Archive for Freedom

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Wednesday 21st April 2010

My Culpability for the Oklahoma City Bombing

6:52 pm | Bovard | Democracy | Elective Dictatorship | Freedom | Rule of Law | dictatorship | lese majeste | Comments: 7

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 [...]

Wednesday 14th April 2010

Happy 90th Birthday, Thomas Szasz!!

9:58 pm | Freedom | Comments: 2

April 15 is the 90th birthday of Thomas Szasz, one of the great heroes of freedom in our time. Thanks to his work, millions of people around the globe have had fewer shackles on their lives.
His most famous book is The Myth of Mental Illness. In the nearly 50 years since that came [...]

Tuesday 6th April 2010

Claire Wolfe’s Zesty New Freedom-Fighting Blog

8:15 pm | Elective Dictatorship | Freedom | Rule of Law | Uncategorized | Wiretapping | Comments: 2

Great News for Freedom: Claire Wolfe, one of America’s most eloquent and principled political writers, is again blogging. She is posting her thoughts on a near-daily basis at the Backwoods Home blog site here.
Claire’s first book, 101 Things to Do Until the Revolution , quickly became a cult classic. No [...]

Wednesday 17th February 2010

Frightening Voters Into Submission

11:16 am | Attention Deficit Democracy | Elective Dictatorship | Freedom | Patriot Act | Rule of Law | Comments: 9

From the November 2009 issue of the Future of Freedom Foundation’s Freedom Daily…
Frightening Voters Into Submission
by James Bovard
Former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge has a new book out that reveals that he almost resigned because the Bush administration was hustling bogus terror alerts before the 2004 election. Ridge’s revelation was not surprising to people who had [...]

Tuesday 16th February 2010

On Russian TV Talking About American Dictatorial Power

10:53 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Freedom | Obama | Rule of Law | dictatorship | Comments: 0

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

Thursday 4th February 2010

My Early Optimism on the War on Terror & Civil Liberties

10:52 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Freedom | Justice Department | Rule of Law | Surveillance | Terrorism | dictatorship | Comments: 4

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, [...]

Friday 15th January 2010

Bogus Anti-Terrorist Crackdown on Financial Freedom

1:02 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Bush | Freedom | Justice Department | Patriot Act | Ron Paul | Terrorism | Comments: 4

posted today by the Future of Freedom Foundation - from the October 2009 issue of Freedom Daily…
The Bogus Anti-Terrorist Crackdown on Financial Freedom
by James Bovard
In the post–9/11 era, federal officials are treating cash as they would a suspected weapon of mass destruction. They have created legions of new restrictions and reporting requirements for citizens’ money. [...]

Friday 11th December 2009

How Bush Redefined American Freedom

11:36 am | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bush | Bush Betrayal | Elective Dictatorship | Freedom | Comments: 1

Posted online today by the Future of Freedom Foundation - from the September issue of Freedom Daily…
HOW GEORGE W. BUSH REDEFINED AMERICAN FREEDOM
by James Bovard
George W. Bush is gone from Washington but his legacy, like an abandoned toxic waste dump, lingers on. Like President Franklin Roosevelt before him, President Bush helped redefine American freedom. And [...]