The State on Steroids Steroid-enhanced uber-villain Bane. Seeking to fine-tune the utopia of peace, plenty, and progress that is the United States of America under the reign of Bush the Dumber, the Drug Enforcement Administration recently carried out what the State stenographers in the prestige press call the “largest crackdown in American history on illegal […]

The Totalitarian Entente “At a time when we are fighting terrorism abroad,” eructated the squalid mass of corruption known as Ted Kennedy, “the United States Senate says, `We are going to fight terrorism, hatred and bigotry here at home.'”The instrument chosen to carry out this domestic “anti-terrorism” campaign is a “hate crimes” measure appended to […]

Ron Paul: This Is A Man. Take Notes. Courtesy of the indispensable Scott Horton, here are the key excerpts from Ron Paul’s performance at the New Hampshire Republican “debate”:By now it should be obvious even to the most insensate observer that the Republican Party — with the heroic exception of Ron Paul and a few […]

Power vs. Authority (UPDATED, 9/11) “Power is the ability to force compliance with one’s demands; authority is the ability to command voluntary obedience.” — Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt was a diligent and widely respected student of totalitarianism. It is not necessary to agree with all, or even most, of her assumptions and conclusions to appreciate […]

Wasn’t The Suspense Terrific? (Updated, 12/3) Brown-shirted Utah Highway Patrol Officers stand in solidarity with Officer Jon Gardner during a November 30 press conference announcing that an internal inquiry found that his use of a Taser on motorist Jared Massey was “lawful.” The suspense was hardly unbearable when the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) announced that […]

A Programming Note… My good and dear friends:With my wife in the hospital again and a full house of sick kids (or should that be called a “royal flush”?), I’ve been inundated with domestic chores. This explains my scandalously long hiatus, which will end tomorrow — I promise.Mientras tanto, and apropos of nothing, I’ve decided […]

Beware the War Propheteers Playing the Christian “Bass” with the skill of Cream-era Jack Bruce: Like his notorious predecessor in Arkansas, Mike Huckabee is a high-viscosity politician advised by Dick Morris. Like too many other Republicans, he’s a Christian “pro-lifer” not unduly burdened by the death of thousands of children in needless foreign wars. One […]

Captain Blackadder’s Lament: Imperialism Isn’t Fun When The Enemy Can Shoot Back “I did like it [soldiering] in the old days, back when the prerequisite of a British campaign was that the enemy should under no circumstances carry guns. Even spears made us think twice…. The kind of people we liked to fight were two […]

Single-Serving Pre-emptive War: If George W. Bush is Right, How Can Ivan Oliver Be Wrong? Assuming that he committed the act for which he’s been arrested, Ivan Garcia Oliver shouldn’t be prosecuted as a murderer. Instead, he should be commended for his diligent application of the principle of pre-emptive warfare that is the moral foundation […]

The Gulag State, Take Two: Breyer Proposes an American “Law of Suspects” “For several centuries we had a proverb: `Don’t fear the law, fear the judge. But, in my opinion, the law has outstripped people, and people have lagged behind in cruelty. It is time to reverse the proverb: `Don’t fear the judge, fear the […]