Alberto has gone Gonzo
I know this is a week old story, but I was traveling last weekend to visit my family, specifically my grandmother who I had not seen in a while. All in all, the trip went well, as I was also able to see the rest of my immediate family. One of these days, I will put up a gallery page or open a flickr account, but for now, you’ll just have to imagine my trip.
While I was in my grandmother’s kitchen, I happen to catch Alberto Gonzales on the "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" show. I don’t normally watch the show, because it’s normally a train wreck, and probably the most biased of the soft Sunday news programs. It was luck that I happened to catch it.
On this show, the attorney general of this fine nation uttered the following words, "There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility. We have an obligation to enforce those laws. We have an obligation to ensure that our national security is protected." He was referring to the possbility of the United States government going after journalists for using information gained from government leaks.
What bothered me most, was not that journalists could be prosecuted for breaking the law. I know how important the press is, and I do not think the government has any business regulating it. However, I think reasonable people can agree that journalists still need to follow the law. What did bother me, was the tone. Stephanopoulos repeatedly asked him if his statement meant he was going to go after journalists, but Alberto kept the same mantra. If Alberto has simply said, "Look George, we’re not going out of our way to nail journalists and put them in jail, but hey, if we come across something illegal, we have to deal with it." No, this was basically a threat to the press, a form of intimidation that I’m a little surprised was so brazen.
I’m not a big fan of the press. I find the American press to be lazy, incompetent, and biased. Intimidation like this, can only make the press even worse. As hard as that might sound, if Alberto gets his way, that might just happen.
