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May 19, 2024
 

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Doug Bandow
For Doug Bandow's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY
Jan 29, 2001
'Real' deregulation is a powerful idea
WASHINGTON -- There's no better place to spend Christmas in the United States than San Diego. Amid the warmth and sun you see snow only on television. No high heating bills here.
COMMENTARY
Jan 6, 2001
China and Taiwan fight over the WTO
WASHINGTON -- The changing of the political guard will soon be under way in Washington. Despite disquiet in many foreign capitals, few dramatic changes in U.S. foreign policy are likely.
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2000
The fight for liberty continues
WASHINGTON -- We are entering a new year, the true third millenium. Unfortunately, the prospects for liberty do not burn bright. Human history is largely one of tyranny. The history of the last couple thousand years has been largely one of combatting tyranny.
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2000
Robert Downey's problem is not criminal
Drugs can exercise a powerful hold over the human person. Witness American actor Robert Downey, Jr.
COMMENTARY
Dec 1, 2000
The end of a nasty election in sight at last
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. presidential election will soon be over. Finally. And likely resulting in what most people expected all along: a George W. Bush victory.
COMMENTARY
Oct 28, 2000
Luck gets Clinton out of a Balkan jam
Seldom have events more dramatically demonstrated that it is better to be lucky than smart. The popular uprising that ousted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic happened despite, not because, of Clinton administration policy. A U.S. foreign policy based on humility, as suggested by Republican presidential...
COMMENTARY
Oct 14, 2000
Prospects are brightening for Ukraine
KIEV -- Yugoslavia is in political crisis; Eastern Europe is yet again living up to its reputation for volatility. But recent elections have delivered both stability and hope further east.
COMMENTARY
Oct 9, 2000
A chicken in every pot, TVs in every home
WASHINGTON -- With a tough election looming in the United States, congressional Republicans have opened the Treasury to every interest group with a letterhead. Budget analysts Stephen Moore and Stephen Slivinski figure this Congress may end up as the biggest social spender since the 1970s.
COMMENTARY
Oct 2, 2000
Is drug-price cure worse than the disease?
WASHINGTON -- Election years in the United States are good for political consultants but bad for everyone else. Especially the average citizen who bears the brunt of Washington-style "reform."
COMMENTARY
Sep 18, 2000
U.S. role in Korea nearly over
WASHINGTON -- The real presidential race has finally begun, as Vice President Al Gore and Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush battle over the state of the military. But their focus on questions of morale and readiness ignores the more fundamental issue of security commitments, which require...
COMMENTARY
Sep 13, 2000
Religion's small role in the public realm
WASHINGTON -- The American left has always had a simple view of religious people and politics. If they are liberal, welcome. If they aren't, be gone. So it seems to be with Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Lieberman.
COMMENTARY
Sep 7, 2000
Gore presidency could be a taxing time
WASHINGTON -- In U.S. Vice President Al Gore's mind, nothing is riskier than letting taxpayers keep more of their money. Which makes his election the riskiest action U.S. voters could take.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2000
The targeting of a journalistic pariah
Despite an abundance of wives and concubines, ancient Israel's King David bedded another man's wife. The prophet Nathan condemned David with the parable of a rich man who ignored his own flocks to seize a poor man's lamb (2 Samuel 12:1-4). So it is with leftwing activists who lobby for the firing of...
COMMENTARY
Aug 12, 2000
What are the world's options in Myanmar?
KAWTHOOLEI, Myanmar -- From a distance, the jungle looks peaceful. Dense, green growth covers hills that march endlessly onward. Primitive villages emerge in simple clearings: wood and bamboo buildings, covered by thatched roofs, sitting on stilts and open to rain, animals and mosquitoes.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 6, 2000
Journalistic cleansing at the Boston Globe
...
COMMENTARY
Jul 31, 2000
United States puts junk science on trial
There are few more potent combinations than lawyers and journalists in the United States today. Together they can demonize, loot and even bankrupt the largest industry. And do so based on the flimsiest evidence. But the tide is turning, as evidenced by the decision of U.S. District Court Judge Louis...
COMMENTARY
Jul 15, 2000
U.S. bases: Shut down the Cold War relic
Being a superpower once meant never having to say you're sorry. No more, however. The U.S. presence in Japan's Okinawa island is drawing renewed protests that even the humblest apology will do little to arrest.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2000
Money talks loudly in American politics
After Utah Republicans booted Rep. Merrill Cook in their June primary, Republican Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, declared: "The bad news is a Republican incumbent lost." It's certainly bad news for the American people, who will be stuck paying...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2000
What's in a name? Freedom, for one thing
Puritans have long been viewed as people who couldn't stand the thought of anyone anywhere having a good time. The original Puritans really weren't that way, but today the world seems to be full of such killjoys.
COMMENTARY
Jun 5, 2000
President Clinton's regulatory miasma
It is a sad spectacle. U.S. President Bill Clinton, desperate to salvage his scandal-laced legacy, crisscrossing the nation proposing new spending programs and regulatory initiatives with wild abandon. He seems determined to jettison his one good bequest to the United States: a less loony Democratic...
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
America wasn’t made for walking, and it’s killing them
A 2010 study found that U.S. adults averaged 5,117 steps daily and that this was lower than the averages found in similar studies in Switzerland, western Australia and Japan.
U.S. envoy to Japan makes landmark visit to front-line island near Taiwan
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel meets with members of the Self-Defense Forces stationed on Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture, on Friday.
Japan passes bill to introduce 'blue ticket' fines for cyclists
A new system under which bicycle riders pay fines for minor traffic violations to escape criminal punishment is expected to be introduced in Japan no later than 2026.
Japan survey finds 30% of student interns experience sexual harassment
The proportion of recent graduates in Japan who have worked as interns have experienced sexual harassment during their internship was 30.1%, according to a labor ministry survey, up 4.6 percentage points from the previous survey in fiscal 2020.
New Taiwan president to set tone for ties with China at inauguration
Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te arrives at the CyberSec 2024 Exhibition in Taipei on Wednesday.
Can AI-generated inventions be patented? A Tokyo court says no.
The Tokyo court's ruling comes amid ongoing debates on how to regulate generative AI and is part of a transnational class action lawsuit.
A new initiative rethinks old Tohoku crafts
The colored patterns of Tsuguru "nuri," made in Aomori Prefecture, are achieved by applying multiple coatings of lacquer, which are later polished down to reveal layers of colors beneath.
Xi and Putin mark ‘new era’ amid efforts to counter U.S. ‘containment’
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend an event in Beijing on Thursday. During Putin's visit, the leaders showed off their growing alignment amid efforts to push back against the U.S.-led world order.
Unraveling the Japanese prose of Yukio Mishima
Author Yukio Mishima accepts the Arts Festival Award in the drama category at the 20th Arts Festival Award Ceremony on Jan. 22, 1966.

Podcast

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