Bizarro America

You know, very often people use the word "fascist" to describe the actions of the Bush Administration and their surrogates in Congress. Many people scoff at the use of this word- it goes too far, they say. It's a loaded word and not to be used lightly. But sometimes you have to call a spade a spade.

A new bill essentially legalizing the President's warrantless eavesdropping (an abdication of Congressional responsibility that in itself could justifiably be called fascist) includes provisions that would criminalize future whistleblowing like that which exposed the program in December. See this AP report:

Reporters who write about government surveillance could be prosecuted under proposed legislation that would solidify the administration’s eavesdropping authority, according to some legal analysts...

...The draft would add to the criminal penalties for anyone who “intentionally discloses information identifying or describing” the Bush administration’s terrorist surveillance program or any other eavesdropping program conducted under a 1978 surveillance law.

Under the boosted penalties, those found guilty could face fines of up to $1 million, 15 years in jail, or both...

“The bill would make it a crime to tell the American people that the president is breaking the law, and the bill could make it a crime for the newspapers to publish that fact,” said Martin, a civil liberties advocate...

So much for the First Amendment and whistleblower protection laws.

Sen. DeWine swears attacking reporters is not the 'intention' of the bill (and he's real sorry we got that impression), but make no mistake a concerted effort is under way to criminalize journalism that exposes the wrongdoing of the White House. The Washington Post had a story last Sunday about the White House's Nixon-esque efforts to stop leaks (ohh, is Karl being fired?). The report stated that the Bush administration "has launched initiatives targeting journalists and their possible government sources. The efforts include several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws." Keith Olbermann also did an excellent report on this on MSNBC last week.

As Graydon Carter said to Bill Maher last week, "If you took an American in the year 2000 and brought them back to this America today, they wouldn't recognize this country".

Call this Bizarro America- The press exposes lawbreaking by the President. Press punished. President lauded.

As Bizarro might say, "Me am weep for America".