Reading vs. Ritalin

There’s so much talk of “attention deficit disorder” in children today. The unquestioned, never disputed premise is that brain chemistry causes young people not to pay attention. Yet attention deficits were never such problems in earlier eras. What...

Freedom of Religion?

There is no “freedom of religion” to do what it pleases. The only type of freedom relevant to religion is the right to practice religion privately, without imposing force on other people.

Civil Rites Rights

While giving my office at home an overdue cleaning up — “operation Augean stable,” as my wife and I call it — I uncovered in the paper jungle a 2005 calendar. Since there was not a lot of 2005 left, I was about to throw it out when I read its...

Do We Really Care About Children?

I cringe with disgust when I hear politicians say, “We’re doing it for the children.” What’s worse is so many Americans mindlessly fall hook, line and sinker for the hype. Judging by our actions, Americans could not care less for future...

Lewis Libby: A Fishing License Indictment

We have been hearing for a long time what a terrible thing it is to reveal the name of a covert C.I.A. agent — and it is a terrible thing because that can be a life-and-death situation for the agent exposed and a devastating setback for this country’s...

Ammunition for Poverty Pimps

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of New Orleans, President Bush gave America’s poverty pimps and race hustlers new ammunition. The president said, “As all of us saw on television, there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this...

Ostracism

Earlier this year, when the Ward Churchill essay became news, my initial reaction was that he should be charged with a crime such as ‘treason’ or ‘aiding and abetting the enemy’. But through discussion with friends, I realized my reaction was wrong, and that his...

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