Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly Interviews The Prince of Unaccountability (Obama)
Obama’s strength, if you wish to call it that, arises from the ideological weakness of his political opponents — and the personal weakness of his most loyal constituents.
The Role of ‘Educators’ in Destroying America
As someone who used to read translations of official Communist newspapers in the days of the Soviet Union, I know that those papers’ attempts to degrade the United States did not sink quite as low as Howard Zinn’s book.
Schoolteacher Cheating
While there’s widespread teacher test cheating to conceal education failure, most notably among black children, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Housing Hurdles in California
A new study shows that you need an income of about $104,000 to buy an average home on the San Francisco peninsula with a 20 percent down payment. Since the average price of a home in this area is more than half a million dollars, the 20 percent down payment itself...
Senator John Edward’s “Special Interests”
This election year we are sure to hear a lot about "special interests." Candidates of both major parties, as well as candidates of third or fourth parties, are sure to denounce special interests both hotly and repeatedly. The secret of these verbal fireworks from all...
Exploiters vs Victims in the Grocery Strike
The California grocery strike has entered its fourth month--and there is no end in sight. Workers are still picketing stores, the shelves are under-stocked, and profits are dwindling. Talks between the grocery chains and the United Food and Commercial Workers' union...
T.S. Ashton on The Industrial Revolution
Despite more than a hundred years of condemnations and the harshest ridicule men like Friedrich Engels could hurl at the time period known in Great Britain as the Industrial Revolution (1760-1830) Dr. T.S. Ashton took up the task of restoring, or at least attempting...
Love Thy Enemy
I quote from a bumpersticker I recently saw on a car covered (or I should say, littered) with anti-Iraq-war/pro-Howard Dean stickers: "When Jesus said love your enemies, he probably meant: don't kill them." This is undoubtedly true. Loving your enemies is a core...
Judeo-Christian Philosophy and the Founding of America
A curious notion is mushrooming lately on programs such as "The O'Reilly Factor" and other current events shows. Certain commentators claim that the United States of America owes its existence to what is termed "Judeo-Christian" philosophy. Now I will not dispute that...
The Government’s Accounting Shell Game
Americans shell out more than $2 trillion each year to keep our federal government running. The least we should expect in return is honesty. Alas, Washington officials aren't telling the truth about how much they've spent, are currently spending or plan to spend....
When Did The Howard Dean Meltdown Really Begin?
Supporters of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, aka "Deanie-boppers," accuse the media of piling on by repeatedly playing his now infamous Iowa caucus "concession speech," punctuated by his banshee-like "Yeeeaaaaaarggh!" Dean's admittedly un-presidential behavior...
Phony Democratic Debates
The so-called "debates" among the Democratic candidates in the primaries are not really debates -- and that is a real shame. In a real debate, opponents could question each other's statements -- and there have been a lot of questionable statements made already in this...
Third World Sweatshops: Multinational Opportunity vs. Nihilistic Indignation
Those who vent their moral indignation over low pay for Third World workers employed by multinational companies ignore the plain fact that these workers' employers are usually supplying them with better opportunities than they had before, while those who are morally...
Sweatshop Expoitation
Here's a question. Suppose you see people lining up for hours, and people willing to pay a month's salary in bribes, in order to get a $2 a day factory job. What might you conclude? Would you guess there are higher-paying jobs around, but the people are too lazy to...
Third World Sweatshops: Why Cambodian Workers Bribe for ‘Sweatshop’ Jobs
"Low-Wage Costa Ricans Make Baseballs for Millionaires." That was the headline on one of those New York Times "news" stories that continued its recent tradition of disguised editorials. The headline said it all but the story ran on and on anyway, with details and...
Laissez Faire vs. Interventionism
In eighteenth-century France the saying laissez faire, laissez passer was the formula into which some of the champions of the cause of liberty compressed their program. Their aim was the establishment of the unhampered market society. In order to attain this end they...
Paying Homage to the Architects of the American Welfare State
Would-be defenders of individual rights and liberty, the fundamental ideas of the founding fathers who created the United States of America, have recently decided to pay homage to the Presidents who created the modern American welfare state. I refer of course to...
The Joy of Football: The Super Bowl Offers a Too-Rare Celebration of Goal-Achievement
As half the nation eagerly awaits the kickoff of the Super Bowl, the other half looks on in wonderment at what could be so enthralling about grown men running up and down a field carrying an oblong ball.Football fans who cannot articulate why they feel such passion...
Rewarding the MVPs of the Business World
As millions of Americans watch the New England Patriots take on the Carolina Panthers, every minute of the game will be scrutinized, from all angles and with action replays. But, amid the cheers of victory and cries of disappointment, you won't hear a whisper of...
Spaced Out: George W. Bush’s Mission to Mars
Last week, President Bush proposed an extra $1 billion dollars in spending for NASA over the next five years as part of his plan to put a permanent base on the moon and land astronauts on Mars. In a speech prepared for delivery Wednesday, Bush is calling for a lunar...
On WMDs: What Did the Democrats Say?
Did Saddam Hussein and his interest in weapons of mass destruction pose a threat to the United States? Just ask the Democrats. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean (D), appearing on "Face the Nation" in September 2002, said, "There's no question that Saddam Hussein is...
A Radical Solution to America’s Moribund Space Program
After years of declining budgets, public apathy, and failed missions, NASA has gotten a big boost from the Bush Administration's recent promises of extravagant missions to permanently settle the moon and eventually explore Mars. No one knows what it would cost, but a...
Stretching the Poor
What do you do when you don't have as much of something as you need? One of the things you can do is stretch it out to make it last as long as it can. That is what the political left is doing with the poor. A lot of noise is made about how we are "running out" of this...
Howard Dean’s Political Bubble: Lessons from Iowa
The headline story out of the Iowa caucuses is Senator John Kerry's surprising victory and the collapse of Governor Howard Dean's political bubble. This is all very well for those in the media who treat politics as the personal stories of politicians. But, for those...
Improving Education for Black Americans
What needs to be done to improve black education? Whether it's civil rights organizations, politicians or the education establishment, you'll get answers that cover the gamut from more money for teachers and smaller class sizes to school desegregation and racial...
Wesley Clark’s Opportunism
I met Wesley Clark, now a presidential candidate, in 1992 when I was an army lieutenant attending the Officer Basic Course. The then-2 star general came to Ft. Knox, KY to address our graduating class. General Clark was charismatic, personable and gave a motivating...
Mars: Who Should Own It
Suppose the US Government made the following declaration: The first person to land on Mars, and to live there some specified minimum duration (such as a year), and to return alive owns the entire Red Planet. Objectivist philosopher Harry Binswanger recently proposed...