Big, Big Government

Two weeks ago, U.S. drug agents launched raids on 11 medical-marijuana centers in Los Angeles County. The U.S. attorney’s office says they violated the laws against cultivation and distribution of marijuana. Whatever happened to America’s federal system,...

Life in Junior High, Part 2

Last week, I contrasted the cliché junior high classroom–of raucous teenagers throwing spitballs, passing love notes, and giggling at lewd jokes–with a VanDamme Academy junior high classroom–of young adults in raptures over Cyrano de Bergerac. How we...

Potter’s Morals vs. Bible’s Magic

Christians have it backward. If you’re worried about your child obsessing over magic, it’s not Harry Potter you should guard against; it’s the Bible. Author J.K. Rowling doesn’t bill her writing as anything other than fiction. Youngsters are...

Life In Junior High, Part 1

When I tell people that I teach literature to junior high students, the response is nearly universal: an expression of profound sympathy. Teaching junior high is regarded as a martyr’s job, to be taken on only by those with such a selfless commitment to children...

Losing Sleep over the Trade Deficit?

I’m told to worry about the trade deficit. Commentators and populist politicians are wringing their hands. The trade deficit is a “malignant tumor in the intestines of the U.S. economy,” says Pat Buchanan. Lou Dobbs is very upset that...