Mr. 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 | 60 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 | 4 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 names [...]
Language, 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 can [...]
Congestion 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 at [...]
Paving 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 | 0 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 | 0 comments | 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 that [...]
Can 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 that [...]
Leviathan’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 | 0 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.
One Life for Liberty
Becky Akers has written a novel on Nathan Hale for which she is seeking publication.
A British artillery park, Sunday, September 22, 1776. It wants an hour to noon, but the sun glares mercilessly on the cannon, and the Redcoats milling about mop their brows. There’s not much breeze, but what there is stinks [...]
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Book Reviews
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The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy–If We Let it Happen
By Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter J. Tanous
