Year End Reflections, Part II

In a win for the First Amendment's right to free speech, a Federal Court of Appeal has ruled in favor of the Washington Redskins. In trying to ban "disparaging" trademarks, the government overstepped its authority and violated the Constitution. Said the Court: "It is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment that the government may not penalize private speech merely because it disapproves of the message it conveys." I know many on the left would just as soon do away with the Constitution, so score one for freedom.

Following Obama's speech intended to calm an anxious nation after the San Bernardino attacks, the New York Times saved their criticism for the Republican presidential candidates, not the lack of substance put forth by Obama. Their criticisms are, as is frequently the case for those who engage in such tactics, childlike. For example, Ted Cruz was described as the "Twitter warrior," Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush went on Fox News (the old guilt by association ploy), and Donald Trump was the "bigot without foreign policy experience." What foreign policy experience did Obama or Bill Clinton have? Just asking.

On the 12/22/15 episode of the O'Reilly Factor was a debate between Zuhdi Jasser and Osama Siblani. Jasser is a medical doctor, a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy and an American Muslim. He runs the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and is stridently anti-Islamist. Siblani, on the other hand, runs the Arab American News. According to the Anti-Defamation League, that paper has had many articles expressing sympathy and even support for the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Not surprising, therefore, to hear this ridiculous claim from Siblani: "radicalization is on equal footing among all the religions and ideologies - Christianity, Judaism and Islam." Sure.

Of course there is no war on Christmas. Except in Johnson County, Kentucky the school district did not approve of an elementary school putting on a production of "A Charlie Brown Christmas." According to Fox, schools in that district were "ordered to remove all religious references from their upcoming Christmas productions." Isn't that taking the "Christmas" out of "Christmas?" And in another school district one principal changed Thanksgiving to the "harvest festival" and Christmas parties became "winter celebrations." As Prager noted in a recent column, how often do you hear "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year?" As a Jew I still go with the latter.

What's up with the Republicans? They pass a budget of $1.1 trillion dollars, adding/keeping taxes, funding all of Obama's programs, and put it all in an omnibus bill of over 2000 pages. It passed in the Senate with the support of 27 Republicans. 26 Republicans opposed, including Cruz and Paul. Rubio was apparently on the campaign trail. So, we voted in a Republican Congress to get more Democratic legislation?

After the worst attack on Paris since World War II, nearly every country in the world came together in Paris to fight terrorism. Nope. They came together to fight climate change. Following passage of the non-binding agreement, our President was patting himself on the back for leading the way. Just as Obamacare was a way to redistribute wealth within the country, this climate accord is a way to redistribute wealth internationally. In order to pay for this it will require higher taxes for citizens of the wealthier countries, such as the U.S.

Reflecting the scare tactics of the mainstream media, the USA Today opined in their 12/14/15 editorial that "barring a technological miracle, global warming will continue unabated and wreak havoc on the planet." As I was listening to the local news the other night, they were reporting that this was the hottest month or year since some time in the 1880s. Instead of panicking, I thought - so did the earth burn out then? Did life as we know it end then? Of course not.

In response to the hysteria, Jay Ambrose wrote in the 12/19/15 Ventura County Star: "Cheap, powerfully efficient fossil fuels are one of the best things ever to happen to humanity. Oil, natural gas and coal make the modern, industrialized world go. Without them, we wouldn't have affordable computers, electric lights, TVs, effectively functioning hospitals, machines helping to produce gobs of needed food, transportation that gets you here, there and everywhere and more, much more, endlessly more." (Citing Alex Epstein in "The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.")

The Investor's Business Daily concurred. "Sustained economic growth, a necessary prerequisite for scientific and technological dynamism, became possible when humanity was able to rely on 'non-renewable, non-green, non-clean power'," citing Matt Ridley, author of "The Rational Optimist." But the left cares far more for the planet than they do for humanity. And they have almost no concern for the economic consequences of their policies. If they wanted to eliminate carbon-based fuels they would push for more nuclear power, but don't hold your breath on that one.