Daily Articles

Where Is the Tea Party Revolution on Foreign Policy?

by Stephen Kinzer January 1, 2011

America’s latest populist movement, which reaches back to revolutionary history by calling itself the “Tea Party,” helped shape the remarkable results of last November’s midterm election. Some dare to hope that candidates elected in that political uprising might help arrest America’s alarming decline. Others see the uprising as no more than a cover for the corporate power that lay ...

How Will the Empire End?

by Anthony Gregory January 1, 2011

Dismantling the Empire: America’s Last Best Hope by Chalmers Johnson (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2010); 212 pages. Most Americans would very likely deny that their government is a global empire, horribly destructive to national security, liberty, and wealth. But whatever we call this U.S. system of ubiquitous military bases, satellite regimes throughout the world, ever-growing “defense” budgets, and an ...

Hoekstra Receives CIA’s Bootlicking Award

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 28, 2010

On December 21, the Central Intelligence Agency gave its Agency Seal Medal to Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. Hoekstra has labored almost ceaselessly to assure that the CIA can break federal laws with impunity. CIA Director Leon Panetta announced at the ceremony for Hoekstra at CIA headquarters: “To honor your service, I want to ...

Plumbing New Depths on Guantánamo

by Andy Worthington December 27, 2010

With just two weeks to go before the ninth anniversary of the opening of the “war on terror” prison at Guantánamo, almost everyone in a position of authority in the United States has failed to resolve, in a satisfactory manner, the bitter legacy left by the Bush administration. In fact, to judge by two recent developments, anything resembling progress ...

The Power of Ideas on Liberty (Video)

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 24, 2010

The Power of Ideas on Liberty from The Future of Freedom Foundation on Vimeo. //

Time to Rein in Federal Spending

by Laurence M. Vance December 21, 2010

The debate in Congress over the extension of the Bush tax cuts has obscured the issue of government spending. After all, it is because members of Congress love to spend money that isn’t theirs that we “need” an income tax to begin with. Government spending is out of control. The federal budget is fast approaching $4 trillion. The budget deficit ...

Guantánamo Prisoners Sacrificed in Political Horse-Trading

by Andy Worthington December 20, 2010

How messed up is American politics? Well, here are a few clues. Two weeks ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a $1.1 trillion continuing resolution, which funds the government through to September 30 next year. As The Hill explained, the resolution was needed “because Congress failed to pass any of the 12 regular appropriations bills for 2011, ...

The Jacob Hornberger Show: Public Schooling vs. Educational Liberty

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 18, 2010

//

Beware the Campaign for War against Iran

by Sheldon Richman December 17, 2010

Despite the horror with which the war party has received the WikiLeaks dump of secret diplomatic cables, at least some of the revelations were cheered. Those who have been agitating for an attack on Iran were pleased to see cables apparently reporting that the heads of Arab states also favor war. As the New York Times put it, The documents ...

Cut the Tax Cuts

by Laurence M. Vance December 15, 2010

For several years now we have been told that the Bush tax cuts will be expiring at the end of 2010. That time is now here — unless Democrats and Republicans in Congress can reach an agreement to extend them. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act ...

Make Bill of Rights Day Americas Anti-Politician Day

by James Bovard December 14, 2010

Wednesday, December 15, is the 219th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights — the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Bill of Rights Day should be the preeminent Anti-Politician Day on the American calendar. Instead, it has become simply another pretext for rulers to delude the ruled. Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1787, “A Bill of Rights is ...

Guantánamo: A Dismal Week for America

by Andy Worthington December 13, 2010

Just when it seemed that President Obama’s paralysis regarding Guantánamo couldn’t get any worse — with any further trials or prisoner releases apparently on permanent hold because any other course of action would be politically inconvenient — the House of Representatives and the Director of National Intelligence have stepped in to make the prospect of closing Guantánamo even ...