John's Recommended Articles

On tax reform, Steve Forbes has the right idea.: "President Kennedy had it right, lower tax rates are 'the rising tide that lifts all boats.' Steve Forbes estimates his 17% flat tax would increase annual federal revenues $56 billion. A simple flat tax instead of the complex current IRS tax system would free up six billion hours a year of our time and many billions of our income dollars, which are currently expended complying with our tax laws, to spend working harder and investing more in our communities.
Such a tax reform plan meets America's goals: It is simple and understandable, applies to everyone, gets government the revenues it needs, and would end congressional manipulation of the tax system. Most important, America needs stronger economic growth, and the flat tax would help generate it."

By Dallin H. Oaks - BYU Magazine:

Parents who overindulge their children with material goods and privileges run the risk of not teaching them “important values like hard work, delayed gratification, honesty, and compassion.” Where will this lead?....

Some parents seem to have the attitude that their children can do no wrong. They defend them against any criticism, correction, or painful experience from anyone outside the family circle. A low grade in school or a correction from a leader calls forth a storm of public or private criticism from a parent who will defend a child at all costs. Where will this lead?.... Parents who consider where such actions will lead will support authority and back up their child’s teachers in all but the most exceptional circumstances.

I am concerned about the current overemphasis on rights and underemphasis on responsibilities. Where will this lead in our public life? No society is so strong that it can support continued increases in citizen rights while neglecting to foster comparable increases in citizen responsibilities or obligations. Yet our legal system continues to recognize new rights even as we increasingly ignore old responsibilities....

The same principles apply in public life. We cannot raise our public well-being by adding to our inventory of individual rights. Civic responsibilities like honesty, self-reliance, participation in the democratic process, and devotion to the common good are essential to the governance and preservation of our country. Currently we are increasing rights and weakening responsibilities, and it is leading our nation down the road toward moral and civic bankruptcy. If we are to raise our general welfare, we must strengthen our sense of individual responsibility for the welfare of others and the good of society at large....

More and more people are not reading the news of the world around them or about the important issues of the day. They apparently rely on what others tell them or on the sound bites of television news, where even the most significant subjects rarely get more than 60 seconds. Where will this lead? It is leading us to a less concerned, less thoughtful, and less informed citizenry, and that results in less responsive and less responsible government.

But America is a laggard in the tax-reform revolution.: "It's about time the concept of taxing all income at a single rate, which presidential candidate Steve Forbes and then-House Majority Leader Dick Armey broached a decade ago, once again takes center stage."

"The analysts believe that at least eight of the 10 characteristics of a bubble environment currently exist in America. But they are not surprised that few see it: 'The idea that a financial disaster could occur at any moment is too far-fetched for individuals to imagine during times of such heightened exuberance.'"

It is a mistake to think that America's unions are in decline.

Click the following to access the sent link:
WSJ.com - Commentary: Packing a Punch* This article will be available to non-subscribers of the Online Journal for up to seven days after it is e-mailed.

"A large body of evidence indicates that people who are mentally active throughout their lives are significantly less likely to suffer senility, and a handful of studies have found that mental exercises can boost brain function. "

Is NARAL's attack on John Roberts about abortion rights or abortion profits?: "Simply put, the abortion industry is opposed to parental notice laws because parental notice laws place a hurdle between them and the profits from the abortion clients--not the girls who come to them but the adult men who pay for these abortions. . . . At nearly one million abortions per year, the abortion industry is as big as any corporate interest that lobbies in Washington. They not only ignore the rights of parents, they also protect sexual offenders and statutory rapists."

Today -- or August 6 in Japan -- is the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which killed outright an estimated 80,000 Japanese and hastened World War II to its conclusion on August 15. Those of us who belong to the postwar generations tend to regard the occasion as a somber, even shameful, one. But that's not how the generation of Americans who actually fought the war saw it. And if we're going to reflect seriously about the bomb, we ought first to think about it as they did.

Click the following to access the sent link:       WSJ.com - Commentary: Hiroshima* This article will be available to non-subscribers of the Online Journal for up to seven days after it is e-mailed.

HoustonChronicle.com - Kranz: NASA's greatest risk is to give in to timidity in space: "The path the naysayers suggest is so out of touch with the American character of perseverance, hard work and discovery that they don't even realize the danger in which they are putting future astronauts — not to mention our nation."
-Gene Kranz was the flight director during the Apollo missions