Congresscritter who seeks to prosecute NYT may be next in line

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee called Sunday for criminal prosecution of The New York Times, saying its report Friday on government surveillance of confidential banking records "compromised America's anti-terrorist policies."

Look who's calling the kettle black. Those who stand in glass houses should not throw stones. He should be more concerned about himself and his comrades being held accountable for leading this country into an unjust war based on demonstrable LIES.

This is by no means a general defense of the New York Times or other mainstream media outlets that have repeatedly let the American public down through their constant publication of both government and corporate lies.

However, it is beyond absurd that a cowardly little pipsqueak from Congress, after voting from the safety of his armchair to keep our troops indefinitely in an unjust war in Iraq, thinks he has any standing to criticize the NYT for actually doing something RIGHT - exposing this administration's unconstitutional conduct.

Interviewed on Fox News Sunday, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., accused the newspaper of compromising national security when it exposed a Treasury Department program that attempts to track terrorist financing by secretly monitoring worldwide money transfers. The program, instituted after the Sept. 11 attacks, bypasses safeguards put in place to prevent government abuse.

Similar reports were published the same day by other media outlets.

"By disclosing this in time of war, they have compromised America's anti-terrorist policies," said King, referring to New York Times reporters and editors.

"Nobody elected The New York Times to do anything. And The New York Times is putting its own arrogant, elitist, left-wing agenda before the interests of the American people," King said.

What a joke. First, the same can be said about YOU, considering that (1) very few Americans vote to begin with, and (2) thanks to Diebold, it doesn't matter who votes!

Second, Congress regularly puts its own arrogant, elitist, political (read corporate) agenda before the interests of the American people. So, what's new? The NYT is simply putting one elitist agenda before another.

Calling the report "absolutely disgraceful," King said he would call on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to begin a criminal investigation of the newspaper.

And I call on the American people to tar and feather everyone in Congress and this administration for taking our nation to war under false pretenses and causing the deaths of thousands of young American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis.

The Bush administration pressed The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times to refrain from publishing their reports, but editors at each newspaper concluded that it was in the public interest to go forward.

"One of the most hotly debated issues in the country right now is the conduct of the war on terror," said Los Angeles Times Editor Dean Baquet on Sunday. "It is our job to publish what we know about the government's role, to offer the public what it needs to know to participate in that debate."

It's a little late for THAT, isn't it? Where were you when America was being led into this war based on LIES?

Oh yeah! You were helping them DISSEMINATE the LIES!

Senators from both parties declined to join the Long Island congressman's call for an investigation.

"We have seen the newspapers in this country act as effective watchdogs," Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on the same program.

"I think it's premature to call for a prosecution of The New York Times, just like I think it's premature to say that the administration is entirely correct."

I think it's long over due that the American people hold both the media and their elected representatives to account for the piss-poor job they've been doing over the past thirty years.

And it is never too soon to point out that this administration has been demonstrably incompetent in every single measure it has and hasn't taken both domestic and foreign since the minute they were appointed to office by our judiciary.

On CNN's Late Edition, Sen. Joseph Biden Jr., D-Del., said that although he would have preferred The New York Times not publish the information, "the truth of the matter is, they've uncovered an awful lot of things that the government has been doing that (don't) make sense as well."

No, Senator. While there are an isolated few reporters in the mainstream media that are still doing admirable journalistic work. By far, the bulk of the heavy lifting these days is done by BLOGGERS.

Both senators cited Thomas Jefferson's maxim: "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

If it were up to me, we would start from scratch. Very limited federal government. Strong local representative governments. NO mainstream media. Just bloggers and a FREE internet.

AND of course, the most important thing a NEW, INTEREST-FREE, MONETARY SYSTEM -- minus the Federal Reserve.