Sometimes those of us who live in small towns in the middle of nowhere can feel kind of detached from what is going on in this country and then sometimes Bush's new America catches up with you in the darnedest places. One day your reading about how Abu Gonzales is threatening to investigate and crack down on journalists who talk to whistleblowers and the next thing you know a guy from Homeland Security is in your office at the local newspaper asking questions about and investigating other journalists who want to come to your town to do a public interest piece. And later on when you write about it for your
newspaper you find out;
U.S. Border Patrol Assistant Chief Lonnie Schweitzer of Grand Forks said the purpose of the questioning was to verify the "legitimacy" of what Al Jazeera was reporting on. He said inquiries have been made into the movements of other foreign journalists visiting the country, including some from Canada.
More on my sisters run in with "persons of interest" below the fold.
UPDATE: It gets better, checkout this from AIM Citizen Vigilance Urged As Al-Jazeera Is Spotted Near U.S.-Canada Border
My sister is a small town journalist in Crosby, a small town in rural North Dakota near the Canadian border. As the
story she wrote explains [this is not a permanent link] Al Jazeera America wanted to do a public interest piece about the declining population in the area and the city's efforts to attract people. The next thing she knows an agent is in her office asking her questions and saying "there were potential international implications to the journalists' visit, on which he could not elaborate." Now she is getting worried thinking, I called these guys on my home phone...Is my number now linked in some federal database to suspected terrorists? Will she end up on a no fly list?
When she emails me about this I wonder if its `safe' to call her? Maybe I should be careful what I email her in the future? Suddenly my sister has Terror Cooties. Then I realized that Bush's police state now exists. I am actually second guessing my actions out of fear of the government. It's not overwhelming, but its there. So I called her up at work to give her moral support and she is half whispering "I can't talk about that here....now" She tells me she doesn't know if her editor will let her write about the visit.
I hang up the phone thinking Intimidation Accomplished. I sit there thinking about how self censorship will be the death of the free press when a car pulls up in front of my house; a guy leans out the passenger door, spray paints a cryptic symbol on the pavement and speeds off. Given what I was thinking just moments before I am dumbfounded. I email a picture of it to my sister and she replies "...you better be making that up." It's amazing how fast paranoia spreads.
But our paranoia of the government was nothing compared to the reaction of some the townspeople of Crosby when they found out Al Jazeera was coming to town. Muslim Extremists right here in River City! Turns out the local Sheriff called the feds when he heard Al Jazeera was coming to town. Others didn't want them at the High School Graduation.
The big day comes and the war on terror is no longer some obscure news of a far away land. It is right here in down on the farm middle America. Meet Al Jazeera;
Josh Rushing, the man picked as the on-air face of Al Jazeera in American...Rushing is a 15-year Marine Corps veteran who served as a spokesman for Gen. Tommy Franks during the invasion of Iraq. He resigned his commission in the wake of criticism after participating in a documentary about Al Jazeera's coverage of the Iraq war.
Al Jazeera Producer Peggy Holter. The Emmy award-winner was employed previously by NBC's "Dateline" news magazine and went to work for Al Jazeera in March. (Another one of those Emmy winners, very suspicious)
And last but not least, Cameraman Mike Teboe, who has freelanced for U.S. networks and is credentialed as a gallery photographer in the U.S. House. (Why does that man have batteries and wires strapped to his waist!?)
We have met the enemy and they are U.S.!