Blog 3 Columns

Should the Government Stop Using Taxes to Promote ‘Virtue’?0
- Politics
- April 20, 2017
Having just submitted our federal tax returns, it’s probably as good a time as any to reflect on the broader purposes of taxation. As you may know, the federal tax code is not just for generating revenue. It’s also intended to achieve certain social aims, such as facilitating home ownership, marriage, charitable donations and general
READ MORE
Scientist: There is No Battle Between Religion and Science 0
- Religion
- April 20, 2017
Francis Collins is a world-leading geneticist. He is head of the Human Genome Project, director of the National Institutes of Health, a best-selling author, and holds a doctorate from Yale University. Collins is also a Christian. Does his work as a scientist collide with his Christian faith? Not in the slightest, he claims. In an
READ MORE
College Libraries are Purging Book Collections. Are They Discarding Thought as Well?0
- Education
- April 20, 2017
While on a local university campus last fall, I decided to swing through the library. Near the entrance was a cart loaded with books waiting to be discarded. I made a beeline for it and soon left with an armload of books. Their loss was my gain. Unfortunately, that library isn’t the only one purging
READ MORE

Are We Focusing Too Much on Gender Discrimination?0
- Culture
- April 20, 2017
In an article for Forbes, scholar Andrew Biggs highlights a recent study on the gender differences in Ph.D. graduates. As the chart below shows, women hold a majority of Ph.D.’s in the humanities, while men hold them in the areas of math and science. As Biggs goes on to explain, such differences are just one
READ MORE
10 Ways to Know You’re Being Gaslighted 0
- Culture
- April 20, 2017
You feel small, stifled and burdened by life events. Maybe you’re experiencing neurosis, hyper-sensitivity and alienation. Deep down you think you’re going insane. It’s possible that you’re not. Instead, you’ve been gaslighted. Gaslighting is a method of manipulation, emotional abuse or bullying, often employed by sociopaths and narcissists. It involves making someone feel as if
READ MORE
The Science of Why People Don’t Listen to Facts 0
- April 19, 2017
You know something is true—for example, that vaccines are good for children, or that socialism doesn’t work. You’ve done the research, you’ve carefully weighed the arguments against your position and found them wanting, and you’ve diligently formulated your own reasoned case for it. And then you try to convince someone else (repeatedly, in some
READ MORE

The Berkeley Battles Are a Sign of Things to Come 0
- Culture
- April 19, 2017
Just how close are we to repeating the political violence of interwar Germany? How bad is it, and how bad can it get? ??Populist-right demonstrators and radical-left protesters clashed in Berkeley, California yesterday. The belligerents used such weapons as fists, feet, rocks, pepper spray, smoke bombs, barricades, and a trash dumpster/battering ram. There was one
READ MORE
Study: Political Bias is Bipartisan 0
- Culture
- April 19, 2017
In recent months, the phrase, “You’re biased,” seems to have become one of the most common epithets tossed between the media, Donald Trump, and yes, even the American public at large. The question is, who’s right? Is it possible that a certain political leaning tends to be more biased than another? Researchers from the University
READ MORE
How the Ethanol Mandate is Destroying America’s Prairies 0
- Economics
- April 19, 2017
color:#222222″>Many years ago, I wrote an article on the research of Cornell University professor David Pimentel. color:#222222″>Pimentel, a geneticist and evolutionary biologist, claimed it takes more energy to produce ethanol from corn than the combustion of ethanol yields. Because of this fundamental input-yield problem, corn is a really lousy crop for making ethanol, Pimentel said.
READ MORE

Should the Government Stop Using Taxes to Promote ‘Virtue’?0