http://www.fff.org/ Commentary and A/V feeds from the Future of Freedom Foundation en-us 2006 Tue, 23 May 2006 12:17:00 EST 91 40 http://www.fff.org/ http://www.fff.org/images/logo.gif fff@fff.org (The Future of Freedom Foundation) 1 http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0911f.asp.asp beecluff@gmail.com (Brian Cloughley) When strong governments wish to impose their will on weaker regimes, they often resort to sanctions. The effects have included the death or debilitation of millions of innocent people. Two good examples are Cuba, on which draconian U.S. sanctions have been enforced since 1960, and Iraq, where brutal sanctions were enforced from 1990 to 2003.... Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:42 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1002d.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) What is to be done about the idiocy that has spread, like a poisonous but imperceptible gas, from the Pentagon to Congress, and is now wafting through the White House, deranging all it touches? As it travels, this dismal infection transforms statistical impossibilities into magic numbers, which appear, to the uninformed observer, to confirm the most shameless lies of former Vice President Dick Cheney: that Guantanamo was teeming with hardcore terrorists, who couldn't wait to "return to the battlefield."... Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:39 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1002c.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) I sensed a bit of frustration during President Obama's state of the union address when he said, "The longer it [the health-care overhaul] was debated, the more skeptical people became." I'm not totally sure what point he thought he was making. After all, it wouldn't speak well for a proposal if prolonged discussion of its particulars created doubt about its value. But surely he didn't want to convey that message.... Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:37:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1002b.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) What happens when the military is used in a police capacity? You get a "war on terrorism," one in which people think that the laws of war now apply to the situation. But in actuality, nothing could be further from the truth. What you actually get is a criminal-justice problem that inevitably goes horribly awry, causing the problem to escalate into a deadly and destructive horror story.... Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0911e.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) The reason, I believe, that Keynes's anti-saving, consume-more philosophy is politically popular is simple: Consumption is immediate and usually enjoyable. Saving requires self-discipline and patience. Also, the philosophy is remarkably bi-partisan. It fits in with the ideas of a massive and ever-growing welfare/warfare state. This gives us a quiet collectivism, "a socialism without doctrines."... Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0910e.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) Americans finally must heave the Keynesian myth that savings hurts the economy and that too much savings contributes to slumps. These myths threaten economic liberty and health.... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1002a.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Last Tuesday, a little-known court -- the Court of Military Commissions Review -- convened to hear appeals in the cases of the only two men sentenced in the military commission trial system established by Congress in 2006, after the first version, conceived by Vice President Dick Cheney and his close advisors in November 2001, was ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court.... Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:10 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1001i.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Last week's Supreme Court ruling striking down the ban on corporate and union spending at election time is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, removing a legal barrier to free speech is always a good thing in itself. Government shouldn't dictate who can speak or from where people may get their information. This is more than a matter of abstract freedom; it's also a practical matter. More contentiousness in politics is better than less. Free-wheeling debate is more likely to produce good outcomes than a controlled flow of information.... Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0910a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In late July, the New York Times disclosed a secret plan by the CIA to assassinate suspected terrorists around the globe. According to the Times, the agency decided against implementing the plan, possibly because of the risk of being prosecuted for murder in countries in which the assassinations would take place.... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1001h.asp fff@fff.org (Joseph Margulies) Days after the thwarted Christmas bombing, the Rasmussen Group took a poll. They asked whether the failed bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, should be tried in civilian or military court. Seventy-one percent said military.... Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:41 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1001g.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) On Friday, perhaps as a sop to critics -- myself included -- who have been complaining about President Obama's failure to close Guantanamo by his self-imposed deadline of January 22, 2010, the Justice Department announced in a press release that two Algerian prisoners had been released.... Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:10 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1001f.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The heartbreaking devastation of Haiti shows again that as deadly as Mother Nature can be when acting alone, she is far more lethal when she conspires with poverty. The immediate cause of the deaths of the hundreds of thousands Haitians was the earthquake, but most of those people might be alive today if Haiti weren't poor. And why is Haiti poor? Because for centuries foreign and domestic tyrants exploited the Haitian people and blocked their routes out of poverty.... Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:01:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0910b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) If you want to know how representative government works not in airy theory but on the ground, contemplate these facts: (1) Except perhaps for the rarest exception, no member of Congress will have read the entire final 1,000-plus-page bill that seeks, in the New York Times's words, to "reinvent the nation's health care system"; and (2) in July the Obama administration strove mightily to rush the members of the House and Senate to vote on this monstrosity before their August recess.... Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:01:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0910b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) If you want to know how representative government works not in airy theory but on the ground, contemplate these facts: (1) Except perhaps for the rarest exception, no member of Congress will have read the entire final 1,000-plus-page bill that seeks, in the New York Times's words, to "reinvent the nation's health care system"; and (2) in July the Obama administration strove mightily to rush the members of the House and Senate to vote on this monstrosity before their August recess.... Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:01:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1001e.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Barring some frankly unattainable miracle, this will be the week that President Obama's international credibility, regarding his promises to undo the Bush administration's "war on terror" detention policies, takes a nosedive.... Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:41 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom//fd0910c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) In the post-9/11 era, federal officials are treating cash as they would a suspected weapon of mass destruction. They have created legions of new restrictions and reporting requirements for citizens' money. But the new controls have done nothing to make Washington any more competent at protecting Americans from real threats.... Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:54:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0910f.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Bennis v. Michigan (1996) This case gave Supreme Court approval to the odious practice of civil-asset forfeiture. Under civil-asset forfeiture laws, government officials are entitled to seize a person's assets because he was either somehow involved in criminal behavior, or his property was. Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:29:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1001d.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The handwringing about the would-be Christmas Day airplane bomber and the politicians' tiresome declarations that it will never happen again miss the point: As long as the U.S. government pursues its imperial program of invasion, regime change, occupation, and sponsorship of corrupt governments in the Muslim world, Americans will be targets for avengers.... Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:30:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0909g.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Americans like lists. Most often, we get "Top Ten" lists, but this book is a top dozen list, a list of the most damaging Supreme Court decisions during and since the New Deal era. The authors, two lawyers with strong libertarian philosophies, set out to show which decisions have had the most detrimental impact by expanding the realm of government coercion and depriving people of their liberty. This, they correctly observe, is a target-rich environment. The Supreme Court has been blundering along a statist/collectivist path for many decades and each passing term brings new decisions that make constitutionalists hang their heads in despair. "Seldom," Levy and Mellor write, "has the ratchet of the Court's decisions turned toward greater individual liberty. To the contrary, the Court has further and further restricted the freedoms that Americans should enjoy as a birthright."... Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:44:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1001b.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) For the last 12 days, since Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab slipped through every security net going, and allegedly tried and failed to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, Republican critics of Barack Obama have tried every trick in the book to undermine the president's authority, with former Vice President Dick Cheney claiming that the incident demonstrated that Obama's "low key response" to the failed attack "makes us less safe," and numerous lawmakers and pundits -- joined by a few easily frightened Democrats -- stating that no more Yemeni prisoners should be released from Guantanamo, following the transfer to Yemeni custody of six men the weekend before the failed attack.... Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:41 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com1001a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) One thing can be said in behalf of the health-insurance overhaul currently shaping up in Washington: it has revealed the curious bedfellows that politics creates. Congress almost certainly will pass a bill that compels every American to have medical insurance. If his employer doesn't offer it, he'll have to buy it himself or be fined.... Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:25:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0911d.asp fff@fff.org (Scott McPherson) Despite some gallant and spirited attempts to resist Burgoyne's advance through the summer of 1777, the Continental Army's Northern Department, first under Horatio Gates, then under Philip Schuyler, then under Gates again, was not inspiring much confidence. "The withdrawal from Ticonderoga reinforced Stark's view that the northern command was simply not up to the task of defending the region"... Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:58 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0910d.asp fff@fff.org (Scott McPherson) At the end of June, Burgoyne struck south with more than 7,000 men: 3,700 British regulars, 3,000 German mercenaries, 470 artillerymen, 400 Indians, and approximately 250 Canadian and American loyalists, and with the optimistic hope of gaining more Indian and loyalist troops as they went. As his forces approached the fort at Crown Point -- which they took without a fight on June 27 -- he issued a pronouncement to his troops that read in part, "This army must not retreat."... Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:58 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0909f.asp fff@fff.org (Scott McPherson) By the spring of 1777, only a handful of important -- but mostly symbolic -- victories kept the American fight for independence alive. Overall success in the revolutionary endeavor was not certain.... Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:58 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0909e.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) How likely is it that a big government-spending program -- Obama's or anybody else's -- won't be manipulated by politicians pursuing their special interests?... Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:46 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0912h.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Last Tuesday, in a letter to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, five senior Obama administration officials -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano -- announced. that "the president has directed, with our unanimous support, that the federal government proceed with the acquisition" of Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison about 150 miles north-west of Chicago, to house prisoners from Guantanamo.... Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:12 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0909b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) America's health-care system has problems -- all traceable to government intervention -- but it could be worse. And if the so-called reform emerging in Congress is enacted, it will be worse.... Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:01:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0912g.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) On August 21, District Court Judge Gladys Kessler granted the habeas corpus petition of Mohammed al-Adahi, a Yemeni prisoner in Guantanamo who was 39 years old when he was seized on a bus in Pakistan. I described the broad outline of al-Adahi's story in my book The Guantanamo Files as follows:... Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:07 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0909c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) George W. Bush is gone from Washington but his legacy, like an abandoned toxic waste dump, lingers on. Like President Franklin Roosevelt before him, President Bush helped redefine American freedom. And like Roosevelt's, Bush's changes were perversions of the clear vision the Founding Fathers bequeathed to us.... Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:54:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0911e.asp sghorwitz@stlawu.edu (Steve Horwitz) On December 2, 2008, Steve Horwitz gave the following talk at the ongoing Economic Liberty Lecture Series... Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:39 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0912f.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) holds the distinction of being the first senator to offer a successful amendment to the big Senate health-care overhaul bill now being debated in Washington, D.C. It is a perfect lesson in what's wrong with the political mentality.... Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:37:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0908b.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It would have been more appropriate to have made the Second Amendment the first amendment to the Constitution. Without the right of the citizenry to keep and bear arms, the fundamental rights enumerated in the First Amendment are worthless. When the citizenry are well-armed, government officials tend to exercise caution in infringing such fundamental rights.... Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:24:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0908a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Even while resisting the steady erosion of liberty in America, it is important that we keep in mind an overall vision of what a free society looks like. For if people lose sight of the "big picture," the risk is that they end up settling for -- and even celebrating -- an unfree society whose controls have simply been modified or reduced.... Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:24:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0912d.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In the first detailed announcement about prisoners cleared for release from Guantanamo since September 28, when a military spokesman announced that a list of 78 cleared prisoners had been posted in the prison, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a Senate hearing last Thursday that officials were "in the process of identifying detainees that we believe can be transferred to other countries" and "we've identified I think 116 at this point."... Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:55 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0912c.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) If Congress manages to pass a health-insurance bill in the next few weeks, it will undoubtedly require every person to have medical coverage or pay a fine. If someone's employer doesn't offer a policy, he will be obligated to buy one for himself no matter how expensive. (Subsidies will be available to lower- and middle-income people.)... Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:54:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0908f.asp ChessSet@aol.com (Doug Bandow) Change has come to Washington in the form of a new administration. Yet the cast of characters looks much the same. Their philosophies, while differing in degree, remain solidly interventionist. The question isn't, will America have wars? Rather it is, which wars will America have?... Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:23:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0912b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The Obama Justice Department says it will no longer go after "individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana." In other words, if a state legalizes the production, distribution, and possession of marijuana for medical purposes, Attorney General Eric Holder's troops will keep hands off.... Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:10:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0912a.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Last week, lawyer, ex-Army Captain, and Iraq veteran Phillip Carter, described by Glenn Greenwald as "a very harsh critic of the Bush administration's detention and interrogation policies," suddenly resigned his post as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Policy, which he had occupied since April. Carter claimed that he was leaving due to "personal issues," which may be true, but as Greenwald noted, "the policies Obama has adopted in the last six months in the very areas of Carter's responsibilities were ones Carter vehemently condemned when implemented by Bush."... Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:42 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0911i.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) During the social hour after a recent meeting of our Economic Liberty Lecture series, a student posted a message on Facebook saying, "Sitting at a table with Robert Higgs, Peter Boettke, Steve Horwitz, and Walter Williams. Life is good." The student is a member of the George Mason University Economics Society, a student-run group with whom we are co-sponsoring our lecture series, a group whose members have real fire in the belly for libertarianism.... Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:36:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0911h.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) With the possible exception of the Internal Revenue Service, the federal agency that is the greatest threat to the financial well-being and freedom of the American people is the Federal Reserve. This is the agency that has the power to wipe you out. It can destroy all your savings and the value of your income. Worst of all, it can do all this secretly and surreptitiously.... Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:36:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0911g.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) On Friday, District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the release from Guantanamo of Farhi Saeed bin Mohammed, a 48-year-old Algerian, after granting his habeas corpus petition. Her ruling has not yet been declassified, so the reasons for her decision are not yet clear, but it is significant that the ruling now brings to 31 the number of prisoners who have successfully challenged the basis of their detention in U.S. courts. In contrast, just eight prisoners have lost their habeas petitions, meaning that the success rate in the prisoners' legal challenges now stands at 80 percent.... Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:42 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0911f.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) If the politicians who are bent on redesigning the medical and medical-insurance industries really wanted only to curb rising prices and help the uninsured get coverage, they would have zeroed in on the previous government interventions that created those problems. Instead, they are pushing grand schemes to turn our medical decision-making over to bureaucrats. That indicates that the so-called reform campaign is about power.... Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:10:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0908e.asp jennifer@keyboardadventures.com (Jennifer Warren-Baker) I am a composer. Since the age of 12, I have been painting canvases of sound at the piano. But my teachers never cared. In fact, my type of talent was deemed worthless by the government's public-school system. Growing up in the D.C. area, I didn't have any real models to follow. In the shadow of the nation's capital, suburban neighborhoods were saturated with military personnel and other government employees and contractors. All around me, stiff-lipped people were following code and dressing in uniform. The Washington Post employment ads bubbled with words such as "systems analyst," "database administrator," and "defense contractor." All along, it didn't seem as though my type of ability could provide a viable livelihood. What creative models did I have? Where did I fit into this culture of soldiers, bureaucrats, and subcontractors?... Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:33:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0908d.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) Since Barack Obama pledged a "New New Deal" for the American people, he has been favoring a combination of more government spending, more government regulations, and more power for labor unions. This has led some observers to conclude that he might be drawing inspiration from "Old Iron Pants" -- the hard-drinking, fast-talking Gen. Hugh Johnson, Time magazine's 1933 "Man of the Year," who did more than anybody else to promote Franklin Roosevelt's National Recovery Administration.... Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:36:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0911e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) If the politicians who are bent on redesigning the medical and medical-insurance industries really wanted only to curb rising prices and help the uninsured get coverage, they would have zeroed in on the previous government interventions that created those problems. Instead, they are pushing grand schemes to turn our medical decision-making over to bureaucrats. That indicates that the so-called reform campaign is about power.... Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:41:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0911d.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) On November 8, 2009, Andy Worthington gave a talk on his new documentary film, Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:42 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0911b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) After President Obama announced he would fight the release of photographs showing American soldiers abusing "war on terror" detainees, Richard Haass, president of the quintessentially mainstream Council on Foreign Relations, said that Obama had learned the difference between campaigning and governing. He wasn't being sarcastic.... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0911c.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Amidst all the debate over whether the Ft. Hood killer is a terrorist, murderer, enemy combatant, traitor, sleeper agent, or insane person, there is one glaring fact staring America in the face: what happened at Ft. Hood is more blowback from U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, specifically the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Even at this early stage of the investigation, the evidence is virtually conclusive that the accused killer, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was motivated to kill U.S. soldiers at Ft. Hood by deep anger and rage arising from the things that the U.S. government has been doing to people in the Middle East for many years.... Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:36:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0908c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Why do politicians so easily get away with telling lies? In large part, because the news media are more interested in bonding with politicians than in exposing them. Americans are encouraged to believe that the media will serve as a check and a balance on the government. Instead, the press too often volunteer as unpaid pimps, helping politicians deceive the public.... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:24:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0911b.asp lreed@fee.org (Lawrence Reed) On September 1, 2008, Lawrence W. (Larry) Reed, 55, assumed the presidency of the Foundation for Economic Education, headquartered in Irvington, New York. In this article, FEE: A Lighthouse for Freedom, FEE's history and importance were highlighted by Reed.... Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:03 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0911a.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) So it's finally over. Ali al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident from Qatar, who was held as an "enemy combatant" on the U.S. mainland for five years and eight months without charge or trial, was finally sentenced in a federal court last Thursday. The prosecution was seeking a 15-year sentence, following al-Marri's guilty plea in April, when, as part of a plea bargain, he accepted that he had receiving training in al-Qaeda camps and had come to the United States on a mission for al-Qaeda on the day before the 9/11 attacks. However, in the federal District Court in Peoria, Illinois, Judge Michael M. Mihm accepted a request from a-Marri's lawyers to take into account the nearly eight years he had already spent in U.S. custody, including the five years and eight months that he spent in almost complete isolation as part of the Bush administration's aberrant "war on terror" policies.... Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:42 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0907a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) On April 5, 1933 -- about a month after taking office -- President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order commanding every American to turn in his gold to the federal government. The order was soon ratified by Congress, which made it a felony offense for Americans to own gold. The Congress also nullified clauses in both private and public contracts that required payment to be made in gold coin.... Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0907e.asp fff@fff.org (Christine Smith) "Freedom is not free" is a common phrase found in songs, in speeches, and on ribbons, and it's the inscription inlaid where the walls of the Korean War Veterans Memorial join.... Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:26:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0910h.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The filmmaker likes to pose as a radical critic of the status quo, but he isn't. All the evidence you need is in his latest documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story. er character, "I don't worry about death in the best of times. And these aren't exactly the best of times." There's something to be said for blissful ignorance.... Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0907f.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) When times are great -- maybe especially when times are great -- most people don't think about economics. At least, if there's any thinking going on at all, it's not exactly clear-headed thinking. But when times take a turn for the worse, people forget about making any kind of sense at all. It would be far better if they followed the wisdom of Gayle Rivers, the fictional narrator in the novel The Five Fingers, who tells another character, "I don't worry about death in the best of times. And these aren't exactly the best of times." There's something to be said for blissful ignorance.... Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0910g.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last Friday, October 16, the New York Times, for the first time, shined a light onto the JFK-CIA-Joannides scandal with a story entitled "C.I.A. Is Still Cagey About Oswald Mystery." The story soon began appearing in other mainstream newspapers and on Internet websites.... Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:05:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0907g.asp fff@fff.org (Benedict D. LaRosa) How many Rwanda, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Warsaw Ghetto, post-office, and other shootings do people have to endure before they face reality? How long does it take to learn a simple lesson: unarmed people are more vulnerable to terrorists, criminals, and crazed people than armed ones? Now the terrible toll in Mumbai: some 175 killed and several hundred others wounded.... Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:33:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0907c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Few federal agencies have as much bipartisan support as the National Endowment for Democracy. Created in 1983, NED's stated mission is to "strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts." In actuality, NED allows U.S. politicians to meddle in foreign elections at the same time they pretend to be spreading democracy.... Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:24:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0910f.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In a recent article, "75 Guantanamo Prisoners Cleared For Release; 31 Could Leave Today," I examined the implications of an announcement that 75 of the remaining 223 prisoners in Guantanamo have been cleared for release. This came by way of a list posted in the prison, identifying the prisoners by nationality, and a statement by a military spokesman, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brook DeWalt, who explained, "It was an opportunity to just provide better communication. There's a lot of information out there and you get a lot of things from a lot of different angles. It helps put it in a more succinct context for them [the prisoners]."... Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:49 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0910e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) President Obama has no intention of keeping his campaign promise not to raise taxes on the middle class. Hiding this will take some clever moves, but maybe, now that he has won the Nobel Peace Prize, he's trying for an Olympic gold medal in mental gymnastics.... Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:03:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0907b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) American presidents have long regarded Latin America as their "backyard." The Monroe Doctrine warned the European powers to stay out -- by what right? -- and since then American chief executives have deemed it entirely proper to intervene when things did not go as they liked.... Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0910b.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) I like to believe that, despite studying Guantanamo for four years, I still have a sense of humor, but last Thursday I lost it, after 258 members of the House of Representatives (including 88 members of President Obama's own party) voted for an idiotic, paranoid, and unjust motion proposed by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ken.), which was designed to "prohibit the transfer of GITMO prisoners, period" (those were his exact words). Just 163 Representatives voted against the motion, which, as JURIST described it, also supports "adding Guantanamo detainees to the federal 'no fly' list, and adopting Senate language forbidding the release of photos showing detainee abuse."... Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:55 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0910a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The Obama administration's quest to control the health-insurance industry has dominated the headlines for months, but finally -- with the news out of Iran and Afghanistan -- foreign policy has again asserted itself. It was almost easy to forget that the United States maintains a worldwide empire, but the reminders came leaping off the front pages and the television screens.... Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:16:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0906a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt were the two presidents most responsible for the abandonment of sound money in the United States. These two U.S. presidents opened the floodgates to the monetary debauchery under which today's Americans have suffered for their entire lives.... Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:05:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0909g.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Last Wednesday, Obama administration officials told the Washington Post, as Peter Finn described it, that the administration "has decided not to seek legislation to establish a new system of preventive detention to hold terrorism suspects."... Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:37:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0906f.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) There is a tendency among Americans to think of the nation's Founders as a group of wealthy white men who owned property, didn't like British rule, and all thought pretty much alike. But it's certainly not the case that they all thought alike. Two of the most famous among them, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, held to profoundly different visions of the path the nation should take.... Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:15:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0906d.asp vancepub@juno.com (Laurence M. Vance) Americans have many options when it comes to insurance. They can freely get health insurance, life insurance, cancer insurance, dental insurance, disability insurance, homeowners' insurance, renters' insurance, parcel-shipping insurance, et cetera. Although auto insurance is required by state laws, it is still obtained from a private insurance company of one's choosing. One can even get insurance at the blackjack table. There is one kind of insurance, however, that the government itself provides, forces everyone to obtain, mandates that someone else pay for, is not customizable to one's situation, and doesn't fully cover one's losses: unemployment insurance.... Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:36:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0906b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Government power is growing, and unless President Barack Obama and the majority in Congress have a libertarian epiphany, it will continue to grow for years.... Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:56:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0906e.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) Early in the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt became convinced that to get America out of the Great Depression, the federal government must gain total control over money. The Federal Reserve seemed to have been powerless during the contraction, so Roosevelt asserted the power of the presidency. He began demonizing gold.... Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0909f.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) As rumors swirl, suggesting that a number of the remaining 13 Uighur (Muslims from China's Xinjiang province) prisoners in Guantanamo may soon be relocating to the tiny Pacific island state of Palau, a court case relating to nine of these men threatens to hurl a number of other prisoners in Guantanamo, who have also been cleared for release, into a new maelstrom of uncertainty regarding their future, by removing long-standing injunctions preventing their return to countries where they face the risk of torture, or removing other requirements that, in anticipation of a transfer, the government provides their lawyers with 30 days' warning.... Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:42:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0909e.asp fff@fff.org (Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.) On September 9, 2009, Lew Rockwell gave the following speech at The Future of Freedom Foundation's "Economic Liberty Lecture Series." The speech can viewed below in its entirety. Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. is chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute.... Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:35:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0909d.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Enough dithering! President Obama says it's time to act on health care. I agree.... Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0909c.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Following briefings by Obama administration officials (who declined to be identified), both the New York Times and the Washington Post reported yesterday that the government is planning to introduce a new review system for the 600 or so prisoners held at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, which will, for the first time, allow them to call witnesses in their defense.... Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:42:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0909c.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Framers had experienced the ravages of paper money during the Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation, and they were fully aware of how governments had plundered and looted their own citizenry with inflation throughout history.... Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:25:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0905a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Framers had experienced the ravages of paper money during the Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation, and they were fully aware of how governments had plundered and looted their own citizenry with inflation throughout history.... Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:25:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0906c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) In the weeks after the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration constantly misrepresented how much power it was seeking over aliens. In a September 25 speech to FBI agents, Bush declared, "We're asking Congress for the authority to hold suspected terrorists who are in the process of being deported until they're deported.... We believe it's a necessary tool to make America a safe place. This would, of course, be closely supervised by an immigration judge." But everything that Bush and Ashcroft subsequently did sought to minimize, if not obliterate, judicial supervision of their roundup.... Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:11:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0905c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Many Americans have been lulled into a false sense of security by the end of the George W. Bush administration. In reality, the government continues to pose grave perils to people's rights and liberties. And it could take only one shocking incident for the government to once again show its heavy-handed ways.... Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:49:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0909b.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Col. Lawrence Wilkerson served in the U.S. military for 31 years and was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell from August 2002 until January 2005, two months after Powell's resignation, when he left the State Department. He is now the chairman of the New America Foundation's U.S.-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative.... Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:28:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0909a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Advocates of what is called health-care "reform" must lack confidence in their case. Were they sure that more government control of medicine and medical insurance was a good thing, they would answer the opposing arguments rather than marginalize their adversaries as corrupt or crazy.... Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:52:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0905h.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) The first time I ever heard of Walter Block was in 1980, when a faculty colleague showed me his copy of Block's book Defending the Undefendable. Knowing of my anarcho-capitalist views, my colleague said simply, "You'll love this." I eagerly dove into the book and was immediately hooked. Block didn't hesitate to follow his Austrian/libertarian thinking to a host of startling conclusions.... Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:48:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0905e.asp jacobs@yahoo.com (Glenn Jacobs) We've all heard the phrase "equal pay for equal work." Many of those who habitually repeat this mantra may not realize that it is simply a variation of the discredited labor theory of value (LTV), which is generally associated with Marxian economics. According to the LTV, the value of a product is related to the labor needed to produce it. The LTV prevailed in classical economics until the Marginal Revolution in the late 1800s. The marginalists proved that value is not the result of a product's inputs, but the result of the subjective judgment of individuals.... Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:23:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0905f.asp mtennant@fullservicenetwork.net (Michael Tennant) Recently the upstairs toilet in my house backed up. Unable to budge the clog, my wife called a plumber, who replaced both the seal and some of the inner workings of the toilet. Let's say, just for the sake of this example, that the plumber charged us $200 for the repair.... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:13:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0905b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The cynicism and shallowness of politics were abundantly displayed throughout the debate over the "stimulus" bill.... Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908n.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is gone. No one in the last 40 years stood as a larger symbol of "liberalism," the view that government is the answer for everything. A great deal has been said in recent days about his compassion and generosity. But bear in mind that in public life, his compassion consisted in spending other people's money and authorizing government bureaucracies to interfere with the social cooperation that takes place whenever life, liberty, and property are respected.... Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:49:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0905g.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) It happens every financial crash. Or in every prolonged bear market.... Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908m.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Col. Lawrence Wilkerson served in the U.S. military for 31 years and was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell from August 2002 until January 2005, two months after Powell's resignation, when he left the State Department. He is now the chairman of the New America Foundation's US-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative. In March, in a guest column for the Washington Note, he wrote an article criticizing some crucial aspects of the Bush administration's detention policies in the "war on terror," which, as I noted at the time, "are not as widely known as they should be, and which echo some of the important issues that I've tried to raise in my book The Guantanamo Files and my subsequent writing."... Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:33:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0904a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the major threats facing the American people today is out-of-control spending at the hands of the U.S. government. It is a grave danger that people have faced throughout history from their own governments. After all, let's not forget the oft-repeated claim by U.S. officials about how they brought down the Soviet Union -- by causing the Soviet government to spend itself into bankruptcy and ruin.... Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:01:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908i.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Should libertarians hope that Barack Obama succeeds or fails in his presidency? The question comes to mind because conservatives got embroiled in the issue when their leading radio star, Rush Limbaugh, said he hoped Obama would fail. Some commentators thought that was a horrible thing to say. Radio stars need regular public controversy to keep their listeners tuned in, so there's no point in analyzing what the Republican partisan Limbaugh might have meant. But the question may lead us to other insights.... Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:49:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908l.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In the first part of this three-part series examining the Guantanamo prisoners' attempts to secure their release via the U.S. courts, I looked at how, after the Supreme Court's ruling in June 2008 holding that the prisoners had constitutionally guaranteed habeas corpus rights, the Bush administration lost 23 of the 26 cases reviewed in the District Courts. The second part examined the Obama administration's record in its first four months in office, revealing how the new government behaved as though Bush was still in power, obstructing the defense teams, angering judges, and humiliating itself in court, and this final part brings the story up to date, explaining how, incredibly, the Obama administration has learned nothing from its humiliation and continues to present worthless and unwinnable cases to District Court judges, perpetuating the injustice at Guantanamo, to the dismay of those who thought that it would thoroughly repudiate the discredited policies of the Bush administration.... Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:52:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908j.asp vancepub@juno.com (Laurence M. Vance) The world knows all too well about the atomic bombs the United States dropped on Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945 ("Little Boy"), and on Nagasaki on Thursday, August 9 ("Fat Man"). "Dropping the bombs ended the war," said President Harry Truman.... Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908i.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) I'm waiting for the health-care debate to start. The preliminaries have been spirited and loud, but how about a debate?... Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:15:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0904d.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) The mesh-wire cages, suitable only for animals, are empty now and overgrown, but they will stand forever as a symbol of the Bush administration's brutal and destructive "war on terror"policies, implemented in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. mainland on September 11, 2001.... Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:06:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908h.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Senior citizens are frightened over the possibility that President Obama's health-care plan will adversely affect their Medicare coverage. Their attitude reflects how socialistic programs have converted a once-proud, strong, and independent people into weak, frightened, dependent wards of the state.... Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:21:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908g.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) England's Daily Express reported on August 4 that "thousands of the worst families in England are to be put in 'sin bins' in a bid to change their bad behavior." Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, has announced a 400 million pound plan to put Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in 20,000 homes in Britain, says the Express, "to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals."... Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908f.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In the first part of this three-part series examining the Guantanamo prisoners' attempts to secure their release via the U.S. courts, I examined the Bush administration's record in the seven months after the Supreme Court's ruling, in June 2008, that the prisoners had constitutionally guaranteed habeas corpus rights, and explained how, despite obstruction by the Justice Department, District Court judges reviewed 26 cases, and in all but three found that the government had failed to establish, "by a preponderance of the evidence," that it was justified in holding the men. This second article (and the final part next week) examine the Obama administration's record, in its first seven months in office, presenting an under-reported story of ongoing obstruction by the Justice Department, apoplectic judges, and, in the majority of the cases in which a judge has been able to make a ruling, more humiliation for the government.... Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:52:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0904c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) When Barack Obama was inaugurated on January 20, there was euphoria across the land and millions of people cheered in the streets of Washington. Many people are convinced that American democracy has been redeemed and that the federal government no longer poses a peril to individual rights. Since the people's choice is now at the helm of the U.S. government, Americans are free.... Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:26:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908e.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While we're discussing whether a special prosecutor should be named to investigate and prosecute CIA officials for violations of federal laws against murder, kidnapping, and torture, why not use the occasion to do the same in the matter of George Joannides? For it would be difficult to find a better example of obstruction of justice and fraud on the part of the CIA than the Joannides matter.... Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:21:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908d.asp fff@fff.org (David Dorn) As I was standing in a long line at the Post Office in Scottsdale, Arizona, at about 4:30 p.m., I said just loud enough for those around me to hear, "If you like this, wait until National Health Insurance." There were some chuckles.... Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:41:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908c.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Barack Obama is an extraordinary politician, but not even he can defy the laws of economics and logic.... Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:41:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908b.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) No American would for one moment consider the possibility that, once issued a driver's license by his state of residence, he should not then be free to drive in another state. Thus, your driver's license is valid in Virginia, even if you live in Hawaii; your marriage license and birth certificate and property titles must be respected, regardless of where in the United States you may be at any given moment.... Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0908a.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) By sheer coincidence, I had just been alerted to the publication of a number of documents relating to the ongoing habeas corpus cases of the Guantanamo prisoners last Thursday, and was reading, with mounting disbelief, the government's supposed case against Khalid al-Mutairi, one of the last four Kuwaiti prisoners, when I received an email notifying me that District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly had just granted his habeas petition and ordered the government to "take all necessary and appropriate steps to facilitate" his release "forthwith."... Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:03:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0903a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the most ludicrous policy prescriptions issued by federal officials is the one that exhorts the citizenry to spend more money to get the nation out of a recession. That's the key to national economic prosperity, government officials exclaim. "Go to the mall and shop," they tell people. If people will just spend, spend, and spend some more, the nation will get back on the road to a healthy economy, or so the argument goes.... Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:55:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907l.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) "Preventive care" is one of the magic formulas often invoked in discussions of so-called health-care reform. Don't worry about the apparent costs of reform, we're told, because we're going to save a ton of money with -- fanfare -- preventive care.... Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:03:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907m.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) The current debate over "reforming" health care in America -- and lest anyone need reminding, "reform" means more laws dictating our health-care decisions -- is a perfect opportunity to start asking important questions about the world around us.... Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907k.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The CIA's assassination plan, which it chose to keep secret from Congress, brings to mind Operation Condor, a similar plan run by DINA, which was Chile's counterpart to the CIA under the dictatorial regime of military strongman Augusto Pinochet.... Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:55:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907j.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) The New York Times reported last week that the Bush administration considered sending in the U.S. military to arrest the so-called Lackawanna Six in 2002. Ironically, one of the worst prosecutorial overreaches by the Justice Department in the war on terror almost resulted in a temporary period of martial law.... Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:15:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907i.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) When the Obama administration's Detention Policy Task Force, established by executive order on the president's second day in office, conceded last week that it would miss its six-month deadline to issue its recommendations about how to close Guantanamo, many observers focused on whether this meant that Obama would fail to meet his deadline of Jan 21, 2010, for the closure of the prison, and missed the bigger story, which was only revealed through close scrutiny of the Task Force's five-page interim report.... Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:33:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907h.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) We are playing out the latest chapter in the "crisis and leviathan" model in the financial-services business. It is a model in which public-sector failure leads to bigger government. It leads to success for socialists who want the government to expand into every aspect of our economy but don't want to overtly call for nationalization and don't even want to whisper the word "collectivist."... Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:49:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907g.asp mtennant@fullservicenetwork.net (Michael Tennant) Iraq War proponents should be blessing the day Barack Obama took office. With his continued disastrous attempts to "fix" the economy, the front pages of mainstream newspapers are mercifully free of stories such as this one from McClatchy Newspapers:... Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:13:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907f.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Two weeks ago, the indefatigable Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald, Guantanamo's most dedicated reporter, outlined the story of Umar Abdulayev, the last Tajik prisoner in Guantanamo, who has been cleared for release from the prison on two occasions -- once by a military review board under the Bush administration, and six weeks ago by the Obama administration's inter-departmental Guantanamo Task Force, established by President Obama on his second day in office.... Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) It's easy to get distracted by the details and crushing cost estimates of "health-care reform" while losing sight of the key question: Can a handful of congressmen, most of whom probably have never even run a small business, design an entire market for medical services and insurance?... Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:58:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0903b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) A rule we can rely on to be unfailingly applied is this: No matter how much the government controls the economic system, any problem will be blamed on whatever small zone of freedom that remains. This of course is evidence of a rigged game. The government can't possibly monitor and regulate absolutely every transaction that takes place in a country. Stalin and Hitler couldn't do it by a long shot. So anything that displeases the ruling regime can easily be laid at the doorstep of freedom and be used as an excuse for stamping out whatever traces of liberty still exist.... Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0905d.asp anderwl@prodigy.net (William L. Anderson) Historians want us to believe that Franklin Roosevelt had nothing to do with causing the massive unemployment and World War II that came in the wake of the Great Depression. Instead, they tell us that Roosevelt simply did the best he could with the hand which he was dealt.... Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:52:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0904e.asp anderwl@prodigy.net (William L. Anderson) In the latter part of 1920, the economy fell into a deep recession, which lasted well into 1921. As Murray Rothbard points out, it was the last downturn in which the government did not play much of a role. Newly elected President Warren G. Harding openly said that government should not be involved. Rothbard notes that at a 1921 conference on unemployment (called together by Herbert Hoover, the Secretary of Commerce) Harding emphatically made his views known:... Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:34:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907d.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In recent months, those who have been studying Guantanamo closely have come to the disturbing conclusion that the biggest obstacle to President Obama's pledge to close Guantanamo by January 2010 comes not from the fear-mongering and opportunistic politicians who recently voted to prohibit the use of any funds to release or to transfer prisoners to the United States, and who also authorized legislation that "requires the President to report periodically to Congress on the status of Guantanamo Bay detainees and plans for their transfer," but from the administration's own Justice Department.... Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:59:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907c.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) In Washington, the rule is: If a little poison doesn't cure the patient, give him more.... Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0903d.asp anderwl@prodigy.net (William L. Anderson) As the financial panics on Wall Street seem to be never-ending, a lot of commentators are openly asking whether the United States will slide into something akin to the Great Depression of nearly 80 years ago. Certainly, there is real fear in the air, and at this writing, the current and future states of the economy are front-and-center in people's minds. ... Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907b.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, who died on July 6, was best known for ratcheting up the Vietnam War thanks to the false claims he provided to President Johnson, Congress, and the American people.... Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:34:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0903e.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) "There was a depression in 1920? Really?" That was the comment I received recently from a smart, usually well-informed editor. Yes, there was a depression. But it was over so fast that few people seem to have heard of it. ... Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:15:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0907a.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In a depressing if predictable decision last Monday, U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates ruled that Haji Wazir, an Afghan businessman seized in the United Arab Emirates in 2002 and rendered to the U.S. prison at Bagram airbase, can continue to be held as a prisoner without rights, even though he has never had an adequate opportunity to test whatever allegations the U.S. military is using to justify his detention and even though he has been given no sign of when, if ever, his detention will come to an end.... Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0903c.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Modern democracy is based on faith that the people can control what they do not understand. As government has grown by leaps and bounds, "government by the people" has become one of the great fairy tales of our times.... Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0902a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A good place for Barack Obama to begin his program of change would be U.S. policy on Cuba. The change would move America toward three important principles on which our country was founded: economic liberty, civil liberty, and a limited-government republic.... Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:52:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906m.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) So what's happening now? According to a joint Washington Post/ProPublica article on Friday, "The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close Guantanamo, has drafted an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely," according to "three senior government officials."... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:55:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906l.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Barack Obama insists he does not want the government to run the medical system. He insists that he wants only to fix what's broken while leaving what works intact.... Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:55:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0904f.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) Buchanan's main thesis: Had Britain kept itself armed and neutral instead of giving a guarantee to Poland it couldn't meaningfully fulfill, it could have avoided a war in Western Europe.... Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0903f.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) Britain's poor diplomacy in the 1930s also helped bring about Mussolini's alliance with Hitler. Upon taking power, Hitler attempted to win Mussolini over by offering South Tyrol to Italy. Mussolini did not reciprocate the fondness. He condemned Hitler, thought him a thug and buffoon, and threatened war against him over the incomplete Nazi coup in Austria that killed Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, whom Mussolini respected considerably more than he did Hitler. In 1935 Mussolini agreed with Britain and France at the Stresa Front to uphold the principle of an independent Austria and to oppose German violations of the Versailles Treaty.... Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0902g.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) Of all the wars the United States has fought, World War II is the most universally celebrated. It was the "Good War," despite being the bloodiest in world history. Only in the Civil War did more Americans perish. But World War II is seen as the best example of the nation mobilizing completely and righteously to combat evil itself.... Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:55:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906k.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) Since 1997, every June 26 has been formally recognized as the International Day of Support for Victims of Torture. Political leaders around the globe take the occasion to proclaim their opposition to barbarism.... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:55:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906j.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) As part of a series of recent releases from Guantanamo, three Saudi prisoners were repatriated, along with Guantanamo's youngest prisoner, an Iraqi refugee, and four Uighurs who were sent to Bermuda. As I explained in a recent article, "Empty Evidence: The Stories Of The Saudis Released From Guantanamo," all three men had been cleared for release by military review boards at Guantanamo, and, in an examination of the government's supposed evidence against two of the men, Kahlid Saad Mohammed and Abdul Aziz al-Noofayee, I was able to demonstrate why they had been approved for release: there was, to put it bluntly, absolutely no evidence to demonstrate that either man had been involved in terrorism or any kind of militancy whatsoever.... Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906i.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Here's some advice for Barack Obama, John McCain, and any other U.S. politician who feels the urge to issue a declaration about the election in Iran: Shut up.... Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:25:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906h.asp fff@fff.org (Carlton Meyer) In 1991, as pressure was mounting in the U.S. Congress to cut the Cold War-era military budget, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs General Colin Powell said: "I'm running out of demons. I'm running out of villains. I'm down to Castro and Kim Il Sung."... Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:22:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906g.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) So now we have two fronts -- foreign and domestic -- on which we must focus our efforts in what is the most important intellectual and moral battle of our time. quite frankly, we welcome the challenge, and we are more convinced than ever that libertarian ideas will ultimately prevail over statist ones.... Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:51:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906f.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Last Thursday, while all eyes were focused on the arrival of four Uighurs from Guantanamo on Bermuda's balmy shores -- and while a few other commentators, myself included, noted that Guantanamo's youngest prisoner, Mohammed El-Gharani, had been released to his family's home country of Chad -- only one journalist, James Warren of the Atlantic, noticed that another prisoner, an Iraqi named Jawad Jabbar Sadkhan al-Sahlani, had also been released. Warren spoke to his lawyer, Jeffrey Colman of Jenner and Block, who told him, bluntly, "He should never have been there."... Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:51:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) America's health-care system has problems - all traceable to government intervention - but it could be worse. And if the so-called reform emerging in Congress is enacted, it will be worse.... Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906d.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) The Obama administration appears increasingly devoted to covering up the worst crimes of the Bush era.... Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906c.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In a leak that seems designed to gauge public opinion - and that of lawyers and other relevant parties around the world - anonymous officials in the Obama administration have told the New York Times about a proposal, in draft legislation to be submitted to Congress, which, as the Times put it, "would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial." ... Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:15:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0902b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Remember that telling scene in The Wizard of Oz when Toto reveals the "great and powerful wizard" as nothing but a homunculus operating an imposing thunder-and-lightning machine? "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain," he bellows, not knowing enough to quit even when he's exposed.... Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:47:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0902e.asp mtennant@fullservicenetwork.net (Michael Tennant) Perhaps the one bit of shiny interior in the black cloud of the financial crisis is that most mainstream conservatives, heretofore bootlicking worshippers of George W. Bush and the Republican Party, have come to realize that there's literally not a dime's worth of difference between the two parties when it comes to their willingness to bail out their Wall Street pals with taxpayers' money -- or, more accurately, brand spanking new "money" that dilutes the value of what little they allow us lowly taxpayers to keep. Ron Paul excepted, Rush Limbaugh is absolutely correct when he says that "not one Republican" is offering a coherent alternative to the print-more-money-and-create-new-regulations scheme pushed by the Bush administration and legislators from both parties.... Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0902f.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) The day after the November 4 election, Gun Owners of America (GOA), based in Springfield, Virginia, sent an email alert to supporters. With the subject heading "Gun Rights in Peril," the message began, "Based on his voting record in the Illinois state senate and the U.S. Senate, President-elect Obama will be the most anti-Second Amendment president in the history of America."... Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:56:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Contrary to the U.S. government's position, acts of terrorism are crimes that have little in common with acts of war. The terrorists whom Americans worry about are not trying to overthrow the U.S. government or conquer and occupy the United States. Instead, they are trying to obtain vengeance for U.S. government intervention in the Middle East. Historically, terrorism has been the tactic of the weak against the strong.... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0906a.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In all the recent hysteria about the supposed dangers posed by the remaining 240 prisoners at Guantanamo, it has been easy to forget that sensible appraisals of the number of individuals with any meaningful connection to terrorism have long indicated that no more than a few dozen of those still held should be regarded as any kind of significant threat and that, therefore, the prison still holds over 200 prisoners who, at best, were low-level Taliban soldiers with a strong dislike of U.S. foreign policy, and, at worst, should never have been held at all.... Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0901a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) During the recent presidential race, Republican John McCain accused Democrat Barack Obama of being a socialist, owing to Obama's belief in using the federal government to "spread the wealth." Obama, for his part, expressed surprise at being accused of being a socialist. Apparently, he's always believed that he's a strong supporter of America's "free-enterprise" system.... Fri, 29 May 2009 10:10:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0902c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) We saw in the last issue how the McCain-Feingold Act -- the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) -- sought to fundamentally change the American political landscape. Politicians did not allow the Act's power to lie idle in the first presidential election after its enactment.... Thu, 28 May 2009 12:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905m.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) We have had more than seven decades of experience with entitlement programs, since Franklin Delano Roosevelt introduced the first big one in 1935. Now Barack Obama is pushing another big entitlement program -- government-run health care. We don't need to rely on his promises, since we can reflect on our experience.... Wed, 27 May 2009 11:35:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0901c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) In 2002, Congress passed and George Bush signed the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). The McCain-Feingold Act was supposed to create an era of clean politics -- uncorrupt, untainted, and far loftier than what Americans had experienced in prior decades.... Wed, 27 May 2009 11:35:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905l.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In the summer of 2002, as Jane Mayer described it in her book The Dark Side, "The CIA, concerned by the paucity of valuable information emanating from [Guantanamo], dispatched a senior intelligence analyst, who was fluent in Arabic and expert on Islamic extremism, to find out what the problem was." After interviewing a random sample of two dozen or so Arabic-speaking prisoners, the analyst "concluded that an estimated one-third of the prison camp's population of more than 600 captives at the time, meaning more than 200 individuals, had no connection to terrorism whatsoever."... Tue, 26 May 2009 11:35:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0901f.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Americans don't have much historical memory anymore. That isn't just because of the dumbing down of the educational system and the fact that most young people read very little on their own. It's because most of what little they do hear about our history is colored by statist theology.... Mon, 25 May 2009 11:35:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905k.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) After President Obama announced he would fight the release of photographs showing American soldiers abusing "war on terror" detainees, Richard Haass, president of the quintessentially mainstream Council on Foreign Relations, said that Obama had learned the difference between campaigning and governing. He wasn't being ironic.... Fri, 22 May 2009 11:35:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905j.asp fff@fff.org (Ralph Reiland) Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman got it right about a lot of things, but he was overly optimistic when he wrote in 1990 that socialism was dead.... Thu, 21 May 2009 10:03:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905j.asp fff@fff.org (Ralph Reiland) Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman got it right about a lot of things, but he was overly optimistic when he wrote in 1990 that socialism was dead.... Thu, 21 May 2009 10:03:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0901b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, made headlines around the world with this assertion:... Wed, 20 May 2009 10:15:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905i.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) FDR established the Securities and Exchange Commission to protect people in securities markets. Yet there already were plenty of laws against theft and fraud, crimes that are seldom exposed by government regulators.... Tue, 19 May 2009 10:56:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905h.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Although I reported last week about an important court case in favor of Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, a Yemeni prisoner in Guantanamo, there was little in the way of progress, during the first 115 days of the Obama administration, for the men who are still held, despite the president's pledge to close the prison within a year.... Mon, 18 May 2009 10:56:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905g.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) FDR didn't know what to do about the Great Depression he inherited from Herbert Hoover, so he tried everything. He hiked taxes, spent more money, established monopolies, enforced cartels, filed antitrust lawsuits, promoted compulsory unionism, multiplied business regulations, denounced investors, and started welfare programs, public works projects, a big entitlement, on and on.... Fri, 15 May 2009 11:27:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905f.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In another embrace of President Bush's war-on-terrorism policies, President Obama has announced that he might retain the Pentagon's military-commission system to try people accused of terrorism. Apparently, the president, like the U.S. military, lacks confidence in the federal judicial system established by the Framers to handle criminal cases involving terrorism.... Wed, 13 May 2009 11:27:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Why isn't the honeymoon over yet? That all peace advocates still haven't broken with Barack Obama is ominous, indeed. Do they really hate war, empire, and colonialism? Or did they just hate George W. Bush and Dick Cheney?... Tue, 12 May 2009 10:28:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905d.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) From Libya comes news of the death of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a former "ghost prisoner" of the United States, whose false confession about a connection between al-qaeda and Saddam Hussein -- extracted under torture in Egypt -- was used to justify the invasion of Iraq. The news will only add to the woes of the senior Bush administration officials who conceived the program of "extraordinary rendition" and torture within days of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and then, in a netherworld of secret memoranda, sought legal justification for their actions.... Mon, 11 May 2009 10:28:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905c.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) U.S. officials are now concerned not only with a Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan but also a Taliban takeover in Pakistan. These problems, however, were caused by the U.S. Empire itself.... Fri, 08 May 2009 12:26:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) David Brooks, the New York Times's resident neoconservative, delights in peddling a false alternative: freedom or social order. His latest column hawking this snake oil comes in the form of advice to the struggling Republican Party: "If the Republicans are going to rebound, they will have to reestablish themselves as the party of civic order." In other words, give up freedom.... Fri, 08 May 2009 12:26:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0901e.asp laaprc@verizon.net (Rick Lynch) Why do we have a Constitution? How and why did it come into existence? Just what, exactly, prompted the calling of the Constitutional Convention, which gave birth to it? Most Americans believe, logically enough, that with the passing of the British from the scene it was simply time to create a new government to take the place of the old. That notion, however, ignores the facts that Americans already had a functioning government at the time of the Convention and that that government had been in effect for six years following the final British defeat at Yorktown.... Wed, 06 May 2009 11:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0902d.asp fff@fff.org (Stephen Kinzer) I talked about unintended consequences. In the period immediately following the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh (see Freedom Daily, January 2009), Americans were very happy. Kermit Roosevelt was welcomed into the Oval Office of the White House and given a secret medal in a private ceremony, and he briefed President Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles on how it had been done. Oh, it was so successful Dulles immediately went out and started doing this again. Within a year, we went off and overthrew another government down in Guatemala, so the Iran operation seemed like a great success. We got rid of a guy we didn't like, Mossadegh, and we replaced him with a guy, the shah, who would do everything we wanted, so it was a perfect outcome.... Tue, 05 May 2009 11:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0905a.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Two distressing pieces of news emerged last week regarding the Obama administration's plans to close Guantanamo, and both were delivered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee.... Mon, 04 May 2009 11:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0812f.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) You have probably never heard of Dr. Reimert Ravenholt, but he was one of the most influential people of the 20th century. More than anyone else, Ravenholt was responsible for putting together the worldwide network of population-control programs and agencies. Appointed in 1966 to be the first director of the Office of Population in the United States Agency for International Development, Ravenholt was an arch-Malthusian who saw human fertility as a looming planetary disaster. Backed by a large supply of federal tax dollars, he zealously went about promoting contraception, sterilization, and abortion as the cure for the "plague" of too many children.... Fri, 01 May 2009 11:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0812a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The massive federal bailout of U.S. financial firms reflects everything that's wrong with the economic system of welfare and interventionism under which the United States has operated since at least the 1930s. There are critically important lessons in the bailout that the American people ignore at their peril. While most politicians and mainstream pundits are viewing the bailout as a necessary "reform," it is imperative that we place this "reform" in a much wider and deeper context. In doing so, we need to return to first principles.... Fri, 01 May 2009 11:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904s.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) If Social Security is so wonderful, why were people forced to participate, why was it set up as a monopoly, and why did it dump ever-larger costs onto the backs of future generations?... Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0812e.asp fff@fff.org (Christine Smith) It is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. It knows best what we need and what must be done. We must trust in its absolute power, knowledge, and presence in all areas of our lives. For this overseer is the source of justice, truth, wisdom, wrath, and mercy.... Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904r.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) Of all the great things ever said in regard to human freedom, the above quotation makes perhaps the most profound point about the mental state needed to create and preserve a free political state. One can speak of the value of education, virtue, religion, or personal responsibility in the maintenance of a free society. But what is needed most of all is tolerance.... Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904q.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The Obama administration and congressional leaders assure us that the government can protect us from the "systemic risk" posed by big banks, insurance companies, and hedge funds.... Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904p.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Last December, in a typically bullish defense of the Bush administration's conduct in the "war on terror," Vice President Dick Cheney stated,... Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904o.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In an article I wrote in September 1990 entitled "Letting Go of Socialism," I pointed out how public schooling is a model of a socialistic program. I also addressed the issue of school vouchers:... Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904n.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Andrew Napolitano interviews James Bovard, Ron Paul, and others on Freedom Watch.... Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904l.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro have nothing to talk about. While they do their diplomatic dance, the Cuban people are suffering because of the American trade embargo. It should end forthwith. The idea that trade between Americans and Cubans must await an American president's say-so is an insult to anyone who aspires to be free.... Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904m.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Now that these memos are out in the open, it is, I believe, important to look back at the role played by Jack Goldsmith, who took over from Bybee as the head of the OLC in October 2003. A supposedly "safe pair of hands," who, with Yoo, was regarded as "a leading proponent of the view that international standards of human rights should not apply in cases before U.S. courts," Goldsmith in fact turned out to be a nightmare for the administration, as he withdrew four pieces of legal advice -- including the "torture memo" and a March 2003 memo approving the more general use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" -- because he regarded them as "tendentious, overly broad and legally flawed."... Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904k.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Another disturbing revelation of Bradbury's memos was the disclosure of the number of prisoners held in secret CIA custody -- 94 in total -- and the additional note that the agency "has employed enhanced techniques to varying degrees in the interrogations of 28 of these detainees." What's disturbing is not the number -- CIA director Michael Hayden admitted in July 2007 that the CIA had detained fewer than 100 people at secret facilities abroad since 2002 -- but the insight that this exact figure provides into the supremely secretive world of "extraordinary rendition" and secret prisons that exists beyond the cases of the 14 "high-value detainees" who were transferred to Guantanamo from secret CIA custody in September 2006.... Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:31:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904j.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) The Bradbury memos are littered with fascinating snippets of information -- "Careful records are kept of each interrogation," for example -- but one of the most revealing is the establishment that, although the array of techniques "are not used unless the CIA reasonably believes that the detainee is a senior member of al-qaeda or [its affiliates], and the detainee has knowledge of imminent terrorist threats against the USA or has been directly involved in the planning of attacks," use of the waterboard is "limited still further, requiring credible intelligence that a terrorist attack is imminent ... substantial and credible indicators that the subject has actionable intelligence that can prevent, disrupt or delay this attack; and [a determination that o]ther interrogation methods have failed to elicit the information [and that] other ... methods are unlikely to elicit this information within the perceived time limit for preventing the attack"; in other words, the ticking time-bomb scenario, which, outside the world of Jack Bauer, has never actually occurred.... Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:31:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904i.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Andy Worthington, author of The Guantanamo Files, analyzes ten particularly disturbing facts to emerge from the four memos, purporting to justify the use of torture by the CIA, which were issued by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in August 2002 and May 2005, and released by the Obama administration last week.... Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904h.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) If President Obama doesn't understand why the economy tanked, he surely won't know what recovery requires. And if he doesn't know that, he's surely part of the problem, not the solution. In his speech on the economy at Georgetown University this week, Obama again showed that he hasn't a clue what caused the economic calamity. He spent a few paragraphs of his speech "explaining" to the students what happened -- but he got it wrong. Had this been a class, he should have gotten an F.... Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0901d.asp fff@fff.org (Stephen Kinzer) Let's look at the case of Cuba. It's another case of American intervention gone terribly wrong. When the United States decided in 1898 to send soldiers to Cuba to help Cuban revolutionaries overthrow Spanish colonial rule, the Cuban patriots were not so sure they really liked this idea. They didn't know if they wanted some thousands of American soldiers in Cuba, and they were very close to victory on their own. The Americans were shocked at the cynicism of the Cuban patriots and responded by passing a law that was called the Teller Amendment. So with the force of law we promised Cuba that our troops were going to withdraw immediately after we defeated the Spanish and we were going to allow Cuba to become independent.... Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904g.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) Unions were based on force and violence, which repelled a substantial number of employees as well as employers. The aim had been to raise the wages of members above market levels, but this was only possible if they went on strike, forcibly prevented employers from hiring other employees, shut down businesses, and ultimately forced employers to accept union demands. Union bosses talked about securing the "right to strike," but they didn't mean the right to quit which everybody already had. In practice, the "right to strike" meant the right to forcibly prevent others from filling jobs that strikers had left.... Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:11:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0812d.asp fff@fff.org (Stephen Kinzer) Thomas Jefferson is the author of the phrase that I take as my guiding principle, and it's the principle that has pushed me through all the books I've written. I actually had this up on my wall 20 years ago when I was a correspondent in Nicaragua, and I've followed it ever since. It's a line from the Declaration of Independence and it reflects my view. I don't consider myself a polemicist or an ideologue or a Bush basher, but I am reality-based. I'm fact-based. I like to deal with what's real, not with visionary fantasies of utopia, and in the Declaration of Independence it says, "Let facts be submitted to a candid world." That is all we are trying to do.... Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:11:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0812b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) To hear the media pundits and presidential candidates tell it, you'd think Adam Smith had been president for the last eight years and, with a Congress full of free-market advocates, had enacted an agenda of full-blown laissez faire.... Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:15:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904f.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) No one in the U.S. military ever doubted that Ayman Batarfi, a slim and articulate Yemeni, who was seized in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains after a U.S. bombing raid in December 2001, was a doctor -- and, moreover, an orthopedic surgeon with the dedication and the frontline skills required to help out those less fortunate than himself in the humanitarian disaster area that was Afghanistan in 2001. However, for seven years the 38-year old was regarded as a threat to the United States because he had worked for a charity that the U.S. authorities regarded as being aligned with al-qaeda and also because, through a series of accidents, he had met Osama bin Laden and had found himself in Tora Bora, when remnants of al-qaeda and the Taliban were fighting the U.S. and their Afghan allies and the U.S. military had allowed bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and numerous other senior figures in al-qaeda and the Taliban to escape across the unguarded Pakistani border.... Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:11:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904e.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) In 1938, after having spent many New Deal years signing laws that banned discounting and established cartels, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt denounced "the concentration of economic control" that many of his laws promoted. He went on the attack against big employers, even though, with unemployment still in double digits, surely the top priority should have been to encourage the creation of private-sector jobs.... Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:11:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904d.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) It's tax season. Consider what that means. It's the time of year when you must account for yourself to the government. You must report every dime you earned last year, and if you believe any of it should be beyond the state's grasp, you'd better have the proof. If the government withheld more of your money than (you think) the rules require, it is your burden to prove that. You then must submit the official paperwork by a certain time. If the authorities are not satisfied with what you submit, they will demand that you prove you've done it right. If you can't, you'll have to do it their way and pay more. Should you refuse to comply with any of these requirements -- and a lot more no one understands -- the government has the power to make your life hell and impose additional financial burdens. It can even imprison you.... Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904c.asp fff@fff.org (Bruce Fein) On April 6, 2009 at the The Future of Freedom Foundation's "Economic Liberty Lecture Series," Bruce Fein gave his talk "A Safer, Freer, and Wealthier America."... Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0811a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Given that most people agree that the drug war has failed to achieve its supposed purpose after decades of warfare, an important question arises: Why is the drug war still being waged, especially when we consider all the collateral damage that this federal program has produced? Hasn't the time arrived for Americans to demand an immediate end to the war on drugs?... Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:44:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904b.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In 2007, after four rounds of administrative reviews at Guantanamo, Hedi Hammamy, a Tunisian prisoner, born in 1969, was cleared for release, having satisfied the Pentagon that he no longer represented a threat to the United States or its allies and no longer possessed any ongoing intelligence value. He was not released, however, because, although the U.S. government had secured a "diplomatic assurance" from the government of the Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, which purported to guarantee that returned prisoners would be treated humanely, two prisoners returned in June 2007 were apparently mistreated in Tunisian custody and were then imprisoned after what were regarded by human rights observers as show trials.... Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:13:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0811g.asp fff@fff.org (Thomas Woods) Several years ago, Congressman Sam Johnson (R-Texas) told parishioners at Suncreek United Methodist Church in Allen, Texas, something he had said to President George W. Bush: "Syria is the problem. Syria is where those weapons of mass destruction are, in my view. You know, I can fly an F-15, put two nukes on 'em and I'll make one pass. We won't have to worry about Syria anymore."... Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0904a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The news media are rife with stories about Mexican drug cartels operating throughout the United States and drug-related violence threatening U.S. cities near the border. Americans are becoming reluctant to cross into Mexican towns for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.... Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:29:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903n.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) The New Deal was paid for mainly by the middle class and the poor. This was because excise taxes were the biggest revenue generators for the federal government. They applied to beer, liquor, cigarettes, chewing gum and other cheap pleasures enjoyed disproportionately by the middle class and the poor. Until 1936, excise taxes generated more revenue than the federal personal income tax and the federal corporate income tax combined. Not until 1942 -- in the middle of World War II -- did the federal personal income tax become the biggest revenue generator for the federal government.... Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:48:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903m.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Reinforcing claims made over the last few years -- by FBI agents, by author Ron Suskind, and by myself -- that the supposed senior al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah was less significant than he was made out to be, the Washington Post ran a front-page story yesterday, in which, drawing on interviews with "former senior government officials who closely followed [his] interrogations," Peter Finn and Joby Warrick reminded the world that Zubaydah was not actually a senior al-Qaeda operative and had no information about the inner workings of al-Qaeda.... Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:25:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903l.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) With the possible exception of the war on drugs, it would be difficult to find a greater terrorist-producing machine than the U.S. government's occupation of Afghanistan. Think about it: For almost 8 years, they've been killing terrorists in that country, fulltime. Yet, today there are more terrorists than ever before. From the standpoint of a lover of big government, this is a dream come true. They kill one terrorist, they get 10 more, which means ever-increasing federal power and budgets.... Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:52:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0811e.asp fff@fff.org (Christine Smith) A strong, bold, and clear definition of the proper form of government, one deriving its power from the citizens solely to protect the rights each person is born with. Fifty years later, in a letter to Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson described the Declaration of Independence as "an appeal to the tribunal of the world," and "intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion."... Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:52:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0811d.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) In his recent book, Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg argues that most of the "liberal" political agenda is fascistic, in the true meaning of the word. Fascism is a system based on the use of governmental directives to control private property. Whereas communists simply confiscate private property -- particularly what they call "the means of production" -- fascists let the owners keep title, but bring their property under increasing government domination through rules and regulations. Goldberg's indisputable argument is that the same thing is going on in the United States.... Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903k.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Americans desperately needed bargains. But President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed laws that forced businesses to charge above-market prices for everything. He made discounting a crime!... Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:51:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903j.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) It's a sign of how much the Bush administration skewed America's moral compass that we are currently facing the possibility that the only way to bring the torturers to account is through a "Nonpartisan Commission Of Inquiry" -- essentially, a toothless truth and reconciliation commission -- of the type proposed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.... Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903i.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) An urgent message to the people of China: Don't lend the U.S. government another dime. If you do, you will be hurting not only yourselves but also the American people. Invest in real productive ventures here or elsewhere. But -- please -- don't buy any more government debt.... Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903h.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, Leonie M. Brinkema, recently sentenced four young people to terms in the penitentiary ranging from 46 months to 20 years. The four, whose ages ranged from 19 to 21, were convicted of drug-war crimes relating to the possession and distribution of heroin.... Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:41:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903g.asp fff@fff.org (Howard Wooldridge) The nine-year-old boy's eyes went as big as saucers, as my 40-caliber Glock came into view and paused for a split second on his chest. Being the fourth officer through the door of the townhouse meant the woman and her three kids were already in a state of shock. We spent 30 minutes looking for the marijuana mentioned in the search warrant, coming up empty. In retrospect, at least we had bothered to obtain a warrant.... Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:29:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0811e.asp laaprc@verizon.net (Rick Lynch) It is simply impossible to understand the U.S. Constitution without first possessing a thorough understanding of property rights. If you traveled back in time to enter James Madison's mind as he wrote and debated such weighty issues as free speech, the right of self-defense, freedom of the press, and freedom of conscience, but came away lacking knowledge of his and the other Framers' views on property, you still would be woefully ignorant of the Constitution, and even of U.S. history; for it was a whole series of property disputes that gave rise to both the American Revolution and the Constitutional Convention itself. To understand the rights of property in a constitutional context you must know two things: just how important these rights were to the Framers and just what they meant by the term.... Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:29:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903f.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a reputation as a friend of black people, yet he signed laws that promoted racial segregation throughout the United States. The laws were supposed to promote "affordable housing."... Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:29:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903e.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Changing the names of things was a ploy that was used by the Bush administration in an attempt to justify some of its least palatable activities. In response to the 9/11 attacks, for instance, the nation was not involved in a limited pursuit of a group of criminals responsible for the attacks, but instead embarked on an open-ended "war on terror."... Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:29:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0812c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) From the first days of the torture scandal, the Bush administration followed a "deny everything and praise American values" strategy to defuse the controversy over Abu Ghraib.... Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:29:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903d.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Government power is growing, and unless President Barack Obama and the majority in Congress have a libertarian epiphany, it will continue to grow for years.... Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:08:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0811c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) It is now more than four and a half years since Americans first saw the photos depicting the brutalizing of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.... Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:10:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903c.asp fff@fff.org (Jim Powell) FDR won the 1936 presidential election with more than 27 million votes, compared to 16 million for his Republican opponent Alf Landon. FDR won the Electoral College vote by an even bigger margin - 523 to 8. He concluded that he could do anything, and he over-reached, triggering a harsh reaction among Democrats as well as Republicans. He squandered much of the goodwill that he had.... Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freeom/fd0811b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) It's a good thing the nation of Georgia was not a member of NATO when Russian troops attacked in August. The United States might be at war with Russia today. President Bush has been vigorously pushing membership for years. Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, has been lobbying hard. Both still favor membership despite the events of August, which demonstrate the danger of having the anti-Soviet military alliance incorporate former Soviet republics and satellites even though the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991.... Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:30:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freeom/fd0810a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The purpose of the Bill of Rights was twofold: first, to ensure that certain fundamental rights were protected from federal infringement and, second, to ensure that the American people were expressly guaranteed certain procedural rights in federal criminal prosecutions. While all of the rights and guarantees enumerated in the Bill of Rights -- as well as those that were not enumerated -- are critically important to a free society, it is worth noting that two rights -- one fundamental and one procedural -- are intended to provide the citizenry with a means to resist federal tyranny should such ever befall our land.... Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903a.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Last Thursday, U.S. resident Ali al-Marri, the last "enemy combatant" on the U.S. mainland, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Peoria, Illinois, for providing material support for terrorism, bringing to an end the Qatari national's disturbing imprisonment for five years and eight months without charge or trial in a state of solitary confinement that is unprecedented in the "war on terror."... Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:47:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902l.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) President Obama is optimistic that "[we] will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before." That and $5 will get you coffee at Starbucks -- until inflation kicks in.... Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:47:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902k.asp fff@fff.org (Ralph Reiland) The appeal of socialism, wrote Nobel-winning economist F. A. Hayek, "depends on the instinctual appeal of promised consequences."... Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:22:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902j.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) The "war on terror" prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the majority of the remaining 242 prisoners have been held for seven years without charge or trial, "complies with the humanitarian requirements of the Geneva Conventions," according to a government official who spoke to the New York Times after reading an 85-page report prepared for President Obama by Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the vice chief of naval operations.... Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:00:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902i.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) If you're going to talk nonsense, the best strategy is to talk it loud, often, and to as many people as possible. Thanks to the editorial board at the Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader, there was no shortage of nonsense being spread around on February 19. That day, on the paper's website, a short commentary by Curt Brown added another load to the dung heap of anti-gun hysteria.... Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902h.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The Obama administration's $275 billion bailout for mortgage lenders and troubled borrowers once again shows that "tomorrow-be-damned" thinking still rules the White House. President Obama has clearly dumped the Clinton administration's theme song, "Don't Stop Thinking about Tomorrow." (Not that Clinton or his successor took the lyric to heart.)... Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0810f.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) American labor law is a dank miasma of special-interest legislation that tramples on the rights of some citizens in order to advance the interests of others. The main beneficiaries are labor-union officials who lobbied for and received extraordinary and unique powers from compliant politicians. The victims are business owners and workers who prefer to have nothing to do with unions.... Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902g.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) On January 22, in an executive order relating to the closure of Guantanamo, President Barack Obama established a comprehensive review of the cases of the remaining 242 prisoners, to work out who could be released and who should continue to be held. The executive order explained that the review was to be "conducted with the full cooperation and participation" of the attorney general, the secretaries of Defense, State and Homeland Security, the director of National Intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but in reality, it was expected that the lead would be taken by the Justice Department.... Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:09:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0810g.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) Ron Paul's grassroots campaign -- a decentralized undertaking that always had much more to do with the principles of the American Revolution, liberty, free enterprise, and peace than with narrowly defined electoral success -- has shaken this nation, and his new book, The Revolution: A Manifesto, rightfully reached the very top of the bestsellers' list of that establishment bulwark The New York Times.... Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:34:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902f.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The cynicism and shallowness of politics have been abundantly on display throughout the debate over the "stimulus" bill.... Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:52:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) As the misnamed "stimulus" bill works its way through Congress, we once again see compromise equated with responsibility. The political "leadership" and establishment media seemed to have a vested interest in portraying anyone who refuses to compromise as recklessly unconcerned with the well-being of the country.... Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:17:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902c.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) The confirmation of Eric Holder as the new U.S. attorney general is being celebrated as one more "historic" moment in American politics. Holder is the first African American appointed as the nation's highest-ranking law-enforcement officer.... Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:59:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902d.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) The continued imprisonment of at least 61 prisoners at Guantanamo, who have been cleared for release after multiple military review boards (or, in recent months, after rulings in a U.S. court), was an affront to notions of justice when the Bush administration was in power, and is even more so now that Barack Obama, who has pledged to close Guantanamo, is president.... Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:59:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902b.asp fff@fff.org (Thomas J. DiLorenzo) On February 2, 2009 at the The Future of Freedom Foundation's "Economic Liberty Lecture Series," Thomas J. DiLorenzo gave his talk "The Founding Father of Economic Statism."... Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0810d.asp vancepub@juno.com (Laurence M. Vance) Whenever some new perceived crisis comes along, Americans typically look to the state as a problem solver. Are we running out of oil? The government should increase CAFE standards so that cars are more fuel-efficient. Is gas too expensive? The government should limit the profits of oil companies. Is the planet getting warmer? The government should mandate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Are too many Americans without health insurance? The government should expand Medicaid and SCHIP to address the problem. Will taking drugs destroy your life? The government should ban them. ... Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0810d.asp vancepub@juno.com (Laurence M. Vance) Whenever some new perceived crisis comes along, Americans typically look to the state as a problem solver. Are we running out of oil? The government should increase CAFE standards so that cars are more fuel-efficient. Is gas too expensive? The government should limit the profits of oil companies. Is the planet getting warmer? The government should mandate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Are too many Americans without health insurance? The government should expand Medicaid and SCHIP to address the problem. Will taking drugs destroy your life? The government should ban them. ... Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0810e.asp mtennant@fullservicenetwork.net (Michael Tennant) In an early episode of the television series Bewitched, Harold Harold (Paul Lynde), a highly nervous driving instructor, tries to teach Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery) how to drive a car. At one point in the lesson he instructs her to go the wrong way in a traffic circle. Samantha, however, can read a sign and chooses to go the correct way, disregarding Harold's directions. He angrily demands that she stop and explain herself. This, of course, causes a traffic tie-up, and the drivers behind them begin honking their horns. As they depart the scene after about 30 seconds' argument, Harold leans out of the window and yells at the frustrated drivers behind them, "Selfish! Selfish!"... Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0902a.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) At first glance, this might seem to be an unnecessary headline, given that Barack Obama has been president for only two weeks and that one of his first acts was to sign a presidential order declaring that the notorious "war on terror" prison at Guantanamo Bay will be closed within a year.... Tue, 03 Feb 2009 09:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0810b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Advocates of freedom barely dodged a bullet when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the right to keep and bear arms, the subject of the Second Amendment, is an individual not a collective right. Opponents of gun ownership have long maintained that the Amendment's reference to the militia indicates that the right does not apply to private individuals.... Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:05:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901m.asp fff@fff.org (Joseph Margulies) On June 8, 2008, Joseph Margulies gave the following speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:56:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901l.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Should people who disagree with Barack Obama hope he succeeds in his presidency? Conservatives are caught in this question because their leading radio star, Rush Limbaugh, said he hopes Obama fails. Radio stars need regular public controversy to keep their listeners tuned in, so there's no point in analyzing what the Republican partisan might have meant. But the question may lead us to other insights.... Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:56:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0810c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Perhaps no American president has praised freedom as often as George W. Bush. From his declarations that the United States was attacked because of freedom, to the names "Operation Enduring Freedom" and "Operation Iraqi Freedom," to his proclamations of a "calling" from history to defend freedom, freedom quickly became the cloak draping all of Bush's actions after 9/11.... Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:35:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901k.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In the Bush administration's "war on terror," the gulf between rhetoric and reality was always pronounced, and never more so than when Vice President Dick Cheney spoke out. Cheney's lies and distortions were on open display in the last month before his departure from the White House, as he sought to leave his legacy of fear burnished on the nation's consciousness, and in a final fling he told Rush Limbaugh, in no uncertain terms, that when it came to Guantanamo, "now what's left, that is the hardcore." ... Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:35:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901j.asp fff@fff.org (Bruce Fein) On June 8, 2008, Bruce Fein gave the following speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0809a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The year 1989 was a year of a great celebration. For that was the year that that hated and reviled symbol of tyranny, empire, and oppression, the Berlin Wall, came crashing down. Not only were the people of East Germany and Eastern Europe celebrating the demise of the Wall, so were people all over the world, including people here in the United States.... Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:22:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0809g.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Many readers will immediately recognize that the title of this book comes from one of Benjamin Franklin's many political insights: "Those who would sacrifice essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Author Robert Higgs agrees with Franklin's judgment, but the point of his powerful and iconoclastic book is that when people turn to the state crying for safety, they will end up sacrificing their liberty in vain. They will get neither liberty nor safety. The modern state takes people's liberty (as well as a lot of their property) but delivers to them increased insecurity.... Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:39:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901i.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Forget the president's lame, reality-defying farewell speech and Dick Cheney's last-ditch attempts to claim that the administration in which he served as vice president has never engaged in torture. The Bush era came to an end last Wednesday when, in one short interview, Susan J. Crawford, the senior Pentagon official overseeing the military commissions at Guantanamo -- the novel system of trials for terror suspects that was conceived in the wake of the 9/11 attacks -- condemned the Bush administration's "war-on-terror" detention policies and paved the way for criminal proceedings against senior administration officials, more acutely than anyone had managed before her. ... Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901h.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) At the risk of raining on the parade, I suggest that the inaugural festivities are not what they appear. Barack Obama says the pomp and circumstance are not about him but are a celebration of democracy. "For the forty-third time, we will execute the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next," he said.... Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:16:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901g.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Many politicians, economists, and pundits -- under the influence of Keynesian "economics" -- worry that Barack Obama's stimulus package won't be stimulative enough because too much of the money might go to people who won't spend it.... Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:17:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0809f.asp fff@fff.org (Ridgway Foley) States act predictably. An obscure professional official mutters an apparently innocuous statement to a small and equally obscure audience during a holiday period. In this fashion, states pretend full disclosure while simultaneously cloaking a forthcoming policy from critical insight and thoughtful appraisal.... Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901f.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) On the seventh anniversary of the opening of the "war on terror" prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (on January 11, 2002), this is perhaps a rather bleak title, given that Barack Obama has pledged to close the prison, but recent events in a U.S. District Court -- largely overlooked in the mainstream media -- have demonstrated how difficult it will be to deliver justice to the remaining prisoners, because of the veneer of legitimacy that covers the Bush administration's self-declared right to seize anyone the president regards as an "enemy combatant" and hold him indefinitely without charge or trial.... Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901e.asp vancepub@juno.com (Laurence M. Vance) On June 8, 2008, Laurence M. Vance gave the following speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901d.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The money sluices are about to open wide on Capitol Hill. With a new Congress convened and a new president about to take office, we are likely to see record-shattering government expenditures. All inhibitions about deficit spending, as weak as they have been in recent years, are now dissolved. The motto among those in control is: Spend now!... Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901c.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) Several years ago I read Gun-Proof Your Children by Massad Ayoob, an excellent short primer on introducing children to firearms and how best to maintain a safe household that has both children and guns in it. Ayoob's premise is simple: the best way to protect your child from drowning is to teach him to swim, familiarize him with water, and give him plenty of adult supervision in the pool -- and that the best way to keep kids safe around guns is to follow the same course.... Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:25:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901b.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) The omens have never been good for the 17 Uighurs in Guantanamo, even though they have justice on their side. Refugees from Chinese oppression who had sought shelter in Afghanistan, only to be captured and sold to U.S. forces as "terror suspects", the 17 men were the first Guantanamo prisoners to be cleared of being "enemy combatants," after an appeals court demolished the supposed evidence against one of the men in June, and the government abandoned its claims against the other 16.... Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0901a.asp fff@fff.org (David Henderson) On June 8, 2008, David R. Henderosn gave the following speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:42:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0809e.asp fff@fff.org (U.S. Supreme Court) We begin with a brief account of the history and origins of the writ. Our account proceeds from two propositions. First, protection for the privilege of habeas corpus was one of the few safeguards of liberty specified in a Constitution that, at the outset, had no Bill of Rights. In the system conceived by the Framers the writ had a centrality that must inform proper interpretation of the Suspension Clause. Second, to the extent there were settled precedents or legal commentaries in 1789 regarding the extraterritorial scope of the writ or its application to enemy aliens, those authorities can be instructive for the present cases.... Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:42:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812r.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In the first part of this interview with Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, Andy Worthington, the author of The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison, examined why the government's allegations against the prisoners at Guantanamo are unreliable.... Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812q.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0809b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Once in a while the fading embers of freedom flare with defiant vigor. That happened in June when the U.S. Supreme Court sternly informed the Bush administration that it may not hold people suspected of being terrorists indefinitely without charge and without judicial review at its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ... Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812p.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The common reaction to the Bernard Madoff $50 billion financial scam was wholly expected. As Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten wrote, "The lesson is one that becomes clearer with each excruciating turn of the Wall Street screw. The long, bipartisan experiment with financial deregulation has failed utterly. The argument that a return to rigorous oversight will somehow stifle Wall Street's 'creativity' is no longer convincing. Whatever its theoretical costs, regulation is dramatically cheaper than intervention. And absolutist insistence on the superiority of 'individual choice' and 'free markets' now is exposed as so much vacant rhetoric. Any system that permits a scam artist like Madoff to deceive not just widows and orphans but also sophisticated investors, like Fairfield Greenwich Group's Walter Noel and Hollywood's Jeffrey Katzenberg, isn't a market at all; it's a shooting gallery."... Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:50:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812o.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Since the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, the closure of the "War on Terror" prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has become a hot topic. Throughout his election campaign, Obama pledged to close Guantanamo, and he reiterated his promise during his first TV interview as President-Elect, on November 15. \... Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812n.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812l.asp jimmytwoshoes@hotmail.com (James Glaser) I did it. I called Jacob Hornberger at The Future of Freedom Foundation (703 934-6101) and gave a donation. The key here for me is the "future" -- future of freedom. At the rate America is going, I am wondering freedom for my children and grandchildren will exist.... Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812m.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) On November 13, 2008 at the The Future of Freedom Foundation's "Economic Liberty Lecture Series," James Bovard gave his talk "Bailout Bosh and Other Economic Frauds of Our Times."... Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812l.asp jimmytwoshoes@hotmail.com (James Glaser) I did it. I called Jacob Hornberger at The Future of Freedom Foundation (703 934-6101) and gave a donation. The key here for me is the "future" -- future of freedom. At the rate America is going, I am wondering freedom for my children and grandchildren will exist.... Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811k.asp fff@fff.org (Karen Kwiatkowski) On June 8, 2008, Karen Kwiatkowski gave the following speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:13:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812j.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) That there will be a huge "stimulus" package in the early days of the Obama administration is a certainty. Nearly everyone thinks the government must do something drastic to, using President-elect Obama's word, "jolt" the economy into recovery. That something is deficit spending on "infrastructure." But it's not as simple as it sounds. A big debate is shaping up over whether the program should concentrate on big, transformative projects or boring bridge repairs and pothole filling.... Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812i.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worhington) As rumors continue to fly regarding Barack Obama's plans to close the notorious "war on terror" prison at Guantanamo Bay, one country in the European Union, Portugal, took the opportunity offered last Wednesday by the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- one of whose Articles declares, "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution" -- to announce that it was prepared to accept prisoners cleared from Guantanamo who are unable to be repatriated, and to urge other EU countries to do the same. Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812h.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Ours is the Age of the Bailout. Bailing out failing companies is not new, but today the scale is unprecedented and the opposition is scant. The government today is committed to more than $7 trillion in various forms of stock purchases, loans, and guarantees. The Treasury secretary has been given awesome discretionary power to buy bad securities or shares in banks. The Federal Reserve now lends money to investment banks, not just commercial banks. It is also now buying securities that have no market value. Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812g.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0808a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) There are two important points to remember about the Bill of Rights. First, the Bill of Rights does not give any rights to the American people and, second, the Bill of Rights was intended to protect us from our own federal government.... Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812e.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) On the evening of March 28, 2002, an armed group of FBI agents and Pakistani commandos, accompanied by a hundred local police, stormed Shabaz Cottage, an apartment in a quiet neighborhood in the city of Faisalabad, Pakistan. Their target, who had been tracked by the careless use of a satellite phone, was Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, more commonly known as Abu Zubaydah. Acknowledged as a facilitator for recruits attending the Khaldan training camp in Afghanistan, Zubaydah was regarded by the CIA as a far more significant figure.... Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:21:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812d.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:21:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812c.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Remember that scene in The Wizard of Oz when Toto reveals the "great and powerful wizard" as nothing but a homunculus operating an imposing thunder-and-lightning machine? "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain," he bellows, not knowing enough to quit even when he's exposed.... Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:18:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0808b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Why do people get upset when Barack Obama refuses to wear an American-flag lapel pin or Michelle Obama suggests that she hadn't been proud of her country until recently?... Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:13:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812b.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In the real world outside the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Barack Obama's pledge to close Guantanamo and scrap the military commissions (the system of trials for "terror suspects" that was established in the wake of the 9/11 attacks) has provoked a rare outburst of frenzied media coverage.... Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:13:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:13:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811q.asp fff@fff.org (Jonathan Turley) On June 7, 2008, Jonathan Turley gave the following speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:13:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0808d.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) Communicating libertarian ideals to the Left can be a challenge, but it can also help bolster our own understanding of our principles. Often, libertarians try to appeal to the Left by emphasizing our areas of agreement, which are conventionally seen as mostly including personal liberties and war. But even when we discuss those issues, it is important that we show how our positions stem from a consistent ideology, and explain to leftists how their own libertarian instincts conflict with their managerial, collectivist ones.... Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:13:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811p.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As Barack Obama prepares to assume the presidency, it would be appropriate today to remember that the original Thanksgiving celebrated the demise of the "spread-the-wealth" economic system that the colonists at Plymouth Rock initially established.... Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:47:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0808g.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) Global warming is a topic that can turn any gathering of friends into a shouting match quickly, and with good reason.... Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811o.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) On Thursday, in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush, delivered a major blow to the outgoing administration's "war on terror" detention policies.... Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0808f.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) In 1776 the Continental Congress submitted to a "candid World" the "self-evident" truths that "all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness".... Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:12:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811n.asp fff@fff.org (Glenn Greenwald) On June 7, 2008, Glenn Greenwald gave the following speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0808e.asp anderwl@prodigy.net (William L. Anderson) Obviously, the first fundamental of a free-market system in medical and health care would be the absence of coercion. This precept extends far beyond the question of whether or not people should be forced to purchase government "health insurance." Indeed, the idea of free markets should extend to all facets of medical care.... Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811j.asp fff@fff.org (Alexander Cockburn) On June 7, 2008, Jesselyn Radack gave the following speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:23:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811i.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) In an unscripted and candid moment, a top spokesman for President-elect Barack Obama let the cat out of the bag.... Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:23:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811h.asp fff@fff.org (Alexander Cockburn) On June 7, 2008, Alexander Cockburn gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0808c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Should the president of the United States be exempt from both American and international law?... Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811g.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Guantanamo, it seems, is about to become a buzzword once more, as it is, in many ways, the most iconic symbol of Barack Obama's challenge to undo the Bush administration's zeal for unfettered executive power. Already, however, pundits are stepping forward to point out the difficulties involved in dismantling the system, whining about the dangerous terrorists held there, and neglecting to note that, above all, Guantanamo is a brutal and failed experiment, in which hubris and torture are tangled up with, on the one hand, a small group of terrorist threats and, on the other, many more examples of prisoners seized and held as a result of bungled intelligence and pointlessly abusive interrogations.... Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811f.asp fff@fff.org (Justin Raimondo) On June 7, 2008, Justin Raimondo gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811e.asp fff@fff.org (Joanne Mariner) On June 7, 2008, Joanne Mariner gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811d.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Barack Obama will assume the presidency on a wave of hope among millions of Americans that he will deliver on promises that countless politicians have made before him. Rising above partisanship and committed to solving long-festering problems, Obama will inspire and unify the American people and, as a result, move the crusty Washington political apparatus to at long last serve the interests of all.... Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811c.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While the nation is on the subject of socialism, we really ought to talk about public schooling. With the possible exception of the military, it's the best example of a socialist institution one could ever find. It's not a coincidence that public schooling is one of Fidel Castro's favorite government programs.... Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:21:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811b.asp fff@fff.org (Stephen Kinzer) On June 7, 2008, Anthony Gregory gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:55:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0811a.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Last week, Bill Kovach, former Washington Bureau Chief of the New York Times and the founding chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, blasted the U.S. media for its failure to ask tough questions of both presidential candidates regarding their opinions of the Bush administration's unprecedented adherence to the controversial "unitary executive theory" of government.... Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:55:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810t.asp fff@fff.org (Andrew J. Bacevich) On June 6, 2008, Andrew Bacevich gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:40:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810s.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan made headlines around the world with this admission: "[T]hose of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief. Such counterparty surveillance is a central pillar of our financial markets' state of balance. If it fails, as occurred this year, market stability is undermined." ... Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:40:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810r.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Last month saw the "reassignment" of Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, the legal adviser to Susan Crawford, the Convening Authority who oversees the Military Commissions at Guantanamo (the system of "terror trials" conceived by Vice President Dick Cheney and his close advisers in November 2001). Hartmann, who was appointed in July 2007, was removed from his post after three government-appointed military judges had disqualified him from playing any further part in two trials -- those of Salim Hamdan and Mohamed Jawad -- and had also excluded him from a post-trial review in the case of Omar Khadr, because of his transparent pro-prosecution bias.... Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:17:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0807f.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) A pillar of American constitutional government is undoubtedly the concept of representation. Citizens enjoying the voting franchise cast ballots for potential representatives; those winning a majority (or even a plurality) of votes take seats in legislative assemblies and executive offices from the federal level down to the local level. These officials then enact and enforce laws that, at least in theory, people must abide by and live under.... Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:17:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810q.asp fff@fff.org (Stephen Kinzer) On June 6, 2008, Stephen Kinzer gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:33:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810p.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) In the real world, guilt and innocence are clearly defined, and those believed to be responsible for a crime are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Since the 9/11 attacks, however, the U.S. administration has done away with such long-standing conventions.... Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:33:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810o.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) Recent events at Guantanamo are turning out like some kind of Christian fable. A principled military officer -- politically conservative and a devout Catholic -- who served in Iraq, where he was "praised by his superiors for his bravery," and was now serving his government as a prosecutor in a system of special trials conceived for prisoners held in the "war on terror," began to uncover information, withheld from the defense teams, which indicated that all was not right with the system.... Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:48:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810n.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Isn't it a little late for John McCain and the Republicans to start worrying about government redistribution of wealth? McCain claims to be alarmed by Barack Obama's tax plan, which would tax upper-income people in order to provide tax cuts to lower- and middle-income people, many of whom don't pay income taxes. McCain and running-mate Sarah Palin call this socialism.... Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:48:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810m.asp fff@fff.org (Ron Paul) On June 6, 2008, Ron Paul gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:48:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810l.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Much nonsense has been written about the great financial debacle of 2008, much of it deliberately crafted to confuse and mislead people into believing that it was caused by free-market capitalism. The truth is that this is the latest manifestation of our national curse -- the curse of visionary politicians.... Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:48:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810k.asp fff@fff.org (Andy Worthington) When is a child not a child? Apparently, when he is Omar Khadr, a 15-year-old Canadian who was shot in the back after a firefight in Afghanistan in July 2002. Omar has been in U.S. custody ever since, first at a prison at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, and for the last six years in Guantanamo. Disturbingly, he has never received any treatment befitting his status as a juvenile -- someone under the age of 18 when the crime he is accused of committing took place -- even though the United States is a signatory to the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (on the involvement of children in armed conflict), which stipulates that juvenile prisoners "require special protection." The Optional Protocol specifically recognizes "the special needs of those children who are particularly vulnerable to recruitment or use in hostilities", and requires its signatories to promote "the physical and psychosocial rehabilitation and social reintegration of children who are victims of armed conflict."... Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:25:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810j.asp fff@fff.org (Peter Boettke) On October 6, 2008 at the inaugural lecture for The Future of Freedom Foundation's "Economic Liberty Lecture Series," Pete Boettke analyzed the current credit crisis from an Austrian perspective. No one is more qualified and the lecture series could not have started better.... Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810i.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Both major presidential candidates support the taxpayer bailout of Wall Street. They are just arguing over how to do it.... Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810h.asp fff@fff.org (David Henderson) On Monday, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that the 2008 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences is Princeton University economist Paul Krugman. Krugman, probably the best known economist under the age of 60, is known to the public mainly for his regular column in the New York Times. Yet those columns do not do justice to the extent of his economic knowledge and understanding. Indeed, and I say this with no exaggeration and no malice, when my students read his column, they often tell me they are surprised to find out that he is an economist, let alone a respected one. More on that later.... Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:29:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810g.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) On June 6, 2008, Bart Frazier gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:09:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0807d.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) Should libertarians reach out to the Left? Why might it be important? And what approach should we take in doing it?... Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:09:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810f.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) On June 6, 2008, Jim Bovard gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:33:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0807g.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Just in time for the 2008 presidential campaign comes the book we need to get Americans to think sensibly about the office that the candidates are so furiously seeking.... Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:33:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810e.asp fff@fff.org (Lew Rockwell) On June 6, 2008, Jacob Hornberger gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:55:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810d.asp fff@fff.org (Robert Higgs) On June 6, 2008, Robert Higgs gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:55:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810c.asp fff@fff.org (Lew Rockwell) On June 6, 2008, Lew Rockwell gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0807e.asp anderwl@prodigy.net (William L. Anderson) Economic historian Robert Higgs has written that people often will hand personal responsibility to the state either when they are fearful that something will happen to them or when they have a fear of losing something. Moreover, governments are able to harness the destructive power of envy, and universal medical care -- in which no one supposedly is permitted to have better care than anyone else -- is one way that the political classes can successfully take power. Writes physician Jane Orient,... Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0807a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) There are two important things to keep in mind with respect to the immigration crisis: first, the crisis is rooted in socialism and interventionism and, second, the only solution to the immigration crisis lies in open borders and free markets. Any attempt to resolve the crisis by resorting to more socialism and more interventionism only pushes the United States further in the direction of the totally controlled economy and the total police state.... Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:17:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The Senate's passage of the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, and its presumed acceptance by the House, exposes once and for all the true nature of the American political-economic system. It is free-enterprise in name only. In fact, and especially for large well-connected companies, it is nothing of the kind. Many names have been attached to the system we labor under: state socialism, state capitalism, corporatism, fascism. Whichever one we choose, let us hear no more about America's free-market economy. There has been no free market in the United States for many generations. This fact has been obscured rhetorically and in other ways, but our vision should be clear now. There is no separation of state and economy.... Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:15:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0810a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) According to popular myth, the current financial turmoil is the result of Bush administration deregulation. One problem with that theory: there was no deregulation. The last banking deregulation, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill, was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1999. Oops. ... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0807c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) The Bush administration and the Iraqi government are wrangling over the future role of the U.S. government in Iraq. The Bush team wants far more power over Iraqis than the current Iraqi government wants to concede.... Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:10:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0807b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) A few days before Gen. David Petraeus confirmed for Congress how overworked the military is in Iraq, President Bush was in Croatia talking about the significance of inviting that country and Albania to join NATO.... Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:54:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0806a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) With all the campaign talk about the various wars in which America is involved -- the war on Iraq, the war on drugs, the war on poverty, the war on illiteracy, the war on terrorism, and the war on Afghanistan -- there is one war that goes unacknowledged and unspoken about in American society: the war on income and wealth that Americans are waging against each other.... Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:01:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0809g.asp gary.barnett@raymondjames.com (Gary D. Barnett) The headline recently in Missoula, Montana's, daily newspaper, the Missoulian, was "Cheaper milk from Washington pulled from Missoula shelves." Angry customers know this is obvious protectionism, but Montana milk producers say they only want a "safe" product for Montanans. Yeah, right!... Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:36:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0809f.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) To hear the media pundits and presidential candidates tell it, you'd think Adam Smith has been president for the last eight years and, with a Congress full of free-market advocates, had enacted an agenda of full-blown laissez-faire.... Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:30:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0806d.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) George Bush, basically unchallenged by Congress in his calamitous war in Iraq, can thank several of his Republican predecessors for his imperial power.... Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:07:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0809e.asp gary.barnett@raymondjames.com (Gary D. Barnett) I just received an official letter from the U.S. Department of Commerce threatening me with prosecution and fines if I do not comply with its Economic Census. The letter came from the Office of the General Counsel-Office of the Chief Counsel for Economic Affairs in Washington, D.C., and was sent to me by Roxie J. Jones, chief counsel for economic affairs. This sounds not only important but serious! When I failed to properly respond to the state of Montana's request for my business economic information, I had no idea that matters would go this far.... Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:28:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0809d.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) An interesting commentary, "Lincoln, Secession, and Slavery" by Tibor Machan, published by the Cato Institute on June 1, 2002, was recently brought to my attention. I should say at the outset that I have long been a fan of Machan, and have the utmost respect for his positions. I just think he got it way wrong here.... Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:12:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0809c.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) If John McCain keeps up that self-righteous fakery about wanting to be our servant, we're in for two rather tedious months until election day.... Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:08:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0806f.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) George Washington unfortunately sided with the big-government federalists when it came to domestic policy, but his famous Farewell Address contained some sage advice for America when it came to foreign policy -- not to get entangled in the affairs of other nations. Sad to say, most of his successors have ignored that advice. You have to go back to Herbert Hoover for a president who didn't get U.S. troops involved in foreign conflicts. The administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have been dominated by military adventurism. While there has been plenty of partisan sniping over it -- Republicans criticizing Clinton's escapades in Somalia and the Balkans and Democrats criticizing Bush's attack on Iraq -- there aren't many commentators who take a consistently noninterventionist line.... Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0806b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) A few years ago, FrontPageMag.com columnist Paul Marek wrote an article titled "Why the Peaceful Majority Is Irrelevant." His thesis was that even if the majority of Muslims abhor violence, it doesn't matter because "the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.... The hard quantifiable fact is, that the 'peaceful majority' is the 'silent majority' and it is cowed and extraneous."... Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:55:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0809b.asp gary.barnett@raymondjames.com (Gary D. Barnett) As a provider of financial services, once again I am required to attest (i.e., declare to be correct and true or genuine), by using the Compliance Attestation System, that I have read and understand and agree to the third-quarter anti-money-laundering training information. I have no effective choice. I can't disagree. I am to attest or be out of compliance with finance regulations. I am required to do this quarterly or else. This is not new, but I thought it worth revisiting, owing to this quarter's subject matter: "Foreign Accounts."... Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:59:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0809a.asp fff@fff.org (Tibor Machan) Prague, Czech Republic. In October 1985 (I think it was) Professor James Buchanan, now at George Mason University's Department of Economics, received the Nobel Prize in his discipline for his pioneering work -- in collaboration with Professor Gordon Tullock -- in what came to be called public choice theory. The gist of this theory is that those who work in government, often referred to in the honorific terms as doing "public service," are, contrary to widespread impression, just as much motivated by personal or self-interest as are people in the market place. In other words, politicians and bureaucrats pursue their own agendas, not those of "the public," just as people in business do. And from this a number of interesting insights follow about the nature of government policy.... Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:59:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0808g.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) So Barack Obama, the man who promises to reform Washington, has picked as his running mate someone who has been a fixture of the U.S. Senate nearly his entire adult life. Sen. Joseph Biden of course had no trouble accepting the honor. Insider, outsider -- he's whatever you're looking for.... Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:19:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0806c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) The Transportation Security Administration has created more gantlets at American airports than most travelers realize. It has continually changed the rules for flying since it first deployed its 40,000+ army of screeners across the land. Americans are at much greater risk of being arrested or fined in the airport for not kowtowing to federal agents. The rise of the TSA vivifies how low contemporary Americans have fallen. James Madison observed in The Federalist Papers,... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0808f.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) If Russia exited Georgia -- as it should -- and the Bush administration dropped its wish to expand NATO to Russia's border -- as it should -- there would still be an issue to be dealt with: the secessionist ambitions of the majority in South Ossetia -- the Georgian military response to which was the immediate cause of the current war. They are the forgotten party in the current conflict. When President Bush says the "territorial integrity of Georgia" must be respected and GOP presidential candidate John McCain declares, "Today we're all Georgians," they are putting politics above justice.... Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0806e.asp anderwl@prodigy.net (William L. Anderson) In 1965, the U.S. economy was unquestionably the most productive and vibrant in the world. Doctors and hospital administrators were enjoying high revenues, and at that time health insurers generally did not worry about such things as "cost containment." Life in the medical field was a big party, and people were paying the bills without asking, especially those with deep pockets.... Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0805a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Americans who have supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq, including U.S. soldiers who have killed people in Iraq, might say, "Look, I thought there were going to be WMDs, just like the president did. We all just made an honest mistake."... Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:59:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0805f.asp anderwl@prodigy.net (William L. Anderson) If the financial popularity of Michael Moore's latest "documentary," called Sicko, is an indication of popular sentiment in this country, then the United States seems to be ready for what once was called socialized medicine, but today is better known as "single-payer medicine." All of the candidates running for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States this year promised programs similar to what exists in countries such as Canada, France, and Great Britain. The Republicans are promising "socialism lite." Both parties promise that the government will be paying much, much more.... Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0808e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The tragic events in the nation of Georgia show that U.S. foreign policy is a bust. In particular, NATO must go. This may seem counterintuitive, but this relic of the Cold War has nothing to contribute to peace. On the contrary, it is a destabilizing tool of America's provocative imperial foreign policy.... Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:00:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0808d.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In 2007 and 2008 The Future of Freedom Foundation hosted two important conferences, "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties."... Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:00:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0808c.asp mtennant@fullservicenetwork.net (Michael Tennant) Ten-year-old girls at a Hannah Montana concert had nothing on our news media as they took in Barack Obama's July trip to benighted foreign lands. Obama World Tour 2008 T-shirts were, figuratively speaking, on the backs of practically everyone in his press entourage. This tour proved, we are led to believe, that Obama is serious about foreign policy, just as George W. Bush's ignorance of the names of leaders of then-obscure Asian countries was supposed to indicate his lack of concern about the subject back in 2000.... Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0808b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Can a person be a good businessman but a lousy economist? Yes. Take T. Boone Pickens, for example. He's all over television touting his plan for wind power as a substitute for foreign oil, a plan that calls for massive government subsidies. This should immediately make us suspicious. If wind is so good, why does it need subsidies?... Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0805g.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) In 2005, eminent domain became a hot national issue with all the attention focused on it because of the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. New London. While property-rights scholars and libertarian activists had long known about the nasty, authoritarian business of taking private property away from people through eminent domain and then transferring it to others who were expected to make "better" use of it, Kelo's holding that it was permissible under the Constitution for governments to seize property for "economic development" purposes outraged great numbers of Americans. The palpable unfairness of tossing poor homeowners out just so a business can put up a new mall, hotel, or office complex that will increase the city's tax collections brought together a broad coalition of Americans who wanted to see the law reformed.... Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:53:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0805e.asp laaprc@verizon.net (Rick Lynch) With the Supreme Court's recent decision to take a look at the constitutionality of Washington, D.C.'s gun ban, we see once again, in every medium imaginable, hundreds if not thousands of commentaries, articles, speeches, and essays on the meaning of the Second Amendment. Words by the millions are being cranked out on the precise definition of "militia" in 16th-century English common law; untold hours of careful, scholarly research are being spent to divine what was meant by "well" and "regulated;" and some of America's most highly paid political thinkers have set out to explain how sending a man to a federal penitentiary for possessing a handgun is compatible with a right that "shall not be infringed."... Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:58:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0808a.asp mtennant@fullservicenetwork.net (Michael Tennant) Much virtual ink has been spilled in the blogosphere over President Bush's assertion that criticism of the U.S. government's treatment of prisoners in the war on terrorism is tantamount to "slander[ing] America" -- an assertion he made in a lengthy June 15 interview with Adam Boulton of Britain's Sky News. While condemnation of Bush's remark is certainly deserved, most of the naysayers have made no mention of some other equally egregious, if less pointed, comments uttered by the president; and these omissions tell us as much about Bush's accusers as the "slander" remark tells us about Bush.... Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:58:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0807g.asp ihfm@aol.com (Ross Anderson) Who is he? What makes him tick? Why should anyone else care? I'm the one who cares and this is why I'm what I am. I am an individual and there is no one like me.... Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0807f.asp mtennant@fullservicenetwork.net (Michael Tennant) The state of Minnesota is prosecuting a 19-year-old college student, Max P. Sanders, for the crime of having offered his vote in this year's presidential election to the highest bidder on eBay. He is being charged with this heinous crime, which could land him in prison for as long as five years and cost him as much as $10,000, under an 1893 law that criminalizes the buying and selling of votes.... Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0807e.asp fff@fff.org (Chloe Kissinger) The economic situation in Zimbabwe is dire. It costs billions of dollars to eat at McDonald's. Vending machines are breaking down from the sheer volume of coins needed to vend a single soda. Zimbabwean workers can barely make ends meet. Their earnings are not rising fast enough to keep up with the prices, which are rapidly accelerating.... Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0807d.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The campaign of presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has already gotten tedious. In a campaign appearance the other day, he said in his characteristically sanctimonious way, "I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign."... Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0805c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Daniel Ellsberg is the kind of American who should receive a Medal of Freedom. Except that the Medals of Freedom are distributed by presidents who routinely give them to "useful idiots" and apologists for their wars and power grabs. It should be renamed the Medal for Enabling or Applauding Official Crimes in the Name of Freedom.... Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0805b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Over the weekend, I read Bananas!: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World by Peter Chapman. The book details the history of the United Fruit Company and specifically its deep involvement in the history of Central America. Part of the book's focus is on the CIA's ouster of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz in 1954, an action in which United Fruit played a major role.... Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The demise of conscience among the American people is even more pronounced in the context of the warfare state than it is in that of the welfare state. The best example of this phenomenon can be seen in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. By examining Iraq, we can see how embracing the warfare state has stultified the conscience of the American people.... Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0805d.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) Sen. William Roth, a fiscal conservative who was one of the authors of the Kemp-Roth tax-cut bill of the early 1980s, correctly linked the IRS's imperious, lawless actions to Congress's spending addictions. More than occasional IRS scandals demonstrated how dangerous this agency was. But lawmakers generally had little interest in what was going on. The IRS, which Roth's 1990s congressional investigation found set quotas for bringing in money, was essential.... Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804f.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) You may think you're safe from the taxing authorities, but you're not safe. Whether you're one of the high and mighty or just a person of modest means, you're not safe.... Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Any remaining pretense that the Republican Party is the party of free markets has been blown to smithereens in the election season. Even the lip service to free enterprise has become scarce, as the major candidates threw their arms around flagrantly statist economic proposals.... Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0807c.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Poor Max Sanders. The 19-year-old University of Minnesota student faces five years in jail and a $10,000 fine; he is accused of putting his vote in the presidential election up for auction on eBay. He started the bidding at $10. The charge is bribery, treating, and soliciting.... Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804g.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) With Radicals for Capitalism, veteran libertarian journalist Brian Doherty (whose work is most often found in Reason) gives the world what he calls a "freewheeling history of the modern American libertarian movement." That is the book's subtitle and it fully lives up to it. Doherty paints a picture of the libertarian movement and, often in great detail, the people who have driven it forward. In doing so, he fills a great need. Although there are many books by libertarians about their vision for a society in which coercion has become a barbarous relic of the past, until now there has been no book providing a survey of the entire movement. Radicals for Capitalism is not just a "who did and said what" kind of history, but an inspiring tribute to the extraordinary men and women who refused to abandon the ideals of liberty. With verve, wit, and devotion, this book tells their story.... Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0807b.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Contrary to popular myth, the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were not great Americans. Instead, they were great Englishmen. In fact, they were as much English citizens as Americans today are American citizens. It's easy to forget that the revolutionaries in 1776 were people who took up arms against their own government.... Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0807a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Advocates of freedom dodged a bullet last week when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the right to keep and bear arms, the subject of the Second Amendment, is an individual, not a collective, right. Opponents of gun ownership have long maintained that the Amendment's reference to the militia indicates that the right does not apply to private persons.... Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) American democracy is capsizing as a result of the vast increase in the number of government dependents and government employees. This has created a voting bloc that overwhelms every other potential force. H.L. Mencken quipped in the 1930s that the New Deal divided America into "those who work for a living and those who vote for a living" -- a division truer now than ever before.... Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As libertarians have long pointed out, both the welfare state and the warfare state have brought immeasurable damage to our country.... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806h.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Why would anyone think that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is the peace candidate?... Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804e.asp ChessSet@aol.com (Doug Bandow) Milton Friedman also was adept at proposing practical solutions to practical problems. He believed strongly in liberty, but he recognized that he needed to promote it practically. Nowhere was his ability in this area more evident than in his work on the All-Volunteer Force (AVF). He served on the official Gates Commission, which was charged with studying the feasibility of a volunteer military. He also worked well with like-minded advocates, such as Martin Anderson in the White House.... Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803f.asp ChessSet@aol.com (Doug Bandow) It has been more than a year since Milton Friedman passed from our lives. What a world he departed. The desire for liberty burns ever brightly. The forces of statism resist ever strongly. How we miss his presence.... Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Once in a while the fading embers of freedom flare with defiant vigor. That happened the other day when the U.S. Supreme Court sternly informed the Bush administration that it may not hold people suspected of being terrorists indefinitely without charge and without judicial review at its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.... Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803g.asp fff@fff.org (Wendy McElroy) "Good Night, and Good Luck" was the television sign-off of Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) -- the journalistic pioneer often considered to be the finest broadcast news commentator produced by America.... Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806d.asp fff@fff.org (U.S. Supreme Court) The following is an excerpt from the majority opinion in yesterday's Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush. Citations to books and articles have been removed to facilitate reading.... Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806c.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) The following is based on a talk delivered on Saturday, June 7, 2008, at the Future of Freedom Foundation's conference, Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties, in Reston, Virgina.... Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806b.asp fff@fff.org (The Future of Freedom Foundation) Photos from "Restoring the Republic" on June 6, 2008... Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) It's a sad sign of the times that political candidates -- even those who profess to be proponents of limited government -- feel they have to one-up their rivals in showing how hard they would crack down on people who have the gall to come to the United States without the government's permission. "Border security" is the odious buzzword of the day, and one of the worst things you can be called in the presidential race is "soft on immigration." It's a half-step from "soft on terrorism."... Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0804d.asp fff@fff.org (Philippe Legrain) Opponents of immigration marshal a battery of objections to opening up borders. They claim that it would cost jobs, pose a huge welfare burden, and threaten Americans' way of life -- even their security. Yet these fears are mostly nonsense.... Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803d.asp fff@fff.org (Philippe Legrain) Imagine you were born in a part of the country where farming was no longer productive, or in a rust-belt town where the local factories had closed. You hear of good jobs in California and Colorado, so you decide to move. How would you feel if, when you arrived at the state line, you were denied the opportunity of a better life because you happened to have been born in a different state? Welcome to what it is like to be Mexican.... Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Another revolutionary aspect of the enemy-combatant doctrine was how the discretionary power to treat suspected terrorists, including Americans, as enemy combatants was acquired by the president and the Pentagon. Despite the assumption of this monumental power by the executive branch, there never was a constitutional amendment authorizing it. Initially, there wasn't even a law enacted by Congress granting such power to the president. Instead, the president simply announced that as a result of 9/11 and his "war on terrorism," he and the military now possessed the power to treat anybody suspected of terrorism -- American or foreigner -- as an enemy combatant.... Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0806a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Barack Obama's call for talks with "our enemies" is shaping up as a major bone of contention between him and John McCain in the presidential campaign. As usual, both the Democrat and the Republican get it wrong.... Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805l.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Our exciting June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" begins next week! There's still time to register. We have now opened up the conference to daily registration -- $195 for one day and $360 for two days, including 3 meals per day at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia, and all the daily speeches.... Fri, 30 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805k.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Why do people get upset with Barack Obama for not wearing a flag pin on his lapel or with Michelle Obama for suggesting she's not been proud of her country until now? Why is failing to "support the troops" regarded as a sin?... Fri, 30 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803e.asp jimmytwoshoes@hotmail.com (James Glaser) Now we come to the very reason that veterans get PTSD. More than likely, there was a traumatic experience or experiences that, you might say, overwhelmed them.... Wed, 28 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805j.asp fff@fff.org (Ron Paul) Sheldon Richman's Tethered Citizens: Time to Repeal the Welfare State is precisely the type of scholarly work needed to wake up the American people to the dangers posed by the welfare state. Richman demolishes the popular myth that the welfare state was a natural outgrowth of the Founding Fathers' conception of individual liberty. In fact, the ideology behind the welfare state is a 180-degree turn from the individualism embraced by the Founders. The men who led the American Revolution and drafted the Constitution understood that people flourish best under conditions of freedom -- and that a centralized state has neither the legitimate authority nor the competence to care for the needy. Instead, the Founders realized that a state which attempts to provide security will end up destroying both liberty and the economic prosperity necessary to enhance individual security.... Mon, 26 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805i.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) If I were asked to rank libertarians for integrity, courage, and devotion to principle, I would place James Bovard and Sheldon Richman in a tie for first place. One of my personal highlights of being president of The Future of Freedom Foundation is having had the honor of working closely with both Jim and Sheldon for some 15 years in the advancement of liberty. Both of them have long been regular monthly contributors to our journal Freedom Daily, and both of them are returning as speakers for our exciting upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties."... Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0803c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) The doctrine of "democratic peace" now provides vital camouflage for the American war machine. Michael Novak, a theologian with the pro-war American Enterprise Institute, observed, "Democracy is the new name for peace." The idea that democracies never fight wars against each other has become axiomatic for many scholars. Prof. Jack Levy commented in 1989 that the democratic-peace doctrine is "as close as anything we have to an empirical law in international relations."... Fri, 23 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805h.asp fff@fff.org (Mark Richards) Over the years many people -- family members, co-workers, and others -- with whom I have come in contact have asked me why I think and believe what I do with regard to politics, economics, history, philosophy, and related topics. To put it another way, these people are curious as to what influences and experiences in my life have led me to be an advocate of the libertarian philosophy of individual freedom with regard to the issues of the day.... Wed, 21 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805g.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Many Americans are spellbound by the historic contest for the Democratic presidential nomination between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Forgetting the political context, it is indeed something spectacular, even inspiring. A woman and a black man have reached a pinnacle that just a few years ago seemed impossibly far off.... Wed, 21 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802e.asp jimmytwoshoes@hotmail.com (James Glaser) Last month I wrote about the assertiveness training in the Tomah Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) program and how I thought it helped me. This month, it's dreams and relaxation therapy. I am purposely saving the trauma group for last, both because it was the most important part of the program and because I don't really want to talk about it, and putting it off seems like a good idea.... Mon, 19 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805f.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As most everyone knows, Congressman Ron Paul is revolutionizing American politics arena with his run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Although he lags John McCain in delegate count, Paul has succeeded in bringing libertarian ideas into the forefront of political debate and discussion all across America. From the drug war to the welfare state to interventionism abroad, Americans are discussing libertarian principles as a key to the future of our nation. And the Ron Paul Revolution is just beginning, as evidenced by the fact that his new book The Revolution: A Manifesto is in the top 10 best-selling books on both Amazon.com and the New York Times.... Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805f.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As most everyone knows, Congressman Ron Paul is revolutionizing American politics arena with his run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Although he lags John McCain in delegate count, Paul has succeeded in bringing libertarian ideas into the forefront of political debate and discussion all across America. From the drug war to the welfare state to interventionism abroad, Americans are discussing libertarian principles as a key to the future of our nation. And the Ron Paul Revolution is just beginning, as evidenced by the fact that his new book The Revolution: A Manifesto is in the top 10 best-selling books on both Amazon.com and the New York Times.... Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802g.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Many years ago, I agreed to be a guest on a talk-radio program originating in California. The host wanted a speaker who would defend immigration. After I explained my position, the host opened the call-in lines, and for the next hour, I was subjected to a relentless barrage of attacks by irate callers. I was called a moron for not understanding that the "invading army" of immigrants was devastating the state. I was told, for instance, that there were places in California where good English-speakers would have trouble communicating because Spanish had become the dominant language. A real disaster.... Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802f.asp anderwl@prodigy.net (William L. Anderson) Watch any talking head, and when the subject comes to energy, one can expect to hear the mantra, Americans are "addicted" to oil, and especially "foreign oil." This is repeated as though the repetition is proof that the premise is true... Wed, 14 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805e.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) I am honored to be returning as a speaker to the second annual Future of Freedom Foundation conference on foreign policy and civil liberties, which takes place June 6 through June 8 at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia, and, as last year, features a fantastic array of speakers.... Mon, 12 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805d.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) How many times will people be fooled by a presidential contender's claim that he is a "new kind of politician"?... Mon, 12 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805c.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Laurence Vance is one of the most courageous libertarians I have ever known. A devout Christian, he has been relentless and uncompromising in emphasizing two important points about U.S. foreign policy: (1) Since the U.S. has waged a war of aggression, rather than a defensive war, against Iraq, the killing of the Iraqi people has violated both moral principles and the laws of God; and (2) Obedience to orders does not excuse a soldier's violations of the laws of God.... Fri, 09 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) What's more obnoxious than a person who constantly whines about the real and imagined injustices committed against him while ignoring his own injustices against others?... Fri, 09 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802d.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) "The transfer, by the parents, of so much of their own authority and responsibility to the schools is in most ways a cowardly and contemptible business." -- John Holt, What Do I Do Monday?... Wed, 07 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0802c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Americans are taught to expect their elected leaders to be relatively honest. But it wasn't always like that. In the mid 1800s, people joked about political candidates who claimed to have been born in a log cabin that they built with their own hands. This jibe was spurred by William Henry Harrison's false claim of a log-cabin birth in the 1840 presidential campaign.... Mon, 05 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805b.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Ever since I discovered libertarianism, two of my foremost heroes have been -- and continue to be -- Lew Rockwell and Bob Higgs, who will both be speaking at our exciting upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties."... Fri, 02 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0805a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) I can predict the winner of the presidential election even now: the government. In a one-party system, that's how things work. One-party system? Yes. The American political scene makes much more sense if you think of the two parties as two divisions of the same party.... Fri, 02 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Since an attack on Iran could result in heightened "war-on-terrorism" emergencies here in the United States, this would be a good time to review the issue of "enemy combatants," especially as the concept applies to American citizens. To analyze the critical importance of the "enemy-combatant" doctrine, we will examine the cases of two people who were incarcerated as "enemy combatants" -- Jose Padilla, an American citizen, and Ali al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar. Both were taken into custody on American soil, labeled "enemy combatants," and incarcerated by the U.S. military.... Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801f.asp fff@fff.org (Edward Elmer) Governments are inveterate despoilers of the freedom, wealth, and lives of their citizens. As consolation, the citizens usually receive little more than lofty words and pretentious sentiments from the political leaders in charge of the looting, murder, and enslavement. Less commonly, governments produce something concrete, such as a marble palace for the ruler or an alabaster temple for the commemoration of some supposedly noble public goal... Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0804f.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Joseph Margulies is one of the nation's leading attorneys in the defense of civil liberties, especially since 9/11. Future generations of Americans will forever be indebted to him for his courageous and principled stand against kidnapping, torture, rendition, military tribunals, and other "war on terrorism" infringements on liberty and for his ardent defense of such fundamental procedural rights as due process of law, right to counsel, right to confront witnesses, trial by jury, and habeas corpus.... Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0804e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) As we now know, thanks to the New York Times, the military-industrial complex is well represented in the daily television news coverage of the Iraq and Afghan occupations. Those former generals who seemed generously to have come out of retirement to provide disinterested analysis of the Bush administration's military adventures are neither generous nor disinterested.... Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801d.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) As a public policy, world-saving on the part of the U.S. government may be vulnerable to substantial criticism on the 2008 election trail. Given the debacle in Iraq, world-saving may even have reached its zenith.... Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801h.asp fff@fff.org (Michael Boldin) An article in Newsweek, "Why We Need a Draft: A Marine's Lament," stirred up a bit of a hornets' nest online recently. It was written by a Marine who fought in Fallujah, Iraq, and gave a fairly compelling overview of the practical need for the draft.... Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0804d.asp fff@fff.org (The Future of Freedom Foundation) The Future of Freedom Foundation is now accepting applications for student internships for our June 6-8 conference, "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties," at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia.... Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801e.asp jimmytwoshoes@hotmail.com (James Glaser) So far I have gone from thinking about needing help with post-traumatic stress, to going to the Minneapolis VA and getting a year of one-on-one sessions with a shrink, and on to an intensive eight-week in-hospital PTSD program at the Tomah, Wisconsin, VA Medical Center.... Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801g.asp jacobs@yahoo.com (Glenn Jacobs) During a roundtable debate on a major cable-news outlet about how the Federal Reserve should handle the current credit crunch, one of the economic "experts" made a startling statement. He said, "The Fed has two jobs: to control inflation and to run the economy." That such a statement is considered conventional wisdom is a stark indication of how firmly the ideas of socialism and central planning have taken root in America, and an unfortunate mile marker on Hayek's road to serfdom.... Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Senator and Republican presidential candidate John McCain scored a standing ovation at one of the presidential debates when he attacked Sen. Hillary Clinton for proposing -- unsuccessfully -- to spend a million taxpayer dollars on a museum commemorating the 1969 Woodstock festival. In an obviously well-planned moment, McCain told the audience,... Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0804b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) President Bush acts like a teenager with a credit card and rich parents. He never sees the bill, so he just buys what he wants and charges it. The problem is that instead of rich parents, this president has debt-ridden taxpayers and a gutted military.... Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that will make it easy for President Bush to impose martial law in response to a terrorist "incident." It also empowers him to effectively declare martial law in response to what he or other federal officials label a shortfall of "public order" -- whatever that means.... Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Since it is presidential campaign season, we will inevitably be treated to the usual discourse about tax cuts. Some candidates will call for tax cuts, undoubtedly as a way to bribe voters into voting for them. Others will resist the call, undoubtedly in fear that their favorite government program might not receive desired funding. In actuality, all the tax-cut talk will be rather meaningless, especially for advocates of liberty.... Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0804a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) John McCain, the Republican candidate for president who dubiously claims the status of war hero because he was imprisoned and beaten after bombing civilian targets in North Vietnam 40 years ago, apparently wants other young men to have the chance to become war heroes.... Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0801i.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Who were the good guys? They were people who fought against the collectivization favored by Roosevelt and his "brain trust."... Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712h.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) If you ask a random sample of Americans who know (or think they know) something about U.S. history to discuss the twin subjects of the Great Depression and the New Deal, most will say something like this: "The Depression hit the country because capitalism has a tendency to sometimes collapse, but luckily Roosevelt was elected and his brilliant New Deal policies got the economy moving again."... Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803i.asp The Future of Freedom Foundation is pleased to announce that Congressman Ron Paul, who has just been added to the roster of speakers at the Foundation's upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties," will be awarded The Future of Freedom Foundation's first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award for Advancing Liberty. The award will be presented on Friday night (June 6) of the conference.... Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712f.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) In criminal-justice circles there is often discussion of "recidivism," the habitual return to crime. Many in that field believe that by increasing prison sentences, for example, and scaring prisoners into adopting a different career upon their release they can reduce recidivism.... Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803h.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) A few years ago, FrontPageMag.com columnist Paul Marek wrote an article titled "Why the Peaceful Majority Is Irrelevant". His thesis was that even if the majority of Muslims abhor violence, it doesn't matter because "the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.... The hard quantifiable fact is, that the 'peaceful majority' is the 'silent majority' and it is cowed and extraneous."... Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Many citizens react to their rulers like little kids who recognize that a stranger is acting suspiciously and may be up to no good -- but then decide whether to trust the man depending on the type of candy he pulls from his pockets. It is as if a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup trumps the beady eyes, sweaty forehead, and out-of-season trench coat. Likewise, adults may be wary about a politician -- but if the guy promises free prescription drugs or protection and safety, many take the bait.... Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803g.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) We are extremely honored to have David Henderson speaking at our upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." Not only is David one of the most brilliant economic thinkers in the country, he is also among those who is devoting his intellectual energy to moving our country in a better, more freer direction with respect to foreign policy and civil liberties.... Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The Right went apoplectic at the skepticism that greeted Gen. David Petraeus's recent testimony about the success of the military escalation in Iraq. It was as though a member of the military was incapable of engaging in spin to support his commander in chief's war policy. How could anyone even for a moment entertain the idea that a high-ranking officer in the U.S. military could say something untrue? President Bush summed up this attitude revealingly when he said it was one thing to attack him, but quite another to question General Petraeus. Are generals above reproach? Why?... Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712e.asp jimmytwoshoes@hotmail.com (James Glaser) When I started this series I gave the following definition for what Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is, but there are hundreds if not thousands of definitions to choose from if you search them out. I learned from other veterans that each person with PTSD has symptoms that appear to be the same, but when you get to know vets well, you find that their symptoms and their methods of coping with them vary just as much as the traumatic events that caused their stress in the first place.... Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803f.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A fascinating aspect of government intervention is how it induces people (1) to get embroiled in the crisis environment that the intervention produces, and (2) to feel a vested interest in coming up with a solution to the crisis.... Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803e.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Glenn Greenwald, who is speaking at our upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties," writes one of the finest political blogs on the Internet. Every day, with sharpness and clarity he brings people's attention to the politics and consequences of the federal government's attacks on civil liberties. He spares no one, either Democrat or Republican. Moreover, I have never seen anyone more effective in provoking responses from the powerful and influential people he exposes who are instrumental in destroying liberty in America.... Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803d.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) When a private company screws up, there is no shortage of people demanding more government intrusion in the marketplace. But when the government screws up, they don't call for less government. They call for more.... Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) No matter how much we address the socialism and interventionism that pervade our nation on a domestic level, it will all be for naught if we fail to address the great big elephant in the room -- U.S. foreign policy, including the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. For unless we dismantle the U.S. government's pro-empire, pro-interventionist foreign policy, Americans will continue to suffer a loss of liberty that arguably is greater than that lost as a result of socialism and interventionism under which we suffer at home.... Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803c.asp fff@fff.org (Tibor Machan) Often when some unexpected challenge faces a person, someone asks, "What are you going to do about this?" The answer, frequently delivered with casual confidence, tends to be: "I'll think of something."... Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) In her CNN debate with Sen. Barack Obama in Texas, Sen. Hillary Clinton scoffed at the idea that buying medical insurance should be voluntary. "It would be as though Social Security were voluntary [or] Medicare, one of the great accomplishments of President Johnson, was voluntary.... We would not have a social compact with Social Security and Medicare if everyone did not have to participate. I want a universal health-care plan," she said.... Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0803a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While I have never personally met Bruce Fein, he is an attorney who has become one of my modern-day heroes. In the post-9/11 environment in which so many lawyers have rolled over and succumbed to the Bush administration's "war on terrorism," Fein has been at the forefront of the battle to defend the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the rule of law, habeas corpus, and civil liberties.... Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712g.asp paularmentano@aol.com (Paul Armentano) A growing number of political pundits are questioning America's military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and some are beginning to draw parallels to lawmakers' much longer domestic war effort: the so-called war on drugs. The comparison is apropos.... Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0712d.asp fff@fff.org (Rahul Mahajan) Perhaps the most notable thing about the sanctions is the long delay before allowing Iraq to sell oil, its only significant source of external income: four years until passage of UNSCR 986, five until Iraq accepted it, five and a half until oil sales started. Since the United States was seemingly willing to allow some oil sales from as early as August 15, 1991, with passage of UNSCR 706, it seems as if the blame for the delay rests entirely on Saddam Hussein, who was content to watch his people starve for years while he asserted his prerogatives.... Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711d.asp fff@fff.org (Rahul Mahajan) The mainstream U.S. discourse about sanctions on Iraq has generally oscillated between the two poles marked out by the above statements of Madeleine Albright -- a hard-nosed assessment that U.S. policy objectives are more important than the deaths of children (rarely so honestly stated), and sanctimony about the great U.S. government concern for the Iraqi people combined with crocodile tears about Saddam Hussein's cruelty (which few people contest). Just as the big question with regard to inspections was "Why doesn't he just cooperate and get sanctions lifted?" the big questions regarding sanctions include "Why did he wait so long before agreeing to the Oil for Food program?" and "Why did he spend the money on palaces and weapons instead of feeding his people?"... Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802j.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) We have just gone live with the schedule for our upcoming June 6-8 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." See it here: Conference Schedule.... Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711g.asp paularmentano@aol.com (Paul Armentano) Written by a pair of Appalachian State associate professors -- Matthew Robinson and Renee Scherlen -- Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics seeks to provide an objective, "fair assessment of America's drug war" since the passage of the 1988 federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act. (The law, passed by Congress at the height of the 1980s drug-war Zeitgeist, created the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy -- known colloquially as the "drug czar's" office -- and pronounced, "It is the declared policy of the United States Government to create a Drug-Free America by 1995.")... Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711f.asp fff@fff.org (Bendict D. LaRosa) Last year, Virginia Tech University successfully lobbied the state legislature to prohibit concealed-permit holders from carrying a sidearm on campus. At the time, university spokesman Larry Hincker commented,... Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802i.asp fff@fff.org (Hank Sames) The headlines are disturbing and are never-ending. The "war on drugs" has gone on since the Nixon administration in the 1970s and continues today. The "war on terror" is an infant compared with the war on drugs. The drug war is the longest war the United States has ever fought and for sure the most expensive.... Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802h.asp fff@fff.org (Tibor Machan) It is individualism that the American Founders elevated into political prominence and it is individualism that most politicians and governments, including America's, find most annoying because it is the bulwark against arbitrary power.... Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802g.asp gary.barnett@raymondjames.com (Gary D. Barnett) There is an organization that is quietly and secretly becoming very large and powerful. The FBI started this partnership or alliance between the federal government and the private sector in 1996 in Cleveland with a few select people. After September 11, 2001, when the general population replaced their rationality with fear, this organization, called InfraGard, continued growing, and with little notice. By 2005 more than 11,000 members were involved, but as of today, according to the InfraGard website, there are 23,682 members, including FBI personnel. At first glance, many would think this alliance healthy and useful in the fight against "terrorism," but upon further examination, one has to wonder.... Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Elections are sometimes portrayed as practically giving people automatic "remote control" on the government. Elections kindly provide a chance for people to pre-program the government for the following years. The government will be based on the popular will, regardless of the ignorance of the populace or the duplicity of the government.... Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802f.asp laaprc@verizon.net (Rick Lynch) With the Supreme Court's decision to examine the constitutionality of D.C.'s gun ban, the nation once again turns to an intense examination of the wording of the Second Amendment. One way to understand an amendment whose words have confused generations is to study its somewhat confusing text. But another way is to examine at whose request the amendment was written.... Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802e.asp fff@fff.org (Tibor Machan) Why do some reporters never manage to become educated in the areas they cover? Consider, for example, a recent piece in Business Week, "A Food Fight over Calorie Counts" (2/11/08).... Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) How amazing it is to hear how some people still talk about the U.S. occupation of Iraq at this late date. You'd think even the most naive nationalist would have long ago realized that something is terribly wrong -- intrinsically so -- with the U.S. "mission" and that calls for "hanging in there" are preposterous. When will the war boosters learn that no one -- not even the U.S. government -- can manage or reform a society (using that word rather loosely in the case of the ersatz country called Iraq)?... Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0711e.asp jimmytwoshoes@hotmail.com (James Glaser) The Tomah VA Medical Center sits on 173 acres in west central Wisconsin. The PTSD unit there was about 300 miles from my home, and it was a long trip driving down there thinking hard all the way about whether this was the right thing for me. After having spent a year talking to Dr. Russell at the Minneapolis PTSD Clinic, I was ready to get whatever help the VA had to offer. But I kept remembering that everyone was talking about how hard these VA programs were and that getting everything I had hidden from myself out in the open would make things worse for a while.... Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802d.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) I don't usually come to the defense of conservatives, but I am perplexed that they are being attacked because they don't support John McCain's presidential bid. Self-anointed Voices of Responsibility are chiding conservative spokesmen and spokeswomen for criticizing McCain on several counts and for going as far as promising to vote for Hillary Clinton if she's the alternative to the Arizona senator.... Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In an op-ed in the July 17, 2007, issue of the Wall Street Journal, Georgetown law professor Randy Barnett stated that President Bush's war on Iraq could be defended on libertarian principles. He argued that the president's attack on Iraq fell under the libertarian principle of self-defense. He also suggested that the reason that the occupation of Iraq has turned out so badly is poor postinvasion planning by U.S. officials.... Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802c.asp jacobs@yahoo.com (Glenn Jacobs) Since Barney Clark received the first Jarvik-7 artificial heart in 1982, more than 350 people have used the device, mostly as a temporary measure until they could receive a heart transplant. In addition to his totally artificial heart, Robert Jarvik, the inventor of the Jarvik-7, has developed a ventricular assist device (VAD), the Jarvik 2000, which augments the diseased heart's ability to regulate blood flow. Jarvik's company, Jarvik Heart, develops and manufactures medical devices for the treatment of congestive heart failure.... Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802b.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the positions of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul that mainstream pundits find "wacky" is his call to abolish the Federal Reserve System. Never mind that two Nobel Prize-winning economists -- both libertarians -- called for the same thing. And never mind that the Fed is the entity directly responsible for the debasement of the dollar over the many decades since the Fed was established.... Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0802a.asp gary.barnett@raymondjames.com (Gary D. Barnett) It looks like the term "thought police" just might take on a whole new and real meaning. This depends on what happens in the U.S. Senate after receiving House bill H.R. 1555: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This act (now S-1959 -- Senate version) is now being considered by Senate committees and, if passed by the Senate and signed by the president, will become law. Common sense would indicate that something this vague and dangerous would not make it out of committee, but considering that the House passed it on October 23 with 404 ayes, 6 nays, and 22 present/not voting, I'm not holding my breath. Of course, Ron Paul was one of the 6 nay votes, but that is to be expected.... Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801j.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Not understanding basic economics is dangerous because you're vulnerable to political con games foisted by unscrupulous politicians.... Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801i.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Make no mistake about it: the central economic problem facing the United States is out-of-control federal spending and the massive federal debt that continues to pile up. As welfare-state spending and warfare-state spending have continued to soar for the past seven years, U.S. officials have gone on a massive borrowing spree to finance their massive spending spree. Since 2000, the national debt has almost doubled -- from $5.67 trillion to $9 trillion.... Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801h.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Republican presidential contender Ron Paul certainly deserves credit for putting the foreign policy of noninterventionism into the public debate. It's about time. For decades U.S. presidents have sought to manage the world in behalf of what they call "American interests," and all it has brought is death, mayhem, anti-Americanism, and a price tag that would blow the average citizen's mind if he fully grasped it.... Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Many conservatives dubiously insist that a robustly interventionist foreign policy can coexist with a free-market domestic policy. That's why they have no compunction about supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while claiming to support limited and unintrusive government at home. On the face of it, these seem highly incompatible. War requires the accumulation and exercise of awesome powers. How can laissez faire be combined with militarism?... Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710h.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) For many years, the standard account of the tendency for democratic governments to adopt perverse policies (restrictions on free trade, for example) has centered on the presumed rationality of voters. Most voters are, this explanation goes, rationally ignorant about the content of legislation and the nuts and bolts of politics because their tiny bit of influence -- a single vote and maybe a few letters or emails fired off -- just isn't worth the cost of becoming well informed. On this view, special-interest groups and politicians act like cockroaches, scurrying around in the dark to do their skullduggery. If the lights were to be turned on, they'd be squashed, but for the most part the lights stay off. The rational ignorance of the voters ensures that.... Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801g.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) On June 4, 2007, Jacob Hornberger gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801f.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Consistent advocates of individual liberty often point out that government restrictions on free immigration violate the rights of people not born in the United States. Not only are they denied their freedom to move and improve their lot in life, but if they make it into the United States, they are subjected to police-state raids and exploitation because their illegal status denies them access to justice.... Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710d.asp fff@fff.org (Frank Nicosia) Democrats and Republicans, pundits, retired military, the media, and other critics of the Iraq war are having the wrong conversation about how to leave Iraq. They and others, including most of the Democratic candidates for president, focus on the Bush administration's lack of "success." We should withdraw or "redeploy" our troops, they assert, because Bush's policy is not working because there has been no "victory." This is similar to the discourse before and after the American withdrawal from Vietnam some three decades ago.... Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710g.asp jacobs@yahoo.com (Glenn Jacobs) Last summer it was announced that federal agents would soon join local authorities in policing New Orleans. In addition, National Guard troops will be staying in New Orleans until November, and Mayor Ray Nagin wants the Louisiana Air National Guard to conduct nightly patrols over the city. The thought of national police, military troops, and helicopters patrolling an American city is eerily reminiscent of a postmodern sci-fi thriller.... Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801e.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) On June 4, 2007, Bart Frazier gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801d.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) One of the great unnoticed curiosities of the presidential campaign is that the party which claims devotion to free enterprise is full-out socialist -- or, more precisely, fascist -- when it comes to energy. Listening to the presidential forum the other night, I was struck by how anti-free market all but one of the candidates are on this matter. (The exception is Ron Paul.)... Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Thailand's billionaire prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was deposed in a coup last year by the country's military. Somchai Hom-la-or, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, recently declared that "Thaksin and his government committed crimes against humanity." Thai lawyers and human-rights activists are suggesting that he be indicted and tried by the International Criminal Code for the thousands of killings committed by Thai police and other agents during his war on drugs.... Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801c.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last week television commentators Greta van Susteran and Shepard Smith, treading cautiously and with a bit of trepidation, wondered aloud why their employer, Fox News, was banning Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul from its New Hampshire presidential debate.... Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801b.asp vancepub@juno.com (Laurence M. Vance) On June 3, 2007, Laurence Vance gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) "The assassination of Benazir Bhutto was not an attack on this brave woman alone; it was an attack upon democracy, freedom and the United States." This statement by Asa Hutchinson, former undersecretary of homeland security, was typical of the reaction of the American political and media establishments.... Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710f.asp fff@fff.org (Lois Kaneshiki) In case you haven't heard, many states are passing laws that make it illegal to sell American flags that were not made in the United States. I can hear the sound of labor unions cheering the deed as I write this. However, if America wishes to remain the great nation she is, she should celebrate American flags made in China and, for that matter, anything else foreigners make available to Americans at dirt-cheap prices.... Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0710e.asp jimmytwoshoes@hotmail.com (James Glaser) No veteran wants Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In fact most will fight it for years, and when things really get out of hand, they have to go through the embarrassment of asking the Veterans Administration for help.... Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Practically everywhere we look there is a crisis. Public schooling: crisis. The drug war: crisis. Social Security: crisis. Medicare and Medicaid: crisis. Immigration: crisis. Iraq: crisis. Terrorism: crisis. Federal spending: crisis. The dollar: crisis.... Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The news media seemed too preoccupied with Paris Hilton's detention to notice, but a U.S. appeals court in June struck a major blow for liberty. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Bush administration may not declare a U.S. resident -- whether a citizen or not -- an "enemy combatant," throw him in a military prison, and hold him without charge indefinitely -- all without judicial review. Try him in the civilian courts or let him go, the judges said.... Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709d.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) One of the more insidious effects of government production of goods and services is that the products that would have been produced in a free market -- and the innovations that would have arisen -- are never seen and therefore are never appreciated. That phenomenon helps to perpetuate the idea that without government intervention, certain projects would never get done or are even downright impossible. But when government extends itself beyond its proper role of protecting individual rights, it cannot be doubted that whatever projects it undertakes, it will always be inefficient and the results frequently disastrous.... Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709d.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) One of the more insidious effects of government production of goods and services is that the products that would have been produced in a free market -- and the innovations that would have arisen -- are never seen and therefore are never appreciated. That phenomenon helps to perpetuate the idea that without government intervention, certain projects would never get done or are even downright impossible. But when government extends itself beyond its proper role of protecting individual rights, it cannot be doubted that whatever projects it undertakes, it will always be inefficient and the results frequently disastrous.... Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712f.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Conservatives are strange and fascinating creatures. Their minds operate in a strange, Bizarro-like universe in which delusion and deception seem to be considered normal.... Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Is waterboarding, known during the Spanish Inquisition as tortura del agua, really torture or not? The question seems to answer itself, but the Bush administration says No. Its critics disagree, noting that the "interrogation technique," which makes a subject physically and mentally react as though he is drowning, has long been regarded as torture by international agreements and outlawed in the United States.... Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712d.asp fff@fff.org (Ron Paul) On June 3, 2007, Ron Paul gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712c.asp fff@fff.org (Joseph Stromberg) On June 3, 2007, Joseph Stromberg gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Politicians have long used moral doggerel to make citizens docile. Though President Bush is often verbally inept, he has hit the same chords his predecessors played to sway Americans to glorify government workers as moral icons worthy of gratitude and respect.... Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709f.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) "Mr. Speaker, peace is always superior to war," said Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) on the House floor on September 18, 2002, six months before President Bush took America to war with Iraq. This viewpoint comes through consistently in his foreign-policy speeches to Congress, spanning the years 1976 to 2006, now collected together in his book "A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship."... Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) We can all sleep easier today. Any plans President George W. Bush may have had to attack Iran were dealt a major blow by the news that U.S. intelligence now believes Iran stopped trying to develop nuclear weapons in 2003. That, by the way, was two years before Mahmoud "The New Hitler" Ahmadinejad became president of Iran (a post that does not include in its job description commander of the armed forces).... Mon, 10 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0712a.asp fff@fff.org (Bob Barr) On June 4, 2007, Bob Barr gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0709e.asp fff@fff.org (Wendy McElroy) Liberty first appeared on August 6, 1881, from Boston, where Tucker worked as a journalist with the Boston Globe; later, in 1892, Liberty moved to New York City, where it was published until its demise in 1907.... Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708e.asp fff@fff.org (Wendy McElroy) The first issue of the radical individualist periodical Liberty (1881-1908) opened with the words,... Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It is impossible to overstate the fundamental differences between the foreign-policy philosophy of our American ancestors and the foreign-policy mindset that guides our country today. The philosophy of our ancestors was nicely summed up in the Fourth of July address to Congress in 1821 by John quincy Adams.... Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711o.asp fff@fff.org (Ted Galen Carpenter) On June 4, 2007, Ted Galen Carpenter gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708f.asp fff@fff.org (Mae M. Ngai) "Made in America -- by immigrants" and "We too have a dream" read signs at the May 1 [2006] marches across the country. By invoking an American ideal, today's newcomers are staking their claim as the latest generation of nation-builders. But their critics object to this appeal to history; they resent comparisons to previous generations of immigrants, who were legal.... Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711n.asp fff@fff.org (Tibor Machan) Skiers sometimes die, as do mountain climbers and motorcyclists and bicyclists, because what they do routinely is dangerous, risky. Indeed, there is very little in human life that does not entail some measure of risk, even fatal risk.... Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711m.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) One gets the feeling that even the White House realizes the mess it's made of Iraq. The other day the newspapers reported that the Bush administration has scaled back its objectives rather substantially. We might call it Iraq 3.0. First the plan was to create a democratic paradise which, domino-like, would spread freedom throughout the Middle East. When that didn't work, the administration shifted to simply bringing some kind of order to Iraq, reconciling the three largest groups -- Shi'a, Sunni, and Kurd.... Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711l.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Future of Freedom Foundation is seeking your end-of-year financial support. We are fighting harder than ever to move our country in a better, freer, and more peaceful, prosperous, and harmonious direction. We need your generous support to continue spreading ideas on liberty far and wide.... Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711k.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Democratic presidential candidates are tripping over the driver's-licenses-for-illegal-aliens issue like a bunch of old slapstick vaudevillians.... Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711j.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It would be difficult to find a better example of federal heavy-handedness than the recent six-hour federal raid on NORFED, the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Code. In fact, it would be virtually impossible to distinguish the NORFED raid from similar raids conducted by Soviet and Chinese communist officials against private businesses operating in those countries.... Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) It is always amusing to hear conservatives complain -- as they are complaining now and used to complain during the Vietnam War -- that if it weren't for the politicians, the generals could win America's wars. Those with this mindset believe the politicians are always getting in the way by subordinating military considerations to -- ugh! -- political considerations. Politicians, leave those generals alone!... Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711i.asp fff@fff.org (Joanne Mariner) On June 3, 2007, Joanne Mariner gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711h.asp fff@fff.org (Tibor Machan) When both life and property are threatened, there is much talk about how property is only stuff, easy to replace, so one should be concerned only or primarily with life. There are even those who disparage the right to private property, claiming it is not really a human right at all. Some prominent academics have been calling ownership itself a myth, claiming that no one really owns anything and all wealth belongs to government that's supposed to manage it for the collective or public good. (See Murphy and Nagel, The Myth of Ownership [2002].)... Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711g.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) I sent a pro-gun commentary from a British newspaper to a liberal friend of mine, and he replied that if we just banned the manufacture of firearms on a worldwide level there wouldn't be any crime or genocides like the one going on in Darfur. He then suggested that I had joined a militia group. I replied,... Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711f.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) Every year the United States becomes less free; the state controls more of our lives, takes more of our money, and takes from us more choices of how we are to live our lives. This is not the result of some government plot to establish a dictatorship but simply the natural progression of the state. Unless freedom is defended diligently, it disappears and is replaced by the police state.... Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The voters of Utah said no to school vouchers on Tuesday. More than 60 percent of voters refused to ratify a bill passed earlier by the state legislature. It would have provided taxpayer-funded vouchers for each government-school student, ranging from $500 to $3,000, depending on family income. Students currently in private schools, unless they came from low-income families, would have been ineligible.... Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711d.asp fff@fff.org (Joseph Margulies) On June 2, 2007, Joseph Margulies gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711c.asp gary.barnett@raymondjames.com (Gary D. Barnett) Today I received my fourth-quarter 2007 Anti-Money Laundering Training Program notice. After my "mandatory" compliance, I must agree with everything stated in the "training" through the Compliance Attestation System. Although the manner and frequency of this forced training has changed somewhat, it is still required or else, this since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act. Every quarter, "new and improved" subject matter is presented, and many times "case studies" are a major part of the indoctrination. This quarter was no different.... Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) John McCain scored a standing ovation at the last Republican presidential debate when he attacked Sen. Hillary Clinton for proposing -- unsuccessfully -- to spend a million taxpayer dollars on a museum commemorating the 1969 Woodstock festival, saying,... Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708g.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) My first experience in politics was as a teenager during the 1964 campaign pitting Lyndon Johnson and his band of tax-and-spend-crazy Democrats against Barry Goldwater and his Republican compatriots. I was as sure as I could be about anything that the election really mattered. A Democratic victory would mean a vast expansion of government spending to pay for an array of unconstitutional, socialistic special-interest programs that would hamstring capitalism with ruinous taxes and regulations. On the other hand, I was equally certain that if Goldwater and the GOP won, the result would be exactly what the Democrats said we should fear -- "turning back the clock." Oh yes! Let's go back to the days before the New Deal! Under Republican leadership, taxes would go down, the welfare state would shrivel, and government would be pared back to its proper constitutional dimensions.... Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0711a.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) Honest debate on issues such as national health care, free trade, energy policy, and environmental controls is nearly impossible today. Something wicked this way comes, claims the Left, and it trumps any quaint old arguments about freedom and individual initiative. You see, man-made global warming is wreaking havoc on our delicate planet. Doomsday is near.... Fri, 02 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710m.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A perfect example of the integrated threat that U.S. foreign policy and federal domestic regulations pose to the freedom, privacy, and well-being of the American people is the current telecommunications controversy.... Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710l.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) President Bush has been a busy man. Even though the quagmire in Iraq threatens to worsen as Turkey prepares to invade the Kurdish north, Bush has time to undertake the arduous task of preventing World War III and begin the transition to democracy in Cuba. How does he do it?!... Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710k.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) On June 3, 2007, Anthony Gregory gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710j.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) A federal appeals court has concluded that an FBI agent must go to trial on charges he coerced a false confession out of a prime suspect in the 9/11 attacks. But the FBI still insists that its agent did nothing wrong. And the feds swayed the court to suppress that portion of a recent decision detailing how the FBI agent used the threat of torture to break an innocent man.... Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708d.asp fff@fff.org (Bill Thompson) In case you missed it, America has been at war in Iraq for four years, as of tomorrow [March 19, 2007]. And despite more than 25,000 American casualties and a dwindling list of good reasons to stay, some modern-day Audie Murphys think those who make the common-sense suggestion to get our brave soldiers out of the meat grinder are simply wimps.... Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0708c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are stopped each month at police checkpoints that treat every driver as a criminal. These checkpoints, supposedly started to target drunk drivers, have expanded to give police more intrusive power over citizens in many areas.... Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710i.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) On June 3, 2007, Sheldon Richman gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While most Americans have turned against the Iraq War, many of them still think that the war on Afghanistan was morally and legally justified. Their rationale is that the United States was simply defending itself by attacking Afghanistan and retaliating against those who had conspired to commit the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Of course, the last thing on people's mind was that the 9/11 perpetrators themselves were retaliating for the bad things that the U.S. government had long been doing to people in the Middle East.... Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707e.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) Protecting the country from invasion and securing individual rights are two of the vital functions of the federal government. At the same time the government is the greatest threat to our freedom. This was the subject of FFF's June conference, "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." An underlying theme, touched on by every one of the speakers, was the relationship between the state and the individual, for it is the individual who ultimately feels the effects of the government policies. For Americans, the rulebook for this relationship is the Constitution.... Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710h.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) If Iraq is really a sovereign country, which is the fiction maintained by the Bush administration, then why aren't the Blackwater USA personnel who are accused of murdering 17 innocent Iraqis accountable to the criminal justice system in that country?... Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710g.asp fff@fff.org (Daniel Ellsberg) On June 2, 2007, Daniel Ellsberg gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710f.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The right wing went apoplectic at the skepticism that greeted Gen. David Petraeus's recent testimony about the alleged success of the military escalation in Iraq. It was as though a member of the military was incapable of engaging in spin to support his commander in chief's war policy. President Bush summed up this attitude revealingly when he said it was one thing to attack him, but quite another to question General Petraeus. War, Clausewitz noted, is politics by other means. That makes high-ranking generals a species of politician. Not a few have harbored presidential thoughts, and some have made it. It is said that Petraeus would like to be another. These are the people the pro-war conservatives are willing to trust implicitly? (Anti-war members of the armed forces, on the other hand, are, in Rush Limbaugh's words, "phony soldiers.")... Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710e.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) The Framers of the U.S. Constitution wisely advised a path of nonintervention in the affairs of other nations. As students of history, America's first statesmen established peace and free trade as a wiser foreign policy course over militarism, alliance-making, and empire. John quincy Adams, the sixth president, best summed up America's original philosophy on foreign-policy: "America ... goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy."... Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710d.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last week, the New Hampshire Union Leader went on the attack against Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul's foreign-policy views, making the standard pro-empire, pro-intervention arguments that unfortunately have come to characterize the modern-day conservative movement. (Paul's response to the editorial is here.) Nastily referring to Paul as a "libertarian darling," the paper implied that the United States should continue serving as the world's international policeman, intervening and meddling in countries all over the world. Ridiculing the notion that the United States should go to war only in self-defense, the Union Leader suggested that that the United States should even be willing to go to war to "contain ambitions" of China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.... Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) There's good and bad news about the two American-initiated wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.... Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710c.asp fff@fff.org (Thomas J. DiLorenzo) On June 2, 2007, Thomas J. DiLorenzo gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710b.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) What is the common term for ordering soldiers to kill vast numbers of innocent people?... Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0710a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is no one to admire, but when was the last time President Bush stood before a critical college audience and fielded tough questions? Bush appears only before handpicked friendly crowds. Even news conferences are barely adversarial because the media has the curious rule that the president -- any president -- deserves to be treated like royalty.... Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Is a president entitled to frighten voters into submission to perpetuate his power over them? While many people are catching on to Bush's deceits on Iraq, most Americans have forgotten the scams of his reelection campaign.... Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709j.asp fff@fff.org (Ivan Eland) On June 2, 2007, Ivan Eland gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709i.asp fff@fff.org (Tibor R. Machan) It is interesting that both the Right and the Left complain about the American (Lockean) political tradition because it emphasizes individual rights and not responsibilities or duties. The complaint is ill founded, however.... Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) On April 1, 2007, the New York Times published a review of Brian Doherty's new book, Radicals for Capitalism, an extensive history of the libertarian movement that focuses on such libertarian luminaries as Leonard Read, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Ayn Rand, and Milton Friedman.... Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706f.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) When most people think of southern Florida, they conjure up images of Disney World and spring break. Yet further south than Mickey and Daytona International Speedway are the Florida Everglades, one of the most unusual ecosystems in the world and a true mecca for wildlife enthusiasts. Over the past half century, the Everglades have been suffering from pollution, water problems, loss of habitat, and a tremendous loss of wildlife. What most people don't realize is that the federal government bears a large portion of the blame.... Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709h.asp fff@fff.org (Richard M. Ebeling) On June 2, 2007, Richard M. Ebeling gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709g.asp vinochapman@vip.net (Don Chapman) The taking of one human life... Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707f.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) The full extent of the American Empire is shown in great clarity throughout Nemesis. In terms of the imperial, hyperpowerful executive branch, perhaps nothing better exemplifies the problem than the CIA, or "the president's private army," as Johnson puts it. Not a blind Democratic partisan by any means, the author lays down a sketch of the history of presidential covert operations as a dismal bipartisan legacy, from the Bay of Pigs disaster to the overthrow of Chile's democratically elected Allende and the installation of military dictator Pinochet in his stead.... Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706g.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) About 10 years ago, we libertarians were accustomed to hearing constitutionalist conservatives voicing our shared concern about the American Republics dissolution into a social democracy. The Constitution, the more engaging and informed conservatives would say, had been enervated by a string of unconstitutional federal programs, especially concerning social welfare, which "liberal" politicians had superimposed onto the economy. Franklin Roosevelts Social Security, Lyndon Johnsons Medicare, Jimmy Carters Department of Education, and Bill Clintons loyalty to a steadily growing domestic leviathan were seen as the grand threat to Americas constitutional order. None of these programs so beloved on the center-left was authorized by Article 1, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution, as the more daring and radical right-wing critics of Clinton would correctly say. Surely, if America were to preserve any semblance of republican governance, the long-neglected limits on federal power crafted by the Framers would have to be dusted off and brought back into force. Along with such restored limits, we could expect more economic prosperity and even a renewed morality in civil life. Above all, we could renew the promise of America as a free country.... Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709f.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Why does the idea of "national service" never cease to attract American intellectuals? Every few years some prominent "thinker" proposes that young Americans "serve their country" in either a civilian or military capacity. Such service is always promised to have a profound effect on both the nation and the people doing the serving.... Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709e.asp fff@fff.org (Robert Scheer) On June 1, 2007, Robert Scheer gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709d.asp nolanmj@msn.com (Michael Nolan) If the war in Iraq is worth fighting, then why doesnt George Bush, commander-in-chief of an army stretched so thin by the Iraq catastrophe that Colin Powell has labeled it "broken," just look the people in the eye and say "Uncle Sam Wants You?" Think about it: Those who support global, perpetual war -- from Dick Cheney to Joe Lieberman to Rush Limbaugh -- never ask the ersatz patriots who support them to join up or shut up. Despite recruitment shortfalls, deployment extensions that push troops beyond human limit, and a re-set of the wars projected length, from cakewalk to forever, the American Empire's politicians and pundits never ask for volunteers. In the modern U.S. Empire, the war's planners, supporters, and profiteers (and progeny thereof) are not expected to serve.... Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709c.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) During the recent Republican presidential debate, former Governor Mike Huckabee took Congressman Ron Paul to task for calling for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Huckabee suggested that it was irrelevant whether the United States should have invaded Iraq. The point, he stated, was that because the invasion had "broken" Iraq, the United States had the obligation to remain and fix it. As Huckabee put it, "We bought it because we broke it." Huckabee said that his analysis was based on what his mother had taught him when he was a little boy: "If I picked something off the shelf and I broke it, I bought it."... Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Is libertarianism of the Left or of the Right? We often avoid this question with a resounding "Neither!" Given how these terms are used today, this response is understandable. But it is unsatisfying when viewed historically.... Wed, 12 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/whatsNew/donatefall2007.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In June The Future of Freedom Foundation hosted one of the most important and exciting conferences in libertarian history, "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." The conference produced what is arguably the greatest and most captivating collection of speeches on the libertarian principles of foreign policy and civil liberties ever presented.... Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706e.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) A free market is one in which the "means of production" -- real estate, industrial units, and other physical structures -- machines, capital, and all types of property -- are in private hands, to be used by individual owners at their own discretion and for their own ends.... Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709b.asp fff@fff.org (Karen Kwiatkowski) On June 1, 2007, Karen Kwiatkowski gave the following Speech at FFF's conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties."... Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0709a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) President Bush opposes efforts in Congress and the states to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to include more children from middle-class families who don't qualify for Medicaid. He says he's against those efforts because "when you expand eligibility ... you're really beginning to open up an avenue for people to switch from private insurance to the government." This, he says, would undermine personal responsibility.... Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0707d.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) Republicans and Democrats have, at times, criticized the imperial presidency. Both are, to a certain extent, correct. Both are also hypocritical. It isn't only politics that has driven these royal presidents. It is a lust for American power in the world -- the desire to be "great" or to lead a crusade for democracy -- that inevitably results in tragic wars. These presidential powers, we saw in part one, go back at least a century. Theodore Roosevelt, who was president from 1901 to 1909, is the typical imperial president. One of his friends, William Howard Taft, would write that Roosevelt was "obsessed with the love of war and the glory of it." Mark Twain complained that Roosevelt was "insane" for war.... Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706d.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) Who is to blame for an imperial presidency? How did so many Americans, especially members of Congress, come to view as normal giving one public official seemingly limitless powers to plunge the nation into war? And how did Americans come to accept a foreign policy of permanent war or warlike conditions, the trademarks of an imperial president?... Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708i.asp fff@fff.org (Justin Raimondo) On June 1, 2007, Justin Raimondo gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708h.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) President Bush, one of the two most famous pro-Vietnam War members of his generation to avoid fighting in that war, has finally accepted what he previously rejected: that there are parallels between the war he ducked out of and his violent occupation of Iraq. (The other best-known famous pro-war war avoider is Vice President Dick "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service" Cheney.)... Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) For almost six years, the Bush administration has acted as if every terrorism accusation it makes should be received as the word of God on Mt. Sinai. Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury declared at a Senate hearing last July, "Under the law of war, the president is always right." Thus, the issue is settled after the president's men formally accuse someone.... Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708g.asp fff@fff.org (Ralph Reiland) Readers of the New York Times got a front-page example recently of what F.A. Hayek called "the fatal conceit" -- the idea that some great mind or committee can do a better job than the private market in organizing and directing an economy.... Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The 9/11 attacks brought to the surface a dilemma that everyone, especially libertarians, must now confront: whether to choose a pro-empire, pro-intervention foreign policy or a free society.... Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708f.asp fff@fff.org (Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.) On June 1, 2007, Lew Rockwell gave the following Speech at FFF's conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) We appear to live in a republic. But look closely; it's clearer every day that we live in a de facto autocracy. President Bush has managed to amass an astounding amount of power simply by scaring the American people and Congress into thinking that our continued existence as a society depends on giving him carte blanche.... Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705d.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Karl Marx's biggest selling point has always been his argument that workers are systematically underpaid under capitalism. They produce value and greedy capitalist owners cheat them out of it. Good economists have understood for centuries that in a free (and therefore competitive) labor market, it isn't possible to underpay anyone for long. That fact, however, has never kept demagogues who need issues that will help them gain political power from telling people, "You're not getting as much as you should. Vote for me and I'll make sure you get your fair share!"... Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) It's commonly held that Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal was a radical break with America's past. Both fans and foes of Roosevelt embrace this position. Many libertarians join conservatives in believing that things were going satisfactorily in the United States until Roosevelt got his hands on power.... Mon, 20 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708d.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) On June 22, 2007, Jacob Hornberger was invited to speak before the Houston Property Rights Assocation. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.... Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705g.asp fff@fff.org (Wendy McElroy) The 2005 German film Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Die letzten Tage) depicts the anti-Nazi heroine Sophie Magdalena Scholl (May 9, 1921-February 22, 1943). Sophie and her brother, Hans, were leading members of a nonviolent resistance group called the White Rose. Five students in their early twenties formed the group in 1942 at the University of Munich. The White Rose soon became infamous for a leaflet campaign that called for the removal of Hitler from power and an end to the insanity of World War II. The group subsequently became famous as martyrs to freedom and as proof that tyranny cannot destroy man's passion for justice.... Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705f.asp fff@fff.org (Jeffrey A. Singer) A reader wrote me about my article "The Slippery Slope of Nanny-State Politics," which appeared in the last issue of Freedom Daily. The article derided the rise of the "nanny state" and its threat to our way of life as a free people. I had written that New York City's new ban on transfatty foods amounts to yet another usurpation of the right of adults to make their own choices regarding the risks they are willing to take when engaging in any particular behavior.... Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708c.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The opponents of the Bush wars and the accompanying expansion of government power have been disappointed countless times before. Just the other day the Democrats in Congress acquiesced in the Bush administration's heavy-handed bid for the power to conduct warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens and residents in the name of fighting terrorism.... Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708b.asp fff@fff.org (Robert Higgs) Video of Robert Higgs speech at FFF's June conference "Restoring the Republic."... Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0708a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) It's amazing what passes for news these days. Two Brookings Institution "liberals" who favored the invasion of Iraq before it occurred and have since led the war-cheerleading section are now getting attention for writing on the New York Times op-ed page that if the Bush administration stays the course, this is "A War We Might Just Win."... Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/whatsNew/2007-08-08.htm fff@fff.org (Thomas E Woods Jr.) Estimates of the cost of the Iraq war continue to escalate to levels well beyond what its optimistic architects once promised. Most notable, perhaps, has been the estimate of Columbia University's Joseph Stiglitz, who, in a January 2006 paper with Harvard's Linda Bilmes, put the full cost at around $2 trillion. By the end of the year, the two had grown even more pessimistic:... Wed, 08 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0705c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) When politicians are not promising new benefits to citizens, they continually remind citizens what they owe the government. From their first years in government schools, children are indoctrinated with the notion that government provides them some grandiose benefit. This seed often produces a harvest of servility in later life.... Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704g.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Most Americans have settled somnolently into the view that whatever laws are passed are all right because they're the product of democracy. To be sure, there are small factions that are heard to argue, "The government has no business doing that!" with respect to issues that adversely affect them, but few people express opposition in principle to the vast array of authoritarian nanny-state enactments we get from federal, state, and local politicians.... Fri, 03 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) If the government isn't taking 100 percent of your income, you should be grateful for Congress's generosity. Because in the eyes of the Bush administration, that's exactly what it is, generosity. You have no right to what you earn or any other money you might get hold of. In principle it all belongs to the state, although it may be merciful enough to let you keep some to live.... Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704f.asp fff@fff.org (Jeffrey A. Singer) On December 5, 2006, the City of New York banned the use of transfats in restaurants and food preparation. Ironically, many of the experts proclaiming the dangers of transfats were the ones who urged us to embrace them as "heart-healthy" in the 1980s. William Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at Harvard University, who was one of the early advocates of transfats, admitted this in a 2005 New York Times report.... Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/fd0707g.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Some people think that government can fight wars such as the ones going on in Iraq and Afghanistan while remaining limited and unintrusive at home. Conservatives dubiously insist that a robustly interventionist foreign policy can coexist with a free-market domestic policy. But what's really surprising is that a prominent libertarian legal theorist takes the same position.... Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704e.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) Paternalistic agitators must be in a real quandary. A Massachusetts man is suing his former employer for firing him for smoking. The man lost his job as a lawn-care specialist after testing positive for nicotine.... Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Shortly after he was reelected, President Bush declared that American voters had had their "moment of accountability" regarding the Iraq war. Since he had gotten slightly more than 50 percent of the votes in the November 2004 election, that meant that they had ratified his policies and that Bush was free to do as he chose in the coming years.... Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0707f.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A popular argument among advocates of immigration controls is that a nation has a "right" to control its borders. The argument is based on the supposed "right" of the U.S. government to station gendarmes along its international borders, including on privately owned land, to prevent people from coming into the country illegally.... Fri, 20 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0707e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) If, as President Bush claims, Iraq is a sovereign country and its government represents the people, then why are American officials ordering the parliament to cancel its August vacation and insisting that the al-Maliki government meet certain "benchmarks"? Is it sovereign or not? By what authority does the U.S. government dictate to it?... Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The most remarkable part of the movie Sophie Scholl: The Final Days is the courtroom scene, which is based on recently discovered German archives. Sophie and her brother Hans, along with their friend Christoph Probst, stand before the infamous Roland Freisler, presiding judge of the People's Court, whom Hitler had immediately sent to Munich after the Gestapo's arrest of the Scholls and Probst.... Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0703a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It has long intrigued me why the German people supported Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime. After all, every schoolchild in America is taught that Hitler and his Nazi cohorts were the very epitome of evil. How could ordinary German citizens support people who were so obviously monstrous in nature?... Mon, 16 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0707d.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) According to a CBS/New York Times poll from May, 72 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush's handling of Iraq. This includes 40 percent of Republicans. Sixty-one percent of Americans say the United States should have never started the war. Despite the compromise in Washington, 63 percent of Americans think the United States should get out by sometime next year. Have the tides changed? Is this conference a waste of time, given that most Americans are now with us on the war? Well, not exactly. Unfortunately, the need to educate people on the follies of empire is as pressing as ever.... Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0704d.asp vancepub@juno.com (Laurence M. Vance) When the Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, broached the idea of a consumption tax to replace all or part of the income tax in his testimony before the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, he was not alone. There are three other voices that have of late been promoting a consumption tax in the form of a national retail sales tax (NRST) called the FairTax: Congressman John Linder (R-Ga.), syndicated radio talk-show host Neal Boortz, and an organization called Americans for Fair Taxation.... Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0703e.asp vancepub@juno.com (Laurence M. Vance) The federal leviathan is fed by taxes. According to the Congressional Budget Office, during the federal government's most recent fiscal year (FY 2006), which ended on September 30, 2006, total revenues were approximately $2.403 trillion. Most of this revenue was, of course, raised as a result of taxes confiscated from the American people. These taxes are, broadly and in descending order of their magnitude: individual income taxes, social insurance taxes, corporate income taxes, excise taxes, and estate and gift taxes. Customs duties and miscellaneous receipts account for only a small percentage of the federal government's total revenue.... Mon, 09 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0703d.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) To every high-school student in this country between the ages of 15 and 18, this letter is to you. If there is ever something that you should take the time to learn about, it is government.... Fri, 06 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0707b.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Fourth of July celebrations will undoubtedly bring forth pronouncements that U.S. troops in Iraq are defending the freedoms expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, most of the "freedoms" that Americans will be celebrating today are antithetical to the genuine principles of freedom enunciated in the Declaration.... Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0707c.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The July 4th holiday readily brings to mind the phrase "no taxation without representation." A major reason for the Americans' wish to be independent from the British empire was their belief that people should have a say in the tax policies imposed on them.... Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0707a.asp fff@fff.org (Tibor R. Machan) One way to appreciate the meaning of the Fourth of July is to reflect on what nearly every one of the Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls focuses on in his or her interviews and speeches. Apart from Texas Representative Ron Paul, who is openly libertarian while running as a Republican, all the rest are embarking upon the standard Santa Claus theme of presidential politics. In other words, they are promising to create more entitlements for us, telling us that if they become president, we will be getting more goodies from the federal government.... Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0703b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) My recent three-part series in Freedom Daily, "Beware Income-Tax Casuistry" (August-October 2006), provoked some vigorous objection. Unsurprisingly, members of what is known as the tax-protester movement, but which should be called the tax-denial movement, took issue with every aspect of the articles -- and more. The movement doesn't merely object to the income tax on moral, or natural-rights, grounds. Any libertarian would do that. Instead, the movement insists on several dubious legalistic points, among them that (1) the government has no constitutional authority to tax wages and salaries, and (2) Congress has never passed a law to make typical wage earners liable for the income tax. That most people believe otherwise is proof, the movement maintains, that the government has perpetrated a monumental hoax on America.... Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0703f.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) Imagine a public-access aisle at your local grocery store. The store would provide the goods it can profit from on other aisles, but there would be a special aisle where certain merchandise would be offered because the local government required it to be offered.... Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0706f.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) What's more obnoxious than a person who constantly whines about the injustices committed against him while ignoring his own injustices against others?... Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0703g.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Most historians rank Teddy Roosevelt as one of America's great or near-great presidents. That is mainly because he is regarded as a "progressive" -- a trustbuster, a proponent of government regulation of the economy, a conservationist -- all of which appeal to the anti-market philosophy they hold. He must have done a lot for the country, since his face is engraved on Mount Rushmore, right?... Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0706e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The news media seemed too preoccupied with Paris Hilton's detention to notice, but a U.S. appeals court last week struck a major blow for liberty. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Bush administration may not declare a U.S. resident, whether a citizen or not, an "enemy combatant," throw him in a military prison, and hold him without charge indefinitely -- all without judicial review. Try him in the civilian courts or let him go, the judges said.... Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0703c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) The death of former President Gerald Ford unleashed a tidal wave of bathos and political bunkum across the land. Ford was far more exalted in death than he had been during his time in office. Slate's Timothy Noah critically noted,... Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0702a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In Star Wars, Episode 3, in response to the Senate's grant of sweeping powers to Chancellor Palpatine, Padme declares, "So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause."... Mon, 18 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0706c.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The American people's response to President Bush's "war on terror" should be ... terror. The administration, sometimes with Congress's complicity:... Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0706d.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) We are still flying high here at FFF in the aftermath of our June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." I know I'm a bit biased but I have never attended a more exciting conference where so many fantastic speeches were delivered. And I have never seen a higher level of energy within both speakers and attendees at a conference or seminar.... Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0702h.asp fff@fff.org (Thomas Woods) Frederic Bastiat called it legal plunder when the state expropriated one set of property owners for the benefit of another. Whether it loots the workers to benefit the farmers, the farmers to benefit the workers, or everybody to benefit Boeing, the state damages and impoverishes society. That is partly because once the process of legal plunder is allowed to begin, it becomes extremely difficult to stop it, as more and more groups employ state machinery to loot or cripple others -- or simply to compensate for the loot and plunder being carried out by their rivals. The result is a society in a constant condition of low-intensity civil war, in which ever more energy is diverted from productive activity and toward frenetic lobbying for political favors.... Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0706a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The war in Iraq goes on, but we shouldn't let it overshadow the war at home -- one that frequently takes the lives of people who don't deserve to die. It's known as the war on drugs, but it's really a war on people who themselves are not making war against anyone. Too often individuals minding their own business are killed by government officers. In the name of decency, this war must end.... Fri, 08 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0706a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The war in Iraq goes on, but we shouldn't let it overshadow the war at home -- one that frequently takes the lives of people who don't deserve to die. It's known as the war on drugs, but it's really a war on people who themselves are not making war against anyone. Too often individuals minding their own business are killed by government officers. In the name of decency, this war must end.... Fri, 08 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0706a.asp gary.barnett@raymondjames.com (Gary D. Barnett) Some comparisons are just too tough to stomach, but the time has come to stomach one of them just the same. The United States has become the opposite of what was intended by our Founding Fathers. It is now not free, but rather sunk in dictatorial morass. What has become of us Americans? Why are we so weak as a people? Why do we not stand up for justice, right, and freedom, and against big, omnipotent government? And why do we allow our freedom and liberty to be systematically taken from us?... Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0706a.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) "Hello. I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."... Mon, 04 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705l.asp mcpherson0627@gmail.com (Scott McPherson) When one hears words such as "crackdown" and "sting" and "bust" the image that comes to mind is that of daring police officers engaged in some colossal operation that nets really bad people doing really bad things.... Fri, 01 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705l.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) June 1 is the 227th anniversary of the birth of Carl von Clausewitz, the influential Prussian military theorist and historian. Clausewitz is best known for writing in his book, On War, "War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means."... Wed, 30 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0702f.asp fff@fff.org (Lawrence M. Ludlow) The members of the White Rose still speak to us today, and during a recent trip to Munich, I was able to explore the place where this heroic group of German dissidents crafted their powerful message. Some readers already may be familiar with the White Rose as a result of articles posted at The Future of Freedom Foundation or from books and movies, most recently Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, which was released in 2005.... Mon, 28 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705k.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One week to go!... Fri, 25 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705j.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The new compromise immigration bill is drawing lots of flak, not least from conservatives who object to granting amnesty to millions of so-called illegal aliens in the country. (I prefer to think of them as independent migrants.) Here I have to agree with the conservatives. The illegals shouldn't be granted amnesty. Amnesty connotes forgiveness for doing something wrong -- and they have done nothing wrong. Indeed, the government should be asking forgiveness from them.... Fri, 25 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705i.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In one short answer to a moderator's question in the South Carolina debate in which Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul suggested that U.S. foreign policy motivated the 9/11 terrorists, Paul produced an earthquake that is shaking the Republican establishment.... Wed, 23 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0702g.asp fff@fff.org (John Grant) There's a rancid odor escaping from the cracks in the Jose Padilla case. Padilla is the American citizen arrested in Chicago and declared by President Bush to be an "enemy combatant." He was then kept for nearly two years in a South Carolina brig without access to a lawyer, family, or friends.... Mon, 21 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705h.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) 14 days from today! Our conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" kicks off! It's still not too late to register. With Ron Paul's star rising on the Republican presidential scene because of his non-interventionist foreign-policy views, we just might be seeing the start of an exciting resurgence of the non-interventionist foreign policy on which our nation was founded. What an exciting time to be having a major conference devoted to foreign policy and civil liberties that has 24 of the greatest and most dedicated speakers in the country! We hope you'll join us for it!... Fri, 18 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705g.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Ron Paul, a Republican congressman running for president, is saying what needs to be said about the 9/11 attacks and the Iraq war. Clearly, his rivals and the news media can't handle the truth.... Fri, 18 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705f.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Ron Paul once again roiled Republican presidential politics on the issue of foreign policy during last night's debate, finishing second in the post-debate poll conducted by Fox News and first in the poll conducted by MSNBC.... Wed, 16 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0701a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) We now live in a country in which the president wields the power to send the entire nation into war on his own initiative, without the congressional declaration of war required by the Constitution.... Mon, 14 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705e.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Three more weeks to our June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." If you haven't yet registered, you still have time to do so. This is sure to be one of the most exciting and most memorable conferences in libertarian history!... Fri, 11 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0702c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) Two years ago last month, Bush gave his second inaugural address. As I watched the speech on television, I and perhaps millions of other Americans struggled to answer the obvious question about the speech: Is it puerile or is it merely tripe?... Fri, 11 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0702d.asp anderwl@prodigy.net (William L. Anderson) The longest-lasting legacy of Lincoln is not the War Between the States or even the violent way in which slavery ended in the United States. Lincoln was able to use brute force to "settle" the various arguments regarding the centralization of political power in this country. As the late Shelby Foote said during an interview on Ken Burns's PBS documentary on the Civil War, in the years before the war people spoke of the United States in the plural, as in "the United States are." However, after the war, people spoke of the country in the singular, as in "the United States is."... Wed, 09 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705d.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) During the recent MSNBC Republican presidential debate, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul made three profound points on U.S. foreign policy that the American people would be wise to heed. Needless to say, Paul's three points, being libertarian in nature, aren't likely to be favorably received within the Washington, D.C., establishment, especially among lobbyists for the military-industrial complex. Perhaps that is why, despite Paul's first-place finish in post-debate polls conducted by MSNBC, ABCNews.com, and C-SPAN -- or maybe because of those results -- the Washington Post used its lead editorial on Tuesday to specifically question Paul's participation in the rest of the Republican presidential debates.... Wed, 09 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0701e.asp anderwl@prodigy.net (William L. Anderson) During his presidency, Bill Clinton would conclude his trips abroad by telling his advisors that he was determined to use the powers of his office. Those "powers," of course, included what are called "executive orders," which are orders that come from the office of the president of the United States and have the force of law.... Mon, 07 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705c.asp fff@fff.org (Tibor R. Machan) California Senator Barbara Boxer sent around a letter to the editor that was published in The OC Register on April 30th, hoping to clarify "my[!] California Wild Heritage Act." She states in this letter that "the approximately 2.3 million acres included in the bill are all publicly owned lands. Not one acre of private land is included in the proposal. These lands are now and will continue to be owned and enjoyed by the American people."... Fri, 04 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0705b.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) This week we spotlight Congressman Ron Paul and Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Andrew Napolitano, our two Sunday dinner speakers for our upcoming June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" in Reston, Virginia.... Fri, 04 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/whatsNew/2007-05-04.htm sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) It's been a rough several weeks for President Bush and the war party. Observe some recent headlines:... Fri, 04 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0701d.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) One of the issues at stake in the 2006 midterm elections was a raise in the minimum wage. Voters in six states had minimum-wage increases on the ballot, and unfortunately all of the initiatives passed. This is not surprising, however. On the surface, it appears that requiring employers to pay at least a "subsistence living" is the key to eliminating poverty. But economics has proven that theory wrong.... Wed, 02 May 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704p.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Jury selection in the Jose Padilla case is now under way in federal district court in Miami, but the trial is nothing more than a sham. Why? Because no matter how the jury rules, Padilla is almost certain to remain incarcerated for a long time.... Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704o.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Because we have received many requests for daily registrations for our June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties," we have decided to open up the conference to per-day registrations.... Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704n.asp fff@fff.org (Tibor R. Machan) In one of those vapid, in-house disputes often published in The New York Review of Books's letters-to-the-editor sections, we can read about a disagreement among educational experts under the heading "Scandals in Higher Education: An Exchange" (4/26/07). Well, not much of a disagreement because none of the participants gives a quarter to basic challenges to how colleges and universities are funded. They all accept, without question, that it is the business of governments to run most of the country's colleges and universities, so the disagreement is on mere details.... Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704m.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The lesson from the horrors at Virginia Tech is that no one can really, fully delegate to another his right to and responsibility for self-defense. You may feel the municipal or campus police are looking out for you, but no police force can guarantee to be where you need it when you need it. There's only one person sure to be on the scene when you are attacked: you.... Wed, 25 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704l.asp jacobs@yahoo.com (Glenn Jacobs) April 19 marked the 14-year anniversary of the BATF-FBI massacre of the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas. Some might say that the use of the word "massacre" is harsh, instead opting to call it a "tragedy." After close examination of the events of April 19, 1993, however, any reasonable person must conclude that massacre is the appropriate term. The tragedy is that all too many Americans failed to reach this conclusion when the news about Waco broke and that the lessons of Waco still go unrecognized by so many.... Mon, 23 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704k.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) This week we're spotlighting Laurence Vance and Ted Galen Carpenter, both of whom are among the 24 speakers at our June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia.... Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704j.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The other day President Bush charged the congressional Democrats with wanting to "legislate defeat" in Iraq.... Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704i.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) To belabor the obvious, murderers do not obey restrictions on gun possession, contrary to the long-repeated suggestion of the gun-control crowd -- that if we simply enact such restrictions into law, murderers will comply with them.... Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0701b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Let's be frank. We advocates of a completely free market in education are making little progress. I think I know why. Before I get to that, let's look at where we are.... Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704h.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Contrary to what some people are suggesting, the firing of Don Imus for his racist comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team did not constitute censorship and it did not violate Imus' freedom of speech. Instead, the controversy revolved solely around the principles of private property, freedom of contract, and economic liberty.... Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704g.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) We are almost out of discounted hotel rooms for our June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties."... Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704f.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The idea, discussed by me and others, that it is good that most Americans are not directly touched by the President Bush's wars is of course not the whole story.... Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704e.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) There is a big immigration problem that has been growing year after year. An increasing number of American citizens are moving to Mexico, and some of them are even becoming undocumented workers. Even worse, they are refusing to assimilate and are even insisting on retaining their U.S. citizenship.... Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704d.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A debate on immigration controls vs. open borders was recently scheduled to take place at Pomona College in California. On one side of the debate was a man named Jim Gilchrist, a conservative who founded the "Minuteman Project," an organization devoted to helping the U.S. Border Patrol arrest, punish, and repatriate immigrants who illegally enter the United States. I was on the open-borders side of the debate, a libertarian position we have strongly advocated at The Future of Freedom Foundation since our inception some 18 years ago.... Mon, 09 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704c.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) This week's speaker spotlight for our June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia, highlights Joseph Stromberg and Anthony Gregory, both of whom are speaking on Sunday.... Fri, 06 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0701c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) This past October was the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian uprising against the Soviet military. Hungarians bravely expelled Soviet tanks from Budapest and trumpeted their intention to create a democracy. But the Soviets returned with almost 5,000 tanks, killing thousands of Hungarians and re-fettering 10 million people into servitude to Moscow.... Fri, 06 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) President Bush started the fifth year of his war in Iraq by pleading with the American people for patience. Give the escalation ("surge") a chance to work, he said. He sees signs of success already, but the Democrats in Congress are showing their impatience, with the House attaching a 2008 withdrawal deadline to the war appropriations bill and the Senate set to consider the same legislation.... Wed, 04 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0701g.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) So the New Deal was far from a success. But most conservatives and even many leftist scholars will concede this; they simply adopt a different, and even more widely accepted fallacy, the one of "war prosperity," which Higgs canvasses in chapter 3. "According to the orthodox account," he writes,... Mon, 02 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0704a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While Pentagon officials are celebrating the terrorism conviction of David Hicks in Guantanamo's military-tribunal system, the process by which Hicks was convicted and sentenced only confirms that the Pentagon's "judicial" system is as crooked as a dog's hind leg. After all, most everyone knew that Hicks, who has been held at Guantanamo for more than five years without a trial, never stood a chance of acquittal, but who ever thought that politics would play the determining role in what purports to be a system of justice?... Mon, 02 Apr 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703l.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The two speakers at our June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" who are being highlighted this week are Richard Vague and Joanne Mariner, two people whose lives can be summed up in one word: Courage.... Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0612g.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) During the run-up to the Iraq war, along with all the other myths circulating about U.S. foreign policy, economic misconceptions abounded. Some suggested the war might be generally good for the American economy. This included both proponents and critics of the war, interestingly enough, and the pattern was not a new one. Hawks will sometimes argue that, along with securing justice and peace, a war will give a much-needed boost to production and thus bolster the economic health of the country. Leftist cynics will also sometimes say war benefits the economy, as if the United States were a classic imperial power that wages war primarily to loot resources and divert them to Americans. This cynicism is not hard to understand -- Secretary of State James Baker once said that the Gulf War was mainly about "jobs, jobs, jobs."... Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703k.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) New York Times foreign-affairs columnist Thomas Friedman laments that most Americans are disengaged from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During a recent radio appearance, Friedman cited comedian Bill Mahr's complaint that "the enemy" has had to fight only 140,000 Americans rather than all 300 million of us.... Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0701f.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) Whether one believes in the "price stability" policies of our nation's central bank, or believes such policies have caused countless economic problems, the onus is on the Federal Reserve. It is a strange, quasi-secret public/private agency with little or no accountability.... Mon, 26 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703j.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The presiding judge in the Jose Padilla case has held that the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of a speedy trial does not protect American citizens from being indefinitely incarcerated by the Pentagon.... Mon, 26 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703i.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) First of all, we have received an email from a man from Denmark who would like to share a room at the Hyatt Regency Reston with someone else who plans to attend our June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." If you would like to split the costs of a room with him, please contact Bart Frazier at bfrazier@fff.org.... Fri, 23 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0612e.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) A dangerous specter once again haunts our economy, our pocketbooks, and the value of almost every asset.... Fri, 23 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703h.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The case of accused terrorist Jose Padilla is moving toward a jury trial on April 16 in U.S. District Court in Miami. It is still unclear whether the presiding judge in the case, Marcia Cooke, will order an evidentiary hearing on Padilla's motion to dismiss the charges based on the government's outrageous pre-trial conduct while Padilla was in military custody as an "enemy combatant" in the "war on terror." (Under post-9/11 jurisprudence, the government has the option of treating accused terrorists either as "enemy combatants" or as federal-court defendants.)... Wed, 21 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0612b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The reason there is so much sloppy thinking about foreign policy among libertarians (not to mention nearly everyone else) is that most people don't know how to approach the subject. You can see this whenever someone uses analogies such as the bully on a playground or the madman with a baby strapped to his chest drawing his machine gun in a crowded mall. As we'll see below, these tempting analogies have nothing to do with foreign policy. If we let them guide our thinking we will come to erroneous conclusions.... Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703g.asp Anthony1791@yahoo.com (Anthony Gregory) For more than 12 years, since I was a high-school freshman, I have counted the champions of freedom as my greatest heroes. I have long admired those who, throughout history as well in the present, have spoken truth to power and stood up against tyranny, especially when it mattered most, and especially when it was most difficult.... Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703f.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In my three articles "The Critical Dilemma Facing Pro-War Libertarians," "The Pentagon's Power to Arrest, Torture, and Execute Americans," and "'It Can't Happen Here,'" I showed how the U.S. government's foreign policy of empire, militarism, and intervention has inexorably led to the revolutionary power that the U.S. military now wields over the American people -- the omnipotent power to arrest, torture, and even execute any American designated an illegal "enemy combatant" in the "war on terrorism."... Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0612d.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) Of the many powers that government is granted, none has more potential for disaster than the power to wage war. Not only does warfare cost a country in terms of lost lives, it also has detrimental effects on the economy and society itself. In order to keep the country out of senseless and unjust wars, the Framers wrote provisions into the Constitution that would make it difficult to enter into any but the most necessary of wars. As the 20th century progressed, however, the chains that the Framers used to bind the government began to break.... Wed, 14 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703e.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Chavez, of course, is the dictator-president of Venezuela who in recent months has taken steps to centralize control of the country's economy. His accumulation of power is based on the need to resist U.S. hegemony. Some people think that his goading of Bush -- for example, calling him a "devil" at the UN -- shows he's crazy, but that is plain wrong. We'll never understand people if we attribute their actions to insanity. Chavez is crazy like a fox -- he knows the formula for success: portray oneself as the valiant resister of U.S. power. Mon, 12 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703d.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Another quick speaker spotlight for our big June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" in Reston, Virginia.... Wed, 07 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0612f.asp fff@fff.org (Sam Bostaph) Emma Lazarus had better stay in her grave if she knows what's good for her. Why do I say that? Well, the blackhearted villainess deliberately contributed to what is now known as "the immigrant problem." When she wrote her sonnet "The New Colossus," and donated it to be auctioned off as part of the fundraising to build a pedestal for "Liberty Enlightening the World," she openly beckoned the homeless "huddled masses" and "wretched refuse" to emigrate to the United States. In so doing, she became a prominent voice in the movement to swell the U.S. population -- thus creating mass unemployment, the draining of social-service resources, and the impoverishment of U.S. taxpayers.... Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703c.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In my article "The Pentagon's Power to Arrest, Torture, and Execute Americans," I explained that the post-9/11 power to designate Americans as "enemy combatants" in the "war on terror" has revolutionized America's legal system by enabling the Pentagon to circumvent the rights and guarantees in the Bill of Rights. In my article "The Critical Dilemma Facing Pro-War Libertarians," I explained that 9/11 has confronted pro-war libertarians with what undoubtedly is one of the biggest moral and philosophical quandaries of their lives -- whether to remain committed to a conservative foreign policy, thereby giving up their commitment to a free society, or to embrace libertarian principles in both domestic and foreign affairs.... Wed, 07 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703b.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Nothing has ever made it so easy for buyers and sellers to get together and engage in trade as the Internet. It reduces transaction costs immensely because they can find each other so readily. And if one seller doesn't have what a buyer wants, all that has been lost is the few seconds of time and the energy it takes for another mouse click.... Mon, 05 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) President Bush has decided that the U.S. government is now going to talk to Syria. The reason the president has steadfastly refused to talk to Syria before now is that Syria, he has repeatedly emphasized, is a state sponsor of terrorism.... Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0612c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) I visited the Tower of London in May on an overcast, dreary Friday afternoon. The home of so many famous executions and king-approved murders is kept in spiffy shape. The tour guide -- a former British sergeant-military wearing a large "Beefeater"-style hat -- regaled listeners with tales of beheadings gone wrong, drunks with axes hacking away at half-dead corpses, never quite getting a clean cut. Some of the lines of stone near the castle were remnants of the Roman conquest of England. The castle itself was begun in earnest in 1066, just after the Norman conquest of England. Within a few centuries, the castle went from being a symbol of foreign occupation to a symbol of legitimacy. By overshadowing the London landscape, the Tower put fear into the heart of anyone who considered resisting royal authority -- no matter how murderous the king's henchmen became.... Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702k.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The president and the Pentagon now wield the omnipotent power to arrest, torture, and execute any American they label an "enemy combatant." It is impossible to overstate the significance of this power. It has totally upended the relationship of the military and civilian in the United States. The assumption of this particular power easily constitutes one of the most monumental revolutions of liberty and power in history. It is a revolution that every American must confront now, not later. If people wait until later to confront the expanded use of this power, it will be too late, because by that time it will be too dangerous to do so.... Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702j.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) What is going on in America? The Bush administration's own National Intelligence Estimate says the situation is so bad in Iraq that the term "civil war" is inadequate to describe it. A government inspector confirms what we already knew: that serious doubts about Iraq's putative weapons of mass destruction and connections to al-qaeda were shunted aside in favor of neoconservative wishful thinking. (Yes, "wishful"; the neocons had long wanted to go to go war against Saddam Hussein.) Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702i.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Richard Vague, one of the nation's leading CEOs, has been added to the roster of speakers at The Future of Freedom Foundation's upcoming conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." Mr. Vague joins 23 other outstanding libertarian, liberal, and conservative speakers who will address these two critical issues during our landmark conference on June 1-4, 2007, at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia.... Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702h.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) As the parade of presidential wannabes grows longer, the people paying attention this early are probably asking themselves, "Can I picture so and so as president?" This is a bad question on many levels.... Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0611a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) There are two major values of public schooling, from the perspective of government officials. One, this institution provides the means by which government officials can slowly but surely, over a period of 12 years, mold the mindsets of children into one of conformity and obedience to authority. Second, public schooling enables government officials to fill children's minds with officially approved political, historical, and economic doctrine.... Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702g.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Hawks such as Sen. John McCain who oppose Senate resolutions against the so-called troop surge in Iraq make a pernicious argument. Such a resolution "is basically a vote of no confidence in the men and women we are sending over there," McCain said. "We're saying, 'We're sending you -- we're not going to stop you from going there, but we don't believe you can succeed.'"... Mon, 19 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0611e.asp fff@fff.org (Michael Powell) When Congress enacted immigration quotas in the 1920s, it left the door ajar for Northern Europeans and Mexicans, whom even then American businesses sought as cheap labor. By contrast, in 1882 Congress enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring the Chinese from U.S. shores. And when Congress contemplated a similar law for the Japanese, the government in Tokyo instead entered into an agreement with the United States to prohibit immigration and avoid international humiliation.... Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702f.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As I pointed out in last week's conference update, we have received a donation that enables us to give 5 free student admissions to our June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties."... Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702e.asp fff@fff.org (Ralph R. Reiland) Harper's magazine reports that Americans burn an extra 938 million gallons of gasoline each year because we're too fat. ... Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702d.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Libertarians who embrace the conservative view on foreign policy have one of the most important decisions of their lives confronting them. By hewing to two contradictory philosophies, circumstances have now placed them in a moral and philosophical quandary. Will they continue hewing to a conservative foreign policy, thereby giving up all hope of a free society at home? Or will they choose to maintain their commitment to libertarianism here in America, which means rejecting a conservative foreign policy? Or will they simply act as if no choice at all now confronts them?... Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702c.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) There is something surreal in all this. The U.S. government is warning Iran against meddling in Iraq. But the U.S. government is meddling in Iraq! Is there a clearer case of a pot calling a kettle black?... Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0611f.asp georgeleef@popecenter.org (George C. Leef) Frederic Bastiat called it legal plunder -- the process by which people and organizations use their political connections to obtain wealth that doesn't belong to them. When a government has the power to enact laws and regulations that confer unearned benefits on the favored few, as virtually all do, it is as certain as anything can be in this world that unscrupulous people will find ways to manipulate that power.... Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702b.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) We have received a donation of $2,500 to cover five student scholarships for our June 1-4 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." If you are a student who would like to attend the conference, or if you would like to nominate a student to attend, the selections will be based on the best five essays we receive by the students on any aspect of foreign policy or civil liberties. The essay should be no longer than 1,000 words and we must receive it by March 7. ... Fri, 09 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0611b.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) Hands are wringing over bleak reports that despite increased productivity, workers generally are losing ground: real median income -- adjusted for government-caused inflation -- is said to be falling. Meanwhile, corporate profits are skyrocketing, and the wealthiest are doing fine.... Fri, 09 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0611d.asp anderwl@prodigy.net (William L. Anderson) When the New York Times recently reported that the Bush administration was routinely tracking international and domestic financial transactions, the president said he was doing these things under emergency powers granted to him by Congress. While many commentators have openly questioned the legality of Bush's actions, there are deeper questions to be asked than simply "Is this legal?"... Wed, 07 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702a.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The schedule for our big upcoming conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" on June 1-4 at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia, is now online. The updated schedule contains the titles of all the talks by our 24 speakers. This stands to be one of the most exciting and important conferences in the history of the libertarian movement.... Mon, 05 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0611c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) President Bush is proposing to medievalize the American legal code by permitting the use of coerced confessions in judicial proceedings. This is one of the most stunning proposals in U.S. political life since Franklin Roosevelt banned private ownership of gold in 1933. It is vital for Americans to understand the thinking that led the government to this effort to legalize barbaric treatment.... Mon, 05 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0610d.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) One of the most coercive tools that public officials have at their disposal is zoning. City councils and county boards throughout the country use zoning regulations to dictate which uses are permitted and which are not on every parcel of land within their jurisdiction. While sometimes well-intentioned, zoning regulations nevertheless produce perverse incentives and results and violate the most fundamental tenet of individual liberty -- that a person may do with his property what he wishes.... Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0701f.asp fff@fff.org (Wendy McElroy) Lorenzo's Oil is a counterargument to the assumed need for government funding and law to regulate all things medical in order to ensure progress and quality care. The movie is a clarion call for individuals to take control of their own bodies and their own medical well being. It is the triumph of personal responsibility over bureaucracy, the individual over the system.... Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0610c.asp jbovard@his.com (James Bovard) The Bush administration is fond of favoring tough measures against terrorists. With the Bush team cheer-leading all the way, Israel reinvaded Lebanon in July in response to Hezbollah's seizure of two Israeli soldiers. Israel and Hezbollah had been exchanging bombs and missiles for months -- actually, years -- prior to Israel's launching a bombing campaign that soon expanded to include much of Lebanon.... Mon, 29 Jan 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0701f.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Two weeks ago, I profiled the first two speakers -- James Bovard and Ralph Raico -- at our upcoming June 1-4 conference: "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia.... Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghindex.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) As part of the military crackdown in Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki intends to disarm all armed groups in the city. In other words, gun confiscation. Maliki wants to leave weapons only in the hands of the Iraqi government. "Trust us," is the underlying message of Maliki's gun control policy.... Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghindex.asp bfrazier@fff.org (Bart Frazier) With Hillary Clinton now having announced her candidacy for president, I wonder if conservatives are now reevaluating their perspectives on presidential power and patriotism.... Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0610e.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) Why do some think that successful firms are inherently evil? Why do many antitrust regulators actually believe that any firms that report consistently high profits should be under review by government officials?... Wed, 24 Jan 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghindex.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) U.S. officials are lamenting the fact that the Iraqi government is not performing as well as it should in establishing "order" in Iraq. In other words, they're blaming the failures of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq on the Iraqi government.... Wed, 24 Jan 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0609e.asp gbresiger@hotmail.com (Gregory Bresiger) Why do some think that successful firms are inherently evil? Why do many antitrust regulators actually believe that any firms that report consistently high profits should be under review by government officials?... Mon, 22 Jan 2007 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/comment/com0701d.asp sheldon@sheldonrichman.com (Sheldon Richman) The most peculiar passage in President Bush's much-dissected "surge" speech was this: "I have made it clear to the prime minister [Nouri al-Maliki] and Iraq's other leaders that America's commitment is not open-ended. If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people."... Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:20:00 EST