Paul Blair

Paul Blair is former editor of The Intellectual Activist.

Why Conservatism Failed: The Anatomy of Compromise Revisited

It's been argued that if Obama wins, the left will properly once again be blamed for the failures of collectivism. This is actually an example of a broader principle, one Miss Rand identified in her essay "The Anatomy of Compromise" [1]: "When opposite basic...

Stop Oil Speculation Now: The Airlines Disgraceful Political Agenda

Today I received a message from United Airlines pushing a particularly misguided political agenda. It is one of the most disgraceful public displays of incompetence and evasion by American business in recent memory. According to the airlines, speculators are to blame...

“Academic Freedom” vs. Accountability

In The New York Sun's editorial of December 10, 2004, you correctly note that universities like Columbia will take no action against professors whose outrageous positions are deemed a matter of "scholarly belief" ["The Bollinger Committee"]. But values besides...

Anti-Kerryites Against Bush

I've finally decided to support John Kerry in this election. (And, in true Kerry fashion, I'm voting against him, but more on that later.) While I find Kerry repugnant, I believe George Bush threatens America's freedom more. That's why I'm an "anti-Kerryite against...

Academics and Ideologies

It all started when Professor David M. O'Neill of Hunter College wrote in the NY Sun Oct. 4 maintaining that bias-free reporting is impossible because nobody can be free of ideology. Joseph Kellard had a letter in response. To which Professor O'Neill then replied....

Tax Credits–and Not Vouchers–for Education

Tax Credits–and Not Vouchers–for Education

The New York Sun has wisely opposed campaign finance regulations as violating the freedom of speech. The Sun has also argued that New York City's public campaign financing system deserves to be scrapped. Wasn't it Thomas Jefferson who wrote "that to compel a man to...

Not in My Name, cont’d.

This came in from St. Andrews, Scotland: Dear Right Wing Reactionary,I hope that someday you, or your family, will have the oppurtunity to live in poverty without healthcare, social security or welfare. Then, possibly, you could experience the utter dispare and...

Not in My Name: My Version of a “Statement of Conscience”

Thousands of Americans chose not to pay their federal income tax this year as a political statement, many because they don't want their money supporting the U.S. military. [Associated Press, 4/16/03] I would gladly concede to war protesters the right to withhold their...

Objectivity in Journalism: Real and Imaginary

New York Sun television critic David Blum weighs in with this confused piece on Peter Arnett's firing: This has been a dark week in the history of American television--and all because of a warp-speed rush to judgment by a network more concerned with supporting its...

Against the Moral Authority of the United Nations

Thomas Friedman writes to Andrew Sullivan: Why is it that liberals, such as myself, who were ready to support the war, so desperately wanted U.N. approval for it? It was for a couple of reasons--one that is already apparent and one that will become more apparent....

Philosophical Detection: Dissecting Slate’s Michael Kinsley

The closer a con artist gets to being exposed definitively, the more desperate he becomes. If his con relies on moral intimidation, his threats and denunciations become more and more hysterical. This is the source of Saddam Hussein's threatening bluster in the weeks...

Freedom–Not Democracy–for the Arabs in the Middle East

The Pentagon's plans for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq appear to be freezing out members of the Iraqi National Congress, the lead Iraqi opposition group.A senior Defense Department official yesterday said two or three free Iraqis with special expertise would be brought...

An Open Letter to Richard Perle

Richard Perle is the chairman of the Defense Policy Board, a Department of Defense advisory panel made up of leading figures in national security and defense; he is also a resident fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. In the Reagan Administration he served as...

The Moral Cowardice of France and Germany

France and Germany will pay a woeful price for their cravenness. They have tipped their hand. Their Muslim populations now know that these governments will crumble before them; it’s only a matter of time before the “domestic disturbances” start.

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