The NY Times may be on Bush's List

Although The New York Times says the latest Bush Law (Mililtary Tribunal Commissions Act) does not apply to American citizens, they better mind their P's and Q's.

Read Robert Parry's article at ConsortiumNews.com.

Exerpt:

The Times also might want to take note of the curious provision in the law that would jail “any person” who “collects or attempts to collect information by clandestine means or while acting under false pretenses, for the purpose of conveying such information to an enemy of the United States.”

Since the Bush administration and its political allies often have accused the New York Times of collecting and publishing information, from confidential sources, that is helpful to U.S. enemies – for instance, the stories about Bush’s secret wiretapping program – this provision arguably could apply to Times reporters and editors.

Who doesn't think certain Times reporters and editors wouldn't be the first to go?

Is this the end for Keith Olbermann?

Last night Keith Olbermann spent the last 10 minutes of his program, Countdown, dressing down George Bush for his continual attacks on the American people and the U.S. Constitution.

Exerpt:

We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who has said it is unacceptable to compare anything this country has ever done to anything the terrorists have ever done.

We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who has insisted again that “the United States does not torture. It’s against our laws and it’s against our values” and who has said it with a straight face while the pictures from Abu Ghraib Prison and the stories of Waterboarding figuratively fade in and out, around him.

We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who may now, if he so decides, declare not merely any non-American citizens “unlawful enemy combatants” and ship them somewhere—anywhere -- but may now, if he so decides, declare you an “unlawful enemy combatant” and ship you somewhere - anywhere.

And if you think this hyperbole or hysteria, ask the newspaper editors when John Adams was president or the pacifists when Woodrow Wilson was president or the Japanese at Manzanar when Franklin Roosevelt was president.

And if you somehow think habeas corpus has not been suspended for American citizens but only for everybody else, ask yourself this: If you are pulled off the street tomorrow, and they call you an alien or an undocumented immigrant or an “unlawful enemy combatant”—exactly how are you going to convince them to give you a court hearing to prove you are not? Do you think this attorney general is going to help you?

Today comes word that NBC Universal is planning a massive cost-saving measure including a reduction of 5 percent of its workforce. The last paragraph of The Washington Post article reads:

NBC's cost-saving plan involves laying off people from the company's 11 news divisions, including on-air talent [emphasis added].

Will this give the suits at General Electric an excuse to silence Mr. Olbermann?

Here's the content of an e-mail we just sent to the folks at Countdown:

We've just heard about the impending layoffs at NBC Universal and are wondering about future of the best damn news show and the best damn news anchor on television.

Mr. Olbermann was the first newsman to state the obvious about the condition in which we find our country and to criticize the current administration for their lies and criminal behavior.

If Countdown is cancelled and Mr. Olbermann fired for speaking the truth, that may well be the proverbial straw ...

Can you give us any reassurance that Countdown and Mr. Olbermann will survive the purge, or do we continue our plans for a massive consumer boycot of NBC and all products produced by General Electric?

Anyone care to join the Movement?