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AIG \ bailout \ Barack Obama \ Rights \ unconstitutional
AIG Executives and Mob Rule
The recent bonuses paid to executives in the financial division of AIG have created a firestorm. In response to the national outrage, the government has bent over backwards to find some loophole that would allow it to take back these bonuses, bonuses that were not shadily distributed to these executives but were contractually promised to [...]
Barack Obama \ intellectual \ pragmatism \ principle
Obama the Intellectual?
Some say we finally have a President who is a thinker. Do we? An “open, out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual”—this was New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof’s laudatory description of America’s new president. Kristof, echoed by a chorus of similar commentators, was expressing hope that Obama might help combat a growing anti-intellectual climate in America today. Obama [...]
capitalism \ Christianity \ economics \ free market \ John Galt \ regulation \ religion \ Republican \ welfare state
The Republican Party’s Identity Crisis
In the aftermath of the substantial Democratic victory in last November’s election, Republicans nationwide are reported to be doing a great deal of “soul searching.” Indeed they should. After all, times are not looking good for the Republican Party. Former President Bush left office with record-low support, and both houses of Congress, along with the [...]
Ayn Rand \ morality \ religion
Ayn Rand’s Non-Religious Conception of Morality
In our parents’ generation, academia was a bastion of secularism, and a threat to religion. Amid peace and love, political activism, one small step for man and several giant leaps in science and technology, college campuses had little room for faith. The picture today is quite different. Religion has returned full force into American colleges, [...]
climate change \ environmentalism \ global warming
No “Footprint,” No Life
As environmentalism continues to grow in prominence, more and more of us are trying to live a “greener” lifestyle. But the more “eco-friendly” you try to become, likely the more you find yourself confused and frustrated by the green message. Have you tried giving up your bright and cheery incandescent light bulbs to save energy–only [...]
climate change \ environmentalism \ global change
Averting a Crisis or Causing One?
In early December of 2008, the California State legislature passed a measure that would attempt to decrease the level of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Tied together with, and following California’s “landmark” Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, the measure calls for a 15% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 (1990 levels). Among the codes [...]
democracy \ hugo chavez \ Rights \ venezuela
Campus Media Response: Hugo Chávez – Democracy At Work
Voting Democracy Away, February 13, 2009 The Harvard Crimson Harvard University Sir— Your vague hint at Venezuela’s “lack of durable democratic institutions” is striking considering the context. It is, after all, democracy that gave rise to the autocratic regime run by Hugo Chávez. The majority of Venezuelans were seduced by the promise of wealth supposedly [...]
FDA \ regulation \ Rights \ Zagat
The Moral Alternative to Government Regulation
When we hear the word “regulation,” most people immediately think of the government. After all, the government regulates nearly every industry that we rely on in our everyday lives, such as banking, aviation, education, medicine, and countless others. But in addition to government regulation, there are also private companies in the world that perform a [...]
abortion \ Campus Media Response \ Columbia \ pro-life \ right to choose
Campus Media Response: Force May Avail Where a Prayer Fails
New Pro-Life Group Splits Off, February 12, 2009 Columbia Spectator Columbia University Madam— Within your article, “New Pro-Life Group Splits Off,” an anti-abortion advocate rightly acknowledges that “When people think pro-life, people immediately think politics”. The reason for this is because the “pro-life” movement is not attempting to promote a personal belief. Rather, it is [...]
crime \ marijuana \ objective law \ phelps \ Rights
High Crimes and Michael Phelps
Last week, a Wall Street Journal op-ed screamed “Arrest Michael Phelps!” and a sheriff in South Carolina threatened to prosecute the famed Olympic swimmer. Commentators across news and radio stations added their voices to the hysteria. The reason behind the calls for Mr. Phelps’s head? A photo that surfaced in a UK tabloid showing Mr. [...]
