Archive for Uncategorized
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Tuesday 7th September 2010
Washington Post: Pervasive Israeli Spying in the U.S.
7:43 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
Jeff Stein, the ace reporter who writes the SpyTalk blog for the Washington Post, has an excellent post on the profusion of Israeli spying operations in the U.S. Stein notes:
Israel’s undercover operations here, including missions to steal U.S. secrets, are hardly a secret at the FBI, CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. From [...]
Tuesday 31st August 2010
Obama’s Bogus Exit Perfectly Captured
8:51 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 8
When the Washington Post’s Tom Toles is good, he’s great.
Thursday 26th August 2010
9/11 as Government Blowback Day
2:11 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 11
Some church in Florida is planning on celebrating 9/11 by burning hundreds of Korans. Perhaps this will be the launchpad for bonfires across the nation of any book suspected of Muslim tendencies.
There’s a different 9/11 celebration going on in San Diego. Lawrence Ludlow emailed me about “Government Blowback Day.” I [...]
Monday 16th August 2010
James J. Kilpatrick, RIP- the Conservative Literary Path Not Taken….
9:19 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 8
[updated at the bottom]James J. Kilpatrick passed away yesterday at the age of 89.
In his prime, and in his top notch writing, he was one of the best conservative stylists of the late 20th century. He gracefully combined earthiness and erudition to connect with Americans far and wide. When William F. Buckley passed away [...]
Friday 13th August 2010
A Web-Only Solution for Federal Agencies?
12:52 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 2
Today’s Dilbert should cheer up American newspaper executives.
Is there any way to also get most federal agencies to go “web-only”?
Tuesday 27th July 2010
Modern Communication At Its Best - or - Guaranteed Spam Cure
10:23 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 2
from this week’s New Yorker
Wednesday 21st July 2010
The Media’s Attitude Towards Government Surveillance
10:03 am | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bush | FBI | Obama | Surveillance | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
This 1990 New Yorker cartoon perfectly captures the usual media attitude towards government surveillance in the post-9/11 world.
Happily, today’s Washington Post blockbuster does not show the same complacency.
Thursday 1st July 2010
Cartoon: 24 Types of Libertarian
2:26 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 15
Biased but very funny….
from cartoonist Barry Deutsch:
[h/t Lew Rockwell blog]
Friday 25th June 2010
Washington Post Drops One of its Best Reporters: Dave Weigel out
2:54 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 3
Washington Post blogger David Weigel is out after someone exposed some emails he sent to a private group in DC criticizing Matt Drudge, the Washington Examiner, etc. Weigel reportedly offered to resign last night and the Post accepted today.
I don’t always agree with Weigel, but he is one of the hardest working journalists [...]
Friday 18th June 2010
Medical Freedom Fighters: The Arnetts of West Virginia
12:09 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
At the Competitive Enterprise Institute dinner in DC last night, I caught up with Dr. Jerome Arnett and met his daughter, Dr. Brenda Arnett. Jerry is a prolific writer - he has done great work on the bogus threat of secondhand smoke and on other abuses of science. He is a [...]
Thursday 17th June 2010
How the Senate Makes Afghan Policy
9:04 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 8
Tuesday 8th June 2010
43rd Anniversary of Israeli Attack on USS Liberty… and the Coverup Continues
5:53 pm | Lying | Uncategorized | Comments: 44
On June 8, 1967, Israeli forces knowingly attacked an American intelligence ship off the coast of Egypt. Thirty-four Americans were killed.
Here is a new YouTube video that captures the spirit of the attack.
The Johnson administration responded by rushing to coverup the facts.
James Bamford, author of Body of Secrets, has unearthed massive evidence proving [...]
My Greatest Culinary Fear
1:36 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 2
[from the New Yorker]
Friday 4th June 2010
How Democracy Breeds Political Idioicy
9:29 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 9
from the March issue of the Future of Freedom Foundation’s Freedom Daily…
The Folly of Blindly Trusting Government
by James Bovard
Democracy breeds gullibility. Lord Bryce observed in 1921, “State action became less distrusted the more the State itself was seen to be passing under popular control.†The rise of democracy made it much easier for politicians to [...]
Thursday 3rd June 2010
Max Blumenthal’s Excellent Analysis of Israeli Attack on the Flotilla
9:04 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
Gee, I can’t understand why the Washington Post missed all the key details that Max Blumenthal rounded up from Israeli published sources (in Hebrew and English).
The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.†The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance.
The Israeli military broadcast its plan for violence, inciting the Israeli public and the soldiers [...]
Wednesday 2nd June 2010
Podcast: Brian Wilson Interview on Worldwide Downfall of Democracy
7:31 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bailout | Bush | Congress | Democracy | Elective Dictatorship | Freedom | Obama | Uncategorized | Wiretapping | Comments: 2
Talk Show mastermind Brian Wilson and I had fun today discussing the worldwide downfall of democracy.
This trend has gone so far that it might even affect Toledo.
Brian took the high road - preferring to discuss Berlusconi’s Italian corruption rather than Singapore culinary prohibitions.
You can download or listen to the @ 15 minute interview by clicking [...]
Ernest Hancock Concession Speech for LNC Chairman
4:05 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 1
Ernie Hancock gave a great speech this past weekend - capturing his vision for fighting for liberty.
Ernie’s motto: “Those of you who have not been in the trenches - on the corners… challenging the state -– you’re not having enough fun – you’re doing it wrong.â€
Watch his speech here.
A Great Israeli Saying….
10:56 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
From Counterpunch’s Patrick Cockburn: An old Israeli saying describing various less-than-esteemed military leaders says: “He was so stupid that even the other generals noticed.”
Too bad this is not also an American saying…. or maybe it will be after McChrystal does Kandahar….
Tuesday 1st June 2010
From the Libertarian Convention: An Interview & Speeches (hopefully)
10:28 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 3
Under the terms of my parole, I’m not allowed to travel west of the Mississippi. Thus, I could not attend the national Libertarian Party convention in St. Louis this past weekend. But here are a couple highlights.
Corey Moore, the producer of the Voice of Radical Dissent, taped a lively sparring match between Wayne Allyn [...]
Most Sycophantic Apology for Israeli Attack?
11:38 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 11
The Israeli military attacks an aid ship in international waters and kills at least 10 people.
Naturally, Israel is the victim.
As usual, Glenn Greenwald has some of the best reporting and analysis here. Gideon Levy of Haaretz also has an excellent piece.
Mossad chief Meir Dagan admitted to a committee of the Knesset today [...]
Friday 21st May 2010
Orient Express to Hell
9:11 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
The Freeman posted online today my article from their June issue about my 1987 excursion to Europe’s worst tyranny. I never trusted fat communist guards with submachine guns….
A couple weeks after I returned, the New York Times published a piece of mine headlined, “Economic Collapse: Eastern Europe: The New Third World” - available here. [...]
Wednesday 19th May 2010
Podcast of my Radio Interview with Scott Horton of Antiwar.Com
8:29 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
Antiwar.com’s Scott Horton and I had a good time whipping up on the bad guys in this interview. Until we talked, I hadn’t realized that Scott was the Kingmaker in Kentucky.
Here’s Scott’s thumbnail of the 25 minute interview: James Bovard, author of Attention Deficit Democracy, discusses Bill Clinton’s definition of terrorism: when regular [...]
Tuesday 11th May 2010
Atlanta’s Creative Loafing Newspaper Covers the Barr Ghostwriting Lawsuit
11:33 am | Bob Barr | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
From Creative Loafing, a weekly paper in the Atlanta area (with the second-highest circulation of any paper in Georgia) :
Barr ghostwriter finds promoting liberty doesn’t pay
May 10, 2010 at 3:58 pm by Scott Henry in News
Bob Barr, the GOP congressman-turned-Libertarian presidential candidate (and CL columnist-turned-AJC columnist) is being sued by the ghostwriter of his [...]
Monday 10th May 2010
Kagan: Obama’s Latest Civil Liberties Disaster
8:26 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
Once again, when Obama had a chance to take a strong stand in favor of the Constitution, he took a dive.
His nomination of somemone for the Supreme Court who shirked the most controversial moral and legal issues of the war on terror is appalling.
Glenn Greenwald has had the best analysis I’ve seen on the reasons [...]
Friday 7th May 2010
Washington Post on the Barr Campaign Ghostwriting Lawsuit
2:07 pm | Bob Barr | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
David Weigel, the Washington Post’s “Right Now” columnist/blogger (covering conservatives and the Republican Party), posted the following today on the lawsuit against the Barr 2008 Presidential Committee:
The former congressman from Georgia who joined the Libertarian Party and became its 2008 presidential candidate gets some unwelcome attention from Jim Bovard, a prolific libertarian writer [...]
Bob Barr’s “Lessons in Liberty” #1: Pay Your Ghostwriter
8:17 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 18
Bob Barr has once again made history. His is the only U.S. presidential campaign to ever be sued by its ghostwriter.
In June 2008, after Bob Barr captured the Libertarian Party nomination for presidential candidate, his campaign manager, Russ Verney, requested that I ghostwrite a campaign book. We came to terms, I wrote [...]
Tuesday 4th May 2010
Obama Makes a Joke About Predator Carnage
5:21 pm | Obama | Uncategorized | War crimes | Comments: 17
So now Obama, like Bush, has made a “joke” that views policies that resulted in killing innocent foreign civilians as fodder for mirth at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Obama at that dinner on Saturday night:
“The Jonas Brothers are here; they’re out there somewhere. Sasha and Malia are huge fans. But boys, don’t get [...]
Wednesday 28th April 2010
Bush Secrecy - now in Portuguese
9:48 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 3
Murilo Leme kindly translated my recent Freedom Daily article on Bush Secrecy policies into Portuguese. Here’s his contribution -
LIBERDADE CADA DIA
O Legado de Sigilo de Bush
por James Bovard, Postado em 7 de abril de 2010
Muitos estadunidenses assumiram que o risco a sua liberdade representado pela administração Bush terminou quando George Bush saiu da Casa [...]
Make All Politicians Wear Microphones All the Time
9:31 pm | Democracy | Surveillance | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was wearing a microphone for a TV station as he went out and talked to the common people. But he ran into one elderly ingrate who didn’t burnish his boots.
After he got back into his chauffeured car, he groused that the woman was a “bigot” and wanted to [...]
Friday 23rd April 2010
Tea Party Pushback: Now I’m a Traitor, Racist, Communist, and Nazi
7:37 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bush Betrayal | Democracy | Freedom | Uncategorized | wool | Comments: 29
My Christian Science Monitor op-ed on the Tea Party movement is spurring some uplifting responses.
My article concluded, America needs real champions of freedom – not poorly informed Republican accomplices.” A phalanx of Tea Party activists rushed to vindicate their movement and prove me wrong.
Following is their rebuttal to the article:
Comments [...]
Tea Party: Pro-Torture, Pro-War, Pro-Freedom?
9:38 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 11
from today’s Christian Science Monitor -
‘Tea party’ activists: Do they hate liberals more than they love liberty?
A recent ‘tea party’ rally showed lots of anger toward President Obama, but little consistent support for liberty in America.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR——————————————————————————–
By James Bovard
posted April 23, 2010 at 10:05 am EDT
Rockville, Md. —
Many “tea party†activists staunchly oppose [...]
Thursday 22nd April 2010
Raging Bitch!
6:47 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 3
After Germany ceased exporting my favorite beer (Dinkel Acker pilsner), it was hard times. I tottered on the edge of becoming a white wine drinker.
But I recently discovered a new beer that is not quite as good but very satisfying in its own way. It is from Flying Dog - a Frederick, MD [...]
Wednesday 21st April 2010
Podcast of today’s Brian Wilson interview on Clinton’s Lethal Hypocrisy
5:24 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
Brian Wilson and I had a fun time kicking Bill Clinton’s article around today on WSPD. Here’s the podcast: jpb-radio-brian-wilson-4-21-2010-0555148a2 [click on the bold text to hear or download the show]
I also did the Ron Smith show today on WBAL in Baltimore. Ron and I had a rollicking time paying tribute to [...]
Sunday 18th April 2010
Classic New Yorker Cartoons Updated for Our Times
9:45 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
Ace Hooligan at the Project for the New American Revolution has new, improved New Yorker cartoons here.
I understand that his quips have already been condemned by the Vatican and the Federal Reserve.
Wednesday 14th April 2010
Kudos to the Libertarian Party of Ohio
7:59 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bush | Census | Obama | Uncategorized | Comments: 4
The Libertarian Party of Ohio (www.lpo.org) held their annual convention last weekend in Worthington, Ohio. I was there for a Saturday night spiel, and it was a treat to meet so many folks gung-ho to fight for freedom. Many of their activists had a fervor about them which I rarely see inside the [...]
Monday 12th April 2010
The Missing Miranda Warning for your Census Form
1:18 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
from the April 12, 2010 issue of the New Yorker
Thursday 8th April 2010
The National Endowment for Democracy’s Kyrgyzstan Legacy
12:17 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 2
This is a photo of an undercover policeman kicking the head of a Kyrgyz demonstrator this week.
The National Endowment for Democracy and the Bush adminsitration were proud of their role in the uprising that led to the current government taking power in Kyrgyzstan.
Maybe the Endowment’s apologists will claim that the demonstrator is getting [...]
Wednesday 7th April 2010
The Bush Secrecy Legacy
12:08 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 2
from the January issue of the Future of Freedom Foundation’s Freedom Daily….
The Bush Secrecy Legacy Freedom Daily January 2010
by James Bovard
Many Americans assumed that the Bush administration’s peril to their freedom ended when George Bush exited the White House on January 20, 2009. Unfortunately, the precedents [...]
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 [...]
Monday 5th April 2010
“Lost Rights” Editor Simon Winder Has New Book Out….
12:01 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
Simon Winder has a new book out - Germania: In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and Their History - which is garnering rave reviews in top British papers, including the London Times and the Telegraph. I have not seen the book, but the reviews indicate that [...]
Friday 26th March 2010
Podcast of Census Show with Brian Wilson
8:29 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 2
WSPD talk show host and renowned hellraiser Brian Wilson had me on his program yesterday. We did our best to restore people’s faith in the privacy/confidentiality of their Census responses… unless, of course, politicians decide they don’t like you or your group.
The podcast is here:jpb-radio-brian-wilson-show-3-25-2010.
To listen to it, right click and….
Sunday 7th March 2010
My Brief State Department Career
8:19 pm | Bovard | Uncategorized | Comments: 3
It lasted about 60 minutes. 75 minutes, max.
The photo is from late 1988 or early 1989. The State Department had a program that brought in some outside speaker once a month. I was there to whup up on the World Bank, a favorite target of mine in those years.
The [...]
Wednesday 3rd March 2010
Bush Lied Up & Down on the Iraq War
10:29 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 7
In Washington, politicians “regenerate†honesty like a salamander growing back a lost tail. And there is no statute of limitation on when a politician’s henchmen can magically restore his honor.
Karl Rove has a new book out claiming that Bush never lied about the Iraq war. Instead, there were some misstatesments with immaculate intent.
This [...]
Sunday 28th February 2010
The Great Democratic Patriot Act Double-Cross
10:17 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 2
What’s the point of voting for Democrats if they are going to act like Bush-bots in rubberstamping FBI National Security Letters shredding the Fourth Amendment?
Good to see the left-wing websites hammering Obama, Leahy, and Rep. Nadler for sanctifying and perpetuating some of the worst abuses of the post 9/11 era.
Alternet’s whack is here.
Fire Dog Lake’s [...]
Life Story of a Federal Reserve Governor
9:47 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 1
… or of some poohbah bailed out by the Fed or by some other group of political racketeers.
.
Monday 22nd February 2010
Congratulations Thomas Szasz! The Preface to the 50th Anniversary Edition of THE MYTH OF MENTAL ILLNESS
11:22 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
Next year is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Szasz’s classic The Myth of Mental Illness.
Szasz has written a preface for the 50th anniversary edition. You can read it here on LewRockwell.com today. This essay deftly captures the controversies and changing battlefield over the past half century.
Szasz’s conclusion perfectly captures the [...]
Sunday 21st February 2010
Conservative Political Action Conference Highlights
9:07 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 8
One of the heroes of the CPAC attendees:
John Bolton Harvests Young Souls:
Ann Coulter Bodyguard (Tonya Harding wasn’t hiring this month)
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Full size photo available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bovard
;
Saturday 20th February 2010
Podcast from CPAC Interview with Brian Wilson
10:26 am | Uncategorized | Comments: 0
I stopped by Brian Wilson’s radio booth at the Conservative Political Action Conference yesterday.
Click on brian-wilson-2-19-10-cpac-bovard to listen to the interview.
I doubt that the Tea Party folks will be coming to either Brian or I for a testimonial any time soon.
I continue my campaign to get “boarhawg” recognized as a legitimate verb by the Oxford [...]
Saturday 30th January 2010
Justice Department Bans Justice for Torturers
4:44 pm | Justice Department | Obama | Rule of Law | Torture | Uncategorized | Comments: 4
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 [...]
Wednesday 27th January 2010
CIA Torture Success Claim Cast Overboard, Drowns
2:14 pm | Uncategorized | Comments: 5
Jeff Stein has a great piece on how the most prominent CIA apologist for waterboarding has finally ‘fessed up that he didn’t know what he was talking about.
Much of the news media treated this CIA “expert” like a hero back in 2007. I assume they will ignore his recantation.