Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Friday, April 8, 2011
TSA Follies: See SPOT Fail
Air traffic controllers have been catching a lot of grief for sleeping on the job lately. But do you know what Transportation Security Administration officials have been doing -- or rather, not doing -- lately? A federal watchdog revealed this week that TSA's counterterrorism specialists failed to detect 16 separate jihad operatives who moved through target airports "on at least 23 different occasions." The name of the TSA monitoring program paying for all this flying-blind failure, I kid you not: SPOT.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
A Winning Choice
HOUSTON -- On the day of the NCAA men's basketball final, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that is likely to produce champions for generations to come. By a 5-4 vote, the majority upheld an Arizona tax-credit program that, writes David Savage of the L.A. Times, gives taxpayers a "dollar-for-dollar tax credit, up to $500 per person or $1,000 for a couple, for those who donate to organizations that in turn pay tuition for students attending private and parochial schools." The minority contends this violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, maintains that since such donations are with pre-tax dollars, the government never has the money, and thus, "there is no such connection between dissenting taxpayer and alleged establishment."
Ryan Steals March on Obama as Fiscal Crisis Looms
"My worst experience was the financial crisis of September 2008," responded House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan yesterday to a reporter's question about Democrats' attacks on the budget he unveiled earlier in the day. "What if the president and your representative saw it coming and could have prevented it from happening?" Ryan said. "What would you think of them if they didn't?" A hush came over the audience at the American Enterprise Institute, where I am a resident fellow.
Did We Give Up on Libya?
President Obama has announced that America would stop attacking Col. Muammar Gadhafi's forces in Libya. He instead hopes that others can force out Gadhafi -- or that the dictator will leave through economic and diplomatic pressure. It will apparently be up to NATO to finish the war -- without direct American combat participation. The relieved Obama administration had never quite explained what the mission was in the first place -- or for whom and for what we were fighting. Was the bombing to stop the killing, to help the rebels, to remove Gadhafi, or to aid the British and French, who both have considerable oil interests in Libya?
Only Idiots Think Hillary Will Run -- Let's Hope They're Right
Otherwise sane people speculate that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will resign her post and challenge President Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2012. But Hillary's futile challenge would have a far more damaging effect than that inflicted on Al Gore by persona non grata Ralph Nader in '00. After Dems get through blaming her for Obama's fall '12 defeat, neither Bill nor Hillary would be able to get a table at Fatburger. Here are the 10 reasons why she won't do it.
Thanks for Raising My Taxes -- What Else Can I Do for You?
When Wisconsin Democrats fled the state in order to avoid voting on splendiferous public sector union contracts, did they happen to notice that the rest of the country is in the midst of a massive recession? For years, Democrats have been using taxpayer money so that their buddies in public sector unions never have to know when there's a recession. People who are already suffering have to suffer more so that those who are doing pretty well don't have to suffer at all.
Paul Ryan's Growth Budget
Of all the discussion about Paul Ryan's big-bang budget plan, the element I like best was caught in this Wall Street Journal op-ed title: "The GOP Path to Prosperity." In other words, it's a growth budget. It has plenty of spending cuts, but it also has significant pro-growth tax reform. Obsessing over the debt is not by itself a policy. Advancing the economy and setting the stage for more job creation is a policy. Ryan kept an important dose of Ronald Reagan in both the spirit and reality of his plan. Limited government, lower tax rates and deregulation (of energy) will all promote the path to prosperity.
The Tar of Humanitarian Imperialism
WASHINGTON -- Several weeks ago, when President Obama reportedly assured congressional leaders that America's intervention in Libya would involve "days, not weeks," skeptics mistakenly worried about mission creep. They should have feared mission gallop. Or perhaps mission meander. At about this point in foreign policy misadventures, the usual question is: What is Plan B? Today's question is: What was Plan A? When Obama inserted America into what was, and ostensibly still is, a pre-emptive war to protect Libyan civilians from Libya's government, he neglected to clarify a few things, such as: Do the armed rebels trying to overthrow that government still count as civilians?
Is Obama Really a Shoo-in?
In an article for the NY Post, my friend, historian Ronald Radosh, informed the world that NYU was hosting a six-hour conference devoted to "Academic Freedom in the 1960s." On the face of it, it sounds like the sort of boring event where most of us are relieved not to know any of the participants, thus freeing us of any obligation to attend. But, according to Radosh, all of the speakers are leftists. Among them are historian Ellen Schrecker, who has argued that while many of those accused of spying for the Soviet Union during the Cold War were guilty, "they did not subscribe to traditional forms of patriotism" and because they were acting on behalf of a cause in which they believed, they weren't "betraying their country."
China Sees the Evil of Plastic Bags
New York Times columnist, best-selling author and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Friedman wishes America could be more like China. Specifically, he wishes we could adopt their authoritarian style in pursuit of the so-called green revolution and clean energy. Casting what he calls an "envious eye" on China, Friedman finds that country's "one-party autocracy" so much more efficient, informed and wise than our messy democratic way of doing things. "In China," Friedman explained on "Meet The Press" last year, "if the leadership can get around to an enlightened decision it can order it from the top down." Meanwhile here in America, with our two-party system, "every solution is sub-optimal."
The Race Is On
WASHINGTON -- I see that President Barack Obama has filed as a candidate for re-election in 2012. I previously suggested that he get to work early on his presidential library and forgo the race, but he is insistent. Well, I tried. Though some in the media are covering for him, his announcement is the earliest of any modern president's. It continues a trend that began in 1972. That was when then-Sen. George McGovern captured the Democratic presidential nomination, though he lost in the autumn of that year in a squeaker. Richard Nixon stole the election, 47,169,911 to 29,170,383. Tricky Dick got 60.7 percent of the vote, the largest in history except for Lyndon Johnson's 61.1 percent. Watergate changed history.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
President Obama's New Anti-American Secretary of State
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made it clear that she will not serve another term under President Obama. Who can blame her? She has become the face of a fecklessly reckless administration, a pathetic press relations lackey for the worst foreign affairs president in the history of the country. To replace her, Obama is reportedly looking to tap another prominent female diplomat. Her name is Samantha Power, and she bills herself as a human rights activist. A Yale University graduate, Power became a leftist foreign policy journalist for various major news organizations. She then came back to the United States, where she attended Harvard Law School. Her book, "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide," implicated the United States in virtually every major genocide of the last century. As a fellow radical Harvard Law School grad, she quickly penetrated Barack Obama's inner circle and became his senior foreign policy adviser during the 2008 campaign.
Gun Owners Have a Right to Privacy
If you own a gun in Illinois, take precautions. The state attorney general, Lisa Madigan, wants to release the names of guns owners in response to an Associated Press request. Publication of that list would tell the criminal class where the guns are, which could be useful to two different sorts of lawbreakers: gun thieves who want to know where the guns are and burglars who want to know where they are not. New York City released its list recently at The New York Times' request. It included "dozens of boldface names and public figures: prominent business leaders, elected officials, celebrities, journalists, judges and lawyers," the Times reported. It then named names.
Diversity Perversity
The terms affirmative action, equal representation, preferential treatment and quotas just don't sell well. The intellectual elite and their media, government and corporate enthusiasts have come up with diversity, a seemingly benign term that's a cover for racially discriminatory policy. They call for college campuses, corporate offices and government agencies to "look like America." Part of looking like America means if blacks are 13 percent of the population, they should be 13 percent of college students and professors, corporate managers and government employees. Behind this vision of justice is the silly notion that but for the fact of discrimination, we'd be distributed equally by race across incomes, education, occupations and other outcomes. There is absolutely no evidence that statistical proportionality is the norm anywhere on Earth; however, much of our thinking, laws and public policy is based upon proportionality being the norm. Let's look at some racial differences whilst thinking about their causes and possible remedies.
'Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth'
While the president's top advisers are currently most worried about the public judgment in November 2012 on his Libyan war actions, they might be better advised to worry about his actions in Iraq. Admittedly, the administration's Libyan actions are yet to be convincingly explained and may constitute an unforced error that could lead to entanglement in a prolonged and unnecessary war. But Libya is nonetheless a historic sideshow. So far, not a single American casualty has been reported. And while our intervention may turn out to be a mess and an embarrassment, Libya's tangential connection to larger events makes it unlikely to become a geopolitical disaster.
What's Worse Than 'Ruinous'?
In 2003, Paul Ryan was one of 207 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted for the Medicare prescription drug benefit championed by President George W. Bush -- a reckless expansion of a huge program that was already heading for bankruptcy. This week, Ryan, who now chairs the House Budget Committee, did partial penance for that budget-busting blunder with a plan that includes ambitious Medicare reforms as well as $5.8 trillion in spending cuts during the next decade. At a time when Democrats and Republicans are squabbling over whether to cut $33 billion or $61 billion in spending this year -- neither of which would make much of a dent in a deficit that is expected to hit $1.6 trillion -- Ryan's plan may seem breathtakingly bold. But while it is admirably forthright in some respects, it dodges several important questions. It's too bad there is no opposing party to keep the Republicans fiscally honest.
Where It's at
Dear Reader, It was wholly a pleasure to receive your complaint about a headline over one of our stories in the Sports section the other day. The story was about Mike Anderson's early hesitation to come back from Missouri to coach men's basketball at the University of Arkansas, and the headline read: Happy where he's at
Gadhafi Shifts Tactics: Pick-up Trucks and Human Shields
Within the last 10 days, Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's loyalist forces have modified their combat tactics. Gadhafi's henchmen are now using trucks instead of tanks for transport. This shift was forced upon them -- coalition air power has turned Gadhafi's tanks into death traps. However, another new tactic his thugs are employing -- so-called human shields -- is a war crime, pure and simple, and an example of the tyrant's calculated depravity.
The Failed Couric Experiment
The news leaked out Monday that Katie Couric is stepping down from her failed experiment as the anchor of the "CBS Evening News." People inside the news business greeted the news as shocking. But what's shocking is that Couric didn't get the boot years ago. CBS's ratings cratered while she earned $15 million annually. Couric was once projected as the Great White Female Hope after Dan Rather's involuntary retirement in 2005. His numbers in his last week had dropped to a last place 8.1 million nightly audience. But what did Couric deliver?
Obama's Sideline Strategy
Obama's in! In truly unshocking news, Barack Obama e-mailed supporters Monday to let them know he was running for president again. "We're doing this now because the politics we believe in does not start with expensive TV ads or extravaganzas, but with you -- with people organizing block-by-block, talking to neighbors, co-workers and friends. And that kind of campaign takes time to build." Don't get him wrong. There will be expensive TV ads and extravaganzas. Oh, yes. After all, what would an Obama campaign be without its outsized, world-historic, bread and circus spectacles?