Rays of Optimism

A favorite saying - "this, too, shall pass" - has been used in our family to temper inflated egos and console bitter disappointments. Lately, it's been an encouraging reminder to conservatives that even the darkest nights are eventually broken by the dawn.

This recession has been one of spirit as much as economics for conservatives. In an extraordinary twist of circumstances, the Fall 2007 economic collapse ushered in an unprecedented foray into liberal-progressive radicalism. It would have been easy to become fatalistic and disheartened, yet Americans didn't. Tea parties were the first rays of daylight, and they reminded us of what America has been and could still be:  That we will be our own masters as long as we choose to be.

NOW's Nearsightedness

National Organization of Women's board member Jerin Arifa told the gathering at its 2011 annual conference this week, "Americans should focus more on stopping the abuse of the women in their own backyard rather than the women in the Middle East." Neveen El-Nawawy, a Muslim activist, apparently agreed. She reportedly said "Islam and Feminism are not conflicting ideals as some would think."

That would probably surprise Saudi Arabian woman activist Manal al-Sharif, who was arrested last month for driving a car. The Saudi driving ban has been in place since 1991, when Islamic clerics ruled it indecent for women to drive as it would reveal their hands and increase their chance of socializing with young men.

Conservative Women Rally Against Wasserman Schultz's Attacks

DNC chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz recently made news saying conservatives' "record is a war on women, and it is a priority for them."  Conservative women strongly disagreed.  Rep Kristi Noem, R-SD, had this to say on Greta Van Susteren's show:

Socialists Losing Their Free-Market Sugar Daddy

Precious little humor can be found in Greece's economic death spiral, but Rachel Marsden's "Who'll Volunteer to Save the Socialists?" will provoke a bittersweet smile from conservatives even as it reminds us how dangerously high the stakes are in our own nation's budget debates.

Stand Up, Conservatives!

Last winter, David Limbaugh told conservatives to quit apologizing for capitalism.

"It's a testament to the power of propaganda and the appeal of emotion over reason that a system that has produced the greatest prosperity in world history is castigated on moral grounds," wrote Limbaugh, "while those systems that have proliferated abject misery, poverty, tyranny and subjugation are hailed as morally superior."

More recently Texas Governor Rick Perry challenged conservatives to "stop apologizing" for taking conservative positions on social and fiscal issues. "Our loudest opponents on the left are never going to like us, so let's quit trying to curry favor with them."

Libs Get a Pass in Calling a Female Congresswoman 'Cute'

"Conservative women's groups see a double standard in the reaction - or lack of it - from the media and liberal feminists to President Barack Obama using terms such as "cute" to describe Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FLA), chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, but said they are not offended by his language," reports CNS News in an article titled "NOW Mute on Obama Calling Congresswoman 'Cute'.  CBLPI's Alyssa Cordova noted that "Obama will likely get a pass for saying which might otherwise offend a radical feminist" ... 

Conservative Women = Game Changers

Dana Perino has a wonderful article today highlighting a simple, fun way for conservative women to become better informed on state and national issues.  It's built around a monthly lunch with girlfriends. Who wouldn't like that?

Mothers as the New Breadwinners?

Robert Patterson's statistics-packed article in the Washington Examiner points to a troubling employment picture for men ages 25-54, a better-than-average unemployment rate for women, and a trend, with government's assistance, in the feminization of the workforce. Women should file this under "be careful what you wish for..."

Weiner's Entertaining "Pathetic Man-Child" Fallout

Conservatives can't help but enjoy the various reactions to Rep Anthony Weiner's gross sexual misbehavior, from New York Times writer Sheryl Gay Stolberg's article on why "girls won't be boys" to Human Events writer John Hayward's take on Democrat leaders misplaced priorities.

Atlas Strikes?

Business went on a hiring strike, writes Michael Barone, after Obama "delivered a ballyhooed speech at George Washington University" on April 13:

After April 13 Obama Democrats went into campaign mode. They staged a poll-driven Senate vote to increase taxes on oil companies [and] began a Mediscare campaign against Ryan's budget resolution that all but four House Republicans had voted for. The message to job creators was clear. Hire at your own risk. Higher taxes, more burdensome regulation and crony capitalism may be here for some time to come...

Wall Street Journal reporter Kim Strassel called businesses' defensive reaction a "capital strike" (Fox News Sunday, 6/5):

Palin Plays the Left ... Again

"Now, who looks stupid?" asks LA Times blogger Andrew Malcolm. Palin knew more about Paul Revere's evening activities than reporters, who "ran off like Revere to alert the world to Palin's latest mis-speak, which wasn't."

Palin shows all conservatives how to "Flumox Intellectually Lazy Liberals," writes blogger AJ Strata: "Palin has discovered a great weapon against the Left. Exclaim some little known fact (of which there are infinite varieties since the left's knowledge is shallow, vague and all emotion and no fact) and then let the Left implode in a fit of arrogant ignorance...So us poor dumb conservatives might as well begin, by laying one trap at a time and watching the fools rush in from the Left."

Conservative Women Energized by Bachmann, Palin

Hitting the Left where it hurts may help to explain why a lot of "conservative women can't help but rejoice" over the involvement of Palin and Michelle Bachmann in the public square. "Kellyanne Conway, a GOP pollster, said conservatives generally do not like identity politics and tend to say they are not considering a candidate's sex or race in their decision ... But voters increasingly are looking for candidates to whom they can personally relate, and Palin and Backmann fit the bill for an energized base of Republican women."

Star Parker: Why 2012 Looks a Lot Like 1860

Star Parker| "This deep division [in the nation] is driven, as was the case in the 1850s, by fundamental differences in worldview regarding what this country is about. Then, of course, the question was can a country "conceived in liberty," in Lincoln's words, tolerate slavery. Today the question is can a country "conceived in liberty" tolerate almost half its economy consumed by government, its citizens increasingly submitting to the dictates of bureaucrats, and the wanton destruction of its unborn children..."

SlutWalks: Appropriate Epitath for Feminism

Feministing.com founder Jessica Valenti finds the future of feminism in, of all things, SlutWalks! "In a feminist movement that is often fighting simply to hold ground," she writes, "SlutWalks stand out as a reminder of feminism's more grass-roots past and point to what the future could look like." Arguing "SlutWalks have become most successful feminist action of the past 20 years," Valenti unwittingly confirms how utterly dead today's feminist movement is.

CBLPI Alum Laura Elizabeth Morales Rocks Texas

The Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute summer internship program was ideal for a heavily involved student activist like Laura Elizabeth Morales. In 2007, Laura was facing a growing backlash on her University of Texas-San Antonio campus for being a bold outspoken conservative. She had recently co-founded a chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas at her school and had become a target for intolerant liberal faculty and students who openly criticized her for being a ‘Hispanic conservative’.

Environmentalists' War on Women

From toxic light bulbs to clogged toilets to ineffective dishwashing and laundry detergents, environmentalists and their government regulating minions are slowly making life more costly and labor-intensive for women.  Read how in the Institute's article in Human Events.

'Gasland' is Slick, Well Done, and Intellectually Incomplete

Filmmaker Ann McElhinney has an excellent review of the 'Gasland' movie, and Phelim McAleer asks some inconvenient questions of Gasland's director, Josh Fox, in this short video clip: