Random Thoughts

Random thoughts on the passing scene:

Since electricity is generated mostly by burning coal, has anyone calculated how much pollution is created by electric cars, even though none of that pollution comes out of their tailpipes?

You may scoff at the Tooth Fairy if you like. But the Tooth Fairy's approach has gotten more politicians elected than any economist's analysis.

Is there anyone so willing to suffer as to watch all the political "debates" of both parties?

Now that Congress has violated the First Amendment by restricting free speech with "campaign finance reform" laws, in the name of getting the influence of money out of politics, have you noticed any less influence of money in politics?

The next time somebody in the media denies that there is media bias, ask how they explain the fact that there are at least a hundred stories about the shrinking arctic ice cap for every one about the expanding antarctic ice cap, which has now grown to record size.

Those who are looking forward to a second Clinton administration should remember what they say about movies — the sequel is seldom as good as the original. And the original Clinton administration was not all that great.

Being murdered is not painless, so why all the hand-wringing about trying to make the execution of murderers painless?

Maybe the reason Senator John McCain's campaign has failed to get any traction is that the debates show him to be the kind of arrogant and condescending know-it-all who would be the most dangerous kind of president.

The more I learn about "ethics" programs and ethics "experts," the more I think ethics has become a pious word for imposing the arbitrary notions of third parties on others, who are forced to pay the price for whatever has caught the fancy of self-congratulatory elites.

Teaching is very easy if you don't care about doing it right and very hard if you do.

Hillary Clinton's main claim to the Democratic nomination is that she is invincible.

Whenever I buy some expensive photographic equipment, I assure my wife that it costs less than a Hasselblad digital camera. So do a lot of things, including some well-known models of automobiles.

The culture of this nation is being dismantled, brick by brick, but so gradually that many will not notice until the walls start to sag — just before they cave in.

When there are people with multiple convictions for child molestation, what does that say about what wimps we have become that we cannot bring ourselves to put people away, even when they are a continuing danger to children?

The way our current presidential "debates" are conducted, both Lincoln and Douglas must be turning over in their graves.

I believe in libertarian principles but not in libertarian fetishes. In any context, the difference between principles and fetishes can be the difference between night and day.

Now that the British television documentary, "The Great Global Warming Swindle" is available on DVD, will those schools that forced their students to watch Al Gore's movie, "An Inconvenient Truth" also show them the other side? Ask them.

Of all the presidential candidates in both parties, Barack Obama is the best performer on stage. He has the most presence, the most command of his words, the most quietly dramatic style. What he actually says, however, is mostly warmed-over 1960s ideas that have been failing ever since the 1960s.

When people have to resort to words like "greed" or "exploitation," it is hopeless to try to have a rational discussion with them.

Why does Fred Thompson go around with his collar open, as if he were Harry Belafonte? It doesn't make him look younger. It makes him look like an old man trying to look young. It is as if Hillary Clinton tried to look young by wearing a mini-skirt. A bad image can overshadow good ideas.

To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His Web site is www.tsowell.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

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