NYT editorial: Patriotism and the Press

[DeepModem Mom]

Editorial
Patriotism and the Press
Published: June 28, 2006

Over the last year, The New York Times has twice published reports about secret antiterrorism programs being run by the Bush administration. Both times, critics have claimed that the paper was being unpatriotic or even aiding the terrorists. Some have even suggested that it should be indicted under the Espionage Act. There have been a handful of times in American history when the government has indeed tried to prosecute journalists for publishing things it preferred to keep quiet. None of them turned out well — from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the time when the government tried to enjoin The Times and The Washington Post from publishing the Pentagon Papers....

***

From our side of the news-opinion wall, the Swift story looks like part of an alarming pattern. Ever since Sept. 11, the Bush administration has taken the necessity of heightened vigilance against terrorism and turned it into a rationale for an extraordinarily powerful executive branch, exempt from the normal checks and balances of our system of government. It has created powerful new tools of surveillance and refused, almost as a matter of principle, to use normal procedures that would acknowledge that either Congress or the courts have an oversight role.

The Swift program, like the wiretapping program, has been under way for years with no restrictions except those that the executive branch chooses to impose on itself — or, in the case of Swift, that the banks themselves are able to demand. This seems to us very much the sort of thing the other branches of government, and the public, should be nervously aware of. We would have been very happy if Congressman Peter King, the Long Island Republican who has been so vocal in citing the Espionage Act, had been as aggressive in encouraging his colleagues to do the oversight job they were elected to do.

The United States will soon be marking the fifth anniversary of the war on terror. The country is in this for the long haul, and the fight has to be coupled with a commitment to individual liberties that define America's side in the battle. A half-century ago, the country endured a long period of amorphous, global vigilance against an enemy who was suspected of boring from within, and history suggests that under those conditions, it is easy to err on the side of security and secrecy. The free press has a central place in the Constitution because it can provide information the public needs to make things right again. Even if it runs the risk of being labeled unpatriotic in the process.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/28/opinion/28Wed1.html?hp

[RangerSmith]

1. Call me crazy

but I think it's patriotic to try to protect the Constitution.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Excellent point that it's unfortunate even has to be made! nt

[katty]

7. it surely is! we have a Constitution worth protecting!

[Rose Siding]

3. Nice jab at King-

We would have been very happy if Congressman Peter King, the Long Island Republican who has been so vocal in citing the Espionage Act, had been as aggressive in encouraging his colleagues to do the oversight job they were elected to do.

:thumbsup:

[november3rd]

4. Call/Write/Email Representative Peter King

He's the "Head"/"Chair" of the Homeland Security Committee in the United States House of Representatives, 109th Congress. His phone number is: 202-225-7896. His contact information is at http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/?id=406.
Tell him: 1. Freedom of the Press Is Essential In A Democracy;

2. No terrorists can deprive us of our freedoms. In other words, the only way we lose the so-called, "War On Terror," is by giving up our civil liberties unilaterally (ie, surrendering);

3. Tyrants always use national security as a fear trump card to disobey the laws and perpetrate their ill-will on society;

4. Government programs have to follow legal due process;

5. Get off your behind and do some oversight.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Thank you, november3rd! nt

[katty]

6. D Rockefeller in 1991 on the press

"We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develope our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But the work is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march toward a World Government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferrable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries."
David Rockefeller, founder of the Trilateral Commission,
in a speech at a meeting of the Trilateral Commission, in June 1991

[Joe Bacon]

8. Meanwhile, the rest of the SCREW YORK TIMES still kisses Bush Ass!

Outside of the Washington Post, no paper has kissed more Bush ass than the TImes. Seeing Bush and his Monkey Band go after the times, I can barely hold back bellylaughs. The Times surely is getting what it deserves for the pro-Bush propaganda spread by the Millers, Ad Nags, Dowd, Raines and the rest of them...