Right Opinion

Is There a Russian Conscience? A European?

When I was a graduate student at Columbia University's Russian Institute, there was a great debate: Was the communist Soviet Union an organic Russian development or was it largely a cancer imposed on it?

At Last -- Someone Did Something

So, then, what are we supposed to think when the governor of Texas dispatches National Guardsmen to the state border with Mexico in order to deflect the onrush of illegal border-crossers? What are we supposed to do?

Bowe Bergdahl's Duty — And Ours

Bowe Bergdahl has been returned to "active duty." Apparently, that means a desk job while the Army considers what should be done with this young enlisted soldier. Bergdahl was held for five years by the Taliban since walking away from his post one night in 2009.

Bordering on Madness

The real issue when it comes to immigration is not simply what particular immigration policy America should have, but whether America can have any immigration policy at all.

What Needs Resetting

The bodies of 298 passengers and crew of Malaysia Air Flight 17, 80 of them children, lie unburied in a Ukrainian field while Vladimir Putin's men fire their weapons into the air to keep international investigators from approaching the site. Yes, "Putin's men." Calling them "Russian separatists" unnecessarily dignifies them. They are supplied, armed and trained by the despot in the Kremlin.

Feds Stomping on Our Stogies

Cigars are just one of the pleasures the U.S. is regulating out of existence

Obama Dragged Down by Chaos at Home and Abroad, not by the Economy

The fact is that the economy is growing, however slowly; jobs are being created, and the unemployment rate is heading down toward what economists consider full employment. And still the president's job rating languishes.

Moral Equivalence Is Usually Moral Negligence

No More Aid to the Palestinian Authority

The anti-Semitic "tradition" of blaming Jews for the world's problems mostly took a temporary back seat in light of the indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas.

President's Order Leaves No Faith in Business

With the world in deep turmoil, and a struggling economy, Americans are looking for leadership to confront these many challenges. What kind of leadership do we see coming from the White House?

Racial Politics May Determine Who Controls Senate in 2014

It is no accident that rhetoric about race has been ramping up at a time when racial politics can be the key determinant for control of the Senate this year.

Mining Cole for Answers on IRS

In two weeks, the Senate will be taking a long break -- from what, no one really knows. Thanks to Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the chamber has been in perpetual siesta, only stirrings from their slumber just long enough to stage a meaningless crusade for "free" birth control, which most women already have.

The World Cup Runneth Over

I have no interest in soccer. Just as I have no interest in most events staged during the Olympics. And, frankly, I don't get why any American feels the need to tune in every four years to watch the World Cup or synchronized swimming. I just find it profoundly stupid to sit and watch a game played with a ball in which you can't use your hands. I'm not suggesting it isn't a display of great stamina, but so is the marathon. What's more, as with soccer, marathon-running is a sport in which scoring is apparently frowned upon. But I don't hear about a lot of people spending hours on end watching other people run 26 miles for no particular reason.

Mr. President: Is There a Bear?

It may have been the most effective political ad in history. President Reagan's 1984 "Prepared for Peace" ad was a 30-second spot featuring a bear. It put the essential question to the American voters and let them decide who was right. They decided then that Reagan was right: It was best to be "as strong as the bear, if there is a bear. President Reagan carried forty-nine states that year.

A Grand Opportunity for the Grand Old Party

It's not often you get handed an unprecedented opportunity to forge a paradigm shift in the voting patterns of a subgroup of Americans who have rejected your party for the better part of 50 years. But that opportunity is now at hand.

Does the Constitution Contain Stem Cells?

The great thing about Adult Stem Cells is that they are most often taken from the patient's own body, thus overcoming the problem of rejection by the patient's immune system.

Obama Is Crushing the Reagan Link, and Putin Knows It

Across his remarkably successful presidency, Ronald Reagan repeatedly made the link between the U.S. economy and U.S. international security and defense. He consistently argued that weakness at home leads to weakness abroad. Reagan was aiming at the dismal Carter years. But he understood for all times that economic strength at home sends a powerful signal for international security overseas. When Reagan went to Reykjavik to meet with Gorbachev, he believed the resurgent American economy would hammer the nails in the coffin of Soviet communism. And he explained to Gorbachev that if the Soviets didn't come to the negotiating table with nuclear weapons, the U.S. would out-produce them on nukes and with technological superiority. Similarly, Reagan would not give up his vision for strategic missile defense.

Memo to Congress: True Patriotism Is Axing Taxes to Keep Companies in U.S.

The Obama administration announced new rules this week that will effectively punish American companies who move facilities and jobs overseas to save on taxes. Labor union backed groups have denounced American businesses that move offshore to avoid the 35 percent corporate tax as "unpatriotic." The White House claims such moves cost the Treasury billions of dollars. But how are such moves unpatriotic? Is it wrong for businesses to try to reduce their tax burden? Business CEOs have a duty to their shareholders to lower their costs and increase their profits. This may come as a shocker to Washington, but companies are in business to make profits.

Lunacy Reigns

How is it that ISIS, numbering fewer than 10,000 Islamic cretins, can pretty much overrun Iraq and instill fear throughout the entire Middle East and here in America? And while we're on the subject, why haven't we signed them up to deal with Iran, Russia and North Korea? As for Iraq, where Obama saw fit to squander American lives and treasure by simply packing up and walking away, I say the most sensible resolution to a problem involving Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, is to divide the one big cesspool into three smaller cesspools. In the past, the hang-up has been that each sect insisted on winding up in possession of the oil fields. My solution is to put their three names in a hat. The winner gets the oil, the other two get casinos.

The Blumenthal 'Kill Them Later and Later' Bill

Connecticut's liberal Sen. Richard Blumenthal wants no one to have to worry about aborting unborn children late in pregnancy, very late. He favors abortion at any time prior to birth. It's not clear yet whether he would vote to deny federal protection to newborns who survive an attempted abortion. Blumenthal was not in the Senate when that bill passed. Barack Obama was in the Illinois Senate when that state's Infant Born-Alive Bill was killed. Then-Sen. Obama made sure that bill never got to the Governor's desk. We should know what Sen. Blumenthal wants. He wants *no* protections at all for mothers or their unborn children. No waiting periods. No ultra-sound images, especially no ultra-sound. Why?