Our hearts automatically go out to the people of Florida , who are being battered by a series of hurricanes in rapid succession. But we have brains as well as hearts — and the time is long overdue to start using them. Hurricanes come through Florida every year...
POLITICS
The Power of Liberty To Transform Nations
President George W. Bush, in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention: “The progress we and our friends and allies seek in the broader Middle East will not come easily, or all at once. Yet Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by...
Why the GOP Bounce?
Why did the Republicans get a “bounce” after their convention, while the Democrats did not? Many pundits certainly expected a Democratic National Convention bounce. The Los Angeles Times’ Ronald Brownstein, before the DNC, argued that Democratic...
Libertarians: The Party of Surrender
Q: Dr. Hurd, I understand you dislike both the Democrats and the Republicans. Why not vote Libertarian for President? They favor strongly limited government, like you do. A: The Libertarian Party is worse than either the Republican or Democratic parties–and...
Income Equality
Last month, the U.S. Bureau of the Census reported its findings on income and poverty. Median real income remained constant between 2002 and 2003 at $43,000; the official poverty rate rose slightly from 12.1 percent to 12.5 percent for a total of 36 million Americans;...
Public Agencies Take Turn Suing Microsoft
Antitrust settlements are a lot like shark chum–they attract predators instead of staving them off. Consider the case of Microsoft. Microsoft chose to settle an antitrust suit brought by the California class action bar to the tune of $1.1 billion dollars in...
California Bill Pushes U.N. Treaty
Surely this is not what the Framers of our Constitution had in mind during creation of the 10th Amendment, “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the...
The Meaning of Michelangelo’s “David”
This September 8 marks the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo’s “David,” one of art-history’s greatest masterpieces. Crowds of visitors have been drawn to Florence to experience this magnificent sculpture over the past 500 years–and they...
The Department of Peace
The ability of some in Congress to completely trash our U.S. Constitution is simply breathtaking. Witness H.R. 1673, a bill introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) a year ago but roused from its subcommittee slumber just this March, with the addition of Rep. Linda...
The Progress of American Blacks
Illinois Republican candidate Alan Keyes recently proposed exempting blacks — for a generation or two — from paying federal income taxes! Slavery, argues Keyes, “was an egregious failure on the part of the federal establishment.” Who argues...
American Unemployment and Elections
Concluding a sensational convention in New York with a speech that emphasized unflinching strength, President Bush got more good news this morning. The Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate had dropped to 5.4 percent — the lowest proportion of...
The First Amendment “Loophole” and The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
In May of this year, a group of American citizens united to form a small organization dedicated to spreading the shared opinion of its members. To that end, they have run television advertisements and held press conferences criticizing the military service record of...
John Kerry vs. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
“During the Vietnam War,” said former President Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention, “many young men — including the current president, the vice president and me — could have gone to Vietnam but didn’t. John Kerry...
Reflecting America: World Trade Center Memorial Should Celebrate America’s Producers
“Reflecting Absence,” the winning WTC memorial design, offers a list of randomly scattered names, a pool, and some trees, which elicit in most viewers nothing but bemused boredom. For those of us who loved the sight of the Towers and still grieve over the...
Market Myth: Worst Economy Since The Great Depression?
To hear John Kerry tell it, America is mired today in the worst economy since the Great Depression. How dumb does he think voters are? We just set a record for yearly production: a GDP of nearly $12 trillion, or $120,000 per family. As for what really counts, personal...
The American Dream
Thank you. What a greeting! This is like winning an Oscar! …As if I would know! Speaking of acting, one of my movies was called “True Lies.” It’s what the Democrats should have called their convention. My fellow Americans, this is an amazing...
The Power of the Rich
The truly rich don’t deserve all the political hype we hear; they’re only a tiny percentage of our population and not that important. According to recent U.S. Treasury statistics, the top 1 percent of income earners have an adjusted gross income that...
The Culture: Productivity and Sacrifice
A businessman is a creator. They take the abstract theories of scientists and engineers and turn them into practical reality. They marshal the material, money and productive talent necessary to create a bounty unknown to any other period of history. Prior to the era...
The Moral Use of Force Against Dictators Like Saddam Hussein
Q: Dr. Hurd, you advocate the use of pre-emptive force against terrorist states (e.g. Saddam Hussein’s Iraq) yet, in seeming contradiction, you assert that the initiation of physical force is never justified for any reason. Am I missing something ? A: Yes. First...
Republican Health Care Contradictions
At their National Convention, Republicans will complain of John Kerry’s habit of complicating complex issues with even more complex and mutually exclusive solutions. On the issue of health care, however, the Democratic Platform has clear and straight-forward...
Cheney vs. the Religious Right
Vice President Dick Cheney’s recent comments backing away from President Bush’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage drew criticism from the conservative Family Research Council, with President Tony Perkins saying: “I find it hard to believe...
The Third Pillar of Olympism?
High on the list of all-time greatest spins is surely the United Nations Environment Program’s justification for spotlighting its agenda at the 2004 Olympic Games. “Respect for nature was a feature of ancient Greek civilization,” UNEP Executive...
Congress Must Get Us Out of UNESCO. Again!
The nation laid Ronald Reagan to rest with a massive outpouring of respect and affection for the accomplishments of this great man. One of his most important achievements was to get the United States out of the United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural...
Kerry’s Demand for Censorship
John Kerry has gained control of the Bush campaign and has, psychologically and strategically if not yet literally, won the presidential election. While Kerry’s own party systematically decimates Bush’s competence and character for daring to actually use...
Calling All Marxists! Life After Capitalism 2004 Conference
“The protests around the Republican National Convention are shaping up to be perhaps the largest this country has ever seen. Organizers are quietly discussing the possibility of having over 1 million people converging in the streets of New York City.”...
President Bush’s “Sensitive” War
President Bush, raising high his mantle of a resolute commander-in-chief, has lambasted John Kerry for promising to fight a “sensitive” war. But no one has asked: what are the facts? Is President Bush himself fighting anything other than a...
We Are Our Own Keepers
I am not my brother’s keeper. Nor are you. We need only be our own keepers.
Veterans vs. Kerry on Vietnam: Part 3
A President of the United States should know all sides of an issue. But he cannot be on all sides of an issue. He cannot keep flip-flopping like John Kerry. Despite attempts to depict criticisms of John Kerry by the Vietnam Veterans for Truth as something whose sudden...
The Appeasement Disease
President Bush’s foreign-policy critics at home and abroad share characteristics and visions that have previously led to worldwide chaos and untold loss of lives. These people believe that negotiation, appeasement and caving in to the demands of vicious...
Veterans vs. Kerry on Vietnam: Part 2 of 3
In addition to two key books about John Kerry — Douglas Brinkley’s pro-Kerry book “Tour of Duty” and John O’Neill’s anti-Kerry book “Unfit for Command” — there is another book that would be well worth reading...
Veterans vs. Kerry on Vietnam: Part 1 of 3
Senator John Kerry’s running mate, Senator John Edwards, has said melodramatically: “Ask the men who served with him in Vietnam!” But now that men who served with Kerry in Vietnam are coming forward and contradicting Kerry’s version of what...
Pessimism About the Economy
Democrats and their allies in the media have been giddy the latest jobs report. The New York Times said it showed that July “was a sputtering, tepid month” — a boon to Democrats. John Kerry said Friday’s report showed that instead of...
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