character. Like a bad case of the winter flu, character is something you either have or you don't. You can't be partially infected; neither can you be partially trustworthy. After so many years with Bill Clinton, who has trouble finding the word "truth" in the dictionary, Hillary Clinton's forced media appearance following weeks of hounding, some of it by fellow Democrats, was something less than a tour de force. In an "open letter to Hillary Clinton," Paul Waldman of the left-leaning publication "American Prospect" wrote: "You have to be better because of everything that's happened before."
The Challenge: Servant Leadership
Jesus picked twelve men -- twelve ordinary, imperfect, unimpressive men -- and bet his life upon them. They were fearful, envious, forgetful, rash, doubtful, arrogant, self-seeking and slow to understand. They were young and uneducated. They were not wealthy, nor were they from prominent families. They had little to offer. He was not surprised when one betrayed him. He was not surprised when every last one deserted him in his greatest hour of need. He went to his death before a single one understood his purpose, and no one stood by his side. Jesus knew his disciples' weaknesses all too well. But he didn't see their defects as roadblocks to success. Instead, he chose those men to be the ones to complete the work he came to accomplish. He gave them a great responsibility. He handed the management of his investment over to them -- let them carry on the message that he gave his life for. But he did not leave them unprepared, unequipped, or uninspired.
The Dog Ate My Homework: Hillary's Judgment Problem
Hillary acknowledging that it would have been better to use two email accounts is about as close to an apology from the Clintons you'll ever get. But the matter of "convenience" is just nonsense, as everyone knows. Even a tech dinosaur like myself has two email accounts, which I now access on my spiffy new iPhone 6 Plus. (By the way, instead of that old Blackberry, Hillary should have had an iPhone.) So Hillary says she didn't break any White House or State Department rules. I don't think that defense will fly. And the homemade server, created for messages between Bill and Hillary, is an absolute non-starter. Apparently Bill has only sent two emails in his life -- and neither of them to Hillary.
Take Daylight Saving Time. Please.
As a card-carrying American exceptionalist, I don't share the presumption that a US policy should be changed just because it puts America at odds with the prevailing world view. From ultra-free speech to capital punishment to birthright citizenship, America frequently marches to the beat of its own drummer -- and that's OK with me. But that doesn't mean we never err, or that there aren't times when good sense requires pulling the plug on an obsolete practice, and admitting that other nations may have a better approach. Take Daylight Saving Time. Please.