Are Americans Facing a Perfect Storm? by Jacob G. Hornberger January 28, 2008 President Bush is advising the members of Congress not to load up his “economic-stimulus” package with a bunch of lard and pork. Unfortunately, he didn’t explain why. After all, if $800 in the hands of each taxpayer will “stimulate” the economy, why won’t a bunch of checks in the hands of favorite congressional supporters do ...
The War on Immigrants Is a War on Freedom by Jacob G. Hornberger January 25, 2008 Lost in the furor over the so-called immigration crisis is that the war on immigrants is a direct assault on both free enterprise and freedom of association, freedoms on which our nation was founded. Despite the often-heard canard about immigrants going on welfare, the fact is that most immigrants come to the United States to better their ...
The Ominous Message in Padilla by Jacob G. Hornberger January 23, 2008 Yesterday the presiding judge in the Jose Padilla case sentenced Padilla to 17 years in jail. Supporters of the “war on terrorism” might be tempted to smugly believe that the conviction and sentence vindicated what the government did to Padilla. They do not. What happened to Padilla continues to hang over the head of every independent-minded American like a ...
Lou Dobbs and the Drug War by Jacob G. Hornberger January 22, 2008 Last night, CNN television commentator Lou Dobbs was commenting on the recent death of a Border Patrol agent at the hands of drug dealers along the border. The agent had used his vehicle to try to stop the Hummer that was being driven by the drug dealers. The drug dealers crashed into the agent’s vehicle, ...
Economic Stimulus Lunacy by Jacob G. Hornberger January 21, 2008 Obviously becoming increasingly concerned about the U.S. economy, President Bush is offering a band-aid solution: an “economic-stimulus package” entailing a federal welfare check of $800 being sent to every taxpayer. Oh, sure, he’s not calling it a welfare check. He’s calling it a “tax rebate” but in fact it’s nothing but a welfare check, one ...
Empire and the Economy by Jacob G. Hornberger January 18, 2008 It’s quite amusing to watch U.S. officials, presidential candidates, and mainstream-media types presenting their pet plans to “revive the economy.” Except for Ron Paul, they all operate on the assumption that a recession, like terrorism, is some sort of mysterious disease that periodically afflicts societies. Their diagnosis of the problem is similar to ...
Conservative Blind Eye on Empire by Jacob G. Hornberger January 17, 2008 One of the things that has long fascinated me about conservatives is how eager they always are to criticize foreign regimes while, at the same time, steadfastly maintaining a blind eye to wrongful policies and practices of the U.S. government. For example, a conservative will rail against the evils of socialism but then use the educational and health care ...
Empire, Interventionism, and the Wall Street Journal by Jacob G. Hornberger January 16, 2008 On January 15, the Wall Street Journal carried a strange article entitled “Ron Paul and Foreign Policy” by Bret Stephens, a member of the Journal’s editorial board, which criticized Ron Paul’s libertarian foreign-policy views. Taking libertarians to task for embracing a policy of non-intervention in the Middle East (and the rest of the world), Stephens pointed to ...
A Strange Way to Spread Peace and Democracy by Jacob G. Hornberger January 15, 2008 During his current trip to the Middle East to spread peace and democracy, President Bush announced that the U.S. Government is selling 900 satellite missiles to Saudi Arabia as part of a $20 billion arms sale to that country. Pardon me, but don’t U.S. officials tell us that Saudi Arabia is one of the threats to ...
Anti-Immigrant Attacks on Free Enterprise and Private Property by Jacob G. Hornberger January 14, 2008 Have you noticed that the anti-immigrant crowd is remaining remarkably silent about the latest battle over their beloved Berlin Wall that they are constructing along the entire Southern border of the United States? The battle is between the U.S. government and private owners of private property along the Rio Grande south of Laredo, Texas. ...
Toward Militarism, War, Empire, Caskets, and Bankruptcy by Jacob G. Hornberger January 11, 2008 When U.S. intelligence agencies recently surprised the nation with their National Intelligence Estimate announcement that Iran had ceased its nuclear-weapons program several years ago, many people, including ardent supporters of the president, felt that the announcement put to rest any chance of a war against Iran. Not so fast! After all, did the disintegration of the ...
Dying to Kill U.S.-Produced Terrorists by Jacob G. Hornberger January 10, 2008 Yesterday, I wrote about the U.S. military offensive that is currently taking place against Iraqi insurgents in Diyala Province in Iraq. The New York Times is reporting that six U.S. soldiers were killed yesterday in that operation. Let’s examine the meaning of their deaths in the larger context of U.S. foreign policy. The first thing to keep in mind is that ...
