Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Obama's Blundering Incompetence
I don't know who's more confused about Syria, President Obama or me. With his alleged use of poison gas against his own people, including women and children, Bashar al-Assad of Syria has crossed our president's famous red line -- again. But unlike the last time Assad crossed the president's red line, this time President Obama means business. No, seriously. He does. Really. He's not just talking you-know-what.
It's Super-Media! With the Power to Detect Non-Existent Racism
The media's fixation on the Trayvon Martin case, while ignoring much more brutal crimes with clearer racial motivations, is a return to pre-O.J. America. The thesis of my book, "Mugged: Racial Demagoguery From the Seventies to Obama" -- out in paperback this week! -- is that after decades of liberals play-acting Racist America, wherein they cast themselves as civil rights champions, and other, random white people as Bull Connor (a Democrat), it all ended with the O.J. verdict.
Once More Into the Snake Pit
"Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?" -- Peter, Paul and Mary By the time you read this, U.S. missiles and bombs may be falling on Syria. Why? Syria hasn't attacked us. It does not pose a security threat to the United States. These were arguments made against the Bush administration's intervention in Iraq by some who now urge us to make war on Syria.
Syria Does Not Satisfy the Powell Doctrine
President Barack Obama said that an introduction of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war would constitute a "red line" with "enormous consequences" that "would change [his] calculus." That was a year ago. This past March, Obama said, "We will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people, or the transfer of those weapons to terrorists. ... We will hold [Bashar al-Assad] accountable." Credible sources -- including Britain, France and U.S. intelligence agencies -- accuse the Syrian government of using chemical weapons on two or more occasions, once last December and possibly twice during March. Obama took no action.
Rumors, Riddles & Rebuttals
I've heard that a five million dollar class action lawsuit has been filed here in California on behalf of those people who purchased copies of Lance Armstrong's autobiography in which he swore that he had never used performance-enhancing drugs. Their claim is based on the fact that when they purchased the book, it was represented by the subject and his publisher to be non-fiction. I am not a member of the lawsuit because I didn't buy the book, having no interest whatsoever in the life of a professional bicyclist. Perhaps my interest would have been piqued if he'd won all those races riding a unicycle or while juggling dishes, but that's pretty much the same reason I gave Obama's memoirs a wide berth.
The Israeli Spring
Israel could be forgiven for having a siege mentality -- given that at any moment, old frontline enemies Syria and Egypt might spill their violence over common borders. The Arab Spring has turned Israel's once-predictable adversaries into the chaotic state of a Sudan or Somalia. The old understandings between Jerusalem and the Assad and Mubarak kleptocracies seem in limbo. Yet these tragic Arab revolutions swirling around Israel are paradoxically aiding it, both strategically and politically -- well beyond the erosion of conventional Arab military strength.
The Perils of Loquacity
WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's foreign policy dream -- cordial relations with a Middle East tranquilized by "smart diplomacy" -- is in a death grapple with reality. His rhetorical writhings illustrate the perils of loquacity. He has a glutton's rather than a gourmet's appetite for his own rhetorical cuisine, and has talked America to the precipice of a fourth military intervention in the crescent that extends from Libya to Afghanistan. Characterizing the 2011 Libyan project with weirdly passive syntax ("It is our military that is being volunteered by others to carry out missions"), he explained his sashay into Libya's civil war as pre-emptive: "I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action."
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
When 'Never Again' Turns Into 'Yet Again'
During a visit last week to Dachau, the former concentration camp near Munich, German Chancellor Angela Merkel laid a wreath in memory of the tens of thousands the Nazis murdered there. The memory of their fate, she said, "fills me with deep sadness and shame." Dachau -- the original concentration camp, established in March 1933 -- radiates a constant reminder about the bottomless human capacity to commit evil, or to look away when evil is committed. "How could Germans go so far as to deny people human dignity and the right to live?" Merkel asked. "Places such as this warn each one of us to help ensure that such things never happen again."
Will Your School Respect Your Beliefs?
You've shopped the sales and tax-free holidays, met your child's teacher, and mapped out your "school schedule." It's back to school time, the buses are rolling, and everything seems familiar. But is it really?
Obama: Back to the Racist Future
The president and Democrats take us back to the race hatred and violence of 60 years ago.
The Right Way to Think About Rights
The Constitution doesn't grant us freedoms; it prohibits government from taking them. Nearly all of us, at one time or another, refer to our "constitutional right to free speech." While this common phrase may seem harmless, it points to a larger misunderstanding of where our rights come from -- a misunderstanding that undermines many of our most fundamental policy debates.
Constitution Gives Obama No Power to Use Force in Syria
"We're actively looking at the various legal angles that would inform a decision." That is what an anonymous administration official told the Washington Post this week about President Barack Obama's deliberations on whether he will personally involve the United States in another Middle Eastern war by ordering military action in Syria. But the only law that ultimately matters here is the one Obama swore to preserve, protect and defend: the Constitution of the United States.
Colorado's Grassroots Revolt Against Gun-Grabbers
COLORADO SPRINGS -- While most Americans will be chillin' out, maxin' and relaxin' this Labor Day weekend, dedicated patriots in Colorado are hard at work preparing for a groundbreaking special election day with nationwide repercussions. George Washington would be proud. On September 10, Democratic legislator and state Senate President John Morse of Colorado Springs faces a citizen recall for his sellout to New York anti-gun special interests, for his betrayal of transparency and accountability to constituents, and for his destructive economic policies that are driving thousands of jobs away. Also up for recall: Democratic legislator Angela Giron of Pueblo.
Sharpton Leans Forward to Blur MSNBC
MSNBC obliterated the notion of separating cable-news hosts and their political activism when the network brass gave Rev. Al Sharpton a nightly show two years ago. It was just another day at the office when Sharpton held a rabble-rousing rally for Trayvon Martin in the afternoon and then covered it on his show hours later. But Saturday's rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial celebrating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's March on Washington was the most dramatic conflict of interest yet. Sharpton organized the rally (with Martin Luther King III), and MSNBC aired huge chunks of it live, including all 20 minutes of Sharpton's screaming keynote speech. An MSNBC press release said they'd be promoting the rally from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Obama's Iraq, His Other Iraq and His Third Iraq
President Obama has made his entire career off of not being George W. Bush. During his shockingly fast political rise, he differentiated himself by claiming that he had stood alone against the warmongers who wanted to depose Saddam Hussein (never mind that he wasn't in Congress at the time). During the 2008 campaign, he claimed that he wouldn't be the kind of president who would enter America into open-ended conflicts without true American interests at stake. Iraq, he said, was the bad war; Afghanistan was the good war. Well, so much for that.
Trains to Nowhere
When Democrats and Republicans agree, I get nervous. It often means that they agree to grab my wallet. Both parties now agree that we don't have extra budget money lying around, but both say government does need to spend more on "infrastructure." Even conservatives want more spent on roads and mass transit.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Real Message
Amid the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, one complaint became almost a refrain: What about economic justice? After all, the official title of the event was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The line "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character" resides in the rhetorical pantheon with "Four score and seven years ago" and "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union."
A Truly Great Phony
Many years ago, I was a member of a committee that was recommending to whom grant money should be awarded. Since I knew one of the applicants, I asked if this meant that I should recuse myself from voting on his application. "No," the chairman said. "I know him too -- and he is one of the truly great phonies of our time." The man was indeed a very talented phony. He could convince almost anybody of almost anything -- provided that they were not already knowledgeable about the subject.
Re-education at George Mason
This week begins my 34th year serving on George Mason University's distinguished economics faculty. You might imagine my surprise when I received a letter from its Office of Equity and Diversity Services notifying me that I was required to "complete the in-person Equal Opportunity and Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policies and Procedures training." This is a leftist agenda for indoctrination, thought control and free speech suppression to which I shall refuse to submit. Let's look at it. Ideas such as equity and equal opportunity, while having high emotional value, are vacuous analytical concepts. For example, I've asked students whether they plan to give every employer an equal opportunity to hire them when they graduate. To a person, they always answer no. If they aren't going to give every employer an equal opportunity to hire them, what's fair about forcing employers to give them an equal opportunity to be hired?