As The Passion of the Christ plays to near-record crowds, numerous critics and moviegoers report the film to be a transforming experience. Although many find themselves forced to turn away from the violence on screen, they say the blood-soaked depiction of Jesus'...
POLITICS
Slashing Tax Rates in Europe is Progressive
More than 20 years ago, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan triggered a world-wide revolution by dramatically slashing marginal income tax rates. In addition to rejuvenating the U.K. and U.S. economies, these supply-side tax cuts prodded other nations into...
Budget, Deficit, Threatens Economic Freedom
As soon as President Bush released his 2005 budget, critics from both sides of the political aisle were fighting mad. On the left, the budget was pilloried for allegedly catering to the rich while destroying programs such as childcare and housing assistance. On the...
The McGruder Award for the Most Outrageous Statement by a Black Public Figure
Aaron McGruder draws the sometimes-funny daily comic strip "The Boondocks." The strip centers around a black family that moved into a predominantly white neighborhood. In a recent strip, two young black characters considered renaming what they call the "Most...
Educational Ineptitude
What passes for educational enlightenment these days boggles the mind. Matt Gouras, of The Associated Press, writing in the Jan. 5 Seattle Times tells a story about Tennessee schools. The success of some students has made other students feel badly about themselves....
The Global Debate Over Affirmative Action
A recent issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education had the front-page headline: "The Global Debate Over Affirmative Action." Inside, there were five full pages on group quotas in Brazil, India, and Malaysia. While it is unusual for American journalists to recognize...
Islamic Law Rules In Iraq
In Iraq, what ought to be the role of Islam and its legal system, called the Sharia? In theory, this topic should be the subject of a soul-searching debate in America and all the other countries whose forces are occupying Iraq, for how it is answered will likely...
No Evidence of WMDs Required
It would have been convenient for the sake of the so-called "Bush Doctrine" for David Kay and his team of American inspectors - or Hans Blix and his team from the United Nations - to have found evidence of an active weapons of mass destruction program in Iraq.It would...
Bermuda: America’s Number One Enemy?
America's number-one enemy isn't Al Qaeda, Libya, North Korea or Cuba. It's Bermuda! At least that's what John Kerry seems to want American voters to believe. At almost every campaign stop, he attacks "Benedict Arnold corporations" that move to Bermuda. One could...
Korean Conundrum: “Negotiating” with North Korea
Negotiating with North Korea is like banging your head on the wall: It feels so good when you stop. Well, here we go again. Representatives from the United States, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, China and Russia will meet for a second round of Six Party Talks in...
The Strange Disappearance of the “L” Word
When did Democrats stop calling themselves "liberal"? Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., when asked whether he considered himself a liberal, treated the questioner as if she belonged to the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the McCarthy years. Elizabeth Bumiller...
Ralph Nader’s Glittering Record
Ralph Nader may have performed a real public service by running for President again, despite the pleas and outcries of his liberal admirers. Oblivious to charges that his candidacy cost Al Gore the 2000 election, Nader has again put his own agenda first and foremost....
President Kerry’s “Change”
"Change is coming to America." So says John Kerry, victorious in his quest for the Democratic nomination and anticipating victory against President Bush this fall. What change, exactly? President Bush expanded the welfare state a bit less than President Kerry would...
Capitalism and (Microsoft’s) Freedom
According to Kenneth W. Starr in his Feb. 19 Washington Times Op-Ed column, "A stitch in crime," the Microsoft antitrust settlement contains loopholes that allow Microsoft to avoid competing in the marketplace on the merits. Yet rather than attack Microsoft, perhaps...
Other People’s Wealth Benefits All of Us
The presidential hopefuls' common promise to "repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy" is the campaign trail one-liner garnering the most empty-headed applause. It's simply false that only the rich benefit from the tax cuts, as any non-rich person who got money back...
Don’t Narrow My Gap! Why Narrowing “Income Gaps” is Unjust
As the 2004 presidential election nears, Americans will increasingly hear the Democratic candidate and his supporters demand that we "narrow the gap" between the incomes of the rich and the poor. That gap, however, isn't the injustice the Left portrays it to be. The...
Haiti Problem
I was watching Geraldo's "At Large" program this evening and to my horror both he and Col. David Hunt hypothesized that the only reason we aren't intervening in this third world mess in Haiti is racial prejudice from the White House. Huh?The United States has already...
Random Thoughts for February 2004
Random thoughts on the passing scene: People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything. My New Year's resolution is to stop trying to reason with unreasonable people. This should reduce my correspondence considerably. Benedict Arnold was a war hero,...
The State Should Get Out of the Marriage Business
Consider government-sanctioned or court-mandated same-sex marriage -- somewhere, at some point -- a virtual certainty. For the Massachusetts State Supreme Court recently advised its legislature that anything short of same-sex marriage constitutes a violation of the...
Congressional Miracles: Shooting Ourselves in the Foot
In Marcus Cook Connelly's spiritual play, "Green Pastures," God lamented to the Angel Gabriel, "Every time Ah passes a miracle, Ah has to pass fo' or five mo' to ketch up wid it," and adding, "Even bein God ain't no bed of roses." That's something our congressmen...
Parents with a Backbone
Parents in Fairfax, Virginia, have succeeded in getting rid of one of the endless series of fad programs that distract American public schools from real education in real subjects. Like most fad programs, this one had a high-sounding name: The International...
Big Lie of the Year
It may be too early in this election year to determine which will be the biggest of the Big Lies in this political campaign. However, my feeling is that it may be "the working poor." While there are working people who are poor, most poor people are not working full...
The Big Lie: Intelligence Failure in Iraq
If you repeat a line over and over again, eventually people will start to accept it. In this case, the line is that we had a big intelligence failure in Iraq. Even Bush has caved in: he is appoint a "commission" to look into the problems with our "intelligence...
Three Cheers for Wal-Mart
How would you like to be penalized because you do your work too well--for example, for running your business so effectively that it attracts hoards of happy customers? Well, this is what is happening more and more frequently to Wal-Mart. Recently the West Covina,...
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