Much ado in our country and Europe has been made about alleged mistreatment and torture of suspected terrorist prisoners. First, there were stories and hand-wringing over the treatment of prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. More recently, Sen. Dick Durbin,...
POLITICS
G-8 Failure on a Global Scale
I’m fairly sure that the world leaders at the G-8 meeting in the UK were more disappointed being overshadowed by the Islamist terror attack in London than by the fact that their priorities and solutions were so misdirected and wrong the conference can best serve...
The Road From Live Aid: Paved With Socialist Intentions
The first time Bono and Madonna got together to save Africa, the unintended consequence was the death of perhaps as many as 100,000 people. That’s aid expert David Rieff’s conclusion in the July 2005 issue of the resolutely liberal American Prospect...
Fight the Root of Terrorism With Bombs, Not Bread
In light of the recent suicide bombings in London, and the general inability of the West to prevent terrorist attacks, there is much talk about fighting the “root cause” of terrorism. The most popular argument is that terrorism is caused by poverty. The...
The Terrorists’ Motivation: Islam
The continued attacks by Islamic terrorists against the West–most recently, the horrific suicide bombings in London–have led many to ask, what is the motivation of the terrorists? Commentators are eager to offer a bevy of pseudo-explanations–poverty,...
Muddying the Waters Between Judicial Activism and Original Intent
Those who want to see judges who will apply the law instead of imposing their own policies face not only political obstruction to the appointment of such judges but also calculated confusion about the very words used in discussing what is at issue. Judges who impose...
Privatize Space Exploration
As NASA scrambles to make the July 31 window for the troubled launch of space shuttle Discovery, we should recall the first privately funded manned spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, which over a year ago shattered more than the boundary of outer space: it destroyed forever...
Coping with Aging
Q: Dr. Hurd, how can someone handle getting older? A: I’m not elderly myself, but here’s what people I know who handle aging successfully have done: 1. Keep busy. A man in his mid-80’s whom I know says that he never lets a day go by where he...
Europe’s Appeasing of Castro Prolongs tyranny
Last Thursday, the French embassy in Havana decided to invite Fidel Castro’s communist cronies over to help celebrate France’s Bastille Day — a day similar in significance and symbolism to our Fourth of July. Shamefully, they expressly didn’t...
Slavery Reparations Shakedown Lobby
The slavery reparations shakedown lobby is gearing up for attacks on American industry. They’ve failed in the courts and Congress, so they’re going after weak-kneed CEOs. At the NAACP’s recent annual convention, Dennis C. Hayes, its interim...
English as a Foreign Language in the United States
A recent e-mail from a dedicated teacher illustrates a problem that has received far too little attention. In her kindergarten class was a little black girl who did well except for getting a very obvious question wrong. It turned out that the little girl had no...
Education Dogmas
There have been many bitter complaints from teachers and principals about the Bush administration’s “No Child Left Behind” act — and more specifically about having to “teach to the test” instead of doing whatever teachers and...
Letters to the Editor: July 2005
G8 Aids Terrorism Dear Editor: The G8 leaders’ decision to give billions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority in the aftermath of the terrorist bombings in London will only encourage more terrorism. A large portion of this money will no doubt find its way...
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
While the nation debates the future of Corporation for Public Broadcasting, I have one question: Is it becoming increasingly obvious to anyone else that there are moral and practical flaws in a publicly financed media? Since its inception in 1967, the Corporation for...
The Sex Education False Dichotomy
MSNBC.com is reporting, “a leading group of pediatricians says teenagers need access to birth control and emergency contraception, not the abstinence-only approach to sex education favored by religious groups and President Bush.” I think both sides are...
The Destruction of “Social Security”
It is time Americans stop fearing self-reliance and start taking personal responsibility for their finances. It is also time the government stops patronizingly telling them they won’t survive on their own.
The Eradication of Polio and the Conspiracy-Theory Mentality
A worldwide campaign begun in 1988 to eradicate the polio infection was on the verge of success when, early in 2003, a conspiracy theory took hold of the Muslim population in northern Nigeria.
Random thoughts for July 2005
Random thoughts on the passing scene: Usually I like four-star hotels better than five-star hotels. The four-star hotels tend to be comfortable and attractive places with amenities, but without the pretentiousness and fussiness of five-star hotels. It is amazing how...
CNOOC Acquiring Unocal: What’s All The Fuss?
What’s all the fuss? An energy company based in Hong Kong called CNOOC, Ltd. — small by international standards — a few weeks ago bid $18.5 billion in cash to buy another small energy company, Unocal, based in California. The bid was nearly $2...
Not Strictly Business: China’s Bid to Buy Unocal
It’s a heck of an offer. In an 11th hour bid to buy Unocal, China’s state-run CNOOC Ltd. offered $19.6 billion, cash, for America’s ninth largest oil company. That’s a lot of yuan in anybody’s book. For CNOOC, it’s downright...
The Tragedy of Africa: Local Tyranny Subsidized by Western Paternalism
Nature and man have combined to make Africa the most tragic of the continents — and the men who did this have been both black and white. The great French historian Fernand Braudel said, “In understanding Black Africa, geography is more important than...
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Delusions of Grandeur
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan’s recent article in The Washington Post was a pathetic attempt to claim credit for political and economic developments in Iraq. It was an extraordinary re-writing of history that would have made officials in Orwell’s...
Freedom, Not Foreign Aid, For Africa
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is pressuring the rich nations of the world to give more foreign aid to Africa — to the tune of $25 billion a year by 2010. The U.S. already gave $3.2 billion last year. In the wake of this pressure, we might ask ourselves...
The Tragedy of Africa: Foreign Aid and Debt Forgiveness
The official declarations coming out of the G8 meetings in Scotland, as well as the raucous demonstrations surrounding those meetings, talk about saving Africa. But, looking back over the decades and generations, Africa has been “saved” so many times that...
The Shadowy Network Suspected in the Bombing of “Londonistan”
The London bombings surprised most people. Not Sir Ian Blair, London’s most senior police commander. Only five months ago, he declared that an attack on London was inevitable. Unfortunately, such a warning made sense. London historically has been a hotbed of...
The London Terrorist Attacks and the Stock Market
Why did stocks finish the day higher after Thursday’s tragic terrorist bombings in London? There are several very simple reasons. To begin with, the market wasn’t surprised. Ever since September 11, 2001, markets have been braced for terrorist attacks....
Pro-Israel Palestinians
For all their rhetoric about Israel’s “vicious” and “brutal” occupation, Palestinian Arabs — including their leaders — sometimes let down their guard and acknowledge how they prefer Israel to the Palestinian Authority. Here...
Palestinians Who Cling to Israel
Israel’s interior minister recently declared that after their release from long jail sentences, four Palestinian Arabs convicted of helping with suicide bombings in 2002, killing 35, will be expelled from Israel. They would, the Associated Press reported,...
Operation Bao Chuan: Say No to China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s Bid for Unocal
China National Offshore Oil Corporation presumably chose the codename “Operation Bao Chuan” for its Unocal offer to conjure up national pride in its bid to buy America’s ninth largest oil company. For bao chuan were the huge treasure ships that...
Black Rednecks and White Liberals: Who’s a Redneck?
In this era, when indignation has replaced thought for many people, it should not be surprising that the very title of my book “Black Rednecks and White Liberals” should have provoked angry reactions and bitter denunciations, even from people who never...
Lessons for the Terrorist Attacks in London
The attack on London demonstrates, once again, that terrorists are not afraid. In order to understand why, you have to suspend all diplomacy and political correctness for a moment. Fanatical religious terrorists are people who are not afraid of dying because they...
London Terrorism: British “Covenant of Security” with Islamists Ends
The country had gone from safe haven to enemy camp.
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