Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Are Guns the Problem?
Every time there's a shooting tragedy, there are more calls for gun control. Let's examine a few historical facts. By 1910, the National Rifle Association had succeeded in establishing 73 NRA-affiliated high-school rifle clubs. The 1911 second edition of the Boy Scout Handbook made qualification in NRA's junior marksmanship program a prerequisite for obtaining a BSA merit badge in marksmanship. In 1918, the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. established its own Winchester Junior Rifle Corps. The program grew to 135,000 members by 1925. In New York City, gun clubs were started at Boys, Curtis, Commercial, Manual Training and Stuyvesant high schools. With so many guns in the hands of youngsters, did we see today's level of youth violence?
Escaping 'Government' Schools
People say public schools are "one of the best parts of America". I believed that. Then I started reporting on them. Now I know that public school -- *government school* is a better name -- is one of the *worst* parts of America. It's a stultified government monopoly. It never improves. Most services improve. They get faster, better, cheaper. But not government monopolies. Government schools are rigid, boring, expensive and more segregated than private schools.
The Irony of Michelle's Water Campaign
Michelle Obama wants you to drink more water, at least one more glass a day. Frankly, I think it's great. Sure, the science behind some of her claims is somewhere between iffy and debatable. If you're not dehydrated, drinking more water won't give you more energy or cure your headaches, as her office vaguely claims. But it might take up belly space that otherwise would have gone to grape soda, Red Bull or some other sugary concoction. Team Michelle won't admit this is the real agenda, insisting this is just a healthy, helpful reminder from the first lady. "Water is so basic," she explained from Watertown, Wis., "and because it is so plentiful, sometimes we just forget about it amid all the ads we watch on television and all the messages we receive every day about what to eat and drink. The truth is, water just gets drowned out."
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Education at a Crossroads
Nothing has been more contentious in the field of education than the idea of school choice. It's odd. We take it for granted that we'll find dozens of brands of cereal at our grocery stores and hundreds of stations on our cable TV. We expect to be able to choose from a wide variety of coffee drinks and scores of restaurants. Yet we're expected to think that the school down the street is the best possible one for our children.
The Obama Administration: Helping the Bear
There's a hoary old joke about the parson who is treed by a bear. The clergyman prays most earnestly to God, but in an even-handed way: "Lord, I know I'm a sinner, but I beg you: If you won't help me, please *do not help that bear!*" Christian persecution around the world is no joke. It is mounting daily. And it is coming in many of those Muslim majority lands to which President Obama famously extended, not a clenched fist, but an open hand. Along with his open hand too often came an opening of our Treasury doors. Some of the worst abusers of human rights and religious freedom are recipients of U.S. foreign and military aid.
A Response to Richard Dawkins
This past Friday CNN conducted an interview with Richard Dawkins, the British biologist most widely known for his polemics against religion and on behalf of atheism. Asked "whether an absence of religion would leave us without a moral compass," Dawkins responded: "The very idea that we get a moral compass from religion is horrible." This is the crux of the issue for Dawkins and other anti-religion activists -- that not only do we not need religion or God for morality, but we would have a considerably more moral world without them.
The Problem Isn't Obama; The Problem Is ... Us
So, then, just how did we get here? Obama said *X*, and Cruz said *Y*, and O'Reilly and MSNBC and Reid and Pelosi went into hyperdrive, and ... and? The chronological congruence of the government "shutdown" crisis and the launch of Obamacare (I exclude current foreign policy topics for reasons of space) suggest the need for aspirin washed down with a couple of stiff ones.
If Only Obamacare Had Been Passed With Careful Deliberation
Many Democrats are genuinely puzzled about Republicans' continuing opposition to Obamacare. It is the law of the land, these Democrats say. Critics should accept it, as critics accepted Medicare. They should work constructively and across the aisle with Democrats to repair any flaws and make the law work to help people. Historical analogies are often useful, but can be misleading. Certainly so in this case: Republicans, like it or not, are behaving differently from the way they behaved after the passage of Medicare in 1965.
Welfare, Warfare and Woeful
During the Great Depression, when there were even fewer jobs than there are today, there were still a great many men who refused to go on the dole, which was what welfare was called under FDR. That was only 75 or 80 years ago, but today, as you've probably noticed, their kids and grandkids can't wait to start living off the efforts of others. Whether it's seniors in Florida signing up for food stamps they don't need, young people in the inner-city assuming they're entitled to be supported by others because clowns like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson keep telling them they're victims of oppression, illegal aliens being fed similar hooey by Democrats or simply run-of-the-mill creeps lying in order to scam their way onto the disability rolls, millions of Americans are proving to be an embarrassment to their ancestors. The land of the free has morphed into the land of the freeloader.
Destroying Household Jobs
Despite evidence from around the world that minimum wage laws can price low-skilled workers out of jobs, the U.S. Department of Labor is planning to extend minimum wage coverage to domestic workers, such as maids or those who drop in from time to time to do a few household chores for the sick and the elderly. This coverage is scheduled to begin in January 2015 -- that is, after the 2014 elections and nearly two years before the 2016 elections. Politicians show a lot of cleverness in protecting their own interests, even if they show very little wisdom as far as serving the public interest.
GOP, You've Tried Surrender; Let's Try Fighting
Why is it just assumed Republicans will automatically be blamed for any government shutdown over a budgetary impasse between Obama and his Democratic Party and Republicans? More disturbingly, why do so many Republicans and right-leaning commentators surrender before we've even begun to fight? Do our moderates believe there is any position President Obama and the Democrats could take that would result in the public's blaming Democrats, rather than Republicans, for a shutdown?
Report From 2016
Want a glimpse of what the Obamacare battle will look like in 2015? Just glance at liberal websites. You'll find a trove of insurance company bashing. Are insurance premiums rising instead of falling by the $2,500 per family that Obama repeatedly promised in 2009? They are. If you consult ThinkProgess, Daily Kos and Physicians for a National Health Program, you'll learn that it's the "greedy insurance companies" that are causing prices to rise, not the risibly titled, "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act."
Misplaced Faith in Government
It's Obamacare activation and government "shutdown" week in Washington, where the consequences of misplaced faith in government are everywhere. Still, "true believers" remain faithful that Obamacare will be the exception to government's past failures in achieving big goals. There are examples galore of government's inability to do things well and at reasonable cost, but that doesn't deter those who continue to believe government can solve every problem.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Happy New Year!
There a many, many calendars to mark the passage of time. There are, according to Wikipedia, 48 current calendars and 22 obsolete calendars ranging from the well-known Aztec Calendar to the more obscure Xhosa calendar (unique to certain areas of Nigeria). These 70 calendars do not include the Star Date Calendar, utilized by the United Federation of Planets; nor the U.S. Fiscal Year Calendar, utilized by a total of 536 people: The voting members of the U.S. House and Senate and the President of the United States.
Compromise In Politics? No, Confront
Among the pearls of wisdom conveyed in Ecclesiastes is that everything has its time. "A time to be born ... a time to die, a time to plant ... a time to uproot, a time for war ... a time for peace." The founders of the United States drew up a Constitution to serve as an operating manual, in its checks and balances, for peaceful, deliberative government. They understood human nature and set up a system in which competing interests would have to give in. Compromise, they understood, is a necessary lubricant for the wheels of government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" to turn and allow us to move forward.
Thinking Outside the Two Party Box
In a previous column, I advocated the establishment of a viable third party for the millions of Americans who feel disenfranchised by Democrats and their get-along-to-go-along Republican counterparts. The predictable reaction? A third party will siphon votes from the Republicans and make Democrats unassailable. Historically speaking, that assessment is accurate. Yet the establishment Republicans' reaction to Ted Cruz's 21-hour marathon versus the reaction of the American public, leads me to the conclusion that we may be in the midst of an historically anomalous moment.
Renewable Fuel Standard Another Taxpayer-Funded Bailout
We're all paying more at the pump. It's hurting consumers and dangerous for the fragile economy. And, it's because of a Washington handout to corn farmers and big Wall Street banks -- all disguised as a measure to promote renewable energy and clean-burning fuels. The Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) mandates an ever-increasing floor of ethanol be mixed with gasoline. The bill, which was expanded under President Obama, ensures a baseline level of demand for ethanol, distorting the market and sending the price of corn substantially higher. That's because gasoline refiners have to purchase ethanol, regardless of the price.
Hell on Earth
I have always felt that when politicians clamor for work projects, instead of focusing on roads and bridges, they should be mentioning prisons. We never seem to have enough of them. As a result, felons are constantly being released before finishing their sentences. And whereas liberals are always insisting that civilized nations shouldn't have so many people incarcerated, the truth, as usual, is they're wrong. So long as those behind bars are there because they've committed actual felonies, and aren't there because of their political or religious beliefs, there is no ideal number or percentage of people who should be locked up. If you're in jail, it's proof that you're uncivilized, not that society is.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Canada Ditches Obama's Favorite Terror-Funding Charity
ISNA's charity status revoked up north -- so why is the president embracing it as a “partner”?
Inevitable Consequences
One of my favorite God stories involves the guy named Harry who sought shelter on the roof of his house during a flood. When a fellow with a boat rowed by and offered to take him to higher ground, Harry turned him down, explaining that God would provide. His response was the same to the next two guys who rowed by. He was still perched on his roof when nightfall came and the storm resumed. When he woke up, drenched, in Heaven, he asked God why He had failed to rescue him. God said, "What are you talking about? I sent three boats." I think the story works better if God refers to Harry as a darn fool, but I wouldn't want to offend anyone who thinks God shouldn't say "darn."