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Monday 2nd January 2012

Ron Paul: Toppling Political Idols and Changing American Politics

10:46 am | Democracy | Ron Paul | Uncategorized | Comments: 9

As someone who was born in Iowa, I’m pleased to see many Iowans flocking to support Ron Paul.
The Washington Post has a tut-tutting front-page story today complaining that Paul’s 45-minute stump speech “outlines a view of the world so bleak it would make Chicken Little sound like an optimist.”
It is not surprising that a [...]

Friday 12th August 2011

Latest Patriot Act Frauds and Follies

The Future of Freedom Foundation posted online today the following piece from the May issue of Freedom Daily -
The PATRIOT Act in the Crosshairs Again
by James Bovard
The most controversial provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act are coming up for renewal this year. There is hope that Americans will finally learn more about how the [...]

Wednesday 27th July 2011

Debt Limit Talks: “Squeal Like a Pig,” the Establishment Said

Tom Toles’s excellent cartoon below captures the soul of the debt limit talks. Anyone who is not cynical is probably heading for the chopping block.
My good friend and talk show hellraiser extraordinaire Brian Wilson has an excellent article tomorrow at LewRockwell.com on the real meanings behind the key terms flung around in [...]

Wednesday 22nd June 2011

Fear-mongering and Servitude

from the July-August issue of the Freeman -
Fear-Mongering and Servitude
by James Bovard
In his 1776 essay, “Thoughts on Government,” John Adams observed, “Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be [...]

Wednesday 11th May 2011

King of Weasels Enters Prez Race

8:58 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Democracy | wool | Comments: 8

No matter what I could write about Newt Gingrich, it would not be snarky enough.
The Washington Post notes today: “Gingrich is an idea-spewing machine, unlike anyone else in the Republican Party. But does America want a one-man think tank , particularly one with his history, as its president?”
The Post was right about the spewing, [...]

Tuesday 10th May 2011

Franklin Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” Fraud

From the February issue of the Future of Freedom Foundation’s Freedom Daily -
Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” Fraud
by James Bovard
President Obama has succeeded in seizing new power over health care and other swaths of American lives in part because previous presidents muddied Americans’ understanding of freedom.
Most of the past century’s debates over the meaning of [...]

Thursday 21st April 2011

Ted Rall Nails Obama on Spreading Democacy to Libya

Tuesday 19th April 2011

MP3 of Interview with Antiwar’s Scott Horton on Idiot Libyan Policymakers

From Antiwar.com: “James Bovard, author of Attention Deficit Democracy, discusses his article, “Uncle Sam’s big plans for your hard-earned tax dollars;” the two-party “consensus of rascals” on US foreign policy; the “best and brightest” government policymakers who are blinded by arrogance, tunnel vision and echo chambers; and the confusion about whether disastrous foreign policy decisions [...]

Thursday 14th April 2011

Your Tax Dollars at Work and Play

Washington Times, April 15, 2011
Uncle Sam’s big plans for your hard-earned tax dollars
by James Bovard
Congratulations - your tax payment is probably your biggest purchase of the year. The federal tax burden now amounts to more than $20,000 per household, according to Internal Revenue Service data. Your contribution to the Treasury coffers will permit Uncle [...]

Friday 18th March 2011

Defining Coercion Down

from the Future of Freedom Foundation, posted online today…
Freedom Daily December 2010
DEFINING COERCION DOWN
by James Bovard
Coercion is the essence of government in the same way that profit is the essence of private businesses. The state can impose new prohibitions and restrictions, create new penalties, or impose taxes in order to finance benefits. It is [...]

Friday 25th February 2011

Obama Advisor Sunstein’s Peril to Freedom

from the Future of Freedom Foundation’s Freedom Daily (November 2010)
Obama Advisor Sunstein’s Peril to Freedom
by James Bovard
Cass Sunstein is the chief of the Obama administration’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. As Salon’s Glenn Greenwald noted earlier this year, Sunstein “has long been one of Barack Obama’s closest confidants.” His values are probably guiding the [...]

Tuesday 15th February 2011

Video - Me & Jacob Hornberger Thumping Conservative Statists

Jacob Hornberger Show from CPAC 2011 with James Bovard from The Future of Freedom Foundation on Vimeo.
From the Future of Freedom Foundation: This edition of the Jacob Hornberger Show was recorded at the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 11, 2011. Jacob and special guest James Bovard discuss “Why Do Conservatives Support Statism?”
The Jacob [...]

Thursday 10th February 2011

Clinton’s Forgotten Dictatorial Tendencies

… posted online today by the Future of Freedom Foundation
Freedom Daily October 2010
Clinton’s Forgotten Dictatorial Tendencies
by James Bovard
It seems like a century since Bill Clinton was president of this country. Unfortunately, the abuses of George W. Bush and the pratfalls of Barack Obama are causing many people to raise their [...]

Wednesday 26th January 2011

My 2 Cents on Obama’s State of the Union Address

The following riff is part of an American Conservative forum on Obama’s speech.
******
The State of the Union address has long since become “hip boot” time. Shortly after the speech finished, the CNN webpage showed a large photo of Obama giving the speech along with a brief outtake: “CNN BREAKING NEWS: ‘What Comes of This Moment [...]

Monday 24th January 2011

Our Know Nothing Foreign Policy (full text)

The American Conservative placed online today the full text of my review of Magic and Mayhem.
Worst and Brightest
Review of Magic and Mayhem: The Delusions of American Foreign Policy From Korea to Afghanistan, Derek Leebaert, Simon & Schuster, 336 pages
By James Bovard
In the decades since John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, foreign-policy experts have become Washington’s leading con [...]

Thursday 13th January 2011

Speaking on the Patriot Act on a CPAC Panel Next Month…

I will be paying my respects to the Patriot Act at a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on Saturday, Feb. 12, from 10 to 11 a.m. The panel is sponsored by the Campaign For Liberty. C4L will be having lots of stout events at this year’s CPAC. [...]

Tuesday 28th December 2010

Rep. Hoekstra Wins CIA Torture Medal of Honor

from the Future of Freedom Foundation sent out this op-ed today -
[also posted on Counterpunch here]
Hoekstra Receives CIA’s Bootlicking Award
by James Bovard, December 28, 2010
On December 21, the Central Intelligence Agency gave its Agency Seal Medal to Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. Hoekstra has labored almost ceaselessly to assure [...]

Wednesday 22nd December 2010

How Washington Protects Your Privacy & Liberty

from the January issue of The Freeman -
James Bovard
How Washington Protects Your Privacy and Liberty
January/February 2011 • Volume: 61 • Issue: 1
Preserving trust in government is the highest good—at least for politicians. To create that trust, government continually spawns façades to make people believe their rights are safe. Few things better illustrate [...]

Tuesday 14th December 2010

MP3s of Today’s Interview with WBAL’s Ron Smith on Assassin Nation

Ron Smith and I had a rollicking chat on “Assassin Nation” on WBAL this morning.
Ron is much savier than most hosts - and he has paid attention for decades to how government power has accumulated and become far more dangerous.
We also took some whacks at WikiLeaks critics. I commented that many Americans [...]

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