http://www.fff.org/ Daily blog by Jacob G. Hornberger, president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. en-us 2006 Tue, 23 May 2006 12:17:00 EST 91 40 http://www.fff.org/ http://www.fff.org/images/logo.gif fff@fff.org (The Future of Freedom Foundation) 1 http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-11-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) With the massacre at Ft. Hood, we once again see the consequences of gun control.... Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:26 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-11-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A major federal appeals court ruling pretty much sums up what the U.S. government's pro-empire and pro-interventionist foreign policy has done to our nation.... Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:47 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-11-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) If there was ever an area in which public-school indoctrination has been effective, it's with respect to the Great Depression and Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. It is impossible for any student to escape public school without having his mind molded to accept the officially approved version of events: The Great Depression was the result of the failure of America's free-enterprise system; after the Depression hit, President Herbert Hoover did nothing, placing his total faith in free enterprise; and Franklin Roosevelt saved America's free-enterprise system with his New Deal programs.... Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:47 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-11-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Those who are complaining that government officials shouldn't be controlling what companies pay their executives need to be reminded of an important point: He who pays the piper calls the tune. Or to put it another way, those who go on the dole are inevitably going to be controlled by the government. With the dole comes control.... Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:17 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-11-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In an editorial today, the Washington Times takes federal Judge Michael M. Mihm to task for showing 'mercy' to convicted terrorist Ali al-Marri by sentencing him to 8 years of prison instead of the 15 years that the judge could have sentenced him to.... Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:23 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) President's Obama's much-ballyhooed campaign promise of 'change' has received yet another setback. This time it's respect to the U.S. embargo against Cuba, which has been in existence for some 50 years. Obama, who wowed and wooed the crowds during his presidential campaign with promises of 'change,' has decided to continue the embargo.... Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:58 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Yesterday, I participated in one of the most exciting and enjoyable libertarian events in the 30 years since I discovered libertarianism. The event was the first-ever live broadcast of Judge Andrew Napolitano's Internet program "Freedom Watch," which was broadcast from Drexel University.... Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:07 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The U.S. government has now extended its assassination program to the drug war. According to the New York Times, the Pentagon now has an assassination list for suspected drug dealers in Afghanistan.... Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:33 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A few days ago, New York Times columnists Bob Herbert and David Brooks engaged in an online conversation in which they lamented that the American people are not doing enough to support the troops who are occupying Iraq and Afghanistan. They said that Americans just aren't taking these "wars" seriously and should be engaging in much more shared sacrifice for the sake of the troops.... Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:33 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-26.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the fascinating things about liberals is how they create their own false realities and then simply ignore or block out of their minds facts that conflict with that reality.... Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:18 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) If there were a Nobel Audacity Prize, former Vice-President Dick Cheney would deserve to win it, hands-down.... Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:20 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Jane Mayer, author of the great book The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals, was interviewed yesterday on NPR on the CIA's drone attacks in Pakistan.... Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:19 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A fundamental principle of interventionism holds that one government intervention inevitably leads to more interventions, in order to 'fix' the problems of the previous interventions. At the end of this road lies omnipotent government and the loss of freedom.... Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:23 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) For decades libertarians have been arguing that the only way to put drug gangs out of business is by legalizing drugs. There is no way that drug gangs could compete against legitimate drug producers in a free market. Drug gangs thrive only in an environment of illegality, where such traits as murder, robbery, kidnapping, and corruption play an important role.... Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:12 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The race for governor here in Virginia is reaching new heights of boredom with a new battle between the candidates. This time the raging battle is over which candidate can better 'manage the economy.'... Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:18 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Anthony Placido, head of intelligence for the DEA, wants the 35-year-old drug war to continue because drugs are 'mind-altering substances that destroy human life and create violence.'... Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:13 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) People from around the country should be happy that they are being spared having to undergo the sheer boredom of Virginia's race for governor. Wow, what a yawner.... Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:31 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In my recent blog post on Lee Harvey Oswald and the CIA, I raised the possibility that Oswald was working deep undercover for the CIA when he defected to the Soviet Union and then returned to the United States as a communist sympathizer. There are a few other things about Oswald that have long mystified me.... Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:27 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) For the life of me, I still don't understand what Lee Harvey Oswald's motive was for killing President John F. Kennedy. The lone-assassin theorists say that he was a lonely and disgruntled communist sympathizer who sought glory and fame for killing someone as powerful as the president of the United States.... Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Here's an update on our Economic Liberty Lecture Series, which is turning out to be a very exciting program.... Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:10 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The U.S. Army has partially surrendered in the case of Lt. Ehren Watada by allowing Watada to resign from the army and avoid further court-martial proceedings. The Army had been prosecuting Watada for refusing orders to deploy to Iraq. The surrender was partial because Watada was given a discharge 'under other-than-honorable conditions.'... Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:46 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Pity the imperialists. What do they do? They must realize that the longer they continue occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, the more they weaken the Empire. Hey, they don't call Afghanistan the "graveyard of empires" for nothing.... Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:40 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-07.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The principal argument for continuing the 8-year occupation of Afghanistan is that if the Taliban regain power, they will provide a "sanctuary" for al-Qaeda. It is a fallacious rationale for the continued killing of Afghanis and the continued sacrifice of U.S. troops.... Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:24 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Fox News legal commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano's Internet program Freedom Watch is one of the most fascinating phenomena in the history of the libertarian movement. There's never been anything like it and if it were to break out to the Fox News television channel, it would constitute nothing less than a revolutionary development in American politics.... Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:21 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Given the surge in interest in libertarianism during the past few years, it is amazing to me that one must still lecture the New York Times on the subject but, alas, such is the case. In an article on the Roman Polanski child-rape case entitled "The Polanski Case: A Gallic Shrug" by the paper;s columnist Michael Kimmelman, the paper pointed out that initially the reaction to the case was that "the arrest painted the usual picture of moralistic America versus libertarian France."... Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:23 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Harrison, Arkansas, Daily Times reports that FedEx has covered the $11,000 bill for an air ambulance to take 7-year-old Jada Harper from Houston to her home in Arkansas. The girl has terminal cancer and is expected to die within a few months. Since the ailing girl could not have survived ground transportation, an air ambulance was the only viable option, but the family was too poor to afford it.... Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:58 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-10-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, President Barack Obama is threatening to impose even stricter sanctions on Iran, in an attempt to bend Iranian leaders to his will.... Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:51 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A federal judge has ruled against the ACLU's motion to quash a subpoena that federal prosecutors had issued against the Las Vegas Review Journal in the Robert Kahre legal-tender/tax resistance case in Las Vegas.... Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:50 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The U.S. government has just received the ultimate put-down from one of its Guantanamo prisoners. Arkin Mahmud, a Chinese Uighur who has been held at the prison camp for 8 years, stated ruefully, "In China, at least I would have a trial and sentence."... Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:32 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last week I had the good fortune of appearing on Judge Andrew Napolitano's Internet program "Freedom Watch." You can see the video here. The topic was "Auditing the Fed" but most of the discussion revolved around ending the Federal Reserve System.... Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:32 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-25.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Right is in an uproar over a video that has surfaced on YouTube showing schoolchildren at a public elementary school in New Jersey being trained to sing a paean to President Barack Obama. Conservatives say that the song is no different than what schoolchildren were trained to do in Nazi Germany and Maoist China and which is still being done in North Korea.... Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:24 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The second-best solution for the health-care crisis? Do nothing.... Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:22 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) According to a recent article in the New York Times, a private attorney has been reprimanded by the Florida Bar Association for describing a local judge as an "evil, unfair witch" on his blog. The lawyer was angry over the judge's practice of giving criminal-defense lawyers only a week to prepare for trial rather than the customary month or more. According to the lawyer, Sean Conway, the judge's motive was to pressure defense lawyers into seeking a delay, thereby waiving their client's right to a speedy trial.... Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:49 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Consider this excerpt from The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman that appeared in yesterday's Washington Post:... Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:42 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Suppose the world had awakened this morning to the news that the Russian army had attacked and invaded Bolivia. Thousands of Russian paratroopers have landed in the country, securing airports, permitting hundreds of Russian transport planes to bring in tens of thousands of Russian soldiers.... Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:16 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It seems as though every statist has his favorite health-care reform and, more important, is convinced that his particular reform is the one that is finally going to make socialism and interventionism succeed.... Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Writing about the recent resignation of Van Jones, President Obama's appointee to be green-jobs czar, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer says good riddance.... Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:30 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Several years ago, neocon supporters of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions didn't pay much heed to how their adventures were placing our nation in a very precarious financial condition. Ironically, a liberal president, through his devotion to labor unions, might now be making that risk much greater and more likely to materialize.... Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:47 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The U.S. government's primary justification for continuing the occupation of Afghanistan is to prevent the Taliban from regaining power and providing a sanctuary for al-Qaeda. Ironically, however, this is another example of the disastrous consequences of imperialism and interventionism, for it was the U.S. invasion itself that created the problem that now serves as the main justification for the indefinite occupation of the country.... Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:19 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Liberal George McGovern has a simple solution to the health-care crisis. In an op-ed in Sunday's Washington Post, McGovern recommended that we simply extend Medicare, which currently is limited to people over 65, to everyone else.... Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Whenever libertarians suggest that America's socialist programs should be immediately repealed, rather than reformed or gradually reduced, statists inevitably react with shock and horror.... Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:11 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A standard liberal argument for opposing the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan is that if the federal government wasn't spending so much money over there, it could afford to pay for a national health-care program.... Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Yesterday, I blogged about the indoctrination that is an inherent part of any government school system, whether in Cuba, the U.S., England, North Korea, or any other country. Government officials have a vested interest in ensuring a citizenry that accepts the official version of things and a citizenry that is compliant, obedient, and supportive of the government. Over a period of many years, people's mindsets are molded to encourage them as adults to let off steam by carping about the foibles and inefficiencies of politicians and bureaucrats but never to challenge, in a fundamental sense, the role that government plays in people's lives.... Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) You can always count on conservatives for injecting a bit of humor, albeit unintentionally, into any national political debate. The latest example involves their railing against President Obama's plan to deliver a speech to the public-school students of America. The conservatives are calling the president's speech "indoctrination."... Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As Americans are gradually discovering, the 8-year occupation of Afghanistan is about opposing the Taliban's attempt to regain political power, not about capturing or killing Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.... Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:04 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is embroiled in a tiff with the Poles over World War II. Like U.S. interventionists, Putin takes the position that World War II constituted a great victory for the Soviet Union, the United States, and the Allied Powers. They defeated Nazi Germany, after all, saving Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe from Nazi tyranny.... Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:16 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) An interesting question arises in the case of Phillip Garrido, the man who allegedly kidnapped 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard, raped her, and kept her captive for almost 20 years: Did the drug war play a role in this horrible event?... Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:36 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-09-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Close your eyes, let your mind roam, and imagine the following: You are living in a country where the government has the power to round up whomever it wants, incarcerate them for as long it is wants, deny them due process and a trial, and torture them. The government is attacking and occupying other countries. It is confiscating everyone's income and wealth and doling it out to others. The government is jailing people on a myriad of economic crimes and tax violations.... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:37 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-31.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) An August 29 Washington Post article entitled "How a Detainee Became an Asset" details how the CIA's "harsh interrogation techniques" caused Khalid Sheik Mohammed to become a CIA "asset," meaning that he sung like a canary, confessed his crimes, disclosed everything he knew, and cooperated with the CIA.... Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:49 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It's interesting to see conservatives calling for the U.S. Attorney General to ignore evidence that people have knowingly violated federal criminal laws against torture. Aren't conservatives usually the law-and-order crowd in this country?... Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:09 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) If there was ever a classic example of a quagmire, it has got to be Afghanistan. Hey, they're going on 8 or 9 years of killing the terrorists and just now getting a good start. What began out as a quest to kill or capture Osama bin Laden has morphed into long-term occupation of the country.... Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:19 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-26.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) If we're going to let federal officials who have violated federal criminal statutes against torture off the hook, then why shouldn't drug users and tax resisters be pardoned at the same time? After all, what the drug users and tax resisters have done pales in comparison to what the torturers have done. If the torturers are permitted to go scot-free, then the drug users and tax resisters deserve to be freed as well.... Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:34 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-25.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Let's assume that a U.S. president authorizes the CIA to rape the family members of suspected terrorists as a way to get them to talk. He also authorizes his subordinates to place the suspected terrorists on a rack that stretches them apart until they confess and disclose all details of their suspected terrorism,... Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:47 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The conservative masses are railing against all socialism coming out of the Obama administration, and rightfully so. Socialism has proven to be the bane of mankind. With its resurgence under the Obama administration, it continues to pose a giant threat to the economic freedom and well-being of the American people.... Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:34 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Liberal columnist David Sorota is scared, and he believes that the First Amendment is intended to eliminate his fear. In a column entitled "Freedom from Fear -- and the Second Amendment," Sorota argues that because some people get scared when they see guns and think that the gun owner is going to shoot them if they say the wrong thing, the Second Amendment is a threat to the First Amendment.... Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:22 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In separate op-eds, liberals Marie Cocco and E.J. Dionne are exclaiming against those people who have the audacity to exercise their right to keep and bear arms at political rallies.... Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:40 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Statists argue that people have a right to health care. They say the same thing about housing, education, clothing, food, and retirement pay. Maybe a car too.... Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:03 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In a recent article entitled "Gunning for Health Care," New York Times columnist Gail Collins made a catty remark about libertarians. Referring to William Kostric, the New Hampshire libertarian who was openly carrying a pistol during a protest, Collins wrote: "Beyond an air of mild surprise, he seemed like your average hard-core Ron Paul voter -- male, smug and obsessed with the money supply."... Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:29 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last week, Las Vegas businessman Robert Kahre, the man who paid his workers in gold coins and silver coins, was convicted on all 57 counts of tax evasion. Forty-eight years old, he now faces the rest of his life in prison. His girlfriend and mother of his four children was also convicted. Sentencing will be in November.... Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:26 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I have respect for Bernie Sanders, the U.S. Senator from Vermont. Why? Because he's honest about what he is. He says "I'm a socialist and proud of it."... Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:32 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Today's issue of FFF Email Update links to an article about a rancher from my hometown of Laredo, Texas, who is complaining about abuses at the hands of the U.S. Border Patrol.... Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:47 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Attorney General Eric Holder is considering appointing a special prosecutor to investigate whether crimes relating to torture were committed by federal personnel during the Bush administration. There's one big problem, however, with what Holder is proposing: His mandate to the special prosecutor would limit the investigation to underlings who committed acts outside the parameters set forth in the so-called torture memos and prohibit any investigation and prosecution of the higher-ups who designed the overall scheme or participated in its implementation. It also would prohibit prosecution of people who broke the law by committing acts that fell within the authorized parameters.... Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Socialists who proudly proclaim the great success of the socialistic welfare state, including Social Security and Medicare, block out of their minds the fact that socialist programs are not free. The federal government is not an independent fountain of wealth or even an independent business operating alongside private businesses in the marketplace. Instead, the government is an entity that gets its money by taxing the private sector.... Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:53 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The inanity of gun control is manifesting itself in the case of former New York Giants' wide receiver Plaxico Burress. Thanks to New York City's strict gun laws, which carry a mandatory minimum sentence, Burress is facing 3 1/2 years in the penitentiary.... Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:30 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-07.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The United States has long had a tradition of prohibiting the military from serving as the domestic police. We Americans consider a bad thing to have the military serving in that capacity. This tradition is reflected in the Posse Comitatus Act, which was enacted in 1878 and expressly prohibits U.S. military forces from engaging in domestic law enforcement.... Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:09 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Dear Older Americans: As you no doubt know, our nation is mired in a socialist morass, one that is moving our country into financial bankruptcy. At the center of this mess are Social Security and Medicare, two socialist programs whose primary beneficiaries are you, the older people of America.... Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:35 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Most everyone who is not a libertarian misses the central point in the health care debate. It's the same point, by the way, in the Social Security debate. The point is the one that involves a basic moral principle: It's wrong to take what doesn't belong to you, whether you are a Christian, Jew, Muslim, atheist, or whatever.... Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:51 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The real battle taking place in America is between the lovers of liberty and the lovers of government. That's what the healthcare debate is all about. The lovers of government want the federal government to operate a healthcare program. The lovers of liberty prefer a free market in healthcare, that is, a market free of government interference.... Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:51 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I recently received a note from a former supporter of FFF telling me that the reason that she had stopped donating after 9/11 was because we had blamed "the USA" for the 9/11 attacks. She had supported our work from our inception in 1990 until 2001.... Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:35 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-31.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In an July 29 editorial entitled "The Military Is Not the Police," the New York Times stated, "It was disturbing to learn the other day just how close the last administration came to violating laws barring the military from engaging in law enforcement when President George W. Bush considered sending troops into a Buffalo suburb in 2002 to arrest terrorism suspects.... More needs to be done to ensure that the military is not illegally deployed in this country."... Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:40 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Neighbors of Daniel Boyd, a son of a Marine, are befuddled over his federal indictment on terrorism-related charges. Boyd, who attended a public high school here in Northern Virginia and who now lives in North Carolina, runs a dry-wall business in Raleigh.... Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:50 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times carried a fascinating article that detailed the pride that a particular torturer took in doing his job well. The man expressed "pride in the efficiency" with which he did his job. As he put it, "In my entire life, if I do something, I'll do it properly." As a boy, he said that was "well-disciplined" and "respected the teachers and did good deeds.... Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:14 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Amidst all the hubbub regarding racism and the cops arising out of the arrest of Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., we should at least mention the biggest outlet for racist cops: the war on drugs. As any black living in the poorer part of any community in America will attest, the drug war has long provided racist cops with the perfect excuse for harassing and abusing blacks. And if anyone accuses them of racist conduct in subjecting blacks to harassment, such as with abusive searches and seizures, racist cops have the perfect comeback: I'm just protecting the community with the war on drugs.... Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A logical consequence of having permitted the Bush administration to treat terrorism as either an act of war or a criminal offense, came to the forefront last week when the New York Times revealed that top administration officials were considering deploying troops here in the United States to take suspected terrorists into custody as "enemy combatants." The suspected terrorists were part of a group that came to be known as the Lackawanna Six.... Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Since everyone is discussing the socialism of the Obama administration, it seems to me that this would be a good time to discuss the Pledge of Allegiance.... Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:10 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While we're on the subject of a one-party political system in places like Iran and China, we would be remiss if we didn't remind periodically remind ourselves that for all practical purposes, the political situation isn't much different here in the United States.... Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:33 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The pro-torture crowd sure seems quiet about the plight of 23-year-old private Bowe R. Bergdahl, the American soldier being held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan.... Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:23 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I have published three blog posts regarding the abusive grand-jury subpoena that federal prosecutors in the Robert Kahre case served on the Las Vegas Review Journal:... Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:41 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Washington insiders are agog over what seems to be a rather dramatic flip flop of principles by conservatives at the American Conservative Union, which touts itself as America's oldest conservative lobbying organization. Like other conservative organizations, the ACU spouts the standard free-market, limited-government mantra that conservatives have employed since at least the 1950s: "our commitment to a market economy, the doctrine of original intent of the Framers of the Constitution, traditional moral values, and a strong national defense."... Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:08 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The debate over the health-care monstrosity that Congress is considering enacting raises some fundamental issues about our lives, liberty, and health.... Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:39 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One the interesting aspects of the Honduran coup debate is with respect to the economic policies of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Those who defend Zelaya's ouster are quick to criticize his leftist philosophy and programs, along with his ideological alliance with Hugo Chavez, the leftist ruler of Venezuela. Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:39 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the most shocking aspects of Barack Obama's presidency so far has been his embrace of the power that George W. Bush assumed to incarcerate people suspected of terrorism for the rest of their lives, without a jury trial to determine whether they are in fact guilty of the offense. There is absolutely no reason why Obama and any future president cannot expand that power to other federal criminal offenses, including drug crimes and gun crimes. Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:07 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) There are two interesting developments in Jose Padilla's lawsuit against former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo, who was one of the authors of the infamous torture memos. Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:51 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I can't help but be amused by sentiments being expressed by liberals regarding Robert McNamara's tenure at the World Bank. The notion is that, hey, McNamara wasn't so bad. Even though he was responsible for the deaths of millions of people during the Vietnam War, he ended up helping the poor, needy, and disadvantaged around the world with World Bank loans. Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:19 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I've got good news and bad news about the coup in Honduras. The good news is that the U.S. government has suspended $16.5 million in military-assistance programs to Honduras and threatened that another $180 million in aid could be at risk. The bad news is that it's only a temporary suspension and only a threat of a cutoff, not a permanent termination of foreign aid to Honduras and its military. Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:19 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Lest anyone believe that the war on terrorism began on September 11, 2001, take a look at this article from the July 20, 1959, issue of Time magazine, one of the premier examples of the establishment press in America. The article details the facts surrounding the deaths of the first two U.S. soldiers to die in Vietnam 50 years ago, Major Dale Buis and Sgt. Chester Ovnand. Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:28 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In yet another effort to continue the policies of the Bush administration, the Obama administration is targeting American companies that hire illegal immigrants. But to demonstrate that being a compassionate liberal is better than being a compassionate conservative, Obama's immigration gendarmes aren't conducting violent publicity-seeking raids on the businesses. Instead, they're sending written notices to targeted companies threatening civil fines and orders to fire the illegal workers.... Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:51 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-07.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Lost in all the debate over whether the coup in Honduras was a coup or not is the great big elephant sitting in the room that no one is talking about. What in the world is the U.S. government doing with a military base in Honduras on which hundreds of U.S. soldiers are residing? It seems that the U.S. Empire has become such a strongly established way of life for the American people and the people of the world that U.S. imperial bases around the world are now just the given. Presidents, both foreign and domestic, come and go, but the Empire is permanent, both here and abroad.... Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:31 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) According to the New York Times, Iranian officials have announced that they have secured confessions from top reformers to a conspiracy to bring down the Iranian government. The paper stated that such confessions are "almost always extracted under duress."... Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The true revolutionary aspect of the Fourth of July was not the military battles that the English colonists waged against the British Empire. Instead, it was the notion that was expressed in the Declaration of Independence: man's rights do not come from government but rather from nature and God.... Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:39 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the aspects of the Iraq War that has fascinated me the most is how CIA agents and U.S. soldiers could actually bring themselves to kill, torture, and sexually abuse Iraqis. After all, don't forget that neither the Iraqi people nor their government participated in the 9/11 attacks. The worst "crime" that any Iraqi committed against any American was resisting an unlawful invasion of his country.... Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:34 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-07-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Amidst all the health care debate, there is one underlying assumption that hardly anyone challenges: the notion that people have a right to health care. The truth is that it's a nonsensical notion. People no more have a right to health care than they have a right to education, food, or clothing.... Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:26 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The military coup in Honduras, which some U.S. conservatives are already hailing as a pro-democracy coup, as they did after military strongman Gen. Augusto Pinochet's military coup in Chile, brings to mind a fantastic movie -- Seven Days in May, starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, and Ava Gardner.... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:26 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Many Europeans love to look down their noses at Americans over the issue of gun rights. They just cannot understand how Americans can be so uncivilized as to leave people free to own guns.... Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:58 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-26.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As Christopher Maietta, the Justice Department prosecutor in the current trial of Las Vegas businessman Robert Kahre, was making his opening statement, the following sentence appeared on a screen inside the courtroom: "This is a case about money, greed and fraud."... Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-25.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While the Ayattolahs in Iran are intimidating people into ceasing their criticism of the government, U.S. Justice Department prosecutors are doing the same here in the United States, specifically in the trial of U.S. vs. Robert Kahre, which is currently taking place in Las Vegas. Upset with critical comments posted by American citizens regarding the prosecution of a man who used gold and silver coins issued by the U.S. mint as legal tender, the prosecutors have been abusing their power to issue grand-jury subpoenas.... Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:05 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Conservatives are protesting a federal judge's ruling that torture victim Jose Padilla's civil lawsuit against former Justice Department attorney John Yoo be permitted to continue. The conservatives feel that Yoo, who authored some of the infamous torture memos for the Bush White House, should be immune from lawsuits from Americans who were tortured as a natural consequence of such memos.... Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:13 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The situation in Iran is providing liberals with a harsh lesson about the First Amendment and the Second Amendment. It's a lesson that our American ancestors understood very well.... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:32 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Now that the Democrats are in charge of the White House, liberals are doing all they can to suppress criticism of big government. The newest strategy is to link criticism of big government to unlawful acts of violence, such as the shooting at the Holocaust Museum or the shooting of the abortion doctor.... Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Washington establishment is agog over the arrest of Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers on charges of spying for Cuba. He's the great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell who worked for 30 years at the State Department, and she's a housewife turned political activist.... Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) American interventionists are upset with Barack Obama for not taking a more aggressive stand in favor of the protestors in Iran. Alas, the interventionists just don't get it. While they themselves are lovers of the U.S. federal government, what they don't understand is that such love is not shared by people in other parts of the world, including people who are resisting tyranny in Iran.... Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:43 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last Friday in my blog "Kahre's Prosecutors Are Going Nutso," I blogged about the abusive subpoena that federal prosecutors had served on the Las Vegas Review-Journal.... Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:11 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Notwithstanding its occupations of two nations -- Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. Empire is at it again, fulfilling its role as the world's international policeman, this time with respect to North Korea. Americans should hope that things don't get out of control because if they do, there is little doubt that if war were to unexpectedly and suddenly break out in Korea tens of thousands of young men and possibly young women would be drafted to fight and die in such a war.... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:38 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo, who authored some of infamous torture memos for the Bush administration, has just received an adverse ruling in a federal lawsuit brought by Jose Padilla, the American citizen who was incarcerated and tortured for several years by the U.S. military.... Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:07 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I have a hunch that things are not going well for the prosecution in the case of U.S. vs. Robert Kahre, which I blogged about last week. The reason that I say that is that it would seem the most likely explanation for the Las Vegas U.S. Attorney's office going what can only be described as nutso.... Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:28 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The news media is reporting that an armed man shot and killed a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum yesterday with a 22-caliber rifle. That's impossible. It just cannot be true.... Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:23 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Pentagon and the CIA are opposing the release of photographs that depict the torture and sex abuse of prisoners and detainees while in their custody. The basis for their objection is "national security."... Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:29 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In the debates leading up to the enactment of the U.S. Constitution, our American ancestors made a demand. If we accept the Constitution and the federal government it is calling into existence, they said, then we demand passage of a Bill of Rights immediately after the Constitution is adopted.... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:07 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Mainstream commentators are both surprised and impressed over an admission that President Obama made in his speech in Cairo. Obama publicly acknowledged what no U.S. president has ever dared to state - the U.S. government's overthrow of the democratically elected prime minister of Iran in 1953.... Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:06 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) When I was kid growing up on a farm outside Laredo, Texas, I had the rather unfortunate experience of having to rid our lawn of weeds. The important thing I learned about weeds is that to get rid of them permanently, you have to pull them out by the root.... Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:43 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) President Obama is in Cairo to deliver a major address to the Muslim world, which no doubt will explain that the U.S. government loves the people of the Middle East and is doing all sorts of good things to them..... Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:49 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) For the life of me, I cannot figure out what Las Vegas businessman Robert Kahre has done to deserve a federal criminal indictment. From what I can tell, Kahre is the victim of a brutal, heavy-handed Justice Department that is acting at the behest of the IRS and possibly even officials of the Federal Reserve.... Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:31 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Hope springs eternal, at least for the socialists. Despite the fact that socialism has failed all over the world to raise people's standard of living, socialists continue to hope that someone will finally prove that socialism will work. The latest hope arises with the U.S. government's decision to become the majority owner of General Motors, in exchange for the infusion of some $50 billion of taxpayer money into the company.... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:44 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-06-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A few days after 9/11, a friend of mine at the conservative Heritage Foundation proudly exclaimed to me that Heritage had immediately jumped out in favor of the Bush administration's war on terrorism, with positions papers and articles. At the same time, Heritage continued to carry the same mission statement on its website: "to formulate public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional values, and a strong national defense."... Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:21 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As a libertarian, it's hard for me to get all worked up over President Barack Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, as conservatives and liberals are now doing. The only time I'd ever get excited about a Supreme Court nomination is if someone with a libertarian philosophy were nominated, such as Randy Barnett, Richard Epstein, or Andrew Napolitano. Heck, I'd also be excited over the nomination of what I would call principled liberals, such as Glenn Greenwald, Jonathan Turley, Joanne Mariner, and Joseph Margulies. Conservative Bruce Fein would be another great selection.... Fri, 29 May 2009 11:21 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Chinese government's strict control over the Internet will come in handy during the upcoming 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, when Chinese troops, faithfully following orders of their superiors, opened fire on tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators.... Thu, 28 May 2009 11:06 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) U.S. defenders of the war on terrorism are agog over the fact that a Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzon, has initiated a criminal investigation of the Justice Department lawyers who prepared the infamous torture memos. Garzon is the same judge who initiated criminal proceedings in Spain against Chilean military strongman Augusto Pinochet for torture, murder, and other crimes committed by Pinochet's subordinates in Chile.... Wed, 27 May 2009 10:38 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-26.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) There are those who argue that U.S. officials who authorized waterboarding and who performed waterboarding should not be held criminally accountable, notwithstanding the fact that the U.S. government prosecuted Japanese military personnel who waterboarded U.S. POWs during World War II. Their reasoning goes as follows: Since the president's attorneys redefined torture to mean only those actions that threaten death or serious injury to bodily organs, waterboarding did not meet that redefinition.... Tue, 26 May 2009 12:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While Barack Obama was delivering his flowery speech justifying the indefinite imprisonment without trial of people suspected of violating laws against terrorism, the New York Times and Bloomberg were reporting on the financial consequences of out-of-control federal spending.... Fri, 22 May 2009 09:59 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The federal government's new drug czar, R. Gil Kerlikowski, recently told the Wall Street Journal that it's time to retire the phrase "war on drugs." He said, "Regardless of how you try to explain to people that it's a 'war on drugs' ... people see a war as on them. We're not at war with people in this country."... Thu, 21 May 2009 09:53 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) An editorial in yesterday's New York Times entitled "Myanmar's Cowardly Generals" excoriates the brutal military regime in Myanmar, aka Burma, for threatening the country's pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, with additional criminal charges for letting an uninvited American visitor spend the night in her home.... Wed, 20 May 2009 11:04 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As part of the much-vaunted change that Barack Obama said that he was bringing to America as president, Obama has announced that he is dropping President Bush's use of the term "enemy combatant" from his lexicon. At the same time, he has announced that he will continue the Bush administration's post-911 assumption of power to arrest and incarcerate people for the rest of their lives without a trial.... Tue, 19 May 2009 10:15 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) An increasing number of articles are pointing to evidence that U.S. officials tortured detainees to force them to disclose a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. The evidence includes an allegation by Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff for then Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has alleged that the enhanced interrogation program's "principal priority for intelligence was not aimed at preempting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al Qaeda."... Mon, 18 May 2009 11:18 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) According to an article in yesterday' New York Times, illegal immigration from Mexico into the United States has plummeted, to the tune of about a quarter-million people, a 25 percent decline.... Fri, 15 May 2009 11:18 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Recall that immediately after 9/11, U.S. officials put out the official version of what had motivated the terrorists. "They hate America for its freedom and values," they cried. The anger and hatred that had motivated the attackers had nothing to do with U.S. foreign policy, U.S. officials claimed.... Thu, 14 May 2009 11:35 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The case of Lt. Erin Watada provides a good example of why our American ancestors opposed a standing army. You'll recall that Watada is the U.S. military officer who refused orders to deploy to Iraq on the ground that to do so would constitute the war crime of waging a war of aggression.... Wed, 13 May 2009 09:49 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The soul-searching and handwringing within the conservative movement continues apace. Dick Cheney has entered the controversy by suggesting that Colin Powell should leave the Republican Party owing to Powell's pre-election campaign endorsement of Barack Obama. Cheney's view echoed that of conservative icon Rush Limbaugh, who Powell suggested was part of the reason that Republicans were in trouble.... Tue, 12 May 2009 10:20 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Desperate for money and exposing the naked force of government, the socialist regime of Hugo Chavez is seizing the assets of foreign oil companies operating in Venezuela. At the same time, Chavez is implicitly acknowledging that socialism doesn't work because he's simultaneously soliciting bids from private oil companies in the West for new oil projects, no doubt hoping that the bidders ignore what he is doing to current operators.... Mon, 11 May 2009 10:48 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In the wake of President Obama's decision to not seek criminal prosecutions of U.S. officials who violated criminal statutes against torture, maybe this would be a good time to revisit the case of Tomoyuki Yamashita. He was a World War II Japanese army general in charge of troops in the Pacific. After the war, he was executed by U.S. military officials for being a "war criminal."... Fri, 08 May 2009 10:27 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-07.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While he says he remains opposed to legalizing marijuana, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger just declared that he would welcome a debate on the issue.... Thu, 07 May 2009 11:56 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The fact is that life is insecure, including financially and economically. No one is guaranteed that his investments will prosper or that his business will succeed. Sometimes circumstances go for you and sometimes they go against you.... Wed, 06 May 2009 10:56 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) John Ashcroft, who served as U.S. attorney general from 2001 to 2005, has an op-ed in the New York Times today where he exclaims, "The government must hold accountable any individuals who acted illegally in the financial meltdown."... Tue, 05 May 2009 09:53 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Pity the poor Republicans. Having suffered massive losses in the political process, they are now in search of a "new message" that they hope will restore them to political power. Their problem, however, is that given their unwavering commitment to socialist, interventionist, and imperial programs, the likelihood is that voters will see through the charade of a "new message."... Mon, 04 May 2009 10:36 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-05-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Not surprisingly, immigration warriors are using the swine flu outbreak to buttress their case for closing the borders to the outside world. In the process, they miss a big problem, however, one that I have raised for many years. If we're going to have the government close the borders to people coming into the country to protect us from infectious diseases, then we're going to have to also close the borders in the other direction, which means prohibiting Americans from traveling to other countries, where they can catch diseases and bring them back. And that necessarily will mean a lot of control and tyranny, as citizen of North Korea will attest.... Fri, 01 May 2009 09:35 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The omnipotent power claimed by the CIA was dealt a major blow Tuesday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Binyam Mohamed et al v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc.... Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:28 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It is refreshing to see that speakers at our 2007 and 2008 conferences "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" have continued speaking out in the defense of civil liberties and in opposition to the pro-empire, pro-intervention foreign policy that holds our nation in its grip.... Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:44 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the major obstacles to both criminal prosecutions and a truth commission regarding the CIA's torture program is the underlying reluctance of U.S. officials to focus attention on the super-secret operations of the CIA.... Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:44 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While we're on the subject of criminal prosecutions and congressional investigations into the CIA's kidnapping, torture, sex abuse, and murder campaign, is it too late to ask the same for the case of Charles Horman? He was the 31-year-old American journalist who was murdered in 1973 by Chilean military thugs with the support and complicity of the CIA.... Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:34 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Advocates of the war on immigrants often claim as a justification for their war that illegal aliens steal jobs away from Americans. Of course, it's a spurious claim. No one has a right to any particular job. Employers, as owners of their businesses, have the moral right to offer employment or deny employment to anyone they wish. If an employer chooses to use his own money to hire a foreigner, that is his moral right. The employee hasn't "stolen" the job from an American because no American had any ownership rights to the employer's money or to employment in his firm.... Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:48 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A friend of mine who is a piano instructor was telling me that a parent of one of her students told her that her child loves the piano so much that she has trouble pulling him away from it. Apparently, the student, who is 17, practices several hours every day. The reason he's able to do that is that he's home-schooled.... Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:42 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) So, let me see if I have this right. The members of the Gestapo would have been let off the hook for the brutality and murders they committed because they were simply following orders. And those who issued the orders would have been let off the hook because compliant and submissive German lawyers had handed them legal opinions opining that what the Gestapo was doing was legal. And the lawyers would have been let off the hook because they were just issuing legal opinions, not committing the brutality and murders?... Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:02 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In obvious response to growing calls for the prosecution of Bush administration personnel who tortured people or who authorized the torture of people, former Vice President Dick Cheney has called on the CIA to declassify information showing that that the torture delivered "good" intelligence. Maybe he is referring to the 183 times that the CIA waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or to the 83 times the CIA waterboarded Abu Zubadah.... Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:14 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While there's always room for hope, so far it is clear that Barack Obama is just a standard political hack from Chicago who made it to the presidency, primarily through his gift of gab and through voter dissatisfaction with the standard political hacks in the Republican Party.... Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:41 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Amidst all the failures and destructiveness of U.S. socialism, interventionism, and imperialism, U.S. officials can claim 3 recent successes in their war on immigrants.... Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:51 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In its self-proclaimed role as world cop, the U.S. military is now assuming the role of protecting U.S.-owned vessels -- and maybe even ships owned by foreigners -- from Somali pirates. Actually, the U.S. Navy should butt out of the international piracy field and leave ship-owners to their own devices in dealing with the piracy problem.... Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:36 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Of course, it's just a coincidence but isn't at least a bit ironic that all the hullabaloo about piracy has occurred near April 15? After all, is the IRS really any different, in principle, from the pirates?.... Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:36 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Through executive decree, President Obama is graciously easing restrictions on travel to Cuba and restrictions on sending money to Cuba. The decree, however, applies only to Cuban-Americans who have family members in Cuba. The rest of the American people will continue to be subject to harsh federal criminal and civil penalties for traveling to Cuba and spending their money there.... Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:09 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) To gain a good perspective on how the Pentagon and the CIA view the Constitution, all one has to do is consider what they've done with their prison camps in Cuba and Afghanistan.... Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:26 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the arguments that libertarian advocates of border controls often use is the sovereignty argument. It goes like this: Since government is the owner of the highways, it can legitimately control who travels on them, much as a private owner has the right to control who comes into his home or business. These libertarians claim that if the highway were privately owned, the private owners would bar foreigners from freely using them and, therefore, the federal government should do the same thing.... Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:31 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) If President Bush and Vice-President Cheney think that time is on their side with respect to crimes committed by their administration, this week's criminal conviction of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori should put those thoughts to rest. Returning to Peru in the hope of returning to power, Fujimori was instead put on trial and convicted of "crimes against humanity," including the killing of 25 people by military death squad.... Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:29 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) If you had any doubts that the Pentagon lives in a bizarre world all its own, such doubts will surely be dispelled when you read this blog post by Glenn Greenwald. The post concerns Clive Stafford, an international human rights lawyer who represents Binyam Mohamed, a British citizen whom the Pentagon recently released from Guantanamo after several years of imprisonment. Upon his return to Britain, Mohamed detailed brutal torture to which he was subjected at Guantanamo.... Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:29 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-07.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last night I saw one of the greatest speeches I've ever seen at our Economic Liberty Lecture Series at George Mason University. The speech was by Bruce Fein, whose Washington Times column we often link to in our FFF Email Update and who was one of the speakers at our conference "Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties." Bruce is one of the nation's greatest and most able defenders of the Constitution, civil liberties, privacy, and a republic.... Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:29 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Students at the University of Maryland are receiving a valuable lesson about the welfare state and, specifically, the education dole that state officials provide institutions of higher learning. The students had scheduled a showing of a porn flick on campus as part of their studies on constitutional law. A Maryland state legislator threatened a cutoff of state funds to the university, which caused university officials to cancel the showing. Citing the First Amendment, the students are protesting by scheduling an unauthorized viewing of the film on campus.... Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:22 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Have you ever wondered how it is that Americans today have such a completely different attitude toward the federal government than the people who founded our country?... Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:52 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) What was momentous about the 9/11 attack was not the attack itself, given that there had been other terrorist attacks in response to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East (e.g., the 1993 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the USS Cole, and U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania) but rather how U.S. officials used the 9/11 attack to assume "war on terrorism" powers. They were able to accomplish that through a clever sleight of hand in which they unilaterally converted terrorism from a crime to an act of war, enabling them to claim what were essentially dictatorial powers to wage war on terrorism.... Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:39 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-04-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Supporters of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan cite the U.S. occupation of Iraq to buttress their case for staying in Afghanistan. "The surge! The surge!" they cry, reminding people that increasing the level of U.S. troops in Iraq has brought stability, peace, and freedom to that country, enabling the U.S. government to rebuild the nation into a shining beacon of democracy and prosperity for the world.... Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:49 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-31.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The presidential advisor for press affairs to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has an interesting op-ed in the Los Angeles Times today. Pointing out that Barack Obama's offer to talk to the Iranian regime is nice, Ali Akbar Javanfekr pointed out that words alone are insufficient, especially if the U.S. government persists in conducting an aggressive and interventionist foreign policy.... Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:49 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In an article on CNN.com, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA, reminds us of how conservatives and liberals share a common philosophical framework with respect to the role of government in our lives, a framework that poses a grave threat to our freedom.... Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:45 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The mainstream press is adding its two cents worth of drug-war inanities to those being issued by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her trip to Mexico. Both the Los Angeles Times and New York Times are praising Clinton for having the courage to acknowledge the role that the U.S. plays in the drug war. And what role are they referring to? The demand for drugs among American drug users.... Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:33 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-26.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Hillary Clinton's comments on the violence along the U.S.-Mexico border are so inane that I feel compelled to write about two government programs: the war on drugs and public (i.e., government) schooling.... Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:46 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-25.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As we were pulling together today's FFF Email Update, two points from two different articles struck me for their truthfulness and insightfulness.... Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:34:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The U.S. Postal Service has announced that another in its endless series of rate increases will take effect in May. The announcement raises a question that unfortunately too few Americans ever ask themselves: Why not simply abolish the Postal Service or at least repeal its monopoly on first-class mail delivery?... Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:22:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Over the weekend, I finished reading a really interesting book on the JFK assassination, JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters by James W. Douglass, a Catholic theologian. Its theme is that there was a high-level conspiracy involving the CIA, military-industrial complex, and FBI in Kennedy's assassination.... Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:26:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last night I participated in a great debate on Afghanistan sponsored by the Donald and Paula Smith Family Foundation in New York City. There were about 150-200 people in the auditorium. I assume that the video of the debate will be posted soon on the Internet and when it is, I'll let you know. At the post-debate dinner, one of the attendees said of all the debates she had seen at the Smith Family Foundation, this was the best one.... Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:26:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It' nice that people are angry and upset over those bonuses paid by taxpayer-bailout beneficiary AIG, but what fascinates me is the lack of anger and outrage over the really horrific things the federal government has done for the past 8 years, including the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the out-of-control federal spending, the inflation, the mortgaging of our nation to the communist regime in China, the terrible assaults on civil liberties, kidnapping and rendition, torture and sex abuse of prisoners and detainees, indefinite detentions, illegal wiretapping and monitoring of telephone calls and emails, and nullification of the Bill of Rights in cases involving terrorism.... Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:26:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The state of Virginia has just enacted a smoking ban for restaurants and bars. At the same time, Virginia' governor, Timothy Kaine, plans to veto a bill authorizing people with concealed-carry permits to carry weapons into bars and restaurants.... Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:22:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The U.S. government is sending heavily armed destroyers to the South China Sea after a standoff between five Chinese boats and a U.S. spy ship operating in the area. Before the destroyers have even arrived, however, the Chinese communist government has sent a shot across their bow, in the form of a not-so-subtle reminder that China is now one of the U.S. government's principal creditors.... Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:27:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the various justifications that border-control advocates use to justify their support of regulated or sealed borders is that border control, they say, is necessary to protect us from terrorists.... Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:27:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Liberals are saying that President Obama isn't really a socialist because he doesn't favor complete government ownership and control of everything, which is the strict definition of socialism.... Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As the Berlin Wall came crashing down, the Pentagon was desperately in search of a mission.... Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:07:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) If Barack Obama's handling of the Ali al-Marri case was supposed to show his credentials as a major change-agent as president, he has flunked the test.... Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:51:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Amidst all the devastation from the latest economic crisis, there have been some really funny moments. Among the most humorous has got to be what happened this past week with President Obama and the New York Times.... Mon, 09 Mar 2009 10:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Advocates of the U.S. government's war on immigrants are no doubt celebrating the 23-month sentence in a federal penitentiary that Martin de La Rosa-Loera received this week. His "crime"? As supervisor of a meat-packing plant in Postville, Iowa, he was convicted of "aiding and abetting the harboring of 389 illegal aliens." Translation: He was a plant supervisor where illegal aliens were working.... Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:40:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson is agog that people are calling Barack Obama a socialist. Socialism, he says, is when the government owns everything. Apparently, such things as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, stimulus packages, bailouts, massive federal spending, and perhaps even nationalization of banks should simply be considered as free-market reforms that save free enterprise rather than as socialist steps on the road to socialism.... Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:10:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I know that it's been considered improper to bring up Hitler in the context of what the Bush administration did for the past 7 years, but I wish someone would explain to me how Bush's powers, as now revealed by those secret legal memos, were different from the dictatorial powers exercised by Hitler after the terrorist attack on the Reichstag in 1933, soon after Hitler became chancellor.... Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:05:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Another war-on-terrorism success story comes out of Afghanistan, where U.S. troops have been battling The Terrorists for some 7 years (and, if things go according to plan, will be battling Them for at least another 7 years). Heavily armed U.S. troops entered a village in Logar Province in the dead of night, raided a "compound," and shot dead two men.... Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:33:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Flip-flopping once again, the U.S. government has decided to re-convert Ali al-Marri from an "enemy combatant" in the "war on terrorism" to an indicted terrorist suspect in U.S. federal district court. ... Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In an editorial this morning sarcastically entitled "The Drug Cartel's Right to Bear Arms" the New York Times is climbing aboard the drug-war/gun-control bandwagon.... Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:10:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-25.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Did you ever think you'd see the day when a U.S. Secretary of State would be pleading with a communist regime to continue lending money to the U.S. government? Well, that's what Hillary Clinton has been doing this week in China. She's been making the case to the Chinese communists that they would be smart to continue financing the U.S. government's out-of-control spending. Clinton obsequiously said to her commie hosts, "I certainly do think that the Chinese government and central bank are making a smart decision by continuing to invest in Treasury bonds. It's a safe investment. The United States has a well-deserved financial reputation."... Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) U.S. presidents spend a lot of time obsessing over whether they should talk to foreign regimes that are not-so-friendly to the U.S. government. The issue usually arises in the context of U.S. restrictions on trade that have been imposed on foreign countries with the aim of forcing their governments to comply with U.S. dictates.... Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:03:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) There is one thing that American statists cannot deny: their beloved paternalistic state has failed to protect people and keep them safe and secure. The statists can declaim against deregulation, free enterprise, capitalism, speculators, CEOs, and greed all they want, but the simple fact remains: The paternalistic state has failed in its mission -- to keep people safe and secure.... Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:03:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Soon after the Pentagon lost its longtime Official Enemy -- The Communists -- with the fall of the Berlin Wall, all the talk about a "peace dividend" caused Pentagon officials to go into overdrive developing reasons as to why the military budget should not be slashed. Among the things the Pentagon offered to do was to help wage the war on drugs. Of course, that was before The Terrorists had replaced The Communists as the new Official Enemy.... Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:48:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Have you ever wondered how countries such as Cuba, North Korea, and China became completely socialist? It's really not a mystery. Government officials, most of whom suffer from an insatiable thirst for power, seize upon some human tragedy or disaster and tell the people, "If you will just give us power over your lives and fortunes, we will take care of you and protect you from harm." The citizenry, many of whom live lives of fear and insecurity, cannot pass up the bargain. What could be better than to be take care of by a paternalistic state and protected from the bad things that life presents? ... Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:24:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Let's assume that there are two banks in society, with Bank A paying an interest rate on deposits of 5 percent and Bank B paying 25 percent. Let's also assume that there is no FDIC and no banking regulations to protect people from the choice they make on which bank to deposit their money in.... Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has won his quest to abolish the constitutional barrier against his running for reelection when his term expires in 2013. Last Sunday, Venezuelan voters approved the measure, which had gone down to defeat only 14 months earlier.... Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:34:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) An important principle of power, vis-a-vis liberty, is the following: Crises are the friend of power and the enemy of liberty. It is during crises that government power expands and liberty contracts. Thus, while crises produce a lot of hand-wringing and worried brows among public officials, they also bring a sense of excitement to public officials over the prospect of wielding more power over the lives and fortunes of the citizenry.... Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I highly recommend reading a fantastic article in today's Wall Street Journal: "Capitalism Needs a Sound-Money Foundation" by Judy Shelton. I also recommend forwarding it to all your friends and acquaintances. It provides the means by which a nation is able to protect itself from the profligacy of its own government, not just with a gold standard but also through a free-market system of competing currencies.... Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:59:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Ever since Barack Obama's election, gun and ammo sales have skyrocketed. Many online gun stores report "out of stock" for AK47s and AR15s, along with the ammunition for such assault rifles. Demand for these products, it appears, is insatiable.... Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:59:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Former Vice President Dick Cheney, obviously in perpetual fright mode, is continuing to do his best to frighten the American people. He claims that 61 of the inmates that have been released from Guantanamo have "gone back into the business of being terrorists." He also predicted a "high probability" of a nuclear or biological terrorist attack on the United States.... Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:56:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the fascinating aspects of the many crises facing America is the refusal of the statists to face an uncomfortable possibility -- that it is their beloved welfare state and controlled economy that has failed. Instead, they blame their woes on everything but the welfare state and the controlled economy. Their solution, not surprisingly, is to call for more welfare, more regulations, more borrowing, and more spending.... Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:34:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Permit me to make my proposal for Afghanistan: Get out. Now. No handwringing and no delays. President Obama should issue an immediate order that all U.S. troops withdraw from Afghanistan and return to the United States at once.... Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the things about the Iraq War that I have never been able to understand is how American Christians have been able, in good conscience, to support this war. After all, no one can deny that neither Iraq nor the Iraqi people ever attacked the United States. That makes the United States the aggressor -- the attacker -- in this particular conflict. How could American Christians support the killing of Iraqis in such a war of aggression? How could they reconcile this with God's sacred commandment, Thou shalt not murder.... Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:03:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the justifications that liberals give for their support of the socialistic welfare state is their purported love for the poor, needy, and disadvantaged. Having been raised a Democrat (Republicans were rare in South Texas in the 1950s and 60s), I bought into this rationale. After I returned to my hometown of Laredo, Texas, in 1975 to practice law, I was a devoted liberal and Democrat, even serving on the Legal Aid Board of Trustees and as the ACLU representative in Laredo.... Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:13:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) People are shocked -- shocked! -- over the revelation that Democrats and liberals do their best to keep from paying taxes.... Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:17:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last night the speaker at the Economic Liberty Lecture Series, which The Future of Freedom Foundation co-sponsors with the student-run George Mason University Econ Society, was Thomas DiLorenzo, whose most recent book is Hamilton's Curse: How Jefferson's Arch Enemy Betrayed the American Revolution--and What It Means for Americans Today, which was the focus of Tom's talk.... Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:48:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-02-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the distinguishing characteristics of 19th-century Americans and modern-day Americans revolves around the issue of faith. Our ancestors placed their faith in freedom and God. Americans of today place their trust in socialism and the state.... Mon, 02 Feb 2009 09:18:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Francesco Insolia must soon report to a federal penitentiary to begin serving a one-year sentence. His crime? Hiring illegal aliens from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras in his leather-goods company in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He has also been ordered to pay $1 million to the federal government.... Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:44:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While Barack Obama's Justice Department is deliberating over what to do in the al-Marri case, the same Justice Department is defending Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Justice Department attorney John Yoo, and other Bush administration officials in civil lawsuits brought by Jose Padilla.... Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:01:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) We should not underestimate the powerful role that public -- that is, government -- schooling plays in the current economic crisis roiling American society. From the first grade through the 12th grade, most American children attend public schools. Several hours a day under government tutelage for twelve years is a very long time.... Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:27:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the executive orders President Obama issued upon assuming the presidency was one ordering the Justice Department to review the case of Ali Saleh al-Marri, a case that involves the enemy-combatant doctrine in terrorism cases that the U.S. government assumed after the 9/11 attacks. (For an extensive discussion of the importance of the al-Marri case, see "The al-Marri Case Affects Us All.")... Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:30:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-26.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last Friday's FFF Email Update linked to my September 2008 Freedom Daily article entitled "Seven Years of Darkness, Tyranny, and Oppression." On that same day, my daily blog post was entitled "Afghanistan and Big Government."... Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:58:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Conservatives are criticizing President Obama's decision to close the Pentagon's prison camp at Guantanamo, saying that this will result in more terrorism in the United States. They are being false and disingenuous. If there is another terrorist act in the United States, it will be because of what the U.S. government is doing to people overseas, not because its torture camp at Guantanamo was shut down.... Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:27:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Let's give credit where credit is due. President Obama deserves credit for the new direction he appears to be taking with respect to civil liberties. That is reflected by his plans to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and his order to suspend the military commissions pending a review of the entire system.... Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:59:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The mainstream press is aglow over President Obama's call that Americans sacrifice for the common good. Obama's plea mimics that of President Franklin Roosevelt, who asked Americans to do the same thing as part of his New Deal for America in the 1930s.... Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:22:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It seems that Barack Obama is going to take his time withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Actually this shouldn't surprise anyone, given that Obama is as much a welfare-state man as George W. Bush.... Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:49:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) With the Bush administration behind us and with the advent of the Obama regime, conservatives are despondent and depressed while liberals are aglow with hope and optimism. Actually both sides might have their feelings misplaced, as Obama might well turn out to be as much like Bush as Bush was like Clinton.... Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:05:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Although the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and its agency the National Recovery Administration (NRA) were among Franklin Roosevelt's proudest accomplishments, they were also among the New Deal's biggest fiascos. To call the NIRA and the NRA bizarre would be a severe understatement. The truth is that like much of the New Deal, their features were straight out of a fascist playbook. In fact, even the most die-hard proponents of the New Deal would not deny that the NIRA and NRA would have fit in perfectly in both Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany.... Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:25:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the things that pro-New Deal advocates hardly ever bring up is one of the most shameful acts by a president in U.S. history. That's the infamous "court-packing" scheme that President Franklin Roosevelt proposed when the Supreme Court was declaring much of his New Deal unconstitutional.... Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:27:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In the ongoing debate over Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, there are important things that pro-New Dealers would prefer not be mentioned, such as the similarities between Roosevelt's philosophy and programs and those of Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler.... Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:05:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Barack Obama is implying that he isn't likely to pursue criminal investigations and prosecutions of President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, and other high U.S. officials for purported violations of criminal laws as part of their "war on terrorism." Presumably, that includes federal crimes against torture, wiretaps, kidnapping, and even murder.... Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:42:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The political and economic situation in the United States has the feel of a runaway train.... Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:41:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Ludwig von Mises pointed out that one government intervention will inevitably lead to more interventions. The reason is that the initial intervention produces a crisis, which then leads public officials to call for a new intervention to address the crisis. That new intervention then produces a new crisis, which then leads to new interventions.... Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:16:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Ever since the advent of the welfare state, liberals have argued that it is essential that the federal government tax the rich in order to give to the poor. Otherwise, they claim, in a free-market economy, the rich only get richer and the poor only get poorer.... Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:30:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-07.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A good example of the power of ideas occurred recently in El Paso, where the City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling on the federal government to consider legalizing drugs as a solution the drug-war violence in Mexico. Although the mayor vetoed the resolution and El Paso's congressman opposed it, the City Council's unanimous enactment of the resolution shows the power of libertarian ideas to bring an end to immoral, vicious, destructive, and failed government policies.... Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:44:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As commentators such as Salon's Glenn Greenwald and Cato's Gene Healey have reported, the U.S. military has deployed combat-tested troops to a homeland-defense mission here in the United States. The unit is the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, which has just returned from duty in Iraq.... Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Americans might well rue the day when they trusted the federal government to spend the nation into prosperity. It just isn't going to happen. All that Barack Obama's massive public-works spending spree is going to accomplish is either more debt added to the national debt or more depreciation in the value of the dollar, or both. Either way, Americans are going to be hurt, possibly very badly.... Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-01-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Liberals befuddle me. When it comes to matters of privacy and civil liberties, they correctly exclaim against trusting Big Brother. Yet, when it comes to matters relating to economic liberty and well-being, they take an opposite tact and exclaim that people should have no reservations about trusting Big Brother.... Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:31:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-31.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I can already hear the pro-empire, pro-intervention crowd making their announcement after a terrorist attack in the United States by a victim of the Israeli bombing in Gaza: "The attack had nothing to do with anger and hatred arising from the unconditional financial and military aid that the U.S. government has furnished the Israeli regime. Instead, the attacker was motivated by hatred for America's freedom and values."... Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:03:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Those Americans with socialist propensities, including, of course, Barack Obama, are surely having their hearts warmed by recent actions of fellow traveler Hugo Chavez, the democratically elected dictator of Venezuela. Faced with falling oil revenues, Chavez has just announced the government seizure of several privately operated gold concessions, which, he pointed out, are held by rich people.... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Two separate articles in yesterday's New York Times reflect the meaning of private property. One article was about white farmers in Zimbabwe and the other was about a woman in Seattle named Edith Macefield.... Mon, 29 Dec 2008 11:40:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The $50 billion fraud allegedly committed by Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff has got to be false. After all, we've got the SEC. Right? It's been in existence since the 1930s. Right? Its purpose is to ensure that the American people are protected from fraud in the financial markets. Right?... Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:58:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) After being severely beaten by government officials in the free nation of Iraq, Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi, the Iraqi man who threw his shoes at President Bush, is being charged with the crime of attacking a head of state, a crime that entails a possible prison sentence of 7 to 15 years.... Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:08:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A short paragraph in an editorial in today's New York Times provides an excellent symptom of the cancer that infects the body politic in America. The editorial addresses Caroline Kennedy's bid to replace Hillary Clinton as New York's U.S. senator. The paragraph reads as follows:... Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:26:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Notice an important aspect of the shoe-throwing incident in Iraq: No one is suggesting that the reason that the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush did so because of his hatred for America's "freedom and values."... Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:18:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) American schoolchildren are receiving some valuable lessons in democracy, American-style.... Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:17:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Throughout the decades-long history of the drug war, its proponents have had a favorite line when confronted with the abject failure of the war: "Well, it really hasn't been waged at all. If they really fought it hard, we would have won long ago."... Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:45:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In the 1951 sci-fi movie "When Worlds Collide," a giant asteroid is headed toward our solar system and is going collide with Earth, destroying the planet and everyone on it. However, a smaller planet, whose atmosphere is similar to that of Earth, is circulating around the asteroid and provides hope for a limited number of people on Earth. Scientists calculate that after the collision, the smaller planet will begin orbiting around the sun. Thus, plans are put into place to have people shipped to the new planet in rocket ships prior to the collision.... Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:27:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Some Americans favor the federal government's post-9/11 assumption of power to arrest Americans and treat them as "enemy combatants" in the "war on terrorism." It doesn't matter to them that the Pentagon now has the power to round up Americans, keep them in prison camps indefinitely, torture them, and deny them all the rights and guarantees enumerated in the Bill of Rights. The reason it doesn't bother them is that they figure it would never happen to them, only to other people.... Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:27:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As part of his plan to revive the economy, President-elect Obama is promising the largest public-works project since the Interstate Highway System. I realize that some people get upset when comparisons are made to Adolf Hitler but wouldn't we be remiss if we didn't recognize that public works was one of Hitler's core programs for Nazi Germany? And yes, I realize that just because Hitler embraced a program doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing but shouldn't it at least raise a red flag?... Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:21:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last Friday the U.S. Supreme decided to hear the Ali al-Marri case, about which we have written extensively during the past several years. See my November 25 blog post entitled "The al-Marri Case Affects Us All," which includes links to most of the commentaries we have published on the al-Marri case.... Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:21:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed, also known as "Chemical Ali," has just received a death sentence by an Iraqi court. According to the Washington Post, the punishment was for "his role in crushing a Shiite revolt in 1991, after the Persian Gulf War."... Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:51:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) How pathetic to see the executives of American automobile companies on their knees before the members of Congress, begging them to use taxpayer monies to bail them out of their financial difficulties. What a fine example of what the welfare state has done to Americans.... Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:38:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The pro-torture advocates claim that torture is an important tool in the arsenal of the U.S. military that is necessary to keep us safe from terrorist attacks. The idea is that if the military captures a terrorist who has information about a pending terrorist attack, the torturers will be able to torture the information out of him in order to interdict and prevent the pending attack.... Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In reflecting on his war on Iraq in an interview this week with ABC, President Bush made some revealing statements. He first said that "the biggest regret of all the presidency has been the intelligence failure in Iraq. I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess"... Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:22:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In the wake of the terrorist attack in Mumbai, I can already hear the U.S. gun-control crowd calling for new gun-control measures here in the United States. There will be several big problems with their pleas.... Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:23:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-26.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) You may have noticed the many articles detailing the big run-up in the sale of guns and ammunition since the November elections.... Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:30:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-25.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Today the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to consider what is quite possibly the most important legal case in our lifetime.... Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:28:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Given all the talk about bailing out U.S. automakers, Citigroup, AIG, American banks, and others, the focus has primarily been on whether the bailouts will be successful, at least in terms of resolving the economic and financial crises facing America.... Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:49:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In June 2001 I wrote an article entitled "Drug-War Killings in Peru," which condemned the CIA's participation in the drug-war killings of a 35-year-old missionary named Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old baby Charity.... Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Two readers have sent me emails objecting to my blog post yesterday, "Free Mark Cuban and Abolish the SEC," in which I opposed the SEC's action against Mark Cuban for supposedly violating insider-trading laws. The readers said that insider trading is fraudulent and unfair.... Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:43:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Billionaire Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has been targeted by the SEC for insider trading. According to the SEC's complaint, in 2003 Cuban was the owner of about 6 percent of the stock of a company named Momma.com. An executive of the company advised Cuban that the company was going to issue a public offering of stock, an action that ordinarily causes the value of already issued stock to go down. Cuban proceeded to sell his stock before the information went public, enabling him to avoid $750,000 in losses that would have been incurred had he waited until after the offering had been made public to sell his stock.... Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the criticisms sometimes directed toward libertarianism is that our philosophy is impractical because it fails to provide solutions to the woes produced by socialism and interventionism.... Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:28:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the first things that President Obama will have to decide when he assumes office is whether to continue President Bush's and the Pentagon's plans to install missile interceptors in Eastern Europe. Let's hope that he rejects those plans. Otherwise, all that will be accomplished will be to increase tensions with Russia, which, not surprisingly, will provide the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex with new excuses to increase their perpetually ever-growing budgets.... Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:54:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) We had another great time at the second meeting of our Economic Liberty Lecture Series last night. 125 students and non-students came together for an evening of pizza, a movie, socializing, and a great talk by James Bovard, a policy advisor at The Future of Freedom Foundation. What was interesting is that many of the students were non-economics majors.... Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:54:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I suspect that the malaise that has afflicted the conservative movement is not simply due to the defeat of John McCain and Sarah Palin. I think that their despondency goes much deeper than an electoral defeat. My hunch is that their depression is much more owing to a sense of serious discomfort arising from the knowledge that Democrat Barack Obama is about to acquire all the omnipotent powers that conservatives relinquished to President Bush as part of his "war on terrorism."... Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:05:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Chinese government is placing many American statists in a very interesting position. It has unveiled a "stimulus plan" involving a massive expenditure of $586 billion dollars of government money.... Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:21:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In July 2003, I wrote an article entitled "Crossing the Rubicon," which addressed what the federal government was doing to a man named Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar who was residing in the United States. Two years later, in March 2005, I published a follow-up article on the al-Marri case: "Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri: Charge Him or Release Him."... Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-07.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The debate over the future of the GOP is beginning. Already, there is a spate of articles written by conservatives calling for a return of the Republican Party to its traditional mantra of "free enterprise and limited government." These conservatives are arguing that the reason that Republicans were so soundly defeated in the recent election is that they abandoned their traditional "small government" philosophy during the Bush administration's 8-year orgy of out-of-control federal spending and "big government."... Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The worldwide outpouring of support for Barack Obama brings to mind the worldwide outpouring of support for the American people after 9/11. That post-9/11 support didn't last for long. It disappeared with George W. Bush's war on terrorism, invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, torture and sex abuse of detainees, kidnappings and renditions, attacks on civil liberties, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, spying on Americans, indefinite detentions, criminal and civil immunity for criminal acts, and all the rest.... Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Not surprisingly, conservatives are depressed and despondent over the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. But as I wrote yesterday, the Republicans deserved to lose. For the last 7 years, they have plunged our country into darkness, oppression, injustice, and tyranny, seizing on the 9/11 attacks to centralize federal power, suspend the liberties of the American people, and embark on one of the most shocking Big Spending sprees in history.... Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) If the Democrats win the presidency, it will not be because they deserve to win but because the Republicans deserve to lose.... Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:12:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-11-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It's kinda fun watching Republicans and Democrats suffering so much angst over whether John McCain or Barack Obama will be elected president.... Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-31.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) According to the Associated Press, South Texans might soon be experiencing the same type of drug-war violence that people on the Mexican side of the border have been experiencing. As most everyone knows, the drug war has produced unbelievable violence in Mexico, especially along the border. Murder, kidnapping, beheading, and torture have become routine. Friends in my hometown of Laredo, Texas, tell me that they don't dare cross the border into Nuevo Laredo anymore, for fear of being kidnapped or killed or caught in the crossfire of drug gangs fighting for turf.... Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:52:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The U.S. government's incarceration of 17,000 Iraqis without charges confirms why the Framers included the guarantee of habeas corpus within the Constitution.... Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Given all the political talk about socialism and the redistribution of wealth, we would be remiss if we didn't notice how effective the market process is in redistributing wealth. ... Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:09:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) President Bush has been making a big hullabaloo over the fact that the Iraqi regime has not signed on to an agreement that would authorize U.S. forces to remain in Iraq after December 31. Bush says that if an agreement is not signed between him and the Iraqi government, he will cease military operations in Iraq, keeping his military forces inside U.S. bases within Iraq. Bush says that "the law" and "Iraqi sovereignty" would require him to do this, even though he has yet to clarify how "the law" and "Iraqi sovereignty" permit him to keep any forces in Iraq, whether inside U.S. bases or not, if there is no agreement signed extending Bush's occupation of the country.... Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:00:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the popular post-9/11 sentiments has been the one that holds that Muslims are bent on conquering the world. The notion is that Muslims hate Christianity and Western freedom and values and that such hatred is rooted in the Koran and stretches back centuries. Thus, the United States has been drawn, reluctantly, into a war against Muslims. That's why U.S. forces are in Iraq and Afghanistan, the argument goes -- to defend our freedoms by killing Muslims over there before they get over here and kill us.... Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:21:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Pentagon's legal response to Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld's crisis of conscience shows, once again, what a farce the "judicial proceeding" is that it has established at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Vandeveld, a military prosecutor and a devout Catholic, came to the realization that he could no longer participate in the Pentagon's system, partly because the military was violating longstanding ethical rules that require the prosecution to turn over exculpatory evidence to the defense... Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:58:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It seems that President Bush's wish to enter into an agreement with Iraqi officials to extend the U.S. occupation of Iraq is reaching a point of desperation.... Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:28:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the solutions for dealing with the mortgage crisis is a government-imposed moratorium on foreclosures. Lost in all the discussion is the principle of sanctity of contracts.... Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Amidst all the gloom and doom of the financial crisis, the presidential race is providing a bit of hilarity. Conservatives John McCain and Sarah Palin are calling liberal Barack Obama a socialist because he believes in using the federal government to redistribute wealth. Obama's reaction is just as funny -- he's shocked -- yes, shocked -- that anyone would actually consider him a socialist!... Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Thousands of Iraqis marched in Baghdad on Saturday to protest the draft agreement between President Bush and the Iraqi government that provides for the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq and the ultimate withdrawal of U.S. forces. The protestors were calling for the Iraqi parliament to reject the proposed agreement, arguing that U.S. forces should be thrown out of the country now.... Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:03:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The war on drugs can claim three more major victories. No, I'm not referring to how U.S. officials have busted another drug lord or made another record drug bust. We're all accustomed to those types of "triumphs" after 35 years of drug warfare.... Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:25:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I've got a fantastic idea! It will almost certainly appeal to two large segments of American society -- those who thirst for security and those who thirst for political control. My hunch is that both John McCain and Barack Obama and their supporters will immediately embrace my idea as soon as they hear about it.... Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:31:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Great Immigration Debate between Peter Brimelow and me that was held at the Heartland Institute's recent anniversary dinner has now been posted on Heartland's website. It is here.The theme of the debate was: Immigration Policy for a Free Society: Open Borders vs. Controlled Borders.... Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In his book The Crisis of Interventionism, Ludwig von Mises pointed out that one government intervention will inevitably lead to more interventions. Why? The initial intervention will inevitably produce a crisis that public officials will say needs to be addressed with new interventions. Ultimately, the continuous series of interventions leads to a totally controlled economy and a loss of economic freedom for the citizenry.... Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:26:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I find it fascinating that so many people devote so much of their time and energy to getting McCain or Obama elected to office. If there were differences in philosophy between McCain or Obama, it might make some sense. But given that there's not a dime's worth of difference between them, I just can't see why people waste so much of their lives and resources in this endeavor.... Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:26:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Amidst massive financial losses being suffered by the American people in the current financial crisis, at least they can take solace in one comforting point -- that the U.S. government is rebuilding Iraq. While people are seeing their savings frittered away, having trouble making ends meet, and finding it difficult to pay their children's education, shouldn't they at least be patting themselves on the back over the fact that the U.S. government is spending billions of IRS-collected tax dollars to rebuild the nation that the U.S. government destroyed with its invasion?... Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:58:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Americans who have suffered harm during the current financial crisis should be counting their lucky stars. At least U.S. officials haven't taken them into custody as enemy combatants and tortured them, as U.S. officials have done to two American citizens, Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla. They, along with a foreigner named Ali al Marri, were held in isolation for years in a Pentagon military dungeon in South Carolina, where they were mentally tortured by U.S. military officials.... Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:09:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The inaugural session of the Economic Liberty Lecture Series, which FFF and the George Mason University Econ Society, a student-run group, was a great success. The event took place on Monday evening and attracted about 70 people, most of whom were students and some of whom were FFF supporters from the area.... Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-07.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the things the mainstream pundits have failed to understand in the current financial crisis is the important role that savings play in a society. They keep talking incessantly about the "credit squeeze"but hardly ever mention the "savings squeeze."... Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:49:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last Thursday I debated Peter Brimelow at the Heartland Institute's annual dinner in a beautiful ballroom at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago. What a fantastic evening! Since Heartland has been such an enormously positive force for liberty, especially at the state level, it was a tremendous honor for me to be included in its annual affair. Moreover, Peter and I have been talking about debating each other for about 10 years and Heartland succeeded in finally making it happen.... Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:07:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I'm on my way to Chicago to debate Peter Brimelow at the Heartland Institute's annual dinner. Heartland is one of the nation's finest free-market think tanks that address state public-policy issues. Peter is the author of Alien Nation.... Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:04:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-10-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Generally speaking, people can be divided into 3 groups: (1) Those who thirst for power; (2) Those who thirst for freedom; and (3) Those who are fairly indifferent to both power and liberty. Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:25:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The congressional rejection of President Bush's bailout bill came as a shocker to me. As I was writing my blog yesterday about how one can always count on conservatives to cave in and abandon any semblance of a commitment to free-market principles, they went and surprised me by voting against Bush's financial socialism. Sure, it might have had something to do with the countless telephone calls and emails they were receiving from angry and outraged citizens, but still -- let's give credit where credit is due -- they stood up against Bush's fear-mongering and his attempt to assist his Wall Street cronies before he leaves office. Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:51:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-26.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Ever since the dawn of the New Deal in the 1930s, statists have told us that government regulators are needed to "stabilize free enterprise" and protect depositors and investors.... Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:51:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-25.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) You've got to hand it to Bush and Cheney. They are loyal to their friends. They commuted Scooter Libby's prison sentence after a jury convicted him of perjury and obstruction of justice. They secured criminal immunity for federal agents who tortured or sexually abused people. They secured civil immunity for the telecoms who served as illegal snitches for the federal government. But perhaps the most audacious act of misguided loyalty of all is the bailout of Wall Street cronies with taxpayer money.... Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:33:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the characteristics of the modern-day welfare state is the refusal of statists to take responsibility for the damage and destruction their philosophy has wrought on the people of the world.... Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:57:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) During the recent crisis in Georgia, conservatives reveled in comparing Russia's actions to those of the former Soviet Union. But did you notice that not once did they remind people of how Ronald Reagan supposedly brought down the Soviet Union? Reagan, they used to unceasingly remind us, caused the Soviet government to spend the nation into bankruptcy.... Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:18:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It's amusing to see liberals exclaiming against the bailout of the Wall Street big wigs. After decades of using government to take from the rich and middle class to give to the poor, did they honestly believe that politicians and bureaucrats would not use their welfare-state powers to take from the poor and middle class to give to the rich? ... Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:21:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Liberals who have operated under the quaint notion that the welfare state is only for the benefit of the poor, needy, and disadvantaged have had a rude awakening during the past week. With the bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and undoubtedly more to come, liberals have learned that the welfare state exists for the sake of big powerful corporations too.... Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:10:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The amusing part of the current financial crisis is how liberals are blaming it all on "the free market" or on "unfettered capitalism." Not surprisingly, their solutions call for socialist and interventionist measures, in order to "save freedom and free enterprise."... Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:56:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It must be hurricane season because we're once again being subjecting to complaints about price-gouging. In the finest communist and socialist tradition, some Americans are turning in businesses to the state that significantly raise prices of essential items, such as gasoline, water, or ice, in the midst of a hurricane. As always, state officials are threatening to prosecute the evil, greedy, profit-seeking, bourgeois swine who are taking advantage of consumers in the midst of an emergency.... Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:56:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In my September 10, 2008, blog post, I explained that one of the great benefits of public (i.e., government) schooling and government-approved schooling is the political indoctrination to which most children in society are subjected. The indoctrination is so effective that it sometimes lasts throughout a person's life. The indoctrination, however, is not foolproof, given that thousands of people, notably libertarians, have succeeded in breaking free of it and seeing reality for what it is.... Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:05:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Mackenzie Phillips, daughter of the founder of the Mamas and Papas pop group and a former star in the television sitcom "One Day at a Time," was arrested last week and charged with possession of narcotics. The arrest took place while Phillips was going through the security screening at Los Angeles International Airport.... Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:51:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While people in the McCain camp are on the attack over Obama's comment about lipstick and pigs, some of the mainstream pundits are asking why so much time is being spent on what seems to be a rather silly issue. Why not spend time focusing on the important, burning issues of our time, they're asking?... Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:15:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Seven years after 9/11, shouldn't Americans ask if there was a better way to respond to those attacks? After all, look at where we are today as a result of how President Bush chose to respond to 9/11:... Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:47:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the great benefits of public schooling, from the standpoint of government officials, is the power to indoctrinate people with myths and false beliefs. Oftentimes, these myths and false realities retain control over a person's mind all the way through adulthood. With the government's bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we have one more example of the power of public-schooling indoctrination.... Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:54:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A reader advised me that in my blog yesterday, I had misinterpreted Sarah Palin's statement to the Assembly of God Church in Alaska. The reader said that Palin wasn't actually saying that the Iraq invasion and occupation were part of God's plan but instead was simply requesting people to pray that the operation is part of God's plan.... Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:02:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In an address to an Assembly of God Church in Alaska, Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin suggested that church members pray "that our national leaders are sending [soldiers to Iraq] on a task that is from God, that's what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan, and that plan is God's plan."... Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:49:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The campaign season is abuzz with all four of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates exclaiming how they're going to "reform" Washington. Not surprisingly, the establishment media is excited about the theme, calling on the candidates to come up with the "specifics" of their respective "reform" plans.... Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As I've watched the storm of controversy surrounding Sarah Palin, a thought ocurred to me. What the Republicans ought to do is reverse their candidates, making Palin their presidential candidate and McCain their vice-presidential candidate.... Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) We just returned from Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic at the Target Center in Minneapolis, where FFF's program director, Bart Frazier, and I manned a booth for FFF. What an exciting event! Great speeches interspersed with great music! And best of all, a fantastic audience of 10,000 freedom-loving people! There was nothing but positive energy in that arena.... Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:52:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Conservatives and the neo-cons seem to be growing increasingly agitated over the possibility that Barack Obama is going to win the November election. Part of this agitation is, of course, over the likelihood that federal spending (and, therefore, taxation or inflation), along with domestic socialism and regulation, are going to soar even more than they have under Bush.... Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:31:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-09-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I just finished reading Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders by Jason L. Riley, which is one fantastic book on the immigration debate. Riley's book, combined with Phillipe Legrain's book Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them, provide the definitive case for open borders as the solution to America's immigration "crisis." Well, okay, I'd also recommend The Future of Freedom Foundation's book The Case for Free Trade and Open Immigration.... Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:50:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A case before the Six Circuit federal Court of Appeals in Cincinnati demonstrates how our American ancestors relied on gold to protect themselves from U.S. officials.... Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:12:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Americans have long been taught to view the federal government as a parent. While the government is sometimes abusive to American child-adults (e.g., IRS, DEA, torture, Waco, etc.), Americans know that that's a trait that is common to many parents. What matters in life under a paternalistic regime is people's unwavering faith in the government to watch over them and take care of them, just as parents do with their children.... Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:47:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In a move that is certain to leave American anti-militarist liberals (i.e., leftists) in a quandary, the Pentagon has sent a U.S. Navy destroyer to Georgia to deliver "humanitarian aid" in the form of such things as baby food and bottled water.... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:47:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-26.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One cannot help but be amused over the negotiations taking place between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki over how long U.S. troops will be permitted to stay in Iraq and whether occupation troops will be subject to Iraqi law in the interim.... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-25.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In my August 19 blog, I pointed out how President Bush knowingly and intentionally ignored Russian President Putin's warning that pushing to admit Georgia into NATO would cross Russian "red lines."... Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:08:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) If anyone still has any doubts about whether President Bush is exercising powers that any self-respecting dictator would relish, all he has to do is consider the military pact that Bush is entering into with Iraq. The pact involves the continued U.S. military occupation of Iraq as well as a date on which U.S. military forces will be expected to exit the country.... Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:09:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Freedom of Speech in China and AmericaAccording to today's New York Times, two Chinese women, both in their 70s, have been sentenced to reeducation camp. The charge? Applying for a permit to protest, in accordance with rules previously established by Chinese communist authorities. The women wanted to protest the eminent-domain taking of their homes in Beijing for the purpose of economic development (which, of course, brings to mind the Kelo decision which upheld the same sort of thing here in the United States).... Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:09:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Uh, oh! Problems in socialist paradise land. It seems that one of the primary bastions of socialism is considering moving away from its welfare-state principles. According to the Financial Times, "Cuba, one of the world's surviving Communist states, is looking at watering down the generous social welfare system that has been a cornerstone of its economy for nearly 50 years, according to a senior government official. Alfredo Jam, head of macroeconomic analysis in the economy ministry, told the Financial Times that Cubans had been 'over-protected' by a system that subsidised food costs and limited the amount people could earn, prompting labour shortages in important industries."... Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:34:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Yesterday, I wrote about how U.S. foreign policy ignites and engenders a variety of crises, especially since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Such crises are then used to get the citizenry all worked up and panic-stricken, which then enables the government to increase its power over the citizenry. The current crises dealing with the resurgence of the "communist" threat from Russia and the "terrorist" threat from the Muslims, along with the potential threat from the international drug dealers as a result of the war on drugs, provide good examples of how government policies produce the crises which are then used as the excuse to expand the power of the government.... Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:30:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) With the Russian invasion of Georgia, Americans are able to capture a glimpse of another U.S. foreign-policy "success" story.... Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:30:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Referring to Russia's incursion into Georgia, President Bush says that invading a sovereign country that poses no threat is "unacceptable in the 21st century." John McCain echoes that sentiment with, "In the 21st century, nations don't invade other nations."... Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:31:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) This month marks the 63rd anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.... Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:31:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Amidst the death and destruction in Georgia, the neo-conservative reaction here in the United States is a sight to behold.... Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:31:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In the first trial held in the Pentagon's "judicial" system at Guantanamo Bay, Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's driver, was acquitted of conspiracy, convicted of providing "material support" to a U.S.-named terrorist organization, and given a 5 1/2 years sentence, with credit for the 5 years of time that Hamdan has already served at the Gitmo prison. That means that he could conceivably be released from custody within 5 months.... Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:31:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While criticizing Chinese authorities for lack of religious and political freedom, President Bush was caught flat-footed by the rebuke issued by Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who responded, "We firmly oppose any words or acts that interfere in other countries' internal affairs, using human rights and religion and other issues."... Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:50:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) This past week, Americans have had the opportunity to witness another glorious day in the life of the 35-year-old war on drugs.... Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:32:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-07.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I just received an interesting letter from officials of Montgomery County, Maryland, advising me that I owed the county $40. The reason? The letter advised me that surveillance cameras had caught me speeding -- 43 mph in a 30 mph zone. Included in the letter were 3 photographs of my vehicle with my license plate clearly visible.... Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:35:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) So, the FBI was prepared to indict U.S. Army scientist Bruce Ivins for terrorism before he committed suicide. The specific act of terrorism for which Ivins was to be indicted was employing weapons of mass destruction, to wit: anthrax, on American citizens on American soil.... Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:06:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Pentagon's model "judicial" system at Guantanamo Bay has many fascinating features, virtually all of which are contrary to the rights and guarantees in the federal system established by the Constitution. Among the features in the Pentagon's system are a presumption of guilt for the accused, no right to confront witnesses, the use of hearsay evidence, the use of evidence acquired by torture or coercion, no right against self-incrimination, no protection against cruel and unusual punishments, no right to bail, and no right to trial by jury.... Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:06:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A Washington Post poll reveals that most Americans doubt whether John McCain or Barack Obama will be able to "fix the ailing economy" or "improve the healthcare system."... Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:16:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-08-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Sheldon Richman, who authored FFF's great book Separating School and State: Liberating America's Families received the following email from his daughter Emily... Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:27:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-31.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Conservatives must be ecstatic over what is happening in China. Joining the U.S. government in its crusade against terrorism, the Chinese communist government is adopting measures that would make any U.S. conservative proud.... Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:14:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I have a confession to make: I don't mind being dependent on foreign oil. In fact, I don't mind being dependent on domestic oil either. For that matter, I don't mind being dependent on other people for all the other things I purchase in the course of my life.... Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Pat Buchanan's new book Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War" does an excellent job of demolishing the myths surrounding World War II, commonly called "the good war" in American public school textbooks. Here are some of the major points Buchanan makes in the book:... Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Sunday's Washington Post, published an op-ed advocating a position that we have held here at The Future of Freedom Foundation ever since the 9/11 attacks: that terrorism cases rightfully belong in federal court. The article, entitled "The Right Place to Try Terrorism Cases," was authored by John C. Coughenour, a federal judge in Washington State. Among the many insightful points that Coughenour makes is the following:... Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:46:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-25.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) With its coming bailout of homeowners and mortgage lenders, the federal government refortifies its role as daddy for the American people and the people's role as child-adults who are dependent on their daddy to take care of them.... Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In my blog entry yesterday, I pointed out one of the crucial differences between the judicial system that our ancestors brought into existence with the Constitution and the model "judicial" system that President Bush and the Pentagon have established at Guantanamo Bay. In the U.S. constitutional system, the accused has the right to have his guilt determined by ordinary citizens in the community. In the Pentagon system, the U.S. military, which brings the charges, also determines the guilt or innocence of the accused.... Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Seven years after the Bush administration declared its "war on terrorism," the first trial of an accused terrorist is now underway at Guantanamo Bay. The Gitmo trial involves the new-fangled "judicial" system that the president and the Pentagon put into place after 9/11, without even the semblance of seeking a constitutional amendment. Keep in mind that this is their model of what an ideal judicial system is all about.... Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In last Sunday's edition, the New York Times carried an article about pro-China advertisements that Western companies are running in China during the Olympic Games. McDonald's is running a "Cheer for China" ad. Pepsi, which painted its blue cans red for the games, is advertising, "Go Red for China." According to the Times, "The campaigns for Western companies are part of an advertising blitz the likes of which this ostensibly communist nation has never seen."... Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Over the weekend, I read Bananas!: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World by Peter Chapman. The book details the history of the United Fruit Company and specifically its deep involvement in the history of Central America. Part of the book's focus is on the CIA's ouster of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz in 1954, an action in which United Fruit played a major role.... Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A recent experience in kangaroo court at Guantanamo Bay provides an excellent example of how things operate in that surreal, unjust world of military tyranny and oppression.... Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) With the recent appointment of former Wall Street Journal editor Marcus Brauchli to the post of editor of the Washington Post, the Post will inevitably continue to move further in the direction of the Wall Street Journal with respect to foreign policy and the so-called war on terrorism.... Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Led by conservative judges, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has just affirmed the Bush administration's "enemy combatant" doctrine, a doctrine that allows President Bush and his military forces to designate anyone anywhere in the world as an "enemy combatant" in the so-called war on terrorism and treat him accordingly. While the case that the Court was deciding involved a foreigner, Ali al-Marri, the Court's reasoning applies to American citizens as well. ... Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last Sunday, the New York Times carried an article about a 31-year-old Iranian dissident, Ahmad Batebi, who successfully escaped imprisonment in Iran, where he was being tortured. Making his way through Iraq and ultimately arriving in Washington, D.C., Batebi taunted his former captors with a photograph of himself in front of the U.S. Capitol.... Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Washington Post carried an interesting article on Sunday by a photojournalist in Iraq whose photograph of a U.S. soldier carrying an injured Iraqi child at the outset of the U.S. invasion of Iraq made the front page of USA Today. The point of the photograph, of course, was that American soldiers were in Iraq helping the Iraqi people. As the photographer put it, "I knew that this was a moment of American heroism, of American commitment to saving a people and to saving lives."... Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the amusing things about liberals and conservatives is how they sometimes lock themselves in their own little conservative-liberal paradigm and carry on a silly debate over the causes of America's economic woes.... Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Those who think that the election of Barack Obama will save the nation from its many foreign-policy/civil-liberties woes got smashed and dashed with a cold dose of reality. Flip-flopping in the finest political tradition, Obama voted in favor of President Bush's wiretap/immunity bill, after promising to filibuster it before he secured the Democratic Party nomination.... Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) 'The political world has been abuzz over McCain advisor Charlie Black's statement that another terrorist attack on American soil before Election Day would benefit McCain's chances for winning the election.... Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A front-page article in last Saturday's Washington Post detailed an inside account of how Zimbabwe's thuggish president Robert Mugabe ensured his victory in the country's recent presidential run-off election. The account provides a good refresher course on why our American ancestors enshrined the right to keep and bear arms in the Second Amendment -- and why they so detested standing military forces within their own country.... Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-07.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While Americans are celebrating pre-revolutionary efforts by the English colonists to avoid taxes imposed by their government (e.g., the Sugar Act, Stamp Acts, Townshend Acts, and Tea Act), the IRS is celebrating a federal court victory forcing a Swiss bank, UBS, to disclose the identities of U.S. customers who may have used secret accounts at the bank to avoid taxes. It's a classic case of where one bad intervention -- income taxation -- inevitably leads to another bad intervention -- invasion of financial privacy.... Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While Americans are celebrating pre-revolutionary efforts by the English colonists to avoid taxes imposed by their government (e.g., the Sugar Act, Stamp Acts, Townshend Acts, and Tea Act), the IRS is celebrating a federal court victory forcing a Swiss bank, UBS, to disclose the identities of U.S. customers who may have used secret accounts at the bank to avoid taxes. It's a classic case of where one bad intervention -- income taxation -- inevitably leads to another bad intervention -- invasion of financial privacy.... Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Do you recall how outraged U.S. officials appeared to be when people were comparing the Pentagon's prison camp at Guantanamo Bay to the Soviet communist gulags? Well, the outrage might have been a bit fake and false.... Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Supporters of the U.S. occupation of Iraq sometimes point out that U.S. soldiers are doing good deeds there, such as establishing electricity, water, and other essential services. They also say that the U.S. government liberated the Iraqi people from a brutal dictator. In fact, many of the soldiers themselves honestly feel that they are helping the Iraqi people and look upon Iraqi insurgents who are trying to oust them from Iraq as "terrorists" or "bad guys."... Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Whenever a libertarian calls for the dismantling of the U.S. government's overseas military empire and the end of foreign interventionism, the standard response of the pro-empire, pro-intervention crowd is, "We cannot return to isolationism. That would be a disaster." The sentence is intended to immediately shut down all further discussion given the opprobrium that is attached to the term "isolationism."... Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In a 5-4 decision yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional Washington, D.C.'s, ban on possession of handguns in people's homes. Rejecting the ridiculous argument of the gun controllers that the Second Amendment is intended to protect the "right" of the National Guard to own guns, the Court correctly held that our American ancestors intended to protect the right of private individuals to keep and bear arms.... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-26.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The situation in Zimbabwe provides an excellent example of how U.S. foreign policy should operate all over the world.... Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-25.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It seems that American statists are conjuring up new scapegoats for America's economic woes, what with speculators, oil companies, and OPEC becoming the new national boogeymen. I suppose this was inevitable given that it might be difficult to blame ever-rising gasoline prices at the pump on illegal aliens.... Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Let's give credit where credit is due. In the midst of its invasions, occupations, bombings, sanctions, killing and maiming, torture and sex abuse, kidnappings and renditions, and kangaroo judicial proceedings, the U.S. government deserves credit for providing the world with some comic relief.... Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) All too many liberals continue to extol the virtues of the minimum wage despite the fact that it hurts the very people liberals want to help -- the poor. A recent example of this phenomenon occurred last week in a New York Times op-ed by Adam Cohen. Harkening back to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Cohen used the 75th anniversary of the National Industrial Recovery Act, a law cartelizing American industry that fortunately was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, to sing the praises of the federal minimum wage.... Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Not surprisingly, the Democratic-controlled Congress has once again capitulated to the president, this time agreeing to a "compromise" bill that grants immunity to telecom companies that knowingly and intentionally broke the law that prohibited them from sharing confidential information about their customers with the government.... Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In his dissent in Boumediene, Justice Scalia pulls an old trick from the interventionist hat -- that Americans will be safer if they surrender their fundamental rights and liberties to the government. What he's saying is that Court's holding recognizing habeas corpus rights to Guantanamo prisoners is going to result in terrorists being set free, who will then return to "the battlefield" to kill Americans. Never mind that such a conclusion entails placing full and complete trust in the military, rather than the courts, to determine who is guilty of terrorism and who isn't.... Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While it might be tempting to blame George W. Bush for the last 7 years of darkness, tyranny, and oppression in America, such would be a big mistake. While Bush has presided over such federal programs as torture and sex abuse, spying on American citizens, wars of aggression, occupations, indefinite detentions, murder of detainees, Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, cancellation of habeas corpus, kidnapping and rendition, the drug war, the war on terrorism, and the debasement of the dollar, the notion that simply electing a new president, McCain or Obama, will resolve America' woes is hopelessly naive. The problem is a systemic one, not one of electing "better" people to public office.... Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Conservatives are berating the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in the Boumediene case, where the Court held unconstitutional the federal government's attempt to cancel habeas corpus rights to the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. The conservative reaction to the decision reflects, once again, how conservatives have come to view the federal government -- and, more specifically, the executive branch -- as a deity, one which is never wrong.... Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Suppose the Chinese people were able to overthrow their communist regime and install a democratic republic. Suppose the new Chinese officials asked Americans to help them implement a new criminal-justice system for China.... Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-13.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Yesterday, in a stunning rebuke of President Bush, the Pentagon, and Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the cancellation of habeas corpus for foreigners accused of terrorism. The Court's decision in Boumediene v. Bush nullified the provision in the Military Commissions Act that purported to remove the jurisdiction of the federal courts to hear habeas corpus cases for the detainees at the Pentagon's prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.... Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The central point of Barack Obama's economic plan is to tax the rich in order the give money to the poor. Of course, this is nothing more than the core philosophy of the welfare state. It is also the core principle of socialism.... Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A front-page article in the New York Times today describes how the economic policies advocated by both John McCain and Barack Obama are the same old tired ideas that Republicans and Democrats have been advocating for years. McCain's panacea is tax cuts for the rich and Obama's panacea is redistribution of wealth to the poor. Both claim that their plan will provide economic salvation for the nation.... Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Our conference "Restoring the Republic 2009: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties" was a resounding success! The 21 speeches were among the best I've ever heard. In fact, I have never participated in a conference with so many consistently great speeches. The mix of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians -- along with a select group of lawyers who are fighting hard to preserve the Constitution and Bill of Rights -- ended up working perfectly to present the libertarian case on these two burning issues of our time.... Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A rare Gallup poll conducted in 2006 in Havana and Santiago, Cuba, reflect that Cubans have a good grip on reality regarding the two root causes of the horrible economic misery under which they have long been suffering.... Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-04.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Among the biggest myths in economics is that government intervention is needed to ensure a minimum wage for workers. In fact, not only is such intervention unnecessary, it is actually harmful to those at the bottom of the economic ladder.... Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-03.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) An op-ed in yesterday's conservative Wall Street Journal provides another example of how there isn't a dime's worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats, especially when it comes to foreign policy. The op-ed, entitled "Don't Expect a Big Change in U.S. Foreign Policy" by Timothy J. Lynch and Robert S. Singh, argues that no matter who is elected president -- McCain, Obama, or Clinton -- foreign interventionism will continue to be the order of the day.... Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-06-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Americans received a good dose of conservative idiocy over the weekend.... Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In an op-ed entitled "The Libertarian Jesus" by Michael Gerson in today's Washington Post, Gerson provides an excellent example of the moral blind spot that afflicts the conservative movement. ... Fri, 30 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-29.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Black-market principles are posing a new obstacle for advocates of the wars on drugs and immigrants. According to a front-page article in the New York Times, an increasing number of Customs and Border Patrol officials are accepting bribes in return for agreeing to look the other way when drug smugglers and immigrant smugglers come through their areas.... Thu, 29 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The healthcare system in the Czech Republic has a valuable, albeit perhaps discomforting, lesson for Americans.... Wed, 28 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-27.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Drug warriors are lamenting the high number of deaths of Mexican officials at the hands of Mexican drug lords. The latest victim was Edgar Millan Gomez, the acting chief of the federal police in Mexico City. In the last month alone, four top security officials in Mexico City have been killed. Drug dealers have killed another seven Mexican federal agents along the border. They've also killed 170 local police officers.... Tue, 27 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-26.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) After five years of sacrificing thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people in a war of aggression and military occupation of a country that never attacked the United States, Pentagon officials are chagrined that the military junta of Burma won't permit Pentagon officials to show how good and caring they are through the delivery of relief supplies to cyclone victims in Burma.... Mon, 26 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) From this week's New York Times: "President Bush announced Wednesday that Americans would soon be allowed to give their relatives in Cuba cell phones to use."... Fri, 23 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) After the 9/11 attacks, President Bush assured the American people, "We don't torture." By "we" he meant people working for the federal government, including those in the CIA and the military.... Thu, 22 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) U.S. officials might want to think twice before imposing price controls ever again in the United States, given what Iraqi officials are doing to Tariq Aziz, who served as deputy prime minister in the Saddam Hussein regime.... Wed, 21 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-20.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) To gain a good sense of how conservatives view the federal government, all one has to do is examine the words that conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson directed toward David Ray Griffin, an author who has claimed that the federal government was behind the 9/11 attacks. Regardless of whether one sides with Griffin or believes (as I do) that foreign terrorists committed the 9/11 attacks in retaliation for U.S. foreign policy, Carlson's words reveal the important role that the federal government plays in the conservative mindset.... Tue, 20 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-19.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) On his recent trip to Israel, President Bush ignited a political firestorm within the Obama, Clinton, and McCain camps by suggesting that it would be wrong to "appease" the Ahmadinejad regime in Iran.... Mon, 19 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) With their third straight loss of a House seat in a special election, Republicans are discovering that they're in crisis.... Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Under ordinary circumstances, accused terrorist Mohammed Qahtani would be pleased that all criminal charges have been dismissed against him, especially since the Pentagon has alleged that he is one of the many "20th hijackers" on 9/11. But these are not ordinary circumstances given that Qahtani is one of the many foreigners mired in the Pentagon's bizarre "judicial" system at Guantanamo Bay.... Thu, 15 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) An increasing number of newspaper articles are reflecting that Latino immigrants nationwide are suffering from the U.S. economic downturn. For example, an article in Tuesday's New York Times entitled "A Tenuous Prosperity Lost" stated, ... Wed, 14 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-12.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) It seems that the mainstream media might finally be coming to realize that the soaring prices of commodities is not so much due to reduced supplies or increases in demand but instead to the enormous fall in the value of the dollar. ... Mon, 12 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-09.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) The Framers understood the most important point about the nature of government: It constitutes the biggest threat to the freedom and well-being of the citizenry. Unfortunately, it is a point that has been lost among many modern-day Americans, who have come to view government as their friend, protector, provider, and savior.... Fri, 09 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-08.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Apparently not having enough to do to keep illegal immigrants from entering the country, U.S. officials are now also spending their time looking for illegal immigrants leaving the country. According to an article entitled Border Busts Coming and Going in the Los Angeles Times, federal customs and immigration officials are setting up random checkpoints 500 yards from the Mexican border to search vehicles leaving the United States for illegal immigrants, drugs, and other contraband. People who cannot produce their papers are taken into custody and then turned over to the Border Patrol, which then deports a few hours later.... Thu, 08 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-07.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Americans ought to pay attention to what Cuban President Raul Castro is doing in Cuba because he is providing them with excellent insights into realities about America's economic system.... Wed, 07 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-06.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Last February a federal court in Richmond sentenced a Roman Catholic priest, Rodney L. Rodis, to five years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering arising out of his embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars from church coffers. The state of Virginia has now indicted him for the actual theft of the monies.... Tue, 06 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-05.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In an editorial published last Saturday, the Washington Post celebrated the killing of a man in Somalia who the Post said "deserved the label of 'evildoer.'" The man was killed when a U.S. Navy ship fired Tomahawk missiles at a Somali home in which the man was apparently located. The Post said that the missile "killed a vicious militia leader and an al-Qaeda operative.".... Mon, 05 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-02.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) In his new book "Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA" by Jefferson Morley, a former Washington Post columnist, Morley delves into an interesting and revealing aspect of the John Kennedy assassination.... Fri, 02 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-05-01.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) I just finished reading a very interesting book entitled Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA by Jefferson Morley. The book is a biography of Winston Scott, the head of the CIA's Mexico City office from 1959 to 1969. Morley is a former columnist for the Washington Post whose articles have also appeared in such publications as the New York Review of Books, Reader's Digest, Slate, and Salon.... Thu, 01 May 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-30.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Just as Eastern European and Russian dissidents who opposed the Soviet Empire's tyrannical system are today celebrated as heroes, so it will be with those Americans who have opposed the Pentagon's system at Guantanamo Bay. Among the heroes will be Air Force Col. Morris Davis, who formerly served as the Defense Department's chief prosecutor for terrorism cases.... Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-28.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) One of the principle differences between the Pentagon's military-tribunal system and the U.S. federal-court system for prosecuting accused terrorists involves the presumption of innocence. In the federal-court system, the accused is presumed innocent while in the Pentagon's system, the accused is presumed guilty and treated accordingly.... Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-25.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Ever since invading U.S. troops failed to find those infamous WMDs that Saddam was supposedly about to unleash on the United States, U.S. officials have claimed that their primary objective in invading and occupying Iraq, a predominantly Muslim country, has been an altruistic one: They did it out of love and concern for the Iraqi people, nobly sacrificing more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers, countless Iraqis, and billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money for the sake of "democracy" and "freedom."... Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-24.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) As I have emphasized before, ever since 9/11 the U.S. government has maintained a criminal-justice system that enables it to treat suspected terrorists in two alternative ways: as criminal defendants in federal district court or as unlawful enemy combatants in the Pentagon's military system. It would be difficult to find a better example of denial of equal protection and a violation of the rule of law than this optional, ad hoc, discretionary power to treat accused terrorists in two completely different ways.... Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-23.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Conservatives are reigning supreme in Afghanistan and the United States, especially in their advancement of censorship.... Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-22.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Ecuador's president Rafael Correa may not be long for this world, both in a political sense and in genuine life-or-death sense. He recently fired his defense minister, army chief of intelligence, and commanders of the army, air force, and joint chiefs.... Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-21.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) A front-page article in yesterday's New York Times reminds us of the ominous 1961 warning of President Dwight Eisenhower, a warning that unfortunately the American people decided to ignore. Eisenhower wrote:... Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-18.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) While recently appearing as a guest on a radio talk show on the subject of immigration, a listener called to say, "We already have open borders in this country, as evidenced by the 13 million illegal aliens living here in the United States."... Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-17.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Unfortunately, during his private meeting with President Bush yesterday, it doesn't seem that Pope Benedict repeated the sentiments on the president's war on Iraq that he expressed prior to the president's invasion of Iraq five years ago.... Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-16.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Twenty-six CIA agents are scheduled to go on trial today for kidnapping. Unfortunately, all of them will be tried in absentia because the Bush administration, which has long claimed to be against torture, refuses to send the accused kidnappers to Italy, where the prosecution is taking place.... Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-15.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Ironically, the war on drugs has some interesting parallels with the war on terrorism and sometimes integrates with the war on immigrants.... Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-14.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Uh, oh! It seems as though U.S. official are preparing the mindsets of the American people to accept a new official enemy in Iraq -- Iran.... Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-11.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) Uh, oh! There is a big immigration problem occurring in Italy, specifically with Italian food being served in Italian restaurants. You see, it might not be Italian food after all. Why? Well, that's where the immigration problem comes in. It seems that some of the best Italian restaurants in Italy are being run by -- horror! -- immigrants! What in the world could be worse than that, at least from the perspective of Italians who want genuine Italian food served in their Italian restaurants in Italy?... Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-04-10.asp jhornberger@fff.org (Jacob G. Hornberger) American colleges and universities are discovering that there's a price to be paid for going on the dole: federal control over their activities.... Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST