Politics & Rights
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Force Begets Force Under Health Mandates
Ari Armstrong March 29, 2012
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday pertaining to the ObamaCare insurance mandate. At issue is whether the federal government may force people to purchase health insurance. The arguments demonstrate that the mandate is a response to the problems created by other government controls of health care and insurance. Consider…
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Interview with Ann McElhinney on Fracking, James Cameron, and Cold Beer
Joshua Lipana March 28, 2012
Ann McElhinney is a journalist and documentary film director and producer. Her films include Mine Your Own Business (2006), which takes on the environmentalist opposition to mining. This film incurred the wrath of 80 NGOs, including Greenpeace, which tried to stop its screening in the National Geographic auditorium in Washington…
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Mandatory DNA Testing for Newborns and Parents would Violate their Rights
Michael A. LaFerrara March 28, 2012
At the behest of “fathers’ rights advocates,” New Jersey Assemblyman Gilbert Wilson (D) has “proposed a measure . . . that would require all newborns—and their parents—to undergo genetic testing to create a record should questions arise about whom the father or mother is.” A justifiably angry NJ Star-Ledger columnist,…
Politics & Rights
Verizon has Moral Rights, "Excessive Concentration" and "Public Interest" be Damned
Joshua Lipana March 26, 2012
T-Mobile, other companies, and so-called “public-interest” groups, are calling for the government to block Verizon’s purchase of “spectrum from cable companies,” the Washington Times reports. The “justifications” for this call for government force are that (1) if Verizon were to make such a purchase, that would create “‘excessive concentration’ of…
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Supreme Court Properly Slaps Down EPA’s Assault on Property Owners, But . . .
Ari Armstrong March 22, 2012
The Supreme Court helped protect property rights yesterday by deciding unanimously that Mike and Chantell Sackett can legally challenge the EPA’s demand that they cease work on building their new home. The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), which represented the Sacketts, announced the victory. A Reason TV video summarizes the case.…
Politics & Rights
Philippines: Destroy the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Joshua Lipana March 21, 2012
The Philippine government has announced that peace talks with the Islamist separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is nearing a stalemate, as the MILF is demanding its own autonomous Islamic state within the Philippines. The problem here is not the stalemate, but the negotiations. The MILF is a…
Politics & Rights
African Slavery Highlights Evil of Involuntary Servitude
Ari Armstrong March 18, 2012
To Americans, it is almost unimaginable that a country still exists where hundreds of thousands of people are slaves. Yet in the impoverished western African nation of Mauritania, slavery is widespread, CNN reports in an extraordinary set of articles. Americans rightly express outrage over such injustice. Slavery—aka involuntary servitude—violates the…
Politics & Rights
North Korea’s “National Script”: Yet Another Fair Warning
Joseph Kellard March 17, 2012
In a recent interview with Book Page, novelist Adam Johnson offered observations of North Korea that capture the consequences of collectivist ideals taken seriously. Johnson travelled to the dictatorship while writing his latest book and was struck by the stark conformity and fear he found there: There are four shoe styles…
Politics & Rights
What do Rick Santorum and Jane Fonda Have in Common?
Ari Armstrong March 16, 2012
For one thing, both advocate censorship. Fonda wants to use the power of the federal government to shut down Rush Limbaugh’s radio broadcasts (as I’ve discussed); Santorum wants to use the same power to shut down internet pornography. Both Fonda and Santorum are enemies of freedom of speech. As Steven…
History, Politics & Rights
The U.S. Should Rescue Gross and End the Castro Regime
Joshua Lipana March 15, 2012
Two U.S. senators a few weeks ago went to Cuba to discuss the release of jailed American, Alan Gross, with Cuban dictator Raul Castro. Gross “is serving a 15-year jail term for spiriting satellite and other communications equipment onto the island while on a USAID-funded democracy-building program. Cuba considers the…