Copyright 2009 The New York Sun Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:54:03 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Opinion :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/opinion istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us SETH LIPSKY http://www.nysun.com/opinion/ideal-of-the-scoop/86858/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Following are excerpts of remarks by the Editor of the Sun, Seth Lipsky, to the newspaper's staff: It is my duty to report today that Ira Stoll and I and our partners have concluded that the Sun will cease publication. Our last number will be the issue dated September 30, the first day of Rosh Hashanah. I want you to know that Ira and I, and our partners, explored every possible way to avoid having to cease publication. We have spoken with every individual who seemed to be a prospective... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-jtas-bizarro-attack-on-neo-cons/86873/ Fri, 3 Jul 2009 08:21:44 EST The Washington bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Ron Kampeas, has posted a screed against neoconservatives on that organization's Web site. "For eight years we in Washington lived in a bizarro world where the most obvious conclusions were not just ignored, but mocked, actively suppressed and made akin to treason," he said. Now, "neoconservatives are losing," because of "their failure, or their abject inability, to say 'I was wrong.'" He writes, "The Bush administration had not... ALICIA COLON http://www.nysun.com/opinion/sotomayor-and-spellman/86872/ Thu, 28 May 2009 09:21:02 EST President Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has unleashed, among other things, a cascade of emails into my computer from friends remarking on the similarities of our backgrounds. I, too, am a Newyorican who lived in a housing project. Mine was in Spanish Harlem, hers in the Bronx, and we both went to parochial schools. Our fathers passed away when we were young, and our mothers struggled to support our families. We also speak perfect unaccented English and are... SETH GITELL http://www.nysun.com/opinion/george-bush-democrat/86837/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST NEWTON, Mass. — On the most important issue of 2008, the $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street, the leaders of the Democratic Party and President Bush are holding essentially the same position. After months of railing against John McCain, representing the election of Mr. McCain as a third term for President Bush, House Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Reid, and the Democratic chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, all find themselves in... LENORE SKENAZY http://www.nysun.com/opinion/putting-the-great-in-recession/86831/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Not that I want this to be a Great Depression. I hope it's not. But if it is, there just might be one group of Americans that really benefits from Wall Street's recent slide. Kids. I can see kids emerging from their dens when they get sick of their X-Box games and their parents can't afford any new ones. I can see kids dropping out of pricey travel soccer leagues and playing a game of pickup instead. I can see kids figuring out how to retool their bikes and skates and maybe even their mp3... DANIEL JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/opinion/dubious-defense-of-democracy/86832/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST LONDON — Are the streets of Vienna echoing to the sound of jackboots again? Two anti-immigrant parties, the Freedom Party and the Alliance for the Future of Austria, achieved the far Right's best result since 1945 in last weekend's elections. They took 29% of the vote, dwarfing the 18% that the Nazis achieved when they made their breakthrough in Germany in 1930. These are parties that, while avoiding openly neo-Nazi policies, do support symbolic policies such as the legalization of public... HILLEL HALKIN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/long-walk-with-lipsky/86833/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Normally, if you worry that a newspaper column you write may not appear, that's because you're afraid the newspaper won't like it. It doesn't often happen that you're afraid the newspaper may not appear either. As I write this, no one knows if the Sun will continue publishing or not. I hope it does. Not so much for my own sake — to tell the truth, it's wearying to write a column week after week. I'd miss the income, but it might be nice not to have to wake up one morning every week with that... ERIC GIOIA http://www.nysun.com/opinion/what-new-york-owes-vets/86789/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST There are more than 1,200 New Yorkers currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and more than 8,000 have served since the conflicts started in 2001. When these brave men and women return home they will need more than parades and accolades to ensure a healthy and successful transition back to civilian life. By virtue of their service to our country and the sacrifices they have made, we owe them our best efforts. Simply put, we need to do more for our veterans. One of the enduring lessons of... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/opinion/win-win-for-taxpayers/86765/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The single-biggest mistake in the Paulson bank-rescue-plan marketing effort has been the failure to explain clearly how taxpayers are going to recoup $700 billion used to buy toxic assets at auction in order to unfreeze the banking system. In other words, folks don't understand how taxpayers will be paid back, and may actually make profits, which will enable the new government debt to be erased after the Treasury bank-rescue is completed. Here's the key point: Any loan package bought by the... LUIGI ZINGALES http://www.nysun.com/opinion/its-a-big-price/86763/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST When a profitable company is hit by a very large liability, the solution is not to have the government buy its assets at inflated prices. The solution, instead, is protection under bankruptcy law, which in America means Chapter 11. Under Chapter 11, companies with a solid underlying business generally swap debt for equity. Old equity holders are wiped out and old debt claims are transformed into equity claims in the new entity which continues operating with a new capital structure... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/opinion/school-change-we-can-believe/86764/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST For the past six-and-a-half years I have frequently occupied space on these pages sounding off on everything from nepotism in Bronx politics to politically induced fear of eating French fries or Frosted Flakes. Most often I have written about our schools. I came to this task with a point of view, influenced by the events of 1968 and 1969, turbulent years for society, but particularly for New York's schools. The city's power elite, centered around well-meaning philanthropists and non-profit... KENNETH BLACKWELL http://www.nysun.com/opinion/reasons-debt-to-faith/86766/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST A respectful, prolonged discussion between atheists and believers about truth and faith is the focus of a brilliant new book by a noted author and theologian, Michael Novak. I first got to know Ambassador Novak through my work at the United Nations, as we both served as an U.S. Representative to the Human Rights Commission. He is a leading Catholic theologian and Templeton Prize laureate who currently serves as a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. His latest book, "No One Sees God... DAVID SHRIBMAN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/voters-come-home/86700/ Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST There's a lot of talk, most of it silly, about the dynamics at play as we head toward October in the presidential campaign. Maybe there's virtue in cutting away a lot of the chaff by describing the state of play in a sentence: Voters are coming home, because events are nudging them there. It's about time. This is an important election, this is a symbolic election, this is a high-intensity election, this is a high-interest election. Until now it was also an odd election: The Republican base... ABRAHAM FOXMAN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-dangerous-brew/86664/ Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST As an organization committed first to combat anti-Semitism but also to work against all forms of prejudice, the Anti-Defamation League often talks against a "hierarchy of hate," a competition for victimhood among minorities. Our philosophy is that the emphasis should fall on the commonalities of those who are targeted for hate as the best way to form strong coalitions. Every once in a while an event takes place, however, that jars us out of that kind of approach. The speech by President... MARK GILBERT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/where-to-stash-ones-winnings/86663/ Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST LONDON — Today's Europe-wide lottery offers a tax-free, lump-sum jackpot worth about $200 million. When I hand over my winning ticket, though, I will face a dilemma: Where do I stash my luck-gotten gains? Burning through the first few million won't be a problem. I'll turn up for work on Monday morning with a case of champagne and get roaring drunk at my desk before someone calls security and kicks me out of the office. I'll taxi home, snooze for a few hours to sober up, and then hit the phones... PATRICK McILHERAN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/is-clean-clean-enough/86665/ Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST On some day in December, as the clock passes midnight, air that was fresh and clean in scores of places will become, in an instant, unconscionably filthy. Millions of people will sleep on unaware of the harm done them. The harm done by federal air regulators, that is. The regulators mean well. What the Environmental Protection Agency expects to do in December is to declare definitively which counties do not meet the new rules on how much soot — fine particulate matter, as it's called — can be... MARCUS WINTERS http://www.nysun.com/opinion/time-for-mccain-to-answer/86662/ Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST In the past weeks, Barack Obama finally brought education policy into the presidential debate in a speech in Dayton, Ohio. With Mr. Obama's proposal public, the October domestic policy debates will provide a chance for Mr. McCain to clarify his education plan. Public education is an important issue, and it deserves far greater attention this election season than it has received thus far. The new president will have a large impact on the future of America's public schools if only because in his... DANIEL JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/opinion/deafening-silence/86591/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST LONDON — This time he went too far. If a Western head of state had echoed Adolf Hitler, as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did this week, would Europeans have shrugged their shoulders and dragged their feet over sanctions? Yet it seems that the Iranian president is now licensed to blame "Zionists" for everything from the economic crisis to "the whole world order," to threaten Israel's existence and to use words like "cesspool" to describe its people. There was a deafening silence in Britain. Prime Minister... KENNETH BLACKWELL http://www.nysun.com/opinion/obamas-patriotic-tonic/86575/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST During his Fox News interview with Bill O'Reilly, Barack Obama responded to one question where the statistics contradicted his position by saying that "there are lies, damned lies, and statistics." He then went on to say that 95% of Americans would get a tax break under his economic plan. That's ironic, because his comment on "damned lies and statistics" is the perfect commentary for his own plan. Taken with Joe Biden's novel definition of patriotism, Team Obama is making an argument that... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-taranto-principle/86573/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Years from now, in journalism schools, they will call it the "Taranto Principle." At least that is what they will call it, if they still have journalism schools years from now. In the future, the great republic may only have Web log schools, those being schools where students are taught to sit in their underwear in front of their luminescent laptops and pound out semi-literate diktats to an — for the most part — unobservant world. The amalgamation of all this indignation is today called "The... JOHN McWHORTER http://www.nysun.com/opinion/long-live-the-sats/86574/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST This week the National Association for College Admission Counseling's report did not call for the complete elimination of the SAT from college admissions evaluations, and I am glad about that. However, in suggesting that "some" schools consider doing so, the report is part of a trend toward dismissing the SAT as an elitist scourge and evaluating students on the basis of grades, writing samples, subject tests, and testaments to their spunk. The good-thinking wisdom is that because students from... JAY AKASIE http://www.nysun.com/opinion/closed-doors-at-episcopal-church/86576/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Just last month, the director of the Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations, Maureen Shea, called on President Bush to open an "interests section" — essentially, a pared down embassy — in Tehran, Iran. "For too long, the U.S. policy of non-engagement with Iran has brought us inflammatory words and provocative actions and has failed to reduce tensions or move toward a just and peaceful relationship," Ms. Shea wrote in the letter, which she also addressed to the presidential candidates... http://www.nysun.com/editorials/what-new-york-owes-vets/86856/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Councilmember Eric Gioia's recent column, "What New York Owes Vets," gets at the heart of what at-risk and homeless veterans need to reclaim their lives [Opinion, "What New York Owes Vets," September 29, 2008]. For our city's at-risk and homeless veterans, we at the Jericho Project believe in providing both the stability of supportive housing and the vocational training for a good employment outcome. That is why we are breaking ground this fall on the first of two special Veterans Residences in... http://www.nysun.com/editorials/term-limits-talk-spurs-campaign-finance-board/86788/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST It is an outrage that existing members of the City Council are trying to defy the will of the people who put them in office by trying to vacate term limits [New York, "Term Limits Talk Spurs Campaign Finance Board," September 22, 2008]. Term limits were in place when they were elected and now they want to change the rules in the middle of the game? I believe that Ronald Lauder ought to get going on another campaign, this time term limits for all our state legislators. The Legislature of the... http://www.nysun.com/opinion/for-love-of-a-ballpark/86699/ Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST 'For Love of a Ballpark' I've appreciated Andrew Wolf's prominent voice and thought provoking columns concerning the preservation of Yankee Stadium in recent months [Opinion, "For Love of a Ballpark," September 22, 2008]. Is anyone listening, anywhere? If there is a more deserving building to be preserved, I've failed to find it. STEVEN CORNELL Salt Lake City, Utah 'Unfinished Business' Regarding a recent article, "Unfinished Business" [Arts & Letters, September 16, 2008]. "Virtual JFK: Vietnam... http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-fate-of-totalitarianism/86590/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST 'The Fate of Totalitarianism' In regards to Adam Kirsch's recent article, "The Fate of Totalitarianism" [Arts & Letters, September 17, 2008]: Hitler knew his war against the Jews and other minorities might well succeed when the mostly European nations and a smattering of non-governmental observers from various countries gathered at the lakeside of Evian in Switzerland before World War II to decide who would take the Jews off the Nazi's hands before their fate was sealed at the Nazi's Wansee... http://www.nysun.com/editorials/clinton-vs-palin/86483/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST In a recent column, Nicholas Wapshott wrote: "Mrs. Palin can rightly ask, what has feminism ever done for me?" [Opinion, "Clinton Vs. Palin," September 10, 2008]. For starters, it was the feminist suffragists who finally secured the vote for all women in every state for future generations, not themselves. In fact, Charlotte Woodward, 91, was the sole survivor of those present at the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention of 1848, when the hard-fought Amendment finally passed 72 years later... NICHOLAS WAPSHOTT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/reaganism-undone/86484/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST It was as if the party had been thrown to mark the end of an era. It was last weekend, on Park Avenue, and the sort of bash middle aged adults like to throw to show they are still on top of their game, still capable of getting up on the dance floor and gyrating to recapture their lost youth. My fellow guests were mostly money people, hedge fund managers, bankers of one sort or another, investors in commercial real estate, people who until the last couple of weeks thought nothing of shelling out... JOHN STOSSEL http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-next-crisis/86469/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Barack Obama says, "[Today's economic problems are] a stark reminder of the failures of ... an economic philosophy that sees any regulation at all as unwise and unnecessary." What? Does that mean that until last week the Bush administration embraced the free market? Nonsense. Governments at all levels have regulated and subsidized the housing and financial industries for years. Nothing changed under President Bush. At the Division of Labour Web log, an economist, Lawrence White, asks: "What... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/opinion/give-paulson-a-clean-bill/86470/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Honestly. A clean bill as requested by Treasury man Henry Paulson, along with John McCain's oversight board, can help fix the credit-crunch problem. It needn't be this hard. According to the Paulson plan, distressed assets will be sold by banks through a reverse auction (the low bid wins) to various investment funds, hedgies, private-equity boys, and other banks. And taxpayers will have a strong ownership position in these asset sales. When the assets are worked out over time — as they will be... DIANA FURCHTGOTT-ROTH http://www.nysun.com/opinion/new-hope-on-organ-donation/86471/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST This week Senator Specter introduces the Organ Donation Clarification Act of 2008, a bill that would allow states to compensate donors for offering a kidney transplant. That's good news for the 657 former patients of the Life Care Dialysis Center on West 61st Street, closed down last week by the Department of Health over unsanitary conditions and fears of hepatitis, as well as for the other 76,000 Americans waiting for a kidney donation. Arlen Specter's simple bill is just three pages, yet it... ROYA BOROUMAND http://www.nysun.com/opinion/how-to-treat-ahmadinejad/86472/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Yesterday, President Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations General Assembly. In front of the world's cameras, he pointed to the widespread violations of human rights by powers that "do not value human beings" and presented himself as a man of peace. Now, behind closed doors, he will talk nuclear weapons. A new International Atomic Energy Agency report describes his government's attitude to nuclear negotiations as "uncooperative," to use diplomatic language. Thus the need to negotiate will... http://www.nysun.com/editorials/rules-not-rulers/86395/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Amity Shlaes was spot on with her recent column [Oped, "Rules, Not Rulers," September 17, 2008]. She made a strong case for three sensible rules-based reforms for the financial markets and fiscal policy. To these I would add repeal or reform to two recent rule changes. First, the accounting change to "mark to market" unmarketable assets does nothing but distort by producing large paper losses, part of which in the long run would probably be reversed by large paper profits if companies were not... LENORE SKENAZY http://www.nysun.com/opinion/four-debates-and-a-seal-ork-ork/86381/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST After a week of negotiations so intense sometimes the sandwich platter arrived and no one even noticed that they'd better grab the roast beef because the rest were vegetable hoagies, John McCain and Barack Obama and their running mates have agreed on the format of the four debates to come: Three for the presidential contenders and one between the Republican's Sarah Palin and the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Whatshisname. Since the elephants won the coin toss — which raised some... JEFFREY SACHS http://www.nysun.com/opinion/americas-anti-intellectual-threat/86382/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST In recent years, America has been more a source of global instability than a source of global problem-solving. Examples include the war in Iraq, launched by America on false premises, obstructionism on efforts to curb climate change, meager development assistance, and the violation of international treaties such as the Geneva Conventions. While many factors contributed to America's destabilizing actions, a powerful one is anti-intellectualism, exemplified recently by Republican... SETH GITELL http://www.nysun.com/opinion/in-need-of-more-hawks/86383/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Las Vegas is a city that is home to many celebrities — old and young. So it's no surprise that throngs of visitors poured into the Harmon Medical and Rehabilitation Hospital in early September. The only question the nurses and medical staff had was which patient were all those guests coming to see? Some theorized it was a mayor or high-ranking politician. Or, in a glitzy city filled with entertainers and singers of many different eras, perhaps the patient had been one of those. It's possible... HILLEL HALKIN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/mr-olmert-without-tears/86384/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST It is hard to feel very sorry for Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, who resigned from his position two days ago. He is said to be a nice person, warm to his friends, and considerate to his staff. This may be true, just as it is true that he is a skillful politician. But he brought about his own downfall — and did it, not, as in a Greek tragedy, by blindly stumbling into it, but by courting it with open eyes. The politician who makes a habit of lining his pockets illegally because he thinks... SARAH PALIN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/palin-on-ahmadinejad-he-must-be-stopped/86311/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Governor Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, was scheduled to speak today at a rally in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza to protest the appearance here of President Ahmadinejad of Iran. Her appearance was canceled by rally organizers who sought a nonpolitical event. Following are the remarks Mrs. Palin would have given: *** I am honored to be with you and with leaders from across this great country — leaders from different faiths and political parties united in a single voice of outrage... http://www.nysun.com/editorials/delgado-mets-top-nationals-in-slugfest/86296/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST In light of the New York Mets's dramatic turnaround this season, the big question seems to be: What is Jerry Manuel doing different from the way Willie Randolph handled the team [Sports, "Delgado, Mets Top Nationals In Slugfest," September 10, 2008]? It's now very obvious that Mr. Manuel has made a big difference. I believe the critical difference between the two men is their different approaches to the team and the players. For Mr. Manuel, the team is what counts; while for Mr. Randolph, his... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/opinion/moral-of-the-story/86307/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The fate of the giant insurance company, American International Group, is a tale with a clear moral. Maurice "Hank" Greenberg built this company up from a storefront during a period of 40 years, turning it into the greatest insurer in the world, doing business successfully, and often as a pioneer, all over the world. Elliot Spitzer, as New York State attorney general, said on television that he thought Mr. Greenberg had violated criminal statutes, which has never been alleged since, formally or... MICHAEL BARONE http://www.nysun.com/opinion/voters-trust-mccain-on-economy/86308/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, the 500-point plunge of the Dow, the government takeover of AIG — all these have got the presidential candidates talking about the economy. But both Senator Obama and Senator McCain have been vague about their solutions. And for good reason. Our economic problems are concentrated in the finance sector, and that's the part of the economy the average voter knows least about. Moreover, the political blame is widely... LARRY SCHWEIKART http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-wrong-syllabus/86309/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST As a historian, I know it's nearly impossible to get everything right. No sooner does one write a chapter in a book than new research disproves at least some of the details of the "Corrupt Bargain"; new science, such as DNA testing, provides a clearer picture of who Jack the Ripper was or was not; and new techniques, such as mapping spent cartridges with metal detectors, allows for a different interpretation of "Custer's Last Stand." Historians can, and should, debate both the big and small... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/opinion/for-love-of-a-ballpark/86310/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The last game of Major League baseball has been played at Yankee Stadium, following an incredible outpouring of nostalgia and reminiscences. Now the vultures are swooping down to sell off the great coliseum, piece by piece. Seats will fetch about a $1,000 each, someone is ready to package the dirt from the field, holy ground to millions of baseball fans throughout the world, and even the urinals will be sold for their "historic" value. It wasn't supposed to be this way. When the announcement... http://www.nysun.com/opinion/up-next-clinton-vs-palin/86235/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST 'Up Next: Clinton Vs. Palin' No action on the part of the American body politic could better undercut this country's claim to "exceptionalism" than Nicholas Wapshott's observations about the basic commonality of the public appeal of both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin [Opinion, "Up Next: Clinton Vs. Palin" September 10, 2008]. His conclusion that the same voters who he sees electing John McCain and Mrs. Palin would have elected a Democratic president were Mrs. Clinton on the ticket as either... DAVID EVANIER http://www.nysun.com/opinion/morton-sobell-and-me/86236/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The Morton Sobell, who was tried and convicted with Ethel and Julius Rosenberg of espionage and has now confessed at the age of 91, turns out to be the same insouciant Morty I remember from the mid-1980s when I was interviewing and pestering him while writing my novel about the Rosenberg case, "Red Love." "Yeah, yeah, yeah, call it that," he says now, in an interview with Sam Roberts of the New York Times, about his spying for the Soviet Union. His confession was no surprise; he almost... JOHN TAMNY http://www.nysun.com/opinion/fix-dollar-markets-will-follow/86197/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST When he was still running Goldman Sachs, Henry Paulson, now the Treasury secretary, would regularly talk to the classes of incoming associates about what kept him up at night. His answer was the same every time, and it had to do with Goldman's rising employee head count. With it impossible to monitor the activity of every employee, surely there were a few bad apples doing things that could break the bank's sterling reputation. Another somewhat unique cultural aspect of Goldman Sachs (this... DAVID SHRIBMAN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/let-the-debates-begin/86224/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST They helped affirm the importance of television in American politics, making John F. Kennedy a star. They showed the political passion of Ronald Reagan, making the question of whether you are better off than you were four years ago one of the standard measures of American life. They demonstrated the importance of body language in the body politic, assuring that no exasperated presidential candidate ever would follow George H.W. Bush's example and look at his watch in the middle of an exchange... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/opinion/never-sell-america-short/86237/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST We can fix this. If nothing else, that's the message I hope readers take away from this column. Of course, the "this" is the run on the world banking system. Stock markets have plunged globally, gold prices have shot up, and U.S. Treasury-bill rates have plummeted to 10 basis points, the lowest since the 1950s. We're witnessing a desperate flight to safety by investors. Folks are running away from financial assets and financial institutions simply because confidence has disappeared. This week... AMITY SHLAES http://www.nysun.com/opinion/recovery-without-bailout/86239/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Recovery without federal bailout? Impossible. That's what we think as we watch the Federal Reserve and the Treasury move to rescue Bear Stearns Cos., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and now, American International Group Inc. Bailout was the rule in preceding slumps as well. From the New Deal to the Chrysler bailout of 1979, to Long-Term Capital Management LP to today, bailouts are what America does. So the only thing remaining to think about is exactly when the next bailout will come — when, say... http://www.nysun.com/opinion/19-columbia-freshmen-jump-to-the-ivy-league-from/86123/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST '19 Columbia Freshmen Jump to the Ivy League From the Armed Forces' A recent story about armed forces veterans at Columbia University reminds me of my friend and high school classmate, Phil Lille [New York, "19 Columbia Freshmen Jump to the Ivy League From the Armed Forces," September 5, 2008]. Phil, an All-City athlete, and Tufts University parted company after his freshman (1955-1956) year. He joined the Marines and became a frogman. After his discharge he matriculated at Columbia University...