All true, but mean-spirited small-mindedness is part of our tradition, which brings us to Benjamin Franklin. In 1753, he called the German immigrants flocking to Pennsylvania “generally the most stupid sort of their own nation” and warned: “They will soon outnumber us (and we) will not, in my opinion, be able to preserve our language, [...]
[1 May 2010]
It is conservatives who are notorious for their vicious and malicious opposition to social welfare programs, which they insist are “hand-outs.” But in my humble opinion, those who legislate into existence a permanent underclass are the real “babykillers.” If I were a conspiracy theorist, I’d almost think our well-meaning conservative brethren were invested in perpetuating [...]
[23 Mar 2010]
Canada has shown it is possible to provide universal, publicly funded lifetime coverage, achieve better overall health outcomes and reduce health disparities while spending substantially less than the United States. From an economic standpoint, a system such as Canada’s makes sense. Canada’s universal health care and the Canadian social safety net combine efficiently to generate [...]
[25 Feb 2010]
The evidence presented here powerfully refutes the widespread popular belief that America’s Hispanics have high crime rates. Instead, their criminality seems to fall near the center of the white national distribution, being somewhat higher than white New Englanders but somewhat lower than white Southerners. Taken as a whole, the mass of statistical evidence constitutes strong [...]
[24 Feb 2010]
[T]hose with guns and the force of law behind them, are too often more concerned for property than human life. In an emergency, people can, and do, die from those priorities. … Two things go on in disasters. The great majority of what happens you could call emergency requisitioning. Someone who could be you, someone [...]
[1 Feb 2010]
This is certainly a more powerful threat to democracy than terrorism. It may well be a more powerful threat to democracy than was the fatally-flawed Soviet Union. Because to the extent to which politicians depend on donations to remain in power, they are inevitably influenced by those who have the most money. Not surprisingly, corporate [...]
[23 Jan 2010]
And sophomores and juniors with high social dominance orientation and system justification scores became more politically conservative as seniors. In other words, there was a process in which threats and anxieties led students to adopt particular political beliefs that helped them to deal with those threats and anxieties. From Can Threats and Living in a [...]
[21 Jan 2010]
Regarding the U. S. Marines’ presence is Haiti, holding M-16s, no less: Here is — they had no business being there. Sure, if there’s some way where you have an army of bandits, which we haven’t seen, on any mass scale going and attacking, maybe you might bring in some guys like that. But right [...]
[21 Jan 2010]
For the last decade, one company, Omega Protein of Houston, has been catching 90 percent of the nation’s menhaden. The perniciousness of menhaden removals has been widely enough recognized that 13 of the 15 Atlantic states have banned Omega Protein’s boats from their waters. But the company’s toehold in North Carolina and Virginia (where it [...]
[17 Dec 2009]
One of the key principles behind the Kyoto protocol is that of ‘common but differentiated responsibility’. That is, the principle that those who created the problem (rich nations) should be the ones to fix it. The draft negotiating text departs from this principle, instead decreeing that rich countries should be able to emit more per [...]
[8 Dec 2009]