Donald B. Hawthorne

War criminal claims and our ignorance of history

By Donald B. Hawthorne | May 3, 2009 |

Instapundit does us another public service by highlighting this Pajamas TV commentary about Jon Stewart claiming Truman was a war criminal: Jon Stewart, War Criminals & The True Story of the Atomic Bombs. As one of my friends wrote me after listening to it: “We were moved nearly to tears by this. What has happened…

William Allen: George Washington as America’s First Progressive

By Donald B. Hawthorne | May 3, 2009 |

During my undergraduate years, I was fortunate to have Dr. William Allen as an advisor. A truly wonderful man and dear friend. Here is his talk on his new book entitled George Washington: America’s First Progressive. The talk starts at the 6-minute point. Why is George Washington so important? Allen explains between minutes 11:15-21:00 and…

Saturday night laughs

By Donald B. Hawthorne | March 7, 2009 |

Isn’t this just wonderful? Obama Car Czars To Visit Detroit To Learn About Industry President Barack Obama’s chief auto advisers, Ronald Bloom and Steven Rattner, plan a one-day trip to Detroit next week to meet with executives at General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, people familiar with the matter said… The trip follows two weeks…

UPDATED: Is Obama clueless or are his actions intentional?

By Donald B. Hawthorne | March 7, 2009 |

UPDATED: Roger Kimball: I was having lunch yesterday with a prominent critic of the Spender in Chief, and he raised a possibility that many of us have entertained over the past several weeks: that Obama is simply out of his depth: that he hasn’t a clue about what makes the economy tick and his talk…

Boskin: Obama’s Radicalism is Killing the Dow

By Donald B. Hawthorne | March 6, 2009 |

Michael Boskin: Obama’s Radicalism Is Killing the Dow – A financial crisis is the worst time to change the foundations of American capitalism: It’s hard not to see the continued sell-off on Wall Street and the growing fear on Main Street as a product, at least in part, of the realization that our new president’s…

The latest example of Obama’s disdain for liberty

By Donald B. Hawthorne | March 6, 2009 |

On Obama: A ditch, not a summit. More on Obama’s support for socialized medicine. The Healthcare Trojan Horse in the Porkulus Bill. From general election. On healthcare policy issues: On importing drugs. How government created the problem in the first place. More on drug costs and government allocation of healthcare services. So drug costs –…

Riding the buyers’ remorse train on day 44 of Obama’s presidency

By Donald B. Hawthorne | March 4, 2009 |

Christopher Buckley. David Brooks. Even David Gergen. Jim Cramer. Now Silicon Valley entrepreneurs see their incentives are being altered for the worse: Like the college students who stayed up late to be inspired by his campaign rallies only to find Obama’s first significant action to be a stimulus program that will transfer about a trillion…

Re: Could it be? Part III

By Donald B. Hawthorne | March 3, 2009 |

The key point from the original post: Incentives matter deeply and drive human behavior. It is a lesson statists and socialists never learn. You want real world examples? Read this. My two favorite ones: First: I have a few thoughts concerning your Corner post titled Bracketology. My wife and I are both Pediatricians. We own…

Could it be?

By Donald B. Hawthorne | March 3, 2009 |

The conventional wisdom is that Obama, with strong majorities in both houses of Congress, will get every legislative initiative he wants. And from a sheer vote counting viewpoint, that would certainly be true. But could the countervailing force not be the oft-spineless Republicans with their limited votes in Congress? Could the real counter come from…

Liberty & the proper role of government in a free society

By Donald B. Hawthorne | March 2, 2009 |

Obama’s budget proposal presents plans which run radically counter to the proper role of government if America is to remain a free society: …The widespread use of the market reduces the strain on the social fabric by rendering conformity unnecessary with respect to any activities it encompasses. The wider the range of activities covered by…