Phony Diversity
Walter Williams (2002.11.25 )
You’ve written a tuition check, carted your son or daughter off to college, given those last minute admonitions and made those tearful good byes. For those thousands of dollars, the anguish of seeing your 17- or 18-year-old pack up and leave home for the first time, and entrusting him to some strangers, what are some […]
Senator Daschle vs. Rush Limbaugh: Who is Promoting Violence?
Thomas Sowell (2002.11.24 )
The change from Senate majority leader to Senate minority leader has apparently led Senator Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, into more of the kind of wild and reckless rhetoric that may have contributed to the Democrats’ defeat in the recent elections. According to Senator Daschle, when radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh “attacks those of us […]
Heart of a Pagan, Chapter 2: The Coming (Part 4)
Andrew Bernstein (2002.11.24 )
Adapted from Andrew Bernstein’s Heart of a Pagan: The Story of Swoop. One hundred enthusiastic voices quickly spread the word through town–and a number of throats opened to reply with something less than enthusiasm. “He removed the cross from the chapel. Can you imagine?” said one minister appearing as a guest on Ron Zatechka’s show. […]
Thanksgiving: The Producer’s Holiday
Gary Hull (2002.11.23 )
Thanksgiving celebrates man’s ability to produce. The cornucopia filled with exotic flowers and delicious fruits, the savory turkey with aromatic trimmings, the mouth-watering pies, the colorful decorations — it’s all a testament to the creation of wealth. Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, because this country was the first to create and to value material […]
Quarter One 2000 Upside Down?
Don Luskin (2002.11.23 )
When an investment celebrity like Pimco’s Bill Gross calls for Dow 5,000, we can’t help but see it as a sign of extreme investor pessimism suggesting that we must be getting near a bottom. It reminds me of the kind of thing we heard at the top in 2000 — in reverse. There are quantitative […]
Class sizes and Academic Achievement
Megan M. Farnsworth (2002.11.23 )
Election Day brought some surprises, but the fact that voters in Florida passed an amendment that would reduce class sizes in their state isn’t one of them. Naturally, most parents would rather see their children in classes with just 19 other kids and a qualified teacher, instead of in classes with 30 students, possibly taught […]
Heart of a Pagan, Chapter 2: The Coming (Part 3)
Andrew Bernstein (2002.11.23 )
Adapted from Andrew Bernstein’s Heart of a Pagan: The Story of Swoop. We received a hero’s welcome when the school’s bus returned to Hoppo Valley. The small Hoppo Valley radio station had always broadcast the school’s games, but now virtually the entire population, not just a sizable segment, was listening. Close to one hundred met […]
Is Deflation Dead?
Don Luskin (2002.11.22 )
Ever since Alan Greenspan surprised the markets by lowering interest rates 50 basis points a week ago Wednesday, the financial media have been frantic with worry about deflation. Well, you heard it here first — exactly a year and a day ago in this column, on November 14, 2001. I told you then about the […]
Does the Democratic Party Take Blacks for Granted?
Larry Elder (2002.11.21 )
In analyzing the recent Democratic bath in the off-year election, black Representative Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., defeated in her own primary, accused the Democratic Party of “taking black voters for granted.” Tavis Smiley, black NPR commentator, made the same assertion while chastising his guest, former Vice President Al Gore, for allegedly committing the same crime. The […]
Real Options: A Practitioner’s Guide
Tom Copeland (2002.11.21 )
AN ANALOGY-GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE Suppose you are planning to drive from Boston to Los Angeles. If you are like us, you will get a map (online from the Internet), remember that over long distances the great circle route is actually the shortest distance between two points on the surface of a globe, and […]
Norman Borlaug: Solving World Hunger Through Genetics
James K Glassman (2002.11.21 )
Not to take anything away from Jimmy Carter, the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner and a far better ex-president than president, but, when it comes to saving lives, no one can compete with Norman Borlaug. Norman who? Borlaug is one of the great humanitarians of the 20th Century – and winner of the Nobel Peace […]
The Real Revolutionaries
Robert W Tracinski (2002.11.20 )
For months, courageous protesters have braved riot police to oppose the depredations of a warlike and oppressive regime bent on world domination. No, I am not talking about the “anti-war” protesters who menace the cities of Europe and America–the creeps who scale the barricade of a Starbucks storefront for no greater goal than the glee […]
Dirty Secrets About “Affirmative Action”
Thomas Sowell (2002.11.20 )
“The dirty little secret about affirmative action is that it doesn’t work.” So concluded ABC network reporter Bob Zelnick in his excellent book on the subject, titled “Backfire.” An even dirtier secret is that virtually no one really cares whether or not affirmative action works to advance minorities or women. It works politically to put […]
Social Security Reform: It’s Alive
David C. John (2002.11.20 )
Opponents of Social Security reform must feel like they’re stuck in a bad horror film. Every time they think they’ve killed off personal retirement accounts, the campaign to create the accounts comes back, stronger than ever. The 2002 election was no exception. Social Security reform survived Republicans who tried to avoid the subject, Democrats who […]
