Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Public Policy

July 11, 2005

The fitness of fast food

In a recent commentary criticizing the fast food tax, I wrote, the fast food industry is really too easy a target for the government. Besieged by the media and public opinion (consider the popularity of the film Super Size Me), quickservice restaurants have gotten the reputation for being extremely unhealthy. Continue Reading...
July 08, 2005

Unemployment trends

As the jobless levels across the nation continues to decline, Michigan continues to lag behind. The nationwide unemployment rate decreased to 5.0% in June, to the lowest levels since September, 2001 according to reports. Continue Reading...
July 08, 2005

European commission tries again

On the heels of the defeat of proposed protections for intellectual property at the hands of the European Parliament, according to the AP the European Commission is addressing an aspect of the same debate: online music and copyright. Continue Reading...
July 07, 2005

Book review: The Thinking Toolbox

The Thinking Toolbox: Thirty-Five Lessons That Will Build Your Reasoning Skills, by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn, illustrated by Richard LaPierre, ISBN 0974531510, 234 pp. Christian Logic, 2005. Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn are brothers who live in Indiana (more about them at www.christianlogic.com) Continue Reading...
July 07, 2005

EU rejects patent law

I’m not sure whether this reflects the fractiousness of the European “Union,” or European unity in opposition to protection for intellectual property (or both), but yesterday the European Parliament “overwhelmingly rejected a proposed law Wednesday to create a single way of patenting software across the European Union.” Continue Reading...
July 07, 2005

Cash che

ARMAVIRUMQUE passes along an excerpt from an article posted yesterday by The New Republic, “The Killing Machine,” by Alvaro Vargas Llosa. The article is about Che Guevara, and the famous photograph that “thirty-eight years after his death, is still the logo of revolutionary (or is it capitalist?) Continue Reading...
July 06, 2005

‘For God’s Sake, Please Just Stop!’

A fascinating interview with Kenyan economist James Shikwati in the July 4 edition of Der Spiegel: SPIEGEL: Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about to beef up the development aid for Africa… Shikwati: … for God’s sake, please just stop. Continue Reading...
July 06, 2005

The late(st) great G8 debate

From an interview on Zenit.org with Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the president of the Italian division of Santander Central Hispanic Bank and a professor of the Catholic University of Milan, discussing African debt relief: “What should have been done was to put these countries in a condition of being able to pay the debts, even if in 1,000 years, helping them to create the necessary wealth for their own survival, as well as for their own dignity as human beings, who do not want to feel incapable and failures, in need of non-repayable charity…the G-8 members should listen to the suggestions of Pope Benedict XVI, who shows himself to be the most concrete “statesman,” inviting them to take concrete measures to help Africa, appealing for the just distribution of the goods of the earth. Continue Reading...
July 06, 2005

Africa needs more than foreign aid

So says Dr. George Ayittey, a professor of economics at American University and founder of the Free Africa Foundation, in an interview on today’s Morning Edition from NPR. Ayittey argues in part that after the African nations gained independence, they rejected the market system out of hand as a Western innovation, to the detriment of their societies. Continue Reading...