Daily Articles

A-Scalping We Van Gogh

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 1998

Besides Monica, the other person who's captured attention in Washington, D.C., these days is a troubled man who killed himself more than a hundred years ago. Until January 4, the National Gallery of Art is exhibiting more than 70 paintings by Vincent van Gogh on loan from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum. The ...

Treating Us like Children

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 1998

It's getting harder to imagine a Republican keeping a straight face while proclaiming the GOP to be the party of limited government and personal liberty. The latest reason? The Republican-controlled Senate recently voted 90-10 to outlaw gambling over the Internet. The prohibition, tagged onto an appropriations bill, would impose a penalty of three months in prison and a $500 fine ...

All Smoke

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 1998

Let's see if I have this straight: The tobacco companies will pay the states $206 billion over the next 25 years to "reimburse" them for medical expenses incurred for the treatment of Medicare patients with smoking-related illnesses. As part of the settlement of state lawsuits, the companies have pledged to combat teen smoking in ...

End the Immigration War and Open the Borders

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 1998

With much fanfare, the federal government recently announced it had smashed the largest ever alien-smuggling ring, which allegedly brought thousands of Indians and other foreigners into the United States for $20,000 a head. In announcing the results of the yearlong operation, code-named "Operation Seek and Keep," Attorney General Janet ...

The Heart of Mexican Independence

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 1998

Last summer, I spent a two-week vacation studying Spanish in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, which is located in the heart of Mexico, about three hours north of Mexico City. This is the area of Mexico where the fight for independence from Spanish rule began in 1810. On September 16 of ...

Dictatorship of Gadflies

by James Bovard November 1, 1998

In any catalog of late 20th-century dementia, the historic-preservation movement will take an honored place. A movement that did much to educate the public on the value of historic buildings in the 1960s and 1970s has long since been replaced by "hysterical preservationism." Preservationists have "progressed" from targeting specific ...

FDR – The Man, the Leader, the Legacy, Part 5

by Ralph Raico November 1, 1998

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Table of Contents As he was constitutionally mandated to do, Woodrow Wilson ...

Book Review: Desperate Deception

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 1998

Desperate Deception: British Covert Operations in the United States, 1939-44 by Thomas E. Mahl (Washington, D.C.: Brassey's, 1998); 256 pages; $22.95. Imagine that the United States were in a war with a strong and determined foe. Imagine that it had become clear to American foreign policymakers that the United States were unable to militarily defeat its enemy on its own. ...

Why Does Government Meddle in the Arts?

by Sheldon Richman October 2, 1998

When the Washington Post recently honored Sidney Yates, 89, on the occasion of his retirement, it emphasized that he had "made his mark on the arts." Is Sidney Yates a composer? Musician? Painter? Poet? Writer? None of the above. He's a congressman. Don't laugh. In Washington, you can make your mark on the arts just by chairing the ...

Cleveland, Clinton, and Texas Heat Waves

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 1998

To relieve the suffering in the drought-stricken counties of Texas, Congress passed an appropriations bill, but it was vetoed by the president. In his veto message, the president stated: "I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended ...

Fighting Terrorism with Terrorism

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 1998

After the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the U.S. government retaliated by bombing a gathering of individuals in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan. American government officials were convinced to a moral certainty that the people meeting in Afghanistan were international terrorists, probably even including some who were involved in the Kenyan and Tanzanian ...

Prosecute the Postal Service, not Microsoft

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 1998

The U.S. Justice Department has hauled Microsoft into court with the ostensible purpose of protecting American consumers from another big, bad monopoly. As with other antitrust suits, it's all a waste of time, energy, and resources. The only monopolies that should be ended are the legal ones - that is, those ...