Failure Leads to Success in the Public Sector by Gregory Bresiger July 24, 2009 We are playing out the latest chapter in the crisis and leviathan model in the financial-services business. It is a model in which public-sector failure leads to bigger government. It leads to success for socialists who want the government to expand into every aspect of our economy but dont want to overtly call for nationalization ...
Obama’s Failure to Deliver Justice to the Last Tajik in Guantánamo by Andy Worthington July 21, 2009 Two weeks ago, the indefatigable Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald, Guantánamo’s most dedicated reporter, outlined the story of Umar Abdulayev, the last Tajik prisoner in Guantánamo, who has been cleared for release from the prison on two occasions — once by a military review board under the Bush administration, and six weeks ago by the Obama administration’s ...
The Fatal Conceit of Health-Care Reformers by Sheldon Richman July 20, 2009 It’s easy to get distracted by the details and crushing cost estimates of “health-care reform” while losing sight of the key question: Can a handful of congressmen, most of whom probably have never even run a small business, design an entire market for medical services and insurance? A few moments’ thought should be enough to ...
Guantánamo and the Courts, Part 1: Exposing the Bush Administration’s Lies by Andy Worthington July 13, 2009 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In recent months, those who have been studying Guantánamo closely have come to the disturbing conclusion that the biggest obstacle to President Obama’s pledge to close Guantánamo by January 2010 comes not from the fear-mongering and opportunistic politicians who recently voted to prohibit the use of any funds to ...
A New Stimulus? Washington Never Learns by Sheldon Richman July 10, 2009 In Washington, the rule is: If a little poison doesn’t cure the patient, give him more. This rule is being applied not only to health care, where massive doses of government intervention are being prescribed to treat the toxicity of past government intervention. It’s also being used in the attempt to end ...
McNamara’s Other Debacle by James Bovard July 9, 2009 Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, who died on July 6, was best known for ratcheting up the Vietnam War thanks to the false claims he provided to President Johnson, Congress, and the American people. Despite his lies that vastly expanded an unnecessary conflict and cost more than a million American and ...
Judge Rules that Afghan “Rendered” to Bagram in 2002 Has No Rights by Andy Worthington July 6, 2009 In a depressing if predictable decision last Monday, U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates ruled that Haji Wazir, an Afghan businessman seized in the United Arab Emirates in 2002 and rendered to the U.S. prison at Bagram airbase, can continue to be held as a prisoner without rights, even though he has never had an adequate opportunity to ...
Gold and Freedom, Part 4 by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2009 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 On April 5, 1933 — about a month after taking office — President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order commanding every American to turn in his gold to the federal government. The order was soon ratified by Congress, which made it a felony offense for Americans ...
Still Meddling After All These Years by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2009 American presidents have long regarded Latin America as their “backyard.” The Monroe Doctrine warned the European powers to stay out — by what right? — and since then American chief executives have deemed it entirely proper to intervene when things did not go as they liked. Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, the ...
The Early History of a Worldwide Nuisance by James Bovard July 1, 2009 Few federal agencies have as much bipartisan support as the National Endowment for Democracy. Created in 1983, NED’s stated mission is to “strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts.” In actuality, NED allows U.S. politicians to meddle in foreign elections at the same time they pretend ...
Economics and the Drug War by Bart Frazier July 1, 2009 It is becoming ever more apparent that the war on drugs has been lost. Doomed to fail from the moment of its inception, the war the U.S. government has been waging has not been against drugs, but against people and the laws of economics. The results have been violence, corruption, and a militarized society.
The Price of Freedom? by Christine Smith July 1, 2009 What is it to be born free and not to live free? — Henry David Thoreau, “Life Without Principle” “Freedom is not free” is a common phrase found in songs, in speeches, and on ribbons, and it’s the inscription ...