Five years ago last month, Milton Friedman died at age 94. To the very end, the Nobel Prize-winning economist was astute, tireless and wonderfully avuncular. Thanks to the Internet, his commentaries on subjects ranging from greed to slavery to the Great Depression myth and many other topics can be enjoyed forever. Of course, great thinkers have been recording their thoughts in books for millennia. And Friedman was no exception. But there's no denying the immediacy and intimacy of video. Wouldn't we have loved to click on Edmund Burke, Alexander Hamilton or Cicero and watch them talk about their ideas? If you do dip into the Friedman oeuvre, start with his exchange with Phil Donahue! [continues 621 words]
Last month, leading news media reported (with a bit of smugness) study results showing adolescents who took a pledge of sexual abstinence were almost as likely as those who took no pledges to contract sexually transmitted diseases. The Washington Post noted the report "sparked an immediate, bitter debate over the wisdom of teaching premarital abstinence." Bill Smith, vice president of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, crowed: "Not only do virginity pledges not work to keep our young people safe, they are causing harm by undermining condom use, contraception and medical treatment." [continues 611 words]
"The Republicans are getting exactly what they deserve," announced a satisfied liberal columnist sparring with me on CNN. She was referring to George W. Bush's evident discomfort in handling questions about possible cocaine use in the past. "They've been rummaging around in everyone's closets, so now it's their turn." But she's oversimplifying. In truth, Republican officeholders (as distinguished from pundits, activists and lawyers) were actually quite reticent about raising the matter of Bill Clinton's sordid personal conduct. Neither President Bush nor Bob Dole ever said a word about it. Only Dan Quayle criticized candidate Clinton's character --- and he cited only the man's history of lying. [continues 608 words]
The city of Chicago had a problem familiar to many other cities: gangs. Sporting their colors, tattoos and other identifiers, they liked to hang out in poor neighborhoods looking for trouble. Responding to the law-abiding citizens of those neighborhoods, who reported feeling intimidated and unsafe, the Chicago City Council passed an anti-loitering ordinance. The ordinance made it a crime punishable by a fine of up to $500 and imprisonment for up to six months to "loiter," defined as "remaining in any one place with no apparent purpose." [continues 642 words]
THE RACE HUSTLERS, hate mongers and assorted leftovers from failed city administrations past are ganging up on Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York. Even some Hollywood celebrities, like Susan Sarandon, are showing up to have themselves arrested outside the mayor's office, along with the usual suspects, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and former New York City Mayor David Dinkins. The putative reason for their protest is the mistaken shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo by four New York policemen. The true reason for their protest is a desire to stigmatize and therefore reverse the most amazing urban turnaround since the great Chicago fire of 1871. [continues 633 words]
The tobacco legislation coming out of the Senate Commerce Committee is enough to make one wonder whether it matters if Republicans will hold onto the Congress in 1998. This legislation bears all of the familiar marks of Democratic bills - a huge cash grab by the federal the federal government (new taxes), the crea-tion of 17 new and permanent federal boards, and an enormous agrandizement of federal power. All of this is done in the name of solving a problem that the federal gov-ernment cannot solve - teen smoking. [continues 475 words]
