Bush's war on the 1st ammendment continues...again......[views:2896][posts:26]_____________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 4:08pm - Josh_Martin ""] Bush administration opposes shield for journalists By Patricia Wilson | July 20, 2005 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration on Wednesday opposed federal legislation to protect journalists from having to reveal confidential sources because it would create "serious impediments" to law enforcement and fighting terrorism. With a New York Times reporter in jail for refusing to testify before a grand jury probe into the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame, bills in the Senate and House of Representatives allowing reporters to shield their sources in most cases have gained traction. But in written testimony provided to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Comey called the legislation "bad public policy" and warned it would cover "criminal or terrorist organizations that also have media operations ... such as al Qaeda." "The bill would create serious impediments to the department's ability to effectively enforce the law and fight terrorism," Comey wrote. Comey did not appear in person, prompting Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California -- and others on the panel -- to call for another hearing to question him about his "rather serious indictment" of the legislation. Journalists say using anonymous sources is crucial to their work, including exposing government wrongdoing in cases like the Watergate scandal that toppled Richard Nixon's presidency and the printing of the Pentagon Papers on the Vietnam War. EXHAUST OTHER AVENUES The proposed legislation would require federal prosecutors and courts to exhaust all other avenues to obtain information before compelling news outlets and journalists to testify or produce documents except in cases of potential harm to national security. Thirty one states and the District of Columbia have shield laws, but Comey rejected any comparison. "None of the states deals with classified information in the way that the federal government does and no state is tasked with defending the nation as a whole or conducting international diplomacy," he said. The bipartisan bills would extend to journalists the same sort of privilege that protects the relationship between husband and wife, priest and penitent, lawyer and client, doctor and patient. In the most recent high profile case, a federal judge jailed Judith Miller of the New York Times for refusing to disclose her source to prosecutors trying to find out who in the Bush administration leaked Plame's identity to the media. A parade of media witnesses, lawyers and academics predicted the Plame case would have "a chilling effect" on freedom of the press and said the free flow of information to Americans was under threat. William Safire, a New York Times columnist, compared Miller to a hostage and said he feared retaliation against her if he spoke out too openly. "I must not anger or upset those who control her incarceration and who repeatedly threaten to pile on with longer punishment as a criminal unless she betrays her principles as a reporter," he said. "Journalists and reporters are not the fingers at the end of the long arm of the law." Time Magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, who along with Miller faced jail in the CIA leak case until his source gave him personal permission to testify, said the shield law was not about elevating journalists to "some priestly class." "Without whistle-blowers who feel they can come forward with a degree of confidence, we might never have known the extent of the Watergate scandal or Enron's deceptions or events that needed to be exposed," Cooper told the committee. Comey was not at the hearing because he was substituting for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at a meeting with House Republican leaders on the Patriot Act, a Justice Department spokeswoman said. |
| ______________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 4:11pm - the_reverend ""] wait, was this before or after flipflopping on the whole "CIA LEEK"? [img] |
| ____________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 4:15pm - BornSoVile ""] IMPEACH BUSH, STOP THE LIES AND STOP ASSAULTING THE AMERICAN DREAM. |
| ________________________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 4:19pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""] slowly a police state will take effect. |
| _____________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 4:22pm - Josh_Martin ""] Seriously, anyone who believes this is really about fighting terrorism deserves to get killed by terrorists so the intelligence level of the american gene pool can go up. |
| ____________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 4:33pm - BornSoVile ""] I'm lovin the whole Rove thing too! I wonder what people will say about this time in history 30 years from now. |
| ________________________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 4:33pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""] BornSoVile said:I'm lovin the whole Rove thing too! I wonder what people will say about this time in history 30 years from now. Josh let's hope there is a 30years from now ! :nuke: |
| ___________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 4:48pm - yodaslab ""] IMPEACH BUSH, LETS GET HIM THE FUCK OUT OF OFFICE, HE IS A PROVEN DUMBSHIT WHO LACKS THE ABILITY TO SPEAK THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND HAS FAILED AS LEADER OF THE "GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD." QUITE POSSIBLY HE IS THE WORST OF THE WORST IN TERMS OF DOING HIS JOB, SUCH A DISGRACE TO US ALL. |
| ____________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 4:51pm - anonymous ""] [img] |
| ________________________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 4:54pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""] anonymous said:[img] it's awesome to see people taking their role in government officials and policies seriously. i dont understand how people can just sit on their thumbs and think it's funny to watch it all go to hell. :pukeface: |
| ___________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 5:50pm - Bradster ""] BornSoVile said:I'm lovin the whole Rove thing too! I wonder what people will say about this time in history 30 years from now. they'll look back and think, "man, those liberals sure were wrong, Bush was the best thing for the country" |
| ______________________________ [Jul 20,2005 5:54pm - BSV ""] okay Brad! |
| ___________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 5:56pm - Bradster ""] haha |
| _________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 6:34pm - tbone_r ""] [img] the tissues are useless without a little lubrication |
| __________________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 9:17pm - BestialOnslaught ""] I just hope the Downing Street Memo situation doesn't get lost in the shuffle of Plame-gate... Getting Rove out of there would be a victory for honesty, but really, I think there are impeachments for much of the Cabinet, Defense Dept. and of course the man himself, that would be necessary to restore some integrity to Washington. |
| _____________________________________ [Jul 20,2005 10:55pm - PatMeebles ""] "The proposed legislation would require federal prosecutors and courts to exhaust all other avenues to obtain information before compelling news outlets and journalists to testify or produce documents except in cases of potential harm to national security." The sentiment's nice, but finding backdoors is a politician's specialty. |
| _______________________________ [Jul 21,2005 1:08am - hoser ""] More boring Josh Martin horseshit. Yaaawwwwwnnnnnnnnn....... |
| _____________________________________ [Jul 21,2005 9:44am - Josh_Martin ""] Here's Hoser, head in the sand and bent over waiting to get fucked like a good little Christian. [img] |
| ________________________________ [Jul 21,2005 10:02am - hoser ""] Good one......new get a job, hippy. |
| _______________________________________ [Jul 21,2005 10:04am - the_reverend ""] I think it would be absolutely hilarious if jeb bush wins in 2008. haleluya! |
| ________________________________ [Jul 21,2005 10:05am - hoser ""] By the way....this vote was propogated by your beloved liberal Senate. |
| _______________________________________ [Jul 21,2005 10:27am - the_reverend ""] um... the senate isn't liberal, it's conservative. |
| _______________________________________ [Jul 21,2005 10:32am - Jesus_Slaves ""] because its so much easier to sit and wait for someone to do something all the while bitching about how it needs to change, rather than get up and actually do something about it |
| ______________________________________ [Jul 21,2005 10:43am - Josh_Martin ""] hoser said:By the way....this vote was propogated by your beloved liberal Senate. Do you ever get tired of being a complete idiot? Anyways, shouldn't you be in church or something like a good little Republican? |
| ________________________________ [Jul 21,2005 10:45am - hoser ""] Shouldn't you be hopped up on heroin and slobbering all over your rug? Fucking junkie. |
| ___________________________________________ [Jul 21,2005 10:49am - floating sphere ""] this has nothing to do with protecting Rove. it's possible no crime was even commited. valerie plame had not been working undercover for 6 years. Under federal law the "outting" never happened. It's still being investigated, and this is why Bush will not comment on it right now. Democrats are pushing for the removal of Rove not because they are being protective of the CIA, but rather they view Rove as the "brains behind the republican evil." Here is an example of an actual outting of an agent, one that the democrats don't care about: taken from newsmax.com Sen. John Kerry, who called for Karl Rove to be fired over allegations that he revealed the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame, outed a genuine undercover CIA agent just this past April - even after the agency asked that his identity be kept secret. Kerry blew the cover of CIA secret operative Fulton Armstrong during confirmation hearings for U.N. ambassador nominee John Bolton. more |
| ______________________________________ [Jul 21,2005 11:04am - Josh_Martin ""] hoser said:Shouldn't you be hopped up on heroin and slobbering all over your rug? Fucking junkie. I wish. I'm at work. Good to see you're consistent and still have nothing intelligent to say. I've been told you're a big guy. I hope you can use that to your advantage because your brains are clearly getting you nowhere. |