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Feasting on the Giant Peach

WILL THE INTERNET COLLAPSE? NO WAY! What is all this commotion in Massachusetts? The very source of the Arpanet at Bolt, Beranek & Newman — the cradle of the Internet — Massachusetts is falling to the forces of Auntie Spiker and Aunt Sponge. These are the mingy ladies in the Roald Dahl story who rejoiced in James’s Giant Peach as Read More ›

The vacation I spent, and spent, in the Whitehouse

It was a year ago when my wife and I began thinking of taking a vacation trip to our nation’s capital. A friendly fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee recommended lodging in the center of town in order to be close to the sights. And what could be more convenient–or more secure–than The White House? Tennis, swimming, excellent food, fine Read More ›

Dole’s “vision” may get clearer soon

The campaign of 1996 will get out of the summer Doledrums when the prospective GOP standard-bearer announces his economic program. If that program is ambitious in scope, joining a growth package of and tax reductions and spending controls with a long term rescue of Social Security through private sector investments, Bob Dole’s supposed lack of a “vision” suddenly will disappear Read More ›

Government domination corrupts volunteerism

The Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future that begins in Philadelphia this Sunday promises to provide prestigious encouragement for broad citizen volunteering, a worthy purpose, we can all agree. But here’s a caveat that should, and possibly will not, be heard: Don’t let the government continue to invade–define, finance, direct–voluntary associations. We already are well down that path and it leads Read More ›

Photo by Quentin Lagache

Evidence for Intelligent Design from Biochemistry

A Series of Eyes How do we see? In the 19th century the anatomy of the eye was known in great detail, and its sophisticated features astounded everyone who was familiar with them. Scientists of the time correctly observed that if a person were so unfortunate as to be missing one of the eye’s many integrated features, such as the Read More ›

It’s time to put warning labels on everything

“May Cause Abdominal Cramping and Loose Stools.” That’s only part of the delightful warning label the Food and Drug Administration insists that Procter & Gamble place prominently on potato chip and tortilla chip products prepared with its new fat-substitute, Olean. The FDA did not accede to the Center for Science in the Public Interest this winter when the Naderite group Read More ›

Frustrated pollsters find Americans harder to figure out

We have all grown up with that picture of President Harry Truman on the day after his surprise 1948 re-election gleefully displaying the early edition of the Chicago Tribune and its headline, “Dewey Wins.” The Gallup organization that year stopped polling a week before the election, imagining that Dewey would maintain his six point lead. In fact, Dewey lost by Read More ›

New Faces of 1996 Politics: Black Conservatives

Question : What do Anthony Lowe, the Deputy Prosecuting Attorney of King County, Washington who is running for State Insurance Commissioner, Teresa Doggett, the international banker running for Congress from Austin, Texas and Danny Covington of Vicksburg, Mississippi, another Congressional hopeful, have in common? Answer: they all are conservative black Republicans who are likely to seek support from BAMPAC–“Black America’s Read More ›

The Peril and Promise of Christians in Politics

With another presidential election fast approaching, secularists are once again fanning the flames of fear against politically conservative Christians. “I can’t remember a time when the danger to civil liberties and fundamental constitutional rights was more extreme or more pervasive than it is today,” writes Ira Glasser, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Glasser goes on to accuse Read More ›

Your telephone problem is really a government problem

Before you get angry with America Online for the recent poor Internet connections, or the local phone company for busy lines, pause to consider that the main culprits for these annoying conditions may not reside in the concerned industries, but in government. The kind of bureaucratic mentality that created long lines at gas stations in the early `70s as a Read More ›