Propose that the state be replaced by genuine self-government and immediately people come forth with a litany of objections—your proposal is a pipe dream; it is untried; it would never work; it fails to solve problem R and problem S; and so forth. So the objectors, however much they may concede that the state...
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In last night’s presidential debate, both candidates claimed to run on a promise of peace and against the policies of George W. Bush. Obama criticized the Republicans for going to war in Iraq and took Romney to task for his bellicose rhetoric. A bit more surprisingly, Romney congratulated Obama on executing bin Laden but...
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Sixty-seven years ago, World War II ended. In Japan, today’s date is officially designated “the day for mourning of war dead and praying for peace” (戦歿者を追悼し平和を祈念する日 Senbotsusha wo tsuitōshi heiwa wo kinensuru hi?). In the USA, it is called V-J Day, but few people any longer take much note of it. All wars are...
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Sixty-seven years ago, on August 6, 1945, the Truman administration dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, instantly killing tens of thousands of men, women, and children, and causing a nuclear catastrophe that took thousands of more lives in the weeks and years that followed. Three days later, on August 9, the U.S. followed up...
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In his speech after the Iowa caucuses, Newt Gingrich warned that “an Iranian nuclear weapon is one of the most frightening things we have to confront.” He was criticizing the non-interventionist views of Ron Paul, but beyond the presidential campaign, we seem to have this bundle of assumptions overtaking the media and most political...
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Although Ron Paul placed second in the Iowa straw poll, behind Michele Bachmann by the slimmest of margins, most media commentators—both left and right—refused to anoint him as one of the “big three” candidates remaining in the Republican presidential contest. Translated, the media gatekeepers, as they did in his 2008 campaign, are telling the...
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The Obama administration has detained the alleged Wikileaks whistleblower under torturous conditions—for almost a year, he has been subjected to solitary confinement in a windowless 6×12 cell for 23 hours a day, under constant surveillance, prevented from exercising, lacking a pillow or sheets. For the remaining hour every day, he is allowed to walk...
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The devastating earthquake in Japan has damaged multiple nuclear reactors, and at least one of these facilities is said to pose the potential of Chernobyl-levels of contamination. Germany is responding to this tragedy by temporarily closing down seven nuclear reactors, while France, the second-largest user of nuclear energy in the world, is reportedly planning...
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On April 16, 1953, shortly after the death of Joseph Stalin, the U.S. government made a peace initiative outlined in a speech now recognized as one of the two most significant and memorable speeches of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency. Historians continue to debate whether this initiative was a sincere effort to end the Cold...
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This week’s Lighthouse (available online here) touches on the WikiLeaks documents (Ivan Eland), the right to bear arms (Stephen Halbrook), the cost of U.S. foreign policy (Robert Higgs), and Hugo Chavez’s support of terrorists (Alvaro Vargas Llosa). Here are links to the individual items: Lessons from the WikiLeaks Docs Halbrook Lauded for Defense of...
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