Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
What Isn't Racist? According to the Media, Nothing
President Obama's election was supposed to usher in an era of racial unity greater than any Americans had previously experienced. By making the historic move to place the first black president in the White House, Americans signified that they were ready to move beyond the racial conflicts of the past and move forward, arm-in-arm. At least that's what we were told.
Manufactured Indignation
Americans are sharply divided over all kinds of things these days, but whether the Washington Redskins need a new name doesn't seem to be one of them. In an Associated Press poll earlier this year, 79 percent of respondents said the team's name should remain unchanged; only 11 percent wanted "Redskins" to be replaced.
A New Court Battle for ObamaCare
The killer loophole the Obama administration didn't see coming.
Hobby Lobbyists: Company Pitches Mandate Fight to Supremes
You know the ObamaCare rollout is bad when *Consumer Reports*, the holy grail of product reviews, warns people "to stay away from Healthcare.gov." In a blog post on the new system, the progressive company that prides itself on distinguishing the "hype from the facts" says the President's new website is a bust. Steer clear, its experts say, "until its software vendors clean up the mess they've made."
The Shutdown That Ruined Christmas?
The numbers are in for the evening news coverage of the shutdown. During the first 15 nights of October, ABC, CBS and NBC blamed the Republicans 41 times for the shutdown, blamed both sides 17 times, and blamed Obama and the Democrats ... never. Let's just focus on NBC, where Brian Williams obediently pushed White House talking points. Williams described the consequences as nearly criminal on the Oct. 8 Nightly News: "All kinds of people are getting cheated out of salaries, benefits, medical treatment."
Redistributing Wealth From Working Moms
There are three cousins, each born in the same year in the same town. Two are females named June and Jane, one is a male named Jim. June goes to college, earns a degree, gets married, buys a house with her husband, has four kids -- and at the age of 32 goes back into the workforce, holding down two part-time jobs to help pay the family's property taxes and tuition bills. Jane graduates from high school but not college, gets married but is almost immediately divorced and has one illegitimate child. She drops out of the workforce in her 20s and never returns. She collects food stamps and enrolls in Medicaid.
Broke U.S. Resumes Spending
What would you think of a person who earned $24,000 a year but spent $35,000? Suppose on top of that, he was already $170,000 in debt. You'd tell him to get his act together -- stop spending so much or he'd destroy his family, impoverish his kids and wreck their future. Of course, no individual could live so irresponsibly for long. But tack on eight more zeroes to that budget and you have the checkbook for our out-of-control, big-spending federal government.
Don't Forget O'care's Electronic Medical Records Wreck
Dr. Nicholas DiNubile, a Philadelphia orthopedic surgeon, has a timely reminder for everyone encountering the federal health care exchange meltdown: "If you think signing up for Obamacare is a nightmare, ask your doctor how the EMR mandate is going." Bingo.
Race-Hustling Results: Part II
Bob Costas is one of the premier sportscasters and a very smart guy, so it was somewhat surprising to see him join the chorus of those decrying the fact that the owner of the Washington Redskins is resisting the pressures to change the name of his football team. The argument is that American Indians are offended by the name, though there is no compelling evidence that most American Indians are worked up about it. Nor is there any evidence that anyone intended the name to be insulting, either by this team or any number of other sports teams that have called themselves some variation of the name "Indians."
No Smoke, Yet Ire
Sales of electronic cigarettes have risen dramatically in recent years. Whether you see that development as an opportunity or a threat depends on whether you view the matter rationally or through a fog of prejudice that makes anything resembling a cigarette look sinister, regardless of the risks it actually poses. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to propose regulations for e-cigarettes by the end of this month. If unreasoning fear carries the day, those regulations will restrict information about and access to a potentially lifesaving product, thereby increasing smoking-related illness and death in the name of public health and consumer protection.
Loving and Hating America
As I've documented in the past, many leftist teachers teach our youngsters to hate our country. For example, University of Hawaii Professor Haunani-Kay Trask counseled her students, "We need to think very, very clearly about who the enemy is. The enemy is the United States of America and everyone who supports it." Some universities hire former terrorists to teach and indoctrinate students. Kathy Boudin, former Weather Underground member and convicted murderer, is on the Columbia University School of Social Work's faculty. Her Weather Underground comrade William Ayers teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Bernardine Dohrn, his wife, is a professor at Northwestern University School of Law. Her stated mission is to overthrow capitalism.
GOP: Grand Old Potshots
Conservatives with long memories had to laugh at the recent New York Times front-page headline: "Fiscal Crisis Sounds the Charge in GOP's 'Civil War.'" That diagnosis largely hangs on the judgment of 1970s New Right direct-mail impresario Richard Viguerie, whose ears have been ringing with the thunder of Fort Sumter for a quarter-century.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
ObamaCare: Stop, Drop, Enroll
ObamaCare may be a nightmare for the American people, but it's been a dream come true for government contractors. Teams of specialists have been trucked in to deal with a health care system that's quickly dissolving into the most expensive taxpayer-funded punch line of this administration. Desperate to fix the glitches that threaten the Democrats' credibility, scores of technology experts are performing CPR on a website that wasn't even tested until [a week before](http://washingtonexaminer.com/troubled-obamacare-website-wasnt-tested-until-a-week-before-launch/article/2537381) it went live. Most people familiar with the fiasco say the problems are so expansive that, even with an all-hands-on-deck approach, the errors will take months to correct. In an interview with the *New York Times*, one consultant said Health and Human Services (HHS) would have to rewrite as many as [*five million lines*](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/21/us/insurance-site-seen-needing-weeks-to-fix.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&) of software code to get Healthcare.gov up and running.
Faith and Freedom Depend on Each Other
Those attending the Family Research Council's most recent Values Voter Summit heard a lot about religious liberty -- and with good reason. In ways both large and small, that cornerstone of freedom has found itself under attack at home and abroad. All Americans should be concerned about its well-being. Religious liberty is as characteristic of America as our democratic political system and our free-market economy. Nowhere in the world is there more religious diversity, with all manner of faiths existing in relative harmony in the same neighborhoods, and with different houses of worship sharing the same streets in many cases.
Does It Feel Good -- or Do Good?
There is a question that all of us need to ask. How we respond makes all the difference in what type of life we lead and what type of world we make. That question is: Does an action feel good or do good? Let me give three areas of examples -- personal life, the left and most recently, unfortunately, the right.
People are Rushing to See What's There
President Obama, Oct. 21, addressing Obamacare's website failures: But I ask: Isn't that how we got to this point of a nation and its government immobilized over a program opposed by -- according to CNN's Oct. 20 poll -- 53 percent of Americans? It brings to mind then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi's famed argument for whipping Obamacare through the House with zero Republican backing.
Election, 2016
When it comes to the possible GOP presidential candidate three years hence, the names we hear most often are Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Chris Christie. For some reason, possibly because he was part of a losing ticket in 2012, you don't hear much about my personal favorite, Paul Ryan. What I fear most is that whoever emerges victorious from the bloodbath known as Republican primaries will resemble the survivor of a train wreck after all the other contenders have had at him with brickbats, blackjacks and broken bottles.
Just Say 'No' to Underwriting More Debt
The fiasco in Washington over the partial government shutdown, raising the debt ceiling and deepening animosity between Republicans and Democrats (and Republicans and Republicans), has left many asking if there is any way out of this bitter, endless cycle. There may be. The Financial Times recently suggested that America's largest foreign creditor -- China -- might want to reduce the size of its loans financing our debt. China, which holds 8 percent, or $1.5 trillion, in U.S. Treasury securities, is mocking our inability to reduce debt. The Washington Times reports that Chinese Commerce Minister Mei Xinyu called the shutdown and the congressional politicking over the debt limit "monkey business" that degrades the U.S. image worldwide. FRANCE 24 reports that a Chinese ratings agency recently downgraded its U.S. sovereign credit rating, and warned that "fundamentals for a potential default remained unchanged."
Embrace the Elderly
More than 1.5 million Americans live in nursing homes. That's not a bad thing in itself, of course. Sometimes elderly folks need skilled care beyond what a family can offer. Alzheimer's patients often require round the clock supervision that's impractical for busy families, where children's needs and professional commitments consume more of the day. And some older people desire the companionship and planned activities that are available in assisted living or transitional facilities.