God In Heaven! Can This Be Happening?
– Mandatory seat-belt laws are about public health – and maybe some other things. Consider a case from Washington state. In Everett, north of Seattle, …
Category: Reflections
Cycles of History
In 1787 Alexander Tytler, a Scottish history professor, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: A democracy …
Sex, Marx, and Football
If you think the annual American Economic Association (AEA) meetings are stuffy affairs of ivory-tower academics, think again. This year’s event was held in the …
Not Kristol Clear
At the end of 2007, the New York Times announced that it had hired Bill Kristol as an op- ed columnist. A curious development, to …
Iran is Getting the Bomb… Not
On Dec. 3 of last year, the United States government released an intelligence report stating that Iran was not in fact building a nuclear bomb. …
The Business Terminator
When art imitates life, it’s unsurprising; but when life imitates art, it’s at least unusual. When Governor Schwarzenegger pitches his new healthcare scheme, he seems …
Bush as Carter Redux
Hearing Dubya give an unrehearsed press conference in Israel just after Three Kings Day, I realized that, wonder of wonders, he might have finally grown …
Honor Among Thieves?
Charles Cashmore, one of O.J. Simpson’s co-defendants, will plead guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for testimony against the disgraced foot- ball legend and …
The Magic Year for Social Security
On Jan. 1 of this year, the very first baby boomer- Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, the first baby born on Jan. 1, 1946 – turned 62 and …
Back to Work
A loathsome story out of Greenburgh, N.Y., where the property taxes have risen so high that elderly widows on fixed incomes can no longer afford …