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            • December 29, 2005

              The Freedom Of The Press Is A Wonderful Thing

            • Gray Lady Down - Yahoo! News

              But with freedom comes responsibility.

              This is the most beautifully crafted piece of journalistic poetry I believe I have read in my entire life. It's credited to IBD (Investors Business Daily) from what I can tell, but no author is listed.

              The author, whomever it might be, deserves the Pulitzer for this piece. If I have it my way, they're going to get it.

              Where was the defense of the "people's right to know" when the issue was who "revealed" the name of CIA desk jockey Valerie Plame and her Bush-bashing, mint tea-drinking husband, Joe Wilson? Then the issue was who was placing our covert agents in jeopardy and who should be indicted and sent to federal prison.

              There are times when I wish I didn't have to be such a loud mouth. But I honestly can't help it... Not from the standpoint of lacking self control, although I've certainly been guilty of such criticisms in the past. Instead, however, what I can't help is standing idoly(sic) by while I watch the general masses being led by a handful of (please pardon me for second, but I'm going to break my no profanity in the intro rule because I believe it needs to be said outloud, not hidden from view, even if only partially) complete and total fucking idiots who have sold our freedoms, rights in which millions have fought for, giving their lives because they knew that in doing so millions more would be able to live a life in which is centered around peace, safety, respect for all people no matter their origin or race, the ability to worship the God of our own choosing, even if that means we choose to not believe in such things, and the ability to express our opinions without fear of prosecution, persecution, and/or censorship, including using each era's "printing press" to spread our views to the masses.

              It seems, however, that there are those who feel that the underlying essence of the freedom of speech and press somehow allows them the right to put at risk the very foundation in which affords them this freedom in the first place, using the "protections" of our legal system to continue forth, selling the "front page" headlines to the highest bidder.

              "Did he just accuse the various news agencies of taking "liberty" to sell our safety in the name of freedom to whomever was willing to pay the most money?"

              I sure the fuck did.

              That's the beauty of the freedom of the press.

              But with freedom comes responsibility.

              Yep. A responsibility to tell the truth without putting at risk the very foundation in which gives us such freedoms in the first place.

              Let the truth be told.

            • Posted by m.david : December 29, 2005 07:25 AM GMT

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            Comments

              • Wilson leaked his wife’s CIA work and its okay because they are married.

                ‘Vanity Fair’ probably did not pay Wilson and Plame the most money, but did the most outing. ‘Time’ probably paid more, but the Iraqi scientists who ran the WMD program in Iraq(The Rice - Bush WMD set up before the war) was freed by the Iraqi courts under CIA pressure the same day ‘Plame’ appeared “dazed and confused” about the whole ‘kerfuffle.’

              • Posted by: BoxingDayMassacre at December 30, 2005 04:38 PM
              • Hi there,

                I’ve been trying all day to break away from work related matters to look into this a bit more but unfortunately with deadlines to meet I’m concerned I’ll find myself entrenched in research digging for more information. I’m kind of what could be termed as an ‘information phreak’ which is one of the reasons I turned off the TV (speaking metaphorically, but in many ways quite literally as well, watching TV 20-30 hours in total each year) a few years back… Plenty of information, but most of it’s of ‘junkfood’ quality, leaving no room for any of the good stuff while providing very little nourishment in and of itself.

                If you happen to read this follow-up and have extended information (links, magazines with cover dates, etc…) I would much appreciate it as it will allow me to make the most of what at the moment is very little time for ‘extra-curricular activitees’ although I hate to tag this topic in particular an extra-curricular activity as its a pretty important topic in regards to understanding whats really going on behind the scenes in an area that has played and continues to play a potentially crucial role in the futures of some key government officials.

                Either way, thanks for the info! If I am able to gain access to extended information (from you, my own research, or anybody else who follow’s these comments up on this page or in email <m.david AT xmlhacker DOT com>) I will certainly bring them out in another post.

                Happy Holidays to you. :)

              • Posted by: M. David Peterson at December 31, 2005 08:26 AM

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