Hollywood Actors: False American Idols
The singer. The actor. The empty vessel. Many pundits believe celebrities are frivolously easy targets unworthy of our scorn. They must realize, however, that a single voice of a celebrity reaches more common Americans than a busload of think tank intellectuals. The...Terrorism: The Second-Biggest Threat to America
Throughout the “war on terrorism,” we have all heard our nation’s leaders pay extensive lip service to “protecting America.” But if “America” is just a collection of people on a slab of land somewhere, then there’s no...Investing: One to Grow On
Now in his 12th year, Will Danoff is running Fidelity Contrafund, and, as usual, he is running it brilliantly. In 1996, I conducted one of those exercises to which idle minds are often prone, attempting to find the best core mutual fund – that is, a fund that...Guns for Rapists, But Not For Potential Victims
A picture on the front of The Boston Globe’s metro section last month showed a group of women waiting to apply for firearm identification cards at the District 14 police station in Brighton. They were in a line, the accompanying story noted, that stretched the...Mad Dogs of War
My dog Clancy was an oversized Irish Setter with a blockhead and big paws and strong jaws who our son had rescued from the Humane Society after his friend’s mom got rid of him because he had, as they say, some issues. One of Clancy’s issues was that he had...Open Source Socialism
At a recent Stanford University lecture, open source proselytizer Bruce Perens encouraged students to get involved in the open source political movement. A few folks were enthused, but many seemed confused by how a method of software production and distribution can...Department of Everything
At worst, DOE energy policies are wasteful, even harmful to the best interests of American consumers.
