Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
America's Historical Sites Inspire Us to Fight to Preserve Our Liberty
The depressing debate over the debt ceiling underscores just how recklessly the ruling class has squandered America's sacred heritage -- a heritage I had the privilege of revisiting up close this past week on a family vacation. The contrast between the sublime historical locations we experienced during the day and the alarming news we ingested each night about the dire state of our nation's financial condition couldn't have been starker.
Harry Potter and the Wizardry of Engaging Readers
As "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2," is set to hit theaters Friday, consider J.K. Rowling's villains. Nasty boy Draco Malfoy's first name is downright draconian; any last name that starts with Mal does not bode well. His aunt Bellatrix (female warrior) is also Lestrange. The sibilant-rich and spiteful Severus Snape possesses a name that needs no explanation. Dolores Umbridge? The senior undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic takes constant umbrage at any and all who challenge her authority.
The President's Excess Income, and Ours
It is becoming a verbal tic -- the tendency on the part of the president to tell wealthy Americans ("people like me" he's always careful to add) that they have made more than enough money and will have to cough up more of it for the government. Speaking for himself on July 11, the president offered that he had "hundreds of thousands of dollars that I don't need." The president is of course welcome to donate as much of his extra money as he likes to the federal treasury. He knows Timothy Geithner personally and can probably get a guarantee that his check will be cashed without delay. And since the president is so ready to impute unpleasant motives (like greed) to those who oppose tax increases, perhaps we should impute some sort of moral failing to him for not having thus far contributed his spare change to the government.
Ingratitude, Thy Name Is South Korea
South Korea has joined with only two other countries in the world in dropping the name of the forthcoming film "Captain America" and using the subtitle, "The First Avenger." The other two countries are Russia and Ukraine. According to the New York Times report, "Although that country (South Korea) is one of Hollywood's top-performing territories, resentment about the continued presence of the United States military runs deep." For years now, I have intended to write a column about the most glaring case of international ingratitude of which I am aware. The "Captain America" story has finally pushed me over the edge.
Unknown Unknowns
When Donald Rumsfeld was Secretary of Defense, he coined some phrases about knowledge that apply far beyond military matters. Secretary Rumsfeld pointed out that there are some things that we know that we know. He called those "known knowns." We may, for example, know how many aircraft carriers some other country has. We may also know that they have troops and tanks, without knowing how many. In Rumsfeld's phrase, that would be an "unknown known" -- a gap in our knowledge that we at least know exists.
Eating Our Peas
"This is part of the problem with a political process where folks are rewarded for saying irresponsible things to win elections." No! Couldn't be! Saying things like "hope and change"? And now -- so as to strike the pose of adult calm amid riotous kids -- "Pull off the Band-Aid. Eat our peas. Now is the time to do it."
Millionaires and Billionaires
If new millionaires or billionaires were created every time President Obama and his fellow liberals disparage "millionaires and billionaires," there would be far more of them than there are today. And that would be a good thing because it would mean more people are succeeding. This president, more than any other in my lifetime, seems determined to punish and discourage success and the hard work, risk-taking and values by which one must live in order to attain it. He blasts people who fly on private planes, though he flies on Air Force One, the ultimate private plane, which taxpayers pay for. He doesn't like yachts, or specifically the people who can afford to buy them. And yet the people who make the private planes and yachts have jobs precisely because others have achieved a level of success that enables them to afford such luxury.
Monday, July 11, 2011
'Man-cession' Ends as Males Learn New Job Skills
Some of us called it the man-cession. In the deep recession that lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, many more men than women lost their jobs. The imbalance was huge. The Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a decline of 5.4 million jobs for men versus 2.1 million for women. So 71 percent of job losses were absorbed by men.
A New Political Primer
A recent study disclosed that 47% of Detroit's residents are functionally illiterate, which suggests that 53 % are just acting uppity. The fact that so many Americans have only a passing acquaintanceship with the English language, in spite of the fact that $13,000 is the amount spent annually to educate each Detroit student, is an indictment of public education in America. That sum happens to be a few thousand dollars over the national average, so the pathetic reality can't be attributed to a lack of money. That such widespread illiteracy exists in a major American city is a testament to the power and gall of the teachers union and to their shameless cohorts in the Democratic Party.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Bohemian Grove -- Men Only
"Weaving Spiders Come Not Here" is the motto of San Francisco's Bohemian Club. The motto is supposed to represent the club's edict against doing business during its annual Bohemian Grove retreat, which commences on Thursday on 2,700 acres, 75 miles north of the city. As club spokesman and member Sam Singer explained, "It's a group of gentlemen who are really genuinely interested in arts, theater, jazz and rock 'n' roll." The retreat gives members a chance to "get away from work. It's forbidden to talk about or solicit business at the club or grove." The "weaving spiders" motto also provides cover for a club that discriminates against women.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
From The Comedy Store
President Obama began using Twitter in a town-hall meeting at the White House. His aides must write all his Tweets for him. By the time Obama is finished blaming Bush and blaming the Republicans he doesn't have enough characters left to blame Wall Street.
Gays & Grays
There are two groups of Americans I'm having a tough time understanding. One of them consists of the sexually eccentric, the other is made up of the elderly. Because we have been inundated with pro-gay propaganda for so many years that if you say the least little thing that goes against the grain, that questions the claim that gays make the best friends, are the nicest people and are the very best possible parents any child could have, you are labeled a homophobe.
Friday, July 8, 2011
The Elmendorf Rules
WASHINGTON -- Here we go again. An approaching crisis. A looming deadline. Nervous markets. And then, from the miasma of gridlock, rises our president, calling upon those unruly congressional children to quit squabbling, stop kicking the can down the road and get serious about debt.
Fascism Is Not Conservatism
Someone recently emailed and asked me to rebut the claim that fascism is a right-wing system. I have given this question considerable thought over the years; even when I was in college, liberals routinely smeared conservatism as a fascist political ideology. Indeed, how many times have we heard the mantra that communism and Nazism represented the two extremes of the political spectrum, left and right, respectively? This never made sense to me, as I knew that conservatism championed political and economic liberty and that communism and fascism were the direct antithesis of these.
One Way to Make a Conservative
It's impossible to read Ying Ma's fascinating memoir, "Chinese Girl in the Ghetto," without wincing. She was born in Guangzhou, China's third largest city. Throughout her mostly carefree early childhood years, she kept her family's secret: that her parents repeatedly sought permission to emigrate to the United States. Her family was not poor, at least not by Chinese standards of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Yet her daily life would be considered squalid by first world standards. Her family lived in a two-bedroom apartment. She, her brother and her parents shared one bedroom (and two plank beds). Her paternal grandparents and an uncle shared the other. At times, another uncle slept in the living room. They shared the kitchen and bathroom (such as it was) with the family next door. There was no running hot water, and the toilet was a hole in the floor. The elderly had a particularly hard time crouching.
The 'Innocence Snuff Film'
Actor David Schwimmer, best known as the sad sack Ross Geller on the hit '90s sitcom "Friends," is now bemoaning the sex-saturated Hollywood business atmosphere and its corrosive effects on society and women in particular. The first question many Hollywood critics should ask: Isn't it curious that Schwimmer would care about this issue -- after he earned a million dollars per episode on one of the most sex-obsessed sitcoms of all time? Schwimmer granted an interview to the British newspaper The Telegraph while promoting his new film, "Trust," which opened July 8. "Sex sells, and unfortunately, there's this inbuilt hypocrisy in our society: We're always talking about how inappropriate it is to see an older man with a very young girl, but at the same time, all our advertising is based on that," he said.
Beware of Dr. Jihad
Splendid news: Our homeland security officials have sent fresh warnings to foreign governments that "human bombs" may try to board planes with surgically implanted explosives. The ticking terrorists are reportedly getting help from murder-minded Arab Muslim physicians trained in the West. Infidels beware: Dr. Jihad's version of the health care oath omits the "no" in "Do no harm." The death docs may be using their expertise to play "Hide the IED" in body cavities that bomb-detection equipment cannot penetrate. At least one Saudi operative has been nabbed with explosives in his bum, and British intel picked up on Arab website chatter last year about possible breast-bomb inserts. Officials are now said to be on the lookout for physicians' notes requesting that passengers be allowed to carry syringes -- which could carry detonation chemicals.
Pullout?
WASHINGTON -- First the good news. The war in Afghanistan is being won. As our Fox News team saw on our most recent trip through the length and breadth of the country, the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies are being defeated at nearly every turn. Though military operations and police actions are being conducted at their highest pace since the war began a decade ago, coalition, Afghan and civilian casualties continue to decline -- even in the midst of "fighting season." According to U.S. and allied military officers with whom we spoke, Taliban fighters are defecting in greater numbers than ever before. Though our political leaders in Washington won't use the word, "victory" is within reach.
It's ... Back! The Misery Index Rides Again
Remember the Misery Index? It tends to reappear whenever the economy exhibits a couple of unwelcome trends in unusual tandem: not just a high unemployment rate but more inflation, too. Talk about a double whammy. Add those two figures together and you get the Misery Index. So if you combine the current 9.1 unemployment rate with the 3.6 inflation rate, the rate of misery in the American economy is 12.7. The country hasn't seen that kind of number in almost 30 years.
Shaping Citizens, Saving Souls
A neighbor of mine, age 15, left the picnic on the Fourth of July expecting to set off fireworks in the family. He had a declaration of his own: "I'm off to play one of those violent video games the Supreme Court says are protected by my First Amendment rights." He got a groan or two (probably less than he had hoped for), but one of the grown-ups expressed the hopeful view: "Well, at least the Bill of Rights has got his attention." Between the parades and the pyrotechnics that light up night skies above purple mountain majesties and fruited plain, we usually pay scant attention to the truths and values that bind us together as a nation.