I can get the following error reliably:

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wheel { ~gary/restored } # tar cvf - users/gary/News | bzip2 -v | bunzip2 -tvv
  (stdin):   (stdin): users/gary/News/
users/gary/News/rec/
users/gary/News/rec/arts/
users/gary/News/rec/arts/sf/
users/gary/News/rec/arts/sf/tv/
users/gary/News/rec/arts/sf/tv/babylon5/
users/gary/News/rec/arts/sf/tv/babylon5/moderated/
users/gary/News/rec/arts/sf/tv/babylon5/moderated/KILL
users/gary/News/alt/
users/gary/News/alt/tv/
users/gary/News/alt/tv/simpsons/
users/gary/News/amrk118.wav
users/gary/News/soxmas.mpg

    [1: huff+mtf 
(stdin): data integrity (CRC) error in data

You can use the `bzip2recover' program to *attempt* to recover
data from undamaged sections of corrupted files.

wheel { ~gary/restored } # 
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Can anyone else recreate this sort of thing? It would be bad if
bzip2 could systematically generate corrupt output. It could also
be an Athlon CPU bug, I suppose, since that's what I'm running it
on, but I tend to doubt that.
   Thanks.

					Gary D. Duzan