An Interview with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Part 1 by Andy Worthington August 24, 2009 Part 1 | Part 2 Col. Lawrence Wilkerson served in the U.S. military for 31 years and was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell from August 2002 until January 2005, two months after Powell’s resignation, when he left the State Department. He is now the chairman of the New America Foundation’s US-Cuba 21st Century ...
Guantánamo and The Courts, Part 3: Obama’s Continuing Shame by Andy Worthington August 17, 2009 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In the first part of this three-part series examining the Guantánamo prisoners’ attempts to secure their release via the U.S. courts, I looked at how, after the Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2008 holding that the prisoners had constitutionally guaranteed habeas corpus rights, the Bush administration lost 23 of ...
Bombings Worse than Nagasaki and Hiroshima by Laurence M. Vance August 14, 2009 The world knows all too well about the atomic bombs the United States dropped on Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945 (“Little Boy”), and on Nagasaki on Thursday, August 9 (“Fat Man”). “Dropping the bombs ended the war,” said President Harry Truman. They may have ended the war, but they did not end the bombing of Japan. On August 14, 1945, ...
You Can Trust a Liberal … to Be a Liberal by Jacob G. Hornberger August 14, 2009 The liberals are back. For proof, just check out the antics of two noted liberals, MSNBC commentator Chris Matthews and Salon.com editor in chief Joan Walsh. This week both of them went apoplectic over a libertarian’s having the audacity to exercise two fundamental rights at the same time — free speech and the right to ...
When Will the Health-Care Debate Start? by Sheldon Richman August 14, 2009 I’m waiting for the health-care debate to start. The preliminaries have been spirited and loud, but how about a debate? You may think there’s been a debate, but if you’d been listening carefully, you’d realize it’s a fake, like professional wrestling. To be of value a real debate requires fundamental disagreement. But this pseudo-debate is between one side, led by President ...
Four Arguments against Socialism, including Medicare by Jacob G. Hornberger August 12, 2009 Senior citizens are frightened over the possibility that President Obama’s health-care plan will adversely affect their Medicare coverage. Their attitude reflects how socialistic programs have converted a once-proud, strong, and independent people into weak, frightened, dependent wards of the state. The first argument against any socialist program, however, is the moral one — that it’s wrong to take what doesn’t ...
It Can Happen Here by Scott McPherson August 11, 2009 You think you’ve private lives Think nothing of the kind There is no true escape I’m watching all the time I’m made of metal My circuits gleam I am perpetual I keep the country clean... — Judas Priest, “Electric Eye” England’s Daily Express reported on August 4 that “thousands of the worst families in England are to be put in ‘sin bins’ in ...
Guantánamo and The Courts, Part 2: Obama’s Shame by Andy Worthington August 10, 2009 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In the first part of this three-part series examining the Guantánamo prisoners’ attempts to secure their release via the U.S. courts, I examined the Bush administration’s record in the seven months after the Supreme Court’s ruling, in June 2008, that the prisoners had constitutionally guaranteed habeas corpus rights, and ...
Cash for Clunkers by David Dorn August 5, 2009 As I was standing in a long line at the Post Office in Scottsdale, Arizona, at about 4:30 p.m., I said just loud enough for those around me to hear, “If you like this, wait until National Health Insurance.” There were some chuckles. But what I was really thinking about in ...
Obama’s Health-Care Snake Oil by Sheldon Richman August 5, 2009 Barack Obama is an extraordinary politician, but not even he can defy the laws of economics and logic. Obama promises that with enough power government will (1) ensure that everyone has the wherewithal to buy ample medical services, (2) lower the price of care, but (3) not interfere with our choices. He sounds like the Wizard of Oz. The reason Obama ...
Reciprocity for Concealed Carry by Scott McPherson August 4, 2009 No American would for one moment consider the possibility that, once issued a driver’s license by his state of residence, he should not then be free to drive in another state. Thus, your driver’s license is valid in Virginia, even if you live in Hawaii; your marriage license and birth certificate and property titles must be respected, regardless of ...
Judge Orders Release from Guantánamo of Kuwaiti Charity Worker by Andy Worthington August 3, 2009 By sheer coincidence, I had just been alerted to the publication of a number of documents relating to the ongoing habeas corpus cases of the Guantánamo prisoners last Thursday, and was reading, with mounting disbelief, the government’s supposed case against Khalid al-Mutairi (PDF), one of the last four Kuwaiti prisoners, when I received an email notifying me ...