Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Uncle Sam: Hands Off the Internet!
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wants to get its grasping hands around the throat of the Internet, the international town hall where Americans have been free to express their opinions without Big Brother's permission or interference. That makes the FCC unhappy. It seems that this taxpayer-supported, intrusive federal agency simply can't bring itself to allow anything having to do with Americans communicating with each other in public without their lordly oversight or permission.
The Christmas Wars
Some people have a funny idea of fun. Like the Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas. This year he celebrated the holiday season by launching GrinchAlert.com -- a website where people could report businesses they thought weren't doing enough to celebrate Christmas. "Too many businesses have bowed down to political correctness," the reverend complained. "I thought this would be a fun way to call out businesses that are refusing to celebrate Christmas."
King Coal's Staying Power
WASHINGTON -- Cowlitz County in Washington state is across the Columbia River from Portland, Ore., which promotes mass transit and urban density and is a green reproach to the rest of us. Recently, Cowlitz did something that might make Portland wonder whether shrinking its carbon footprint matters. Cowlitz approved construction of a coal export terminal from which millions of tons of U.S. coal could be shipped to Asia annually. Both Oregon and Washington are curtailing the coal-fired generation of electricity, but the future looks to greens as black as coal. The future looks a lot like the past.
The Bloodthirsty Left
I used to get a warm feeling when I'd read or hear the words to be found at the base of the Statue of Liberty. It's a poem titled "The New Colossus," and written by Emma Lazarus. Among its odd requests are that the world give us "your poor, your huddled masses, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores." In the wake of tens of millions sneaking into the country, I think we need to replace that welcome mat with something a little more commonsensical. We are now at 305 million, and I think we've got enough wretched refuse to last us a while. However, if we ever find ourselves running short, we don't need to import any; we merely have to elect ordinary Americans to public office.
Tie Debt Ceiling Vote to Balanced Budget Amendment
Next Spring, Republicans will be faced with a serious decision over whether to vote to raise the debt ceiling. Failing to do so could signal foreign countries that the U.S. plans to default on our debt -- an act that would surely have dire economic repercussions. On the other hand, Tea Party activists -- and other conservatives -- might understandably view such a vote as evidence that Republicans still don't "get it" -- and that the politicians didn't hear them in November.
$5 Gas Predicted Under Obama -- What, No Pitchforks?
Five dollars per gallon of gas by 2012! A former president of Shell Oil considers this likely. The average price on Christmas Day for a gallon of regular gas reached $3.28 in Los Angeles County, the highest price since October 2008. In one month, the price rose 13 cents, up 35 cents year to year. Where are the calls to sic Obama's Justice Department on Big Oil to hold the oil companies accountable for "market manipulation"? Why aren't we hunting down the amoral "oil speculators" responsible for repealing the law of supply-and-demand in order to line their pockets?
There Is Always Fidel
WASHINGTON -- Next week marks the 52nd anniversary of Fidel Castro's arrival to his Cuban throne. I cannot wait to see how it will be solemnized. Will little children appear before Fidel throwing flowers? They'd better not throw them too hard. He is pretty frail. Will there be a military parade? If there is, where will they come up with the gasoline? There is hardly enough in the country for the Communist Party's leaders' limousines. What will they be celebrating? By now, everyone knows that the revolution was a stupendous bust starting about 51 years ago.
A House Poorly Divided
Larger families need larger houses. A larger nation does, too. With the release of the 2010 Census data, the decennial rejiggering of the nation's political map has begun. Eight states will be gaining seats in the US House of Representatives, while 10 states' House delegations will shrink. Among the winners are Texas, where the number of residents has soared by 4.3 million since the 2000 Census; Utah, whose population is up more than 530,000; and Washington, which has grown 14 percent, to 6.7 million.
She Told Us So
Sarah Palin deserves an apology. When she said that the new health-care law would lead to "death panels" deciding who gets life-saving treatment and who does not, she was roundly denounced and ridiculed. Now we learn, courtesy of one of the ridiculers -- The New York Times -- that she was right. Under a new policy not included in the law for fear the administration's real end-of-life game would be exposed, a rule issued by the recess-appointed Dr. Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, calls for the government to pay doctors to advise patients on options for ending their lives. These could include directives to forgo aggressive treatment that could extend their lives.
The American 21st Century
The current debt, recession, wars and political infighting have depressed Americans into thinking they soon will be supplanted by more vigorous rivals abroad. Yet this is an American fear as old as it is improbable. In the 1930s, the Great Depression supposedly marked the end of freewheeling American capitalism. The 1950s were caricatured as a period of mindless American conformity, McCarthyism and obsequious company men.
A Truce in Culture Wars as Voters Focus on Economy
Back in June, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniel, whom many think would be an attractive 2012 presidential candidate, was quoted by Andrew Ferguson in The Weekly Standard as saying the next president "would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues." That quickly attracted some harsh criticism from opponents of abortion and same-sex marriage. But Daniels has declined to back down, telling the Indianapolis Star the other day that such issues are secondary to the economy and foreign policy.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
No Comeback for New Comeback Kid
Don't believe all the Washington talk that President Obama had a great lame duck session and goes into the new year and the new 112th congress with the whip hand. Utter nonsense. Let's review the lame duck session as it happened -- not as it has been instantly revised by the ever-obliging Washington press corps. In the first week or so, the president capitulated to Ronald Reagan's supply side theory that tax cuts expand the economy, and tax increases contract it. The central policy was to not let expire the Bush tax cuts, not only because it would be tough on middle-class taxpayers, but also, the White House argued,because keeping tax rates down would be good for the economy.
Big Nannies of the Year
It was a nefarious year for nettlesome nosy-bodies employed by the Nanny State. Here are the top power-grabbers of 2010 who just can't leave us alone: -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Two feet of snow paralyzed trains, buses, plows and emergency vehicles in the Big Apple this week. Perhaps if Bloomberg -- the nation's top self-appointed municipal food cop -- spent more of his time on core government duties instead of waging incessant war on taxpayers' salt, soda, trans-fat and sugar intakes, his battered bailiwick would have been better equipped to weather the storm.
Follow the Bouncing Buck: The Year's Highlights in Blame Shifting
Two weeks ago, writing in The Washington Post, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius argued that Americans must be forced to buy government-approved medical coverage to prevent "unfair cost-shifting" by uninsured patients. They neglected to mention that the federal government mandates such cost shifting by requiring hospitals to treat all comers, regardless of their ability to pay. Holder and Sebelius also misleadingly implied that the individual insurance mandate is aimed at addressing uncompensated care, which according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation represents less than 3 percent of health care spending.
Government Killed California
Growing up in California in the 1960s, it was impossible not to believe you lived in the greatest place on earth. California had spectacular coastlines and mountains, luxuriant valleys and stretches of perfect weather that carried on unbroken for months at a time. Natives who ventured from the state -- to other parts of the country or the world -- invariably returned to say it was a mistake to ever leave.
Promises and Riots
Economists are the real "party of No." They keep saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch -- and politicians keep on getting elected by promising free lunches. Such promises may seem to be kept, for a while. There are ways the government can juggle money around to make everything look OK, but it is only a matter of time before that money runs out and the ultimate reality hits, that there is no free lunch.
Free or Fair?
At first blush, the mercantilists' call for "free trade but fair trade" sounds reasonable. After all, who can be against fairness? Giving the idea just a bit of thought suggests that fairness as a guide for public policy lays the groundwork for tyranny. You say, "Williams, I've never heard anything so farfetched! Explain yourself." Think about the First Amendment to our Constitution that reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
The Best and Worst of Hollywood, 2010
If there is one element of American culture that seems to reflect our national psyche, it is box office receipts. National voting only takes place once every two years; polling data is often skewed by sample size and question wording. What happens at the movie theater, however, tends to chart America's mood to a T. And surprisingly, it's been a good year for movies. The biggest and best movies tended to celebrate what's right with Western civilization; the eggs tended to denigrate America and her allies. By and large, Americans rejected elite critics' take on film, turning aside liberal offerings glamorizing gay marriage, ripping American involvement in Iraq, and complaining about the ills of capitalism. Instead, Americans embraced action blockbusters and heroic deeds by men of honor.
Please Stop 'Helping' Us
Last year, Congress passed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act. It was supposed to really end the alleged abuses perpetrated by the credit card companies. The law forbids some penalties and interest-rate increases on existing balances. It is one of President Obama's proudest achievements. "Enough's enough," he said. "It's time for strong, reliable protection for our consumers."
As Gay Becomes Bourgeois
So now openly gay soldiers get to fight and die in neocon-imperialist wars too? David Brooks saw such ironic progressive victories coming. In his book "Bobos in Paradise," he wrote that everything "transgressive" gets "digested by the mainstream bourgeois order, and all the cultural weapons that once were used to undermine middle-class morality ... are drained of their subversive content."