Subrosa said:
Luckily, if the support that this bill received in the House is at all translated to the Senate, we won't have to worry about President Gargamel's veto pen. Thank goodness for that. This Federal shield law has been a long, long time coming.

cagedesire said:
An eloquent and incredibly passionate entry. Articulated just so, perfectly tinged with the seeds of contempt and anger and unadulterated frustration that I also share. When my mind is racing backwards, forwards, sideways, longways and I can feel myself getting lost in this emotional outrage, this beckoning sea of quietly building fear that tells me to scream "Revolution" and "Freedom" and plain make an angry ass of myself- I can find but one rock to hold on to- blogs like this one. Moments where although outraged by so many things in our country I see that so many of us are still reading and fact-checking and forming *gasp* our own opinions of what's right and wrong with the country. And though I literally ache for days when I can celebrate our ferocious conquests over this administration and all it represents.. I remember that great battles are won with small victories.. and I can feel the march of feet, the drums of protest, the raging winds of change... slowly forming, delicately seeping into the general *ignorant* populous.. and I know this fight isn't in any way close to over.

Uncognitive said:

Excellent article, and bonus points for using the word "coagulated".

Of course, Bush will almost certainly claim that his Magical Unitary Executive Commander In Chief Signing Statement Pen allows him to ignore the shit out of this if it ever becomes a law.

So far, Mukasey has told senators he will reject any White House meddling in Justice Department matters and resign if his legal or ethical concerns about administration policy are ignored.

He also said he's resistant to passing a law shielding reporters from being forced to reveal their sources, saying it would be much easier to fix internal Justice Department practice if need be.

"The system worked passably well up until now," Mukasey told the Senate Judiciary Committee, which approved legislation that would establish such a shield. The House overwhelmingly passed a similar bill last week, but President Bush said he would veto it.

Mukasey, a former federal judge who also has represented reporters as a defense lawyer, indicated he would side with Bush against any federal legislation.

"One thing about internal procedures is that if you need to change them they're relatively easy to change," he said at his confirmation hearing. "You can adjust the regulation, you can adjust the procedure, you can put more levels in. You can change standards. It becomes much harder when it's etched in stone in the form of legislation. And that is part of the reason for my unease."

Majority Democrats, aided by some Republicans, have urged passage of a media shield because they say it would protect reporters and government whistleblowers who reveal improper or illegal official activity. Fifty news outlets, including The Associated Press, support the legislation.

The Bush administration has issued a veto threat, saying that subpoenas for reporters are relatively rare and that a shield would make it harder to track down leakers of classified information.

Mukasey said that he has reservations about the legislation because it sets too high a legal threshold for prosecutors to meet to overcome the shield. Proving that the disclosure is needed to prevent an attack is difficult in advance, the nominee said Wednesday.

The measure also pending defines a journalist too broadly and might inadvertently protect, for example, bloggers who are also spies or terrorists, Mukasey said.

Back then, if Congress had gotten up the balls to pass a Federal Shield Law by an overwhelming majority and Bush said, "Fuck it, I like putting journalists in jail," wouldn't that piss you the hell off?

Subrosa said:
Luckily for me, I am a spy and a terrorist. So I'm OK.

RileyStClair said:
"president gargamel"
i just spit my drink out

gcash056 said:
On the other hand, there's bullshit like the papers leaking that the CIA was tracking Osama Bin Laden through his cellphone.

That's the sort of thing that should get a reporter 20 years in the Federal slammer.

I have yet to meet a journalist that had more than a room-temperature IQ.

I have yet to meet a journalist (besides www.theregister.co.uk) that knew the SLIGHTEST FUCKING thing technical. I'm surprised most of them can operate a ball-point pen. Anything about computers, science, space, etc is mangled beyond recognition and about 90% just WRONG. Not simplified, just wrong.

In the dozen or so instances where I've seen something that was later reported in the paper, it was about 50% wrong.

If a newspaper/TV journalist says the sky is blue and the ocean is wet, I'm damned sure stepping outside for a look before I agree with him.

They don't deserve such a law.

Farnsworth said:
Well, the Dems hate AM radio so I guess it's all even.