Tag Archives | AmeriCorps

USA TODAY 1410537869000-AX057_0FF8_9

USA TODAY: AmeriCorps at 20 is a Wasteful Flop

USA TODAY,  September 12, 2014 AmeriCorps at 20 is a wasteful flop: Column by James Bovard One part political slush fund, one part window dressing, youth service program failed to grow up. President Barack Obama welcomed a flock of AmeriCorps recruits to the White House this morning to celebrate AmeriCorps’ 20th anniversary. They were joined […]

Continue Reading
5_2_2014_b1-bovard-closer-lo8201_s640x486

My Wash. Times Op-Ed: Obama’s War on Watchdogs

Washington Times, May 2, 2014 Obama’s War on Watchdogs by James Bovard A Senate report last week revealed that the Obama administration utterly debilitated the inspector general for the Homeland Security Department. Charles Edwards, the acting IG from early 2011 till last December, toadied to Obama appointees at every opportunity — stifling reports, deleting damning […]

Continue Reading
i-heart-americorps

AmeriCorps: Idealistic Triumph or Usual Buffoonery?

From the November 2013 issue of the Future of Freedom (published by FFF) AmeriCorps: Idealistic Triumph or Usual Buffoonery? by James Bovard National service is the latest fashionable panacea for all that ails America. Time magazine ran a July cover story, “How Service Can Save Us,” on the potential benefits of pressing all young people […]

Continue Reading
image Wash Times b1-bovard-222ah_s640x998

Wash. Times: AmeriCorps’ National Service Charade

Washington Times, July 18, 2013 BOVARD: AmeriCorps’ national service charade Paying youths to push big government makes a mockery of volunteerism by James Bovard At a White House ceremony Monday, President Obama announced a Task Force on Expanding National Service. He is jumping onto a popular bandwagon: Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson recently promised that […]

Continue Reading
wall-street-journal-logo-b3bda0a55bf936c02b30c43578b6ca8e

AmeriCorps Responses in Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal published 3 letters responding to my article last week: AmeriCorps: Keep the Good, Hold the Bad Accountable I am the inspector general identified by James Bovard (“The Reality of Feel-Good Government,” op-ed June 13) as “fired” by President Obama for “refus[ing] to back down from a report condemning a prominent Obama supporter […]

Continue Reading

AmeriCorps & Bear Awareness: Maybe I was Wrong

In last Thursday’s Wall Street Journal piece, I listed a few peculiar AmeriCorps projects, including this one: “Members of a Nevada AmeriCorps program busy themselves these days by encouraging local residents to drink tap water and watch out for bears (‘bear awareness’).” But, after seeing this great Non Sequitor cartoon by Wiley Miller, maybe I […]

Continue Reading
americorps image ac

My AmeriCorps Teaching Experience

 In response to my Wall Street Journal piece yesterday, some folks have asked if I was ever in AmeriCorps. No, but I did have a cameo in one of their Mississippi programs.   When I was investigating AmeriCorps in 1999, I traveled to the Mississippi Delta  Here’s the excerpt from Public Policy Hooligan: **** In lieu […]

Continue Reading