Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
The President's U.N. Speech
President Obama's speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York was flawed, displaying a type of moral equivalency that does not exist for America's enemies. His claim that "The world is more stable than it was five years ago" is demonstrably false. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Kenya, Congo, to name only a few, there are at least as many conflicts as in 2008 and far more now than when the United Nations was created. According to Themner, Lotta and Peter Wallensteen, in "Armed Conflict, 1946-2011", Journal of Peace Research, there were fewer than 20 armed conflicts in 1946. Today there are more than 30.
Democratic Party Loves Ill-Informed Voters
Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is worried. In a recent speech at Boise State, O'Connor said: "Less than one-third of eighth-graders can identify the historical purpose of the Declaration of Independence, and it's right there in the name. ... The more I read and the more I listen, the more apparent it is that our society suffers from an alarming degree of public ignorance." This is good news for the left.
The Late, Great Middle Class
The American middle class, like the American economy in general, is ailing. Labor-force participation has hit a 35-year low. Median household income is lower than it was five years ago. Only the top 5 percent of households have seen their incomes rise under President Obama. Commuters are paying more than twice as much for gas as they were in 2008. Federal payouts for food stamps, unemployment insurance and disability insurance have reached unprecedented levels.
A Ruinous Opportunity
WASHINGTON -- When Dwight Eisenhower asked Gen. Georgy Zhukov how the Red Army cleared minefields, Zhukov replied: "We march through them." Being profligate with lives is a perquisite of command and a luxury of those with an abundance of lives at their command. Some congressional Republicans, who do not command their party but can implicate it in their marches through minefields, might resuscitate Barack Obama's presidency by restocking his pantry of excuses: The economy's continuing anemia will ever after be blamed on any government shutdown.
Strike Back Against Nature! Build More Bird Choppers!
Where did we get this idea that we need to save the environment? Has the environment ever tried to save us?
Saved by the KGB
WASHINGTON -- And so the government of the United States has put its foreign policy in the steady hands of President Vladimir Putin, and the KGB Americans from coast to coast are breathing a sigh of relief. In Congress, the left and the right and those in between are relieved. In recent months, it has become abundantly clear that the president of the United States is not up to the task. He would rather lecture us on domestic issues, such as how to run up trillions of dollars of debt. Then he would like to work on his golf game -- do you recall how our elites laughed and laughed when the former Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, then the Supreme Commander of NATO, and finally the two-term president of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower, played golf?
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Is the United States Splitting Apart?
In September, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted to secede from the State of California. "Many proposed laws are unconstitutional and deny us our God-given rights," said one attendee at the council meeting. "We need our own state so we can make laws that fit our way of life." A few weeks later, the Modoc County Board of Supervisors voted to join Siskiyou in the new state of Jefferson, voting 4-0 to leave California.
Football's Firing the Kickoff to Controversy
Sportscaster Craig James is used to being on the sidelines for games. But he's not going to stay there when it comes to his First Amendment rights. For the first time since his shocking ouster at Fox Sports, the former NFL standout spoke publicly about the story everyone should be talking about. In [an exclusive](http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Sports/2013/09/23/Craig-Jones-Fox-Sports-gay-marriage) with Breitbart News, the former broadcaster couldn't believe that his views on marriage -- which he never once expressed on air -- would disqualify him from breaking down football plays -- or any other job.
Lots of Noise in DC & NY
Here in Our Nation's Capital it is difficult to catch your breath as the days tick by toward September 30 -- the end of the 2013 Fiscal Year. On the Senate floor yesterday, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz (who is opposed to ObamaCare) filibustered a bill that had not been brought to the floor. As I type this at 10:10 PM Eastern time, Cruz had been speaking since shortly after 2:40 yesterday afternoon.
Challenge 'Common Core' at Your Own Peril
Charges dropped against jailed parent Robert Small -- but the chilling message has been sent.
It's Not the Pope's Culture War
Intrigued by news coverage of Pope Francis's interview with the world's leading Jesuit journals, I wanted to read the whole thing for myself. The [full English text](http://www.americamagazine.org/pope-interview), downloaded from the website of the New York-based America magazine, was 19 pages long. The part that generated all the excited headlines -- "Pope Says Church Is 'Obsessed' With Gays, Abortion and Birth Control" was how The New York Times announced it on page 1 -- amounted to only about five paragraphs. Maybe the Catholic Church isn't the institution that's obsessed.
Fate of Obamacare Controlled by Republicans
In the next few days, politicians in Washington, D.C., will do and say many things to make it look and sound as if they are against Obamacare when in fact they are ultimately planning to use the power that has been vested in them by the people of their districts and states to ensure that Obamacare is funded and implemented. But make no mistake: If Obamacare is funded and implemented it will be because Republican members of Congress decided to do it.
Obama Lied, My Health Plan Died
Like an estimated 22 million other Americans, I am a self-employed small-business owner who buys health insurance for my family directly on the individual market. We have a high-deductible PPO plan that allows us to choose from a wide range of doctors. Or rather, we *had* such a plan.
Only Propaganda Is 'Good Journalism'?
Why are liberals in so much denial about liberal bias in the news? Why do they think they're bending over backward to be "objective" doing that which Republicans see as partisan activism? Daniel Froomkin of the Huffington Post -- formerly of The Washington Post -- suggests an answer. He is exactly the kind of liberal agitator in the newsroom who wants every news story to be a blazing editorial. Every reporter must divide the world clearly between Liberal Sense and Conservative Nonsense. His latest article is titled, "Writing a Neutral Story About Something So Heartless As the Food Stamp Vote Is Not Good Journalism."
How Congress Unknowingly Approved the Collection of Phone Records
In "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," Arthur Dent discovers that the plans for a highway project involving demolition of his house have been "on display" in the basement of a government building at "the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.'" The Obama administration has a similar idea of what adequate notice means in the context of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance activities.
Innovation or Stagnation
Invent something and the first thing that goes through some people's minds -- especially politicians' minds -- is what might go wrong. 3D printers now allow you to mold objects right in your living room, using patterns you find online. It's a revolutionary invention that will save time, reduce shipping costs and be kind to the earth. But what critics see is: guns! People will print guns at home! Well, sure.
Ted Cruz, the GOP's Obama
Ted Cruz is no Joe McCarthy, as so many liberals bizarrely claim. But he might be the conservative Barack Obama. The charge that he's the new McCarthy is something of a compliment from liberals. It means they don't like him, can't really explain why and need to demonize him instead. In other words, he must be doing something right. For conservatives, the comparison to Obama probably stings more than the McCarthyite smear.
Honesty and Trust
Dishonesty, lying and cheating are not treated with the right amount of opprobrium in today's society. To gain an appreciation for the significance of honesty and trust, consider what our day-to-day lives would be like if we couldn't trust anyone. When we purchase a bottle of 100 pills from our pharmacist, how many of us bother to count the pills? We pull in to a gasoline station and pay $35 for 10 gallons of gasoline. How do we know for sure whether we in fact received 10 gallons instead of 9 3/4? You pay $7 for a 1-pound package of filet mignon. Do you ever independently verify that you in fact received 1 pound? In each of those cases, and thousands more, we simply trust the seller.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
ObamaCare: Testing America's Patients
There may be a chill in the air -- but there's plenty of heat on Capitol Hill. Down to seven days of government cash flow, members of both parties woke up this week in a budget pressure cooker that's bringing Congress to the brink -- again. Republicans argue that the House's continuing resolution (CR), a political hot potato that landed in the Senate's lap last Friday, would force the one shutdown most people can agree on: ObamaCare's. As part of the bargain, conservatives are offering to float the government for three months at a cool $986 billion. "Our message to the United States Senate is real simple," said Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). "The American people don't want the government shut down, and they don't want ObamaCare."
Republicans: Take ObamaCare to Court
Conservatives in Congress, and their fellow travelers among the chattering classes, are working overtime devising clever strategies to defund ObamaCare. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say none of them will likely amount to a hill of beans.