Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Remington Sticks to His Guns in School District Flap
The school may have turned off his microphone, but Remington Reimer still got the last word. Two weeks after Joshua High School made headlines for interrupting the Valedictorian's speech, the superintendent is finally showing some remorse. The story spread like wildfire on June 6, when Remington decided to add to his "pre-approved remarks" and talk about his relationship with Jesus instead. "[M]ost importantly," Reimer told his class, "I want to thank God for giving up his only Son for us to an excruciating death on a cross, so His blood would cover all our shortcomings and provide for us a way to heaven in accepting His grace." Most of the audience missed the rest of Remington's speech, but that didn't matter. In the next few days, the media's coverage only amplified the message the school had tried to censor. "We are fortunate," he said, "to live in a country where we can express our beliefs -- where our mics won't be turned off, as I have been threatened to be... I will not have my freedom of speech taken away from me. And I urge you to do the same."
Let Our Soldiers Express Their Faith!
America's military is the most trusted institution in our country. According to a new Gallup poll, Americans rank the military at the top of our societal institutions, with 76% of Americans placing "a great deal" or "a lot" of confidence in the military. We trust our servicemen and women. We know they not only protect us physically but also represent our collective commitment to freedom -- including religious freedom.
President Obama's Belfast Blarney
President Obama's recent trip to the G-8 Summit in Belfast, Northern Ireland, included an address at the Waterfront hall. There, he criticized Catholic and Protestant schools and compared them to segregated schools in the U.S. when he was a boy. His remarks were hailed by British atheists. They took his speech for what it was: an attack on faith-based education everywhere.
Obama's Late-Term Abortion Conundrum
The House passed a historic piece of legislation last week that prohibits late term abortion. The "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" -- introduced by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) along with 187 co-sponsors and passed in the House by a vote of 228 to 196 -- prohibits abortion after 20 weeks. As Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) noted in her remarks, science is clear that, at the end of the second trimester of pregnancy, the unborn child feels pain.
Political Elite Should Shun Bill Bulger
Paul Cellucci deserved better than to have his memorial service sullied by William Bulger. The Massachusetts political establishment paid a fond tribute to the former governor and ambassador, who died this month of Lou Gehrig's disease, at a State House ceremony filled with dignitaries from across the political spectrum. It was heartening to see old rivals join in honoring Cellucci, an engaging, public-spirited mensch -- the kind of politician who gives politics a *good* name. But Bulger's presence at such an event wasn't heartening, it was disgraceful. And so was the reception he met.
Channeling Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle's greatest creation, the pre-eminent logician and crime solver, Sherlock Holmes was wont to compare the human brain to an attic. It was his belief that the finite space was best employed as a storage bin for those items that would be of use in his work. Thus, at any given time, he might not know the name of the Prime Minister, but he would be able to identify over 150 different types of tobacco. I'm sure there are those who would argue that the human brain has infinite capacity, but even they would have to acknowledge that life would be a lot easier if, when searching for someone's name, they didn't have to rummage through a brain that was cluttered with a lot of names they'd casually tossed into their cranial attics, where they lie and collect dust; the verbal equivalent of torn lampshades, rusted ice skates and Hula Hoops.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Deflationary Rate Hike?
In the aftermath of Ben Bernanke's announced timetable for ending Fed bond purchases, long-term interest rates have jumped up, while stock prices have cratered down. As I wrote Friday, I think the Bernanke plan is premature -- especially in a 2 percent economy with falling inflation and inflation expectations. But just to get a little wonky on the interest-rate story, it's noteworthy that 10-year Treasury notes have moved up about 70 basis points year to date. Currently they're around 2.50 percent.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Let's Privatize the Welfare State
Have you ever given money to the food stamp program? Do you know anyone who has? Actually, some people do occasionally make gifts to federal entitlement programs. But gifts to the entire federal government were a paltry $241 million in 2010, the last year for which statistics are available. By contrast, Americans donated almost $300 billion last year to private sector charities in addition to volunteer time valued at $158 billion.
Out of Mind Experiences
I have decided there's no big secret why 51% of the voters went for Obama. It's because more and more Americans are childish, if not downright infantile. In a divorce, will the kids favor the disciplinarian who demands they complete their schoolwork and do their chores or the one who bribes them with toys and other goodies?
From The Comedy Store
The Los Angeles School District gave out two Chevrolets to students for their perfect attendance. They're doing it all backwards. L.A. students who have terrible attendance should be required to drive Chevys, and just the threat will have them in their seats for first hour.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Obama Abroad
Most Presidents of the United States love going on an international trip. You get to fly on Air Force One. You get to travel around in The Beast that was flown over for your benefit. You get to stay in the biggest suite in a Western-style hotel. There are about 300 staffers from the White House and various Executive Branch agencies who have traveled ahead of you or with you to make sure your every whim is appropriately dealt with. And you get to meet with foreign leaders to remind them that, as Chevy Chase might have said on the old Saturday Night Live: "I'm the President of the United States ... and you're not."
A False Sense of Border Security
Debunking the newest lies rolled out by the proponents of amnesty.
Irish Turn on O'Bama
President Obama was nine months into his first term when he won the Nobel Peace Prize -- but most Americans have spent the last 44 wondering why. The latest example comes from comments the President made while he was attending the G8 Summit. Irelandgot its first taste of The Great Divider on Monday in a speech the President delivered to 2,000 young people in Belfast. There, in one of the tensest regions of the world, President Obama sowed even more dissention by suggesting that religious schools are somehow to blame forNorthern Ireland's ancient conflicts.
Culture Challenge: Post-Graduation
It's that time of year when every high school and college across the country holds graduation ceremonies -- and the speeches that go with them. And, as we all know, some of the speeches are better than others. It is quite a world our college grads are stepping into -- a tough job market and a culture that will challenge them relentlessly to compromise the values we've spent the last 21-22 years trying to instill.
Bernanke Jumps the Gun
Without intending to -- and perhaps without even realizing it -- the normally cautious Fed head Ben Bernanke may have launched a major tightening policy during his news conference on Wednesday. The de facto policy shift immediately sparked a rout on Wall Street, with stock, bond and gold prices all plunging. And it's going to shake up confidence even more, perhaps even slowing the already anemic recovery. Bernanke has stumbled into a major policy mistake. While Wall Street was debating about exactly when the Fed would slow its quantitative-easing bond-buying program, Bernanke set out a plan to completely end the new cash-generating QE in roughly one year or less.
The Key to Remaining Young
Like most baby boomers, I've resisted growing old. But having celebrated my 66th birthday last week, I'm forced to come to grips with the inevitability of aging. I haven't been young in decades. And middle age passed me by without my ever embracing it. Now old age is just around the corner, so I figure I'd better start getting ready for it. The future may be limited in years, but there's no reason not to plan for it. Mickey Mantle once famously said, "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself." It was a great insight. I've tried to take his advice by losing weight and joining a gym, and it has paid off. I lost 30 pounds a couple of years ago and kept it off, and I've never felt better.
A Flagrant Feminist Failure
Feminism as a political cause is on such wobbly knees that it must rely on charges of rampant sexism that have no basis in reality. The current Exhibit A is "Think Progress" blogger Alyssa Rosenberg, who surely scrunched up her face in disgust as she wrote the headline "Women Are Half Of Video Gamers, So Where Are The Female Video Game Characters?" Serious long-term video game fans should laugh at Rosenberg's ignorance and laziness. This headline had all the style and finesse of a belly flop into an empty swimming pool.
Obama's Cluelessness Displayed on the World Stage
It's as if President Obama believes he's still in the faculty lounge at Harvard glamorizing leftist ideals, seemingly oblivious that he is actually president now and that his duties require him to work on truly pressing matters instead of fantasizing about Utopia. He is finally approaching the hot seat. Endless scandals are dogging his Teflon. The young voter demographic is going south on him. The foreign media are lampooning him. The economy still tanks. But in Berlin, with the disposition of Alfred E. Neuman, the blind destructiveness of Mr. Magoo and the flimsily emulated elegance of JFK, he lectured the world on the urgency of adopting his slightly modified faculty lounge agenda.
The Spreading Stain of Obama's Incompetence
An estimated 93,000 people have died in Syria's metastasizing civil war. Hundreds of thousands of that conflict's refugees strain resources and stability in neighboring countries. Iran continues its steady march toward nuclear weapons development. North Korea menaces its neighbors and episodically threatens to launch nuclear missiles at Los Angeles. Turkey, long lauded by Obama as a model for the region, is violently cracking down on peaceful demonstrators. Slow growth and high unemployment hobble the world's most advanced economies as growing bureaucracy and crippling debt take their toll. Islamist movements are making gains in Mali, Indonesia, Pakistan and Iraq after gaining power in Egypt and Tunisia. The Taliban are boldly flying the flag of the "Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan" (the name of the country when they controlled it before 9/11) from their new offices in Doha. China is aggressively expanding its navy, engaging in barely concealed cyber espionage on American businesses and government and manufacturing territorial disputes with neighbors in the South China Sea. Russia is sliding steeply into tyranny, and Islamic terrorists have recently scored two victories -- one on the streets of Boston and one in London.
A Challenge to Young Obama Supporters
OK, young'ns, here's your chance. In two consecutive elections, you've carried Barack Obama to victory. When he said, "We are the ones we've been waiting for," he basically meant you. You voted for Obama by a margin of 66 percent to 32 percent in 2008, and, despite a horrendous economy for people your age, by nearly that much again in 2012. The president announced his candidacy in 2007 by insisting, "This campaign can't only be about me. It must be about us -- it must be about what we can do together. This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes, and your dreams. ... This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change."