Thomas Szasz, whose 1961 book The Myth of Mental Illness revolutionized thinking about involuntary commitment, has a new book out: Coercion As Cure: A Critical History of Psychiatry. Szasz helps people recognize how many issues portrayed solely as questions of mental health are actually questions of liberty. He has helped open the eyes of generations of Americans to […]
Richard Jewell, R.I.P.
Richard Jewell, the Atlanta security guard smeared by the FBI after a pipe bomb exploded during the 1996 Olympics, has passed away. Jewell’s experience epitomizes the feds’ ability to turn an innocent man’s life into hell. Here is the section on FBI Director Louis Freeh and Jewell from my 2000 book, Feeling Your Pain: In […]
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, […]
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 […]
Live ONLINE Today (8/21) at 1:20 pm Eastern – Gardner Goldsmith Show
UPDATE: Yesterday’s interview is now online as an MP3. Download it here. ** I will be on the Gardner Goldsmith show on WTPL in Concord, New Hampshire today. This will also be broadcast around the state by Great Eastern Radio. Gardner is a first-class hell raiser and he is making it hot for the bad […]
Torture Radio Interview Now Online
Scott Horton of Antiwar.com interviewed me on Thursday on the latest developments on the torture scandal. As always, Scott’s optimism is downright contagious. You can click onto the MP3 of the interview here – We did the interview just before the Padilla jury verdict was announced. I reckon the interview would have been more caustic… The […]
Torture Correction & a Hat Tip to a Democrat
In the torture article I posted yesterday, I ragged on the Democrats for rolling over for Bush’s nominee to be the chief lawyer for the CIA. Sen. Ron Wyden has proven me wrong. The Associated Press reports tonight: “A Democratic senator said he would indefinitely block President Bush’s nominee to become the C.I.A.’s top […]
Ricardo2000
H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956):
“Nobody ever went
R R Schoettker
The utter impotent uselessness of the US congress
Texas Dan
If Waco didn't wake you up, nothing would/wil