Hillary Clinton says that we should vote for political candidates based on their merit, not their gender.

But with the kind of word games for which the Clintons are famous, she immediately qualifies that statement. In her case, she says, her gender is part of her merit.

It’s as if Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a nation where people are judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character — and went on to dream that the color of their skin is part of the content of their character.

I’m reminded of a play back in 1996 which consisted of a series of monologues on women’s issues from the perspective of a vagina. It was called “The Vagina Monologues.”

The play is now Continue reading →

Ah, Snowmass, where the air is thinner and the conspiracy theories are thicker. A few semi-hypoxic individuals up there have issued a warning to the rest of us.

Their warning is that the stuff in our drinking water that we call “fluoride” is actually poison.

It’s true that dentists and other medical experts say that fluoride is the reason modern humans can live well past their natural expiration date without the pain and inconvenience of losing their teeth. Have you ever wondered why Joe Biden’s teeth look like Christie Brinkley’s, but George Washington’s look like his horse’s? It’s fluoride.

But don’t be fooled, say the fluoridophobes. It’s a conspiracy. Continue reading →

You might think the lucky recipients of taxpayer-subsidized housing in Aspen would be careful to maintain those houses. But the law of unintended consequences is at work.

Here’s what happens: Houses are bought at prices set by the local government housing authority. Those prices are way less than market value — often an 80 to 90 percent discount. Aspen taxpayers make up the difference.

When the residents resell their houses, their resale price also is set by the housing authority. Once again, it is a small fraction of market value.

Since the government-set prices are so far below market value, there’s no doubt that the sellers will receive that price in full. Whether the houses are in tip-top shape or falling down, the selling prices will be the same so there’s no economic incentive to maintain them. Indeed, the homeowner association reserves established by the residents of the projects for ongoing maintenance are only 22 percent of what is necessary. The maintenance that the other 78 percent is supposed to pay for is simply left undone.

The current debate is whether local government should give the homeowners associations taxpayer money to make up that 78 percent.

But what then? Continue reading →