Archive | March, 2002

Q: While it is clear that you think that being insane and being held criminally liable for one’s actions are not necessarily mutually exclusive, I am unsure of whether you think those two things are NEVER mutually exclusive. In other words, might there ever be a time where you would say that a person was […]

How many times have we heard people being applauded for “giving back”? People seem to believe that, if you’ve been successful and made a lot of money, you’re somehow obliged to give back by making donations to this or that cause, program or people. Giving back is not only a nonsensical idea but a dangerous […]

Q: In your recent article on motivation you conclude by stating that after doing the work to achieve one’s goals ” … most often the motivation you desire will start to follow.” Would you explain further why this is? Most of us usually think that the motivation must come first (no, not necessarily externally) even […]

Random thoughts about growing old: Despite the problems that come with aging, I would not be a teenager again for $1,000 a day plus expenses. I never really felt old until my younger brother retired. This is the period of life that Disraeli referred to as “anecdotage.” Nothing is more ridiculous than discounts for senior […]

What is wrong with a people who choose to live under a terrorist organization, as opposed to a state that respects freedom of worship, democracy and — to a great extent — individual rights? Why do Palestinian Arabs pick a terrorist dictator over an essentially free country? Nobody ever asks this question. For eight years, […]

Clinton-era sleaze is like a stubborn toe fungus. It just won’t go away. Fourteen months after the 42nd president of the United States left office, news is spreading of yet another unsightly scandal under his watch. And true to Clintonian form, it looks like those involved won’t ever have to pay a price for their […]

1. Some time in the 1960s, I believe, the Library of Congress invited Ayn Rand to will the manuscripts of her novels to them. She replied that she was happy to do so. Subsequently, they sent her a form to fill out, in order to make her intention legally binding upon her death. She refused […]

If facts carried some weight with those who are politically correct, the recent outbreak of savage and lethal violence in India’s state of Gujarat might cause some reassessments of both India and “diversity.” This is only the latest round in a cycle of violence and revenge between the Hindus and the Moslems in that country. […]

Most Americans were pleased with the legislative attack on cigarette smokers, not to mention confiscatory tobacco taxes. We reveled in the EPA’s dishonest study concluding that second-hand smoke causes cancer. And, by the way, I’d like to hear whether the Food & Drug Administration would sanction pharmaceutical companies employing EPA’s research methods to test drug […]

I graduated from the University of Washington and am a board-certified Family Physician. I owned five family medicine-integrated medical clinics in the Seattle, Washington area, and as a consequence was very involved with all medical insurances–including Medicare, welfare, L&I, and several managed care contracts, in addition to a regular menu of insurance company patients. My […]

A recent e-mail from a reader said that he could not find the word “shibboleth” in his desk dictionary, even though he had seen this word in my column. That was an unfortunate omission in his dictionary because shibboleths explain a lot about what is said and done in politics today. Back in Biblical times, […]

President George W. Bush — despite his post-Sept. 11 performance — remains dumb, says “West Wing” producer Aaron Sorkin. Bush’s stratospheric popularity, claims Sorkin, results from our collective refusal to admit Bush’s stupidity: “That illusion (of a fully-engaged Bush) may be what we need right now, but the truth is we’re simply pretending to believe […]

The never-ending battle of the left to keep people from being held responsible for the consequences of their own actions is now in the Supreme Court of the United States, where the justices are being urged to exempt murderers from the death penalty if they score below some number on the IQ scale. Many of […]

When a supporter of Tonya Harding attacked Olympic skating rival Nancy Kerrigan back in 1994, clubbing Kerrigan’s right knee and leaving her writhing in pain, the legal system sprang to the victim’s defense. The attacker was caught and punished for his disgraceful attempt to eliminate a superior competitor through brute force. But now, seven years […]

Given the warmth that’s emanating from the North Pacific as George W. Bush visits Beijing this week, it’s hard to believe that the United States’ leading foreign-policy concerns before Sept. 11 were China’s downing of a U.S. military surveillance plane, its opposition to missile defense, and its opposition to the U.S. selling Taiwan a major […]

‘We are in a war,” Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said last week, referring to his country’s fight with the Palestinians. The Palestinians agree: “This is war,” responded Al-Fatah’s commander on the West Bank, Husayn Shaykh. In fact, Israelis and Palestinians have already been at war for over a year, but their leaders finally acknowledging […]