In early 1995 Bill Clinton’s Omnibus Counter Terrorism Act was dying a sure death in Congress. Civil libertarians in and out of Congress felt that the act violated civil liberties including the right to confront one’s accusers. On April 19, 1995 an explosion(s) demolished the Alfred E. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. Clinton’s Counter Terrorism Act passed on April 24, 1996. Well before the 9-11 attacks the Patriot Act had been written (mostly by Joe Biden) into a fully developed piece of legislation which took its cues from Clinton’s Counter Terrorism Act. The Patriot Act was introduced into Congress on September 16, 2001. It was signed into law by Bush on October 26, 2001. Now comes Obama allowing his military (NSA) to collect metadata. Making every citizen a suspect and putting them in line to be assassination by drone or having their reputations destroyed by an affair or a hooker. When the Right and the Left agree on any issue the Middle is defenseless. The 1% would rather there be a state of war.
Looking at TK’s last couple of questions –
“…Do we have ANYONE in leadership in the Congress who is willing to act on our behalf?…”
A. We have Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin, and Alan Grayson. The list ends right about there.
“…Do we have media organizations that are willing to live up to their responsibilities under the First Amendment to inform the American people?…”
During the Bush II years we had the McClatchy operated newspapers. They got bought up.
Now we have al Jazeera. And some of the more progressive blogs like “SG”. And some Peak Oil/environmentally concerned sites like Resilience.org, or Kunstler, or the interview shows put together by Janaia Donaldson at Peak Moment tv. And Naomi Klein. And Amy Goodman at Democracy Now!.
That’s about it. Nothing that could be described as “mass media”.
In early 1995 Bill Clinton’s Omnibus Counter Terrorism Act was dying a sure death in Congress. Civil libertarians in and out of Congress felt that the act violated civil liberties including the right to confront one’s accusers. On April 19, 1995 an explosion(s) demolished the Alfred E. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. Clinton’s Counter Terrorism Act passed on April 24, 1996. Well before the 9-11 attacks the Patriot Act had been written (mostly by Joe Biden) into a fully developed piece of legislation which took its cues from Clinton’s Counter Terrorism Act. The Patriot Act was introduced into Congress on September 16, 2001. It was signed into law by Bush on October 26, 2001. Now comes Obama allowing his military (NSA) to collect metadata. Making every citizen a suspect and putting them in line to be assassination by drone or having their reputations destroyed by an affair or a hooker. When the Right and the Left agree on any issue the Middle is defenseless. The 1% would rather there be a state of war.
Looking at TK’s last couple of questions –
“…Do we have ANYONE in leadership in the Congress who is willing to act on our behalf?…”
A. We have Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin, and Alan Grayson. The list ends right about there.
“…Do we have media organizations that are willing to live up to their responsibilities under the First Amendment to inform the American people?…”
During the Bush II years we had the McClatchy operated newspapers. They got bought up.
Now we have al Jazeera. And some of the more progressive blogs like “SG”. And some Peak Oil/environmentally concerned sites like Resilience.org, or Kunstler, or the interview shows put together by Janaia Donaldson at Peak Moment tv. And Naomi Klein. And Amy Goodman at Democracy Now!.
That’s about it. Nothing that could be described as “mass media”.