It is one of the sad signs of our times that a furor was created because Rush Limbaugh expressed an opinion as to why a particular quarterback seemed to him to be over-rated. In his view, it was because the powers that be in professional football were anxious to have...
POLITICS
Saving Mideast Studies
"Intellectual thugs," huffed Rashid Khalidi, now of Columbia University. "Cyber-stalking," whined Juan Cole of the University of Michigan. "Crude McCarthyism" sniffed David Bartram of the University of Reading. "Totalitarian" thundered Jenine Abboushi of New York...
Who’s to Blame? Who Do You Think???
At a dinner for local writers who gathered at the home of the president of Seton Hall University, a noted Catholic institution of higher learning, the conversation turned to terrorism and once again I was treated to the "blame America" version of what is happening in...
Find Stocks with Low Price-to-Sales Ratios
If you're skeptical of what businesses report as "earnings" -- their official profits -- you have a right to be. Earnings are an artifice of what are called generally accepted accounting principles, and, while GAAP earnings are universally admired, almost worshiped,...
Heroism and Doing Your Job
I once argued with my former coworker about firefighters. She didn't consider them heroes, as they were widely and properly called after September 11, 2001, because on that day, like any other, "they were just doing their jobs," she said. Obviously, the firefighters...
The Trouble with Islam: A Wake-up Call for Honesty and Change
"You will sooner or later pay for your pack of lies," read one threatening message last week to the author of The Trouble with Islam: A Wake-up Call for Honesty and Change. In that book, just released in Canada, Irshad Manji, 34, explores such usually taboo themes as...
Pentagon Jihadis
Islamists who despise America have penetrated U.S. prisons, law enforcement, and armed forces.
What is Poor?
The Census Bureau recently released its annual report on poverty in the United States. It was widely reported that the number of people officially defined as poor rose by 1.7 million, raising the poverty rate from 11.7 percent of the population to 12.1 percent. None...
Watch Out for the Pander Bears
I hate to say it, but it's looking like my technician friend Fred Goodman was right when he issued a sell signal a couple of weeks ago. Yes, earnings are surging and the economy-wide recovery is accelerating, with the technology sector leading the way. But in case you...
Silly Letters: Myths and Realities on the Rise of Blacks Out of Poverty
Most of the letters and e-mails I receive are a pleasure to read and my only regret is that I cannot answer even one-tenth of them. However, there are certain e-mails and letters that repeat the same fallacies again and again. Let me try to answer one of those...
Is It Permissible?
We all can agree that having money to pay our mortgage or rent on time is very important. Since some people are spendthrifts and don't manage their money well, what about a congressional mandate whereby mortgage or rent money is deducted from our paychecks each month...
P.C. Religious Police vs. America’s Military
There's something terribly wrong when an American soldier overseas can't receive Scriptures in the mail, but a Muslim chaplain can preach freely among al Qaeda and Taliban enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay. This is a story of two soldiers, one Christian, one Muslim....
Higher Productivity Creates Opportunity
The slow pace of job creation is clearly the most serious political and economic problem in the country today. Although Democrats and the press continue to focus on Iraq, President Bush and congressional Republicans know that the sluggish economy is a far greater...
Random Thoughts for September 2003
Random thoughts on the passing scene: If you have a right to respect, that means other people don't have a right to their own opinions. My computer operating system is so out of date that people don't even write viruses for it any more. If the debate among candidates...
The Mounting Threat of Homegrown Terrorism
As we combat Islamic terrorism abroad, we must recognize the deadly threat posed by a homegrown source--one that since 1997 has been responsible for over 600 attacks and has inflicted more than $100 million in property damage. The attacks have become bolder, fiercer:...
School Performances
Many of the pronouncements coming from those who run our public schools range from fallacies to frauds. The new book "No Excuses" by Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom exposes a number of these self-serving lies. You may have heard how hard it is to find enough teachers...
Elia Kazan Should Be Honored Because of His Testimony
Almost without exception, the obituaries of Elia Kazan--while praising his enormous talent as a director--are critical of his testimony against Hollywood communists. According to some, Kazan, a former member of the Communist Party, should never be forgiven for naming...
Does Capitalism need Civilizing?
QUESTION: "Do you think socialism was able to 'civilize' or 'tame' capitalism by 1914? Or do you think that capitalism did not need to be 'civilized' or 'tamed'." ANSWER: First we must define our terms. Socialism is state ownership of the means of production....
Improving the Quality of Education
My son learned fractions and decimals when he was in the first grade. He learned them from me as I drove him to school on the Los Angeles freeways, where he became curious about the signs that said things like "Wilshire Boulevard 2 1/4 miles." At the private school he...
In Defense of Supply-Side Economics
In a recent column, I defended supply-side economics from an attack by Princeton economist Paul Krugman in the New York Times Magazine. One of the rare civil criticisms I got came from my friends at TAPPED, the web log of the liberal American Prospect magazine. Their...
Howard Dean’s Proposal for Economic Regress
Last month, the WSJ had an opinion piece written by Howard Dean, the Democrat presidential contender. One paragraph exhibited the fundamental fallacy of bad economics: the belief that consumption, not production, is the key to wealth. "As president, my economic...
The Right to Deal
Suppose you want to deal with me but I don't want to deal with you. Should I be forced to? You might ask, "What are you talking about?" Here's a short list. Suppose you want to marry me, but I don't want to marry you. Or, suppose you want to play tennis with me, but I...
No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning
Everyone knows that black students in general do not perform as well in school as white students, much less Asian American students. But few realize how painfully large the gap is. Even fewer know that there are particular black schools, even in low-income...
California’s Recall Election: Dangerous Democracy at Work
Most people realize that there is something deeply wrong in California's current political fiasco. Critics of the recall are right, this election is wrong, but not for the reasons they have given. Far from being anti-democratic, the recall is democracy in action, and...
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