The Feds’ Post–9/11 Airport-Worker Purge by James Bovard February 1, 2010 In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the federal government feared that people would lose faith in the government’s promise to protect them. The feds had dismally failed to stop the 19 hijackers who took down four planes and sowed panic from coast to coast. So the government did what it does best: Round up the usual suspects. Starting in ...
The Only Way to Get Money out of Politics by Sheldon Richman January 28, 2010 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 ...
Prosecuting the Bush Administration’s Torturers by Andy Worthington March 23, 2009 Its a sign of how much the Bush administration skewed Americas 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 ...
From Checks and Balances to Executive Despotism (video) by Bruce Fein January 23, 2009 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.
The Rapid Decline of Transparency and Privacy in America (video) by Jonathan Turley November 28, 2008 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.
The 2008 Candidates and Civil Liberties — A New Path or More of the Same? (video) by Glenn Greenwald November 19, 2008 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.
20 Reasons to Shut Down The Guantnamo Trials by Andy Worthington November 17, 2008 As Barack Obama and his transition team begin looking at ways to fulfill the President-elects pledge to close Guantánamo, Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files, recalls that Barack Obama also promised to reject the Military Commissions Act (the legislation that revived the system of terror trials conjured up in the office ...
Bush’s War on Civil Liberties by James Bovard October 10, 2008 On June 6, 2008, James 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.
Are Democrats Better on Privacy and Surveillance? by James Bovard September 1, 2008 The Bush administration has probably illegally violated Americans’ privacy more than any presidency in at least a generation. Many Americans are understandably ready to throw out Republicans who trampled the Bill of Rights. But is the solution to elect a Democrat? Many liberals were shocked in July when putative Democratic Party presidential nominee Barack Obama ...
Habeas Corpus: The Bulwark of Our Liberties by U.S. Supreme Court September 1, 2008 ...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 ...
Farewell to Privacy by Ridgway K. Foley Jr. September 1, 2008 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. Consider the chilling utterance of one Donald Kerr during the Veterans Day 2007 weekend. Kerr, the principal deputy ...