Since when are Newsweek and TIME known for their savvy, crack investigative reporting? I thought we couldn't expect much more than quality hand-bound Civil War Books outta those guys.
First, a few weeks ago, buried in a story about heightened partisan rhetoric, TIME mentions:
Administration sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President in settings that might highlight the Administration’s efforts to make the nation safer. The goal, they are being told, is to provide Bush with one homeland-security photo-op a month.
Sickening, but kudos to them for the coverage.
Then, today, I catch their piece on Patriot Act provisions that require the names of AMERICAN CITIZENS buying/selling homes to be checked against of "suspected" terrorists.
You can check out the story here.
Is anyone familiar with the right to unlimited contract??? It's a little something that allows our business world to keep turning without angry mobs or broken kneecaps.
As Americans, we can enter into contracts with ANYONE, ANYTIME so long as the contract is reasonable, conscionable and legally sound. We have the right to expect those contracts will be enforced by our judiciary.
This is a major step in the Patriot Act's erosion of our civil liberties, and Newsweek, of all mags, blows the lid off it!
The Patriot Act sucks, but I think there's a larger, possibly more dangerous pattern here —- we're approaching a climate when coverups are no longer necessary.
The President himself claims not to read the newspaper, and he hopes we do the same.
But when his administration is exposed by coffeetable rags for manipulating the image of war for political gain and stripping Americans of their right to (Gasp!) buy stuff, you have to ask: do they even have to hide it anymore?
DustBowl Dem
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