Peter Farmer

War is a Racket

"Racket: A dishonest business or practice, especially one using fraud or extortion; an easy, profitable means of livelihood."¹ "The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag." -- Major General Smedley Butler, U.S. Marine Corps

Who Watches the Watchers?

On May 30th in Bluffdale, Utah, a discreet and understated ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by a select group of politicians and dignitaries to mark the opening of the massive new National Security Agency (NSA) data collection center.

Enemies of the State

The misuse of psychiatry as a tool of political repression has a long and sordid history. In the modern era alone, repressive regimes – from Nazi Germany to Castro’s Cuba to Mao’s China – have used involuntary psychiatric imprisonment, false diagnoses of mental illness, and other pseudo-scientific methods as a means of marginalizing, neutralizing or destroying dissidents, ideological enemies and other individuals troublesome to the state. However, perhaps nowhere else were these methods used so extensively or with such great refinement as in the Soviet Union.

The Old Razzle-Dazzle

Give 'em the old razzle dazzle
 Razzle Dazzle 'em
 Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it
 And the reaction will be passionate


Over a Barrel

The United States economy – like that of much of the developed world – remains mired in the worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Unintended Consequences

In the months since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, proponents of gun-control have redoubled their efforts to pass laws restricting – and in some cases, banning outright – the possession of certain classes of firearms, accessories, and ammunition.

Post-Constitutional America: The Trap is Closing

“A government big-enough to give you everything you want, is big-enough to take everything that you have.” -- President Gerald Ford, Address to Joint Session of Congress, 12 August 1974 By tradition, Americans are accustomed to referring to themselves as free citizens of a constitutional republic, and not subjects of an all-powerful ruler or state. Today, however, evidence continues to mount that we are no longer a free people and no longer live in a constitutional republic. The increasing size and scope of government at all levels has been a fact of life in the United States for quite some time, but in recent years – especially since the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks – that growth has accelerated dramatically. Under the Obama regime, it has gone exponential.