Liberty and Power

• Jan 25, 2007
  

  "There Is No War on Terror"

  by Liberty and Power

  "[Britain's] director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, put himself at odds with the home secretary and Downing Street last night by denying that Britain is caught up in a 'war on terror' and calling for a 'culture of legislative restraint' in passing laws to deal with terrorism.
  
  "Sir Ken warned of the pernicious risk that a 'fear-driven and inappropriate' response to the threat could lead Britain to abandon respect for fair trials and the due process of law."
  
  Re
  

• Jan 24, 2007
  

  H.H. W.H.

  by Liberty and Power

  Howard Hunt has died. If you don't recognize the name or understand why this is blogworthy, you are required to rent immediately All The President's Men.
  

• Jan 24, 2007
  

  Boston or Baghdad? Philadelphia or Fallujah?

  by Liberty and Power

  [cross-posted at Austro-Athenian Empire]

  I just saw Senator Lindsey Graham, as part of the televised post-mortem on Bush’s blather, downplaying the lack of progress in Iraq by saying (wording not exact), “Well, we had our revolution in 1776, and we didn’t have a constitution until 1789.”

  Sorry, no. The United States’

• Jan 23, 2007
  

  Jonathan Ree: The Library of Google

  by Liberty and Power

  This is truly a wonderful article, very perceptive and very funny.
  

• Jan 23, 2007
  

  John Edwards Out-Hawks Bush on Iran

  by Liberty and Power

  In 2003, John Edwards supported the Iraq war and now (that the polls have changed) has turned against it. Does this mean that Edwards has realized the folly of using the Middle East as an American chessboard for power politics? Not at all. Edwards is now out-hawking Bush on Iran. If Edwards gets his war, and it doesn't work out as planned, it is a safe bet, however, that he will reverse course yet again:

  

• Jan 22, 2007
  

  We, the Jewish State

  by Liberty and Power

  Tell me I'm wrong but shouldn't all who love liberty find this (and please read it through to the end) very disturbing?
  

• Jan 21, 2007
  

  How Immigration Controls Are Enforced

  by Liberty and Power

  "So long as there are nation states there will be borders and immigration laws to regulate them. The least we can do is drop the pretence that these laws are fair. They are not designed to discriminate between people, but against them."
  
  Go here to read Gary Younge explain how the UK (and the West) persist in using race to decide who can cross its borders.
  

• Jan 21, 2007
  

  Christians in Iraq Are Losing All Hope

  by Liberty and Power

  Christians, who comprise forty percent of refugees from Iraq, though they are only five percent of that country's population, are voting with their feet.
  

• Jan 19, 2007
  

  "Congressional Generosity" and the Power to Tax

  by Liberty and Power

  Every now and then we get a glimpse into what government officials really think about our rights to life, liberty, and property. The U.S. Justice Department recently provided such a glimpse in a controversial tax case, Murphy v. IRS.
  
  How revealing it is! Did you know that if the government abstains from taxing all your income, you should be grateful for this" congressional generosity"?

  Read the rest of this wee
  

• Jan 19, 2007
  

  Nevil Shute (1899-1960)

  by Liberty and Power

  

  Perhaps no book gave greater inspiration to the anti-nuclear bomb movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s than On the Beach. The story, which appeared in 1957, had many elements which were prophetic, or near prophetic. Set in 1962 (the same year as the Cuban Missile Crisis), it depicted the aftermath of a nuclear exchange that was sparked by the Israeli-Arab conflict. The onl

  

• Jan 18, 2007
  

  Tucker Carlson Mea Culpa: With Apologies to Gus

  by Liberty and Power

  The mea culpa applies to me, not Carlson. I must have been smoking something when I once wrote some kind words about Carlson. I was taken in by his repeated mantra to have"opposed the Iraq war from the beginning."

  Carlson's defense of the troop surge, however, easily cancels out any good sense he ever showed on Iraq. Carlson's justification for escalation is that we need to counteract Iran. He never explains why this reasoning di

  

• Jan 17, 2007
  

  Drug Testing Tour

  by Liberty and Power

  An e-mail communication from Jennifer Kern of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) informs us that the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is about to begin its fourth annual tour designed to promote drug testing in schools. She is calling for a response similar to last year’s when “dedicated drug policy reformers desce