Just when you thought the issue was dying, local Michigan Republicans are reviving the NYT as traitor meme over the bank monitoring story.
L. Brooks Patterson, noted alcoholic and onetime moderate, also known as the Oakland County Executive, is asking the GOP-dominated OC commission to pass a resolution calling for the sanction of the Times.
More on this stupidity after the jump....
It's really funny, you know. When Judy Miller was selling a fake story in the Times, they couldn't have been more patriotic. The moment they start doing their, um, JOB, they are the worst Americans ever.
Listen to this Patterson quote, "I'm just calling for a sanction against the Times," said Patterson. "I think the media has an obligation not to give aid and comfort to the enemy." Patterson oh-so-graciously says censorship isn't necessary, as if our biggest worry right now should be a debate over censorship and not fricking the gross negligance of this administration and Congress.
Once upon a time, Patterson was considered pretty moderate, almost liberal by current GOP (God's Only People, in their minds) standards, and he's buying into their brain-dead, Dear Leader, fascist mentality. Free press=traitors. Oversight=unnecessary meddling into the King's decisions. And the sad thing is we keep having to talk about this. Why the fuck do we keep having to engage in this dialogue, and why do the television networks seem so intent on destroying themselves by letting these lemmings come on and repeat the talking points of Herr Bush?
I'm still an aspiring journalist, despite a year of not being able to get a job in the field. So, I soldier on at my current job, and am doing my best to be active in this election and help make a difference. One of my mentors at the University of Michigan, a former 30-year reporter, is stunned at the media's lack of investigation, and the level to which they've been cowed. He came up in the biz in the late 60's, right before Watergate, and he covered stories that earned him death threats, yet he kept going because he realized he had a responsibility to the people.
Free press is not just some sort of abstract idea. It has often been the only line of defense between democracy and fascism in our great nation, and it has been part subjugated, part willing accomplice in its destruction. It keeps government officials honest. It brought down the previous low standard for president. And never in my life did I think I'd see the end of days for American democracy, and if this election is lost/stolen, it's going to happen. In most ways, it's already happened. Just think of some of the titles on that White House salary list. It's very Orwellian, how they have a director of fact checking and a director of lessons learned and then there's the Pentagon's TIA and signing statements, and back to the press being brought to its knees by the cavalier usage of treason, the prosecution of reporters, and the tactics of hate being used (the publishing of the addresses of reporters' children's schools) and that's how fascism takes hold, folks, one step at a time.
How can we fix this? We can take back Congress, voting in such numbers that they can't steal it away, making it such a blowout. We can pass a federal shield law, so whistleblowing can be done safely. We can force voting machine makers to have paper receipts of voting, so no fraud can take place. And we can restore oversight, investigating thoroughly and properly the abuses of this president, so that when his last day in office comes, the American people know how badly they were abused, and so they learn to never take fear at face value again.
The Republicans aren't gaining ground nationally with this issue, so they are going local with it. As Churchill said about the Nazis, "We shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender..." We cannot give up this fight. It is a fight for our soul, local level, statewide, and nationally. The battle over the press is just one of the opening salvos. A win in 2006 is not enough. We have to keep winning to reverse the damage to our Republic, and we have to win to save our Republic. We start by defending the other defenders of freedom, a free and independent press.