April 17, 2006

America's (Un)Welcome Mat
By Lady Liberty

In recent days, the issue of illegal immigration has seriously heated up both in the corridors of Washington, DC and on the streets of Los Angeles and New York. It seems that almost everybody has an agenda.

President Bush wants Congress to approve a "guest worker" program which some say is really an amnesty program. The latter is likely the reason behind the fact that his 2004 proposal is still not approved by Congress. The president says our economy depends on the work done by illegal immigrants, so we may as well legalize their presence here and know who and where they are. He also indicated during his original announcement of his idea that he thinks legal immigration quotas are just plain too low. (Read the rest here) (See editor's note)

"Failure to File" Says It All
by Sheldon Richman

"Willful failure to file a tax return is a misdemeanor per IRC Section 7203. In egregious cases, willful failure to file may be elevated to a felony under IRC 7201 Tax Evasion. In addition, a civil penalty for fraudulent failure to file may be applicable per IRC Section 6651(f)."

That passage in the Internal Revenue Manual, Part 25 (Special Topics), Chapter 1 (Fraud Handbook), Section 7 (Failure to File) is enough to sober up a drunk. (See it for yourself at the IRS website.) All who buy the fable that what we labor under today is self-government should meditate on that quotation. You must account for yourself to the government each year. If you don't, you'll be visiting a federal penitentiary. (Read the rest here)

Is Veneration of the Military Good for the Republic?
By Ivan Eland

Since the Vietnam War, in which returning draftees were shunned by much of American society, critics of U.S. foreign policy, including the Iraq war, have bent over backwards not to criticize U.S. military forces and sometimes have even praised soldiers’ willingness to fight for their country. And, of course, journalists and politicians have slathered nothing but praise on American boys and girls in Iraq. But this flattery is not good for the republic, and it’s not good for the troops.

The government of a free society hypocritically enslaved only one specific group in the population—young men—to fight in a needless war in Vietnam, a backwater country that was not strategic to the United States. Instead of apologizing for their government’s kidnapping of youth for this dangerous—and sometimes fatal—service, many segments of American society unjustly blamed these youthful victims for the war. (Read the rest here)

Sanctions against Iran
by Congressman Ron Paul - R - TX

As the drumbeat for military action against Iran grows louder, some members of Congress are calling to expand the longstanding U.S. trade ban that bars American companies from investing in that nation. In fact, many war hawks in Washington are pushing for a comprehensive international embargo against Iran. The international response has been lukewarm, however, because the world needs Iranian oil. But we cannot underestimate the irrational, almost manic desire of some neoconservatives to attack Iran one way or another, even if it means crippling a major source of oil and destabilizing the worldwide economy.

Make no mistake about it: Economic sanctions are acts of aggression. Sanctions increase poverty and misery among the very poorest inhabitants of targeted nations, and they breed tremendous resentment against those imposing them. But they rarely hurt the political and economic elites responsible for angering American leaders in the first place. (Read the rest here)

Primary and Dominant - Aggressor Arrest Policies
By Richard L. Davis

Mandatory Arrest

Law enforcement officers have traditionally been given the authority to arrest or detain a person, without a warrant, based on the two prong theory that (1) there is evidence that a serious crime occurred and (2) the belief that the accused person may have committed the crime.

What makes a domestic violence arrest unique and different from all other arrests is that officers do not need to provide any evidence that the accused person may [probable cause] be guilty. Officers need only to establish that some type of a domestic violence incident occurred. (Read the rest here)

Women's Health Hoax
By Carey Roberts

Twenty-some years ago the mavens of medical misfortune sounded their shrill alarm.

Hillary Clinton lashed out because of the "appalling degree to which women were routinely excluded from major clinical trials of most illnesses." Marcia Angell, then editor of the august New England Journal of Medicine, pronounced this lament: "There is little doubt that women have been systematically excluded as subjects for study." And Dr. Vivian Pinn of the National Institutes of Health wrote, "The exclusion of some women from clinical studies may sometimes be valid, but not all women all the time."

Of course no one had ever bothered to actually compile the numbers, so they were unable to refute the claim. But everyone knew the male-dominated medical research establishment was interested only in prostates and male-pattern baldness, so the ladies' claims rang true. (Read the rest here)

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