I read an article in Time Magazine online that has me questioning their intent. From what I’m reading in news accounts on the Internet, the facts don’t agree with the article. In fact, in this author’s opinion, the article, by omitting facts that would incriminate the MSM themselves, are misrepresenting this issue as they have so many before and rather than news - I believe it’s propaganda, telling people that the majority of Americans don’t seem to care - which by every poll that’s been taken demonstrates that the people, by a vast majority, believe this country is headed in the wrong direction and are extremely dissatisfied with our government!
Do Americans Care About Big Brother?Christopher Morris / VII for TIME
Pity America’s poor civil libertarians. In recent weeks, the papers have been full of stories about the warehousing of information on Americans by the National Security Agency, the interception of financial information by the CIA, the stripping of authority from a civilian intelligence oversight board by the White House, and the compilation of suspicious activity reports from banks by the Treasury Department. On Thursday, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine released a report documenting continuing misuse of Patriot Act powers by the FBI. And to judge from the reaction in the country, nobody cares. (Emphasis added)
A quick tally of the record of civil liberties erosion in the United States since 9/11 suggests that the majority of Americans are ready to trade diminished privacy, and protection from search and seizure, in exchange for the promise of increased protection of their physical security. Polling consistently supports that conclusion, and Congress has largely behaved accordingly, granting increased leeway to law enforcement and the intelligence community to spy and collect data on Americans. Even when the White House, the FBI or the intelligence agencies have acted outside of laws protecting those rights — such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — the public has by and large shrugged and, through their elected representatives, suggested changing the laws to accommodate activities that may be in breach of them.
There may, nonetheless, be reasons to feel wary of the civil liberties vs. security trade-off into which Americans have bought. If the misuse documented in the Justice IG report stems from incompetence, Americans may not be getting the security they bargain for in sacrificing their civil liberties. It’s also possible the Justice IG may yet find among the abused Patriot Act powers examples of an FBI agent stalking his girlfriend or doing a favor for a political operative friend. Fine is still preparing a report on the illegal use of “exigent letters” in unauthorized demands for records from business. MORE
Congressional members in the House and Senate have been receiving thousands, hundreds of thousands, or perhaps even more correspondence in regard HR1955/S 1959. People are outraged their constitutional rights are being trampled upon, and to the best of my knowledge, there’s still a press blackout on this issue - so those who don’t use the Internet as the source for their news, or at least to supplement what they view on TV, remain in the dark and can’t complain or voice their outrage on issues they never heard of. As long as Time Magazine and other MSM entities refuse to discuss matters that are of tantamount importance to the public, they condemn themselves as co-conspirators for failing to properly report the facts and alert the people in regard illegal actions by the Bush administration that threaten the very core of our democratic republic.
It wasn’t “the people”, but Nancy Pelosi that “took impeachment off the table”, and in spite of an angry public and Senator Pelosi’s approval rating dropping across the country, Time Magazine would have the general public believing “the people don’t care.” Democrats ran for Congress promising to represent the people and were overwhelmingly voted into office in 2006 with a mandate that clearly stated we wanted to change the course in Washington, and unfortunately, we elected some “Blue Dog” Democrats that are nothing more than Republicans in disguise, and they are not voting the will of their constituents and aid the GOP in supporting an administration that has been proven to have lied to the public over 925 times! Congress’s approval rating is at an all time low, which indicates the majority of the country disapprove of their actions - yet Time Magazine forgets to mention that it isn’t the people who are giving up their rights, but a Congress that refuses to voice the will of the people and are still voting the voice of corporate America and special interest groups! They also fail to mention many of those rights have been taken away via Presidential Executive orders which the MSM treats with a “shrug” rather than revealing the true nature of his actions and the possible consequences to the public.
The mainstream news media has violated the trust of a nation by refusing to report important stories that affect the core principles of our democracy, and as we slide further into fascism, I’m personally insulted that Time Magazine portrays the public as uncaring! The mainstream news media has made sure that people are never informed of the truth, and only publish those stories that are approved by their corporate masters – an extremely sad representation of what they used to be… I’d say that Time Magazine owes the public an apology, but in reality, I’d settle for the truth instead of rank propaganda.
William Cormier
