An Unintended Consequence of Gun Control by Benedict D. LaRosa August 16, 2004 Gun control laws, like all ill-advised measures, have unintended, often unfortunate, consequences. This is especially true in the post–9/11 environment. Recently, Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge upgraded the nation’s alert status because of credible intelligence that several financial buildings in New York City; ...
Criminal versus Civil Remedies for Intentional Wrongs by Wendy McElroy August 13, 2004 On October 3, 1995, O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of murder by a jury in criminal court. On February 4, 1997, a civil jury found him liable for the death of Ronald Goldman and awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages to Goldman’s family. For many people, the Simpson ...
Saddam, Chalabi, and Allawi Epitomize U.S. Foreign Policy by Jacob G. Hornberger August 11, 2004 It would be difficult to find a better example of the moral bankruptcy and hypocrisy of U.S. foreign policy — and why it has stirred so much anger, hatred, and terrorism against the United States — than the relationship of U.S. officials with Saddam Hussein, Ahmad Chalabi, and Iyad ...
A Divisive Campaign Would Be Welcome by Sheldon Richman August 9, 2004 That was cute when Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry started his acceptance speech by snapping a salute and saying he was “reporting for duty.” Cute, but not quite truthful. If he becomes president, we will be expected to carry out his commands. It’s only in democratic folklore that government ...
Targeting Civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Anthony Gregory August 6, 2004 The U.S. government has killed civilians for well over a century. During the Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman waged war on civilians in Atlanta. During the Philippine Insurrection at the turn of 20th century, U.S. forces killed about ...
Mr. Bush, Are You There? by Sheldon Richman August 4, 2004 If President Bush is trying to convince us that he hasn’t the slightest understanding of the Middle East, then he’s doing an outstanding job. Every statement he makes — and this goes for his secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, too — is soaked in ignorance. Any American who is paying attention should be ...
The Free Market Is the High Road by Bart Frazier August 2, 2004 Nothing could raise our standard of living more than freeing the economy from our meddling government. When people are able to live free of government regulation, they prosper — goods become cheaper, standards of living go up, and individual liberty is expanded. Today, government regulates almost ...
The Bill of Rights: The Right to Keep and Bear Arms by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2004 Arguably, the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution should have been made first in the Bill of Rights because without the right to keep and bear arms, such rights as freedom of speech and freedom of the press would be treated as nothing more than meaningless “privileges” bestowed and taken away by government officials at will. The Second Amendment ...
How Brown v. Board of Education Throttled Black Schooling by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2004 The Law of Unintended Consequences is always in force. Given the inherent uncertainty of the future and the interconnectedness of things, any action is subject to the likelihood that some effects will be unexpected. Among these, some will be welcome, others distasteful. There is, in this law, a practical argument for ...
FBI Blunders and the First World Trade Center Bombing by James Bovard August 1, 2004 As Americans continue trying to understand how the government failed to stop the 9/11 hijack conspiracy, important clues can be garnered from examining the first World Trade Center bombing in February 1993. This bombing — the most economically destructive terrorist attack ever to occur in the United States up to that time — was partly ...
The Colonial Venture of Ireland, Part 4 by Wendy McElroy August 1, 2004 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 In the North, treatment of Catholics deteriorated as one of the most infamous measures in Irish history was passed — the Special Powers Act of 1922. Catholic-rights advocate Bernadette Devlin explained, It gave the authorities power to arrest people without a warrant on suspicion “of acting or ...
The Irish Soldiers of Mexico, Part 2 by Michael Hogan August 1, 2004 Part 1 | Part 2 Most of those who had settled in America in the 18th and early 19th centuries had no real sense of national identity. Those in Virginia considered themselves Virginians, those in Texas, Texans or “Texicans,” and those from Maine, “Down Easters.” Allegiances were territorial rather than nationalistic. When the victorious American army finally entered Mexico ...