In 1980 City Council passed an ordinance which, among other things, limited the size and location of outdoor signs and billboards. Advocates of the ordinance referred to Houston’s abundant sign population as “visual pollution” 1 and “a...
POLITICS
The Legacy of Eric Hoffer
The twentieth anniversary of the death of Eric Hoffer, in May 1983, passed with very little notice of one of the most incisive thinkers of his time — a man whose writings continue to have great relevance to our times. How many people today even know of this...
How the Democrats Lost Power
Having grown up in an era when Republicans were seemingly condemned to permanent minority status in Congress, I have some sympathy for Democrats, who appear to be in a similar predicament today. There were a number of factors that cemented the Democratic majority from...
In Defense of Property Rights: The Right to Property (Part 1 of 6)
Over the past fifteen years, Houstonians have witnessed nearly constant attempts to place controls on the use of private property. These efforts have taken many forms — restrictions on billboards, prohibitions on indoor smoking, the landscaping ordinance, and...
Bush’s Medicare Plan is Hillary Clinton’s Triumph
This week, at President Bush’s urging, the GOP-controlled Congress is likely to approve a bill that severely restricts seniors’ freedom of choice in health care. When Congress passes the Medicare bill — which Bush has promised to sign — every...
The Virtues of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter
Americans have had the book’s release date marked on their calendars for months. It’s Amazon’s top seller. When it’s finally available, many of us will rush to stores to purchase a copy, then fight over who gets to read it first … with...
Physicians are Not Criminals; But Businessmen
The following is an excerpt of an address given by CAC Chairman Nicholas Provenzo to the doctors of the Colorado Medical Society on May 04, 2003. Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning. I thank you for your kind attention this morning and I thank the staff and directors...
Random Thoughts for June 2003
Random thoughts on the passing scene: If there was affirmative action in golf, nobody would give Tiger Woods half the credit he gets — and deserves. Would you prefer to have a “compulsory” health care system imposed on you and your doctor or to have...
Martha Stewart is Treated Badly Because She is Successful
To the cheers of many onlookers Martha Stewart was indicted last week for making false statements about her alleged involvement in the ImClone insider trading scandal, which has just recently landed the former CEO of that company in jail for seven years....
Last Minute Gifts for Dads Who Read Books
If the latest gadget or a pair of socks isn’t likely to tickle your Father’s fancy, a classic book may be perfect for Dad on Father’s Day. As Mark Twain once said: “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who...
Is This The America We Want
Oreo cookies should be banned from sale to children in California. That’s according to Stephen Joseph, who filed a lawsuit against Nabisco last month in California’s Marin County Superior Court. Oreo cookies contain trans fat, an ingredient that makes the...
The DOJ’s Case Against Mountain Health Care Demands Challenge
It’s been nearly three months since public comments were filed in the Justice Department’s antitrust settlement with Mountain Health Care. Nicholas Provenzo submitted comments on the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism’s behalf, while I...
Learning from the Mistakes of Oslo
Can the “road map” that President Bush just launched do better than the dismal failure of prior Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy? Yes – if it avoids making the same mistakes. The failure of the last round was foreshadowed at its very start, on Sept. 13,...
Moats and Investing
“All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” wrote Tolstoy in “Anna Karenina.” You could say the same for stocks. All happy stocks are pretty much alike, while unhappy stocks lose their value for...
Old Europe Grows Older
The handshakes in Evian were polite. The conversations were civil. Unlike the tens of thousands of European demonstrators who took to the streets to protest, none of the presidents or prime ministers at last week’s Group of Eight summit in France raised his...
Accountability in Sports–and Teaching
Major league umpires are complaining about an electronic device that is being used to check how accurately they are calling balls and strikes. They say that the device itself is too variable to be relied on. Whatever the merits of each side in this issue, it all...
New York Times and the Child Tax Credit
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...
Star Wars: Why We Need a Missile-Defense System
Let’s face it: Perfect safety doesn’t exist. No matter what we do, there will always be those who want to kill us because they hate our freedoms, because they hate freedom, or just because they hate Americans. That’s why we need a missile-defense...
The Fat Police and Mandatory Menu Labels
The fat cops are on the prowl again. Not content with the current spate of obesity-inspired lawsuits, “nutrition” interests have taken to the state legislatures, looking to pass “menu labeling” laws that will pave the way for, yes, even more...
Codependence
“Codependent” basically means taking too much responsibility for somebody else, materially and/or psychologically. It means a lack of personal boundaries, a willingness to sacrifice yourself to help somebody else (even if the sacrifice is unwanted or...
White Guilt, Black Exploitation: The National Slave Memorial Act
Few Americans have heard of the National Slave Memorial Act (HR 196) that proposes to erect a National Slave Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Last year, Sen. Trent Lott made this suggestion whilst groveling at the feet of black politicians and civil...
Blaming Tax Cuts for the Problems Inherent in Goverment Spending
On May 29, London’s Financial Times reported some startling news about the U.S. national debt. Instead of being about $3.5 trillion, as commonly understood, it was actually $44 trillion, according to a suppressed Treasury Department report by economists Kent...
Proposition 13: Twenty Five Years Later
This Friday, June 6, marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most important political/economic events in American history: Proposition 13. This initiative, which was approved by the voters of California on this date in 1978, sparked a “tax revolt” that...
Al-Qaeda’s Limits
A day after suicide bombers killed 29 people in Morocco in mid-May, that country’s interior minister noted that the five nearly simultaneous attacks “bear the hallmarks of international terrorism.” More strongly, the Moroccan justice minister...
International Affirmative Action
As the Supreme Court of the United States wrestles with the issue of affirmative action as it exists in college admissions at the University of Michigan, the justices are taking on an issue that has been wrestled with in many contexts by courts in India for far longer...
The Road Map to Hell in the Middle East
After using America’s military to achieve a brilliant success in Iraq, President Bush is intent on using his new-found clout in the region to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. But the means he has chosen is renewed negotiations and a new diplomatic “road...
Utopia vs. U.S.
The June issue of National Geographic contains one of the rare honest looks at India. The article “India’s Untouchables” gives a shocking picture of some of the most persecuted people on earth. For far too long, India has been one of a number of...
Arafat on Top?
A hole was torn last month in the international “road map” to Israeli-Palestinian peace when Mahmoud Abbas insisted that Yasser Arafat remains the unchallenged ruler of the Palestinian Authority. “Arafat is at the top,” Abbas, the PA’s...
Building a Nation that Lasts in Iraq
Pundits say creating a free Iraq means “democratically” divvying up political power among its various religious and ethnic factions. “[We need] to make sure all the different groups get a fair shot,” said Senator Trent Lott recently. That just...
Free Speech Protects Profit-Makers, Too
For a century after the Civil War, blacks in America’s South were subjected to shameful acts of oppression and violence. Deprived of voice and vote, they had no choice but to suffer mutely as they were scurrilously attacked. Two California-based lawsuits...
Dopey Ideas and Expressions
How many times have we applauded those who “made a difference in the lives of others” and been admonished to do the same? On the face of it, that has to be one of the more mindless generalities of our modern era. After all, didn’t Hitler, Stalin, Pol...
The Politics of Tax Initiatives
In the early hours of May 23, the House and Senate both approved H.R. 2, a bill that reduces tax rates on wages, dividends and capital gains, among other things. The following day, before the legislation had even been signed into law, The New York Times pronounced it...
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