The Irony of California
Thomas Sowell (2003.10.11 )
The California recall election and its surrounding hoopla may have confirmed the suspicions of some people in other parts of the country that Californians are crazy. But not all Californians are crazy — just the most affluent and highly educated ones. Although the state as a whole voted to remove the disastrous Governor Gray Davis […]
Baby Kim’s Ace in the Hole: Western Moralists
John Dawson (2003.10.11 )
North Korea just announced it is using plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel rods to make atomic weapons. How could the United States let this happen? In 1994, when North Korea was on the brink of economic collapse, its new leader Kim Jong Il, following in his father’s footsteps, demanded the help of his reviled […]
A Sound Dividend Strategy
James K Glassman (2003.10.10 )
Earlier this year, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), which is roughly tied with General Electric (GE) as the most valuable company measured by market cap in the world, declared the first dividend in its 28-year history. On Sept. 12, it doubled that dividend from 8 cents a year to 16 cents — and I wouldn’t be surprised […]
Great Myths About the Great Depression
Thomas Sowell (2003.10.10 )
They say “truth will out” but sometimes it takes a long time. For more than half a century, it has been a “well-known fact” that President Franklin D. Roosevelt got us out of the Great Depression of the 1930s. That view was never pervasive among economists, and even J.M. Keynes — a liberal icon — […]
Beware of Bonds As The Economy Improves
Don Luskin (2003.10.09 )
A month ago, I wrote about the how the Fed led Wall Street bond traders into a billion-dollar trap, by promising to keep interest rates low virtually forever, and then just weeks later, hinting that it would break the promise. You’d think “once burned, twice shy” — but no, the Fed is making promises again, […]
Where Have You Gone, Isaac Newton?
David Harriman (2003.10.09 )
More and more today, we are inundated with foolishness masquerading as science. Psychic hotlines proliferate, politicians consult astrologers, and people reject their doctor’s advice in favor of “alternative healing” dispensed by quacks. In the past, defenders of real science could be relied upon to expose and debunk such nonsense. So where are these defenders today? […]
Mahogany, Peru and Poverty: US Firm Fights NRDC’s Eco-Libels
Alan Caruba (2003.10.09 )
According to the website of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Tahuamanu Rainforest of Peru is a tropical paradise that “until recently, has seen no human impacts beyond those of traditional, sustainable communities.” That is, according to the NRDC, until the Newman Lumber Company of Gulfport, Mississippi, arrived for the sole purpose of destroying […]
P.C. Insanity at the Pentagon
Michelle Malkin (2003.10.08 )
If Osama bin Laden snuck into our country illegally, bought fake immigration papers and changed his name to Osmundo Ben Ladeno, could he join the U.S. military? You betcha! Last week, the Army announced that Pvt. Juan Escalante, a 19-year-old illegal alien from Mexico who had used a $50 bogus green card to enlist, would […]
An Open Letter to ESPN on Rush Limbaugh
Joseph Kellard (2003.10.08 )
ESPN Television ESPN Plaza Bristol, CT 06010 October 5, 2003 To ESPN, You forced Rush Limbaugh to resign from his job after his alleged racist comment, yet you routinely allow your other commentators to make race-related comments and champion unquestioningly what are essentially racist crusades. “The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback […]
Israel’s Fence and the Return to the Barbaric Past
John David Lewis (2003.10.08 )
Israel’s proposed border fence, a necessary physical separation between a lawful nation and its homicidal neighbors, is a powerful symbol of the political gulf separating the West from the Arab world. When Israel was founded, its inhabitants established the only government under law in the Middle East. The models for this nation were the constitutional […]
How to Prevent a ‘Quagmire’ in Iraq: End American Appeasement
Peter Schwartz (2003.10.08 )
Voices on the left argue that Iraq will become a “quagmire” because of U.S. “arrogance” and “unilateralism.” They are actually half-right: disaster may indeed be looming–but only because of a lack of self-assertiveness by the United States. We are inviting failure in Iraq, and in our overall war on terrorism, by mounting a campaign that […]
Trashing the Rule of Law
Walter Williams (2003.10.07 )
For most of our history, we followed the British system of common law, including laws dealing with tort liability. This heritage has been attacked by courts and plaintiff attorneys so much that it is barely recognizable. One such doctrine of tort liability is the assumption-of-risk doctrine. Simply put, the assumption-of-risk doctrine holds that if the […]
