Hornberger’s Blog, August 2010 by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2010 Friday, August 27, 2010 The Market as a Redistributor of Wealth One of the primary arguments employed by statists to justify the welfare state is the necessity to equalize incomes. The rich just get richer and richer, and the poor just get poorer and poorer, in a free-market economy, say the statists. To balance things out, they say, the state must ...
An Open Border in My Hometown by Jacob G. Hornberger July 30, 2010 I grew up in Laredo, Texas, a border town that no doubt causes no small degree of consternation to those who lament Mexican culture in the United States. I’d estimate that when I was growing up, about 95 percent of Laredoans were of Mexican descent. When Laredoans were summoned for jury duty, I’d estimate that about 20 percent of every ...
From Freedom Fighter to Terrorist by Jacob G. Hornberger July 29, 2010 The Washington Post yesterday profiled a Pakistani man named Hamid Gul, who served as head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency from 1987 to 1989. The article pointed out that Gul is viewed by U.S. officials as a terrorist, one who has been helping the Taliban oust U.S. forces from Afghanistan. What makes the story interesting, however, is that it wasn’t always ...
The Graveyard of Empires by Jacob G. Hornberger July 28, 2010 They don’t call Afghanistan the graveyard of empires for nothing. Just ask Great Britain and Russia. It seems that the U.S. Empire, however, is bound and determined to prove that it’s the exception to that adage. No matter how bad things get for the Empire, U.S. officials become more and more determined to stay the course and let the chips ...
Yoo, Bybee, and the Taliban Prisoner by Jacob G. Hornberger July 26, 2010 I wonder what torture-memo attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee are thinking regarding the report of a U.S. sailor who was apparently taken captive by the Taliban yesterday. Time will tell whether the sailor who was killed with him was actually the lucky one. Would the Taliban torture the guy? It wouldn’t surprise anyone, but one thing is certain: the ...
Abolish the Agriculture Department by Jacob G. Hornberger July 23, 2010 Amidst the big dispute between liberals and conservatives over race in theShirley Sherrod controversy, I’d like to make a libertarian point: Rather than give Sherrod her job back at the Department of Agriculture, let’s instead simply abolish the Agriculture Department, along with all the socialist programs that enable those welfare-state bureaucrats to dole out other people’s hard-earned ...
Do Critics of the Israeli Government Hate Jews? by Jacob G. Hornberger July 22, 2010 Will America ever get to the point where Americans will be able to criticize the Israeli government without being accused of being anti-Semitic? Only when enough Americans finally come to the realization that the accusation is actually just a clever political ploy designed to suppress criticism of the Israeli government. One of the commentators whose blogs I read regularly is ...
Patricide: Another Legacy of the Iraq Occupation by Jacob G. Hornberger July 21, 2010 Yesterday’s front page of the New York Times provides yet another horrible legacy arising out of the U.S. invasion, occupation, and war of aggression against Iraq, a country that never attacked the United States or even threatened to do so. Last month, an Iraqi named Hamid Ahmad was killed. At first blush, that obviously doesn’t seem very extraordinary. After all, hundreds of ...
Release Videotaped Interrogations in the Amiri Case by Jacob G. Hornberger July 20, 2010 The CIA is claiming that Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri was spying for the CIA while he was living in Iran and then that he later voluntarily defected to the United States. Amiri, on the other hand, is claiming that the CIA kidnapped him while he was on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, drugged him, and forcibly brought him to ...
Appoint a Special Prosecutor in the Shahram Amiri Case by Jacob G. Hornberger July 19, 2010 Not surprisingly, the mainstream press, including editorial boards and op-ed writers, has quickly jumped to the side of the CIA in the dispute over Shahram Amiri. The CIA claims that the Iranian scientist was a spy for the CIA and voluntarily defected to the United States before returning to Iran. For his part, Amiri claims that CIA operatives kidnapped ...
Opening the Borders to Peace, Prosperity, Harmony, and Liberty by Jacob G. Hornberger July 16, 2010 In my recent posts calling for open borders, I have talked about how Americans are free to travel across state lines without encountering immigration officials at state borders. We all take this freedom for granted. But that’s only because we’ve grown up with it. If we had been born and raised under a regime in which each state could ...
A Lawless Regime of Unlimited Government by Jacob G. Hornberger July 15, 2010 U.S. officials are denying claims by Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist, that CIA operatives kidnapped him, secretly transported him to the United States, tortured him, and kept him incarcerated for more than a year. The officials are saying that Amiri voluntarily defected to the United States and was paid some $5 million to provide information about Iran’s nuclear ...
