Hornberger's Blog

Hornberger’s Blog, May 2006

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2006

Wednesday, May 31, 2006 In a speech to a friendly audience at West Point, President Bush announced that the “war on terrorism” would ultimately rival the Cold War in its length and difficulty. The corollary, which Bush didn’t mention, is that this will be perpetually increasing budgets for the military-industrial complex, a point that the graduates of West Point ...

Hornberger’s Blog, April 2006

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2006

Friday, April 28, 2006 An article in yesterday’s New York Times about Vietnam holds a valuable lesson about U.S. foreign policy and the U.S. government’s related policy of trying to isolate the American people from the rest of the world. Vietnam, as everyone knows, is ruled by a non-democratic communist/socialist regime. That means that the citizenry of Vietnam ...

Hornberger’s Blog, March 2006

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2006

Friday, March 31, 2006 It’s amusing to watch those members of Congress who claim, on the one hand, that the U.S. government invaded Iraq to help the Iraqi people, while, at the same time, are doing everything they can to keep immigrants from coming to the United States. Their position is this: “Our government will come to help you with our ...

Hornberger’s Blog, February 2006

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2006

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 I wonder how U.S. officials reacted to the leaked draft of a report on Mexico’s “dirty war,” which was waged in part during the presidential regime of Luis Echeverria (1780-76) and three other Mexican presidents. Under what they termed “Operation Friendship, “Echeverria’s military forces conducted ''illegal searches, arbitrary detentions, torture, the raping of women in ...

Hornberger’s Blog, January 2006

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2006

Tuesday, January 31, 2006 Quietly, Congress has once again bowed to the Pentagon and taken another fateful step toward military rule in America. The Washington Post reports that in a “little notice provision of the National Defense Authorization Act passed last month,” the Congress authorized the Pentagon to dispense foreign aid to foreign militaries directly rather than the ...

Hornberger’s Blog, December 2005

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2005

Saturday, December 31, 2005 Our government is mired in such wrongful conduct as torture, denial of due process, denial of jury trials, spying on Americans, warrantless recording of citizens’ telephone calls, military interference with the criminal justice system, military denigration of the Constitution, brutal sanctions on overseas people, wars of aggression, military occupations, secret Soviet-era torture centers overseas, kidnapping of ...

Hornberger’s Blog, November 2005

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2005

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 Sen. Hillary Clinton is among the growing number of congressional Democrats who are having second thoughts about the president’s war on Iraq. In a 1600-word email to her constituents, Clinton said, ''I take responsibility for my vote, and I, along with a majority of Americans, expect the president and his administration to take responsibility ...

Hornberger’s Blog, October 2005

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2005

Monday, October 31, 2005 Some people are suggesting that Scooter Libby’s allegedly false testimony to a federal grand jury was no big deal and possibly shouldn’t even be charged, at least since the grand jury didn’t charge an underlying crime. They’re missing two important points, however. One is that truth under oath is essential to a properly governing criminal-justice system. The other is ...

Hornberger’s Blog, September 2005

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2005

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 ...

Hornberger’s Blog, August 2005

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2005

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 ...

Hornberger’s Blog, July 2005

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2005

Saturday, July 30, 2005 I wonder if Martha Stewart, whom the feds convicted and punished for lying to a federal bureaucrat even though she wasn’t under oath at the time she supposedly lied, noticed the latest news about President Bush’s nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to the UN, John Bolton. In conjunction with his ratification hearings, Bolton was ...

Hornberger’s Blog, June 2005

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 2005

Thursday, June 30, 2005 Have you ever noticed that the august members of the U.S. House of Representatives, who are forever proposing a flag-burning amendment to the Constitution, never propose a Constitution-burning amendment along the same lines? You know — as in making it illegal to burn your own private copy of the Constitution, just as they want to make ...