Most Americans know peaceful and prosperous Switzerland—America’s “sister republic”—for its beautiful mountains, tangy cheese, decentralized

Apr 4, 2010

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Edward Hudgins

5 Mins

As a child, I was fascinated by astronomy and space, and I hoped to live to see the day when men would travel to the Moon. In 1969, I manage

Apr 4, 2010

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Edward Hudgins

5 Mins

Among the world's great novelists, Ayn Rand stands almost alone in providing stirring portraits of entrepreneurs, industrialists, and banker

Apr 1, 2010

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Jeff Scott

10 Mins

Few parents or children are likely to visit their local bookstore in search of stories concerning ancient Greek scientists. And that is

Apr 1, 2010

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Mary Heinking

3 Mins

My dear friend, 1. Beyond the tragedy and the immense suffering brought about by the evil attack on America of September 11, 2001, this crisis should lead to a paradigm shift in the war against terrorism. Terrorism must be resisted now with unshakeable resolve—not one feckless act of this for that, not a series of half-measures that serves only to provoke further acts of destruction, but an implacable and unceasing campaign against terrorism until it is utterly and completely vanquished. 2. During the 20th century, the world has had a condescending attitude toward the use of violence to change public policies. In my country, Chile, there is a consensus now that it was a decade of political violence that led, on another Tuesday, September 11, to the breakdown of our democracy and social fabric. Suffice it to say that Lenin, the man who not only advocated terror as a legitimate weapon to obtain political ends but also practiced it with horrifying determination, still rests in a mausoleum in front of the Kremlin and gives its first name to people all over Europe and the Third World (including a specially shadowy character in nearby Peru).

Mar 31, 2010

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Jose Pinera

April 15, 2001 -- On April 22, millions will dutifully engage in the now-familiar rituals and incantations of America’s fastest-growing religion. In public places, they will gather to listen to sermons…about the sins of human selfishness, about redemption through self-abasement, about the duty to exercise stewardship of the earth. In schools, they will indoctrinate their children in the gospel according to John…John Muir, that is.

Mar 31, 2010

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Robert James Bidinotto

return to orbit. A "space tourist," originally scheduled to visit Mir earlier this year, has been included with a Russian crew that will join residing astronauts at the International Space Station in late April. This transfer from Mir to the ISS represents a misguided attempt to transfer the responsibilities of a private contract to the other members of the international space program. California investment executive Dennis Tito made news last year by paying MirCorp and RKK Energia (Mir's operating company) roughly $20 million for the privilege of accompanying two Russian astronauts to Mir, at a time when the aging space station's future was still uncertain. Tito's high-profile purchase was the kickoff to MirCorp's strategy to transform Mir into a commercial venture open to wealthy travelers and for-profit scientific research.

Mar 31, 2010

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October 6, 2004 -- When Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in 1975, they shot for the stars and succeeded. More recently, Allen shot for the stars again. The two successful launches of his SpaceShipOne won the $10 million Ansari X Prize competition for private, manned space flights. This feat may ultimately do for private space ventures what Charles Lindbergh's crossing the Atlantic did for commercial aviation. The success of these enterprises obviously depended on such factors as genius, guts, and foresight. It also depended on the less obvious absenceof something—government regulation.

Mar 31, 2010

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March 22, 2002 -- Amtrak’s financial hemorrhaging is so severe that it may be insolvent by summer. The railroad’s auditor, KPMG LLP, is holding back from declaring it a “going concern.” Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) has flatly declared, “Amtrak isn’t broken, it’s bankrupt,” and he’s right. The Amtrak Reform Council has found Amtrak incapable of surviving without continuing taxpayer subsidies and, following a 1997 law, sent a plan to Congress recommending Amtrak be reorganized. That finding triggered a requirement that Amtrak simultaneously submit a liquidation plan to Congress, which would choose among the plans or create a hybrid plan.

Mar 31, 2010

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July 4, 2007 -- On July 4, 1776, America's Founders declared the country's independence from Britain, largely as a revolt against excessive and unfair taxation. So in our nation, which is much more overtaxed than it was over two centuries ago, it would be fitting if, in recognition of our Founding principles, federal, state and, local governments made July Fourth a totally tax-free day. Many cities already suspend sales taxes for a few days a year on items such as clothing and school supplies, usually to garner the favor of overtaxed parents struggling to raise kids and to give mom and pop an incentive to frequent overtaxed downtown enterprises struggling to make profits. So wouldn't this be appropriate for all of us, who struggle every day to be allowed to keep our money, on that day on which we celebrate our freedom?

Mar 31, 2010

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Edward Hudgins

March 6, 2002 -- Because I live in Warsaw, I get most of my TV news from the BBC. Recently I have watched, dumbfounded and amused, the outpouring of concern for the comfort of the al-Qaeda prisoners kept at Guantanamo Bay. They were transported shackled with bags over their heads! They sleep in open cages! Four of them have British passports! Have they all had their Miranda warnings? The fact that they are undoubtedly living in less discomfort than they freely chose to undergo in the field doesn’t seem to register. I often think that the most common error in reasoning is a kind of category error, the placing of an issue in a category in which it doesn’t belong. The classic example is the “no right to shout fire in a crowded theater” issue, often cited in a free-speech context when it clearly belongs in an implied-contract context.

Mar 31, 2010

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December 4, 2001 -- In the coming months, ethicists will be variously defending or condemning human cloning and embryonic stem cell research. They will debate the potential benefits of the technology and discuss the social consequences of the advancing science. But in the end, the ethical question will turn on the issue of when a human life begins—i.e., the life of a distinct, individual human being, a person. There is no simple answer, because the different dimensions of a person's identity emerge at different points in a continuous and complex process of development. Genetic identity is present in the fertilized egg. Cognitive identity emerges later when the fetus acquires the neural basis for conceptual thought. Biological identity as a distinct organism begins to emerge at the point of viability, and is fully present at birth. The person's moral identity as a being capable of voluntary choice on the basis of knowing right from wrong, and his spiritual identity as a self-consciously differentiated personality, are both later developments of childhood and adolescence.

Mar 31, 2010

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Patrick Stephens

April 22, 2002 -- President Bush has declared the fourth week of April to be National Volunteer Week. This is a follow-up to his call for al

Mar 31, 2010

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Edward Hudgins

3 mins

April 3, 2001 -- Last week, Congress began holding hearings on human cloning. Given the highly charged debate that human cloning is likely

Mar 31, 2010

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Patrick Stephens

3 Mins

June 12, 2002 -- In my Harvard University apartment, overlooking the serene Charles River, I grieve for the Israelis who were murdered last

Mar 31, 2010

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Tal Ben-Shahar

3 Mins

February 2, 2004 -- Given the fact that the title of director Denys Arcand's previous film was The Decline of the American Empire, that his

Mar 31, 2010

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Edward Hudgins

4 Mins

September 10, 2004 -- On September 9, Frank Quattrone, a prominent investment banker formerly with Credit Suisse First Boston, was sentenced

Mar 31, 2010

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Edward Hudgins

2 Mins

October 18, 2001 -- “Manifest Destiny” is the term originally created by John L. O’Sullivan in the 1840s to describe America's westward...

Mar 31, 2010

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Joy Bushnell

2 Mins

October 18, 2001 -- The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded on October 10 to three economists whose work might have

Mar 31, 2010

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Donald Cooper

3 Mins

October 16, 2001 -- As Congress prepares to pass a new security bill and America faces a terrible and insidious threat, there is no more

Mar 31, 2010

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2 Mins