POLITICS

The basic and crucial political issue of our age is: capitalism versus socialism, or freedom versus statism. For decades, this issue has been silenced, suppressed, evaded, and hidden under the foggy, undefined rubber-terms of “conservatism” and “liberalism” which had lost their original meaning and could be stretched to mean all things to all men. – AYN RAND

Why Health Insurance in America Lacks Rationality and How To Fix It

How the government drove out the science of risk from the entire business of consumer pricing of health care insurance.

The Pelosi Terror: Guillotine The Rich

Nancy Pelosi wants government to take over health care. But there's a snag. At present the yearly income level at which Americans will be slapped with an onerous tax increase, is set at $250,000.Pelosi's own salary is presently $223,500 per annum, which does not...

America’s Fascist Health Care System

America’s Fascist Health Care System

Many years ago America started down a path that has gradually limited the free practice of medicine and the relationship between physicians and patients. You can never really have a private meeting with your doctor anymore, because the government is always in the room...

Politics and Blacks

President Barack Obama won an unprecedented 96 percent of the black vote. That's not much of a news story since blacks typically give their votes to the Democratic candidate. Blacks are probably the most politically loyal people in the nation and it is almost taken as...

Random Thoughts for August 2009

Random Thoughts for August 2009

Random thoughts on the passing scene: Different people have very different reactions to President Barack Obama. Those who listen to his rhetoric are often inspired, while those who follow what he actually does are often appalled. New York and Chicago have both...

Government Health Care: One Noose for One Neck

Government Health Care: One Noose for One Neck

Before I developed a detailed interest in government management of health care, I was unwillingly introduced to the subject after I was badly injured in a head-on collision in a taxi to LaGuardia Airport in New York City in 1993. To my everlasting regret, the...

Utopia Versus Freedom

Utopia Versus Freedom

"Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom." We have heard that many times. What is also the price of freedom is the toleration of imperfections. If everything that is wrong with the world becomes a reason to turn more power over to some political savior, then freedom...

Exploiting Public Ignorance

How can political commentators, politicians and academics get away with statements like "Reagan budget deficits," "Clinton budget surplus," "Bush budget deficits" or "Obama's tax increases"? The only answer is that they, or the people who believe such statements, are...

Disaster in the Making

Disaster in the Making

After many a disappointment with someone, and especially after a disaster, we may be able to look back at numerous clues that should have warned us that the person we trusted did not deserve our trust. When that person is the President of the United States, the...

Jewish Settlements and Israeli Law

We are hearing a lot now about Israel's creation of "Jewish" settlements on "Palestinian land." These settlements are created, we are often told, to extend the "apartheid state" of Israel by squeezing out the local populations and establishing a superior Jewish ruling...

A Post-Racial President?

A Post-Racial President?

Many people hoped that the election of a black President of the United States would mark our entering a "post-racial" era, when we could finally put some ugly aspects of our history behind us. That is quite understandable. But it takes two to tango. Those of us who...

In Defense of Liberty

The date is December 16, 1773. A ship has just entered Boston Harbor. In its hold it carries the chains of a foreign government. American colonists, increasingly rebellious under the weight of British oppression, board this ship and as a symbol of defiance seize these...

The Racism of Diversity

The U.S. Naval Academy's PowerPoint display explains diversity by saying, "Diversity is all the different characteristics and attributes of individual sailors and civilians which enhance the mission readiness of the Navy," adding that: "Diversity is more than equal...

Medical Care Confusion

Medical Care Confusion

Is there a coherent argument for government-controlled medical care or are slogans and hysteria considered sufficient? We hear endlessly about how many Americans don't have health insurance. But, if we stop and think-- which politicians hope we never do-- that raises...

A Personal Inequity: Me and Michael Jordan

A Personal Inequity: Me and Michael Jordan

Sometimes, when I hear about "disparities" and "inequities," I think of a disparity that applied directly to me-- the disparity in basketball ability between myself and Michael Jordan. When I was in school, I was so awful in basketball that the class coach wouldn't...

Senate Slavery Apology

Last month, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution 26 "Apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African-Americans." The resolution ends with: "Disclaimer. -- Nothing in this resolution (a) authorizes or supports any claim against the...

A Tangled Web: “Disparate Impact” Dogma (Part 2)

A Tangled Web: “Disparate Impact” Dogma (Part 2)

Much of the backlog of cases in our over-burdened courts has been created by the courts themselves, with adventurous judicial "interpretations" of laws that leave a large gray area of uncertainty around even the most plainly written legislation. Lawyers of course fish...

Judge Sotomayor’s Relativism

Judge Sotomayor’s Relativism

While I usually write about regional issues here, today's national issues are so crucially important that I'll devote substantial space to the views of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, nominated for the Supreme Court.EmpathyFirst recall what President Obama offered in 2007 as a...

A Tangled Web: “Disparate Impact” Dogma (Part 1)

A Tangled Web: “Disparate Impact” Dogma (Part 1)

While the recent Supreme Court decision in the New Haven firefighters' case will be welcome news to those who don't think that a gross injustice is O.K. when those on the receiving end are white, the reasoning behind the 5 to 4 decision is a painful reminder that the...

What Obama Should Say To Iran

Protests in Iran continue despite the theocracy's attempt to crush them. As Tehran launches its usual accusations of "American interference," could it be that America hasn't "interfered" enough? Imagine what might happen--what potential benefit there could be to us...

Why a Bill of Rights?

Why a Bill of Rights? Why did the founders of our nation give us the Bill of Rights? The answer is easy. They knew Congress could not be trusted with our God-given rights. Think about it. Why in the world would they have written the First Amendment prohibiting...

Judge Sotomayor’s “Qualifications”

Judge Sotomayor’s “Qualifications”

For the fourth time in six cases, the Supreme Court of the United States has reversed a decision for which Judge Sonia Sotomayor voted on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. If this nominee were a white male, would this not raise questions about whether he should be...

Alice in Obama Medical Care Land

Alice in Obama Medical Care Land

Most political and media discussions of medical care have an air of unreality reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. There is an abundance of catch-phrases but remarkably few coherent arguments. Let's start at square one. Why is there alarm about American medical care?...

The Obama Health Care Plan: Hazardous to Your Health

On June 25 a town hall meeting was held in Rio Rancho, New Mexico to discuss Obama's health care plan. The meeting opened with a televised study of the Canadian and UK's health care plans. Afterwards, a factual report of the Obama plan was presented. Listening to it,...

College Education: To Much of a “Good Thing”?

College Education: To Much of a “Good Thing”?

Even if the "stimulus" package doesn't seem to be doing much to stimulate the economy, it is certainly stimulating many potential recipients of government money to start lining up at the trough. All you need is something that sounds like a "good thing" and the ability...

Doctors: Stand Up to the Political Bullies

Physicians and other medical professionals have the power to bring down socialized medicine--socialized medicine as we know it, and as its expansion is being proposed. They can do so by simply saying, "Enough." Government does not own my skills. Government has no...

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