Kerry Doesn’t Know What a Right Is by Sheldon Richman October 13, 2004 Not that this disqualifies him from being president, but Senator John F. Kerry proved in Fridays debate that he misunderstands Americas founding philosophy and the U.S. Constitution. (If that disqualified someone from being president, few would qualify.) Kerry showed his ignorance when asked why someone who regards abortion as murder should be forced to pay for it. Regardless of ones ...
No WMD but Plenty of Death and Destruction by Jacob G. Hornberger October 8, 2004 President George W. Bush’s handpicked investigator charged with investigating whether there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has now rendered his final report: There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Period. No stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons. No nuclear weapons. No factories ...
The No-Fault No-Fly List: Washington’s Most Irresponsible Agency Strikes Again by James Bovard October 8, 2004 The Transportation Security Administration got another black eye recently when Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) revealed that he had been blocked from flying five times because his name triggered an alarm on the feds’ No-Fly list. Kennedy’s staff had to make multiple calls to high-ranking federal officials before the attempted travel ban was lifted on ...
Bush’s Brave New World by Sheldon Richman October 6, 2004 President Bush’s little-publicized New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has proposed comprehensive mental-illness screening for all Americans. If this proposal is carried out, which is Bush’s intention, no adult or child will be safe from intrusive probing by “experts,” backed by drug companies, who believe that mental illness ...
The Hamdi Case Mocks Justice by Jacob G. Hornberger October 4, 2004 Surrendering to the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Pentagon and the Justice Department have decided to release “unlawful combatant” and accused “terrorist” Yaser Esam Hamdi from the bowels of the Pentagon’s military brig in South Carolina. Any day now, a U.S. military plane is due to ...
The Bill of Rights: Searches and Seizures by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2004 The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is rooted in the horrific government abuses arising from “general warrants” in English history and “writs of assistance” in British colonial history in America. With the aim of protecting the American people from similar abuses at the hands of U.S. federal officials, the Fourth Amendment was worded as follows: The right of ...
The Danger of Science by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2004 Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Ludwig Lachmann, among other members of the Austrian school of economics, often lamented that the discipline of economics alienated itself from flesh-and-blood existence to the extent it imitated the natural sciences, such as physics. With that in mind, I received the news that Cambridge University economist Partha Sarathi Dasgupta, ...
Sudan: Don’t Forget the Past Follies by James Bovard October 1, 2004 Many politicians and much of the media are hollering for a U.S. military intervention into Sudan to stop the growing carnage in that nation’s civil war. However, few Americans clearly recall the debacle from the last time the United States attacked Sudan. Operation Infinite Reach was a farce of the first ...
West Africa and Colonialism, Part 1 by Wendy McElroy October 1, 2004 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Until recently, Western scholarship ignored West Africa. The blind spot reflects Europes historical view of Africa as a continent to be exploited, not examined. To Europe, Africa was a market for products and a source of raw goods. In short, it was an object of mercantilism the economic system ...
In Defense of Open Immigration by Anthony Gregory October 1, 2004 Immigration is one of the most difficult and divisive issues for freedom lovers. Many principled libertarians and champions of a free society believe in government restrictions on immigration, either for their own sake or as an interim measure so long as the United States has welfare programs that are presumed to attract immigrants, who then become net recipients of ...
A Modest Proposal – Let’s Allow Negative Voting by George Leef October 1, 2004 Election years are filled to overflowing with political pitches beseeching voters to cast ballots for a particular candidate. And many people do, although often with scant enthusiasm. Choosing between the lesser of two evils is a commonly heard complaint among voters. During election campaigns, one also is apt to receive political ...
Book Review: How Capitalism Saved America by George Leef October 1, 2004 How Capitalism Saved America by Thomas J. DiLorenzo (Crown Forum, 2004); 285 pages; $25.95. Back in my days as a college professor, I used to give my students a quiz on the first day of class. It didn’t count in their grades, and the purpose was simply to find out the extent to which they had absorbed the ...