Wikileaks editor says we in the west do not have a free press

[mhgaffney]

Check out this excellent interview with Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks.

He is a very composed and articulate young man -- and is on a mission of global importance.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25799.htm

[cutthemdown]

But we can read other countries news also. So doesn't that make it free even if maybe money keeps some things off CNN and Fox? I do think we have some big problems creeping in though. Reporters are now as bias and partisan as the people in here. A real reporter gets as much glee from screwing the pope as he does the devil. That was a line my journalism teacher in HS used to tell us. They dont care what the fact are, only that they find them first and get the story.

It has to be the fault of the colleges right? churning out a bunch of partisan hacks that wouldn't even look for a bad story about one of there heroes.

Even in sports journalism I wanna puke. They get an athlete on then ask all easy questions. Nothing like show them clips of them dogging it, then ask them way they dont play hard all the time. ETC ETC.

[That One Guy]

Isn't that the guy that turned in his source on that video?

Hahaha...

[epicSocialism4tw]

But we can read other countries news also. So doesn't that make it free even if maybe money keeps some things off CNN and Fox? I do think we have some big problems creeping in though. Reporters are now as bias and partisan as the people in here. A real reporter gets as much glee from screwing the pope as he does the devil. That was a line my journalism teacher in HS used to tell us. They dont care what the fact are, only that they find them first and get the story.

It has to be the fault of the colleges right? churning out a bunch of partisan hacks that wouldn't even look for a bad story about one of there heroes.

Even in sports journalism I wanna puke. They get an athlete on then ask all easy questions. Nothing like show them clips of them dogging it, then ask them way they dont play hard all the time. ETC ETC.

Nailed it.

Journalism is now a partisan field.

[cutthemdown]

Nailed it.

Journalism is now a partisan field.

Also they worry if they get a reputation as someone who doesn't ask cookie questions then they won't get any interviews. Man in the day could you duck the big reporters? wouldn't a report you were afraid to let them interview you be bad press? Nowdays they want the questions first!! What a joke. It's not just a left right thing though. It's both sides.

[barryr]

Now Congress is set to give the president the power to close down the internet for up to 4 months for "emergency reasons." Yeah, one can easily see this being abused on a whim or when going after political enemies in the media.

[cutthemdown]

No way Barry really? What would the criteria be, just his opinion it was needed? No vote of congress or supreme court?

Man that would be chaos if people couldnt check email and facebook......how will i promote my gigs the ****ing nazis.

[barryr]

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com (http://www.prisonplanet.com/)
Friday, June 25, 2010

President Obama will be handed the power to shut down the Internet for at least four months without Congressional oversight if the Senate votes for the infamous Internet ‘kill switch’ bill, which was approved by a key Senate committee yesterday and now moves to the floor.

The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=42926cbe-76fd-4eeb-a08b-d7838a4aae8f), which is being pushed hard by Senator Joe Lieberman, would hand absolute power to the federal government to close down networks, and block incoming Internet traffic from certain countries under a declared national emergency.

Despite the Center for Democracy and Technology and 23 other privacy and technology organizations sending letters to Lieberman and other backers of the bill expressing concerns that the legislation could be used to stifle free speech, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed in the bill in advance of a vote on the Senate floor.

In response to widespread criticism of the bill, language was added that would force the government to seek congressional approval to extend emergency measures beyond 120 days. Still, this would hand Obama the authority to shut down the Internet on a whim without Congressional oversight or approval for a period of no less than four months.

The Senators pushing the bill rejected the claim that the bill was a ‘kill switch’ for the Internet, not by denying that Obama would be given the authority to shut down the Internet as part of this legislation, but by arguing that he already had the power to do so.

They argued “That the President already had authority under the Communications Act to “cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communication” when there is a “state or threat of war”, reports the Sydney Morning Herald (http://www.smh.com.au/technology/security/obama-internet-kill-switch-bill-approved-20100625-z8sf.html).

[/URL]
Fears that the legislation is aimed at bringing the Internet under the regulatory power of the U.S. government in an offensive against free speech were heightened further on Sunday, when Lieberman revealed that the plan was to mimic China’s policies of policing the web with censorship and coercion.

“Right now China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in case of war and we need to have that here too,” Lieberman told CNN’s Candy Crowley (http://infowars-shop.stores.yahoo.net/inemnewwoord.html).
While media and public attention is overwhelmingly focused on the BP oil spill, the establishment is quietly preparing the framework that will allow Obama, or indeed any President who follows him, to bring down a technological iron curtain that will give the government a foot in the door on seizing complete control over the Internet.

As we have illustrated, fears surrounding cybersecurity have been hyped to mask the real agenda behind the bill, which is to strangle the runaway growth of alternative and independent media outlets which are exposing government atrocities, cover-ups and cronyism like never before.

Indeed, China uses similar rhetoric about the need to maintain “security” and combating cyber warfare by regulating the web, when in reality their entire program is focused around silencing anyone who criticizes the state.

The real agenda behind government control of the Internet has always been to strangle and suffocate independent media outlets who are now competing with and even displacing establishment press organs, with websites like the Drudge Report now attracting more traffic than many large newspapers combined. As part of this war against independent media, the FTC recently proposing a “Drudge Tax” (http://www.infowars.com/ftc-backs-off-drudge-tax/) that would force independent media organizations to pay fees that would be used to fund mainstream newspapers

[URL]http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-can-shut-down-internet-for-4-months-under-new-emergency-powers.html

[mhgaffney]

This deserves its own thread

[mhgaffney]

So now the US must copy China? Just because China suppresses free speech we have to, also? This is crazy logic.

No surprise that Lieberman is one of the sponsors.

[DenverBrit]

The US media and networks are bought and paid for by advertisers, similar arrangement to politicians and lobbyists.

It's old news. ;D

[Rohirrim]

Lieberman is a pig.

[cutthemdown]

I think the President could already do that if it was a national emergency. Don't you guys think? As in some sort of cyber attack he deemed a national threat? Can't he do anything he wants pretty much in the face of a threat to the country?

[mhgaffney]

Army Intelligence Analyst Charged With Leaking Classified Information
By Kim Zetter and Kevin Poulsen

This story is potentially explosive. Each one of the leaks -- and there are apparently 50 of them -- documents how the military and US government have lied about the conduct of the war.

One case soon to be posted by Wikileaks reportedly documents a massacre of 100 Afghanis -- most of the dead being children. No wonder they wanted to keep it under wraps.

The argument that this brave whistleblower put US troops in danger is without basis. This is shown by the already posted video of US soldiers murdering Iraqis on the streets of Baghdad. The incident happened back in 2007 -- so no way the leaked intelligence compromises the safety of US troops.

For more go here:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/manning-charges/#ixzz0svyx3iUw