Court out on theological limb on assisted suicide
Did Christ commit suicide? That’s obviously a bizarre (and heretical) interpretation of the crucifixion of Jesus. But the idea is not too crazy to be taken seriously by a federal court seeking to overturn Washington State’s law banning assisted suicide. Did the Christian martyrs also commit suicide? After all, wrote the august Ninth Circuit Court majority in a recent opinion, Read More ›
Government making fiasco of telecommunications regulation
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 ›
Fiber Keeps its Promise
Editor’s note: Four years ago, Forbes ASAP published its first issue with a stunning prophecy by contributing editor George Gilder. Fiber optics, said George, had the potential to carry 25 trillion bits per second down a single strand. This represented a ten-thousandfold leap in carrying capacity over the 2.5 billion bits “barrier” long assumed by most experts in the field. Read More ›
Films lionize historic villains with drama, soft-soap and song
Hollywood once produced many technically mediocre movies that were redeemed by morally upbeat messages. Today the craft of film-making is awe inspiring, but the sensibility is often pernicious. Take three leading contenders for Oscars, “The English Patient,” “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and “Evita.” All three films display adroit writing, acting and editing. And all three use the bedazzling tricks Read More ›
Reviewing military women
This is a review of a women-in-the-military novel that, given probably will never be published. It ought to be. “Placeholder,” written by Karen Dahbly, a former Air Force lieutenant, is a somber, no-nonsense assessment of the price-the military pays for having women, and the price women pay for serving in the military. It’s both a political statement by one who’s Read More ›
Proposed streetcar route a loopy idea
He retired from the Seattle City Council three years ago and sold the family’s pharmacy on Capitol Hill soon afterwards, but he has not retired from his work with streetcars. At least one early morning a week, you will find George Benson, 78, down on the waterfront picking up trash along the tracks or over at the car barn shining Read More ›
We can reduce partisan flak by cutting politicians some slack
There is only one way to avoid future brawls over ethics in Congress like the ones going on now, and it is not–as GOP Congresswoman Sue Myrick from North Carolina has proposed–to make it a crime to “lie” in campaign ads or on the floor of Congress. When such a law is passed, Congressmen will be arresting each other literally Read More ›
Slighting Shakespeare
A London music hall ditty of some years past goes,Shakespeare Sidebar —“Shakespeare dead? Poor old Will! Why, I never knew the old fellow was ill!” But he is ill, at least in a majority of the universities of America, where a new report shows that even English majors no longer are required to take a course on one of the Read More ›
Our leaders putting together list of New Year’s irresolutions
The imminent often takes precedence over the important in life, but especially now in our politics. Instead of coming up with a list of New Year’s Resolutions for 1997, it appears that our public leaders are putting together a list of New Year’s Irresolutions. At the top of the list is Social Security reform. The advisory council on Social Security Read More ›