With reality as it is--and, keeping in mind that I have only learned to cast a fishing rod within the last 30 days--I'd rather be fishin'.
Instead of the usual article format, let me point out some interesting stories about how certain media pundits and pundit wanna-bes ply their hypocrisy. But first, what will become of Internet free speech as the noose of the impending police state tighten around the necks of dissidents (which, according to Ashcroft, means anyone still interested in preserving freedom of speech in the face of a 'need for security' disregarding Ben Franklin's wonderful notion that those who favor exchanging liberty for security will have neither)--that is, since freedom of speech is what this column is all about, that makes me a dissident; so what will become of "Media Issues"?
"http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/jun200..."
Bush's new Department of Homeland Defense: the scaffolding of a police state
Funny thing about fishing trips: when you return home from them you get back to reality, but this time it really hit hard. Stopping in a Fina gas station to buy gasoline at $1.24 a gallon off I-10 in Vado, New Mexico, I passed by a newspaper dispenser of the El Paso Times. The headline read: "Bush creates new anti-terrorism agency". This happened Friday, June 7, the day after Bush's televised speech whereby he created the Department of Homeland Defense.
Bush created? Hey, I always thought Congress legislated agencies into existence? Well, that was before the legislative branch gave up all justification of its existence sometime during the Clinton (or was it Bush I?) administration; since basically the executive branch and the judicial branch do all the legislating these days, I'd have to say all Congress is doing is collecting a paycheck. Kinda like the Reichstag in 1930s Germany.
Could it be that this sort of thing moves America further down the slippery slope to a total police state is putting it mildly?
What's very strange is that for the most part even the alternative web media--and this even includes sites like WorldNetDaily, where I'd at least expect to find views on this--is silent on the fact that now the Feds have an excuse to peek into what EVERY American reads and says on the Internet! Aside from the fact that this basically means that freedom of speech is out the window, are the alternative sites nowe silent on purpose? There are a few brave souls out there (Justin Raimondo of "http://antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html" in his column on June 10 on the Sovietization of America) who are covering this, but unfortunately few will find them.
