Well, we weren't able to finish this cartoon fast enough. From CNN:
.
Feb 8, 2005 | Dollars & Crosses
Front Range Objectivist Supper Talks is pleased to announce Tara Smith speaking on: Egoistic Justice & Some of its Practical Implications. This lecture will explore Ayn Rand's illuminating account of the egoistic nature of justice. After tracing the practical case for being just, Dr. Smith will consider four of the unconventional implications that flow from this: the emphatic need to judge other people; the diametrical opposition between justice and today's ubiquitous ideal of egalitarianism; the proper place of forgiveness in a just man's life; the proper place of mercy in a just man's life. When, if ever, are forgiveness and mercy justified? Is either of them ever not merely permissible, but required?
Details: February 19, 2005. Social Hour--6:00 PM; Supper--7:00 PM; Talk--8:00 PM. West Woods Golf Clubhouse, 6655 Quaker, Arvada, CO. http://www.FrontRangeObjectivism.comFeb 8, 2005 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
From the
Chicago Sun-Times:
Saudi government foments religious hatred in U.S.. (Via
Hobbs Online)
What is happening in some American mosques, including a few in the Chicago area, is deeply disturbing. In certain Islamic schools, textbooks spit vitriol against Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims: "Be disassociated from the infidels, hate them for their religion." In mosque publications, America is the "Abode of the Infidel." The idea of human and civil rights is heresy. Working women are immoral.
These views are extreme, they promote violence and they are being espoused right under our noses. We knew this was happening in France, Germany and England but we didn't know the extent of the problem here. It is not happening in all mosques or Islamic schools, by any means, but in those select ones funded by the Saudi government to disseminate the fanatic Wahhabi-style Islam that has its demagogic roots in Saudi Arabia.
The Center for Religious Freedom just issued a discomfiting report looking at the spread of hate propaganda in America by Saudi Arabia. The center collected 200 books and other publications from mosques across the country and spent the past two years analyzing them.
"The Saudi textbooks and documents spread throughout American mosques preach a Nazi-like hatred for Jews, treat the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion as historical fact, and avow that the Muslim's duty is to eliminate the state of Israel," writes Nina Shea, the Center's director. In addition, they "instill contempt for America because the United States is ruled by legislated civil law rather than by totalitarian Wahhabi-style Islamic law." Woe to Christians who should be actively hated because they stir up images of crusaders and colonists and because they are "enemies to Allah, his Prophet and believers." Woe to Muslims who advance tolerance and human rights -- they, too, are infidels. Woe to homosexuals or heterosexuals who have sex outside marriage -- it is considered "lawful" to kill them.
A number of blogs reported this story last week. I first saw it on
Little Green Footballs where Charles has noted that few in big media are picking it up (exceptions include
Dallas Morning News and
Investor's Business Daily). Perhaps the Sun-Times editorial will garner still more attention.
Feb 7, 2005 | Dollars & Crosses
Bill Steigerwald interviews Arthur Laffer, the The Father of Supply-Side Economics, in "Is this a great world or what?" Pittsburg TRIBUNE-REVIEW, Saturday, (February 5, 2005).
Laffer on Bush's economics:
I'm really shocked by it. ...I was not a fan of his father's. I voted for Clinton twice. I really thought Bush (the elder) and Bob Dole were tax collectors for the welfare state. The reason I voted for Bush W. was more Al Gore than it was Bush. And now I am just totally a fan. This guy is just incredibly good at economics...[however]...the steel tariffs (were) terrible. They're embarrassing.
On Laffer's politics:
I'm pro-growth. I'm Democrat when Democrats are into pro-growth, and I'm Republican when they are....I like low, flat-rate taxes. I like sound money. I like free trade. And I like minimal regulation for serving social purposes...
On the most important economic principle for voters:
If you tax people who work and you pay people who don't work, do not be surprised if you find a lot of people choosing not to work.
Laffer on the American public (or at least half of it):
...I'm really impressed with the public. The electorate really sees through all this crap. They understand free trade. They understand low, flat-rate taxes. They understand sound money. The electorate is really cool. I'm superbly impressed by democracy -- and I'm not natively that way inclined, just so you know.
On America's economic progress over the past two decades:
OK, let's take a look at what happened to marginal tax rates. The highest rate has gone from what -- 70 percent -- down to what, 35 percent? What's happened to inflation? What's happened to regulation restrictions? What's happened to America and the world? What's happened to the stock market? What's happened to everything you and I believe in? Do you remember what unemployment rates looked like back in 1979? Do you remember what the prime was when Ronald Reagan came into office on Jan. 20, 1981? It was 21 percent.
...I cannot believe how wonderful it is. When (Nobel Prize-winning economist) Bob Mundell and I sat there at the University of Chicago in 1967, '68 and '69, we dreamt of a world. That world is now. Can you imagine a world with no inflation? ...
...If you looked at (House Minority Leader) Nancy Pelosi and you looked at (Senate Minority Leader) Harry Reid Wednesday night, they looked really, really uncomfortable. They were running everything in 1979. They had the president, the Senate, the Supreme Court, the Fed chairman. They had every damn position in the world. They had everything -- the states, the houses, the governors. It was a Fabian redistributionist nightmare. Now it's really beautiful. I'm an old man, and old men are supposed to be curmudgeons and hate the modern day and love the ancient. But the truth of the matter is, we've won.
Feb 7, 2005 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
From CNN: Dean now sole candidate for DNC chair:Tim Roemer, the only remaining opponent of Howard Dean in the race to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Monday he's bowing out of the race -- but he offered a warning to Democrats. ...
