Archive for June 2009
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Tuesday 30th June 2009
Mary Lou Forbes, RIP
2:44 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Comments: 0
Mary Lou Forbes, the Commentary editor of the Washington Times, passed away on Saturday less than 2 weeks after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1959 for her coverage of school desegregation fights in Virginia.
Mary Lou was one of the most pleasant editors I have dealt with. [...]
REAL ID and the Real Danger of Government
8:09 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
The Campaign for Liberty posted online an article I wrote today on the lessons of REAL ID.
Funny to think how, only a few years ago, opponents of REAL ID were tagged as paranoid….
Real ID: A Real Warning on the Danger of Government
By James Bovard
The REAL ID Act may be on the verge of receiving [...]
Friday 26th June 2009
Obama’s Ludicrous Declaration on Torture Day
7:22 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 2
Alas, my idealistic hopes have once again been crushed like a bug.
President Obama issued his statement on the United Nations International Day in Support of Torture Victims.
I wonder if Obama’s ghostwriter was wearing hip boots when this statement was put together.
The opening of his statement could have been recycled from the George W. Bush [...]
“Obama and the Torturers” - Portuguese version
7:09 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
Murilo Leme kindly translated my latest torture piece into Portuguese.
Comemorem o Dia da Tortura Punindo os Torturadores
por James Bovard, 23 de junho de 2009
Desde 1997, todo dia 26 de junho tem sido formalmente reconhecido como o Dia Internacional de Apoio a Vítimas da Tortura - International Day of Support for Victims of Torture. Líderes políticos [...]
Thursday 25th June 2009
Illegal Teenage Strip Search as Harmless Error
3:45 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Comments: 1
The Supreme Court ruled today that Arizona school officials violated the law and constitutional rights when they forcibly strip-searched a 13 year old girl to see if she was hiding painkillers in her underwear.
It is good that the Court did not sprinkle its holy water on the search. But the court’s refusal to hold [...]
Wednesday 24th June 2009
On Jamaican Radio Tonight (6/24) at 7:30 EDT
2:16 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
I will be on the Evening Edition, a radio discussion program in Kingston, Jamaica, with host Lloyd D’Aguilar, this evening from 7:30 to 7:45 Eastern time. We will be discussing US torture in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
You can listen live at www.newstalk93fm.com
Best Definition of a Tax Audit
10:28 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 2
This is a perfect definition for an IRS audit - at least on the corporate side.
I am mystified by the quip in the last panel, but the line in the middle panel deserves to live in infamy.
Tuesday 23rd June 2009
Celebrate Torture Day by Punishing Torturers
11:10 am | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Bush | Obama | Torture | Comments: 2
The Future of Freedom Foundation is shotgunning out this email today…..
Celebrate Torture Day by Punishing Torturers
by James Bovard, June 23, 2009
Since 1997, every June 26 has been formally recognized as the International Day of Support for Victims of Torture. Political leaders around the globe take the occasion to proclaim their opposition to barbarism.
On June [...]
Friday 19th June 2009
Washington Post Dumps Best Columnist - Froomkin
11:07 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 5
The Washington Post yesterday terminated the “White House Watch” column written by Dan Froomkin. Froomkin did far better and more courageous coverage of the torture scandal than did any other Post columnist or editorial writer. (Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles also did magnificent work on this score). Froomkin was off to a strong [...]
Thursday 18th June 2009
Divine Analogies for Self-Pitying Republicans
9:32 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 3
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) sent a twitter message yesterday declaring that “Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House.”
Gracious - politicians face a few procedural hurdles and then claim that they suffered the equivalent of having their heads busted by goons with batons?
Twitter [...]
Wednesday 17th June 2009
PODCAST NOW ONLINE - Brian Wilson Show interview today
10:27 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 4
I will be on the Brian Wilson radio show today from @ 5:05 pm to 5:30. We will have a good ol’ time ragging on government surveillance and other damn outrages.
Listen Live here. (He is on Toledo’s WSPD - 1370 on the AM dial).
****
UPDATE: The podcast of the interview is now available [...]
Harry Browne, RIP & New Books Available
10:12 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 2
This would have been author and freedom fighter Harry Browne’s 76th birthday. Harry (who passed away in 2006) did great work for decades and he helped awake and inspire many people to the value of freedom and the perils of political saviors. His work on surviving economic nosedives is more relevant now than [...]
Tuesday 16th June 2009
Are You a “Low-Level Terrorist”?
11:44 am | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Surveillance | Terrorism | dictatorship | Comments: 6
The Pentagon is teaching soldiers and bureaucrats that people who attend public protests are guilty of “low-level terrorism.”
As a California political blog notes, “Among the multiple-choice questions included in its Level 1 Antiterrorism Awareness training course – an annual training requirement for all DoD personnel that is fulfilled through web-based instruction – the DoD [...]
Friday 12th June 2009
Perverse Reading Habits of U.S. Attorneys: Shredding Privacy, Except for Torturers
10:06 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Central Intelligence Agency | Torture | wool | Comments: 1
From the Las Vegas Review Journal:
US Attorney subpoenas Las Vegas Review-Journal for info about posters to a web-page story.
“On May 26 the Review-Journal published an article about an ongoing federal tax evasion trial. The primary defendant, Las Vegan Robert Kahre, stands accused of tax fraud for using the rather inventive argument that he could [...]
Torture Coverup in Portuguese
8:36 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 1
Murilo Leme kindly translated my piece on the Obama torture coverup into Portuguese.
I am told that sarcasm works better in Portuguese, so the humor may work better in the translation than the original.
XXXXX
O Mais Recente Cambalacho de Encobrimento da Tortura
por James Bovard, 10 de junho de 2009
A administração Obama parece cada vez mais empenhada [...]
Thursday 11th June 2009
OBAMA’S I.M.F. TINHORN DICTATOR BAILOUT
10:31 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 2
INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY JUNE 11, 2009
U.S. Bailout Of Tinhorn Dictators Sacrifices Taxpayers On IMF Altar
By JAMES BOVARD
The Obama administration wants to pledge $100 billion in U.S. taxpayers’ money to the International Monetary Fund. This provision is included in an appropriations bill containing supplemental funding for military operations in Iraq and [...]
Wednesday 10th June 2009
The Latest Torture Coverup Scam
9:59 am | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Central Intelligence Agency | Elective Dictatorship | Obama | Torture | Comments: 5
The Future of Freedom Foundation is shotgunning out an oped I wrote on the latest torture coverup. Alas, this subject continues to be hell on idealists.
*****
The Latest Torture Cover-Up Scam
by James Bovard, June 10, 2009
The Obama administration appears increasingly devoted to covering up the worst crimes of the Bush era. On Monday, CIA chief Leon [...]
Monday 8th June 2009
42nd Anniversary of the Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty
11:24 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 12
On June 8, 1967, Israeli forces knowingly attacked an American intelligence ship off the coast of Egypt. Thirty-four Americans were killed.
The Johnson administration responded by rushing to coverup the facts.
James Bamford, author of Body of Secrets, has unearthed massive evidence proving that the Israelis had definitely identified the ship as American before [...]
Wednesday 3rd June 2009
Government’s Right to Murder - Now Official in Prince George’s County, Maryland
2:16 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 4
I have been ragging on Prince George’s County, Maryland (adjacent to DC) for most of this decade.
Good Ol’ PG just outdid itself.
The county prosecutor has signaled that there will be no charges in the case of an inmate murdered by prison guards.
Whoops - that’s not quite what PG officials said.
Instead, there will be no [...]