Right Opinion

Games Judges Don't Play

The video-game industry has won again in court, insisting on their right to make the most debased gaming experience imaginable and market it to children with little commercial restraint. On June 27, the Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 against California's law mandating that children are not allowed to purchase "Mature" video games without a parent. The political elites are celebrating the ruling as a victory for a vibrant First Amendment, rejecting the very notion of social responsibility on the part of the video-game makers and their often-twisted concept of what constitutes "fun" for children.

President Nixon, er, Obama

How many times have we heard awestruck references to Barack Obama's history as a law professor? Many came from the man himself, as when he told a crowd at a 2007 fundraiser, "I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president, I actually respect the Constitution." Does he? At his press conference on June 29, the president was asked whether he thought the War Powers Act -- which he has flamboyantly flouted in the case of our armed conflict with Libya -- was constitutional. His reply, during which he managed to inject yet another reference to his credential as a law "professor" (he was actually not a professor but a senior lecturer, but never mind), expressed the most flippant disregard for law that we've heard from an American president since Richard Nixon jousted with David Frost.

Postcard from London: Wisconsin on the Thames

LONDON -- Big Labor looks the same wherever you go: petulant, irrational and wholly aggrieved beyond its means. I'm here on vacation with family as some 750,000 public-sector employees strike in protest over modest pension reform proposals. It's a taste of Wisconsin on the Thames. U.K. government teachers are just as shameless and entitlement-mongering as their American counterparts. More than half of England's schools shut down on Thursday as union members took to the streets.

Will November 6, 2012, Ever Arrive?

In case you haven't caught on yet, I can't wait for the next election to roll around. It's less than 500 days off, but with Barack Obama in the White House and Michelle and her relatives jetting around the world on our dime -- or, rather, our millions of dimes -- it feels more like 500 years. Because we didn't celebrate Christmas in my Jewish home, I wasn't one of those kids who counted off the days until December 25. The closest I ever came to that sort of excruciating anticipation was when I was in grammar school and summer vacation was on the horizon. I would start scratching off weeks, days, hours and finally minutes, in my notebook.

Tickets Home

CAMP HANSEN, Afghanistan -- This austere U.S. Marine base in the Marjah district of Helmand province is headquarters for 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment -- famous for action during World War II on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian and Okinawa. Dubbed "America's Battalion," the unit has adopted a new slogan in Afghanistan: "Front Toward Enemy" -- the label placed on devices such as claymore mines and anti-tank rockets. It's appropriate here in the southern Helmand River valley. Lt. Col. J.D. Harrill, the 2/8 battalion commander, is a hero in his own right -- and so are his Marines and Navy corpsmen. He was awarded the Silver Star, our nation's third-highest award for valor, during the battle for Ramadi, Iraq. Back then, the capital of Anbar province was the bloodiest place on earth. When he and his Marines arrived here in January, more than half were already veterans of gunfights along the Euphrates River and in the shadows of the Hindu Kush. When they moved into this canal-laced heartland of the Taliban, they had to fight their way in.

Video Violence vs. Free Speech

Children can do terrible things. They can bully and maim, even murder. In our lifetime, we've seen young people arm themselves and shoot down classmates and teachers. We shake our heads in shock and wonder. How can such things happen? So we look for reasons -- sane, rational explanations for violent behavior and ways to curb it. We gather the usual suspects. Sometimes it's parents. Sometimes it's the culture. California blames violent video games. The state with the motto "Eureka," translated from the Greek to mean "I have found it" (with credit to Archimedes), thought it had a solution in keeping violent video games away from minors. These games were not re-enactments of Bonnie and Clyde, but of terrible crimes such as the assassination of President Kennedy, and the massacres at Virginia Tech and Columbine High, and imaginary narratives of unrelenting violence, all with innocent victims.

Economy: Reagan Gets No Credit, Obama Gets No Blame

Ronald Reagan did nothing. Barack Obama saved the nation from total collapse. How else to explain the absence of jobless pitchfork-wielding Americans storming the White House? How else to explain the contrast between the explosive Reagan Recovery and the dud on our hands right now? Fortunately, the left is up to the task. "The secret of the long climb after 1982 was the economic plunge that preceded it. By the end of 1982 the U.S. economy was deeply depressed, with the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression. So there was plenty of room to grow before the economy returned to anything like full employment," said left-wing economist, Nobel laureate and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman in 2004. Oh.

It's Florida, Stupid

Here's a news flash for every Republican candidate who wants to replace Barack Obama in the 2012 election cycle -- it's Florida, stupid. Candidates can spend all the time they want in Iowa. They can visit every household and sip a cup at every coffee shop, and it likely will get them what it got Mike Huckabee in Iowa four years ago -- an unimportant victory. The same goes for New Hampshire. That state is the size of a postage stamp in electoral politics. (It's also quite lovely, and I'd rather live there than in most states. But politics is politics.)

Democrats Need a 12-Step Recovery Program on Taxes

Here's a question: Why is repealing the Bush tax cuts such a constant obsession for the Democratic Party? Especially the top rates for the most successful earners and small-business entrepreneurs? It seems this is the Democratic answer for every single issue, every problem, every debate. This, of course, saddens me enormously.

'Now Is Not the Time to Go Wobbly'

If the GOP is really serious about winning back the presidency they need to win the deficit debate. The government of these United States is broke -- flat broke -- and if the nation is to survive as the prosperous nation it has long been, Republicans must restore fiscal sanity and call a halt to spending money we don't have! That's what the Republicans promised us they would do last November, and largely on the strength of that pledge we let them take back the House. After all, it's obvious that we can't trust the Democrats to spend the public's money wisely and well.

Glenn Beck vs. the Mob

Of all the details surrounding the liberal mob attack on Glenn Beck and his family in New York's Bryant Park last Monday night, one element stands out. "No, it won't be like that, Dad," his daughter said when Beck questioned the wisdom of attending a free, outdoor movie showing in a New York park. People who have never been set upon by a mob of liberals have absolutely no idea what it's like to be a publicly recognizable conservative. Even your friends will constantly be telling you: "Oh, it will be fine. Don't worry. Nothing will happen. This place isn't like that."

'Mortal Kombat' and the First Amendment

Intellectually, I understand the Supreme Court's 7-2 decision that the First Amendment protects the most violent of video games. Experientially, I don't. It's fine for the majority to say parents have ultimate control over what their children see, but how many members of the Supreme Court have experienced "real" life? Chief Justice John Roberts spoke at the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference last Saturday and said, "I don't think any of us have a Facebook page or a tweet -- whatever that is. But technology is making inroads." It certainly is.

J. Gordon Coogler Award Rescinded, Shawcross Forgiven

WASHINGTON -- Followers of this column have noticed that something is amiss. They have looked to it every week for months with increased frustration. Many have gone back to the March, April, May and June issues of The American Spectator and pored over every page, but all was for naught. They have not been able to find a trace of the J. Gordon Coogler Award for the Worst Book of the Year, and they know that there were many promising candidates in 2010 for this hallowed recognition. The New York Review of Books was full of them. Ever since the J. Gordon Coogler Award Committee began sponsoring the award back in 1975, it almost seems that the Review has been serving as a referral service to assist our learned judges in their laborious work. Though this was by indirection; the Review's editors exalt those books they find admirable and even heroic, and the Coogler Committee has its short list of trash.

An Exceptional Fourth of July

For the last 235 years, on the Fourth of July, Americans have celebrated the birth of the United States, and the founding ideas that have made it the most powerful, wealthiest and freest nation in the history of civilization. But as another Fourth of July approaches, there has never been more uncertainty about the future of America -- and the anxiety transcends even the dismal economy and three foreign wars.

Put These FTAs to Work

Some Americans act as if Congress and the president have a jobs-making switch somewhere they can flip to help the economy. If only. No modern economy is that simple. And the factors that affect employment can be complex. But that doesn't mean there aren't concrete steps that policymakers can take right now to improve the situation and kick-start a stalled recovery. Consider the three free-trade agreements that have been sitting around for the last several years. There's no reason for them to remain idle when they could be doing good work for a lot of people.

Chris Matthews Leg Thrill: Blacks Need Same-Sex Marriage

Why the Civil Service Is No Way to Run a Business

What's the fair way to run a large organization? That's a question that is squarely, and interestingly, raised by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dissenting opinion in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, a Supreme Court case decided last week. The lawyers for the plaintiffs, women who work or worked for Wal-Mart, were seeking to bring a class action charging pervasive discrimination against women. The 5-4 Supreme Court majority ruled that the group was too diverse to be given class-action status.

First Amendment Showdown

WASHINGTON -- The fate of Arizona's Clean Elections Act, which the Supreme Court on Monday declared unconstitutional, was foreshadowed March 28, during oral arguments. Lawyers defending the law insisted its purpose was to combat corruption or the appearance thereof. The court has repeatedly said this is the only constitutionally permissible reason for restricting the quantity of political speech. The law's defenders insisted its purpose was not to "level the playing field" by equalizing candidates' resources, which the court has declared an unconstitutional reason for regulating speech. But Chief Justice John Roberts replied: "Well, I checked the Citizens Clean Elections Commission website this morning, and it says that this act was passed to 'level the playing field' when it comes to running for office." Game over.

Jon Stewart vs. Fox Facts

The Republican presidential contest is picking up steam. Obama is consistently polling under 50 percent. This one's a toss-up, and in the thick of it is the Fox News Channel. It's not just their role in hosting and vetting the candidates. It's their role as the chief villain in the eyes of liberal Democrats struggling to push their version of the "truth" about Obama. Jon Stewart rhetorically asked Chris Wallace about Fox on "Fox News Sunday" because he thought he knew the answer: "Who are the most consistently misinformed media viewers? The most consistently misinformed? Fox, Fox viewers, consistently, every poll."

Treating Children as Adults

This week, the Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, ruled that the state of California could not bar the sale of violent video games to minors. The majority opinion, written by quasi-originalist Justice Antonin Scalia, argued that the First Amendment requires that government not mandate that minors be controlled by their parents. Purer originalist Judge Clarence Thomas took the opposite view. "Although much has changed in this country since the Revolution," he wrote, "the notion that parents have authority over their children and that the law can support that authority persists today."