onsite digital
Program transcripts
24 February 1997 - 1 December 2009
Scope and Contents note
Transcripts of Uncommon Knowledge programs, which typically also include the program title, date taped, brief description
that sets up the program, name and description of guests. Transcripts for 1996 are not available, and a few transcripts are
missing from other seasons. Dates used are the date the program was taped
box 61-62
Research Materials for Individual Programs
Individual Program Descriptions
1996-2010
folder VHS, box 1; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 27
"Drug Decriminalization" No. UK1_1
1996 May 18
Scope and Contents note
Joseph McNamara and Edwin Meese III
folder VHS, box 1; 1", on shelf
"104th Congress" No. UK1_2
1996 May 25
Scope and Contents note
William Kristol and Nelson Polsby
folder VHS, box 1; Betacam SP, box 27
"China " No. UK1_3
1996 June 1
Scope and Contents note
George P. Shultz
folder VHS, box 1; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 27
"Preferential Policies" No. UK1_4
1996 June 29
Scope and Contents note
Shelby Steele
folder VHS, box 1; 1", on shelf
"Bosnia " No. UK1_5
1996 July 6
Scope and Contents note
George P. Shultz
folder VHS, box 1; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 27
"School Choice" No. UK1_6
1996 July 13
Scope and Contents note
Henry Levin and Terry Moe
folder VHS, box 1; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 27
"Strategic Defense Initiative" No. UK1_7
1996 July 20
Scope and Contents note
Sidney Drell and Edward Teller
folder VHS, box 1
"Migrations and Cultures" No. UK1_8
1996 July 27
Scope and Contents note
Thomas Sowell
folder VHS, box 1; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 27
"Future Trends in Russian Politics" No. UK1_9
1996 August 3
Scope and Contents note
John Dunlop and Martin Malia
folder VHS, box 1; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 27
"Can there Be Peace in the Middle East?" No. UK1_10
1996 August 10
Scope and Contents note
Charles Hill and Abraham Sofaer
folder VHS, box 1
"American Exceptionalism" No. UK1_11
1996 August 17
Scope and Contents note
Seymour Martin Lipset
folder VHS, box 1; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 27
"Shifting the Political Landscape in America" No. UK1_12
1996 September 14
Scope and Contents note
David Brady and Douglas Rivers
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf
"The Changing Role of the United Nations" No. UK1_13
1996 September 21
Scope and Contents note
Charles Hill and Stephen Stedman
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 27
"Deficit Disorder: The Balanced Budget Amendment" No. UK101
1997 April 5
Scope and Contents note
Martin Anderson, fellow, Hoover Institution, and John Ellwood, University of California, Berkeley, discuss the balanced budget
amendment.
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 27
"Aging: From Baby Boom to Bust" No. UK102
1997 April 12
Scope and Contents note
John Shoven, professor of economics and dean of the School of Humanities and Science, Stanford University, and David Wise,
fellow, Hoover Institution, discuss demographics, social security, health care, and retirement savings.
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf
"Red Flag over Hong Kong" No. UK103
1997 April 19
Scope and Contents note
Lawrence Lau, professor, Stanford University, and Alvin Rabushka, fellow, Hoover Institution, discuss the impact of China
assuming control of Hong Kong on July 1.
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf
"Rich Get Richer" No. UK104
1997 May 10
Scope and Contents note
Kenneth Arrow, professor of economics, Stanford University, and Nobel laureate and Kenneth Judd, fellow, Hoover Institution,
discuss the sources of the persistent and increasing inequality of American incomes.
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf
"Reading, Writing, and Reform" No. UK105
1997 May 17
Scope and Contents note
Maureen DiMarco, former secretary, Office of Child Development and Education, California, and Bill Honig, former superintendent
of public instruction, California, discuss the problems with America's classrooms and how to fix them.
folder Betacam SP, box 27
"The One Percent Solution? " No. UK106
1997 February 24
Scope and Contents note
Michael Boskin and David Brady, fellows, Hoover Institution, discuss why it's important to adjust the CPT now and whether
it's politically possible to do so.
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf
"Fundamentally Speaking" No. UK107
1997 June 7
Scope and Contents note
Laurence Iannaccone, professor of economics, University of Santa Clara, and Guity Nashat, fellow, Hoover Institution, discuss
Islamic Fundamentalism and what Islamic Fundamentalists want.
folder 1", on shelf
"Point, Click...Censorship" No. UK108
1997 April 7
Scope and Contents note
Ned Desmond, editor, Infoseek; Mike Godwin, staff counsel, Electronic Frontier; and Virginia Postrel, editor, Reason, discuss
the Communications Decency Act. Desmond, Godwin, and Postrel debate the constitutionality of the law, and more broadly, what
role the federal government should have in regulating the web.
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf
"Political Tectonics" No. UK109
1997 June 21
Scope and Contents note
David Brady, fellow, Hoover Institution, and Nelson Polsby, professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley,
discuss the implications of Republican Houses of Congress and a Democratic president
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf
"Lock 'em Up?" No. UK110
1997 June 28
Scope and Contents note
Lance Izumi, Pacific Research Institute, and Joe McNamara, fellow, Hoover Institution, debate the following questions: Are
states failing to lock up enough criminals for long enough? Is prison incarceration a cost-effective strategy for fighting
crime? Does a higher incarceration rate deter crime?
folder 1", on shelf
"Farewell, Welfare" No. UK111
1997 April 23
Scope and Contents note
Thomas MaCurdy, fellow, Hoover Institution, and Eugene Smolensky, chair, department of public policy, University of California,
Berkeley, discuss President Clinton's welfare reform legislation.
folder 1", on shelf
"British Elections" No. UK112
1997 May 25
Scope and Contents note
Jerry Dorfman, fellow, Hoover Institution, and Kenneth Garcia, staff writer, San Francisco Chronicle, discuss the Labor Party's
victory in the national election. What does a Labor Party victory mean for Great Britain, and do British domestic politics
matter to the United States?
folder 1", on shelf
"Brave New World Order" No. UK113
1997 May 21
Scope and Contents note
Coit Blacker, senior fellow, Institute for International Studies and Michael McFaul, fellow, Hoover Institution, discuss a
host of issues confronting a new Europe. Should American soldiers be willing to defend Poland? Russia? Does a crumbling Russia
pose a threat to the United States?
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf
"On Guard" No. UK201
1997 October 23
Scope and Contents note
William Perry, former secretary of defense and senior fellow, Hoover Institution, and George Shultz, former secretary of state
and distinguished fellow, Hoover Institution, discuss the threats we face as a nation and what should be done about them.
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf
"National Insecurity" No. UK202
1997 October 23
Scope and Contents note
William Perry, former secretary of defense and senior fellow, Hoover Institution, and George Shultz, former secretary of state
and distinguished fellow, Hoover Institution, continue their discussion on the threats and challenges facing the United States
in a post-cold war world.
folder VHS, box 2; 1", on shelf
"Habla English?" No. UK203
1997 October 23
Scope and Contents note
Joseph Jaramillo, staff attorney, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Ron Unz, Chairman, English for
the Children, discuss if bilingual education failed and if it should be improved or eliminated.
folder VHS, box 3; 1", on shelf
"This Land Is My Land...Isn't It?" No. UK204
1997 October 31
Scope and Contents note
Terry Anderson, director, Political Economy Research Center and fellow, Hoover Institution, and Carl Pope, executive director,
Sierra Club, take on environmental controversies from around the country.
folder 1", on shelf
"Cybersnoops" No. UK205
1997 October 21
Scope and Contents note
David Friedman, professor of law, University of Santa Clara, and Edwin Meese III, former United States attorney general and
distinguished visiting fellow, Hoover Institution, discuss how we balance the rights of our citizens with the very real needs
of national security.
folder 1", on shelf
"Gen X Files" No. UK206
1997 October 31
Scope and Contents note
Kellyanne Fitzpatrick, founder and president, the Polling Company, and David Serrano-Sewell, special assistant to the mayor
of San Francisco, discuss generation-X, the 50 million Americans born between 1965 and 1978 and their attitudes toward government
and politics.
folder 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 27
"Curtains for Windows?" No. UK207
1997 December 19
Scope and Contents note
Rich Karlgaard, editor, Forbes ASAP Magazine and Gary Reback, partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati, examine the Department
of Justice charges that Microsoft is violating anti-trust laws by keeping competitors out of the market, stifling technological
innovation, and denying consumers a choice of products.
folder 1", on shelf
"They're Coming to America" No. UK208
1997 November 13
Scope and Contents note
Peter Brimlow, author, Alien Nation and media fellow, Hoover Institution, and David Kennedy, professor of history, Stanford
University, air their divergent opinions on immigration.
folder 1", on shelf
"Follow the Money" No. UK209
1997 November 13
Scope and Contents note
Annelise Anderson, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution; Tony Miller, founder, Californians for Political Reform Foundation;
and Carol Wagner Vallianos, member, board of directors, the League of Women Voters, tackle campaign finance, an issue the
politicians would rather not touch.
folder 1", on shelf
"Lost in Space?" No. UK210
1997 December 11
Scope and Contents note
Timothy Ferris, professor of journalism, University of California, Berkeley; Andrew Fraknoi, chair, department of astronomy,
Foothill College; and David Morrison, director of space, NASA Ames Research Center, wonder what we are doing in space and
how the public is served by the billions we continue to spend.
folder 1", on shelf
"Red Tide Rising. " No. UK211
1997 December 11
Scope and Contents note
Arnold Beichman, research fellow, Hoover Institution; Lawrence Lau, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, and professor of economics,
Stanford University; and Mike Oksenberg, senior fellow, Asia/Pacific Research Center, Stanford University, acknowledge that
China wants to be counted among the world's powers. Is China on its way to becoming "the" super power? Should the United States
be worried? Should we respond? Are the U.S. and China on a collision course?
folder 1", on shelf
"The Heat Is On" No. UK212
1997 December 19
Scope and Contents note
Donald Aiken, senior scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists; David Goldstein, senior scientist, energy, National Resources
Defense Council; and Henry Rowen, senior fellow, Hoover Institution and director, Asia/Pacific Research Center, discuss the
effects of the December 1997 treaty agreeing to cut its greenhouse gas emissions seven percent below 1990 levels by the year
2012.
folder 1", on shelf
"A House Divided" No. UK213
1997 October 21
Scope and Contents note
Clayborne Carson, director, Martin Luther King Papers Project, Stanford University, and Stephen Thernstrom, coauthor, America
in Black and White: One Nation Indivisible, sharply disagree on affirmative action and offer radically differing views on
one of the most divisive issues in American Society.
folder VHS, box 3; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 28
"Up in Smoke: The War on Tobacco" No. UK301
1998 October 3
Scope and Contents note
David E. Bonfilio, volunteer, American Cancer Society; James W. Stratton, deputy director of prevention services, Department
of Health Services, California; and Jacob Sullum, senior editor, Reason Magazine and author, For Your Own Good: The Anti Smoking
Crusade and the Tyranny of Public Health, discuss the war against tobacco. Are public health advocates asking the federal
government to overstep its bounds, or is it time for a national tobacco policy?
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"Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide: Bioterrorism" No. UK302
1998 October 10
Scope and Contents note
Abraham D. Sofaer, the George P. Shultz senior fellow, Hoover Institution; Jonathan B. Tucker, director, chemical/biological
weapons nonproliferation project, Center for Nonproliferation Studies; and Dean Wilkening, director, science program, Center
for International Security and Arms Control, Stanford University, discuss whether the United States is prepared for a biological
or chemical weapons attack. Is it possible that we are over-hyping the threat, scaring the American public, and allowing the
Federal Bureau of Investigation to further extend their already-broad powers into our personal lives? Re-aired as UK428
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"It's All Foreign to Me: Clinton Administration Foreign Policy" No. UK303
1998 October 17
Scope and Contents note
Coit Blacker, senior fellow, Institute for International Studies, Stanford University; Gloria Duffy, chief executive officer,
Commonwealth Club, California; and Charles Hill, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution, put the Clinton record to the
test--how has the administration fared on the host of threats and challenges facing the U.S. from Saddam Hussein to Boris
Yeltsin, from China to India and Pakistan
folder VHS, box 3; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 28
"Show Me the Money: The Minimum Wage Debate" No. UK304
1998 October 24
Scope and Contents note
Shirley Burnell, board member, ACORN; Michael Hawkins, president, California Restaurant Association; Thomas MaCurdy, senior
fellow, Hoover Institution and professor of economics, Stanford University; and Eduardo Rosario, executive officer, San Francisco
Labor Council, AFL-CIO, pose the question: Is another increase in the minimum wage good for the economy? Or is the real issue
over whether there should be a minimum wage at all?
folder VHS, box 3; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 28
"Media Circus: The State of the Media" No. UK305
1998 October 31
Scope and Contents note
James Risser, professor, department of communication, director of John S. Knight fellowship program, and director of the graduate
program in journalism, Stanford University, and Robert Zelnick, media fellow, Hoover Institution, ask whether the press today
is driven by the "public's right to know" or pressure to beat the competition.
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"Jury on Trial: Reforming the Criminal Justice System" No. UK306
1998 November 14
Scope and Contents note
Susan Estrich, Robert Kingsley professor of law and political science, University of Southern California; Charles L. Hobson,
attorney, Criminal Justice Legal Foundation; and Pamela Karlan, professor of law, Stanford University, take a critical look
at justice in America and tell how to fix a system badly in need of repair. Re-aired as UK429
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"Playing Hardball: The Best Way to Fight and Deter Crime" No. UK307
1998 November 21
Scope and Contents note
Susan Estrich, Robert Kingsley professor of law and political science, University of Southern California; Charles L. Hobson,
attorney, Criminal Justice Legal Foundation; and Pamela Karlan, professor of law, Stanford University, give a lively presentation
of different approaches to stopping crime. Fed up with crime, the public has demanded "get tough" laws, locking up more criminals,
handing out longer sentences and calling for more executions. Is it working? Re-aired as UK430
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"It Ain't Over till It's Over: U.S.-Russia Relations after the Cold War" No. UK308
1998 December 5
Scope and Contents note
Brian Hall, contributor, New York Times Magazine and Michael McFaul, Peter and Helen Bing research fellow, Hoover Institution
and assistant professor of political science, Stanford University, pose the question: Is the cold war really over? Is our
strategic weapons policy in line with Ronald Reagan's proclamation that "a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought?"
folder VHS, box 3; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 28
"Semper Fidel? The Cuban Embargo" No. UK309
1998 December 12
Scope and Contents note
William Ratliff, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution, and Jose Sorzano, former president of the Cuban-American National
Foundation, discuss whether isolating Castro is still effective. The Clinton administration argues that isolating Castro is
the best way to make him democratize, adopt market reforms, and compensate Americans for property seized during the revolution.
Is it?
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"History in the Streets: 1968 and the Counterculture" No. UK310
1999 January 2
Scope and Contents note
William F. Buckley, Jr., editor-at-large, National Review, and Christopher Hitchens, contributing editor, Vanity Fair, chose
opposing sides that year and now take a look back, explaining the rights and wrongs of the right and the left and their personal
triumphs and regrets. What happened in 1968 and why? From a bloody war in Vietnam to a bloody struggle for equality in our
nation's streets, what is the legacy of '68? Re-aired as UK437
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"You Said You Wanted a Revolution: 1968 and the Counter-Counterculture" No. UK311
1999 January 9
Scope and Contents note
William F. Buckley, Jr., editor-at-large, National Review, and Christopher Hitchens, contributing editor, Vanity Fair, argue
over how 1968 changed our nation's politics and culture. In 1968 sex, drugs, and rock and roll fed a youthful counterculture
rebelling against the strait-laced social mores of their parents. But another rebellion was born that year, a counter-counterculture,
a vigorous conservative movement. Re-aired as UK438
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"Social Insecurity: Reforming Social Security" No. UK312
1999 January 16
Scope and Contents note
Dean Baker, senior economist, Economic Policy Institute and coauthor, Social Security: The Phony Crisis; Michael Boskin, senior
fellow, Hoover Institution and T. M. Friedman professor, department of economics, Stanford University; and David R. Henderson,
research fellow, Hoover Institution and professor, department of economics, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California,
discuss the future of social security. What is wrong, if anything, with the social security system today? What plans exist
to fix it? Re-aired as UK432
folder VHS, box 4; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 28
"Dee-Fense: Ballistic Missile Defense" No. UK313
1999 January 23
Scope and Contents note
David Fischer, former member, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and former president, World Affairs Council, San Francisco;
Clay Moltz, assistant director, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute for International Studies; and Dean
Wilkening, director, science program, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University, discuss what
measure of security would the deployment of a missile defense system get us. How would the deployment of a missile defense
system affect the ABM treaty that the U.S. signed with the Soviet Union in 1972?
folder VHS, box 4; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 29
"Peace by Piece: The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process" No. UK314
1999 January 30
Scope and Contents note
Linda Gradstein, Israeli correspondent, National Public Radio and John S. Knight journalism fellow, Stanford University; Sylvia
Shihahdeh, president, Austin Chapter of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; and Abraham Sofaer, George P. Shultz
fellow, Hoover Institution, discuss whether an independent Palestinian state is the inevitable result of the peace process.
What is the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the on-going peace process? Do the agreements in Oslo and in Wye
represent breakthroughs, or are the prospects as far away as ever?
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"Farewell to Arms? Gun Control" No. UK315
1999 February 6
Scope and Contents note
Barrie Becker, executive director, Legal Community Against Violence; John Lott, John M. Olin law and economics fellow, School
of Law, University of Chicago; and Joseph McNamara, research fellow, Hoover Institution, former chief of police, San Jose,
California, and Kansas City, Missouri, discuss national gun control measures. Does the Second Amendment really give individuals
the right to bear arms? Is it possible that crime actually goes down when citizens are allowed to carry concealed handguns?
Re-aired as UK433
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"School Rivalry: Education Reform," No. UK316
1999 February 13
Scope and Contents note
Timothy Draper, managing director, Draper Fisher Jurveston; Terry Moe, senior fellow, Hoover Institution and professor, department
of political science, Stanford University; and Justo Robles, director, Institute for Teaching, California Teachers Association,
discuss these and other possible solutions including charter schools within the public school system and vouchers that can
be used at public and private schools. Everyone wants to improve the performance of our public schools. But what is the best
way to do it? Is more money the answer or do we need to set national standards that schools must meet? Re-aired as UK427.
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"Census and Sensibility: Population and Resources" No. UK317
1999 February 20
Scope and Contents note
Gretchen Daily, research scientist, Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University; Tom McMahon, executive director,
Californians for Population Stabilization; and Stephen Moore, visiting scholar, Hoover Institution and director of fiscal
policy studies, Cato Institute, discuss whether our resources are being depleted beyond sustainable limits, or will human
ingenuity continue to support an expanding population. Two thousand years ago, the Earth had about 250 million people. Today
it has six billion people. Is six billion too many for Planet Earth? Re-aired as UK435.
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"Chained to the Past: Race and Integration" No. UK318
1999 February 27
Scope and Contents note
Dinesh d'Souza, media fellow, Hoover Institution, John M. Olin Scholar, American Enterprise Institute, and author, The End
of Racism, and Tamar Jacoby senior fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and author, Someone Else's House, ask
if affirmative action is not the answer, just what is? Wave after wave of immigrant groups has followed a path of increasing
economic success and integration into the American mainstream. African-Americans have not. Why? Is integration the means to
equality or actually the result? Re-aired as UK434.
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"How Green Are Our Values?" No. UK319
1999 March 27
Scope and Contents note
Terry Anderson, Martin and Illie Anderson senior fellow, Hoover Institution, executive director, Political Economy Research
Center, and professor, department of agricultural economics, Montana State University; Peter Gleick, cofounder and president,
Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security; and Randy Hayes, founder and president, Rainforest
Action Network, look for the best way to solve environmental problems. Should environmental issues be given the same weight
in American foreign policy as economic and national security concerns? What are the connections between the global economy
and the global environment? Re-aired as UK431.
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"Adios, IMF? International Monetary Fund" No. UK320
1999 April 3
Scope and Contents note
Vinny Agarwal, professor, department of political science and director, Berkeley Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center,
University of California, Berkeley; Michael McFaul, Peter and Helen Bing research fellow, Hoover Institution and assistant
professor, department of political science, Stanford University; and John Taylor, senior fellow, Hoover Institution and Mary
and Robert Raymond professor of economics, Stanford University, pose the question: Is the IMF's mission still valid, or does
it do more harm than good? The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has hundreds of billions of dollars at its disposal and is
a major player in the economies of nations around the world. But just what does it do?
folder VHS, box 4; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 29
"Politics from the Bleachers: The State of American Politics" No. UK321
1999 April 10
Scope and Contents note
Richard Brody, professor emeritus, department of political science, Stanford University, and Nelson Polsby, director, Institute
of Governmental Studies, and Heller professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley, discuss American politics
today. Will the recent presidential crisis have a long-term impact on the nation and its government or just on the legacy
of one man? Which party will emerge victorious in the elections of the year 2000?
folder VHS, box 4; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 29
"Is It Over Over There? The Future of NATO" No. UK322
1999 April 17
Scope and Contents note
Peter Duignan, senior fellow, Hoover Institution and Melvyn Krauss, William L. Clayton senior fellow, Hoover Institution,
ask what are NATO's new mission, and what justifies America's continued involvement in them? In the past decade we have witnessed
the end of the cold war and the demise of the Soviet Union. Should NATO be the next to go?
folder VHS, box 4; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 29
"Statute with Limitations: The Independent Prosecutor Statute" No. UK323
1999 May 8
Scope and Contents note
David Brady, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, associate dean and Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy professor of political
science, business and the changing environment, and ethics, Graduate School of Business and professor, department of political
science, Stanford University; James J. Brosnahan, senior partner, Morrison & Foerster, Attorneys at Law; and John Donohue,
professor, Stanford Law School, Stanford University, discuss whether Congress should reenact it, reform it, or let it die?
The independent counsel statute was passed by Congress as a response to Watergate. And it has been the subject of controversy
and criticism ever since. This year the statute is up for renewal.
folder VHS, box 5; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 29, folder as UK439: Betacam SP, box 32; D3, box 55
"Take It to the Limits: Milton Friedman on Libertarianism" No. UK324
1999 May 15
Scope and Contents note
Milton Friedman, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution and Nobel laureate in economics, discusses how he balances the
libertarian's desire for a small, less intrusive government with environmental, public safety, food and drug administration,
and other issues. What are the elements of the libertarian movement and how does one of its most illustrious proponents, Milton
Friedman, apply its tenets to issues facing the United States today? Re-aired as UK439
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"A Presidential Report Card: Milton Friedman on the State of the Union" No. UK325
1999 May 22
Scope and Contents note
Milton Friedman, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution and Nobel laureate in economics, grades the achievements of the
Clinton administration and evaluates the programs the president proposed in his 1999 State of the Union address.
folder VHS, box 5; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 29, folder as UK436: Betacam SP, box 32; D3, box 54
"Doing Company Time: The Privatization of Prisons" No. UK326
1999 May 29
Scope and Contents note
Lance Corcoran, vice president, California Correctional Peace Officers Association; J. Mike Quilan, vice chairman of the board,
Prison Realty Trust; and Eric Schlosser, correspondent, Atlantic Monthly, discuss the politics of the privatization of America's
prisons. The United States now has approximately 1.8 million people behind bars. Ninety thousand (about 5 percent) are held
in private prisons. Is 5 percent too many or too few? Re-aired as UK436
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"What's Hate Got to Do with It?" No. UK401
2000 January 1
Scope and Contents note
Pamela Karlan, professor of law, Stanford University Law School; Brian Levin, professor of criminal justice, California State
University, San Bernadino; and John Yoo, professor of law, Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. Are
hate crimes more serious than other crimes requiring greater penalties, or are laws against them an unnecessary addition to
the criminal code? Does hate crime legislation infringe on freedom of speech? Should Congress extend hate crime statutes to
cover more groups or should the federal government leave the issue up to the states?
folder VHS, box 5; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 30; D3, box 49
"They Paved Paradise and Put up a Parking Lot" No. UK402
2000 January 8
Scope and Contents note
Jim Blomquist, representative, Southern California Sierra Club; Gary Garczynski, vice president/secretary, National Association
of Homebuilders and Lynn Scarlett, vice president, research, Reason Foundation and executive director, Reason Public Policy
Institute. Cities and towns across the nation are struggling with problems of future growth and the legacies of past development.
Is it time to wake up from the American dream? Has the post World War II model of suburban development let us down? What does
"smart growth" mean? Should the federal government mandate changes on a national level or only offer guidance to local governments?
folder VHS, box 5; 1", on shelf; Betacam SP, box 30; D3, box 49
"You've Come a Long Way Maybe: Feminism Today" No. UK403
2000 January 22
Scope and Contents note
Stacey Karp, president, San Francisco Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW); Jennifer Roback Morse, research
fellow, Hoover Institution; and Cathy Young, author, Ceasefire: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality.
How has the status of women in America improved over the past forty years of feminism? As past problems have been solved,
have new ones been created? What are the most important issues for the women's movement today? For that matter, just how much
do women agree on what it even means to be a feminist?
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"Field of Genes: Genetically Modified Foods" No. UK404
2000 January 29
Scope and Contents note
Walter Anderson, fellow, Meridian Institute; Peggy Lemaux, associate cooperative extension specialist in plant biotechnology,
University of California, Berkeley; and Henry Miller, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution. Genetically modified crops
and foods are already big business. But are they safe? Have the giant agribusiness companies that have rushed them into the
fields and into our stores overlooked potential dangers posed by genetically engineered crops? Even if scientists do believe
these crops are safe, how do they convince a skeptical public?
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"A Bug's Life: A Conversation with Tom Wolfe" No. UK405
2000 February 5
Scope and Contents note
Noted author Tom Wolfe, author and journalist, discusses the latest findings in the field of neuroscience, which Wolfe believes
is on the threshold of a unified theory that will have an impact as powerful as that of Darwinism a hundred years ago. Over
the past several decades, neuroscientists have been putting together a model of the human brain that suggests that a great
deal of our behavior and motivations are hardwired in our brains. In exploring the question of what human nature is, Tom Wolfe
makes the connection between this cutting edge and religion, philosophy, and psychology.
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"NYPD Blues: Fighting Crime in NYC" No. UK406
2000 February 12
Scope and Contents note
Joseph McNamara, research fellow, Hoover Institution and John O'Sullivan, media fellow, Hoover Institution and editor-at large,
National Review. In New York City, Mayor Rudolph Guiliani created a special police unit to aggressively target street crimes.
Their activities included stopping and searching thousands of "suspicious-looking" people on the street. Are these actions
necessary to clean up the streets, or are they unnecessarily confrontational and even racist? Has Mayor Guiliani's zero tolerance
approach to street crime been responsible for the dramatic reductions in crime in the city, or have his policies done more
harm than good? What lessons should the rest of the nation learn from New York?
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"Forts and Firebreaks: America's Overseas Commitments" No. UK407
2000 February 19
Scope and Contents note
Ken Jowitt, senior fellow, Hoover Institution and professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley, and
Daniel Moran, professor of national security affairs, Naval Post Graduate School, Monterey, California. The cold war is over,
but America's overseas military commitments remain in place. What are we defending the world against? Should we bring the
troops home and let the rest of the world fend for itself? Can we create a new blueprint for international involvement that
makes moral and rational sense?
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"Wiring For Dollars: The Electronic Money Revolution" No. UK408
2000 February 26
Scope and Contents note
Richard W. Rahn, president, Novcon Corporation and author, The End of Money and the Struggle for Financial Privacy, and Peter
A. Thiel, chairman and chief executive officer, Confinity, Inc. Guests predict that, in the near future, most people will
no longer use cash, but rather conduct all financial transactions electronically. These transactions will be instantaneous,
secure, and invisible and will remake the entire global economy. What will happen when governments can no longer control or
tax the flow of capital? According to our guests, nothing less than revolution.
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"Doctoring the System: Health Care Reform" No. UK409
2000 March 25
Scope and Contents note
Mark Hyde, president and chief executive officer, Lifeguard, Inc., San Jose, California; Daniel P. Kessler, research fellow,
Hoover Institution and associate professor of economics, law, and policy, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University;
and Jack Lewin, chief executive officer, California Medical Association. In the last decade, health maintenance organizations
(HMOs) have come to dominate the health care system, in part because they promised to contain soaring health care costs. But
patients are unhappy with reduced treatment options and doctors are unhappy with reduced payments. Will the Patients Bill
of Rights passed by Congress in 1999 solve these problems? Are there more fundamental problems with our health care system
that will require more far-reaching solutions?
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"A Chip Off the Old Bloc: Lessons of Kosovo" No. UK410
2000 April 1
Scope and Contents note
Josef Joffe, visiting fellow, Institute for International Studies, Payne lecturer, Stanford University, foreign/editorial
page editor, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, and contributing editor, Times and Norman Naimark, senior fellow, Hoover Institution
and Robert and Florence McDonnell professor of East European studies, department of history, Stanford University. Why are
the Balkans important to the United States and what was the justification for the war over Kosovo? What mistakes did we make
in our handling of the conflict? What should we do differently the next time there is a crisis in the Balkans?
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"A Level Playing Field" No. UK411
2000 April 8
Scope and Contents note
Bruce Cain, director of governmental studies and professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley; Jerry
Lubenow, director, Citizens' Research Foundation and former San Francisco bureau chief, Newsweek magazine, and Ron Unz, chairman,
Voters' Rights 2000, Proposition 25 Campaign. In 2000, the amount of money spent in political campaigns in the United States
may reach three billion dollars. Is that too much? Have our politicians been corrupted by special interests and their money?
What can be done to reform our system of campaign finance? Should contribution limits be raised or eliminated? Is immediate
public disclosure of contributions the answer? What are the prospects for campaign finance reform in the near future?
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"Russian To Judgement: The Problems of Post-Soviet Russia" No. UK412
2000 April 15
Scope and Contents note
David Holloway, director and senior fellow, Institute for International Studies, Stanford University; Gail Lapidus, senior
fellow, Institute for International Studies, Stanford University; and Condolezza Rice, senior fellow, Hoover Institution.
It's been nearly a decade since Boris Yeltsin brought seventy years of Soviet rule to an end in 1991. Unfortunately, an era
that began with high hopes for the new Russia has become a nightmare for the Russian people. One indicator of the troubles
in Russia: life expectancy is now lower than during the Soviet era. What went wrong in Russia under Yeltsin? What does the
future hold now that Russia has a new leader? Finally, what direction should U.S. relations with Russia take in the next decade?
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"Fear Of International Trying: The Fear of Criminal Court" No. UK413
2000 April 22
Scope and Contents note
Diane Marie Amann, professor of international law, University of California, Davis; William Schabas, professor of international
law, University of Quebec, Montreal, delegate, Rome International Criminal Court Conference, and representative, Coalition
for an International Criminal Court; and Abraham Sofaer, George P. Shultz senior fellow, Hoover Institution. In 1998, at a
United Nations conference in Rome, 120 nations voted in favor of creating the International Criminal Court. Following the
model of the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals after World War II, the ICC would hold individuals responsible for their
roles in grave human rights violations, war crimes, and genocide. Why was the United States one of only seven nations to vote
against the ICC? Does the ICC go against American principles of international law or is the United States trying to hold itself
above the law? What is the risk that American leaders will be tried before the court?
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"Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue: Human Genetic Engineering" No. UK414
2000 April 29
Scope and Contents note
Raymond Dennehy, professor of philosophy, University of San Francisco; Hank Greely, professor of law and professor (by courtesy)
of genetics, Stanford University; and Michael J. Werner, bio ethics counsel and director of Federal Government Relations Biotechnology
Industry Organization (BIO). We are in the midst of a revolution in medicine: human genetic engineering. Like earlier revolutions
in health care, such as surgery with anesthesia or the use of antibiotics, genetic engineering has the potential to greatly
advance the health and well-being of mankind. Yet unlike earlier innovations, human genetic engineering raises serious ethical
questions. It may be one thing for an adult to undergo gene therapy to cure a disease, but what about modifying human embryos
to prevent that disease? And if embryos can be altered to improve health, what about to improve intelligence or to select
physical characteristics such as hair or eye color?
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"Trading On Our Fears: The World Trade Organization" No. UK415
2000 May 6
Scope and Contents note
Kevin Danaher, cofounder, Global Exchange; Melvyn Krauss, William J. Clayton, senior fellow, Hoover Institution; and Jerry
Levine, chairman, Northern California Export Council. In November of 1999, tens of thousands of people took to the streets
of Seattle to protest against the World Trade Organization (WTO). How does the WTO work and why did it raise such a response?
Does the WTO threaten environmental laws, human rights, and national sovereignty or does it provide the best framework for
ensuring that all nations benefit from international trade? Were the protests aimed at the WTO in particular or at the concept
of free trade itself?
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"A Tale of Two Chinas: The Future of Taiwan" No. UK416
2000 May 13
Scope and Contents note
David Liu, director-general, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan; Michel Oksenberg, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, senior
fellow, Asia/Pacific Research Center, Stanford University; and Henry Rowen, senior fellow, Hoover Institution and director,
Asia/Pacific Research Center, Stanford University. What is the future of Taiwan? Deteriorating Taiwan-China relations could
be the first foreign policy crisis for the next American president. What is the history of the Taiwan-China situation? Is
Taiwan an independent state? If so, why does the United States not recognize Taiwan's sovereignty? How should the U.S. respond
if tensions between Taiwan and China increase?
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"Working Hard or Hardly Working" No. UK417
2000 May 20
Scope and Contents note
Ken Jacobs, codirector, San Francisco Living Wage Coalition; Thomas McCurdy, senior fellow, Hoover Institution and professor,
department of economics, Stanford University; and Bishop John C. Wester, auxiliary bishop, Archdiocese of San Francisco. Since
1995, more than forty city and county governments across the country have enacted living wage ordinances. What are living
wage ordinances and how does the living wage differ from the minimum wage? Is a living wage ordinance the best way to help
low-income families or are there more effective methods of helping those in need?
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"No Nukes Is Good Nukes: Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons" No. UK418
2000 July 1
Scope and Contents note
Sumit Ganguly, visiting fellow, Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University and professor,
political science, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York; William Potter, director, Center for Nonproliferation
Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies; and Scott Sagan, codirector, Center for International Security and Cooperation
(CISAC), Stanford University. For decades the United States, the former Soviet Union, China, Britain, and France were the
world's only nuclear powers. But that is changing. When India and Pakistan conducted nuclear weapons tests in 1998, they demonstrated
that they had both the ability and the will to build nuclear weapons. Is the United States doing enough to prevent the proliferation
of nuclear weapons? Are we prepared for the very real possibility that nations such as North Korea and Iran may soon be able
to build nuclear weapons?
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"Sales of a Death Plan: The Death Penalty" No. UK419
2000 July 8
Scope and Contents note
Sam Jordan, director, program to abolish the death penalty, Amnesty International, USA, and Kent Scheidegger, legal director,
Criminal Justice Legal Foundation. Is America on the wrong side of the death penalty debate? The worldwide trend is against
the death penalty: more than half the countries in the world have abolished it, including more than 30 nations since 1990.
So why do we have a death penalty in America? Is it to deter people from committing murder? If so, does it work? Or is the
death penalty fundamentally a matter of justice, of punishing appropriately those guilty of the worst crimes?
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"The Economy's New Clothes: Milton Friedman on the New Economy" No. UK420
2000 July 15
Scope and Contents note
Milton Friedman, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution and Nobel laureate in economics. Internet technologies are transforming
the way we communicate and do business. But, are we, as some claim, in the midst of the "long boom," a new era of unparalleled
prosperity driven by unprecedented technological change or are we merely enjoying a bull market that has yet to begin its
inevitable correction? What does the current economic boom have in common with the "Roaring Twenties" and how can we avoid
an economic contraction as severe as the great depression?
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"Milton's Paradise Gained: Milton Friedman on the Federal Budget" No. UK421
2000 July 22
Scope and Contents note
Milton Friedman, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution and Nobel laureate in economics. What the next president decides
to do with the federal budget will impact the lives of each and every one of us. For example, what should the next president
do with the current budget surplus, pay down the national debt, set aside money to strengthen social security, or cut taxes?
Milton Friedman answers these questions as well as addresses how the next president should approach the issues of education,
health care, and the future of social security.
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"That '70's Show: The Meaning of the 1970s" No. UK422
2000 July 29
Scope and Contents note
David Frum, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute and author, How We Got Here: The 70's: The Decade that Brought You Modern Life,
and David Kennedy, Donald J. McLachlan professor of history, Stanford University. Some argue that all of the major cultural
trends that we associate with modern America entered the mainstream in the 1970s. What was unique about the 1970s? Should
we emphasize the impact of '70s over that of the '50s and '60s?
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"This Old House: The U.S. House of Representatives" No. UK423
2000 August 5
Scope and Contents note
Newt Gingrich, distinguished visiting fellow, Hoover Institution, former speaker, United States House of Representatives,
and Nelson Polsby, director, Institute of Government Studies and professor of political science, University of California,
Berkeley. The House of Representatives is a venerable institution, now more than 200 years old. Is the structure of the institution
itself appropriate to the demands of our modern, rapidly changing democracy? What reforms did Newt Gingrich and the Republican
Congress of 1994 make to the House? Were his reforms just partisan fix-it jobs or were they much-needed repairs for the long-term?
Is it even possible to make long-term changes to the House?
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"Primary Colors: The Presidential Primary System" No. UK424
2000 August 12
Scope and Contents note
Newt Gingrich, distinguished visiting fellow, Hoover Institution, former speaker, United States House of Representatives;
Shanto Iyengar, professor of communication and political science, Stanford University; and Nelson Polsby, director, Institute
of Government Studies and professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley. In the 2000 presidential campaign,
Gore and Bush locked up their nominations almost six months before their parties' conventions. The Democratic and Republican
national conventions, formerly full of high-stakes drama as the party delegates chose their presidential tickets, are now
little more than formalities. Is the presidential primary system in need of reform or is it working just fine? Does the front-loading
of the primary season make it impossible for a dark horse candidate to build a campaign? Do the political parties have too
much power in the process or not enough?
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"The Wedding Zinger: The Definition of Marriage" No. UK425
2000 August 19
Scope and Contents note
Mike German, general counsel, Log Cabin Republicans of California; Andy Pugno, chief of staff, California state senator Pete
Knight; and Felicia Park Rogers, executive director, Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE). The traditional notion
of marriage, that of a union between one man and one woman, goes back thousands of years in cultures from around the world.
But at the beginning of the 21st century, a debate is building in this country over the definition of marriage, specifically
over the issue of same sex marriage. Are two men, or two women, in a committed relationship entitled to the sanctions and
legal benefits of marriage? What roles will popular sentiment and judicial activism have in the struggle to redefine marriage?
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"From Whom the Bell Tolls: The Spanish Civil War" No. UK426
2000 August 26
Scope and Contents note
Christopher Hitchens, professor of liberal studies, New School for Social Research and contributing editor, Vanity Fair and
The Nation, and Ronald Radosh, senior research associate, Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies, George Washington University
and coauthor, Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union and Spanish Civil War. In 1937, thousands of Americans from all walks of life
volunteered to fight in a poorly equipped army overseas, with no support from their government. What was it about the Spanish
Civil War that inspired such idealism and courage? And was the fight to defend the Spanish Republic against General Franco
and the power of international fascism as pure and noble as it seemed to these Americans? We examine the role that Soviet
aid and influence, under Stalin's direction, played in supporting or undermining the republican cause.
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"The Ravaged Century: The 20th Century in Review" No. UK501
2000 March 28
Scope and Contents note
Robert Conquest, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution and author, Reflections of Europe on a Ravaged Century and Christopher
Hitchens, professor of liberal studies, New School for Social Research, and contributing editor, Vanity Fair and The Nation.
For much of the one hundred years just past, the forces of freedom and democracy found themselves at war with two books, Das
Kapital, by Karl Marx, which, of course, gave rise to Communism, and Mein Kampf, by Adolph Hitler, which gave rise to Nazism.
Nazism and communism, how is it that these two totalitarian ideologies gained such a hold on tens of millions of people? If
you had to decide the matter as a historical question, which one, Nazism or communism, did more damage to the fabric of our
civilization?
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"Terms of Endowment: The National Endowment for the Arts" No. UK502
2000 May 25
Scope and Contents note
Alonzo King, choreographer and artistic director, Lines Contemporary Ballet; John Kreidler, executive director of Cultural
Initiative, Silicon Valley; and John Podhoretz, columnist, New York Post. In 1965, Congress established the National Endowment
for the Arts, declaring that it was "necessary and appropriate" for the government to fund the arts. We examine the question
of whether the NEA really is "necessary and appropriate." What are the consequences of government awarding money to individual
artists? What role does the NEA play in arts education? In short, has the NEA been a success or not?
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"Making the Grade: Charter Schools" No. UK503
2000 June 26
Scope and Contents note
Lauren Dutton, vice president of development western region, Edison Schools; Luis Huerta, researcher, Policy Analysis for
California Education (PACE); and Don Shalvey, chief executive officer, University Public Schools. Charter schools are public
schools that are allowed to operate outside the normal education bureaucracy. Do charter schools work? We examine this growing
movement and look at the evidence: do charter schools outperform normal public schools? If so, why? Who goes to charter schools?
And what happens when for profit companies run charter schools?
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"Corporate U: Corporate Funding of Academic Research" No. UK504
2000 June 28
Scope and Contents note
Mildred Cho, senior research fellow, Center for Biomedical Ethics, Stanford University; Donald Dahlsten, associate dean of
the College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley; and Chris Scott, assistant vice chancellor for research,
University of California, San Francisco. Spurred in part by a congressional act which allowed universities to patent the results
of federally-funded research, corporate contributions to academic research programs grew from $850 million in 1985 to over
$4 billion by the early 1990s. In return corporations receive licenses to the patents generated by that research. Do these
new academic-corporate relationships threaten the traditional functions of our universities to educate and to serve the public
good by bringing the fruits of research to the public sooner and more efficiently?
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"Peeping Coms: Privacy on the Internet" No. UK505
2000 June 28
Scope and Contents note
Glee Harrah Cady, vice president, global public policy, Privada, Inc.; Karen Coyle, activist, Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility; and Deborah Pierce, staff attorney for privacy and identity, The Electronic Frontier Foundation. Congress
is considering legislation that establishes a legal right to internet privacy. Many feel, however, that the issue is already
settled and that it is impossible to guarantee privacy on the net. How is our privacy compromised when we surf the web? How
is the internet industry responding to demands for privacy? Can individuals protect their own privacy online or is government
regulation needed?
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"Colombian (White) Powder Keg: U.S. Aid to Colombia" No. UK506
2000 August 17
Scope and Contents note
Paul Boeker, president, Institute of the Americas; Malthea Falco, president, Drug Strategies; and Doug Ose, United States
House of Representatives (Republican, California). It is estimated that Colombia produces 90 percent of the cocaine and 65
percent of the heroin consumed in the United States. In July of 2000, with bipartisan support, President Clinton signed a
$1.3 billion aid package for Colombia to help that country with its war on drugs. The package includes providing the Colombian
army with military helicopters and U.S. military advisors. Will the aid package succeed in stemming the flow of drugs from
Colombia, or will it entangle the United States in Colombia's bloody civil war? Will American soldiers lose their lives fighting
the drug war on Colombia? Is this a necessary escalation of our own war on drugs or a bad idea?
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"Whose Genes: Patenting the Human Gene" No. UK507
2000 July 13
Scope and Contents note
John Barton, George E. Osborne professor of law, Stanford Law School; Hugh Rienhoff, founder and chief executive officer,
DNA Sciences, Inc.; and Seth Shulman, author, Owning the Future. Over the past several years, biotechnology companies, in
a race to find possible new drugs, have deluged the U.S. Patent Office with tens of thousands of requests for patents on pieces
of human DNA. Are gene patents being granted inappropriately, before gene functions are fully understood? Are gene patents
encouraging or hindering the progress of medicine and the development of new drugs? Some critics have a broader objection
to gene patents, arguing that it is inappropriate to give a company the exclusive right to genetic material that is inside
us all. Are gene patents, as they suggest, patents on life?
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"A Crack in the Ice: The Legacy of the Reykjavik Summit" No. UK508
2000 August 21
Scope and Contents note
Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor, The New Yorker, and George Schultz, Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford distinguished fellow, Hoover
Institution. In 1986, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met in Reykjavik, Iceland, to discuss nuclear arms control. The
American and Russian leaders negotiated boldly, pushing each other far past the limits of previous arms control agreements.
Reagan and Gorbachev were soon close to an agreement to eliminate all nuclear weapons. The stopping point: Gorbachev insisted
that America's Strategic Defense Initiative, "Star Wars" be scrapped. Reagan refused, and no agreement was reached. What is
the legacy of the Reykjavik Summit? Was it a failure, a historic opportunity squandered? Or was it beginning of the end of
the cold war?
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"Turn Out the Lights, the Party's Over: Why Socialism Failed in the United States" No. UK509
2000 August 17
Scope and Contents note
Martin Carnoy, professor of education and economics, Stanford University, and Seymour Martin Lipset, senior fellow, Hoover
Institution and coauthor, It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States. Why did socialism fail to become
a major force in American society? Every major first world country has been governed by a socialist or social democratic party
at some point in the past century except the United States. Does socialism's failure in the United States stem from strategic
mistakes made by socialist leaders? Or has socialism always been fundamentally incompatible with American culture?
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"Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: The Clinton Legacy" No. UK510
2000 August 21
Scope and Contents note
Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor, The New Yorker, and Christopher Hitchens, professor of liberal studies, New School for Social
Research, New York, and contributing editor, Vanity Fair and The Nation. What will be the legacy of William Jefferson Clinton?
Will the Lewinski scandal and the impeachment define his presidency, or will people set those events aside and concentrate
on his political achievements or lack thereof? How serious was Clinton's misconduct in office? Was his domestic economic and
political agenda a success or a failure? And how should we rate the foreign policy record of the Clinton administration?
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"Patent on the Fritz: Patenting the New Economy" No. UK511
2000 July 13
Scope and Contents note
Margaret Jane Radin, William Benjamin Scott and Luna M. Scott professor of law, Stanford Law School; Seth Shulman, author,
Owning the Future; and David Weitz, partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati. Is our patent system failing the new information
economy? Critics say that the way the patents are being granted on computer software and on internet business methods threatens
to impede technology and commerce rather than encourage it. Can industry resolve intellectual property problems on its own?
Should we overhaul the patent system or just the U.S. Patent Office?
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"The Battle for Britain: Britain and the European Union" No. UK512
2000 August 21
Scope and Contents note
Tony Baldry, member of parliament, House of Commons, Great Britain; Robert Conquest, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution,
and author, Reflections on a Ravaged Century; and Christopher Hitchens, professor of liberal studies, New School for Social
Research, New York, and contributing editor, Vanity Fair and The Nation. Should Britain continue on the path towards political
and economic integration within the European Union? Many in Britain are skeptical of the benefits of political unification
with continental Europe. What does Britain stand to gain or lose by ceding sovereignty to the European Union? Would Britain's
interests be better served by strengthening its special relationship with the United States?
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"How Greedy Is My Valley: Techno-libertarians in Silicon Valley" No. UK513
2000 August 17
Scope and Contents note
Paulina Borsook, author, Cyberselfish; John McCaskey, cofounder, E.piphany, Inc.; and T. J. Rodgers, chief executive officer,
Cypress Semiconductor. Why are so many in Silicon Valley, from the cubicles to the boardrooms, likely to be libertarians,
or techno-libertarians, as some have called them? What do these techno- libertarians believe about the role of government
and entrepreneurship? How will they use the massive wealth that's been created in Silicon Valley during the past several decades?
Are they promoting the public welfare or shirking responsibility by not participating in the political process?
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"Up in Arms Over the Second Amendment: The Meaning of the Second Amendment" No. UK514
2000 October 3
Scope and Contents note
Jack Rakove, professor of history, Stanford University, and Eugene Volokh, professor of law, University of California, Los
Angeles. Does the Second Amendment to the Constitution confer an individual right to bear arms or not? Why is there so much
disagreement about the meaning of this amendment? What does the historical evidence tell us about the intentions of the framers
of the Constitution in writing this amendment? To what extent does our interpretation of the Second Amendment effect efforts
at gun control today?
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"Elephants on Parade: Conservatism in Modern America" No. UK515
2000 October 3
Scope and Contents note
David Kennedy, Donald J. McLachlan professor of history, Stanford University and Pulitzer prize winning author, Freedom From
Fear: The American People in Depression and War and Sam Tanenhaus, author, Whittaker Chambers: A Biography. For the last half
of the twentieth century, the conservative movement in the United States was defined by two prominent doctrines: first, containment
of the Soviet Union and second, an effort to roll back the expansion of the federal government that began with the New Deal.
With the first adversary out of existence, and the second in retreat, what does American conservatism stand for today? We
look back to the roots of the conservative movement, its guiding principles, and its leading proponents, including William
F. Buckley, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan. We look to the future of American conservatism: Will it remain a unified movement
or will internal tensions break it apart?
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"The Thin Blue Line: United Nations Peacekeeping" No. UK516
2000 September 27
Scope and Contents note
Abraham D. Sofaer, George P. Shultz senior fellow, Hoover Institution and Stephen Stedman, senior research scholar, Center
for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University. Are peacekeeping missions undertaken by the United Nations
a good idea? Is there a difference between peacekeeping and peacemaking? What sort of conflicts should the UN become involved
in and which should it avoid? What are the alternatives to UN peacekeeping missions? Why have the number of UN missions increased
so dramatically since the beginning of the 1990s?
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"Reading, Writing, and Arithme-Click: Computers in Education" No. UK517
2000 September 27
Scope and Contents note
Charles Garvin, chief executive officer, Studyserver/Imagicast; William L. Rukeyser, coordinator, Learning in the Real World;
and Alan Warhaftig, teacher, Fairfax Visual Arts Magnet School, Los Angeles Unified School District. Will computers revolutionize
education or not? President Clinton called for connecting every classroom in America to the internet. School districts across
the country are spending billions of dollars on computers for the classroom. Will all of this effort pay off or is it misguided?
Just how should computers be used in the classroom? Is it possible that computers can actually harm the educational process?
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"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: The EPA and Cost-Benefit Analysis" No. UK518
2000 October 25
Scope and Contents note
Bill Curtiss, senior director, programs, Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund; M. Reed Hopper, principal attorney, Pacific Legal
Foundation; and James Strock, former California secretary for environmental protection. Almost everyone agrees on the importance
of keeping our air and water pollution-free. But how much are we willing to pay or for what measure of protection? The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has been criticized for setting clean air standards without regard for the costs of meeting those
standards. Critics of this approach argue that failing to weigh costs and benefits could threaten economic growth, which has
its own implications for public health. How should the EPA set its standards? Can cost-benefit analysis lead to standards
that are both efficient and effective?
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"Si Change: The Transformation of Mexico" No. UK519
2000 October 25
Scope and Contents note
Denise Dresser, professor of political science, Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, and Stephen Haber, Peter and Helen
Bing fellow, Hoover Institution and professor of political science and Latin American history, Stanford University. In 2000,
Vicente Fox became the first opposition candidate ever to win the Mexican presidency. His election was preceded by a decade
and a half of economic and political reforms in Mexico. How significant are these changes? What are the prospects of resolving
some of Mexico's enduring problems, including political corruption, entrenched poverty, and a state-controlled economy? What
challenges will Fox have to overcome to bring Mexico into a new era of prosperity and freedom?
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"Lost for Words: The Decline of Political Rhetoric" No. UK520
2000 November 16
Scope and Contents note
Andrew Ferguson, senior editor, Weekly Standard. In 1946 George Orwell wrote a famous essay deploring the decline in the level
of modern political discourse. Many would argue that in the following fifty years, the problem has only gotten worse. But
why is this the case? Our politicians all have teams of professional speech writers and pollsters, working with focus group
data and the latest research to figure out just what the public wants to hear. So why doesn't it work? Why does the political
discourse of our modern politicians pale against those of our forefathers?
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"So Sue Me: Tort Reform" No. UK521
2000 November 16
Scope and Contents note
Deborah R. Hensler, professor of dispute resolution, Stanford Law School; H. Joseph Escher III, attorney at law and partner,
Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabin; and Thomas J. Brandi, attorney at law and president, Consumer Attorneys of California.
Does our system of tort law need to be reformed or would reforms restrict a fundamental right to legal redress? Are trial
lawyers taking advantage of the system, to the detriment of both citizens that have been harmed and the companies that are
sued? Are limits on punitive damage awards and restrictions on class-action lawsuits good ideas or not?
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"On the American Plan: Foreign Policy" No. UK522
2000 November 28
Scope and Contents note
Ken Jowitt, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, and professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley; Michael
Nacht, dean and professor of public policy, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley; and Jane
Wales, president, World Affairs Council of Northern California. From the Monroe Doctrine through the Truman Doctrine, from
containment to détente, the principles behind America's boldest foreign policy initiatives were straightforward and easy to
understand. These simple principles told the rest of the world what to expect from the United States and what we expected
from the rest of the world. What were the principles behind American foreign policy in the 1990s? Did President Clinton apply
those principles rigorously or haphazardly? How can President Bush do better?
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"NMD on Target? National Missile Defense" No. UK523
2000 November 28
Scope and Contents note
Frank Gaffney, president, Center for Security Policy; Jonathan Granoff, Alliance for World Security; and Dean Wilkening, science
program director, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University. Should the United States build a
missile defense (NMD) or not? What are the technical challenges that NMD must overcome in order to be effective? Would a working
missile defense system protect against large-scale attacks from a nation like Russia or China? Or would NMD only work against
a limited strike by a smaller rogue nation or terrorist group? Is NMD worth the money it would cost or does it needlessly
destabilize our relationship with Russia?
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"Bye-Bye Bilingual: Bilingual Education" No. UK524
2000 December 13
Scope and Contents note
Patricia Gandara, professor of education, University of California, Davis, and Ron Unz, chair, English for the Children. Does
bilingual education, teaching non-English speaking students academic subjects in their native language while they learn English,
help students or hold them back? Should we use the English immersion method instead? Are the recent bans on bilingual education
in California and Arizona a mistake or the beginnings of a national trend?
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"Power to the People: Deregulation" No. UK525
2000 December 13
Scope and Contents note
Gary Ackerman, executive director, Western Power Trading Forum; Frank Wolak, professor of economics, Stanford University,
and chairman, Market Surveillance Committee of the California Independent System Operator; and Carl Wood, commissioner, California
Public Utilities Commission. In 1996, California began the process of deregulating its electric utilities, a process closely
watched nationwide, as twenty-five other states also move toward deregulation. The results thus far in California: a power
crisis--electricity shortages, rolling blackouts, utilities on the verge of bankruptcy, and rising rates for customers. Was
utility deregulation just poorly managed in California or are the electric utilities fundamentally different than industries
that have benefited from deregulation, such as, airlines and telephone? Will the California power crisis bring the national
movement toward energy deregulation to a halt or not?
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"Pay It Backwards: The Federal Budget Surplus" No. UK526
2000 December 13
Scope and Contents note
Milton Friedman, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution, and recipient of the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize for economic sciences.
What should be done with the federal budget surplus? Does it make sense to spend the surplus on new government programs? What
benefits the economy more, cutting taxes or paying down the national debt? Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman offers
his advice.
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"Taking the Initiative: The Initiative Process" No. UK527
2000 December 13
Scope and Contents note
Bruce Cain, director, Institute of Governmental Studies and professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley,
and Ron Unz, chairman, English for the Children. Is the ballot initiative good or bad for American democracy? Today citizens
in twenty-four states have the right to petition their fellow citizens in the law. Initiatives that are approved by voters
become law, bypassing the normal legislative process. What are the benefits of this sort of direct democracy? And what are
the dangers?
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"The High and the Mighty: The War on Drugs" No. UK528
2000 December 13
Scope and Contents note
Milton Friedman, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution, and recipient, 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize for economic sciences,
and Pete Wilson, distinguished visiting fellow, Hoover Institution and former governor of California. America has spent three
decades and hundreds of billions of dollars fighting a national war on drugs. Has the war on drugs been an effective way of
dealing with America's drug problem or does it cause more harm than good? How should we weigh the moral and utilitarian arguments
for and against the war on drugs; in other words, do we need to intensify the war on drugs or is it time to declare a cease-fire?
folder VHS, box 9; Betacam SP, box 35; Digital Betacam, box 66
"Emission Impossible: Implementing the Kyoto Protocol" No. UK529
2001
Scope and Contents note
Tom Athanasiou, author, Divided Planet: The Ecology of Rich and Poor; William Burns, senior associate, The Pacific Institute
for Studies in Development, Environment and Security; and John Weyant, convening lead author, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change and professor of management science and engineering, Stanford University. In 1997, spurred on by mounting pressure
from the scientific community concerned with global warming, representatives of over 170 nations met in Kyoto, Japan, and
agreed to reduce greenhouse emissions to 1990 levels by 2012. For its part, the United States has insisted on several important
changes including counting forests as carbon sinks against CO2 emissions and buying emissions credits from other countries.
Are these good ideas or not? What's the best way to implement the Kyoto Protocol and can it be done without serious harm to
the U.S. economy?
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"Disharmony of the Spheres: Science and Religion" No. UK530
2001
Scope and Contents note
Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J., astronomer, The Vatican Observatory and curator, The Vatican Meteorite Collection, and Timothy
Ferris, author and host, The Creation of the Universe. In the 17th century, the Catholic Church put the astronomer Galileo
on trial before the Inquisition for espousing his theory that the earth revolved around the sun. For many, this trial marks
the beginning of a long separation between western science and western religion. In the 21st century, is this rift healing,
or is there an inherent conflict between religion and science? If so, why? Do the findings of modern science have religious
implications? And what does it mean to be both a person of religion and science?
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"Exorcizing the Vote: Voting Reform" No. UK531
2001
Scope and Contents note
David W. Brady, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, Bowen K. and Janice Arthur McCoy professor of political science and ethics,
Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, and professor of political science, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford
University, and Pamela S. Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery professor of public interest, Stanford University Law School.
What did the election fiasco of 2000 tell us about the need for voting reform? Is the American voting system, as many suggest,
antiquated and in need of a complete overhaul? Are national voting standards needed, and if so, does the federal government
even have the authority to implement them?
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"Hippocrates Call Your Office: Medical Ethics and the End of Life" No. UK532
2001
Scope and Contents note
Stephen Jamison, executive director, World Federation of Right to Die Societies and Wesley J. Smith, author, Culture of Death:
The Assault on Medical Ethics in America. 2,500 years ago, the Greek physician Hippocrates wrote what we now call the Hippocratic
Oath as a guide of conduct for the medical profession. The oath enjoins physicians to do no harm. Are modern medical practices
coming into conflict with traditional medical ethics? How should we evaluate physician-assisted suicide or futile treatment
theory? What are the benefits and what are the dangers of a new bio ethic that emphasizes the right to die as much as the
right to life?
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"Death and Taxes: The Estate Tax" No. UK533
2001
Scope and Contents note
Thomas J. Campbell, professor of law, Stanford University and former member, United States House of Representatives, and Richard
Lyman, J. E. Wallace Sterling professor in the humanities, president, Stanford University, and senior fellow, Institute for
International Studies. Should the estate tax be repealed or not? President Bush and Republicans in congress are working on
legislation that would roll back and ultimately repeal the estate tax. On the other hand, a group of the wealthiest Americans,
including Warren Buffet and George Soros, have petitioned the President to keep the estate tax. Is the estate tax an unfair
tax on already taxed income or is it a valuable tool of meritocracy?
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"The World at (Trade) War: The Use of Economic Sanctions" No. UK534
2001
Scope and Contents note
Richard Becker, western region codirector, International Action Center; David Cortright, president, Fourth Freedom Forum and
coauthor, The Sanctions Decade; and Michael Nacht, dean, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley.
Are economic sanctions effective as a tool of foreign policy? Have sanctions and embargoes against such countries such as
Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Cuba worked or do they needlessly punish the civilian populations of those countries? Is it possible
to engage in smart sanctions to put pressure on hostile regimes while allowing humanitarian aid to continue?
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"Under the Skin: Shelby Steele on Race in America" No. UK535
2001
Scope and Contents note
Shelby Steele, research fellow, Hoover Institution, and author, A Dream Deferred: The Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in
America. In 1963 Martin Luther King declared: "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they
will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Why then do most African-American leaders
today support affirmative action, which explicitly judges people on the basis of their race? Does affirmative action help
or hurt African-Americans? Why have political ideology and racial identity become so intertwined? How should we address issues
such as the education gap and the breakdown of families in the African-American community?
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"Globalization and its Discontents: The Impact of Globalization" No. UK536
2001
Scope and Contents note
Kevin Danaher, cofounder, Global Exchange, and Adrian Wooldridge, coauthor, A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise
of Globalization. Who benefits from the increasing integration of the world economy? Are Americans better or worse off as
a result of globalization? Are transnational corporations exploiting workers in developing countries or providing them with
valuable jobs? Is globalization inevitable or can a rising tide of protest, such as we've seen against the WTO and the World
Bank, actually reverse it?
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"Putting the SAT to the Test: The SATs and College Admission" No. UK537
2001
Scope and Contents note
M.R.C. Greenwood, chancellor, University of California, Santa Cruz; Jay Rosner, executive director, The Princeton Review Foundation;
and Martin Trow, professor of public policy, University of California, Berkeley. Richard Atkinson, president of the University
of California system, has called for eliminating the use of the Scholastic Aptitude Test in college admissions, saying that
"America's overemphasis on the SAT is compromising our educational system." Is President Atkinson right or not? Is the SAT
an objective measure of the ability to succeed in college? Or is the SAT biased, as some argue, against minority students?
And if universities drop the SAT, what would they use in its place?
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"O Big Brother, Where Art Thou? The Regulation of Cyberspace" No. UK538
2001
Scope and Contents note
Rich Karlgaard, publisher, Forbes Magazine and Lawrence Lessig, professor of law, Stanford University and author, Code and
Other Laws of Cyberspace. In his novel 1984, George Orwell imagined a world in which technology allowed a totalitarian regime
to maintain complete control over every aspect of citizens' lives. Is it possible that the same danger lurks in the technology
of the Internet? Or is cyberspace actually a revolutionary tool of individual freedom, as many have claimed? In other words,
is the technology of the Internet inherently libertarian or will new technology turn the internet into a space of government
and corporate control?
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"Making a Federalist Case: Federalism and the Supreme Court" No. UK539
2001
Scope and Contents note
Akhil Reed Amar, Southmayd professor of law, Yale Law School, and Douglas W. Kmiec, Caruso Family chair in law, Pepperdine
Law School. For most of the twentieth century, the United States Congress relied on two sections of the Constitution, the
interstate commerce clause and the Fourteenth Amendment, to enact national regulations on everything from civil rights to
air pollution. Since the mid-1990s, however, the Supreme Court has begun striking down congressional legislation based on
these two sections of the Constitution. Is this trend Constitutional Revolution in which the Supreme Court is asserting its
power at the expense of Congress? Or is the Court reaffirming the principle of federalism and returning to a strict reading
of the Constitution?
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"Sudan Impact: The Crisis in Sudan" No. UK601
2001 May 21
Scope and Contents note
Bishop Macram Gassis, bishop of the Diocese of El Obeid, Sudan, and J. Stephen Morrison, director, Africa Program, Center
for Strategic and International Studies. An eighteen year civil war between the Arab north and the African south has created
a humanitarian crisis in Sudan. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said of Sudan, "There is perhaps no greater tragedy on
the face of the earth today." President George W. Bush has promised that under his administration, foreign involvement would
take place only where direct American interests are at stake. Does the tragedy in Sudan warrant direct U.S. involvement? If
so, just what can, and should, the United States do?
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"Darwin's Ghost: Sociobiology and Human Behavior" No. UK602
2001 June 1
Scope and Contents note
Guests: Paul Ehrlich, Bing professor of population studies, Stanford University; Jeffry Schloss, chair of the biology department,
Westmont College and author, Altruism and Altruistic Love; and Lionel Tiger, Charles Darwin professor of anthropology, Rutgers
University and author, The Decline of Males. What can evolutionary science tell us about human behavior? During the past thirty
years, biologists, anthropologists, and psychologists have been applying Darwinian concepts, such as natural selection and
survival of the fittest, to the study of behavior. Are social characteristics, such as aggression, love, and courtship determined
by our evolutionary past and encoded into our genes like physical attributes, such as walking upright or hair color? Are we
slaves to our DNA, or does genetic determinism fail to explain fully what it means to be human?"
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"It's the Biology, Stupid: The Policy Implications of Sociobiology" No. UK603
2001 June 1
Scope and Contents note
Paul Ehrlich, Bing professor of population studies, Stanford University and author, Human Natures; Jeffry Schloss, chair of
the biology department, Westmont College and author, Altruism and Altruistic Love; and Lionel Tiger, Charles Darwin professor
of anthropology, Rutgers University and author, The Decline of Males. Behavioral scientists have begun to argue that the findings
of evolutionary science should have legal, political, and moral consequences. If behaviors such as procreation, aggression,
or homosexuality are determined more by our biology than by our free will, then it is foolish, these scientists argue, to
ignore that evidence. Does evolutionary science have any place in public policy? How useful is the knowledge of our biological
evolution in determining the values of our legal, social, and political system?
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"Enemy at the Gates: The War on Terrorism" No. UK604
2001 September 25
Scope and Contents note
George P. Shultz, Thomas and Susan Ford distinguished fellow, Hoover Institution and U.S. Secretary of State, 1982-1989. We
asked George Shultz, Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan, to help us put America's war on terrorism in historical,
political, and moral context. What lessons can be drawn from previous attempts to deal with terrorism? What should we make
of the complaints leveled against the United States by terrorist organizations? What will it take to win the war on terrorism
and how long will it last?
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"Economics and War: The Economic Impact of the War on Terrorism" No. UK605
2001 September 25
Scope and Contents note
Milton Friedman, senior research fellow, Hoover Institution and Nobel laureate in economic sciences. The September 11 attacks
in New York and Washington have already cost America thousands of lives and billions of dollars in damages. But those are
only the direct costs. How severe and how lasting will the impact be on our economy as a whole? And how will new burdens on
the federal government, including a military buildup and a bailout of the airline industry, affect fiscal policy? Should the
government cut taxes or increase spending to get the economy moving again?
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"Waging Modern War" No. UK606
2001 June 20
Scope and Contents note
Wesley K. Clark, General, U.S. Army (retired) and former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. General Wesley K. Clark served
as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO from 1997 to 2000 and directed the allied war effort in Kosovo in 1999. What lessons has
General Clark drawn from the war over Kosovo? How should the use of force be applied in an era of competing demands from the
public, domestic political leaders, and international allies? Did this war prove that the United States can rely on technology
to apply force without casualties, or did it prove that ground troops, now as ever, are critical to achieving military objectives?
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"Wilson's Ghost: Robert S. McNamara" No. UK607
2001 June 20
Scope and Contents note
Robert S. McNamara, U.S. secretary of defense, 1961-1968, and coauthor, Wilson's Ghost. More than eighty years ago, President
Woodrow Wilson presided over the U.S. entry into the First World War, promising that it would be "the war to end all war."
Wilson promoted "peace without victory" and the creation of a League of Nations with the power to enforce the peace thereafter.
At that time, Wilson's vision was dismissed by European and American leaders alike as naive idealism. Today, however, Robert
S. McNamara, former U.S. secretary of defense, believes that Wilson's vision is essential to reducing the risk of conflict
and war in the twenty-first century.
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"Donkey Kong: The Future of Democratic Party" No. UK608
2001 May 21
Scope and Contents note
David Kennedy, Donald J. McLachlan professor of history, Stanford University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Freedom from
Fear; and Susan Rasky, senior lecturer, Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, and former correspondent,
New York Times. In 1936, Franklin Delano Roosevelt won reelection to a second term in one of the biggest landslides in American
history. The outcome was a clear mandate in support of FDR's New Deal: an agenda of large-scale social and economic programs
administered by the federal government. Sixty years later, in 1996, William Jefferson Clinton also won reelection to a second
term, after declaring earlier that year that "the era of big government was over." How did the Democratic Party get from FDR
to Bill Clinton? Now that the Democrats are out of the White House, will they continue the move to the center that Clinton
initiated, or will they try to invigorate the traditional liberal base of the Democratic Party? Does that traditional base
still exist?
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"Hot, Hot, Hot: The Future of Nuclear Energy" No. UK609
2001 June 1
Scope and Contents note
Dan Hirsch, president, Committee to Bridge the Gap and former director, Adlai Stevenson Program on Nuclear Policy, University
of California, Santa Cruz; A. David Rossin, former U.S. assistant secretary for nuclear power; and Fred Wehling, senior research
associate, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies. Is nuclear power making a comeback?
More than twenty years after the accident at Three Mile Island and fifteen years after the reactor explosion at Chernobyl,
the image of nuclear power seems to be changing once again. President Bush has included nuclear energy as part of his national
energy plan. The nuclear industry has begun to promote nuclear energy as the clean energy alternative. And a recent poll showed
that almost 60 percent of Californians favor nuclear power. So just how safe is nuclear power today? Does it make economic
sense to start building new nuclear plants? And what do we do with the radioactive waste?
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"You Say You Want a Reparation: Reparations for Slavery" No. UK610
2001 May 21
Scope and Contents note
Alfred Brophy, professor of law, University of Alabama and John McWhorter, associate professor of linguistics, University
of California, Berkeley, and author, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America. In recent years a movement has been
calling for the United States government to pay reparations for slavery in America. What does the federal government owe the
descendants of slaves in this country? Should such reparations be viewed as a gesture of recognition for past wrongs or as
an attempt to actually correct those past wrongs? Would payment of reparations erase the lingering economic problems in the
African-American community or would they do more harm than good? And if reparations are a good idea, who should receive them,
all African Americans or just those descended from slaves?
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"The Good Doctor? The Case of Henry Kissinger" No. UK611
2001 July 23
Scope and Contents note
Christopher Hitchens, professor of liberal studies, New School for Social Research and author, The Trial of Henry Kissinger;
and John O'Sullivan, editor-in-chief, United Press International and editor-at-large, National Review. To what extent are
government leaders personally responsible for the outcomes of foreign policy and war? We review the career of Henry Kissinger,
one of the most colorful statesmen of the twentieth century. Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Presidential Medal
of Freedom, Kissinger served as national security adviser under Presidents Nixon and Ford during two pivotal events in American
history, the cold war and the Vietnam War. Is Kissinger guilty, as some have charged, of war crimes and crimes against humanity
for his conduct during that era? Or should he be regarded as a bold defender of American freedom during a time of crisis?
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"Dire Straits: Whither Japan?" No. UK612
2001 August 31
Scope and Contents note
Steven Clemons, executive vice president, New America Foundation; T. J. Pempel, director, Institute of East Asian Studies,
University of California, Berkeley; and Steven Vogel, associate professor of political science, University of California,
Berkeley. Following World War II, Japan reinvented itself both politically, as it adopted the institutions of democratic government,
and economically, as it became a dominant producer and exporter of consumer goods. These reforms were so successful that,
ten years ago, experts were predicting that Japan would overtake the United States as an economic superpower. Instead, Japan
experienced a decade of recession and economic stagnation that continues still. What happened? Is this a sign of serious structural
problems in Japan's political and economic institutions? In other words, is it time for Japan to reinvent itself once again?
If so, how should the United States alter its relationship with a new Japan?
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"The Future of Europe" No. UK613
2001 July 20
Scope and Contents note
Timothy Garton Ash, senior fellow, Hoover Institution and fellow, St. Antony's College, Oxford, England, and John O'Sullivan,
editor-in-chief United Press International and editor-at-large, National Review. In 1946, in the wake of two world wars that
left the continent devastated, Winston Churchill famously declared, "We must build a kind of United States of Europe." But
for a continent of 500 million people and several dozen nation states with singular histories, cultures, and identities, how
complete and how inclusive can unification be? With the end of the cold war, what is the motivation for continuing on the
path toward union? If we are on the threshold of an actual "United States of Europe," what role will, and should, the United
States of America have in this new Europe?
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"The Grand Old, Old Party: The Future of the Republican Party" No. UK614
2001 July 18
Scope and Contents note
Newt Gingrich, distinguished visiting fellow, Hoover Institution and former speaker of the United States House of Representatives,
and Nelson Polsby, professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley. The presidential election of 2000 highlighted
the significant demographic divisions between the Democratic Party and Republican Party. The strength of the Republicans lies
in the south and in the middle of the country. But the voters that carried those regions for George W. Bush, mostly white
and Protestant, are shrinking as a proportion of the overall United States population. Are these demographic changes a serious
problem for the Republicans? If so, what can they do to bring groups that have traditionally been democratic: Hispanics, blacks,
and Catholics, for example, into the Republican Party?
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"That's Entertainment: The Politics of Hollywood" No. UK615
2001 July 20
Scope and Contents note
Guests: Rob Long, writer and producer, Staley-Long productions and contributor, National Review, and Harry Shearer, host,
Le Show. In 1992 Bill Clinton received 43 percent of the national vote, but he received 83 percent of the vote from film and
television writers, directors, and producers. Is Hollywood as liberal as these data suggest? If so, why? Does Hollywood have
a cohesive liberal agenda that affects the films and television we watch?
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"A Critical Distance: Literature and Politics" No. UK616
2001 July 23
Scope and Contents note
Timothy Garton Ash, senior fellow, Hoover Institution and Kurt A. Körber senior research fellow in contemporary European history,
European Studies Center of St. Antony's College, Oxford University, England; and Christopher Hitchens, author, Unacknowledged
Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere. What is the proper role of the intellectual in public life? Plato believed that
philosophers should govern society. He founded his famous academy with the hope of creating such philosopher kings. Another
philosopher, Immanuel Kant, however, believed that "the possession of power unavoidably spoils the free use of reason." Therefore,
he argued that intellectuals should keep a proper distance from the political realm. Who is right, Kant or Plato?
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"Pop Goes the Culture: The Decline of Popular Culture" No. UK617
2001 June 20
Scope and Contents note
Michael Medved, syndicated radio host and film critic; and John Podhoretz, columnist, New York Post and contributing editor,
Weekly Standard. Every year it seems that popular culture goes a little bit further: bigger explosions, more action, more
violence, and more sex. Is pop culture harmless or should we be concerned about the values presented in pop culture and the
effects those presentations have on society? For instance, what is the connection between depictions of violence in films
and on television and the incidence violence in real life? If pop culture is having a negative impact on our society, what
should we do about it?
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"The War on Bugs: Bioterrorism" No. UK618
2001 November 14
Scope and Contents note
Abraham D. Sofaer, George P. Shultz senior fellow, Hoover Institution; Jonathan B. Tucker, director, Chemical and Biological
Nonproliferation Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute for International Studies and author,
Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox; and Dean Wilkening, director, Science Program, Center for International Security
and Cooperation, Stanford University. With the arrival of anthrax letters in Washington, New York, and Florida in the fall
of 2001, the often ignored threat of bioterrorism became a very frightening reality, causing illness and death and costing
billions of dollars. How has this attack changed our assessment of the threat of biological and chemical weapons? What can
and should be done to detect and control these weapons and defend ourselves against future attacks?
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"Rules of the Game: Just War Doctrine" No. UK619
2001 November 14
Scope and Contents note
Rabbi Daniel Lapin, president, Toward Tradition; Rev. William McLennan, dean of religious life, Stanford University; and Rev.
Robert Sirico, president, Action Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. Thou Shalt Not Kill--perhaps the most famous
moral commandment in the western world. And yet Judeo-Christian religious leaders have also created a doctrine that can justify
killing-- commonly known as Just War Doctrine. What sort of military war does Just War Doctrine permit and what sort does
it proscribe? Is America's campaign against terrorism a just war?
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"Disorder in the Court: The Supreme Court and the 2000 Election" No. UK620
2001 November 14
Scope and Contents note
Pamela S. Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery professor of public interest law, Stanford Law School, and coauthor, When Elections
Go Bad, and Richard A. Posner, judge, U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and author, Breaking the Deadlock. On December
12, 2000, the Supreme Court of the United States brought an end to thirty-six days of dramatic vote recounts and legal challenges
in the state of Florida. The decision let stand the initial results of Florida's election, which gave the state's electoral
votes, and thus the presidency, to George W. Bush. What was the legal justification for the Supreme Court's decision? Should
the court have intervened in the first place? And what precedent did the court create for future elections?
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"Divisions and Decisions: The Ethics of Stem Cell Research" No. UK621
2001 September 25
Scope and Contents note
William B. Hurlbut, M.D., professor, Program in Human Biology, Stanford University, and Irving L. Weissman, M.D., professor
of developmental biology, Stanford University, and chair, National Academy of Sciences panel on the scientific and medical
aspects of human cloning. In August of 2001, President Bush announced his decision to limit federal funding of stem cell research
to already established lines of embryonic stem cells, while forbidding funding for any research that required the destruction
of additional human embryos. But his decision ended neither stem cell research nor the debate over the ethics of such research.
How do we weigh the medical benefits of this research against the destruction of embryos? Where do we draw the line on research
using human embryos? Are we on a slippery slope toward even more controversial research?
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"The Ghost of Communism Past: Reform in China and Russia" No. UK622
2001 October 23
Scope and Contents note
Coit Blacker, deputy director, Institute for International Studies, Stanford University; Michael McFaul, Peter and Helen Bing
research fellow, Hoover Institution, associate professor, department of political science, Stanford University, and senior
associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Orville Schell, dean, Graduate School of Journalism, University
of California, Berkeley. After two decades of reform, Stalin and Mao wouldn't recognize Russia and China today. But each state
has taken a different path away from their communist past. Russia has emphasized democratic reforms while enduring economic
instability. China has promoted economic growth based on market reforms, while maintaining tight control over politics. Which
path will prove to be more successful, Russia's or China's?
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"All the News that Fits: Bias in the New Media" No. UK623
2001 August 31
Scope and Contents note
Harry Stein, author, How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (and Found Inner Peace), and Norman Solomon,
syndicated columnist, "Media Beat" and executive director, Institute for Public Accuracy. Our leading newspapers and major
television news networks portray themselves as objective and impartial presenters of the news. But are they? And if not, are
they biased to the left as conservatives have long claimed or beholden to corporate interests, as those on the left have claimed?
If bias in the news media is a problem, what should be done about it?
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"Rich Man, Poor Man: Income Inequality" No. UK624
2001 July 18
Scope and Contents note
Bruce Barlett, senior fellow, National Center for Policy Analysis and Peter Orszag, senior fellow, Brookings Institution.
How much does the gap between rich and poor matter? In 1979, for every dollar the poorest fifth of the American population
earned, the richest fifth earned nine. By 1997, that gap had increased to fifteen to one. Is this growing income inequality
a serious problem? Is the size of the gap between rich and poor less important than the poor absolute level of income? In
other words, should we focus on reducing the income gap or on fighting poverty?
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"Going for Broke? Welfare Reform" No. UK625
2001 October 23
Scope and Contents note
Eloise Anderson, former director of social services, State of California and director, Program for the American Family, Claremont
Institute, and Barbara Ehrenreich, author, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. In 1996, a Republican Congress
passed, and President Bill Clinton signed, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, better known
as welfare reform. The act replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program (AFDC) with the Temporary Aid to Needy
Families Program (TANF). These changes effectively refocused welfare as job training and temporary assistance and moved millions
of people off the welfare rolls. With TANF up for reauthorization by Congress in 2002, the debate over the first five years
of welfare reform is heating up. Has welfare reform helped poor families and reduced child poverty? Does welfare reform itself
need to be reformed?
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"Fathers Known Best: The Founding Fathers" No. UK626
2001 September 25
Scope and Contents note
Joyce Appleby, professor of history, University of California, Los Angeles and author, Inheriting the Revolution; Jack N.
Rakove, professor of history and American studies, Stanford University, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Original Meanings;
and Alan Taylor, professor of American history, University of California, Davis, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, William
Cooper's Town. Biographies of John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington, and histories of the revolutionary era
have been bestsellers and Pulitzer Prize winners in the past several years. What explains this recent surge of interest in
the founding fathers of the American nation? What does the fascination with the founding fathers tell us about our own time?
What would the founders have to say about the state of the nation today?
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"Is Homer Dead? Teaching the Classics" No. UK627
2001 September 28
Scope and Contents note
Page duBois, professor of classics, University of California, San Diego, and author, Trojan Horses: Saving the Classics from
Conservatives, and Bruce Thornton, professor of classics, California State University, Fresno, and coauthor, Bonfire of the
Humanities. Does Homer still matter? For more than 2000 years, the ancient Greeks and Romans have had a special place in the
canon of western civilization and their writings have been studied by generation after generation of scholars and students.
But are the classics still relevant in twenty-first century, multi-cultural America? Or are the ancient Greeks of no more
importance to us than other ancient cultures such as the Aztecs, Egyptians, or Chinese?
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"A Tale of Two Decades: The Eighties vs. the Nineties" No. UK628
2001 October 23
Scope and Contents note
Haynes Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, The Best of Times and P. J. O'Rourke, author and journalist;
author, The CEO of the Sofa. We look back at America during the last two decades of the twentieth century. Each decade was
dominated by a two term president and marked by long economic booms. Do these parallels suggest that 1990s was merely a continuation
of the 1980s? Or does each decade have a unique place in American history?
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"Taking it to the Limit: Takings and the Supreme Court" No. UK629
2002 February 22
Scope and Contents note
Erwin Chemerinsky, professor of public interest law, University of Southern California; Douglas Kmiec, dean, Columbus School
of Law, Catholic University of America; and Joseph Sax, professor of environmental regulation, emeritus, University of California,
Berkeley. Should property owners be compensated for the effects of government regulation? According to the Fifth Amendment
to the Constitution, "No person shall...be deprived of...property, without due process of law; nor shall private property
be taken for public use, without just compensation." But what exactly is a property right and what constitutes a taking? Seizure
of land by the government may be a taking, but what about environmental or zoning regulations that place restrictions on land
use? With one such taking case already before the Supreme Court, the legal battle over these questions could alter the very
nature of the relationship between the rights of the individual property owner and those of society as a whole.
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"Tough Choices: Vouchers and the Supreme Court" No. UK630
2002 February 22
Scope and Contents note
Erwin Chemerinsky, professor of public interest law, University of Southern California and Douglas Kmiec, dean, Columbus School
of Law, Catholic University of America. In the summer of 2002, the Supreme Court will announce its decision on a Cleveland
school voucher case that many are calling the most important case on educational opportunities since Brown v. the Board of
Education in 1954. In the Cleveland vouchers program, 96 percent of the participating children use government-funded tuition
vouchers to attend religious schools. Is such an arrangement constitutional, or does it violate the establishment clause of
the First Amendment, which has served as the constitutional basis for the separation of church and state? Just how should
the Supreme Court rule, and what effects will its ruling have on the future of vouchers in the United States?
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"Money Rules: The Role of the Federal Reserve" No. UK631
2002 January 9
Scope and Contents note
Michael Boskin, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, Tully M. Friedman professor of economics, Stanford University, and chair,
President's Council of Economic Advisers (1989-1993); and Janet Yellen, former governor, Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve and chair, President's Council of Economic Advisers (1997-1999). Interest rate adjustments by the Federal Reserve
are among the most closely watched and anticipated of all economic policy decisions. Yet many economists believe the Fed no
longer has the power it once did to regulate the economy. So just how powerful is the Fed today? What tools does the Fed have
to regulate the economy, and how should they be used?
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"Educating by Numbers: Standards, Testing, and Accountability in Education" No. UK632
2002 January 9
Scope and Contents note
Williamson Evers, research fellow, Hoover Institution and member, Hoover-Koret Task Force on K-12 education; and Elliot Eisner,
professor of education, Stanford University. Will standards-based testing and accountability improve our nation's education
system? In January 2002, President Bush signed into law the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2002. The act calls
for a mandatory annual test in reading and math for every child in the nation in the third through eighth grades. Schools
that fail to improve their students' scores may be held accountable, possibly losing some federal funding. Supporters of the
act say that standards-based testing and accountability are the best ways to monitor and improve the nation's schools. Opponents
say that such a regime is largely a political ploy that will do more harm than good. Who's right?
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"Future Shock: High Technology and the Human Prospect" No. UK633
2001 December 7
Scope and Contents note
Bill Joy, chief scientist, Sun Microsystems, and Ray Kurzwell, author, The Age of Spiritual Machines and founder and CEO,
Kurzweil Technologies. Computers more important than humans? Self-replicating molecular robots? Virtual immortality? These
may sound like science fiction, but some reputable computer scientists are predicting they will happen within the next several
decades. What will our world be like if and when our machines surpass us in our intelligence? Do the advances in biotechnology,
robotics, and nanotechnology, which make intelligent machines possible, pose dangers of their own? Should we embrace such
a future or try to stop it?
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"Darwin under the Microscope: Questioning Darwinism" No. UK634
2001 December 7
Scope and Contents note
William Dembski, fellow, Discovery Institute, and author, Mere Creation: Science, Faith, and Intelligent Design, and Eugenie
Scott, executive director, National Center for Science Education. More than 140 years after Charles Darwin published On the
Origin of Species, his theory of evolution is still generating controversy. Although Darwinism is championed by the majority
of the scientific community, some have claimed that Darwin's theory is bad science and have put forward their own even more
controversial theories. What should we make of these arguments? Is one such theory, known as intelligent design, merely creationism
by another name, or is it a legitimate scientific alternative to Darwinism?
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"In Whose Image? Evolution and Spirituality" No. UK635
2001 December 7
Scope and Contents note
William Dembski, fellow, Discovery Institute and author, Mere Creation: Science, Faith, and Intelligent Design; Robert Russell,
director, Center for Theology and Natural Science; and Eugenie Scott, executive director, National Center for Science Education.
Did life on earth unfold by chance or by design? According to the natural sciences and Darwin's theory of evolution, it was
by chance. According to the Judeo-Christian tradition, it was by divine design. On this crucial question, science and religion
appear to be irreconcilable. But are they? Does Darwinism encourage atheism? Must Christians be anti-Darwin?
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"Test Tube America: Immigration" No. UK636
2002 January 22
Scope and Contents note
Michael Barone, media fellow, Hoover Institution and senior writer, U.S. News and World Report, and Peter Skerry, senior fellow,
Brookings Institution, and professor of government, Claremont McKenna College. In 1965, Congress voted to change the laws
that had restricted immigration into the United States for more than four decades. The Immigration Act of 1965 resulted in
a wave of increased immigration that continues today. How do recent immigrant groups compare with those of the last great
wave of immigration a century ago? Are they successfully integrating into American culture or threatening America's cultural
stability? Should immigration once again be restricted, or should we concern ourselves with helping immigrants assimilate
when they arrive?
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"The Red and the Blue: The Cultural and Political Divide in America" No. UK637
2002 January 22
Scope and Contents note
Michael Barone, media fellow, Hoover Institution and senior writer, U.S. News and World Report; and Ruy Teixeira, senior fellow,
Century Foundation, and coauthor, The Emerging Democratic Majority. Is America a divided nation? Sharp regional voting patterns
were evident in the 2000 presidential election: rural, Midwestern, and southern voters went for Bush; urban and coastal voters
went for Gore. These regional voting patterns have led some to describe America as one nation with two cultures. Is this an
accurate way of looking at American society? Or is America divided along economic rather than cultural lines? Just how fundamental
are these differences and what impact will they have on the American political landscape?
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"Strength in Numbers: Race and the Census" No. UK638
2002 February 22
Scope and Contents note
Ward Connerly, chairman, American Civil Rights Coalition; and Ramona E. Douglass, member, Decennial Census Advisory Committee
and director of media and public relations, Association of MultiEthnic Americans. Should the U.S. census stop collecting racial
and ethnic data? The 2000 census asked Americans to identify themselves according to 126 possible racial and ethnic categories,
up from just 5 categories in 1990. Movements are now afoot to add even more racial categories to the 2010 census. Does the
Collection of all these data stand in the way of the creation of a truly color blind society? Should we drop questions of
race from the census and other government forms? Or are these data critical tools in the ongoing fight to end inequality and
discrimination?
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"I, Spy: Fixing the CIA" No. UK639
2002 April 1
Scope and Contents note
Robert Baer, former case officer, Central Intelligence Agency and author, See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier
in the CIA's War on Terrorism, and Greg Trevorton, senior policy analyst, RAND and author, Reshaping National Intelligence
for an Age of Information. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a budget of about $3 billion and more than 16,000 employees
working to identify and protect the United States from foreign threats. Yet the CIA failed to prevent the terrorist attacks
of September 11, 2001. How come? Should the CIA have been able to foresee and prevent this sort of attack? Now that the cold
war is over, is it time to abolish the CIA or reform it to respond to the new threat of terrorism? If reform is the answer,
should the CIA put more emphasis on high technology or on placing agents on the field?
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"Taking Liberties: Civil Liberties and National Security" No. UK701
2001 April 18
Scope and Contents note
Robert Higgs, senior fellow in political economy, Independent Institute and author, Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes
in the Growth of American Government, and Gore Vidal, author, Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got To Be So Hated.
Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Congress passed and President Bush signed the USA Patriot Act--legislation intended
to thwart the threat of domestic terrorism. Critics were quick to denounce USA Patriot as a dangerous expansion of government
power at the expense of our civil liberties. Are the critics right? Or can we win the war on terrorism without sacrificing
our civil liberties here at home? And what has the American experience in earlier crises, such as the Civil War and the two
world wars, taught us about balancing national security and personal freedom?
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"Enemies of the State: Why the U.S. Is Hated" No. UK702
2002 April 18
Scope and Contents note
Dinesh D'Souza, Robert and Karen Rishwain research fellow, Hoover Institution and author, What's So Great About America; Robert
Higgs, senior fellow in political economy, Independent Institute and author, Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the
Growth of American Government; and Gore Vidal, author, Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got To Be So Hated. In a
2002 Gallup poll conducted in ten Muslim nations, only 22 percent of the people questioned viewed the United States favorably.
Why does the United States foster such hatred in the Islamic world in particular? Is it our foreign policy--our support of
Israel and of repressive Arab regimes in the Middle East? Or is it our culture? Does globalization spread American values
that are simply antithetical, thus disruptive, to the traditional Islamic view of society? Just what should we do to win this
struggle for the hearts and minds of those who despise us around the world?
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"The Pentagon Strikes Back: The Defense Budget" No. UK703
2002 April 22
Scope and Contents note
Thomas Donnelly, deputy executive director, Project for the New American Century and Cindy Williams, senior research fellow,
security studies program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In his State of the Union speech in January 2002, President
Bush promised to spend "whatever it costs to defend our country." That cost, according to Bush's proposed budget, would come
to $378 billion in 2003, $48 billion more than in 2002, and the largest percent increase in defense spending since the Reagan
era. Critics are saying that the proposed 2003 budget perpetuates the Pentagon's most inefficient weapons and spending habits,
thereby delaying the true transformation of the military that is needed to protect America in the twenty-first century. Who's
right, the Bush administration or its critics?
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"For Richer or Poorer: The Marriage Problem" No. UK704
2002 April 1
Scope and Contents note
Irwin Garfinkel, Mitchell I. Ginsberg professor of contemporary urban problems, Columbia University School of Social Work,
and James Q. Wilson, member, Board of Overseers, Hoover Institution, and Ronald Reagan professor of public policy. Study after
study has shown that married people are healthier and wealthier than unmarried people and that children raised in two-parent
homes are generally more successful in life than those who aren't. And yet, according to the U.S. census, about half of all
first marriages end in divorce. Additionally, since 1960 the percentage of children born out of wedlock has grown from single
digits to 20 percent. What is going on? Is the decline in marriage a symptom of underlying cultural problems in modern America?
Or is it misguided to focus on marriage rather than on the economic problems facing all low income families, whether married
or not?
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"Attention: Deficit Disorder: The Budget Deficit" No. UK705
2002 June 27
Scope and Contents note
Alan Auerbach, Robert D. Burch professor of law and economics and director of the Center of Tax Policy and Public Finance,
University of California, Berkeley; and Stephen Moore, contributing editor, National Review, senior fellow in economics, Cato
Institute, and president, Club for Growth. Just two years ago, in the 2000 fiscal year, the annual federal budget had a surplus
of $236 billion. Now the federal government is facing a budget deficit of more than $150 billion, possibly much more. And
whereas during the presidential campaign of 2000, the candidates were debating how to spend trillions in expected future surpluses,
the Congressional Budget Office is now projecting a cumulative $1 trillion deficit by 2011. What happened to the surplus,
and what is to blame for the return of the deficit? Is it President Bush's tax cut? Or was it the recession of 2001 and the
war on terrorism? In light of the deficit, what should we make of the President's budget plans?
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"Cross Purposes: The Crusades" No. UK706
2002 April 22
Scope and Contents note
William Hamblin, professor of history, Brigham Young University and Thomas Madden, associate professor of history and department
chair, Saint Louis University, and author, A Concise History of the Crusades. The Crusades happened almost a thousand years
ago: why do they still provoke an argument? Osama Bin Laden has used them to attempt to rally the Islamic world to his cause;
President Bush has called the war on terrorism a "crusade." But what is the truth about the crusades? Were they motivated
by savage greed and intolerance or by pious idealism? Were they an unprovoked attack by the west on the Islamic world or a
reaction to centuries of Islamic incursions? How should we understand the legacy of the crusades today, in a time of conflict
between the west and radical Islamic terrorists?
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"Hebrew Nationalists: Why the U.S. Supports Israel" No. UK707
2002 June 14
Scope and Contents note
John Podhoretz, media fellow, Hoover Institution and columnist, New York Post; Steven Spiegel, professor of political science,
University of California, Los Angeles; and Stephen Zunes, associate professor of politics and chair of the Peace and Justice
Program, University of San Francisco, and author, Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism. Recent opinion
polls show that the American public overwhelmingly wants the United States to avoid taking sides in the conflict in the Middle
East. Yet members of Congress have been nearly unanimous in their support of Israel in its actions against the Palestinians.
Just why is our government so steadfastly supportive of Israel? Does this support further our legitimate strategic interests
in the Middle East? Or is it the result of domestic special interest politics?
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"Winds of Change: Politics after Sept. 11" No. UK708
2002 July 18
Scope and Contents note
Newt Gingrich, distinguished visiting fellow, Hoover Institution, former Speaker, United States House of Representatives;
Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist, and visiting professor of liberal studies, New School University; and Nelson
Polsby, Heller professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley. The war on terrorism has created unique
ideological challenges for both ends of the American political spectrum. Does the left, long opposed to the exercise of U.S.
military power, risk irrelevance by opposing the war on terror? How does the libertarian wing of the right, long opposed to
big government, respond to its expanding role in protecting our security? How has President Bush's conduct of the war on terrorism
affected his chances for reelection in 2004?
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"Words of War: What Kind of War Are We Fighting?" No. UK709
2002 July 18
Scope and Contents note
Newt Gingrich, distinguished visiting fellow, Hoover Institution and former Speaker, United States House of Representatives;
Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist, and visiting professor of liberal studies, New School University. What kind of
war is the war on terrorism? Ordinarily wars are fought against proper nouns--against Germany during the Second World War
or against the Soviet Union during the cold war, for example. Now we're being asked to fight a war against a common noun,
terrorism. Just how accurate and useful is the phrase "war on terrorism?" Is this a war? And who exactly is the enemy--Al
Qaeda? Al Qaeda plus all other terrorists around the world? Al Qaeda plus all other terrorists plus all the countries in which
the terrorists operate? In other words, just how good a job are the president and the administration doing, not just in prosecuting
the war but in defining the objectives?
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"A Crisis of Faith: The Crisis in the Catholic Church" No. UK710
2002 June 27
Scope and Contents note
Rod Dreher, senior writer, National Review; Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., chancellor, Ave Maria University; and Gary Wills, Pulitzer
Prize-winning historian and author, Why I Am a Catholic. The year will be remembered as a difficult one for the Catholic Church
in America. Sex abuse scandals and criticism of the Church's response to those scandals dominated the headlines for months.
Sexual abuse is not the only subject creating controversy within Catholic circles. Other divisive matters include the role
of women within the Church, gay priests, and the relation of American bishops to the Vatican. Is the Catholic Church in danger
of losing its constituency in America? Are substantial reforms in the structure and teachings of the Catholic Church necessary?
Or are reforms what got the Church in trouble in the first place?
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"Continental Divides: Are Europe and America Parting Ways?" No. UK711
2002 July 29
Scope and Contents note
Coit Blacker, deputy director and senior fellow, Institute for International Studies, Stanford University; Richard Falk, Albert
G. Milbank professor of international law and practice, emeritus, and professor of politics and international affairs, emeritus,
Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University; and John O'Sullivan, editor-in-chief, United Press International. Throughout
the latter half of the Twentieth Century, the United States and Western Europe seemed the staunchest of allies, united in
NATO in defense against the common threat of the Soviet Union. With the end of the cold war and the loss of that common enemy,
however, signs of emerging tensions have appeared in the friendship between America and Europe. How serious are the spats
between Europe and the United States over issues such as the International Criminal Court, the conflict in the Middle East,
and the U.S. conduct of the war on terrorism? With the formation of the European Union, Europe has become an economic rival
to the United States. Will it become a political and military rival as well?
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"Trading Places: Is Free Trade Faltering?" No. UK712
2002 June 14
Scope and Contents note
Walden Bello, executive director, Focus on the Global South, and Jagdish Bhagwati, Arthur Lehman professor of economics and
professor of political science, Columbia University, and author, Free Trade Today. According to a 1998 study by the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development, over the last half century nations that have been more open to trade have experienced
double the annual growth rate of those that have been closed. So why would any nation be opposed to free trade? But, in fact,
many developing countries are skeptical of free trade--believing that the rules of global trade benefit the rich, developed
north at the expense of the poor, developing south. Are the critics right? With even President Bush's commitment appearing
to falter, is the drive to greater free trade in crisis?
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"Prognosis Negative: Health Care System in Crisis" No. UK713
2002 June 14
Scope and Contents note
Alan M. Garber, M.D., Henry J. Kaiser, Jr., professor of medicine and director of the Center for Health Policy/Center for
Primary Care and Outcomes Research, Stanford University; George Halvorson, chief executive officer, Kaiser Permanente; and
Helen H. Schauffler, professor of health policy and director of the Center for Health and Public Policy Studies, University
of California, Berkeley. Ten years ago, soaring health care costs prompted the Clinton administration to propose sweeping
reforms to the health care system, including a substantial new role for the federal government. But the plan drafted under
the guidance of first lady Hillary Clinton was defeated in Congress. A decade later, the problems with our health care system
seem to have only gotten worse. In the recent economic downturn, millions lost their insurance along with their jobs, adding
to the estimated 40 to 45 million Americans who have no medical insurance at all. Meanwhile the costs incurred by government
and businesses to keep the rest of us covered are skyrocketing. Has the HMO model of health care that became predominant in
the 1990s failed us? If so, what should replace it?
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"Europe Swings: Why Is Europe Moving to the Right?" No. UK714
2002 July 29
Scope and Contents note
Christopher Hitchens, author, journalist, and visiting professor of liberal studies, New School University; and John O'Sullivan,
editor-in-chief, United Press International. For decades, Western Europe has been known for its social democracies: large
welfare states governed by a coalition of the political left and center. In recent years, however, this center-left coalition
seems to have broken down. Conservative parties have come to power in a number of European countries, including Spain, Italy,
France, and the Netherlands. Why has Europe moved to the right? Have a few specific issues, such as immigration and crime,
driven European voters to the right? Are voters merely expressing a temporary frustration with the center-left coalition,
or is the new conservative Europe here to stay?
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"Culture Clash: A Talk with Hernando De Soto" No. UK715
2002 April 22
Scope and Contents note
Hernando De Soto, founder and president, Institute for Liberty and Democracy and author, The Mystery of Capitalism: Why Capitalism
Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. In the west, capitalism reigns triumphant. Living standards, wealth, and technological
development in the capitalist western countries surpass anything seen before in human history. But why has capitalism so obviously
failed in most developing countries? Why are some saying that capitalism is in a state of crisis today in the third world?
Does the success of capitalism depend on western cultural values that simply don't translate to the third world? Or can economic
and political reforms, especially reform of property rights, enable developing countries to share the same fruits of capitalism
and free enterprise that we enjoy in the west?
folder VHS, box 14; Digital Betacam, box 82
"Pope and Circumstance: The Legacy of Pope John Paul II" No. UK716
2002 June 27
Scope and Contents note
Rod Dreher, senior writer, National Review; Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., chancellor, Ave Maria University; and Gary Wills, Pulitzer
Prize-winning historian and author, Why I Am a Catholic. In 1978, the Polish cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected to the papacy
of the Catholic Church, taking the name of John Paul II. In the twenty-four years since, Pope John Paul II has traveled more
widely and held audiences for more people than any other pope in history. But beyond his long history and high profile, how
will John Paul II be remembered? Will he be remembered more for his political impact--many say that he played a crucial role
in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe--or for his ecclesiastical work? Just how well has John Paul II prepared the Catholic
Church for the twenty-first century?
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"Law and Order: Civil Liberties and the War on Terrorism" No. UK717
2002 September 27
Scope and Contents note
Erwin Chemerinsky, Sydney M. Irmas professor of public interest law, legal ethics, and political science, University of Southern
California, and Eugene Volokh, professor of law, University of California, Los Angeles. Does the war on terrorism threaten
our civil liberties? Benjamin Franklin famously admonished, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Are we today being asked to give up essential liberties for temporary safety?
If so, is it worth it? Or are the fears that the government's war on terrorism will trample our freedoms overblown?
folder VHS, box 15; Digital Betacam, box 83
"Out for a Constitutional: The Supreme Court and the Constitution" No. UK718
2002 September 27
Scope and Contents note
Erwin Chemerinsky, Sydney M. Irmas professor of public interest law, legal ethics, and political science, University of Southern
California; and John Eastman, associate professor and director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, Chapman University.
The Supreme Court has the final authority on all matters of law under the U.S. Constitution. But what legal philosophy should
the Supreme Court use to reach its decisions? Should the Court merely hand down rules based on the text of a fixed, or "dead,"
Constitution? Or should the Court apply standards that are based on interpretations of a "living" Constitution that evolves
as our society changes? These fundamentally different approaches to constitutional law have created a rift with the current
Supreme Court. How serious is this rift? Who's right? And to what extent are these competing arguments merely cover for ideological
positions?
folder VHS, box 15; Betacam SP, box 39; Digital Betacam, box 83
"Worth the Fighting For: A Conversation with John McCain" No. UK719
2002 November 7
Scope and Contents note
John McCain, Republican senator, Arizona. John McCain has spent a lifetime in the service of his country, including twenty-two
years as a naval aviator, two terms in the United States House of Representatives, and service in the United States Senate,
since 1986. Following his 2000 presidential campaign and the hard-fought passage of his Campaign Finance Bill, John McCain
reflects on a life in politics in his recent memoir, Worth the Fighting For. A lifelong Republican, Senator McCain has broken
with his party's mainstream on a number of issues in recent years. Does John McCain still consider himself a conservative?
And why does McCain so often play the maverick?
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"Attack of the Clones: The Ethics of Human Cloning" No. UK720
2002 October 25
Scope and Contents note
Leon Kass, chairman, President's Council on Bioethics, Addie Clark Harding professor, College and the Committee on Social
Thought, University of Chicago, and author, Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics; and Gregory
Stock, director, Program on Medicine, Technology, and Society, UCLA School of Medicine, and author, Redesigning Humans: Our
Inevitable Genetic Future. Cloning, using biotechnology to create embryos with specific genetic information, identical to
other embryos or even human adults, used to sound like science fiction. Today, however, the ability to successfully clone
human embryos is a matter of when, not if. But should human cloning be allowed to go forward? Is cloning morally wrong, in
and of itself? Should we make a distinction between cloning for medical research and cloning for procreation? If cloning is
morally wrong, could we stop it even if we wanted to? And if cloning isn't or can't be banned, how should it be regulated?
folder VHS, box 15; Digital Betacam, box 83
"Going Around in Circles: The Future of NASA" No. UK721
2002 October 25
Scope and Contents note
Chris Chyba, codirector, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University, and Carl Sagan chair for
the study of life in the universe, SETI Institute; Timothy Ferris, author, Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are
Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril; and David Morrison, senior scientist, NASA Astrobiology Institute.
The space program used to mean one thing: the effort to put American astronauts on the moon. That effort is becoming ancient
history. We haven't sent anyone to the moon in thirty years. So what is NASA's mission today? What sort of space exploration
is worth pursuing today and tomorrow? And is NASA the right institution for the job?
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"With Death Do Us Part? Reforming the Death Penalty" No. UK722
2002 November 7
Scope and Contents note
Alex Kozinski, judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Scott Turow, author, Reversible Errors, member,
Illinois Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment, and attorney and partner, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal. It's been
more than 25 years since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. For most of that time, the number of executions
in this country climbed steadily higher. In the past several years, however, the death penalty has come under increasing criticism.
Executions have fallen nationwide from a high of 98 in 1998 to 66 in 2001. Two states, Illinois and Maryland, declared moratoria
on the death penalty over concerns that the death penalty could not be administered fairly. Is the death penalty immoral in
and of itself? If not, is it unconstitutional? What is required to ensure that the death penalty is administered with fairness,
justice, and accuracy?
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"Pulling Out the Roots: The Roots of Terrorism" No. UK723
2002 November 11
Scope and Contents note
Paul Wilkinson, chairman and director, Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St. Andrews
and Robert Wright, contributing editor, The New Republic, Time Magazine, and Slate, and author, Nonzero: The Logic of Human
Destiny. What are the root causes of terrorism and how should we respond to them? If the discontent and hatred that breed
terrorism spring from economic, political, and cultural grievances, should we address those grievances? Or does acknowledgment
of these types of causes of terrorism lend a dangerous legitimacy to terrorists themselves?
folder VHS, box 15; Digital Betacam, box 84
"The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the State of the Environment" No. UK724
2002 November 12
Scope and Contents note
Daniel Kammen, professor of energy and society, Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley, and director,
Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory and Bjørn Lomborg, author, The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real
State of the World and associate professor of statistics, University of Aarhus. Global warming, population, deforestation,
mass extinctions--according to environmental groups and environmental scientists, the earth is in ever more dire straits.
Should we heed these warnings and take steps to mitigate our impact on the global ecosystem? Danish statistician Bjørn Lomborg
has come forward to say, not so fast. He claims the environmental state of the world is actually improving, not getting worse.
His claims have generated a firestorm of condemnation in the scientific community. Why? And how can we in the general public
separate ideology from fact in this debate?
folder VHS, box 15; Digital Betacam, box 84
"Reagan's War: Who Won the Cold War?" No. UK725
2002 November 11
Scope and Contents note
Barton Bernstein, professor of history, Stanford University; Michael McFaul, Peter and Helen Bing research fellow, Hoover
Institution, associate professor of political science, Stanford University, and author, Russia's Unfinished Revolution: Political
Change from Gorbachev to Putin; and Peter Schweizer, research fellow, Hoover Institution and author, Reagan's War: The Epic
Story of His Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph over Communism. Did Ronald Reagan win the cold war? It's been a dozen years
since its end--time enough to look back on the era with some historical perspective. And one question that historians continue
to argue about is the role that Ronald Reagan, the man and his policies, played in bringing the cold war to an end. To what
extent did Reagan's cold war strategy build on efforts of previous administrations and to what extent was it new? Did the
Soviet Union collapse as a result of external pressure or internal weakness?
folder VHS, box 15; Digital Betacam, box 85
"The Population Bomb Redux: Is Population Growth a Problem?" No. UK726
2002 November 12
Scope and Contents note
Nicholas Eberstadt, visiting fellow, Center for Population and Developmental Studies, Harvard University and fellow, American
Enterprise Institute; and Paul Ehrlich, Bing professor of population studies, Stanford University and author, The Population
Bomb. In the past century the earth's human population has quadrupled, growing from 1.5 billion in 1900 to about 6 billion
today. By 2050, it is estimated that the global population will reach 9 billion. In 1968, a young biologist named Paul Ehrlich
wrote a best selling book called The Population Bomb, which sparked an ongoing debate about the dangers of overpopulation.
He argued that population growth was destroying the ecological systems necessary to sustain life. So just how worried should
we be? Is population growth a problem or not? And if so, what should we do about it?
folder VHS, box 15; Digital Betacam, box 85
"The Empire Strikes First? The National Security Strategy of the United States" No. UK727
2003 January 16
Scope and Contents note
Eliot Cohen, professor of strategic studies, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, member, Defense
Policy Board, and author, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime; and Peter Tarnoff, United States
undersecretary of state for political affairs (1993-1997), and former president, Council on Foreign Relations. In September
2002, President Bush released the first national security strategy report of his administration. Crafted by the President,
his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and a team of experts both inside and outside the government, the report
lays out what some have called "the most important reformulation of U.S. grand strategy in more than half a century." Proponents
say that the national security strategy presents the case for the responsible and justified use of American power, but critics
call it a dangerous "doctrine without limits." Who's right?
folder VHS, box 15; Digital Betacam, box 85
"Debt and Taxes: The Bush Administration's Tax Plan" No. UK728
2003 January 30
Scope and Contents note
Michael Boskin, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, T. M. Friedman professor of economics, Stanford University, and chairman,
President's Council of Economic Advisers (1989-1993); and Robert Reich, United States secretary of labor (1993-1997), university
professor and Maurice B. Hexter professor of social and economic policy, Brandeis University, and author, I'll Be Short: Essentials
for a Decent Working Society. In January 2003, the Bush administration unveiled a package of proposed new tax cuts, including
provisions to eliminate the taxation of dividends and make permanent the 2001 tax cut. President Bush called the plan "an
immediate boost to the economy" as well as "essential for the long run to lay the groundwork for future growth and prosperity."
Critics have said that the plan doesn't provide short term economic stimulus and endangers long term growth and prosperity.
Is the Bush tax plan good for the economy or not?
folder VHS, box 15; Digital Betacam, box 85
"Leadership in Wartime: Civilian Leaders in Time of War" No. UK729
2003 January 16
Scope and Contents note
Eliot Cohen, professor of strategic studies, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, member, Defense
Policy Board, and author, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime; and David Kennedy, Donald J. McLachlan
professor of history, Stanford University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression
and War, 1929-1945. In the modern democratic era, it's not uncommon for elected leaders to have little or no military training
or experience. It has become an accepted notion that political leaders should therefore leave battle plans and campaign decisions
to the military commanders and avoid micromanaging war. But is that notion correct? Or was Clemenceau right when he said that
"war is too important to be left to the generals?" What lessons can we learn from studying the greatest wartime leaders, such
as Lincoln, Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt?
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"Thinking Green or Thinking Greenbacks: President Bush's Environmental Policy" No. UK730
2003 January 30
Scope and Contents note
Terry L. Anderson, Martin and Illie Anderson senior fellow, Hoover Institution and executive director, Political Economy Research
Center; and Mark Hertsgaard, journalist and author, The Eagle's Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World. During
the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush said, "Prosperity will mean little if we leave future generations a world of
polluted air, toxic lakes and rivers, and vanished forests." So after two years in office, how has President Bush done as
the chief steward of our nation's air, water, and land? Is the Bush environmental record the disaster that critics contend?
Or has the administration just done a poor job of articulating its vision for new ways of caring for the environment
folder VHS, box 15; Digital Betacam, box 86
"Empire State Building? Is America Becoming an Empire?" No. UK731
2003 February 28
Scope and Contents note
Mark Danner, staff writer, New Yorker, professor, Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley; and Niall
Ferguson, professor of political and financial history, Jesus College, University of Oxford, and author, Empire: The Rise
and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons of Global Power. Since the end of the cold war, the world has watched
as the United States became, not merely the world's only superpower, but what the French began calling a "hyperpower." Now
with the United States asserting its will and power on such issues as Iraq and the war on terror while rejecting constraints
that the international community tries to place on it, some suggest that the term American empire is more appropriate. If
America does have an empire, it is not based on territorial expansion as in past empires. So what is it based on? And would
taking on the role of imperial hegemony be good for America and the world?
folder VHS, box 16; Digital Betacam, box 86
"Behind Closed Doors: The Supreme Court and the Texas Homosexual Conduct Law" No. UK732
2003 February 28
Scope and Contents note
Pamela S. Karkan, Montgomery professor of public interest law, Stanford University; and Douglas W. Kmiec, dean and St. Thomas
More professor of law, Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America. A case currently before the Supreme Court challenges
the constitutionality of the Texas Homosexual Conduct Law, which in 1974 legalized heterosexual sodomy but not same-sex sodomy.
Does the Texas law violate the constitutional rights of homosexuals, or are states permitted to pass such laws if they choose?
If the Supreme Court does strike down the Texas law, what implications will that have for other civil rights that gays and
lesbians are seeking, such as same-sex marriage?
folder VHS, box 16; Digital Betacam, box 86
"Off to the Races: The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action" No. UK733
2003 February 28
Scope and Contents note
Vikram Amar, professor of law, Hastings College of Law, University of California; and Douglas W. Kmiec, dean and St. Thomas
More professor of law, Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America. The Supreme Court will soon announce its decisions
on two cases that are being called the most important for affirmative action in a quarter century. These cases both challenge
the use of racial preferences in the admissions policies at the University of Michigan. On one side of the legal dispute over
the Michigan policies are those who argue that creating racial diversity on college campuses is a compelling interest that
justifies the use of certain types of racial preferences in the admissions process. On the other side are those who argue
that any system that rewards people solely on the basis of race is unconstitutional. Who's right? And how will the Supreme
Court's decision affect the future of affirmative action?
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"A Fork in the Road: Is the Transatlantic Alliance Dead?" No. UK734
2003 March 12
Scope and Contents note
Victor Davis Hanson, columnist, National Review Online, professor of classics and history, California State University, Fresno;
and Charles Kupchan, senior fellow and director, European studies, Council on Foreign Relations, associate Professor, Walsh
School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, and author, The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics
of the Twenty First Century. Over the past year, the clashes between the Bush administration and European leaders over the
best way to handle Saddam Hussein have led many observers to suggest that the half-century-long alliance between Western Europe
and the United States is dead. How serious is the rift between Europe and America, and why has it emerged? Is it still in
the strategic interest of the United States to maintain tens of thousands of troops in Europe, or should we pull out of NATO
altogether?
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"Castles Made of Sand: The United States and Saudi Arabia" No. UK735
2003 March 20
Scope and Contents note
As'ad Abukhalil, professor of political science, California State University, Stanislaus; Daniel Pipes, director, Middle East
Forum and columnist, New York Post and Jerusalem Post; and Abraham D. Sofaer, George P. Shultz senior fellow, Hoover Institution.
Is Saudi Arabia an ally or an adversary? Saudi Arabia remains an autocratic monarchy, where the rights of women and the press
are severely restricted. Saudi money is a principal source of funding for the Wahhabi sect, which promotes a militant form
of Islam throughout the Muslim world. Osama bin Laden and fifteen of the nineteen participants in the attacks of September
11 came from Saudi Arabia. And yet, for more than 50 years, the United States has treated Saudi Arabia as an ally. Why? What
role have Saudi oil and Saudi oil money played in shaping our relationship? Is it time to recognize that Saudi Arabia may
threaten American national interests? If so, what should U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia be?
folder VHS, box 16; Digital Betacam, box 87
"Carnage and Culture: The Western Way of War" No. UK736
2003 March 12
Scope and Contents note
Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, columnist, National Review Online, professor of classics and history,
California State University, Fresno, and author, Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power. Is the
culture of the west, the line of cultural tradition that connects modern America and Europe with ancient Greece and Rome,
particularly lethal in war? Victor Davis Hanson contends that, from the time of the Greeks on, western culture has created
the deadliest soldiers in the history of civilization. What is it about the western tradition that has so often led to victory
on the battlefield over non-Western armies? What does this tradition mean for the battles that America will face in the future?
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"Pigs at the Trough? Restoring Confidence in Corporate America" No. UK737
2003 March 20
Scope and Contents note
David W. Brady, senior fellow and associate director for research, Hoover Institution and Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy
professor of political science and leadership values, Stanford Graduate School of Business; David R. Henderson, research fellow,
Hoover Institution, associate professor, Graduate School of Business and Public Policy, Naval Postgraduate School, and author,
The Joy of Freedom: An Economist's Odyssey; and Ariana Huffington, nationally syndicated columnist and author, Pigs at the
Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption are Undermining America. A series of devastating accounting scandals
at Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco, to name a few, have shaken the public's trust in the ethics and business practices of America's
large corporations. What are the underlying factors behind this recent wave of scandals? Is deregulation the culprit? If so,
do we need more regulation or merely better enforcement of existing regulations? Does the confluence of corporate lobbying
and campaign contributions encourage corporate malfeasance? If so, what political reforms are necessary?
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"The Whole World is Watching: Postwar Diplomacy" No. UK738
2003 April 28
Scope and Contents note
David Brooks, media fellow, Hoover Institution and senior editor, Weekly Standard; Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist,
visiting professor of liberal studies, New School University; and Jan Kavan, president, United Nations General Assembly. Now
that the war with Iraq is over, will our strained relations with our longtime European allies and the United Nations return
to normal? Is that even desirable? Or are we witnessing the emergence of a fundamentally new structure of international relations?
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"Great Expectations: Democracy in Iran" No. UK739
2003 April 28
Scope and Contents note
Michael McFaul, Peter and Helen Bing research fellow and associate professor of political science, Stanford University; Abbas
Milani, visiting fellow, Hoover Institution and professor of history and political science, Notre Dame de Namur University;
and Guity Nashat, research fellow, Hoover Institution and associate professor of history, University of Illinois, Chicago.
It has been nearly twenty- five years since the Shah of Iran was overthrown in a popular revolution. The ensuing American
hostage crisis marked the beginning of an era of mutual hostility between Iran and the United States--Iranian leader Ayatollah
Khomeini often called the United States "the Great Satan"; more recently President Bush placed Iran on the so-called axis
of evil. But an increasingly visible democratic reform movement supported by young Iranians born after the revolution suggests
that Iran may be entering a new era of change. Just how powerful is the reform movement in Iran? And what should the United
States do, if anything, to help bring about a new Iran?
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"Peaceable Kingdom: Animal Rights" No. UK801
2003 April 23
Scope and Contents note
David Blatte, animal law attorney; and Richard Epstein, Peter and Kirsten Bedford senior fellow, Hoover Institution and James
Parker Hall distinguished service professor of law, University of Chicago. The past decade has seen the emergence of an increasingly
vocal animal rights movement in this country. Although many of the specific goals of the movement have to do with promoting
the humane treatment of animals, the underlying argument is that certain basic legal rights should be extended to animals
as well. Should we recognize that animals have legal rights, or should we continue to regard animals as property, as resources
to use as humans see fit? Just what rights, if any, should animals have? And how could these rights alter the relationship
between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom?
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"Does Orwell Matter? George Orwell" No. UK802
2003 April 28
Scope and Contents note
David Brooks, media fellow, Hoover Institution and senior editor, Weekly Standard; and Christopher Hitchens, author, Why Orwell
Matters and visiting professor of liberal studies, New School University. George Orwell was one of the great journalists and
political writers of the twentieth century. His writings on the great political struggles of that century--imperialism, fascism,
and Stalinism--in books such as Homage to Catalonia, Animal Farm, and 1984, are revered. But is Orwell relevant to the main
political and cultural issues of our present day? Or should we read Orwell merely out of an appreciation for language and
history?
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"Stop the Madness: Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons" No. UK803
2003 May 16
Scope and Contents note
Peter Lavoy, assistant professor of national security affairs and director, Center for Contemporary Conflict, Naval Postgraduate
School; and Jonathan Schell, author, The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence and the Will of the People. In 1998, India
and Pakistan detonated nuclear weapons, becoming the first new nations in three decades to join the club of nuclear powers.
Today other nations, such as North Korea and Iran, are on verge of doing so as well. Why is the nonproliferation regime, which
seemed to work well for so many years, failing now? Has the Bush administration's response to the new dangers of proliferation
been appropriate, or will it make the danger worse?
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"The Fight on the Right: Neoconservatives versus Paleoconservatives" No. UK804
2003 May 16
Scope and Contents note
Steven Hayward, F. K. Weyerhaeuser fellow, American Enterprise Institute and author, The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old
Liberal Order, 1964-1980; and John "Taki" Theodoracopulos, cofounder and coeditor, The American Conservative. Conservative:
favoring traditional values; tending to oppose change. But is the definition of a conservative changing in twentieth-century
America? Today conservatives seem to be divided into two groups, the neoconservatives and those who view themselves as traditional
conservatives-- sometimes derisively called the "paleoconservatives." Are the neoconservatives, including many in the Bush
administration, actually, as some charge, radicals in conservative clothing? Or have the paleoconservatives become too hidebound
for their own good?
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"Democracy Now? Democracy versus the Rule of Law" No. UK805
2003 June 24
Scope and Contents note
Coit Blacker, director, Institute for International Studies, Stanford University; Larry Diamond, senior fellow, Hoover Institution;
and Donald Emmerson, senior fellow, Institute for International Studies, Stanford University. Is democracy--that is, free
elections--to be desired at all times for all nations? Or are nations more successful when they establish the rule of law,
property rights, and other constitutional liberties first? For the United States, this is no longer an academic question.
America is deeply involved in nation-building in Afghanistan and Iraq. Should the establishment of democracy in these countries
be the first priority for the United States, or is securing public order and the rule of law more important?
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"Six Days of War: The Six-Day War" No. UK806
2003 June 23
Scope and Contents note
Michael Oren, author, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. In June of 1967, Israel defeated
the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, seizing control of the Sinai from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and
the West Bank from Jordan. Why did the Six-Day War unfold as it did? What lessons did the Arabs on the one side and the Israelis
on the other draw from the war? And what lessons do the war and its aftermath have for the United States as it tries to forge
a lasting peace in the Middle East?
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"In Defense of Liberalism: American Liberalism in the 21st Century" No. UK807
2003 June 24
Scope and Contents note
David Kennedy, professor of history, Stanford University, and Pulitzer Prize winning author, Freedom From Fear: The American
People in Depression and War," and George McGovern, senator, United States Senate, and 1972 Democratic Party presidential
nominee. Fifty years ago, critic Lionel Trilling declared that "in the United States at this time, liberalism is not only
the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition." Today, however, even most Democrats avoid calling themselves liberal.
What happened to the liberal tradition in the second half of the 20th century? What does liberalism stand for at the beginning
of the 21st century? Can liberals reclaim their once dominant position in American politics or is their ideology history?
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"A Shock to the System: Social Security Reform" No. UK808
2003 June 23
Scope and Contents note
Alan Auerbach, professor of economics and law, University of California, Berkeley; and John Cogan, senior fellow, Hoover Institution
and member, President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security. In 2001, President Bush established a bipartisan commission
to study and report recommendations for restoring fiscal soundness to the current Social Security program. All three of the
commission's models for reforming the system include the creation of individually controlled retirement accounts--a process
commonly referred to as "privatizing Social Security." Some critics of the proposals argue that Social Security is not in
as much trouble as the president's commission would have us believe and that major reform is unnecessary. Other critics say
that creating private accounts will compound Social Security's problems rather than solve them. Who's right, the president's
commission or its critics?
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"Power to the People: The California Recall and Direct Democracy" No. UK809
2003 July 30
Scope and Contents note
Thomas Cronin, president, Whitman College and author, Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum, and Recall;
Peter Schrag, political columnist, The Sacramento Bee; and Robert Stern, president, Center for Governmental Studies. On October
7, 2003, Californians go to the polls to vote in an historical election. They will decide whether to recall Governor Gray
Davis and replace him with someone else. Davis is only the second governor in U.S. history to face a recall election. Is the
California recall in the best interests of its citizens? Or is the recall election an example of direct democracy gone awry?
And what long-term effects will this recall campaign have on politics at both the state and national levels?
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"Playing Hardball with Soft Money: Is Campaign Finance Reform Constitutional?" No. UK810
2003 July 30
Scope and Contents note
Richard Hasen, professor of law, Loyola Law School; and Bradley Smith, commissioner, Federal Elections Commission and author,
Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform. In March of 2002, President Bush signed into law the bipartisan Campaign
Reform Act, better known as the McCain-Feingold Bill. The law banned political contributions known as "soft money"--that is,
money from corporations, unions, and other organizations which was given to political parties for "party-building activities,"
thereby skirting campaign contributions limits. The Supreme Court has now taken up the McCain-Feingold Act and will determine
whether all or parts of the act will be upheld or overturned. Are soft money bans legal? Or do such campaign finance restrictions
infringe on freedom of speech? Just how should the Court decide?
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"Robert's Rules of Order: A Conversation with Robert Bork" No. UK811
2003 July 16
Scope and Contents note
Robert Bork, distinguished visiting fellow, Hoover Institution, senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and former Circuit
Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. There are often said to be two competing schools for interpreting
the meaning of the Constitution. On one side are those who believe that the meaning of the Constitution must evolve over time
as society itself changes. On the other side are those who insist that the original intent of the framers of the Constitution--what
they wrote and what their intent was in writing it--is all that matters. Robert Bork is firmly in the latter school. We asked
him to explicate his understanding of the U.S. Constitution, using recent Supreme Court decisions as case studies.
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"A Less Perfect Union? The Constitution of the European Union" No. UK812
2003 July 16
Scope and Contents note
Timothy Gorton Ash, senior fellow, Hoover Institution; Kurt A. Körber, senior research fellow in contemporary European history,
Oxford University; and Paul Johnson, historian and author, Modern Times. In June 2003, a European constitutional convention
presented the fruits of 18 months of work: a draft constitution for the European Union that runs to more than 200 pages. Why
does the European Union even need a constitution? Will the constitution limit the powers of the Union over the member countries,
or does it mean the creation of a European superstate? Should the constitution be ratified, or is it just a colossal mistake?
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"An Empire for Liberty? A Conversation with Paul Johnson" No. UK813
2003 July 16
Scope and Contents note
Paul Johnson, historian and author, Modern Times. Can America become an "empire for liberty"? British historian Paul Johnson
believes that it can and should. The United States, he argues, is uniquely suited, due to both its principles and its current
power, to bring about benevolent change throughout the world. But does empire suit the United States? We ask Johnson just
how and why America can be this "empire for liberty" and to place American materialism in its historical context.
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"Judging the Judges: The Judicial Appointments Process" No. UK814
2003 August 26
Scope and Contents note
Clint Bolick, research fellow, Hoover Institution, and vice president and national director of state chapters, Institute for
Justice; and Jesse Choper, Earl Warren professor of public law, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. In his
first term, President George W. Bush has had difficulty getting his nominees to the federal courts of appeal confirmed by
the Senate. The Democrats have taken the almost unprecedented step of threatening filibusters to prevent floor votes on certain
nominees. Has the judicial appointments process become the latest victim of bitter partisan politics? Or has the judiciary
brought this state of affairs upon itself by advancing a doctrine of judicial supremacy, leaving the executive and legislative
branches no choice but to resort to political litmus tests for nominees? What does this situation bode for the next Supreme
Court nomination? And what, if anything, should be done to reform the process?
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"Just Say Yes? Drug Legalization" No. UK815
2003 August 26
Scope and Contents note
Jacob Sullum, senior editor, Reason Magazine and author, Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use; and Forrest Tennant, M.D., director,
Research Center for Dependency Disorders and Chronic Pain and former member, FDA Drug Use Advisory Committee. For more than
thirty years, the United States has been waging a war on drugs. This war--which takes the form of billions of dollars spent
each year on drug law enforcement and interdiction, as well as harsh sentencing for drug offenses--is being called a failure
by many critics. But if it is a failure, is drug legalization the solution? Just how would legalization work? And would the
benefits of legalization outweigh the costs?
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"A Family Tradition: Gay Marriage" No. UK816
2003 September 8
Scope and Contents note
Maggie Gallagher, president, Institute of Marriage and Public Policy and coauthor, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People
Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially, and Kate Kendell, Esq., executive director, National Center for Lesbian
Rights. Given recent trends at both local and federal levels, most notably the Supreme Court's decision striking down the
Texas anti-homosexual sodomy law, it would appear that legal recognition of gay marriage may be just a matter of time. Should
gay marriage be granted legal recognition? Are same-sex couples who are not allowed to marry under current law being denied
the equal protection of law? How would recognition of gay marriage alter the traditional purpose of marriage? And would gay
marriage erode support for families or strengthen it?
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"Southern Exposure: Mexican Immigration" No. UK817
2003 August 26
Scope and Contents note
Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, professor of classics, California State University, Fresno, and author,
Mexifornia: A State of Becoming; and Richard Rodriguez, editor, Pacific News Service and author, Brown: The Last Discovery
of America. How is Mexican immigration changing the United States in the twenty-first century? In the past several decades
the United States has seen an explosion in the number of Hispanic immigrants to this country. And most of them go to California.
Today nearly half of all Californians are immigrants or the children of immigrants--most of them coming originally from Mexico.
What is the economic and social impact of this influx on California, and what does it bode for the rest of the country? What
makes Mexican immigration different than immigration from other countries? And what, if anything, should we do about it?
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"Korean Beef: North Korea's Nuclear Weapons" No. UK818
2003 October 16
Scope and Contents note
Peter Hayes, executive director, Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, and James Woolsey, former director, Central
Intelligence Agency. In 2003 April, North Korean officials admitted for the first time that their nation possessed the ability
to build nuclear weapons. Many experts suggest that the possible possession of nuclear weapons by a so-called rogue state
such as North Korea sets the stage for far more serious conflict than the war with Iraq. Just how should the United States
try to diffuse the Korean crisis? Can diplomatic efforts succeed where they have previously failed? Will the United States
have to consider military options? And just what is North Korea hoping to accomplish by fomenting this crisis?
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"Patriot Games: The Patriot Act in Review" No. UK819
2003 October 27
Scope and Contents note
Dorothy Ehrlich, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, and Edwin Meese, distinguished
visiting fellow, Hoover Institution and former attorney general of the United States. In October 2002, in response to the
terrorist attacks of September 11, Congress passed, and President Bush signed, the USA Patriot Act. The law is intended to
prevent future terrorist acts by enhancing various law enforcing tools. Critics argue that the Patriot Act is a dangerous
infringement on American civil liberties. Now, more than two years after the passage of the Patriot Act, do we have any evidence
that the critics are right? For that matter, do we even know whether the Patriot Act is working to deter terrorism? Should
the Patriot Act be allowed to expire, or should its provisions become a permanent part of the war on terrorism?
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"The Reluctant Empire: Is America an Imperial Power?" No. UK820
2003 October 16
Scope and Contents note
Niall Ferguson, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, Herzog professor of history, Stern School of Business, New York University,
and author, Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power; and David Kennedy, J.
McLachlan professor of history, Stanford University, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Freedom From Fear: The American People
in Depression and War, 1929-1945. George W. Bush, during the 2000 presidential campaign said that "America has never been
an empire... We may be the only great power in history that had the chance and refused." Was then-candidate Bush right when
he made those remarks? Or has America become an imperial power in all but name? How do America's unique historical circumstances
predispose it to handle the unrivaled power it holds in the world today? And what lessons can we draw from our nearest historical
antecedent, the British Empire of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?
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"Bush Almighty: Two Views of George W. Bush" No. UK821
2003 August 27
Scope and Contents note
John Podhoretz, media fellow, Hoover Institution, columnist, New York Post, and author, Bush Country: How Dubya Became a Great
President While Driving Liberals Insane; and Ron Reagan, journalist and television commentator. Admirers and critics have
two diametrically opposed views of President George W. Bush. The admirers see a compassionate conservative at home and defender
of the nation against terrorism and rogue states abroad. Critics see a radical conservative at home who led the nation into
a destructive and unnecessary war abroad. Why do conservatives and liberals so often seem to be describing two different men
when discussing President George W. Bush? Is it possible to find any common ground on which view of President Bush is closer
to the truth?
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"The High (and Mighty) Court: Judicial Supremacy" No. UK822
2003 October 27
Scope and Contents note
Lawrence Alexander, Warren distinguished professor of law, University of San Diego, and Robert George, McCormick professor
of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University. Did
the framers of the United States Constitution intend that the Supreme Court be the sole and final interpreter of the Constitution,
with the power to place binding decisions on the executive and legislative branches? Or did they intend that the Supreme Court
have the final say only on the legal cases that came before it, thus permitting the executive and legislative branches to
have wide latitude in interpreting the Constitution for themselves? The former view, that of judicial supremacy, is the dominant
view of the Supreme Court today, accepted, for the most part, both within government and in society more generally. Is this
view supported by the Constitution? If not, why and when did it arise? Should we support judicial supremacy, or is it time
to rein in the Supreme Court?
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"High Wire Act: Reforming the Electricity Industry" No. UK823
2003 November 24
Scope and Contents note
Ralph Cavanagh, energy program codirector, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Vernon Smith, 2002 Nobel Prize winner in
economics and professor of economics and law, George Mason University. Building America's electricity system was one of the
great achievements of the twentieth century, providing inexpensive energy to homes and businesses throughout the country.
But in the twenty-first century, two crises occurred. In 2001, California experienced massive electricity shortages, leading
to rolling blackouts and skyrocketing electric bills. And in 2003, a blackout swept across eight states in the Midwest and
Northeast, leaving tens of millions in the dark. Why did these problems arise now, after a century of progress? Were they
the result of ill-advised attempts to deregulate the utility industry? Or is more deregulation actually the solution?
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"Prophets and Losses: The Rise and Decline of Islamic Civilization" No. UK824
2003 November 17
Scope and Contents note
John Esposito, professor of religion and international affairs and professor of Islamic studies, Georgetown University; Azim
Nanji, director, Institute of Ismaili Studies and visiting professor of Islamic studies, Stanford University; and Vali Nasr,
professor of national security affairs, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. Today, by every measure of social
and economic development, Islamic nations fall far short of Western nations. Why? Did the historical rise and decline of Islam
result from processes internal to the Muslim world or from its interaction with the West? What can and should be done to revive
Islamic civilization?
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"Of Burkhas and Ballots: The Future of Democracy in the Arab World" No. UK825
2003 November 17
Scope and Contents note
John Esposito, professor of religion and international affairs and professor of Islamic studies, Georgetown University; Azim
Nanji, director, Institute of Ismaili Studies and visiting professor of Islamic studies, Stanford University; and Vali Nasr,
professor of national security affairs, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. The spread of democracy around the
world was one of the most significant developments of the twentieth century. At the beginning of the last century, democracy
was limited to a handful of western nations, while today perhaps 120 nations have some form of democratic government. Yet
among Muslim countries, democracy is rare, and among Arab states, essentially nonexistent. Why? Is the Islamic faith compatible
with the essential features of a democratic society--separation of church and state, freedom of expression, and women's rights,
to name a few--or not? Just what is the future of democracy in the Arab world?
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"Putin the Terrible? Vladimir Putin and Russian Democracy" No. UK826
2003 November 24
Scope and Contents note
Michael McFaul, Peter and Helen Bing senior fellow, Hoover Institution, and associate professor of political science, Stanford
University. On March 14, 2004, Russians head to the polls to choose a president. Current president Vladimir Putin is expected
to win a second term by an overwhelming margin. Will this be a genuine democratic show of support for a popular leader or
the result of a corrupt political system headed towards dictatorship? When president Bush first met president Putin in June
2001, he declared, "I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy.... I was able to get a sense of his soul." Is
Putin the trustworthy leader that Bush saw or something much more dangerous?
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"A Crash Course in Dubyanomics: President Bush's Economic Policy" No. UK827
2004 January 6
Scope and Contents note
Robert Barrow, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, Robert C. Waggoner professor of economics, Harvard University, and columnist,
Business Week; and Paul Krugman, professor of economics and international affairs, Princeton University, columnist, New York
Times, and author, The Great Unravelling: Losing Our Way in the New Century. The decades of the 1980s and 1990s seem to offer
two different fiscal models for promoting economic growth. The 1980s under President Reagan suggest that cutting taxes is
more important than balancing the budget. The 1990s under President Clinton suggest the importance of balancing the budget
with moderate tax increases. Yet the results in each decade were similar: sustained economic growth. President George W. Bush
has clearly been following the Reagan model in his first term, enacting large tax cuts even as the federal budget approaches
record deficits. But has the Bush team taken the correct lessons from our recent economic past? Do the Bush policies promote
long-term growth or jeopardize it?
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"Give War a Chance? The Utility of War" No. UK828
2003 November 24
Scope and Contents note
Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, professor of classics, California State University, Fresno, and author,
Ripples of Battle: How the Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think; and Jonathan Schell,
Harold Willens Peace Fellow, Nation Institute, and author, The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the
People. The Prussian military historian Carl von Clausewitz famously observed that "war is merely a continuation of politics
by other means." These "other" (violent) means have been used on countless occasions throughout human history to settle conflicts
over lands, resources, and political rule. But what is the utility of war in the modern world? In a world with weapons of
mass destruction, have the means of war delegitimized its use? In a world of expanding democracy and cultural and economic
interdependence, has the use of force become outdated?
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"A Slave to the System? Thomas Jefferson and Slavery" No. UK829
2004 January 19
Scope and Contents note
Jack Rakove, Coe professor of history and American studies, professor of political science, Stanford University, and Pulitzer
Prize-winning author, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution; and Garry Wills, adjunct professor
of history, Northwestern University, author, "Negro President": Jefferson and the Slave Power, and Pulitzer-Prize winning
author, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America. When the Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1789,
the infamous "three-fifths clause" gave the southern slaveholding states disproportionate power within the federal government.
To what extent did this southern advantage help the southerner Thomas Jefferson win the presidency? And to what extent did
Jefferson, author of the phrase "all men are created equal," use the power of his presidency to preserve and perpetuate the
institution of slavery?
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"Rock My Worldview: How to Win the War on Terror" No. UK830
2004 January 19
Scope and Contents note
David Frum, resident fellow, American Enterprise Institute and coauthor, An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror; and
Ken Jowitt, Pres and Maureen Hotchkis senior fellow, Hoover Institution. Do the neoconservatives know how to win the war on
terror? Much has been made of the influence within the George W. Bush administration of neoconservatives--those who tend to
take a hard line in the war on terror and who favored the war on Iraq. Recently two men close to the George W. Bush administration,
Richard Perle and David Frum, wrote a book laying out the neoconservative agenda for winning the war on terror and making
America safe. Their agenda is bold and ambitious. Critics would say it is reckless and dangerous. Who's right?
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"Another Brick in the Wall: The Separation of Church and State" No. UK831
2004 January 6
Scope and Contents note
Douglas Kmiec, professor and Caruso Family chair in constitutional law, School of Law, Pepperdine University; and Gary Wills,
adjunct professor of history, Northwestern University, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That
Remade America. The First Amendment of the Constitution declares in part that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." What did this amendment mean to the founders who wrote it? Did they
intend to establish an inviolate "wall of separation between church and state?" Or was their intent instead to merely preserve
religious freedom and prevent the establishment of a national religion?
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"A Military Makeover: Transforming the Military" No. UK832
2003 December 15
Scope and Contents note
Williamson Murray, coauthor, The Iraq War: A Military History; and James Wirtz, professor and chair of the National Security
Affairs Department, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. Despite overwhelming victories by our armed forces in
both Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States military establishment is caught up in a major debate on the structure of the
military. On one side are traditionalists who emphasize the importance of large ground forces. On the other side are reformers
who want our forces to be lighter, smaller, faster, and more high-tech. What are the lessons of the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq? Who is right, the traditionalists or the reformers?
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"Land of the Setting Sun? The Future of Japan" No. UK833
2004 January 6
Scope and Contents note
Toshio Nishi, research fellow, Hoover Institution, distinguished guest professor, Reitaku University, Japan; and Steven Vogel,
associate professor of political science, University of California, Berkeley. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Japan experienced
dramatic economic growth as it transformed itself from a defeated militaristic empire into a democratic high-technology powerhouse.
The Japanese economy became so dynamic that, by the late 1980s, some American experts were arguing that Japan would overtake
the United States as the world's dominant economic power. And then the Japanese economy collapsed. And for nearly fifteen
years, the economic malaise has continued. Why? What does Japan need to do to snap out of its doldrums? And what are the risks
and benefits to American interests of a reinvigorated Japan?
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"Down by Law: Military Detainees in the War on Terror" No. UK834
2004 February 20
Scope and Contents note
Erwin Chemerinsky, Sydney M. Irmas professor of public interest law, legal ethics and political science, University of Southern
California; and John Yoo, professor of law, University of California, Berkeley. Do enemy combatants in the war on terror have
any legal rights? The United States now holds more than 650 persons captured during the war on terrorism at our naval base
in Guantanamo, Cuba. The government is holding them indefinitely, without charging them and without offering them access to
American courts or legal counsel. Is this legal? Do federal courts have jurisdiction in this matter, or do these detainees
exist completely outside of the American legal system?
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"Heaven Can Wait: Is the Pledge of Allegiance Unconstitutional?" No. UK835
2004 February 20
Scope and Contents note
Erwin Chemerinsky, Sydney M. Irmas professor of public interest law, legal ethics and political science, University of Southern
California; and Douglas Kmiec, professor and Caruso Family chair in constitutional law, School of Law, Pepperdine University.
Is the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional? The original pledge, written in 1892 by the Christian socialist Francis Bellamy,
did not contain the words "under God." Congress added these two words in 1954. And it is these words that caused the Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals to rule in June 2002 that recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools violated the First Amendment's
so-called separation of church and state. Now the case is before the Supreme Court. Will the court rule that reciting the
current pledge in schools is okay, or do the words "under God" have to go?
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"Migration Headache: President Bush's Immigration Plans" No. UK836
2004 March 3
Scope and Contents note
Tamar Jacoby, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute, and editor, Reinventing the Melting Pot: The New Immigrants and What It
Means to be American; and Mark Krikorian, executive director, Center for Immigration Studies. It is estimated that currently
there are between 7 and 10 million illegal immigrants in this country. Meanwhile the Border Patrol has grown from a staff
of 2,000 and a $100 million budget 30 years ago to 11,000 men and women and a $9 billion budget today. Clearly, our attempts
to control illegal immigration have not been working. But what should we do instead? President George W. Bush has proposed
a new immigration plan that would turn illegal immigrants already here into legal temporary workers. Is his plan an acknowledgment
that our economy needs cheap immigrant labor and that we simply can't control our borders any longer? Or is his plan the entirely
wrong way to address the immigration problem?
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"For a Few Dollars More: Global Poverty and the World Bank" No. UK837
2004 March 3
Scope and Contents note
Douglass North, Bartlett Burnap senior fellow, Hoover Institution, and 1993 Nobel Prize winner in economics, and James Wolfensohn,
president, World Bank. Of the 6 billion people on earth, 1 billion--primarily in North America, Europe, and East Asia--receive
80 percent of the global income. Meanwhile 1 billion people subsist on less than one dollar a day. Despite billions in development
aid, many Third World nations are no better off than they were half a century ago. Why are developing countries still so poor?
And what can international development agencies such as the World Bank do to help?
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"Iraq of Ages: The United States and the Future of Iraq" No. UK838
2004 March 26
Scope and Contents note
Donald Emmerson, senior fellow, Stanford Institute for International Studies; Michael McFaul, Peter and Helen Bing senior
fellow, Hoover Institution, and associate professor of political science, Stanford University; and Joseph Nye, dean and Sultan
Oman professor of international relations, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. On July 1, the Coalition
Provisional Authority--the body headed by U.S. ambassador Paul Bremer that has governed Iraq since the end of the Iraq War--will
transfer sovereignty to a temporary Iraqi government. The transfer of power raises a number of hard questions. Will our attempts
at nation building in this ethnically and religiously divided country succeed? Just what are our responsibilities in ensuring
that success? And how long will or should the United States maintain a military presence in Iraq?
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"Trading Places: Is Outsourcing Good for America?" No. UK839
2004 March 26
Scope and Contents note
Stephen Haber, Peter and Helen Bing senior fellow, Hoover Institution, and A. A. and Jeanne Welch Milligan professor in the
School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University; Kenneth Judd, Paul H. Bauer senior fellow, Hoover Institution; and
Harley Shaiken, professor of education and geography, University of California, Berkeley. Does outsourcing--whether it means
the transfer of customer service and high-tech jobs to India or of manufacturing jobs to China--benefit the American economy
or harm it? And if American workers are being harmed by outsourcing, what should be done about it? Do we need legislation
to prevent corporations from sending jobs overseas? Or should we focus our attention on creating new opportunities for the
American labor force through education and job training?
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"Red and Blue All Over: The Political Divide in America" No. UK901
2004 May 3
Scope and Contents note
David Brooks, media fellow, Hoover Institution, and columnist, New York Times; Morris Fiorina, senior fellow, Hoover Institution;
and Daron Shaw, associate professor of political science, University of Texas, Austin. During the past decade, neither the
Democrats nor the Republicans have been able to capture a majority of the vote in national elections. In fact, the country
hasn't been so evenly divided since the 1870s. Some say this is evidence of a culture war and a political divide that has
split the country into two Americas. Others disagree, arguing that in fact most Americans are in the moderate middle and are
divided on relatively few issues. Who's right?
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"Around the World in 80 Ways: Affirmative Action around the World" No. UK902
2004 May 3
Scope and Contents note
Thomas Sowell, Rose and Milton Friedman senior fellow on public policy, Hoover Institution, and author, Affirmative Action
around the World: An Empirical Study. In the United States, affirmative action policies, first implemented to address the
historical grievances of black Americans, have long been controversial. But the debate over affirmative action has generally
ignored such action as practiced by other countries around the world. Has affirmative action proven to be more or less effective
in other countries? What common patterns do these programs share? How can the study of these programs help our understanding
of affirmative action in America?
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"Helter Swelter: The Debate over Global Warming" No. UK903
2004 June 8
Scope and Contents note
Carl Pope, executive director, Sierra Club; and Fred Smith, Jr., president and founder, Competitive Enterprise Institute.
This past summer's big-budget disaster movie, The Day after Tomorrow, depicted a near-future in which human-caused global
warming dramatically disrupted the earth's climate system, plunging the world in a new ice age. Although the scenario in the
film is clearly an unrealistic fantasy, some scientists say that relatively sudden climate change is theoretically possible.
But how likely it is depends on whether human activity really causes global warming. Does the evidence suggest that higher
amounts of so-called greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel consumption are, in fact, causing global warming?
And if so, what should we do about it?
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"Mind the Gap: The Racial Gap in Education" No. UK904
2004 May 3
Scope and Contents note
Bernard Gifford, professor of education, University of California, Berkeley; Abigail Thernstrom, senior fellow, Manhattan
Institute, and coauthor, No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning; and Stephen Thernstrom, Winthrop professor of history,
Harvard University, and coauthor, No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning. More than fifty years after the landmark
Supreme Court decision Brown v. the Board of Education, there is still an unacceptable gap between the academic achievements
of white and black students in America. In fact, by some standards, black students today perform more poorly than they did
fifteen years ago. Why? What role does culture play? Does culture explain the disparate performance of Hispanic and Asian
students? And just how should we go about trying to close this gap?
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"The Right Nation: The Conservative Ascendancy" No. UK905
2004 June 8
Scope and Contents note
Clark Judge, managing director, White House Writers Group and former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan; and John Micklethwait,
U.S. editor, The Economist and coauthor, The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America. A half-century ago, the ideology
of the American political establishment was liberal--the New Deal was still new and big government was getting bigger. Today,
after a political revolution that began with Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, it may be argued that conservatism has become
the dominant ideological force in American politics. But what does conservatism mean today? And if it is ascendant, how long
can it remain so?
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"Is the New Left History? The Past, Present, and Future of the Left" No. UK906
2004 July 15
Scope and Contents note
Anne Applebaum, columnist, Washington Post and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Gulag: A History; and Christopher Hitchens,
contributor, The Atlantic Monthly and Vanity Fair. In 1960, John F. Kennedy ran to the right of Richard Nixon, arguing that
under Republicans, the United States had become too weak in the cold war. A dozen years later, the democratic presidential
candidate was George McGovern. How did the Democrats go from hawks to doves in just twelve years? And what does the history
of the left imply for John Kerry, the Democratic Party, and the war on terror today?
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"A Space Case: The Future of NASA" No. UK907
2004 July 15
Scope and Contents note
Sean O'Keefe, tenth administrator, NASA. In January 2004, President George W. Bush announced a plan for a manned mission to
Mars in the first half of the twenty-first century. Is NASA up to the task? Given the recent failures of NASA's manned space
program, from Space Shuttle disasters to the over budget and barely functional international Space Station, should NASA even
be running a manned space program? If so, what can be done to revitalize NASA and restore both its sense of purpose and the
public's excitement for space exploration that has been missing for twenty years?
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"The Next Great Leap: China and Democracy" No. UK908
2004 July 15
Scope and Contents note
William McGurn, chief editorial writer, Wall Street Journal; and Orville Schell, dean, Graduate School of Journalism, University
of California, Berkeley. It has been more than fifteen years since the People's Liberation Army crushed the pro-democracy
rallies in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, killing hundreds of students and workers and wounding thousands more. Since then,
although stifling political dissent, China has continued to liberalize its economy and is rapidly becoming an economic superpower.
Will the explosion of new wealth in China lead to new pressures for democratic reform? And just what is the legacy of Tiananmen?
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"Sleeping with the Enemy: The Global AIDS Crisis" No. UK909
2004 August 26
Scope and Contents note
Carol Adelman, senior fellow, Hudson Institute; and Greg Behrman, author, The Invisible People: How the U.S. Has Slept through
the Global AIDS Pandemic, the Greatest Humanitarian Catastrophe of Our Time. The global AIDS pandemic is now in its third
decade. Although treatments have improved and infection rates have slowed in the West, AIDS continues to take a staggering
toll in Africa. And experts believe that Eurasia, particularly Russia, China, and India, may be next. Is the United States
doing enough to combat the global AIDS crisis? Should the United States continue its current policy, which includes an emphasis
on getting antiretroviral drugs to millions who can't now afford them? Or does the United States need to focus more on pressuring
affected countries to reform their inadequate social and economic institutions?
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"Unconventional Wisdom: Torture and the War on Terror" No. UK910
2004 July 28
Scope and Contents note
Before September 11, we took it for granted that only nations or states could wage war on the United States. After 9/11 it
became obvious that war could also be waged by terrorists operating anonymously and in the shadows. Are the laws of war-the
Geneva Conventions, the International Convention on Torture-suited to this new reality of war? Whom may we detain? How may
we interrogate those we detain? In the war on terror, do the laws of war permit us to be as tough as we need to be? Peter
Robinson speaks with Peter Berkowitz and Jenny Martinez.
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"What, U.S. Worry? Is the United States Losing Its Competitive Edge?" No. UK911
2004 July 28
Scope and Contents note
In the last decade and a half, India and China have both engaged in extensive economic reforms, in effect bringing their joint
population of some 2.3 billion into the worldwide system of capitalism and free trade. Those 2.3 billion people, many of whom
are extremely well educated, are by and large willing to work harder and for less pay than are Americans. Are India and China's
expanding and modernizing economies threatening America's long global dominance of science, technology, and industry? If so,
what should we do about it? Peter Robinson speaks with Craig Barrett, Stephen Moore, and Peter A. Thiel.
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"Time Has Come Today: Global Population and Consumption" No. UK912
2004 July 28
Scope and Contents note
Paul Ehrlich, Bing professor of population studies, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, and coauthor,
One with Nineveh: Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future; and Steven Hayward, senior fellow, Pacific Research Institute.
In 1990 the United Nations forecast that world population would peak at around 11 billion by the middle of this century. Now
many experts believe the peak will be closer to 8 or 9 billion people. Is this slowing of global population growth good news
for the earth's environment? Or do we still need to worry about the dangers of overpopulation and overconsumption?
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"Vive la Difference: Gender Differences and Public Policy" No. UK913
2004 August 27
Scope and Contents note
Steven Rhoads, professor of politics, University of Virginia and author, Taking Sex Differences Seriously; and Deborah Rhode,
Ernest W. McFarland professor of law, Stanford University and author, Speaking of Sex: The Denial of Gender Inequality. When
it comes to public policy, is it time to take sex differences seriously? There is no disputing the biological differences
between men and women. But how do or should these biological differences influence the roles that men and women play in modern
society? Are efforts to create equality in every venue of life--from sports, via programs such as Title IX, to the working
world, via the pursuit of subsidized child care and maternity leave--ultimately beneficial for women or harmful?
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"A Line in the Test Tube: The Debate over Stem Cells" No. UK914
2004 November 20
Scope and Contents note
Ramesh Ponnuru, media fellow, Hoover Institution and senior editor, National Review; and Irving Weissman, director, Cancer/Stem
Cell Biology Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine. Proponents of embryonic stem cell research proclaim the potential
of the research to find cures or treatments for many diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Opponents say the use and
destruction of human embryos in the conduct of this research are immoral. In 2001, President Bush announced a ban on federal
funding involving any new lines of embryonic stem cells. But calls to lift the ban continue, as do movements to increase funding
at the state level. Which side of the debate is right? Is embryonic stem cell research ethical or not?
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"An American Hiroshima: Preventing Nuclear Terrorism" No. UK915
2004 November 20
Scope and Contents note
Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon professor of government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and author,
Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, and Scott Sagan, co-director, Center for International Security and
Cooperation, Stanford University, and co-author, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed. Many experts believe that
it is almost inevitable that terrorists will soon have the ability to detonate a nuclear weapon in the heart of a major American
city. How can we stop them? What are the specific threats that we face and how should we respond to them? Do we face a greater
danger from nuclear weapons that may have been stolen from the former Soviet Union or from the clandestine efforts of rogue
nuclear scientists? And if the threat has increased since 9/11, why hasn't the United States done more to contain it?
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"Divorce, Transatlantic Style? The Future of Transatlantic Alliance" No. UK916
2004 November 3
Scope and Contents note
Niall Ferguson, senior fellow, Hoover Institution and professor of history, Harvard University; Josef Joffe, research fellow,
Hoover Institution and publisher-editor, Die Zeit; and Coit Blacker, director and senior fellow, Stanford Institute for International
Studies. For forty-five years, the threat of conflict with the Soviet Union brought the United States and Western Europe into
a tight partnership, most notably represented by the NATO military alliance. But with the Soviet Union gone and the European
Union on the road to possible superpower status in its own right, does the transatlantic alliance have a future?
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"Homeland Insecurity: Homeland Security" No. UK917
2004 October 21
Scope and Contents note
Frances Edwards, director, Office of Emergency Services, City of San Jose, and Stephen Flynn, Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick senior
fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, and author, America the Vulnerable: How Our Government Is Failing to Protect us from
Terrorism. The terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks took advantage of vulnerabilities in a critical part of America's infrastructure
- our air transportation system. Experts have pointed to similar vulnerabilities in our nation's food supply, our ports, and
our chemical and nuclear facilities. Congress and the Bush administration responded to the threat of other such attacks by
creating the Department of Homeland Security. But has the government done enough? What more should we be doing to defend against
potentially devastating domestic terrorist attacks? And just how much can we do without infringing on our freedom and way
of life?
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"Great Expectations: The Future of the European Union" No. UK918
2004 October 25
Scope and Contents note
John O'Sullivan, editor, National Interest, and Adrian Wooldridge, Washington correspondent, Economist. For some six decades,
the continent of Europe has enjoyed remarkable peace and prosperity. What role has the European Union played in this success?
And what role should the European Union play in the future? According to some European leaders, the purpose of the European
Union is to create a superpower capable of counterbalancing the United States. Is the goal of a superpower Europe a good idea?
Is it even possible?
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"Who Needs the United Nations? Reforming the United Nations" No. UK919
2004 October 25
Scope and Contents note
Victor Davis Hanson, Martin and Illie Anderson senior fellow, Hoover Institution, and Jane Wales, president and CEO, World
Affairs Council of Northern California. In 2003, the secretary general of the United Nations appointed a 16-member commission
to assess the threats to worldwide security in the twenty-first century. The commission came back with a number of recommendations
for reforming the UN itself. Is this institution so important that it must be preserved and reformed? Or, given its lack of
response to the crisis in Iraq, the ongoing nuclear crises in North Korea and Iran, and the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan,
is the UN beyond reform? Perhaps it has outlasted its usefulness.
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"Commanding Heights: American Empire" No. UK920
2004 November 3
Scope and Contents note
Niall Ferguson, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, professor of history, Harvard University, and author, Colossus: The Price
of America's Empire, and Ivan Eland, senior fellow, Independent Institute and author, The Empire Has No Clothes: U.S. Foreign
Policy Exposed. Since the end of the cold war, the United States has been the world's only superpower, accounting for 43 percent
of the world's military expenditures. During this time, America has led major interventions in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Are the United States and the world better off when America follows a unilateral, interventionist foreign policy? Or should
the United States reduce its overseas presence and instead emphasize international cooperation?
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"Latin America Goes South: Political Reform in Latin America" No. UK921
2004 October 12
Scope and Contents note
Stephen Haber, Peter and Helen Bing senior fellow, Hoover Institution and A. A. and Jeanne Welch Milligan professor, Stanford
University, and Alvaro Vargas Llosa, research fellow, Independent Institute and author, Liberty for Latin America: How to
Undo Five Hundred Years of State Oppression. Over the last quarter century, Latin America appears to have made remarkable
political and economic progress - an undeniable shift towards democratic government and free market economics. Yet during
the last five years, several Latin American countries have experienced one political and economic crisis after another. Why?
Have democratic and free market reforms failed Latin America? Or are enduring problems of governmental structure still to
blame?
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"Rial Politik: Defusing the Iranian Nuclear Crisis" No. UK922
2004 December 13
Scope and Contents note
Larry Diamond, senior fellow, Hoover Institution and professor, political science, Stanford University, and Abbas Milani,
research fellow, Hoover Institution. Iran - the same country that took American diplomats hostage twenty-five years ago and
whose leaders often refer to the United States as the "Great Satan" - may be on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. How
worried should we be? What can the United States do, if anything, to defuse the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran? Is a military
response feasible? Or should the United States focus on strengthening the movement for democratic reform within Iran?
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"The Electoral College's Excellent Adventure: Should We Abolish the Electoral College?" No. UK923
2004 December 13
Scope and Contents note
Jack Rakove, Coe professor of history and American studies, Stanford University, and Tara Ross, author, Enlightened Democracy:
The Case for the Electoral College. As required by the Constitution, the president of the United States is elected not by
the national popular vote but by the vote of the Electoral College. In the Electoral College, each state receives as many
votes as it has members of Congress. Because every state has two senators and is guaranteed at least one House member, votes
of small states count more heavily than votes of large states. Has the Electoral College served the nation well? Or should
it be abolished and replaced by a system in which every vote counts the same?
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"Monkey Business: Evolution and Intelligent Design" No. UK924
2005 January 14
Scope and Contents note
In October 2004, the school board in the small town of Dover, Pennsylvania, ordered its high school biology teachers to preface
classes on evolution with the statement: "Darwin's Theory is a theory not a fact. Gaps in the theory exist for which there
is no evidence." As an alternative to evolution, the school board suggested "intelligent design," a theory holding that life
on earth could not have developed at random. Are there gaps in the theory of evolution that undermine its credibility? What
should we make of "intelligent design"? And just what should we be teaching our children about the development of life on
earth? Peter Robinson speaks with Massimo Pigliucci and Jonathan Wells.
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"Making the Grade: The No Child Left Behind Act" No. UK925
2005 January 14
Scope and Contents note
In 2001, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, a bipartisan effort to mandate national education standards
and increase federal funding of education. At the time, critics on both sides of the political spectrum were troubled by the
expansion of federal power over education that the act represented and by the education standards the act mandated. Now, nearly
half a decade later, has No Child Left Behind been a success? If not, how should it be reformed? Peter Robinson speaks with
John E. Chubb and Martin Carnoy.
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"A Healthy Debate: Health Care Reform" No. UK926
2005 February 1
Scope and Contents note
The United States leads the developed world in spending on health care, at nearly 15 percent of our GDP. But based on measures
such as life expectancy at birth, Americans receive a lower level of care than do the citizens of many countries that spend
less. What's wrong with health care in America? And how should we fix it? Peter Robinson speaks with John F. Cogan and Alain
Enthoven.
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"Land of Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln and American History" No. UK927
2005 February 1
Scope and Contents note
Henry Ford once said that "history is more or less bunk. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth
a tinker's dam is the history we make today." Do Americans care about history or not? Journalist Andrew Ferguson discusses
America's relationship with its own history using the continuing fascination with Abraham Lincoln as a case study.
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"The French Kiss-Off: The History of French and American Relations" No. UK928
2005 February 11
Scope and Contents note
Is France America's oldest friend or its oldest enemy? Americans are taught that the United States owes its very independence
to France-that if the French hadn't helped us during the Revolutionary War, we would still be part of the British Empire.
Was this assistance the beginning of a long and close friendship between France and America or an anomaly in an otherwise
contentious relationship? Peter Robinson speaks with John Miller and Robert Paxton Mellon.
folder VHS, box 22; Betacam SP, box 43; Digital Betacam, box 103
"The Bottomless Well: Are We Running out of Energy?" No. UK929
2005 February 11
Scope and Contents note
Many petroleum experts predict that world oil production will peak by the end of the decade. Will the United States soon be
entering a period of worsening energy shortages and soaring energy costs? And, if so, what should the government to do about
it? Or will the ever-improving technological efficiencies of the free market provide access to virtually endless sources of
new energy? Peter Robinson speaks with Peter Huber and Jonathan Koomey.
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"Give Me Civil Liberties or Give Me...Safety? Should the Patriot Act Be Renewed?" No. UK930
2005 February 11
Scope and Contents note
In late 2001, in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Bush administration proposed the USA Patriot Act, which gave
law enforcement agencies expanded surveillance and intelligence-gathering powers. Congress overwhelmingly approved the Patriot
Act on the condition that most provisions of the act would expire in 2005. President Bush now wants all provisions of the
act extended. Should they be? Or are the provisions dangerous and unnecessary infringements on our civil liberties? Peter
Robinson speaks with Jenny Martinez and John Yoo.
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"Tort and Retort: Tort Reform" No. UK931
2005 February 25
Scope and Contents note
During the 2004 presidential campaign, one principal plank of George W. Bush's domestic platform was reforming tort law, which
includes class action lawsuits, asbestos liability, and medical malpractice liability. President Bush believes that tort law
as it now stands permits trial lawyers to take advantage of good companies, driving up the costs of doing business for everyone.
Others believe that existing tort law allows consumers to protect themselves against bad companies. Which is it? And should
President Bush be given the tort reforms he wants? Peter Robinson speaks with David Davenport and Alan Morrison.
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"Inalienable Rites? Gay Marriage in the Courts" No. UK932
2005 March 25
Scope and Contents note
On March 14, 2005, a California Superior Court judge ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriage violated the state constitution.
Although the decision is certain to be appealed up to the California Supreme Court, California may now be on the road to joining
Massachusetts in legalizing gay marriage. Did the Superior Court judge decide correctly? Just how compelling are the constitutional
arguments for and against gay marriage? Peter Robinson speaks with Terry Thompson and Tobias Wolff.
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"Hitch-cocked: A Conversation with Christopher Hitchens" No. UK933
2005 March 25
Scope and Contents note
Journalist Christopher Hitchens discusses neoconservatives and the left, his break with The Nation magazine over his support
of the war in Iraq, and his tour of the three members of the "axis of evil."
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"Pay It Forward: Social Security Reform" No. UK934
2005 April 15
Scope and Contents note
In making Social Security reform a top priority of his second term, President George W. Bush has emphasized two points: first,
that, without changes, our Social Security system will be bankrupt by 2042 and, second, that a key element of reform must
be creating private accounts to allow workers to invest a portion of their payroll taxes in stocks and bonds. Is the president
right on both counts? Peter Robinson speaks with John Cogan and Alan Auerbach.
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"Alexander the Great: Alexander Hamilton" No. UK935
2005 April 15
Scope and Contents note
Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury, may today be better known for his death in a duel with Aaron Burr,
than for the role he played as a founder of the nascent United States. His vision of a federal, mercantile nation was in opposition
to Thomas Jefferson's vision of an agrarian society. Who won this battle of ideas and why? Just what is the enduring legacy
of Alexander Hamilton? Peter Robinson speaks with Ron Chernow.
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"Speak No Evil: Freedom of Speech on Campus" No. UK936
2005 April 15
Scope and Contents note
According to recent polls, instructors at American universities are overwhelmingly liberal: 72 percent of faculty members
describe themselves as liberal, whereas only 15 percent call themselves conservative. Some critics charge that this ideological
imbalance has created a code of political correctness that inhibits freedom of inquiry and expression in our universities.
Is this true? And if so, what should be done, or can be done, about it? Peter Robinson speaks with David Horowitz and Graham
Larkin.
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"Love and Marriage: Marriage in Modern America" No. UK937
2005 April 18
Scope and Contents note
Most people would agree that families and the institution of marriage are not what they were fifty years ago. Many couples
are cohabiting without marriage, and many children are being raised in single-parent homes or other nontraditional family
arrangements. Is the traditional model of marriage and family superior to these other arrangements, as some would argue? If
so, why have marriage and family relationships changed so much over the past half-century? And what should the government
do, if anything, to strengthen families and the institution of marriage? Peter Robinson speaks with Jennifer Roback Morse
and Stephanie Coontz.
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"Holding Court: The Legacy of the Rehnquist Court" No. UK938
2005 May 26
Scope and Contents note
William H. Rehnquist has served as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court for nineteen years, the longest tenure
of a chief justice in a century. How has the Rehnquist Court responded to the key constitutional issues of our times? What
will be the philosophical legacy of the man himself? And who will miss him more, liberals or conservatives? Peter Robinson
speaks with Kathleen Sullivan and John Yoo.
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"The Best Defense: Preventive War" No. UK939
2005 May 26
Scope and Contents note
In 2002, the Bush administration published a new National Security Strategy, which argued that, in the twenty-first century,
it was necessary for the United States not merely to defend itself but to use military force to prevent threats such as terrorist
attacks and weapons of mass destruction. Is preventive force just? Is it effective? And what can the biggest example of this
doctrine in action, the war in Iraq, tell us about the future of preventive force? Peter Robinson speaks with Victor Davis
Hanson, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Stephen Stedman.
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"The Constitution and the War" No. WUK06_01
2006 October 29
Scope and Contents note
Where should we draw the line between civil liberties and national security in the "war on terror"? Are we even at war, and
if so, what are the constitutional limits to presidential war powers? Has the Bush administration gone too far in the electronic
surveillance of citizens and the coercive interrogation of suspected terrorists and enemy combatants? Richard Epstein and
John Yoo, both widely regarded as strict constitutional constructionists, take decidedly different positions on these questions.
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"Economic Growth In India and China" No. WUK06_02
2006 November 27
Scope and Contents note
According to Michael Spence, "We are entering a period in which the two most populous countries in the world are the fastest-growing
countries in the world-and the fastest-growing countries in the history of the world." How have India and China done it, and
what problems do they face as they seek to sustain this growth? What threats do these two economic powers pose to the United
States, and what strategies should guide our relations with them?
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"Bring Back The Draft" No. WUK06_03
2006 December 12
Scope and Contents note
Under President Nixon, in 1973 the United States abolished the draft, moving to an all-volunteer armed forces. Now some-most
notably New York congressman Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee-have called for a reinstatement
of the draft. Is this a good idea? What lessons from history can we call on to help answer this question? And what impact
would the reinstatement of the draft have on society as a whole and the military in particular? Peter Robinson speaks with
David Kennedy and Edwin Meese.
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"The Iraq Study Group" No. WUK06_04
2006 December 12
Scope and Contents note
As one of the prominent conservative members of the Iraq Study Group, Edwin Meese has drawn withering criticism from the right
for the group's recommendations-the National Review calling their final report "dressed-up surrender in Iraq." Just what does
the report say about the situation in Iraq, what to do about troop levels, and a "new diplomatic offensive in the Middle East"?
Meese takes on the key points and their critics and offers a strong defense of the positions staked out by the Iraq Study
Group.
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"Inside The Economist Magazine" No. WUK07_01
2007 February 5
Scope and Contents note
From his vantage point as the editor-in-chief of one of the most respected news magazines in the world, John Micklethwait
discusses how this 150-year-old "newspaper" maintains its leadership position in the increasing precarious environment of
print journalism. Along the way, he offers his job performance evaluation of Tony Blair and George Bush and is challenged
to defend his previous assertion that "The conservative movement has become the dominant intellectual force in American politics."
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"The Cold War" No. WUK07_02
2007 April 23
Scope and Contents note
John O'Sullivan explores three competing explanations for the causes of the cold war and the three fundamental explanations
for its end. Along the way, he offers in the Soviet Union a cogent analysis of the roles played by Mikhail Gorbachev and by
Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II in the West.
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"How Can The GOP Get Its Groove Back?" No. WUK07_03
2007 April 23
Scope and Contents note
Governor Haley Barbour reflects on the current state of the Grand Old Party and what it will take for it to regain its prominence
in American politics. What did the GOP do right in the mid-nineties to capture a majority in the House of Representatives
for the first time in forty years, and what is it doing wrong today? And how can the party adapt the conservatism of Ronald
Reagan to the current issues of the day?
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"Fred Thompson, The Candidate" No. WUK07_04
2007 June 11
Scope and Contents note
Hoover Institution fellow, Peter Robinson, speaks with Fred Thompson about his candidacy for President of the United States.
Robinson delves into the key issues facing America today, the politics of running for president, and the source of Thompson's
conservative views.
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"Land of Lincoln" No. WUK07_05
2007 July 10
Scope and Contents note
Abraham Lincoln hasn't been forgotten, but he's shrunk ... That earlier Lincoln, that large Lincoln, seems to be slipping
away. So writes author Andrew Ferguson. Here Ferguson brings that "large" Lincoln back into view and offers insights into
how Lincoln shaped himself into one of the nation's great wartime leaders and perhaps its greatest presidential orator. He
answers the fundamental question of why does Lincoln still matter.
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"Hitchens - The Morals of an Atheist" No. WUK07_06
2007 August 23
Scope and Contents note
If there is no God-no ground of being-if human beings represent nothing more than temporary swarms of atoms, then what sense
does it make even to speak of "right" and "wrong"? Where does morality come from? Reflecting on what he calls "the appalling
insinuation that I would not know right from wrong if I was not supernaturally guided,...." Christopher Hitchens takes on
the likes of Jonathan Swift, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Darwin in making his case for atheism.
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"Hitchens on Iraq" No. WUK07_07
2007 August 23
Scope and Contents note
What is the situation on the ground in Iraq - militarily and politically? Should the United States stay or withdraw, and what
would be the consequences of each? Christopher Hitchens, one of the war's most ardent supporters, analyzes the current battle
taking place in America over the direction and management of this most divisive of wars and argues that it is imperative that
America stand by its commitment to the people of Iraq.
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"Governor Jeb Bush" No. WUK07_08
2007 October 24
Scope and Contents note
In Florida, where Democrats outnumber Republicans, Governor Jeb Bush won both election and reelection by comfortable margins,
reformed education, cut taxes, stood up for traditional moral values, and left office after eight years with an approval rating
of more than 60 percent. How did he do it? Peter Robinson speaks with Governor Jeb Bush about what it means to be a conservative,
his views on America's current domestic agenda and foreign policy challenges, faith and politics, and the 2007 Republican
presidential candidates.
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"Victor Davis Hanson" No. WUK07_09
2007 November 30
Scope and Contents note
As a military historian, Victor Davis Hanson places America's current war in Iraq, President Bush's leadership, and military
successes and failures in the context of America's long history of conflicts from the Civil War to the world wars of the twentieth
century. He reports on his most recent trip to Iraq where he witnessed the surge firsthand and met with General David Petraeus
and Sunni sheiks. He takes up the challenges posed by Iran and the need at home for all Americans to have a greater understanding
of the military's role in society.
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"Norman Podhoretz" No. WUK07_10
2007 November 30
Scope and Contents note
Writing in his new book World War IV, Norman Podhoretz asserts that "the great struggle into which the United States was plunged
by 9/11 can only be understood if we think of it as World War IV."
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"Uncommon Knowledge: Michael Barone" No. WUK08_01
2008 January 14
Scope and Contents note
To better understand the state of democracy in the United States today, Peter Robinson challenges Michael Barone to explain
a series of paradoxes at the heart of our political process: the current state of the Republican Party, the debate over the
war in Iraq, and competing tax reform and health-care proposals. Barone also offers his thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses
of the current Republican and Democratic presidential candidates.
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"Shelby Steele: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race" No. WUK08_02
2008 January 18
Scope and Contents note
In conversation with Peter Robinson, Shelby Steele explores Barack Obama's candidacy.
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"The Economy According to Taylor and Judd" No. WUK08_03
2008 February 11
Scope and Contents note
Are we, in fact, in a recession? If not, is one still headed our way? Economists John Taylor and Kenn Judd discuss not only
the state of the current economic slowdown, but how the definition of recession is evolving.
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"Peter Robinson speaks with Thomas Sowell about his new book Economic Facts and Fallacies" No. WUK08_04
2008 February 5
Scope and Contents note
Peter Robinson speaks with Thomas Sowell about his new book Economic Facts and Fallacies in which Sowell exposes some of the
most popular fallacies about economic issues. Sowell takes on the conventional thinking on a wide swath of America's economic
life, from male-female economic differences to income stagnation, executive pay, and social mobility to economics of higher
education. In all cases he demonstrates how economics relates to the social issues that deeply affect our country.
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"Peter Robinson interviews Fresno State Classicist Bruce Thornton about his new book Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Suicide"
No. WUK08_05
2008 March 6
Scope and Contents note
In his new book, Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Motion Suicide, Bruce Thornton asserts that Europe has turned its back on
the Western tradition to which it owes its greatness. It has abandoned pride in the nation, discarded traditional Christianity,
and, in so doing, is without unifying values, ideals, and beliefs. But if Europe is still democratic, and if it still embraces
the free market, why should anyone care that Judaeo-Christian religious beliefs are slipping away. The answer lies in the
coinciding rise of radical Islam.
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"Shultz on Nukes - Then & Now" No. WUK08_06
2008 March 14
Scope and Contents note
George Shultz, writing with Henry Kissinger and others in the Wall Street Journal late last year, asserted that "nuclear weapons
were essential to maintaining international security during the Cold War. ...But reliance on nuclear weapons for [the purpose
of deterrence] is becoming increasingly hazardous and decreasingly effective,...The world is now on the precipice of a new
and dangerous nuclear era." What made nuclear weapons acceptable then, and so unacceptable today? In answering these questions
Shultz addresses the difficult challenges the United States faces as it seeks to curb the nuclear ambitions of North Korea
and Iran, and the threat represented by non-nation state actors: the nightmare scenario of a nuclear suitcase bomb detonating
in a major American city.
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"The Free-Market Case for Green" No. WUK08_07
2008 March 14
Scope and Contents note
A dedicated, unabashed, free market capitalist, T. J. Rodgers takes a businessman's and engineer's view of global warming.
How serious is it, and what should we make of the plans offered up by politicians such as Al Gore and Barack Obama to deal
with it? If "cap and trade" or pollution taxes on CO2 are not the answer, what is?
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"Kissinger on War & More" No. WUK08_08
2008 April 3
Scope and Contents note
Peter Robinson explores the global challenges confronting American today--from Iraq to Europe to Iran and the dangers of nuclear
proliferation--with Kissinger, one of the country's most preeminent foreign policy practitioners. Kissinger asserts that the
1960s myth, that the U.S. government is somehow an evil enterprise, is alive and well. In this environment, he says, our leaders
need to present a clear and educated vision of America's role in the world.
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"The Word According to Tom Wolfe" No. WUK08_09
2008 April 3
Scope and Contents note
Peter Robinson engages America's master novelist in a conversation that ranges from the death of the American novel to the
"charming aristocracy" that seeks to dictate literary standards to the intersection of culture and the latest findings in
neuroscience. Along the way, Tom Wolfe reaffirms his place as the preeminent chronicler of the changing American scene.
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"The Rise and Fall of Liberalism" No. WUK08_10
2008 April 3
Scope and Contents note
In Camelot and the Cultural Revolution, James Piereson asserts that, "as the 1960's began, liberalism was ... the single most
creative and vital force in American politics" and that the Kennedy assassination caused a split within this movement between
its more traditional supporters and cultural activists that still exists today. Peter Robinson explores with Piereson how
and why this happened -- how "a confident, practical, forward-looking philosophy with a heritage of accomplishment was thus
turned into a doctrine of pessimism and self-blame, with a decidedly dark view of American society."
folder Digital Betacam, box 108; DVD MPEG4, box 119
"The Middle East with Daniel Pipes" No. WUK08_11
2008 April 3
Scope and Contents note
Is Islam a religion of peace? What should we do about Iran - or, more specifically, an Iran with nuclear weapons? Why is it
in our national interest to support Israel? In answering these and other questions about the thorniest issues confronting
the United States in the Middle East, Daniel Pipes provides some surprising answers. Among them, Pipes asserts that Israel
is quite capable of standing up to a nuclear Iran on its own.
folder Digital Betacam, box 109; DVD MPEG4, box 119
"War Policy with Douglas Feith" No. WUK08_12
2008 April 3
Scope and Contents note
Bush lied, people died; "Bush came into office intent on launching a war in Iraq"; "There was no plan for postwar Iraq" are
just three charges in the prevailing narrative that has emerged since the beginning of the Iraq war. In refuting them, Doug
Feith offers a firsthand insight into the decision-making process at the Pentagon in the lead-up to the war and during its
first few years. He also discusses the wars greatest blunders - failure to provide adequate security after Saddam's fall and
the decision to maintain an occupation government in Iraq for over a year - as well as the tremendous shortcomings in pre-war
intelligence. Finally, almost seven years after the September 11 attacks, he addresses whether the United States government
is changing fast enough to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century security environment.
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"War & Terror with Philip Bobbitt" No. WUK08_13
2008 April 29
Scope and Contents note
Professor Philip Bobbitt describes the "wars for the 21st century" as wars against terror - against modern market-state terrorism,
against the distribution and assimilation of weapons of mass destruction, and against the forces that create human catastrophes,
such as genocide and ethnic cleansing. During the 20th century it was important that the law and the allied war strategy were
separate. According to Bobbitt, "We won the war and then the law followed." In the current century, however, Bobbitt says,
our challenge is to unite the two: law and war strategy must meet because we are now fighting to protect what free people
have the lawful right to do. But how do we strengthen the power of government to protect us and at the same time protect civil
and human rights?
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"Law & Jihad with Andrew McCarthy" No. WUK08_14
2008 June 2
Scope and Contents note
It is crucial to grasp ... [the] Islamic notion of freedom, for it is the inverse of the Western conception. From this central
idea, McCarthy discusses the "chasm between the Islam of Western fantasy and the Islam that actually exists," underscoring
the fact that "jihadists are very adept at exploiting the freedoms that are available to them in Western democracies." Confronting
Islamic extremism, how do we make our strategic behavior -- the rules of war - conform to the rule of law that is essential
in maintaining a free society?
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"In Defense of WWII" No. WUK08_15
2008 July 9
Scope and Contents note
Victor Davis Hanson and Christopher Hitchens take on the World War II revisionists, focusing first on Patrick J. Buchanan,
the author, most recently, of Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War. They counter the essential claims in Buchanan's
book that Britain's guarantee to protect Poland in the event of a German invasion made the war inevitable; that the Holocaust
was a consequence of the war and that, without it, the Holocaust may not have occurred; and that Germany invaded Russia only
because Britain under Churchill was determined to partner with Russia against Germany. Finally they address two claims made
by author Niall Ferguson that "[the Allies] adopted the most brutal tactics of those they were fighting" and that the principal
beneficiary of the Second World War was Stalin's Soviet Union.
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"The Founders and Us" No. WUK08_16
2008 July 14
Scope and Contents note
Should we care what the founders would say about modern-day America? Richard Brookhiser says yes. If so, how should we consider
some of our thornier contemporary issues in light of what the founders thought, such as "originalism" in constitutional matters,
America as a "religious" nation if not a Christian nation, or even the fundamental principles of U.S. foreign policy? Even
the bruising political battles currently being waged in Washington may be better understood in the context of the political
wars our founders fought when the Republic was born.
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"The Great Depression with Amity Shlaes" No. WUK08_17
2008 May 28
Scope and Contents note
Amity Shlaes challenges the received wisdom that the Great Depression occurred because capitalism broke and that it ended
because FDR, and government in general, came to the rescue. According to Shlaes, it was the government that made the Great
Depression worse. And was FDR's progressivism, as evident in the New Deal, really all that new, or was it a step along a progressive
continuum that already had been established?
folder Digital Betacam, box 110; DVD MPEG4, box 119
"The World According to Andrew Klavan" No. WUK08_18
2008 August 28
Scope and Contents note
From his vantage point inside Hollywood and the arts and from the perspective of a writer whose work is imbued with religious
themes, Klavan deconstructs the Left's argument that Western civilization - from its embrace of capitalism to its foundations
in Judeo-Christian doctrine to its traditions of personal liberty - is in error and needs to go. Klavan says "that argument
has failed spectacularly, in every way" and that, when you do not relinquish a failed argument, all you have left is insult
and ridicule.
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"Politics and Catholics with Archbishop Charles Chaput" No. WUK08_19
2008 September 14
Scope and Contents note
According to the New York Times "A struggle within the church over just how Catholic voters should think about abortion is
once again flaring up just as political partisans prepare an all-out battle for the votes of Mass-going Catholics." Archbishop
Chaput weighs into this battle, taking on the thorny issue of where to draw the line between church and state, particularly
for Catholics. The archbishop also answers critics who speak of misbegotten forays by the church into other political battles
as well as the challenges the Catholic Church faces as its influence declines in American life.
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"Anything Goes with Chris Buckley" No. WUK08_20
2008 August 18
Scope and Contents note
In this wide-ranging interview, bouncing from the comic to the serious and back again, Christopher Buckley comments on the
new media, politics, Republicans, the war, spending, McCain, Obama, and American life. After rating the speechifying of Obama,
McCain, Palin, and Biden, he concludes with reflections on life with William F. Buckley.
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"Equality Man" No. WUK08_21
2008 October 7
Scope and Contents note
In 1995 Connerly campaigned for Proposition 209, which would make it illegal for the state of California to discriminate on
the basis of race, intending to end the state's affirmative action programs. The proposition passed. Since then, Connerly,
having won passage of such measures in Washington State and Michigan, has continued the fight. In discussing the battle to
end racial preferences, Connerly notes that "the establishment is always at odds with the people on issues involving race."
Martin Luther King, says Connerly, would likely have supported affirmative action back in the 1960s, but were he alive today,
he'd say, "We're beyond that now." Would a President Obama agree? Connerly weighs in.
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"Thomas Sowell and a Conflict of Visions" No. WUK08_22
2008 October 21
Scope and Contents note
Sowell describes the critical differences between interests and visions. Interests, he says, are articulated by people who
know what their interests are and what they want to do about them. Visions, however, are the implicit assumptions by which
people operate. In politics, visions are either "constrained" or "unconstrained." A closer look at the statements of both
McCain and Obama reveals which "vision" motivates their policy positions, particularly as they pertain to the war, the law,
and economics.
folder Digital Betacam, box 111; DVD MPEG4, box 119
"Shelby Steele on President-Elect Obama" No. WUK08_23
2008 November 11
Scope and Contents note
Shelby Steele asserts that Barack Obama won the presidential election by successfully basing his candidacy on race, "Obama's
special charisma ... always came ... from the racial idealism he embodied. ... This was his only true political originality."
Steele holds that whites voted less for real "change" than for documentation of a change that has already occurred in race
relations in America. But will four or eight years of Barack Obama free whites from the taint of racism or make them still
more complicit in it?
folder Digital Betacam, box 112; DVD MPEG4, box 119
"The U.S. Economy with Peter Thiel" No. WUK08_24
2008 November 24
Scope and Contents note
Thiel argues that a book published in France in 1968, Le Defi Americain (The American Challenge) has a lot to say to us in
the United States in 2008 and discusses why the U.S. has failed to rise to the heights predicted by its author, J. J. Servan-Schreiber.
In explaining what's wrong with the U.S. economy, Thiel points out that, although we have benefited from growth that is both
extensive (e.g., free trade) and intensive (e.g., technology), we have not featured enough of each. He asserts that the credit
crisis of 2008 has nothing to do with the failings of the free market but rather is a by-product of government entanglement,
nurtured by the motors of economic growth working less well than expected.
folder Digital Betacam, box 112; DVD MPEG4, box 119
"Crisis Management with John Taylor" No. WUK09_01
2008 December 15
Scope and Contents note
What are the lessons we learned -- and perhaps unlearned -- that permitted the American economy, once so convulsive, to grow
in such a robust and sustained way for the last quarter of a century? Economist John Taylor discusses today's financial crisis,
which he labels the most "unusual" crisis since the Great Depression. He identifies a number of factors contributing to the
crisis, but locates its origins in the monetary excesses of the Fed. In outlining what the government should and should not
do in response to the crisis, he concludes that it will be tragic if we forget all we have learned over the past two and a
half decades about the importance of the private sector and the free market.
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"Intelligence and Security with James Woolsey" No. WUK09_02
2009 January 14
Scope and Contents note
James Woolsey discusses the failure of the intelligence community in the run-up to the Iraq war and considers Barak Obama's
selection of Leon Panetta to head the CIA in light of the historical relationship between the president and the CIA director.
He outlines the challenges the intelligent community faces in what he calls America's war against "theocratic totalitarianism."
Finally, he asserts that it is imperative for us to destroy oil as a strategic commodity - not only for our security but also
for the good of the planet.
folder Digital Betacam, box 112; DVD MPEG4, box 119
"Immigration with Mark Krikorian" No. WUK09_03
2009 January 14
Scope and Contents note
Peter Robinson challenges Mark Krikorian to explain why America -- a nation of immigrants -- should now adopt anti-immigration
policies. Krikorian responds by asserting that mass immigration is fundamentally incompatible with a modern society, that
it causes a serious erosion of sovereignty, and that it creates a net economic burden on the government. Finally, he details
the dangers of transnationalism and multiculturalism that are inherent in immigration today and gives his prescription for
solving the problem.
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"Ferguson and Long on Obama, Lincoln, and More" No. WUK09_04
2009 January 30
Scope and Contents note
How close in style and substance is Barack Obama to Abraham Lincoln, one of our greatest presidents, who also hailed from
Illinois and emerged from a humble background to lead our nation in a time of crisis? Ferguson and Long examine the first
inaugural addresses of both men to explore the parallels between the two and offer insights into how President Obama will
guide our nation.
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"The World According to John Bolton" No. WUK09_05
2009 February 23
Scope and Contents note
Were we right to go to war in Iraq? With this question as a point of departure, Peter Robinson explores with Ambassador Bolton
our foreign policy successes and failures during the Bush years and assesses the current challenges from the usual suspects:
North Korea, Russia, and Iran. Bolton sees a power shift in the Middle East that would be fundamental, calamitous, and irreversible
should Iran get nuclear weapons.
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"Law and Justice with Antonin Scalia" No. WUK09_06
2009 February 23
Scope and Contents note
The Constitution "is not living, but dead." With these words Associate Justice Scalia sums up how he believes we should think
about the Constitution - a way of thinking that underpins the theory of "originalism" which guides his approach to cases that
come before the Supreme Court. In expounding on originalism, Scalia takes the Court to task on past decisions, including Roe
v. Wade, and measures just how far the Court can and should go in reversing these mistakes.
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"Crisis and the Law with Richard Epstein" No. WUK09_07
2009 March 23
Scope and Contents note
Considered one if the most influential legal thinkers of modern times, Richard Epstein, the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior
Fellow at the Hoover Institution, brings his libertarian views to bear on the current financial crisis-"government incentives
were perverse, so the actions of the private parties were perverse"-and rates the performances of George Bush and Barack Obama
in their responses to the crisis. He speaks to the importance of contracts and the constitutionality of the "expo facto" taxation
on AIG executives and the Employee Free Choice Act embraced by President Obama. Finally he speaks of his personal and professional
dealings with Barack Obama when they were law school faculty mates at the University of Chicago.
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"At War with General Jack Keane" No. WUK09_08
2009 March 25
Scope and Contents note
During his thirty-seven years in the U.S. Army, Jack Keane earned four stars. Beginning his career as a paratrooper in Vietnam,
he rose to command both the 101st Airborne Division and the 18th Airborne Corps. In his final post he served as the Army's
vice chief of staff. General Keane retired from active duty in 2003. In 2006, General Keane and military historian Frederick
Kagan helped develop a new approach to the Iraq war that would become known as "the surge." How did we arrive at that point
in 2006 when the entire war effort in Iraq hung in the balance - why did the war go so badly for so long? General Keane gives
an insider's account of this pivotal time in the Iraq war and of the resistance encountered within the military to that dramatic
change in strategy. Keane discusses the lessons to be learned from the Iraq War and how to define and achieve victory in Afghanistan.
Finally, he deals with the overall question of the military force structure and the danger of becoming preoccupied with the
threat of terrorism and insurgencies and thus risking being unable to confront a conventional power.
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"The Aussie Way with John Howard" No. WUK09_09
2009 April 23
Scope and Contents note
Prime Minister Howard offers insights into Australia's own "special relationship" with the United States beginning with why
Australia's participation in the Iraq war was in his nation's best interest. Echoing parallels with the United States, he
offers his views on multiculturalism-which he calls "a very confused credo"-and Australia's role in the "Anglosphere," particularly
as it relates to China, its largest and most powerful Asian neighbor. He speaks of the current financial crisis and the need
to remain confident in the market and the dangers of overregulation. Finally, he answers "What should Americans know about
Australia that we don't?"
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"The Environment with Steven Hayward" No. WUK09_10
2009 April 30
Scope and Contents note
Hayward challenges the established narrative of environmentalism, beginning with the notion that the earth is fragile and
that we have little time to save it from environmental catastrophe. He deconstructs the case for global warming (including
"cap and trade" plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions and the new EPA "endangerment finding" on CO2) and speaks to the challenges
faced by poor countries as they seek to modernize and at the same time reduce the pollution that has historically accompanied
modernization. Finally, he offers his insights into the deep structure of environmentalism that substitutes a human apocalypse
for a religious one.
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"The Politics of Hollywood with Andrew Breitbart" No. WUK09_11
2009 May 5
Scope and Contents note
Identified as "one of the ten most important people in the media that nobody's ever met," Andrew Breitbart details why leftward-leaning
Hollywood is dangerous for America and why the people who run it are "uninteresting," "vitriolic," and "vicious." Segueing
from Hollywood to the Internet, Breitbart explores why the right dominates talk radio and the left seems to do better on the
Internet and how the decline of print media is changing the nature of the national political conversation.
folder Digital Betacam, box 114; DVD MPEG4, box 120
"Charles Kesler on the Grand Liberal Project" No. WUK09_12
2009 May 28
Scope and Contents note
In a sweeping review of American political history, Kesler outlines the "grand liberal project" begun a century ago. It is
a project, he asserts, that has expressed itself in three distinct waves: political liberalism, economic liberalism, and cultural
liberalism. Kesler further maintains that Barack Obama seeks nothing less than to complete and perfect this project. Finally,
he confronts the issues of how conservatism lost its way in the face of the liberal project and how it might regain its initiative.
folder Digital Betacam, box 114; DVD MPEG4, box 120
"Africa with Dambisa Moyo" No. WUK09_13
2009 June 12
Scope and Contents note
During the past fifty years, more than $1 trillion in development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to
Africa. Moyo asserts, however, that this assistance has made African people no better off. "Africa's real per capita income
today is lower than in the 1970s, with over half of the 700 million Africans living on less than a dollar a day." Eschewing
the "glamour aid" of celebrities such as Bob Geldof and Bono, she argues that the key to transforming African countries is
to make them less reliant on foreign aid and compel them to "enforce rules of prudence and not live beyond their means."
folder Digital Betacam, box 115; DVD MPEG4, box 120
"Housing with Thomas Sowell" No. WUK09_14
2009 June 29
Scope and Contents note
Thomas Sowell analyzes the recent housing boom and bust, beginning with the underlying economic causes that artificially inflated
housing costs in certain markets. He points the finger directly at political decisions in Washington - particularly involving
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - that enabled and promoted the financing of an unsustainable housing bubble in which the collapse
of prices in a few inflated markets rapidly evolved into a national crisis. Sowell challenges the accepted wisdom of modeling
a recovery based on the New Deal, which he asserts did little to help - and perhaps even extended - The Great Depression.
Finally, he disputes the value of the recent stimulus package and argues against Obama's health-care and energy initiatives.
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"Lincoln with Harry Jaffa" No. WUK09_15
2009 July 13
Scope and Contents note
In a year that marks the two hundredth year since the birth of Lincoln, and the fiftieth year since the publication of his
own Crisis of the House Divided, Harry Jaffa discusses Lincoln as a thinker and philosopher as well as the great import of
the Lincoln-Douglas debates and their lasting influence on American society. Jaffa explains that the Lincoln-Douglas debates
centered on the "question of whether the people make the moral law or the moral law makes the people." At the core of Lincoln's
political philosophy, Jaffa argues, was the proposition from the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal."
And it is this proposition that gives Americans alone, Jaffa says, a legitimate claim to a belief that their country is truly
exceptional.
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"Trotsky per Hitchens and Service" No. WUK09_16
2009 July 28
Scope and Contents note
Leon Trotsky, one of the leading figures of the Russian October Revolution, remains a controversial figure. For many, Trotsky's
assassination in Mexico marked a tragedy in Soviet history, cutting off the possibility of a humane version of communism taking
hold in Russia, with Trotsky himself arguing that he would have held back the tides of arbitrary rule and terror. But is that
so? In answering this question and others about Trotsky's ideas, political defeat, and exile, Hitchens and Service speak to
the very nature of communist ideology.
folder Digital Betacam, box 115; DVD MPEG4, box 120
"Lincoln and More with Harry Jaffa, part II" No. WUK09_17
2009 July 14
Scope and Contents note
In a previous Uncommon Knowledge interview, Jaffa discussed his classic Crisis of the House Divided. In this interview, Jaffa
returns to discuss the sequel, A New Birth of Freedom. He begins by making a critical point: whereas the Founders had expected
slavery simply to wither away, by the middle of the nineteenth century the peculiar institution had done no such thing. The
Civil War, Jaffa insists, was a necessary war-an unavoidable war-not a war of choice. When the war broke out, anyone who had
engaged in a cool calculation of the odds would have put his money on the Confederacy, not the Union. Commenting on contemporary
America, Jaffa points out the distinction between the "immutable principles of private morality" that President Washington
spoke of and the "fundamental American values" that President Obama speaks of today. "Values are moral choices, which have
no object or basis," Jaffa asserts. "The value is a subjective desire, not an objective truth. A hundred years ago, nobody
would have spoken about our principles as being values."
folder Digital Betacam, box 116; DVD MPEG4, box 120
"GOP Principles with Thaddeus McCotter" No. WUK09_18
2009 August 24
Scope and Contents note
Why has the GOP stumbled in the new century, and what can it do to restore itself? Rep. McCotter analyzes how the Republican
Party went off track, taking on today's big issues-the bailouts and the economy, health care, and the war in Afghanistan-to
offer insights into how the GOP can regain the confidence of the American people. Switching from issues to ideology, McCotter
spells out the principles of conservatism that the party must not compromise as it changes to meet the challenges of the future.
folder Digital Betacam, box 116; DVD MPEG4, box 120
"The Age of Reagan with Steven Hayward" No. WUK09_19
2009 August 21
Scope and Contents note
Discussing his new book, The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution, Hayward asserts that Ronald Reagan was one
of the most consequential presidents in American history. In foreign affairs, he presents Reagan as possessing unique insights
into issues that had confounded the policy establishment for decades and as willing to battle not only with the Democratic
opposition but also with the conventional reflexes of much of his own party and staff. Against prevailing opinion, Hayward
defends his proposition that Reagan's domestic record is commensurate with his foreign achievements: "One person saved the
Reagan Revolution from retreat and rout. That person was Ronald Reagan." Finally, Hayward argues that, "if Reagan failed in
a permanent alignment the way Roosevelt did with the New Deal, it was because the Republican Party, its successors, and even
Reagan himself were not a full-fledged constitutional movement." Just what would such a constitutional movement look like
today?
folder Digital Betacam, box 116; DVD MPEG4, box 120
"The Law and More with Judge Laurence Silberman" No. WUK09_20
2009 August 5
Scope and Contents note
In Parker v. the District of Columbia, Judge Silberman wrote the 2007 opinion striking down parts of the District of Columbia's
ban on handguns as unconstitutional. Here he explains how his thinking about the Second Amendment evolved "When the case first
came to me, I had been under the impression...that the Second Amendment [the right to bear arms] was a collective right. When
I looked into it, I concluded to the contrary." Silberman further advances the "theory of originalism" and defends the positions
he staked out 30 years ago when he published a famous essay titled "Will Lawyering Strangle Democratic Capitalism?" Finally,
as one of the principals of the Robb/Silberman Commission, he takes on the assertion that "Bush lied, people died," labeling
it "an absurd and outrageous libel."
folder Digital Betacam, box 116; DVD MPEG4, box 120
"Health Care Reform with David Brady and Daniel Kessler" No. WUK09_21
2009 October 6
Scope and Contents note
Brady and Kessler combine the insights of a political scientist with those of an economist and offer unique observations into
the political forces and policies at play in the current health care debate. Brady and Kessler compare the politics of Clintoncare
in 1993 to the politics of Obamacare today. If President Clinton couldn't push through sweeping health care reform in 1993
why does President Obama think he can in 2009? Has public opinion or the health care system changed? Has the health care system
itself changed? And what exactly is the substance of the president's plan and will Congress give him what he wants?
folder Digital Betacam, box 117; DVD MPEG4, box 120
"The Iran Problem with Hanson and Baer" No. WUK09_22
2009 October 20
Scope and Contents note
Does Iran possess the ability to produce nuclear weapons? Both Bob Baer and Victor Hanson agree that it does. On the questions
that flow from this assertion, agreement is more difficult to find. What does Iran hope to accomplish by developing the bomb?
Can the United States live with a nuclear Iran-can Israel? Israeli defense minister Ephraim Sneh in an October interview asserted
that "if no crippling sanctions are in place by Christmas, Israel will strike....If we are left alone, we will act alone."
Does Israel possess the ability to destroy the Iranian nuclear program? With each month bringing another deception and diversion
from Iran, what can the United States do to prevent a conflagration in the Middle East?
folder DVCPro, box 118; DVCPro, box 118; DVCPro, box 118; DVCPro, box 118; DVD MPEG4, box 120;
"The World with Vÿclav Klaus" No. WUK09_23
2009 November 6
Scope and Contents note
In retelling his experience of living through the Velvet Revolution, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the lifting of the Iron
Curtain, Czech Republic president Vÿclav Klaus offers his views on what students today need to understand about life under
communism. He also defends his opposition to the idea of a European superstate-"I do not consider the Lisbon Treaty to be
a good thing for Europe, for the freedom of Europe, or for the Czech Republic"-and compares the ideology of environmentalism
and global warming alarmism with the ideology of communism. Finally, he ponders the question of what lessons from history
his grandchildren are learning.
folder Digital Betacam, box 117; DVD MPEG4, box 120; DVD Flash, box 120
"Soft Despotism with Paul Rahe" No. WUK09_24
2009 November 19
Scope and Contents note
Paul Rahe discusses the danger a consolidation of government poses for the people of the United States, the psychological
disposition that makes democratic peoples vulnerable to servile temptation, and the institutions that once in some measure
shielded Americans from these propensities. Asserting that the Obama administration is pursuing tyrannical ambitions, he offers
some of the reasons why it is now possible for us to recover the liberty that once was ours.
folder Digital Betacam, box 117; DVD MPEG4, box 120; DVD Flash, box 120
"Insights with Rene Girard" No. WUK09_25
2009 December 1
Scope and Contents note
First describing the triangular structure of desire-object, model, and subject-Girard tells how conflicts are resolved and
why human society is not marked by total conflict all the time. He further speaks of the intersection of the universal themes
of mythology and Christianity and Christianity's future. "History...is a test of mankind," says Rene Girard, and "mankind
is failing that test."
folder VHS, box 26; Betacam SP (pt. 1), box 44; Betacam SP (pt. 2), box 44
"Domestic Policy" Collection 1
1996
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK1_1; UK1_2; UK1_6; UK1_12
folder VHS, box 26; Betacam SP (pt. 1), box 44; Betacam SP (pt. 2), box 44
"Foreign Policy" Collection 2
1996
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK1_3; UK1_9; UK1_5; UK1_10
folder VHS, box 26; Betacam SP (pt. 1), box 45; Betacam SP (pt. 2), box 45
"Cultural Issues" Collection 3
1996
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK1_11; UK1_4; UK1_13; UK1_8
folder VHS, box 26; Betacam SP (pt. 1), box 45; Betacam SP (pt. 2), box 45
"Foreign Policy" Collection 4
1997
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK103; UK113; UK112: UK107
folder VHS, box 26; Betacam SP (pt. 1), box 46; Betacam SP (pt. 2), box 46
"Politics and Economics" Collection 5
1997
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK106; UK101; UK104; UK109
folder VHS, box 26; Betacam SP (pt. 1), box 46; Betacam SP (pt. 2), box 46
"Social Welfare" Collection 6
1997
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK111; UK110; UK108; UK102; UK105
folder VHS, box 26; Betacam SP (pt. 1), box 47; Betacam SP (pt. 2), box 47
"Beyond Our Borders" Collection 7
1998
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK201; UK202; UK211; UK210
folder VHS, box 26; Betacam SP (pt. 1), box 47; Betacam SP (pt. 2), box 47
"Within Our Borders" Collection 8
1998
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK204; UK203; UK213; UK206; UK209
folder VHS, box 26; Betacam SP (pt. 1), box 48; Betacam SP (pt. 2), box 48
"Challenging Our Borders" Collection 9
1998
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK208; UK205; UK207; UK212
folder VHS, box 26
"Establishing the Rules" Collection 10
1999
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK304; UK312: UK301; UK305
folder VHS, box 26
"Breaking the Rules" Collection 11
1999
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK306; UK307; UK302; UK310; UK311
folder VHS, box 26
"Are There Rules?" Collection 12
1999
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK303; UK308; UK309; UK313
folder VHS, box 26
"An International View" Collection 13
1999
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK322; UK320; UK314; UK317; UK319
folder VHS, box 26
"A Libertarian View" Collection 14
1999
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK324; UK325; UK315; UK326
folder VHS, box 26
"A Vision of Reform" Collection 15
1999
Scope and Contents note
Includes episodes UK316; UK323; UK318; UK321
folder Digital Betacam, box 121
"Thomas Sowell discusses his new book Intellectuals and Society" WUK10_01
2009 December 11
Scope and Contents note
Thomas Sowell
folder Digital Betacam, box 121
"Crisis and Command with John Yoo" No. WUK10_02
2009 December 18
Scope and Contents note
John Yoo
folder Digital Betacam, box 121
"Are We All Keynesians Now?" No. WUK10_03
2010 January 25
Scope and Contents note
Richard Epstein; John Taylor
folder Digital Betacam, box 121
"Business and the media with Rupert Murdoch" No. WUK10_04
2010 February 05
Scope and Contents note
Rupert Murdoch
folder Digital Betacam, box 121
"Fox and more with Roger Ailes" alternate title: The Man Who Invented Fox News" WUK10_05
2010 February 05
Scope and Contents note
Roger Ailes
folder Digital Betacam, box 122
"Victor Davis Hanson -- War and History, Ancient and Modern" No. WUK10_06
2010 March 09
Scope and Contents note
Victor Davis Hanson
folder Digital Betacam, box 122
"New rules of war with Hanson and Arquilla" No. WUK10_07
2010 March 19
Scope and Contents note
"Victor Davis Hanson John Arquilla"
folder Digital Betacam, box 122
"The End of the World as We Know It" No. WUK10_08
2010 April 26
Scope and Contents note
Mark Steyn
folder Digital Betacam, box 122
"The United States and the Middle East" No. WUK10_09
2010 April 27
Scope and Contents note
Fouad Ajami
folder Digital Betacam, box 122
"John Podhoretz: The Purposes of Political Combat" No. WUK10_10
2010 April 29
Scope and Contents note
John Podhoretz
folder Digital Betacam, box 123
"War with Sebastian Junger" No. WUK10_11
2010 May 25
Scope and Contents note
Sebastian Junger
folder Digital Betacam, box 123
"Mark Steyn and Rob Long: The Gipper Then and Now" No. WUK10_12
2010 April 26
Scope and Contents note
Mark Steyn and Rob Long
folder Digital Betacam, box 123
"Economic Headwinds with Lazear and Boskin" No. WUK10_13
2010 June 12
Scope and Contents note
Michael J. Boskin and Edward Paul Lazear
folder Digital Betacam, box 124
"Charles Hill: Grand Strategies" No. WUK10_14
2010 July 14
Scope and Contents note
Charles Hill
folder Digital Betacam, box 124
"Forty Years of American Politics: Michael Barone" No. WUK10_15
2010 August 02
Scope and Contents note
Michael Barone
folder Digital Betacam, box 124
"Thomas Sowell - Dismantling America" No. WUK10_16
2010 August 06
Scope and Contents note
Thomas Sowell
folder Digital Betacam, box 124
"Politics with Haley Barbour" No. WUK10_17
2010 August 20
Scope and Contents note
Haley Barbour
folder Digital Betacam, box 125
"Harvey Mansfield: The Left on Campus" No. WUK10_18
2010 August 09
Scope and Contents note
Harvey Mansfield
folder Digital Betacam, box 125
"Thatcher & More with Claire Berlinski" No. WUK10_19
2010 September 03
Scope and Contents note
Claire Berlinski
folder Digital Betacam, box 125
"The New Old World Order" No. WUK10_20
2010 October 04
Scope and Contents note
Victor Davis Hanson
folder Digital Betacam, box 125
"The New Road to Serfdom: A Letter of Warning to America" No. WUK10_21
2010 October 17
Scope and Contents note
Daniel Hannan
folder Digital Betacam, box 126
"The Economist's Economist" No. WUK10_22
2010 October 28
Scope and Contents note
Gary Becker
folder Digital Betacam, box 126
"The State in the Third Millenium" No. WUK10_23
2010 November 09
Scope and Contents note
Prince Hans Adam
folder Digital Betacam, box 126
"The Rational Optimist" No. WUK10_24
2010 November 18
Scope and Contents note
Matt Ridley
folder Digital Betacam, box 126
"Basic Economics" No. WUK10_25
2010 December 14
Scope and Contents note
Thomas Sowell
box 127
Material not yet described
box 128
Material not yet described
box 129
Material not yet described
box 130
Material not yet described
box 131
Material not yet described
box 132
Material not yet described
box 133
Material not yet described
box 134
Material not yet described
box 135
Material not yet described
box 136
Material not yet described
box 137
Material not yet described
box 138
Material not yet described
box 139
Material not yet described
box 140
Material not yet described
box 141
Material not yet described
box 142
Material not yet described
box 143
Material not yet described
box 144
Material not yet described
box 145
74 optical disks
Conditions Governing Access
Digital materials are not available until processed. If interested in accessing these materials, please contact us for more
information.
box 146, folder 4
Kevin McCarthy articles
2014
box 146, folder 5
H.R. McMaster handwritten notes
2015 February 23
box 146, folder 6
UK black and white photos
undated
box MC32
1 audiocassette
Conditions Governing Access
Original audiovisual materials are not available until they have been reformatted. If interested in accessing these materials,
please contact us for more information.
Scope and Contents
Label says 1981 trip to Australia but box says recording of Rose Freidman from Uncommon Knoweldge
