He's filled with "a sense of dread that we continue to live on borrowed time," is "frustrated by the sense of denial that pervades so many corners of the federal government," and sees "a dangerous proclivity among U.S. officials to believe their own rhetoric about how...
POLITICS
Jobs Hysteria, Part 2
Our current unemployment rate -- 5.4 percent -- is one of the lowest in the world and one of the lowest in our own history. Why then the hysteria about jobs? Because this is an election year and Senator Kerry is desperate for some issue that will rescue his faltering...
What’s At Stake in the War Against Terrorism
Q: You say that if--when this country is attacked again--John Kerry would probably call the U.N. and "scream for help". But Kerry told the people of the U.S. that if it was attacked again he would respond or react. So why do you say that he would appeal to the U.N....
Jobs Hysteria, Part 1
Jobs have become a big issue in this election year -- which means that it is optimistic to expect a rational discussion. Nothing is discussed more irrationally than "outsourcing." It is obviously completely misleading to discuss how many jobs American companies are...
Kerry Way Ahead in New Poll…
At last, some good news for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry! A new poll, using a huge sample of 34,330 people, shows Kerry is favored by 26 percentage points over the incumbent president, George W. Bush. The survey, which has Kerry leading, 46 percent to...
The “Compassion” Racket
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 about...
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 the...
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 presidential candidate...
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 that's...
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 software...
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 continue to visit in record...
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 with that? But despite...
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 came from a privileged background and...
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 thousands of...
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 moment for me. To think...
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 starts around...
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 of...
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