The spying of America (press edition)
No, this doesn't surprise me in the least, this latest revelation from ABC News that the government is spying on the press. Does it surprise any of you?
Apparently, the government is trying "to root out confidential sources". Well, so much for confidentiality. It's ABC News, it's The New York Times, it's The Washington Post. And don't think it stops there. Spying on the press "as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation" is just the thin end of the wedge. And who knows how much of the wedge has been pushed in? As I mentioned in a recent post, there is no reason to trust the government, specifically the Bush Administration. Is this really about spying on a few select news organizations -- organizations that have exposed the Administration's malfeasance -- or is it about clamping down on the Administration's critics, on the free press generally? Perhaps the whole notion of a free press is now so obsolete as to be quaint.
So much for the freedom of the press. This Administration will stop at nothing, it seems, to abridge it.
Here's how Josh Marshall puts it: "I think we can set aside any pretense that administration policy on all manner of electronic surveillance isn't being brought to bear on political opponents, media critics, the press, everybody." And this is what's going on: "Once you set aside the law as your guide for action and view the president's will as a source of legitimacy in itself, then everything becomes possible and justifiable."
The rule of man replaces the rule of law. America succumbs to autocracy.
Kevin Drum: "There. Is. No. Oversight. At. All." A democracy with no oversight is no democracy at all.
Laura Rozen: "Spying on journalists, like spying on one's own domestic population, is a police state tactic, and one can't help but wonder had Congress been doing a more robust job of oversight, if journalists would be playing this heightened investigation and exposure role alone. But as it is, that's where we are. It's a dangerous moment, and an unsustainable one. Something really has to give. The oversight mechanisms have to kick in. The excesses, the overreach, the suspension of the law, have gone too far, far beyond a partisan argument. This has nothing to do with the war on terror or national security. This has to do with an attempt at intimidation to evade any sort of accountability. And it's done a huge disservice to this country."
Brilliantly put. I would, however, use a harsher word than "disservice". This intimidation threatens the very foundations of the country. Need I remind you of the First Amendment? That's pretty foundational.
Shakespeare's Sister calls them "traitors" -- "this whole administration," that is. Un-American, I would add. It's time for them to go.
See also Digby, Maha, Taylor Marsh, Steve Soto, Cernig, Pam Spaulding, and many more at Memeorandum. Read up on this. Your very rights -- for what is America without a free press -- are being obliterated.
Apparently, the government is trying "to root out confidential sources". Well, so much for confidentiality. It's ABC News, it's The New York Times, it's The Washington Post. And don't think it stops there. Spying on the press "as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation" is just the thin end of the wedge. And who knows how much of the wedge has been pushed in? As I mentioned in a recent post, there is no reason to trust the government, specifically the Bush Administration. Is this really about spying on a few select news organizations -- organizations that have exposed the Administration's malfeasance -- or is it about clamping down on the Administration's critics, on the free press generally? Perhaps the whole notion of a free press is now so obsolete as to be quaint.
So much for the freedom of the press. This Administration will stop at nothing, it seems, to abridge it.
Here's how Josh Marshall puts it: "I think we can set aside any pretense that administration policy on all manner of electronic surveillance isn't being brought to bear on political opponents, media critics, the press, everybody." And this is what's going on: "Once you set aside the law as your guide for action and view the president's will as a source of legitimacy in itself, then everything becomes possible and justifiable."
The rule of man replaces the rule of law. America succumbs to autocracy.
Kevin Drum: "There. Is. No. Oversight. At. All." A democracy with no oversight is no democracy at all.
Laura Rozen: "Spying on journalists, like spying on one's own domestic population, is a police state tactic, and one can't help but wonder had Congress been doing a more robust job of oversight, if journalists would be playing this heightened investigation and exposure role alone. But as it is, that's where we are. It's a dangerous moment, and an unsustainable one. Something really has to give. The oversight mechanisms have to kick in. The excesses, the overreach, the suspension of the law, have gone too far, far beyond a partisan argument. This has nothing to do with the war on terror or national security. This has to do with an attempt at intimidation to evade any sort of accountability. And it's done a huge disservice to this country."
Brilliantly put. I would, however, use a harsher word than "disservice". This intimidation threatens the very foundations of the country. Need I remind you of the First Amendment? That's pretty foundational.
Shakespeare's Sister calls them "traitors" -- "this whole administration," that is. Un-American, I would add. It's time for them to go.
See also Digby, Maha, Taylor Marsh, Steve Soto, Cernig, Pam Spaulding, and many more at Memeorandum. Read up on this. Your very rights -- for what is America without a free press -- are being obliterated.
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
12:17 AM
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