What needs to be done to improve black education? Whether it's civil rights organizations, politicians or the education establishment, you'll get answers that cover the gamut from more money for teachers and smaller class sizes to school desegregation and racial...
POLITICS
Howard Dean’s Political Bubble: Lessons from Iowa
The headline story out of the Iowa caucuses is Senator John Kerry's surprising victory and the collapse of Governor Howard Dean's political bubble. This is all very well for those in the media who treat politics as the personal stories of politicians. But, for those...
Wesley Clark’s Opportunism
I met Wesley Clark, now a presidential candidate, in 1992 when I was an army lieutenant attending the Officer Basic Course. The then-2 star general came to Ft. Knox, KY to address our graduating class. General Clark was charismatic, personable and gave a motivating...
Bush’s Faith is Immoral, But He’s Better Than His Christian Critics
The writer of a letter recently appearing in The Tennessean says the president's religious faith conflicts with his decision to go to war in Iraq. Many of Bush's Christian critics share this opinion. And in one sense they're right. There is indeed a major disparity...
Dean’s Fascism and the Me-Too Right
While Republicans popularize Howard Dean's quote that capturing Saddam Hussein "has not made America safer," they should also promote an earlier comment that explicitly revealed his basic politics. But that the Right fails to recognize its significance further exposes...
The Eight Dingbats and Economic Stagnation
There has been much uninformed talk of economics lately as the eight Democrats vying for their party's presidential nomination run around Iowa and New Hampshire crying about how jobs aren't been created in the economic recovery and that the recovery in general isn't...
Advice for 2004
Last week was my 2003 year-in-review column. This time it's about 2004, the year ahead. I do think we'll have another good year. I'll explain why, but I'll also talk about what I see as one significant risk factor. And I'll give you an idea for how to invest in a way...
Soft-Line Ideologues Revisited: Foreign-Policy Soft-Liners are Pragmatists
Last week, there was a very interesting opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal by two influential neoconservatives: David Frum and Richard Perle. The title was "Beware the Soft-Line Ideologues," and it has a good theme, but it gets completely twisted up by its...
The Man with “Television Addiction” Threatens to Sue Cable Company
Accusing his cable company of "addicting" him, his wife and his kids to TV, a Wisconsin man threatened to sue Charter Communications. Tim Dumouchel of Fond du Lac said his family's viewing habits -- forced on him by cable TV -- caused his wife to become overweight and...
George W. Bush: The New JFK?
President Bush, having spent trillions of young people's dollars on the prescription drugs of old people, now wants to throw billions at an expanded space program. Now you won't find a stronger advocate of space travel than myself. Space travel represents human reason...
Taliban Lite: The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
The New York Times reported this week: Afghan Council Gives Approval to Constitution: In a carefully balanced wording, the country will be renamed the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, combining democracy and religion. There is to be a system of civil law, but no law...
Random Thoughts for January 2004
Random thoughts on the passing scene: Some people's jobs will allow them to be important only by being a pain. Politics is the art of making your personal desires seem like the national interest. One of the people I am glad I trusted is someone who got angry and told...
A Nation of “Hamburger Flippers”?
It might have been Ross Perot who first used the expression that America is turning into a nation of "hamburger flippers," in reference to the decline in good paying manufacturing jobs replaced by low-pay service sector jobs. Here's my question: If millions of...
“Save Manufacturing Jobs”
"Manufacturing jobs" has become a battle cry of those who oppose free trade and are sounding an alarm about American jobs being exported to lower-wage countries overseas. However, manufacturing jobs are much less of a problem than manufacturing confusion. Much of what...
Profiling and Prejudice: A Call for Intelligent Profiling
In mid-November, Yusuf Suleman Motala, a Muslim leader in the United Kingdom said to be highly regarded and have a vast following, was at Heathrow Airport on his way to the lesser pilgrimage in Mecca. But British officers stopped him and Mr. Motala reports they asked...
Martha Stewart: Guilty Until Somehow Proven Innocent?
As the Martha Stewart case finally goes to trial, it is clear that Ms. Stewart has already been convicted in the court of public opinion. Observe the undisguised delight with which reporters and pundits describe the prospect of seeing Stewart hauled up before the...
NASDAQ vs. NYSE: Stock Trading Transformed by Technology and Competition
Today's bold and surprising announcement that six New York Stock Exchange companies would also list their shares on the NASDAQ Stock Market is a clear sign that more competition is coming to the vast markets where stocks are bought and sold. The decision by the six...
A Slave State: Society in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia
Sir Thomas More's Utopia lays out several important ideas that help us understand the political thought of both now and the Renaissance as well as providing us with a look into the conditions of sixteenth century Europe. The book primarily acts as a vehicle for More...
The Privilege of Driving
It is often said that driving is not a right, but a privilege. As such it can be extended and revoked at will, by those vested with the granting of the privilege, a government. The question that must immediately strike anyone is, "What gives the local governing...
Mugged By The State
Dan Peruchi, father of four, enjoyed fixing up old cars and reselling them. Because the dealers he worked with dealt mainly in cash, he usually had lots on hand. Peruchi was driving home to Ft. Worth, Texas when he noticed the flashing lights of a police car behind...
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Disengagement Plan
In a much-noted speech late last month, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ostensibly made a dramatic reversal in course. But I am wondering whether to take his shift at face value. Mr. Sharon announced that the "road map," a U.S. plan that envisions Israel and the...
The Terror of “Animal Rights”
The "animal rights" movement is celebrating its latest victory: an earlier, more painful death for future victims of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease. Thanks to intimidation by animal rights terrorists, Cambridge University has dropped plans to build...
Honesty During the Holiday Season
While recently driving and listening to National Public Radio, I heard a piece on holiday homelessness. During this time of the year, one frequently hears stories about the downtrodden and homeless. No one seems to agree exactly on the number of homeless, and the...
The Liberty League: An Alternative to the United Nations
It is clear for a variety of reasons that the United Nations is not only ineffectual, i.e. it can't enforce its own resolutions, but is operating against the interests of the United States and free people everywhere.One reason for this is simply that there are more...
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