Press Freedom from The Amarillo Independent

Certain political forces have hijacked the federal government of the United States and declared war on a free press. The Bush administration’s — and its congressional cohorts’ — lack of respect for the history of this nation and the role of the free press in keeping Americans free from tyranny deserves a reciprocal lack of respect.

Forfeiting this respect came last week when a variety of elected minions launched another attack on newspapers, this time focused on the New York Times story about tracking terrorist funds using the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication.

The person who claims the office of the President of the United States and an idiot Republican congressman from New York, one Peter T. King, have called the publication of the revelations treason, calling for charging The New York Times publisher, editors and reporters with treason.
According to The Associated Press article in the June 26 issue of The Washington Post, this tin-pot king also wants other newspapers prosecuted for revealing state secrets — we have those in America now, according to the current Bush regime.

Just days later, on June 29, the House of Representatives passed Ohio Republican sycophant Michael G. Oxley’s House Resolution 895, “condemning the disclosure and publication of classified information that impairs the international fight against terrorism and needlessly exposes Americans to the threat of further terror attacks by revealing a crucial method by which terrorists are traced through their finances.”

What makes the move in Congress worthy of so little respect and disdain for the representatives’ dishonesty is that, slightly more than two weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks, the person who claims the office of the President of the United States openly announced the “war on terror” would follow the money. The revelation in the Times got the GOP angry, but the administration’s darling, The Wall Street Journal, also published stories on the money trail.

Our little-minded Rep. Mac Thornberry, backed the resolution following in lock-step the wishes of the GOP leadership without regard to the independent thought lawmakers with courage or intellect about press freedom should display.

We aren’t the first to note that the Republican administration is trying to repeal the First Amendment.

Now, let’s review, as these holier-than-you-or-me so-called leaders beat their drums of morality: Randy Cunningham on his way to jail for bribery; indicted Tom Delay on the skids in Texas retreating to Virginia; an Ohio newspaper reporting Rep. Bob Ney has lost staffers to the Jack Abramoff scandal; and then there’s Democrat William Jefferson from Louisiana, the focus of a criminal probe.

Folks, here’s the citizen’s take-home message: These congressional scallywags are dishonest and cynically bamboozling you, wrapping themselves in the Bible and flag to take your votes so they can continue to suckle at the teat of your tax money. Come November, turn them all out. Every damned one of them. And then push for terms limits, no seniority and rules that eliminate the lobbying industry to take back our government.

And here’s the journalists’ take-to-heart message: Citizens deserve to know as much as possible about their elected officials. Who lobbies them? How much money is lavished on them by special interest groups such as political action committees, or PACs? How many junkets did our elected officials take and on whose tab? Who gave how much to their campaigns?

The Bush Administration’s declaration of war on journalism is a war on holding these elected officials accountable.

The media’s response should be to push back and embrace investigative journalism as never seen before. As a democracy, we deserve no less.