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The brightest stars burn out first.

The ancient Greeks called the sun, the star closest to the Earth, Helios. They thought the sun was a god. There was a time when we called the biggest of our celebrities stars, and thought of them as gods. The sun-as-god, celebrity-as-god parallel is closer than you think. Let’s explore it. Let’s start with the first of two stars to burn out yesterday. Farah Fawcett was the smaller of the two that we lost but...

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Live healthy, pay less.

President Obama has stated that his number one domestic agenda priority is a radical overhaul of our health care system. The various proposals being discussed are projected to cost well in excess of $1 trillion over the next ten years. It should be obvious that we can’t afford such “reform.” But the debate over costs misses what I think is a very important point. If you listen to KTBB at all, you hear segments we...

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Forget about health care costs. What about college?

If you just had a child graduate high school and are now 11 weeks away from the start of college, turn off the radio. You’re not going to like this. I was recently given a tour of the brand new facilities at a major university. I’m not going to say which one because you die-hard alums that flock your Christmas trees the same color as your alma mater’s  football jerseys will bombard me with your...

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Government Motors: No way to run a railroad.

How do you feel about Barack Obama effectively being the chief executive officer of General Motors and voting 60 percent of the stock? I hate it. I wonder what Milton Friedman would say. Milton Friedman was a celebrated economist whose views on taxation, monetary policy and business regulation informed the likes of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Mr. Friedman was in Asia and was taken to a job site where workers were digging a canal....

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How is her experience more rich than yours?

President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court said in a speech in 2001 the following: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” Hasn’t lived what life? Do you have to be female and Hispanic in 2009 in order to be authentic? Does that mean that male and black no longer...

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Graduates: Be selfish and serve mankind.

It’s graduation season and that means commencement addresses. Recently President Obama spoke at the commencements of Arizona State University and the University of Notre Dame. All across the country, distinguished alumni and other major and minor luminaries are speaking to the Class of 2009. A common theme in commencement addresses is that graduates, armed with degrees that frequently cost more than all but the very nicest homes, must leave college and go forth to serve...

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It’s not the rich who are powerful.

Weekend before last, I attended the annual shareholders meeting of Berkshire Hathaway. For those of you not familiar, Berkshire Hathaway is the company headed by legendary investor and perennial competitor for title of wealthiest man in the world Warren Buffet. The Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting has been called “the Woodstock of Capitalism.” Unlike most annual meetings, the Berkshire meeting is an event. More than 35,000 people, mostly middle-aged, middle class owners of as little as...

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The Administration to lenders: Go along or else.

You have probably never heard of Thomas Lauria. I never had until yesterday. But if he is to be believed (and I believe him), then our government has taken a huge step toward gangster-style thuggery and we should all, Democrats and Republicans, be very afraid. Thomas Lauria is a lawyer who represents a number of investment banks that hold the senior commercial paper of Chrysler Corporation. Senior commercial paper is what you and I would...

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Let my people fail.

“…in the good Providence of God, apparent failure often proves a blessing.” — Robert E. Lee It is often said that we in America take our freedoms for granted. Our founders assured us of freedom to worship as we see fit, freedom to speak our minds, freedom to pursue our dreams, freedom to own the fruits of our labor and freedom to criticize and, if necessary, change our government. If we take these freedoms for...

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A Stronger America: Part 5 – The federal government

This is the last in a five part series on things that I would do today to be assured of a stronger, freer, more prosperous America 25 years from now. Our previous installments have dealt with radically overhauling the U.S. tax code, reasserting the role of fathers in a stable society, returning control of schools to the neighborhoods and communities that they serve and getting our national energy policy right by reducing the role of...

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A Stronger America: Part 4 – Energy

This is the fourth in a five-part series on things I would do today in order to be assured of a stronger, freer, more prosperous America 25 years from now. In our previous three installments we have talked about overhauling the tax code, reasserting the role of fathers in a stable, free society and repairing the public education system. Today, we’re going to talk about energy. My daughter loves Cheez-its crackers. She came by that...

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A Stronger America: Part 3 – Education

This is the third in a five-part series on things I would do today to be assured of a stronger, freer and more prosperous America 25 years from now. Two weeks ago, we talked about dramatically overhauling the tax code. Last week we talked about seizing upon the historic fact of Barack Obama’s election and his successful marriage to Michelle to re-establish the legitimacy and necessity of fathers. This week, we’re going to discuss schools....