Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
America's Evolving Passage to India
President Barack Obama's looming post-election state visit to India is another indication of evolution and maturation -- the incremental but genuine change measured in decades that marks the coalescing of U.S. and Indian global interests.
Of Time and the River
SYLAMORE, Ark. -- Walker Percy called it a Repetition, by which he meant going back to a place and noting the changes that had occurred since you'd been there before -- the changes in you, not the place. Which is why the author had Binx Bolling, his character in "The Moviegoer," go back to see the same unchanging movies -- to gauge how his reactions to them have changed, and so apprehend the passage of time. Within himself.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Fundraising Prowess 2010
Here's a handy way to figure out which party expects to lose big in the next election: If its leaders are complaining about the unfairness of the other side raising buckets of money, that party is in trouble. If party big shots can't help but exaggerate the other side's money advantage, well, whoa, Nelly.
Texas and the Art of Liking Business
I didn't bother to read The Dallas Morning News' recent endorsement of Democrat Bill White for governor of Texas, partly because the piece was longer than a root canal appointment. Mainly, though, it was because the idea of NOT entrusting state government to an exponent of low taxes and relatively limited government (i.e., incumbent Rick Perry) is so detached from common sense and reality that ...
Don't Give Up on the Brits
A letter to the editor struck a chord the other day. It was from a reader who'd just returned from London. While there, riding the Underground, he'd encountered a member of that country's chattering class -- the bloke said he was teaching at Oxford -- who was blaming all the troubles in the world on America. So what else is new? He sounded much like his counterparts on many a politically correct American campus.
This Is a Referendum, Not an Election
Next Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010 is not Election Day. It is Referendum Day. It may be commonplace for commentators to announce that every election is "the most important election in our lifetime" or something analogous. But having never said that of a presidential election, let alone an off-year election, this commentator cannot be accused of crying wolf when I say that this off-year election is not simply the most important of my lifetime. It is the most important since the Civil War.
Brass Oldies
Classic songs from years past are sometimes referred to as "golden oldies." There are political fallacies that have been around for a long time as well. These might be called brass oldies. It certainly takes a lot of brass to keep repeating fallacies that were refuted long ago.
Halloween’s Sexual Trend
Halloween is around the corner, so you're expecting a steady train of ghosts, Hollywood heroes, and princesses to knock on your door. Well, brace yourself. Princesses look different these days. The pre-teen and teenage girls who show up are likely to be wearing trampy costumes that say "s-e-x," rather than "trick or treat." We all know that girls are being sexualized by the culture at younger and younger ages in their daily wear. But Halloween costumes have taken things to a new low, making our little girls into sex objects even midst what is supposed to be an evening of childhood fun. The sad reality is that we live in a pop culture that is obsessed with trying to make our boys and girls think about sex all the time.
Diet Nations
Thirty-six years ago when he first ran for Congress, Lake Jackson, Texas obstetrician Ron Paul rented billboards depicting a seriously obese Uncle Sam with the caption: "Put Big Government on a Diet." Most Americans, with the possible exception of those addicted to government benefits, would probably be happy to return to the 1975 federal debt level of a paltry $84 billion. Today, the national debt is $13 trillion and rising.
Don't Fall for Any Postelection Obama Spending Conversion
Riddle me this: How can anyone take Obama seriously when he says he will focus on the deficit in the next two years, seeing as his economic and social philosophies dictate that he continue to spend our money like a drunken floozy?
NPR Confronts Its Own Tea Party
I appeared on a public radio program, "On Point," this week with National Public Radio ombudsman Alicia Shepard and listened to her defend NPR's firing of Juan Williams. NPR, the listener is invited to conclude, has no bias, but Williams, a liberal with occasionally heterodox views, is too conservative for NPR.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Our Ballot's Trick Question
In a nation where the public is now incensed over political chicanery and the way many feel the "crazies are now running the insane asylum," the State of Tennessee reached a new low when the early voting began for the mid-term elections. You see, there is a "trick question" on the ballot.
Voters Fed up With Obama's Big, Bossy Government
Out on the campaign trail, Barack Obama has given us his analysis of why his party is headed for significant losses in the election nine days hence. "Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now," said the president for whom politics did not seem so tough in 2008, "and facts and science and argument do not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we're hardwired not to always think clearly when we're scared. And the country's scared."
NPR: All PC Things Considered
National Public Radio is a monument to political correctness. Its acronym might better be thought of as "not professionally responsible." It is not a left-leaning organization. The Leaning Tower of Pisa leans. NPR has fallen over completely for the "progressive" agenda. It is supine. Horizontal. And the actions of NPR president Vivian Schiller in firing Juan Williams are just the most public example of NPR's bias.
The World's Oldest Profession
It was amusing to watch the desperate Democrats trying to turn foreign donations to the electoral process into a major issue. Voters would have to be even dopier than they are to be overly concerned with chump change from foreign donors going to the Chamber of Commerce when China holds the mortgage on America.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The Riddle Man Cometh
I've always shied away from riddles, mostly because they confirm I'm not the sharpest pencil in the drawer, but there is one that is pretty famous and was brought to light several weeks ago by a delightful pundit named Tom Henderson.
A Witch Hunt for Bigots Singes American Media
"Political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis, where you don't address reality," Juan Williams observed rather prophetically on Bill O'Reilly's show Monday night, before he made the comments that got him fired from his assignment as senior news analyst for National Public Radio.
Myths and Misses
A lot of the things that people accept on faith are nothing more than time-honored, widely accepted lies. For instance, ever since its inception, we have all come to accept as gospel that Israelis are the most formidable fighters in the world. At one time, that may have been true. They certainly made quick work of the Arabs during the Six Day War. But that was then and this is now.
A Blue State's Red-Hot Prospect
MINNEAPOLIS -- Northern Iowans are Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings fans. This fact could be portentous 16 months from now when the Iowa caucuses occur and Minnesota's two-term governor, Tim Pawlenty, probably will be seeking the Republican presidential nomination.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
From The Comedy Store
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera expressed gratitude after the miners were all rescued. He thanked U.S. drilling firms, the British prime minister and the Israeli prime minister. He forgot to thank Obama for not banning deep drilling after the accident.