3.

BRITISH PETROLEUM

British Petroleum (BP) is on everyone’s list of bad guys. This makes them grist for our mill, as heroes. Heroes? How can we even begin to say that? On April 20, 2010, their Deepwater Horizon installation blew up, killing eleven employees, and unleashed more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This threatened the jobs, welfare and livelihoods of probably thousands of people living in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Oil exploration is only the tip of the iceberg.

4.

NUCLEAR ENERGY

The deaths on April 20, 2010, pursuant to the explosion on British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig, were a great tragedy. The blast killed eleven employees, and unleashed hundreds of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

That human and environmental tragedy provides all the more reason to re-examine the widely publicized misgivings about nuclear energy foisted upon us by the “ecology” movement.

5.

THE CORPORATE RAIDER

In 1932, Adolf A. Berle Jr. and Gardner C. Means wrote a book entitled The Modern Corporation and Private Property. A critique of corporate management for being aloof and complacent, out of touch with the consumer and irresponsible to the stockholder, this volume became the bible of Marxists, left wing intellectuals and interventionist politicians. Under the banner of separation of ownership and control, the Berle-Means thesis led to an attack on the corporate structure from which today’s top executives are still reeling.

6.

THE HATCHET MAN

In the movie “Up in the Air,” George Clooney travels around the country firing people. He’s what’s known in the corporate world as a hatchet man. He does what the bosses at the endless stream of companies portrayed in the movie don’t have the stomach for.

7.

THE HOME-WORKER

A man’s home may be his castle, but not as far as working there is concerned—at least, not according to those who advocate legislation restricting commercial activity in one’s own domicile.

Originally, such laws were placed on the books in order to enforce earlier child labor and minimum wage laws. As well, unions protested vociferously that home-workers would be very difficult to organize, and the result would be a return to sweatshop conditions.

8.

PICKET-LINE CROSSER

There is no such thing as a “right to unionize.” The claim that unionization is akin, or worse, an implication of the libertarian right to freely associate is entirely bogus. True, a labor organization could limit itself to organizing a mass quit unless and until they got what they wanted. That would indeed be compatible with the libertarian law of free association.

9.

THE DAYCARE PROVIDER

Daycare for profit? In the minds of some, the very concept boggles the imagination.

According to these people, on the one hand we have the nation’s children—tender, sweet, cuddly, cute, and lovable. On the other hand we have the evil profit system, hard-hearted, cold, and calculating at best, with a cash register for a soul.

10.

THE AUTOMATOR

It’s called many things—artificial intelligence, the microdot electronic revolution, the Age of Robotics.

Whatever the name, it can perform numerous and amazing tasks. Modern computers, coupled with silicon chip-based integrated circuits, can now diagnose lung diseases, locate mineral deposits, play chess at better than a grandmaster level, cut logs, assemble autos, and do other industrial tasks far more efficiently than human beings.