Federal judge Vaughn Walker ruled today that the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program was illegal. This has been obvious ever since the New York Times blew the lid off of the National Security Administration’s massive surveillance operation in late 2005. It is amazing that the issue is still open to dispute. Unfortunately, there is not […]
Archive | March, 2010
New York Times: My Two Cents on How to Respond to the Census
The New York Times on Wednesday has a piece on the controversy over the Census. It includes my two cents on how to respond to the feds: “The census has become a lightning rod, and it’s drawing people’s attention to the danger of federal surveillance,” said James Bovard, an author and former census taker who […]
Podcast of Census Show with Brian Wilson
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….
How Germans Fought & Beat an Intrusive Census
This article ran in the Detroit News, the Washington Times (which ran a great cartoon with the piece), and a few other places. DATELINE: HAMBURG, WEST GERMANY @ June 1987 CIVIL WAR IN WEST GERMANY by James Bovard As Goethe said, “The Germans make everything difficult, both for themselves and for everybody else.” West Germany […]
Christian Science Monitor: The Census is Untrustworthy
posted today (and in their national weekly print edition) by the Christian Science Monitor – My 2 favorite lines from this piece – *A surplus of lies naturally produces a deficit of trust. *Citizens are not obliged to pave the data highway for Leviathan’s next intrusion into their lives. ******* The 2010 Census: Will Your […]
Is the FBI Your Friend on Facebook?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released internal federal documents detailing how FBI agents are creating false or deceptive profiles online to gather more personal information on Americans. From the Associated Press story: U.S. law enforcement agents are following the rest of the Internet world into popular social-networking services, going undercover with false online profiles to […]
Bait and Switch Democracy at its Best
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that she may ram through the Democrats’ health care legislation through the House via a brazen fraud. The Washington Post reports: After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate’s health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the […]