This will be the first in a series of interviews with authors, activists and other individuals who are making a difference in the lives of individuals, their community and the world at large.
Today, I am talking with Matt Atkinson, author of Resurrection After Rape and a therapist specializing in [...]
Are We Stuck with the Dollar?
October 14, 2009
Alvaro Vargas Llosa
WASHINGTON—Like so many people, I own gold and silver as a hedge against the “Latin Americanization” of the United States—money printing, deficits and debt. The talk about ending the world’s dollar dependency should be music to the [...]
COALITION FOR PATIENT PRIVACY
October 23, 2009
Georgina Verdugo, Director
Office for Civil Rights
U. S. Department of Health and Human Services
Attention: HITECH Breach Notification
Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Room 509F
200 Independent Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20201
Dear Ms. [...]
Is Adulation of the Military Really Patriotic?
October 21, 2009
Ivan Eland
A recent article in the New York Times reported that the military has become frustrated with President Barack Obama because he hasn’t quickly decided to risk more of their lives in an Afghan war that is likely to be [...]
Beyond the Suitcase
October 21, 2009
Alvaro Vargas Llosa
WASHINGTON—Between August and December 2007, Latin America was enthralled by a political melodrama involving a suitcase with $790,550 confiscated after a private flight carrying Argentine and Venezuelan officials arrived in Buenos Aires in the middle of the night. The affair [...]
I was booked for a Take Back The Night event on October 14th. The faculty sponsor and the chair of the event were both excited to have a male speaker as they've not had one for a TBTN event in the past. The marching portion of the event at [...]
Five Facts About Afghanistan
October 14, 2009
Ivan Eland
The corridors of power in the nation’s capital are abuzz with the complexities of the situation in Afghanistan. If only we send 40,000 more troops, say the military brass, the U.S. could have some hope of turning the situation around [...]
Are We Stuck with the Dollar?
October 14, 2009
Alvaro Vargas Llosa
WASHINGTON—Like so many people, I own gold and silver as a hedge against the “Latin Americanization” of the United States—money printing, deficits and debt. The talk about ending the world’s dollar dependency should be music to the ears [...]
The Real Problem With Obama's Nobel
October 10, 2009
Anthony Gregory
Town Talk
Will Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize weaken America’s standing in the world, as some conservatives worry? They point out that the president was nominated only twelve days after taking office, by which time he had done nothing [...]
Fire McChrystal and Get Out of Afghanistan
October 8, 2009
Ivan Eland
Although the politicians, media, and public believe few things are more important than preventing another al-Qaeda attack on America, defending the founding principles of the republic would seem to be one of them.
The conventional wisdom is that [...]
Peru's Barking Dogs
October 7, 2009
Alvaro Vargas Llosa
Year After TARP: $700 Billion Down the Drain
October 2, 2009
Randall G. Holcombe
San Francisco Examiner
TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, is a year old now. On Sept. 19, 2008, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced the need for a $700 billion program to purchase toxic assets [...]
Empathy for ‘Adversaries’
September 30, 2009
Ivan Eland
Empathy is a term that connotes the touchy-feely notion of getting in touch with someone else’s feelings or perspective. That’s what psychotherapists and social workers do. It obviously has no place in the hard-knocks world of foreign affairs and national security. [...]
Obama Goes Postal
September 23, 2009
William F. Shughart II
McClatchy, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Denver Post, Sacramento Bee, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Long Beach Press-Telegram
The problem with the president's health care/mail analogy: The Postal Service founders because it has no bottom line.
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When President Obama told the people attending a [...]
Obama Needs to Expand on His Good Instincts in Foreign Policy
September 23, 2009
Ivan Eland
Although the tentacles of Baracktopus have slithered into as many parts of American life as those of his “big government Republican” predecessor, Obama does seem to have much better instincts in foreign policy [...]
Hilda Molina in Buenos Aires
September 23, 2009
Alvaro Vargas Llosa
BUENOS AIRES—A few weeks ago, Hilda Molina, a delicate, soft-spoken neurosurgeon, obtained an improbable victory against Cuba’s regime when she left Havana and joined her son and grandchildren in Argentina. Listening to her story in a Buenos Aires [...]
New Deal Orgy No Model For Current Binge
September 21, 2009
Robert Higgs
Investor's Business Daily
From a political standpoint it makes little difference whether the trillions of dollars in “stimulus” spending and big-business bailouts approved by Washington in the past year have a significant effect on the economy.
When [...]
Eating Junk Food Could Fatten Your Tax Bill
September 17, 2009
William F. Shughart II
Washington Examiner, San Francisco Examiner
Alarmed by a tripling of obesity rates among U.S. children over the past 30 years—nearly one in five of today’s adolescents is claimed to be obese—the Institute of Medicine [...]
What Jimmy Carter Doesn’t Know
September 17, 2009
Jonathan J. Bean
When Barack Obama dumped Rev. Jeremiah Wright during the presidential campaign, he explained that the Reverend was a man lost in another time, when hard-core white racism required hypersensitivity to issues of race.
Likewise, former President Jimmy Carter seems [...]
The Enemy of Iran’s Enemy
September 16, 2009
Alvaro Vargas Llosa
WASHINGTON—Being a buffoon can buy a lot of time in international politics—you can do naughty things for a long while before people begin to take them seriously. This is the case of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, whose relationship with [...]
Mourning the Passing of an Unsung Giant in Human History
September 16, 2009
Ivan Eland
In the wealthy American society, we have the luxury and freedom to value strange things. So be it. Few indicators of what the society values are more telling than whom we mourn when they [...]
The Myth of Unregulated Tobacco
September 10, 2009
Bruce Yandle
The Freeman
On June 22, President Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA), a law that gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory authority over tobacco products. The law requires the FDA to [...]
The Rise of Big Business and the Growth of Government
September 10, 2009
Robert Higgs
The Freeman
Most people learn about the relation between the rise of big business and the growth of government in the form of what amounts to a morality play. In the most widely disseminated [...]
Transforming America: The Bush-Obama Stimulus Programs
September 10, 2009
Randall G. Holcombe
The Freeman
George W. Bush’s and Barack Obama’s “stimulus” programs will permanently transform the American economy. The market-based system that has produced unprecedented prosperity relies on profit and loss, which rewards individuals and firms that add value [...]
To Escalate the Escalation?
September 9, 2009
Ivan Eland
The debate rages among experts on whether to escalate the escalation of Barack Obama’s “war of necessity” in Afghanistan—seemingly oblivious to American public opinion at home that has turned against waging the conflict at all. During even the best of [...]
Patricia Casey, writing about Nancy Garrido for The Independent, on Mind & Meaning: Dugard kidnap highlights one of last taboos:
Because it is not spoken about, there is little information on how commonly sexual abuse by females occurs or on the profile of those involved. One study, now over 20 years [...]
Less Is More When It Comes to Pakistan
September 4, 2009
Charles Peña
Foxnews.com
The lesson to be learned from Pakistan’s apparent success is that in international affairs, as in other matters, the less the U.S. government does the better.
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News reports from Pakistan indicate that more than 1.5 million [...]
Monopoly in Vero Beach
September 4, 2009
Dominick T. Armentano
Federal and state antitrust laws generally forbid any “monopolization” of commerce. Yet, ironically, the City of Vero Beach, Florida (where I live) has maintained a State authorized unregulated electric utility monopoly for decades. And like all government protected monopolies, [...]
Japanese Landslide a Mixed Bag for U.S.
September 2, 2009
Ivan Eland
Almost two decades after their bubble economy turned to economic stagnation, Japanese voters have dealt a hammer blow to their corrupt one-party political system. After more than a half century of dominance, the Liberal Democratic Party was [...]
The Swiss Scapegoat
September 2, 2009
Alvaro Vargas Llosa
GENEVA—Repercussions continue to mount here over the deal by which Switzerland will give the names of presumptive tax evaders to the U.S. government.
I’m referring, of course, to Bern’s decision, under colossal pressure from Washington, to hand over the names of [...]
Peace X Peace on "This Story Will Not Die" A Cry from Korea for Human Rights and Peace:
During World War II, many thousands of women were forced to serve the Japanese army as sexual slaves. The majority were from Korea, and many came from China and Japan, but women [...]
Fallacies in U.S. Oil Policy
August 27, 2009
Ivan Eland
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The sight of convicted terrorist Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi getting a hero’s welcome in Libya after murdering 270 people in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, was repugnant.
Although Scotland released Megrahi because [...]
Canada Copies US Customs
August 26, 2009
Ivan Eland
Ironically, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan was traveling to the United States to promote his latest film about post-9/11 racial profiling when he was detained upon entry into the country at Newark’s Liberty (another irony) International Airport. U.S. officials denied [...]
Misallocating Oakland’s Resources at Tourism Industry’s Expense
August 25, 2009
Jonathan Wyse
As the city of Oakland grapples with a budget crisis born of fiscal profligacy, a cursory glance over the FY 2009–11 budget proposal reveals a telling example of irresponsible public spending. Despite recent controversy surrounding lavish travel [...]
The Lesson from Pakistan: Less is More
August 24, 2009
Charles Peña
News reports from Pakistan indicate that refugees from the Swat Valley, scene of recent fighting between government troops and Taliban insurgents, have started returning to their homes.
Some 2 million people are thought to have fled the fighting, [...]
Small Government Caused Our Current Problems?
August 21, 2009
Robert Higgs
As soon as I saw the headline of an August 10 article by financial columnist Peter Cohan, I knew that something was terribly wrong. It reads: “How did the politics of small government lead to big government bailouts?” This [...]
Why We Couldn't Abolish Slavery Then and Can't Abolish Government Now
August 20, 2009
Robert Higgs
Slavery existed for thousands of years, in all sorts of societies and all parts of the world. To imagine human social life without it required an extraordinary effort. Yet, from time to time, [...]
The Tyranny of Oil
August 19, 2009
Alvaro Vargas Llosa
WASHINGTON—Recessions can be a good thing—they wring the excesses out of the economy and focus people’s attention on public policy mistakes that often are the root causes of investment bubbles. Many people thought that this particular recession would offer [...]
Catholics, Civil Rights, and the Holy Name
August 17, 2009
Jonathan J. Bean
Ignatius Insight
During the nomination hearing for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) asked whether there was a “right to privacy” that might include abortion or birth control. Sotomayor answered that there was a string [...]
Iraq: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
August 17, 2009
Ivan Eland
In order to crow about its accomplishments prior to the January 2009 elections, the Iraqi government is knocking down concrete security barriers and returning refugees to war-torn areas. Such moves may help the Iraqi government win votes by [...]
Hugo Chavez's Imperial Chess Game
August 12, 2009
Alvaro Vargas Llosa
WASHINGTON—Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has never been coy about his imperial plans. What started as the Cuba-Venezuela axis now includes Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica. They [...]
Treat North Korea As a Child Psychologist Would
August 10, 2009
Ivan Eland
The world has been riveted by Bill Clinton’s dramatic rescue of two journalistic damsels from the clutches of Kim Jong Il, the diabolical and unpredictable North Korean despot. One cannot help but be relieved for the [...]
State’s Policy is to Leave Money Sitting Idle during Deficit Times
August 6, 2009
William F. Shughart II
San Francisco Examiner
California’s political leaders are in the midst of celebrating their temporary “solving” of the state’s Brobdingnagian budget mess by combining spending cuts and tax increases with heavy doses [...]
Are the Banks Out of the Woods?
August 5, 2009
Alvaro Vargas Llosa
WASHINGTON—Several U.S. banks posted impressive second-quarter earnings. Citigroup’s $4.3 billion, Bank of America’s $3.2 billion, Goldman Sachs’ $3.4 billion and JPMorgan Chase’s $2.7 billion are being touted as signs that the financial institutions have turned around. [...]
Accountability Needed at Fed
August 5, 2009
Robert Higgs
McClatchy-Tribune
Nearly 200 economists, mostly academics, have signed a petition urging Congress and the executive branch “to reaffirm their support for and defend the independence of the Federal Reserve System as a foundation of U.S. economic stability.”
In defending the Fed [...]
Hutterites Steamrolled by the State
August 4, 2009
Pierre Lemieux
Western Standard
On July 24, in a case brought by the Hutterian Brethen of Wilson Colony, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Alberta government is entitled to require a photo on the Hutterites’ drivers’ licences. “The negative [...]
Why Policy Matters
August 4, 2009
Charles Peña
The recently released Pew Global Attitudes Project poll shows that President Obama has lifted America’s image around the world to pre-9/11 levels. “Opinions of the United States are now about as positive as they were at the beginning of the decade [...]
Was Rummy Really Wrong?
August 3, 2009
Ivan Eland
In his new book, By His Own Rules: The Ambitions, Successes, and Ultimate Failures of Donald Rumsfeld, Bradley Graham argues that although ideology and arrogance played a role in the fiasco of invading and occupying Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld’s concept of transforming the [...]
Desperately Calling Romulo Betancourt
July 29, 2009
Alvaro Vargas Llosa
WASHINGTON—Honduras, where an ally of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez triggered a military response after violating the law in his attempt to stay in power, reminds us that today’s threat to liberal democracy in Latin America comes from authoritarian populists who [...]
Penelope Trunk, discussing her child sexual abuse, on How to decide how much to tell about yourself on your blog:
So what I’m telling you here is that I’m scared of secrets. I’m more scared of keeping things a secret than I am of letting people know that I’m having [...]
