House Chairman of Homeland Security Threatens New York Times With Criminal Prosecution

In an all-out histrionic witch-hunting mode Demon Princess dares opine that we haven’t seen since the abysmal McCarthy years –briefly reprised by Nixon & his enemies’ lists--in today’s news we have threats of criminal prosecution of The New York Times for its "treasonous" behavior in daring to out the Bushco plot to advance one more step in to the Total Information Awareness society without anyone knowing about it.

Which hasn’t seemed to have any very great effect in bringing all those smirking, evil terrorists loose in the world to heel despite the fact that it been secretly in place since shortly after 911 (*thanks to Dusty for for making that very pointed salient point*)

Representative Peter King of New York, above—apparently not the least bit concerned that protection of his port & others country-wide have lost funding which would have made them safer—instead chooses to focus on the “enemies of the state” within, and who indeed isn’t nowadays. (Mostly Dems, of course, who, not being entirely convinced that the crisis we’re facing here is not exaggerated, if not engineered outright, are “soft on terror.”)

Distracting us all, once again, from the fact that there has always been a legal way to go about surveillance (Bushco just doesn’t want to use it because they’d rather promote the unitary executive theory which acknowledges no law), and two, that, as the New York Times itself has pointed out: the Treasury Department has "trumpeted ... that the U.S. makes every effort to track international financing of terror. "

The Wall Street Journal also carried the news: will that paper be prosecuted, too?

The noise being made has the added attractiveness of intimidating all other press organizations AND very loudly banging the drum of terror again, hoping for a second “greatest hits” reprise. We thinks we detect the Rove (Turdblossom) scent somewhere in the surrounding area.

“Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the paper acted responsibly, both in last week's report and in reporting last year about the wiretapping program.

‘"It's pretty clear to me that in this story and in the story last December that the New York Times did not act recklessly. They try to do whatever they can to take into account whatever security concerns the government has and they try to behave responsibly,’ Dalglish said. ‘I think in years to come that this is a story American citizens are going to be glad they had, however this plays out.’"

I have to draw everyone's attention to the fact that, in any event, Times reporters are not strangers to harrassment by state officials. Note the similarites: the prosecution for divulging "state secrets," a kangaroo trial where no one was allowed to testify (no witnesses), & something like "indefinite detention" for the reporter.

Note also that it just happened in China. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0606/S00465.htm

I've been tryin' to tell y'all that Bush is taking lessons. Gonzales has certainly been trying to put the tactics to use here at home, sometimes succeeding.