In the 1990s, I read an interview with a rock star optimistic about the country’s direction. He thought President Clinton’s admission to having tried marijuana was a good sign. America was becoming more socially liberal. The new generation was in charge. And as one consequence, maybe the disastrous war on drugs would end. Not...
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Sixty-seven years ago, World War II ended. In Japan, today’s date is officially designated “the day for mourning of war dead and praying for peace” (戦歿者を追悼し平和を祈念する日 Senbotsusha wo tsuitōshi heiwa wo kinensuru hi?). In the USA, it is called V-J Day, but few people any longer take much note of it. All wars are...
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Celebrating Life in Union, a new documentary narrated by Andy Garcia, will premiere at the 2012 New York City International Film Festival. Celebrating Life in Union tells the story of the tragedy and brotherhood of a group of former political prisoners from the Cuban Revolution, who fought for, and then were betrayed by their...
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“We do not bully our teachers, and we will sue any who say that we do!” It sounds like a headline from the Onion, but these words of Orwellian doublespeak also could have come from Queen’s University Belfast. In response to an article in the summer 2012 issue of The Independent Review, the university...
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Last week I posted a blog about crony capitalism, with the suggestion that crony capitalism is undesirable. The next day Vice President Joe Biden was bragging that he and President Obama support crony capitalism, as if crony capitalism is a good thing. Mr. Biden was criticizing Republican presidential candidates for their opposition to the...
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Warren Buffett has recently made headlines by saying that the rich — people like him — should be taxed more. But as I noted before, he went to court to dispute taxes the IRS said he owed, rather than just pay what the government said was, if not his fair share, at least his...
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The response to the January 27th article in the Wall Street Journal by sixteen leading scientists, “No Need to Panic About Global Warming,” has been nothing short of explosive both at the Journal and to my blogging on the matter, “Leading Scientists Debunk Climate Alarmism.” However, the response from the mega-funded alarmist establishment (see...
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The headline of this Washington Post article summarizes the story pretty well: “Some legislators send millions to groups connected to their relatives.” Relatives in the story are legislators’ spouses and children. I recently blogged about the insider trading by members of Congress that would send ordinary citizens to jail. That story was uncovered in...
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Ten years ago, December 2, 2001, Enron declared bankruptcy. The company had used complex and non-transparent financial statements to misrepresent its earnings, to inflate the apparent value of its assets, and to keep liabilities off its books. When questions started arising, Enron began losing customers and its house of cards, built with fraudulent accounting,...
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Insider trading (buying and selling securities based on non-public information) is illegal for most people. But, insider trading is not illegal for members of Congress. Of course not. They are the ones who write the laws. Here is a story about insider trading done by Rep. Spencer Bachus, when he was ranking member of...
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