Category Archives: Government Power

Do You Believe In Government Conspiracies?

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Secretary of State John Kerry last week offered up his theory on the Kennedy assassination, joining the many of Americans who subscribe to conspiracy theories. [Credit: The Guardian]

Sec­re­tary of State John Ker­ry last week offered up his thoughts on the Kennedy assas­si­na­tion, join­ing many Amer­i­cans who sub­scribe to con­spir­a­cy the­o­ries. [Cred­it: The Guardian]

“Mod­ern diplo­mats approach every prob­lem with an open mouth.” — Arthur J. Gold­berg, for­mer Labor Sec­re­tary, Supreme Court Jus­tice, and UN Ambassador

If Gold­berg is right, then there is no more mod­ern a diplo­mat than our chat­ty Sec­re­tary of State, John Ker­ry. Ker­ry last week mused aloud on the Kennedy assas­si­na­tion dur­ing his inter­view with for­mer net­work news­read­er Tom Brokaw. “To this day,” Ker­ry said, “I have seri­ous doubts that Lee Har­vey Oswald act­ed alone.” Con­tin­ue read­ing →

The Moral Hazard of Government

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Sting wrote the stalker's anthem, "Every Breath You Take," a song that takes on new meaning in light of newest NSA revelations. [Credit: Davids Zondy]

Sting wrote the stalk­er’s anthem, “Every Breath You Take,” a song that takes on new mean­ing in light of newest NSA rev­e­la­tions. [Cred­it: Davids Zondy]

The intel­li­gence community’s gild­ed rep­u­ta­tion, already tar­nished by months of unau­tho­rized dis­clo­sures, was dragged into the realm of the creepy last Fri­day when an NSA offi­cial told a reporter about an agency employ­ee who had tapped secret gov­ern­ment data to spy on his ex-wife. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Richmond Seizure Program: Dangerous Idea From a Dangerous City

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Richmond (CA) has a dangerous idea: unconstitutionally seizing private investments. (Credit: popphoto.com)

Rich­mond (CA) has a dan­ger­ous idea: uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly seiz­ing pri­vate invest­ments. (Cred­it: popphoto.com)

Rich­mond (CA) once was ranked among the nation’s most dan­ger­ous cities.  If city fathers have their way, it will become the most dan­ger­ous city for res­i­den­tial mort­gage investors. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Abuse With Impunity: The Ted Stevens Case

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The late Sen. Ted Stevens, a powerful Washington figure, was brought low by a government that abused its power. Can government be held accountable for its abuses? [Credit: Arlington Cemetery]

The late Sen. Ted Stevens, a pow­er­ful Wash­ing­ton fig­ure, was brought low by a gov­ern­ment that abused its pow­er. Can gov­ern­ment be held account­able for its abus­es? [Cred­it: Arling­ton Cemetery]

The late Sen­a­tor Ted Stevens (R‑AK) was once a pow­er­ful man.   Unbowed before col­leagues and Pres­i­dents, Stevens’ pow­er proved no match for gov­ern­ment lawyers and FBI agents, who, accord­ing to a lengthy court-ordered report, lied, hid evi­dence and delib­er­ate­ly deceived a judge and jury to obtain a guilty ver­dict against the Alas­ka Sen­a­tor just weeks before the 2008 elec­tion. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

NSA Surveillance: Insulting Our Intelligence?

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Michael Corleone warned his brother-in-law not to insult his intelligence. Does the government insult ours when it defends its snooping activities? [Credit: Rotten Tomatoes]

Michael Cor­leone warned his broth­er-in-law not to insult his intel­li­gence. Does the gov­ern­ment insult ours when it defends its snoop­ing activ­i­ties? [Cred­it: Rot­ten Tomatoes]

“Improp­er pay­ments” by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment totaled an esti­mat­ed $115.3 bil­lion in 2011, accord­ing to a report pre­pared by the Office of Man­age­ment and Bud­get (OMB), but the government’s own watch­dog agency doesn’t believe those esti­mates.  The Gov­ern­ment Account­abil­i­ty Office (GAO), which exam­ined the OMB analy­sis, thinks the num­ber of mis­spent fed­er­al dol­lars is much high­er. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Fed Up: Judge Strikes Down Federal Reserve on Swipe Fees

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The Fed holds all the cards when it sets a policy. Nobody bothered telling that to a federal judge, who last week struck down a Fed regulation on debit card swipe fees.

The Fed holds all the cards when it sets pol­i­cy. Nobody both­ered telling that to a fed­er­al judge, who last week struck down a Fed reg­u­la­tion on deb­it card swipe fees.

When it comes to bailouts, mon­e­tary pol­i­cy, and bank­ing reg­u­la­tion, the Fed­er­al Reserve has the last word. No one – not the Pres­i­dent, not Con­gress, not any­one – stops the Fed from doing what it has deter­mined to do. Until last week. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

How Washington Changed Obama

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Washington has changed the President's hair color, as it has with his predecessors. But the changes run deeper. [Credit: Post Chronicle]

Wash­ing­ton has changed the Pres­i­den­t’s hair col­or, as it did his pre­de­ces­sors’. But the changes it has made in him run deep­er. [Cred­it: Post Chronicle]

“So eight years ago, I came here to deliv­er the com­mence­ment address for the class of 2005. Things were a lit­tle dif­fer­ent back then. For exam­ple, I had no gray hair. Or a motor­cade. Didn’t even have a prompter.”

Pres­i­dent Oba­ma, Knox Col­lege, Gales­burg (IL), July 24, 2013

Many things have changed in the eight years that elapsed between Pres­i­dent Obama’s two Gales­burg address­es. But per­haps none of those things has changed as pro­found­ly as he. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Can Democrats Govern?

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Murders in Chicago and the bankruptcy of Detroit raise uncomfortable questions for Democrats who have held power in these cities for decades. [Credit: Progress Illinois]

Mur­ders in Chica­go and the bank­rupt­cy of Detroit raise uncom­fort­able ques­tions for Democ­rats who have held pow­er in these cities for decades. [Cred­it: Progress Illinois]

Rahm Emanuel pre­sides over a shoot­ing gallery. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Harry Reid and Government Power Creep

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Why is this man so sad? [Credit: themediahaven.com]

Why is this man so sad? The Sen­ate’s most pow­er­ful man yearns for more pow­er.  [Cred­it: themediahaven.com]

Nobody does sad­ness like Har­ry Reid (D‑NV). His deflat­ed body slumped over the podi­um atop his Sen­ate desk, head shak­ing slow­ly, his faint raspy voice a mix­ture of res­ig­na­tion and exas­per­a­tion, Reid spends much of his time as the Senate’s most pow­er­ful fig­ure bemoan­ing his lack of pow­er. Con­tin­ue read­ing →