President Bush’s trip to Africa and promise of increased foreign aid will do little or nothing to solve the ongoing tragedy in most places on the south-of-Sahara African continent. Kenya is on the brink of a civil war. Over 1,000 people have been killed and another 300,000 made homeless. Rebels have invaded Chad. In the [...]
Archive | February, 2008
Cold Facts on “Global Warming”
It has almost become something of a joke when some “global warming” conference has to be cancelled because of a snowstorm or bitterly cold weather. But stampedes and hysteria are no joke — and creating stampedes and hysteria has become a major activity of those hyping a global warming “crisis.” They mobilize like-minded people from [...]
A Lesson From Venezuela
People on the left often use other countries as examples of things that we should do. If other countries have a government-run medical system, then we should have one too, they say. If other countries control prices, then we should control prices — or so the reasoning goes. Almost never is there any suggestion that [...]
“Supporting The Troops”
The Berkeley city council has made national news by telling Marine Corps recruiters that they are unwelcome in that bastion of the academic left. It is a shame that Berkeley is not on some island in the South Pacific, because then they could be given their independence and left to defend themselves. As it is, [...]
Bad Times at The New York Times
The front page of the New York Times has increasingly become the home of editorials disguised as “news” stories. Too often it has become the home of hoaxes. Going back some years, it was the Tawana Brawley hoax that she had been gang-raped by a bunch of white men. Just a couple of years ago, [...]
“Net Neutrality”: Destroyer of Internet Freedom
Advocates of “net neutrality” are apoplectic amid reports that ISP Comcast slowed down file-sharing programs on its network. The FCC is threatening action against Comcast, while advocates of a new net-neutrality law sponsored by Congressman Edward Markey are taking the occasion to claim such legislation is necessary to protect “Internet freedom.” But net neutrality is [...]
Costs vs. Benefits
If we look to benefits only, we’ll do darn near anything because there’s always a benefit. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that there were 43,443 highway fatalities in 2005. If we had a maximum speed law of 15 mph, the death toll wouldn’t be nearly as high, probably not even as high as [...]
What Universal Health Care Can Do For You!
There’s automatic cheering at her political rallies when Hillary Clinton tells the faithful that she’ll deliver “universal health care.” Her plan will “rein in costs” while simultaneously “improving quality,” she says, thereby insuring that “all Americans will have affordable, quality health insurance.” To hold down costs, the plan will run “without any new bureaucracy,” insurance [...]
What is Fascism and Who is a Fascist?
Those who put a high value on words may recoil at the title of Jonah Goldberg’s new book, “Liberal Fascism.” As a result, they may refuse to read it, which will be their loss — and a major loss.Those who value substance over words, however, will find in this book a wealth of challenging insights, [...]
The Media and Politics: Journalists Cannot Serve Two Masters
Even before Mitt Romney bowed out — with class, by the way — supporters of John McCain, and Republican party pooh-bahs in general, were chastising those conservatives in the media who had criticized Senator McCain. Those who leveled their attacks at Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other conservatives who had criticized McCain’s record completely misconceived [...]
