Shane Harris, a reporter for National Journal, talks about The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State.
Harris charts the rise of America's surveillance state over the past 25 years and highlights a dangerous paradox: he argues the government's strategy has made it harder to catch terrorists and easier to spy on civilians. About 55 minutes. To order The Watchers go here.
Here is the 1995 version of the film Harrison Bergeron, based on the short story by Kurt Vonnegut. I happen to like this film and thought the scriptwriters did a good job of filling out Vonnegut's very short story into a feature length film. A new version of the story is hitting some of the film festivals. It is entitled 2081. Laissez Faire Books has already spoken to film producers about having copies of the new version for sale. So watch www.lfb.org for more information on that. About 100 minutes and worth it.
Author Gene Healy on The Bipartisan Romance with the Imperial Presidency.
Gene Healy, author of The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power, discusses how the role of the President has changed from the vision of the Framers of the Constitution and the obstacles to returning it to its narrow, constitutional function. About 45 minutes.
In recent years British society has become increasingly litigious. Both the government and the public increasingly turn to the law to resolve problems.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has beaten even his predecessor’s record, introducing 2,823 new laws during his first year in office.
This is the highest record for law-making by anyone at Number 10, and 40% higher than the annual average created by Margaret Thatcher. Meanwhile, disputes between neighbours, and often trivial harassment cases, are increasingly likely to come to court.
This legalistic approach to social and political problems is causing disquiet, however. Critics question whether fines or imprisonment are always the answer to interpersonal problems.
Questions are being raised about the impact new laws are having on British justice, and the individuals’ relationship to the state and to each other. The use of the law for political ends is also said to be corrupting the criminal justice system, with the abolition of double jeopardy (so that the accused can now be tried twice), proposals to increase the detention without trial of terrorist suspects to 42 days and the rise of race and religious hate laws.
A drive to increase the conviction rate in cases such as rape, the increased prominence of the victim in harassment law and the trial process are also attracting criticism as well as support.
Are we overburdening the law with social and political problems, and undermining it in the process? About one hour.
Whether you love it, hate it, or have never thought about it, chances are some politician wants to ban it. "Welcome to the Nanny State Nation," says reason.tv host Drew Carey. "Where the government minds your own business."
Saggy pants, fire places, plastic bags, light bulbs, poker—it's all been banned somewhere. Same with owning swine or fowl, feeding pigeons, owning pit bulls, and chomping on trans fats, a naughty little substance that makes food taste better.
Of course, smoking's been banned in all sorts of places—indoors, outdoors, near doors, beaches, casinos, even private homes. America's smoking ban craze began in California. So many bans start there.
"But is New York City the new California?" asks Carey? Smoking, trans fat, aluminum baseball bats, straddling a bike, wearing in-line skates or drinking coffee on a subway—the Big Apple bans them all.
Even if we don't particularly like something we should be wary of banning it because every ban is backed up by the force of law. Plus, would you want to live in a nation that bans everything that offends someone?
Carey wonders when so many of us turned into "ban-happy busybodies," and compliments the British on their more civilized approach to bans.
Drew Carey for Reason.tv, abour four minutes.
Taxpayers are shelling out over $17 billion for more than 11,000 Congressional earmarks in FY 2008. One such project is a $1.6 million earmark in this year’s defense spending bill. The money is going to the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), a program that searches for evidence of life elsewhere in the universe.
That alien pork project is just one example of how elected officials use earmarks to funnel federal tax dollars back to powerful interests in their districts. While politicians and a few of their most well-connected constituents benefit from earmarks, the costs fall on individual taxpayers. Since 1991, Americans have paid over $271 billion for pork projects.
In this new Reason.tv video, Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla) - who is known as the Senate's "Dr. No" for his aggressive opposition to earmarks - explains how taxpayers are being fleeced by Washington's insatiable appetite for pork. About 5 minutes.
Each day, as the state expands into more and more areas of human life, we have to ask: Where will it end? Here is one potential answer. About 25 minutes.
Drew Carey and Reason TV discuss the San Tan Flats case and the ban on outdoor dancing in Pinal County. About 6 minutes.
A music video about the San Tan Flats case. This restaurant, without outdoor dining, was being fined $5000 a day when it had live music because patrons danced. Outdoor dancing was banned. (If in Queen Creek, Arizona stop by and try the place -- I did. Reasonable price and decent food.) About 3 minutes.
Timothy Carney discusses his book The Big Ripoff on how big business can use government to transfer wealth to itself. About 55 minutes.
Bruce Fein and Bob Barr discuss why they formed the American Freedom Agenda to challenge the unconstitutional powers of the Bush regime. About one hour.
Robert Higgs on how war is used to expand the powers of the state. About 93 minutes, 7 parts.
The full talk of author Jim Bovard at the Future of Freedom conference. About one hour. Seven parts.
Short film on the dangers of the surveillance state. 4:24 minutes. This version is English, no subtitles.
French subtitles here.
Spanish subtitles here.
Italian subtitles here.
