Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
A Too-Early Look at '16
Of course it's too early to talk about 2016. Now that we've gotten that out of the way ... The most interesting dynamic about the presidential race so far is that the Democrats are behaving like Republicans -- and vice versa. Since 1940, with the arguable exception of Barry Goldwater, Republicans have nominated the guy next in line. Thomas Dewey almost beat Wendell Willkie for the nomination in 1940, so in 1944 -- and 1948 -- it was his turn. Dwight Eisenhower, whom both parties wanted as their nominee, was a special case, given that whole invading-Europe-and-defeating-Hitler thing.
Looking vs. Touching: Child Pornography
Amy was 8 when her uncle began raping her. He took pictures. Last month the Supreme Court considered what restitution Amy is entitled to collect -- not from her uncle, but from a man, Doyle Paroline, who downloaded two of those pictures. The potential answers to that question range from zero to $3.4 million. According to The New York Times, the justices seemed "stumped." Their confusion reflects a deeper problem with the justification for criminalizing possession of child pornography, an offense for which legislators have prescribed increasingly harsh penalties with little regard to sense or justice.
Dependency, Not Poverty
There is no material poverty in the U.S. Here are a few facts about people whom the Census Bureau labels as poor. Dr. Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield, in their study "[Understanding Poverty in the United States: Surprising Facts About America's Poor](http://tinyurl.com/448flj8)," report that 80 percent of poor households have air conditioning; nearly three-quarters have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more. Two-thirds have cable or satellite TV. Half have one or more computers. Forty-two percent own their homes. Poor Americans have more living space than the typical non-poor person in Sweden, France or the U.K. What we have in our nation are dependency and poverty of the spirit, with people making unwise choices and leading pathological lives aided and abetted by the welfare state.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Iran Answers Appeasement With Warships
The frightening failure of Obama's nuclear weapons deal with the Islamic Republic.
Upward Mobility Still Alive and Well
Lincoln's 'true system' generates the American dream
Is Obama Seeking an Opening to Iran the Way Nixon Did With China?
Is Barack Obama trying to shift alliances in the Middle East away from traditional allies and toward Iran? Robert Kaplan, author and geopolitical analyst for the Stratford consulting firm, thinks so. In a realclearworld.com article, Kaplan argues that the Obama administration sees the recently elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani "as a potential Deng Xiaoping, someone from within the ideological solidarity system who can, measure-by-stealthy-measure, lead his country away from ideology and toward internal reform."
Socialism, Not Access to Care, Is Obama's Prize
Each passing day is more incriminating for President Obama's Obamacare, as the news is like a relentless prosecutor amassing evidence against a serial killer. Yet the more evidence that rolls in condemning the president's "signature achievement" -- wouldn't you love to have that albatross hung around your epitaph? -- the more entrenched Obama becomes, making clear that his heart is not with the American people or their needs but stubbornly fixated on self. His singular goal is not to provide "affordable health care" but to slay those who are trying to take his "baby" away from him, with the deranged obsession of Captain Ahab.
Poof: A Scandal Disappears
Remember the IRS scandal? It's gone. Poof. So flaccid has press interest in the story become that President Barack Obama made bold in an interview with Fox News to say there was not a "smidgen of corruption" in the IRS's conduct. It requires terrific confidence in the passivity of the press to float the discredited "Cincinnati did it all" dodge since we know that IRS employees in that office were taking direction from Washington. We further know that IRS offices in California, Oklahoma, Washington, D.C. and other places have been identified as singling out groups with "Tea Party" or "Patriot" in their names.
A Trust Deficit
Most people accept the notion that politicians don't always tell the truth. Some lies are harmless enough; others more consequential. Lyndon Johnson skirted the truth when he promised during the 1964 presidential campaign not to send any more American troops to fight a land war in Southeast Asia. He knew then that American intervention would eventually be necessary, but the lie helped him win the election. After the election, Johnson sent additional troops, more American lives were lost and the war escalated. Richard Nixon claimed he knew nothing about Watergate. "I am not a crook," he said. Lies.
Random Thoughts
Random thoughts on the passing scene: It is amazing how many people still fall for the argument that, if life is unfair, the answer is to turn more money and power over to politicians. Since life has always been unfair, for thousands of years and in countries around the world, where does that lead us? I am so old that I can remember when sex was private. "Don't ask, don't tell" applied to everybody.
Why Do Progressives Want the Boston Bomber to Live?
Federal prosecutors have announced they are seeking the death penalty for Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. He and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, murdered three people and wounded more than 260. In addition, they shot a Boston police officer to death. In keeping with what the citizens of progressive Massachusetts consider to be progressive values, the great majority of them oppose the death penalty for Tsarnaev. Only one out of three citizens supports his execution.
The People's Will? What's That?
This isn't exactly a new topic, I regret to say. For weeks there's been national conversation -- and the requisite component of shouting -- over the Obama White House's determination to stream the legislative music of its choice. Other people's choices? Those of the states, say, or even of Congress? Sorry, the president can't hear a word you're saying. He's rocking to his own beat. Over just the last couple of days came two more instances of lofty Obaman disdain for others' views. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder led the way, pushing the federal government toward authoritative affirmation of a question the White House evidently believes to be settled -- to wit, whether gay marriage should be the law of the whole land.
Will Victoria Nuland be Fired?
She's described as "the top U.S. diplomat for Europe." And so, when her indiscreet telephone call goes viral on the Internet, it *ought* to be big news. Victoria Nuland was promoted from her post as State Department spokesperson following the 2012 elections. Now, she holds the coveted post of Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. The specific quote being circulated has an unmistakable Nuland saying "F--- the [European Union]!" Well, now, isn't the kind of thing you would expect a seasoned diplomat to be saying? We know she is seasoned because we watched her seasoning. She might have won the Gold Medal for ice dancing around a simple question: Is Jerusalem the capital of Israel?
Marriage: To Have and to Holder
When Attorney General Eric Holder went to the Human Rights Campaign's gala on Saturday, he didn't come empty-handed. The country's chief law enforcement officer, who headlined the New York bash, spent a good portion of his 20-minute speech celebrating the latest injustice at the Department of Justice: a sweeping set of new benefits for same-sex "spouses." For the DOJ's encore performance (it already shrugged off Utah's law to gift a bundle of benefits there), Holder told the ecstatic crowd that his agency would expand its generosity to every state -- regardless of what their laws say about marriage. "This means that, in every courthouse, in every proceeding, and in every place where a member of the Department of Justice stands on behalf of the United States -- they will strive to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, protections, and rights as opposite-sex marriages under federal law," explained the only sitting Cabinet member ever to be held in contempt of Congress.
Warning: Head Explosions Just Ahead
Eric Holder, whose greatest ambition was clearly to be the worst Attorney General in history, helped solidify his claim on the title by insisting that the Justice Department will not allow profiling on the basis of religion or national origin. I had assumed that was already the policy of an A.G. who is so corrupt, he refuses to prosecute racial hate crimes unless the target of the investigation is a white individual or a Tea Party group. We've been engaged for the past 35 years in an undeclared war with Islam -- undeclared by us, that is -- but Mr. Holder regards it as rude if we concentrate on the religion or nationality of those sworn to murder us.
Monday, February 10, 2014
At Prayer Breakfast, a Helping of Hypocrisy
It's a shame there weren't any mirrors in the ballroom of the Washington Hilton when President Obama spoke at Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast. He might have been forced to look into one when he spoke about the value of religious liberty, life, and human dignity. For the 3,500 in the audience, the President's remarks seemed almost surreal in the context of his five-year war on the same values he implored the crowd to defend. "We believe each of us is wonderfully made in the image of God," he said. "We believe in the inherent dignity of every person. No society can truly succeed unless it guarantees the rights of all its people..."
Using the IRS to Suppress Free Speech
The latest round of the IRS scandal, in which Tea Party and conservative groups have been selectively targeted for harassment by our tax collection agency, is now unfolding. This comes in the form of proposed new rules from the IRS regarding the operation of organizations falling under the 501c4 provision of the tax code. These are organizations whose purpose is to promote "social welfare" and therefore their income is tax-free.
A Liberating Dependency
It is Sunday. Unlike a lot of Americans for whom Sunday is a day off, I am sitting at my desk writing this column. Ironically, what I do is called "freelance" writing. I say ironically, because the word freelance is somewhat misleading. Unlike a lot of other Americans who, according to Harry Reid (D-NV), have been freed from "job-lock" due to the wonders of the ObamaCare, I am as job-locked as any job-locked American could be. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. While there is relatively little monetary reward for this particular profession, there is a lot of satisfaction to be gained from doing something a bit creative and, as most writers fervently hope, useful in the larger sense. That larger sense is contributing to the national conversation in a meaningful way. Sometimes my efforts are more meaningful than others, due to the nature of the subject matter, and/or the quality of my insights. But I give it my best shot, and live with the compliments -- or complaints.
Political Values Aren't Coded in Skin Color
A few days before the Super Bowl, MSNBC embarrassed itself with an obnoxious tweet implying that "rightwing" conservatives are such bigots that they were bound to "hate" a Cheerios commercial featuring a biracial couple and their adorable daughter, Gracie. The backlash was blistering and instantaneous, and the cable channel apologized and deleted the tweet. When it comes to playing the race card against anyone to its right, MSNBC is a recidivist. The smear over the Cheerios ad came just a few weeks after an on-air panel smirkingly joked about Mitt and Ann Romney's newly-adopted black grandson and how incongruous he appeared in the family's Christmas photo. That flap also triggered an uproar, followed by multiple apologies.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
'And the Winners of This Year's Razzies Are...'
In case you have never heard of the Razzies, they're prizes handed out at a black tie event the night before the Oscars are bestowed. And unlike the Oscars, which are often awarded for no better reason than that some aging director has never won one before or because a sex symbol of either gender appeared in a movie without makeup or a toupee, the Razzies always go to the most deserving. That's because they're in recognition of the worst movies and the worst performances of the previous year. Some of the people who have won multiple times include Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Costner, Adam Sandler, Demi Moore, Bo Derek, Sharon Stone and Madonna. Frankly, I think the network would get bigger ratings airing the Razzies than the Academy Awards. After all, how many times do we really need to see Meryl Streep on stage, clutching the little gold eunuch to her bosom, and blowing kisses to her various co-stars in the audience?