Walter E. Williams from Creators Syndicate

Senate Slavery Apology for 07/08/2009

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Last month, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution 26 "Apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African-Americans." The resolution ends with: "Disclaimer. — Nothing in this resolution (a) authorizes or supports any claim against the United States; or (b) serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States." That means Congress a ...

Updated: Wed Jul 08, 2009

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EPA Cover-up for 07/15/2009

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Here's what I wrote in last year's column titled "Global Warming Rope-a-Dope" (12/24/2008): "Once laws are written, they are very difficult, if not impossible, to repeal. If a time would ever come when the permafrost returns to northern U.S., as far south as New Jersey as it once did, it's not inconceivable that Congress, caught in the grip of the global warming zealots, would ke ...

Updated: Wed Jul 15, 2009

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The Racism of Diversity for 07/22/2009

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The U.S. Naval Academy's PowerPoint display explains diversity by saying, "Diversity is all the different characteristics and attributes of individual sailors and civilians which enhance the mission readiness of the Navy," adding that: "Diversity is more than equal opportunity, race, gender or religion. Diversity is the understanding of how each of us brings different skills, tal ...

Updated: Wed Jul 22, 2009

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Exploiting Public Ignorance for 07/29/2009

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

How can political commentators, politicians and academics get away with statements like "Reagan budget deficits," "Clinton budget surplus," "Bush budget deficits" or "Obama's tax increases"? The only answer is that they, or the people who believe such statements, are ignorant, conniving or just plain stupid. Article I, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution r ...

Updated: Wed Jul 29, 2009

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Who May Harm Whom? for 08/05/2009

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

"No one has a right to harm another." Just a little thought, along with a few examples, would demonstrate that blanket statement as pure nonsense. Suppose there is a beautiful lady that both Jim and Bob are pursuing. If Jim wins her hand, Bob is harmed. By the same token, if Bob wins her hand, Jim is harmed. Whose harm is more important and should the beautiful lady be permitted to ha ...

Updated: Wed Aug 05, 2009

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Politics and Blacks for 08/12/2009

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

President Barack Obama won an unprecedented 96 percent of the black vote. That's not much of a news story since blacks typically give their votes to the Democratic candidate. Blacks are probably the most politically loyal people in the nation and it is almost taken as gospel, at least among civil rights organizations and black and white liberals, that the only way black people can make socioeco ...

Updated: Wed Aug 12, 2009

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Is Racial Profiling Racist? for 08/19/2009

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Harvard Professor Henry Gates' arrest has given new life to the issue of racial profiling. We can think of profiling in general as a practice where people use an observable or known physical attribute as a proxy or estimator of some other unobservable or unknown attribute. Race or sex profiling is simply the use of race or sex as that estimator. Profiling represents mankind's attempt to cope wi ...

Updated: Wed Aug 19, 2009

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What Will They Learn? for 08/26/2009

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

When parents plunk down $20, $30, $40 and maybe $50 thousand this fall for a year's worth of college room, board and tuition, it might be relevant to ask: What will their children learn in return? The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) ask that question in their recently released publication, "What Will They Learn: A Report on the General Education Requirements at 100 of the Na ...

Updated: Wed Aug 26, 2009

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Washington's Lies for 09/02/2009

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

President Obama and congressional supporters estimate that his health care plan will cost between $50 and $65 billion a year. Such cost estimates are lies whether they come from a Democratic president and Congress, or a Republican president and Congress. You say, "Williams, you don't show much trust in the White House and Congress." Let's check out their past dishonesty.

At its ...

Updated: Wed Sep 02, 2009

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Inflation and Deficits for 09/09/2009

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

With the massive increases in federal spending, inflation is one of the risks that awaits us. To protect us from the political demagoguery that will accompany that inflation, let's now decide what is and what is not inflation. One price or several prices rising is not inflation. Increases in money supply are what constitute inflation, and a general rise in prices is the symptom. As the late Nob ...

Updated: Wed Sep 09, 2009

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Education for 09/16/2009

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Instead of President Obama addressing school students across the nation, he might have accomplished more by focusing his attention on the educational rot in schools in the nation's capital. The American Legislative Exchange Council recently came out with their 15th edition of "Report Card on American Education: A State-by-State Analysis." Academic achievement in no state is much to wr ...

Updated: Wed Sep 16, 2009

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Lying Propaganda for 09/23/2009

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Michael Moore's new film, "Capitalism: A Love Story" will be released next month. I've neither seen nor read reviews of the film, except for a short piece in the London Telegraph (9/6/09) titled "Michael Moore film calls capitalism evil." Aware of Michael Moore's previous films, I know that it will be at best a misleading story about capitalism. So let's do some defensive me ...

Updated: Wed Sep 23, 2009

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Is Disagreement with Obama Racism? for 09/30/2009

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Former president Jimmy Carter said, "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man." That's from a man who earlier referred to Obama as "This black boy" on the Jim Lehrer "News Hour." New York Times social critic Maureen Dowd said, in reference to Rep. Joe Wilson's s ...

Updated: Wed Sep 30, 2009

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Elites and Tyrants for 10/07/2009

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Rep. Diane Watson said, in praising Cuba's health care system, "You can think whatever you want to about Fidel Castro, but he was one of the brightest leaders I have ever met." W.E.B. Dubois, writing in the National Guardian (1953) said, "Joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. ... But also — and this was the highest proof of h ...

Updated: Wed Oct 07, 2009

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Academic Dishonesty for 10/14/2009

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

College education is a costly proposition with tuition, room and board at some colleges topping $50,000 a year. Is it worth it? Increasing evidence suggests that it's not. Since the 1960s, academic achievement scores have plummeted, but student college grade point averages (GPA) have skyrocketed. In October 2001, the Boston Globe published an article entitled "Harvard's Quiet Secret: Rampa ...

Updated: Wed Oct 14, 2009

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American Idea for 10/21/2009

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Americans are harder workers, more philanthropic, individualistic, self-reliant, anti-government than people in most other countries. We've turned what was an 18th-century Third World nation into the freest and most prosperous nation in mankind's entire history. Throughout our history, United States has been a magnet for immigrants around the world. What accounts for what some have called Ameri ...

Updated: Wed Oct 21, 2009

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Obama's Nobel Peace Prize for 10/28/2009

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

According to Alfred Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded to the person who: "during the preceding year, shall have done … the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, ...

Updated: Wed Oct 28, 2009

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Economic Myths and Irrelevancy for 11/04/2009

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Steve H. Hanke is a Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., and writes frequently for Globe Asia and Forbes magazine. Professor Hanke starts off his "Hu versus Sarkozy" article (Globe Asia, November 2009) with a warning. There is no more reliable rule than the 95 percent rule: 95 percent of wh ...

Updated: Wed Nov 04, 2009

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Constitutional Contempt for 11/11/2009

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

At Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Oct. 29th press conference, a CNS News reporter asked, "Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?" Speaker Pelosi responded, "Are you serious? Are you serious?" The reporter said, "Yes, yes, I am." Not responding further, Pelosi shook her head and t ...

Updated: Wed Nov 11, 2009

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Excused Horrors for 11/18/2009

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Last Tuesday, I had the pleasurable task of being Master of Ceremonies for the Atlas Economic Research Foundation dinner in Washington, D.C., that celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Founded in 1981, the Atlas Foundation assists the formation of free market think tanks around the world to spread the ideas of personal liberty, private property rights and limited gover ...

Updated: Wed Nov 18, 2009

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