Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Listen Up, O'Reilly!
There are only two daily shows I watch on Fox. The first is Bret Baier's "Special Report." The other is Bill O'Reilly's "The Factor." Because I record everything I watch, I am able to fast forward through the commercials on Baier's show. When it comes to O'Reilly, I will often fast forward not only through his commercials, but through segments in which Bob Beckel, Leslie Marshall, Alan Colmes, Geraldo Rivera, Juan Williams, Lis Wiehl, Kimberly Guilfoyle and/or Marc Lamont Hill, appear. Some nights, I can fly through the entire hour in about eight or nine minutes. In fact, if it weren't for Bernie Goldberg, Charles Krauthammer, Megyn Kelly, Lou Dobbs and, to a lesser degree, Dennis Miller, I wouldn't tune in at all. A while back, I got caught up in watching O'Reilly get fired up over same-sex marriages. One night, he claimed that too many people who opposed them did so for no other reason than their religious beliefs, and he didn't think that "Bible-thumpers" were in a position to persuade those who disagreed with them. I had to concede his point. After all, if people weren't religious, it stood to reason that they wouldn't be swayed by arguments based on gospel.
Iran's North Korean Future
The idea of a nuclear Iran -- and of preventing a nuclear Iran -- terrifies security analysts. Those who argue for a preemptive strike against Iran cannot explain exactly how American planes and missiles would take out all the subterranean nuclear facilities without missing a stashed nuke or two -- or whether they might as well expand their target lists to Iranian military assets in general. None can predict the fallout on world oil prices, global terrorism and the politically fragile Persian Gulf, other than that it would be uniformly bad. In contrast, those who favor containment of a nuclear Iran do not quite know how the theocracy could be deterred -- or how either Israel or the regional Sunni Arab regimes will react to such a powerful and unpredictable neighbor.
Thatcher Insisted on Facing Hard, Uncomfortable Truths
"Divisive." That's a word that appeared, often prominently, in many news stories reporting the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. One senses the writers' disapproval. You're not likely to find "divisive" in stories reporting the deaths of liberal leaders, although every electoral politician divides voters. "Divisive" here refers to something specific. It was Margaret Thatcher's special genius that she systematically rejected the conventional wisdom, almost always well-intentioned, of the political establishment. Instead, she insisted on hard, uncomfortable truths.
The Iron Lady and the Blonde
WASHINGTON -- On the occasion of Lady Thatcher's death, there is widespread admiration and even applause for her premiership, but surely there ought to be gratitude too. After all, without her -- and without President Ronald Reagan -- the poor would be much poorer and without hope of bettering themselves. That was socialism's notion of equal opportunity. Moreover, we might all be living in a world devastated by nuclear war. I do not know what the conditions of that world would be, but I am grateful not to live in it and my guess is that the vast majority of inhabitants of the former Soviet Union and its satellites are grateful too. Of course, there are some who wish that Lady Thatcher had never lived. They think that the poor are poor because of her (and of Reagan), and as for the post-Cold War world, I have not a clue as to what they think. Maybe they attribute today's peace among the world's nuclear powers to Mikhail Gorbachev or to the Tooth Fairy. They certainly do not thank Lady Thatcher or that stupid actor.
The Lady Was a Champ
MANCHESTER, England -- There is a story about Margaret Thatcher, which is probably apocryphal, but speaks volumes about the strength of Britain's first female prime minister, who died Monday at age 87. Following her election in 1979, the story goes that Thatcher took her all-male cabinet out to dinner. The waiter asked what she would like. "I'll have the beef," she said. The waiter asked, "What about the vegetables?" "They'll have the same," Thatcher replied. "Thatcher Saved Britain," read a headline in the Daily Telegraph. No, Thatcher inspired citizens of Great Britain to have less faith in government and more self-reliance, so that they could save themselves. Ronald Reagan tried to do the same for America.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
A Short History of Guns and Sexual Inadequacy
Everyone knows that white males own guns to compensate for a lack of manhood.
Throwing in the Towel on Obama
Barack Obama's second term is off to a very bad start. Even Liberal commentators -- at least those with any credibility -- are suggesting it may be time for him to lead more and campaign less. Obama brought a plane load (Air Force One) of relatives of victims of the horror in Newtown to lobby Senators on the eve of a procedural vote, now scheduled for tomorrow, on a gun control bill.
Is Health Care Spending Good for the Economy?
The Obama administration is encouraging state governments to expand their Medicaid programs to access a pile of new federal funding. But in doing so the administration is promising more than those federal funds can probably deliver: economic growth. The White House, hospitals, and the unions that represent hospital employees often argue health care spending is good for the economy. They tout the benefits of "economic activity" that additional Medicaid funds might create. The federal stimulus of 2008 is cited as an example; for three years -- 2008 to 2010 -- the federal government paid a larger share of Medicaid spending. Purportedly, health care spending creates jobs, and efforts to slow spending would harm job creation.
The Essence of Thatcherism
America under Jimmy Carter was unhappy and in decline, its economy crippled with stagflation, its diplomats held hostage in Tehran, and its befuddled president clueless before a seemingly unstoppable Soviet empire. "Malaise" became a catchword, and to Ronald Reagan's simple but withering query -- "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" -- Americans overwhelmingly answered: No. But the gloom was far worse in Britain, a fiscal and moral wreck that was being called the "sick man of Europe." Suffocating from Labor Party socialism, paralyzed by public-sector strikes, staggering under high taxes and double-digit inflation, Britain was visibly decaying at home and increasingly irrelevant abroad. That was the demoralized, debilitated nation that turned to Margaret Thatcher in 1979, sending her to 10 Downing Street for what would turn out to be the longest tenure of any British prime minister of the 20th century.
California Considers Mandated Insurance for 'Gay Infertility'
For decades, members of the left have insisted that the right is fighting a war on science. But when it comes to the issues of abortion and homosexuality, it is the left that fights a consistent and ridiculous war with reality. This week, Wesley Smith of the Weekly Standard reported that California would be considering AB 460, a bill that would mandate group insurance coverage for so-called gay and lesbian "infertility." What in the world does that bizarre phrase mean? It doesn't mean situations in which two members of a lesbian couple are both infertile and incapable of conception using some third party's sperm. It doesn't mean situations in which two gay men are both infertile and incapable of impregnating a surrogate mother. It means situations in which gay or lesbian couples can't make a baby by having sex with each other.
When Government and Health Care Converge, Socialism Begins
The most ominous trend in America's employment data is not the number of people who have left the labor force, but the number who are now working either for the government or in the as-yet-still-private sector of the health care industry. Health care has boomed under Obama, according to data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. When Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, there were 13,436,700 jobs in the private health care industry; by this March, there were 14,516,600. Over the past four years, America has created 1,079,900 new jobs in the private-sector health care industry.
Remembering (and Forgetting) Thatcher
The legendary British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died, and the national media tried to pay their respects, not only for breaking Britain's "glass ceiling" with a "bruising" political style, but for transforming Britain and helping wind down the Cold War. Still, Thatcher was a conservative and one of Ronald Reagan's staunchest friends in the world, so you can be sure these journalists were Thatcher-bashers when she was in power. Some of them were American anchors and reporters. Let's start with a few quotes from long after she left 10 Downing Street. On Nov. 19, 1999, NBC reporter Jim Avila brought the liberal contempt in a story on a sex scandal in higher education: "Hillsdale College is supposed to be different: a liberal arts college where liberals are unwanted, where Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan are regarded as heroic deep thinkers, prayer is encouraged and morality is taught alongside grammar."
Obama's Abuse of Dead Children
"This is about doing the right thing for all the families who are here that have been torn apart by gun violence," President Obama declared on Monday, promoting his "common-sense gun safety reforms" in a speech at the University of Hartford, where the audience included parents of children who were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in nearby Newtown last December. "This is not about politics." Unless you disagree with him. "There is only one thing that can stand in the way of change," Obama said, "and that's politics in Washington." Members of Congress have a simple choice to make, he explained: "What's more important to you -- our children, or an A grade from the gun lobby?"
What 'the Iron Lady' Forged
In 1975, when asked to explain why Margaret Thatcher was poised to take over the Tory Party, the irascible British satirist Malcolm Muggeridge replied that it was all due to television -- and the fact that the telegenic Thatcher had a "certain imbecile charm." That was one of the nicer things said about an "imbecile" who earned a degree in chemistry from Oxford and became a lawyer while studying at home. (She sent her bar application to the maternity ward while recovering from delivering twins.) One lesson here is that being underestimated is a great gift in politics. Ronald Reagan was dubbed an "amiable dunce" before he was known as the "Teflon president," and Thatcher had imbecile charm before she was dubbed -- by the Soviets -- the "Iron Lady."
Tests and Tiger Moms
New York City's Stuyvesant High School is one of those all too rare public schools for intellectually outstanding students. Such students are often bored to death in schools where the work is geared to the lowest common denominator, and it is by no means uncommon for very bright students to become behavior problems. Recent statistics on the students who passed the examination to get into Stuyvesant High School raise troubling questions that are unlikely to receive the kind of serious answers they deserve. These successful applicants included 9 black students, 24 Latino students, 177 white students and 620 Asian Americans. Since this is definitely not the ethnic makeup of the general population of New York City, we can expect to hear the usual sort of comments from those who are in the business of being indignant and offended.
No Tears for Lynne Stewart
The jihadists' favorite American lawyer, Lynne Stewart, reportedly has stage-4 breast cancer. Her radical friends -- ranging from the "Party for Socialism and Liberation" and "Workers World" to Pete Seeger, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal -- want her freed from jail. There's only one decent response to the Lynne Stewart Fan Club's criminal-coddling demand: No, hell, no. The way the bleeding hearts tell it, this harmless grandma got thrown in the slammer by Big Bad Bush merely because she was "distributing press releases on behalf of her jailed client, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman." Oh, the outrageous inhumanity! How could America the Cruel do this to an innocent little old lady serving the cause of "social justice"? How can they just let her suffer and perish behind bars? All she did was "distribute press releases."
Black Unemployment
A couple of weeks ago, Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson, speaking at The National Press Club, said the nation "would never tolerate white unemployment at 14 and 15 percent." Black unemployment has been double that of white Americans for more than 50 years. The black youth unemployment rate is more than 40 percent nationally. In some cities, unemployment for black working-age males is more than 50 percent. Let's look at this, but first let's look at some history. From 1900 to 1954, blacks were more active than whites in the labor market. Until about 1960, black male labor force participation in every age group was equal to or greater than that of whites. During that period, black teen unemployment was roughly equal to or less than white teen unemployment. As early as 1900, the duration of black unemployment was 15 percent shorter than that of whites; today it's about 30 percent longer. To do something about today's employment picture requires abandonment of sacred cows and honesty.
In Defense of Religious Liberty
Recently, Jay Michaelson wrote a piece for The Daily Beast titled "The 'Religious Liberty' Bullies and Their Fight Against LGBT Equality." In it, he suggests that those who oppose same-sex marriage for religious reasons are the same as the racists who opposed desegregation laws. He calls those who protect religious liberty, and who therefore are willing to stick up for the rights of religious people who oppose same-sex marriage, insincere and "racist," as well. "Today is a different age -- but the players, and the rhetoric, are the same," he states. Later on, he says that defenders of religious liberty are "simply repurposing an old, racist rhetoric to fight the same social battles as always." There are three points to be made here. One, there can be no comparison between the fight for racial equality and the movement for same-sex marriage. Two, supporting the traditional definition of marriage is not the same (or even akin) to supporting institutionalized racism. Three, concerns about religious liberty are both sincere and valid, especially regarding the social trends Michaelson discusses in both his article and a related report he recently released.
Government Plays Favorites
People say government must "help the little guy, promote equality, level the playing field." People often go into government to do that. But even when people mean well, it's natural for them to help out their cronies. David Stockman, who ran the Office of Management and Budget under Ronald Reagan, was criticized for saying the government's budget numbers didn't add up. But he was right. Now, in his book "The Great Deformation," he says both major political parties failed ordinary Americans when the housing bubble burst, and they rushed to bail out cronies at big banks. Government continues to threaten our future by printing gobs of money and guaranteeing trillions in loans to banks, homeowners, students and other politically connected groups.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Provocative? Yes. Hateful? No.
Two weeks ago I wrote a column encouraging churches to take a moral stand and make their voices heard as the Supreme Court deliberates the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, which voters in my home state approved in 2008 to ban same-sex marriage. I pointed out that the fight over Proposition 8 is not just about the legality of gay marriage; it's part of a larger effort by some factions to change the culture. In that context I wrote: "There is also a very slippery slope leading to other alternative relationships and the unconstitutionality of any law based on morality. Think about polygamy, bestiality, and perhaps even murder." Was that a provocative statement? Yes, but it was designed to provoke thought about worst-case scenarios and the value of morality in our society.