Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
The Heartlessness Charge
"The heartlessness and nativist pandering that have broken America's immigration system must give way to providing proper food, clothing, shelter and medical care to the Central American children streaming into the country," so pronounced the editors of the New York Daily News. Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. echoed the theme in his "Bordering on Heartless" column, noting that Glenn Beck has "come under fierce attack" for his proposal to bring food, water, teddy bears and soccer balls to the children stuck at the border. "It's one more sign," Dionne writes, "of how the crisis at the border has brought out the very worst in our political system and a degree of plain nastiness that we should not be proud of as a nation." Charges of Republican or conservative heartlessness about the children flooding the border have been common. Some journalists seemingly cannot type the word Republican without the modifier "heartless." But where is the evidence of this supposed callousness, and why is it any greater among Republicans than Democrats?
Obama Pays Price for Inaction on Immigration Law
The flood of underage -- and non-underage -- illegal immigrants from Central America coming across the border in Texas is, to paraphrase a former Obama administration official, a "man-caused disaster." The man who caused it, more than anyone else, is Barack Obama. Speaking at political fundraisers in Dallas and Austin last week -- he refused to do a "photo-op" on the border, first things first -- Obama placed the blame on House Republicans for not having passed a comprehensive immigration bill as the Democratic-majority Senate did in June 2013. But it wasn't only Republicans who failed to pass such a bill. House Democrats didn't pass one either in 2009 or 2010, when they had a bigger majority than Republicans have had in 80 years.
Lawsuits and Impeachment
Whenever Democrats are in real trouble politically, the Republicans seem to come up with something new that distracts the public's attention from the Democrats' problems. Who says Republicans are not compassionate? With public opinion polls showing President Obama's sinking approval rate, in the wake of his administration's multiple fiascoes and scandals -- the disgraceful treatment of veterans who need medical care, the Internal Revenue Service coverups, the tens of thousands of children flooding across our open border -- Republicans have created two new distractions that may yet draw attention away from the Democrats' troubles.
The Good Book & the Bad Woman
During her book tour, Hillary Clinton was asked to name her favorite book. One might have expected her to be honest for once in her life and mention "Hard Choices," the ghost-written tome bearing her name that brought her an $8 million advance, but, instead, she declared it to be…(a drum roll)…the Bible. She went on to say that she finds it a constant source of wisdom, comfort and encouragement. A show of hands, please -- is there anyone who believes that a devout Christian would ever ask what difference it makes who murdered four Americans in Benghazi or slander every young woman her husband ever preyed upon?
Monday, July 14, 2014
Polar Vortex Summer Version Prelude to Brutal Winter and Potential Major Energy Issues
Last winter was a brutally cold one for the nation's midsection. For Chicago, the period from December through March was the coldest in the entire record back to 1872. It was the third snowiest winter behind only the 1978/79 and 1977/78 winters. In Detroit, it ended up the snowiest ever on record back to 1880. It now has been cooling in the U.S. (including all 9 climate zones) for 20 winters (2.26F/decade)!
Despite Liberal Howls, Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby Ruling Was Right
Senate and House Democrats are outraged by the Supreme Court's decision in favor of Hobby Lobby in the firm's lawsuit seeking exemption from the Obamacare mandate that employers provide, free of charge, contraceptives to employees. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid called the Supreme Court decision "outrageous" and Democrats have introduced bills in the Senate and the House to overturn the decision. Why exactly is it that Democrats find it so outrageous that in America religious freedom is respected? That we have law -- The Religious Freedom Restoration Act under which the owners of Hobby Lobby sued the federal government -- that assures that no federal law will substantially burden individuals in the practice of their religion. Paying for contraception would violate the Christian principles of Hobby Lobby's owners.
A Rapidly Metastasizing Crisis
The Obama administration's manufactured crisis on the border is rapidly reaching the metastatic stage. According to the Washington Times, an American militia has set up a command post south of San Antonio to protect the nation's Southwest border. A website, patriotsinformationhotline.com, is asking Americans to donate supplies necessary to maintain viable operations there, even as it claims there are four "credible militia operations" operating in Texas.
Cleveland, No Need to Swoon Over the RNC
Republicans picked picked Cleveland to host their 2016 national convention, and the city, writes the Plain Dealer's Stephen Koff, "is swooning over its victory." No kidding. "Huge day for our city. Has anything ever happened here that's bigger?" tweeted Aaron Goldhammer, co-host of ESPN Cleveland's morning sports show. Ed FitzGerald, Cuyahoga County's elected executive and the 2014 Democratic nominee for governor of Ohio, rejoiced in the GOP's confirmation "that Cleveland is now in the middle of a historic renaissance." Local folk hero Charles Ramsey, who last year saved three Cleveland women held hostage for 10 years, told a TV interviewer that news of the coming Republican convention made him "giddy … happy as a clam."
Senate Gets Blunt About Religious Liberty
Most conservatives can probably count on one hand the number of times a Republican bill has gotten 100% Democratic support. Thursday was one of those rare moments, as Senators on both sides of the aisle embraced Sen. Roy Blunt's (R-Mo.) bill to protect religious liberty abroad. While Iraq, Syria, and Egypt explode in faith-based turmoil, the plight of Jews, Catholics, and Christians has gone virtually unnoticed by the Western World (with the exception of the occasional hashtag campaign). As tragic as Meriam Ibrahim's story has been, her imprisonment has helped raise the urgency of America's involvement overseas. With the State Department slow to respond to her crisis -- which until recently, included a death sentence and flogging for her Christian faith -- the void once filled by the U.S. is painfully apparent. As FRC's Leanna Baumer explains, the Senate took an encouraging step forward in forcing the State Department to prioritize the freedom of religion in diplomatic efforts by passing its Near East and South Central Asia Religious Freedom Act.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
States That Adopt This Policy Have Much Better Economies
Right-to-work is back in the spotlight, thanks to the recent Supreme Court decision in *Harris v. Quinn.* The court ruled that Illinois home care workers cannot be compelled to pay union dues to the Service Employees International Union if those workers are not union members. This was a limited victory for worker rights against coercive unionization and forced payment of union dues of all employees. Most Americans would probably be surprised to learn that in 2014 this is not already a protected right in most states.
Quit Playing Politics with Kids
Some 50,000 unaccompanied minors have crossed our borders in recent months, and those capable of helping resolve the crisis won't even talk to each other much less come up with a decent plan. This week, President Obama asked Congress for supplemental appropriations to deal with processing the minors and to discourage more from coming, but House Republicans so far have balked at considering the request. "We are not giving the president a blank check," House Speaker John Boehner declared. Republicans want the administration to do more to stop the flow of kids into the U.S., which is reasonable. So why don't the two men sit down and work it out? That's their job. Instead, both sides seem more worried about their political bases than they do about solving the problem.
Beyond the Pale
It's a wonder to me that there are still people who can listen to liberals and believe a word they say. Whether it's Obama's promising that we could keep our doctors and our health plans, Harry Reid's calling cancer victims liars for daring to disclose the hardships wrought by the Affordable Care Act or Elizabeth Warren claiming to be a Cherokee in order to get herself hired at diversity-crazy Harvard, there are millions of chuckleheads who will happily swallow the swill and insist it tastes just like chicken. Now we have Hillary Clinton pulling out the crying towel, insisting to Diane Sawyer that she and Bill were not only dead broke when they left the White House, but deeply in debt because of legal fees. I have no idea why she wanted to mention the legal fees inasmuch as they're a reminder that he needed to hire lawyers because he had perjured himself before a grand jury, which also happened to be the reason he was ultimately disbarred.
Supply Side Contraceptives
Paul Krugman and others on the left routinely sneer at the idea that you can actually increase government revenues by cutting tax rates. (Turns out most of the time you can't, but in some cases you can.) But there is a similar myth on the left. It's the idea that by spending more money on health you can reduce overall health care costs.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
If Hillary Runs, It Won't be as a Clinton Democrat
Amid the sound and fury that greeted the Supreme Court's ruling in the Hobby Lobby case, many liberals had sharp words for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the federal law in which the court's decision was grounded. The left-wing Center for American Progress urged Congress to weaken the law's protections, and the New York Times editorial blog pointedly reminded voters that "acts of Congress can be overturned or changed if the right lawmakers are in place." The Freedom From Religion Foundation placed full-page ads insisting that "Congress must repeal RFRA." Hillary Clinton fed the bonfire, telling an audience in Aspen, Colo., that the court's application of the statute called to mind the type of "very unstable, antidemocratic" theocracies where men exploit "women and women's bodies … because of their religion, their sect, their tribe."
From The Comedy Store
Mexican traffickers were caught on video hauling illegal immigrant kids from one side of the Rio Grande to the other aboard jet skis. It's a crisis. It turns out that there's a three-inch fish that's been displaced by the wake of the jet skis, and now the Democrats are calling for impeachment.
Friday, July 11, 2014
The Obama Administration's Human Trafficking
U.S. Border Patrol takes over where the human smugglers leave off.
Obama's Banned Aid for Hurting Kids
The President won't lock down the border, but he has no problem locking out the church. With reports of over 50,000 unaccompanied minors having already crossed the border, a number which is estimated to climb to 90,000, it appears the only ones unwelcome in America are Christian pastors and their churches. Like a lot of nearby congregations in Arizona, Pastor Kyle Coffin's CrossRoads Church in Tucson wanted to pitch in and help. It wasn't an unreasonable idea -- or so he thought. With taxpayers potentially on the hook for another $3.7 billion in emergency aid, Coffin assumed the Feds would take all the help they could get. He was wrong. "Back in the day, if you were in trouble and poor, the first thing you thought of was going to the church," he told Fox News's Todd Starnes. "Whether it was for food, clothing, shelter or helping pay bills -- the church was the front line. Now it's the government who is the front line."
Obama Puts Politics First, Border Security Second
All you need to do is look at the headlines out of Central America to see why tens of thousands of children are ending up at our border. "In Columbia (sic), Rising Violence Breeds New Doubts" (N.Y. Times); "Guatemala Seen Slipping Into a Haven For Drugs" (LA Times); "Democracy Jeopardized as New Wave of Violence Sweeps Guatemala" (AP); "The Volcano That is Guatemala" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); "A New Dark Age for Latin America?" (Miami Herald); "Murder Soars in El Salvador" (Washington Post); "Social Breakdown Turns Deadly in Guatemala" (Washington Post); "Roadside Rampage: Salvadoran Murders in Guatemala Raise Stake of Central American Drug-Addled Violence" (States News Service); "Drug Cartels Take Toll on Guatemala's Politics" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
Film Critics Hate 'America'
Dinesh D'Souza shocked the movie world in 2012 with his anti-President Barack Obama documentary "2016," which became the second highest-grossing documentary in U.S. movie history. On July 2, he unveiled his new documentary called "America: Imagine the World Without Her." It has already grossed $5 million in its first week. One fictional competitor, the abortion-promoting comedy "Obvious Child," barely grossed $2 million in its first month. But there's a more dramatic contrast. Film critics are supposed to judge art, but their liberal politics are smeared all over their reviews. Metacritic.com collects and analyzes movie reviews. "Obvious Child" drew a high Metacritic.com score of 75 (out of 100). For D'Souza's "America," it was a ridiculously low score of 14.