the media lost its backbone, integrity and courage a long time ago. It's been coming for a long while: the emphasis on ratings instead of good reporting...the proliferation of models reading the news (watched CNN lately? They have more Asian/Amer-Asian female anchors than you would believe, all young; and Fox News is obssessed with blondes)...the old requirements of reporters who are well educated/traveled/experienced going out the window...corporate ownership of news divisions, with staff reductions, consolidations, and budget decreases in order to turn a profit... freakin' *entertainment* divisions of said corporations controlling the news divisions...megalomaniacs like Rupert Murdoch stamping their one-sided viewpoint on everthing from print to radio to television...and finally, the backing down in terror of the insane jingoistic xenophobic berserker rage sweeping America after 9-11. The media lost its backbone indeed, with even "liberal" groups like the New York Times and CNN backing down on telling the truth about how Bush and his coterie were fuc**** up the world.
MSNBC fired Donahue because he was upsetting the administration and his bosses were gutless. Donahue was required to have *two* conservatives for every *one* liberal he had on his talk show. Seriously. The New York Times buried whole stories casting doubt on the whole Al-queda/Hussein/WMD crap inside its paper. Everyone from ABC News to CBS warped stories critical of the administration so as not to offend. The Fourth Estate let us down, and i'll never forgive them for that. While many of us were typing and screaming and voting like demons to stop this insanity, the press cowered in a corner and through action or inaction, helped it take place. Sorry, I'm ranting, I know, but I'm getting angry just typing this. Journalism is the "one that got away", the career i should have chosen instead of IT. Corny as it sounds, I still remember my days as my high school's editor, and I adhere(d) to the old principles of Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why. Journalists must tell the truth and get the facts, and dig for the story--popular or not. If you don't have truth--the facts--and don't have the courage to speak them in times when the whole world is against you, then you're no good to me. You should listen to or watch Bill Moyers' special "Buying the War", which he did for PBS earlier this year. I have it on my iPod and have listened to it several times. He speaks of many specific examples of how the media backed down on this whole Iraq thing. He's the one who interviewed Donahue about how he was treated by MSNBC. Amazing, disturbing, and infuriating report. Our media has a long way to go to get back to what it was--if it ever will. Now there's this whole debate about whether corporate-controlled, profit-driven media will ever again be truly effective, or if this new world of "citizen journalists" (bloggers and the like) is the new future of journalism... -------------- Original message -------------- From: Bosco Bosco <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> What's amazing about this is not Hoover's desire to suspend habeas corpus is news. The man was a backwards facist and represents all the things foul that draw this country down from the moral high ground. What's amazing is that habeas corpus has been suspended and no one really cares. It wasn't even news worthy. So much for the theory of a "liberally biased" media. Bosco --- "Tracey de Morsella (formerly Tracey L. Minor)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/washington/23habeas.html?_r=1&oref=slogin > > > > A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the > longtime > director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to > suspend > habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of > disloyalty. > > Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, 12 days > after > the Korean War began. It envisioned putting suspect Americans in > military prisons. > > Hoover wanted President Harry S. Truman to proclaim the mass > arrests > necessary to âprotect the country against treason, espionage and > sabotage.â The F.B.I would âapprehend all individuals > potentially > dangerousâ to national security, Hooverâs proposal said. The > arrests > would be carried out under âa master warrant attached to a list > of > namesâ provided by the bureau. > > The names were part of an index that Hoover had been compiling for > years. âThe index now contains approximately twelve thousand > individuals, of which approximately ninety-seven per cent are > citizens > of the United States,â he wrote. > > âIn order to make effective these apprehensions, the proclamation > > suspends the Writ of Habeas Corpus,â it said. > > Habeas corpus, the right to seek relief from illegal detention, has > been > a fundamental principle of law for seven centuries. The Bush > administrationâs decision to hold suspects for years at > Guantánamo Bay, > Cuba, has made habeas corpus a contentious issue for Congress and > the > Supreme Court today. > > The Constitution says habeas corpus shall not be suspended > âunless when > in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require > it.â > The plan proposed by Hoover, the head of the F.B.I. from 1924 to > 1972, > stretched that clause to include âthreatened invasionâ or > âattack upon > United States troops in legally occupied territory.â > > After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush > issued an > order that effectively allowed the United States to hold suspects > indefinitely without a hearing, a lawyer, or formal charges. In > September 2006, Congress passed a law suspending habeas corpus for > anyone deemed an âunlawful enemy combatant.â > > But the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the right of American citizens > to > seek a writ of habeas corpus. This month the court heard arguments > on > whether about 300 foreigners held at Guantánamo Bay had the same > rights. > It is expected to rule by next summer. > > Hooverâs plan was declassified Friday as part of a collection of > cold-war documents concerning intelligence issues from 1950 to > 1955. The > collection makes up a new volume of âThe Foreign Relations of the > United > States,â a series that by law has been published continuously by > the > State Department since the Civil War. > > Hooverâs plan called for âthe permanent detentionâ of the > roughly 12,000 > suspects at military bases as well as in federal prisons. The > F.B.I., he > said, had found that the arrests it proposed in New York and > California > would cause the prisons there to overflow. > > So the bureau had arranged for âdetention in military facilities > of the > individuals apprehendedâ in those states, he wrote. > > The prisoners eventually would have had a right to a hearing under > the > Hoover plan. The hearing board would have been a panel made up of > one > judge and two citizens. But the hearings âwill not be bound by > the rules > of evidence,â his letter noted. > > The only modern precedent for Hooverâs plan was the Palmer Raids > of > 1920, named after the attorney general at the time. The raids, > executed > in large part by Hooverâs intelligence division, swept up > thousands of > people suspected of being communists and radicals. > > Previously declassified documents show that the F.B.I.âs > âsecurity > indexâ of suspect Americans predated the cold war. In March 1946, > Hoover > sought the authority to detain Americans âwho might be > dangerousâ if the > United States went to war. In August 1948, Attorney General Tom > Clark > gave the F.B.I. the power to make a master list of such people. > > Hooverâs July 1950 letter was addressed to Sidney W. Souers, who > had > served as the first director of central intelligence and was then a > > special national-security assistant to Truman. The plan also was > sent to > the executive secretary of the National Security Council, whose > members > were the president, the secretary of defense, the secretary of > state and > the military chiefs. > > In September 1950, Congress passed and the president signed a law > authorizing the detention of âdangerous radicalsâ if the > president > declared a national emergency. Truman did declare such an emergency > in > December 1950, after China entered the Korean War. But no known > evidence > suggests he or any other president approved any part of Hooverâs > proposal. > > I got friends who are in prison and Friends who are dead. I'm gonna tell ya something that I've often said. You know these things that happen, That's just the way it's supposed to be. And I can't help but wonder, Don't ya know it coulda been me. __________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
