Stop Consumer Gouging! by Sheldon Richman October 28, 2005 A phone call I’d like to hear: Voice: Price-gouging tip line. How may I help you?Mr. Jones: I’d like to report price gouging. Voice: Yes sir. Where is this price gouging occurring? Jones: At the Exxon station on Route 286, right in my neighborhood. Voice: What is the price being charged? Jones: The price for a gallon of ...
The Troops Don’t Defend Our Freedoms by Jacob G. Hornberger October 21, 2005 How often do we hear the claim that American troops “defend our freedoms”? The claim is made often by U.S. officials and is echoed far and wide across the land by television commentators, newspaper columnists, public-school teachers, and many others. It’s even a common assertion that emanates on Sundays from many ...
Mr. Bush, Mind Your Own Business by Sheldon Richman October 21, 2005 So President Bush wants us to conserve gasoline by driving less. Cut out the nonessential car trips, he says. It seems to me that the quintessential American response is simply this: With all due respect Mr. President, mind your own business. You see, in America (why doesn’t he know this?) ...
Why Congressional Democrats Support the War by Jacob G. Hornberger October 17, 2005 Some people remain mystified as to why Hillary Clinton and other Democratic members of Congress have supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq. What’s the mystery? After the infamous WMDs that the United States provided Saddam during the 1980s unexpectedly failed to be found during President Bush’s invasion of Iraq ...
Southwest Airlines Did Not Censor by Jacob G. Hornberger October 14, 2005 A recent decision by Southwest Airlines to throw two passengers, a husband and wife, off a flight holds a valuable lesson about private-property rights, censorship, and the Bill of Rights. The reason the couple was grounded was that one of them wore a t-shirt containing a photo of President Bush, ...
More Bush Insults by Sheldon Richman October 12, 2005 Everybody is good at something, and George Bush is good at insulting our intelligence. As if he hasn’t provided enough evidence, he recently obliged with two more demonstrations. First came his nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court. By picking Miers he is telling the American people she ...
The Troops Don’t Support the Constitution by Jacob G. Hornberger October 10, 2005 Every U.S. soldier takes an express and solemn oath to “support and defend the Constitution.” That oath, however, is a sham because the troops do not support or defend the Constitution. Instead, when it comes to war the troops follow another oath they take — to obey the orders of the ...
Profiting from Misfortune by Sheldon Richman October 5, 2005 Amid the shrieks of price gouging as hurricanes ravaged the Gulf coast were a few voices of good economic sense. They correctly pointed out that when supplies of vital goods are disrupted, nothing matches the price system for restoring normalcy as quickly as possible. It does so by encouraging ...
West Pointers, Where Are You? by Jacob G. Hornberger October 3, 2005 More than two years ago, I wrote a series of essays entitled “Obedience to Orders,” in which I suggested that graduates of the professional military academies were much more likely to blindly obey wrongful orders — and much less likely to stand up to their superiors in face of ...
The Federal Government Has Damaged Our Country by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2005 As the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, an increasing number of Americans are now questioning the wisdom of President Bush’s decision to invade. While the primary reason for people’s increased level of dissatisfaction is the number of U.S. troops killed and wounded, there are many other important reasons that Americans should be questioning not only the U.S. invasion ...
Africa Needs Freedom, Not “Aid” by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2005 Politicians are never more dangerous than when they are thinking: “We’ve got to do something!” Take the last G8 meeting in Scotland. The rulers of the most advanced economic powers (and Russia, go figure) met with the intention of looking as though they were doing something to end poverty in Africa. They ...
Harebrained Pot and Wheat Decisions by James Bovard October 1, 2005 Earlier this year, the Supreme Court, acting again like a gang that smoked too much bad weed, ruled that the federal government has the right to prohibit people from growing marijuana for medicinal purposes. The Court relied on an interpretation of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause that basically gave the feds unlimited control over any activity that Congress or federal ...