16, May 2013 Government
Spying
The Justice Department’s admission of its seizure of home
and cellphone records of almost 100 Associated Press reporters is the most
significant intrusion of freedom of the press in decades and sends a chilling
effect on the future of our fragile democracy.
Reporters and whistle blowers will now be loath to challenge the
excesses or misdeeds of the Obama Administration lest they encounter a blowback
and find themselves clothed in orange jumpsuits and ankle shackles – all in the
name of protecting national security. Many governments in the world jail
dissidents under the same banner.
This follows other draconian measures crafted to silence
whistleblowers, the Espionage Act which could eviscerate an independent free
press, the FISA Amendment Act, which allows for
warrantless wiretapping, the National Defense Authorization Act, which permits
stripping American citizens of due process and jailing them to indefinite
detention. Remember, the Espionage Act was used against Daniel Ellsberg in the
Pentagon Papers which revealed years of government deceit in perpetuating the
disastrous Vietnam War which sent thousands of Americans and millions of
Vietnamese to an early death. America
has a long history of conducting a massive PR war on its people to shield it
from embarrassing decisions. The recent
web of deceit perpetrated by the Bush Administration on bogus claims of WMD’s
in Iraq should be stark reminder.
If the media – our government watchdogs are hampered in
their independent role we are doomed as a democracy.
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