The Free Press

I rarely, if ever, simply link to an essay that I think is important, without also writing about the topic myself. This one is important, and written by Glenn Greenwald. Link:

Well, I will add a few comments.

This issue that Greenwald writes about goes back to my constant harping on the definition of political persuasion. This is what defines the Republican/Theocrat/Neoconservative movement. This is not an abberation, it is simply what defines the conservative movement.

From the right, you hear the frothing anger of hatred from people that spend way too much time watching 24 on tv. They think the New York Times is out to destroy this nation, but all of these people lack the critical skills to understand that the Times is not publishing anything that Bush hasn't already stated.

Factor in the "stupid" element, and you can see how receptive people are to the sudden anger from Bush about how the Times revealed a secrete intelligence program. Holy fuck, Bush already told us it existed! What the fuck is going on?

There is something really scary going on in Washington and the media. Bush has threatened to prosecute reporters, which is obviously a hollow threat because Bush certainly doesn't want this issue exposed in a court of law. The thing that really perplexes me is that there is not a single reporter that will simply ask Bush or his spokesman this question;

Mr. President, you have indicated it was "disgraceful" that the news media had disclosed a secret CIA-Treasury program to track millions of financial records in search of terrorist suspects. You have accused The New York Times of breaking a long tradition of keeping wartime secrets. However, on April 19, 2004, you said "See, part of the way to make sure that we catch terrorists is we chase money trails", which would indicated that the United States intelligence was looking into financial transactions to catch terrorists. Are you saying that you, yourself are also disgraceful?

The right wingers are simply too stupid to understand this whole concept, and it will not gain any traction in the media. No reporter will ask Bush that question. It simply will not happen, and I don't know why.

It's the same as any anti-American activities that the neocon's engage in. It could be torture. It could be rendition. It could be Gitmo, and on and on.. but none of it gains any traction, and none of it affects what happens in the real world. Bush and Cheney still push the buttons. The Republicans still control both houses of Congres, the Supreme Court, and the White House. They've got it all, so the table is set for a full on military junta if they want it. There is no real over sight. There is no check and balance. There is no scrutinizing media, they simply regurgitate what we already know.

Americans have brought this on themselves, and I, for one am truly disgusted.