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Hornberger’s Blog, September 2005

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Friday, September 30, 2005 Over the Pentagon’s objections, a federal district judge has ordered the release of Abu Ghraib photographs and videotapes that the Pentagon has been keeping secret from the American people. U.S. Senators who have viewed the material expressed shock and disgust at what they saw, which is saying a lot. The government claims that disclosure of the materials will incite terrorist actions against Americans. What? Wait a minute! I thought the government’s position was that terrorists hate America for its “freedom and values,” not because of the many wrongful acts committed by the U.S. government against people in the Middle East. Well, given the government’s new position that such wrongful acts as torture, sex abuse, rape, sodomy, and murder have a tendency to get foreigners angry and hateful, thereby leading them to commit terrorism against Americans, then how about such U.S. government actions as: (1) Longtime support of brutal dictators, such as Saddam Hussein, the ...

The NRA Gets It Wrong

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The concept of individual rights really isn’t complicated, but even some of its defenders get it wrong. Take, for example, the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA, of course, concentrates exclusively on the individual’s right to keep and bear arms, but that is no excuse for failing to relate that right to the wider context of individual freedom. By failing to do so, the NRA actually undercuts our rights and endangers the very right it seeks to defend. The association is focusing its wrath on ConocoPhillips because the company joined a federal lawsuit to block an Oklahoma law that would require employers to let their workers keep firearms in their cars when parked on company parking lots. The law was passed by the state legislature after Weyerhaeuser fired a dozen employees three ...

Machiavelli and U.S. Politics Part 5: War Crimes and Atrocities

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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 For Machiavelli, there is no deed too ruthless for rulers on the fast track to dictatorship. A prince who wishes to remain in power must not blink at opportunities for cruelty when they can advance his position. Consequently, in chapter 5, Machiavelli advises would-be princes to follow the example set by the ancient Romans in dealing with the Greek cities conquered by Rome as it gobbled up the Mediterranean world: were compelled to destroy many cities in that province so as to hold it. For in truth there is no secure mode to possess them other than to ruin them. And whoever becomes patron of a city accustomed to living free and does not destroy it, should expect to be destroyed by it; for it always has a refuge in rebellion in the name of ...

Hornberger’s Blog, August 2005

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Wednesday, August 31, 2005 Maybe it’s too much to hope for rational economic thinking among Louisiana and Mississippi government officials, but residents in those hurricane-stricken areas ought to hope that their politicians don’t follow the lead of Hawaii politicians and bureaucrats, who recently imposed price controls on gasoline, which will inevitably produce shortages, long lines, angry tempers, and ...