The Japan Problem by Laurence M. Vance November 14, 2012 There were no issues of any real substance debated by Mitt Romney and Barack Obama in the presidential campaign leading up to the recent election. With foreign wars raging, the USA PATRIOT Act and the NDAA threatening Americans’ civil liberties, the police state and surveillance state increasing, drone attacks killing foreign civilians, the drug war destroying Americans’ freedoms, the ...
First Shots in the New War on Guns by Scott McPherson November 13, 2012 Gun-control advocates commonly say they just want “sensible gun laws” that will “keep guns out of the wrong hands.” Yet none of their ideas ever work. That’s not just hyperbole: an intensive study of U.S. gun-control laws by the Centers for Disease Control found that they had done nothing — zip, zero, nada — to reduce crime. That ...
The Jacob Hornberger Show – November 11, 2012 by Jacob G. Hornberger November 13, 2012 The Jacob Hornberger Show broadcasts live every Sunday night at 6:30 pm EST. Visit FFF's Ustream Channel to watch the show live.
Supersized Fries, Downsized Jobs by Wendy McElroy November 12, 2012 On November 2 the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that America added 171,000 jobs in October. President Barack Obama lost no time in proclaiming to crowds, “Today we learned that our companies have created more jobs in October than in any of the last five months.” Meanwhile his unsuccessful presidential challenger, Mitt Romney, called the jobs report ...
Conservative Judges Demolish the False Legitimacy of Guantánamo’s Terror Trials by Andy Worthington November 9, 2012 When is a war crime not a war crime? When it is invented by the executive branch and Congress and implemented for six years until a profoundly conservative appeals court strikes it down. The invented war crime is “providing material support to terrorism.” On October 16 a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, threw out the conviction ...
The Election’s Unanswered Question by Sheldon Richman November 8, 2012 Thank goodness the tedious presidential campaign is over. It was enough to put a caffeine freak into a coma. If all you cared about was the horse race, you missed how anemic the past year was. Rhetoric aside, the differences between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were virtually inconsequential; big government was never in doubt. That being the case, ...
Republicans Miss the Point on Tax Cuts by Laurence M. Vance November 6, 2012 At the same time Republicans are adamant that more people should pay income taxes and lukewarm on the idea that Social Security taxes should be cut, they are also calling for the so-called Bush tax cuts to be extended, individual marginal income-tax rates to be lowered, the corporate income-tax rate to be lowered, and certain taxes to ...
Life without FEMA? by Sheldon Richman November 2, 2012 Advocates of big government never miss a chance to capitalize on a natural disaster. Even before the storm has passed, they will boast that without activist government, recovery would be impossible. Peddlers of this line ask us to imagine what life would be like today — in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy — without FEMA and the state and ...
Legal Earthquake Rocks the Scientific Community by Wendy McElroy November 2, 2012 On October 22, an Italian court found six seismologists and one government official guilty of multiple involuntary manslaughter for failing to accurately predict an earthquake in L’Aquila, Italy, which killed around 300 people. The trial lasted from September 2011 until October 2012, but it took a judge only a little over 4 hours to decide it. Each man ...
Sheldon Richman Joins FFF Full-Time by Future of Freedom Foundation November 1, 2012 The Future of Freedom Foundation is pleased to announce that Sheldon Richman, who has served as a part-time senior fellow for FFF for many years, has joined the foundation as vice-president and editor of FFF’s monthly journal, Future of Freedom. “We are really excited to have Sheldon join us as a full-time member of FFF’s staff,” said Jacob Hornberger, the ...
Medicare Is Doomed by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2012 When Democrats accuse Republicans of wanting to “end Medicare as we know it,” they are right. Of course ending Medicare as we know it is not the same as ending Medicare. What Democrats fail to point out is that “Medicare as we know it” is no longer an option for anyone. They too will end “Medicare as we know ...
The Lingering Curse of “Bush Freedom” by James Bovard November 1, 2012 It has been almost four years since George W. Bush’s presidency ended. Unfortunately, it increasingly appears that Bush did permanent damage to this nation’s political vocabulary and understanding. Rather than repeal his worst precedents, Barack Obama used them as launch pads for his own abuses. And the scant discussion of Obama’s power grabs in this fall’s presidential campaigns illustrate ...