Paul Craig Roberts
I read with interest his article (or 'Epiphany' as he calls it) which can be found on several sites, the following being one of them:
It's of interest because here is a former Reaganite who, because of his natural objection to injustice, can recognise the injustices and the inherent dangers currently rife in the Bush administration. I'd like to quote a few paragraphs.
.."Bush refuses to obey the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act. The purpose of the FISA court is to
ensure that administrations do not spy for partisan
political reasons. The warrant requirement is to ensure
that a panel of independent federal judges hears a
legitimate reason for the spying, thus protecting a
president from the temptation to abuse the powers of
government. The only reason for the Bush administration
to evade the court is that the Bush administration had
no legitimate reasons for its spying. This should be
obvious even to a naif.
The United States is undergoing a coup against the
Constitution, the Bill of Rights, civil liberties, and
democracy itself. The "liberal press" has been co-opted.
As everyone must know by now, the New York Times has
totally failed its First Amendment obligations, allowing
Judith Miller to make war propaganda for the Bush
administration, suppressing for an entire year the news
that the Bush administration was illegally spying on
American citizens, and denying coverage to Al Gore's
speech that challenged the criminal deeds of the Bush
administration.
The TV networks mimic Fox News' faux patriotism. Anyone
who depends on print, TV, or right-wing talk radio media
is totally misinformed. The Bush administration has
achieved a de facto Ministry of Propaganda.
The years of illegal spying have given the Bush
administration power over the media and the opposition.
Journalists and Democratic politicians don't want to
have their adulterous affairs broadcast over television
or to see their favorite online porn sites revealed in
headlines in the local press with their names attached.
Only people willing to risk such disclosures can stand
up for the country.
Homeland Security and the Patriot Act are not our
protectors. They undermine our protection by trashing
the Constitution and the civil liberties it guarantees.
Those with a tyrannical turn of mind have always used
fear and hysteria to overcome obstacles to their
to gain new means of silencing opposition.
Consider the no-fly list. This list has no purpose
whatsoever but to harass and disrupt the livelihoods of
Bush's critics. If a known terrorist were to show up at
check-in, he would be arrested and taken into custody,
not told that he could not fly. What sense does it make
to tell someone who is not subject to arrest and who has
cleared screening that he or she cannot fly? How is this
person any more dangerous than any other passenger?..."
"Debate is dead in America for two reasons: One is that
the media concentration permitted in the 1990s has put
news and opinion in the hands of a few corporate
executives who do not dare risk their broadcasting
licenses by getting on the wrong side of government, or
their advertising revenues by becoming "controversial."
The media follows a safe line and purveys only politically
correct information. The other reason is that Americans
today are no longer enthralled by debate. They just want
to hear what they want to hear. The right-wing, left-wing,
and libertarians alike preach to the faithful. Democracy
cannot succeed when there is no debate."More Americans should read articles like this and some of my
American friends are seeking out information for themselves,
which is brilliant. But a lot more need to be sat down and
shown what is really going on.
