In response to last week's DeadHijackerVisa-gate, the Immigration and Naturalization Service "reassigned" four managers to replace four other managers -- whom the agency refuses to name -- in order to "begin the process of accountability." Begin? Here's a closer look...
POLITICS
Cuba’s Bravest and Best
HAVANA -- "There are no banned books in Cuba," Fidel Castro declared in February 1998, "only those which we have no money to buy." Of course, books *are* banned in Cuba; just try to locate one that criticizes Castro. Bookstores and public libraries here carry works...
On Bataan and Balikatan
To your average Howard Stern fan, the Philippines is nothing more than a carnival land of shoe-crazy, dog-eating jungle dwellers who are a perennial source of cheap jokes. Some Americans know better. Just ask the thousands of surviving U.S. soldiers who fought in the...
On Tax Day Thank the Rich and Support Lifting the Tax Yoke off Them
On Tax Day consider some basic facts. The wealthiest 1% of the taxpayers pay 34% of all federal income taxes. The top 50% pay 96% of the total bill. This means that the least wealthy 50% pay almost nothing. In short, the income tax system soaks the rich. In the name...
The Welfare State Grand Slam
The welfare state enjoyed a stellar week. First, the Victims Compensation Fund, set up by Congress, announced compensation averaging $1.85 million for the families of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. While deducting life insurance and some pension benefits, the payout...
Another Lesson in Rioting 101: They Do It Because They Can
They did it again. In their alcohol-soaked delirium, students at the University of Maryland managed to make national fools of themselves and of the grown-ups who supposedly supervise their campus. These bright young scholars trashed the school grounds and surrounding...
Cuba on No Dollars a Day
"This is the real Havana," Miguel said as we turned from Avenida Simon Bolivar to a gritty side street cratered with potholes. "Here you see how Cubans live. Tourists don't come to *this* street." Well, they might if they were simply walking around, as I had been when...
We Are Either With Israel, Or We Are With the Terrorists
We may be about to witness a major victory in the War on Terrorism, a victory as important as any in Afghanistan or Iraq. But American troops will not win this victory, and the battle will be fought without the support and even against the wishes of our president....
The Andrea Yates Verdict
The only good thing about the Andrea Yates case is that the jury was obviously not influenced by the months of propaganda for her by radical feminists, while the judge's gag order kept the prosecution from telling the public the other side of the story. This is a case...
Criminality and Psychology
Q: While it is clear that you think that being insane and being held criminally liable for one's actions are not necessarily mutually exclusive, I am unsure of whether you think those two things are NEVER mutually exclusive. In other words, might there ever be a time...
Giving Back
How many times have we heard people being applauded for "giving back"? People seem to believe that, if you've been successful and made a lot of money, you're somehow obliged to give back by making donations to this or that cause, program or people. Giving back is not...
Motivation: Give Action A Chance
Q: In your recent article on motivation you conclude by stating that after doing the work to achieve one's goals " ... most often the motivation you desire will start to follow." Would you explain further why this is? Most of us usually think that the motivation must...
Stand Up to the PLO
What is wrong with a people who choose to live under a terrorist organization, as opposed to a state that respects freedom of worship, democracy and -- to a great extent -- individual rights? Why do Palestinian Arabs pick a terrorist dictator over an essentially free...
Growing Old
Random thoughts about growing old: Despite the problems that come with aging, I would not be a teenager again for $1,000 a day plus expenses. I never really felt old until my younger brother retired. This is the period of life that Disraeli referred to as...
More Clintonian Deeds Go Unpunished
Clinton-era sleaze is like a stubborn toe fungus. It just won't go away. Fourteen months after the 42nd president of the United States left office, news is spreading of yet another unsightly scandal under his watch. And true to Clintonian form, it looks like those...
The “For Your Own Good” Police Are Coming…After You
Most Americans were pleased with the legislative attack on cigarette smokers, not to mention confiscatory tobacco taxes. We reveled in the EPA's dishonest study concluding that second-hand smoke causes cancer. And, by the way, I'd like to hear whether the Food &...
“Diversity” In India
If facts carried some weight with those who are politically correct, the recent outbreak of savage and lethal violence in India's state of Gujarat might cause some reassessments of both India and "diversity." This is only the latest round in a cycle of violence and...
Beware of the Library of Congress
1. Some time in the 1960s, I believe, the Library of Congress invited Ayn Rand to will the manuscripts of her novels to them. She replied that she was happy to do so. Subsequently, they sent her a form to fill out, in order to make her intention legally binding upon...
Shibboleths: A Great Labor-Saving Device for Rational Thinking
A recent e-mail from a reader said that he could not find the word "shibboleth" in his desk dictionary, even though he had seen this word in my column. That was an unfortunate omission in his dictionary because shibboleths explain a lot about what is said and done in...
The SimpleCare Story
I graduated from the University of Washington and am a board-certified Family Physician. I owned five family medicine-integrated medical clinics in the Seattle, Washington area, and as a consequence was very involved with all medical insurances--including Medicare,...
“West Wing” vs. Reality: Bush Dumb, Gore Bright?
President George W. Bush -- despite his post-Sept. 11 performance -- remains dumb, says "West Wing" producer Aaron Sorkin. Bush's stratospheric popularity, claims Sorkin, results from our collective refusal to admit Bush's stupidity: "That illusion (of a fully-engaged...
The IQ Exemption
The never-ending battle of the left to keep people from being held responsible for the consequences of their own actions is now in the Supreme Court of the United States, where the justices are being urged to exempt murderers from the death penalty if they score below...
Beware Beijing: Stand up for the Republic of China (Taiwan)
Given the warmth that's emanating from the North Pacific as George W. Bush visits Beijing this week, it's hard to believe that the United States' leading foreign-policy concerns before Sept. 11 were China's downing of a U.S. military surveillance plane, its opposition...
Social Security: The Enron That Politicians Have In the Closet
If even half the things that Enron is charged with are true, then some of the company's top brass should get a few decades behind bars to think over what a dirty thing they have done to so many other people, who trusted them and depended on them. But that is something...
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