Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Government Looks to Past, Free Enterprise to Future
Two years ago, in June 2009, the American economy emerged from recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. But as this week's Economist noted, with typical British understatement, "The recovery has been a disappointment." And maybe not a recovery for long. Robert Shiller, the economist who first identified the housing bubble, said last week that we may be headed for recession again. "Whether we call it a double dip or not," he told Reuters, "there is a risk."
The (Not So) Great Debate
The most revealing comment made during the not very revealing "debate" among Republican presidential candidates came from the moderator, CNN's John King, who asked the line-up of GOP hopefuls to explain what their plan for the economy was. The question was revealing, however unintentionally, because of its underlying assumption: that the economy needs a presidentially provided plan if it's ever going to fully revive.
Is Barack Obama a Socialist?
The other day, I heard a conservative talk show host insist that, with the 2012 presidential election looming on the horizon, it would behoove Republicans to stop referring to Obama and his enablers in the House and Senate as socialists. Instead, he advised, we should focus on the fiscal policies that are leading the nation to the verge of bankruptcy. I, on the other hand, say if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, and pushes a socialist agenda, it's a socialist duck. What was it but socialism when Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and their left-wing cohorts, insisted that no-down-payment home loans be made to folks with no money, a policy that inevitably led to our own financial catastrophe?
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Herman Cain's 'Amateur Hour'
America is a free country, and radio talk-show host Herman Cain is free to run for president. Even with low-name recognition, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO polls well. Veteran pollster Scott Rasmussen ranks him third, with 10 percent of the GOP primary vote, behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. His supporters seem enthusiastic. But they should understand one thing: Herman Cain cannot win because when it comes to politics, he is an amateur. Cain's website opens with the slogan "Let's Get Real." Not the Herman-ator's strong suit.
Libya and the Potemkin Alliance
WASHINGTON -- America's intervention in Libya's civil war, the most protracted and least surreptitious assassination attempt in history, was supposed to last "days, not weeks," but is in its fourth month and has revealed NATO to be an increasingly fictitious military organization. Although this war has no discernible connection with U.S. national security, it serves the national interest, in three ways. It is awakening some legislators to their responsibilities. It is refuting the pretense that the U.N. sets meaningful parameters to wars it authorizes -- or endorses, which is quite different. And it is igniting a reassessment of NATO, a Potemkin alliance whose primary use these days is perverse: It provides a patina of multilateralism to U.S. military interventions on which Europe is essentially a free rider.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
It's the Economy, Stupid!
When it comes to economic matters, I'm not ashamed to admit that I know next to nothing. The reason I'm not ashamed to make that confession is because I realize that I share this failing with Barack Obama, all the Democrats in Congress, Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke. Part of my problem is that the Stock Market, which is supposed to be a major indicator of America's fiscal condition, always reminds me of that roomful of monkeys who, theoretically, given enough time just might write "Hamlet." I don't know the basis for that odd notion, but I think it far likelier that they'd eat a lot bananas and make a big mess. Sort of the way that liberals do.
Out With Ethics, In With Therapy
Crime and punishment went out with Dostoevsky; ours is an age of neurosis and treatment. Rather than just resign from Congress and go away, please, the Hon. Anthony Weiner, M.C., is "entering professional treatment at an undisclosed location...." That's the latest word from the wire services. Why is no one surprised? Because in this therapeutic society, quaint concepts like guilt, shame, repentance, atonement and the rest of those medieval superstitions gave way long ago to the talking cure. Especially for politicians and other upwardly mobile types who suddenly find themselves not so much famous as notorious. And much in need of some well-publicized rehab.
From The Comedy Store
Mexico threatened economic reprisal against the U.S. over Alabama's immigration law. They are a huge trading partner with tremendous natural resources. In addition to producing oil, beer, tequila silver and strawberries, Mexico is the number-one producer of Americans.
Friday, June 17, 2011
CNN's Granderson Gets It Right
CNN contributor LZ Granderson got it right. He's posted an online video taking issue with the San Francisco gay activists who want government to ban circumcision for little boys. http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/06/07/granderson.circumcision.ballot/index.html?iref=obnetwork Keep the government out of this family decision, says Granderson. Strange, isn't it, that the Left wing folks who are forever telling us they want to keep the government out of our bedrooms now want to invade the delivery room?
Union Owned and Operated
WASHINGTON -- "Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected," observed President Obama this week, enjoying a nice chuckle about the unhappy fate of his near-$1 trillion stimulus. To be sure, Obama has also been promoting a less amusing remedy for anemic growth and high unemployment: exports. In this year's State of the Union address, he proclaimed a national goal of doubling exports by 2014. One obvious way to increase exports is through free-trade agreements. But unions don't like them. No surprise then that for two years Obama has been sitting on three free-trade agreements -- with Colombia, Panama and South Korea -- already negotiated by his predecessor.
A New Paradigm for the Left?
If you compare the Carter malaise with the Obama debt doomsday machine, any GOP 2012 presidential candidate should sail to victory with greater facility than Ronald Reagan did in 1980. But will she or he? I am optimistic but also believe that in making his economic case, the Republican candidate will have different challenges because of the ongoing growth of our welfare state and the attitudes it has ushered in, along with heightened class warfare.
Playing Hardball on Softball
Traditional organizations like the Boy Scouts of America have long been under siege by atheists and pro-gay lobbyists who insist they shouldn't have the freedom of association to maintain their God-fearing identity. But you think that's maddening? How about the ultimate cultural flip-flop of a gay softball league going to federal court to insist that bisexual or heterosexual players can't play ball with them? In Seattle, Reagan-appointed U.S. District Judge John Coughenour ruled that a group called the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance has a First Amendment right to limit the number of bisexual or heterosexual players.
Return of Bad Times for the Jews
In the wake of the celebrated Weiner roast, Jewish jokes are in. The congressman's surname doesn't help. Some of our funniest comedians are Jews, in a long line stretching from the Borscht Belt through vaudeville to Hollywood. Jews love to laugh at themselves. They aren't so happy when others laugh at them. They see the Weiner episode, for an example, as another "good Jewish boy makes a fool of himself." So it wasn't a good week for Jews. They also take it personally that San Francisco and Santa Monica will vote this fall whether to ban circumcision, the ritual based on the Biblical covenant between God and Abraham.
Exhibitionist Nation
Anthony Weiner's bizarre saga appears to be at an end. The seven-term congressman announced Thursday that he is resigning his congressional seat 10 days after admitting that he "sexted" at least a half-dozen women from his Twitter account and almost three weeks after the scandal broke. But what have we actually learned from this weird spectacle that has dominated the front pages of the country's leading newspapers and aired 'round-the-clock on cable news? People were fascinated by the Weiner story because his behavior was so reckless. How could a member of Congress think he could get away with sending lewd pictures to total strangers and not be caught? It says something about the hubris of politicians. But it also says something more about our culture.
A Shovel-Ready Punch Line
"Shovel-ready was not as ... uh ... shovel-ready as we expected," Barack Obama joked the other day at a meeting of his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Republicans jumped on Obama's comment as insensitive. "He joked about the wildly mistaken predictions he and others at the White House made a couple of years back about the job-creating potential of the stimulus," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "Well, I don't think the 14 million Americans who are looking for jobs right now find any of this very funny." I'm sure they don't, but the fact that the president laid an egg when he tried to be self-deprecating isn't the scandal here.
Weiner's Woes: No Skillz to Pay the Billz
"There is life after Congress for Anthony Weiner," New York Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey grimly assured reporters on Thursday before his resignation announcement. But Weiner's life has been nothing but Congress. Nothing but government. Nothing but taxpayer-subsidized self-perpetuation. In other words: the life of a pathetic public leech. Amid vulgar heckling brought on by his own reckless behavior and smug jokes, Weiner told reporters at his three-ring press conference that there is "no higher honor in a democracy" than to be an elected representative. But like legions of entrenched swamp creatures, he's lost sight of the simple proposition that serving in Congress should remain a temporary calling, not a lifelong career.
Defining Victory
WASHINGTON -- This week, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved an amendment to the fiscal year 2012 Defense Department appropriations bill, which would set up an independent, nonpartisan Afghanistan-Pakistan Study Group to provide recommendations for future U.S. military missions in the region. The measure, proposed by Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., would establish a panel modeled on the 2006 Iraq Study Group, chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Rep. Lee Hamilton. It's something the Obama administration should have done -- as President George W. Bush did by executive order -- a long time ago. Let's hope it's not too late, because the U.S. "drawdown" from Afghanistan already has begun.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
News Briefs, and Not Just Anthony Weiner's
I wonder how Democrats manage to keep track of their talking points when Obama keeps yakking out of both sides of his mouth. For openers, he's changed his tune from 2008 about shutting down Gitmo; raising the debt limit; getting us out of Afghanistan faster than you can say Afghanistan; a transparent and post-racial administration; military tribunals; and even the Patriot Act, for heaven's sake. So, while some people suspect that Obama will dump Joe Biden in favor of Hillary Clinton in 2012, Obama's people are rumored to have sent out feelers to George W. Bush.
The Law and Civil Liberties
I bet you didn't know that federal law enforcement officers representing the Department of Education (DOE) can break down your front door if you are suspected of violating the law. I was not aware of this until I heard what happened to Kenneth Wright of Stockton, Calif. On June 7, at 6 a.m., Wright was awakened by a knock on his door. According to his account, he came downstairs in his boxer shorts, but before he could reach the door, federal police officers stormed in. They were looking for his estranged wife, who was not in the house. Wright has no criminal record.
The Conspiracy Against the Car
Americans, who live far from the Washington Beltway, may have never heard of Tysons Corner, Va. But something is happening there today that has already hit them in their pocketbooks and may ultimately strike deeply into their lives or the lives of their children. Big government is laying siege to Tysons Corner. Whether it triumphs there will help determine whether most Americans remain freely moving people, who own and operate their own cars and trucks -- and go where they want when they want -- or whether we become a nation predominantly populated by mass-transit-riding government dependents who rely on the state to get them where they need to go.