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Wednesday 18th August 2010

The Crime of Lying to the FBI???

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is a four-star sleazeball. But the feds had their chance to put him away and they failed to convince a jury on all charges except lying to the FBI.
This is one of the “crimes” that best illustrates the mirage of the Rule of Law in the U.S. FBI agents and [...]

Monday 28th June 2010

Ron Paul Celebrates Justice Department’s 140th Anniversary

It’s almost always a shock when truth surfaces in the Congressional Record.
Madam Speaker, the House of Representatives recently considered H. Res. 1422, honoring the 140th anniversary of the Department of Justice. I voted against this resolution because of the Justice Departmentâ€™s history of violating individual rights.
It is the Justice Department that leads the ongoing [...]

Monday 21st June 2010

Supreme Court’s Latest Constitutional Disaster of Biblical Proportions

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision upholding a federal law banning “material support” to terrorist organizations is a disaster for preserving free speech or limiting federal power.
Once again, the Obama administration proudly championed repression, and the court agreed with the Obama team.
Raw Story has a good collection of quotes bashing the decision here.
David Cole, the [...]

Wednesday 21st April 2010

My Culpability for the Oklahoma City Bombing

I almost forgot my role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
No - I’ve never been to Oklahoma.
But a 1999 Los Angeles Times review of one of my books made similar points to what Bill Clinton made in his New York Times op-ed on Monday. The reviewer, Anthony Day, was horrified at my rejection [...]

Monday 19th April 2010

Podcast of April 19th Interview with Ernie Hancock

Legendary hellraiser and freedom fighter Ernie Hancock had me on his radio show today. We talked about the meaning of April 19th - Waco, the Oklahoma City bombing, etc.
He tried to squeeze out a few predictions but I pretty much took a dive.
You can hear the show by clicking radio-jpb-2010-04-19-ernie-hancock-a-pmhere. (The [...]

Thursday 15th April 2010

1994 Tax Day article: “The Growing IRS Dictatorship”

Tax Day is a time to pause to appreciate all that Washington does for us. Here’s a piece I wrote 16 years ago. Unfortunately, few newspapers or magazines are stooping to notice the danger of the IRS’s power these days.
The article was accepted by Wall Street Journal editorial features editor Amity Shlaes, and [...]

Friday 5th March 2010

The Material Witness Ticket to Servitude

The Future of Freedom Foundation put online my article from the December Freedom Daily….
It’s amazing to see what kind of legal crap the government gets away with these days.
The Material Witness Charade Freedom Daily, December 2009
by James Bovard
Last September, a federal appeals court ruled that former [...]

Tuesday 16th February 2010

On Russian TV Talking About American Dictatorial Power

I was on Russian Television (the English language edition) last night talking aboutÂ all the “emergency” declarations and power grabs by recent presidents. The interview on “The Alyona Show” Â starts about 6 minutes into this YouTube segment here.
It was ironic toÂ be commenting on the danger of excessive presidential power on Russian TV….
PerhapsÂ at some point the mainstream [...]

Thursday 4th February 2010

My Early Optimism on the War on Terror & Civil Liberties

I had forgotten about the following riff until stumbling across it a few days ago.
In late September 2001, Reason magazine asked a handful of folks “to discuss which civil lliberties they thought were most at risk in what has been called America’s first 21st century war.” They published the responses in an article entitled, [...]

Monday 18th January 2010

Gitmo Murders & Pentagon Coverup?

Scott Horton of Harper’s has a great piece online on how three detainees at Gitmo were killed during interrogations. The military responded with an elaborate coverup that claimed the three men committed suicide as an “act of asymmetrical warfare.”
The military’s story has been blow to bits in large part by former Gitmo guards who [...]

Thursday 24th September 2009

Antiwar Interview on Ashcroft, Tyranny, etc. now online

Scott Horton and I had a rollicking good chat earlier this week on the post 9/11 roundup of innocent terrorist suspects, why John Ashcroft should receive “justice” (and hard), the outrage of sovereign immunity, and the bisexual congresswoman entrapped by a lesbian foreign agent.
You can hear it here.
[If that link doesn't work, hit this [...]

Tuesday 28th July 2009

Martial Law and the War on Terrorism

The Future of Freedom Foundation is shotgunning out the following oped today….
***
Martial Law and the War on Terrorism
Or â€œOne White House Memo Away From Dictatorshipâ€
by James Bovard
The New York Times reported last week that the Bush administration considered sending in the U.S. military to arrest the so-called Lackawanna Six in 2002. [...]

Friday 17th July 2009

Torture and Political Science

9:15 am | Torture | dictatorship | Comments: 3

Amazing how few political scientists responded to the last 5 years of revelations about torture by the U.S. government.
But perhaps this merely continues that profession’s perennial habit of ignoring the dark side of Leviathan.
British historian Thomas Macaulay noted in his 1837 essay on Francis Bacon that “he who first treated legislation as [...]

Thursday 9th July 2009

McNamara’s Other “Body Count” Debacle

9:08 am | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | dictatorship | Comments: 4

[an op-ed sent out this morning by the Future of Freedom Foundation]
McNamaraâ€™s Other “Body Count” Debacle
by James Bovard, July 9, 2009
Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, who died on July 6, was best known for ratcheting up the Vietnam War thanks to the false claims he provided to President Johnson, Congress, and the American people.
Despite [...]

Friday 3rd July 2009

My 2 Cents on the Tenth Amendment movement

10:16 am | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | dictatorship | Comments: 2

I spoke to Bill Thompson of the Ocala, Florida News earlier this week. He has a very thoughtful article today on the Tenth Amendment movement. Here’s part of his article:
The author James Bovard, whose writings frequently focus on the negative consequences of the growth of the federal government at the expense of individual liberty, [...]

Tuesday 16th June 2009

Are You a “Low-Level Terrorist”?

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 â€“ an annual training requirement for all DoD personnel that is fulfilled through web-based instruction â€“ the DoD [...]

Wednesday 22nd April 2009

On Judge Napolitano’s “Freedom Watch” This Afternoon (4/22) + UPDATE

9:46 am | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | dictatorship | Comments: 4

I am scheduled to be on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s “Freedom Watch” internet broadcast on Fox today @ 2:30 pm. Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, and Glenn Beck are also scheduled for the program (which starts at 2 pm).
You can watch it live here. The show will also be archived at that site.
Topics for [...]

Thursday 12th March 2009

Portuguese Translations of my Epigrams and Recent Articles

Murilo Leme* kindly translated some of my recent epigrams and articles into Portuguese. I think some of the one-liners sound better with the Latin overtones of his language.
I much appreciate his making my writings accessible to folks in Brazil, Portugal, and even Mozambique. If you know folks who would [...]

Friday 3rd October 2008

Freedom is Still the Preeminent Issue

2:21 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | dictatorship | Comments: 13

The Foundation for Economic Education posted online my piece from the current issue of their Freeman magazine responding to David Brooks’s call to devalue freedom in American poiltics.
Freedom Is Not the Issue? It Just Ain’t So! The Freeman September 2008
By James Bovard
The Friends of Leviathan are once again encouraging people [...]

Sunday 7th September 2008

Introduction from FREEDOM IN CHAINS (1999)

Here’s another flash from the past.Â Â Freedom in Chains: TheÂ Rise of the State and the Demise of the CitizenÂ Â was hell on my moderate image.Â Â
Curious how the intellectual battle lines have shifted in the decade since I wrote this book.Â I recall some reviewers denouncing me as an extremist for focusing on government abuses such as [...]

Wednesday 9th April 2008

Martial Law Act of 2006

Â The Future of Freedom Foundation today posted online my article from the January 2008 issue of Freedom DailyÂ on Martial Law.Â Without further ado…
The Martial Law Act of 2006
by James Bovard
Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that will make [...]

Monday 24th March 2008

The 9/11 Servility Reflex

The Future of Freedom Foundation posted online today my Freedom Daily piece on the tidal wave of groveling that swept America after 9/11.
THE 9/11 SERVILITY REFLEXÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Freedom Daily, December 2008
by James BovardÂ
Many citizens react to their rulers like little kids who recognize that a stranger is acting suspiciously and may be up to no good [...]

Friday 11th January 2008

Stomping Freedom: The Martial Law Act of 2006

Counterpunch posted online my Freedom Daily January article on how Congress passedÂ law to give presidents push-button martial law power.Â Here’s the piece.
Stomping Freedom
Inside the Martial Law Act of 2006
By JAMES BOVARD
Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that [...]

Wednesday 2nd January 2008

Thanks for the Great Comments in ‘07!

I greatly appreciate the folks who added their thoughts and wit to this blog over the past 12 months.Â Â We’ve had a hoot of a time, despiteÂ theÂ political BS flooding this nation.Â
Laughter might not be the best medicine, but it is a good antidote toÂ the servility that pervades the media and contemporary political life.Â And I’ve learned a [...]

Wednesday 24th October 2007

Drunk Driving Checkpoints vs. Freedom

The Future of Freedom Foundation posted online a piece I wrote for their Freedom Daily on the scourge of drunk driving checkpoints.
DRUNK DRIVING CHECKPOINTS: EVERY DRIVER GUILTY
by James Bovard
Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are stopped each month at police checkpoints that treat every driver as a criminal. These checkpoints, supposedly started to target drunk [...]

Friday 5th October 2007

Are Presidents Entitled to Kill Foreigners?

The Future of Freedom Foundation is shotgunning out an op-ed I wrote about presidents’ right to kill.Â My favorite line from thisÂ piece:
Sometimes the threat of a noose is the best way to keep the peace.Â Â
ARE PRESIDENTS ENTITLED TO KILL FOREIGNERS?
by James Bovard
What is the common term for ordering soldiers to kill vast numbers of innocent [...]

Friday 21st September 2007

“Bush Betrayal” on the Road to Damascus

11:21 am | Bovard | Bush Betrayal | dictatorship | Comments: 9

A Syrian government-owned newspaper reviewed the Arabic version of Bush Betrayal this week.
Here is the summary of the review, as reported by the British Broadcasting Corp. Middle East wire.Â Â Â [[[[ UPDATE: Full text of the review is posted here.]]]]
Â Â Al-Thawrah carries a 400-word article by Khalaf al-Jarrad entitled “‘The World President’ Betrayal,” in which the [...]

Friday 20th July 2007

My FFF Speech is Now Online at YouTube

This is the talk from the Future of Freedom Foundation conference last month.
I’m not sure how the segments of the talk are broken out,Â but it is probably in segment 5 or 6 that I pull the rabbit out of the hat.
The questions from the audience were superb - the Q & A was zippety.
Here’s the [...]

Thursday 19th July 2007

New Bush Dictatorial Decree

Just when my concerns about Bush were starting to subside….
Bush issued an executive order on Tuesday permitting the feds to seize the property of anyone who threatens “the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq” or who “undermin(e) efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq.”Â
Former Justice Department official Bruce [...]

Sunday 13th May 2007

What Would Martial Law Look Like?

If they put a sign saying “Rule of Law” on the front of the howitzer, people might not notice any difference between this and other post 9/11 ornaments in DC.

“Nothing to see here, folks - move along….”Â
The full size photo for the above is at http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=495676211&size=l
The new Patriot System in DC:

Just another harmless decoration on [...]

Wednesday 25th April 2007

Now Online - Radio Interview with Antiwar’s Scott Horton

Antiwar.com’s Scott Horton interviewed me yesterday about the American Conservative article on how Congress rubberstamped martial law.
As always, talking with Scott revived my idealism.
The mp3/audio file can be listened to or downloaded here.

Monday 23rd April 2007

The Martial Law Act of 2007

Congress rubberstamped martial law.
The American Conservative posted online my article on how Congress rolled out the red carpetÂ for martial law.Â This piece vivifies how neither party in WashingtonÂ gives a darnÂ about the risks of dictatorship in America.
American ConservativeÂ Â April 23, 2007
Working for the Clampdown
What might the president do with his new power to declare martial [...]

Friday 6th April 2007

Government Lies vs. Self-Government

Responding to implacable demands from central Europe, the Future of Freedom Foundation today finallyÂ posted online the full text of my piece on Hungarian Lies and American Lessons.
Hungarians are still steaming about the government’s lies in last year’s elections, but most Americans appear to have forgotten Bush’s verbal frauds from the campaign trail last October.Â Â Perhaps [...]

Wednesday 4th April 2007

Ernie Hancock Radio Interview Now Online

Ernie Hancock, the mastermind of FreedomsPhoenix, now has an MP3 online of the interview we did on Sunday night.Â Â The link to the audio clip is at the bottom of this page.Â
It is a longÂ file (16 megs), so folks with dial-upÂ be warned.Â
The first part of the show is Ernie’s interview with Jim Lesczynski, the chief [...]

Monday 2nd April 2007

Libertarian Paternalism Hokum

A New York Times book review yesterday snidely commented that libertarianism was past its time - and that “libertarian paternalism” is the wave of the future.
Cass Sunstein was one of the proponents of “libertarian paternalism”Â invoked by the reviewer.
The notion of “libertarian paternalism” evokes sentiments not fit for a family-friendly blog like this one.
Sunstein has come [...]

Friday 2nd March 2007

My Time in the Tower of London

Â The Future of Freedom Foundation today posted online an article of mine from the December Freedom Daily.Â Â I posted an excerpt of this piece here earlier; here is the full text.
MY TIME IN THE TOWER OF LONDONÂ Â Â Â Â
by James Bovard
I visited the Tower of London in May on an overcast, dreary Friday afternoon. The home of [...]

Saturday 24th February 2007

“Liberating” Iran, Enslaving America

Will Grigg, the editor of Â Pro Libertate, has a new e-zine.Â Â Will ran a piece of mine in his initial issue.Â Will does great work - I hope people check out his hot new ‘Net publication here.
â€œLiberatingâ€ Iran, Enslaving the USA
The price of â€œregime changeâ€ in Iran might be the loss of what remains [...]

Monday 5th February 2007

Bush Brings Medieval Justice to America

The Bush administration has been shockingly clear regarding its intentions to medievalize American justice.Â Â The memos vindicating torture written by high-ranking Bush administration officials should have woken up all Americans to the rising peril.Â Unfortunately, the memos have gotten far less attention than they deserve.
This article, posted today by the Future of Freedom Foundation, ran in [...]

Tuesday 23rd January 2007

March on Washington this Saturday (Jan. 27)

This Saturday should see the biggest antiwar demonstration in Washington since September 2005. Details here.
I will be heading down to the big show. When I go to these events, I tend to saunter more than march, savoring the circus elements of these festivities and spending lots of time onÂ the periphery.
Stopping Bush from expanding the Iraq [...]

Tuesday 3rd October 2006

The 1995 Playboy article on Ruby Ridge

Here’s the piece on Ruby Ridge mentioned in the prior post.
The article had magnificent artwork.Â Unfortunately, I’m not adept at scanning and inserting the images into a blog.
The article closes with the following questions:Â “If Congress is not willing to look into such misconduct, who will protect the Constitution? Will Congress let the Justice Department [...]

Friday 29th September 2006

Happy Dictatorship Day

The prize for the headline of the year goes to todayâ€™s Washington Post for the following gem:
â€œMany Rights in U.S. Legal System Absent in New Billâ€
The Post article on the military tribunal bill the Senates passed yesterdayÂ details some of the legal and procedural rights that people seized as â€œenemy combatantsâ€ will not possess.Â (Amnesty [...]

Wednesday 27th September 2006

Republican Honor Roll on the Torture-Tribunals Bill

The following Republican members of the House of Representatives voted against the Torture-”Terrorist” Tribunal bill (HR 6166) today.
Ron Paul, Roscoe Bartlett, Wayne Gilchrest, Walter Jones, Steven LaTourette, James Leach, Jerry Moran.
These folks deserve hearty applause for their courage in rebuffing the surge of authoritarian sentiments now sweeping the Grand Old Party.
The final vote was 253-168, [...]

Wednesday 2nd August 2006

Freedom Via Military Dictatorship

George W. Bush has apparently given up any aspiration of receiving an honorary award from the American Civil Liberties Union.
His administration is responding to the Supreme Court ruling striking down his military tribunals with a legislative proposal that would place far more Americans in peril of having their rights nullified.Â
The Washington Post reports today:
A draft [...]

Tuesday 18th April 2006

My favorite 1987 Article…..

8:10 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | dictatorship | Comments: 4

Sunni Maravillosa is interviewing me for her Sunni’s Salon - having a good time going back and forth over the last 4 days - her questions are knocking some of the dust off my memories of long-ago times.Â Sunni asked about some of the factors that shaped my political views, and I mentionedÂ the roaming I [...]

Sunday 12th March 2006

American Conservative prints my hit on Lawless Dick Cheney

The new issue of American Conservative (3/27/06) contains my hit on Cheney’s latest lawlessness.Â Â Here is the first paragraph:
“The biggest surprise from the shooting of Harry Worthington was Dick Cheneyâ€™s announcement that he is entitled to declassify national security secrets. Such declassifications raise the question of whether the president and vice president possess unlimited discretion to [...]

A Liberal Reviews Bush Betrayal

The Aging HipsterÂ recently read Bush Betrayal. I’m happyÂ he made it through the book and took the time to put his thoughts on his blog.Â Â Â He gave me permission to repost it - so here it is.Â Â The Aging Hipster is a self-described “Georgia Mountain Man” and Pittsburgh Steelers fan.Â Â Both those factors mean that, unlike some white-gloved [...]

Wednesday 8th February 2006

L.A. Times: Are You a Suspected Terrorist?

The Los Angeles Times ran my op-ed today on the array of wacko definitions of suspected terrorists that the Bush administration has devised since 9/11.Â Â Here are some outtakes of the piece:
PRESIDENT BUSH and Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales insist that the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping of American citizens is a necessary “terrorist surveillance program.” [...]

Sunday 5th February 2006

Bush Now Entitled to Kill at Home?

The February 13 issue of Newsweek reveals that President Bush is entitled to order killings here in the United States, the same as he has been doing around the globe for the last few years. Newsweek notes that, “Steven Bradbury, acting head of the Justice department’s Office of Legal Counsel [the office which in 2002 [...]

Wednesday 18th January 2006

My Pot Ruling Bash

The Future of Freedom Foundation posted my articleÂ on the Supreme Court ruling on medical marijuana.
The articles begins -
Earlier this year [2005], the Supreme Court, acting again like a gang that smoked too much bad weed, ruled that the federal government has the right to prohibit people from growing marijuana for medicinal purposes. The Court relied [...]

Tuesday 17th January 2006

“Credo” from Attention Deficit Democracy

Credo for the New American Patriotism
I believe:
That politicians are more honest than they seem;
That government is more competent than it appears; That government is benevolent, regardless of how much
it wastes or how many people it harms;
That citizens must trust the government, regardless of how often it lies;
That democracy is a panacea, regardless of [...]

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