What’s Behind GOP Plan to Muzzle Press?

It was one more preemptive strike when the Bush administration cried foul over stories running in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and LA Times about our government tracking banking transactions of potential terrorists since 2001. The White House used the publishing of the stories as an excuse. The information was anything but secret and had been known and written about during the last five years. And the White House had publicly acknowledged the fact that banking transactions were being surveilled. Ever since George W. Bush became president in 2000, the White House has tried to control the press. And it was fairly successful until the President’s approval ratings plummeted into the 30’s. At that point, the mainstream media finally discovered it still had vestigial ca-jones. Although I have no idea what nefarious plots and schemes the Bush administration wants to keep away from the public, you can take this to the bank: The White House has a desperate need to totally control the press RIGHT NOW. I am assuming it has to do with some nasty, smelly and potentially treasonous sweetheart deals the White House has made or wants to make with Russia, China and yes, North Korea. Hence the most recent preemptive strike against the mainstream media. If the White House can make the public’s right to know illegal, then it can proceed with its fascist plans. And if John McCain wins the next election, it will be so much easier for him to proceed with the Republican sale of the United States to foreign countries if he doesn’t have to worry about a meddling press. The list of countries that George W. Bush designated as the "axis of evil" (Iraq, Iran and North Korea) needs to be revised to include the US under Republican rule. And by the way, the New York Times had some interesting comments this morning on the “surprise windfall” the Repubs are boasting about re shrinking the deficit this year to $300 billion. “One reason the run-up in taxes looks good”, the NYT says, “is because the past five years looked so bad. Revenues are up, but they have lagged well behind economic growth.” The NYT went on to report, “’The fact is that revenues are way below what the administration said they would be a few years ago,’ said Thomas S. Kahn, staff director for Democrats on the House Budget Committee. ‘The long-term prognosis is still very, very bleak, and the administration doesn't have any kind of long-term plan.’” Two rules-of-thumb apply for deciphering White House statements: 1. When the Bush administration makes a statement, it is a lie and the exact opposite is true. 2. The Bush administration has allied itself with the most evil and corrupt men in the world.