Why Is the U.S. Fighting Mexico’s Drug War? by Laurence M. Vance May 25, 2011 In December of 2006, Mexico’s new president, Felipe Calderón, declared war on drug cartels. “We need to win. And we will win. That’s my idea. I’m sure about that,” he said in an “ABC News” interview. But winning this war is coming at a heavy price: assassinations of government officials, horrific gun battles in Mexican streets, kidnappings, ...
The Road to the Permanent Warfare State, Part 1 by Gregory Bresiger May 24, 2011 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 |Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 |Part 12 |Part 13 In modern political society it is probably a fact that national leadership can heighten foreign crises to the point where war becomes almost ...
The Drug of Choice for Public Schools by Rich Schwartzman May 24, 2011 Dependency on government is as detrimental to a society as drug addiction is to an individual. A situation in Pennsylvania — likely similar to situations in other states — reflects a continued unhealthy dependence on the federal government. Briefly, Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed 2011–2012 budget had $1.1 billon less for education. That’s the same amount of money the state didn’t ...
The Jacob Hornberger Show: Gun Control and Middle East Dictatorship by Jacob G. Hornberger May 21, 2011 The Jacob Hornberger Show broadcasts live every Saturday night at 7pm EST. Visit FFF's Ustream Channel to watch the show live. Download the MP3 here, or subscribe to the RSS feed
How Does He Get His Reputation Back? by Wendy McElroy May 20, 2011 On January 12, 2010, a 12-year-old sixth-grader did an unremarkable thing that almost destroyed a good man and his family. She lied about being touched “inappropriately.” Under a reasonable legal system, the transparent lie of an angry child would have caused little damage, but the current legal system does not resemble anything reasonable. Among the preposterous maxims it now embraces ...
The Only Way Out of Guantánamo Is In a Coffin by Andy Worthington May 20, 2011 Despite sweeping into office promising to close Guantánamo, President Obama now oversees a prison that may well stay open forever, from which the only exit route is in a coffin. The last living prisoner to be released from Guantánamo was Farhi Saeed bin Mohammed, an Algerian who was repatriated against his will in January. Since then, an Afghan ...
Not Ending Medicare As We Know It by Laurence M. Vance May 19, 2011 Capitol Police recently arrested 89 protesters from the disability rights group ADAPT for occupying the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building. They were demonstrating against the proposed changes in Medicaid in the recently passed House budget resolution that would reduce the program’s funding and turn it into block grants to the states. “Block grants kill,” read ...
After bin Laden? by Sheldon Richman May 17, 2011 The hunt for Osama bin Laden was always a sideshow. President George W. Bush even said at one point that he wasn’t much concerned with finding him. He probably meant it. Still, bin Laden played a useful role for the U.S. foreign-policy elite: he was still out there plotting, necessitating a vigilant “war on terror.” And if he were ...
The Jacob Hornberger Show: Central Planning, American-Style by Jacob G. Hornberger May 16, 2011 The Jacob Hornberger Show broadcasts live Saturday nights at 7pm EST. Visit FFF's Ustream Channel to watch the show live. Download the MP3 here, or subscribe to the RSS feed
The Continuing Economic Depression, Part 1 by William L. Anderson May 16, 2011 Part 1 | Part 2 More than three years ago, it became clear that the housing bubble was about to burst, and that the U.S. economy would be in for a very rough patch. In the three years since the collapse of the financial entities behind the mortgage boom, we have seen the U.S. government spend trillions of dollars ...
His Majesty, the President by Wendy McElroy May 13, 2011 In early April, the White House warned that President Obama would veto H.R. 1363, which would have provided only short-term defense funding and was being used by the GOP to compel budget cuts. A few days later, the White House threatened to veto H.R.1217, a bill that would have repealed a public-health fund intended to encourage Americans to ...
No End to the War on Terror, No End to Guantánamo by Andy Worthington May 13, 2011 With the death of Osama bin Laden, there is a perfect opportunity for the Obama administration to bring to an end the decade-long war on terror by withdrawing from Afghanistan and closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The justification for both the invasion of Afghanistan (in October 2001) and the detention of prisoners in Guantánamo (which opened in January 2002) is ...