Welfare-Warfare State

Jim Bovard: How ‘Food for Peace’ Hurts Foreign Farmers

"The United States government is the world's largest food donor but its aid consistently wreaks havoc abroad. The Obama administration is pushing reforms that could slightly reduce the number of Third World farmers bushwhacked by American food dumped into their marketplaces. But there is scant enthusiasm in Washington for any fix of a program that is beloved by many special interests. The U.S. launched the Food for Peace program in 1954 during the Eisenhower administration, largely to dispose of embarrassing crop surpluses that had been encouraged by federal farm programs. The annual cost to taxpayers? Last year, it was roughly $1.5 billion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJim Bovard: How ‘Food for Peace’ Hurts Foreign Farmers

Authorization for Use of Military Force: a blank check for war without end

"The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), passed after the attacks of 11 September 2001, provides the legal cornerstone for the so-called US 'war on terror'. It allows the US government to wage war at anytime, any place and on anyone deemed a threat to national security. The AUMF opened the doors to the US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya; attacks on Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Mali; the new drone bases in Niger and Djibouti; and the killing of American citizens, notably Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old noncombatant son. It is what now emboldens the hawks on the warpath to Syria, Iran and North Korea." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAuthorization for Use of Military Force: a blank check for war without end

Guantanamo camp burns through $900,000 a year per inmate

"It's been dubbed the most expensive prison on Earth and President Barack Obama cited the cost this week as one of many reasons to shut down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, which burns through some $900,000 per prisoner annually. The Pentagon estimates it spends about $150 million each year to operate the prison and military court system at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba. By comparison, super-maximum security prisons in the United States spend about $60,000 to $70,000 at most to house their inmates, analysts say. And the average cost across all federal prisons is about $30,000, they say." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGuantanamo camp burns through $900,000 a year per inmate

Preposterous Waste, Pentagon Style

"There are some absurd examples of waste at the Pentagon, including 'green' jet fuel that costs 15 times as much as regular fuel. This is even worse than the bizarre $600,000 frog statue than the Defense Department selected to adorn a new $700 million office building. I realize that the $700 million office building should be the bigger issue, but I can’t help but be irked by the thought that taxpayers are being raped and pillaged for the frog. In any event, the $700 million for the office building is pocket change compared to the amount of money we misallocate to subsidize Western Europe to protect against a Warsaw Pact military alliance that no longer exists!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPreposterous Waste, Pentagon Style

The case against cronies: Libertarians must stand up to corporate greed

"In the age of crony capitalism, libertarians must declare that some means of pursuing profit are immoral and call on executives to reject them. This would create a positive case for capitalism -- arguing that the pursuit of profit, in the context of fair and open competition, helps the whole society. The new corporate social responsibility, redefined for libertarians, must stand athwart crony corporatism yelling 'stop.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe case against cronies: Libertarians must stand up to corporate greed

Pentagon Confirms Court Martial Threat To Soldiers Who Share Christian Faith

"The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: 'Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense...Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis...'. The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPentagon Confirms Court Martial Threat To Soldiers Who Share Christian Faith

20 Signs That The Next Great Economic Depression Has Already Started In Europe

"The truth is that Europe is a lot like the United States. We are both drowning in unprecedented levels of debt, and we both have overleveraged banking systems that resemble a house of cards. The reason why the U.S. does not look like Europe yet is because we have thrown all caution to the wind. The Federal Reserve is printing money as if there is no tomorrow and the U.S. government is savagely destroying the future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have by stealing more than 100 million dollars from them every single hour of every single day. But the alternative scares the living daylights out of our politicians." Continue reading →

Continue Reading20 Signs That The Next Great Economic Depression Has Already Started In Europe

Boston Bombers’ Family Received $100,000 in Government Welfare

"We know that this sort of thing goes on. We know that the welfare state is now basic to American life. But bombers or not, this family has been openly ungrateful. They have had nothing good to say about America. But America is an equal opportunity welfare state. Those who hate the country are given the same handouts as those who love the country. What did the handouts buy the voters? Resentment. The younger brother was a stoner. He spent the taxpayers’ hard-earned money on marijuana. His older brother used the money to fly to Russia and then, somehow, get to Chechnya. How the Russian authorities missed that excursion remains an unanswered question." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBoston Bombers’ Family Received $100,000 in Government Welfare

CIA ‘gave millions in cash’ to Karzai over the years

"The CIA has delivered tens of millions of dollars in cash packed in suitcases and backpacks to the office of Afghan President Hamid Karzai for more than a decade. 'We called it ghost money,' Khalil Roman, Karzai’s deputy chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, told the Times. 'It came in secret, and it left in secret.' The money was aimed at obtaining influence, but instead fueled rampant corruption, current and former officials told the newspaper. There appears to be no oversight over the secret CIA money, which is aimed at gaining influence by paying off warlords and politicians including some linked to the drug trade and even the Taliban." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCIA ‘gave millions in cash’ to Karzai over the years

Thatcher’s funeral cost British taxpayers $2.5 million

"Margaret Thatcher’s funeral cost British taxpayers an estimated £1.6 million, with a further £2 million spent on police who would have been on duty anyway, Downing Street said Thursday. Though never likely, back-of-an-envelope newspaper guesses in the run-up to the former prime minister’s funeral last week estimated the cost at £10 million. That inflamed far-left activists, angry at the expenditure on the Conservative titan amid the public spending cuts aimed at reining in Britain’s budget deficit. Of the £1.6 million figure, £1.1 million went on policing and security, Downing Street said. The remaining £500,000 was spent on ceremonial costs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThatcher’s funeral cost British taxpayers $2.5 million