Marlon Brando, on the “Larry King Live” show, once used several racial and ethnic epithets. When a local news outlet rebroadcast this controversial excerpt, it muted Brando when he used the word “nigger.” His lips moved, but the viewer heard no sound. The station did not, however, mute the racial epithets Brando used for Italians, [...]
Archive | April, 1999
Get Government Out of Social Security
Richard M Salsman (1999.04.29 ) Politics, Social Security
In response to the growing recognition of the systemic problems with Social Security, President Clinton has suggested strengthening the program by investing over $700 billion of projected surpluses in the stock market. His plan, however — along with similar Republican ones — rests on two false premises. The first is that Social Security is a [...]
“Mixed Economy” Pragmatism versus Capitalist Principles in England
Andrew West (1999.04.27 ) Politics
England’s Tories, following the dubious example set by their US Republican counterparts, seem to have also concluded that standing on principle is politically inexpedient. The Tories recently chose to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s first election victory by betraying the very ideas for which she stood. On April 20th, Peter Lilley, the Tories’ [...]
Man vs. Nature
Peter Schwartz (1999.04.23 ) Environment
For the first time in American history, the government is ordering the destruction of a dam–for environmental reasons. This July, Edwards Dam, a small hydroelectric facility on the Kennebec River in Augusta, Maine, will be torn down by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Its crime? It is blocking the path of fish that swim upstream [...]
Are Cops Killing Blacks?
Larry Elder (1999.04.23 ) Politics
Before the horrific shooting at the Littleton, Colo., high school, the media sat around like the Maytag repairman on Prozac. Monica’s gone, impeachment and trial over with, the Jon-Benet Ramsey mystery dormant. Oh, sure, there’s the occasional O.J. flare-up, but, for the most part, until Kosovo came along, one could almost hear the sound of [...]
The Government’s Assault on Sexual Pleasure
Joseph Kellard (1999.04.20 ) Politics
Six woman recently file suite against the state of Alabama over a law it enacted last year regarding vibrators and other sex toys. The law states that selling or distributing “any obscene material or any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs” is a misdemeanor punishable by a [...]
A Statement: Communism, Free-Speech, and “Naming Names”
Elia Kazan (1999.04.19 ) Politics
The following statement originally appeared as an advertisement, placed by Elia Kazan in the New York Times, April 12, 1952. In the past weeks intolerable rumors about my political position have been circulating in New York and Hollywood. I want to make my stand clear: I believe that Communist activities confront the people of this [...]
Minimum Wage: Yet Another Republican Retreat
Larry Elder (1999.04.16 ) Politics, Price Controls
Every so often, without fail, the Republicans remind me why I don’t join the party. A recovering drug and alcohol abuser, living in the streets, recently told me the following story. One day, in desperate need of money, he went to the owner of a convenience store. The street guy pointed to the dirty, bottle-strewn [...]
End the Fraudulent Social Security Program Now
Jack Letourneau (1999.04.14 ) Politics, Social Security
Since 1935, the United States government has been operating a program that would be illegal if run by a private citizen or company — tarred as a fraudulent Ponzi scheme. Social Security, a scheme both impractical and immoral, is a smear on America’s principles of free enterprise. To defend the liberties which have enabled our [...]
The IMF in Brazil: The Emperor Has No Clothes!
Andrew West (1999.04.12 ) Politics
I’m not sure what’s more infuriating: witnessing Brazil’s drawn out slow-motion crash and burn after an endless string of stupid policies over the past year; the sudden breakdown in devaluative stupidity; or enduring the lame economic analysis that ensued in the days after devaluation. Initial reports were so bizarre and non-sensical as to leave me [...]