Chavez’s Lessons on Democracy and Dictatorship by Jacob G. Hornberger November 19, 2007 What is happening in Venezuela provides a textbook example of how askew President Bush’s thinking is regarding democracy and dictatorship. For Bush, as well as his neo-con supporters, democracy is everything. In their minds, democracy equals freedom, which is why they say that the Iraqi people are now “free.” Thus, it is not surprising to see Bush ...
Bush, Musharraf and Enemy Combatants by Jacob G. Hornberger November 16, 2007 We mustn’t forget one of the most important aspects of the Musharraf crackdown in Pakistan — that the post-9/11 “enemy combatant” doctrine assumed by President Bush and the Pentagon empower the feds to conduct the same types of “emergency” round-ups and incarcerations here in the United States that Musharraf is conducting in his country. Plus ...
Foreign-Policy Reality in Pakistan by Jacob G. Hornberger November 15, 2007 It is fascinating the way that reality sometimes has a way of breaking through the walls of falsehood and deception that form around people’s minds. What is happening in Pakistan is a textbook example of this psychological phenomenon. Thanks to incessant indoctrination at the hands of government officials, including those in the public (i.e., government) schools, ...
Watada’s Victory Lets Military Off the Hook by Jacob G. Hornberger November 14, 2007 It seems like the U.S. Military might be let off the hook by a federal judge’s ruling in case of Lt. Ehren Watada. The judge has issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the military from prosecuting Watada, pending whether the military can successfully show that the prosecution of Watada would not violate the double-jeopardy clause of ...
Hypocrisy and Cowardice in China and the U.S. by Jacob G. Hornberger November 13, 2007 Members of Congress are upset with Yahoo officials for giving Chinese officials confidential online information about one of their customers in China. The Chinese authorities used the information to send the Yahoo customer to jail for 10 years for engaging in subversive, anti-government activity. Meanwhile, Congress is talking about the importance of giving immunity to ...
The Pomona College Debate on Immigration by Jacob G. Hornberger November 12, 2007 What a great time I had at the immigration debate at Pomona College last Thursday! Since I was debating the president of the “Minutemen,” Marvin Stewart, the event was rife with controversy on campus. You’ll recall that when the debate was originally scheduled last spring, the then-head of the Minutemen, Jim Gilchrist, backed out, ostensibly because he was scared ...
Democracy Is Not Freedom by Jacob G. Hornberger November 9, 2007 President Bush’s advice to Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf is quite revealing. In the face of Musharraf’s brutal crackdown on civil liberties, Bush is telling Musharraf that he needs to have elections. Whoop-dee-do! Never mind that Musharraf’s military and police goons are beating up and rounding up lawyers and judges and other Pakistanis who believe in a ...
Paralyzing Silence Among the Neo-Cons by Jacob G. Hornberger November 7, 2007 One of the amusing aspects to the Musharraf crackdown in Pakistan is the air of silence it is producing among American neo-cons. The crackdown is an absolutely perfect model of dictatorship and tyranny. And the resistance being led by Pakistani lawyers and judges in the name of the rule of law and an independent judiciary ...
The Heroics of Pakistani Lawyers by Jacob G. Hornberger November 6, 2007 What a fantastic credit to the legal profession that lawyers and judges are playing the leading role in resisting tyranny in Pakistan. Thousands of lawyers are defying Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf’s imposition of martial law by street protests all across the country. But Musharraf, in the finest tradition of dictators, is fighting back, sending his ...
Musharraf, Lincoln, and Bush by Jacob G. Hornberger November 5, 2007 Pakistan is providing another good example of the bankruptcy of the U.S. government’s foreign policy of empire and intervention, which has brought so much damage to our country. Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has declared a national emergency and has seized emergency powers. His security forces have detained about 500 opposition party members, lawyers, and ...
A Federal Inanity in the Fourth Circuit by Jacob G. Hornberger November 2, 2007 One of the most inane arguments I’ve ever heard came this week from one of the 10 judges serving on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is reputedly the most conservative federal appellate court in the country. The judge is J. Harvie Wilkinson III, who was nominated to the bench by Ronald Reagan. The ...
Hornberger’s Blog, November 2007 by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2007 Friday, November 30, 2007 Drug-War Idiocy by Jacob G. Hornberger Mexican officials are all aglow over the seizure of a record 23 tons of cocaine, which they promptly burned in the hope of receiving $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer monies from U.S. officials. When will the American people finally demand a stop to this drug-war idiocy? Some 30 years ago, when I was ...
