The American Enterprise articles from December 2004

The American Enterprise archives from December 2004

The election's over--now fight the war.(Bird's Eye)(War on Terrorism, 2001)
December 1, 2004... On the (pretty safe!) assumption that you'll be sick of politics and hot-button current events by the time you receive this magazine a few days after the election, I've assembled this installment of The American Enterprise to take you far away...

Of those planning to see Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, 68 percent had decided to vote for John Kerry before seeing the film, according to a poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.(Sidelights)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Of those planning to see Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, 68 percent had decided to vote for John Kerry before seeing the film, according to a poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.... Moore on efforts to bring in additional nations to help...

Imprisoned terror mastermind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman complained to prison officials in New York that he does not care for the brand of tea he is served, preferring Tetley or Lipton.(Sidelights)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Imprisoned terror mastermind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman complained to prison officials in New York that he does not care for the brand of tea he is served, preferring Tetley or Lipton. The diabetic sheik threatened to eat M&Ms or stop taking...

Jesse Jackson wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that, "a conservative Christian is a contradiction in terms.(Sidelights)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Jesse Jackson wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that, "a conservative Christian is a contradiction in terms.... Jesus was a liberal; Herod was the conservative. Moses was the liberal; Pharaoh was the conservative. Abolitionists were liberals;...

Speaking of intolerance.(Scan)(political campaigns)
December 1, 2004... Vandalism against political campaign offices and private citizens' yard signs and bumper stickers is nothing new. What was new in the campaign just completed was a genuine fear by people in some places about what might happen to them if they...

Return to reality?(Scan)(adverse reactions of phenylpropanolamine)
December 1, 2004... When juries in California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania recently rejected claims that the cold medicine ingredient phenylpropanolamine, or PPA, had injured people, their unanimous verdicts were described by many reporters as victories for the...

Do they know something we don't?(Scan; private schools)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Numerous studies have shown that public school teachers are far more likely than the general public to enroll their own children in private schools. The latest study, conducted by the Thomas Fordham Foundation, shows that 21 percent of public...

Acceptable bigotry.(Scan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... In a remarkably candid interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Linda Ronstadt said: "It's a real conflict for me when I go to a concert and find out somebody in the audience is a Republican or fundamental Christian. It can cloud my...

Gun control flops.(Scan)
December 1, 2004... The gun-control movement is in trouble across the globe. From Britain to Australia to Canada, promises of lower crime rates due to gun control have turned into a reality of sharp increases in crime. Take the United Kingdom, where violent...

Techies for free speech?(Scan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... The "Web Security" Internet filtering software sold to schools and other users--primarily to block Internet pornography--has also been written to prevent access to Web sites of the National Rifle Association and other defenders of Second...

Terrorists, not activists.(Scan)(Excerpt)
December 1, 2004... From a recent column in the New York Sun by Daniel Pipes: The establishment press often shies away from the word terrorist, preferring euphemisms. On May 3, 2004, the Dutch newspaper Metro ran a picture of a person taking fingerprints off a...

When the spotlight's off.(Scan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... George W. Bush has been criticized for consoling the families of fallen American soldiers privately, instead of publicly. In our judgment, meeting with families outside the media glare and refusing to exploit such occasions to portray himself...

Politics vs. opinion on immigration.(Scan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... The most striking political constant in the last four decades of immigration policy is the overwhelming popular desire to rein in immigration, and the utter pulverization of that desire by special interests. No poll has ever shown that...

Immigration terror.(Scan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... When the House of Representatives recently put together legislation to reshape U.S. intelligence, it included a provision to make it harder for illegal aliens to get driver's licenses, to allow easier deportation of illegals, and to limit the...

Architecture gone wild.(Scan)
December 1, 2004... As I was standing on a sidewalk in Cambridge, Massachusetts studying a peculiar new building, a man on a bicycle suddenly screeched to a halt, joined me in gazing at the building's odd exterior and exclaimed, "I can't believe this is in proper...

No quotas for the goose, only for the gander.(Scan)
December 1, 2004... From The Weekly Standard, former Olympic medalist and college coach Dan Gable's latest comment on federal "Title IX" rules which have killed many college sports opportunities for males on "gender equity" grounds: The heart of the issue is...

Thank a corporation--we're an R&D nation.(Indicators)(research and development)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... U.S. spending on scientific research and development has never been higher--either as an inflation-adjusted dollar total, or as a percentage of the U.S. economy. Research expenditures are much heavier today than even when the government was...

Real-life results of TV sex.(Indicators)(Television)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Teenagers are much more likely to have sexual relations as the amount of television they watch increases, reports a study by RAND and University of California researchers published in the September 2004 issue of Pediatrics. Today, sexual...

Spacefarers.(Indicators)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Since space flight began in 1957, only a small number of nations have managed to push payloads out beyond Earth's atmosphere. Listed below are the top five launchers, in addition to machinery and humans, space has been entered by dogs, chimps,...

Space legends.(Interview)
December 1, 2004... The world's best-known amateur astronomer the first apostle of manned exploration of Mars a brilliant and pioneering astrophysicist the American Enterprise sat down with three of the most provocative figures in space science--David Levy, Robert...

The sober realities of manned space flight: with feet planted firmly on the ground, a look at the sky-high costs and mixed results at NASA.(Cover Story)
December 1, 2004... President Bush's announcement of a 280-million-mile manned space flight to Mars caught everyone by surprise. Space enthusiasts, arguing for years that NASA had lost its way, were electrified. "We've been stuck in low Earth orbit for decades,"...

A lyrical vision.(Poem)(Illustration)
December 1, 2004... Genesis is a 300-page epic poem composed by TAE contributing writer Frederick Turner which envisions futuristic human activity on Mars after it has been given a breathable atmosphere, precipitation, and lush plant growth via human climatic...

Alone in the universe? There may be no advanced life but us.(extraterrestrial life)
December 1, 2004... As a long-time devotee of science fiction, I have always been excited by the possibility that mankind might encounter extraterrestrial life. But I have always tried to apply the rules of logic and reason to those prospects. And it is becoming...

Sci fi and our Space Odyssey.(science fiction writers)
December 1, 2004... The frivolous joy with which we throw ourselves into stories of space travel, aliens, and intergalactic war masks an important truth: Humans owe science fiction writers a debt of gratitude. Science fiction both shapes and reflects the evolution...

Home-alone America: signs of pain among under-parented children.(Home-Alone America: The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Behavioral Drugs, and Other Parent Substitutes)(Book Review)
December 1, 2004... Mary Eberstadt, author of Home-Alone America: The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Behavioral Drugs, and Other Parent Substitutes, argues that while life is better today for most adults, many children are worse off, due to a decline in parental...

Show us more of the other America; a moderate Muslim's prayer for American faith and family values.
December 1, 2004... "Why do you hate us?" Since the horrendous events of 9/11, Americans have been posing that question to Muslims across the globe. The first answer from someone like me, who is repulsed by terrorists who kill in the name of Islam, is that most of...

Homeland security.(In real life: first-person America; home robbery)
December 1, 2004... The pink roses on Mrs. Cranberry's arbor bloomed the day our house was broken into. Heading down the driveway to begin my morning walk, their fragrance drifted toward me from across the street. Blue delphiniums and violet pansies hugged the...

Lunar skeptics.(Flashback; U.S. space policy)
December 1, 2004... The Apollo voyages to the moon marked the triumph of the 35th President over the 34th. Dwight Eisenhower had been a space skeptic who was "not about to hock my jewels" for vainglory. (The uncharitable might point out that Ike preferred his...

In peace at war.(Forward Observer)
December 1, 2004... I spent the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in South Bend, Indiana watching Notre Dame play football against Michigan. Before the game, a half dozen Army precision parachutists jumped into the stadium from above, all of them landing...

2008, here we come.(Politico)
December 1, 2004... By the time you read this, the voting for the 2004 Presidential election (and, one hopes, the counting) will be over. That means we are already tardy in focusing our attention where it belongs next--on the Presidential race of 2008. The...

Rather's ruin.(Beat the press)
December 1, 2004... Seldom in the course of a Presidential campaign does a media drama upstage the election itself, but for a short while in September, Americans tuned out politics and tuned in to "The Decline and Fall of Dan Rather." The drama began when CBS...

Ugly truths about runaway college tuition.(the Education Economist)
December 1, 2004... Around the nation, parents of college students are grumbling as they write ever-bigger tuition checks. As a college professor, I have been amazed for years by the unbusinesslike nature of universities, their inefficiencies, and their utter lack...

Superfamily.(Now Playing)(Movie Review)
December 1, 2004... If it sometimes seems that superhuman powers are required to keep your family together, the newest Pixar film, The Incredibles, knows how you feel. The latest in a long line of excellent computer-animated films from the inventive Pixar...

Go, go, globalization!(Book Review)
December 1, 2004... Why Globalization Works By Martin Wolf Yale University Press, 398 pages, $30 A casual search for "globalization" on Amazon.com turns up more than 14,000 titles. Because the global economy has produced an oversupply of books about itself,...

The Oprah president.(Book Review)
December 1, 2004... My Life By Bill Clinton Knopf, 1008 pages, $35 Bill Clinton's autobiography, heroically titled My Life, certainly embodies the old adage that history is written by the winners. Through this thick collection of war stories and rambling...

Religion '60s-style.(Knocking on Heaven's Door: American Religion in the Age of Counterculture)(Book Review)
December 1, 2004... Knocking on Heaven's Door: American Religion in the Age of Counterculture By Mark Oppenheimer Yale University Press, 304 pages, $30 The 2001 novel Paradise Park chronicles the spiritual journey of Sharon Spiegelman, a Jewish hippy folk...

Campaign finance fictions.(Politics)(Book Review)
December 1, 2004... Campaign Finance Fictions John Samples, "Three Myths about Voter Turnout in the United States," Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 524, September 2004 (cato.org) Alongside American stances toward the Kyoto climate-change protocol and the...

Ensuring insurance.(Economics And Regulation)(Book Review)
December 1, 2004... Ensuring Insurance Joseph Antos, "Kerry, Bush and the Uninsured," AEI Health Policy Outlook, September/October 2004 (aei.org) According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 45 million Americans, or 15 percent, were uninsured for medical costs...

Those minor little countries.(National Security)(The Myth of U.S. Isolation by Nile Gardiner reviewed)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2004... Those Minor Little Countries Nile Gardiner, "The Myth of U.S. Isolation," Heritage Foundation Web Memo No. 558, September 2004 (heritage.org) The President's political opponents have made much of America's supposed isolation in the war on...

More science, fewer answers.(Science And Environment)(Book Review)
December 1, 2004... More Science, Fewer Answers Daniel Sarewitz, "How Science Makes Environmental Controversies Worse," Environmental Science and Policy, October 2004 (elsevier.com/locate/envsci) The interplay between science and politics in environmental...

Inducing hi-tech stasis.(Science And Environment)(INDUCE Act)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Inducing Hi-Tech Stasis George Pieler, "Send Me No Files: Senate INDUCEs a Threat to the Future of information Technology," Competitive Enterprise Institute OnPoint No. 91, July 2004 (cei.org) CEI scholar Georgie Pieler induces us to ponder...

Population booms and busts.(Other Countries)
December 1, 2004... Population Booms and Busts Nicholas Eberstadt, "Four Surprises in Global Demography," AEI On the Issues, August 2004 (aei.org) AEI scholar Nicholas Eberstadt has identified four important developments in global population trends. First,...

Space exploration.(Opinion Pulse)
December 1, 2004... When Americans are asked about the country's greatest achievement in the twentieth century, space exploration is mentioned most often. People see the space program as a source of scientific advances from which all Americans benefit. Eighty-five...

New lows in media credibility.(Opinion Pulse)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Even before the September controversy surrounding the false claims by CBS News on George W. Bush's National Guard service, media credibility was in a free fall. In 1972, 68 percent of those surveyed by Gallup said they had a great deal or a...

The mail.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... According to Garrison Nelson in "Keeping Cool in New England" (October/November), John Kerry is imbued with the "Brahmin's sense of public duty and rectitude that manifests itself in [his] willingness to enter combat service in Vietnam and his...

Correction.(the Mail)(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2004... Correction: Because of an editorial mistake, Garrison Nelson's "Keeping Cool in New England" (October/November) incorrectly stated that Massachusetts Republican Ed Brooke became the first black man popularly elected to the Senate in 1972....

Last gasp.(Comic)
December 1, 2004... "...if you have already sent us your payment, please accept our apology for the death threat, and warm wishes for the holiday season." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I feel honored you're letting me handle what's left." [ILLUSTRATION...