Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Students Share Penn State Shame
The initial shock of the child abuse scandal at Penn State was disturbing enough, but what came later may have been even more so. That Joe Paterno, other coaches and members of the administration failed in a straightforward, utterly uncomplicated moral task -- to protect defenseless children from rape -- is almost mind numbing. No weighing of competing interests or complex variables was required. On one hand, you had children being abused and, on the other, the reputation of a hugely profitable football program. They chose the football program!
Thank God for the American Spirit
As we head into Thanksgiving, life's pretty rough for many Americans. A new survey shows that our national pessimism is at an all-time low, particularly on financial matters. Ninety percent of Americans say this is a tough time to get a job and seventy percent rate their own financial situation as "fair" or "poor." Even the price of a Thanksgiving dinner is up 13% over years past.
Football and Money
In the great scheme of things -- greater things than worldlings imagine on a trip to the mall -- it doesn't matter a bit that Texas A & M and the University of Texas are winding up their celebrated Thanksgiving Day, football rivalry. What matters -- maybe more than a little bit -- is the reason for the rivalry's end: filthy lucre, as the Apostle Paul called it, along with a greasy admixture of human vainglory. The Longhorns and the Aggies, aim to get richer than the good Lord and local circumstance ever made them. They want to swim in money, like Scrooge McDuck, as they entertain millions who never set foot on either of their spacious campuses but love the teams that live there.
Put Tax Breaks for Mortgages, Local Taxes on Table
Supercommittee members Sen. Pat Toomey and Rep. Jeb Hensarling are taking flak from some conservatives for proposing a deal including increases in "revenues," and a Washington Post reporter had some fun insinuating that they were backing a tax-rate increase. As this is written, no one knows what the supercommittee will do (or not do), but it's worth taking a look at what Toomey and Hensarling actually were talking about. It may not matter now, but could after 2012.
Addressing the Gay Issue
Heterosexuals are always being accused by homosexuals of being narrow-minded and intolerant, but have any of them ever said they understood why straights might regard sodomy as disgusting behavior? Have they ever said that although we all grasp the fact that not all homosexuals are pedophiles, it still behooves them to speak out against adults having gay sex with "consenting" teenagers and, furthermore, why it would be inappropriate and criminally irresponsible for the Boy Scouts to allow homosexuals to be Scout Masters and to oversee camping trips? Just as an aside, I can't help reflecting on the fact that "camping" is a word long used to describe gays acting out in the most outrageous fashion.
Memo to Washington: Kick the Spending Habit
The Treasury Department reported last week that the national debt had surpassed $15 trillion, clocking in at precisely $15,033,607,255,920.32 as of the close of business Tuesday. Since President Obama's inauguration in January 2009, the amount owed by the federal government to its lenders has soared more than $4.4 trillion, an increase of 41 percent in less than three years. To put those figures in perspective, consider these: When Bill Clinton was president, the national debt rose by an annual average of $193 billion. When the profligate George W. Bush was in the White House, the yearly debt increases averaged $612 billion. On Obama's watch, by contrast, the federal debt has been skyrocketing by more than $1.5 trillion per year.
Fodder for a Counterargument
WASHINGTON -- Shortly before the Supreme Court agreed to rule on the constitutionality of Obamacare's individual mandate, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed, 2-1, its constitutionality. Writing for the majority, Judge Laurence Silberman, a Reagan appointee, brusquely acknowledged that upholding the mandate means there is no limit to Congress' powers under the Commerce Clause. Fortunately, Silberman's stark assertion may strengthen the counterargument. Silberman forces the Supreme Court's five conservatives to face the sobering implications of affirming the power asserted with the mandate.
Focused on Foreign Policy
When the presidential debates between George W. Bush and Al Gore were held in October 2000, the 9/11 attacks were less than a year away. Guess how many times “al Qaeda” or “Osama bin Laden” came up in those debates? Not once. There was a single mention of “terrorism” in one of the debates, but it was made in passing. One word did stand out from those verbal jousts, but it had nothing to do with any threat from abroad. The word was “lockbox.” Hard as it may be to imagine now, the candidates spent more time locking horns over what they planned to do to reform Social Security and Medicare than how they’d bolster America’s security.
From The Comedy Store
Herman Cain alleged the sexual harassment accusations against him were set up by the Democratic Party machine. How is that possible? Everyone knows that for Democrats sexual misconduct is not a disqualifier for public office, it's a requirement.
Corruption in America
By now I'm sure that even people who have less interest in college football than I, if such a thing is possible, are aware of the sex scandal that tore Penn State apart. It does not surprise me that Jerry Sandusky got away with his vile activity for so many years or that Joe Paterno and the college administrators basically turned a blind eye to it. College football, after all, is a cash cow that is far more sacred in America than the cattle that wander blithely through India's countryside. Even when I was just a kid, a popular joke was that such college super stars as Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice, Doak Walker and Hugh McElhenny, would all have to take pay cuts when they turned pro.
New Deportation Rules a Cynical Move
The Obama administration this week announced new rules governing the deportation of illegal aliens. The administration's new policy, which has been in the development stage since the summer, aims to speed the deportation of convicted criminals and halt those of many illegal immigrants without criminal records. The timing is purely political; attempting to again make illegal immigration a major factor in the upcoming presidential campaign will ultimately help Democrats, not Republicans.
Dear Average American: It's All Your Fault
Congratulations, average American! It's your turn to be blamed for President Obama's -- and America's -- problems. This is the biggest honor you've won since Time magazine named "you" the Person of the Year. Being the root cause of our dire national predicament puts you in some very august company indeed. You are joining the ranks of George W. Bush, the Japanese tsunami, the Arab Spring, Wall Street fat cats and other luminaries, both living and merely anthropomorphized.
Obama's Russia Policy: Trust, Don't Verify
President Reagan's famous dictum, which he often quoted to Mikhail Gorbachev in Russian, was Trust but Verify. (In Russian, it rhymes: Doverai, no proverai.) President Obama has recognized that Reagan was a "transformational" president. He says he gave the old man credit, though he never gave him his vote. Now, Barack Obama is determined also to be a transformational president. And he is succeeding in this. More's the pity. His Russian policy is one of "Trust, Don't Verify."
The Pipeline Sellout
WASHINGTON -- In 2008, the slogan was "Yes We Can." For 2011-12, it's "We Can't Wait." What happened in between? Candidate Obama, the vessel into which myriad dreams were poured, met the reality of governance. His near-$1 trillion stimulus begat a stagnant economy with 9 percent unemployment. His attempt at Wall Street reform left in place a still too-big-to-fail financial system as vulnerable today as when he came into office. His green energy fantasies yielded Solyndra cronyism and a cap-and-trade regime not even a Democratic Congress would pass.
So-Called Electability and MSM Bias
It is open season for the liberal media on any GOP presidential candidate who displays the audacity to surge in the polls, the latest targets being Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich. A reasonable case can be made for some of these criticisms, and conservatives often concede the weaknesses, but there is no justification for this same media's ongoing cover-up for the current White House occupant. Can you imagine how differently our political climate would be if the mainstream media had the slightest inclination toward fairness and balance? The liberal media have never, to my knowledge, shined the spotlight on Obama's many embarrassing gaffes. They have rarely called attention to his deceit, broken promises and policy failures.
The Next War
JUPITER, Fla. -- Not one of the old "frogmen" or young Navy SEALs who gathered this week at the nearby National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum for the annual Muster wants to see another war. Those who came here are veterans of combat spanning from World War II to the present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to numerous other unnamed fights around the world. Within their ranks are men -- and their families -- who know what it means to go in harm's way, often without any recognition or public acclaim. The widow of a slain SEAL put it this way: "Before my husband deployed to Afghanistan the last time, he told me, 'It's not important our son know what I did as a SEAL. What is important is that he knows why I did it: so that he would never have to.'" Unfortunately, despite the courage and sacrifice of his parents, their young son may well face a very dangerous future.
The Accountability Charade
You can't spell "accountability" without "A," "C" and "T." But in Washington, government officials routinely get away with "taking personal responsibility" by mouthing empty words devoid of action. Heads nod in collective agreement that mistakes were made. But heads never roll. The Obama administration has raised this accountability charade to an art form.
(Almost) Nothing Is Sacred
In advance of Tinseltown's parade of Christmas insensitivities -- they've already unloaded the marijuana movie "A Very Harold and Kumar 3-D Christmas" -- let us stipulate that it's not just seasonal. The manufacturers of pop culture thrive on offending every traditional value. Start with Pamela Anderson, the ridiculously surgically enhanced former Playboy Playmate, home-movie porn specialist and "Baywatch" star. She's been cast to play -- are you ready? -- the Virgin Mary in a TV "Christmas" special in Canada.
If Not Romney, Who? If Not Now, When?
So now, apparently, we have to go through the cycle of the media pushing Newt Gingrich. This is going to be fantastic. In addition to having an affair in the middle of Clinton's impeachment; apologizing to Jesse Jackson on behalf of J.C. Watts -- one of two black Republicans then in Congress –- for having criticized "poverty pimps," and then inviting Jackson to a State of the Union address; cutting a global warming commercial with Nancy Pelosi; supporting George Soros' candidate Dede Scozzafava in a congressional special election; appearing in public with the Rev. Al Sharpton to promote nonspecific education reform; and calling Paul Ryan's plan to save Social Security "right-wing social engineering," we found out this week that Gingrich was a recipient of Freddie Mac political money.
A Super Tax Hike Spells Disaster
It would be a great tragedy if a super tax hike came out of a supercommittee compromise deal. It would do great harm to the economy -- just as much harm as President Obama's various tax-hike threats. And on the Republican side, a super tax hike would irreparably split the GOP. OK. Here's the good news. In a CNBC interview this week, I asked supercommittee co-chair Jeb Hensarling about an idea from the Democrats to raise taxes by $600 billion to $800 billion. About $300 billion of that might be upfront, with $500 billion later from some tax-reform overhaul. This would be an unmitigated economic disaster.