Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Bloodstained Hypocrisy of Hollywood's Violence Profiteers
Did you miss Tinseltown's latest political correctness powwow? Preening celebrities showed their solidarity with Ferguson, Mo., at the MTV Video Music Awards show this week. Rapper Common led the convocation, preachifying about the positive impact of hip-hop music on society as a "powerful instrument of social change" and "truth." Cameras showed drug-addled gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg bowing his head and flashing a peace sign during a "moment of silence" for Ferguson. MTV President Stephen Friedman aired public service announcements plying social justice messages. "It's a call to action to our audience that we have to confront our own bias head-on before we can truly create change," Friedman pontificated.
Lower Corporate Tax Rates. Now.
The Obama administration is highly exercised about "inversion," the practice by which an American corporation acquires a foreign company and moves its headquarters out of the U.S. to benefit from lower tax rates abroad. Not fair, says Barack Obama. It's taking advantage of an "unpatriotic tax loophole" that hardworking American families have to make up for by the sweat of their brow. His treasury secretary calls such behavior a violation of "economic patriotism." Nice touch. Democrats used to wax indignant about having one's patriotism questioned. Now they throw around the charge with abandon, tossing it at corporations that refuse to do the economically patriotic thing of paying the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world.
Exploiting the 'Sex Box'
We recently came across a rather new TV network, Me-TV. It's great stuff for old fogies (like one of us) -- reruns of the best of television from the '60s and '70s. "Twelve O'Clock High" never looked better. You probably missed this network in all the TV clutter. Few Americans have ever heard of the cable channel WE tv. Apparently, one way to remedy that is to put on a new show in 2015 called "Sex Box." It's another attempt to "help" Americans with their alleged puritanical reluctance to talk about sex. The Hollywood Reporter described it as a show that follows couples whose relationships are on the rocks. The couples have sex in a soundproof box on the set, and immediately afterward, emerge to address their issues in the afterglow "with a panel of experts for a series of emotionally honest conversations about intimacy."
Obama About to Fire His Smoking Gun Again
Those who think that either the Constitution or possible negative consequences to the Democratic Party will deter President Obama from acting unilaterally on immigration policy probably still don't understand what makes this man tick. The main things that drive him are his own interests -- whether political or legacy -- and his own ideological goals. The Washington Post is reporting that both Democrats and Republicans "are in a state of high anxiety" over the possibility that Obama will issue an executive order allowing millions of people who entered the country illegally to stay in the United States in contravention of Congress, which clearly hasn't authorized this move.
Obama's Segue From Constructive Tax Proposals to Low-Grade Demagoguery
"The tax system should be simplified and work for all Americans with lower individual and corporate tax rates and fewer brackets." That's from the Obama administration's 2009 proposals for tax reform, straight from whitehouse.gov. "Because our corporate tax system is so riddled with special interest loopholes," the document goes on, "our system has one of the highest statutory rates among developed countries to generate about the same amount of corporate tax revenue as our developed country partners as a share of our economy."
The Left's Ridiculous Burger King Freakout
Burger King plans to merge with Canuck coffee-and-doughnut chain Tim Hortons and base the company's headquarters in Canada, where it will enjoy the kind of reasonable corporate tax structure that Democrats continue to obstruct here in the United States. And the move has provoked a fresh round of moral panic, faux patriotism and confusion. It's doubtful, despite much wishful thinking, that there will be much of a real backlash. Nor should there be. Most obviously, the majority of fast-food customers are probably less inclined than the petitioners of MoveOn.org to mistake high tax rates for patriotism. This kind of distorted understanding of national loyalty may work in populist politics, but not so much in markets. Few reasonable humans will meditate on Burger King's corporate tax "inversion" -- or even its Brazilian owners -- as they wait for the frozen french fries to be dropped into the deep-fryer.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
A President's Global Warming Treaty Tyranny
Submitting the U.S. to the international community’s will -- without the consent of Congress.
Would It Kill You to Hire More Black Cops? (Yes)
As the story of Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson's shooting of Michael Brown begins to look less clear-cut than we were led to believe by Brown's friend, Dorian Johnson, the "voices of oppression" on MSNBC now say the real issue is that there aren't enough blacks on the Ferguson police force. As Brown may or may not have said seconds before his death: I give up. If the Ferguson police are forced to hire more minorities and women for the sake of diversity, the one thing we can be sure of is that more black people will be murdered, raped and assaulted.
Rev. Al Gets It Right
The Rev. Al Sharpton is getting the right kind of grief. This time it's not from conservatives for being a race hustler who exploits every white-on-black killing to raise money for his civil rights group National Action Network or to boost his miserable ratings on MSNBC. This time Sharpton is being criticized by other blacks -- liberal blacks -- who didn't like the tough sermon he preached at Michael Brown's funeral on Monday. Sharpton's fiery eulogy was not the familiar Gospel of the Rev. Al.
Remember Camp Ashraf: Support the Struggle for Human Rights
The worldwide struggle for freedom and democracy faces enormous challenges today. Despite the promise of the United States government to support that struggle wherever it can, the Obama administration is not standing tall on the world stage. The American Legacy, as a shining beacon for oppressed peoples everywhere in their time of darkness, is being abandoned. The United States has a wonderful track record of fulfilling that commitment. Past leaders of our nation have taken seriously America's special role in a troubled world. But the fact that the US has historically advanced freedom and democratic values makes me all the more upset when our current leaders fail to demonstrate an understanding of our exceptional role.
Scotland's Future Hangs in Balance
For Americans whose knowledge of this beautiful land is limited to kilts, whiskey, bagpipes and the film "Braveheart," the forthcoming referendum on whether Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom or become an independent nation will come as a curiosity at best. The primary objection of those favoring separation is the lack of self-determination granted to Scots by the British government. Though Westminster in recent months has devolved more powers to Edinburgh, those favoring separation say it is not enough. In the final debate Monday night before the September 18 vote (a turnout of 80 percent is predicted), the chairman of the "Better Together" campaign, Alistair Darling, engaged in the rhetorical equivalent of a heavyweight prizefight with Alex Salmond, first minister of Scotland.
Golf Is Not the Answer
Immediately after his telephone call consoling the Foley family on their son's grisly murder at the hands of Islamofascists, President Barack Obama took a powder. He headed for the golf course. Yes, the golf course! He had golfed eight times in 11 days, as the world was in tumult the likes of which we have not experienced since the late 1930s. There is something very odd about this man. He seems to think he can duck his obligations by lolling on the golf course. Does he believe no one is looking? In his brief life, my guess is, he has been posing all along. He had no role model as a father. He had no lasting role model as an adult. Now he has to produce. No one else can serve as his hidden advisor. He has to lead and he has not a clue as to what to do. Thus, to the golf course he goes, no matter how his critics complain or how a growing number of journalists express their dismay.
Another Ferguson? Wait, Wrong Race, No Interest
Why has there been no media interest in the police shooting of an apparently unarmed suspect in Salt Lake City? Just two days after the shooting death of Michael Brown, an officer with the Salt Lake City Police Department shot and killed an unarmed 20-year-old. The Salt Lake City Police Department equips some of its officers with cameras. The department confirmed the officer who shot had a camera and that footage of the confrontation and shooting was captured, but they would not elaborate further, and the video of the encounter has yet to be released publicly. As with the Michael Brown case, this "lack of transparency" has caused some family members of the deceased to raise questions.
Counting Down to Jan. 20, 2017
There used to be a popular radio show, followed by an equally popular TV show, called "The Amateur Hour." Singers, comedians and musicians, including even accordion players, would seek fame and fortune by competing on the show. These days, that notion has morphed into any number of similar shows, the most successful of which is "American Idol." What led me to think about all this is the realization that by the time the next president is inaugurated, Barack Obama will have held office for 2,922 days. (Don't forget to count leap years before writing to question my math.) Or in other words, we will have suffered through the equivalent of 70,128 amateur hours.
Navy With a Mission in Mind
Russia's ongoing dismemberment of Ukraine and the Islamic State's erasing of Middle Eastern borders have distracted attention from the harassment of U.S. Navy aircraft by Chinese fighter jets over the South China Sea. Beijing calls this sea, and the Yellow and East China seas, the "near seas," meaning China's seas. The episodes involving aircraft are relevant to one of Adm. Jonathan Greenert's multiplying preoccupations -- CUES, meaning Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea. This is designed to prevent incendiary accidents, a topic of special interest during this month's centennial commemorations of the beginning of a war that, ignited by miscalculations, ruined the 20th century. Greenert, chief of naval operations, has carrier-based aircraft flying from the Persian Gulf to targets in Iraq. He is, however, always thinking about the far side of the largest ocean.
What Are They Teaching Your Kids?
With "free" education offered in every town in the United States, a plethora of teachers who seem to be more than willing to take a role of authority in place of parents, and the convenience of sending our children to someone else to educate them, many parents have relinquished their role as the primary director of their children's education. Our kids spend more awake time in schoolrooms during their formative years than just about any other place. But it seems that most parents don't have a clue what their children are being taught.
Obama Fails History 101
President Obama doesn't know much about history. In his therapeutic 2009 Cairo speech, Obama outlined all sorts of Islamic intellectual and technological pedigrees, several of which were undeserved. He exaggerated Muslim contributions to printing and medicine, for example, and was flat-out wrong about the catalysts for the European Renaissance and Enlightenment. He also believes history follows some predetermined course, as if things always get better on their own. Obama often praises those he pronounces to be on the "right side of history." He also chastises others for being on the "wrong side of history" -- as if evil is vanished and the good thrives on autopilot.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Your Strategy Was Wrong, Mr. President
In a TV interview this week, John McCain offered President Obama some sound, if difficult, advice. "Mr. President," the Arizona senator said, "don't be ashamed of re-evaluating your view of the role of the United States in the world." No one likes to admit having been wrong on a fundamental issue. For an American president, few things can be more difficult. When you are invested with tremendous power and prestige because you persuaded tens of millions of citizens to raise you to the highest office in the land, acknowledging that you blundered doesn't come easy. All the more so when the blunder goes to the very core of your strategy for leadership.
DOT Proposes Mandating Cars Broadcast Location, Direction and Speed
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, published last week an "advanced notice of proposed rulemaking" on "vehicle-to-vehicle communications." What NHTSA is proposing could begin a transformation in the American transportation system that makes our lives better and freer -- or gives government more power over where we go and when. In announcing its proposed rulemaking, NHTSA is stressing its intention to protect the "privacy" of American drivers.
Obama Spurns the 'Optics' Police
In some prominent corners of the liberal media, the grousing has begun about President Obama's habit of hitting the golf course during crises without any concern for looking cavalier. Everyone knows he joyfully hit the links at Martha's Vineyard five minutes after a nationally televised address expressing his disgust at the horrific execution of American journalist James Foley by ISIS extremists in Syria. He played nine rounds during this most recent vacation in a year filled with vacations. On the front page of The New York Times, they reported "a firestorm of criticism erupted over what many saw as a callous indifference to the slaughter he had just condemned." Their columnist Maureen Dowd mocked him with a faux-Gettysburg Address of golf. When Dowd hits a liberal like this, something serious is amiss.