Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Meanwhile, Back in the Senate...
Let's face it: no one likes to be criticized, especially politicians in an election year. Debating opponents can be a messy ordeal and, when you don't have the truth on your side, it's a whole lot easier to silence your critics than engage them on the issues. That's exactly what former Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio) attempted to do when Susan B. Anthony List ran billboards in his district that exposed his support for taxpayer-funded abortion under ObamaCare. Under Ohio's "false statement" law, Driehaus dragged SBA List's claim in front of a politically-appointed government panel who challenged the statement. Smelling a violation of their First Amendment freedoms, SBA List filed a lawsuit and Thursday in a victory for free speech, Ohio District Judge Timothy Black ruled that the Ohio law unconstitutionally burdened the pro-life group's ability to engage in the public square.
Don't Count on an Election-Day Tsunami
Democrat Seth Moulton's defeat of US Representative John Tierney in the 6th Congressional District primary last week came right on schedule. The political newcomer, an Iraq War veteran with three Harvard degrees, was the first Massachusetts candidate in 22 years to vanquish a sitting congressman from his own party. It last happened in 1992, when upstart Marty Meehan booted incumbent Chet Atkins in the Fifth Congressional District, then went on to win the seat in November. It was 22 years before that, in the Third Congressional District primary in 1970, that Father Robert Drinan, an antiwar liberal, toppled fellow Democrat Philip Philbin, who had first been elected to Congress in 1942.
Biden, Baloney & Beheadings
On the chance that for one reason or another Hillary Clinton decides not to run in 2016, Joe Biden wants us all to know that, after spending most of his adult life at the public trough, he is willing to sacrifice his golden years to being president. It's worth noting that he would be 72 years old when he'd move into the White House, meaning he would be 80 when he moved out. One look at Obama's white hair should remind everyone that even a president who's always taking off for Martha's Vineyard or Hawaii, seems to age at supernatural speed. Inasmuch as I'm 74, I wouldn't want to hold his age against him, especially when there are so many other, even more compelling, reasons Biden shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office, even as a member of a tour group.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Scotland's Epic Vote
Tucking into a dish of Scottish haggis is not a task for the fainthearted. There are various haggis recipes, but basically it is sheep's pluck -- the heart, lungs and liver -- cooked together, then mixed with suet and oatmeal and boiled in a sheep's stomach, then served, sometimes drenched with Scotch. People who pour whisky on oatmeal are not shrinking violets. Remember this on Thursday when Scotland votes on independence from the United Kingdom. There are economic reasons for and (mostly) against Scotland disassociating from the queen's realm. This issue, however, touches chords of memory more interesting than money. In "The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century," Cambridge University historian David Reynolds notes that World War I, a breaker of empires and maker of nations, quickened interest in nationalism and the nature of nationhood, especially the distinction between a *civic* nation and an *ethnic* nation: The former is "a community of laws, institutions, and citizenship," whereas an ethnic nation is "a community of shared descent, rooted in language, ethnicity, and culture." France embodied civic nationalism, forged by its revolution; Germany, "steeped in Romantic conceptions of the *Volk*," exemplified ethnic nationalism.
Is ObamaCare Working?
Yes according to Paul Krugman, Ezra Klein and the Commonwealth Fund. But all these folks were cheerleaders for the Affordable Care Act from day one. Sarah Kliff, another ObamaCare supporter, estimates that health reform has enabled about 5 million people to become newly insured. But that's only about 10 percent of the uninsured. What happened to the mandate that required that everyone have health insurance this year or face a fine? Turns out that the mandate doesn't actually apply to millions of people. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that 90 percent of the uninsured are exempt from the mandate.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
The Obama DOJ's Subversion of the IRS Investigation
Instead of seeking justice, the administration conspires to conceal the truth.
Drink to Your Health
If your drinking companions are French, you toast each other with "À votre santé !" With Russians, it's "Za zdorovje!" For Spanish-speakers, "Salud!" In Hebrew, "L'chaim!" Perhaps it's just a coincidence that when drinkers almost anywhere clink glasses, they are apt to invoke good health or long life. More likely, it reflects a truth humankind discovered long ago: Drinking alcohol can be a source of not only short-term enjoyment, but of long-term health benefits too. That may ring heretical at a time when headlines routinely sound alarms about the dangers of alcohol abuse. A search of the phrase "binge drinking" in Google News turns up nearly 7,000 recent articles. Many focus on the connection between drunkenness and campus sexual assault; others dwell on the serious consequences of drinking to excess, from alcohol poisoning to liver disease.
Support Obama's New ISIS Plan
I know he's made a million mistakes. And I have opposed nearly all his domestic and international policies. But after watching Obama's intense ISIS speech Wednesday night, and reading the text several times, I think the president basically -- finally -- got it right. I support him. My best advice to Republicans and Democrats is to support the president's new ISIS campaign. Noteworthy, as of this writing, House Speaker John Boehner has announced his backing of Obama on this matter. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Sen. leader Mitch McConnell have also announced their support of the president's ISIS plan. Only Nancy Pelosi is absent.
From The Comedy Store
Barack Obama gave a TV speech on national security to the country Wednesday. After consulting with his generals and he laid out his plans to deal with the violent extremists for their brutal and violent behavior. He is dropping the NFL Network from his basic cable package.
'Justice' Requires No Modifiers
It's been a while now since I addressed a Rotary Club here in L.A., but I still recall taking exception to a Jewish doctor in the audience when, during the Q & A session, he spoke up on behalf of social justice. I told him that once you start using adjectives to describe justice, you are in fact removing that all important blindfold from Lady Justice's eyes. You're making a case for a judicial system that's weighted in favor of, say, blacks or Hispanics, women or gays. In other words, you're arguing for a system that is the polar opposite of justice. Unfortunately, that is exactly what Obama, Holder and the various race-hustlers who descended upon Ferguson, Missouri, were doing when they demanded "fair and impartial justice" for Michael Brown and his family, ignoring the irony involved in calling for Officer Darren Wilson's head even before a grand jury had heard one minute of testimony in the matter.
Friday, September 12, 2014
The Media's Lynching of Ray Rice
Let's get to the burning national media issue of the week -- Ray Rice and spousal abuse. All the professional media moralizers are jumping on the politically correct Rice soapbox to prove to each other how much they are against physically abusing women. As if anyone is in favor of it. Rice knocked out his bride-to-be Janay in a casino elevator last February. That's about the only thing clear from the elevator footage TMZ released to the world.
In Japan's Economic Folly, a Lesson for U.S.
Japan is flush with national pride this week, thanks to Kei Nishikori, the tennis phenom who knocked off seemingly indestructible Novak Djokovic to reach the U.S. Open finals and become the first Japanese to reach a grand slam final ever. If only Japan's economy could perform half as well. For also this week, Tokyo announced that second-quarter GDP shrank by an annualized rate of 7.1%. This decline followed a rise in the national sales tax -- a monumental blunder that has sunk Japan back into recession. The bigger worry, however, is that this isn't just a bump in the road to recovery. By almost any measure of wealth and income, Japan has suffered through a two-decade-long financial malaise due to a series of catastrophic Keynesian policy mistakes.
Factual Error on Tactical Terror
It was a familiar September scene for most Americans. Too familiar. Thirteen years ago, George W. Bush spoke to the nation from the same Oval Office as President Obama did Wednesday night, both determined to hunt down the terrorists who threaten our country. While the circumstances surrounding the speeches were different, the enemy is not; Muslim militants who demand the world submit to their form of Islam or be killed. For people watching Obama's speech on ISIS, just one day shy of the 9/11 anniversary, it was an eerie and solemn reminder that the evil that robbed our nation of 2,977 bright lives still lurks. After the deaths of tens of thousands innocent men, women, and children, and two American journalists, the flippant remarks of ISIS being a jayvee team were not uttered. But obviously, the administration still lacks a basic understanding of these extremists. In all 1,996 words of his address, none were more shocking than these: "ISIL is not Islamic." Exactly what part of "Islamic State" does the President not understand? If these terrorists aren't Muslim, then someone ought to tell *them* that.
Civilized Sport
I'm not much of a football fan, never have been, but I've lived most of my life in households where games dominated family schedules during football season. My father was a Notre Dame and Denver Broncos fan. My husband and three sons are diehard Redskins fans, and at least one of them wouldn't miss a University of Maryland game for anything. But try as they might, they've never managed to get me to sit down and watch with them, at least not an entire game, not even the Super Bowl. But I'll gladly sit through basketball and baseball games, and I even like attending Washington Nationals games when I get the chance.
Presidential Malpractice
NBC's Chuck Todd got a good deal of attention for warning that "(Obama's) on the precipice of doing Jimmy Carter-like damage to the Democratic brand on foreign policy." As distasteful as it is to defend Jimmy Carter, this isn't fair to him. Carter, it's true, earned a reputation for weakness, but he wasn't blind to reality. Carter entered office urging the nation to get over its "inordinate fear of communism," and he did his best to alienate friends and coddle enemies. But when the Soviet Union's tanks rumbled into Kabul in 1979, he said, "The action of the Soviets made a more dramatic change in my opinion of what the Soviets' ultimate goals are than anything they've done in the previous time I've been in office."
David Limbaugh's Case for Christianity
David Limbaugh has written a book that departs dramatically from his recent tomes on the worst excesses of the Obama presidency. "Jesus On Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel" explores his journey of faith, from believer to non-believer and back. "Rush and I were raised in a great Midwest Christian family. We went to church every Sunday. Our parents raised us right so I'm not blaming them. I'm blaming myself for the message not sticking," he says. As it has for so many, his faith faded away in college. Faith was replaced by skepticism. Limbaugh wants it understood that his intention is not to ridicule skeptics. "I used to be one. But at some point I realized it was foolish and arrogant of me to pretend to form final conclusions about the Bible and Jesus Christ when I hadn't begun to seriously study Scripture or Christian doctrine. ... So I resolved to examine the evidence."
Post-9/11: Protect the Freedom to Warn
"If you see something, say something." That's what our homeland security apparatchiks incessantly preach. But 13 years after the 9/11 attacks, the freedom to warn is in danger and vigilant whistleblowers are under fire. Listen to Robert MacLean. He's a former Air Force nuclear weapons specialist and Border Patrol agent recruited by the government to serve as one of the first federal air marshals after 9/11. In 2003, MacLean underwent emergency training to prepare for a new round of al-Qaida hijacking threats. Jihadists exploiting visa and screening loopholes had planned to target East Coast airliners, according to intelligence analysts. For unknown reasons, however, the Transportation Security Administration abruptly called off air marshals from duty on nonstop, long-distance flights -- just two days before the anticipated hijacking.
Obama's Uncertain Trumpet, Again
In his Islamic State speech, President Obama said many of the right things. Most importantly, he finally got the mission right: degrade and destroy the enemy. This alone will probably get him a bump in the polls, which have dropped to historic lows. But his strategic problem remains: the disconnect between (proclaimed) ends and means. He's sending an additional 475 American advisers to Iraq. He says he's broadening the air campaign, but that is merely an admission that the current campaign was always about more than just protecting U.S. personnel in Irbil and saving Yazidis on mountain tops. It was crucially about providing air support for the local infantry, Kurdish and Iraqi.
Is the Islamic State Really un-Islamic?
"Now let's make two things clear: ISIL is not Islamic. No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL's victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a state." -- President Barack Obama in his address to the nation on Wednesday. About the second point reasonable people can quibble. The terrorist army that calls itself the Islamic State is certainly trying to build a state -- and not just a state, but a super state or caliphate. They're not there yet; their delivery of social services seems spotty at best, though they do collect taxes and uphold the law (in a fashion).