The Ninth Circuit v. the CIA by Jacob G. Hornberger April 30, 2009 The omnipotent power claimed by the CIA was dealt a major blow Tuesday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Binyam Mohamed et al v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. The five plaintiffs are victims of the CIA’s kidnapping, rendition, and torture program. All five were kidnapped overseas by CIA agents, transferred to brutal but CIA-friendly foreign ...
Out of the Darkness by Jacob G. Hornberger April 29, 2009 It is refreshing to see that speakers at our 2007 and 2008 conferences “Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties” have continued speaking out in the defense of civil liberties and in opposition to the pro-empire, pro-intervention foreign policy that holds our nation in its grip. Many of the lawyers who spoke at the conference are taking a ...
The Dark Core of the Empire by Jacob G. Hornberger April 28, 2009 Among the major obstacles to both criminal prosecutions and a truth commission regarding the CIA’s torture program is the underlying reluctance of U.S. officials to focus attention on the super-secret operations of the CIA. A criminal prosecution, after all, could get out of control, especially one that is being prosecuted by a genuinely honest, independent prosecutor. Prospective defendants might threaten ...
Let’s Not Forget CIA Victim Charles Horman by Jacob G. Hornberger April 27, 2009 While we’re on the subject of criminal prosecutions and congressional investigations for the CIA’s kidnapping, torture, sex abuse, rendition, and disappearance program, is it too late to ask the same for the case of Charles Horman? He was the 31-year-old American journalist who was murdered in 1973 by Chilean military thugs with the support ...
Stealing Children from Illegal Immigrants by Jacob G. Hornberger April 24, 2009 Advocates of the war on immigrants often claim as a justification for their war that illegal aliens steal jobs away from Americans. Of course, it’s a spurious claim. No one has a right to any particular job. Employers, as owners of their businesses, have the moral right to offer employment or deny employment to ...
The Pursuit of Passion by Jacob G. Hornberger April 23, 2009 A friend of mine who is a piano instructor was telling me that a parent of one of her students told her that her child loves the piano so much that she has trouble pulling him away from it. Apparently, the student, who is 17, practices several hours every day. The reason he’s able to ...
How About Abolishing the CIA Now? by Jacob G. Hornberger April 22, 2009 So, let me see if I have this right. The members of the Gestapo would have been let off the hook for the brutality and murders they committed because they were simply following orders. And those who issued the orders would have been let off the hook because compliant and submissive German lawyers had handed ...
The Cancerous Rot at the Center of the Empire by Jacob G. Hornberger April 21, 2009 In obvious response to growing calls for the prosecution of Bush administration personnel who tortured people or who authorized the torture of people, former Vice President Dick Cheney has called on the CIA to declassify information showing that that the torture delivered “good” intelligence. Maybe he is referring to the 183 times that the ...
Obama Is Just another Political Hack by Jacob G. Hornberger April 20, 2009 While there’s always room for hope, so far it is clear that Barack Obama is just a standard political hack from Chicago who made it to the presidency, primarily through his gift of gab and through voter dissatisfaction with the standard political hacks in the Republican Party. While Obama has disclosed the Bush torture memos, ...
Three Successes in the War on Immigrants by Jacob G. Hornberger April 17, 2009 Amidst all the failures and destructiveness of U.S. socialism, interventionism, and imperialism, U.S. officials can claim 3 recent successes in their war on immigrants. Success Story Number 1. The first success story involves a man named Keith Eckel, a 61-year-old farmer in Pennsylvania who is one of the largest tomato growers in the United States. Not this year though. This ...
World Cop and American Daddy by Jacob G. Hornberger April 16, 2009 In its self-proclaimed role as world cop, the U.S. military is now assuming the role of protecting U.S.-owned vessels — and maybe even ships owned by foreigners — from Somali pirates. Actually, the U.S. Navy should butt out of the international piracy field and leave ship-owners to their own devices in dealing with the piracy problem. Traveling overseas involves risks. ...
Piracy and the IRS by Jacob G. Hornberger April 15, 2009 Of course, it’s just a coincidence but isn’t at least a bit ironic that all the hullabaloo about piracy has occurred near April 15? After all, is the IRS really any different, in principle, from the pirates? Sure, it’s true that the IRS doesn’t attack ships, take crews hostage, and demand a ransom. But doesn’t it attach liens on ships, ...
