Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Honored to Serve
A beautiful day in Dallas -- fair skies, temps in the high 60s -- thousands of people came out to witness something that is so uniquely American that I'm not certain it survives translation into other languages. The dedication of a Presidential library is not a regular or usual event. There are only 13 such libraries in the Presidential library system. The first was Franklin Delano Roosevelt; the most recent is George W. Bush. Other private or non-profit organizations house the collected papers and memorabilia from previous Presidents but now the process is more systematized.
Aftermath
WASHINGTON -- More than 2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote "The Art of War." In it, the Chinese strategist postulated: "One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundred engagements. ... One who knows neither the enemy nor himself will invariably be defeated." Two millenniums later, Prussian military theorist Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz wrote a detailed exposition on the principles of warfare. His book "On War" -- published after his death in 1831 -- posits, inter alia, that inadequate, incomplete or incorrect intelligence will inevitably contribute to the "fog of war" and lead to "unexpected developments" that can obscure "the objective" in a conflict.
Hollywood and Post-Boston 'Xenophobia'
As much as liberals had their fingers crossed after the Boston Marathon bombings -- please don't let it be a Muslim, please don't let it be a Muslim -- that's who the terrorists were. All that wishing and hoping is based on the very ugly premise that "middle America" is a cesspool of bigotry and hate, a sentiment shared by Muslim terrorists. Their quickest stereotype is that the vast majority of Americans traffic only in stereotypes. The hayseeds outside the elite media and universities don't have the brains to make nuanced distinctions between the Tsarnaev brothers and say, Muslim winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. It's only a matter of time before the Hollywood elites chip in with their own brand of condescension. It's at the heart of the new movie "The Reluctant Fundamentalist." Kiefer Sutherland, who played terrorist-busting Jack Bauer on "24" for nine years, was thrilled to be in a movie that showed the response to 9/11 attacks had a "ripple effect" that resulted in "the things I hate the most: racism, prejudice, ignorance, fear."
Could We Have Caught the Boston Bombers Earlier?
Twelve years after September 11, our intelligence and federal law enforcement agencies still haven't fixed the data-sharing problems that make us vulnerable to more attacks. It's difficult to reach any other conclusion after unnamed counterterrorism officials at the CIA this week revealed that Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev remained in their system as a person with possible ties to terrorism, while the FBI had closed its investigation into the man. If this information had been shared between the agencies and the FBI had continued to monitor his activities, could the bombing have been prevented? That is a question no one can answer definitively. It may be that our laws still would not have given the FBI sufficient authority to track him. And the sheer number of individuals whose profiles suggest they pose similar risks may simply overwhelm our ability to keep a close eye on all of them.
A National Security History Lesson for Marco Rubio
Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio seems well meaning enough. As second-generation conservative Americans, I know we both share a common passion for this great land of opportunity. But when it comes to comprehending the real agenda of the open-borders zealots he's allied himself with, Rubio doesn't have a clue. And his abject ignorance threatens all of us who cherish American sovereignty and exceptionalism. On Fox News' "The Sean Hannity Show" Tuesday night, Rubio defended his Gang of Eight "immigration reform" bill and insisted that we could and should have a system in place that vets foreign tourists and short-term visa holders based on their "national security" profiles.
Why 'War' Is Interested in You!
One of the most famous sayings of the Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky was this: "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." It's one of the few correct things that violent Communist ever said. President Obama is clearly not interested in war. And he has stacked his administration with people who are similarly not interested. This is especially true when it comes to Islamist terrorists. They may make war on us, but to Mr. Obama and his team, these are "man-caused disasters" or, preferably, domestic crimes to be dealt with in the normal course of the administration of justice. Catch them mass murdering here, then read them their Miranda rights, let them be "lawyered up" with free counsel. Members of what former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy calls "the al Qaeda bar" can always be found to represent those accused of mass murderers *pro bono*.
The Bush Legacy
WASHINGTON -- Clare Boothe Luce liked to say that "a great man is one sentence." Presidents, in particular. The most common "one sentence" for George W. Bush (whose legacy is being reassessed as his presidential library opens) is: "He kept us safe." Not quite right. He did not just keep us safe. He created the entire anti-terror infrastructure that continues to keep us safe. That homage was paid, wordlessly, by Barack Obama, who vilified Bush's anti-terror policies as a candidate, then continued them as president: indefinite detention, rendition, warrantless wiretaps, special forces and drone warfare and, most notoriously, Guantanamo, which Obama so ostentatiously denounced -- until he found it indispensable.
The Hatred in the Heart of White America
It was cool and rainy Sunday morning when the bomb ripped through the building. At 10:22, a group of children was just heading into the basement to hear a sermon at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. According to a Washington Post account at the time: Dozens of survivors, their faces dripping blood from the glass that flew out of the church's stained glass windows, staggered around the building in a cloud of white dust raised by the explosion. Four girls were killed. The head of one little girl was found far from her body. Twenty-two others were injured. Wandering through his devastated church, the Rev. John H. Cross found a megaphone and asked the enraged and stunned crowd to disperse. "The Lord is our shepherd," he sobbed, "we shall not want."
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Lessons Learned in Boston
The beautiful Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs in Simi Valley, Calif., was the last place I expected to be reminded of the violence that paralyzed the city of Boston last week and turned it into a mini-Baghdad. But I was reading my father's presidential dairies and there it was in his very first entry -- the issue of terrorism and how to fight it. On Jan. 26, 1981, on his first Monday on the job, Ronald Reagan wrote that he called the FBI, the CIA and other intelligence agencies into an Oval Office meeting to find better ways of sharing information with each other on terrorists.
No Boundaries, Big Problem
One of the consequences of abandoning a standard by which right and wrong can be judged is our increasing inability to mete out punishment that fits the crime. In fact, too often we weigh extenuating circumstances rather than guilty actions. In the case of the Boston bombers, observers search for reasons why the attacks occurred. But the failure to view the attackers as anything other than simply guilty and judge them accordingly, is similar to the U.S. government's attitude toward the Middle East, which often sees Israel as the major impediment to peace. There is little expectation that Israel's enemies be held accountable, much less punished for terrorist acts, hateful rhetoric against Jews and their refusal to reciprocate Israel's peace offerings. The irrational reasoning goes that we must work to understand why they hate and kill, not hold them accountable for hating and killing. The Tsarnaev brothers are killers. They should be punished as killers.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev: A Product of an All-American Left-Wing Education?
That the older Boston bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, became a terrorist strikes one as disturbing. That younger brother Dzhokhar also became a terrorist strikes one as frightening. Adjusting to new country can be trying and stressful. The brothers' parents came to America, only to return to Russia. Tamerlan came at age 16. A widely reported quote attributed to Tamerlan from 2010 says: "I don't have one American friend. I don't understand them." According to his aunt, Tamerlan became a devout Muslim. He reportedly once stood up and shouted down his imam for praising Martin Luther King. One shocked witness recalled Tamerlan yelling, "You cannot mention this guy because he's not a Muslim!" So teenager Tamerlan found adjusting to America difficult. But how to explain Dzhokhar, who came to America a year earlier than his brother, at the age of 8?
Bombs & Other Disasters
I've been holding off writing anything about the horrific events at the Boston Marathon until the suspect or suspects had been arrested because until then, I couldn't see any point in discussing it. Then it occurred to me that what I was overlooking was the way that every other media outlet has covered the story. That first night, even Fox devoted every single second to repeating the few facts anyone knew and showing the same ten seconds of video. I'm not suggesting that the catastrophe could or should have been ignored. But without knowing who set off the bombs, what was the point of the endless coverage? Did people really think that if they didn't stay tuned 24/7, they would somehow miss out on the news that the FBI had captured the creeps?
As Bush Stays Silent, His Reputation Steadily Gains
Tomorrow, the George W. Bush Presidential Center will be dedicated at Southern Methodist University in Texas. It's a good time to look back on the performance of the 43rd president, who has been almost entirely missing from the public stage these past four years. It's widely assumed that Bush is generally despised by the public. The perceptive American Interest blogger Walter Russell Mead stirred the ire of some former Bush aides when he recommended that Republicans avoid any defense of his record and move on to new issues. But perhaps Bush's name is not mud any more. The Washington Post/ABC poll asked respondents to rate Bush's performance for the first time since December 2008, when only 33 percent rated it positively and 66 percent rated it negatively.
Immigration Gambles: Part II
Whose interests are immigration laws supposed to serve -- and whose interests do current immigration reform proposals actually serve? In order to have any immigration policy serve any purpose, the border must first be secured. Otherwise American immigration policy exists only on paper, and is mocked by what happens on the ground, as masses of people cross the border illegally, in disregard of whatever policies are embodied in our laws. Moreover, all the people who cross the border from Mexico are not Mexican. They can easily include Middle East terrorists. The fact that this obvious threat has been blithely ignored for years, in order to get political leverage for "comprehensive" immigration reform, suggests that importing more potential voters for the Democrats has a higher priority in some quarters than safeguarding the country.
A Crazy Culture
WASHINGTON -- It has come to my attention that there is a new derogatory term in American politics. It is "Angry White Male." Moreover, I am apparently a member of this low-down grouping of Americanos. According to Wikipedia, "the free encyclopedia," the term delineates a male who is "characterized by opposition to racial quotas, political correctness, affirmative action, anti-discrimination policies and other liberal policies." With the possible exception of "anti-discrimination policies," that pretty much describes my politics, though I would add a few other prejudices into the mix such as advocacy of free market economics, opposition to socialism or any form of statism, opposition to totalitarianism and preference for caf‚ noir. Actually, I would doubt that the preference for such policies is the exclusive enthusiasm of Angry White Males. Most of the women I know and admire also are with me on these political issues and most of my non-white friends -- women and men -- are as well. All of us feel that these values have done a lot of good for America. Yet, up there in the Kultursmog -- in that rarefied stratosphere where American culture is supposedly determined -- these values are presented as inimical to the good life.
The D-Word
Deportation has become a near-taboo word. Yet the recent Boston bombings inevitably rekindle old questions about the way the U.S. admits, or at times deports, foreign nationals. Despite the Obama administration's politically driven and cyclical claims of deporting either a lot more or a lot fewer non-citizens, no one knows how many are really being sent home -- for a variety of reasons. There are not any accurate statistics on how many people are living in the United States illegally. And how does one define deportation? If someone from Latin American is detained by authorities an hour after illegally crossing the border, does he count as "apprehended" or "deported"?
The Shame of Deference
WASHINGTON -- Two of the three most infamous Supreme Court decisions were erased by events. The Civil War and postwar constitutional amendments effectively overturned Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), which held that blacks could never have rights that whites must respect. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which upheld legally enforced segregation, was undone by court decisions and legislation. Korematsu v. United States (1944), which affirmed the president's wartime power to sweep Americans of disfavored racial groups into concentration camps, elicited a 1988 congressional apology. Now Peter Irons, founder of the Earl Warren Bill of Rights Project at the University of California, San Diego, is campaigning for a Supreme Court "repudiation" of the Korematsu decision and other Japanese internment rulings.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
There's Nothing Fair About the Marketplace Fairness Act
If truth-in-labeling rules applied to Congress, the proposed law giving states the power to collect sales tax from out-of-state online retailers would be named the Marketplace *Un*fairness Act. Sponsored by Senator Mike Enzi, a Wyoming Republican, and fast-tracked to the Senate floor this week, the legislation would strip away protections that have been in place for decades, unleashing tax-hungry states on merchants they aren't answerable to and tilting the playing field against small Internet retailers.
W.
The Mullings Director of Standards & Practices and I are heading to Dallas for the opening of the Presidential library of George W. Bush on Thursday. I know that there will be many who, echoing the outpouring of venom in Great Britain upon the death of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, will elbow their way in front of TV cameras to be as ugly as necessary to get on the air. I can't fix that, and I won't try.