Random thoughts on the passing scene:

How can "hate crimes" laws be constitutional, when the 14th Amendment specifies "equal protection of the laws" for all, not special protection for special groups?

Government officials have a lot of nerve to be sounding off about the "greed" of oil companies. The federal government alone gets several times as much in taxes from every gallon of gasoline as oil companies get in profit. But government is never considered greedy, not even when it takes over half the money of some people who have died, instead of letting it go to their children.

While American students go to school almost as many days as students in other countries, the number of hours they spend on core subjects like history, math and science in high school is less than half the hours spent on these subjects in Japan, Germany or France.

Liberals seemed happier about sending Elian Gonzalez back to Cuba than Elian himself seemed, judging from the photographs of him as he got off the plane in Havana.

Supporters of affirmative action tend to think in terms of "the rich" and "the poor." But the history of the actual consequences of affirmative action indicates that the truly rich and the truly poor are the two groups least affected by it.

Those who have for years been pushing Israel to "trade land for peace" should admit that this has amounted to trading permanent land for temporary peace.

Some people in the media judge a Congress by how much legislation it passes. But we already have too many laws. Some future Congress can make a major contribution to this country by spending its time repealing legislation and impeaching federal judges who legislate from the bench.

They say we old-timers think that only the idols of the past were great. However, despite having recently passed the biblical threescore and ten years, I think Derek Jeeter is the best shortstop the Yankees have ever had, Pete Sampras is the greatest tennis player of all time and Tiger Woods the greatest golfer of all time.

There is nothing egalitarian about lower intellectual standards in our schools. Children from more fortunate homes will get higher standards in those homes. It is the other children who most need some outside source of the things necessary to realize their potential.

The law will not allow you to kill a dog in the way a newborn baby is killed in what is called a "partial birth abortion." It is not even an abortion, except as a legal technicality, to avoid a murder charge. It is puncturing the brain of a newborn baby while he is not yet completely out of the birth canal. Continued...