Why Not Expand Torture to the Drug War? by Jacob G. Hornberger December 3, 2008 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 ...
Lying About the Iraq Invasion by Jacob G. Hornberger December 2, 2008 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.” He was, of course, referring to Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, which ...
Hornberger’s Blog, December 2008 by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2008 Wednesday, December 31, 2008 Stop Foreign Aid to Israel (and Everywhere Else) by 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 ...
Mumbai and the Horror of Gun Control by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2008 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. One, as an article in the International Herald Tribune points out, India has strict gun-control laws. Those ...
Guns and Ammo Deter Tyranny by Jacob G. Hornberger November 26, 2008 You may have noticed the many articles detailing the big run-up in the sale of guns and ammunition since the November elections. Apparently gun owners are concerned that President-elect Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress will enact bans on semi-automatic weapons and ammo. Of course, that begs the question: What do they need all ...
The al-Marri Case Affects Us All by Jacob G. Hornberger November 25, 2008 Today the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to consider what is quite possibly the most important legal case in our lifetime. While the case involves a foreign citizen, Ali al-Marri, its outcome affects the freedom of every single American, especially those who wish to maintain the freedom to criticize the policies of the federal government in the future, especially ...
Bailout Robbery by Jacob G. Hornberger November 24, 2008 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. That’s the basic rationale government officials provide for bailing out these companies. We should, however, ...
More CIA Killings, Lies, and Cover-Ups by Jacob G. Hornberger November 21, 2008 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. They had been flying in a small private plane in Peru when CIA officials advised the Peruvian military that the plane might be smuggling drugs. ...
Repeal Insider-Trading Laws by Jacob G. Hornberger November 20, 2008 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. Fraud involves the intentional misrepresentation of a material fact or the intentional omission of a material ...
Free Mark Cuban and Abolish the SEC by Jacob G. Hornberger November 19, 2008 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 ...
The Practicality of Libertarianism by Jacob G. Hornberger November 18, 2008 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. For example, consider the current financial crisis. People ask, “What is the libertarian solution to the financial crisis?” If libertarians respond, “We don’t have a solution,” ...
Cancel the Missile Project in Eastern Europe by Jacob G. Hornberger November 17, 2008 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 ...