A nation’s culture is the sum of the intellectual achievements of individual men, which their fellow-citizens have accepted in whole or in part, and which have influenced the nation’s way of life. Since a culture is a complex battleground of different ideas and influences, to speak of a ‘culture’ is to speak only of the dominant ideas, always allowing for the existence of dissenters and exceptions. — AYN RAND
Say what you want about The New York Times, but it still makes more news than any other paper in the United States. By this, I don’t mean in the sense of printing the news, as other papers do, but rather in the sense of news about the Times itself. Consider...
Marilyn Monroe on the screen was an image of pure, innocent, childlike joy in living.
American women were baptized into the workforce decades ago. Today they’re running their own businesses, launching their own product lines, are managers, directors, VPs and CEOs. That’s why the recent Southern Baptist Convention’s in-fight over the...
Just how McWilliams felt we had no means of knowing; but we knew our hearts would not beat freely until his infernal Special should slide safely over the last of the 266 miles which still lay between the distressed man and his unfortunate child. From McCloud to...
On the West End we had all night to prepare, and at five o’clock next morning every man in the operating department was on edge. At precisely 3.58 A.M. the McWilliams Special stuck its nose into our division, and Foley-pulled off No. 1 with the 466 — was...
It belongs to the Stories That Never Were Told, this of the McWilliams Special. But it happened years ago, and for that matter McWilliams is dead. It wasn’t grief that killed him, either; though at one time his grief came uncommonly near killing us. It is an odd...
Marc Epstein teaches history at Jamaica High School in Queens, N.Y. He wrote the summer 2003 issue of Education Next’s feature story, titled “Security Detail.” If an American, who passed away as late as 1960, were somehow resurrected, he’d...
On this, our great national holiday, let us rededicate “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor” to the greatness of America.
The U.S. Congress broke with a 45-year tradition last week: It permitted a dissident to critique the federal funding for the study of foreign language and cultures – to suggest that the program often serves the very opposite of academia’s goals or the...
Giving kids a better grasp of what America means usually begins with a good book. The combination of appealing pictures and exciting ideas may spark a young person’s interest to learn more about a topic. Several classic children’s books offer reasons to...
Q: I know people who do more than I do yet don’t seem to get overwhelmed. I feel overwhelmed most of the time, yet I do less than these people. What’s my problem? A: It’s not how much you do; it’s how you view what you do that determines your...
Conservatives everywhere were celebrating last week with the announcement that Howell Raines was forced out as executive editor of The New York Times. Raines had pushed the paper yet further to the left and had done so in ways that were intended to be as irritating to...
As you start out on your careers and your adult lives, we urge you to hold two ideas as absolutes, never to be breached or compromised: that reason is your means of knowing reality, and that your life belongs only to you.
Once upon a time there was a vicious attack on America — an act of war — and Hollywood’s biggest stars had plenty to say — and do — about it. With the war in Iraq practically over and Hollywood liberals making themselves scarce, it’s time to put Hollywood and war in perspective.
Here’s what George Bernard Shaw said about religious fundamentalists: “There are scores of human insects who are ready at a moment’s notice to reveal the will of God on every possible subject.” A few carloads of those insects were swarming...
Q: How can I overcome the problem of wanting everybody to like me? A: Imagine for a moment that you were liked by everyone. This would most certainly mean that you’re doing something wrong. Why? Because it would be impossible to please everyone. People, first of...
The House of Representatives passed a resolution last month recognizing “the public need for fasting and prayer in order to secure the blessings and protection of Providence for the people of the United States and our armed forces.” On Bill...
Ronald Reagan was one of our most successful Presidents in part because he fervently believed in, and acted on, a small number of important principles. To be sure, he knew how to compromise to advance his legislative agenda. But in the process he always kept sight of his essential principles.
An Excerpt from the first draft of the Introduction to Andrew Bernstein’s forthcoming book The Capitalist Manifesto.
On January 27, 2003 the Hamilton College Objectivist Club, Chaplaincy, Hillel, Dean of Students’ Office, Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center, and government department brought Dr. Daniel Pipes to Hamilton College. Dr. Pipes began his visit with a Q&A...
When critics point out the abysmal performances of schools in ghetto neighborhoods, teachers defend themselves by pointing out the disinterested, disruptive, and sometimes dangerous students they have to deal with. But teacher failure and student failure are not...
Polanski plied her with champagne and Quaaludes before raping her in Nicholson’s whirlpool.
The unchosen physical characteristics that make us automatic members of one race or another must always come secondary to those characteristics that we do choose.
Consider the following scenario: A junior at a major university is majoring in marketing. She is one of the department’s most successful and intelligent students. All of her professors agree she will rise to the top of her profession someday. Now suppose this...
Drexel University is very often accused by students and faculty of being “run like a business” while pointing to its shortcomings and ignorant “customer service” as proof of it. When one hears of so many bad experiences with the Drexel...
It has been said that, when Ronald Reagan was governor of California, someone told him that admitting students to the University of California on individual performance alone could mean that all the students at Berkeley might be Asian Americans. “So what?”...
An excerpt from the afterword of the second edition of The Killing of History: How Literary Critics and Social Theorists Are Murdering Our Past.
Thomas Watkins, Michigan’s superintendent of public schools, is on a mission to expand his authority beyond the traditional K-12 boundaries. If given his way, every child in the state–practically from birth–would become the exclusive property of...
The New York Civil Rights Commission (NYCRC) has put out a report that documents how “little attention has been given to the color-conscious policies of the colleges and universities that permit or encourage, and, oftentimes, fund a balkanized campus...
“I do my work”. He who in faith can say That simple phrase, is set upon the way To bend the will of Fortune to his will. The world makes place for him whose strength and skill Rebel at doubt and rankle at delay. The visions that hold true, the dreams that...
If you want a thing bad enough To go out and fight for it, Work day and night for it, Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it If only desire of it Makes you quite mad enough Never to tire of it, Makes you hold all other things tawdry and cheap for it If...
If Muslims begin to place success in this world above obedience to Islamic law, either by ignoring Islamic law or by reinterpreting it, that is excellent news for Muslims and good news for us all.
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