Jewish World Review March 23, 1999 /6 Nissan 5759
Thomas Sowell
Random thoughts
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SOME THINGS ARE SO OBVIOUS that, if you have to explain them, you can't
explain them.
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The tragic illness of football great Walter Payton is a reminder of how
vulnerable we all are. And to think -- there are people who worry about who
has a corner office or who gets invited to fancy parties!
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It is painful to watch the Republicans and Democrats argue about what to do
with the federal budget surplus, when in fact there is no surplus. The
government is still spending more than it receives in taxes. It covers the
difference by spending money from the Social Security trust fund, using
accounting gimmicks to create the appearance of a surplus.
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Guess who said this: "Yes, the president should resign. He has lied to the
American people, time and time again, and betrayed their trust." It was said
by Bill Clinton -- about Richard Nixon.
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There seems to be a growing number of people who think that the world
should adjust to them, while they don't have to show any consideration to
anyone.
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Great professional athletes seldom make great managers. Not only are the
players they manage unable to do many of the things that these stars once
did, they probably don't even have the same attitudes that helped to make
the great players great.
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Walter Shapiro, writing in the liberal "New Republic" magazine asks "why
have liberals rushed to mortgage their own integrity in their zealous
defense of Clinton's loathsome legalisms?"
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When I hear the fashionable notion that it is "unfair" to judge poor
children by the same standards as others, my reaction is: Thank God the
schools were "unfair" to me when I was a kid growing up in Harlem. They
taught me the same things they taught kids from families with more money and
more education -- and they didn't take any excuses for not learning it.
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The television program "Law and Order" proves that you can have an exciting
crime show without gross sex, violence or car chases. In fact, it is a lot
better than programs that depend on such things to fill the time.
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The Republicans still just don't get it. Even after their poor showing in
the 1998 Congressional elections, they still seem not to understand that you
have to stand for something if you expect people to support you. And you
have to give a higher priority to explaining your position to the public
than to making back room deals with the Democrats.
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Few skills are so well rewarded as the ability to convince parasites that
they are victims.
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The grand fallacy of the political left is that decisions are better made
by third parties who pay no price for being wrong. Much of the 20th century
has been taken up proving how tragically mistaken that theory is, all around
the world. But those who want to be the third-party decision-makers still
remain undaunted.
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The only reward for putting up with craziness is more craziness.
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Just ten years ago, would you have believed that we would have credible
charges of being a draft-dodger, rapist and perjurer against a president --
and that he would have the continuing support of a solid majority of the
public?
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Liberal colleges and universities seldom have conservative speakers give
talks on their campuses, but conservative colleges and universities often
have liberal speakers give talks on their campuses. The kind of broad
exposure to a variety of views that used to be called a "liberal education"
is now available largely at conservative academic institutions.
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My wife says that it takes a sense of humor to live with me. I'm not sure
what that means, but have decided not to risk asking.
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Letter from a reader: "60 Minutes televised a suicide and justified it on
journalistic grounds. Do you think they would air a live partial birth
abortion?"
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Proposals for reform are often dismissed because they have no "realistic"
chance of being adopted. But none of the major reforms of the past had any
realistic chance of being adopted when they were first proposed.
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The whole political vision of the left, including socialism and communism,
has failed by virtually every empirical test, in countries all around the
world. But this has only led leftist intellectuals to evade and denigrate
empirical
evidence.
03/22/99: Loving enemies
03/19/99: Naming names
03/15/99: Undermining the military
03/10/99: Joe DiMaggio -- icon of an era
03/02/99: Facts versus dogma on guns
03/01/99: Losing the cultural wars
02/22/99: "Saving" social security
02/18/99: Too many Ph.Ds?
02/8/99: A national disaster
02/8/99: Economic fallacies in the media: Part II
02/5/99: Why economists visit dentists so often
02/2/99: Warning: Good news
01/29/99: What is at stake?
01/26/99:Moral bankruptcy in the schools
01/22/99: Who is going to convict Santa Claus?
01/19/99: Seeing through the spin
01/13/99: A trial is a trial is a trial
01/11/99:Trials and tribulations
01/08/99: Rays of hope
01/04/99: Random thoughts
12/31/98: The President versus the presidency
12/29/98: The time is now!
12/23/98: World-class hypocrisy
12/21/98: The spreading corruption
12/17/98: Politically "contrite"
12/16/98: Polls and partisanship
12/14/98: The "non-profit" halo
12/11/98: Corruption and confusion
12/03/98: The health care "crisis"
11/30/98: Knowing what you are talking about
11/23/98: The impeachment legacy
11/23/98: Random thoughts
11/19/98: Tales out of bureaucracies
11/16/98: Scholarships based on scholarship
11/12/98: Forward march
11/09/98: Moral outrage
11/05/98: Will the Republicans ever learn?
11/02/98: A voter's duty
10/30/98: The poverty pimp's poem
10/29/98: Random thoughts on the election
10/27/98: "Partisan" and "unfair"
10/23/98: Ed-u-kai-tchun
10/21/98: McGwire, Maris and the Babe
10/20/98: MURDER IS MURDER!
10/16/98: Lightweight Boxer
10/14/98: A strange word
10/09/98: Impeachment standards
10/08/98: Alternatives to seriousness
10/07/98: Heredity, environment and talk
10/02/98: A much-needed guide
10/01/98: Starr's real crime
9/24/98: Costs and power
9/18/98: Are we sheep?
9/16/98: Judicial review
9/15/98: Hillary Rodham Crook?
9/14/98: Taking stock
9/11/98: Moment of truth
9/04/98: Random thoughts
8/31/98: The twilight of special prosecutors?
8/26/98: "Doing a good job"
8/24/98: America on trial?
8/19/98: Played for fools
8/17/98: A childish letter
8/11/98: Hiding behind a woman
8/07/98: A flying walrus in Washington?
8/03/98: "Affordability" strikes again
7/31/98: Random thoughts
7/27/98: Faith and mountains
7/24/98: Clinton in Wonderland
7/20/98: Where is black 'leadership' leading?
7/16/98: Do 'minorities' really have it that bad?
7/14/98: Race dialogue: same old stuff
7/10/98: Honest history
7/09/98: Dumb is dangerous
7/02/98: Gun-safety starts with parental responsibility
6/30/98: When more is less
6/29/98: Are educators above the law?
6/26/98: Random Thoughts
6/24/98: An angry letter
6/22/98: Sixties sentimentalism
6/19/98:Dumbing down anti-trust
6/15/98: A changing of the guard?
6/11/98: Presidential privileges
6/8/98: Fast computers and slow antitrust
6/3/98: Can stalling backfire?
5/29/98: The insulation of the Left
5/25/98: Missing the point in the media
5/22/98: The lessons of Indonesia
5/20/98: Smart but silent
5/18/98: Israel, Clinton and character
5/14/98: Monica Lewinsky's choices
5/11/98: Random thoughts
5/7/98: Media obstruction of justice
5/4/98: Dangerous "safety"
5/1/98:
Abolish Adolescence!
4/30/98: The naked truth
4/22/98: Playing fair and square
4/19/98: Bad teachers"
4/15/98: "Clinton in Africa
"
4/13/98: "Bundling and unbundling
"
4/9/98: "Rising or falling Starr
"
4/6/98: "Was Clinton ‘vindicated'?
"
3/26/98: "Diasters -- natural and political"
3/24/98: "A pattern of behavior"
3/22/98: Innocent explanations
3/19/98: Kathleen Willey and Anita Hill
3/17/98: Search and destroy
3/12/98: Media Circus versus Justice
3/6/98: Vindication
3/3/98: Cheap Shot Time
2/26/98: The Wrong Filter
2/24/98: Trial by Media
2/20/98: Dancing Around the Realities
2/19/98: A "Do Something" War?
2/12/98: Julian Simon, combatant in a 200-year war
2/6/98: A rush to rhetoric
©1999, Creators Syndicate
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