Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Resolution
Now, the Congressional nose-counting begins: Who's for the resolution to attack Syria, who's against, who's undecided, and who is calling their chief of staff asking, "Why's all this about Syria? Where the hell *is* Syria? Those are mostly U.S. Senators. Problem is, there is no resolution to be for or against.
John Kerry: Face of Defeat
The poster boy of Obama's incompetence and untrustworthiness on the world stage.
Will Obama's Syria Plan Hurt or Help al-Qaida?
President Barack Obama is simultaneously saying he intends to take military action against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad to punish it for using chemical weapons, but that he will not put U.S. troops on the ground in Syria. Is such a plan more likely to advance the interests of the American people or those of the Assad regime's most vehement foe -- al-Qaida? Will it increase or decrease future acts of evil?
Gun-Grabbers Go Full Femme-a-Gogue in Colorado
Out: The boy who cried wolf. In: The girl who cried birth control. Desperate Democrats are imposing false-alarm feminist politics on a high-stakes recall election in Colorado this month. It's a golden opportunity for independent-minded women to reject empty femme-a-goguery and tear up the Sandra Fluke card. On September 10, Colorado Springs and Pueblo will decide whether to boot two top state Democrats (state Senate Majority Leader John Morse and state Sen. Angela Giron) over their support for radical gun- and ammo-control measures spearheaded by outside special interests. Left-wing billionaires Michael Bloomberg of New York City and Eli Broad of Detroit have poured $700,000 between them into defending the endangered Colorado Democrats.
A President Few Want to Trust
Here's one major reason the Syria debate is so dispiriting: We've got a president few appear able to trust. Nobody in this, the fifth year of the Obama era, can assume Barack Obama necessarily means a word he says. He may; he may not. We just can't tell any more. Not after five years of maneuvers and speeches whose chief inspiration seems to be the accruing of personal credit and the shifting of blame to those who resist his magisterial gifts.
Republicans Caving on Syria
The two major parties in America agree on virtually nothing. From abortion and gay marriage to tax rates and regulation, Democrats and Republicans hold polar viewpoints. But somehow, when it comes to the expansion of government power without regard for American interest, bipartisanship somehow springs to the fore. How else to explain agreement between Republicans and Democrats on potential war in Syria?
The Vanishing Anti-War Left
Barack Obama ran for president as the last of the red-hot pacifists, so it might have sounded preposterous to predict that after a few security briefings at the White House, President Obama would follow in the same policy footsteps of horrid warmonger George Bush, with his anti-terrorist wars and strategies. So where is the anti-war movement now?
Obama's Case Against Attacking Syria
What He Said About the Requirements for War Before He Was President
Touchy Topics
Here's a question: What is the true test of one's commitment to freedom of expression? Is it when one permits others to express ideas with which he agrees? Or is it when he permits others to express ideas he finds deeply offensive? I'm betting that most people would wisely answer that it's the latter, and I'd agree. How about this question: What is the true test of one's commitment to freedom of association? Is it when people permit others to freely associate in ways of which they approve? Or is it when they permit others to freely associate in ways they deem despicable? I'm sure that might be a considerable dispute about freedom of association compared with the one over freedom of expression. To be for freedom in either case requires that one be brave enough to accept the fact that some people will make offensive expressions and associate in offensive ways. Let's explore this with an example from the past.
For a Better GOP, Start With Better Storytellers
It's no secret that the right is going through what some call a healthy debate and what others see as an identity crisis. For some, the solution to what ails conservatism requires a sudden philosophical shift leftward to win back the last Rockefeller Republicans, presumably hanging on in nursing homes like stranded Japanese fighters who haven't gotten word World War II is over. Others argue that Republicans must shake off the heresies of moderation and compromise and accept the unalloyed true faith of 100 percent conservatism.
Serious About Syria?
Why are we even talking about taking military action in Syria? What is that military action supposed to accomplish? And what is the probability that it will in fact accomplish whatever that unknown goal might be? What is painfully clear from President Obama's actions, inactions and delays is that he is more or less playing it by ear, as to what specifically he is going to do, and when. He is telling us more about what he is not going to do -- that he will not put "boots on the ground," for example -- than about what he will do.
Milk of Human Blindness
The Denver Post warns, "Milk, food prices could rise if Congress fails to act." Congress is working on a farm bill, which, among other things, will set limits on how high or low milk prices can be in different regions of the country. Politicians from both parties like to meddle in agriculture. When the Heritage Foundation told Republicans not to pass any farm bill, "conservative" politicians banned Heritage from their weekly meetings.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Christian Bakery Closes After LGBT Threats, Protests
A family-owned Christian bakery, under investigation for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, has been forced to close its doors after a vicious boycott by militant homosexual activists. Sweet Cakes By Melissa posted a message on its Facebook page alerting customers that their Gresham, Ore. retail store would be shut down after months of harassment from pro-gay marriage forces.
Now Wanted: An Accomplice
WASHINGTON -- Because Syria's convulsion has become as serious as Barack Obama has been careless in speaking about it, he is suddenly and uncharacteristically insisting that Congress participate in governance. Regarding institutional derangements, he is the infection against which he pretends to be an immunization.
The Weakened President
Appearing in the White House Rose Garden last Saturday, President Obama apparently experienced a revelation. He acknowledged there are constitutional limits on his power, something he has heretofore mostly ignored while issuing executive orders, bypassing Congress on appointments and deciding which parts of the Affordable Care Act to follow and which to delay or ignore. The president will wait for Congress to reconvene on Sept. 9 and debate whether to grant him authority to attack Syria. It is uncertain whether he will get approval for what he says will be a limited -- and likely inconsequential -- strike.
The Wrong Target on WMDs
Ater 9/11, the prevailing view was that "nothing would ever be the same." The sight of bodies plunging 100 stories from the flaming towers of the World Trade Center seared into our psyches the reality that America has cruel and wanton enemies. The USA Patriot Act, which sought to repair some of the intelligence lapses that permitted the 9/11 attacks to go undiscovered, passed the House by a vote of 357 to 66 and the Senate by 98 to one.
A Vanity War
In Hollywood there is something known as a "vanity film." Vanity films are oh-so-important projects done by oh-so-serious actors and directors with a burning urge to do something "deeply moving" and "important," something that allows them to stretch their talents to the very limits of the creative envelope. The result? Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, an overwrought, pretentious snore of a movie, virtually impossible to watch. And the reason they are called vanity films is because no producer in his right mind would finance these money-losing paeans to rampant narcissism.
Entrepreneurs: Spark Plugs in a Free-Market Economy
Blockbuster businesses start with an idea and an eagerness to work. Back at work after the Labor Day holiday? Thank an entrepreneur. Capitalism cannot exist without entrepreneurs, the men and women who take the risks and start the businesses that produce the goods and services we all enjoy. Almost every entrepreneurial business begins with one or two individuals, an idea and a kitchen table.
Logan Airport Too Important to be Run by the State
The state Ethics Commission came up with three solutions to state Senator Dan Wolf's conflict-of-interest problem. Allow me to suggest a fourth. Wolf is the pilot and entrepreneur who founded Cape Air in 1989 and over the next two decades built it into one of the country's most successful regional airlines. He was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 2010, and now hopes to run for governor. But the Ethics Commission ruled last month that Wolf was in violation of state law, which bars elected officials from having a business relationship with any state agency. Since Wolf still owns 23 percent of Cape Air, and since Cape Air pays the Massachusetts Port Authority for landing rights at Logan Airport, the commission decreed the would-be governor had to choose from one of three unpalatable options.
Unintended Consequences
One of the many unintended consequences of the political crusade for increased homeownership among minorities, and low-income people in general, has been a housing boom and bust that left many foreclosed homes that had to be rented, because there were no longer enough qualified buyers. The repercussions did not stop there. Many homeowners have discovered that when renters replace homeowners as their neighbors, the neighborhood as a whole can suffer.