Right Opinion

2011: The Promise and the Pitfalls

As Sudan Divides

Last August, the government of Southern Sudan (GOSS), the semi-autonomous government administering Southern Sudan, asked a South Sudanese lyricists to write a national anthem. The anticipatory anthem was one of literally thousands of tit-for-tat political exchanges between the GOSS and Sudan's national government in Khartoum, as both governments maneuvered for advantage in the Jan. 9, 2011, referendum on southern independence.

Dysfunctional Duo's Undoing

"Unfortunately, partisan politics has immobilized Washington," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told Time magazine in 2007. Bloomberg, according to Michael Grunwald's cover story, was the diminutive half of a dynamic duo revolutionizing American politics. The other partner: California's then still shiny governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Together, they were "The New Action Heroes" who, according to Grunwald, were "doing big things that Washington has failed to do."

Chicago on the Potomac

No matter how you rearrange President Obama's inner circle, it still looks, smells and tastes like a rotten Chicago deep-dish pizza. Ready for the latest topping on this moldy old pie? It's a possible chief of staff slot for Wall Street banker/lawyer/wheeler-dealer William Daley, brother of outgoing Chicago mayor/machine politics mastermind Richard M. Daley (also the former boss of White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and first lady Michelle Obama), whose retirement paved the way for former Obama chief of staff and Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel. Phew.

More Loud Voices, Please

As we begin a new year, it may be useful to look back to one particular piece of advice that George Washington gave us in his farewell address. In paragraph 28, he reminded us that: "It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?"

True or False

So many statements we accept as true, plausible or beyond question; but are they? Let's look at a couple of important ones: global warming and U.S. manufacturing decline. In 2000, Dr. David Viner of University of East Anglia's disgraced Climatic Research Unit advised, "Within a few years winter snowfall will become a very rare and exciting event." "Children just aren't going to know what snow is." Britain's Meteorological Office said this December was "almost certain" to become the coldest since records began in 1910. Paul Michaelwaite, forecaster for NetWeather.tv, said, "It is looking like this winter could be in the top 20 cold winters in the last 100 years."

Prohibitionists: Leave Us Alone!

Sometimes I drink Scotch and then, to wake myself up, I drink coffee. So what? Many people consume mixtures of caffeine and alcohol in drinks like rum and Coke. Again, so what? But recently some college kids started drinking pre-mixed combos of alcohol and caffeine with names like Four Loko and Moonshot '69. Moonshot '69 is a pilsner beer with less than a coffee cup's worth of caffeine. Until recently, Four Loko contained 12 percent alcohol -- about the same as wine -- and as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. A few students, after drinking Four Loko, landed in the hospital with alcohol poisoning. Naturally, hysterical news reports followed.

Obama vs. Biden

Can the Barack Obama who was a senator just a couple of years ago be the same one who's now president? Some of us can recall a time when Sen. Obama was saying the Surge would never work in Iraq. Ready to throw in the towel, he had nothing good to say about the way the president at the time, George W. Bush, was conducting the war against terror on any front -- whether it was the Surge, the Patriot Act, spying on the enemy via wiretaps, tracking international phone calls, holding al-Qaida types at Guantanamo. Sen. Obama was agin it all. President Obama has pretty much adopted it all, or been obliged to. And he's extended the Surge to Afghanistan, as well -- under the same general whose counsel he used to dismiss, the sage and patient David Petraeus, architect of victory. Even if the president still shies away from using that forbidden word.

No Booze for You

Last year, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board installed "wine kiosks" in 31 grocery stores. Last month, it shut the machines down for repairs, just in time for the holidays. The kiosks, a bungled, half-hearted attempt to accommodate consumers who heretofore could buy wine only at government-run stores, encapsulate the dilemma faced by state alcohol monopolies, as cash-strapped legislators consider privatizing them to raise money and cut costs in this year of gaping budget deficits.

The 2012 Republican Cabinet

While Republicans celebrate their newfound majority in the House of Representatives, Americans await the true political turning point: the 2012 elections. Will President Obama perform enough political payoffs to purchase a pass to the presidency yet again? Or will he be stopped by a populace unwilling to tread down the same dark path as Greece, Spain and Ireland? If Obama is to be stopped, Republicans will need to run a powerhouse candidate in 2012. The Republican Party is still fragmented between libertarians and social conservatives, though that fracture has been papered over with the veneer of fiscal conservatism; meanwhile, Obama remains a formidable candidate.

Don't Repeal and Replace, Repeal and Defund

Next Wednesday, the House of Representatives will take up legislation sponsored by new House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., that is titled, "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act." On its face, this two-page bill is very simple. It would turn back the clock on federal health care laws to the instant before President Barack Obama signed his massive health care bill last March, making it as if Obamacare "had not been enacted." So far, so good. But in addition to offering this bill to repeal Obamacare, the Republican leadership will also offer a resolution that will instruct "certain committees to report legislation replacing the job-killing health care law."

Supply-Side Obama? Trust but Verify

The past is not always a prologue to the future. But looking at some of the big winners and losers of 2010 does provide some strong hints of a positive 2011. The biggest winner last year was the tea party, which shellacked President Obama in the election. Obama becomes the biggest loser. And the economy and stock market will be the beneficiaries.

Culture Challenge of the Week: The Siren Song of Malevolence

Culture Challenge of the Week: The Siren Song of Malevolence America's children have been taken captive by a brilliantly deceptive culture that offers them a world of pleasure, limitless fun, and the possibility of a utopian harmony with all mankind. The tune is the melody of self-absorption and instant gratification, insidiously crafted to manipulate their vulnerable minds into a numb acceptance of whatever the deceivers tell them. Not unlike those whose imaginations were captivated by the siren songs in Greek mythology, our children are being steadily and brilliantly lured into a dark and dangerous world that seeks to destroy all that is right and just -- and their very souls.

A Role Model for Boehner

The battle smoke lifts, the noise of past political combat dies away, and we envision at last the right role model for John Boehner as he assumes the speakership. Who else, I ask, but Nancy Pelosi? The Rose of San Francisco will not go down in speakership annals standing beside the honored likes of Henry Clay, Jack Garner and Sam Rayburn. She'll possibly go down instead as the speaker with both the hardest head and nose; unyielding in pursuit of her objectives; giving an inch to critics only when forced and then waiting patiently to snatch it back.

'Saving' the Housing Market

"Housing Market Setback Forecast" the newspaper headline said. A recently released report on housing says that home sales are down more than 25 percent and the inventory of unsold homes is about 50 percent higher than it was the same time last year. This is just one of innumerable stories about the woes of the housing market. We all understand about human beings having woes. But how can a housing market have either setbacks or woes? Moreover, why should politicians be riding to the rescue of the housing market with the taxpayers' money?

Constitutionalists vs. 'Interpretationists'

The new House Republican leadership is smart to inaugurate their return to power by reading aloud the U.S. Constitution on the House floor. Recalling America's founding principles is never a bad idea. To some on the left, though, the Constitution doesn't mean what it says, but is to be interpreted by judges and politicians. To liberals, this means the document is useful only when it advances a "progressive" economic, political and social agenda. Otherwise, it must be considered a relic of a bygone era.

They're Back! The Return of the Death Panels

They were supposed to be gone. They were supposed never to have existed. Remember the foofaraw over the part of ObamaCare that was going to have Medicare finance, uh, consultations about end-of-life treatment? They soon were dubbed death panels. The name stuck, and every time advocates of the idea derided it -- untrue! fictional! absurd! wholly imaginary! -- they only gave it more currency.

From Yale to the NFL: Are We Still the Home of the Brave?

Last week, the National Football League called off an NFL game because it was going to snow in Philadelphia. This has not happened before. American football is played under all weather conditions. That is part of its appeal. Snow, rain, freezing temperatures -- nothing stops an NFL game. But last Sunday, the NFL and Philadelphia city officials called off the Eagles-Vikings game because of an imminent snowstorm -- in order to protect fans from having to drive at that time.

Sacramento -- Can Jerry Brown Do It?

As he was sworn in as governor at Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium on Monday "with no mental reservations," Brown gave Californians reason to be optimistic that he might succeed where predecessors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger failed. In the face of a $28 billion shortfall, Brown's team is floating savvy cuts in California government. And reason to be pessimistic: Brown talked up "sensible and bold" regulation, when state employers really want to hear that Sacramento will bring them regulatory relief so that they can start hiring again.

Is the Constitution Senile?

The congressional Republicans' decision to read the Constitution aloud on the floor of Congress has forced some Constitution-contemptuous liberals further out of the closet, which is an instructive development to behold. Blogger Ezra Klein of The Washington Post told MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell that the constitutional reading is "a gimmick," and "the issue of the Constitution is not that people don't read the text and think they're following; the issue with the Constitution is that the text is confusing because it was written more than 100 years ago and what people believe it says differs from person to person and differs depending on what they want to get done."