Restricting Presidential Wartime Powers by Andy Worthington September 7, 2010 Under President George W. Bush, a small group of advisors tied closely to Vice President Dick Cheney argued that neither Congress nor the judiciary should attempt to prevent the president from doing whatever he felt was appropriate as the commander-in-chief of a “war on terror” that was declared after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As Sidney Blumenthal ...
Terrorism: Made in the U.S.A. by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2010 It’s a perilous world, as our so-called leaders love to remind us. And for a change they’re right. It is a perilous world. But guess who is most responsible for the peril to Americans? Those very same “leaders” and a long line of predecessors. Moreover, they — along with anyone else who takes time to examine the matter — know ...
Why Do Tea Partiers Approve of President Bush? by James Bovard September 1, 2010 The Tea Party movement is challenging politicians and political establishments in many parts of this country. Many Tea Party supporters define themselves by their opposition to big government. However, according to an April CBS-New York Times poll, 57 percent of Tea Party supporters approve of George W. Bush. It is not surprising that Obama’s abuses would cause some people to ...
The Dishonor of Militarism by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2010 What a blown opportunity! Glenn Beck gathered thousands of people at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday to urge a restoration of American honor — but not once did he mention the most egregious assault on America’s honor: militarism. It would have been a perfect time to call for dismantling the American empire, ending the bloody occupations and covert wars in ...
The Moral Case for Drug Freedom, Part 2 by Laurence M. Vance September 1, 2010 Part 1 | Part 2 Believers in a free society should challenge all laws on drug trafficking, drug manufacturing, drug sales, and drug use. They should object to the 750,000 arrests of Americans every year for marijuana possession. They should protest the incarceration of tens of thousands of Americans for drug-related offenses. They should contest the Harrison Narcotics Tax ...
The Incessant Growth of Government Bureaucracy, Part 1 by Gregory Bresiger September 1, 2010 Part 1 | Part 2 The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, & government to gain ground. — Thomas Jefferson “It is far easier to introduce a government program than to get rid of it.” Those were the words of a former federal bureaucrat who had worked in World War II in the Office of Price Administration (OPA). ...
America’s Peacetime Crimes against Iraq by Anthony Gregory September 1, 2010 Invisible War: The United States and the Iraq Sanctions by Joy Gordon (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010), 359 pages. Between the Gulf War and the Iraq War, the United States enforced a comprehensive sanctions policy against the Iraqi people, under the auspices of the United Nations. Whereas the hot conflict of 1990 and the one that has run ...
No Surprise at Obama’s Guantánamo Trial Chaos by Andy Worthington August 31, 2010 Surprise is the last thing that anyone ought to feel on hearing the news that the Obama administration “has shelved the planned prosecution,” in a trial by military commission, “of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged coordinator of the October 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen,” as the Washington Post reported on Thursday, ...
Persecuting a Conciliator by Sheldon Richman August 25, 2010 If a YMCA or a YMHA were planned for 51 Park Place in Lower Manhattan, two blocks from the Twin Towers’ former site, who would have noticed? Instead, the equivalent of a Muslim Y (without the implied male exclusivity) is to be built there. What’s the big deal? There can be only one answer: Consciously or not, a majority of Americans ...
Lawlessness Haunts Omar Khadr’s Blighted War Crimes Trial by Andy Worthington August 24, 2010 On August 12, the U.S. administration’s intention to proceed with the war crimes trial of Omar Khadr, a Canadian who was just 15 years old when he was seized after a firefight in Afghanistan in July 2002, was temporarily delayed when Khadr’s military lawyer, Army Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, collapsed in the courtroom in ...
None Dare Call It Tyranny by Sheldon Richman August 16, 2010 If you want to know what tyranny is like, look around. The national government — specifically the executive branch — can do pretty much what it wants. It could bomb Iran tomorrow without a declaration of war from Congress. It can — and does — conduct secret wars and covert operations against countries that have done nothing to us. Of ...
The Great Repeal Bill by Wendy McElroy August 11, 2010 Legal and political trends in the United Kingdom often parallel or precede ones within the United States. For example, the politically correct crusades against smoking and child obesity raged in Britain prior to jumping the Atlantic. A particularly interesting trend is currently unfolding in the UK and, for once, its spread might bring welcomed change. The new coalition government is ...