The New Crime of Thinking by Gary D. Barnett February 1, 2008 It looks like the term “thought police” just might take on a whole new and real meaning. This depends on what happens in the U.S. Senate after receiving House bill H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This act (now S-1959 — Senate version) is now being considered by Senate committees and, if passed by ...
The Enemy-Combatant Attack on Freedom, Part 2 by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 Another revolutionary aspect of the enemy-combatant doctrine was how the discretionary power to treat suspected terrorists, including Americans, as enemy combatants was acquired by the president and the Pentagon. Despite the assumption of this monumental power by the executive branch, there never was a constitutional amendment authorizing it. Initially, there wasn’t even a law ...
Why They Hate Us by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2008 What’s more obnoxious than a person who constantly whines about the real and imagined injustices committed against him while ignoring his own injustices against others? A country that does the same thing. One of the great myths accepted by the American people is that historically, the United States — more precisely, the ...
Warring as Lying Throughout American History by James Bovard February 1, 2008 Americans are taught to expect their elected leaders to be relatively honest. But it wasn’t always like that. In the mid 1800s, people joked about political candidates who claimed to have been born in a log cabin that they built with their own hands. This jibe was spurred by William Henry Harrison’s false claim of a log-cabin birth in ...
Education: Free and Noncompulsory by Scott McPherson February 1, 2008 “The transfer, by the parents, of so much of their own authority and responsibility to the schools is in most ways a cowardly and contemptible business.” — John Holt, What Do I Do Monday? Several times in the last few years, after I’ve written some criticism of the public-school system and called for a complete separation of school and state, ...
I Suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Part 5 by James Glaser February 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Last month I wrote about the assertiveness training in the Tomah Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) program and how I thought it helped me. This month, it’s dreams and relaxation therapy. I am purposely saving the trauma group ...
The Oil-Addiction Fallacy by William L. Anderson February 1, 2008 Watch any talking head, and when the subject comes to energy, one can expect to hear the mantra, Americans are “addicted” to oil, and especially “foreign oil.” This is repeated as though the repetition is proof that the premise is true. Thus, American taxpayers are currently being forced to contribute billions of dollars — and will be dunned many billions ...
We Need Immigrants by George Leef February 1, 2008 Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them by Philippe Legrain (Princeton, 2007); 374 pages; $27.95. Many years ago, I agreed to be a guest on a talk-radio program originating in California. The host wanted a speaker who would defend immigration. After I explained my position, the host opened the call-in lines, and for the ...
Political Stimulus by Sheldon Richman January 30, 2008 Not understanding basic economics is dangerous because you’re vulnerable to political con games foisted by unscrupulous politicians. Economics properly conceived is just common sense about human activity. An examination of the proposed economic stimulus will make this clear. Nearly all politicians claim that the economy needs a stimulus that only they ...
Brace Yourselves by Jacob G. Hornberger January 28, 2008 Make no mistake about it: the central economic problem facing the United States is out-of-control federal spending and the massive federal debt that continues to pile up. As welfare-state spending and warfare-state spending have continued to soar for the past seven years, U.S. officials have gone on a massive ...
Pathetic Arguments for Foreign Intervention by Sheldon Richman January 25, 2008 Republican presidential contender Ron Paul certainly deserves credit for putting the foreign policy of noninterventionism into the public debate. It’s about time. For decades U.S. presidents have sought to manage the world in behalf of what they call “American interests,” and all it has brought is death, mayhem, anti-Americanism, and ...
Rational Irrationality and Bad Policies by George Leef January 21, 2008 The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies by Bryan Caplan (Princeton University Press, 2007); 276 pages; $29.95. For many years, the standard account of the tendency for democratic governments to adopt perverse policies (restrictions on ...