In a speech yesterday to U.S. troops departing for Iraq, Alaska Governor and GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin declared that the soldiers would “defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.” Even George W. Bush finally admitted that this justification for attacking Iraq […]
Author Archive | Jim
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 […]
McCain Achieves a Miracle
John McCain performed a miracle tonight. He made Bob Dole’s 1996 Republican presidential acceptance speech look downright eloquent. Shizam, McCain’s performance – at least for the first 40 minutes of the speech – made Bob Dole sound the combination of Daniel Webster, John F. Kennedy, and Cicero thrown in for good measure. McCain seemed to […]
Flemishly Damned Again?
I much appreciate the Belgian website In Flanders Fields posting the text of the Freeman article on torture. I was amused at some of the comments, though I’d be prevaricating if I said I was more fluent in Flemish than in Swahili. Here are the comments the piece has so far generated on this European […]
Torture & Liberty
This piece from the July issue of The Freeman is now online here (in PDF) and here (in ASCII – paragraph breaks amended slightly in the version below). TORTURE & LIBERTY Freeman July 2008 by James Bovard Is torture compatible with liberty? Unfortunately, this is no longer a hypothetical question. Many Americans who claim to […]
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 […]
Washington Headline of the Year!
“CIA More Fully Denies Deception About Iraq” – in yesterday’s Washington Post. The subhead should have read: “This Time We Are Not Lying Like Weasels – We Swear!” The Post article on the CIA’s reaction to Ron Suskind’s revelations included this tidbit from the CIA’s prepared statement: “To state what should be obvious, it is […]
