Is anyone else having trouble distinguishing today’s two most popular acronyms – SOTU & STFU? When people ask why I watch Obama speeches, I shrug and admit that that is part of the terms of my parole. What will Obama’s biggest howlers be tonight? I am expecting a burst of candor as much as I […]
Tag Archives | Congress
MP3 of Today’s Ernie Hancock Interview on Freedom & Its Enemies
Ernie Hancock was at his dynamic best for this morning’s show. It is always a mistake to drink decaf before going on the air with Ernie. I appreciate his hearty laugh and his boundless faith in human nature – at least of non-government workers or politicians. As we were talking about what life influences […]
Obama, NSA, Gulf of Tonkin, & Governing as Lying
This is the 49th anniversary of Congress’s passage of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, by which the Lyndon Johnson administration lied the nation into the Vietnam War. The resolution was spurred by false assertions of multiple North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. ships. At a National Security Council meeting on the evening that the first report came […]
Bravo Rand Paul – the only ‘No’ vote for new FBI Chief
Sen. Rand Paul was the only senator to vote against confirming James Comey as the new FBI director. The final vote was 93 to 1 – so nobody was crowding Rand on the high ground. As the ACLU noted last month, “While Comey deserves credit for stopping an illegal spying program in dramatic fashion, he […]
Three Cheers for Justin Amash and the Anti-Spying Coalition
Three cheers for Rep. Justin Amash and colleagues who came within a whisker of reining in the NSA’s illegal surveillance tonight in Congress! (Final vote on his amendment was 217 to 205). This is a huge moral victory – and the sign of civil liberty victories to come. And the floor debate helped reveal […]
N.Y. Times Snares Secret FISA Court Decrees – Fresh Hell for NSA and Obama
The New York Times published a long article today on secret rulings by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The article describes the FISA court as “almost a parallel Supreme Court” which has cast aside traditional understandings of privacy and the Fourth Amendment. Reading between the lines, it is clear that NYT has the actual decisions…. […]
My 1998 piece: The IRS, Now & Forever
The Foundation for Economic Education reposted this as a “timely classic” last week. A few highlights: *In recent years, IRS agents have been indoctrinated to see taxpayers as a class enemy. *The only Americans who have legal rights, in the IRS’s eyes, are those who can afford to hire lawyers and topnotch accountants to fight […]