….But how much do inhabitants of our faith-saturated land actually know about religion? Not very much, according to a new survey released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life on Sept. 28…. While most people (89 percent) correctly understand that Supreme Court decisions bar public school teachers from leading their classes in prayer,…
Liberty
Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Lou Dobbs, American Hypocrite | The Nation
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Nation has a fine story exposing the hypocrisy of Lou Dobbs, an immigrant-bashing television commentator and former CNN anchor: In Lou Dobbs’s heyday at CNN, when he commanded more than 800,000 viewers and a reported $6 million a year for “his fearless reporting and commentary” in the words of former CNN president Jonathan Klein,…
Freedom of Speech, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Politics
Camp Politics: Training the Next Generation of Censors Since 1974!
by JOHN ADAMS •
Freedom of Speech, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
From the Institute for Justice: Defending the Right to Ordinary Speech
by JOHN ADAMS •
Is it possible, in America, that government will not allow citizens to make a living describing national landmarks without holding a license from the state? A license, literally, to speak about our democratic heritage. Not a business license — no, a second license from government — by which government claims to permit a person to…
Law, Liberty
Im Not Going to Be Interrogated As a Pre-Condition of Re-Entering My Own Country – Hit & Run : Reason Magazine
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s justifiable pride in being an American citizen: America is an extraordinary place, a free, beautiful republic. There are countless reasons to be proud of being a citizen, so many reasons to love the American way of life. Unfortunately, the encroachment of government regulations is so considerable that federal officials often assert authority that they…
Free Markets, Liberty
Arthur Brooks and Paul Ryan: The Size of Government and the Choice This Fall – WSJ.com
by JOHN ADAMS •
Well said: As we move into this election season, Americans are being asked to choose between candidates and political parties. But the true decision we will be making—now and in the years to come—is this: Do we still want our traditional American free enterprise system, or do we prefer a European-style social democracy? This is…
Law, Libertarians, Liberty
Reason.tv: Anyone Care About Economic Liberty Anymore? George Thomas on the 14th Amendment
by JOHN ADAMS •
George Thomas of Claremont McKenna College discusses economic liberties. Reason.tv’s interview is a solid contribution to the topic. I have embedded the video, and a description of it, below. (By the way, if you’re looking for those who take economic liberties seriously, there’s no better place to start than the “merry band of litigators” at…
Law, Liberty, Police
Instapundit – A Prosecutor on the War Against Photography
by JOHN ADAMS •
The principal attribute of a campaign against photography, or the encroachment on private property rights (see, “Is a Man’s Home Still His Castle? – Washington Examiner“) is that officials aim to take from American citizens rights that Americans now have, and have historically had. This is the dark – and reactionary — side of contemporary…
Law, Liberty
Is a man’s home still his castle? | Washington Examiner
by JOHN ADAMS •
But to arrest someone who is unmistakably on their own property, and doing nothing remotely illegal, is an abuse of power pure and simple. Even if it were true that Gibson was endangering herself by witnessing the traffic stop from the confines of her front porch, how could that possibly be construed as “resisting arrest”…
Liberty, Politics
Nat Hentoff on a Ground Zero Mosque
by JOHN ADAMS •
Nat Hentoff writes about the New York City mosque controversy in Pols Clueless on Ground Zero Mosque: The angry national debate over Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s intention to build a mosque two blocks north of the horror of 9/11 at Ground Zero has been further fueled by supporter Nancy Pelosi declaring, “I join those who…
Laws/Regulations, Libertarians, Liberty
When (Canadian) Bureaucrats Attack
by JOHN ADAMS •
Kevin Libin, of the Canadian National Post has a story about how Canadian officials are bullying a libertarian family of immigrants to Canada from what was Soviet-occupied Poland. They left a dictatorship, but they’ve run into the soft, oppressively bureaucratic culture of modern-day Canada. (Sadly, something like his story might easily happen in countless places…
Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Institute for Justice: Free the Monks and Free Enterprise
by JOHN ADAMS •
We have become so regulated, and government has become so much a tool of particular businesses over others, that in Louisiana monks of Saint Joseph Abbey cannot even build and sell caskets for those who would prefer a simple casket. Fortunately, the Institute for Justice is prepared to defend the right of a monastery to…
Law, Liberty
Divorcing Marriage and Government
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s considerable talk about a federal judge’s ruling involving California’s Proposition 8, a proposition that defines marriage under California law. There’s discussion of the ruling, laws and constitutional provisions in other states that are similar to Proposition 8, and the politics of it all. Like most libertarians, I don’t think these discussions are broad enough…