Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Judge Jilts Virginia Voters on Marriage
On Valentine's Day, Cupid wasn't the one shooting an arrow through voters' hearts -- it was District Judge Arenda Wright Allen. Thursday, in a stunning, late-night ruling, Virginia became the latest state to fall in the burst of same-sex "marriage" challenges hitting states. While the rest of Old Dominion was digging out of another snow storm, Allen was plowing through the Commonwealth's constitution, inventing a right to homosexual "marriage." For Virginians, whose distinguished history includes so many founding fathers, the decision was a mockery of the ideals our first leaders stood for. Unfortunately for the Commonwealth, Virginia is just the latest victim of a judicial free-for-all that's attacking state amendments across Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kentucky. Unlike the Bluegrass ruling earlier last week, which forced Kentucky to recognize out-of-state "marriages," Allen's decision struck down the entire Virginia marriage amendment. That distinction makes Virginia the first southern state to see their constitution trampled.
Lawlessness and Spinelessness
Yesterday, Republicans once again reinforced my contention that the Obama administration's modus operandi -- as in "we're going to do whatever we want and we dare you to stop us" -- will remain unchallenged by the GOP. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told "Fox News Sunday" that Congressional Republicans believe Obama has abused the government's separation of powers by using executive orders and sidestepping Congress to delay the employer mandate in ObamaCare. But because Congress lacks "legal standing" to present the case in court, and would have a "tough time" finding a plaintiff sufficiently injured by the delay to make a lawsuit viable, there's nothing they can do.
The Man Who Didn't Want to be President
Nearly 1,000 days stretch between this Presidents' Day and the next presidential election. Yet already it is impossible to escape the maneuvers, machinations, and media coverage of men and women so consumed with winning the highest office in the land that the lust for power all but oozes from their pores. For as long as most of us can remember, the obsessive quest for the presidency has been an indelible feature of American politics. Try to envision a successful candidate for the White House who doesn't have that "fire in the belly": a candidate prepared to accept the job if it seeks him out, but not driven by such insatiable ambition that everything else pales by comparison. It would be easier to envision a team of unicorns.
Ted Cruz and Debt Ceiling Gamesmanship
Once again, bitter feelings are being cast in the direction of Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz. With the House passing the "clean" debt ceiling bill and sending it to the Democrat controlled Senate, it was clear that this was the bill that was going to get passed and sent to the president. But Cruz didn't want to let Senate Republicans, including Minority leader Mitch McConnell, off the hook and give President Obama a blank check to once again increase the debt ceiling as we are drowning in red ink. He didn't want Republicans to simply vote against the bill, hiding behind the Democrat majority who were sure to pass it.
Hollywood's Fountain of Youth
I've never made a secret of the fact that I liked the films of the 30s and 40s much more than the stuff being churned out today. I actually reviewed movies, first at UCLA and then for Los Angeles magazine, from 1959 to 1971. Even then, I was hard-pressed to come up with even half a dozen movies a year I could in good conscience recommend. Half of the movies I squirmed through were very dumb comedies starring either Jerry Lewis or Peter Sellers. Many of the others were designed as tributes to the beatnik generation, directed by young no-talents straining to appear cool. Those are definitely years I wish I could get back. One of the things I enjoyed the most about the old movies was that even the lesser efforts often included character actors and actresses it was a delight to watch. The ones who come quickly to mind include Claude Rains, Charles Coburn, Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, William Demarest, Eugene Pallette, Franklin Pangborn, Helen Broderick, Edmund Gwenn, Cedric Hardwicke, Charles Bickford, Ethel and Lionel Barrymore, Oscar Homolka, Clifton Webb, Eve Arden, Raymond Walburn, Thelma Ritter, William Bendix, Frank Morgan, James Gleason, Edward Arnold, Spring Byington, Sydney Greenstreet, Thomas Mitchell, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Jack Carson, Robert Benchley, Al Bridge, Harry Davenport, Una Merkel, Gene Lockhart and Felix Bressart.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Why the White House Is Panicking
After delaying the employer mandate to provide Obamacare health insurance to all full time employees for a year, the administration has delayed the mandate for medium size business for a second year. It has also relaxed the mandate for large businesses (they only have to cover 70% of their workers the next year). All of this is lawlessness of course. The statute clearly says that the mandate is supposed to kick in this year. So why is President Obama taking the extra-constitutional step of letting employers temporarily off the hook?
Why Immigration Reform Matters
Distilled to their discouraging essence, Republicans' reasons for retreating from immigration reform reflect waning confidence in American culture and in the political mission only Republicans can perform -- restoring America's economic vigor. Without this, the nation will have a dismal future only Democrats can relish: government growing in order to allocate scarce opportunity. Many Republicans say addressing immigration will distract from a winning focus on Obamacare. But a mature party avoids monomania, and Obamacare's manifold defects are obvious enough that voters will not require nine more months of reminders. Many Republicans say immigration policy divides their party. If, however, the party becomes a gaggle of veto groups enforcing unanimities, it will become what completely harmonious parties are: small.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
The Blankety-Blank State of the Union
Because simply recovering from surgery that involved my hand, wrist and thumb, didn't strike me as being all that challenging, I decided to add a case of the flu. And because even that didn't seem to be daunting enough, I decided to throw caution to the wind, and watch Obama's State of the Union Address. Predictably, that just about did me in. My first impression was that I was watching something that could best be described as "Groundhog Year." I mean, there were times during his 2014 Call to Action, I was certain that, thanks to my meds, I was hallucinating and reliving his earlier addresses to Congress. The words were the same, all about economic recovery, comprehensive immigration reform, income inequality and even, bless my soul, shutting down Guantanamo.
Janet Yellen's Problem
Stock markets cheered Janet Yellen's maiden congressional testimony this past week, as the new Fed chair emphasized the word "continuity" and offered no boat-rocking surprises. Continuity? I assume she means a steady diet of tapered bond purchases that will lead to the end of QE3 this autumn. In other words, investors seemed to think QE has run its course, probably overstayed its welcome, and that it's time the Fed got out of the bond-buying business, since that policy isn't doing much good and may be doing harm. Ever the Keynesian who subscribes to the non-existent, long-term trade-off between employment and inflation, Yellen did express worries about long-term layoffs and the shrinking size of the labor-participation rate. She's right about that. The labor situation is subpar.
From The Comedy Store
North Korea canceled its invite to allow a U.S. envoy to come visit with Kim Jung Un. There is bruised pride involved. Kim is furious ever since his envoy came back from Mandela's funeral and reported to him that Dennis Rodman and President Obama are two different people.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Sometimes You've Just Got to Laugh
You are holding the Olympics in a subtropical climate and you are complaining about it being warm? Or how about the reason it's so cold in the U.S.? I think Arctic ice melt was one of the reasons. The winters of the 1970s were comparably cold. The winter of '76-'77 was one of the warmest on record in Alaska and much of the Arctic, with near record *high* Arctic sea ice. So why is it that time, at the height of the ice age scare, it wasn't the same thing as being pushed now? The reason: because there is no difference -- it's natural and cyclical, and since we came out before the fact with a cold and stormy winter, modeling it after 1917-1918 and 1993-1994, obviously it's something that has happened before.
The Angels Cried for Caroline
The angels cried for Caroline today. How could they not, looking down from the heavens, watching the mourners pack Blessed Sacrament Church. The funeral service was attended by hundreds, those closest to her, those who knew her, and those who knew of her. Those who could not attend found time to pray for her soul. One found the time to write about her. Her closest friends were there, and they, too, cried for Caroline. A number of them had been with her just days before, on Super Bowl Sunday, both to watch the game and to celebrate the 36th birthday of one of their own. These were friends who had met in high school or college, and 15, 20 years later were still close, most of them now married, and with children of their own.
Five Years Later: How's that Wreckovery Working Out?
On Feb. 17, 2009, President Obama promised the sun and the moon and the stars. That was the day, five years ago, when he signed the $800 billion "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act." President Modesty called it "the most sweeping economic recovery package in our history." He promised "unprecedented transparency and accountability." He claimed the spending would lift "two million Americans from poverty." Ready for the reality smack down? The actual cost of the $800 billion pork-laden stimulus has ballooned to nearly $2 trillion. At the time of the law's signing, the unemployment rate hovered near 8 percent. Obama's egghead economists projected that the jobless rate would never rise above 8 percent and would plunge to 5 percent by December 2013. The actual jobless rate in January was 6.6 percent, with an abysmal labor force participation rate of 63 percent (a teeny uptick from December, but still at a four-decade low).
The Soul of the Obama Administration
Few have ever heard the name Debo Adegbile. He's President Barack Obama's nominee to head the civil rights division of the Justice Department. A few months ago, his nomination would have been a non-starter -- there is more than a whiff of radicalism in his past. But we are in a new world. Sen. Harry Reid is now absolute monarch of the Senate. Republicans are largely irrelevant. They cannot offer amendments to legislation. They cannot filibuster. I suppose they can write letters to the editor, and march outside the chamber wearing sandwich boards. Before the Reid invocation of the "nuclear option" eliminating the filibuster, Adegbile would have been considered too controversial. But now, the administration can have its head on nominations.
Kentucky Fried Constitution
It may be National Marriage Week, but the federal bench has a funny way of celebrating it. In courtrooms from Kentucky to Nevada, democracy is taking a beating from activist judges anxious to put their stamp on the march toward same-sex "marriage." Bluegrass voters were the latest ones caught in the undertow, as a surge of amendment challenges sweep through Middle America. This time, it was a Republican appointee doing the honors -- U.S. District Judge John Heyburn, who ruled that representative government is a distant second to a radical political agenda that 75% of the state had already rejected.
ObamaCare Lawlessness Is All Political
Another Obamacare fiasco? Guess what. We'll rationalize that disaster into something awesome *tout de suite*. You can't keep your insurance if you like it? Consider yourself lucky. Obamacare disincentivizes work. Be grateful! The Affordable Care Act will cost three times as much as initial estimates? Spending creates jobs. The exchanges have been a disaster? Stop rooting for the president to fail, for goodness' sake. The Treasury Department just announced it will delay a coverage mandate for companies with 50 to 99 employees for a year. And liberals who grouse about the anarchic tendencies of grass-roots conservatives will be prepared to rationalize why this news is not only unavoidable but great for Americans. It always is.
'Disparate Impact' Doctrine Often Hurts Those It's Intended to Help
Disparate impact. That's a phrase you don't hear much in everyday conversation. But it's the shorthand description of a legal doctrine with important effects on everyday American life -- and more if Barack Obama and his political allies get their way. Consider the Department of Justice and Department of Education policies on school discipline. In a "dear colleague" letter distributed last month, the departments noted that "students of certain racial or ethnic groups tend to be disciplined more than their peers." Specifically, blacks made up 15 percent of the student population but accounted for more than 35 percent of suspensions.
Olympic Coverage Sweeps Soviet Horrors Under the Rug
Hannah Arendt coined the term "the banality of evil" to describe the galling normalcy of Nazi mass murderer Adolf Eichmann. Covering his trial in Jerusalem, she described Eichmann as less a cartoonish villain than a dull, remorseless, paper-pushing functionary just "doing his job." The phrase "banality of evil" was instantly controversial, largely because it was misunderstood. Arendt was not trying to minimize Nazism's evil, but to capture its enormity. The staggering moral horror of the Holocaust was that it made complicity "normal." Liquidating the Jews was not just the stuff of mobs and demagogues, but of bureaucracies and bureaucrats.
Americans, Where Have You Gone?
Recently, I saw a Photoshopped depiction of Charles Manson next to an unborn baby, and the caption suggested that liberals are more interested in protecting Manson than they are the baby. It got me to thinking. Yes, it got me to thinking about the absurd positions modern liberals hold, which wouldn't be nearly so disturbing but for the fact that I'm not talking about fringe liberals. I'm talking about mainstream liberals, who control the Democratic Party, the old media, the executive branch of the federal government, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Supreme Court half the time, the mammoth federal bureaucracy, many state governments, our universities, our national educational establishment and other cultural institutions.