Come Thanksgiving Day, when some success-hating commentator condemns America for being the world’s leading consumer, tell him that he is evading the underlying fact: that this country is the world’s leading producer.
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
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the 1979-1981 U.S. Embassy Takeover
Soon after his election as president of Iran, on June 25, 2005, pictures of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad emerged showing him as a hostage-taker.
The Failure of ‘Flags of Our Fathers’
Taking the high ground in battle is often a precondition of victory; it allows an army to project force upon its enemies at greater range and with greater effect than from other, less advantageous positions. It is not surprising then that AP photographer Joe...
Republicans: The Party of Big Government?
What should investors do about this month’s elections, in which control of Congress went to the Democratic party for the first time in a dozen years? I suppose the first thing is to say “Thanks” to the guys who got booted from office on Tuesday. Be...
How To Teach Your Child: Motivating Students To Learn (Part 3 of 4)
Another consequence of the rampant violation of hierarchy in science education, available to both teachers and students alike, is that students find learning about science boring. When I ask people about their experience studying science in school, particularly...
“Black Progress” Through Politics?
Blacks and Hispanics, especially blacks, are the most politically loyal people in the nation. It’s often preached and taken as gospel that the only way black people can progress is through racial politics and government programs, but how true is that?...
Where is the West?
European nations protesting Saddam Hussein’s death sentence, as they protested against forcing secrets out of captured terrorists, should tell us all we need to know about the internal degeneration of western society, where so many confuse squeamishness with...
Letters to the Editor: November 2006
Re: Dubious Dogma From The Witch Doctor Dalai Lama by Nicholas Provenzo (November 15, 2006) I must congratulate Mr. Provenzo on his accurate description of the Dali Lama. I can add something to expand the irrationality of this “great moral leader.” In the...
Dubious Dogma From The Witch Doctor Dalai Lama
According to the Dalai Lama, Saddam Hussein deserves a reprieve. Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has appealed for Saddam Hussein’s life to be spared, saying the deposed Iraqi president was not beyond redemption. “The death penalty is...
The Joys of Reading: A Proper Reading Program
This year, I have the pleasure of teaching literature to our school’s Elementary 1 students, children in second and third grades, a class that includes my own seven-year-old daughter Lana. Their uninhibited enthusiasm for learning, their eager quest to see...
Why Do We Love James Bond?
With Casino Royale opening on November 17, the James Bond movie franchise now encompasses 21 films and 44 years. Considering how much the world has changed since Dr. No in 1962, what explains the longevity and continuing interest? Obviously, a journalistic...
How To Teach Your Child: What It Means To Learn (Part 2 of 4)
Several years ago, a teacher from my school was tutoring Kevin, then a freshman in high school. One day, Kevin came to their session asking for help in preparing for a test on protein synthesis. The tutor went over the information Kevin had been presented, helping him...
Microsoft and Science Education
Science education is a frequent topic in the news these days. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a campaign to improve math and science education in the Seattle area. According to Brad Smith, a senior vice president and general counsel for Microsoft:...
The Saga of Ted Haggard’s Anti-Gay Bigotry
In watching evangelical preacher Ted Haggard’s life implode amid his admission that he popped methamphetamines and had repeated homosexual sex with a prostitute, it suddenly dawned on me how the twisted logic in his mind must have worked. Prior to his public...
What War?
A central premise of many of the pro-Republican arguments for the election is the idea that we are at war, and that in one way or another this makes Republicans a superior choice. But I think America is at war only in the minds of some individuals, not in reality. As...
How To Teach Your Child: A Necessary Order To Knowledge (Part 1 of 4)
Imagine what would happen if a first-grade teacher, instead of teaching her students addition and subtraction, attempted first to teach them algebra–or, even worse, in the name of intellectual rigor and in an effort to offer a program of exceptional...
Washington’s Failed War in Afghanistan
America’s campaign in Afghanistan was once widely hailed as a success in the “war on terror.” We have nothing more to fear from Afghanistan, our policy makers told us, because the war had accomplished its two main goals: al Qaeda and its sponsoring...
High School Physics: Grade F
Physics is the fundamental natural science. Its birth in the 17th century heralded man’s coming of age as a rational being. The discovery of the basic laws of nature led to the industrial revolution and modern technology, demonstrating the enormous practical...
Trade Deficits and Exporting Jobs: Why Trade At All?
There are only a handful of products that Americans import that cannot be produced at home and therefore create jobs for Americans. Let’s look at a few of them. We import cocoa from Ghana and coffee from African and Latin American countries. We import saffron...
Notes on the Coming Election
For whom should one vote in the coming election? What is the principal factor one should consider in judging a candidate or a political party? Should one focus on what a candidate says he is going to do in office? Should one make one’s decision by asking, as...
Why I Will Not Vote for Any Republican
In the upcoming election, I will not vote for any Republican. My reasons are based on those offered by philosopher Leonard Peikoff, and I agree with him completely. A straight Democratic vote in this election is the only rational choice I can make. I would not,...
Peikoff on the 2006 Elections
Is there any point in voting for candidates of either entrenched party?
Foreign Trade Angst
Patrick Buchanan’s recent syndicated column titled “New Deal for U.S. Manufacturers” stokes the fires of misunderstanding and panic. Mr. Buchanan, my longtime friend, is right about a lot of things, but he’s wrong about trade. First, he...
Energy and Terrorism: Capitalism To The Rescue
The good news out of Munich is that BMW has come up with something that could do a better job than the CIA in defunding al-Qaida. The BMW Hydrogen 7, available next year in a limited series of a few hundred cars in the United States and other countries, runs on either...
The Military Doctrine of Altruism
A New York Times article recently described the military skills our soldiers will need to engage in the operations our politicians are asking them to perform (“Military Hones a New Strategy on Insurgency,” October 5, 2006). The new doctrine renounces...
Can We Talk?
There are very few saints among people of any race, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation. None should be above criticism. Increasingly, however, there are tighter and tighter restrictions on what you can say about more and more groups. San Francisco radio...
Global Warnings from the Ivory Tower: Debate and Die
The Royal Society of London, England’s premier scientific society, has sent a letter to Exxon-Mobil asking that the energy giant stop funding organizations which have “misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence.”...
Don’t Bring That Booze into My Taxi
A minor issue at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) has potentially major implications for the future of Islam in the United States. Starting about a decade ago, some Muslim taxi drivers serving the airport declared that they would not transport...
Economic Inequality: Process and Results
Democrats plan to trumpet the income and wealth gap for political gain in this year’s elections. According to The Wall Street Journal article “Democrats’ Risky Strategy,” Democratic candidates blame Republicans for economic inequality. This...
Frivolous Politics: How to Become a “Racist”
Nowhere is political frivolity more in evidence than in issues involving racial and ethnic groups. Disagree with some policies or demands and you become an instant “racist.” The substance of those policies or demands, and the substance of the objections to...
The Battle of Our Era
We are engaged in a vast battle to defend scientific, industrial civilization against irrationalism. Whether the enemy bombs the World Trade Center, abortion clinics, logging equipment, or medical research labs, the target is the same: reason–the use of reason...
Guantanamo and the Geneva Convention
I oppose any pretense at such a thing as “international law.” The concept of “law” implies governmental enforcement. Where there is no government, such as between nations, there can be no law. This is all the more true when nations are at war....
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