Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
The Export-Import Bank's Grip
Conservatives' next disappointment will at least be a validation. The coming reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank will confirm their warnings about the difficulty of prying the government's tentacles off what should be society's private sphere. The bank, which exists to allocate credit by criteria other than the market's preference for efficiency, mirrors the market-distorting policies of foreign governments. These policies favor those countries' exports that compete with America's. Much of what the bank does is supposedly to "level the playing field." When Fred P. Hochberg, the bank's chairman and president, defends it, an old joke comes to mind: A pastor officiating at a man's funeral asks if anyone in the congregation would like to say something about the deceased. After a long, awkward silence, a voice shouts: "His brother was even worse." South Korea, Hochberg says, provides "four to five times more export support than we do." Thus does sound policy get defined down: Others are even worse, supposedly forcing us to emulate them.
'I'm as Mad as Hell'
It's been 39 years since the movie "Network" was released and we were all introduced to Howard Beale, the half-crazed TV anchorman created by Paddy Chayefsky and portrayed by Peter Finch. It was he who urged his audience to get off their couches, walk to the window, open it and scream: "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" These days, network anchormen either lie about the news or about their personal exploits, occasionally doing both simultaneously, but they never offer such sound advice as Mr. Beale. Frankly, I don't know how any sentient human being can look around and not feel the obligation, or at least the natural urge, to start screaming. For instance, the Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh (pronounced Jay) Johnson, yet another of Obama's endless supply of black, butt-kissing, supplicants, recently declared that conservative Americans are the real threat to American society, not Islamic fundamentalists.
The Farcical Ferguson Report
The NBA consists of 76 percent black players. But blacks are just 13 percent of the country. Clearly, the league engages in racial discrimination against whites. Silly, right? Well, this is exactly what the sleight-of-hand Department of Justice pulled off to find that the Ferguson Police Department engages in "implicit and explicit racial bias"! The report insults anybody who's ever studied the statistics -- or logic. The 105-page report concludes: "Ferguson's law enforcement practices are shaped by the City's focus on revenue rather than by public safety needs. This emphasis on revenue has compromised the institutional character of Ferguson's police department, contributing to a pattern of unconstitutional policing, and has also shaped its municipal court, leading to procedures that raise due process concerns and inflict unnecessary harm on members of the Ferguson community. Further, Ferguson's police and municipal court practices both reflect and exacerbate existing racial bias, including racial stereotypes. Ferguson's own data establish clear racial disparities that adversely impact African Americans. The evidence shows that discriminatory intent is part of the reason for these disparities. Over time, Ferguson's police and municipal court practices have sown deep mistrust between parts of the community and the police department, undermining law enforcement legitimacy among African Americans in particular."
E-gate Epidemics
Former CIA Director David Petraeus plea-bargained to a misdemeanor count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material after having given classified government information to his onetime mistress, Paula Broadwell. How was Petraeus' transgression uncovered? By exposure of a non-government email account that he had set up with to communicate with Broadwell free of CIA scrutiny. After a series of Democratic scandals in the New York state legislature, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is instituting a policy to have the emails of state employees automatically deleted after 90 days. Apparently, Cuomo did not want e-trails of politicians' communications. Meanwhile, the former speaker of the New York state assembly, Sheldon Silver, faces charges of corruption and was forced by subpoena to turn over computer correspondence.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Clinton's Evasive Press Conference
Can America trust Hillary to decide what emails are fit for the public’s eyes?
They Come to Bury Conservatism
The media have developed a predictable and equally annoying habit every presidential election cycle. We hear the Republicans are going to be crushed by pandering too much to conservatives. The Democrats are firmly moderate and need a push from the left so they don't forget their "compassion." So it was with Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter 35 years ago. So will it be in 2016, no matter who is nominated. Republican primary voters have nominated moderates in every election cycle since Reagan '88, but not because they are moderates. Instead, the moderates survive the usual conservative circular firing squad exercise; or, as was the case with both father and son Bush, the moderates ran as conservatives. How did the moderates who ran as moderates fare? Ask Presidents Dole, McCain and Romney.
A Containment Policy for Militant Islamist Ideologues
"The government strongly opposed militant forms of Islam, which it viewed as a threat to the regime." So said the State Department's 2008 human rights report (published in February 2009) on a certain North African nation. "Although there is no explicit law guaranteeing religious freedom, in practice the government generally respected the right to observe one's religion," said the report. This did not mean, however, that it allowed the full "free exercise" of religion that is guaranteed by our First Amendment. "Although there is no law prohibiting conversion from Islam," said the report, "the government prohibits efforts to proselytize Muslims and actively prosecutes offenders."
Darren Wilson's Friendly Trial
The Rigged Process that Exonerated the Cop Who Shot Michael Brown Highlights the Need for Independent Prosecutors
ObamaCare's 1095-A Nightmare
Tax season is stressful enough. But if you are like countless miserable Americans trapped in the Obamacare 1095-A abyss, it's hell on stilts on a Segway teetering over the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The screw-ups, incompetence and bureaucratic blame avoidance over the health insurance exchange tax forms make the healthcare.gov website fiasco look like a flawless product launch. How do I know? My family inexplicably got ensnared in the 1095-A paperwork pit. It's a government roach motel: Taxpayers check in, but they can never check out. In 2013, our private high-deductible PPO from Anthem Blue Cross got canceled because of "changes from health care reform (also called the Affordable Care Act or ACA)." Millions of others like us in the individual market for health insurance -- including self-employed people, small-business owners, writers, artists and home-based entrepreneurs -- suffered the same fate.
Carefully Scripted Hillary Knocked Out of Comfort Zone
In the wake of Hillary Rodham Clinton's fairly disastrous press conference at the United Nations on Tuesday, there's only one conclusion shared by all parties: This was not how it was supposed to go. This was supposed to be the month Clinton led with her chief selling point: her gender. She had put together a whole "I Am Woman, Hear Me Bore" speaking tour in which women's issues -- particularly the women's issues that poll well among women who care a lot about women's issues -- would be the main subject. The Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation unveiled a big foofaraw over Hillary's "No Ceilings" campaign. What a wonderfully convenient theme for Mrs. Clinton's massive and mysterious foundation, given that smashing the "highest glass ceiling" -- i.e., the presidency -- is the central rationale of her planned presidential bid. It was just a coincidence that the tax-exempt foundation with her name on it happened to be rolling out a big light show on that very subject during the rollout of her presidential campaign.
Navy Caves to Pier Pressure
If you think chaplains have some of the safest jobs in the military, think again. Men of the cloth are under some of the heaviest fire -- and it's coming from their own side! In the Navy, the message is clear: get on board with political correctness or lose your job. Like most Christians, Lt. Commander Wes Modder knew the military was changing. But he didn't know how much until the battle landed on his doorstep. For years, Modder had served some of the most elite fighting forces in the military: Navy SEALs. I say "had," because the 19-year veteran has been stripped of his duties for sharing the good news he was hired to share. In a stunning turn of events, the chaplain was sabotaged by one of his own men, who secretly gathered enough information on Modder's beliefs and private counseling sessions to file a formal complaint. Believe it or not, he was targeted by his own assistant -- who Modder didn't realize was gay. Looking back, the chaplain says the young officer asked a lot of questions about homosexuality, which Modder answered as most would expect: in accordance with the Bible's teachings.
Global Warming
"But the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact," said President Barack Obama in his 2014 State of the Union address. Saying the debate is settled is nonsense, but the president is right about climate change. GlobalChange.gov gives the definition of climate change: "Changes in average weather conditions that persist over multiple decades or longer. Climate change encompasses both increases and decreases in temperature, as well as shifts in precipitation, changing risk of certain types of severe weather events, and changes to other features of the climate system." That definition covers all weather phenomena throughout all 4.54 billion years of Earth's existence. You say, "Williams, that's not what the warmers are talking about. It's the high CO2 levels caused by mankind's industrial activities that are causing the climate change!" There's a problem with that reasoning. Today CO2 concentrations worldwide average about 380 parts per million. This level of CO2 concentration is trivial compared with the concentrations during earlier geologic periods. For example, 460 million years ago, during the Ordovician Period, CO2 concentrations were 4,400 ppm, and temperatures then were about the same as they are today. With such high levels of CO2, at least according to the warmers, the Earth should have been boiling.
Is Being Gay a Choice?
Last week, Dr. Ben Carson stepped onto a political mine -- really, jumped onto it with both feet -- when he answered a question from CNN's Chris Cuomo about the nature of homosexuality. "You think being gay is a choice?" Cuomo asked Carson, after Carson rightly stated that being black and being gay are two very different phenomena. "Absolutely," replied Carson. He then went on to explain, "A lot of people who go into prison straight go into prison straight -- and when they come out, they're gay." Carson's unstated line of reasoning is perfectly logical. When Cuomo asked Carson whether he thinks "being gay is a choice," Carson interpreted that question to mean: "Is homosexual behavior a choice." To that, the answer is obviously yes, since *all* non-reflexive behavior is essentially a choice. Cuomo, however, took his question to mean: "Is homosexual inclination a choice." To that, the answer is obviously no -- it is either a byproduct of biology or environment. Feelings, in other words, are not choices; it is possible that some feelings can be shaped by behavior, but as a general rule, feelings are not chosen. Behaviors, however, are chosen. Thus, being black -- a non-behavioral characteristic -- is not like being gay or being straight, in the sense that one cannot choose not to be black, while one chooses one's own sexual behavior.
Another Dred Scott Ruling?
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to consider whether to overturn the marriage laws of all the states -- as some activist federal judges have already done in *some* of the states -- conservatives are naturally calling for judicial restraint. We must warn the court against another exercise of "raw judicial power" like that handed down with its infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. That cruel and unjust ruling is viewed as illegitimate by tens of millions of Americans. Young people, especially, are turning against abortion-on-demand. We see this in every pro-life march. And this public outcry is being translated into a bumper crop of pro-life legislation bubbling up in state legislatures. The lethal Roe v. Wade ruling did serious harm to the Supreme Court's reputation. Now, the Court may once again overstep its authority. The justices are being asked not merely to redefine marriage, but to end it. That is because once marriage is no longer recognized as the union of one man and one woman, there is no legal or logical stopping point.
What's Fair?
Donald Trump's kids and Paris Hilton's siblings were born rich. That gave them a big advantage in life. Unfair! Inequality in wealth has grown. Today the richest 1 percent of Americans own a third of the assets. That's not fair! But wherever people are free, that's what happens. Some people are luckier, smarter or just better at making money. Often they marry other wealthy, well-connected people. Over time, these advantages compound. Globalization increases the effect. This month's issue of Forbes says the world now has 1,826 billionaires, and some struggle to find enough parking places for their jets.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Time to Hit 'Delete' on Net Neutrality
Government control of the Internet warrants healthy skepticism
Gym Muscles Out Member After Gender Spat
At Planet Fitness, Yvette Cormier wanted to shape up -- and instead, she got shipped out! The customer of a Michigan branch found out the hard way that if she wants to exercise her rights to privacy and free speech, she'll have to find another gym. In a story that sums up the opposition to the Left's infamous bathroom ordinances, Yvette came face to face with the consequences of giving gender identity a special place in local laws. Imagine her surprise, Yvette told gym management, when she walked into the women's locker room and saw "a man" standing there. "Freaked out," she complained to the branch, who said the man identifies as a woman and had every right to use the facility of his choice. Stunned, Cormier contacted Planet Fitness's corporate office -- where she heard more of the same. According to the company's PR director, "Planet Fitness is committed to creating a non-intimidating, welcoming environment for our members. Our gender identity non-discrimination policy states that members and guests may use all facilities based on their sincere self-reported gender identity."
America Faces a Long Two Years
No the exposure of Hillary Clinton's email debacle, Sen. Bob Menendez's (D-NJ) indictment and Obama's appointment of Robert Malley to replace Phil Gordon as Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf Region—all in the same week—is pure coincidence. Or is it? The White House has known about Clinton's emails since last August, the Menendez investigation has been ongoing since 2012, and Obama previously severed ties with Malley in 2008 following a British Times report that he had met with U.S. designated terror group Hamas on behalf of George Soros' International Crisis Group. The real story: Clinton is likely to distance herself from Obama's disastrous Iranian negotiations, Menendez already has, and Gordon is a big thumb in the eye for Obama's chief nemesis in that regard, namely Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. So if it seems as if our arrogant Oval Office occupant has a penchant for sticking it to those who dare to defy his "superior" wisdom, that's because he does.
Why Do American Networks Interview Tyrants?
Twelve years ago, almost to the day, CBS News sent Dan Rather to Baghdad to broadcast an interview with Iraq's tyrant, Saddam Hussein. I wrote at that time: "Other than the lengths to which Dan Rather went to be obsequious to a tyrant, Americans learned nothing from his interview with Saddam Hussein." "If one is not going to ask a dictator anything approaching the truth about his actions, why bother interviewing him? Isn't the whole thing morally compromised and journalistically meaningless? What would we think of a radio network that had nationally broadcast an interview with Adolf Hitler in 1944 in which the Fuhrer was asked nothing about Nazi anti-Semitism or the concentration camps?
Is Obama Really as Clueless as He Claims?
I don't know which is more maddening, President Obama's repeatedly claiming he finds out about important matters only after reading the newspapers, his expectation that we'll swallow that, the even scarier prospect that it could be true, or that the media continue to give him a pass on it. Obama told CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante that he learned of Hillary Clinton's use of her private email address for official State Department business after a New York Times report. With no apparent self-consciousness or embarrassment, Obama said he learned about it at "the same time everybody else learned it through news reports." Then he followed with the equally preposterous and oft-repeated assurance, "The policy of my administration is to encourage transparency."