A Good Way to Spend Thanksgiving? by Sheldon Richman November 24, 2004 U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona has a swell idea for how we should spend the Thanksgiving holiday. He’s declared Thanksgiving the first annual National Family History Day. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, “Americans are encouraged to use their family gatherings as a time ...
What Did We Do to Deserve Condoleezza Rice? by Sheldon Richman November 22, 2004 Is this a great country or what? Thanks to President George W. Bush, we will now have the first secretary of state who once had an oil tanker named after her. No kidding. Chevron put Condoleezza Rice’s name on a tanker when she served on its board of directors, ...
A Reply to a Gun Control Critic by Scott McPherson November 19, 2004 From: C.H. To: fff@fff.org Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 3:29 AM Subject: gun control I'm curious: nowhere in that article on Gun Control does it mention Canada. We've *always* had gun control, in one form or another. It's never been possible for someone to walk in off the street and out with a firearm twenty minutes ...
Seeing and Not Seeing by Scott McPherson November 15, 2004 A key element in understanding reality is an accurate representation of reality. And this headline in the November 10 Washington Post — “N. Va. Boom Sparks Economic Recovery” — demonstrates how poorly is the average newspaper editor equipped to accurately describe economic affairs, which may help ...
Submit or Die: The Conquest of Falluja by Jacob G. Hornberger November 12, 2004 Victory! The unelected dictatorial Iraqi regime of CIA-designee Iyad Allawi, with the assistance of the most powerful police force in the world, has killed 600 “insurgents” in Falluja, flattened and “pacified” the city, and driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Question 1: Does the conquest ...
Take the Constitution Seriously in the Second Term by Sheldon Richman November 8, 2004 Should President Bush declare a mandate and push ahead with his agenda or extend an olive branch of conciliation to his opponents? This is a typical false alternative that American politics often presents. He should do neither. Instead, he should do what on January 20 he will declare he is ...
The Bill of Rights: Due Process of Law by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2004 One of the most deeply rooted principles in American jurisprudence is the concept of due process of law, which is enshrined in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: “No person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Due process of law actually stretches back to the year 1215, when the ...
Bush’s Brave New World by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2004 One of the biggest frauds perpetrated on the American people is the Republican Party’s image as the party of individual liberty and limited government. After almost four years of the Bush administration, there shouldn’t be much left of that image. A quick survey of Bush’s record on domestic and military spending, deficits, foreign intervention, civil ...
Bra Wars by James Bovard November 1, 2004 President Bush continually scapegoats foreigners for his decisions to pilfer Americans. While Bush loves to praise free trade, in reality, “free trade” is whatever George Bush says it is. For Bush, like other recent presidents, “fairness” is the magic word to sanctify whatever trade restrictions he imposes. In his speeches, President Bush ...
Are HOAs Anti-Freedom? by Scott McPherson November 1, 2004 A large number of people, including some libertarians, dislike the concept of homeowners’ associations (HOAs). HOAs are private agencies that administer new housing developments, requiring a monthly fee to maintain common areas and regulating everything from grass height to house colors to where you can park your car — and their rules are enforceable by contract law. In the ...
Corporatism and Socialism in America by Anthony Gregory November 1, 2004 Principled advocacy of the free market requires an understanding of the differences between genuine free enterprise and “state capitalism.” Although the Left frequently exaggerates and overemphasizes the evils of corporate America, proponents of the free market often find themselves in the awkward position of defending the status quo of state capitalism, which is in fact a common adversary of ...
West Africa and Colonialism, Part 2 by Wendy McElroy November 1, 2004 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Nineteeth-century Europe revolutionized trade through the development of steam power that sent trains across continents and large cargo ships across the sea. Construction projects, such as the Suez Canal, were proposed to link Africa and Asia to a trade-hungry Europe. With the advent of quinine, which effectively removed the worst ...