For many years, I have fought restrictions on academic freedom. As President of the Illinois Association of Scholars, an affiliate of the National Association of Scholars (NAS), I deal with these issues across the state. As a historian I am researching the past record of civil liberties on college campuses. In a word, I...
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Billions come bursting From huge hydrants of money I’m stimulated Credit freeze thaws now Fed heats pipes until they steam Winter is lovely Consumers feel fine Ready to mortgage their souls John Maynard Keynes smiles Saving’s so passé Capital may be assumed Let K be the stock Giant debt you bet Chinese will serve...
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Following up on Anthony Gregory‘s recent posting, “A Caring State is a Controlling State,” the following incisive words from C.S. Lewis are noteworthy: If we are to be mothered, mother must know best. . . . In every age the men who want us under their thumb, if they have any sense, will put...
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I have often argued that a state charged with caring for the people has an interest in regulating personal behavior. If the government takes the role of parent for all its subjects, it will not just provide for them, but set rules on what they can do. Government that provides health insurance will, both...
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Jon Stewart hits the target.

“[W]e don’t have a moment to spare,” says President Obama, describing the urgency to pass his economic stimulus plan. To “turn the economy around” what is needed is “swift and bold action.” But what, pray tell, will happen if that moment passes? Will the economy continue to sink forever? Will it never “turn around”...
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Earlier this month, Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would ban camera phones from having a silent mode when taking a picture. The Camera Phone Predator Alert Act (H.R. 414) would “require any mobile phone containing a digital camera to sound a tone whenever a photograph is...
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It’s pointless if you make a fuss About Obama’s stimulus. The government’s determined, see, To rescue the economy. Paul Krugman’s here to point the way Toward a bright and shining day, When everyone will be employed And all consumers overjoyed. The Fed’s enormous loans will serve To calm the frightened banker’s nerves, And Congress...
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Journalists last week were eager to amplify a new study in Nature to report conclusively that the anomaly of Antarctica’s not warming has now been disproven. See “All Antarctica Seems to be Warming, Report Says,” by San Francisco Chronicle Science Editor David Perlman, and “Study: Antarctica Joins Rest of Globe in Warming,” by Seth...
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It’s hard to name any fallacy of basic economic reasoning that Paul Krugman hasn’t committed in his columns. You may have missed this little gem from yesterday’s Times piece on the glory of fiscal stimulus: [W]rite off anyone who asserts that it’s always better to cut taxes than to increase government spending because taxpayers, not bureaucrats, are the...
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