Congratulations Mark Rasch, for having the spine, the courage, and the sense of duty for writing this article. Some here will surely poo-poo the dangers that this administration and specifically this justice department are posing to the average American. Without arguing the merits or lack there of,of the war in Iraq, I would present that these dangers are far more clear and present than anything Saddam Hussein posed to John Q. Public. Should be careful though, could be sent to gitmo for a comment like that.
While I commend Mr. Rasch for bringing to light something that I think a lot of journalist won't right now, I would also like to take issue with our current class of journalists. Freedom of the Press, like the right to vote, are worthless if they are not executed as their respective responsibilities command. Let me cite a couple of examples that I cannot claim to know whether they are due to journalistic negligence or a real fear within the media, those that are not Clear Channel affiliated (a shrinking number I might add). First, lets note the coverage of the war. Am I the only one who thinks in-bedded reporters (spelling intentional) are a bad idea? Journalists touting the great amount of freedom they were granted, when in fact they meant the Neilson ratings they were granted, not journalism. Take CNN for example, how many service members are killed weekly by "improvised explosive devices"? If they are to d**m lazy to investigate themselves, they could at least re-write the pentagon press reports to show that they read them before printing them. Does a soldier, sailor, Marine, airmen or guardsman really care if it was "improvised" or not when they are dead?
Casualty reports are another great thing. The distinction between hostile and non-hostile deaths. If 911 had been reported under the current rules the death count would be something like, "4 passengers were killed to hostile terrorist actions and another 3000 some odd died in non-hostile aircraft accidents". And please make no mistake, I intend no offense to those that lost loved ones in 911 and the war in Iraq, but am outraged at the lack of outrage by the media. Of course, here I am drawing the same implicit, non-existant link between Iraq and 911.
The last current event that bears mentioning on this note is the current CIA operative identity leak. The media has had this story for 2 months, and only now have they decided to report it when they can no longer ignore it.

The bottom line is this, we must be vigilant in our defense of freedom of the press and freedom of speech, and that applies to whatever web presence you may have. As dubya would say our "resolve must be resolute". But the news media must bust be aggresive in defense of their rights. If Edward R. Murrow were alive today I think he would kill himself to see what "journalism" has become, a business solely of fiscal bottom lines and shareholder dividends where the oral office is deemed more newsworthy than the fact that our Attorney General, uncontested I might add, actually believes that the Constitution applies only to U.S. citizens.

Kudos Mr. Rasch, courage defines a patriot, not compliance.

Semper Fi
perrych2atmsu.edu

P.S. For those that may have been confused by that last line about the AG, please, PLEASE go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overvie
w.html and read it. It is your right, err, your responsibility!

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