Category: Column

It seems as if, everywhere you turn these days, there are studies claiming to show that America has lost its upward mobility for people born in the lower socioeconomic levels. But there is a sharp difference between upward “mobility,” defined as an opportunity to rise, and mobility defined as actually having risen. That distinction is […]

I don’t have to explain to anyone how television is much more risqué, with some programs being downright lewd, than it was decades ago. But I want to tell you about something that can change the course of values in television and movies. Once upon a time, about as edgy as it got was Barbara […]

Any freedom-loving person would be outraged at the attempt by the Federal Communications Commission to inject itself into monitoring the practices of print and broadcast media organizations, but the outrage came almost exclusively from conservatives, which is highly instructive. But liberals and conservatives are on such different planets that they don’t even agree that this […]

It is a happy conceit in the climate change community that true believers are sophisticated, fact-based practitioners of science and that skeptics essentially are a bunch of superstitious nitwits who refuse to respect the — all bow — climate change consensus. If that were true, you would expect the science-loving know-it-alls to welcome opportunities to […]

On March 31, 2011, the opening day of baseball at Dodger Stadium, four San Francisco Giants fans, all paramedics, were there to cheer on their team.   As they left the stadium, in the parking lot, one of them, Bryan Stow, was attacked by a Dodger fan, who hit him so suddenly and with such […]

Though you wouldn’t necessarily know it based on news coverage, the United States in the reign of President Barack Obama is enduring the most prolonged period of slow growth and high unemployment since World War II. The president asserts that he saved us from another Great Depression, which, like his claim that the stimulus would […]

After much criticism from conservative quarters, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has decided, at least for now, to withdraw plans for its proposed study of how media organizations gather and report news. The expressed goal of the survey was to determine if the “critical information needs” of the public are being met. In making the […]

Former House Speaker Tip O’Neill famously said that all politics is local. And it mostly was, in his time: He was first elected to the Massachusetts legislature’s lower house in 1936 and became its speaker in 1949, and was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1952 and became its speaker in 1977. […]

When Kentucky Senator and Republican presidential aspirant Rand Paul re-surfaced the Monica Lewinsky scandal as relevant to Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy, fellow Republican Karl Rove immediately took him to task on national television. “Frankly, Rand Paul spending a lot of time talking about the mistakes of Bill Clinton does not look like a big agenda […]

It disgusts me more every year. I speak of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which is published the middle of February every year. I’m not the only one disgusted. Other folks, such as those in the American Decency Association (ADA), often criticize the publication. “Sports Illustrated disrespects women by displaying demeaning stereotypes of female sexuality,” […]

The thing I like about most sports are the rules and how the winner is determined are pretty unambiguous. Score more points, cross the finish line first, jump higher, whatever, and you win. Should there be any foul play or skirting of the rules, there’s an official or referee there to cry foul. It’s simple […]

Let’s keep it together, people. I speak of the way we are responding to record snow and cold sweeping across vast regions of the country. People are cussing at snowplow drivers and each other. Panicked shoppers are fighting over toilet paper and milk. Americans are suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder in unprecedented numbers. For goodness’ […]

Hollywood and Washington: Both entertaining, often boring and far too often irresponsible. Midterm elections will bring out Hollywood celebrities supporting lots of glad-handing politicians, attracting the least informed voters: the People/US/Entertainment Weekly crowd. And rightfully so. While some in Hollywood and D.C. strive for financial responsibility, there are those who have no understanding of the […]

On the day that Facebook paid $19 billion for the aptly named WhatsApp, San Francisco’s Gap Inc. announced it would raise its minimum wage for American employees to $9 per hour this year and $10 per hour in 2015. The announcement probably won’t make a dent in the income inequality gap in the Bay Area, […]

Is Bill Clinton still president? Has he been caught fooling around with another intern in the Oval Office? Has Paula Jones filed another lawsuit? Is Hillary Clinton still standing by her bad man? I must be in the 1990s again. Why else would I have seen Kathleen Willey on TV talking about Bill Clinton repeatedly […]

If five years of the Obama administration has taught us anything, it is that presidents do not need Congress to further their agenda. All they need is to surround themselves with “yes men” who share similar disrespect for the Constitution and its founders. It also helps to have a trusty pen and phone, as President […]

On some of America’s most contentious issues, civil discourse takes a back seat to ugly outcry. Last week, masked protesters carrying torches and threatening organized violence demonstrated on the front lawn of the Enbridge Energy Management Company’s president. Environmentalists made a late night visit to Mark Maki’s home and promised “solidarity means attack,” and pledged […]

The House will soon consider H.R. 3865, which would prohibit the IRS from rushing a final rule regulating 501(c)(4) organizations in the middle of the current tax year. If the floor debate looks like the bill’s markup in the Ways and Means Committee, it will be split right down party lines. Republicans will condemn the […]

Two pieces of business news announced this week provide a convenient frame through which to view our dysfunctional and distorted economy. The first (which has attracted tremendous attention), is Facebook’s blockbuster $19 billion acquisition of instant messaging provider WhatsApp. The second (which few have noticed) is the horrific earnings report issued by Texas-based retail chain […]

Since its inception, the Obama administration has engaged in the deceptive routine of claiming that “economists” or “every economist” or a “consensus” among economists is in lock-step agreement over whatever policy prescription the White House happens to be peddling at the moment. It began with the stimulus, when President Barack Obama misleadingly asserted that “economists […]

Politics is often like war. Unfortunately, politicians, the media and the voting public seldom have the same degree of realism and discipline with which professional soldiers fight wars. You can indulge your emotions and base your decisions on wishful thinking in politics, in a way that you are not likely to when your own life […]

This week’s award for Biggest Common Core Jerk goes to Missouri GOP state legislator Mike Lair. Parents, teachers and administrators who object to the government education “standards” racket — which usurps local control, impedes academic achievement and undermines family privacy — have politicians on the defensive. The only thing these Fed Ed flacks and hacks […]

Cancel the philosophy courses, people. Oh, and we’re going to be shuttering the political science, religion and pre-law departments too. We’ll keep some of the English and history folks on for a while longer, but they should probably keep their résumés handy. Because, you see, they are of no use anymore. We have the answers […]

There seems to be a common characteristic among those who follow the liberal orthodoxy, especially those in the old media. Their ideology and rabid partisanship prevent them from acknowledging, much less correcting, policy failures. My brother, Rush, expounds the “Limbaugh theorem,” which holds that President Obama studiously avoids accountability for his disastrous agenda by positioning […]

In the 1980s, a couple of ambitious young economists thought ski lift operators weren’t very smart. The economists assumed that if the business owners charged more on busy days, they could make more money. As recounted in “Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations” by David Warsh, the economists saw long lines on busy days as […]

It is 611 miles from the United Auto Workers headquarters in Detroit to Volkswagen’s assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. It’s a long day’s drive, about 10 hours almost entirely on Interstate 75, but it turned out to be too far for the UAW. Or so one must judge from the results of the unionization election […]

Liberals are winning wild praise for their candor in admitting problems with Obamacare. It shows you the level of honesty people have come to expect of our liberal friends. Now, liberals are applauded for not lying through their teeth about something.What are they supposed to say?: This Obamacare website is fantastic! And really, haven’t you already […]

Diversity has become corporatized on American campuses, with scores of bureaucrats and administrators accentuating different pedigrees and ancestries. That’s odd, because diversity does not mean any more “variety” or “points of difference,” at least as it used to be defined. Instead, diversity has become an industry synonymous with orthodoxy and intolerance, especially in its homogeneity […]