Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
How Foreign Is Our Policy?: Part II
Japan recently turned over to the United States enough weapons-grade nuclear material to make dozens of nuclear bombs. This was one of President Barack Obama's few foreign policy "successes," as part of his nuclear disarmament initiative. But his foreign policy successes may be more dangerous than his "failures." Back in 2005, Senator Barack Obama urged the Ukrainians to drastically reduce their conventional weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles and tons of ammunition. Ukraine had already rid itself of nuclear missiles, left over from the days when it had been part of the Soviet Union. Would Vladimir Putin have sent Russian troops so boldly into Ukraine if the Ukrainians still had nuclear missiles? The nuclear disarming of Japan and Ukraine shows how easy it is to disarm peaceful nations -- making them more vulnerable to those who are not peaceful.
Sex and Race Equality
There are several race and sex issues that need addressing. Let's look at a few of them with an ear to these questions: Should we insist upon equal treatment of people by race and sex or tolerate differences in treatment? And just how equal are people by race and sex in the first place? According to the National Institutes of Health, male infants 1 to 3 months old should be fed 472 to 572 calories per day, whereas their female counterparts should receive 438 to 521 calories per day. That's an official sex-based caloric 10 percent rip-off of baby females. In addition to this government-sanctioned war on women, one wonders whether the NIH has a race-based caloric rip-off where they recommend that black newborns receive fewer calories than white newborns.
Jeb, Hillary and the Case of Tarnished Political Brands
Some Republican fat cats are trying to coax former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush -- brother and son to two former presidents -- into making a bid for the White House. Democrats have been less subtle. They've created a super PAC called Ready for Hillary, which is only slightly less obvious a gesture than constructing a giant neon sign reading "Run, Hillary, Run." For obvious reasons, these developments have generated a lot of discussion about political dynasties in America. That's understandable. After all, in a democratic republic, the prospect of dynasties should make everyone at least a little uncomfortable.
Gambling and Government
Did you fill out a March Madness bracket this year? In many states, if you put money in a pool, that's illegal! The NCAA website warns, "Fans should enjoy ... filling out a bracket just for the fun of it, not ... the amount of money they could possibly win." Give me a break. Americans bet more money on March Madness this year than on the Super Bowl. Politicians can't quite make up their minds about gambling: They approve certain casinos and promote state lotteries but crack down on sports bets and some charity poker games. It seems that government dislikes gambling, unless government gets to be the house.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
A Theory on Low Global Tropical Activity
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) came out with a report that indicates we are all living on borrowed time as far as the global warming situation goes. There is no way I am going to cede the term "climate change" to them since the climate is always in a state of change. That ploy is simply a smokescreen because of how bad they busted with the hysteria they were whipping up about the globe *warming*. They should be held accountable for what they said, and not simply co-opt a redundant term that is a *natural* fact.
The False Iraq-Crimea Analogy
Of all the strained analyses offered by the Left on the Crimea crisis, none is quite so ludicrous as the comparison of Putin's invasion of the former Soviet territory to the 2003 Iraq War. As the Atlantic's Peter Beinart put it, Putin is just like "the American hawks who hate him most." This sentiment was vocally seconded by Michael McFaul, a former Obama administration official who served as a special assistant to the president at the National Security Council and as ambassador to the Russian Federation. "As ambassador, I found it difficult to defend our commitment to sovereignty and international law when asked by Russians, 'What about Iraq?'"
Obama's Top-and-Bottom Coalition Shows Signs of Strain
America's two major political parties are inevitably coalitions, forced by the winner-take-all Electoral College and the need of candidates in single-member congressional districts to amass 50 percent of the vote, or nearly that, to win election. In a nation of America's cultural variety, that means holding together groups that have different priorities and conflicting positions on issues. So coalitions don't last forever, and change composition over time. John Kennedy's Democratic coalition united white Southerners and northern Catholics. Half a century later, Republican Mitt Romney carried white Southerners and white Catholics by wide margins.
Honoring Hobby Lobby & Conestoga Wood Specialties
The Greens and Hahns display the family values that built America
Judaism, Christianity, Environmentalism
As I have often noted, the most dynamic and influential religion of the past hundred years has not been Christianity, let alone Judaism, the two religions that created the Western world. Nor has it been Islam. It has been Leftism. Leftism has influenced the literary, academic, media, and, therefore, the political elite far more than any other religion. It has taken over Western schools from elementary through graduate. For most of that time, various incarnations of Marxism have been the dominant expressions -- and motivators -- of Leftism: specifically, income redistribution, material equality and socialism. They are still powerful aspects of the left, but with the downfall of most communist regimes, other left-wing expressions have generated even more passion: first feminism and then environmentalism.
When Character Counted
Brains? Sure, we value brains in our Important People: a law degree, maybe; a much-followed Twitter account. A capacity for 12-hour days and shared household duties; the ability to "lean in" without getting leaned on. And does all of this together seal the deal on "talent" and "success"? Not without character, it doesn't. Not without courage; not without what we used to praise, and still occasionally do, as "moral fiber." Before the habit of thinking on these traits dies away entirely, let us talk of Jerry Denton, and how he honored his country not by seeking fame or money for his services but rather by putting duty above mere well-being. I say "mere," because, as Admiral Jeremiah Denton Jr. proved during his seven-year captivity in Hanoi, personal well-being is low on the list of the highest human goods.
School Cafeteria: No Prayer for You!
At Carillon Elementary School, teachers on cafeteria duty weren't monitoring lunch, they were *out to lunch* on students' rights. When the daughter of Marcos Perez bowed her head to pray, a teacher interrupted her and said, "You're not allowed to do that." The five-year-old looked surprised and responded, "But it's good to pray." No, said the teacher, "It's not good." Fox News's Todd Starnes reports that the little girl tried to pray again but was stopped. When she got home and explained what happened, Marcos and his wife were furious. "My five-year old should not feel conflicted about prayer with respect to trying to follow rules or authority. We remain speechless that our daughter had to experience [that] from an individual with an agenda." They contacted the school, demanding to know why his five-year-old would be accosted for exercising her religious rights.
Can You 'Recuperate' Your 'Subjectivities'?
The mother of the 16-year-old pro-life demonstrator who suffered a rough confrontation with a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has shown a rare civility -- the spirit liberals are forever bemoaning the lack of but rarely demonstrating themselves. The event: A small group of pro-life activists visited UCSB to demonstrate against abortion. They bore posters and leaflets and set up their display on the campus's "free speech zone." Professor Mireille Miller-Young was offended, no "triggered," by the photo of an aborted baby on Thrin Short's poster. Together with two or three students, the professor grabbed a large sign and then pushed and scratched the girl who attempted to take it back. This was captured on video by the pro-lifers. "I was stronger, so I took the sign," Miller-Young explained later.
How Foreign Is Our Policy?
Many people are lamenting the bad consequences of Barack Obama's foreign policy, and some are questioning his competence. There is much to lament, and much to fear. Multiple setbacks to American interests have been brought on by Obama's policies in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Crimea and -- above all -- in what seems almost certain to become a nuclear Iran in the very near future. The president's public warning to Syria of dire consequences if the Assad regime there crossed a "red line" he had drawn seemed to epitomize an amateurish bluff that was exposed as a bluff when Syria crossed that red line without suffering any consequences. Drawing red lines in disappearing ink makes an international mockery of not only this president's credibility, but also the credibility of future American presidents' commitments.
'It Was Important for Us to Suffer'
On Sunday, two remarkable Christian women, Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh, spoke at our church, describing their harrowing tale of imprisonment by the Iranian regime because of their Christian faith. Both were raised in Muslim homes in Iran but never embraced Islam. As young adults, they became Christians and met each other while studying theology in Turkey in 2005. When they returned to Iran, they began evangelizing together for several years, covertly distributing Bibles to some 20,000 people and starting two secret house churches. In March 2009, they were arrested in Tehran for promoting Christianity, which is punishable by death. The regime officially charged them with apostasy, anti-government activity and blasphemy, and they were sentenced to execution by hanging. Before being cleared of all charges and released in 2009 as a result of worldwide prayer and international pressure, they endured 259 days in Evin prison. Thereafter, they moved to the United States and wrote a book together describing their horrendous experiences, "Captive in Iran."
Much Ado About Noah
It wasn't so long ago that conservative Christians believed Hollywood to be evil and some preachers instructed their congregations not to go to movies lest they be tempted beyond their ability to resist. Now Christians are debating film content. That's progress of a sort. The main complaint from critics of the film "Noah," which opened last Friday with an impressive opening day take of an estimated $44 million in ticket sales, is that it doesn't accurately reflect the rather slim biblical account in Genesis. Here's some breaking news for the critics: Noah didn't speak English, as Russell Crowe does in the film, so right there we have a departure from biblical accuracy. One should not turn to Hollywood for theological truth. In his book "Hollywood vs. America," critic Michael Medved refers to the film industry as "The Poison Factory," not the "dream factory" it likes to call itself. There is plenty of evidence -- and he includes it in his book -- to support that conclusion, but there are also many independent films being made today that act as antidotes to that poison if people seek them out, buy tickets and spread the word.
Monday, March 31, 2014
The Problem Is Liberalism, Not Racism
When Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif, went off on Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis, for his remarks that "We have got a tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work," the wrong part what she had to say got all the attention. The big buzz that Congressional Black Caucus member Lee generated was her accusation that Ryan's remarks were a "thinly veiled racial attack." But the part of her remarks I found most interesting was "…Mr. Ryan should step up and produce some legitimate proposals on how to tackle poverty and racial discrimination in America."
How Unborn Babies Become 'Clinical Waste'
Jonathan Swift was being satirical when he penned his "modest proposal" that destitute Irish parents alleviate their financial woes by selling their children as delicacies for rich landowners. He assured his readers that 1-year-olds are delicious, "whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled." That was satire circa 1729. Imagine what Swift at his most scathing would write today -- say, a 21st-century "modest proposal" to use unborn fetuses for renewable energy. But this -- from a prominent story last week in The Telegraph, a British newspaper -- wasn't satire: >"The bodies of thousands of aborted and miscarried babies were incinerated as clinical waste, with some even used to heat hospitals, an investigation has found. Ten [National Health Service] trusts have admitted burning fetal remains alongside other rubbish while two others used the bodies in 'waste-to-energy' plants which generate power for heat. . . . At least 15,500 fetal remains were incinerated by 27 NHS trusts over the last two years alone, Channel 4's 'Dispatches' discovered."
Fifth Circuit Short Circuits Planned Parenthood
In the abortion debate, there aren't many areas where the two sides agree. But shouldn't women's safety be one of them? Planned Parenthood doesn't think so -- and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees proving it. In one of the greatest ironies of politics, the one thing standing between women and safe abortions continues to be the people providing them. In Texas, the abortion giant isn't fighting the "war on women," it's fighting the war on health care accountability. No sooner had Governor Rick Perry (R) signed his name to the bottom of HB 2 than Cecile Richards's group was in court, filing for the right to keep the clinics' shoddy standards in place. Despite a five-clinic sting that same month, in which inspectors found everything from rusty suction machines to contaminated medicine in several locations, a lower court sided with Planned Parenthood in its crusade to protect clinics from the accountability they so desperately need.
Israel's Time's Running Out, Mr. President, or Yours?
Henry Kissinger made Mideast "shuttle diplomacy" famous in the 1970s. The peripatetic Sec. of State then jetted back and forth between Israel and Egypt and fashioned an uneasy cease-fire in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. President Obama has added a new *twist* to shuttle diplomacy. It seems whenever Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the air en route to Washington, the Commander-in-Chief chooses that time to apply the screws to Israel's democratic government. Three years ago, Mr. Obama made a major pronouncement: Israel should return to the pre-1967 borders as a basis for negotiating with the Arabs. He delivered these prepared remarks while Netanyahu was still in the air. Once Netanyahu came down to earth, he politely but firmly took the President to school on Mid Eastern affairs. Sitting in the Oval Office, and before live TV cameras, the Prime Minister noted that Israel could never return to those indefensible borders and remain a viable country.
Changing Course for Liberty's Sake
Last Thursday, Sen. John "Maverick" McCain took pandering to a new level. "I will never ever, while I'm alive and breathing as U.S. Senator, stop working to pass immigration reform," he told the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. That would be the same Sen. John McCain who ran this ad in 2010, when he faced a tough primary campaign against J.D. Hayworth. In it he blamed illegal aliens for "home invasions, murders" and advocated for completing the "danged fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border. That would also be the same Senator John McCain who had previously co-sponsored the DREAM Act on three separate occasions, but who once again opposed it in 2007 because he "got the message" that Americans wanted the border secured before we "go on to the rest." In short, John McCain is a poster boy for an idea whose time has come: much like America rectifying the enormous blunder of Prohibition, it is time to repeal the equally pernicious 17th Amendment that enabled the direct election of Senators.