Recent Viewpoints

The Wall Street Journal reports on the fact that the five largest commercial health insurers in the U.S. are pursuing various combinations of mergers and/or purchases of one another. In an editorial, The Journal expresses concern about the possibility of “all five fusing into one monster conglomerate.” They call this an oligopoly. The Journal, explains the phenomenon, saying “the economics of ObamaCare reward scale over competition.” Standardized benefits and premiums have compressed profit margins for insurance companies. There are few…

If you have been to a movie recently, you probably were watching a remake or a sequel like Jurassic World or Mad Max. We are in the midst of nearly 30 movies that could be described as remakes or sequels. There are more to come. And don’t forget the franchise operations like James Bond, Mission: Impossible, X-Men, and Hunger Games. Charlie Jane Anders asks, “Why does Hollywood keep rebooting the same movie properties over and over again? It’s not just…

The latest story about scientific fraud illustrates how political and cultural bias can influence even reputable scientific journals. The complete story can be found in the Wall Street Journal under the title “Scientific Fraud and Politics.” The case in point is the paper by graduate student Michael LaCour that was published and then retracted by the journal Science. The journal published his stunning findings because LaCour found that a 20-minute conversation with a house-to-house canvasser could convert huge numbers of…

With all that is happening in our world, it is easy to be discouraged. Warren Cole Smith and John Stonestreet wrote their book, Restoring All Things, to encourage you and show how God and His people are engaged in fulfilling His promise to restore all things. Restoring is just one of the “re” words that John Stonestreet talks about. There are other words like redemption, reconciliation, and resurrection along with renew, repent, and restore. When he was on my radio…

After the attack on America on 9/11, Stephen Coughlin was brought into the government to research and present information on Islam and especially about Sharia law. His presentations were so effective, that the special operations community dubbed them “Red Pill” briefings. This was a reference to an iconic scene in the movie, The Matrix. Neo is given a choice of taking the blue pill and going back to his reality or taking the red pill and see that world as…

Many of the governors and former governors running for the presidency are pointing to their economic success as an important credential. Rick Perry, for example reminds potential voters that when he was governor, Texas created more than thirty percent of all the new jobs in the country. It was also in the top three in job creation. He credits low taxes and a light regulatory touch for the booming Texas economy. Apparently the editors at the Wall Street Journal agree…

The United States Senate now has before it the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The bill, which passed the House in May by a 242-184 vote, bans abortions after 20 weeks gestation. There’s now a broad consensus that the fetus feels pain by this point in its development, if not much earlier. South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham introduced this legislation. Over the past five years, fourteen states have passed bills that are virtually identical to Senator Graham’s Pain Capable…

“Proper Bible reading begins before we open the book.” That is how Tony Reinke begins his blog post on “4 Things to Remember When Reading the Bible.” The material is adapted from his book, Newton on the Christian Life. In a pair of sermons “On Searching the Scriptures,” pastor and hymn-writer John Newton explains how four elements should inform our approach to the Bible. The first is sincerity. We should “submit both our sentiments and our practices to be controlled…

If you want to see how political correctness can even be used to destroy a fellow liberal professor, just look at what happened to Northwestern University professor Laura Kipnis. Her essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education led to a university investigation of her in what she has described as “My Title IX Inquisition.” Rich Lowry believes it is a good example of PC liberals devouring their own. Her alleged “crime” was to write about “sexual paranoia” on college campuses….

Yesterday, I documented that there are too many regulations in America. There are also too many laws. The Heritage Foundation has put together some important facts and figures in their investigation of the over-criminalization in this country. Today there are more than 4,500 criminal laws and probably more than 300,000 relevant federal regulations. This was not always so. In their article, they have a graph that shows the “Explosive Growth of Federal Criminal Law.” The greatest growth took place in…

America is awash in regulations. Some are necessary, but many are petty, restrictive, and inefficient. Charles Murray was on my radio program to talk about his new book, By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission. He not only has some alarming statistics about the explosion in government regulations, but also proposes solutions for fighting them. Most of us are committing crimes and don’t even know it. The number of federal crimes you could commit has increased 50 percent since 1980….