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Imagine you own a successful business, and you have a much larger and less efficient competitor. Your inefficient competitor has demanded you make payments to him or he will pressure your suppliers to stop doing business with you. I have just described classic criminal extortion, as now conducted by some governments in the European Union.

In the above example, substitute: France, Germany and Italy for the “inefficient competitor;” smaller, low tax jurisdictions for the “successful business;” global financial institutions for “suppliers;” and coerced taxes and information for “payments.” Now you begin to understand what is going on.

On July 1, the controversial European tax savings directive took effect. This requires 25 EU members and 15 other countries and independent territories to institute an automatic information exchange system. This would require financial institutions to report to the citizen’s home country any interest earned outside that country. Or countries may withhold taxes on interest income at a rate that will rise to 35 percent.

Original Article After a tough beginning, last week may turn out to be a good one for the Ten Commandments, or at least for Ten Commandment displays on state property. Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement likely will swing the Court’s balance of power toward those who would allow the government to acknowledge and endorse religion. O’Connor announced her resignation last Friday, Read More ›

Conspiracy theorists in the media continue to recycle the urban legend of the “Wedge” document, which Discovery Institute has responded to in the past, in detail. Click here to read the Discovery Institute response to charges regarding the “Wedge” document, as well as seeing the exact original document in question. (Originally published in 2003) Click here for the truth about Read More ›

Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture has long advocated the idea of teaching the strengths and weaknesses about Darwinian evolution. There have been a surprising number of recent articles advocating this approach, and below are a number of linked articles relating to the topic. Evolution: Debate itBy: Stephen C. Meyer & John Angus CampbellUSA TodayAugust 14, 2005Stephen Meyer is Read More ›

This article, published by The Washington Times, contains a review of Discovery Institute Senior Fellow George Gilder’s book The Silicon Eye: Though some of the same “characters” pop up in “The Silicon Eye,” George Gilder is less concerned with making heroes than with ushering in the Valley’s staggering new wave. The silicon in this contemporary tale is the magic inside Read More ›

In March 2004 The Privileged Planet, which I co-authored with Jay Richards, was published, evoking both enthusiastic and negative reactions from a number of leading scientists. The argument covers everything from the fine-tuning of the constants of physics to the initial conditions of the Big Bang; from our host star and planetary neighbors to our atmosphere and moon. Our conclusion? The Read More ›

If you were told the government could take your real property and give it to another preferred, private person, would you be more or less prone to make improvements on your property? If you were a clear-thinking person with a basic knowledge of economics, you would reply, “less prone.” Unfortunately, five U.S. Supreme Court justices — David Souter, Ruth Bader Read More ›

Original article DON’T BE FOOLED by the slick propaganda of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The organization may claim to champion the welfare of animals, as the many photos of cute puppies and kittens on its Web site suggest. But last week, two PETA employees were charged with 31 felony counts of animal cruelty each, after authorities Read More ›

FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR Mario Cuomo is one slick fella. Like all effective propagandists, he’s smooth, articulate, eloquent—and he doesn’t let the facts get in his way. Take for example his most recent polemic in the debate over embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). In “Not on Faith Alone,” published in the June 20 New York Times (where else?), Cuomo takes Read More ›