CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Gun Control Exposes Citizenry to the State” by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2000 "After the Clinton-Reno-INS raid on the home of the Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez, Fidel Castro proudly boasted that his agents would not have been armed under similar circumstances. The reason? Since no one is permitted to own guns in Cuba, police forces need not fear violent resistance to their orders ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “HUD Hurts the Poor” by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2000 "The Washington Post reports that $2.8 million that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spent to help D.C. public-housing residents start new businesses has resulted in only 'marginal evidence of benefits for the poor.' Most of the money ended up in the pockets of 'consultants,' many of whom didn't perform ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Million Mom Marchers Hurt Themselves” by Andy Falkof May 1, 2000 "Washington, D.C., is a magnet for protesters and demonstrators of all political stripes and ideologies, and this weekend is no exception. The Million Mom March expects to attract 150,000 gun-control advocates in the name of protecting families from gun-related violence. Participants can expect the usual array of statistics, personal testimonials, and ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “New Drug Czar” by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2000 "Retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey has come under a withering assault from his fellow officers for improper conduct during the Persian Gulf War. As detailed in an article by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker magazine, McCaffrey is accused of ordering an attack on Iraqi forces who were either surrendering ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Peru Can Take Care of Itself” by Andy Falkof May 1, 2000 "Today, the United States government declared Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori's re-election invalid and a threat to democracy across the Americas. Fujimori defeated his opponent, Alejandro Toledo (who had withdrawn in protest), by a considerable margin, and did not postpone the election to allow international monitors to inspect and confirm the ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Liberty” by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2000 "Yesterday, in United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, the Supreme Court struck down a 1996 federal law that restricted sexually explicit adult channels' broadcasting to late-night hours. Despite people's concern for children's exposure to the pornographic programming, the Court made the right decision by respecting private ownership, the First ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “The Benefits That Immigration Brings” by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2000 "Another cycling story this week! While cycling last weekend, I noticed a street corner where about 100 Hispanic guys were hanging out, all of whom appeared rather impoverished. I dismounted my bike and went up and asked (in Spanish) what was going on. They said that they were waiting for work. ...
CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “The Diversity of the Boy Scouts” by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2000 "The Supreme Court will soon decide Boy Scouts of America v. James Dale, a case that will determine whether the Boy Scouts can exclude a homosexual from their organization. Many people may find the Boy Scouts' policy of excluding homosexuals repugnant, but is it necessarily an ignorant, negative policy? Certainly the ...
Winston Churchill’s “Finest Hour” and the Fate of the European Jews by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2000 Sixty years ago, on May 10, 1940, Hitler's armies began the process of overrunning Holland, Belgium, and France. By the third week of May, the French army was in retreat, and the British Expeditionary Force was withdrawing to Dunkirk. Western Europe was rapidly falling under the occupation and control of Nazi Germany. The French were already thinking of possible ...
Limit Government, Not Contributions by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2000 "Money is property; it is not speech." Thus did U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens pithily sum up his opinion concurring in a ruling that states may impose limits on campaign contributions without violating the First Amendment to the Constitution. While Justice Stevens conceded that money can accomplish the same goals as speech, he added, "It does not follow, however, ...
When the Violent Attack the Peaceful by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2000 In the topsy-turvy world of Washington, D.C., the federal government is a friend of competition and Microsoft its mortal enemy. To appreciate this fully, keep in mind that the government forbids competition with its activities (beginning with delivery of first-class mail), while Microsoft has rivals at every turn. Yet Microsoft, not the federal government, is on the chopping block. Through federalism ...
Clinton’s Coming Colombia Catastrophe by James Bovard May 1, 2000 The Senate will soon consider President Clinton's proposed $1.6 billion package to bankroll the government of Colombia's war against leftist guerillas. The aid windfall purports to help staunch the flow of drugs from Colombia. But there is no reason to expect further U.S. anti-drug aid to be any more effective than past aid. Even ...