Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Voter-ID Insanity at DOJ Going to the United Nations
The Far Left is making an unprecedented two-track move to derail states' efforts to protect the integrity of the ballot box for this November's elections. While the Department of Justice (DOJ) is blocking state efforts, liberal activists are taking this issue to the United Nations as a human rights violation. Attorney General Eric Holder is invoking Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) as giving him the power to block Texas' voter-ID law, which simply requires that voters show that they are who they say they are before they cast a vote to influence an election outcome. This is the same argument Holder made to block South Carolina's voter-ID law, a move that has landed him in federal court.
Who's Really Bashing Women?
Our transparently feminist media are currently cranking their hyperbole machines in their War on Limbaugh. They are reporting -- chortling, really -- that Republicans have a huge problem with women voters. The Washington Post breathlessly reports that their poll found Democrats won by 25 points on "Cares more about issues that are especially important to women." But there's an enormous, deliberate, daily oversight by most of these pro-Obama journalists. They are choosing to ignore the vicious way liberal talk show hosts and comedians talk about women -- and not just conservative women -- on a regular basis. Many of them come from NBC and MSNBC.
The Vagina Diatribes
Did I miss the deadline for alternative opinions on Sandra Fluke? What with liberal women constantly talking about their vaginas suddenly pretending to be offended by the word "slut," and conservatives pretending to be as pussified as liberals about the nasty names they've been called, I never got an answer to the most pressing question about Sandra Fluke: Who are you again?
Messing With Texas and Deceiving the Public
Further burnishing his reputation as one of the most politically partisan U.S. Attorney Generals in the history of the republic, Eric Holder has had the Department of Justice (DOJ) file a complaint rejecting Texas's voter identification law under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, claiming its implementation "disproportionately harms" Hispanic voters. The move is virtually identical to the DOJ's rejection of a voter ID-law passed in South Carolina that federal officials contend adversely affects black voters. Both states have filed suits in U.S. District Court in Washington. But reality suggests that neither case will be resolved before the 2012 election.
Racial Quota Fallout
Many years ago, I learned of an episode in the life of a promising young black man that is relevant to things happening now. He had been educated at a good school, and went on to receive degrees at good colleges and universities. Then he went for a Ph.D. in mathematics at one of the leading departments in that field. When he encountered difficulties, his professors essentially wrote his doctoral thesis for him. No doubt they felt good about doing something to help a promising young black man, and perhaps took pride in doing so. But what about his pride?
Abortion's Slippery Slope: When People Aren't 'Persons'
Decades ago, when Roe v. Wade was decided, conservatives and many religious folks predicted that the country had begun an inevitable slide towards a murderous future: a time when certain people-in addition to unprotected pre-born children -- would be declared less valuable than others, their killing justified. Back then, liberal voices jeered at warnings of the slippery slope ahead. But those fears have become real. Medically sanctioned starvation and death-inducing dehydration are passed off as a "peaceful death" for the terminally ill or elderly. Our own President could not bring himself to vote, as an Illinois State Senator, to protect infants born alive after an abortion (they were simply left to die-which was what their mothers wanted, after all).
On Trial at Rutgers: Hate Crime or Thought Crime?
In a New Jersey courtroom on Monday, the defense rested in the trial of Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers freshman accused of using a webcam to spy on his roommate's intimate encounter with an older man. The roommate, Tyler Clementi, later committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge, and his death unleashed a national outcry about teen-age bullying and antigay persecution.
Campus Crackdown: Restricting Religious Freedom
Welcoming different viewpoints and beliefs is said to be one of the crowning glories of the modern university. Unless of course, your viewpoints and beliefs happen to be Christian. Sadly, back in 2010, the Supreme Court laid the groundwork for a disturbing trend that is spreading to campuses nationwide. In the case Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez, little noted at the time, the high court ruled that a public college may refuse to recognize a student organization if it restricts membership or leadership to students who share the group's core beliefs.
Where's Sharpton's Apology for Accusing a White Man of Raping a Black Teen?
"Meet the Press" host David Gregory asked his panel "where civility has gone in our public discourse." Incredibly, one panelist urged people to be more "mature" and not "poison the atmosphere." I say "incredibly" because this panelist was none other than the race-hustling, anti-Semitic "civil rights activist" and MSNBC talk show host, Al Sharpton. For some reason, Sharpton's own struggles with civility never came up. Nor did any panelist behave so rudely as to bring up Sharpton's role in one of the most hideous, disgusting and cynical uses of the race card this side of the O.J. Simpson case. And Sharpton, unlike Rush Limbaugh, refuses to apologize.
Ending Taxpayer Funding of Union Salaries
PHOENIX -- Sal DiCiccio says he’s sorry. It is, he says, no excuse that the complex labor contracts that he, as a member of the city council, voted to ratify for city employees were presented to the council less than a week before the vote. He says he should have seen that the contracts contain some indefensible, not to mention unconstitutional, provisions, such as those pertaining to "release time." Read on, and then find out if similar things are occurring in your community. They probably are.
What About Free Speech?
WASHINGTON -- For a couple of years now, I have been talking about the Kultursmog, the utterly polluted state of our political culture. Those who pollute it are the liberals. Kultursmog is the only form of pollution that they approve of, but they do approve of it mightily, and of course, they are the chief contributors to its noxious fumes. Now they are using it to kill off an American value prized by millions of Americans down through the centuries, free speech. As I say in another context, we are watching the death of liberalism.
Saving California
In less than 50 years they ruined my home state. They over-taxed it, over-regulated it and bankrupted it. They strangled its vibrant economy, destroyed its education system and let its infrastructure crumble. Who are these people who've turned the Golden State into Greece? Not Big Business. Not the rich. Not the poor. Not millions of immigrants from Des Moines or Juarez. "They" are the career politicians in Sacramento. Their excessive lawmaking, taxing and spending have transformed California into a European welfare state with a grim future.
It's Time to Focus on the Main Event
The media would like to drag the GOP primaries out as long as possible. For one thing, they relish Republicans trashing other Republicans. For another, they enjoy seeing the GOP squandering tens of millions of dollars that, as a result, they won't have available when the general election rolls around. I've made no secret of the fact that I believe that Mitt Romney is the candidate with the best chance of defeating Obama, whom I regard as the gravest menace, foreign or domestic, that this country has ever faced. When I think of the permanent damage he could do to America if given another four years and the opportunity to possibly replace the likes of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court, my blood runs cold.
Pundits Gasp as Economy Dents Obama's Poll Numbers
You can almost hear the note of surprise in their voices when you read the Washington Post and New York Times reporters' stories on their papers' latest political polls. Surprise! Just when they thought that Barack Obama was pulling ahead, with positive job ratings, and just after the mainstream media have been savaging Republicans for two words Rush Limbaugh uttered on his radio program, Obama's numbers seem to be tanking. Actually, the numbers are not so striking or so surprising. The media narrative for the last four weeks has been that the president's job approval has been rising in response to good economic news.
Being Human: Grief Is Not a Mental Illness
Last year, Dr. Marcia Angell began a two-part series in the New York Review of Books by writing, "It seems that Americans are in the midst of a raging epidemic of mental illness, at least as judged by the increase in the numbers being treated for it." Her use of the word "seems" told readers that Angell, who teaches at Harvard Medical School, was skeptical.
Compliant Americans
Last month, at a Raeford, N.C., elementary school, a teacher confiscated the lunch of a 5-year-old girl because it didn't meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines and therefore was deemed nonnutritious. She replaced it with school cafeteria chicken nuggets. The girl's home-prepared lunch was nutritious; it consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, potato chips, a banana and apple juice. But whether her lunch was nutritious or not is not the issue. The issue is governmental usurpation of parental authority. In a number of states, pregnant teenage girls may be given abortions without the notification or the permission of parents. The issue is neither abortion nor whether a pregnant teenager should have an abortion. The issue is this: What gives the government the authority to usurp parental authority?
What's the Matter with Soledad O'Brien?
CNN's Soledad O'Brien isn't used to criticism. In the world of media elites, she's a beloved figure and an award-winning news anchor. But last week, she revealed her true, decidedly non-neutral colors. And she's not happy about the hoi polloi questioning her hallowed journalistic objectivity. On Thursday, O'Brien interviewed Joel Pollak, editor-in-chief of the late Andrew Breitbart's online empire. Breitbart's BigGovernment.com released a 1991 video of Barack Obama (then a 30-year-old law student) at a Harvard rally embracing radical racialist Derrick Bell and his push for more aggressive race-based hiring at Harvard. Bell is a proponent of critical race theory (CRT), which posits that America remains a hopelessly racist country dominated by Jews and white supremacists.
If I Had a Rich Man: Wealthy Super PAC Donors Make Politics More Competitive
In the two weeks before this month's Super Tuesday primaries, The Wall Street Journal reports, "outside political action committees supporting the Republican presidential hopefuls spent three times as much as the candidates themselves." Rep. David Price, D-N.C., says the "undue influence" of these so-called super PACs, which can collect and spend as much as they want as long as they do not coordinate with candidates, "strikes at the heart of our democracy."
'All the Israeli Cities:' Saddam's Taped Order for Targeting WMDs
It was January 1991. Half a million U.S. and allied troops were deployed in Saudi Arabia ready to roll north. Backed by a vote just taken -- or about to be taken -- in Congress and a U.N. Security Council resolution, President George H.W. Bush had delivered an ultimatum to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein: Withdraw your forces from Kuwait by Jan. 15 -- or else. The week before the deadline, Saddam met with his air force commander, Muzahim Sa'b Hasan al Masiri, and his son-in-law, Husayn Kamil -- the minister responsible for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Obama's Pump Debacle
As gasoline prices climb, President Obama's poll numbers plummet. In February, a Washington Post/ABC poll had Obama up 6 points against Mitt Romney. Monday's poll has him down 2. According to the polls, gas prices are a huge part of the story, particularly given how the last 30 days or so have not exactly been great for the GOP. No wonder Obama is desperate to get out in front of the issue. The dilemma is that he's invested so much of his prestige in his energy policies that he can't admit those policies have been an abject failure. But he also can't have people thinking his policies are responsible for the energy price Americans care about most: gasoline.