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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Clarifying the Meaning of Initiation of Physical Force August 21, 2004 While I agree with the administration’s use of preemptive attacks against the Hussein regime, I note that Dr. Hurd’s endorsement occurs in an article linked to the Capitalism web site...
Crude is quickly approaching $50 a barrel, leaving no doubt in my mind that oil is in a speculative bubble — very much like what happened to the NASDAQ in 1999 and 2000. Previoiusly I wrote about some of the forces behind the alarming price rise: increasing...
It is a painful reflection on the political atmosphere today that, in an era when nuclear devastation may strike American soil within our lifetime, courtesy of terrorists supplied with nuclear weapons by North Korea or Iran , we are arguing about what did or...
According to its publisher, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin’s controversial new book In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror in support of the WWII incarceration of Americans of Japanese descent argues...
“In the United States, there are now more than 318,000 people behind bars for violations of drug prohibition, more than the number of persons incarcerated for all crimes in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain combined,” writes Jeffrey A....
Picture this scenario: a group of heavily armed Roman Catholics, led by a priest, swarms into St. Joseph’s Cathedral in New York. They claim it as a military base. They fire grenades from its windows. They set explosive charges, in order to blow it up and blame...
Positive reader response to “Socialism Is Evil” was quite surprising.
August 20th marks the 40th anniversary of one of the major turning points in American social history. That was the date on which President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation creating his “War on Poverty” program in 1964. Never had there been such a...
Q: Dr. Hurd, you sometimes imply that it would be worse to vote for John Kerry than for President Bush. But President Bush wants to push his religious agenda on the nation. Isn’t that worse than John Kerry? A: Bush’s religious agenda is bad indeed. I will...
Is there something special about health insurance that makes it crisis-prone? I mean, we never hear about the horrible “house insurance crisis” or the “spiraling cost of auto insurance.” It wouldn’t be too hard to create such a crisis...
As if our nation’s free-market ideal isn’t damaged enough — witness, if you will, the generally lengthy permitting process for businesses and the prevalence of zoning laws, environmental mandates, eminent domain abuses and hefty tax burdens that...
Problems with our health care system are leading some to fall prey to proposals calling for a nationalized single-payer health care system like Canada’s or Britain’s. There are a few things that we might take into consideration before falling for these...
Although investing is a subtle and complicated endeavor, everyone can benefit from a simple set of rules and principles. One of my favorite portfolio managers, Thomas K. Brown, chief executive of Second Curve Capital, a New York hedge fund that specializes in...
Random thoughts on the passing scene: I don’t even like campaign oratory that I agree with. Alaska is much larger than France and Germany — combined. Yet its population is less than one-tenth that of New York City . Keep that in mind the next time you hear...
Tell me again. Which of the presidential candidates calls himself a “uniter” and not a “divider”? “Don’t tell us that the strongest democracy on earth,” said Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in a recent speech for...
Economic ignorance allows us to fall easy prey to political charlatans and demagogues, so how about a little Economics 101? How many times have we heard “free tuition,” “free health care,” and free you-name-it? If a particular good or service...
Despite clever and hard-working political handlers who have done a masterful job of concealing and distracting attention from John Kerry’s voting record in his long Senate career, and the liberal vision behind that record, glimmers of reality still break through...
What does America stand for? What are its founding ideas? In this contentious election, each side is trying to convince us that its policies and ideals are the answer to this question. The Democrats have traditionally relied on a simple technique: appeal to the values...
Sometimes little things can tell you about big things. While Senator John Kerry and his running-mate Senator John Edwards were recently being photographed at lunchtime at Wendy’s, to show what regular guys they are, their real lunch was from a local yacht club,...
Economists are beginning to panic about the recent run-up in the oil price (+36%, year to-date, to $44.4/barrel) and its likely future impact on stock prices, profits and output in the U.S. But there’s no reason to panic. A fast-rising oil price is no necessary...
Returning from my latest trip to Asia, I’m both exhilarated and perplexed. Exhilarated because Asia is booming, and it’s a joy to see. Thailand, my main stop this time, is growing at 7 percent a year — twice as fast as the United States and about...
Prices at gas pumps are at some of the highest levels ever this summer and Americans want answers. In particular they want the names and numbers of those to blame. To answer that question perhaps they should simply consult the phone book or look in the mirror. Because...
“Is the New York Times A Liberal Newspaper?” asked a headline on the last Sunday in July. The first sentence had the answer: “Of course it is.” If that sounds like a dog-bites-man story, then consider the kicker: The article appeared in The New...
Santa Monica, California , has decreed a fine of $2,500 a day for not cutting your hedges! Has someone discovered some terrible health hazard or other danger from hedges that are too high? Not at all. The politicians who run Santa Monica have simply decided that...
“I believe that the man who works the hardest is the man who deserves to win.” — Lance Armstrong “Perfect! No gifts.” That’s what Frenchman Hinault said to Lance Armstrong from atop the winner’s podium after Armstrong...
A recent angry e-mail from a reader said that certain issues should not be determined by “the dictates of the market.” With a mere turn of a phrase, he had turned reality upside down. Decisions by people free to make their mutual accommodations with other...
At the Democratic National Convention, Janeane Garofalo — comedienne, talk show host and liberal pundit — called me a “house Negro” and a “fascist.” Well! For four days, the Democratic Party put on its quadrennial...
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