Those who would change a culture corrupt its language, particularly by hiding the reality of an evil they desire behind a less revealing name. — Politics and the English Language, George Orwell. I thought about Orwell’s quote when I recently caught an exchange between two friends and fellow CNN contributors on the terms we use […]
Archives for 2012
The Obamacare Decision
In the first 48 hours after the surprising Supreme Court decision in the Obamacare case, after recovering from the initial shock, I was prepared to give Chief Justice John Roberts a break, the benefit of doubt about his intentions and rationale. I drank some of the cool aid from the conservative bloggers about the genius, […]
“Notable and Quotable” from the WSJ
This is from the Wall Street Journal, quoting columnist Janet Daley from London’s Daily Telegraph of May 19. It is pointed at the future of the European Union, but substitute US for EU and it’s still timely and appropriate. How long will freedom survive in the face of mass rage at the loss of the […]
Wisconsin Recall Vote is Huge
It is difficult to overstate the outcome in the recall election of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. It might still be a little early to tell if his victory signals the end of the mystique of the Barack Obama “narrative”, although that day may come soon enough with the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare. But […]
The Counterrevolutionary Century?
Mary Eberstadt of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution wrote a very insightful essay for the April 2, 2012 issue of National Review entitled Sexual Counterrevolution, which I highly recommend. In it she contends that it is not unthinkable that the range of conflicts now raging over the social issues, in which the conflict over who will […]
The Bank Regulatory Dilemma
As a retired banker and one who struggled mightily through the Texas banking debacle of the mid-1980s, the current debate over the “too big to fail” problem resonates with me. I served as CEO of a sizable banking organization, but one that was not considered too big to fail, and I watched other banks that […]
The New American Majority
Recently the news cycle was captivated by the report from the U. S. Census Bureau that, for the first time in U. S. history, whites of European ancestry account for less than half of new-born children, supposedly marking a tipping point for the economy, the workforce, and politics. Commentators marked it as a major turning […]
“Civilization” Revisited
Recently I revisited the masterful 1970 BBC production, “Civilization: A Personal View by Lord Clark”, a sweeping, approximately 12 hour DVD tour of the historic places, structures, artifacts and legacy of the evolution of Western Civilization in Europe from the collapse of the Roman Empire to the 19th century, as guided and described by the […]
At Last–A Sound Dollar Act
A couple of years ago, I wrote a brief review of a very good book, Econoclasts, by Brian Domitrovic, a professor of economics at Sam Houston State University. The book outlines the formulation, rationale, and history of the application of supply-side economic theory, with emphasis on the people who sparked the supply-side revolution beginning in […]
Disappointment with the Pope in Cuba
I am not a Catholic, but I am a huge fan of Pope Benedict XVI. I have read two of his books and studied closely his watershed address at Regensburg in 2006, which established a new foundation on which to debate the theological and philosophical conflict between Islam and Christianity. I have also applauded his […]