Student Scholarships and Speaker Spotlights by Jacob G. Hornberger February 9, 2007 We have received a donation of $2,500 to cover five student scholarships for our June 1-4 conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. If you are a student who would like to attend the conference, or if you would like to nominate a student to attend, ...
Restore a Republic before It’s Too Late by Jacob G. Hornberger February 5, 2007 The schedule for our big upcoming conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties on June 1-4 at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia, is now online. The updated schedule contains the titles of all the talks by our 24 speakers. This stands to be one of the most exciting and important conferences in the ...
U.S. Hypocrisy on Iran by Sheldon Richman February 2, 2007 “It has been clear for some time that Iran has been meddling in Iraq,” says White House spokesman Gordon D. Johndroe. “We don’t believe that behavior, such as supporting Shia extremists in Iraq, should go unchallenged,” John Negroponte, the U.S. intelligence boss, added. Meanwhile, President Bush has authorized American ...
Tyranny and the Military Commissions Act by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2007 In Star Wars, Episode 3, in response to the Senate’s grant of sweeping powers to Chancellor Palpatine, Padme declares, “So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause.” The same may be said about the Military Commissions Act (MCA) that was recently enacted by Congress — that this is how freedom ends, with or without the applause. Despite the fact that the ...
End the Other War, Too by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2007 The war in Iraq goes on, but we shouldn’t let it overshadow the war at home — one that frequently takes the lives of people who don’t deserve to die. It’s known as the war on drugs, but it’s really a war on people who themselves are not making war against anyone. Too often individuals ...
The Second Anniversary of Bush’s Worst Bosh by James Bovard February 1, 2007 Two years ago last month, Bush gave his second inaugural address. As I watched the speech on television, I and perhaps millions of other Americans struggled to answer the obvious question about the speech: Is it puerile or is it merely tripe? Bush was hailed throughout the greater Washington metropolitan area for ...
Executive Orders and the Decline of Law, Part 2 by William L. Anderson February 1, 2007 Part 1 | Part 2 The longest-lasting legacy of Lincoln is not the War Between the States or even the violent way in which slavery ended in the United States. Lincoln was able to use brute force to “settle” the various arguments regarding the centralization of political power in this country. As the late Shelby Foote said during an ...
Taxicab Absurdity by Scott McPherson February 1, 2007 When one hears words such as “crackdown” and “sting” and “bust” the image that comes to mind is that of daring police officers engaged in some colossal operation that nets really bad people doing really bad things. At least, that’s the image that ought to come to mind. In the charming little city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, there are taxicab companies ...
We Are Your Bad Conscience by Lawrence M. Ludlow February 1, 2007 The members of the White Rose still speak to us today, and during a recent trip to Munich, I was able to explore the place where this heroic group of German dissidents crafted their powerful message. Some readers already may be familiar with the White Rose as a result of articles posted at The Future of Freedom Foundation or ...
Why Did They Torture Jose Padilla? by John Grant February 1, 2007 There’s a rancid odor escaping from the cracks in the Jose Padilla case. Padilla is the American citizen arrested in Chicago and declared by President Bush to be an “enemy combatant.” He was then kept for nearly two years in a South Carolina brig without access to a lawyer, family, or friends. The courts finally forced the Bush administration to ...
Ripping Off the Taxpayers by Thomas E. Woods Jr. February 1, 2007 The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money by Timothy P. Carney (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2006); 285 pages; $24.95. Frédéric Bastiat called it legal plunder when the state expropriated one set of property owners for the benefit of another. Whether it loots the workers to benefit the farmers, the farmers to benefit the workers, ...
A Clarion Call for Health Independence by Wendy McElroy January 31, 2007 Lorenzo’s Oil (1992) is one of the best movies you’ve never seen. This incredible drama hit the big screen for two seconds before skidding into rental stores, where it failed to find the wider audience it deserves. Lorenzo’s Oil is a compelling reality-based story of parental devotion and the triumph of truth ...