BOVARD » Rule of Law

Archive for Rule of Law

The archive page you are viewing contains only excerpts of each post. To view the full post, click on its title.

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 [...]

Wednesday 17th February 2010

Frightening Voters Into Submission

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

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

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, [...]

Saturday 30th January 2010

Justice Department Bans Justice for Torturers

The Obama Justice Department has apparently decided that, since torture is not a crime (at least not anything deserving of prosecution), then concocting legal doctrines that unleashed torturers around the world is also no offense.
A Justice Department internal investigation has concluded that John Yoo and Jay Bybee were gulity only of “poor judgment” in [...]

Monday 9th November 2009

Torture Update: Andy Worthington’s Excellent New Film

Andy Worthington, the author of The Guantanamo Files, is touring the U.S. with his excellent new film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” He will be in California later this week. Tour schedule is here.
“Outside the Law” does a fine job of blending the legal issues and personal details to burn [...]

Thursday 10th September 2009

The Post 9/11 Round-up of Innocents: Ashcroft’s High Crime

The Post–9/11 Roundup of Innocents
by James Bovard Freedom Daily May & June, 2009
Many Americans have been lulled into a false sense of security by the end of the George W. [...]

Wednesday 29th July 2009

Other Outrageous Terrorism Prosecutions

I appreciate the thoughtful emails on the Lackawanna Six article. Unfortunately, the proseuction in that case was par for the Bush-era domestic war on terrorism. Here’s a piece from the American Conservative during Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign…..
Undue Process
American Conservative October 11, [...]

Sunday 5th July 2009

Obama’s Latest Four-Star Howler on Freedom

Prior to his trip to Russia, President Obama issued an appeal to Russian president Dmitri Medvedev to “to strengthen the rule of law in Russia, which of course includes making sure that all those accused of crimes have the right to a fair trial and that the courts are not used for political purposes.”
Of [...]

Tuesday 5th May 2009

My 2 Cents on Ron Paul, Surveillance, and the Republican Party’s Future

David Weigel has a good piece in the Washington Independent today on Ron Paul ’s rising influence in Washington. The articles mentions that Ron Paul has been bringing in some folks to have lunch and discuss ideas with some of his Republican colleagues. The article includes a quote from me: “There’s a [...]

Tuesday 21st April 2009

Pity for a Constitution Stomper?

Congresswoman Jane Harman is indignant. A National Security Agency wiretap reportedly picked up her conversation seeking favors from a suspected Israeli agent in return for Harman lobbying the Justice Department to drop the lawsuit against AIPAC’s former top officials.
Harman denies the charge and swears that her good name has been defiled. (Har!). Harman sent [...]

Tuesday 10th March 2009

Dictatorship of Lawyers - or, Me and Law School

The Foundation for Economic Education reposted online a 2001 article of mine entitled “Dictatorship of Lawyers.”
The piece spurred some incisive comments on FEE’s website:
Comment by Bill on 10 March 2009:
Ah for the rantings of another who couldn’t get into Law School; Neither could G. W. (W Gump) Bush. You can go to Iran; they [...]

Saturday 20th September 2008

Ron Paul Supporters Vindicated?

[full size photo at my Flickr site here ]
And to think that many people thought that the Ron Paul supporters were too cynical about the Fed….
This monster bank/stock market bailout shaping up in Washington will probably be one of the greatest cons of the new century. This is simply letting politicians give themselves a blank check - or a [...]

Sunday 7th September 2008

Introduction from FREEDOM IN CHAINS (1999)

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

Wednesday 27th August 2008

Federal Attitude Police

The Future of Freedom Foundation posted online today my article from the June issue of Freedom Daily.
TSA is an agency that never gets enough of what it deserves. But it’s fun to try anyhow.
FEDERAL ATTITUDE POLICE
by James Bovard
The Transportation Security Administration has created more gantlets at American airports than most travelers realize. It has continually [...]

Saturday 23rd February 2008

McCain’s Forgotten Drug Fix

Amongst all the media teeth-gnashing over the question of whether McCain did special favors for his blondie lobbyist, his wife’s sweetheart deal for massive narcotics theft in the 1990s has been forgotten.
If a poor black woman from Anacostia had committed the crimes that Cindy McCain committed, the black woman might have been sent to prison [...]

Friday 25th January 2008

Bush Does Abraham

The intellectual bootlickers surrounding Bush have apparently persuaded him that he is the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln. Fox News recently had unprecedented access to Bush to produce a documentary to air on Sunday night: ““George W. Bush: Fighting to the Finish.” Fox reporter Bret Baier commented of his meetings with Bush: ”
We talked a lot [...]

Friday 11th January 2008

Stomping Freedom: The Martial Law Act of 2006

Counterpunch posted online my Freedom Daily January article on how Congress passed law to give presidents push-button martial law power. 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 [...]

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. My favorite line from this piece:
Sometimes the threat of a noose is the best way to keep the peace.
ARE PRESIDENTS ENTITLED TO KILL FOREIGNERS?
by James Bovard
What is the common term for ordering soldiers to kill vast numbers of innocent [...]

Wednesday 29th August 2007

The “Terrorist” Batting Average

The Future of Freedom Foundation today posted online my article from the June 2007 Freedom Daily on the Bush administration’s endlessly inaccurate terrorist accusations. The title of the piece is about as close to baseball as I have gotten in the last decade or so.
The “Terrorist” Batting Average
by James Bovard
For almost six years, the Bush administration [...]

Tuesday 28th August 2007

Hooray! The Federal Government is Clean Again!

Or at least that’s the message I’m picking up from reading some commentators on Alberto Gonzales’s exit.
Shizam, some of these people seem to think that the Justice Department will henceforth be in the justice business.
And some seem to think that Gonzo’s resignation proves that ”the system works.”
What a crock.
It has been over 15 years since the [...]

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” invoked by the reviewer.
The notion of “libertarian paternalism” evokes sentiments not fit for a family-friendly blog like this one.
Sunstein has come [...]

Tuesday 20th March 2007

Gonzales’s Fall, Bush’s Impeachment?

Lew Rockwell suggested yesterday that I do a piece on the Gonzales meltdown and how it could affect Bush. Every now and then, I am not immune to good ideas, so I wrote it and he posted it on LewRockwell.com today.
I appreciate all the comments I received on the Gonzales blog entries in the past week. [...]

Friday 16th March 2007

Gonzo’s Final Straw?

Murray Waas, one of the best investigative journalists in DC, has a new piece on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s role in derailing a Justice Department investigation of his own possible criminality. Waas notes at the National Journal:
Shortly before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales advised President Bush last year on whether to shut down a Justice Department [...]

Wednesday 14th March 2007

Rising Odds of Impeachment

Attorney General Gonzales is dead meat. His exit is only a question of time. (I been wrong before, but….)
I think the Senate Dems will not confirm some obvious hatchet man as the replacement for Gonzales. Bush has “benefitted” from two Attorney Generals who were profoundly dishonest and demagogic. No matter what the Bush administration did, they [...]

Monday 12th March 2007

Feds Shaft Historic Gun Maker

8:45 pm | Bovard | Rule of Law | Comments: 9

Federal gun experts have too often suffered from a shortage of expertise and an excess of spite. Len Savage, the president of Historic Arms, a Georgia company, is being boarhawged bigtime by the G-men. He had an excellent commentary piece posted recently by the fine folks at Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Claire Wolfe has been [...]

Friday 2nd March 2007

My Time in the Tower of London

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

Monday 26th February 2007

My Favorite Liberal Review of Freedom in Chains

3:34 pm | Bovard | Elective Dictatorship | Rule of Law | Comments: 12

I appreciate the feedback on the National Review’s take on Freedom in Chains that I posted yesterday.
Here is my favorite liberal review of the book. (For the record, I have never even been to Oklahoma City).
Los Angeles Times March 4, 1999
A CHILLING INDICTMENT OF U.S. GOVERNMENT;
FREEDOM IN CHAINS, THE RISE OF THE STATE AND THE [...]

Thursday 1st February 2007

Lively Interview Online - Torture, Iran, Dictatorship, etc.

Antiwar.com columnist Scott Horton interviwed me today for an hour about Attention Deficit Democracy. We had a good ol’ time - I hope folks get lots of laughs from the show. Scott, who has done some excellent writing on the danger of war with Iran, had excellent observations on the latest developments in the Middle [...]

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. Unfortunately, I’m not adept at scanning and inserting the images into a blog.
The article closes with the following questions: “If Congress is not willing to look into such misconduct, who will protect the Constitution? Will Congress let the Justice Department [...]

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.
The Washington Post reports today:
A draft [...]

Monday 27th March 2006

Orange County Register: “Defining Freedom Down”

The Orange County Register ran my op-ed, “Defining Freedom Down.” The page does not have a link, so I am posting the piece here.
The Future of Freedom Foundation today shotgunned out an op-ed of mine that is very similar to this article.
Orange County Register, March 17, 2006
“Defining Freedom Down”
by James Bovard
President Bush exploits the word [...]

Tuesday 21st March 2006

My Cheney Tribute is now online

The American Conservative has posted my piece on Cheney’s revelation that he is exempt from federal law regarding national security secrets. Here are a few paragraphs from the piece:
The “my wish is the law’s command�? attitude towards disclosure and secrecy has permeated the Bush administration. From shortly after 9/11, the Bush team sought to drop an [...]

Wednesday 22nd February 2006

Orange Co. Register publishes my hit on Federal Surveillance

The Orange County Register published my hit on the dangers of federal surveillance. Here are some outtakes:
Americans seem to have forgotten why the Founding Fathers prohibited government from spying on them. Public opinion polls show a rising percentage of Americans approving of the warrantless National Security Agency wiretaps authorized by President Bush.
Many Americans seem to [...]

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. 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 [...]

Thursday 26th January 2006

On Friday morning with Iowa Icon & Freedom Champion Jan Mickelson

10:40 am | Attention Deficit Democracy | Elective Dictatorship | Rule of Law | Comments: 1

I will be the Jan Mickelson show on Friday (1/27) at 11 a.m. Eastern time. Mickelson is the most popular talk show host in Iowa and has helped alert legions of folks to the perils of politicians. The show will be broadcast on Newsradio 1040 AM - a 50,000 watt station that should cover much [...]

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 [...]

Monday 16th January 2006

Fear & Servitude

The Washington Post has an excellent front page story on the boarhawging of Mohammed Yousry, the court-appointed translator for lawyer Lynne Stewart. Federal prosecutors spent three years wiretapping his phone and reading all the files on his computer, thanks to a FISA warrant. Even a federal prosecutor conceded: “Yousry is not a practicing Muslim. He [...]

Wednesday 4th January 2006

Orange Suits Soon All the Rage on Capitol Hill

The Wall Street Journal reported today that superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, who copped a guilty plea yesterday, “says he has information that could implicate 60 lawmakers.”
This is the best news that the moribund prison building industry has had in years. If 60 lawmakers go down in the Abramoff scandal, this could mean that the U.S. [...]

Monday 2nd January 2006

Bush on Spying: Fool or Liar?

3:21 pm | Bush | Rule of Law | Wiretapping | Comments: 2

Bush took a swing at critics of his warrantless wiretaps yesterday. Speaking after visiting wounded soldiers in San Antonio, he declared, “”The NSA program is one that listens to a few numbers called from the outside of the United States of known al-Qaida or affiliated people.”
Except that the program also listens to calls from inside [...]

Friday 30th December 2005

Did Bush Personally Choose Torture Methods?

The Washington Post has another excellent piece today on how the Bush administration exempted the CIA from the Rule of Law after 9/11. Bush issued edicts permitting the CIA “to maintain secret prisons abroad” and “to use interrogation methods that some lawyers say violate international treaties,” among other new powers.
John Radsan, assistant general counsel at [...]

books

information:

archives:

search:

info: