Politics & Rights
Politics & Rights
New Jersey Government Begins Outright Theft of Gift Cards
Ari Armstrong April 9, 2012
In a distressing sign of the times, the New Jersey government has turned to outright theft of people’s gift cards in the Garden State. As the Christian Science Monitor summarizes: Pursuant to a law passed two years ago, the New Jersey Department of the Treasury will soon compel sellers to…
Politics & Rights
President Obama: The Preeminent “Social Darwinist”
Ari Armstrong April 7, 2012
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors this past Tuesday, Barack Obama condemned the Republican budget proposal as “thinly veiled social Darwinism.” Why? Because Republicans would spend slightly less money on welfare and other programs than Obama proposes, and increase government spending at a slightly slower rate…
Philosophy, Politics & Rights
AmeriCorps: Collectivist, Immoral, and Should be Eliminated
Joshua Lipana April 7, 2012
The New York Times is calling for the government to “step up” its support for AmeriCorps, while reprimanding Republicans who want to reduce or eliminate funding for it, castigating them for forgetting “the value of community service.” AmeriCorps’ activities, which consist primarily in working with other non-profit organizations to “build…
Politics & Rights
Court Tosses Colorado’s “Amazon Tax,” Injustice Remains
Ari Armstrong April 6, 2012
No, Colorado cannot unilaterally impose tax obligations on out-of-state businesses, U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ruled recently. Blackburn threw out Colorado’s 2010 “Amazon Tax” that sought to force out-of-state sellers to assist the state in collecting sales taxes from residents. The judge ruled that the controls “impose an undue burden…
Politics & Rights
Freedom-Loving Americans Must Condemn DOJ’s Bullying of Book Sellers
Ari Armstrong April 5, 2012
The Justice Department continues its assault on the property and contract rights of Apple and various book publishers. Bloomberg reports that the DOJ “is close to a settlement with three of the world’s biggest publishers on e-book price contracts with Apple Inc.” According to the antitrust laws under which the…
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Richard Salsman: Strike Down All Health-Care Mandates
Joshua Lipana April 5, 2012
Richard Salsman in a new piece in Forbes.com makes an illuminating point about the efforts to defend ObamaCare: Defenders of ObamaCare before the Supreme Court last week argued from precedent, reminding the justices that there were already scores of mandates embedded throughout America’s semi-socialized health care system – including the…
Politics & Rights
UN Officer Lies on Twitter about Israeli Attack, Remains Employed
Joshua Lipana April 4, 2012
Fox News reports that Khulood Badawi, an officer in the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “used Twitter to send a picture of a bloodied child in her father’s arms with a caption: ‘Palestine is bleeding. Another child killed by Israel. Another father carrying a child into a…
Politics & Rights
Obama’s Attack on the Supreme Court is an Assault on the American System
Michael A. LaFerrara April 3, 2012
In response to the unexpectedly skeptical Supreme Court hearings on ObamaCare, an insolent President Obama declared that “overturning the law would amount to an ‘unprecedented, extraordinary step’ of judicial activism,” reports David Nakamura. Obama questioned the authority of the nine-member panel of unelected justices to reverse legislation that was approved…
Ayn Rand & Objectivism, Philosophy, Politics & Rights
Reason Ralliers Need the "How" of Reason-Based Rights
Ari Armstrong April 2, 2012
“America was not founded on God and religion. America was founded on reason,” said Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic magazine, at the 2012 Reason Rally in Washington, DC. He added: The Age of Reason . . . was the age when humanity was born again, not from original sin, but…
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Memo to Justice Kagan: Taxes Are Coercive
Ari Armstrong March 30, 2012
Apparently Justice Elena Kagan is oblivious to the obvious fact that taxes are coercive, in that they forcibly take wealth away from the owners of that wealth and give it to others. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court considered oral arguments regarding the Medicaid mandate that ObamaCare would impose on states.…