Archive for Becky Akers
Becky Akers is a freelance writer in New York City.
Yet Again with the National ID
Fresh from their defeat in forcing national identity papers on us with REAL ID, the feds are trying once more. Their plea this time isn’t terrorism but immigration—though they’re pretty much the same, according to the State. Introduced in 2005 to combat the waves of terrorists thronging our shores, REAL ID was supposed to thwart [...]
29Jun2010 | Becky Akers | 14 comments | ContinuedThe Politics of Liberty in England and Revolutionary America
Explaining and, worse, legitimizing the state occupied sixteenth- and seventeenth-century philosophers in England and Europe. Even as the beast they dissected exiled or imprisoned them and ravaged their countries with civil war, they worried about the intricacies of absolute monarchy. How exactly did God ordain it, and do men owe obligations beyond abject submission to [...]
18May2010 | Becky Akers | 0 comments | ContinuedWhole-Body Imaging: Intrusion Without Security
Every time the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) fails to protect aviation, as it did when it allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board a plane last Christmas Day, it punishes passengers with further restrictions and humiliations. Now the agency wants to virtually strip-search us with whole-body imagers. These gizmos peer through clothing to the skin beneath [...]
19Apr2010 | Becky Akers | 8 comments | ContinuedYet Again with the National ID
Fresh from their defeat in forcing national identity papers on us with REAL ID, the Feds are trying once more.
5Apr2010 | Becky Akers | 12 comments | ContinuedWhy Whole-Body Imaging Won’t Work
Every time the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) fails to protect aviation, as it did when it allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board a plane Christmas Day, it punishes passengers with further restrictions and humiliations. Now the agency wants to virtually strip-search us with whole-body imagers. These gizmos peer through clothing to the skin beneath so [...]
12Jan2010 | Becky Akers | 10 comments | ContinuedMr. Obama, Tear Down This Wall!
All of us should worry, if not panic, when we remember that the walls keeping others out also keep us in.
21May2009 | Becky Akers | 69 comments | ContinuedLiquid Lies
Government programs rely on deception from start to . . . well, none of them ever seems to finish, but if one did, the end would doubtless be as devious as the beginning. Politicians propose programs to solve imaginary problems and perpetuate them with blatant lies. Predictably, this wreaks havoc not only on the program’s [...]
20Jan2009 | Becky Akers | 10 comments | ContinuedA Million Terrorists?
In July the federal government added the millionth name to its “Terrorism Watch List”—and it may have been yours. Comprising just 16 names on September 11, 2001, this modern blacklist now functions as a catchall and cover for federal intelligence agencies. Since no one wants to be accused of overlooking a terrorist, bureaucrats have added [...]
1Nov2008 | Becky Akers | 4 comments | ContinuedLanguage, Loyalty, and Liberty
The equanimity with which Americans have watched their freedoms flee puzzles many of us, but perhaps I’ve solved the mystery: they’re too busy worrying about the English language instead. They fear its imminent expiration, however exaggerated reports of that death may be. Some blame rap music, text-messaging, or state-enforced “education” for English’s demise; many fault [...]
1Oct2008 | Becky Akers | 0 comments | ContinuedBig Brother Is Watching as He’s Never Watched Before
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has installed millimeter-wave scanners at checkpoints in about a dozen airports nationwide. It’s threatening to inflict these gizmos on every commercial concourse in the country. Millimeter waves bombard passengers with beams that penetrate clothing to show the body beneath. Victims don’t undress: the rays do it for them so screeners [...]
1Jul2008 | Becky Akers | 8 comments | ContinuedCongestion Pricing: The Road to the Surveillance State
To combat the rush-hour traffic threatening Western civilization, American mayors are flocking to “congestion pricing.” They’re not alone: rulers worldwide love this scheme because it combines yet another automotive tax with surveillance cameras at every intersection. The theory fueling congestion pricing is the one spanning our automotive lives: driving is a “privilege” government dispenses. Driving [...]
1Jan2008 | Becky Akers | 0 comments | ContinuedPaving the Road to Serfdom
It’s the stuff of nightmares and science fiction: a society so depersonalized and regimented that survival depends on producing the correct credentials. Sometimes it’s a fingerprint or other biometric; more often it’s a document. Without that totem there’s no trading, no traveling, no transaction of any kind. A demand for “Papers, please” pesters people at [...]
1Nov2007 | Becky Akers | 3 comments | ContinuedLee’s Legion of Lessons
The state is a harsh taskmaster with a taste for eating its own. A man may devote much of his life to its violence only to find himself on the receiving end one day. The Bible warns that “all those who take up the sword perish by the sword.” Yet distressing numbers of folks try [...]
1Sep2007 | Becky Akers | 1 comment | ContinuedPutting Security Back on Track
Becky Akers is a historian and freelance writer in New York City . You might think the threats confronting American aviation are unique and unprecedented, given the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) unique and unprecedented regulations. Passengers must shed their shoes and they may carry aboard only three-ounce containers of liquids and gels, but “larger containers [...]
1May2007 | Becky Akers | 3 comments | ContinuedCan We Tell Those Huddled Masses to Scram? Immigration and the Constitution
In 1873 some Presbyterians in Kentucky invited a young Canadian to be their pastor. Tensions in the border state were still high following the War of Southern Independence, and the congregants hoped that a neutral outsider could pacify folks not only within their own church but even across denominations. Rev. A.B. Simpson succeeded so well [...]
1Nov2006 | Becky Akers | 25 comments | ContinuedLeviathan’s Legionnaires
Boston lies under a foot of snow this Monday March evening in 1770, so icy and cold that anyone who can huddle at home on the hearth should. Instead, much of the town is abroad and abuzz like an angry hive. Bostonians are infuriated at something their descendants will take for granted, indeed, will prize [...]
1Jun2006 | Becky Akers | 3 comments | ContinuedUndoing the Fourth Amendment
Carlos Gonzalez, 21, of Weston, Florida, stands
spread-eagled while an officer pats him down.
When the officer bends to frisk his legs, Carlos
lowers his arms without asking permission. The officer
snarls, “Hey,were not even close to being finished.What
are you trying to hide?” While a crowd watches, Carlos
is ordered to disrobe. He hands over his shoes and belt
and empties his pockets as the search continues in mortifying
detail.
-
The Latest
Contraception: Insuring the Uninsurable
Update below. Controversy rages over the Obama administration’s mandate that all employers – including... Read More
The Snow Plowers’ Petition
The following might have happened in a small college town in upstate New York… In a cold and snowy... Read More
Super Bowl versus Education?
In the spirit of Super Bowl weekend I’d like to deconstruct a Facebook status update that a friend... Read More
Capitalism, Corporatism, and the Freed Market
When a front-running presidential contender tells the country that thanks to Barack Obama, “[w]e are... Read More
Creating Jobs versus Creating Value
Picking on New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is one of the largest participation sports on the Internet.... Read More
