Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Romney Told Catholic Hospitals to Administer Abortion Pills
A defining moment in Mitt Romney's post-pro-life-conversion political career came in his third year as governor of Massachusetts, when he decided Catholic hospitals would be required under his interpretation of a new state law to give rape victims a drug that can induce abortions. Romney announced this decision -- saying it was the "right thing for hospitals" to do -- just two days after he had taken the opposite position.
Pettifogged Into Silence
FOUNTAIN HILLS, Ariz. -- Dina Galassini does not seem to pose a threat to Arizona's civic integrity. But the government of this desert community believes you cannot be too careful. And state law empowers local governments to be vigilant against the lurking danger that political speech might occur before the speakers notify the government and comply with all the speech rules. Last October, Galassini became annoyed -- like many Ron Paul supporters, she is easily annoyed by government -- about the city's plan to augment its spending with a $29.6 million bond issue, to be voted on by mail by Nov. 8. On Oct. 6, she sent emails to 23 friends and acquaintances, urging them to write letters to newspapers and join her in two demonstrations against the bond measure. On Oct. 12, before she could organize the demonstrations, she received a stern letter from the town clerk: "I would strongly encourage you to cease any campaign-related activities until the requirements of the law have been met."
Three Cheers for Romneycare!
If only the Democrats had decided to socialize the food industry or housing, Romneycare would probably still be viewed as a massive triumph for conservative free-market principles -- as it was at the time. It's not as if we had a beautifully functioning free market in health care until Gov. Mitt Romney came along and wrecked it by requiring that Massachusetts residents purchase their own health insurance. In 2007, when Romneycare became law, the federal government alone was already picking up the tab for 45.4 percent of all health care expenditures in the country.
Outrageous Choice: Religious Freedom or Healthcare?
I've told you that the Obama Administration is intentionally restricting religious freedom. I've told you we are in danger of losing the right to exercise our faith in public. Well, maybe I've been too understated. The attack is relentless. Just recently, the Obama Administration announced that the Affordable Healthcare Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare, requires that employers pay for contraception, including abortifacients, and that Catholic institutions are not exempt from this requirement.
Gen. Boykin Blocked at West Point
A three-star Army general and war hero cannot speak at West Point because he's an outspoken Christian. So the Obama administration's hostility toward religion -- and especially Christians -- continues even to the detriment of our men and women in uniform. Lieutenant General William G. ("Jerry") Boykin is like an action-movie hero. When the super-elite Delta Force was formed in late 1970s -- our top counter-insurgent military unit that the Pentagon still does not officially discuss -- this ranger in the 101st Airborne unit was tapped to be part of it.
Not Newt!
Recently, I received word from a friend named Jack who let me know in no uncertain terms why he was backing Newt Gingrich and turning his back on Mitt Romney. Mainly, he seemed to like Newt because of his rousing attacks on the media and Obama. When it came to Romney, he used such demeaning terms as "non-patriotic mute," "phony" and that old reliable, "RINO." The truth is, if he was the only person I know who felt that way, I wouldn't be terribly concerned. But I have received similar messages from a couple of other friends. And like Jack, these are people dedicated to the conviction that the only way to save America from four more years of Obama's expansion of the federal government, war on capitalism, gutting of the military and putting his stamp on the Supreme Court for decades to come, is by electing a Republican president in November.
Obama's Racial Politics
There's been a heap of criticism placed upon President Barack Obama's domestic policies that have promoted government intrusion and prolonged our fiscal crisis and his foreign policies that have emboldened our enemies. Any criticism of Obama pales in comparison with what might be said about the American people who voted him in to the nation's highest office.
Complexity Compounded
In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama used billionaire investor Warren Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanek, as a prop to illustrate the unfairness of our tax system. "Right now," he said as Bosanek sat near first lady Michelle Obama, "Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary." Commentators spent the next week speculating about what Obama meant. Was he referring to marginal rates or effective rates? On taxable income or adjusted gross income? Was he talking about federal income taxes or payroll taxes, as well? If the latter, was he counting the so-called employer's share or just the employee's share? What about state income taxes?
Political Finger-Pointing
Jesse Jackson is right. In response to the face-off in Arizona between President Obama and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer last week, Jackson said, "Even George Wallace did not put his finger in Dr. King's face." And it's true; he didn't. Similarly, not even Josef Stalin wrote two autobiographies the way Obama has. And even Genghis Khan didn't have a Swiss bank account the way Mitt Romney did.
Jan Brewer vs. Shoe-Tossing Journalist
The photograph of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer pointing a finger at President Obama on the tarmac at the Phoenix airport brought out the worst in amateur psychoanalysis from our media elite. No one had an audiotape or videotape of what was said but just the finger-pointing image somehow was definitive evidence of profound disrespect. These same journalists were not only unfazed but also actually downright amused back in 2008, when an Iraqi journalist in Baghdad threw two shoes at President Bush's head. That man, they said, was an "instant hero." Over and over, they replayed the footage, each time laughing just a bit harder.
The NYPD Caves to CAIR
On Monday, the New York Post reported on a website where would-be jihadists have been "meticulously dissecting" convicted terrorist Faisal Shahzad's failure to detonate a car bomb in Times Square in 2010. The purpose of this dissection is to improve the chances of the next bomber's ability to carry out a mission of destruction. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who has distributed these analyses to law enforcement officials, consider them critical in understanding violent jihad. Thus, it is a little more than ironic that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has been brow-beaten by the American left and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to stop showing the anti-extremist film, The Third Jihad to police personnel. Thankfully, some Muslims have seen through the political intimidation. Enter Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD).
Centurions Go Global: Christian Worldview Abroad
There are few things I'm more passionate about than the truth of the Christian worldview and preparing Christians to live it out in every area of life. That's why I love our Centurions Program. Our Centurions dedicate themselves to a year of intensive Christian worldview study. They learn to share and defend their faith winsomely while confronting faulty worldviews, particularly naturalistic materialism, which has begun to dominate the West. But the West isn't the only part of the planet in dire need of the truth.
First, They Came for the Catholics
President Obama and his radical feminist enforcers have had it in for Catholic medical providers from the get-go. It's about time all people of faith fought back against this unprecedented encroachment on religious liberty. First, they came for the Catholics. Who's next? This weekend, Catholic bishops informed parishioners of the recent White House edict forcing religious hospitals, schools, charities and other health and social service providers to provide "free" abortifacient pills, sterilizations and contraception on demand in their insurance plans -- even if it violates their moral consciences and the teachings of their churches.
Policing the World
With an election approaching and at least some Americans upset about irresponsible spending, the president has finally expressed a political interest in cutting something. He says the Pentagon will spend "only" $525 billion next year. That's slightly less than the current $531 billion. A cut is good, but this will barely dent the deficit. We could save much more if America assumed a military policy designed for defense rather than policing the world. Presidential candidate Ron Paul gets criticized for advocating that. Paul's opponents, including many of my colleagues, complain about his "isolationist foreign policy."
They Have Islamist Fanatics, We Have Secularist Fanatics
The Muslim world is threatened by religious fanaticism. The Western world is threatened by secular fanaticism. Both seek to dominate society and to use state power to do so. Both seek to eliminate the Other -- for Islamic fanatics, that means non-Muslim religions and secularism; for secular fanatics, it means Christianity and virtually any public invoking of God. The Islamists impose Sharia law; the American Civil Liberties Union and the left generally impose secular law. The Taliban wiped out public vestiges of Buddhism in Afghanistan; the ACLU and its allies seek to wipe out public vestiges of Christianity in America -- as it did, for example, in Los Angeles County, when it successfully pressured the County Board of Supervisors to remove the tiny cross from the county seal. A city and county founded by Catholics -- hence the name "The Angels" -- was forced to stop commemorating its founders because they were religious.
Brave New Technology
If two recent court decisions are any indication, technology and privacy are at increasing loggerheads with each other. Last Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States (SOTUS) ruled that attaching a Global Positioning System (GPS) device to a suspect's vehicle cannot be done without first obtaining a search warrant. But in another ruling on the same day, Colorado U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ordered a Colorado woman to decrypt her own laptop computer so that prosecutors may use any evidence produced against her in a criminal case. The judge dismissed the defendant's contention that doing so would constitute a violation of the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination.
Savaging Newt
I am somewhat mystified -- and dismayed -- by the spectacle of a lot of so-called conservatives who weren't around in the 1980s dropping Ronald Reagan's name to promote themselves while they go about slandering Newt Gingrich who, like my dad, was there in the '80s and '90s and also helped him elect more Republicans than anyone else in recent memory. It's long been an unfortunate characteristic of too many Republicans to engage in internecine warfare -- standing in a circle as they fire volleys at each other. The current fashion of the day is to take aim and fire at one of the GOP's most storied and valuable members, doing Obama's work towards destroying Newt Gingrich in advance of the 2012 presidential election.
Let's Honor, Not Stretch, the Buckley Rule
In the intense heat of the present, it is easy to forget even the relatively recent past, but it seems to me that this GOP primary season is more acrimonious than the past few, probably because the stakes are so high.
Gambling Insanity: Political Chicanery and Cowardice
A well-known expression attributed to Albert Einstein defines insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Well, if that's insanity, then most state officials are quite insane when it comes to gambling: for more than two decades, they have looked to casinos, lotteries, slot machines, and video poker as a way out of their budgetary woes.
War Through Weakness?
One of the memorable slogans from the Reagan administration was "peace through strength." Reagan believed a strong defense was a safeguard against enemy attacks and the best hope of victory should America go to war. President Obama is taking the opposite approach. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently announced cuts in defense spending of $487 billion over the next 10 years. Supposedly, these cuts will reduce the federal deficit, but Congress always finds new ways to spend money, so I am not optimistic.