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Ben Stein’s Last Column... How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today’s World? As I begin to write this, I “slug” it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is “eonlineFINAL,” and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end. It worked well for a long time,...

Well, well, well. No one doubts that Don Imus made a horrible mistake of morality and decency by referring to the gallant Rutgers women's basketball squad as "nappy headed ho's." There was just no excuse for such cruelty. But to watch Imus being grilled on TV by the likes of Al Sharpton was truly beyond belief. Of course he was a huge part of the Tawana Brawley charade which wrecked the lives of perfectly innocent New York policemen. Of course he never made a meaningful apology. But what you might now know is this: that in years past, when the...

The Lynching of the President By Ben Stein So there I was, lying in my bed in Malibu with my dogs, watching Mr. Bush's State of the Union speech. I thought it was darned good. Realistic, gracious, modest, sensible. I happen to think we should get out of Iraq yesterday, but I thought Mr Bush put forward his case well. And Congress responded graciously and generously on both sides of the aisle. Then, whaam, as soon as the speech was over, ABC was bashing him, telling us how pathetic he was, how irrelevant he was, how weak he was, how...

After the State Of The Union speech a few days ago, a muttering chorus of media critics told us endlessly that Bush was irrelevant, a loser, out of touch, even pitiful. NPR actually had Merle Haggard, the Okie from Muskogee, claim that the state of the nation had never been worse. And suddenly it hit me. The media is staging a coup against Mr. Bush, just the way they did against LBJ and Nixon and tried to do against Reagan. They cannot impeach Bush because only Congress can do that. But the media is doing what it can to basically...

Anyone catch Ben on CBS Sunday Morning? Wonderful comments on "Who Elected The Media Anyway?" He put it succinctly and plainly - President Bush has done many very good things, our country is in great shape, more people own homes now than at anytime in our history, and that he is doing the best that he can, or that we can expect. The Press on the otherhand is doing their best to impeach him, crucifying Bush in the Press, regardless of what he does. It's time for Americans to wake up.

Greetings From Rancho Mirage By Ben Stein Tuesday Dear Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, National Guard, Reservists, in Iraq, in the Middle East theater, in Afghanistan, in the area near Afghanistan, in any base anywhere in the world, and your families: Let me tell you about why you guys own about 90 percent of the backbone in the whole world right now and should be happy with yourselves and proud of whom you are. It was a dazzlingly hot day here in Rancho Mirage today. I did small errands like going to the bank to pay my mortgage, finding a new...

I left New York City, which was absolutely jam packed with tourists walking fifteen abreast past souvenir stands near Times Square, looking at exactly nothing but neon, and took the Metroliner down to my home town of Washington, D.C. a few days ago. My wife met me there so we could go to Christmas Dinner at the White House with Mr. and Mrs. Bush and about a hundred of their long time friends. Most of the people there were Texans who had known the President for decades, but there were some others like Josh Bolten, the chief of staff, and...

Here's a little story about modern life. I wish I were Bob Dylan so I could make it into a song. A few days ago, I was in New York doing some TV shows, web interviews, and print for National Retirement Preparedness Week. I was telling people in the boomer generation they absolutely had to save more for their retirement in stocks, mutual funds, index funds, variable annuities. After the sixth interview, I was down near the Museum of Jewish Heritage near Ground Zero. I went in there and saw a powerful exhibit about Jews who fought in the U.S....

How Not to Ruin Your Lifeby Ben Stein A Formula for Long-Term Happiness by Ben SteinUtility Links Printable ViewEmail this Page Monday, November 13, 2006 One of the famous sayings of Warren Buffett -- chairman and founder of Berkshire Hathaway, the greatest investor of all time, and the richest man in the nation except maybe for Bill Gates -- is that investors should know their limitations. By this, he means that investors should know that their chances of beating the large averages and the market as a whole are small if they pick individual stocks. The data is overwhelming that...

CBS) Sunday Morning contributor Ben Stein thinks it is time for President Bush to admit that Iraq is a disaster. Times are very tough in Iraq and if I was still a speechwriter for the President, like I was for Mr. Nixon and Mr. Ford, this is what I would suggest he say: My fellow Americans, I have some sobering news. It is my duty, above all, to protect the nation. I sincerely believed I was doing that when I ordered the invasion of Iraq. I still believe Saddam Hussein was the most dangerous man in the world. But it...

Obviously, it's not easy to have a lot of sympathy for Mark Foley. He did some extremely questionable things, and he's being heartily punished for it, with more to come, most likely.

Has anyone heard the campaign ad Ben Stein did for Chuck Poochigian? It's pretty funny. :)

Five nights ago was Yom Kippur, the highest of Jewish High Holidays. As I contemplate the now extinguished candles memorializing my beloved mother and father and asking for God's forgiveness of my endless sins, I want to say something. I realize that my ability to pray to the Lord God, Jehovah, Lord of the High Places, giver of the most precious gift of all, peace, is entirely dependent on the courage and sacrifice of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States of America. I would have no life at all, would not even be alive,...

If there were an Academy Award for Hypocrisy, the surefire favorite for 2006 would be the Democratic Party. Just two recent items make the decision a virtual certainty: The Representative Foley "scandal" is really worthy of a whole book on hypocrisy. On the one hand, we have a poor misguided Republican man who had a romantic thing for young boys. He sent them suggestive e-mail. I agree, that's not great. On the other hand, we have a Democratic party that worships ( not likes, WORSHIPS ) a man named Bill Clinton who did not send suggestive e-mails as far as...

For many years Ben Stein has written a biweekly column called "Monday Night At Morton's." (Morton's is a famous chain of Steakhouses known to be frequented by movie stars and famous people from around the globe.) Now, Ben is terminating the column to move on to other things in his life. Reading his final column is worth a few minutes of your time. Ben Stein's Last Column... ============================================ How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World? As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I put a...

Time passes incredibly fast. It's already almost one year since Hurricane Katrina wrought its devastation on the Gulf Coast. Few of us will ever forget the images of the horror inflicted upon the men, women, and children of New Orleans and Mississippi. Our hearts will also always go out to the brave firefighters, National Guardsmen, police officers, and just plain citizens who risked all to help the storm's victims. But, as I said, time has passed, and the moment has come for taking stock and learning lessons. No Assurance (or Insurance) One lesson comes to me via a slightly circuitous...

Rockets fly between Israel and Lebanon, analysts argue. Ben Stein spelled out the greater truths of it all at the American Spectator yesterday: "Even if by some miracle Israel wiped out every Hezbollah killer in Lebanon tomorrow, Iran could easily replace them forever. Resupplying the missilery is child's play: just buy it from China, our dear friends, who will sell it to anyone. This means Israel is in for an extremely prolonged, agonizing period of suffering." "For anyone with even a sliver of sensitivity to see this happening to a people who have already suffered more than any other people...

Noted author, actor, lecturer, lawyer and Conservative pundit (and Conservative Jew) Ben Stein was interviewed on Good Morning America about the Mel Gibson affair. Asked if Gibson's applology for his anti-semetic remarks was sufficient to get him back into the good graces of the Jewish Hollywood studio heads, Stein said: "It's all about money, if Gibson's movies make money. Hollywood doesn't care what Mel Gibson said. Hollywood doesn't worship the 10 Commandments. Hollywood worships the Golden Calf."

We are in real serious trouble, and I'll tell you how and why I know it: * Because the Hezbollah -- as has been well reported -- launches missiles at purely civilian targets in Israel as a matter of course, and no one in Europe or in the American left says "boo" about it. It's considered the Hezbollah's "right" to kill Israelis and when they do, they boast about it and promise to do more;

So, here it is Monday morning and I am out in Rancho Mirage in the heat wave. It's not really bad at all in my house. I have the curtains lowered and the air conditioning on, and it's fine. I did have a bit of a problem earlier. My new Cadillac starts without a key. It has something called a "fob" and with that in my pocket I can just press a button and the car starts, jumps hoops, spits out nickels, et cetera. But somehow I mislaid one of my fobs, so I had to get new ones and...