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Random Thoughts (Thomas Sowell)
Townhall.com ^ | March 22, 2007 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 03/21/2007 9:13:33 PM PDT by jazusamo

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Random thoughts on the passing scene:

A reader asks: "Why do we drive on the parkway and park on the driveway?"

You can fall in love with an individual but you marry into a whole family.

It is fascinating to hear subprime lenders being accused of "exploitation" while they are losing millions of dollars and some of them are going bankrupt.

Will those who are dismantling this society from within or those who seek to destroy us from without be the first to achieve their goal? It is too close to call.

One of the many fashionable excuses of our time is that some words or actions were "taken out of context." Those who say this seldom, if ever, bother to say what these words or actions mean when taken in context.

No music moves me like the third movement of the Grieg Concerto. Am I not supposed to appreciate it because I am not Norwegian?

According to a report from a news agency in Kuwait, deaths of American troops are down since the recent "surge" in U.S. troop strength. But the mainstream American media apparently do not consider that news, since it goes against their political grain.

"Women's Liberation" and the "sexual revolution" have not liberated women. They have liberated the sort of man who is a "love and leave 'em" kind of guy, who lets the woman deal with the consequences, including pregnancy.

Amid all the media hysteria over the price of gasoline and the profits of "Big Oil," one simple fact has been repeatedly overlooked: The oil companies' earnings are just under 10 percent of the price of a gallon of gas, while taxes take 17 percent. Yet who ever accuses the government of "greed"?

After President Bush fired a handful of U.S. attorneys, it has become a big scandal in the media. But when President Clinton fired all the U.S. attorneys in the country -- including those who were investigating him for corruption in Arkansas -- it was no big deal. Yet many in the media still claim that there is no bias.

Where are all the beautiful movie actresses? There are some better looking women on television news programs.

Why did special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald put a reporter in jail and ruin a government official's life in an "investigation" of things he already knew, including the fact that it was Richard Armitage who revealed that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA? Perhaps it was the corrupting influence of unbridled power.

Despite political spin about "tax cuts for the rich," cuts in tax rates have led to increases in tax revenues -- not only in this administration, but in the Reagan administration before that, and the Kennedy administration before that, not to mention in India and Iceland as well.

When the Constitution's protection of private property was disregarded, so that politicians could rob from the rich to give to the poor, that also gave politicians the power to rob from the poor and give to the rich -- such as seizing homes in low-income neighborhoods and turning that property over to developers.

Whenever I see the kinds of expressions on the faces of people in high-fashion ads, I feel lucky that I never met them.

When the University of California system and the California State University system raised their tuitions, the headline in the San Francisco Chronicle read: "UC, CSU Reach Again for Students' Wallets." Apparently you are only supposed to reach for the taxpayers' wallets.

A reader says that he had a T-shirt made that said: "Stop Continental Drift!" It made as much sense as "Stop Global Warming."

When Democrats are criticized, they counter-attack. When Republicans are criticized, they apparently believe in "the soft answer which turneth away wrath." In politics, however, a soft answer is like blood in the water that provokes piranhas to more vicious attacks.

At a recent debate over global warming sponsored by National Public Radio, the audience was polled beforehand and was solidly on the side of the hysterical predictions. Afterwards, they switched to a slight plurality against those predictions. Don't look for the global warming crusaders to risk doing any more debates.

Why should they, when they have virtually a monopoly in the media, in schools and colleges, and among politicians?

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: sowell; thomassowell
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1 posted on 03/21/2007 9:13:34 PM PDT by jazusamo
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To: AbeKrieger; Alia; Amalie; AmeriBrit; American Quilter; arthurus; awelliott; Bahbah; bamahead; ...
*PING*
Thomas Sowell

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Recent columns
Talk Shows
Global Warming Swindle
Is Newt Gingrich Back?

Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Thomas Sowell ping list…

2 posted on 03/21/2007 9:15:05 PM PDT by jazusamo (http://warchronicle.com/TheyAreNotKillers/DefendOurMarines.htm)
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To: jazusamo
The oil companies' earnings are just under 10 percent of the price of a gallon of gas, while taxes take 17 percent.

Hillary wants to take all of the oil companies profits and redistribut them.

3 posted on 03/21/2007 9:16:42 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for SSgt. Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: jazusamo
Will those who are dismantling this society from within or those who seek to destroy us from without be the first to achieve their goal? It is too close to call.

Thomas Sowell, American treasure.

4 posted on 03/21/2007 9:18:22 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Mitt Romney: As good at pretending to be a conservative as he is at pretending to be Cuban.)
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To: EternalVigilance; Graybeard58

I love Dr. Sowell's Random Thoughts columns, his thoughts are always right on.


5 posted on 03/21/2007 9:24:05 PM PDT by jazusamo (http://warchronicle.com/TheyAreNotKillers/DefendOurMarines.htm)
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To: jazusamo

Great man, great post.

Thanks


6 posted on 03/21/2007 9:24:14 PM PDT by AprilfromTexas
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To: Graybeard58

Hillary's socialist utopia.


7 posted on 03/21/2007 9:28:01 PM PDT by o_zarkman44 (No Bull in 08!)
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To: jazusamo; Mr. Mojo
Fantastic, thought provoking thoughts from Dr. Sowell.

Thanks for posting the entire article.

8 posted on 03/21/2007 9:30:41 PM PDT by upchuck (The American Indians found out what happens when you don't control immigration.)
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To: jazusamo

bttt


9 posted on 03/21/2007 9:35:09 PM PDT by JerseyJohn61 (Better Late Than Never.......sometimes over lapping is worth the effort....)
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To: jazusamo

I like his random thought columns.


10 posted on 03/21/2007 9:43:19 PM PDT by onyx (DEFEAT Hillary Clinton, Marxist, student of Saul Alinsky & ally and beneficiary of Soros.)
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To: jazusamo
When Democrats are criticized, they counter-attack. When Republicans are criticized, they apparently believe in "the soft answer which turneth away wrath." In politics, however, a soft answer is like blood in the water that provokes piranhas to more vicious attacks.

I hope the GOP leadership is reading.

11 posted on 03/21/2007 9:46:02 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: Graybeard58

"A reader says that he had a T-shirt made that said: "Stop Continental Drift!" It made as much sense as "Stop Global Warming.""

I have to disagree...

Continental Drift is actually happening... Global Warming... Not so much.


12 posted on 03/21/2007 9:47:18 PM PDT by rwilson99 (Al Gore causes Global Cooling.)
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To: jazusamo

Sowell, an American treasure!


13 posted on 03/21/2007 9:47:24 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Misery loves miserable company.......ask any liberal. Hunter in 08!)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Exactly, that thought stood out in my mind when I read it.


14 posted on 03/21/2007 9:47:31 PM PDT by jazusamo (http://warchronicle.com/TheyAreNotKillers/DefendOurMarines.htm)
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To: stephenjohnbanker

BTTT


15 posted on 03/21/2007 9:47:46 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Misery loves miserable company.......ask any liberal. Hunter in 08!)
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To: jazusamo
He's a genius. In so few words he gets to the heart of the entire spin. "Out of Context" has been spinning in my mind since "Dame Plame" spoke it on Friday. However, she was
never asked exactly what the true "context" was.

Civil cases have lots of Discovery and perhaps we will find out then if she is so foolish to continue.

Sowell forgot to ask why there is an expiration date on sour cream....JJ61 (wink)
16 posted on 03/21/2007 9:48:28 PM PDT by JerseyJohn61 (Better Late Than Never.......sometimes over lapping is worth the effort....)
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To: jazusamo

"Women's Liberation" and the "sexual revolution" have not liberated women. They have liberated the sort of man who is a "love and leave 'em" kind of guy, who lets the woman deal with the consequences, including pregnancy.

Thanks for the ping and the post. Dr. Sowell is DY-NO-MITE!


17 posted on 03/21/2007 9:50:06 PM PDT by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: jazusamo

Sowell BTT.


18 posted on 03/21/2007 9:50:27 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: jazusamo
"Women's Liberation" and the "sexual revolution" have not liberated women. They have liberated the sort of man who is a "love and leave 'em" kind of guy, who lets the woman deal with the consequences, including pregnancy.

Maybe the ladies of FR will beg to differ, but Sowell is so correct on this one.

19 posted on 03/21/2007 9:55:52 PM PDT by GOP_Raider (Hated by all NFL fans since 1990.)
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To: JerseyJohn61

If olive oil is made from pressed olives... what is baby oil made from?


20 posted on 03/21/2007 10:01:37 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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