Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Obama's Dorothy Doctrine
"This war, like all wars, must end. That's what history advises ..." -- Barack Obama, May 23 WASHINGTON -- Nice thought. But much as Obama would like to close his eyes, click his heels three times and declare the war on terror over, war is a two-way street. That's what history advises: Two sides to fight it, two to end it. By surrender (World War II), by armistice (Korea and Vietnam) or when the enemy simply disappears from the field (the Cold War).
Breadwinner Moms
The headlines were misleading: "Moms are Breadwinners in Record 4 of 10 Households." Immediate thought: Wow, 40 percent of wives are primary breadwinners. Nope. If you read down to the fifth or sixth paragraph in most stories about the new Pew study, you'd discover that the number of women out-earning their husbands was actually just 22.5 percent of married couples with children under the age of 18. The 40 percent figure includes single-parent households, in which the mom is not the primary, but the sole, earner. They're always lauded, those single moms. Politicians of both parties always append the word "heroic" to them. But the profile of single mothers has changed dramatically since 1960, when only 4 percent were "never married." In previous decades, women became single mothers through divorce, desertion or death. In 2011, 44 percent of single moms were never married.
Who's Tracking Your Children?
The school year may be over for most American students, but parents must remain as vigilant as ever when it comes to protecting their children's privacy. Look no further than the shocking, invasive conduct of the Polk County, Fla., educational district last week. It's a surveillance-state sign of the times. Two days before their Memorial Day weekend break, kids from at least three different public schools -- Bethune Academy (K-5), Davenport School of the Arts (K-5, middle and high school), and Daniel Jenkins Academy (6-12) -- were subjected to iris scans without their parents' knowledge or consent. The scans are essentially optical fingerprints, which the school intended to collect to create a database of biometric information for school bus security.
Obama Is in Charge; This Is on Him
Well, let's see. Obama promised to get the economy moving, greatly improve our health care system and reduce its costs, give us the most transparent government, and usher in a new era of bipartisanship and racial harmony. Some 4 1/2 years into Obama's presidency, his economy is still as lethargic as a basset hound, and we're seeing disastrous developments on Obamacare. A smorgasbord of major scandals is unfolding, and we've got record levels of partisan angst and heightened racial tensions stoked by this administration. So many shocking stories are emerging that we probably miss half of them. Did you see the Washington Post report about how Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius personally asked health industry groups to contribute to Enroll America, a pro-Obamacare front group that is, according to The Heritage Foundation, working to "educate" the public about the law's supposed benefits?
Thursday, May 30, 2013
The ObamaCare Meltdown Begins
The IRS has already been caught stealing records -- and Dems fear consequences.
Oregon Medicaid Study Devastating for ObamaCare Backers
A recent study in the *New England Journal of Medicine* was devastating for proponents of ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion. It finds that (as far as physical health is concerned) there is no difference between being in Medicaid and being uninsured. This undoubtedly caused considerable anguish within the Democratic chambers in Congress and among the liberal health policy community. It's hard to exaggerate what a blow this is to the people who gave us the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). Everything about ObamaCare -- from the money we are spending to the damage being done to the labor market to the hassles the whole nation is going through -- depends on one central idea: that enrolling people in Medicaid will give them access to more health care and better health.
Send Us Your Violent Bigots, Yearning to Butcher Our Citizens
It's been a bad few weeks for cultural assimilation. Last month, two welfare-receiving immigrants in the United States, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, set off bombs at the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring hundreds. By the end of the week, they had murdered a cop and engaged in a wild shoot-out and bomb-throwing melee with the police. Last week, a couple of ethnic Nigerians butchered a British soldier with meat cleavers in broad daylight on a bustling street in a London suburb, then boasted about the murder in video interviews with bystanders. (On the bright side, they did not claim to be princes and ask for your life savings.)
Underreporting in Obamaland
Scandal after Obama scandal. Outrage upon Obama outrage. Remember the Benghazi cover-up story? Forget it. It's been thrown out like last week's garbage and is now buried deep in the mainstream media's landfill with previous underreported Obama scandals such as Solyndra and Fast and Furious.
This Is What Happens When You Fear Free Speech
Perhaps these Obama administration scandals (popularly referred to as "so-called scandals" in liberal media circles) lack the explosive drama of a Watergate and the entertainment value of Bill Clinton's peccadilloes, but for those who are less obsessed with the political consequences and more troubled by constitutional fallout, there's plenty to see. To begin with, the Internal Revenue Service scandal isn't just about the abuse of power; it's a byproduct of an irrational fear of free speech, which seems to permeate much of the left these days. The unprecedented targeting of conservatives wasn't incidental to this administration as much as it was an intuitive extension of the paranoia the left has about unfettered political expression.
CBS Anchorman's Clueless Apology
CBS news anchor Scott Pelley offered an apology -- for the wrong reason. "Our house is on fire," said the CBS News managing editor and evening anchor. Pelley, in a recent speech at Quinnipiac University, said: "Today, right now, as we occupy this house (of American journalism) that was built for us, our house is on fire. These have been a bad few months for journalism. We're getting the big stories wrong, over and over again." Oh, please, pass the Kleenex.
A Close Call at the Newseum
WASHINGTON -- Recently in Washington the Newseum was saved from what could have been a very embarrassing event. Or maybe the people who run the Newseum would not have been embarrassed, but the institution was saved anyway. The Newseum is an interactive museum dedicated to the study of news and journalism. It was going to honor two terrorists as journalists before genuine journalists intervened.
Impeach the S.O.B.!
For a long time, as much as I wanted to see Obama gone, I opposed the notion of Congress attempting to impeach him. I figured that with the Senate in the hands of Harry Reid, nothing would come of it. What's more, when it was attempted with Clinton, he came out at the other end more popular than ever, a martyr in the eyes of the Left. But I no longer care about the end result. I want Obama to go through the process because he has it coming. In totalitarian states, after all, the people have no other recourse except to take to the streets and spill blood. But we have available the process of impeachment, and Obama should be forced to defend his contemptible lies and actions.
A Ruling to Bark About
WASHINGTON -- Lord Byron was, according to one of his legion of lovers, "mad, bad and dangerous to know," but he also loved dogs, which explains his cameo appearance in a recent Texas Supreme Court opinion. It answered an interesting question in a way that shows how courts can avoid creating opportunities for trial lawyers. The eyes of Texas were upon the state's high court when it reaffirmed an 1891 ruling that because pets are personal property, a bereaved owner of a negligently killed dog can seek only economic damages, not emotional damages. A lower court had sided with the Medlen family, letting them sue for "loss of companionship" after their dog Avery escaped from their backyard, was captured by animal control officers and was mistakenly euthanized.
(Dole)ing Out Blame for Gridlock
Who doesn't admire former Republican Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole? Wounded World War II veteran, part-time comedian (Dole once described a meeting of former presidents Carter, Ford and Nixon as "see no evil, hear no evil -- and evil"), former presidential candidate and all-around decent man, Dole was a part of government for much of his life. Therein lies the problem for some who stay in politics and government so long that it is easy to lose perspective and think cutting deals is more important than winning the argument.
The Old Order Is Dying
Ideas of the 1960s have now grown reactionary in our world that is vastly different from a half-century ago. Take well-meaning subsidies for those over age 62. Why are there still senior discounts, vast expansions in Social Security and Medicare, and generous public pensions? Five decades ago all that made sense. There was no such thing as double-dipping. Seniors often were physically worn out from blue-collar jobs. They were usually poorer and frequently sicker than society in general. The aged usually died not long after they retired.
Unintended Consequences Often Bedevil Reformers
A thoughtful reformer targets the traditional rules of an aging institution that has retarded progress in the past. Time to modernize those rules, the reformer says, and prevent obstruction in the future. The trouble is that such reform efforts often prove counterproductive. New rules strengthen rather than weaken the aging institution. Unintended consequences abound. Three examples come to mind, the first from far away -- the British House of Lords.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
How Far Does 'Marriage Equality' Go?
It was during oral arguments in Hollingsworth v. Perry, one of two same-sex marriage cases the Supreme Court took up in March, that Justice Sonia Sotomayor raised the inescapable question, the one that has always loomed over the campaign to radically redefine marriage: Where would the changes end?
Obama on the Ropes
All right. It's darn near June of the off year. Over the past few weeks I've been writing like Grandma Moses painted: Sooooo very sweet. Well, that's over. I don't have to write a sweet column again until Back to School on Labor day, so as Bette Davis (as Margo Channing) said in "All About Eve" in 1950: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." The IRS is going to be the death of the Obama Administration.
Muslim Terror Is NOT on the Run
In the past two months, two horrific terrorist attacks have been perpetrated by Muslims. Obviously the killing of 3 and wounding of 270 people in Boston, as well as the beheading of a British solider in broad daylight in London are despicable occurrences. The only thing more despicable has been the willful denial of Barack Obama and David Cameron, both of whom are so infatuated with the odious concept of political correctness, they would seemingly countenance cultural suicide to preserve it.
Amnesty's Message: Send Us Your High School Dropouts
For much of our history, the sheer difficulty of getting to America and surviving here ensured the nation was stocked with immigrants who represented a sort of natural elite. No, these immigrants did not come from foreign aristocracies, nor need they come from any particular location, ethnic group or profession. But before Franklin Roosevelt began establishing an American welfare state, and before a series of Roosevelt's successors decided they would make no serious effort to secure our national borders, immigrants to America had at least two things in common: The ability to get to a place that was hard to reach and the ability to survive there on their own.