Civil libertarians have had their spirits pummeled psychologically this past week. And I am of that group. The House passage of the FISA was a big blow to our liberty. Personally it has taken me until this Sunday to get back to even a semblance of normalcy. Next week will be an even bigger challenge because the Senate will take up the FISA bill. And all of us will need all the moral support we can muster to get through these times. And so I always look to my favorites for that.
Glenn Greenwald, writing for Salon.com, exposes a Time Magazine piece (6/22/08) for what it is, "government propaganda" passed on whole. It is titled, "Time Magazine uncritically prints Nancy Pelosi's "justifications" for the FISA "compromise." To quote,
It's hardly news that Time Magazine's principal function is uncritically to amplify false claims from government officials, but this article by Massimo Calabresi -- entitled "Behind the Compromise on Spying" -- is such a masterpiece in spouting simplistic government propaganda and rank falsehoods that it is revealing on numerous levels. The article has only one purpose -- to depict the spying "compromise" as a brilliant and heroic centrist masterstroke by Nancy Pelosi to protect us from Terrorists while simultaneously preserving our liberties -- and it employs one factually false claim after the next to achieve this.Ryan Singel writing for Wired: Threat Level, posted Senator Barack Obama's statement supporting the telecom amnesty bill (6/20/08). To quote:
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama supports the spy bill compromise passed by the House Friday, despite having opposed retroactive amnesty to telecoms that helped with the President's secret, warrantless wiretapping.
. . . The bill is widely perceived as a victory for the White House, and was agreed to by Democrats out of a fear of being labeled soft on terrorism in the upcoming elections.
More often than not the civil libertarian arm of the net roots world has been able to put enough pressure on Congress to avert what happened last week. Will it be the case with the Senate? I am not optimistic.
Always Good Intel Resources:
- Christy Harding Smith at Firedoglake.
- Emptywheel at Firedoglake.
- Paul Kiel at Propublica
- TPM Muckraker at Talking Points Memo
This day in History: Constitution Convention, June 22, 1787 -- Convention considered issue of salaries for members of the House of Representatives.
View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.
My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.
Technorati tags: news news and politics politics congress
2 comments:
"Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama supports the spy bill compromise passed by the House Friday, despite having opposed retroactive amnesty to telecoms that helped with the President's secret, warrantless wiretapping."
But he gives speeches that make you want to get up and cheer. Years ago, that used to be called "tell them what they want to hear."
"Barack Obama supports the spy bill compromise"
That is a harbinger of what's to come. A lot of people are going to be very surprised (and disappointed) in what they thought was "change."
It's bigger than all of us.
Hi Dan'l. Thanks for stopping by. Yes, it is bigger than all of us, but not beyond ability to cope. I am trying to "live in the day." Hope you have a good one. I'll be on the road for the next month, but checking in regularly, and maybe even posting when I can. Regards, Carol
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